A/N: Ploughing on... :) Really stoked that Kendall is coming to Bali in a few days, but gutted I couldn't be wherever he is. So if you're a Rusher and you happen to meet him there. good for you! On the plus side, might want to ask my Uncle to get the autograph. xD

DISCLAIMER: If you're innocent, and you know it, clap your hands! *clap clap* = Of course I would do that! I don't own the characters of CSI:Miami, YUMGirlAndMoltMan's story and Coldplay's lyrics, now would I? :D They're awesome people.

Chapter 12:

Horatio's POV:

There was nothing but the deafening silence surrounding the room, until Anastasia's impatient and nervously tapping of her fingers on the table. I looked at my beautiful, loving wife, anxiously twirling her hair with her fingers, who was sitting beside me on the left. And on my right, her younger brother Eric was running his hand back and forth his head, not sure what to tell his niece and his future bride, both sitting opposite the three of us.

I made a small cough to direct all of their attention to me, focusing on the deal we've made with Anastasia about telling her the truth. As for Calleigh, well, Eric is going to propose to her soon and its best we let her into to our secret as well. "Okay, now… ugh…What is the big secret?" I sighed as our little girl smiled sweetly, something she would always do when she wants something from us. She knew we would be vulnerable and give in to what she wants.

I gave out a small smile back at her, something that just comes naturally between father and daughter, "Well," I tried looking for the exact words to say, "We didn't want to tell you two at first because of the people that can, and will, actually hurt you anytime and anywhere. But after what you've both gone through, I guess it's best to tell you two."

"Hold on a second," Anne's ears must have captured the word 'both', as she turned to face Calleigh, "What do you mean the 'both of us'? Are you all right? What happened?"

"Look Anne, I'm fine. I just got into a fight with some culprit, but luckily your uncle saved me in time. Man, you should have seen his strength and speed. I couldn't draw out my gun in time when he attacked me. Your uncle Eric told me to leave before god-knows-what he did to that man," my little daughter went to reach out her hand to soothe Calleigh's shoulders. I could sense Eric wanting to go beside her and hug her so bad, but was forced to stay on our side.

"Thank goodness you're all right. Why didn't you tell me?"

"Well, I didn't want to cause you more burden after what you've been facing recently, and the fact that you didn't ask me," the curves of her mouth grew wider as she smiled her ever famous and bright smile.

Anne made a face in return, before looking at me, "Please continue dad."

"All right, as you wish," I picked up my sunglasses, which was on the table, and began fiddling with it, "Sweetheart, it seems that the people who have tried to kidnap you, is not human."

Her jaws, along with Calleigh's flew open, so I continued to speak in a slower pace, hoping they would be able to catch up, "You've both felt it for yourselves. The speed and strength, you are both aware of it, aren't you?"

"Yes, that's true. But what are you exactly implying?" Calleigh gawked at me. I've noticed the small sound of friction as she curled her hand around Anne's.

This is it. There's no turning back, "My daughter, Calleigh. I'm afraid you were both fighting with a vampire there."

Wait, what? The two of them shook their hands, not being able to take it in. Anne kept repeating the same sentences over in her head: There's no such thing as vampires. They don't exist. Father's lying, he has to be!

"No, sweetheart. You've never heard me wrong, nor has I joke with you often. They exist," I hesitated before looking at my sunglasses, "I am but a vampire. I'm over 200 years old, well, if you count existence as your age."

Anastasia looked towards the rest of the living room on her left, "So, am I a vampire? Why don't I feel, you know, thirsty?"

It was Marisol's turn to speak, "No, you aren't, my love. You're a dhampire, which means you have the blood of half a vampire and half of a human. You may still have to drink some blood, but not all the time."

"So, that explains the red liquid. But how..?"

"How you became a dhampire? Well, I was a human before your father turned me after giving birth to you. I've almost died because it is an extremely long and hard process," I thought I heard a small gulp from the both of them, "As for Uncle Eric, he was turned when he was shot. It had almost taken his life during the exchanging of gun shots between rival gangs. If I wasn't in the scene at that time, your uncle wouldn't be here with us right now."

It's Calleigh's turn to speak now. I could tell that she was sad about her boyfriend becoming a vampire because of a tragedy, but she wanted to know more, "So, can I ask you about vampire facts?"

"Sure, anything for you my pumpkin," Eric smirked, showing lots of concern for her, like he always does.

"Right, firstly I do know you guys can come and walk out in the sun. How did you guys do that?"

The three of us showed our rings, made of lapis lazuli, each with distinct colours. Mine was ocean blue, whereas Marisol's was deep, blood red, and Eric's is a natural, floral green, "These helped us go out into the sun. It cannot be shared among others. If one of us lost the ring and stepped out into the sun, 'poof!' it goes, burning into ashes."

Scary, I heard my daughter murmur at the back of her head. Calleigh went on, "What about those myths pertaining Holy crosses, garlic and ugh, banishing-evil chanting?"

"Come on, dear Calleigh, you should know better than that!" Eric roared in laughter. I'm sensing that the both of them are actually enjoying each other's company, "We can go to church any day we like. In fact, we've been to Anne's first Holy Communion. I certainly do love garlic bread, but I don't like having bad breaths. And I don't leave when people chant banishing-evil things away from me. Telling me to go is good enough."

"Anne told me that she found blood on the floor when Marisol cried. Are you—?"

"Are you implying that us vampires cry blood? Yes, we do. It's not something we're proud of, and it's something we tried to keep away from humans because it shows them that we are different. And not only that, we have fangs, though they protrude only when we feed or are feeling angry, and you may have noticed that our skins are cold," Eric cocked his head forward.

We let the both of them take in deep breaths, trying to evaluate all that has happened, and will happen, "Speaking of which, where did you get the wolf from Anne?"

"Wolf? What wolf?" she's always doing the innocent look. Too bad she's now fifteen, and the fact that we have fallen for it millions of times, we've probably gotten used to it.

"Please don't lie to me, Anne. We've all seen it."

Feeling awkward, and letting out a silent 'Oh… Right,' she finally opened her mouth to speak, letting some of her hair fall over her face as she spoke, "The wolf just came up to me and attacked the kidnapper when I was in trouble. He would then start sending thoughts to me and we ended up walking home together, oblivious in our own conversation against the world."

"I'm afraid the wolf, isn't just any kind of wolf, my dear beloved Anne," I looked into my daughter, taking in everything of her for the first time. She was the same old Anne whom I spoke to every single day, but this time she was a bit, well, different. The 'bags' under her eyes seem to prove that, other than the hair getting frizzier as the day goes by. I can feel her losing energy, every single day. I felt bad not being able to relieve of the stress that she is in.

"What do you mean by that now, dad? You mean, vampires aren't just the only supernatural beings in the world?"

"I guess the wolf might have to tell you for himself," I gestured towards the giant creature walking towards our direction, with our servant Edward close by. A young, strong and bold black wolf nodded towards the elder, before walking towards us and jumping on the couch, cuddling next to Anne. Edward bowed and left the room immediately.

I must have sensed Anne's soft side, because she cuddled him closer to her and kissed the fur on his forehead, just between his ears, prompting a little growl of delight from the black wolf. Eric got annoyed, as he crossed his arms and glared at the two lovebirds, "Hey, these couches are expensive. Don't try to tear anything here, Wolfe."

I thought I heard Anne's heart skip a beat, "Wait. Did you say 'Wolfe', Uncle Eric? As in Ryan?"

"Why don't you tell him, smart guy? You're the one who's going to lead the pack very soon," Eric slurred at him. A deep growl penetrated from his animalistic body and was made audible, but he decided not to continue with the matter and looked back at Anne, Hey there, dear Annie. Yes it's me.

She squeezed him closer, something that Ryan must not have seen it coming, because I could hear him gasping for air, "Aww, hey there Ryan! Why didn't you tell me it's you all along? You're an adorable and sweet werewolf! I'm not scared at you at all."

She scratched his favorite spot, which is just behind his ears, before pulling his cheeks, I'm sorry, I just don't know how to make it up to you, I saw his jaws curving up, as though he is smiling, Hmm. I think I could get used to this; the young wolf had pure joy shown in his eyes before he went on to nuzzle Anastasia on the neck.

His cheekiness could only cause her to laugh and smile even more. She began examining the rest of his body, just like she usually did when she met other animals. She ran her hands through his fur and that was when she saw some shallow wounds, or so we thought, with blood streaming gently out of it.

"Oh, no. You need to get medical help immediately. Poor Ryan, you must be terribly injured," she looked back at me, staring at me with intense worry, just like a caring mother to her own child. The wolf could only duck his head, getting away from Anne's clutches, before prodding her on the ribs. It's all right, I'll heal quickly. That's the beauty of us anyways.

Instead, he was faced with a stern glare from his best friend, "No. I'll still want to help even if you didn't want me to." Knowing full well that he couldn't defeat the Delko-Caine's easily, he let out a sigh in defeat, All right, you'll patch me up, and I'll tell you everything you need to know about me while you're doing it. Looking back at me, his eyes were full of authority, bringing it out just for me to see: being the alpha, working in a job he has forgotten almost all of his knowledge in, as well as working in a foreign state, meeting foreign people, but mostly loving Anne. Can I, H?

"Yes, you may, Mr. Wolfe. But please, if you do anything to hurt her, I will personally come into the room and hit you, hard," like a normal teenager, Anne crossed her arms and rolled her eyes to the side, "Aw, come on mom! Dad! I know about and learnt from the kidnapping earlier, but with Ryan, really?"

I walked over towards her, kneeling beside her so that we were both on the same eye level, making contact, "I'm just being a good father for my daughter. After waiting for 200 years, when I thought it wasn't possible, you came into our lives. I became nervous in the first few weeks, buying all sorts of books from the internet just because I didn't really have the knowledge of babies and how to help them grow, but at least I've done the right thing and it's good for now," I bent closer and gently kissed her on her forehead.

Her eyes grew smaller as she continued staring at me, "What do you mean, 'good for now'?"

I let out a small laugh and embraced her to me. After 200 years of trying to control my hunger, I didn't feel the need to take her out when I'm close to her, least of all embracing her. Besides, I'm her father. Why would I do that? "Our dear, innocent Anne."

I broke the embrace after a few seconds, and bobbing my head up and down to let Ryan take Anne into the room, before coming back to sit on the couch. He began biting Anne's shirt and was slowly tugging her in the direction of their destination, Anne, let's go. The world waits for no one, you know.

Anne looked at me for a moment, mouthing the words 'Thank you Dad', before beginning her walk to the room, closely followed by the wolf, rubbing his body against her legs. Anne went on to pat him gently on the head. The both of them seemed so compatible with each other, loving and caring each other even though they are very different from each other. Many people may turn against them, but they simply didn't care.

I felt a pair of arms wrapped around my waist, to find Marisol smiling at the scene unfolding before her. She laid her head on my shoulders and closed her eyes. They are just like us, aren't they? Hearts full of love for each other, never wanting to leave. I think Anne has finally found her true companion.

Yes, she did, my love, I edged in slowly and kissed her beautiful, sweet lips, bringing up my arm to soothe her small curls on her air, she has finally made the most important choice in her life, well other than her studies and being the leader after me.

Yes she did, my other half of my life smiled at me as the both of us closed our eyes and breathe in the air around us, slowly and in rhythm with each other. I thought I heard the younger Delko chuff.

"When you're tired of aiming your arrows,
Still you never hit the mark,
Even in your rains and shadows,
Still we're never gonna part."