"I thought you said McGarrett was joining us?" Kono asked as they gathered around the car, ready to go. It was odd looking at her and seeing a… he couldn't even pronounce what Kamekona had turned her into.

"That's what he said when I called, and please don't drool on the hood on my car," Danny handed her a tissue from his pocket.

"I'm sorry," she said, "I can't help it."

"What's going on with you and McGarrett anyway?" Chin asked with a strange smile on his face.

Danny inclined his head forward. "I'm sorry, 'going on'? There's nothing going on, why would there be something going on?"

"I dunno," Kono frowned, or at least, it looked like a frown. "You're being cagey. Maybe you didn't sleep with him then. Third base?"

"Excuse you?" Danny almost snorted indignantly.

"Only second?" Kono carried on blithely.

"Think so, cuz," Chin finished as he checked his crossbow. "He's gone red now."

"That's anger. Not… anything else. And even if something did happen, and I'm not saying it did, it's none of your business."

"Uh-huh," Kono laughed. "Listen, don't sweat it. I may not have met him yet, but I think he'll be good for you."

"Yeah? What makes you think that?"

Kono shrugged her new, bigger shoulders. "He makes you smile."

"I've known him for about two days. And I don't recall smiling any more or less since meeting him. I never smile, unless it's around Grace."

"I meant on the inside," She said, placing a scaly hand on his shoulder and the look in her eyes was entirely hers and so entirely genuine that he didn't have the heart to refute her on anything.

"Okay, come on. We've got work to do," Danny broke the moment. "You ready to go?" he asked her.

"As ready as ever, boss. Let's do this."

"We'll be listening in the whole time," Chin said, his voice more serious now. "If anything starts to go bad, we're going to be right behind you."

"Got it," she reassured him and then was on her way in. They'd concocted the story in advance. Since Sang Min didn't trust humans and only liked to deal with supernatural creatures, her new disguise would get her in the door, but once inside she had to convince them that she was on the up and up. Kamekona had turned her into some kind of half demon, but she still looked mostly like herself except scaly and with a snout thing, but her height, weight, eyes, hair, all that was still just her. She had to convince him she was a … whatever she was… and that she had family that wanted to come to America. Demons that didn't blend in so well with humanity found it difficult to fly, so they'd have to come in by boat and Sang Min was the vampire to get it done.

They listened in as Kono made the introductions, talked to them. Sang Min seemed to be buying it. She wasn't wearing a wire - instead Chin had a listening device held up and both Danny and Chin were sharing the headphones. This would be much easier if they had a police van, but there was only so much equipment Danny could get on the down low. It was hard enough covering up his slayer time during work days.

Everything was going fine until there was a pause, then they heard Sang Min's doubting voice tell Kono that her kind didn't like going in the water, so why would she have sand in her hair from the beach? They knew they were in trouble and didn't hang around to listen to whatever she came up with. Instead they dropped the sound equipment and started to run towards the warehouse Sang Min was using. Danny plastered himself to the wall, stake in hand and ready to go, ready to signal for Chin, who was on the other side of the wide doors, when there was the honking of a horn.

He had very little time to move out of the way before the big cement truck came flying at them, knocking down not just the door but the majority of the wall while it was at it. Danny wasn't one to count his blessings, instead he moved quickly, taking advantage of everyone's shock and he had two vamps dusted before the driver of the truck could get out of the cab.

All hell had broken loose, and still McGarrett seemed to think now was a good time to look smug about his entrance. Danny just shook his head and motioned to Steve that he was about to get attacked by a vampire and watched as Steve pulled the guy over his shoulder, got him on the ground with a knee in him, then produce a stake and turned him to dust despite the weak protests from underneath.

Between them, they got everyone. All except Sang Min, whom Danny had captured trying to get out of the fracas while also staking another vamp at the same time - and Rachel said he couldn't multi-task.

He pushed Sang Min onto his knees in front of them, his hands were zip tied behind his back and there was no way out for him.

"Let me have a talk with him," Steve said in a low, growly-voice.

"If anyone's going to get the information we need out of him then it's me. I'm the Slayer," Danny argued.

"That's exactly why you can't. He'll never talk to a slayer."

"Oh, but to you, he'll sing like a bird," Danny waved a hand around.

"I have some moves," Steve said as he crossed his arms. "Look, if it doesn't work you can have a crack at him. Does it really matter which of us goes first?"

"Fine, okay, knock yourself out," He let Steve pick Sang Min up from the ground and march him to the built-in office.

Chin came up over his shoulder. "I thought you said there was nothing going on between you two."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Well, until McGarrett walked into your life, there is no way you'd have let someone you just met take the lead on an interrogation of a vamp. You trust him that much already?"

"Maybe I do," Danny answered, with a lilt of curiosity in his voice. He wasn't entirely sure why he had given in so easily to letting Steve take care of Sang Min, or help on the investigation, or hell, kiss him in the bar last night, but somehow he was. He really needed to get a grip on this strange infatuation.

There was a banging sound that stopped his thoughts.

It was soft, but it was there. "Sssh, do you hear that?" He asked, stopping Chin from walking away.

"Hear what?"

Danny listened intently, then heard it again. "That," he said. "That knocking."

"Yeah, I do. Sounds like it's coming from outside," Chin remarked and then they were both heading out. Franticly turning his ears to the sound, Danny pinpointed what looked like a rusting cargo pod. Once they were at it, it was definitely where the sound was from, only now it wasn't just knocking, but cries for help.

"It's okay, I'm a cop, we're here to help," he yelled against the metal door and after giving up and shooting the lock off, Danny swung the door open to the blinking people inside, covered in dirt and sweat, it was clear they were illegal immigrants, refugees, swindled into coming into the country this way only to arrive with Sang Min. Oh God, Danny realized, these people were like cattle, they were a food source, and they were people no one would miss. At the very least, they'd done some good today by getting these people free.

Kono rejoined them after having taken the potion to turn her back into a human. But she was carrying a box of tissues like they were a lifeline. Before they even asked she explained, "Side effects. Kamekona warned me there would be some. Guess in this case, having a snout and shrinking it back down to my normal nose is one thing, but all that mucus didn't disappear with everything else."

"That's disgusting," Danny wrinkled his nose.

"You're telling me," she said. "I'm the one going through it."

"Come on. We need to sort out Sang Min quickly so we can get this called in," Danny motioned and he and Kono made their way back into the building while Chin stayed to corral the refugees with what little Mandarin he knew.

"McGarrett," Danny called out in the echoey chamber. The man in question strode out of the office, rubbing his hands. Danny looked over his shoulder into the office but didn't see anything much.

"You got the people, right?" Steve asked.

"Yeah, they were in a shipping pod out back. How did you know about them, he tell you?" Danny asked.

"He did. He told me quite a lot, and you're not going to like any of it."

"That was always going to be a given," Danny replied.

"Tonight is The Harvest," Steve started.

"You look like you know what that is," Kono said warily.

"I do," Steve answered. "According to Sang Min, on a crescent moon, one vampire can be given strength through another as they feed."

"Why would a vampire need that?" Kono asked.

"I've seen something like it before," Steve answered. "Normally used to give a weakened vampire back his strength."

"So we know the when, now we just need the where," Danny put in.

"I know that, too. A Chinese freighter. Sang Min said Hesse came to him looking to order a shipment. Those people outside were for a mix of customers, but a freighter coming in later today has a shipment that's just for Hesse and whoever he's working for. My guess is, it's Hesse's boss that needs the power."

"Okay, that gives us some time before it gets in to work out a game plan. Right now, we need to deal with Sang Min and call in the uniforms to process this place and help these refugees."

"I'll take care of Sang Min. He's got a tunnel system to get out of here. I'll see where it leads us."

"Okay," Danny said, being trusting again. "Come by Pearl Harbor when you're done. Kono will bring you in and we'll get to grips with everything there."

They all parted ways to deal with their respective jobs in the cover up. Danny stayed to watch the Chinese immigrants be taken away, wrapped in blankets and drinking bottles of water. He needed to just take that moment to know he'd done some good, that these people were safe and know that there were more of them that he could help again tonight. As much as Grace was his anchor, and his reason to fight, he still needed grounding moments where he let himself indulge in how doing good like this felt. He needed it because he knew there was a darkness at the edge of his mind, that wondered why he should bother, why he should fight and get hurt for what could easily be an unappreciative society. He'd seen it before, after all. People could be a bag of dicks, but individual people, their grateful smiles were his reminder that not everyone was a terrible person.

Once everyone had arrived back at their office area, Chin brought his research out and loaded the relevant files onto the table top computer for all four to see.

There were uploaded pictures of old text, since Danny was looking at it upside down, Chin read the pertinent details. "For they will gather and be gathered. From the Vessel pours life."

"What does that mean?" Danny asked. He hated ancient prophesies of doom, they were always vague.

"What Steve told you about before is true. One vampire with a symbol carved on his head can feed on humans and the strength he gains actually goes to another vampire. And I worked out the timing and it's tonight for sure. From what I understand it comes around once every century."

"Wait," Danny turned to Steve. "You said you'd seen something like this before."

"In a book, I meant… in a book. I read," Steve answered but looked shifty. Danny didn't have time to analyze it so he just moved on.

"Okay, so do we know how Hesse is involved?"

"I have an idea," Chin hedged. "Before you came here, the Watcher's Council did brief me on the history of the demon activity on the island. In the middle of the 20th century there was a powerful vampire that came here, looking to open one of the gates to Hell."

"Let me guess," Danny put in triumphantly. "There's one here! Of course there is, I knew this rock was going to be hell the minute I stepped foot on it."

"Don't get crusty, Danny," Kono put a hand on his shoulder. "You've dealt with one before."

"Correction," Danny lifted his hand. "I dealt with a gate to Purgatory, not Hell."

"Potato, tomato, etc," she shrugged. Her nonchalance on the dangers was endearing and frightening at the same time.

"Anyway," Chin said loudly, trying to continue. "He failed. Or at least, we all got a little help from Mother Nature because there was a tsunami, it threw everything off and also, lucky for all of us, helped trap him in his lair."

"So he's stuck, and he needs out?" Kono asked.

"Sounds like it," Chin answered.

"So he's using Hesse. Hesse is the Vessel and tonight he's going to use that shipment of people to give his master strength through him," Steve said in a voice determined to put a stop to it. No matter how much Danny wasn't sure about the guy, he knew he wanted Victor Hesse stopped so while their goals were the same, it made sense to trust him to help.

"So tonight I hit the freighter, dust Hesse and any other vamp who gets in my way, and no Harvest?"

"That's about the sum of it, yes," Chin answered.

"Wait, you can't go in there alone," Steve said, turning to Danny and moving closer.

"This is usually the part where I do," Danny responded. "Slayer," he pointed to himself.

"Not this time, this is big and you need help. I know Hesse, I know he's strong and he's not stupid either."

"You're not coming."

"I'm coming," Steve reached out to Danny's arm. "Whether you like it or not."

"If you get killed-"

"It'll be my own fault," Steve was adamant. Danny hadn't taken anyone in with him since Grace Tilwell had died. His last Watcher had died while he was away fighting and he'd come back to find the body so something in him knew that it didn't matter where his friends were, they could get killed so long as they were already caught up in his life and knew what he really was. Steve knew, so he was already going to be in danger no matter what. Maybe taking him along wouldn't be the end of the world. Maybe they'd save it together.

"Okay, fine," he grumbled, and Steve answered him with a dazzling smile.

"So what do we do until tonight?" Steve asked, turning back to face the others in the room, breaking the spell between just the two of them.

"Well, some of us have jobs to do. So I'm heading to the station and hoping Meka doesn't ask too many questions about what I was doing all morning and how the hell I ended up rescuing a bunch of illegal immigrants at the docks."

"I'll stay here," Steve said quickly. "I'll help Chin. Maybe there's more we can find out that could be useful before tonight."

"Fine," Danny nodded. "I'll get the slip number and send it to you. I'll meet you at the entrance tonight."

Danny was leaning against the side of the Camaro when the other car pulled up. "What the hell is that?" He asked as Steve clambered out.

The other man looked over his shoulder at the car. "Mercury Marquis. It's a classic."

"Uh-huh. Just another word for old. Do yourself a favor and cash it in for something a bit more reliable."

"I'll think about it," Steve answered. "What's the plan?"

"Uh, I sneak in, find the people, get them out, dust the vamps."

"That's your plan?"

"You don't like it?"

"No, it's wonderful. I just thought there might be a few more details included. You seem the type who likes details."

"Listen, we don't have time for more intel. I don't know who this mysterious vamp is who is quite literally sucking the life of these humans to free himself and reap havoc. I don't know how many of his goons are in there protecting Hesse so he can get the job done. And I don't know how many possible victims we have, both in the pods from China, or the freighter crew. Hell, I don't know if the freighter crew are in on this thing, so the plan is a little sketchy. I've left wiggle room."

"Wiggle room."

"For improvisations."

"Oh, I got that, I just… you said wiggle room," McGarrett's lips turned up in a weird smile.

Danny shook his head. "Gather what you need so we can get going."

Steve moved to the trunk of his car and pulled out a crossbow and made sure to holster two regular guns at his side and his thigh. Once he was done, Danny gave him an appraising look. "You know bullets don't get the job done, right?"

"They do if they're pointy and wooden," Steve answered then looked Danny over in return. "What about you?"

"I travel light." Danny didn't have much. He had a stake in his hand, one stuffed down the back of his pants, a lighter, a small bottle of holy water in each pocket, and his cross at his neck. It was all he needed. He pushed away from the car and began to walk, but a hand on his arm stopped him.

"Wait a second, Danny," Steve came around to his side. "I know you've survived a lot before now but just…. be careful."

"I will be," Danny nodded. "Just, stay behind me and don't get yourself killed."

Steve nodded and they started walking again, Steve just over Danny's shoulder. He leaned closer to Danny's ear as they walked through the darkness, with just the odd street lamp to illuminate their surroundings. "We've still got to get back to that rain check from the other night."

"Like I said," Danny turned slightly into Steve as they walked. "Don't get killed and maybe we'll find some time for it."

"Well, that's something worth surviving for," Steve grinned and they crouched, making their way over to some crates, giving them a decent vantage point of the docked ship.

There were two ramps leading in - one main one for the shipments going in and out, another for the crew to use. It was clear that their best bet was the smaller one if they wanted to be sneaky. Then Danny heard a scream that was then cut off and he knew they had to hurry and surprise may not be the best way about this.

"You take the small ramp, get on quietly and get those people off," he said.

"What about you?"

"I'm taking the main entrance. They'll be too busy trying to stop me that they hopefully won't notice the sacrifices being led off."

"There's too many of them, you'll be killed," Steve argued.

"We don't know how many there are," Danny reasoned.

"Exactly. But I do know Victor Hesse and I'm telling you that he'll have too many of them for you to take on alone. He knows there's a slayer after him, no doubt his boss does too; they'll have taken precautions."

"So what do you suggest?" Danny asked.

There was a pause, like Steve was gearing himself up for something. "They're not expecting me." Danny had no time to register what Steve was doing. In an instant, the man was on his feet and running, charging up the main gangway, making a spectacle of himself and bringing his gun to bear halfway up and letting the bullets fly.

"I hate him. I hate him so much," Danny swore to himself then got to his feet and followed, flying up the gangway as fast as he could and jumping in, trying to keep track of Steve through the fight because he'd be damned if he'd get injured by the friendly fire.

As he reached the top, he was attacked en masse by three blood suckers, fangs at the ready. The first one rushed him and Danny was able to twist his arm and pull the guy around to use as a shield against the other two's teeth, while he kicked out at them. He used his stake and dusted the first through his back, before watching the reaction from the other two. They seemed to decide to try and be smarter and flanked him before attacking again. Danny blocked a few punches from each before one slipped through, and as he doubled over, he ducked down, and one of the vamps punched the other in the face. Danny took advantage of his low posture and struck out, bringing both of them to their knees and before they could gather themselves, he reached behind his waistband, brought out his second stake and dusted them both in symmetry.

He stood, both stakes in hand and beginning to tap into his anger as he looked around. Steve had blessedly decided to save the innocents around them and was telling them to dodge the fight and go around it all and off the ship. Danny took a moment to check where his assailants all were and noticed Hesse making a run for it. Correction, Danny thought as he narrowed his eyes, he wasn't headed off the boat, he was heading deeper into it. He wasn't escaping, he had some kind of plan B. They needed to follow.

"Steve!" He yelled and gestured to where Hesse was going. He'd run after him himself, but Danny was currently being surrounded by about 7 vampires, all wanting their shot at the vampire gold star - killing a slayer.

Whether it was trust in Danny's skill or his own desire to get to Hesse, Steve left him be and ran after the head vampire, leaving Danny to deal with the rest. This wasn't going to be easy with the supplies he had. He backed up a few steps as they came closer, circling him and doing that annoying pre-savoring that fangs liked to indulge in, but it never truly bothered Danny because it gave him time to regroup and to think.

He almost tripped as he backed into something. A crate maybe? His hand fell back onto its surface and touched on something and he smiled. He broke eye contact with the vamps long enough to look down and grab it - a rope. It had enough length that he could use it. He pulled his lighter from his pocket and lit the end, gave it some slack and began twirling it above his head. He turned and was able to set three vamps on fire in one targeted swoop. They screamed and tried to get to the edge to jump into the water but they went up in smoke before they could.

The others were wary and though it meant Danny wasn't getting attacked, it also meant he wasn't able to go anywhere, so he had to move this along. He shot the rope out of his hands like a lasso and was able to catch one vamp directly in the crotch. Using the advantage, he ducked out of the way of two vamps trying to grab at him while he moved, ran and fell into a slide to pick up the end of rope again. As the vamps tried to chase after him, he made a point of circling around. When he stopped, they stopped in confusion. He gestured down but it was too late for them. He yanked on the rope and it tripped them up. As the two vamps tried to sit up, Danny wrapped the rope around them and watched as the burning end devoured more of the rope and they screamed before following their friends into dust.

He turned to the last one who was standing there, practically shaking, unsure what to do. "I don't have time for this," Danny swore, walked as if to go around the vampire but once he got passed, he came back and threw a bottle of holy water over the guy's head before he dusted the relieved idiot before he knew what hit him.

He strode in the direction he'd seen Hesse taking off in. It led to a stairway down into the bowels of the ship, the hue of the lighting making it seem greenish yellow and there was an echo of dripping water.

He could hear a struggle taking place. "Steve?" he yelled as he shifted up a gear to find him.

When he turned into the fight scene he stopped dead in his tracks.

Hesse had the upper hand with Steve bloody and kneeling on the ground in front of him, his hair being pulled back painfully by Hesse and a stake held to his throat while he struggled against the hold.

"This is a turn up for the books," Hesse said as he jerked Steve around again. "Out of all the dumb moves you could have taken against me, McGarrett, teaming up with a slayer wasn't what I expected."

"Let him go," Danny said. Of course he didn't expect Hesse to do it, but it blurted out regardless.

"Does the slayer even know the truth?" Hesse leaned in closer to Steve but kept his voice up for Danny to hear. "The truth about who you are? What you are? I'm sure if he did, he'd not be trying to help you now."

"No," Steve tried, his voice ineffectual as he fought the hand holding the stake on him.

"So he doesn't know you're a vampire then? And been playing him all along no doubt. You got close to him, you must know everything about him by now… where he lives, where he works, who he loves… you used him to get your revenge on me and once that's done you can destroy him, too," Hesse ended on a sick laugh.

"That's not true. That's not-" Hesse choked Steve off.

"No." Danny breathed. He couldn't believe it. Steve a vampire? But… his eyes. And yet…. he'd never seen him in the sunlight. He remembered him dodging around it and. Oh god. His neck. They kissed and Steve's upper chest… Danny brought his hand to his cross as he realized the truth.

How could he be so stupid? How could he let a vampire trick him so deftly? To get so close? Hesse was right; Steve knew enough about him to destroy him completely and it was Danny's own fault.

He was struck dumb.

"Don't listen, Danny," Steve tried again.

"But it's true," Danny said, looking at Steve in heartfelt betrayal. "And I trusted you."

"I never-" Steve was cut off again by Hesse.

"Wo Fat will be pleased," Hesse said. "The Slayer's blood will give him the last of the strength he needs to break free."

Danny's eyes widened in horror but it was too late. His shock at the revelations about Steve had blinded him to what was around him and it was a fatal mistake. He was grabbed by two vampires he hadn't seen on the boat before now, that must have been down here all along. They were big, and strong, and their hold on Danny's arms was unrelenting. They pulled him over to where Hesse was and held him up between them.

Danny felt a chill run up his spine as Hesse's cold hands came to his shoulders, caressing over and into his neck, tipping his head to the side ready for the bite. He breathed deeply, trying to calm his racing heart and all he could think was that this was it. This was how he was going to die and he'd never see Grace again. He closed his eyes. Slayers never survived the job, it was always inevitable that he'd go out trying to save people. He just hoped he'd saved enough.

He felt the sharpness of teeth graze over the surface of his skin and then Hesse speaking close to his ear. "Master Wo Fat, taste the slayer, and be free,"

There was then a scream from knee level. "No!" And Hesse's presence disappeared from behind Danny.

He shook himself out of his funk and turned to see Hesse sprawled on the floor, Steve having taken him out by his knees. The vamps holding onto Danny may have been strong but they were blessedly stupid. They let him go so they could reach down and help their injured boss and in that moment Steve called out Danny's name and flung a stake in his direction - the one that had previously been held at Steve's throat. He caught it and in a well-practiced move, instantly brought it down into Hesse's body.

The two bouncer types had enough sense to know they'd messed up and to know that it was over and instead of taking on the Slayer, they ran for it. Usually, Danny would go after them to finish this properly, but right now, he was giving them a pass because he had other things to deal with.

He lifted the stake back up from the dust and into a ready position. He flung himself on top of Steve, holding him down with his weight above and legs bracketing his hips and held the stake over his heart. "Tell me it's not true," he pleaded, his voice shaking.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you," Steve started. "It's complicated."

"You're a vampire," Danny forced out from between gritted teeth and the stake poked further into Steve's chest making the other man wince.

"I won't hurt you."

"You expect me to believe that?" Danny's sweat-covered hair was falling over his eyes as he shook with kept-in rage. "I should finish this. Right now."

"Then why don't you?" Steve asked, his eyes staying soft. Danny didn't understand. Something inside him didn't understand how those eyes could belong to a soulless bloodsucker and that was what stopped him - the part of him that still didn't believe it was true.

His momentary pause gave Steve strength and with a growl he pushed up against Danny and reversed their position, but the stake was still firmly pressed into Steve's chest and Danny was skilled enough to dust him from any position and they both knew that.

"Maybe you should do it," Steve said quietly. "It would be a relief."

"Give me a reason not to," Danny asked of him. Unsure why he wasn't dusting a vampire. It was his job, he shouldn't be allowing his feelings to get in the way.

"How about because I'm falling in love with you?" Steve asked, sincere.

"Vampires don't love," Danny shook his head. "They haven't got the capacity. The human soul is gone."

"Not for me it isn't," Steve responded quietly. "I have mine."

Danny took a beat and the silence around them stretched. "That's not possible."

Steve took the chance to finally stand and look down over Danny where he still lay on the ground. "It is when you piss off someone with the power to punish you by bringing it back."

"What?" Danny asked, pushing up on his arms.

"A curse," Steve explained. "I'm not going to kill you, Danny. Or your watcher, or your friends or family."

Steve backed up and Danny made no move to attack him, to kill him. Instead he stood and just watched as Steve moved back into the lamp light from the door. "Why should I believe you?"

"If I wanted you dead, you'd be dead. That's not what I want. I'm not here to kill you, I'm here to save you."

"Save me?" Danny narrowed his eyes as Steve.

"I won't let you die," Steve said and then he was out the door and gone. Danny looked around himself at the empty room. He wiped the sweat from his eyes and pushed his hair back. He'd just let a dangerous vampire go. He was mad. Clearly mad. He ran out of the room and bolted up the steps. He looked around himself, a hand still gripping tightly to the stake. He saw nothing. There was no sign of Steve anywhere. Shit. He shouldn't have let him go.

He pulled out his phone and called Chin. "Good to hear from you, brah. We were worried. Did you get them?"

"Yeah," Danny breathed. "Yeah, Hesse is dust, so are his goons. The immigrants took off, the ones that we were able to save, anyway. There's three bodies I need to call in about."

"What about Steve, is he okay?"

Danny didn't even answer at first.

"Danny?"

"Yeah, uhm. Call Kamekona. I need you to see if you can vamp-proof the office again. And if you see Steve, don't invite him in anywhere."

"What's going on Danny?" Chin asked, concerned.

"Steve's a vampire. We were wrong about him."