fic: Past is Prologue (1/3)
Title: Past is Prologue
Author: stellarmeadow
Fandom: Hawaii Five-0
Paring: Steve/Danny
Rating: R
Summary: Steve and Danny are trying to move beyond the revelations of Steve's past, but the past isn't quite done with them yet.
Notes: I couldn't resist revisiting this universe. It needed more. Huge thanks to smudgegirl and uxseven for the cheerleading and the help when things didn't quite work right.
If you haven't read Can You Feel My Heart, this story will make no sense. Read that first.
Steve tiptoed back into the room, toweling saltwater off his skin. He'd dropped his trunks at the washing machine, and was about as dry as he was going to get by the time he reached the bed. Danny's head was peeking out above the covers, at the edge of his own pillow, with his nose buried in Steve's.
How anyone so compact (he'd never even dare think 'small' because he was pretty sure Danny could read his mind, and he didn't want to be sleeping on his own couch) could take up so much space, Steve didn't know. Nor did he really care--Danny could have almost the entire bed as long as he left just enough room for Steve to sleep next to him.
Steve slid under the covers, wrapping an arm and leg around Danny and pulling him close. Danny stirred, rubbing his nose against Steve's shoulder. "'S cold."
"You're under a blanket and a bedspread. In Hawaii." Steve kissed Danny on the head. "How can you be cold?"
"You," Danny clarified. "You're cold. And wet. You're a cold, wet, sea monster."
He pulled his head back just enough to look at Steve as he said it, the sleepy eyes, mussed up hair and smile taking Steve's breath away. He'd waited ninety years for this, only had a hint of it with Beth before it had been stolen, and even after a month he still woke up half afraid it was a dream and would be gone in the light of day.
But every day Danny was still there.
Steve tightened his leg, pulling Danny's hips against his own. "I know what would warm me up."
"Seriously," Danny said, "who called you Smooth Dog with lines like that?"
"Your mouth may be complaining, Danno, but your body says otherwise."
Danny smiled, leaning in for a quick kiss. "Nothing that happens below the belt counts as higher thinking."
"Something down there certainly seems to be getting up."
Danny groaned. "Seriously, Smooth Dog was ironic, right?"
"Danny?"
"Mmm?"
"Shut up."
Steve leaned in for a kiss to make sure he did.
***
"Danny!" Steve yelled up the stairs. "We're gonna be late!"
Danny appeared on the landing, buttoning up his shirt as he jogged down the stairs. "And whose fault is that?" he asked, as he followed Steve out the door.
"Yours," Steve said, locking the door behind him before heading to the car.
Danny paused at the passenger side door of the Camaro. "Mine?" he said, watching Steve walk around to the driver's side. "How do you figure that one?"
Steve grinned at him over the top of the car. "It's your fault you're so hot, Danno."
Danny rolled his eyes, but Steve didn't miss the smile on his face as he ducked into the car. It disappeared as they pulled out of the drive, though, and Danny's attention stayed focused on the corner after they'd passed it.
"What?" Steve asked.
Danny turned to look at him. "Hm?"
"What's wrong?"
Danny shook his head. "Nothing, just thought I saw someone." He gave Steve a mock glare. "Must be seeing things due to lack of sleep."
"Like I said, it's your own fault you're so hot."
Sometimes Steve wondered if Danny got headaches from rolling his eyes so much. "Swing by Starbucks and I might think about forgiving you before bedtime tonight."
"You'd forgive me anyway," Steve said.
But he headed straight for Starbucks, just in case.
***
Steve was going over a case the Governor had suggested they look into when he heard Danny yelling in his office. While that wasn't necessarily unusual, he was usually yelling at Steve, and since Steve wasn't in there....
He got to Danny's door and saw Toast sitting at Danny's computer, Danny hovering over him like a hawk, mid-rant, arms flying. "--an aspirin. Or some Benadryl or something."
Steve choked back a laugh at the 'are you an idiot' look on Toast's face. "It's not like a cold, Jersey. You can't just give it a pill."
"Well give it something to make the virus go away."
Toast sighed. "I'm trying to fix it. Maybe if you'd stop hovering--"
"Maybe if you'd fix it I'd stop hovering."
"Maybe if you didn't click on attachments in emails I could be at home."
Steve recognized the look on Danny's face. That was a look that clearly said it was time for Steve to intervene. "Okay," Steve said, crossing the room to stand beside Danny. "Danny, maybe you could go get some lunch?"
Danny glared at him. "I'm not leaving my computer until he's done."
"I'll stay with the computer," Steve said. "Just go get some food, okay?"
Danny looked at Toast. "How long?"
Toast shrugged. "Hour? Maybe less? I know the virus, it's pretty straightforward. It just takes time to clean."
"Come on," Steve said, putting his arm around Danny's shoulder and leading him into the hall. "Go grab something to eat. It'll be fine when you get back."
Danny sighed. "Fine. But don't let him out of your sight."
"I won't. Grab me a sandwich?"
"Yeah. I'll be back in a few."
Steve watched him leave before going back into the office. "How did he get a virus?"
"It happens," Toast said with a shrug. "But it's a virus that, among other things, turns on your webcam." Toast looked up at Steve. "Hope you didn't do anything in here the last week or so that you didn't want recorded."
Steve thought back hurriedly, but any conversations they'd had at HQ that he'd rather not have recorded had probably been in his office. "Uh...when you're done here, can you check my computer?"
Toast's smirk was probably justified, but it was still annoying.
***
"Okay," Toast said, "this program takes a while to run, so we can go check your computer while it finishes."
Steve glanced at his watch, surprised to find it had been half an hour. They'd been talking about surfing and other random things and he hadn't noticed the time. He pulled out his phone, frowning. No missed calls, no texts from Danny.
It was probably nothing. The line at the deli could be a little long. But usually Danny would've at least texted by now, bitching about the line.
Steve tapped Danny's contact icon and put the phone to his ear. It rang until the voicemail picked up. He could call Chin and get him to come in and track it, but he hated to do that when he and Lelani were having a picnic, particularly when he didn't really have any reason to think there was a problem. And Kono was with Adam.
It was nothing. Danny would be pissed if Steve called Chin or Kono to the office.
"Hey, Toast," Steve said, "can you track Danny's phone?"
"Software to track phone GPS locations is against the--"
"Toast."
"On it."
Toast turned to his tablet and tapped away. Within a minute, he had a blinking red light on a map. Steve recognized the spot on the map, and it was nowhere near where Danny was supposed to be. "What building is there?" Steve asked, not remembering one.
"There isn't one. There's nothing on that stretch for a mile, at least."
So Danny's phone was on the side of the road, and Danny wasn't answering it, so he was either not with it, or he couldn't answer. Neither option boded well.
"See if you can figure out how the phone got there," Steve said as he called Chin.
***
"You're supposed to be good at this, Toast," Steve growled, as he wore a path in front of his own desk. "The best you can do is 'I don't know?'"
"Dude, he doesn't have his phone, we have a half an hour window in downtown Honolulu where he disappeared, and since we know where his car is and he's not in it, we don't know what car we're looking for. You want me to trace a signal or something, I'm your guy, but I'm just another set of eyes for this."
Steve closed his eyes, taking a few deep breaths before opening his eyes again to look through the window to see Kono and Chin huddled over the computer table. "Do what you can," he said to Toast, as he walked out.
"Any luck?" he asked Chin and Kono, joining them at the computer table.
"Nothing yet," Chin said. "But we've got the computer scanning every camera, so as soon as we--"
The table beeped, and Kono tapped on it. "Found footage of Danny, about a block from the restaurant," Kono said. She swiped the video up on the screen. "Looks like he got stopped by some guy," Kono said, as the grainy video played out on the overhead screen, "and then--what was that?"
Steve watched as Danny shook a little, then fell against the guy, who looked up into the camera for a second before turning away. Kono rewound and paused on his face. "That's the best shot we get. I'll run it through facial recognition, but it's kind of--"
"Don't bother," Steve said shortly, staring at the man's one black eyeball. "I know who it is."
"You can tell based on that?" Chin asked.
"Some people you don't forget," Steve said, pulling out his phone. "Get Toast out here," Steve said, pulling up Josef's number. "I need to make a call."
***
"Look, Mick--"
"Steve," Steve ground out, leaning against Danny's desk.
Josef's sigh was more implied than heard. "Steve, I know you cared about Danny, but--"
"Do not say that in the past tense."
"Fine, I know you care about him. But this is Lance."
"I don't need the lecture, Josef."
"Really? Because if you'd listened to the lecture last time, things might've gone differently."
Steve glanced out Danny's office window to see Chin and Kono showing Toast the video. "That was different. He didn't have Beth. This time he has Danny." He could tell from Josef's silence that Steve had him almost roped in. "Josef," Steve said, lowering his voice. "You remember what it was like, right after she died?"
"Okay," Josef said after a few seconds. "I'm heading for my plane right now."
"Thank you."
Steve put the phone in his pocket and pushed off Danny's desk. He picked up one of the pictures of Danny and Grace, Steve's favorite. He'd taken it with his phone a few weeks ago behind his house. They'd had a lazy day on the beach, just the three of them. Grace and Danny both had pink noses from the sun and wide smiles, and they looked so happy it made Steve's heart flip a little to look at it.
He didn't want to ever have to tell Grace that anything had happened to Danny, and he sure as hell didn't want it to be his fault.
He put the picture down and went back to the bullpen, where Chin, Kono and Toast were waiting for him. "We managed to track the guy about a block," Chin said. "But he disappeared down an alley and that's the last we saw of him."
"It's okay," Steve said. "He'll contact us."
Chin and Kono exchanged looks. "Who is he?" Kono asked after a moment.
"His name is Lance," Steve said, folding his arms over his chest like that would somehow protect him. "And he's a vampire."
The look they exchanged this time clearly said they thought the situation had gotten to him. "Uh, Steve," Chin said slowly, "did you say a vampire?"
Steve nodded. "I know this sounds crazy."
"Nah, man," Toast said. "I know three vamps on Oahu alone."
Chin and Kono's heads whipped around in Toast's direction as fast as Steve's did. "You what?" Steve asked, sure he was either joking or using 'vamp' as a term for something else.
"Yeah, I mean, it's not like they go advertising it, but Devon's lived here for like a hundred years or something."
Steve stared at him. "You know actual vampires?"
"What? You do, too, right? I mean you just said--"
"I know what I said, but...."A scary thought occurred to Steve. "You're not a vampire, are you?"
Toast laughed. "No way, man. Blood's not my idea of a great drug. But...you meet people who, um, need things."
Steve knew that tone, and realized Toast meant 'illegal' things. Vampires would need false identities after a while, and who better than an expert hacker to give them online trails? "Okay, so you know vampires." Great, one person convinced.
Of course, that left Chin and Kono, who were still looking at both Steve and Toast like they'd lost their minds. "I know it's hard to wrap your mind around it," Steve said, "but I'm serious. And the faster you accept it, the faster we can find Danny."
Kono and Chin exchanged another look. "It's not that we don't believe you," Kono started.
"But there's no such thing, right?" Steve nodded. "How about this, then? I was born in 1922. I was turned into a vampire in 1952. And until recently, I've had to take a cure every six months to stay human."
Kono's "You were a vampire?" mixed in with Toast's "There's a cure?"
Steve answered both with one yes.
"So," Chin said, still not looking like he was entirely buying it, "in six months or so you'll turn back without a cure?"
Steve shook his head. "Not anymore. We found a cure that was permanent." Steve nodded at the screen, where Lance's picture was still frozen in place. "My guess is that's what Lance is here about."
"He wants the cure?" Kono asked.
"Well, he doesn't want me to have it." Steve gave a half shrug. "And he might need some by now, who knows? It's kind of complicated."
There was another look between Chin and Kono. "Sounds like we're going to need the whole story if we're going to help Danny," Chin said.
***
By the time Steve was done giving them the information they needed, in between searching for Danny, Josef was an hour out, and they still had no more leads on where Danny had vanished to from a busy Honolulu street. HPD had canvassed the area, but nobody had noticed anything. Or if they had, they weren't talking.
Steve missed the days when he could call Catherine and redirect a satellite, but given his recent adventure in Afghanistan, he was pretty sure any contacts willing to help would get into too much trouble to risk it. Though if he reminded Walters about that little incident in Kabul--
His phone buzzed, and he looked at it almost absently at first, not recognizing the phone number. It took a second for it to register that it was a picture of Danny, tied to a chair. "Chin!" Steve all but threw the phone at him. "Can you trace that?"
Toast and Kono leaned over the phone as well. "That's an IP address," Toast said.
"What?" Steve asked.
"An IP address," Toast repeated, pointing at a number below the picture. "It's--it's the number version of a website. Like www.google.com, but with numbers."
"Can you trace it?"
Toast shrugged. "I can try, along with the picture, but I'm guessing whoever sent this wants you to go to it."
"Then go."
"I'll go," Chin said to Toast. "You trace."
Toast waited until Chin had the IP address before taking the phone over to his laptop. Chin pulled up a website with nothing but a black box on it and swiped it up onto the overhead.
"I don't get it," Steve said. "What's the--"
The box flickered, and then came to life to show Danny in the same room as the picture, tied to the same chair. It was too dark to see any real details, though Steve thought he could make out a floral pattern of some kind on the walls, which could mean they were anywhere in Hawaii.
"It's been a long time, St. John," a voice off camera said. Lance's voice, Steve recognized it instantly, and the knowledge made the last hope Steve had had of being wrong fade away. "Oh, I'm sorry, it's McGarrett now. How embarrassing."
Steve looked at Chin. "Can he hear me?"
Chin studied the screen for a second, then clicked on something that looked like a microphone, and nodded at Steve.
"I don't know where Coraline is," Steve said, hoping that maybe that was all this was, that if Lance was looking for her, this could be over soon, hopefully without any more harm to Danny.
Lance's laugh wasn't encouraging. "I am fully aware of that," he said. "Just as I am fully aware of my sister's whereabouts."
That was also not encouraging. "Then I don't know what you want."
"Word gets around," Lance said, the camera bouncing just a little a moment before he appeared next to Danny. "My sister foolishly took what was left of the cure and gave it to you. I want it back."
"I gave you everything I had from Coraline the day you took her with you," Steve said.
"But that wasn't the last time it was taken from me."
Steve raised an eyebrow. "I think I more than paid for that," he said, trying not to sound like his teeth were trying to merge into each other his jaw was so tight. Because he'd paid with Beth's life, and that price was more than too high.
"That is a matter of opinion. And that doesn't change what was taken after that."
Which didn't make any sense, but that wasn't really the important thing. "It doesn't matter either way," Steve said. "I don't have any cure to give you."
"That is unfortunate," Lance said, moving closer to Danny, and Steve's hands clenched into fists as Lance put a hand on Danny's shoulder. "What happened twenty years ago was such a shame. Such a waste. I would hate for history to repeat itself."
Chin muted the microphone. "You have to keep him talking," Chin said, nodding over to where Kono was now hovering over Toast at his laptop. "The longer he stays on, the better our chances of finding Danny."
Steve moved over beside Chin, hiding his face. "Can he see Toast is tracking?"
"No, the webcam isn't on, he can only hear you."
"Good."
Steve nodded at Chin, who turned the microphone back on. "There's no need to hurt Detective Williams," Steve said. "I told you, I don't have any cure to give you."
Lance considered that for a moment. "Do you know I actually believe you don't have it?" He shook his head. "But I also know that you have taken it. And recently. Or you wouldn't be human." Lance leaned down, taking a long sniff of Danny's neck. "I can smell you on him, but it's human you."
Steve gripped the table, and he felt one of Chin's hands on his shoulder just long enough to calm him down. Going into a rage against Lance wasn't going to do Danny any good. "I took the last of it," Steve said. "So there's nothing left."
Lance cocked his head. "Interesting," he said. "True, but not true. I know there are rumors of a new batch of it. So even if you don't have it, I'm sure you can find it if you are properly motivated."
"You hurt him," Steve said, letting nothing but steel in his voice, "and you'll get nothing but a flamethrower."
Lance laughed. "I'm not going to hurt him," he said. "Well, not long term." Steve didn't like the sound of that, liked it even less when Lance said, "I'm going to give him a gift."
"What's that, a knife to cut his ropes and a ride home?"
That laugh was getting annoying. "Not quite," Lance said, as he ripped the tape off of Danny's mouth.
"Steven, if you give in to this guy, I will never forgive you."
"Danny, just stay quiet," Steve said.
Lance moved around behind Danny, tilting Danny's head to one side, and Steve wanted to jump through the screen, wanted to scream, to do something, anything. But all he could do was keep Lane talking while Toast traced the IP address. "I thought you were supposed to be this big bad guy," Steve said. "But you have to tie up someone just to take a little sip?"
"Oh, I'm going to take more than a sip," Lance said, his finger tracing its way down Danny's neck. "Last chance," Lance said. "Tell me where the cure is, or tell him goodbye."
Steve's "Lance, you hurt him, I swear I'll kill you!" mixed in with Danny's, "Do not give in to this asshole, Steven!"
Lance just laughed again. "These mortals," he said, shaking his head like a small child had just asked a silly question. "Always so quick to give up what are such short, inconsequential lives to begin with." He tilted his head. "Maybe I should help him understand what he is throwing away."
Steve stared in horror as Lance's fangs came out as he ducked his head. He bit into Danny's neck, and Danny's cry would haunt Steve for the rest of his life, whatever happened. He had caused this. This was his fault. Just like Beth, like John, like all the people he hadn't been able to save.
He watched as Danny weakened, unable to take his eyes off the screen, even though he knew preventing this was already too late. There was only one hope left now, and Steve was betting Danny's life that he had understood Lance's meaning correctly.
Danny stopped moving, and Lance lifted his head, blood dripping down his chin. "What do you think, Steven? Should I let him make that noble sacrifice he was so quick to volunteer for?"
"I think the same thing I thought before," Steve said. "He dies, so do you. Permanently."
No threat, just a promise, and apparently the steel in Steve's voice came through the audio connection this time. "Hm. I suppose this would be far more motivating."
Steve watched as Lance bit his own wrist and held it over Danny's mouth until Danny started to drink. Steve couldn't look at anyone else in the room now, not after admitting that he'd done this himself, after knowing they all knew exactly what he'd been, and that he'd let this happen.
He didn't care at this point that it had happened. He only cared that a turned Danny was still an alive Danny, and there was still a cure that could fix it.
He watched as Danny started the transformation, still remembering the way that felt, thankful for Danny's sake that the room was dark. Danny still flinched from what little light there was, even as he looked around like he wasn't quite sure what had happened yet.
Steve felt a little like a coward when he hoped he'd be spared the recognition in Danny's eyes when he realized.
"Are you suitably motivated to find the cure now?" Lance asked.
"Give me Danny back and we'll talk."
"I think not." Lance stroked Danny's hair like he was a new pet, and Steve tamped down on his rage once more. "You have until sundown to find the cure. I will call you then to set up a meeting."
Lance moved suddenly, and the camera went dark. The website changed to nothing but a blank white screen, no sign of a video feed. Steve turned around to look at Toast. "Did you trace it?"
"Yeah," Toast said. "We got an address."
"Good," Steve said, heading for his office. "Gear up," he said over his shoulder. "I'm going to make a call, and then we go get Danny back."
***
Part 2
Author: stellarmeadow
Fandom: Hawaii Five-0
Paring: Steve/Danny
Rating: R
Summary: Steve and Danny are trying to move beyond the revelations of Steve's past, but the past isn't quite done with them yet.
Notes: I couldn't resist revisiting this universe. It needed more. Huge thanks to smudgegirl and uxseven for the cheerleading and the help when things didn't quite work right.
If you haven't read Can You Feel My Heart, this story will make no sense. Read that first.
Steve tiptoed back into the room, toweling saltwater off his skin. He'd dropped his trunks at the washing machine, and was about as dry as he was going to get by the time he reached the bed. Danny's head was peeking out above the covers, at the edge of his own pillow, with his nose buried in Steve's.
How anyone so compact (he'd never even dare think 'small' because he was pretty sure Danny could read his mind, and he didn't want to be sleeping on his own couch) could take up so much space, Steve didn't know. Nor did he really care--Danny could have almost the entire bed as long as he left just enough room for Steve to sleep next to him.
Steve slid under the covers, wrapping an arm and leg around Danny and pulling him close. Danny stirred, rubbing his nose against Steve's shoulder. "'S cold."
"You're under a blanket and a bedspread. In Hawaii." Steve kissed Danny on the head. "How can you be cold?"
"You," Danny clarified. "You're cold. And wet. You're a cold, wet, sea monster."
He pulled his head back just enough to look at Steve as he said it, the sleepy eyes, mussed up hair and smile taking Steve's breath away. He'd waited ninety years for this, only had a hint of it with Beth before it had been stolen, and even after a month he still woke up half afraid it was a dream and would be gone in the light of day.
But every day Danny was still there.
Steve tightened his leg, pulling Danny's hips against his own. "I know what would warm me up."
"Seriously," Danny said, "who called you Smooth Dog with lines like that?"
"Your mouth may be complaining, Danno, but your body says otherwise."
Danny smiled, leaning in for a quick kiss. "Nothing that happens below the belt counts as higher thinking."
"Something down there certainly seems to be getting up."
Danny groaned. "Seriously, Smooth Dog was ironic, right?"
"Danny?"
"Mmm?"
"Shut up."
Steve leaned in for a kiss to make sure he did.
***
"Danny!" Steve yelled up the stairs. "We're gonna be late!"
Danny appeared on the landing, buttoning up his shirt as he jogged down the stairs. "And whose fault is that?" he asked, as he followed Steve out the door.
"Yours," Steve said, locking the door behind him before heading to the car.
Danny paused at the passenger side door of the Camaro. "Mine?" he said, watching Steve walk around to the driver's side. "How do you figure that one?"
Steve grinned at him over the top of the car. "It's your fault you're so hot, Danno."
Danny rolled his eyes, but Steve didn't miss the smile on his face as he ducked into the car. It disappeared as they pulled out of the drive, though, and Danny's attention stayed focused on the corner after they'd passed it.
"What?" Steve asked.
Danny turned to look at him. "Hm?"
"What's wrong?"
Danny shook his head. "Nothing, just thought I saw someone." He gave Steve a mock glare. "Must be seeing things due to lack of sleep."
"Like I said, it's your own fault you're so hot."
Sometimes Steve wondered if Danny got headaches from rolling his eyes so much. "Swing by Starbucks and I might think about forgiving you before bedtime tonight."
"You'd forgive me anyway," Steve said.
But he headed straight for Starbucks, just in case.
***
Steve was going over a case the Governor had suggested they look into when he heard Danny yelling in his office. While that wasn't necessarily unusual, he was usually yelling at Steve, and since Steve wasn't in there....
He got to Danny's door and saw Toast sitting at Danny's computer, Danny hovering over him like a hawk, mid-rant, arms flying. "--an aspirin. Or some Benadryl or something."
Steve choked back a laugh at the 'are you an idiot' look on Toast's face. "It's not like a cold, Jersey. You can't just give it a pill."
"Well give it something to make the virus go away."
Toast sighed. "I'm trying to fix it. Maybe if you'd stop hovering--"
"Maybe if you'd fix it I'd stop hovering."
"Maybe if you didn't click on attachments in emails I could be at home."
Steve recognized the look on Danny's face. That was a look that clearly said it was time for Steve to intervene. "Okay," Steve said, crossing the room to stand beside Danny. "Danny, maybe you could go get some lunch?"
Danny glared at him. "I'm not leaving my computer until he's done."
"I'll stay with the computer," Steve said. "Just go get some food, okay?"
Danny looked at Toast. "How long?"
Toast shrugged. "Hour? Maybe less? I know the virus, it's pretty straightforward. It just takes time to clean."
"Come on," Steve said, putting his arm around Danny's shoulder and leading him into the hall. "Go grab something to eat. It'll be fine when you get back."
Danny sighed. "Fine. But don't let him out of your sight."
"I won't. Grab me a sandwich?"
"Yeah. I'll be back in a few."
Steve watched him leave before going back into the office. "How did he get a virus?"
"It happens," Toast said with a shrug. "But it's a virus that, among other things, turns on your webcam." Toast looked up at Steve. "Hope you didn't do anything in here the last week or so that you didn't want recorded."
Steve thought back hurriedly, but any conversations they'd had at HQ that he'd rather not have recorded had probably been in his office. "Uh...when you're done here, can you check my computer?"
Toast's smirk was probably justified, but it was still annoying.
***
"Okay," Toast said, "this program takes a while to run, so we can go check your computer while it finishes."
Steve glanced at his watch, surprised to find it had been half an hour. They'd been talking about surfing and other random things and he hadn't noticed the time. He pulled out his phone, frowning. No missed calls, no texts from Danny.
It was probably nothing. The line at the deli could be a little long. But usually Danny would've at least texted by now, bitching about the line.
Steve tapped Danny's contact icon and put the phone to his ear. It rang until the voicemail picked up. He could call Chin and get him to come in and track it, but he hated to do that when he and Lelani were having a picnic, particularly when he didn't really have any reason to think there was a problem. And Kono was with Adam.
It was nothing. Danny would be pissed if Steve called Chin or Kono to the office.
"Hey, Toast," Steve said, "can you track Danny's phone?"
"Software to track phone GPS locations is against the--"
"Toast."
"On it."
Toast turned to his tablet and tapped away. Within a minute, he had a blinking red light on a map. Steve recognized the spot on the map, and it was nowhere near where Danny was supposed to be. "What building is there?" Steve asked, not remembering one.
"There isn't one. There's nothing on that stretch for a mile, at least."
So Danny's phone was on the side of the road, and Danny wasn't answering it, so he was either not with it, or he couldn't answer. Neither option boded well.
"See if you can figure out how the phone got there," Steve said as he called Chin.
***
"You're supposed to be good at this, Toast," Steve growled, as he wore a path in front of his own desk. "The best you can do is 'I don't know?'"
"Dude, he doesn't have his phone, we have a half an hour window in downtown Honolulu where he disappeared, and since we know where his car is and he's not in it, we don't know what car we're looking for. You want me to trace a signal or something, I'm your guy, but I'm just another set of eyes for this."
Steve closed his eyes, taking a few deep breaths before opening his eyes again to look through the window to see Kono and Chin huddled over the computer table. "Do what you can," he said to Toast, as he walked out.
"Any luck?" he asked Chin and Kono, joining them at the computer table.
"Nothing yet," Chin said. "But we've got the computer scanning every camera, so as soon as we--"
The table beeped, and Kono tapped on it. "Found footage of Danny, about a block from the restaurant," Kono said. She swiped the video up on the screen. "Looks like he got stopped by some guy," Kono said, as the grainy video played out on the overhead screen, "and then--what was that?"
Steve watched as Danny shook a little, then fell against the guy, who looked up into the camera for a second before turning away. Kono rewound and paused on his face. "That's the best shot we get. I'll run it through facial recognition, but it's kind of--"
"Don't bother," Steve said shortly, staring at the man's one black eyeball. "I know who it is."
"You can tell based on that?" Chin asked.
"Some people you don't forget," Steve said, pulling out his phone. "Get Toast out here," Steve said, pulling up Josef's number. "I need to make a call."
***
"Look, Mick--"
"Steve," Steve ground out, leaning against Danny's desk.
Josef's sigh was more implied than heard. "Steve, I know you cared about Danny, but--"
"Do not say that in the past tense."
"Fine, I know you care about him. But this is Lance."
"I don't need the lecture, Josef."
"Really? Because if you'd listened to the lecture last time, things might've gone differently."
Steve glanced out Danny's office window to see Chin and Kono showing Toast the video. "That was different. He didn't have Beth. This time he has Danny." He could tell from Josef's silence that Steve had him almost roped in. "Josef," Steve said, lowering his voice. "You remember what it was like, right after she died?"
"Okay," Josef said after a few seconds. "I'm heading for my plane right now."
"Thank you."
Steve put the phone in his pocket and pushed off Danny's desk. He picked up one of the pictures of Danny and Grace, Steve's favorite. He'd taken it with his phone a few weeks ago behind his house. They'd had a lazy day on the beach, just the three of them. Grace and Danny both had pink noses from the sun and wide smiles, and they looked so happy it made Steve's heart flip a little to look at it.
He didn't want to ever have to tell Grace that anything had happened to Danny, and he sure as hell didn't want it to be his fault.
He put the picture down and went back to the bullpen, where Chin, Kono and Toast were waiting for him. "We managed to track the guy about a block," Chin said. "But he disappeared down an alley and that's the last we saw of him."
"It's okay," Steve said. "He'll contact us."
Chin and Kono exchanged looks. "Who is he?" Kono asked after a moment.
"His name is Lance," Steve said, folding his arms over his chest like that would somehow protect him. "And he's a vampire."
The look they exchanged this time clearly said they thought the situation had gotten to him. "Uh, Steve," Chin said slowly, "did you say a vampire?"
Steve nodded. "I know this sounds crazy."
"Nah, man," Toast said. "I know three vamps on Oahu alone."
Chin and Kono's heads whipped around in Toast's direction as fast as Steve's did. "You what?" Steve asked, sure he was either joking or using 'vamp' as a term for something else.
"Yeah, I mean, it's not like they go advertising it, but Devon's lived here for like a hundred years or something."
Steve stared at him. "You know actual vampires?"
"What? You do, too, right? I mean you just said--"
"I know what I said, but...."A scary thought occurred to Steve. "You're not a vampire, are you?"
Toast laughed. "No way, man. Blood's not my idea of a great drug. But...you meet people who, um, need things."
Steve knew that tone, and realized Toast meant 'illegal' things. Vampires would need false identities after a while, and who better than an expert hacker to give them online trails? "Okay, so you know vampires." Great, one person convinced.
Of course, that left Chin and Kono, who were still looking at both Steve and Toast like they'd lost their minds. "I know it's hard to wrap your mind around it," Steve said, "but I'm serious. And the faster you accept it, the faster we can find Danny."
Kono and Chin exchanged another look. "It's not that we don't believe you," Kono started.
"But there's no such thing, right?" Steve nodded. "How about this, then? I was born in 1922. I was turned into a vampire in 1952. And until recently, I've had to take a cure every six months to stay human."
Kono's "You were a vampire?" mixed in with Toast's "There's a cure?"
Steve answered both with one yes.
"So," Chin said, still not looking like he was entirely buying it, "in six months or so you'll turn back without a cure?"
Steve shook his head. "Not anymore. We found a cure that was permanent." Steve nodded at the screen, where Lance's picture was still frozen in place. "My guess is that's what Lance is here about."
"He wants the cure?" Kono asked.
"Well, he doesn't want me to have it." Steve gave a half shrug. "And he might need some by now, who knows? It's kind of complicated."
There was another look between Chin and Kono. "Sounds like we're going to need the whole story if we're going to help Danny," Chin said.
***
By the time Steve was done giving them the information they needed, in between searching for Danny, Josef was an hour out, and they still had no more leads on where Danny had vanished to from a busy Honolulu street. HPD had canvassed the area, but nobody had noticed anything. Or if they had, they weren't talking.
Steve missed the days when he could call Catherine and redirect a satellite, but given his recent adventure in Afghanistan, he was pretty sure any contacts willing to help would get into too much trouble to risk it. Though if he reminded Walters about that little incident in Kabul--
His phone buzzed, and he looked at it almost absently at first, not recognizing the phone number. It took a second for it to register that it was a picture of Danny, tied to a chair. "Chin!" Steve all but threw the phone at him. "Can you trace that?"
Toast and Kono leaned over the phone as well. "That's an IP address," Toast said.
"What?" Steve asked.
"An IP address," Toast repeated, pointing at a number below the picture. "It's--it's the number version of a website. Like www.google.com, but with numbers."
"Can you trace it?"
Toast shrugged. "I can try, along with the picture, but I'm guessing whoever sent this wants you to go to it."
"Then go."
"I'll go," Chin said to Toast. "You trace."
Toast waited until Chin had the IP address before taking the phone over to his laptop. Chin pulled up a website with nothing but a black box on it and swiped it up onto the overhead.
"I don't get it," Steve said. "What's the--"
The box flickered, and then came to life to show Danny in the same room as the picture, tied to the same chair. It was too dark to see any real details, though Steve thought he could make out a floral pattern of some kind on the walls, which could mean they were anywhere in Hawaii.
"It's been a long time, St. John," a voice off camera said. Lance's voice, Steve recognized it instantly, and the knowledge made the last hope Steve had had of being wrong fade away. "Oh, I'm sorry, it's McGarrett now. How embarrassing."
Steve looked at Chin. "Can he hear me?"
Chin studied the screen for a second, then clicked on something that looked like a microphone, and nodded at Steve.
"I don't know where Coraline is," Steve said, hoping that maybe that was all this was, that if Lance was looking for her, this could be over soon, hopefully without any more harm to Danny.
Lance's laugh wasn't encouraging. "I am fully aware of that," he said. "Just as I am fully aware of my sister's whereabouts."
That was also not encouraging. "Then I don't know what you want."
"Word gets around," Lance said, the camera bouncing just a little a moment before he appeared next to Danny. "My sister foolishly took what was left of the cure and gave it to you. I want it back."
"I gave you everything I had from Coraline the day you took her with you," Steve said.
"But that wasn't the last time it was taken from me."
Steve raised an eyebrow. "I think I more than paid for that," he said, trying not to sound like his teeth were trying to merge into each other his jaw was so tight. Because he'd paid with Beth's life, and that price was more than too high.
"That is a matter of opinion. And that doesn't change what was taken after that."
Which didn't make any sense, but that wasn't really the important thing. "It doesn't matter either way," Steve said. "I don't have any cure to give you."
"That is unfortunate," Lance said, moving closer to Danny, and Steve's hands clenched into fists as Lance put a hand on Danny's shoulder. "What happened twenty years ago was such a shame. Such a waste. I would hate for history to repeat itself."
Chin muted the microphone. "You have to keep him talking," Chin said, nodding over to where Kono was now hovering over Toast at his laptop. "The longer he stays on, the better our chances of finding Danny."
Steve moved over beside Chin, hiding his face. "Can he see Toast is tracking?"
"No, the webcam isn't on, he can only hear you."
"Good."
Steve nodded at Chin, who turned the microphone back on. "There's no need to hurt Detective Williams," Steve said. "I told you, I don't have any cure to give you."
Lance considered that for a moment. "Do you know I actually believe you don't have it?" He shook his head. "But I also know that you have taken it. And recently. Or you wouldn't be human." Lance leaned down, taking a long sniff of Danny's neck. "I can smell you on him, but it's human you."
Steve gripped the table, and he felt one of Chin's hands on his shoulder just long enough to calm him down. Going into a rage against Lance wasn't going to do Danny any good. "I took the last of it," Steve said. "So there's nothing left."
Lance cocked his head. "Interesting," he said. "True, but not true. I know there are rumors of a new batch of it. So even if you don't have it, I'm sure you can find it if you are properly motivated."
"You hurt him," Steve said, letting nothing but steel in his voice, "and you'll get nothing but a flamethrower."
Lance laughed. "I'm not going to hurt him," he said. "Well, not long term." Steve didn't like the sound of that, liked it even less when Lance said, "I'm going to give him a gift."
"What's that, a knife to cut his ropes and a ride home?"
That laugh was getting annoying. "Not quite," Lance said, as he ripped the tape off of Danny's mouth.
"Steven, if you give in to this guy, I will never forgive you."
"Danny, just stay quiet," Steve said.
Lance moved around behind Danny, tilting Danny's head to one side, and Steve wanted to jump through the screen, wanted to scream, to do something, anything. But all he could do was keep Lane talking while Toast traced the IP address. "I thought you were supposed to be this big bad guy," Steve said. "But you have to tie up someone just to take a little sip?"
"Oh, I'm going to take more than a sip," Lance said, his finger tracing its way down Danny's neck. "Last chance," Lance said. "Tell me where the cure is, or tell him goodbye."
Steve's "Lance, you hurt him, I swear I'll kill you!" mixed in with Danny's, "Do not give in to this asshole, Steven!"
Lance just laughed again. "These mortals," he said, shaking his head like a small child had just asked a silly question. "Always so quick to give up what are such short, inconsequential lives to begin with." He tilted his head. "Maybe I should help him understand what he is throwing away."
Steve stared in horror as Lance's fangs came out as he ducked his head. He bit into Danny's neck, and Danny's cry would haunt Steve for the rest of his life, whatever happened. He had caused this. This was his fault. Just like Beth, like John, like all the people he hadn't been able to save.
He watched as Danny weakened, unable to take his eyes off the screen, even though he knew preventing this was already too late. There was only one hope left now, and Steve was betting Danny's life that he had understood Lance's meaning correctly.
Danny stopped moving, and Lance lifted his head, blood dripping down his chin. "What do you think, Steven? Should I let him make that noble sacrifice he was so quick to volunteer for?"
"I think the same thing I thought before," Steve said. "He dies, so do you. Permanently."
No threat, just a promise, and apparently the steel in Steve's voice came through the audio connection this time. "Hm. I suppose this would be far more motivating."
Steve watched as Lance bit his own wrist and held it over Danny's mouth until Danny started to drink. Steve couldn't look at anyone else in the room now, not after admitting that he'd done this himself, after knowing they all knew exactly what he'd been, and that he'd let this happen.
He didn't care at this point that it had happened. He only cared that a turned Danny was still an alive Danny, and there was still a cure that could fix it.
He watched as Danny started the transformation, still remembering the way that felt, thankful for Danny's sake that the room was dark. Danny still flinched from what little light there was, even as he looked around like he wasn't quite sure what had happened yet.
Steve felt a little like a coward when he hoped he'd be spared the recognition in Danny's eyes when he realized.
"Are you suitably motivated to find the cure now?" Lance asked.
"Give me Danny back and we'll talk."
"I think not." Lance stroked Danny's hair like he was a new pet, and Steve tamped down on his rage once more. "You have until sundown to find the cure. I will call you then to set up a meeting."
Lance moved suddenly, and the camera went dark. The website changed to nothing but a blank white screen, no sign of a video feed. Steve turned around to look at Toast. "Did you trace it?"
"Yeah," Toast said. "We got an address."
"Good," Steve said, heading for his office. "Gear up," he said over his shoulder. "I'm going to make a call, and then we go get Danny back."
***
Part 2