fic: Past is Prologue (2/3)
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.
Part 1
"Are you completely out of your mind?"
Steve gripped the phone hard. "Josef, I don't have a choice. I have to go after him."
"Mick--Steve--whatever the fuck your name is, do you remember the last time you started to go after vampires who had the love of your life?"
Steve had been trying to not think about that exact thing. "I don't care."
"You are no good to him dead. You know that, right?"
"Josef--"
"No. Stay put. We made good time and we have clearance to land early. I'll be there in half an hour. You know you can't win alone, so don't do anything stupid. Okay?" When Steve didn't answer, Josef repeated, "Okay?"
"Okay."
***
"Thank God," were the first words out of Steve's mouth when Josef walked in, Jeff following close behind. Steve's relief at finally being able to actively do something about Danny was enhanced by his relief at not having to talk about his past anymore. At least not for the moment; he knew better than to think Chin and Kono would just leave it.
And he owed them honesty about it, owed them the stories. They'd more than earned them. He just didn't want to think about it right now, not when Danny....
Well, he didn't want to think too much about that, either.
Steve made the introductions, finishing with, "And now can we go get Danny?" to Josef.
"We're coming," Kono said.
Steve's quick and definitive. "No."
"We have every right--" Kono started, but Steve cut her off.
"You don't know what it's like to fight a vampire, Kono. You can't win."
Josef's laugh made Steve glare at him. "And you can?" Josef asked. "Exactly how does that work? You're human now, remember?"
"Believe me, I haven't forgotten." Steve looked at the others before nodding towards his office. "Let's talk in there."
Josef shook his head. "I already know what you're going to ask me, and Jeff has already said no."
"Josef--"
"Even if it works," Josef said, "and Jeff doesn't think it will, the cure isn't likely to work again. You become a vampire again, you likely stay one."
"I don't--"
"Yes, you do care. Why do you think we spent so much time finding that cure, asshole?"
Steve took a deep breath. He did care. But not more than he cared about saving Danny. "I will do whatever it takes to save him. You get that?"
Josef rolled his eyes. "You think I haven't learned a thing or two about you in sixty years?" He looked at Jeff. "Tell him."
"If someone tried to turn you there's a seventy-eight percent chance you'd end up in a coma or die," Jeff said.
Steve looked at Josef, knew he was thinking about Sarah, forever young, forever living, and forever in a coma, thanks to Josef. He couldn't do that to Josef. And he was no good to Danny in a coma or dead. "Okay," Steve said. "Okay. So what do we do?"
"We have the cure," Josef said. "Lance wants the cure. He left you alone once when he got what he wanted."
"And then tried to kill me and did kill Beth the second time," Steve reminded him.
"Because he didn't get what he wanted."
Steve hadn't had time to give him what he wanted. He would have, in a heartbeat, if he'd known what was coming. "You know Lance only wants a temporary cure," Steve said. "He doesn't want to be human forever, only long enough to suit his purposes."
"Nobody said he had to know this one was permanent," Josef said.
Steve blinked. "He doesn't know?"
"Would he be asking you for it if he did?"
Steve hadn't thought about at. He'd been too busy focusing on saving Danny to let his brain go any further. "So what happens to us when he finds out it's permanent?"
Josef shrugged. "Best case scenario? He's human by then. What difference does it make what he tries to do?"
"Worst case?"
"Nothing worse than the situation you're in right now."
All true. Steve took a shaky breath and let it out, focusing himself. "Okay."
"Do we know where Lance is holed up?" Josef asked.
Kono, who'd been watching the conversation silently with Chin and Toast, swiped a map up onto the overhead screens. "He's in a house in Waimanalo," she said. "Or at least that's where we traced the signal to."
"Except I know that house," Toast said. "A vampire lives there, but not this Lance guy. It's a guy named Reaver."
"Reaver?" Josef asked.
Toast shrugged. "That's what happens when you choose your own name when you're high?"
"Reaver it is," Josef said with a little smirk.
"Reaver's high a lot," Toast said, and for Toast to think it was a lot, that had to be a hell of a lot. "I can't believe he's part of a kidnapping plot--seems like too many brain cells for him."
"We think he might be working for Lance," Chin said. "Holding Danny at his place, maybe, in exchange for money or drugs."
Josef thought for a second before coming to the same conclusion Steve had half an hour ago. "Makes sense. Vampire-ready housing can't be easy to find, especially in Hawaii. And a low-brain druggie is easy fodder for Lance."
"That's what I thought," Steve said. "So let's go talk to Reaver."
"And if Lance is there?"
"Then we tell him that we have the cure stashed away and he gets it when Danny's free," Steve said. "You brought it, right?"
Josef nodded at the bag slung over Jeff's shoulder, which looked like an organ donor transplant cooler. "There's a couple of batches in there, " Josef said, "along with what we'd need to make more if we had to. My lab is still in place not far from here. Jeff's going to go there to store everything and wait."
"If Lance figures out where it is--"
"I've got security all over that place," Josef said.
"Still...." He turned to Chin and Kono. "Will you go with him? Make sure he's safe?"
Chin frowned. "If this is your way of trying to protect us--"
"That cure is Danny's only hope," Steve interrupted. "You're the only ones I trust to protect it."
"Then that's what we'll do," Kono said, giving him a small smile, one that Chin echoed.
"Mahalo." He jerked his head towards the door. "Take him now before we leave, and try not to be seen."
Chin gripped Steve's arm for a moment. "Be careful."
"You, too."
He let go, and Kono gave Steve a hug before they shepherded Jeff out of the room.
Steve looked at Josef. "You ready?"
"Do I have a choice?"
"No. So let's go."
***
"There's something bothering me," Steve said as he drove, feeling odd driving the Camaro with Josef in the passenger seat. It was like two different worlds that were never meant to meet, and it just underscored the situation.
"Other than the ancient vampire holding your newly-turned boyfriend hostage?"
Steve shot him a dark look. "You really wanna make jokes about this right now?"
"Sorry," Josef said. "Just trying to lighten the mood."
Steve ignored that. "Lance said something about Coraline stealing the cure. I thought at first he meant when she brought it to me in L.A., before he found her. But then he said something about what was taken after he killed Beth." Steve shook his head. "That doesn't make any sense."
The silence from the other side of the car was deafening. After a minute, Steve took a deep breath. "Tell me that doesn't make any sense to you, Josef."
"Okay, you have to understand that I didn't realize until just now that she'd stolen it. I wasn't even sure it came from her."
Steve counted to ten, gripping the steering wheel tightly. "What happened?"
"Not long after Beth died, another sample of the cure arrive by courier. Untraceable, no way of knowing where it came from, the trail ended at the courier, and trust me, I tried to find out. So we tested it to make sure it wasn't some kind of hoax, but it was the real cure. And we were running out of what you left with us, so we used it. It's the only reason we had enough to get to our breakthrough."
"And you didn't think to tell me this?"
"What good would it have done, huh?" Josef asked. "You were off on your self-imposed exile, punishing yourself for Beth's death by trying to become some kind of super human. Like you needed more things to worry about?"
Steve gripped the wheel even harder. "You should've told me."
"Why? You didn't need to worry about where it came from any more than you needed the possibly false hope that it would lead to a cure. You went off to Annapolis to forget Mick St. John and everything associated with him," Josef said. "What purpose would've been served by calling you up and saying 'Hey, I think your dead undead wife might've sent me some more of the cure?'"
He had a point. Steve knew he had a point. Didn't mean it still didn't sting. One more secret someone had kept from him 'for his own good.'
He really hated that phrase.
"Okay," he said, because he had to let it go, had to put all his focus on Danny if this was going to work. "Just...no more secrets, right?"
"Nope. All secrets are officially out."
Steve scoffed at the idea of Josef revealing all his secrets to anyone, but he could hear the sincerity in the tone enough to know that Josef would at least think twice before keeping anything secret that concerning Steve. That was all that mattered.
***
As they walked up to the front door of the house, Steve could tell Josef was sniffing out any potential vampires. Steve raised an eyebrow at him to avoid saying anything that might be overheard by a vamp with super hearing.
Josef held up one finger.
"Vamp?" Steve mouthed.
Josef nodded, and Steve frowned. If Danny was there, as a newly turned vamp he'd be obvious. Hardly any decay. Josef didn't seem to think that was what he'd smelled. Then again, maybe the vamp smell was masking Danny. Steve had had trouble with that in the past.
No other way to find out but ask. Steve knocked, then, when there wasn't an answer, knocked again. After his third knock, Josef put his hand on Steve's arm, keeping him from knocking again. A few seconds later, Steve heard footsteps, then the door opened to reveal a guy Steve would've at least suspected was a drug addict if he hadn't known he was a vamp.
Then again, there wasn't a lot of difference.
Steve pointed at his badge. "Five-0," he said. "We'd like a few words with you, Reaver."
Reaver blinked. "Who?" he said, and it was somehow refreshing to Steve to see an addict who was that bad at lying.
"I could call you by your last three names," Steve said. "Or I could drag you out in broad daylight and question you in the sun for a while and see how that goes."
Reaver rolled his eyes and pulled the door back further. "Come in then."
Steve followed Josef into the house and closed the door. Reaver folded his arms over his chest. "What do you want?" he asked.
"Lance," Steve said.
"Who's Lance?"
Steve laughed. "How old are you?" Steve said. "Because you can't have lived all that long being that bad a liar."
"You know usually when people want something they're a lot nicer.'
"This says I don't have to be nice," Steve said, pointing at his badge.
Reaver looked at Josef, who said, "I could rip your head off before you could realize I'd moved," like he was commenting on the weather.
"Okay, I mighta seen a Lance or something somewhere."
"We know he was here. We know he had a guest."
Reaver shook his head. "Didn't have a guest."
Steve glanced at Josef. "What did he have?" Steve asked.
"A promise he would kill me if I told anyone."
"Don't worry," Josef said, "there won't be anything left of you to kill if you don't tell us."
Reaver blinked at him, then blinked at Steve. "Aren't you, like, a cop?"
"Something like that."
"He just threatened to kill me."
Steve shrugged. "I'm sworn to protect humans. What happens to vampires isn't really my area anymore."
Reaver stared at them until Josef moved closer, letting out a growl. "Okay!" Reaver said, holding his hands up. "Okay!" He took a step back, eyeing Josef warily. "This guy Lance, he paid me to reroute an internet signal. That's it. I don't know anything else."
"Where was the original signal coming from?"
Reaver shook his head. "I have an IP address."
"Hand it over," Steve said, already dialing Toast's number.
***
"What do you smell?" Steve asked Josef, eyeing the house that, according to Toast, was the origin of the IP address Reaver had given them.
"Vampires," Josef said quietly. "There've been several, but I think they're gone. There's a faint smell of human, though."
"That might be Danny," Steve said, charging forward.
Josef grabbed his arm, his grip painful. "And it might be a trap, too."
"Only one way to find out," Steve said.
Josef sighed and let go. "I hate it when you're right."
They approached the house carefully. Steve didn't bother to knock. He threw the door open quickly and went in, clearing rooms one by one, Josef behind him, sniffing like a bloodhound.
"Nothing," Steve said. "Where's the--"
A wooden stake came flying through the room, hitting Josef right in the chest. Steve didn't even see Josef hit the ground before everything went black.
***
Dark.
That was the first impression Steve had when he woke. Everything was dark, and it smelled of mold. Which could mean he was in a fair amount of houses in Hawaii, but it didn't feel like a house. The ground was too hard and dirty, shifting under him as he moved, and the smell was distinctly cave-like.
His pillow moved with him, but only when he realized there was something on his head did he make a connection.
He was lying in someone's lap, their hand on his head.
"You know," Danny said, "all those times I tried to get you to sleep a little longer, and you just had to choose now to listen?"
Steve scrambled up to his knees, only to have the world go a little sideways. Strong hands caught him before he could pitch over though. Danny's hands. Steve couldn't see him, but he knew who it was now, and he reached out into the darkness, his hands finding Danny's shoulders, feeling their way up to his neck to find it whole and cool and with no pulse.
"Still alive, then?" Steve asked, forcing a lightness into his tone.
"Not exactly," Danny replied, matching Steve's tone, "but close enough."
"You will be, though," Steve said, laying one hand on Danny's cheek. "As soon as we get out of here. Everything is in place and waiting."
"I knew it would be." He could feel Danny's smile against his hand.
Steve looked around, but he couldn't see anything. "Where are we?"
"Some kind of cave. I was out of it when they brought me here, but I've figured that much out. The entrance isn't too far, and there are a couple of guards out there at all times. I take it that Lance didn't hold up his end of the bargain when you brought him the cure?"
Steve dropped his hand, letting it rest in Danny's lap. "Never got the chance. We were following the internet trail from his little stunt with you and we got ambushed."
"That explains that, then."
"What?"
"The guards said something when they brought you in about hoping Kostan doing what he's told now so they could go home."
Relief coursed through Steve as he realized whoever had knocked him out and staked Josef hadn't killed Josef as well. "I'm guessing they told Josef to bring the cure in exchange for both of us," Steve said.
"Or at least you."
"Doesn't matter. Josef knows better than to accept any deal where we don't both get out of here alive."
He didn't need to see Danny to recognize the sound he made. "Danny," Steve said, feeling his way along Danny's body until he found Danny's hand and took it in his own. "Josef...he was there when Beth died. He knows what it would to me to lose you. Trust me, he's not going to let that happen."
After a few seconds, Danny said, "Okay." He squeezed Steve's hand a little. "As long as he knows it would be the same for me if I lost you."
It was as close as either of them had really come to putting any kind of words to whatever was between them. Steve was still searching for a response when Danny's hand squeezed his, almost bone-crushingly tight.
"What's wrong?" Steve asked.
Danny's answer was slow in coming, as he loosened his grip just a little. "Hungry," he said.
He didn't need to say more. Steve still remembered the first days after he was turned, how intense the hunger was, how it hurt as if you'd been starving for a month. "Here," Steve said, pulling off his outer shirt and holding out his wrist. "Drink."
Danny didn't move, and Steve hated that he couldn't see him in the darkness, because he couldn't tell what the problem was. "You have to feed, Danny. If you don't...."
He didn't want to say the words. About a week after he'd become human, Steve, aided by some alcohol, had told Danny the whole story of being turned, and he'd been brutally honest about it. About how the hunger is almost impossible to control, whether you want to feed or not. And how the longer you wait, the harder it is to control.
"I...." Danny cleared his throat. "I don't know if I can stop."
"I'll stop you."
Danny's laugh held no humor. "You're human. Even this weak I can tell how much strength I have."
"Your emotions are heightened," Steve said. "You're not going to hurt me. You couldn't." Danny didn't respond, and Steve moved closer, taking Danny's hand again. "You have to feed. And I'm the only source right now. It'll be fine."
"And if I go too far?"
"Then you can turn me and we can both be cured," Steve said, leaving out what Jeff had said about the chances of that working. There was still plenty of chance it would work, and either way Danny lived, and that was the important thing.
"Okay," Danny said after a moment. He still didn't seem certain about it, but he took Steve's hand in one of his, the other gripping Steve's forearm, and lowered his mouth to meet Steve's wrist. The first prick of Danny's fangs piercing Steve's skin sent a familiar pleasure through Steve's veins, the sensation all wrong when associated with Danny, but still undeniably good.
Steve had counted off five seconds when Danny suddenly shoved him away. He heard Danny making odd gurgling sounds, and scrambled across the ground towards the noise until he got his hands on Danny's body. "Danny! What's wrong?"
Danny didn't answer, and Steve felt for a pulse before realizing the futility of that. "Danny!"
"Okay," Danny said, sounding a little strangled, but clearly trying to get across that he wasn't dying. "Need...minute...."
After a few harrowing seconds, he struggled to his knees, and Steve helped him over to the wall of the cave not taking his hands off until Danny was seated with his back to the wall. Steve sat next to him, pressing against him from shoulder to knee, wondering as he waited what the hell was going on. Was there something he didn't know about someone as old as Lance turning a vamp? But no, Coraline had been Lance's sister. And she'd turned Steve and it had been nothing like this.
"Can you talk now?" Steve asked quietly.
"Yeah. It's better. Just...that sucked." He felt Danny shift before he asked, "Is it always like that the first time?"
"No. I've never seen that before. What happened?"
"I don't know. One second it was fine, great, in fact. You weren't kidding about it being the greatest drug ever. The next second, it was like my insides were on fire, almost like the transformation, but in reverse, if that makes any sense."
It made too much sense. Steve had felt that as well. "That's what it felt like right before the cure killed me. Well, vamp me," Steve clarified.
"The cure is in your blood," Danny said. "Maybe it would cure me?"
He'd love for it to be that easy. "I don't know how it works. Do you want to try it again"
Danny shuddered. "I don't want to go through that again."
Steve didn't blame him--he knew what it felt like. But he also knew that Danny needed to go through it at least once more. "I know. But...."
"But I'm going to have to." Danny reached for Steve's arm. "Let's try it again. If you're game?"
He'd do anything to save Danny. "Whenever you're ready."
Danny bit into Steve's arm again, but seconds later he shoved Steve away. This time Steve heard Danny retching, and Steve moved to his side. Danny was on his hands and knees, but as Steve put his arm around Danny's back, Danny straightened up to sit on his knees.
"What happened?"
"I can't keep it down. It just came right back up."
Shit. "Okay. Come on, let's sit back down."
He guided Danny back to the wall to sit, even though Danny could probably see better than Steve. "Any idea how long it is until sunrise?" Steve asked, taking his seat next to Danny again.
"A couple hours, maybe?" Danny shrugged. "You were out for a while."
"The guards, are they vampires?"
"Yeah, you're the only human I've smelled so far."
Which was both good and bad. "Well, then, just as well you're still a vampire, in case we need to fight our way out."
"Right, a new, weak vampire with no one to feed on, I can just kick all their asses."
He'd been hoping Danny wouldn't pick up on the bad side. "They can't stay out there the day. Maybe that'll be the chance the team needs to come get us."
"Unless we're in the forest. Because then they'll be protected from the sun and they can stay out there all day long."
Steve turned, putting his hand on the back of Danny's neck. "Hey. We're going to get out of here, and we're going to cure you. You know that, right?" When Danny didn't respond, Steve shook him a little. "Right?"
"Right."
He didn't sound entirely convinced, but it was better than nothing. "Okay, then we should try to get a little sleep until daylight. I think that's our best chance."
Danny didn't need to say anything; Steve already knew Danny was thinking he was crazy. But it had worked for them in the past, so Danny would just have to believe one more time.
Putting his arm around Danny's shoulder, Steve leaned back against the wall, holding Danny close and closing his eyes.
***
Part 3
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.
Part 1
"Are you completely out of your mind?"
Steve gripped the phone hard. "Josef, I don't have a choice. I have to go after him."
"Mick--Steve--whatever the fuck your name is, do you remember the last time you started to go after vampires who had the love of your life?"
Steve had been trying to not think about that exact thing. "I don't care."
"You are no good to him dead. You know that, right?"
"Josef--"
"No. Stay put. We made good time and we have clearance to land early. I'll be there in half an hour. You know you can't win alone, so don't do anything stupid. Okay?" When Steve didn't answer, Josef repeated, "Okay?"
"Okay."
***
"Thank God," were the first words out of Steve's mouth when Josef walked in, Jeff following close behind. Steve's relief at finally being able to actively do something about Danny was enhanced by his relief at not having to talk about his past anymore. At least not for the moment; he knew better than to think Chin and Kono would just leave it.
And he owed them honesty about it, owed them the stories. They'd more than earned them. He just didn't want to think about it right now, not when Danny....
Well, he didn't want to think too much about that, either.
Steve made the introductions, finishing with, "And now can we go get Danny?" to Josef.
"We're coming," Kono said.
Steve's quick and definitive. "No."
"We have every right--" Kono started, but Steve cut her off.
"You don't know what it's like to fight a vampire, Kono. You can't win."
Josef's laugh made Steve glare at him. "And you can?" Josef asked. "Exactly how does that work? You're human now, remember?"
"Believe me, I haven't forgotten." Steve looked at the others before nodding towards his office. "Let's talk in there."
Josef shook his head. "I already know what you're going to ask me, and Jeff has already said no."
"Josef--"
"Even if it works," Josef said, "and Jeff doesn't think it will, the cure isn't likely to work again. You become a vampire again, you likely stay one."
"I don't--"
"Yes, you do care. Why do you think we spent so much time finding that cure, asshole?"
Steve took a deep breath. He did care. But not more than he cared about saving Danny. "I will do whatever it takes to save him. You get that?"
Josef rolled his eyes. "You think I haven't learned a thing or two about you in sixty years?" He looked at Jeff. "Tell him."
"If someone tried to turn you there's a seventy-eight percent chance you'd end up in a coma or die," Jeff said.
Steve looked at Josef, knew he was thinking about Sarah, forever young, forever living, and forever in a coma, thanks to Josef. He couldn't do that to Josef. And he was no good to Danny in a coma or dead. "Okay," Steve said. "Okay. So what do we do?"
"We have the cure," Josef said. "Lance wants the cure. He left you alone once when he got what he wanted."
"And then tried to kill me and did kill Beth the second time," Steve reminded him.
"Because he didn't get what he wanted."
Steve hadn't had time to give him what he wanted. He would have, in a heartbeat, if he'd known what was coming. "You know Lance only wants a temporary cure," Steve said. "He doesn't want to be human forever, only long enough to suit his purposes."
"Nobody said he had to know this one was permanent," Josef said.
Steve blinked. "He doesn't know?"
"Would he be asking you for it if he did?"
Steve hadn't thought about at. He'd been too busy focusing on saving Danny to let his brain go any further. "So what happens to us when he finds out it's permanent?"
Josef shrugged. "Best case scenario? He's human by then. What difference does it make what he tries to do?"
"Worst case?"
"Nothing worse than the situation you're in right now."
All true. Steve took a shaky breath and let it out, focusing himself. "Okay."
"Do we know where Lance is holed up?" Josef asked.
Kono, who'd been watching the conversation silently with Chin and Toast, swiped a map up onto the overhead screens. "He's in a house in Waimanalo," she said. "Or at least that's where we traced the signal to."
"Except I know that house," Toast said. "A vampire lives there, but not this Lance guy. It's a guy named Reaver."
"Reaver?" Josef asked.
Toast shrugged. "That's what happens when you choose your own name when you're high?"
"Reaver it is," Josef said with a little smirk.
"Reaver's high a lot," Toast said, and for Toast to think it was a lot, that had to be a hell of a lot. "I can't believe he's part of a kidnapping plot--seems like too many brain cells for him."
"We think he might be working for Lance," Chin said. "Holding Danny at his place, maybe, in exchange for money or drugs."
Josef thought for a second before coming to the same conclusion Steve had half an hour ago. "Makes sense. Vampire-ready housing can't be easy to find, especially in Hawaii. And a low-brain druggie is easy fodder for Lance."
"That's what I thought," Steve said. "So let's go talk to Reaver."
"And if Lance is there?"
"Then we tell him that we have the cure stashed away and he gets it when Danny's free," Steve said. "You brought it, right?"
Josef nodded at the bag slung over Jeff's shoulder, which looked like an organ donor transplant cooler. "There's a couple of batches in there, " Josef said, "along with what we'd need to make more if we had to. My lab is still in place not far from here. Jeff's going to go there to store everything and wait."
"If Lance figures out where it is--"
"I've got security all over that place," Josef said.
"Still...." He turned to Chin and Kono. "Will you go with him? Make sure he's safe?"
Chin frowned. "If this is your way of trying to protect us--"
"That cure is Danny's only hope," Steve interrupted. "You're the only ones I trust to protect it."
"Then that's what we'll do," Kono said, giving him a small smile, one that Chin echoed.
"Mahalo." He jerked his head towards the door. "Take him now before we leave, and try not to be seen."
Chin gripped Steve's arm for a moment. "Be careful."
"You, too."
He let go, and Kono gave Steve a hug before they shepherded Jeff out of the room.
Steve looked at Josef. "You ready?"
"Do I have a choice?"
"No. So let's go."
***
"There's something bothering me," Steve said as he drove, feeling odd driving the Camaro with Josef in the passenger seat. It was like two different worlds that were never meant to meet, and it just underscored the situation.
"Other than the ancient vampire holding your newly-turned boyfriend hostage?"
Steve shot him a dark look. "You really wanna make jokes about this right now?"
"Sorry," Josef said. "Just trying to lighten the mood."
Steve ignored that. "Lance said something about Coraline stealing the cure. I thought at first he meant when she brought it to me in L.A., before he found her. But then he said something about what was taken after he killed Beth." Steve shook his head. "That doesn't make any sense."
The silence from the other side of the car was deafening. After a minute, Steve took a deep breath. "Tell me that doesn't make any sense to you, Josef."
"Okay, you have to understand that I didn't realize until just now that she'd stolen it. I wasn't even sure it came from her."
Steve counted to ten, gripping the steering wheel tightly. "What happened?"
"Not long after Beth died, another sample of the cure arrive by courier. Untraceable, no way of knowing where it came from, the trail ended at the courier, and trust me, I tried to find out. So we tested it to make sure it wasn't some kind of hoax, but it was the real cure. And we were running out of what you left with us, so we used it. It's the only reason we had enough to get to our breakthrough."
"And you didn't think to tell me this?"
"What good would it have done, huh?" Josef asked. "You were off on your self-imposed exile, punishing yourself for Beth's death by trying to become some kind of super human. Like you needed more things to worry about?"
Steve gripped the wheel even harder. "You should've told me."
"Why? You didn't need to worry about where it came from any more than you needed the possibly false hope that it would lead to a cure. You went off to Annapolis to forget Mick St. John and everything associated with him," Josef said. "What purpose would've been served by calling you up and saying 'Hey, I think your dead undead wife might've sent me some more of the cure?'"
He had a point. Steve knew he had a point. Didn't mean it still didn't sting. One more secret someone had kept from him 'for his own good.'
He really hated that phrase.
"Okay," he said, because he had to let it go, had to put all his focus on Danny if this was going to work. "Just...no more secrets, right?"
"Nope. All secrets are officially out."
Steve scoffed at the idea of Josef revealing all his secrets to anyone, but he could hear the sincerity in the tone enough to know that Josef would at least think twice before keeping anything secret that concerning Steve. That was all that mattered.
***
As they walked up to the front door of the house, Steve could tell Josef was sniffing out any potential vampires. Steve raised an eyebrow at him to avoid saying anything that might be overheard by a vamp with super hearing.
Josef held up one finger.
"Vamp?" Steve mouthed.
Josef nodded, and Steve frowned. If Danny was there, as a newly turned vamp he'd be obvious. Hardly any decay. Josef didn't seem to think that was what he'd smelled. Then again, maybe the vamp smell was masking Danny. Steve had had trouble with that in the past.
No other way to find out but ask. Steve knocked, then, when there wasn't an answer, knocked again. After his third knock, Josef put his hand on Steve's arm, keeping him from knocking again. A few seconds later, Steve heard footsteps, then the door opened to reveal a guy Steve would've at least suspected was a drug addict if he hadn't known he was a vamp.
Then again, there wasn't a lot of difference.
Steve pointed at his badge. "Five-0," he said. "We'd like a few words with you, Reaver."
Reaver blinked. "Who?" he said, and it was somehow refreshing to Steve to see an addict who was that bad at lying.
"I could call you by your last three names," Steve said. "Or I could drag you out in broad daylight and question you in the sun for a while and see how that goes."
Reaver rolled his eyes and pulled the door back further. "Come in then."
Steve followed Josef into the house and closed the door. Reaver folded his arms over his chest. "What do you want?" he asked.
"Lance," Steve said.
"Who's Lance?"
Steve laughed. "How old are you?" Steve said. "Because you can't have lived all that long being that bad a liar."
"You know usually when people want something they're a lot nicer.'
"This says I don't have to be nice," Steve said, pointing at his badge.
Reaver looked at Josef, who said, "I could rip your head off before you could realize I'd moved," like he was commenting on the weather.
"Okay, I mighta seen a Lance or something somewhere."
"We know he was here. We know he had a guest."
Reaver shook his head. "Didn't have a guest."
Steve glanced at Josef. "What did he have?" Steve asked.
"A promise he would kill me if I told anyone."
"Don't worry," Josef said, "there won't be anything left of you to kill if you don't tell us."
Reaver blinked at him, then blinked at Steve. "Aren't you, like, a cop?"
"Something like that."
"He just threatened to kill me."
Steve shrugged. "I'm sworn to protect humans. What happens to vampires isn't really my area anymore."
Reaver stared at them until Josef moved closer, letting out a growl. "Okay!" Reaver said, holding his hands up. "Okay!" He took a step back, eyeing Josef warily. "This guy Lance, he paid me to reroute an internet signal. That's it. I don't know anything else."
"Where was the original signal coming from?"
Reaver shook his head. "I have an IP address."
"Hand it over," Steve said, already dialing Toast's number.
***
"What do you smell?" Steve asked Josef, eyeing the house that, according to Toast, was the origin of the IP address Reaver had given them.
"Vampires," Josef said quietly. "There've been several, but I think they're gone. There's a faint smell of human, though."
"That might be Danny," Steve said, charging forward.
Josef grabbed his arm, his grip painful. "And it might be a trap, too."
"Only one way to find out," Steve said.
Josef sighed and let go. "I hate it when you're right."
They approached the house carefully. Steve didn't bother to knock. He threw the door open quickly and went in, clearing rooms one by one, Josef behind him, sniffing like a bloodhound.
"Nothing," Steve said. "Where's the--"
A wooden stake came flying through the room, hitting Josef right in the chest. Steve didn't even see Josef hit the ground before everything went black.
***
Dark.
That was the first impression Steve had when he woke. Everything was dark, and it smelled of mold. Which could mean he was in a fair amount of houses in Hawaii, but it didn't feel like a house. The ground was too hard and dirty, shifting under him as he moved, and the smell was distinctly cave-like.
His pillow moved with him, but only when he realized there was something on his head did he make a connection.
He was lying in someone's lap, their hand on his head.
"You know," Danny said, "all those times I tried to get you to sleep a little longer, and you just had to choose now to listen?"
Steve scrambled up to his knees, only to have the world go a little sideways. Strong hands caught him before he could pitch over though. Danny's hands. Steve couldn't see him, but he knew who it was now, and he reached out into the darkness, his hands finding Danny's shoulders, feeling their way up to his neck to find it whole and cool and with no pulse.
"Still alive, then?" Steve asked, forcing a lightness into his tone.
"Not exactly," Danny replied, matching Steve's tone, "but close enough."
"You will be, though," Steve said, laying one hand on Danny's cheek. "As soon as we get out of here. Everything is in place and waiting."
"I knew it would be." He could feel Danny's smile against his hand.
Steve looked around, but he couldn't see anything. "Where are we?"
"Some kind of cave. I was out of it when they brought me here, but I've figured that much out. The entrance isn't too far, and there are a couple of guards out there at all times. I take it that Lance didn't hold up his end of the bargain when you brought him the cure?"
Steve dropped his hand, letting it rest in Danny's lap. "Never got the chance. We were following the internet trail from his little stunt with you and we got ambushed."
"That explains that, then."
"What?"
"The guards said something when they brought you in about hoping Kostan doing what he's told now so they could go home."
Relief coursed through Steve as he realized whoever had knocked him out and staked Josef hadn't killed Josef as well. "I'm guessing they told Josef to bring the cure in exchange for both of us," Steve said.
"Or at least you."
"Doesn't matter. Josef knows better than to accept any deal where we don't both get out of here alive."
He didn't need to see Danny to recognize the sound he made. "Danny," Steve said, feeling his way along Danny's body until he found Danny's hand and took it in his own. "Josef...he was there when Beth died. He knows what it would to me to lose you. Trust me, he's not going to let that happen."
After a few seconds, Danny said, "Okay." He squeezed Steve's hand a little. "As long as he knows it would be the same for me if I lost you."
It was as close as either of them had really come to putting any kind of words to whatever was between them. Steve was still searching for a response when Danny's hand squeezed his, almost bone-crushingly tight.
"What's wrong?" Steve asked.
Danny's answer was slow in coming, as he loosened his grip just a little. "Hungry," he said.
He didn't need to say more. Steve still remembered the first days after he was turned, how intense the hunger was, how it hurt as if you'd been starving for a month. "Here," Steve said, pulling off his outer shirt and holding out his wrist. "Drink."
Danny didn't move, and Steve hated that he couldn't see him in the darkness, because he couldn't tell what the problem was. "You have to feed, Danny. If you don't...."
He didn't want to say the words. About a week after he'd become human, Steve, aided by some alcohol, had told Danny the whole story of being turned, and he'd been brutally honest about it. About how the hunger is almost impossible to control, whether you want to feed or not. And how the longer you wait, the harder it is to control.
"I...." Danny cleared his throat. "I don't know if I can stop."
"I'll stop you."
Danny's laugh held no humor. "You're human. Even this weak I can tell how much strength I have."
"Your emotions are heightened," Steve said. "You're not going to hurt me. You couldn't." Danny didn't respond, and Steve moved closer, taking Danny's hand again. "You have to feed. And I'm the only source right now. It'll be fine."
"And if I go too far?"
"Then you can turn me and we can both be cured," Steve said, leaving out what Jeff had said about the chances of that working. There was still plenty of chance it would work, and either way Danny lived, and that was the important thing.
"Okay," Danny said after a moment. He still didn't seem certain about it, but he took Steve's hand in one of his, the other gripping Steve's forearm, and lowered his mouth to meet Steve's wrist. The first prick of Danny's fangs piercing Steve's skin sent a familiar pleasure through Steve's veins, the sensation all wrong when associated with Danny, but still undeniably good.
Steve had counted off five seconds when Danny suddenly shoved him away. He heard Danny making odd gurgling sounds, and scrambled across the ground towards the noise until he got his hands on Danny's body. "Danny! What's wrong?"
Danny didn't answer, and Steve felt for a pulse before realizing the futility of that. "Danny!"
"Okay," Danny said, sounding a little strangled, but clearly trying to get across that he wasn't dying. "Need...minute...."
After a few harrowing seconds, he struggled to his knees, and Steve helped him over to the wall of the cave not taking his hands off until Danny was seated with his back to the wall. Steve sat next to him, pressing against him from shoulder to knee, wondering as he waited what the hell was going on. Was there something he didn't know about someone as old as Lance turning a vamp? But no, Coraline had been Lance's sister. And she'd turned Steve and it had been nothing like this.
"Can you talk now?" Steve asked quietly.
"Yeah. It's better. Just...that sucked." He felt Danny shift before he asked, "Is it always like that the first time?"
"No. I've never seen that before. What happened?"
"I don't know. One second it was fine, great, in fact. You weren't kidding about it being the greatest drug ever. The next second, it was like my insides were on fire, almost like the transformation, but in reverse, if that makes any sense."
It made too much sense. Steve had felt that as well. "That's what it felt like right before the cure killed me. Well, vamp me," Steve clarified.
"The cure is in your blood," Danny said. "Maybe it would cure me?"
He'd love for it to be that easy. "I don't know how it works. Do you want to try it again"
Danny shuddered. "I don't want to go through that again."
Steve didn't blame him--he knew what it felt like. But he also knew that Danny needed to go through it at least once more. "I know. But...."
"But I'm going to have to." Danny reached for Steve's arm. "Let's try it again. If you're game?"
He'd do anything to save Danny. "Whenever you're ready."
Danny bit into Steve's arm again, but seconds later he shoved Steve away. This time Steve heard Danny retching, and Steve moved to his side. Danny was on his hands and knees, but as Steve put his arm around Danny's back, Danny straightened up to sit on his knees.
"What happened?"
"I can't keep it down. It just came right back up."
Shit. "Okay. Come on, let's sit back down."
He guided Danny back to the wall to sit, even though Danny could probably see better than Steve. "Any idea how long it is until sunrise?" Steve asked, taking his seat next to Danny again.
"A couple hours, maybe?" Danny shrugged. "You were out for a while."
"The guards, are they vampires?"
"Yeah, you're the only human I've smelled so far."
Which was both good and bad. "Well, then, just as well you're still a vampire, in case we need to fight our way out."
"Right, a new, weak vampire with no one to feed on, I can just kick all their asses."
He'd been hoping Danny wouldn't pick up on the bad side. "They can't stay out there the day. Maybe that'll be the chance the team needs to come get us."
"Unless we're in the forest. Because then they'll be protected from the sun and they can stay out there all day long."
Steve turned, putting his hand on the back of Danny's neck. "Hey. We're going to get out of here, and we're going to cure you. You know that, right?" When Danny didn't respond, Steve shook him a little. "Right?"
"Right."
He didn't sound entirely convinced, but it was better than nothing. "Okay, then we should try to get a little sleep until daylight. I think that's our best chance."
Danny didn't need to say anything; Steve already knew Danny was thinking he was crazy. But it had worked for them in the past, so Danny would just have to believe one more time.
Putting his arm around Danny's shoulder, Steve leaned back against the wall, holding Danny close and closing his eyes.
***
Part 3