It had been a year since the day Callen had been shot. Only a few knew his secret, those few being Hetty, her personal physician, and Sam.

Sam had not been in on the secret originally.

Hetty had insisted that no one be told as soon as she had taken the child in her care, she had impressed on him the need for secrecy, although things had happened that meant he hadn't wanted to ever break that rule she had given him.

However, after being shot in front of him and healing in a matter of hours, Sam had needed to be told. Luckily Sam, although he was in denial at first, was finally made to believe and as soon as he realized Callen would never be a threat to him or his family, he had calmed down and agreed to keep his secret.

Sam woke up, remembering what day it was and softly padded his way out to the kitchen so as not to wake his sleeping wife. He looked in on his daughter, Kamran, who was still safely tucked up in bed and pouring himself a cup of coffee, he slipped out to the porch to watch the sun rise over the city of Angels.

"You not sleeping?" Callens soft voice made him jump.

"Jesus G!" He exclaimed, "Quit doing that."

Callen smirked, "Nah, I like making you jump."

Sam rolled his eyes, "What you doing here?" he asked.

"I was passing by." Callen replied cryptically, wiping a small red stain from the side of his mouth with his tongue.

Sam sighed, "You didn't…" He did not really want to ask and he was pleased when Callen shook his head.

"You have been watching those movies again, Sam." He rolled his eyes. I already told you, it's not how it's done nowadays, not in Los Angeles anyway."

"It's been a year G, I still have trouble coming to terms with the fact that all this…" He gestured to Callen, his arm waving up and down, "... Is real."

Callen moved, so fast that if Sam had not been used to it, he would have missed it and sat beside him with a coffee in his hand, watching the sun rise.

"It is real Sam." Callen said quietly as he took a sip from his mug. "I wanted to thank you." He added, turning to look at his partner, "for trusting me and not… you know…"

"Putting a stake through your heart?" Sam offered with a grin. "No matter what you are G, first and foremost, you are my friend."

Callen nodded, "I know Sam." He swiftly drank his coffee and handed Sam the mug, "I have to go, Michelle's waking up."

Sam smiled, he was still amazed at the skills his partner had, but Callen being what he was, he was not at all surprised, he winced as he remembered how he had found out Callen's secret.

Blood, there was blood everywhere.

Sam held onto Callen as he all but screamed down the phone, begging them to send an ambulance to save his partner.

He had run down the hallway beside the gurney, surprised as the whole team came to a halt as a man stood in the way.

"I'm Callen's personal doctor, you will release him into my care now." The man said, his tone leaving no room for argument.

The paramedic ran through the handover stats.

The doctor just nodded absent-mindedly, and Sam seemed to get irritated watching him.

"G's dying here! Help him!" he snapped.

The doctor gave a small smile, "Don't worry Sir, Callen will be fine."

"Matthew…" Hetty's worried voice came as the nurses wheeled Callen into a side room. "I have what we need." She handed him a large bag.

"All his stock?" Matthew asked.

"Alas, no." Hetty sighed, "There was not enough, I have had to make some withdrawals, but they are from ethically sourced supplies."

"He won't like it." Matthew replied, but took the bag, "I will get started; you should be able to take him home in a few hours."

Sam looked at the small woman confused. "A few hours? G was shot, at least five times, there is no way he's going to walk away from this."

"Go home Mr. Hanna." Hetty insisted. "Allow the doctor to do his work."

A scream echoed down the hallway.

"G?" Sam looked distraught, "They haven't sedated him?"

"Mr. Hanna… please, go home."

"SAM!" Callen's voice echoed down the hall.

Sam wrenched his arm away from Hetty's grasp and flew down the hall to the room his partner was in.

"G!" He went in to comfort his friend and stopped dead.

Callen was sitting up with his back to the door, shaking having just come to with visions of Sam lying bloodied and dead on the sidewalk still rolling around in his head.

"G?" Sam asked, confused.

"No, go away Sam… please…" Callen begged, "Don't come in."

Sam moved further into the room. "I thought you were dead!" his voice flooded with confusion and relief. He moved to walk around the table.

"Don't look at me!" Callen's arm moved and Sam could see a half empty blood bag in his hand.

Sam moved and Callen looked at him.

Sam gasped, "Your eyes!"

Callen looked down, ashamed. "Sam… please."

He knew what Sam was talking about, his eyes were a pale, pale blue, mostly white with a dark ring of black around them. They always looked like this when he was feeding.

"Mr. Hanna, you were told not to come in here. Now you have uncovered Mr. Callen's secret." She sighed, "What do we do with you now?"

"Hetty, please… don't kill him, don't tell the Clans, he can keep a secret." Callen begged as he put the blood bag down and wiped a stray drop from his lip.

"I aim to keep you safe, to keep your secret." Hetty said matter of factly.

"You won't tell will you Sam?" Callen all but begged, then he winced as another bullet pushed its way out of his skin and fell on the floor with a loud clang. He gasped as the pain of it rippled through his body and Sam instinctively moved to help him.

"You need pain relief." Sam said, looking up at the doctor and daring him to not help his partner.

"Drink G, you know it gets better when you drink." Matthew handed him another blood pack and Callen hungrily ripped it open, turning away from Sam, he drank it.

"You're a vampire?" Sam asked, feeling slightly stupid, "I mean… you are, aren't you? I haven't just fallen into the twilight zone or something have I?"

"I'm something Sam… not a vampire, per se, but I am something... Different"

Hetty gestured to a chair and Sam sat down heavily.

"There are many things in this world Mr. Hanna, that cannot be explained by rational means." She stated. "Mr. Callen is one of them."

"What do you mean by that and who are you?" Sam asked as he finally realized that the small woman was not a member of the hospital staff as he had first thought. Was she a relative of Callen's?

"My name is Henrietta Lange, as of an hour ago I became operations manager of the Office of Special Projects. Mr. Callen, as well as being your team leader, is a special project." Hetty turned to Callen, "Finish your meal, while I explain to Mr. Hanna exactly what is going on here and why he has not fallen into the twilight zone." She finished with a slight grin.

"You two know each other." Sam said, looking over at Hetty.

She nodded, "For a long time now." she admitted. "Now, Mr. Hanna, we need to talk. I need to know if you can be Mr. Callen's secret keeper."

Sam looked over at Callen, who was now sitting with his back to his partner, one after one drained bags of blood were being deposited beside him. After a loud belch and a whispered apology, Callen sat, shoulders hunched listening as Hetty told Sam his story.

"A long time ago, a family in Romania was cursed by locals to live on the outside of their town.

A blood feud between the Callen's and the Comescu's ensued. Years passed, the feud died down till only a handful of Callen's and Comescu's remained.

Gregori Callen was hiding from a band of Comescu's when he sought shelter in a castle in Transylvania."

"And he met Dracula?" Sam asked sarcastically.

Hetty smiled slightly and shook her head. "No… he met Vlad Tepes. Also known as Vlad the Impaler and they became allies."

Sam frowned, he had heard the name somewhere before, but was not sure where.

"They did a great many things together." Hetty continued, "Many great and terrible things… and for it, they were cursed, by God. They became the first vampires."

Sam turned to Callen. "You're Gregori Callen?" He asked.

Callen shook his head, with a slight chuckle, then he turned back to Sam, who noted with shock that his eyes had returned to normal.

For a second, Callen winced and there was another thunk as yet another bullet came out of him and landed on the floor. Matthew moved to pick it up and put it with the other two.

"No. When I told you I didn't know what the G stood for, I meant it Sam, I have no idea. I didn't even know what I was until I was fifteen."

Sam looked over at Hetty, who moved to pat Callen's hand supportively.

"Mr Callen was in a bad state when I found him." Hetty explained, thinking back to the day she had finally found him.

"I had known his mother." she admitted, "I knew that her children had been taken to America for their safety, but I had been unable to locate them. Mr. Callen's older sister, Amelia, was killed, as soon as she turned 15 and came into her birthright. The Comescu's had found her and killed her."

She stopped and wiped away a tear as she remembered the morning she had found the body of Amelia Callen, drowned in Holy water in a church. "Mr. Callen was bereft of foster parents, having been thrown out of his last home as his behavior worsened and was on the streets."

"You were badly behaved?" Sam could not help but smirk at the idea.

Callen shrugged, "Hormones, I was changing, but didn't know what was happening to me."

"He was coming into his birthright." Hetty continued. "His mother, Clara was a human. His father… whomever he was, was a vampire."

"But… Callen can't be a… a vampire, I've seen him in the daylight."

Callen let out a laugh, which turned into a cough. "It's not like the movies Sam, I can go out in daylight, although I do wear sunscreen. I don't like the light too bright, however I don't burst into flames."

"Can you die?" Sam asked.

"I dunno?" Callen replied, "I haven't tried it."

Sam rolled his eyes."I mean, if you were decapitated, or had a stake through the heart?"

"I think that would pretty much kill anything Sam." Callen replied with a grin.

Sam nodded, "Yeah, I suppose it would. Do you kill people G?" Sam asked.

Callen flinched and went quiet for a moment. "Not anymore." he said softly.

"You did then?" Sam asked, his eyes widening in alarm.

Hetty walked over to Callen and patted him comfortingly on his arm, "You don't have to tell him." She said.

Callen shook his head, "Full disclosure Hetty, if he's going to be in on this he should know it all."

"But the rule…"

"Sam won't tell anyone, will you Sam? Not even Michelle… it's important." He looked imploringly at Sam, who sat quietly for a moment.

"I can keep a secret from her, as long as you promise me that by doing so I am not putting her or my children in danger."

"You're not. In fact, by not telling them you will be keeping them from danger." Callen attested to him by telling him his story.

"I was a sickly child," He started, "I don't remember much. I didn't understand many people or where I was. But I remember not liking the light or being in a room with lots of people. I was shuttled from place to place. I was strong for a child and managed to hold my own. But as I got older I noticed I was different to other children. I could hear more, see better… then I noticed the blood. I could smell it, it's like chocolate, enticing. I wanted more, I wanted to taste it. The idea made me sick at first, I stopped eating food and made myself sick. I thought I was possessed. I even went to a church and tried to get a priest to exorcise me. He laughed at me. I got angry and he got mad at me for mocking God. I could see the blood pounding through his veins. I don't remember what happened, but I found myself at the back of the church, his body… it was nearby… I had his blood in my mouth, I could taste him, taste the alcohol he had been drinking and taste his secrets. They were awful. I felt awful… but even as I realized what I had done, in his case I knew it was a good thing as he wouldn't be able to hurt anyone else. But I ran, I was scared."

"You didn't go to the police?"

Callen laughed sadly, "Yeah, I could see that, 'Officer I just killed a Priest, but it's ok, he was a pedophile as I could taste his memories.' They would have locked me up in a mental institution for the rest of my life. Besides, I was a teenager, alone, on the streets and scared."

"You ran?"

"He ran." Hetty interjected. "I found him."