Booth strode uneasily into the lab and was greeted by a phalanx of angry squints, which would have been a far more terrifying prospect if any of them could throw a punch worth a damn. Further decreasing the effectiveness of their unity was the selection of Sweets as their leader. He stood, arms crossed and face fixed in what should have been a scowl but instead was something between a frown and the expression you get right before peeing yourself in fear.

The FBI agent resisted the urge to square himself off. His aim was to relax them, which seemed nigh impossible given the circumstances.

"Booth," started Sweets, his voice managing to crack halfway through the syllable. "We…uh…are, um," he continued, able to keep a constant tone but trembling so hard that he sounded like skipping CD. From behind the psychologist, Angela covered her face with her palm and shook her head. Booth barely kept himself from doing the same. "You…er…"

Mercifully, Cam cut in. "Booth, what Mr. Shaky over here is trying to say is you better have a damn good reason for telling Brennen you're a vampire and engaging in some sort of convoluted stunt involving make-up, blood, crossbows, and a lot of other things I couldn't understand because she was hyperventilating so hard." She blinked. "I had to give her a sedative. She's out cold in her office."

The FBI agent let out a sigh and ran a hand through his dark hair. "That's because I am a vampire, Cam, and need the Jeffersonian's helped to stop a demon-influenced prosecutor from digging up another vampire that could very well murder us all in a blood-starved frenzy."

The result of his confession was sea of disbelieving faces. Of course, they were a room of scientists and a vampire was as far from science as he could get.

He took a step forward and as a group, the people, his friends he reminded himself, stepped back.

"Listen, I know this is hard to believe…"

"No, it's impossible to believe," retorted Cam. "You're asking us to accept that you are a mystical creature of the underworld when I have seen you get shot, bleed, almost die from a brain tumor, and, well, you know…" She gestured towards him, lower than his torso. Her dark cheeks flushed ever so slightly. "Do…that in a way a walking corpse could not."

"Unless…he was a daywalker," crowed Hodgins. "That's it, isn't it? You're a daywalker. Holy…wow. A real vampire. I knew they were real. I knew it! But you? That I would never have guessed. Vincent? Sure."

The cluster of scientists turned towards him. "You…cannot possibly be considering this, Dr. Hodgins," stated Dr. Clark Edison, once again thrust into his self-appointed role of logical adult in a lab full of unprofessional teenagers. "You are a man of science, in spite of your ridiculous conspiracy theories and tendency to sacrifice good sense at the altar of entertainment. This is beyond the bounds of even your credulity."

Booth said a sentence he rarely uttered. "Hodgins is right."

The curly-haired scientist's face lit up as brightly as Parker's on Christmas. Booth took another step towards the platform, twisting off his ring as he did so. All but the irrepressible Hodgins continued their retreat. The young man pushed forward out of the crowd, ignoring Angela's cries for him to stay still. Booth proffered the ring to Hodgins, who picked it up and turned it over and over in his palm, then running his thumb over the carved stone in the center.

"It's the same sigil," he whispered reverently. Then, he peered up at Booth. "Wait, you've known all about this from the time we found the body?"

"Yes," replied Booth. Devoid of the ring's power, he could feel himself changing. His senses enhanced, letting him breathe the alluring scent of their fear, mingled with the scent of rotting death and old blood. In this incarnation, he found the smell of rot was neutral, perhaps a bit familiar.

"A piece of trendy jewelry is not going to convince me you're the second coming of Dracula, Mr. Booth," stated Angela. "Especially when I've seen you walk into a Church in broad daylight without bursting into flames even a little."

"What would you like," Booth said.

"Turn into a bat. Fly around the room. Shoot flames from your eyeballs. Anything that can't be explained with above average stage makeup and fancy special effects."

Booth tensed and then uncoiled, leaping easily to the second story and crouching on the railing like a gargoyle. With another leap he crossed the lab, bounded easily off the far wall, and landed with a quick flash of fire around him on the floor in front of the stunned Ms. Montenegro. He flashed his fangs and let his vampire face twist briefly before settling back to his comfortable human visage.

"Is that enough for you," he growled into her ear. Her heartbeat quickened and her breathing increased, warm air brushing dangerously across his face. Mindful of the reaction he'd elicited in his partner just moments before, he flipped himself over to Hodgins, who was retreating towards his lab while cackling to himself.

"Give me that," he grumbled, grabbing the ring back and jamming it back onto his finger. His athletic exertion caught up to him and he stumbled, suddenly out of breath. Right, he should have waited a good moment to let his vampire self settle down.

"Oh. My. God," squealed Angela. Not the response he had been expecting. "You're a vampire. An honest to God vampire." She trotted down the stairs and wrapped herself around him. Ah, so the physiological response had not been fear and instead been the other extreme of arousal. "You've been holding out on us all this time. Tell me…what is it like? I've heard the vampire's kiss is like…the best sex ever, over and over again."

"Hey! Don't use your vampire powers on my girlfriend," cried Hodgins. "I already have competition from every guy and girl in Washington without needing to worry about supernatural seduction."

Booth unwrapped Angela gently and slipped her back into her boyfriend's arms. "I'm not going to seduce Angela, Hodgins."

"Yeah, sweetie. He could have gotten anything he wanted from me before he was doing his best Lestat impression." She kissed Hodgins' curly head, which failed to completely raise his spirits.

"I'm glad you're all having fun playing 'Interview With a Vampire' here while I'm still trying to figure out what the hell is going on," said Cam. "That was a pretty damn impressive show of acrobatics, especially when I know the lab isn't rigged for a trapeze. But that isn't enough for me to toss out a lifetime of Christianity, however lapsed, and logic in favor of believing Stephenie Meyer was writing a documentary. If nothing else," she continued. "I want to know how a corpse can have a baby."

Booth tilted back on his heels. "Parker is Booth's baby."

"Annnd now I'm confused again," said Angela. "If you're not Booth, who is Booth."

"Seeley Booth was a damn good soldier who died in the line of duty. With the approval of the FBI-"

"Wait, the FBI knows there are vampires," Hodgins nearly fell over. "Our government, which I work for, knows that vampires exist. And…that…that…"

"I don't think Hodgins can take any more disclosures," continued Angela. "I worry his brain is going to melt out of his ears. Can we get the abbreviated version?"

"I took over Seeley's life after he died. His face, his address, his job. Hell, even his social security number. A big part of that was integrating myself into his family." A lump caught in his throat. "I knew that kid was amazing from all the conversations I had with Seeley overseas but I had no idea how much I would enjoy being a father."

Silence fell over the room.

"But why," responded Angela. "You're a vampire. You could live anywhere, do anything, be anyone. Why come back as low-level FBI agent who never got married and lives in an embarrassingly small apartment? Why be…Booth?"

"Because he thinks of himself as a good man," stated Sweets, his voice steady and resonant in a way it never was. He pointed at Booth. "You, whoever you are, believe in a just, orderly world with clear right and wrong. Bending the rules, even to aid the greater good, makes you deeply uncomfortable."

Booth swallowed hard, watching the psychologist hit damn close to the truth. "I suspect as a vampire, you performed unfathomable evils. By becoming human, you accomplished two things. One, you completely rejected the identity associated with those acts. Two, you are allowing yourself to atone without ever needing to confront the horrors you committed. You can say, quite literally, that those acts were performed in another life."

Sweets walked down the stairs and stood within striking distance of the agent.

"You could easily use your vampirism to punish criminals. You could take off that ring," he jabbed a finger downwards towards Booth's hand, "and avoid every gunshot, heal every wound, be literally superman. But that would mean drawing on a power from a life you desperately want to leave behind."

Booth rubbed the back of his neck and shifted uncomfortably. "Yeah, that about covers it," he admitted.

Sweets perked up and resumed his childish demeanor. "Really? Because I was just guessing there at the end."

Angela groaned and patted Sweets on the back. "You were doing so well there."

Edison spoke up from his place on the platform. "So, assuming all of this is true and that we aren't all suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning, why would a magical, and I can't believe I'm saying that word with a straight face, crime require human intervention? Surely the government has people who specialize in these things."

Booth let out a sigh. "They do. But like most clandestine things, magical events are something that official channels would prefer to distance themselves from. Plus," he said, waving his fingers, "magic tends to attract magic. I start stalking around as a vampire, which makes other vampires sit up and take notice, which attracts other magical beings, and within a few months, we have a fully-functional Hellmouth beneath the Capital Building."

"Hellmouth," asked Hodgins.

"Don't ask," interrupted Booth. "Suffice it to say it's as unpleasant as it seems." Booth looked up at the scientists. "Remember the whole reason that sigil was uncovered was the untimely death of a federal judge. It's easier to justify exhuming a body and digging up a grave when it's a murder investigation."

"So you want us to…"

"Investigate the crime, just like you would any other murder."

"Except with vampires," said Hodgins.

"Yes, Hodgins, except with vampires."