day. Twenty hours later, political operative Zachary Taylor "Zach" Barrows is escorted by Special Agent William Hawley "Griff" Griffin to the Smithsonian Institution directly from a meeting with Samuel Curtis, the President of the United States, at the White House. Zach, a savvy and capable rising star in the world of US politics, and previously the White House deputy director of political affairs, attempts to understand his situation. Griff rebuffs his attempts under the premise of "information containment" (Zach will know what he needs to know, when he needs to know it). Griff then silences Zach completely by revealing his own opinion that Zach is in his situation as, while drunk, Zach was caught by the Secret Service having sex with the president's daughter, Candace. Upon arrival and entrance to the Smithsonian's oldest area, Griff brings Zach into the "Reliquary"; a hidden base containing relics (e.g. skeletal remains, robot pieces, crystal skulls, stone tablets, carved idols etc.) never before seen by the general public. As Griff explains, they are trophies kept by its occupant: Nathaniel Cade, the President's Vampire (and the mysterious operative from Kosovo). Griff reveals to Zach that vampires and creatures like them are very real, all part of the "Other Side" (a world of darkness and evil that surrounds the human world) and on a regular basis they make attempts to infiltrate, overrun and wipe out the human race. Griff, a veteran former FBI agent, has acted as Cade's latest liaison for the office of the president. Nearing retirement, Zach has been chosen to succeed Griff, as President Curtis considers him loyal and a member of his inner circle who can be trusted to be "in the knowledge" about Cade. It is later revealed in a discussion with Zach out of the room that Griff is terminally ill with cancer. Through flashbacks, Cade, as a young man, was serving on a whale hunting vessel in 1867. His ship was boarded by a monster vampire, which proceeded to pick off the crew until they reached land. Cade and two of his friends were ambushed while trying to locate the creature, and Cade was turned into a vampire himself. He then proceeded to kill and feed on his friends, and was then captured by a team of soldiers sent to the ship. Tried and sentenced to death, Cade was spared from being hanged when President Andrew Johnson pardoned him.