Don Schanke is a veteran detective in the Metropolitan Police, currently assigned to Homicide, where he is partnered with Nick Knight, unaware that Nick is an eight hundred year old vampire. In 1992, he was assigned as the partner to Det. Nick Knight, an 800 year old vampire, to help investigate a rash of murders concerning the homeless, in which the victims' blood was missing. Knight worked exclusively on the night shift (due to his vampirism), and needed to be partnered with someone who could continue the investigation during daylight hours.