Hi all!

I was so chuffed to read your latest comments and PMs. I really appreciate the people who have taken the time to reach out, you have no idea how much it brightens my day and encourages me to put out the next chapter ASAP!

If anyone has any questions about anything in the story, feel free to message me and ask. I realise there's been a few technical-ish things in the past few chapters, and that will probably continue for a while. Everything isn't explained yet, so for some things you'll just have to be patient!

Special thanks to JaneyGWF for her beta services, she's been particularly busy lately but still makes time to get these chapters out to you guys on time, because she's awesome!

I hope you enjoy!

As they walked, Jane couldn't help glancing back at Maura to check on her wellbeing every few seconds. Every time she did, she was met with a vacant expression, and her heart clenched painfully at the sight. It was so different from Maura's usual intelligent gaze. There was no sign of intellect, no curiosity about the events unfolding around her. She was simply followed obediently, hanging off Jane's arm like a child. Jane couldn't remember a time when she'd been more worried, or closer to complete panic and despair.

After around twenty minutes of walking, Jane suddenly felt Maura yank her arm out of her grasp. Jane spun around, ready to chase Maura if she'd bolted, but instead found Maura crouching behind her, growling at something in the trees. Jane looked in the direction of Maura's glare, but couldn't see anything. Closing her eyes had the same result, until she noticed a blur of colour moving rapidly through the trees.

Jane had just realised the blur was a vampire and stepped in front of Maura when a shape broke through the trees, stopping a few metres from the duo. Jane opened her eyes, taking in the sight of a female vampire, apparently around twenty five when she was turned. She was wearing a nice business suit and her bright red hair was curled in a twist at the back of her head. She looked like a typical office worker, complete with a pair of thick rimmed glasses perched on her nose.

Jane bristled and pushed Maura behind her more firmly, not trusting the cheerful smile on the woman's face. She noticed the other vampire's eyes were red, which to Jane indicated an enemy. She found herself regretting her decision to leave the gun with Frankie, since she seriously doubted her ability to protect Maura against a hostile vampire without it.

The woman held her hands up in a calming gesture, her voice perky and enthusiastic. "Hello, I'm Betty. Please, I'm here to talk, not fight. Would you mind giving me a moment of your time?"

Jane looked at her doubtfully. "Why? What do you want?"

Betty lowered her arms and smiled, her red eyes glittering in the starlight. "I want to help."

Jane gave her a searching look, glancing back at Maura to check on her. She realised Maura was still crouched, seemingly torn between attacking and running. Jane grabbed her hand, patting it gently in reassurance, which seemed to calm Maura. She settled back onto her haunches without letting go of Jane's hand, remaining behind Jane and fixing her eyes warily on the other vampire.

Jane frowned and turned back to Betty with a distrustful stare. "Thanks for the offer, but I have no idea who you are. So far I haven't had great luck with red eyed vampires, so I think we'll be on our way. Please don't follow us."

Betty smiled indulgently. "Okay, but just so you know, you don't have enough time to make it to the Cullens. And they couldn't help you even if you did."

Jane pulled Maura closer, only to scream Maura's name in panic when she felt Maura topple over, face planting into the ground. Jane immediately crouched next to Maura and rolled her onto her back, immediately noticing the return of her chalky skin and vacant stare. She looked almost as bad as when Jane had first gotten her to drink some blood. Jane shook her frantically, and realised Maura was completely unresponsive again.

Betty kneeled next to Maura, touching her hand briefly before standing back up and crossing her arms. "As I said, we don't have time to get help. You need to help her here and now, or she'll die."

Jane looked back at Betty, realising she didn't have much choice. She couldn't let Maura die, and a glance with her second vision showed Maura's energy to be dangerously low, although her body still seemed to be drawing sustenance from the remaining blood in her system. It just didn't seem to be keeping up with the drain on her reserves any more.

Jane forced herself to be civil, and gave Betty a brisk nod. The woman smiled widely, speaking in a polite but assertive tone. "Super! I'm a representative of an organisation that has been following your movements for quite some time now."

Jane sputtered out a pained reply, still gripping Maura's shoulders in dismay. "What organisation?"

Betty looked at Jane thoughtfully, before flicking her eyes to Maura. "Maybe explanations are better left until after we've dealt with this little situation, hm? For now, just trust that we know what's going on and have a possible way to help."

When Jane glared at her in disgust, Betty dropped her hands, her voice losing its perky tone and becoming suddenly serious. "I am truly sorry for everything you've both gone through. You've had to deal with a lot, and you've had no help at all. I just want to do everything I can to get her through this."

Jane opened her mouth to argue, but thought better of it when she caught a brief flash of pity in Betty's expression. "You said you could help?"

Betty winced as she looked more closely at Maura. "I said I wanted to help. I can't guarantee that I can help. But I suspect you're not in any position to turn away any assistance at this point. Please understand, the Cullens can't help you. Nobody else in the world can help you. I know you have no reason to trust me, but she doesn't have much time."

Jane felt another sharp pang of guilt and grief rip through her before she turned back to Betty in resignation. "How did you even know I needed help? How did you find us?"

Betty squealed girlishly when she heard the acceptance in Jane's voice under the irate questions, her bouncy manner returning instantly. She smiled knowingly and waved her arm dismissively, her prim mannerisms completely out of place in the dark forest. "More things to discuss later. I promise I'll explain everything you want to know, after we help Maura. Is that acceptable?"

Jane sighed and nodded, too worried about Maura to continue asking questions. Despite the fact that there was no logical reason to trust Betty, Jane's gut was telling her that she had no choice. "What do we do?"

Betty grinned widely at Jane's acceptance and stepped forward. "Unfortunately, this will all be on you. I'm just going to help you figure out what to do."

Jane frowned and sputtered in confusion, only to be interrupted by another carefree wave from Betty. "Really, you argue far too much. It's exhausting. Now, stay there, I'll be back in a moment."

Betty zipped away before Jane could respond, leaving her alone with Maura's still form. Jane pulled her into an awkward hug and started stroking her hair, muttering empty reassurances while she anxiously surveyed the trees.

After only a few seconds, Betty reappeared, holding a cardboard box in her arms and smiling obnoxiously. "Okay! Sit down, we're going to do some exercises! It's time to learn how to use your vampire powers!"

Jane couldn't help rolling her eyes at Betty's demeanour. She sounded like she should be running a workout video, not helping someone save their best friend from a life threatening condition. However, she gently laid Maura down next to her and sat as instructed, watching warily as Betty put the box on the ground next to her.

Betty stood back up and faced Jane, her hands perched on her hips as she continued barking instructions like a flight attendant. "Okay! Now, I need you to close your eyes. Tell me what you see."

Jane frowned at the annoyingly peppy woman out of principle, before following her direction and closing her eyes. "I see you. I see the forest behind you. I see Maura."

Jane gasped as she realised the dark spot in Maura's head had gotten worse, even in the few minutes since she'd last looked. The black tendrils had spread further, and they seemed to be drawing in energy from the surrounding areas more quickly than before.

Jane opened her eyes, catching a worried look on Betty's face before it was smoothed over with a reassuring smile. "Good, Jane. Now, I need you to keep your eyes closed. Focus on me and tell me exactly what you see."

Jane obeyed again, and concentrated on Betty's bright image. She could see the energy moving around her body much more smoothly than Maura's. Her brain was lit up with swirling currents and a kaleidoscope of colours, all seeming to move harmoniously and cohesively. Betty's entire form was an order of magnitude brighter than Maura, almost blindingly bright against the contrast of the forest around them.

Jane grimaced in horror as she realised just how damaged Maura was. Betty bent down and put a gentle hand on Jane's arm, her voice serious again. "I know, she must look bad. I've seen this condition before, not with your particular sense, but I've seen the results."

Jane opened her eyes again, meeting Betty's concerned gaze. "And how did they get better?"

Betty's grim look said it all. Jane hung her head, gripping Maura's hand tightly. Maura didn't respond, continuing to lay on the ground without a twitch.

Betty sighed and waved at Jane again, getting her to close her eyes once more. "Now, Jane, this is important. I want you to focus on my brain. There should be a section in the centre, between the hemispheres and to the back of the thalamus. I want you to watch what happens when I use my power."

Jane nodded, concentrating on the area she guessed Betty was talking about. She couldn't exactly see sections of the brain, but she had a suspicion that she was supposed to be looking at the same area that was killing Maura.

Suddenly the picture changed. The whole area lit up, drawing energy from the surrounding brain matter and directing energy out of Betty's body. Jane watched as the stream of energy came towards her, then wrapped around her entire body.

Jane tried to open her mouth to ask what Betty was doing, but found that she couldn't move. Even her eyes seemed to be frozen, and she started to panic. The paralysis only lasted a moment, however, and Jane watched the energy retreat back into Betty, the area of her brain settling back to its usual intensity as the effect dissipated.

Jane opened her eyes and fell back, instinctively pulling Maura closer to her side. "What the hell was that?"

Betty stood up and walked back a few paces, her hands held up in surrender again. "I have the power to paralyse people. That's it, they are simply frozen. I can't hurt them, or do anything to their minds. They just freeze until I reverse the effect."

Jane nodded and looked at Maura, wishing she could ask her what she thought of all this. Instead, she sighed and turned back to Betty. "So, I could see your power working. Fine. How does that help Maura?"

Betty smiled and stepped closer again. "I'm assuming that you saw my thalamus vampirus activate."

Jane stared in complete confusion, which Betty took as an invitation to explain in a ridiculously cheerful manner. "Oh! Of course, sorry. The thalamus vampirus is what we've named a section of the thalamus that seems to be the biological origin of all vampiric powers. You won't find it on any anatomy charts though, human medical science hasn't realised the purpose of that particular section of the brain just yet. As far as we can tell, all humans have a thalamus vampirus, but the connections to the rest of the brain vary from person to person."

Jane felt a bit thrown by the sudden influx of information, but Betty continued on undeterred. "There is a strong genetic component to the type of connections, which determines whether someone will develop a mentally based power, like me, or an energy based power, like you. There are also multiple environmental and developmental factors that can influence the way the thalamus vampirus operates once someone has been turned. Also some humans can access abilities before they are turned, usually presenting as a sixth sense, vague future telling or strong empathy, but it is extremely rare for a human to exhibit true vampiric abilities. It has been documented, however, and it is becoming more common with time."

Betty realised she was losing Jane and waved her hands apologetically. "Sorry, I digress. The point is, there's a section of the brain which directly controls vampire abilities, and coordinates those abilities with our senses. Now, our theory is that vampires who overuse their abilities somehow damage the thalamus vampirus, and that cascades out to destroy the rest of their neural structures."

Jane nodded in agreement, knowing that her explanation exactly fitted everything she'd seen in Maura's head. She hadn't exactly followed all the medical speak, but she'd gotten the gist. "So when Maura tried to help me, she gave herself brain damage?"

Betty nodded sadly. "And we've never been able to treat it before. We've seen this condition as a result of both energy and mental power overuse, and the end result is the same. However, we've never met any vampires with your particular skill set, which is why we still have some hope in this case. We're hoping you might be able to succeed where generations of vampires have failed."

Jane glanced at Maura's still form again, doubt filling her as she understood the magnitude of the problem. "How the hell can I help? I can see the problem, sure, but what good does that do? I'm nobody special, I'm just a cop from Boston. I'm a plumber's daughter, not a super-vampire who can magically fix someone's brain!"

As she answered, Betty reached into the cardboard box and pulled out a colourfully painted pot with a cactus inside, cheerfully ignoring Jane's baffled expression. "You're more special than you know, and quite unique. What you need to understand, Jane, is that you can't only see energy. You can manipulate it."

Jane stopped staring at the cactus and gaped at Betty in bewilderment. "Manipulate?"

Betty nodded and held out the cactus. "Look at the energy in the cactus. Tell me what you see."

Jane sighed and obeyed, her second vision becoming more focussed the more she used it. "I see it drawing energy from the roots, and distributing it around the plant. It's weird, the cactus looks kind of similar to vampire energy, or at least it's closer than the other plants around here."

Betty grinned in agreement. "That's because it's not a regular cactus. It's a vampire cactus, a special hybrid that we created."

Jane opened her eyes and leaned away from the plant warily. "Are you kidding me? What, does it drink blood and shoot thorns at people?"

Betty rolled her eyes and giggled, horrifying Jane a little more. "Oh will you relax? Of course not! It drinks water and absorbs sunlight, just like any other cactus. However, its internal structure is similar to ours, a crystalline lattice arrangement. Don't worry, the only way it could hurt you is if I threw it at you."

Jane was still leaning away hesitantly, so Betty dropped her cheerful tone again to reassure her. "Jane, vampires aren't monsters by their intrinsic nature. We only act the way we do because of our learned behaviours and our vestigial instincts. It's the human in us that makes us monsters, not the vampire."

Maura had postulated something very similar earlier that day when she was trying to understand Jane's newborn nature, which was the only thing that made Jane accept Betty's reassurances about the cactus. She had to admit that the plant didn't seem threatening, it just looked like a normal plant until she used her second vision. Sighing in resignation, Jane sat up and closed her eyes again.

Jane frowned as she noticed a dark spot. "Wait. I can see something wrong with it. Near the top, there's a dead patch."

Betty nodded, her energy pulsing in what Jane assumed was excitement. "Great! Okay, I'm going to put the cactus down and take Maura over here a bit. I want you to try and feed energy back into that spot. Try to fix the cactus."

Jane grew immediately suspicious, opening her eyes and pulling Maura close. "Why do you need to take Maura?"

Betty bit her lip, wincing as she worked out how to phrase her next statement. "Well, I understand it can sometimes be hard to concentrate on something when there's people right next to you. I'll just be over here so I don't distract you. Just try to restore the plant, but don't overdo it. Take it slow."

Before Jane could protest, Betty bent down, deposited the cactus next to Jane and gathered Maura into her arms, snagging her cardboard box as she dashed into the trees. Jane watched her carefully put Maura down on the ground and turn back to give a peppy thumbs up.

Jane rolled her eyes in exasperation, still not quite understanding Betty. She seemed so cavalier at times, like a sorority girl without a care in the world, but then she would suddenly turn serious, her manner speaking to a harder and more complicated life than her façade suggested. Jane didn't think she was out to hurt them, but she also suspected there was a lot more to Betty's helpfulness than simple charity or compassion.

Putting aside the mystery of Betty for the moment, Jane focussed on the cactus. She could clearly see every millimetre of the plant, both inside and out, and she could see the dark spot corrupting its form. It looked very similar to Maura's dark spot, black and ominous, and sapping the energy insidiously from the rest of the plant. Jane took a moment to desperately hope that Betty was right, and she could actually do this.

Jane didn't quite know how to go about feeding energy into a vampiric cactus, so she tried pushing at it with her mind, and immediately felt ridiculous when nothing happened. She huffed in frustration, then tried again, pushing her whole consciousness towards the plant.

When it failed to even twitch, Jane slapped her leg in frustration, before looking back at Betty desperately. "Nothing's happening! I think you might be wrong about me! I can't do this!"

Betty rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Try touching it. It's not going to bite, I promise. Just watch out for the spines, they're pretty sharp."

Jane felt silly, remembering how much clearer the picture of Maura's energy had seemed when Jane had touched her head. She picked up the cactus, carefully manoeuvring a finger in between the spines and touching the hard skin of the plant.

When she closed her eyes, she could feel the connection with the cactus. There were tiny exchanges of energy sparking between them without her trying to force them. She took a deep breath and focussed on the dark spot, pushing with all her might to try and get something to happen.

The result was immediate. A deafening explosion knocked her flying, her body flipping several times before crashing into and through the nearest tree. Jane could feel the forest breaking around her as she skidded to a halt, her limbs tangled and her skin burning. She yelled in pain, carefully flexing her arms and discovering that they still worked. There were faint cracks interspersed across the skin of her hands and arms, but they were quickly sealing and repairing themselves. She brushed her hair out of her face, finding it all still attached but full of debris from the exploded cactus.

Gingerly climbing to her feet, she slowly walked back to ground zero, finding a smoking crater at the spot she'd been sitting. Betty was standing next to it, frantically looking into the forest and yelling for Jane. When she spotted Jane stumbling towards her, Betty sighed in relief before bursting into laughter.

Jane ignored her and continued walking, feeling the need to check on Maura and delay any discussion of her failed attempt. Maura was still lying on the ground, immobile and unresponsive, but it didn't look like the explosion had done any additional damage. Jane closed her eyes, seeing by the dim light of Maura's mind that they were almost out of time.

Returning to Betty, Jane couldn't keep the anger out of her voice. "You want me to try that on Maura? I'll kill her!"

Betty had sobered in the few seconds Jane had been gone, her serious manner back. "No, you won't. I brought the cacti so you would have the chance to understand your powers, before trying it on an actual person. You just overdid things, gave it too much energy at once, so of course the cactus exploded. Next time, ease into it. Be gentle."

Betty held out another cactus and stepped towards Maura, before pausing and turning back with a stern expression. "You have to keep trying. Or she'll die. And that would be a tragedy beyond anything you could understand right now."

Jane frowned at that last comment, sensing again that Betty's motives went a lot deeper than simply wanting to help. Clearly she expected something, and it sounded like Maura was the one she expected it from.

However, Jane found she didn't care why Betty was helping Maura, as long as she did. Sitting down once more, she concentrated on the new cactus, finding a similar dark spot.

This time she pushed with the gentlest mental touch she could manage, and saw energy start to trickle out of her hand and into the cactus. She felt her skin tingle, the sensation slowly spreading along her arm, but resolutely maintained her concentration, keeping the amount of energy constant. She saw the stream of light connect with the dead spot and disappear, and kept the flow going, watching more and more energy vanish as if it was being fed into a black hole.

After a few minutes, Betty called out for her to stop. Jane pulled her hand away and opened her eyes, noticing with alarm that her skin had turned chalky in patches along her arm. Betty had obviously seen the damage as well, and carefully inspected the cactus before speaking. "So, how did you go?"

Jane flexed her hand, noticing a bit of stiffness in the damaged arm, and replied with a saddened voice. "I thought I was getting somewhere, but it didn't seem to make a difference. I fed a whole chunk of energy in, very slowly, but the dead spot just absorbed it and didn't get better."

Betty nodded thoughtfully, zipping back to her cardboard box and returning with a blood bag, clearly marked with the logo of a blood bank. "I think the key might be finding a balance between too much and too little. You've tried both, and we've seen the results. Now try to find the happy medium."

Jane looked at the offered blood bag with distaste, glancing between it and her arm uncertainly. Betty noticed, and ripped the lid off the bag impatiently. She was floored when Jane continued to hesitate.

Betty pushed the blood bag into Jane's face, and stumbled away in amazement when she pushed it away stubbornly. "You're less than a day old. That's incredible."

Betty glanced back at Maura, her face filled with wonder, before turning back to Jane. "You really have no idea what she's done for you. How lucky you are. You have the choice none of us ever did. We can't help but be monsters, but you can."

Jane sighed guiltily as she nodded in agreement. Betty frowned and pushed the blood bag back under Jane's nose. "You owe it to her to try and fix this. And in order to try, you need to recover your strength. Have you even fed since you woke up?"

Jane shrugged doubtfully. "I had about two mouthfuls of a bear I found for Maura."

Betty rolled her eyes. "No wonder you started draining yourself. Drink all of that, and we'll try again."

Jane nodded in surrender, taking one last disgusted look at the bag before starting to drink. The liquid tasted exquisite, better than the nicest cup of coffee she'd ever had, but she still felt like herself, despite the fact that she knew she was drinking human blood. She finished the bag as quickly as possible, wanting to get it over with, and sheepishly handed it back to Betty when she was done. Betty wordlessly took the empty bag and replaced it with the cactus before returning to Maura's side.

Jane took a deep breath, feeling her body recharging from the intake of blood, and touched the cactus again, immediately pushing energy into the spot at a higher rate than before. She saw a bright spot flaring up and carefully dialled the flow back, pushing and pulling on the energy stream until it seemed stable.

Finally, after several minutes of experimentation, the black spot started to recede. Jane smiled and kept up the assault, barraging the dead area with as much energy as she could without causing another explosion. She watched the blackness shrink away, and all of a sudden the cactus was clean and bright again.

Jane was about to open her eyes and call Betty when the cactus suddenly flared, excess energy sparking from Jane's hands into the plant. She immediately pulled her hand away, and opened her eyes to find a large split along the body of the cactus.

Betty was at her side immediately, inspecting the damage. "Okay, this is progress. It looks like you managed to fix the damage, but you held on a bit too long and overcharged it. I think it will heal, it just needs some time."

The spent the next hour or so experimenting with more cacti, interspersed with more blood bags to keep up Jane's strength. She had gotten the hang of the healing procedure after about three cacti, figuring out how to dial down the flow of energy when the black spots were about to disappear so she didn't overfill the plant with borrowed energy. When she put down the last cactus, she had three failures and seven successes sitting in front of her, as well as the exploded one which was in too many pieces to even try to find.

Betty had been brimming with excitement and enthusiasm for the last hour, but suddenly she became deadly serious again. "Jane, it's time. It's now or never. You have to try to help her."

Jane nodded, having reached the same conclusion as well. She grabbed the second last blood bag Betty had brought and quickly drained it, having lost her aversion to the thought of drinking blood over the course of several bags accompanied by the sight of Maura's energy ebbing away. Her last peek had shown that Betty had been correct, and that Maura was out of time.

Betty squeezed her shoulder in encouragement, before moving into position at Maura's feet. She would be on hand to use her power on Maura, in case she started to move while Jane was still working on her. They were hoping to avoid that situation if possible, since they had no idea if Betty's power would interfere with Jane's.

Jane knelt on the ground and gathered Maura into her arms, carefully laying her head in her lap. She looked so fragile, and Jane couldn't help one last plea. "Please let this work. Maura, please come back to me. I can't do this without you."

Putting her hands on Maura's head, Jane closed her eyes and started to concentrate.