Hi all!
Welcome to the next chapter! I hope you're still enjoying the story! I've been looking forward to sharing these chapters since starting this story, so please let me know any thoughts about the fun facts being revealed finally!
Thanks as always to JaneyGWF for her betaing!
When the pair were in hearing range, Betty started the next part of her explanation. "Now, I mentioned that vampiric powers have been around for a few thousand years. Back in those times, vampires were relatively few in number, but they were vicious and fought amongst each other violently. Their bloodthirsty instincts were completely uncontrollable, and most vampires didn't make it past their first year. Nobody knows how vampires first came into existence, because they were so violent that they all killed their makers, and nobody managed to preserve that knowledge. They preyed on humans, and since humans knew what they were, they fought back in any way they could. It was a dark, brutal time in vampire history, with no real evolution or progress made for untold centuries.
"Then a new vampire was turned, who found that she had special powers, unlike anything the world had ever seen. She was the first vampire known to have telepathic ability, and she used her unprecedented insight to start to understand her instincts. She eventually managed to learn control over herself, and through her powers bonded with other vampires, so they could learn from her. Eventually, they formed the world's first true coven of vampires, the first able to live together without fighting. This didn't mean they were peaceful, however.
"The coven decided to carve out their own empire. They chose an ancient city, wiped out the human leadership and took over. They forced the remaining humans to stay as their slaves, serving as entertainment and food. The city became known as a place of death, and it was abandoned by all neighbouring humans, eventually becoming a graveyard as the population was decimated and no new occupants came to replace them. The coven decided to move on, repeating the pattern multiple times across more than a century.
"Eventually the humans grew more brave than fearful. They assembled a great army and marched on the coven's latest killing ground, razing the city and burning most of the vampires in the process. The few surviving humans thought they had destroyed the threat, so the story was turned into a legend, with any truth about the bloodthirsty enemy becoming fiction over time.
"The original telepath was amongst the number killed, but she had given birth to many children as a human before being turned. She had intentionally protected her human descendants, allowing them to flourish and breed before taking one each generation as a vampire. One of her turned descendants managed to escape the destruction of the first coven, and fled the region to escape the persecution of their human attackers. This vampire had similar powers to her ancestor, but she was less inclined towards violence than her predecessors. She grew lonely over time and created more companions, binding them together with her telepathy, finding other vampires with similar powers in a similar fashion to the first coven. However, she did not repeat their mistakes. Instead, she used her powers to hide their true nature from humans, blurring perceptions and erasing memories as necessary to keep their existence a secret. They fed only when they could conceal the evidence, and moved around frequently to avoid suspicion, living as nomads rather than conquerors. They helped other vampires they encountered to understand their thirst, so that they could live among humans in relative peace.
"Over many hundreds of years, the coven grew in number and ability. The mutation for vampiric powers had spread across nations, becoming more common with time, and as a result more vampires with mental powers were created. The combination of several psychic abilities allowed the formation of a permanent mental connection between the coven members, permitting communication and exchange of information across vast distances. The coven spread out across many countries, but stayed together mentally, their telepathic connection ensuring they remained grounded and non-violent.
"However, other vampires were not as peaceful. As much as vampires are a different species than humans, we all came from humanity originally. We have the same weaknesses, the same overwhelming need to obtain the things we want even if it is at the expense of others. You've seen it during your time in law enforcement. A rich man with everything will still kill his brother for a better position in the family company. A psychopath who can't feel will go to extreme lengths to obtain power over others. A good cop will turn dirty after seeing how much money and power is available through criminal activities. All of these urges are still present in vampires, varying as much as in the people they came from. Vampires use the natural temptations of their thirst as an excuse to abandon all semblance of morals a lot easier than humans do. And when they decide they want something, it usually leads to war.
"There have been many vampiric wars, most of them long forgotten as the combatants are all dead. They are usually fought over territory, when the vampire population grows large enough to draw attention from the humans around them. Various weapons have been used to fight these wars, from newborns to sheer numbers to human armies to vampiric powers. As you may have guessed, the latest weapon to be discovered is hybrid vampires, but I will get to that later."
Maura and Jane exchanged a curious look at that comment, but both were swept up in the narrative and chose not to interrupt as Betty continued. "Eventually the humans realised that vampires were real, not just the stuff of stories and legends. Our race was once again the target of human attacks, which drove us towards extinction again.
"The coven wanted no part in a war with humans. They had lived peacefully for almost five hundred years, and their leader decided to take drastic action rather than allow history to repeat yet again. She still remembered how it had felt to lose her first coven, and the loneliness that followed. It had been a harrowing time, and the memory of that experience had pervaded the collective consciousness of the coven. They all agreed that another near extinction was unacceptable.
"In order to prevent a genocide, the coven pooled their mental resources and linked every mind on the planet, both human and vampire. The bond was created and sustained by the collective will of the coven, and relied on their continued input to maintain the connection. It tapped into the subconscious minds of all humans and vampires, allowing communication and sharing of knowledge without using the active memory or allowing the participants to know what was going on. Every thought, idea, memory, whim and hope of every mind on the planet became part of a vast pool of information, accessible to anyone with the right ability."
The look of fascination on Maura's face warmed Jane's heart, even as she tried to get her head around the magnitude of what Betty had explained. If what she said was true, her entire life had been lived in the constant presence of this unconscious network, and she had never known.
Betty had paused for a moment, giving them a brief opportunity to process, before she continued. "The coven then used this unconscious network to wipe all memory of vampires from the human population, everywhere in the world simultaneously, returning all knowledge to the realms of whispers and rumour. In addition to modifying memories, the coven also created an unconscious urge to ignore any evidence of vampirism, and a subconscious directive to keep the secret once it was discovered. That is the true reason why humanity as a whole has never rediscovered the secret. Not because the Volturi are good at their jobs, but because the coven has created and maintained their subliminal suggestion that nobody even knows exists. It doesn't prevent anyone from learning facts and realising the truth, but it guides their minds away until they have absolute proof and confirmation. I'm sure you've acted under this suggestion in the past, without even realising it."
Jane and Maura both frowned in realisation as they finally understood an untold niggling element of their first introduction to vampires. Neither of them had seriously considered telling anyone. They had kept the secret from everyone, even their parents and closest friends, without ever really questioning why. Once they had learned the truth, they had wondered how the FBI, BPD and media hadn't connected the dots, but they hadn't seriously looked into it further and tried to get the truth out there. Frankie hadn't forced them to tell the secret, despite having enough first hand evidence to know something was different about Maura. Even Susie Chang, who had all the information to draw a solid conclusion, hadn't been able to believe the truth until Maura had confirmed it.
Betty saw their looks of bewildered understanding and nodded knowingly. "I know, it's obvious once you know, but the beauty of the subconscious network is that your mind doesn't want to examine the issue until you actually know. I remember how amazed I was when I found out about it. It's an incredibly subtle manipulation of the whole world's collective mind, but it has served its purpose for almost a thousand years."
Betty gave them a few moments to take in the magnitude of the information she'd just dropped on them, crossing another highway in silence before continuing. "The creation of the subconscious network and the memory modification took a great toll on the coven, and ultimately resulted in the death of their leader. She was the first known victim of the experience you've just endured. She overstepped her limits in an attempt to protect her people, and she paid the cost. Even if she'd known what would happen, she would have still done it, because she knew the consequences of allowing history to repeat."
Maura grimaced and glanced at Jane with a grateful look, accompanied by a brief burst of emotion. Jane realised Maura must still be tapping into Jasper's powers, and was projecting little bursts of emotion even as she could feel Jane and Betty. At a guess, she thought Maura must be trying to use her new abilities to check the truthfulness of Betty's story as it was told.
Jane answered the feelings of warmth and gratitude with a reassuring smile, receiving a warm smile in return before they returned their attention to the story. "As you have probably guessed, that was when the law of secrecy was first introduced into the vampire world. Before then, it had been the sensible path to take, but not a rule. Naturally, not all vampires wanted to fall in line, since the requirement for secrecy makes it harder to indulge their baser instincts, so the coven needed a militant arm to enforce their wishes on the rest of the vampire population. A group of vampires were chosen from amongst the general population, who were not part of the coven and their mental network, but who agreed with the mission of the coven.
"The first group chosen were very effective in their task. They hunted any vampires that revealed themselves without mercy at the behest of the coven. Any dissenters were tracked almost instantly, as through the mental network the coven could identify any rebels before they took action and control situations before they eventuated. The coven and their warriors managed to enforce their will upon the world, killing any vampires that went against their rules and fooling the humans into believing vampires didn't exist.
"Over time, it was discovered that the subconscious network had other effects on the world. We believe the existence of the network prompted an evolutionary response in humans, enhancing the prominence of the thalamus vampirus and making humans more intuitive. Even humans with no natural psychic ability could feel the connection to varying degrees, unconsciously drawing impressions, hunches, déjà vu, past life experience, all manner of unexplainable phenomenon, from this unknown collective bond. More and more vampires were being created with mental abilities, and those abilities started to utilise the network in amazing ways. People like Alice started to appear, with the ability to see the future. What was actually happening is a form of prediction using probability, drawing on all the combined information available in the subconscious minds of everyone on the planet and delivering the most likely outcome to her mind as a vision. There are others that use the network unknowingly to enhance their abilities, to find people, influence them, remember those that have passed on, many different aspects of using the combined pool of knowledge. The coven revelled in this new development, becoming a very curious organisation, more focussed on understanding the world than controlling it. More than ever, they were only interested in being left alone and being able to concentrate on obtaining new knowledge. With this new focus of knowledge, the coven drifted out of the general knowledge of vampires not part of the coven, and became as much a myth to vampires as they were to humans. They focussed on their own projects, like the cross species hybridisation that produced the vampiric cactus, and left the politics and conflicts to other vampires.
"However, after a few hundred years, peace was settling in to the vampire world, and the coven's warriors grew restless. They had always travelled the world, ready to deploy as the coven required, but they eventually decided to find a city and put down roots as a group. They took over the governance of a human city, and ruled their subjects cruelly. As in each previous instance of vampires settling near humans, the warriors eventually started getting sloppy, and their humans started understanding the true nature of their rulers. It was like the bad old days of the first coven all over again.
"The coven wouldn't allow their own warriors to become the element that destroyed their carefully constructed secret world. They surreptitiously created a new warrior arm, gave them a battle strategy, and guided them in the destruction of their original warriors. After a prolonged conflict, during which many vampires and many more humans were killed, a new peace was reached and the coven returned to their maintenance of the unconscious network, now completely unknown to any but themselves and the leaders of their warriors, who were sworn to secrecy.
"Sadly, the cycle repeated itself once again. The new warrior arm of the coven took over a new region and started living as rulers, more secretly than the last but still too overtly for the coven's liking. You might have heard of the surviving members of this group, the Romanians, Stefan and Vladimir. The coven again moved to eliminate the threat, but this time changed their tactics.
"They appointed one of their own to lead the new warrior arm. He would know of the coven's existence and remain a part of their mental network, but would tell none of his past, instead leading through example and an iron will. You may have heard of this man. He is the leader of the Volturi, Aro."
Maura suddenly stopped at the sound of his name, followed by Jane and Betty. Jane received a blast of anger from Maura a split second before she started yelling. "You mean that man being is a position to influence our lives because you put him in power?"
Betty's hands were up in a placating gesture once again as she replied apologetically. "I know, it's a bad situation. One I personally had nothing to do with, by the way. I've only been a vampire for twenty years, and this all happened hundreds of years before I was born."
Maura was still glaring furiously at Betty, and she hurried to explain further. "The coven thought he was the best option at the time, and the Volturi have served their purpose for the longest of any warrior group. However, like all the others, his once noble and selfless purpose changed. He started desiring power, specifically other vampire powers, with their owners firmly under his control. He realised that if he started gathering power, we would stop him like we have all the others before him, so he ensured that he accumulated enough followers that we couldn't compete with them on a battlefield. He used one of his companion's abilities and tied them all together with an emotional bond, instead of a mental connection, so that none of them would ever betray him. His own powers allow him to know everything that his followers have ever thought, but none of them have the power to read his mind and motivations. And since he was one of us, he could still access the subconscious network. He was forewarned of any actions we might take just as we were of his. It's been a stalemate for hundreds of years, with both sides gathering resources but unable to strike."
Maura scoffed at the explanation. "So that's why your coven never helped us? You couldn't save us from his minions because he might have gotten upset? You used us to take out his strongest offensive weapons without getting involved, so he couldn't blame you?"
Betty winced at the accusation, telling Jane that it wasn't far from the mark. She felt her own emotions teeter towards rage, but tried her best to remain calm since it looked like Maura was struggling. Jane stepped forward with a furious scowl and pointed an accusing finger at Betty. "You heartless monsters. Do you realise how much heartache you could have saved us?"
Betty nodded sadly. "We know. But things had to happen this way, and hopefully you'll understand why some day. I can't explain everything now, mostly because knowing would only make what still has to happen more difficult, but also because we don't have time. We need to keep moving."
Betty ran off again without another word. Jane looked searchingly at Maura, trying to gauge her mood. There was a lot of turmoil on her face, but the main emotion Jane could see was anger. Maura was clenching her fists, staring after Betty with a look of pure fury. She glanced at Jane with a determined look, and disappeared after Betty without further explanation. Jane was surprised at the strength of Maura's reaction, but she quickly followed to make sure Maura didn't do anything she might regret.
Maura looked to be gaining on Betty, and since Jane wasn't sure of her intentions, she ran in between them and asked Betty another heated question. "So why are you suddenly helping us now? Aren't you scared Aro will know what you're doing and stop us?"
Betty shook her head assuredly. "When events looked like they were heading in the right direction, we played the only card we had. We disabled the subconscious network, so Aro couldn't see what's going to happen anymore. We blinded ourselves, and anyone that relies on the network for their powers to work properly, but we also gave ourselves the advantage of surprise. He doesn't know our hopes or plans. He won't see you coming."
Jane looked back at Maura worriedly, feeling another blast of anger as she responded to Betty's smug assertion. "So that's why Alice's powers stopped working. It was nothing to do with me, or Frankie. You stopped her from seeing anything else."
Betty nodded quickly. "We saw that the future was heading in a positive direction, but if she had seen anything past that point and passed it along to you, it would have changed things for the worse. We wouldn't have ended up here."
Maura put on a burst of speed, tackling Betty and holding her to the ground by her throat. Jane skidded to a halt, flinching as a furious tirade exploded out of Maura's hoarse throat. "Would she had seen Alec bombing the precinct and taking Jane? Would we have been able to stop Jane being turned? Would I have needed Jane to save me? Could you have spared us all of this?"
As Betty screamed in panic and metallic squeals rent the air, Jane realised in horror that she was about to watch her best friend kill Betty in cold blood.