We meet Christina and James MacPherson, and Myka decides to face the music and tell Tracy she's going to turn into a panther-y thing.

She had just finished eating and was settling on the porch, the sun having just set, when her radio came to life next to her and almost made her drop the cup of hot tea she was holding.

"Sheriff, do you copy?" Leena's voice came out as a squawk over the radio. Myka picked it up immediately.

"Go ahead," she barked.

"We have a sighting. The girl vampire. She's in the woods, not far from where we found the first kid. Pete's on his way with Jeff and Liam."

"On my way," Myka said.

She made it to the scene in less than five minutes. Pete and the other two weres were standing with their sidearms out, a small child in the car behind them.

"Pete?" she asked, running over while drawing her own weapon.

"She's out there somewhere, Myka," he said, indicating the woods next to them. "She had this kid," he said, indicating the child in the cruiser, "only some of the local werepanthers were out in the woods and they saw her."

"Okay. Get the kid out of here, you guys. I'm gonna go and try to find her."

"No way, Mykes," Pete said immediately. "You two, take the kid back to the station. I'm staying with the Sheriff."

She looked at him for a long moment, and then just nodded. He would be useful. A few seconds later, the car roared off, sirens blaring, and she felt Pete's mind shrinking behind her as he changed form. She took off at a run, heading to where she could feel a small cluster of minds in the woods – presumably the weres who had chased Christina off.

Running through the woods was a trial – she kept getting whipped in the face by passing bushes, but the thought of finally catching Christina was urging her on, pushing her to run faster than she ever had before. She noticed in astonishment that the trees were actually blurring by, and that she was running almost as fast as Helena had been the night they went out here to try finding Christina's trail. Myka heard a howl of pain from her right and she stormed in that direction, stopping suddenly in a clearing where a small figure, dressed all in white, was hunched over a fallen wolf, drinking from its neck.

"Christina Wells! You're under arrest!" she yelled, pointing her weapon at the figure. The girl stood up and hissed at her, and then laughed in a manner so deranged that the hair on the back of Myka's neck stood on end. She looked so much like a miniature Helena that Myka was momentarily breathless. The girl blurred towards her, but with her increased strength and speed Myka had ample time to bring up her left hand, in which she was holding her modified pepper spray. She sprayed it directly in the girl's face, and was disgusted and dismayed to see the flesh blister and melt, running in rivulets down Christina's face.

The girl screamed, a horrible, high-pitched noise that resonated through the small bones in Myka's ears and reverberated in her skull.

"I see you've managed to imbibe some vampire blood, Sheriff," a voice said from the other side of the small clearing. It was English, thick and unctuous. She looked up and saw a good-looking man in his late forties or early fifties, incredibly pale, wearing a tweed suit with elbow patches, looking every inch the country gentleman on a grouse shoot.

"James MacPherson, I assume?" she said, frozen at the spectacle of the girl in front of her, whose face was essentially melting. It suddenly occurred to her that she should put cuffs on the kid. She made a slight move towards her belt, and MacPherson's voice came from behind her, suddenly.

"Sorry, Sheriff, but I can't let you keep my greatest creation. Do give my regards to Helena, won't you?"

Then she saw only blackness.

She's okay, isn't she? Please let her be okay…

"Claudia, get down here and bring Leena, now!"

Please be okay, Mykes…

She woke properly when she felt a delicate hand touch her head, and a surge of something was sent into her, like a probe into her brain, almost.

"She's okay, Pete. Just a concussion. Her head's gonna hurt, but nothing's broken." It was Leena's gentle voice.

"Thank God. The vamp would have killed me…"

"Mr Lattimer, what has happened here?"

Myka felt a surge of happiness as she recognised Helena's voice and soothing presence against the cacophony of voices around her. She remembered her shields, trying to put them in place, and the pain in her head surged. She gave that idea up straightaway.

"Myka, are you awake?" Leena asked quietly.

She opened her eyes carefully, finding Leena kneeling next to her, and Pete, Claudia and Helena standing nearby in a concerned huddle.

"Hey," she said gently. "What's going on, guys?"

"You were knocked out, Myka. You went after the vamp?"

"I hurt her…" Myka said vaguely. "MacPherson hit me…" She closed her eyes again.

She heard a rushing noise and felt herself being picked up gently but swiftly.

"I'm taking the Sheriff home. Send the witch after me, Lattimer," Helena snapped. There was another rushing noise and then she was placed gently into a comfortable bed. The voices in her head were soothed to a soft lull almost immediately, and Helena stroked her head gently with cool fingers.

"I'm so sorry, Myka," she whispered. "If he had killed you…"

"I'm okay, Helena," she managed. "I got her. How hard is it to heal from silver burns?"

Helena winced involuntarily.

"Ah…perhaps a few days? Given that it is in liquid form, which I have not encountered before, I would say it might be a little more difficult for it to be expelled from the skin."

"I'm sorry I had to do that, Helena. She was coming to kill me," Myka said apologetically.

"Don't be ridiculous, Myka. I understand perfectly, and I would have done the same. I am impressed that you weren't hurt more seriously," she said, sitting next to Myka and taking her hand.

"I think it's your blood," Myka said, wincing at the throbbing in her head. "It made my gift really strong. And I lifted Pete the other day."

"I knew it increased human strength, but I haven't seen it first-hand myself. I had meant to tell you about the blood bond last night, but I was distracted. I'm sorry," she said, frowning.

"It's okay," Myka said. Arthur Nielsen explained it to me earlier. We have to try and avoid doing it again, unless it's life or death. Even if it's life or death. So if it happens again, promise me you'll weigh it up? I don't want to become a vampire, Helena. So let's not take that risk if we don't have to."

Helena kissed her hand delicately.

"I promise, my love."

Leena and Pete knocked downstairs, and Helena blurred away to let them in, returning shortly after. Pete and Leena followed 30 seconds later.

"Could you get me some hot water, Helena?" Leena asked politely. Helena nodded and disappeared downstairs.

Pete's thoughts were loud, hurting Myka's head. He was angry, at himself, at the vampires, at Helena.

How many times has she ended up hurt since the vamp got here? She's gonna end up dead and I promised Mrs Frederic I'd protect her. Fucking vampires…

"It's not her fault, Pete," Myka said quietly.

"Sure," Pete said, his jaw tight.

My ass…the vamp could have killed the kid a fucking century ago…Myka's been hurt too many times…damn vamp must be really good in the sack if she's willing to overlook that…

"You do know I can hear you, right?" Myka said acerbically, her hands going to her temples.

Shit…

"I'm so sorry, Myka. I…I was supposed to be keeping you safe, and you've nearly been killed three times now. If this MacPherson asshole had wanted to kill you, you'd be dead."

"I know," she sighed. She still wasn't sure how he'd managed to move so fast; she had nearly matched Christina's speed. Why was MacPherson so much quicker?

Helena returned to the room with a tray with a steaming teapot and a mug. Leena took some herbs from a bag and mixed them in to the teapot.

"Give it five minutes, Helena, stir it, strain it and make sure she drinks at least two mugs of it. It will ease the headache and any inflammation. Should make the concussion a lot less painful.

"Of course, Leena. Thank you, my dear," Helena said, smiling at Leena. It looked odd on her face. She very rarely smiled at anyone but Myka.

"We should leave them to it, Pete," Leena said, tapping him on the shoulder to get his attention.

"Yeah, sure," Pete said unenthusiastically.

"I'm fine, Pete," Myka said. "Helena can protect me if anything else happens."

He nodded and gave Helena a look that clearly said she had better protect Myka. He was grumbling in his head all the way out of the house; it was exhausting. Myka didn't have the mental energy to put up any shields.

"How are you feeling, my love?" Helena asked, her concern clear on her face.

"A little sore," Myka admitted. "Dizzy. Nauseous."

"I forget, sometimes, how fragile humans are," Helena said thoughtfully, touching Myka's face gently. "I wish that I could do something to help."

"You are," Myka said. "You're here. That's all I need."

Helena's smile was wide and beautiful.

"She looks like you," Myka said quietly, after a moment or two of silence.

"She does," Helena agreed, her eyes closing.

"I hated hurting her. I think… I really think I understand how hard it is for you. I don't think I would have been able to kill her either. She's still a child, no matter what she's done."

"Yes, it is. I have tried – God, I have tried. But she's my daughter, Myka. My baby. I… I don't know if I can do it, even now."

"We need to talk about that, Helena. Not right now, but soon. If we can't capture her, we might need to consider that."

"I know," Helena said.

She made the tea as Leena instructed and Myka obediently drank two mugs of the bitter tea, after which she became drowsy. Sleep was beckoning irresistibly and she didn't try to resist it. Helena climbed into bed beside her and held her as she drifted off to sleep.

An hour or so later Helena woke her, checked her pupils, made her drink more of the bitter tea, and held her again until she fell asleep. Myka knew that she did it a few more times that night, but it all merged together like a fever dream. When she awoke to a familiar note and a glass of water and pills, she smiled. Whatever Helena thought of herself, the idea that she was anything but caring – or at least when it came to Myka – was ridiculous.

Myka's day at work was filled with well-wishing from her staff, but she was more focused on practising her ability to block them out of her head. She soon found that some were louder than others – Claudia and Liam, for starters, were difficult to block out, as their minds were open and constantly chattering about whatever they were doing or thinking at that particular time. Once she had her shields well established, she could still feel the presence of the other people in the building, but she could no longer hear them. There was a wonderful white noise effect from the shields that made her feel extremely relaxed. The shields themselves took a constant expenditure of energy – physical and emotional – to maintain, but compared to the energy she used dealing with the pain caused by all those jumbled thoughts, it felt like nothing.

She made the rounds of the town later that day as was her habit about once a week, stopping by local businesses and talking to the owners, and wandering through the trailer park to speak to the families there. A lot of people were concerned about animal sightings, and she made a note to speak to Benedict Valda about his people being more discreet in their activities. A lot of the locals, especially those with younger children, were concerned about the vampire attacks. She reassured all of them that the Sheriff's office was well-equipped to deal with any animals or vampires, confirming that they had thwarted an attack the night before and she was confident that they'd be able to stop any future attempts.

As she drove back to the station she hoped fervently that she was right.

When she returned to the station, it occurred to her that she needed to face up to the situation that was her family in Colorado. Soon enough it would be the full moon and Tracy would change, probably into some sort of half-were. Myka didn't know if her younger sister had a family of her own, but she imagined that it would be quite difficult to hide something like that from a husband or wife or kids. Myka took out her calendar and checked. The full moon was in a week. She sighed and put her head in her hands. This was going to be tough.

She felt Leena approach and looked up with a half-smile on her face. She didn't know what Leena's deal was, whether she was entirely human or not, but whatever she was, she was a wonderful person who always anticipated Myka's needs.

"Hey Sheriff," Leena said softly. "Drink this – it'll get rid of the remains of the headache and make you feel a little brighter.

"Thank you," Myka said, taking the proffered cup eagerly. Her head was still hurting an awful lot. Even with Leena's tea, her concussion was still making itself known.

"Would you grab Pete for me when he gets here?" she asked Leena, who nodded and smiled before leaving.

Pete came in around 30 minutes later.

"Hey, Mykes," he said, his face concerned as he peered at her. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine, Pete," she said. "Just a bit of a headache."

"Good," he said, looking relieved. "Listen, about last night… I'm sorry. I know Helena has been trying to protect you, and she saved our lives. I just… I'm worried that this is gonna end badly, with the kid vampire and all."

Myka looked at him for a moment steadily before replying.

"Yeah, me too, Pete. I don't know how this is going to end up. But we can only do our best to deal with it and either lock Christina up or kill her. She's completely mad; there's no helping her."

He nodded.

"So, what did you want to see me about?" he asked.

"Tracy," she said, chewing her lip. "I… we need to go soon, and warn her. The full moon is next weekend."

"Sure, Mykes. Should we go tomorrow morning? More likely to catch her at the weekend, and it means we don't leave the station unmanned."

Steve looked after the station on the weekends, along with doing daytime shifts here and there, while Pete usually dealt with nights and Myka with days.

"Good idea," she said, nodding. "Can you talk to Amanda, arrange it?"

He nodded.

"I'll get Claudia to find us some tickets," she said, and Pete left her to her work for the remainder of the afternoon.

Claudia found tickets that were miraculously cheap and available, and Myka decided not to question her methods too closely. She knew that Claudia had a bit of a past as a hacker, but as long as she kept her activities fairly benign and didn't draw any attention to herself or the Sheriff's Office, Myka didn't mind. She gave the girl her credit card details and the flights were booked. Myka left the office with a sigh of relief. Her official work week was over.

That evening she had a quiet dinner at home, and for once she was inside her house watching television when Helena arrived. Sally's attack on her, MacPherson's attack, Walter Sykes – they were all stacking up in her head, and she had begun to feel more than a little uneasy at being alone outside at night. She hated feeling that way – she'd been through so much violence in her life that she had thought she was inured to it, immune to the fear that inevitably followed being attacked. But apparently she wasn't. She supposed that in the great scheme of things, that was a good thing – it meant that she was still capable of feeling. She'd felt numb and closed off for so long that it probably was a good thing. It just didn't feel like it, right then.

Helena's arrival was a whisper against her other sense. She heard a quiet knock at the back door and she answered just as quietly, knowing Helena could hear her even if she whispered.

"Good evening, my love," the vampire said. She was wearing a typical outfit, for her. Thin cotton jacket, blue shirt and tight jeans with weathered brown leather boots. She looked incredible, her hair so dark it looked as if it was absorbing the light from the rest of the room.

"Hey," Myka said, smiling her half-smile. Helena approached, leaning down to kiss her. Myka, who'd been lounging on her sofa, sat up and accepted the kiss, threading her fingers into Helena's hair and reciprocating enthusiastically. It had only been a few days since they'd had sex, but she missed Helena's touch.

Helena was kissing down Myka's neck and thoroughly distracting her when it suddenly dawned on her that she needed to tell Helena about her trip.

"Helena," she tried, but her voice came out in a husk, barely understandable. She drew back and turned Helena's face to her.

"Helena," she said, this time successfully, and Helena lifted an eyebrow before sitting down next to her.

"Yes, my love?" she asked.

"I have to go away for a couple of days. Maybe longer, I don't know. I need to tell Tracy about what happened, explain to her that she's going to change. The full moon is next week."

"When do you leave?" Helena asked.

"Tomorrow morning. Pete suggested we go over the weekend. Steve takes care of the office at weekends unless there's an emergency so it made sense."

"Of course, darling. It does makes sense. I will miss you, though," she said, her face comically mournful. It suddenly dawned on Myka that they hadn't actually spent a night apart since they met. She wondered idly what that meant.

"Are you hungry?" she asked, checking Helena's colouring anxiously. She was very white, and looked tired.

"I am," she admitted, smiling slightly. "Might you be able to assist?"

"I might," Myka said, playfully. "What do I get in return?"

"Myka, I told you, that's not the sort of relationship I want," Helena began, her back stiffening. Myka started to apologise, to explain, but Helena laughed suddenly.

"You were playing me?" Myka said, outraged.

"Sorry, my darling," Helena said, her smile wide. "I just couldn't resist such a perfect opening."

And then she whispered in Myka's ear what she would actually get in return for a bottle or two of Tru Blood. Myka hurried to the kitchen.