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Chapter 29

I own nothing but this story.

Jane pressed the muzzle of the silencer into Colin's temple, waiting.

His glowing red eyes flew open and he went to move from the bed, but Jane pushed him back down onto the mattress roughly.

"Morning, sunshine." She said, amiably. "Sleep well?"

He looked up at her, furious that he had been so easily cornered. "What do you want, Sentinel?!" He hissed, attempting to move away from her intense gaze.

"Oh, it's not what I want, Colin." Jane said, calmly stepping away from the bed slightly, allowing him a view of Maura standing just inside the ray of light across the room. "It's what she wants that I'm concerned with." Jane smiled at his sudden realization that Maura was standing in the same room.

He looked back at Jane, slyly. "I see you helped her through my little booby traps, huh?" He laughed.

Jane shook her head slowly, a sly smile forming. "Actually, she found a way through them herself. She's very resourceful."

His laughter died as he realized he had, once again, been duped by Jane and now by her mate, as well.

"Hello, Colin." Maura said, from across the room, quietly and sincerely, conveying that her only need for being here were for her answers, not to humiliate or degrade him.

He bellowed across the room at her. "YOU DON'T GET TO SPEAK TO ME!"

Maura jumped and moved backward a step, directly into the beam of sunlight, feeling safer, even though she knew that Jane would always protect her. Her need to show that she could protect herself was growing, as well. She was protected by the light.

Jane immediately popped him in the forehead with the the silencer, growling. "Be nice." She said, calmly, trying her best to keep her actions under control. Her fury was simmering just under the surface and Maura could feel it. "Such animosity! I mean, what did she ever do to you?"

Colin's eyes snapped back to Jane. "You truly have no idea what's going on with her, do you?"

Jane was caught off guard somewhat at Colin's audacity.

She didn't show it.

"Not yet, but I'm feeling confident that by the time we are done here, all parties will be satisfied, don't you?" Jane said, smiling still, her voice perfectly normal even though Maura knew that she was very close to killing Colin, once again, answers be damned.

A fact that Colin himself was completely unaware of…yet.

He suddenly began acting very smug, sitting up in the bed, leaning against the headboard and folding his arms across his chest as he smiled, crossing his bare feet at the ankles.

"And what makes you think that I'm going to tell you anything, Sentinel?" He laughed. "I'm feeling confident that you can just kiss my ass."

Before Maura even knew what was happening, Jane had picked him up by his shirt and thrown him one handed across the room and into the wall, puffs of mortar and brick billowing out from behind his body as it connected. She was instantly upon him before he'd even settled and slammed him against the wall again. He slumped down, groaning.

Maura, caught off guard completely, moved her light towards the sounds that she was hearing, as it happened in an instant, only hearing the impact.

She held her light out, finding Jane holding Colin above her head against the wall, by his shirt.

Jane was preparing to slam him against the wall again.

"Jane!" Maura yelled. "Please! No more! You're going to kill him!"

At the sound of her intended's voice, she hesitated, looking over her shoulder in Maura's direction, lowering him to the floor, her body shaking with fury and that growl low in her chest. She bent over him as he slowly looked up into her white ice eyes, mere slits, her fangs bared.

"She's saving your life right now, Colin." She whispered. "Keep that in mind when you next speak to her."

With that, she grabbed his shirt into her fist and pulled him across the room back to the bed, his bare feet dragging, pushing him unceremoniously onto the mattress in a seated position.

She stood directly in front of him, looking down.

He looked up at Jane again, his red eyes filled with his own anger, vampire blood flowing freely from his mouth. He spat it near her but careful not to hit her with it. He was angry but not stupid.

She leaned over to speak to him quietly. "Now, we are going to start over."

Jane stood up tall, placing the gun back in its holster, the silencer hanging just at mid thigh. She held her hand out to Maura, her eyes leaving Colin just long enough to nod, indicating that she would be safe. Maura walked over slowly, her light showing her the way and slid her hand into Jane's. She stood at Jane's side but slightly behind, giving Colin a wide berth.

Jane was having none of that. She moved behind Maura, standing with her hands on her shoulders. "You're safe here, Maura."

Jane looked at the fuming vampire seated before them. "Isn't that right, Colin?"

He looked up at Maura, his eyes filled with such venom and hatred that Maura stepped back into Jane a bit before her vampire gently held her steadfast.

"Now tell her what she needs to know, we leave here and I don't kill you." Jane said, matter of factly. "But keep playing games and I can't guarantee what happens next. Understand?"

He continued to stall.

"Fine." Jane finally said, moving the pack off of her back and opening it.

She leaned over and asked Maura sweetly. "Maura, can you move away from him, please?"

Maura stepped to the end of the bed, out of his line of sight, her hands twisting the housing of the flashlight, nervously.

"Thank you, baby." Jane said, pulling out a small leather pouch, about the size of an old fashioned coin purse, closed by a drawstring. It looked very aged and worn.

"Baby." Colin sneered and laughed under his breath at the term of endearment that Jane used to refer to her beloved.

Jane immediately backhanded him hard across the face with her left hand, rocking his head sideways, blood flying across the bed.

Maura gasped, not used to seeing this side of Jane. She knew that such force was necessary at times but witnessing it firsthand, up close, somewhat unprovoked, was disturbing to her.

Jane looked at Maura, meeting her eyes. "I'm sorry, my love. I know this upsets you, but sometimes I have no choice." She said, as if reading her mind

She looked back at Colin.

"Do I." She stated as she leaned over and brought her face into Colin's. "One more chance." She said, shaking the bag in front of his face. It sounded as if there were marbles inside clicking against each other.

He leaned into her face. "Fuck off, Sentinel." He said quietly.

She nodded, standing tall again.

"Maura, how many windows are there on this floor?" She asked, her eyes never leaving his.

"Ninety-six." She answered immediately, having counted them unconsciously earlier as Jane made her way up the side of the building, using her photographic memory. "Well, ninety-five if you don't count the one you've already removed."

Jane smiled at him. "She's quick, huh?" She said, enjoying his confusion.

Maura herself was confused, not knowing where Jane was heading with her questioning or what was inside that little leather pouch. But, she knew that very soon, they both were going to find out.

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Jane looked towards Maura, who stood at the end of the bed. "Can you go and open that entire frame of windows, please? Just lift it up until the stop clicks into place. It'll stay open by itself." She smiled sweetly, letting Maura know that the doctor was still in control of her own actions. "Please?"

Jane looked back to Colin, who was noticeably becoming more agitated at the mention of opening the bank of windows. Then more agitated at their easy banter, as if he wasn't in the room at all.

Maura smiled back. "Only for you." She did as she was asked.

"Thank you, baby." Jane smiled, looking at Colin as she spoke the last word.

The end of the room near the stairs was suddenly illuminated and bright. Maura returned to the end of the bed, not needing the flashlight to see her way back.

Jane turned back to Colin. "See? We just killed two birds with one stone. Pun possibly intended depending how you want this to go. Your cronies can't come up and now you can't go down."

Jane looked at her watch. "And it looks like we have at least two more hours or so until the sun sets."

Maura looked at her own watch, confirming Jane's statement.

"So...are you ready to tell Maura what she needs to know?" Jane asked again.

Colin looked at Maura, snarling, his fangs clearly visible. Then he looked back to Jane.

"Fuck her." He said, smiling.

Jane shook her head, smiling. "That mouth of yours…" She trailed off. Once again, her hand shot out and his head rocked back, his nose gushing. He covered it with his hand and the blood oozed between his fingers. "I see being civil isn't going to work."

She moved the backpack onto the bed next to Colin, careful to keep the little leather pouch in Colin's field of vision, but not explaining or opening it.

She unzipped the pack. "I have so many things in this bag that are capable of inflicting unimaginable pain. Modern weapons that the Council has developed that are beyond comprehension." She reached in the bag, moving things around, looking at him sideways. "A couple of them I've come with myself over the years." She smiled.

Colin unconsciously leaned forward, trying to get a glimpse inside the bag, his eyes reflecting the fear that was slowly replacing his rage.

Maura herself was also leaning in to see what the bag held.

Jane continued rummaging around, not revealing anything in the bag, but talking to herself. "No, not that one. Nah, this is too messy. Nope! Too loud."

She zipped the bag closed, looking up at Colin, who at this point was leaning over as close as he dared to Jane, his red eyes wide, the blood covering the lower half of his face turning tacky.

Jane stood up tall, once again and lifted the little pouch, holding it in front of Colin's eyes again.

"But you know what?" She continued, shaking the bag again. "Sometimes it's the most archaic and simple weapons that are the best. The Elders had it right. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, huh?"

Jane looked at Maura, smiling, and winked. Maura smiled back, feeling Jane's relaxed mood, despite the current situation she found herself in. Jane had that effect on her.

Colin saw this exchange and his anger returned, albeit more subdued.

"Ninety-five panes." Jane continued. "Let's see if I have enough." Jane pulled the drawstring and then opened her palm, carefully pouring out some of the contents of the bag into it.

Colin and Maura both leaned over to see what it could be.

It looked like small pebbles, very smooth and various shades of brown and gray. Jane palmed the bag and picked up one of the pebbles in between her thumb and forefinger holding it up directly in front of Colin's eyes.

He looked at it then looked at Jane, incredulously. "What kind of bullshit is this?!" He moved to get up from the bed again, but Jane, once again, sat him back down.

"Where do you think you are going? I mean, really, where are you going?" She asked, laughing.

She moved the pebble from her forefinger to the nail of her middle finder holding it in place with her thumb. She aimed it at the pane just to the left of the bed. She flicked it and it shot across the room, shattering the pane, the light filling the space in front of it. "I don't have ninety-five…but I think I have enough, don't you?"

Realizing just how caught he was and realizing he had nothing to lose, he clenched his fists and sprang from the bed towards Maura, yelling, "I'LL KILL YOU MYSELF!"

The doctor saw his mood change in the instant before he moved and she immediately flicked off the UV light's cover and turned it on just as he reached her, hitting him in the chest, just as Jane reached out and grabbed his foot, pulling him away from Maura. He howled in agony and launched himself across the room away from the light, pushing himself against the brick wall as far away from Jane and Maura as he could get.

"You okay?" Jane asked Maura, moving to her side, holding her forearm.

Maura nodded, "I'm fine." She said, placing her own hand over Jane's.

Jane moved to bring him back to the bed. Maura stopped her. "No, Jane."

Maura began to realize his desperation and knew immediately that the way Jane was approaching him wasn't going to work. He would just as soon die before he would let Jane intimidate the answers from him.

She had to try to reach him in her own way.

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"Colin? Why do you hate me so much?" Maura asked, tossing the flashlight on the bed, putting her hands over Jane's, closing them around her pebbles. She shook her head at Jane in the semi-darkness.

No response from Colin.

Jane began to understand Maura's intentions and nodded.

"I don't even know you." She kept talking to the air around her, focusing on only the end of the room that Colin had thrown himself into to escape Jane's onslaught and her UV light. She walked away from Jane, revealing that she held no weapons, holding her arms up and turning in a slow circle.

"I would love to know what I've inadvertently done to draw your ire." She said sincerely into the darkness at the end of the room, using her 'Maura-speak', hoping to draw him out, not physically, but emotionally. She felt that if she could connect to him this way, he wouldn't feel so adamant about killing her.

Jane, having never seen this side of Maura before, stood in silence, smiling, but ready to defend her mate in an instant. She knew that Maura had it in her to be this person. The yin to her yang, so to speak. She was going to do well in this new world.

Nothing from Colin.

"I'm just letting you know that even though I may appear vulnerable, Jane will not let you kill me." She hesitated, before adding honestly. "But I don't want her to kill you, either."

Maura stepped closer to the figure that stood silent, just out of the sunshine's reach.

"Why are you trying to kill me, Colin?" She asked, quietly. "I don't understand any of this. This can't just be about Jane."

Maura stood silently, waiting.

He stepped forward, away from the wall and into Maura's range of sight, but not enough to expose himself completely.

"You have the advantage here, Colin." Maura explained. "You have the information that I need." Maura said, walking towards him in the darkness, stopping about fifteen feet away.

"What do I have that you need?"

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Colin stepped closer to Maura and Jane did the same, silently letting him know that it would not be advantageous for him to try anything.

"What do I have, Colin?" Maura repeated.

Silence.

Maura shook her head. "I can't understand until you tell me."

Suddenly, he spoke. "You have a life."

Maura shook her head again. "I don't know what that means."

"You got a life and I got…this." He answered her, stepping closer. He gestured around the empty warehouse. "This is my life. Sleeping all day in a dirty warehouse. No money. No possessions." He pointed at Jane. "You even got her."

"How is that my fault, Colin?" Maura asked, confused. "I've never even met you until last night." Maura laughed. "I didn't even know Jane until three days ago. I hardly think your predicament has anything to do with me."

He moved closer to Maura, a step at a time.

As did Jane. "That's close enough, Colin." She said, quietly.

He stopped moving towards Maura, realizing that Jane could see everything in the room as clear as if all the lights were on. He turned his attention back to Maura.

"You may have only met her three days ago, but you have been bound to her your entire life." He laughed, enjoying the confusion that surfaced on both Jane's and Maura's faces.

"What are you talking about, Colin?" Jane asked, becoming irritated with him again. "Stop playing games. You know I can't bond until I physically come into contact with my human mate."

He continued laughing. "Human being the operative term in that sentence, Sentinel." He paused for effect. "Of which, she is not."

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It was Maura's turn to ask the same question. "What are you talking about, Colin? What do you mean I'm not human? That's a little hard for me to believe."

"Where are your parents?" He asked Maura, amused that, incredibly, he was holding all the cards in this little game of poker that they were playing.

Maura answered quickly. "They live in France."

Still amused, "No. Your real parents?"

"I…I don't know." Maura answered quietly. She turned to Jane, who was frowning in confusion. "I'm adopted."

Jane felt Maura's sadness suddenly and moved towards her. Maura held up her hand, stopping her. She needed Jane to know that she was okay, having known about and accepted this a long time ago.

"You don't have real parents." He laughed. "Unless you want to include the scientists and technicians that developed you."

"What are you saying?" Maura asked, her voice beginning to show the anger that was beginning to form in her mind.

"Don't worry, though. You are not alone in that. I was developed in that same lab." He hissed, his anger surfacing again. "But, unlike you, I didn't quite live up to their expectations. So this is what I got." He gestured around the warehouse again.

"What lab?! What are you saying?! Tell me!" Maura almost yelled, her anger and confusion coming to a head. She was beginning to get a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, part of her not wanting the answers to the questions anymore.

Colin stepped closer to Maura, smiling in the dark, his red eyes glinting. "You weren't born at all, hybrid! You were engineered!"

"You're lying." Jane said, stepping next to Maura, touching the small of her back, the confusion evident in the waves that pulsed off of Maura's skin.

Colin moved away from Jane, back to the wall, out of Maura's sight, into the darkness, enjoying the fact that even though Jane could see him in fine detail, Maura, however, couldn't see him at all.

"Am I?" He asked, addressing Maura. "Any new cravings lately? New abilities? Things just seeming a little bit off with you?"

Jane looked at Maura, questioning her. "Abilities?" She knew full well about the cravings, having been present for that whole experience this morning and her capability to smell Colin, even though it should've been impossible. But this new aspect of Maura was a complete surprise.

Maura was silent, but her silence spoke volumes.

Colin laughed again. "I thought so." He smiled at Jane in the darkness. "She's changing."

"What do you mean, changing?" Jane asked, slowly caressing Maura's back. "And why?"

Colin held Jane's white eyes with his own red ones. "She's becoming what she was bred to be." He said, slowly. "And it's all because of you!"

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Maura was slowly becoming angry, having these two vampires discussing her as if she weren't even in the room.

Jane felt it, but said nothing, preferring Maura to have free reign on the situation, even though, her own confusion was almost too much to hold back. She was getting impatient with Colin and his explanations, or more precise, his lack of explanations. Every one explanation just created another question.

Apparently, Maura wasn't just getting impatient. She was done with it. She turned to leave, walking back towards the bed, grabbing her flashlight, then heading towards the stairwell that was bathed in sunlight, the sun beginning to move across the sky and the rays moving with it across the floor.

"Where are you going, hybrid?" Colin yelled to her. "You thinkyou are going to get out of here that way? My vampires will eat you alive!"

Maura turned around and addressed Jane calmly, ignoring Colin altogether. "I'm ready to go. I've had enough of his talking in circles and it's obvious we are not going to get the answers we need from him. Just kill him so we can get out of this place. It's stinks of desperation and self pity in here."

She began walking again, turning and leaning against the wall next to the stairwell, crossing her arms over her chest, holding the flashlight, waiting. "Do it, Jane. Let's go. I'll get my answers elsewhere. Obviously, if this idiot knows about me, then so do others."

"You sure, my love?" Jane asked, sincerely.

Maura nodded. "Absolutely."

Jane smiled in the darkness at her and then turned her attention back to Colin, her smile growing into a sinister grin, those deadly teeth glinting in the waning sunlight.

"Finally." She said to him, moving slowly into the darkness of the room, his eyes suddenly huge with the understanding that his perfect Royal Flush just turned into a hand that most would've folded on long ago.

I know this is another cliffhanger, but if I told you everything in one chapter, it would either be 10,000 words long or I'd have to shorten it to fit it into a manageable read. And I don't want to short change you or these characters. So, I hope you enjoy it! Thanks to all that review! I'm writing for you!