Hi All! I just wanted to assure everyone that last chapter wasn't just something I did on a whim or for a cheap shock. It had been planned since the beginning of the story, and as sad as it was I believe it was what would have actually happened in this particular situation. And you are all correct, this is a pretty big hole that has been knocked through their friendship, and it will take a lot of work to resolve one way or the other. If I'm not getting it right please tell me (constructively)! Now on to the aftermath...

For the third time that day Maura's world was entirely composed of agony. Her nerve endings felt like they were being cut open and dipped in acid. Her back arched. Her limbs flailed uncontrollably. Her senses were numb to anything external, completely overtaken with the fiery pain of the Volturi's gaze.

Then it was suddenly over. The relief was like being plunged into a cool lake after being on fire for days. As Maura attempted to regain her bearings she became aware of the most delicious scent she had ever experienced.

She barely registered words being uttered into her ear before she felt a weight being deposited in her arms. Her instincts burst to the fore, enveloping her thoughts in an all-consuming need to satiate the thirst that had plagued her for months. Without conscious initiation of the movement her mouth moved to the source of the liquid heaven that would sate her burning throat.

Her teeth met no resistance as she bit down, unknown memories guiding her bite. The taste was exhilarating, transcendental, revelatory. She had never experienced anything as sweet and fulfilling as the ambrosia that filled her mouth and sped down her waiting throat. The burning thirst that had infiltrated every moment of her existence was blessedly quenched, the relief easily outstripping the sensation of being freed from the Volturi's stare.

Maura drank deeply and quickly, unable to slow her pace to savour the sensation. She had been desperate for this experience without realising it, and now that it was finally happening she lacked the will to prolong the enjoyment. She felt shudders emanate from her back, shrugging as she dismissed them as a reaction to her ecstasy.

Too soon the well ran dry. She continued to pull on the source of her salvation, vainly trying to extract more of the miraculous substance but only managing to mangle the receptacle. A buried memory came to the fore, her mouth moving over her prey to disguise the signs of her intrusion. Maura finally released the weight in her arms, her eyes remaining closed as she basked in the afterglow of her experience.

As Maura regained awareness her elation left her suddenly as a gunshot. She could hear Jane sobbing next to her. Her eyes snapped open to see….

Oh God.

Angela.

No, no, nonononono….

Maura let out an inarticulate wail as the full realisation of the situation hit her. Angela was lying on the floor, her eyes blank. Jane was crouched over her mother, her arms grasping desperately at the body, tears running freely, defeated animalistic sobbing rippling out of her.

Maura had just killed Jane's mother.

Her hands reached out without permission to touch Angela, hoping to dispute everything Maura knew but couldn't accept. As they found Angela's still hand Maura let out another wordless wail.

Jane was shaking violently as she held her mother, staring blankly at a face that had previously given comfort and love but now was despairingly still. She noticed movement and saw pale hands reach out and touch her mother's hand, Jane's mind suddenly clearing enough to hear a distraught cry. Her eyes shot up and saw the monster that had just killed her mother, its red eyes blazing with pain, its mouth somehow clean of blood despite the murderous act it had just performed.

"DON'T TOUCH HER!" Jane screamed frantically, her voice breaking harshly on the words. She pulled her mother closer to her chest, pulling the hand away from the monster in the process. The monster recoiled as if Jane had hit her, falling back into an awkward seated position, never moving those blood tinged eyes from her mother. Jane felt a desperate need to protect her mother even now, gently moving her mother's body to the ground so she could move in between her and the monster.

"GET AWAY FROM HER!" Jane lunged and pushed the pale form away by the shoulders, not achieving any movement. The distraught face continued to stare through Jane at her mother, its expression anguished and devastated. Jane swung her arms, striking the face and shoulders of the statue in front of her to no avail. A little of the angry fog clouding Jane's mind dissipated as she absorbed the expression on the face of the monster.

This was Maura.

The thing that had killed her mother used to be Maura. She had trusted that her friend was still in there, that she was in control, that she still cared about the people that Jane loved. That trust had gotten her mother killed.

Suddenly Jane's anger dissipated and was replaced by crippling guilt, driving her back to her knees and initiating a new round of scalding tears. She turned back to her mother, touching her face tenderly. "I'm so sorry, ma." Crouching over again Jane gathered her mother into an embrace and held her close, her tears soaking into Angela's hair.

Jane jerked in surprise when her phone suddenly started ringing. Operating on instinct she pulled the phone out of its holster and looked at the caller; Korsak. Jane stared dumbly at the phone until it fell silent before dropping it on the floor.

The phone rang twice more, ignored both times. Both women were locked in their own minds, thoughts swirling around the events of the afternoon and assigning blame to themselves.

Jane clung to her mother, unable to let her go, because that would mean trying to deal with this situation and Jane had no idea how to even start. Her mind skittered over old memories; her mother comforting her after getting a cast put on a broken bone; her mother scolding her for her dangerous job; her mother trying to set her up with any single guy she met; her mother bursting in to her apartment to make sure she was okay when Hoyt escaped from prison; her mother choosing to move out of Maura's guest house when the two of them fell out over Jane shooting Paddy Doyle.

Jane's mind stopped on that last one. Her mother had chosen her over Maura, showing her trust and belief in Jane despite the personal cost. Jane knew her sweet mother had gone over to Maura and apologised reassuringly before following Jane out, never one to cause unnecessary pain. Her mother had always put everyone else first, taking on debt, heartache, inconvenience, whatever was required to make everyone else okay. Her brothers needed her so much, even if they would never admit it.

Jane needed her so much.

Her tears continued to burn down her cheeks as she broke into another round of sobbing.

Maura's emotions had completely shut down when she had fallen back after Jane's scream. Her mind didn't seem to have the capacity to absorb the enormity of the situation and had defaulted back to an analytical state in an attempt to comprehend.

She was trying to understand how the situation had spun so disastrously out of control. She had intentionally antagonised the furious vampire after she had gained the upper hand, which was completely unlike her. She remembered feeling unusually emotional, her hatred and fear mixing together and producing an aggressive response to the threat, at the same time causing her to become protective over Jane.

After the Volturi had held her by the throat she had suddenly become aware of all the knowledge she had wanted to know about vampires. She knew that only vampires who drank non-human blood had yellow eyes. She knew that vampires were immortal and could only be killed via dismemberment followed by burning. She knew that the Volturi were the closest thing vampires had to a law keeping entity, policing the mandate of absolute secrecy from the humans.

She knew that some vampires had supernatural powers that separated them from the run of the mill vampires. Speed, strength, immortality and thirst were common to all vampires, but some select individuals had other skills.

When she had allowed her hatred towards their tormentor to blossom in her mind Maura had known how to fight back, how to use the Volturi's power against her. She had recognised an ability within herself to copy Jane's knowledge, and this latest development led her to suspect she could also copy other vampire powers, which must have been how obtained the Volturi's death glare.

The pure hatred that fuelled the ability surprised Maura in hindsight; it was as if the fire of her emotions could be used to burn someone in her place. The stronger the hatred, the more painful the experience for the victim. That explained why the last time Maura had been hit with the agonising stare had been the most painful by far; once the Volturi recognised her as a vegetarian vampire all brakes had been released from her hatred.

Maura wasn't sure where the overwhelming hatred came from in the case of this particular Volturi. She didn't seem to possess specific memories from her 'donors', just the knowledge or skills they possessed. She had awareness of the Volturi as a group and knew some of the history behind the rules they enforced, but not the details of individual members of the group or their powers.

She knew enough to understand that the Volturi would be interested in obtaining her as a resource to add to their guard. She recalled a sort of policy that the Volturi operated under of recruiting any vampires they encountered with special gifts. How this recruitment operated was frustratingly missing however. The gaps in Maura's knowledge were worrying as she had no idea what crucial facts she might be overlooking.

One fact she couldn't ignore; Maura had known how to kill a human without leaving obvious evidence. When she had bitten into Angela's neck she had known how to position her teeth to pierce the carotid artery just enough to allow blood to gush into her mouth but not waste any by letting it spill. She had known how to mangle her neck after completing her feed to confuse human medical examiners and disguise the human-looking bite marks as an unknown animal. Her flawless technique had kept her clean of any evidence and prepared the body to be found almost immediately.

Maura felt sick as she realised that she possessed all the knowledge and skill she needed to commit a murder and escape detection and punishment.

And that until she had realised that the person she had killed was Angela, she had enjoyed the sensation more than anything she had ever experienced.

Maura and Jane were still on the floor in shock when Vince Korsak burst through the door, gun drawn. He scanned the room carefully, noting and calling out to the two distraught women before continuing into the house to check for intruders. When he had searched all the rooms he holstered his gun and returned to the pair, gasping in shock when he realised Jane was holding an obviously deceased Angela in her arms. He put a hand over his mouth, his knees going weak.

Jane sluggishly noticed he was there and looked up at him with watery eyes. Vince's heart broke as he saw her shattered expression. He quickly choked down his own emotions, moving and pulling Jane up and away from her mother. She buried her face in his shoulder, bursting into loud sobs.

Vince looked at Maura, who was still frozen staring at Angela. He carefully rocked Jane, whispering nonsense comforting words into her ear. He heard his backup finally reach the door and shifted so he could quietly sign instructions to them to secure the scene and give them a minute. The officers took in the tragic sight and nodded, moving away respectfully to do their jobs.

After a few minutes Vince knew he needed to check on Maura. He gently manoeuvred Jane into the closest seat, prising her hands away from his sleeve. He stroked her face in a fatherly manner, his heart breaking again to see her crumple into the seat dejectedly.

Moving away he crouched next to Maura. She still hadn't moved, not reacting to the entry of the officers. Vince gently took her hand, trying not to scare her.

"Maura? Can you hear me? It's Vince. Maura?" Still no reaction. He moved into her sight line to try to snap her out of her daze, trying not to jump when he realised her eyes had somehow changed back to their blood red colour. "Maura? Come on, talk to me."

Maura's eyes suddenly snapped into focus, her expression surprised upon seeing him. "Vince? When did you get here? Why are you here?"

Korsak was taken aback by her steady tone, which was completely unexpected after seeing the distraught expression on her face when he had first seen her. "The shot alert picked up a full clip being discharged at this address. When dispatch couldn't raise the uniforms that were looking after you guys they called me as well as the other backup. I got here first, found the two uniforms knocked out on the footpath outside."

Maura seemed to be listening, but her expression was still off, unemotional. Korsak glanced over at Jane, who hadn't moved from the seat he had placed her in. "Dr Isles, what happened?"

Maura seemed to make a decision and quickly got to her feet. "I need to leave. They'll come for me; you all need to be safe. Yes, I need to leave."

Korsak reached out and grabbed her arm, his voice firm. "Maura, you can't leave. You two need to be protected from whoever did this, you'll be safer at the station. You shouldn't be alone right now."

Suddenly there was emotion in Maura's face again. Korsak thought he saw grief, guilt, sorrow, fear, anger and desperation flash in sequence before her face hardened into a determined mask. "I should be alone. If I'd been alone this wouldn't have happened. I was deluded to think that I could do this. No Vince, I need to go, now. Please look after Jane, look after everyone."

With that ominous declaration Maura turned towards her bedroom. Korsak was surprised to feel her arm pull out of his grip effortlessly. He let her go since she would need to come back through to get out of the building and he could stop her then, choosing to check on Jane again.

Jane seemed to be broken. She was still slumped in the chair, her tears drying on her face. She had stopped sobbing or crying and was staring into space, her face expressionless. Vince had never seen her quite this destroyed; even after Hoyt's attacks she still had fight left in her to cry and rage. He drew her up out of the chair into another hug, turning her face carefully away from the body. She reacted sluggishly, taking a few seconds to realise he was there.

"Korsak?" Jane's voice was raspy from her tears, her face confused as she looked at him. Clearly she hadn't heard anything he or Maura had just said.

"It's okay Jane. I'm going to take you and Dr Isles out of here. Is that okay?" Jane flinched at the mention of Maura and her expression turned stormy.

"Where is she?" Jane's head swung around, searching the room. Her hand reached for Korsak's gun, which he grabbed and held in its holster.

"She went to her bedroom. It's okay Jane, she's okay." Korsak was surprised when Jane pushed away from him and ran to Maura's bedroom. He was perplexed to find the room empty and the window open. Jane rounded on him, her face outraged.

"She's gone Korsak! She got away! How could you let her go?" Jane grabbed fistfuls of his jacket as she yelled, her tone starting angry but fading into defeat.

Korsak grabbed Jane as her knees gave out and she sank to the floor.

Jane choked out a sob. "She's gone. She's gone."