Hi all,

Welcome to the new chapter! Thanks as always to my sassy beta, JaneyGWF!

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Maura felt like she was glowing with happiness as she turned away from Jane. She felt like there was finally life again in her body, whereas she had felt that she was merely existing aimlessly since she became a vampire. She basked in the new knowledge that pulsed through her brain, her mind processing furiously and putting theorems together without an end in sight.

Maura knew she would never be able to thank Jane enough for the gift she had given her tonight. Without using her power in such a directed manner with so many genius minds, she might never have realised her own potential. The feeling as all the facts and figures started to coalesce into a greater understanding of the universe had been a transcendent moment, one that eclipsed the experience of drinking human blood in terms of revelatory joy and sensation.

Maura had lived for months with the dread that nothing would ever come close to the memory of drinking human blood from the source. She was afraid that her willpower might weaken, and someday she might give in to her thirst in an attempt to feel that way one more time, despite the horrendous cost. But now, she had found something better to strive for. At the core of her personality, outside of her friends and family, curiosity and knowledge had always been Maura's reason for living, and now they would be again. She could be more than a vigilante, staying in the shadows and avoiding life. She could make a real difference in the world.

Her feelings of relief, purpose and exultation lasted until she stepped into the ballroom and breathed in, a habit formed during her months of constant vigilance. One breath was all it took for Maura's night of exploration and wonder to come to a crashing halt.

She turned back to Jane, pushing her back towards the cloakroom abruptly. Jane tried to keep up, but tripped on her dress at the sudden change of direction, causing Maura to practically pick her back up and carry her through the door.

Jane regained her feet clumsily, her face shocked as she yanked off her mask. "Maura, what just happened?"

Maura ripped off her own mask, her expression worried but controlled. "I can smell a vampire. He's here, in the ballroom. He would know I'm here too, my scent would be all through the room."

Jane gaped for a moment, before her detective instincts kicked in. "Is it someone you've come across before?"

Maura shook her head, frowning regretfully as her thoughts left their blissful academic considerations and focussed on their seemingly inevitable vampire problems. "Okay, we need to find my mothers, and then I need to get you all out of here."

Jane nodded, then scrunched up her face as she started remembering and planning. "I think Constance was near the buffet last time I saw her, and Hope was probably at the far end of the room. You go look for Hope and I'll check the buffet. We'll meet at the front door. I doubt he'll make a move with so many witnesses."

Maura grabbed Jane's arm in a vice grip, her serious tone leaving little room for disagreement. "Not a chance. You aren't leaving my sight until we know what's going on, agreed?"

Jane looked at Maura's hand, considering her options before nodding in agreement. "Okay. Come on, let's find them, fast."

The pair put their masks back on and moved back into the ballroom, Maura releasing Jane's arm but keeping her tucked behind her protectively. Maura could practically hear Jane's eyes rolling at the overprotective gesture, but there was no argument as they moved swiftly through the crowd.

Maura used all of her senses, and quickly found Constance's scent. She spotted her a moment later, in animated conversation with a conservatively dressed man. Maura grabbed Constance's arm, apologising brusquely before yanking her away. Constance sputtered out a protest, but quickly realised the urgency her daughter was displaying and fell silent. Jane quietly explained the situation as they trailed behind Maura, all three of them staying within arm's reach of each other.

Maura couldn't smell, hear or see Hope anywhere, and by the time they had done a complete lap of the ballroom she was on the edge of panic. The trio stopped on the entrance steps, looking out over the crowd helplessly.

Constance scoffed in irritation. "Enough of this. I'll get the staff to assist us. She can't have gone far."

As Constance was about to move off and corner a server, Maura heard a muffled scream from another room. "Wait! I think I hear her. Come on!"

Jane and Constance struggled to keep up as Maura dashed out of the room, barely keeping her speed under control. She burst through the door of an unused studio, lined with mirrors and featuring a beautiful grand piano. The majesty of the room was lost on Maura, however, as her senses focussed on the sight of her biological mother whimpering on the ground, curled up and terrified, surrounded by several unknown vampires. The largest of the group, a youthful looking male with short dark hair, was crouching over Hope's shaking form. The other male, smaller but just as threatening, was frowning in concentration, his eyes fixed on Hope.

Maura let a growl rip from her lips as she launched into the vampire next to Hope, her sudden appearance taking him by surprise and sending him flying awkwardly into the other male. They landed in a heap against the wall, breaking a mirror and sending shards of glass tinkling across the polished floor. Before the two shocked female vampires could react, Maura had managed to pull Hope up off the floor and deposit her into a surprised Jane's arms as she and Constance tumbled into the room.

Maura spun back to the coven facing her, crouching defensively in front of her humans as she took a good look at the unknown vampires. She was surprised to discover that none of them had moved, except for the largest male who had rolled onto his back and appeared to be torn between indignation and laughter. She also noted with shock that they all had yellow eyes, the same colour as hers.

The tense standoff continued for several long moments, broken only by the sound of Hope's whimpering, Jane's frantic attempts at soothing whispering as she tried to comfort the distraught woman, and the rapid breathing from all three humans. Maura considered her options, not liking her chances of getting the others out unhurt if the vampires attacked. She was emotional enough to at least hurt them with her active power, but so far she had only used it on one person at a time. She was facing four potential enemies.

Maura saw the smaller male turn his gaze towards her, and was suddenly swept away with a feeling of calm and peace. She relaxed her stance instinctively, standing upright and looking around at the new faces curiously. The calm feelings suddenly vanished when the strange male vampire frowned and glanced away, his features troubled.

Maura abruptly realised what had happened, and returned to the defensive stance she had held before he used his powers on her. "What are you doing? And what did you do to her?"

The smallest of the females facing her spoke for the group, her tone obviously trying for reconciliatory. "He was only trying to help, I promise. She came in and saw us, then started having a panic attack. Jasper was trying to calm her down, but she started screaming and curled up into a ball. I swear we didn't hurt her. Emmett was trying to see if she was okay, and to make sure she didn't hurt herself."

Maura looked between the two males picking themselves up off the floor, the one called Jasper looking confused and serious while Emmett just looked amused. Maura wasn't sure what to do next, and was torn between trusting them long enough to hear them out or simply turning, grabbing her companions and running as fast as she could.

Fortunately, the tension was broken by the sudden arrival of a familiar face. Carlisle entered the room from a side door with a warm smile, followed by three other vampires. They were all golden eyed, and after glancing around the room they all moved to join the other four, grouping into pairs and watching Maura and the others curiously.

Maura relaxed slightly on seeing Carlisle. She trusted him, since he had helped her immensely once before, however the unknown vampires with him still gave her pause. She didn't understand what they'd done to Hope before she came in, and she had no idea why there were suddenly eight uninvited vampires at her mother's ball.

Carlisle seemed to understand her hesitation and continued to smile as he held out his hands calmly. "We mean you no harm, Maura. This is my family."

He started pointing out people, each nodding to acknowledge their names. "This is Esme, my wife. Then we have Alice and Jasper, Rosalie and Emmett, and Bella and Edward."

Next, Carlisle looked back at his family. "This is Maura Isles, her friend Jane Rizzoli, and her mothers, Constance Isles and Hope Martin."

When he heard the introductions, Emmett nodded appreciatively. "Two moms, huh? That's hot."

Rosalie whacked his shoulder in irritation, and all of the Cullens gave Emmett an exasperated look. He simply shrugged and grinned at Maura, who was still too tense to find any humour in the situation.

Carlisle looked back at Maura, waiting patiently for her to react. She risked a glance over her shoulder, needing to know how Hope was doing and to get Jane's input.

Hope had managed to regain her feet, but she was still breathing heavily, her gaze flitting between all the vampires in the room fearfully. Jane had passed her off to Constance, who was holding up a lot of Hope's weight with a firm arm around her shoulders. Either they hadn't heard Emmett's comment or they were simply too overwhelmed to react. Jane had moved in front of them, taking up a similar defensive position to Maura's, her eyes locked on Emmett in defiant challenge.

Jane met Maura's gaze as soon as it turned towards her, radiating distrust of the situation. She glanced around the room, frowning as she assessed the mood and the likely outcomes, before looking back at Maura and nodding minutely.

Maura let a brief smile of thanks ghost over her lips, before turning back to Carlisle with a serious expression. "Okay, I'm listening. Why are you here?"

Carlisle nodded in thanks, but didn't waste any time before starting his explanation. "As I mentioned last time we met, Alice has the ability to see the future. A person's path will become visible to her when they make a decision that puts them on that path. The future may change when that decision is changed, or when someone else makes a decision that impacts the flow of events."

Carlisle frowned as he continued. "The last vision Alice had was of you. She saw us here, now, at this ball. Then she saw nothing. No future for you, or us, or anyone. Just darkness."

Maura was confused, and a glance at Jane said that she shared the sentiment. "Why would meeting me erase everyone's future?"

Alice stepped forward to answer, her hand not leaving Jasper's. "I don't know! The only time anything like this has happened was when a werewolf or a hybrid was involved, since they tend to block my vision. But usually they only create a blind spot on a person's future when they directly interact with them, and it's only that person that I lose track of. This is a universal blind spot. I can't see anything past this meeting."

Jane stepped up next to Maura, her proximity calming Maura's nerves further. "So what's supposed to happen now?"

Edward spoke up to answer. "According to Alice, we're all supposed to give Maura our powers."

Maura felt her jaw drop as Jane frowned in distrust, her caution coming out in her questioning tone. "Is that even safe? Do you even know if her mind can deal with multiple other powers? Do you know what it might do to her?"

Alice shook her head regretfully. "I don't know what happens afterwards. I just know we give you our powers, willingly. Maybe you can use my power and see something I can't?"

Maura focussed her attention on Alice, trying to figure her out. The power to see the future is an incredible gift, but she could see the anxiety and fear on Alice's face now that the power was gone, or at least not working. Maura had no idea if Alice had always been precognisant, but she could see that losing that ability had greatly unsettled the petite woman. She was grasping tightly to Jasper's hand, her body language skittish and defensive. She was clearly desperate for answers, even if that meant entrusting her powers to someone as relatively unknown as Maura.

The first time she had met Carlisle, she had been in such an emotionally distraught place that she hadn't questioned the circumstances of their meeting particularly closely. However, in the month she had spent tracking vampires around New York, many questions had surfaced in her mind about the vampire world. She knew Alice had sent Carlisle to her based on her visions, but she realised that any of the Cullens could have come to talk to her with the same result. They were all obviously capable of suppressing their thirst and abstaining from human blood, a skill which she had needed to absorb in order to protect Jane and save her from becoming a vampire. However, it was apparent that several members of Carlisle's family had other abilities, and by sending Carlisle alone, Alice had ensured that she couldn't take those abilities. Alice had clearly not trusted her enough to allow it all those months ago, but she was now scared enough to have changed her mind. The threat of the unknown was apparently more frightening than the threat of Maura empowered with all of their abilities.

Another realisation set in as Maura remembered that initial meeting. The reason Carlisle had come to her was to prevent the Volturi from taking her and using her to hunt down vampires like the Cullens. Which meant that whatever Alice was afraid of, it was worse than the possibility of giving her the power to kill them all if she fell into the wrong hands.

Feeling more unsettled the longer she considered the implications of the Cullen clan's visit, Maura decided to clarify the timing of their appearance. "How long ago did you have this vision? I'm curious as to what the decision was that put us on this path."

Alice answered immediately, the time of her vision impairment obviously branded unpleasantly into her memory. "It was three days ago, around midday."

Jane shifted uncomfortably as she responded. "That was when I talked to you about tonight. I told you we were coming to visit, and that you had to take the day off, meet us at the hotel and not argue."

Maura nodded slowly, processing why that tiny interaction could have led them here. "I decided that I would go along with Jane's plan, whatever it was. I increased my patrols for the next few days to ensure the city would be as safe as possible while I was with Jane."

Alice groaned in frustration. "That's all? Nothing more, I don't know, diabolical or dangerous? You just decided to do what she said, and that blinded me?"

Maura shrugged helplessly, while Jane bristled beside her. "Hey, don't blame Maura because your supernatural radar is on the fritz! Maybe it's nothing to do with her! Maybe something else broke your power, and Maura being your last vision is a coincidence!"

Carlisle stepped in before tempers started to fray. "You may be right. We are all dealing with more unknowns than we are used to. And if you have any other course forward than the one Alice's vision has suggested, we are more than willing to listen."

Jane didn't ease off her indignation even slightly as she responded. "Sure I do. You go back to where you came from, we go back to what we were doing, and you call us if you see something we can actually use. Or better yet, find out what's going on with all the hybrids and vampires in this city and do something to stop it, so she doesn't have to do it alone anymore. She doesn't need to risk overloading her brain just to make you feel better about whatever might happen next."

The room stilled after Jane's angry exclamation, with everyone growing grim, including Emmett who had finally stopped smirking. Maura was unsettled by their demeanour, as it seemed like they were a powerful group of vampires with relatively few things that could endanger them. If they were scared, it stood to reason that everyone should be worried. Maybe it would be worth the danger if she could see something Alice couldn't. The rest of the evening had shown that Maura's powers were more than capable of absorbing multiple human brains worth of knowledge, so was it so much of a stretch to think it could cope with multiple powers as well?

After a few moments, the one called Edward spoke up. "Maura, it doesn't sound like you have the same misgivings about using your power that Jane does. What do you think we should do?"

Maura stepped back in surprise, realising that Edward must be the mind reading vampire she had discovered in Carlisle's knowledge many months ago. She glanced at Jane, seeing disapproval and frustration in her eyes, but also encouragement to say what she thought.

Maura glanced back at her mothers, considering all that was at stake and knowing that she considered her own sanity a small price to pay for everyone else's safety, even if Jane would disagree. "I am willing to try."

Jane huffed in consternation, but chose not to comment on Maura's decision. Instead she stepped back to Hope, who seemed to be more in control of her emotions and able to focus on what was going on. Constance still had an arm supporting Hope, but she also looked calmer and more poised than when they had first barrelled into the room after Maura. The three of them looked at Maura supportively, obviously ready to back her up no matter what happened next.

Maura took a deep breath, and held out her hand to the group. "Okay, who wants to go first?"