Hi all!

Thanks for your patience during the wait for this chapter! Excuses, blah, life, work, friends, blah.

Thanks as always to my beta, JaneyGWF, who really shone in her efforts this chapter!

Please take the time to review, it REALLY helps to motivate me. It is really disheartening to put so much effort into a chapter and receive little interest back, and I honestly do get a lot out of people's feedback, so if you're enjoying the story please take the time.

Enjoy!

The location was familiar. They had identified it weeks ago, as one of the most visited vampire hotspots in New York. It was a small apartment complex, with six apartments surrounding a shared courtyard. It was away from the city, quiet, unassuming.

Or it would be, if you ignored the crime scene tape, the blinding floodlights and flashing police cars, the hundreds of cops, EMTs, reporters and random citizens milling around, and the overwhelming bustle of radio calls, yelled instructions and rapid fire questions.

Jane stood in the gutter just taking in the scene, trying to understand the flow of activity and put what she was seeing into context. She had been a vital part of scenes just like this hundreds of times, and she knew what to look for. She could tell from the casually walking EMTs that nobody was currently in any medical danger, which could either mean nobody was injured or that they were beyond help. The cops on the tape were low level beat cops mostly concerned with keeping curious onlookers and press outside the perimeter which meant the scene had been active long enough to call for adequate backup and establish containment protocols. She could see at least five unmarked cars parked nearby, which meant the case was high profile enough to warrant detectives plus some brass on site. And there was one SWAT van parked closest to the building, blocked in by the rest of the official vehicles, which meant it wasn't here in response to the incident, it was a part of the initial action. Frankie's task force.

Confident in her assessment of the human side of the state of play, Jane glanced sceptically at her companion. Bella Cullen stood in Jane's shadow, looking at the crime scene with wide eyes and a gaping mouth. She immediately fixed her expression when she noticed Jane's scrutiny, schooling her face into a disinterested scowl and standing up straight, but her demeanour had already elicited an obligatory eye roll from Jane.

As soon as Jane had heard about Frankie being taken, she had insisted on going to the scene and finding out what happened directly from the source. Despite the Cullen's ability to read people's emotions and thoughts, she contended that only a cop could get to the crux of the events and tell them everything they would need to know in order to find Frankie. Everyone had agreed in principle, but the details had caused quite a few arguments on route.

Despite Jane's protests, Maura had asserted that one of the Cullens should and would accompany her into the crime scene, in case the police had missed a rogue vampire still lurking around. Bella had volunteered, since her shield power could protect them from any mental attacks long enough to yell for help. Maura still had Bella's shield power, so she could protect the Cullens if necessary, allowing everyone to feel a little more confident despite the continued opacity of the future. Bella would be able to hear the rest of the group from the empty building they had discovered across the street and pass along any comments to Jane. Conversely, Edward would be able to listen to Jane's thoughts, as long as Bella wasn't actively shielding her, and pass along any urgent information to the rest of the group without Jane and Bella having to speak out loud and break their cover. On the surface, it all sounded very reasonable.

However, Jane had been unhappy with her assigned bodyguard from the moment the suggestion was made. Despite being a vampire, possibly hundreds of years old, Bella Cullen acted like a shy and hesitant teenager, and consistently deferred to her husband and the rest of the group. Her behaviour didn't give Jane much confidence that she'd be able to perform under pressure, but she had been overruled by the rest of the Cullens. Maura hadn't been able to argue either, seeming torn between agreeing with Jane and wanting her to have supernatural protection in case something went wrong.

When they had been putting the plan together, Jane's last ditch argument against a partner had been that none of the Cullens would be able to get into the scene since they weren't cops, but Emmett had disappeared for a few minutes before returning with an assortment of badges and IDs. The rest of Jane's arguments didn't leave her mouth, as one imploring look from Maura had been enough to gain Jane's compliance. Jane had experienced first-hand the emotion that had fuelled that look, and couldn't bring herself to cause Maura any unnecessary worry.

Jane squared her shoulders and walked towards the tape, running through the situation to bring herself into the moment. Constance and Hope had been escorted back to the hotel by four of the Cullens, with Alice and Jasper staying with them. Rosalie and Emmett had grabbed a change of clothes for Jane and Maura, with Maura reacquiring her ninja-wear and Jane donning her usual detective outfit, including her badge and gun. She wasn't actually cleared for duty yet, her doctor was supposed to be giving her approval within a few weeks, but she was hoping to get the information she needed before NYPD figured that out. She swaggered as best she could, projecting all the confidence of someone who had every right to be there.

Jane flashed her badge to the officer on the tape, followed by Bella who tried to match Jane's self-assurance and attitude. The officer looked at Bella somewhat doubtfully, but the badge she had presented seemed legitimate and he waved them through. Jane rolled her eyes, thinking a few less than kind thoughts before she remembered Edward was listening in.

Jane glanced at Bella to see her grimacing, before she spoke quietly. "I'm sorry, I'm not very good at this sort of thing."

Jane sighed in exasperation. "It's fine, we got through. I would have thought you'd have had plenty of practice with lying and pretending, I'd guess you would have to move around and take on new identities all the time."

Bella looked at the ground, seemingly embarrassed. "Well, the others have, but I'm actually not much older than I look. I've only been a vampire for a little less than two years."

Jane abruptly stopped, grabbing the young vampire's arm and pulling her around to face her. "Are you kidding me? I thought you knew what you were doing! Ugh, just stay behind me and try not to talk."

Jane released Bella's arm and stalked off towards the officers clustered in the centre of the courtyard, making sure to think a few angry words back at Edward.

As she walked through the scene, Jane's detective eye kicked in and she started noticing curious details. There were at least four piles of ash scattered around the courtyard, all marked with crime scene numbers. She suspected those piles marked the last place four vampires had been standing before they were killed. There were also four pools of blood, which were also numbered. Jane remembered Constance mentioning four fatalities, and from the amount of reddish brown stains on the ground she could guess at the cause of death quite easily. The apartments around the courtyard seemed to be intact except for one, which had a smashed in front window. Her mind started forming scenarios and eliminating possibilities, which she put to the back of her mind as she found the people she needed to talk to.

There were four people in suits conversing animatedly at the centre of the scene. One tall, blonde woman appeared to be getting torn to shreds by her superior officer, a shorter woman with grey hair and a furious expression. The two men standing with them had their arms crossed, their angry glares focussed on the blonde as they watched her cringe under the verbal barrage. The harangued woman appeared to have multiple cuts and bruises on her face and arms, and was favouring her left leg as she swayed slightly on her feet. Based on Frankie's description, Jane guessed that she was Lieutenant Reynolds, the task force leader.

The conversation halted abruptly as Jane reached the group, her brusque demeanour immediately putting them all on the defensive. "Evening. I'm Detective Rizzoli. I'd like to know what the hell happened to my brother."

Lieutenant Reynolds paled and stepped back at Jane's words, a clearly guilty look crossing her face. The other woman in the group glanced at the others, before nodding her head towards the street. "Reynolds, I'll want a full report on my desk in the morning. You'll be notified as to the time and location of the review."

Reynolds nodded glumly as she was left alone with Jane and Bella, the fight apparently leaving her. "I'm Sarah Reynolds, your brother's lieutenant. Come with me, I'll fill you in."

Jane didn't argue, following her away from the bustle of the scene and out into the street, with Bella sticking close behind as instructed. The lieutenant looked around for a moment, apparently only just realising she didn't have a car. Jane sighed and grabbed the lost woman's arm, dragging her into the building across the street where they'd left everyone else.

Bella followed Jane and Reynolds into the building, closing the door behind them. Reynolds glanced backwards at the noise, and finally realised there was a third person accompanying her and Jane. The only warning Jane had of anything wrong was a sharp intake of breath from Reynolds.

Reynolds instantly pulled a gun as soon as she got a good look at Bella, pointing it with shaking hands at the young vampire, who appeared to be frozen in surprise. Jane instinctively stepped in front of the gun, glaring at Reynolds furiously. "Really, you're going to shoot a kid?"

Reynolds practically snarled with rage. "That's not a kid! Look at her eyes! Move!"

Before anyone could respond, a blur sped through the room and Reynolds found herself unarmed and knocked stumbling back. Edward appeared next to a visibly shaken Bella, an arm around her and his face next to hers as he spoke softly. Jane heard discarded bullets hitting the floor, and realised the immediate danger had passed. Feeling a wave of anger build inside her, she lunged forward to grab handfuls of the stunned lieutenant's jacket. "What the hell were you thinking? You were about to kill an innocent girl!"

Reynolds regained her wits quickly, bringing her hands up to loosen Jane's grip angrily. "I was doing my job! You're the one who's been covering up for these monsters! Frankie told me everything! Including how to kill them, which is all we needed to know."

Jane pushed her away furiously, her eyes wide and her muscles straining with rage as she got in the other woman's face. "Really? You didn't think it would be a good idea to know why they were here, what their plans were, what they were going to do when a task force came into their lair and started shooting?"

Reynolds shoved Jane back, her expression defiant but lacking conviction. "We knew they'd been killing people. We knew where they were gathering. We knew they couldn't be talked down. We knew how to stop them. That was enough."

Jane lunged forward to grab her again, but found herself being moved away rapidly by Maura, who had apparently been the one to disarm Reynolds since she was holding the empty gun. "Jane, calm down. Don't do something you'll regret. We need to know the whole story before we can help Frankie."

Jane glared at her friend for a moment without malice, but didn't argue, instead grabbing one of the discarded bullets off the floor. "So you managed to get a supply of incendiaries. Did your whole team know?"

Reynolds sagged at the mention of her team, most of which were heading to the morgue as they spoke. "Yes, they all knew. I wouldn't put them up against vampires without knowing what they were up against."

Jane sighed, practically feeling Maura in her mind encouraging her to approach this calmly. "Take me through the whole thing. Why tonight, why here."

Reynolds sank into a nearby chair, clearly exhausted. "Frankie came to me before lunch a few days ago with the plan for an op. He said he had identified this location as the best opportunity to take the vampires by surprise and take them out without casualties. He'd gotten the plans for the buildings and surroundings, found a few good sniper positions that were out of a vampire's aural range, and scoped out the neighbouring traffic movements to minimise the chances of any innocent casualties. He also said that it needed to be tonight, something about his overseer being occupied."

Jane closed her eyes in exasperation, realising immediately what Frankie had meant. She had called him before talking to Maura about the ball, to make sure he was on shift and could keep an eye on things while his guardian vampire was off duty. He'd deliberately planned this op so Maura couldn't stop him.

Bella had finally recovered enough for Edward to join the conversation, his voice calm and reasonable. "Does that mean it was Frankie's decision that erased the future?"

Jane thought for a few moments, and realised that the timeline probably worked out. "Maybe. So maybe it's nothing to do with Maura at all, it's all about him. Or the vampires killed here tonight. Or maybe it's nothing to do with any of us and it's all a big coincidence."

She turned back to Reynolds, who was looking between the two of them in confusion. "Back to the op. What did you do after Frankie told you his plan?"

Reynolds hesitated for a moment, then continued without argument. "His plan was good, so I approved it. We got a team of six together, everyone from the task force who knew what was really going on. We all agreed to the mission, and to the parameters."

Jane scoffed in disgust. "You mean kill not capture? Not announcing yourselves and giving them a chance to surrender? Those parameters?"

Bella frowned as Reynolds nodded. "How did you know what she meant?"

Jane glanced back towards the crime scene. "There are four piles of dust out there. I know from experience that you can't shoot a vampire if they see you coming. You must have hit them from sniper positions simultaneously to take them all out."

Reynolds nodded glumly. "Correct. We had watched them for hours, we thought there were only four in the complex. We checked with heat guns too, to make sure there weren't any hiding in the apartments. There were only kids in here, no vampires."

Both Jane and Bella's heads snapped up at that statement, with Jane speaking first. "Kids? What kids?"

Reynolds frowned at the memory. "We don't know why, but the vampires had twenty six kids holed up in these six apartments. They were all around five to ten years old, and seemed to be in good health. They were confused when we took them away, but there wasn't anything particularly strange about them. Or at least, not visually. I got a bit of a weird vibe from them, but I'm not sure why."

Jane walked a few steps closer to Reynolds, urgency and seriousness sharpening her tone. "Where did you take them?"

Reynolds looked confused but answered with a questioning tone. "We sent them to social services. They needed to get checked out, then we'll try to find their families."

Jane looked questioningly at Edward, who nodded reassuringly. "I had already picked that out of her mind while you were talking at the scene. That's where the others are, Rosalie and Emmett went to get them. They'll let us know when they have them safe."

Reynolds jumped to her feet. "Wait, they're just kids, what do you vampires want with them?"

Jane huffed in frustration, but Bella answered in a calmer tone than Jane would have managed. "They aren't just kids, they're hybrids. Vampire hybrids. We need to make sure they are okay, and that no humans find out what they are."

Jane stepped towards Reynolds aggressively, recapturing her attention. "You better hope they find them before someone examines them, or we're going to have a huge problem. Now, tell me what happened after you took out the vampires."

The confused lieutenant stammered for a moment, obviously having trouble comprehending all the new information, but managed to answer haltingly. "I'm not sure what happened. We had taken them out, we'd secured the complex, we'd called for backup to come and get the kids. It was about twenty minutes after we'd taken the shots. I was in one of the apartments, talking to the kids. I suddenly heard one of the guys scream, somewhere out in the courtyard. I grabbed my gun and ran outside. I saw two of my guys on the ground bleeding out, another one in the grip of a vampire in a black cloak, and no sign of the rest of the team."

Reynolds rubbed a hand over her face, wincing as she accidentally brushed over the many cuts. "I raised my weapon to fire, but as I was about to pull the trigger the vampire moved. The guy he was holding dropped to the ground, and the last thing I saw was a blur of movement. I think he threw me through the window, because the next thing I knew I was waking up with EMTs talking to me. Four of my guys were dead, one of them was screaming in intense pain as they loaded him into an ambulance, and Frankie was missing."

Jane looked at Edward again, who instantly responded. "It's okay, we realised one of the team was possibly bitten, Carlisle and Esme went to the hospital to get him. We should be covered in terms of exposure. As far as the lieutenant here knows, everyone involved with the real vampire problem was either here as part of the raid tonight, or a superior who has no reason to try to go public with no proof."

Jane nodded thoughtfully, then her face fell as she considered everything Reynolds had said and thought. "So she doesn't know who took Frankie?"

Both Edward and Reynolds shook their heads, Reynolds looking more exhausted and defeated by the second.

Maura stepped next to Jane, gently grasping her elbow in support. "Jane, we did learn something. She saw a vampire in a black cloak. That sounds like a Volturi. Maybe they took him."

Jane's eyes snapped up to meet her friend's worried ones. "Maybe they know we killed Jane and her minions."

Jane glanced back at Edward and Bella, realising they didn't seem surprised. Edward smiled at an overheard thought from Jane. "Alice saw it. We didn't intervene, because it seemed like you two had everything under control. Our presence would have complicated things."

Maura stepped around Jane angrily. "You could have helped! Jane ended up in the hospital because of that confrontation, with her arm nearly permanently disabled. Several officers lost their lives in the confrontation the Volturi started. Now her brother may have been kidnapped because we were forced to defend ourselves alone. You could have stopped all of that!"

Bella looked chagrined, but Edward bristled immediately. "Our presence could have incited the Volturi to come to Boston in force. We could have been putting our family in danger by involving ourselves unnecessarily. There was no path Alice could see that would have ended well if we came to help."

Jane stepped shoulder to shoulder with Maura, her own temper rising at Edward's words. "How convenient. Our future teller didn't see us doing it, so we didn't. Did you ever think maybe you should do something because it's the right thing to do? Or were you so glad to have an excuse not to stand up to the Volturi that you were happy to let us take the hit for you? Maura got thrown through a crane. She still has scars from where Jane tried to bite her arm off. Not to mention that it might have been really helpful for her to have someone to talk to about all of this vampire stuff, before she had to shut down her emotions to deal with the fallout from events which you could have helped us avoid."

Bella uttered a quiet answer, clearly not wanting to get into an argument. "We couldn't risk our daughter's safety."

Jane and Maura stared at her in mute surprise, before Maura replied softly. "You have a daughter?"

Edward hugged Bella into his side and answered proudly. "Yes, we do. Renesmee. She's our biological daughter, conceived when Bella was still human. She was the first hybrid to come to Aro's attention. She's safe for now, in hiding with Jacob, but the reason we're so careful is that we know he wants her. He wants all of us, to be part of his guard. That's why it's too dangerous for us to get involved."

Reynolds chose that moment to try and make a run for the door, pausing the conversation by default. Edward casually flashed in front of her, gripping her arms and holding her off the ground. She kicked her legs pitifully for a few moments before giving up, slumping tiredly in Edward's grasp. He put her back on the ground with a warning look, releasing her and moving back to Bella.

Jane ignored the whole escape attempt and frowned in thought for a few long moments, putting the difference of opinion with the Cullens out of her mind as she sifted through the facts of the night. "Okay. Have you guys met everyone in the Volturi? Would you recognise a scent?"

Bella shrugged helplessly, but Edward nodded. "Bella hasn't been close enough to any of the Volturi to know their individual scents, but I might be able to identify who we're dealing with. I'll be back in a moment."

Edward disappeared for several seconds, presumably to sniff around the scene. When he reappeared, his face was the angriest Jane had yet seen it. "Alec. I recognised his scent right away. He was the last vampire on the scene, and I found his scent mixed with Frankie's leading back towards the city."

He saw Jane and Maura's questioning looks and elaborated. "Alec is the brother of the Volturi you killed. He and Jane acted together as Aro's offensive power. Alec can blind the Volturi's enemies, making it simple for the guard to kill anyone who disagrees with Aro without resistance. It's a mental power, and it wears off as soon as he stops focusing. Bella can shield people from the effects, but anyone else is defenceless. He can use his power on multiple people at once, which makes him potentially more dangerous than Jane was, since she could only use her power on individuals rather than groups, as I'm sure you've experienced."

Jane and Maura glanced knowingly at each other, not wanting to dredge up the painful first hand memories of being at the mercy of that horrible power.

Before anyone had time to process the implications of the new information about Frankie's captor, Reynolds' phone started ringing. She looked at the display, her face falling when she saw the caller.

Before she could answer, Jane snatched it out of her hands, saw it was NYPD calling, and wordlessly accepted the call.

A frantic male voice was heard through the line, his sentences punctuated by violent crashes, screams and gunfire. "Reynolds! We're under attack! I think it's a vampire, it was moving too fast to see! It smashed through the doors, threw desks around the squad room then trashed the computers!"

The voice had been loud enough for everyone to hear, including Reynolds who grabbed for the phone. Jane gave her a warning glare, but switched the phone to speaker.

Reynolds gave her a brief look of thanks before speaking, her voice strained but steady. "Brooks, are you alright? Are there casualties?"

An ear-splitting scream ripped from the phone before Brooks answered, the ambient sounds indicating that he was moving. "Yeah, there's definitely at least three dead, and probably a lot more. The vampire is still here, I can hear something happening in the crime labs."

A deafening crunch accompanied the sound of breaking glass and screeching steel. "Oh, god! I think the whole west wing of the building just collapsed! I need to…"

All three vampires frowned in recognition as a whoosh of speed was heard through the line. Brooks had stopped talking abruptly, and faint choking sounds had replaced his dismayed words.

Reynolds had started crying, and her knees suddenly buckled, with Maura catching her and gently lowering her to the floor. Jane spared her a sympathetic glance, realising how much pain the woman was in. It was clear that she cared deeply about her fellow officers, and her desolation over the night's events left Jane in no doubt about Reynolds' motivations. She had obviously felt like they had no other choice but to attack the vampires, despite the risk to her team.

It was a shame it had ended in disaster.

Jane heard Brooks croak out something, his voice strained and forced, before the call was suddenly dropped. She looked at Maura, realising from the horror on her face that she had been able to make out Brooks' last words.

Maura responded to Jane's unspoken question, glancing at Reynolds in commiseration before speaking. "The vampire was asking him for information. He knew Frankie was from another precinct, and he needed to know which one, so he could finish the job."

Edward interjected angrily. "It was definitely Alec. I think he's trying to eliminate anyone who knows the truth about vampires and erase any evidence."

Maura nodded, her eyes telling Jane that there was more. "Jane, he had Frankie with him. Just before the phone cut off, I heard him yell out in pain."

Jane smiled hesitantly, allowing hope to seep into her voice despite her natural cynicism. "He's alive!"

Maura glanced at Bella and Edward, her expression worried. "Yes, he is now, but Brooks told Alec what he wanted to know. Alec knows where Frankie came from. He knows where we come from."

Jane's eyes widened in fear. "Maura we need to go home, now!"