Hi all!

Your enthusiastic support has paid off, here is the next chapter! Please keep it up, I really appreciate it!

Much thanks as always to JaneyGWF for helping me tweak the chapters into the form you guys see!

Please let me know what you think, I'm sure you'll be thinking something after this one!

Jane felt her vision return as a great crash echoed behind her. She spun around frantically, realising with dread that the roof of the morgue had just caved in, with Susie and Maura still inside. Nina pushed past her, still shepherding the other technicians out of danger, but Jane lurched back towards the wreckage, uncaring about the ominous creaking and rumbling still coming from the destroyed building.

Jane had just started pulling at the rubble, trying to find a way back in while yelling indiscriminately, when a hand pulled her away. "Jane, stop! There's a rescue team on the way, let them handle it!"

Jane turned and hugged her old partner, glad to see him. "Korsak, you're okay."

Korsak hugged her back, while gently pulling her towards the street. "Of course I am. You're the one who's an injury magnet, I'm just the old man who fills out the paperwork."

Jane grinned for a moment, before turning back to the pile of debris that used to be the morgue. "There are still people in there Korsak, we need to get them out. Now."

Korsak pulled on Jane's arm more firmly. "We know. We managed to get the feed from the corridor cameras near the morgue, and saw you guys trying to get out. There's already a rescue team looking over the plans, working out how to get back in there. They'll use the infrared gun, and they'll find anyone still in there."

Jane grimaced, not knowing whether the gun would actually pick up Maura, given how cold her skin usually was. Knowing there was nothing she could say, Jane resigned herself to the hope that Maura had stayed near Susie and would be rescued at the same time.

As Korsak guided her to a nearby kerb, Jane realised she couldn't stay idle. Alec had obviously been behind them in the morgue, since he had used his power on all of them. It was possible that he wasn't buried in the rubble with Maura, which meant he might come after her. She checked her weapon as casually as possible, relieved to find it still on her belt alongside her additional clip of incendiary rounds. She hoped Maura still had Lieutenant Reynolds' weapon, in case she encountered Alec.

Korsak turned back to say something, instead catching Jane's furtive glance around the nearby rooftops. "Jane? What are you looking for?"

Jane frowned, not seeing anything but also knowing how poor human senses were at detecting vampires if they wanted to stay hidden. "Nothing, Korsak. Let's hurry that rescue along."

Korsak gave her a scrutinising look, clearly not believing her attempt at nonchalance, but chose not to argue, instead heading over to the leader of the rescue efforts. Jane followed, and spent the next ten minutes going over everything she remembered about the condition of the morgue before the roof collapsed.

When the engineer finally sent her away, Korsak was waiting. He handed her a bottle of water, sternly glaring until she started sipping at the cool drink. He kept watching her, and Jane glared back, knowing that she could never hide anything from him.

Eventually she huffed in irritation. "What? Whatever it is, say it!"

Korsak glanced at the door to the morgue, where rescue workers were frantically arranging supports, clearing mess and generally looking busy. "What were you even doing here, Jane? You're supposed to be on leave. You're supposed to be in New York. You're supposed to be staying out of trouble. And yet as soon as there's the first sign of any violence in Boston, here you are, right in the middle of it."

Jane shifted uncomfortably. "I was passing by. I came back last night, I wanted to stop in and visit. Are you saying if you saw BPD in flames, you'd walk on by because you were supposed to be on leave?"

Korsak scoffed. "Of course not! Jane, I heard you yell out Maura's name. She's in there, isn't she?"

Jane stammered to a halt, not realising she'd even said Maura's name out loud. Korsak nodded knowingly at the guilty look on Jane's face. "So, what, you found her and brought her here? Was she turning herself in?"

Jane's eyes flitted around the street, looking anywhere but at Korsak. His eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Or have you known where she was this entire time, and neither of you had any intention of bringing her in."

Jane put her hands on her hips, her whole being going on the defensive. "Korsak, she doesn't deserve any punishment. It's as resolved as it's going to be. I've let it go, and I really would appreciate it if you would too. As for why…well you'll just have to take my word for it."

Korsak crossed his arms in defiance. "You want me to forget the death of a good woman just because you ask me to? You're going to have to do better than that, Rizzoli! You're harbouring a fugitive!"

Jane threw her hands up. "Of course I don't want you to forget it! But Maura didn't mean to hurt her. It wasn't her fault."

Korsak stepped closer. "That's not for you or me to decide, Jane."

Jane's eyes blazed in anger. "Well it should be for me to decide. She was my mother. My mother, Korsak. And Maura is my best friend. If I can forgive her, surely that should be enough for you."

Korsak stared for several long moments, before breaking the stalemate and walking away a few steps. He looked at the sky, hands in his pockets, before quickly turning and striding back to Jane. "Just tell me this. If I let this go, will it get anyone else hurt? Am I going to find someone else I care about lying in their loved one's arms having just been killed by Maura Isles? Or can you guarantee, 100%, Jane Rizzoli's word, that there is no chance she will ever hurt another person?"

Jane didn't hesitate. "Yes."

Korsak scowled at her, but Jane didn't waver. The battle of wills lasted for what felt like minutes, neither wanting to back down. Finally, Korsak's expression softened, and he stepped back. "Alright, Jane. Have it your way."

Jane breathed a heavy sigh, looking at the ground as she tried to decide whether she had just won or lost. She looked up to find Korsak studying her again.

At her questioning expression, he moved closer and put a comforting hand on her arm. "Are you all right, Jane? Talk to me, let me help."

Jane let her scowl drop, her eyes doing another circuit of the scene before falling back on Korsak's pleading face. "I can't, Korsak. I can't explain any of this. And you can't help, not this time."

Korsak nodded glumly, clearly expecting the answer he'd gotten. "I don't suppose you'll be coming back anytime soon then."

Jane glanced back at BPD, surrounded by emergency workers, rubble and smoke. "I don't think any of us are working here again."

Korsak chuckled bitterly, his eyes trailing over the ruined building. "Well, I was thinking about retiring. I guess this is just the push out the door this old dog needed."

Jane looked at him in dismay, and Korsak waved at her dismissively. "I've been thinking about it for a while. The job just isn't the same. Not since everything with Angela, and the mob, and now this huge crime slump. The place has lost something. Frankie's gone to New York, Maura's gone, Frost is gone, you're gone. I just can't do this alone."

Jane pulled him into a hug, her eyes brimming with tears at the defeat she could hear in his voice. "I'm sorry, Korsak. I never meant to abandon you."

Korsak hugged her right back, his voice choking up too. "I know. It's just what happens when you get old. You pass on your wisdom, and then the young folk go off to do great things with it. And then you retire and go spend some quality time with your dogs."

Korsak pulled away from the hug, grasping Jane's arm in thanks. "I've had a great family here, Jane. And you've been a huge part of that. Go make me proud."

Jane nodded, too choked up to speak, as Korsak turned back to the teams surrounding the morgue. Someone shouted out from the doorway, and everyone started to bustle around the entrance. Jane stepped forward hopefully, suspecting they may have found Susie and Maura.

Before she could take a step however, she suddenly found herself grabbed around the waist. Before she could struggle, she felt her feet leave the ground, and the huge acceleration told her she'd been picked up by a vampire.

She felt her body being slung over his shoulder, and then they were running, the landscape whizzing past at dizzying speed. Jane closed her eyes and grabbed whatever handful of clothing she could to try and stabilise herself, but the motion combined with being held upside down was making her sick.

She managed to endure the sensation without actually throwing up, but by the time the motion ceased, Jane was so dizzy she couldn't even see. She felt her shoulder hit the ground, but couldn't make out any sounds over the roaring in her ears. She lay still in the position she was dropped in, unsure whether she was conscious or not, for several long minutes, hoping that her head would clear eventually.

Jane realised she had at least greyed out when she became aware of someone shaking her awake. She reluctantly opened her eyes, then jerked upright when she realised Frankie was kneeling over her. "Frankie! You're alive!"

Jane lurched up and grabbed him, accidentally pulling him back down to the floor in her disoriented state. He grunted in response, but returned the awkward hug just as enthusiastically.

They pulled apart after a few seconds, Frankie's face grim. "It's good to see you Jane. I kinda thought I might not have the chance again."

Jane nodded brusquely, her elation evaporating as the gravity of the situation struck home. "Where are we?"

Frankie shrugged and looked around. "I think it's a power station or something. I barely saw when he was bringing me here, and there's not much to see in here."

Jane looked around and understood what Frankie meant. They were in the bottom of a massive room, maybe ten stories tall and fifteen metres wide. The walls of the room were made up of vertical metal tubes around two inches across, all joined together, with no gaps to the outside. The walls were completely vertical until they neared the bottom, where the tubes of the front and back walls sloped together but didn't quite meet. The size of the room and the way sound echoed off the metal walls made it feel like an empty cathedral.

What Jane had thought of as the floor was actually a bed of what looked like ash sitting between the sloping tubes where the gap was the smallest, around a metre apart. The space was lit by several floodlights, positioned at doors between the tubes around twenty metres above the ashy floor, giving Jane all the illumination she needed to determine that there were no exits reachable by a human.

Jane looked back at Frankie, who had gotten up to lean against the sloping tube wall. "Where is Alec?"

Frankie shrugged, scuffing a shoe against the wall, the sound echoing eerily around the huge space. "So that's his name. He hasn't talked to me much, except to demand answers. I don't know, he dropped you down here, then jumped back up the top somewhere. I assume there's an exit up there somewhere, but I didn't see it when he brought me in here."

Jane lay back down on the floor, wanting to let her stomach settle before she tried to move. The smell of ash in the air wasn't helping, it made her feel like there wasn't enough oxygen and she could feel its gritty texture all over her skin. She realised she and Frankie were both covered in the unpleasant stuff.

Coughing lightly, Jane turned her eyes back towards the ceiling, almost too high to make out. "So what happened after the raid on the apartments in New York?"

Frankie sighed, his tone clearly suggesting he was expecting to get yelled at. "Look, I'm sorry, I couldn't tell you. I knew you'd try to stop me, or you'd have Maura stop me. And I became a cop to stop murderers, not cover for them."

Jane simply shrugged as best as she could still lying down. "I know you meant well, Frankie. It doesn't matter now."

Frankie frowned in confusion. "So, you're not going to kick my ass?"

Jane felt the chill of the ash start to seep through her jacket and decided to start to get up, still speaking as she moved slowly. "I think the universe is about to kick both our asses, so why give it a head start?"

Jane settled against the nearest tubes, her body feeling slightly less drained, and looked seriously at Frankie. "Remember I once told you about a vampire that can see the future?"

Frankie looked worried as he nodded and crossed his arms. "You said she sent Maura back to Boston, after ma died. She's the reason Maura started doing the vigilante thing."

Jane tucked her jacket around her front and hugged her torso, trying to preserve a bit of heat. "That's the one. Well, as soon as you decided to go all commando on the vampires, her vision of the future just disappeared. All of it. We have no idea what it means, but I doubt it's a good thing."

Frankie looked dumbfounded. "I…I never knew anything like that would happen. I just wanted to stop them from killing people, Jane!"

She nodded. "I know. I can't say I wouldn't have done the same in your position. You don't trust Maura, so you didn't trust me to handle it. Like I said, it's done now."

Frankie huffed in defeat, his bewildered eyes tracking around the room aimlessly. "Jane, I'm sorry. I…"

Jane held out a hand, gesturing for Frankie to join her. When he sat down, she leaned into his side, encouraging him to pull her into a one armed hug. "Don't worry about it now. Let's just focus on trying to get out of this one alive. Maura will come after us as soon as she can, so we have to try and help her take this bastard down. Okay?"

Frankie nodded into her hair, hugging her tighter in thanks.

Jane had wanted to yell at Frankie, to make him regret getting them into this mess, but she was just tired of fighting with everyone. Maybe it was being the remembered experience of being enveloped by Maura's Zen calm for those few minutes, maybe she was getting too old for this, or maybe being around vampires and their big scary world had just taken all the fight out of her, but she just wanted to get out of the way and stay there, with everyone she cared about. She just wanted it to be someone else's turn to fight.

Especially since a quick check of her belt had told her that Alec had taken her gun.

The serene moment was broken when Alec suddenly landed in front of them, sending a cloud of ash flying with the force of his feet hitting the floor. Both Frankie and Jane coughed and sputtered as they scrambled to get up, still holding each other's arms to steady themselves.

Alec looked bored, listlessly throwing down a backpack and an armful of long metal rebar. Jane eyed the jagged metal nervously, worried about the purpose of the sharp looking rods. The backpack had fallen open slightly, revealing several bottles of water and some energy bars. Jane grew uneasy at the implication that Alec intended to keep them here and alive for longer than the next few minutes, since there were very few benevolent implications of that intention.

She hesitated for several long moments, weighing up the risks of provoking him versus the potential gains of understanding what he wanted, and decided to wade in carefully. "It's Alec, right? Of the Volturi?"

In a blink, Alec was right in front of her, his face almost touching hers. Jane flinched reflexively, falling back against the slope ungracefully. Frankie stumbled and almost fell as well, while Alec simply stared blankly at Jane.

After a few moments, he returned to the pile of rebar, separating them out and placing them in groups according to length. Jane stood back up, pulling Frankie with her as she backed away from Alec.

They had barely moved two metres when his flat voice echoed through the space. "You can't escape. Please do not insult me by trying. You are here to facilitate my conversation with Maura Isles, and I will not tolerate any human nonsense."

Jane glared at the cloaked vampire's back. "And what could you possibly want with Maura? She's done nothing to you."

Alec turned to face them, his red eyes gleaming with emotion for the first time since his appearance. "As far as I know, she was the last to see my sister. She was supposed to bring Maura Isles to Aro. Instead, she disappeared along with the two guards sent to protect her. Maura Isles will tell me where she is, or she will die."

Jane's heart sank. The Volturi didn't know they'd killed Jane, but Alec was either about to figure it out or kill them anyway.

Alec glanced meaningfully at the backpack. "My sister may be legendary for her ability to inflict pain, but it has been my pleasure to learn from her over the last few centuries. If I am displeased with anything I hear, I will enjoy demonstrating what I have learned. In fact, given the trouble you have both caused me, I feel justified in showing you a brief glimpse of what lies ahead."

Before Jane could try and formulate a plan, a snarling shape flashed through the air and landed next to Alec. A cloud of ash billowed into the air, obscuring Jane and Frankie's view of what sounded like a furious vampire fist fight. Jane grabbed Frankie and pulled him away, both trying desperately to see what was happening.

Jane had no doubt that Maura had found them, and was terrified of what the metallic squeals they could hear over the solid hits might mean for her friend's wellbeing. "Do you still have your gun?"

Frankie shook his head frantically. "No, and I saw him take yours too. He destroyed them both. We've got nothing to help. She's on her own."

Suddenly the noise stopped. Jane clutched Frankie's arm, anxiously trying to see what the outcome of the fight had been.

Gradually the ash settled. Everything was covered in white, but Jane could see the result of the brief but brutal battle.

She let out a pained gasp, Frankie grabbing her as her knees gave out, the instant she saw what had been done to Maura.

Ten metal spikes were rammed through Maura's body and into the wall. More were wrapped around her arms, hands, legs, feet, and neck, completely immobilising her.

The look of utter agony on Maura's face was more than Jane could bear, and she lunged forward, screaming Maura's name, trying to reach her friend with no thought to the danger.

Before she had taken two steps, Jane found herself lifted by a hand around her neck. She tried to take in a ragged breath, but the crushing fingers around her throat prevented even the slightest gasp. In another moment, she found herself face to face with Maura, whose face was still distended in pain, her mouth open in a silent scream.

Maura opened her eyes, meeting Jane's panicked gaze with a defeated look. Jane tried to reach out for her friend's face, but her body was quickly losing strength and her arms refused to move.

Alec held her in that position for a few long moments, then dropped her without warning to the ground. As Jane lay gasping, Maura let out a whimper, her eyes never leaving Jane.

Alec moved into her line of sight, his face impassive once more. "Maura Isles. I am Alec, of the Volturi. Jane is my sister. You will tell me where she is, or I will torture these two humans and force you to watch."

Jane could only lie on the ground and try to keep breathing as she tried to gather her scattered thoughts and regain some sort of control over the situation, but she kept being absorbed by thoughts of despair, fuelled by a hopeless feeling deep in her gut.

Maura, her dear, damaged and possibly dying best friend, had explained it just that morning. They were insignificant ants on a chessboard. The players had moved the pieces around them, and there was no way of understanding the rules. They were destined to simply watch as the game destroyed their lives as inconsequential collateral damage.

And now, without really knowing why, they were about to be squashed.