The night started slow, and never got the chance to lead anywhere beyond soft kisses and touches. Alec was stressed from the day, which was mainly filled with the task of helping Jace and Clary into hiding. It was decided by others - not Jace or Clary - that that was the best option for them to stay away from Valentine, for the time being. Alec had wanted to accompany his parabatai but it was made clear that someone needed to stay at the New York Institute. Magnus saw it as his duty to help Alec unwind, hence the kissing.
Normally the lovers would make the trip back to Magnus's loft to sleep in his silky sheets, but in this case they were so eager to get at each other that their location didn't matter. Magnus fell onto the bed with Alec climbing on top of him.
Magnus was a good distraction, and Alec could barely breathe in between kisses, but it was a good loss of breath, not the nervous, unbearable kind he had on his wedding day.
Alec quickly removed Magnus's shirt, and the other man returned the favor, not letting their lips break contact for longer than necessary. Magnus's hands trailed down Alec's body until they reached his belt, which he hastily undid and discarded onto the bedroom floor. Next to go were Alec's pants, which only made it halfway down his legs before Magnus was palming at his swelling cock through his underwear.
Alec's hands never left Magnus's face as he held him still, kissing and kissing. He knew he would never get tired of kissing this man beneath him, and he never wanted stop.
"Mmm," Magnus moaned. "Fuck me, Alexander."
Alec couldn't move fast enough. He instantly reached for his lover's pants, pulling them off and throwing them across the room. He was just about to remove his underwear before his phone vibrated on the nightstand next to them. He was going to ignore it (it was, after all, almost two in the morning) but then it went off again and he decided it might be important.
"Sorry," he said to Magnus, who groaned in annoyance.
Alec picked up the phone and saw two texts, both from Izzy.
Emergency, one said.
Meet me downstairs, said the other.
"I gotta go," Alec said.
"Really? At this time?"
"It's Izzy. She said it's important. I'll be back before you know it." He leaned down to kiss Magnus on the forehead. "I promise. Just wait for me."
Alec promptly pulled up his pants and threw on his shirt before rushing from the room. He wondered what kind of emergency Izzy could be having at this hour, and he'd be lying if he said he wasn't worried.
The halls of the Institute weren't completely quiet. Even at that hour, there were always a few Shadowhunters milling about. If Alec had stopped for a moment instead of only thinking of his sister, he would have realized he didn't recognize the faces that passed him.
When Alec got to the main room, he spotted Izzy immediately, but couldn't see what was wrong.
She turned to him as he entered. "Thank the Angel, Alec. Where are Jace and Clary? I've been texting them all day."
He knew something wasn't right immediately. Isabelle knew where Jace and Clary were, she had helped them move into hiding.
"What are you talking about?" he said.
"Are they not here?'
"Izzy, you were there. You know what happened…."
Her eyes suddenly flashed from brown to green. If Alec hadn't been watching her closely, he would have missed it.
Alec pulled his blade and brought it to her throat.
"Where's my sister?"
The bedroom door opened and Magnus was pleased to see his Alexander enter the room again. He had been sitting on the bed, in nothing but his boxers, waiting for him to return patiently.
"That was fast," he commented. "What did Izzy need?"
"It doesn't matter. It was nothing, just Izzy being dramatic."
With a curious look, as if assessing the situation of Magnus in front of him, Alec moved closer to the bed with lust in his eyes. "Where were we?"
He climbed into bed, again on top of Magnus and kissed him. It was different, Magnus noticed. Harsh. The other man bit down on his bottom lip, causing it to bleed. Alexander had never done that before. He held him tightly to the point of his grip being painful.
Magnus pushed him away. "Alexander, you're hurting me."
But Alec didn't seem to care, and that's when Magnus knew something was wrong.
He was about to ask about it, but just before he could Alec slapped something on his right wrist. Magnus knew what it was right away, and he could already feel his magic leaving him. It was a suppressant.
Suddenly "Alec" wasn't Alec anymore, but shifted into a tall man - taller than the real Alec, even, by a few good inches - with light brown hair and empty gray eyes.
Magnus tried to summon magic to throw the man off, but he couldn't reach it and the man stayed on top of him, hands brutally tight on Magnus's arms.
"Who are you?" he asked as he tossed and turned.
The man smiled down at him, clearly enjoying himself. "Name's Patrick. Now what is a pretty thing like you doing in Alec Lightwood's bedroom? Undressed, at that?"
Magnus didn't answer. If this Shadowhunter (for it was clear he was one because of his runes) didn't know about him and Alec, he certainly wasn't from New York. He could be working for Valentine, he realized. But how did he get into the Institute? Magnus put up the wards himself; he shouldn't be here.
Magnus was drawn out of his thoughts by a slap meeting his face. "Answer me."
"I'm his boyfriend," he spat.
Patrick's face lit up. "Then you could be very useful, indeed."
"Where's my sister?" Alec repeated when he got no answer.
The woman before him sighed and suddenly she was no longer Isabelle, but a petite girl with flowing red hair not unlike Clary's. She laughed at Alec's expression.
"Fooled you for a little while there, didn't I?"
"Who are you?" Alec's blade dug into her throat enough to draw blood. "What have you done to Izzy?"
The girl put her fingers to her mouth and whistled. Two men appeared behind her, Izzy trapped in between them.
"She's fine, see? But she won't be, not unless you tell us where Jace and Clary are. We searched the whole Institute, we know they're not here."
Alec watched as one of the men holding Izzy brought a knife to her throat. "Drop your weapon," he said to Alec.
His blade fell to the floor.
"So where are they?" the girl asked sweetly.
"Somewhere you'll never be able to go. They went into hiding, just earlier today. You're too late."
The girl clicked her tongue. "What a shame." She reached out to Alec and lifted up his shirt, bringing her hand to a rune by his hip. "I guess it's a good thing we have Jace's parabatai, isn't it?"
Alec tensed up. "I will never let you use our bond to find him, or bring him here, so forget it."
"Really? Not even to save your sister's life?"
Alec couldn't respond, but he didn't have to because just then they were joined by a really tall guy who dragged another man into the room behind him.
Magnus.
"Found this in little Alexander's bedroom," the man smiled. "It's a Warlock, see his pretty cat's eyes? I've already cuffed him, don't worry. Says he's Lightwood's boyfriend, too. Thought he might be useful, no?"
The girl returned his grin. "And look at the state of him! We didn't interrupt anything, did we, boys?" She laughed.
"What's so special about this one, Lightwood? It's just a Downworlder." The tall man brought a hand to Magnus's face and rubbed his cheekbone gently with his thumb. Alec lashed out at the sight.
He stepped up to the man and harshly pushed his hand away from his lover. "Don't touch him," he hissed.
The tall man smirked at him. "You wanna go, Lightwood? I bet my soul I'm stronger than you. Right, Ella?"
"Absolutely, Patrick."
Patrick didn't wait for an answer, instead he punched Alec hard across the jaw when he wasn't ready, sending him to the ground. Alec knew he shouldn't be picking a fight with this dude, who was clearly bigger and, ok, possibly stronger. That didn't stop him from wanting to kill the man, especially because of what he did next.
He grabbed Magnus's face with both hands and kissed him hard on the mouth. Magnus didn't return the kiss, but he did do something else.
Patrick pushed him away and slapped him across the face. There was blood on Patrick's lips and Alec knew Magnus had bitten him.
"You bitch!" He hit him again, and this time he fell to the floor next to Alec, who pulled Magnus closer to him, wanting to protect him from this horrible man.
"We should get going," Ella said. "He'll be waiting."
"Right," said Patrick, rubbing blood off his lip with his thumb. "We'll take them all, see what he want's to do with them."
Ella whistled again, and a small man appeared before them. He had clearly been tortured, not a spot on him that wasn't stained with blood, and he walked slowly, as if every movement hurt. Alec couldn't help but feel sorry for him, even though he was apparently working with the enemy.
"A Warlock," Magnus whispered to him.
"Open the portal," Patrick said.
The weakened Warlock did as commanded, creating a dim portal with a wave of his hands.
Alec hoped they would get to go through the portal conscious, so they could see where they were before they were subdued, but no. Before he know it, Izzy was on the floor, having just had a syringe emptied into her neck. Next to go was Magnus, then finally Alec.
The last thing he heard before everything went black was Patrick saying, "This is going to be so much fun."
