Hello lovelies!
Damn, L, back at it again with the Malec fics. Yeah, I'm addicted, sue me. :D
This is your friendly reminder that English is not my native language. BUT I have a beta this time! You can send her love on her tumblr (pynchie). Thank you so much to you, you're a star!
"I'm bored."
Alec looked up from his book to glance at Isabelle, who was sitting with her legs crossed in the leather chair in front of him. She was playing absentmindedly with one of his arrows, wriggling it between her hands.
"Read a book," he replied matter-of-factly. "Watch TV, go for a walk. New York has plenty of distractions to offer."
"No, I mean, I'm bored. I want a job."
"We had a job last week," Alec deadpanned.
"Yeah, that was one week ago," his sister sighed.
"We got paid. Use the money to busy yourself."
Isabelle let out a deep breath but didn't reply, dropping the arrow on the coffee table between them. She stretched on her seat like a cat.
Alec glanced back down to his book, silently hoping she would let him finish it before she started complaining again. He only had ten pages left. She wasn't the one who disturbed his peace this time, though. Jace walked into the living room and dropped on the couch next to his brother, his blond hair falling into his golden eyes. He looked like trouble. He always did.
"I might have found us a new job," he said with a wolfish smirk, leaning forward to poke Alec in the ribs. He slapped his hand away without sparing him a glance.
Isabelle immediately sat up, a huge grin breaking her previously bored expression.
"It's a bank in –"
"No," Alec interrupted, frowning. "We don't do banks. Too dangerous."
Jace looked about to argue for a second but his protests were cut short by a loud knock. Alec rose to his feet, pointing an accusing finger at his siblings.
"No banks," he repeated because he knew them well enough to realize he would have to say it twice (probably more).
He went to open the front door and raised an eyebrow at the stranger standing in front of him.
He was tall, but slightly smaller than Alec, which wasn't much of a surprise. Alec was taller than most people. His dark eyes glimmered with intelligence and his dark skin seemed to glow under the corridor's lights. He was wearing a black shirt and carrying a briefcase in one of his hands, the other held nonchalantly in his pocket.
"Can I help you?"
"I believe you can," the stranger said with a confident smirk. "I'm looking for the Lightwoods."
"I'm Alec," he said, his brow furrowed in both confusion and apprehension.
"Can I come in?"
Alec stepped forward, blocking his view from the inside of the apartment.
"Why? Who are you?"
"My name is Luke Garroway," the man stated. "I have a job offer for you. You come highly recommended."
Alec frowned and took a longer look at the man, eyeing him up and down. Customers never came to their apartment. They never knew where they lived, they were very careful about that. They never disclosed any personal information about them to anyone. This Luke Garroway was suspicious and he looked disturbingly like a cop.
"Sir, I don't know what you're talking about," he said dryly, his eyes narrowing.
He started closing the door but Luke stopped him, blocking it with his foot.
"I know who you are," he asserted hastily. "I know what you do."
Jace and Isabelle came stumbling behind their brother, questioning him with wary eyes. He flexed his jaw and it took one look from him for them to straighten up, their bodies ready to fight.
Alec turned back to the stranger. "I don't know what you're talking about," he hissed. "Now, take your foot off before I break it."
"Hodge Starkweather," Luke blurted out.
Alec's frown deepened but in surprise this time. "What?"
"I said you've been recommended to me. Hodge Starkweather is the one who suggested I go to you. He said you were the best."
Jace stepped forward, grabbed the door handle and pulled it open in spite of his brother's protest.
"We are," he stated with finality. "Why didn't you say in the first place that you knew Hodge?"
"Because he wasn't sure if you'd be happy that he told me about you," Luke answered after clearing his throat.
He didn't look so confident anymore.
"You look like a cop," Isabelle chimed in because she was never one to beat around the bush.
"I'm not a cop," Luke replied in a beat, looking between them. "Do you think I'd be friends with Hodge Starkweather if I were a cop?"
And really, that made sense. Alec dropped his defensive posture and stepped away, gesturing for Luke to come in.
"What do you want?" Isabelle asked, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Like I told Alec, I have a job offer for you."
"What kind of job offer?" Jace inquired.
"The kind of offer you won't be able to refuse," Luke said, smirk back on his lips. "A several million dollars kind of job offer."
"Well, at least, I'm not bored anymore," Isabelle exclaimed cheerfully, stepping in the living room.
.
"No."
"But Magnus –"
"No," Magnus repeated. "I don't do this anymore, Hodge."
"I'm not asking you to get back in the game forever. I'm just asking you to do it one more time," Hodge argued.
Magnus was facing away from him, his gaze focused on the horizon, his hands folded together behind his back.
"No."
Hodge sighed and he stepped closer, grabbing Magnus's shoulder gently.
"It's a lot of money," he put in softly. "We're talking millions."
"I don't need millions," Magnus replied dryly. "Ask Catarina."
"She's good, yeah, but Magnus, you're the best," Hodge said, squeezing his shoulder gently. "We need you."
"No."
Hodge sighed and slumped his shoulders in defeat. He moved away from Magnus to get a file out of his briefcase.
"You're bored, Magnus. We both know it. You need some excitement in your life and I know you miss it." He dropped it on the coffee table. "If you change your mind, you've got everything you need to know in that file here."
"Bye, Hodge," Magnus responded coldly, not bothering to turn around to face him.
A minute later, he was gone, the front door shutting noisily behind him.
Magnus hated that Hodge knew him well enough to discern that he wouldn't be able to keep himself for a least taking a peak.
He opened the file and his eyes widened when he saw the picture on the first page. He knew that face, he knew it far too well. Valentine Morgenstern.
"Damn it, Hodge," Magnus whispered to no one.
He downed the rest of his glass of wine and sat on the couch, diving into the file before he could think twice about it.
.
"So, you want me to steal something?"
"No, Simon, I want you to help me do it."
"I'm not a criminal, Clary."
"I'm not asking you to be," she explained cautiously, smiling at her best friend. His glare forced her to correct herself. "Yeah, okay, I'm asking you to become a criminal but not a bad one!"
"Do you know what they do to people like me in jail?" Simon blurted out. "I'm skinny, I wear glasses and I talk too much. I wouldn't last a week."
Clary chuckled and rolled her eyes fondly, her red hair flying over her shoulders. She leaned forward to take his hands, squeezing them reassuringly.
"No one is going to jail," she stated with assurance. "I promise. We won't do anything without a plan and that plan involves none of us going to jail."
Simon nodded, scratching the nape of his neck nervously.
"What is it you want to steal exactly?" he asked.
"The real question is not really what," Clary eluded with an amused smile. "It's from whom."
Simon raised a questioning eyebrow.
She leaned even closer, dropping her voice so she was whispering. "We're going to steal from my father."
Simon did a double take and his mouth fell open, his eyes widening. Then he cleared his throat and shook his head in incredulity.
"Well, in that case," he said. "I'm in."
.
Alec Lightwood had never been a fan of California. He had been born and raised in New York and he had never understood the big fuss about the West Coast. Sure, they had beaches and the sun most of the year, but to him there was no sight like New York under the snow or in the crest of fall. He had never been good with heat either, but that was probably because he never wore anything but black.
Being a professional thief had not been Alec's plan in life but well, he was good at it and someone needed to protect his reckless siblings. He often pondered that he was the only reason they weren't all in jail yet.
Isabelle was chaos, but somehow she managed to get herself out of the shitty situations she put herself in on her own. She was careless, but smart enough to avoid too much trouble.
Jace was irresponsible and completely out of control. Alec had hoped, foolishly, that growing up would knock some sense into his thick skull but that had been overestimating his adoptive brother. He was as much of a daredevil as he was when they had been just kids.
Jace had understood very early that he could easily hide behind a charming smile or a playful wink to avoid being caught or, if he was, punished. Alec was the only one who could see right through him but he never really did anything against it unless Jace was putting himself in a dangerous position. Everyone else, whether it was their parents, Isabelle or perfect strangers, fell for Jace's puppy eyes and innocent smiles every single time.
They were in a taxi on their way to the address Luke Garroway had given them in the file he had left them with when he had visited them in New York and, as always, Jace was preoccupied by very urgent matters.
"Do you think we'll have our own room? I don't want to share with Alec, he wakes up too early."
"At least I don't kick you out of bed," Alec snapped back, narrowing his eyes at his brother.
"Oh come on, it happened once!" Jace protested.
"It was one time too many," Alec argued. "I bruised."
"Boys," Isabelle interrupted, rolling her eyes at her brothers' antics, "be nice to each other."
"We're here," the taxi driver chimed in with a smirk, obviously entertained by their silly argument.
Alec leaned forward to pay him while Jace and Isabelle got out of the car to grab their luggage before following them. They stood in front of the house, their mouths falling open in shock. It was more of a villa, really, and it stood at the top of a hill, overlooking the rest of the houses with certain conceit. It was one of these huge villas you usually only saw on TV.
"Shit," Jace blurted out, voicing out loud what they were all thinking.
He stepped forward first, taking the steps two at a time to go ring the bell. Isabelle and Alec followed more cautiously because they both tended to be more guarded than Jace.
It was Hodge who opened the door, to their great surprise. He beamed at them, his eyes softening with affection at the sight of the Lightwood siblings.
"Hodge!" Isabelle exclaimed, jumping excitedly to hug him.
"Izzy," he laughed, his arms sliding around her waist. "It's good to see you."
He pulled back from her to hug her brothers.
Alec, always the warm and fuzzy one, frowned but embraced him anyway. "We didn't know you would be there. Luke said he knew you but that's all."
"I couldn't come to New York myself," Hodge eluded. "I had another recruit to convince."
"Did you?" Jace asked, dropping his bag on the floor, looking bewilderedly at his surroundings.
The hall was as impressive, if not more, as the house itself.
"No," Hodge sighed and shrugged. "Come in, I'll show you your rooms and introduce you to the rest of the team."
Alec had never been good with teams that were not his siblings and he knew Jace and Isabelle were the same but he was sure they could manage for a few million dollars.
.
"So, we read the file, we know you want us to steal from Valentine Morgenstern but what do we need to steal exactly?" Alec asked.
They had dropped their bags in their rooms (Jace had been very happy to learn that they all had individual bedrooms, which wasn't much of a surprise considering the size of the villa) and gathered in the garden. Isabelle had shrieked (literally, shrieked) when she had seen the swimming pool but she had followed the rest of them to the patio when Hodge had assured her that she would be able to use it later.
Hodge had introduced them to Clary, a redhead who looked like she would break if you touched her with how skinny she was. There was something in her eyes, however, that forced Alec to put aside his assumptions and wait to see what she was capable of. He had learnt very early not to underestimate someone with that kind of fire in their eyes.
Next to her sat a lanky, nerdy looking boy called Simon. Alec wasn't sure what his role in this was. He was sitting close to Clary and observed the Lightwood siblings like he was scared one of them would try to snap his neck. His glasses had fallen over his nose when Jace had shaken his hand slightly too robustly and Alec had had to bite his lip to hold back his laughter. If he could see something in Clary that pushed him to give her the benefit of the doubt, Alec saw nothing of that in Simon who just looked awkward and lost.
"A ruby," Luke answered, snapping him back from his thoughts.
He was standing next to the couch were Clary and Simon were sitting, and he was wearing a polo, chinos and sunglasses that made him look like he was on holiday, not planning a robbery.
"Come again?" Jace blurted, his mouth falling open in shock. "I thought you said it was a several million dollars kind of thing?"
"It's a sixteen millions dollars ruby," Luke repeated patiently. "I already have a buyer."
"I love rubies," Isabelle sighed dreamingly, her gaze lost into space.
Alec clicked his tongue to bring her back to Earth. She shook her head and stuck her tongue out at him.
"I did some research," he said, rolling his eyes at his sister. "He's a closely protected man. His manor looks impenetrable. Do you have some sort of plan or are we just supposed to burst through the door and get ourselves arrested?"
"We have the beginning of a plan. That's why we're all here too, Alec," Hodge put in, "to figure out how to do this."
"Did you hear from our mastermind?" Luke asked and there was amusement but already weariness in his voice.
"We'll have to do without Magnus," Hodge replied with a defeated sigh.
Alec did a double take.
"Magnus?" Isabelle echoed, her eyes widening, her tone wavering with something than oscillated between awe and curiosity. "Like Magnus Bane? The Magnus Bane?"
Everyone in their business (if you could call it a business) knew who Magnus Bane was. He was somewhat of a legend. He had been linked to a hundred high-class burglaries in the past ten years and had managed to never get caught. The people who knew what he actually looked like could be counted on one hand. Alec hadn't known that Hodge was one of them. Some people said he was magic, some sort of warlock and that that was how he always managed to be three steps ahead of the cops or their fellow thieves. Alec, always the pragmatic one, rather thought the guy was some sort of genius.
"Yes, Magnus Bane," Hodge replied, dismissing her wistful gaze with a wave. "Not that it matters because he's not coming."
"You know Magnus Bane?" Jace inquired, one of his eyebrows curved in amazement.
"Did you think he managed to break into the Louvre or steal that damn Stradivari on his own?" Hodge huffed indignantly. "He's not that good."
"You're right," came an offended voice on Alec's right. They all jumped, turning to face the owner of the voice. "I'm better."
Alec had to force himself not to gape at the man because he was simply stunning. He was tall, his lean body displaying grace and elegance. His brown skin seemed to gleam with the Californian sun and his eyes shone with mischief and satisfaction, like he was extremely proud of his entrance. There was glitter in his dark hair and on his eyes and even from a distance, Alec could see the green of his gaze, although it was speckled with yellow. He was wearing a barely buttoned yellow shirt that brought out his tanned skin and pants so tight they looked painted on. Alec's brain blacked out for a moment and he had to urge himself not to let his dry mouth fall open.
"Magnus!" Hodge exclaimed loudly. "How did you get in?"
Magnus huffed indignantly and waved his remark with a dismissing gesture. Alec couldn't look away from the ring-clad long fingers.
"Don't insult me, darling," he chuckled. "I wouldn't be a very good thief if I couldn't break into your house. It would be bad for my reputation."
"Your reputation of being a bad-mannered idiot?" Hodge snarled back, rolling his eyes with something that looked a lot like fondness.
"Speaking of bad manners, why don't you introduce the rest of your little Avengers team to me?" Magnus said, waving to the rest of the group who was still gaping at them.
He turned around to face them and his green eyes lingered for a second too long on Alec, who resisted the urge to blush. He smirked and dropped his voice theatrically.
"Especially that one," Magnus stage-whispered, pointing one elegant finger straight at Alec.
"I-I'm Alec. Alec Lightwood," he managed to stammer, his cheeks reddening in spite of himself.
"Pleasure to meet you, Alec Lightwood," Magnus said with a wink.
"Don't flirt with your teammates," Hodge snapped but there was no real heat behind it, "especially not Alec. Alec is too good for you."
Magnus shrugged and turned to the others and Alec had to chastise himself when he missed the green eyes fixed on him. They were here for a job and that was all he was going to be doing because he was a professional thief, not a clichéd rom-com character.
"Isabelle and Jace Lightwood," Hodge said, indicating them respectively. "This is Clary and Simon. And you already know Luke."
"Nice to meet you all," Magnus uttered with a kind smile. "If you haven't figured it out by now you're probably brainless, but I'm Magnus Bane."
"I thought you'd be older," Isabelle blurted out because she had no brain-to-mouth filter.
"I'll take that as a compliment," he smirked. "It's the years of illegal shenanigans, it's good for the skin."
Alec snorted, Clary chuckled and Magnus's grin widened proudly.
"They say you started in the business about fifteen years ago. You don't look like you're older than thirty," Jace put in, his brow furrowed in confusion.
"I would show you an ID to prove that I am who I say I am but I only have fake IDs on me," Magnus retorted, an amused spark dancing in his eyes. "I'm twenty-eight," he added matter-of-factly. "I started young."
His eyes scanned his small audience, daring them to ask any more questions. They didn't.
"Now that it's settled, can we address more urgent matters?" he said, turning back to face Luke and Hodge. "Are you both insane?"
Luke gaped at him. He had obviously not been expecting that. "What?"
"Valentine Morgenstern?" Magnus continued on the same disapproving tone. "He's dangerous. You know it, I know it. Let's not beat around the bush. You're asking us to do something very stupid."
"Stupid or difficult?" Hodge chimed in with a confident smile.
"Stupid," Magnus deadpanned, glaring at him. "Incredibly stupid. And difficult."
"We can do it," Clary cut in and the fire Alec had caught a glimpse of earlier was back in her green eyes.
"You're children," Magnus argued. "I've heard of the Lightwoods before. I know it's not their first job."
Alec had to repress a proud smirk. Jace and Isabelle didn't even try to hide theirs.
"But you and your boy toy," Magnus continued, pointing at Clary and Simon, "you know nothing of our art. As for them," he added with a wave toward Alec and their siblings, "they might be good at breaking into rich people's houses or apartments but the Morgenstern manor is in another league entirely."
Now Alec was slightly offended.
"We can do it," Jace echoed bluntly, narrowing his eyes in a threatening manner.
"I'm sure you can, sweetie," Magnus replied but his tone implied otherwise and he turned to Hodge and Luke again. "But that's not even my biggest worry. Valentine is dangerous. You two should know that better than anyone."
"Since when do you run away from a challenge?" Hodge inquired with a scornful smirk.
"I'm not running away from a challenge. I'm here, aren't I?" Magnus snapped back. "And I've just exposed myself to a bunch of strangers who now know what I look like. Do you think I would have done that if I wasn't going to do it? If I can send a big Fuck You to Valentine Morgenstern, I'm not going to let the opportunity go to waste."
"Then what's your point?" Alec asked before he could help himself.
Magnus turned back to face him and his green eyes scanned him up and down unsubtly.
"My point is that if I'm going to go against someone like Valentine, I won't do it with a team of amateurs. No offense."
Jace was about to protest, probably in crude and rude words but Hodge held a hand up, stopping him.
"They are not amateurs. Everyone is here for a reason, you'll see," he said, before twisting his body to face them all. "You won't know just yet, but you will all complete each other. It's your unique abilities and skills that will make this possible."
"Even the nerdy one?" Jace asked with a mocking smirk.
"The nerdy one is called Simon," Clary snapped disapprovingly.
"And he graduated from MIT," Simon added with new-found confidence.
Alec rolled his eyes, suddenly extremely bored. He didn't dare let his gaze wander on Magnus, not sure if he would ever be able to look away again.
"So, are we going to talk about the plan or do we all have to say where we're from and where we graduated from?" he deadpanned. "Is this some kind of Professional Criminals Anonymous club? Because that's not what I signed up for."
"I didn't go to college," Magnus chimed in with a cheeky smirk. "I was too busy with my, you know, world class thief career."
"We're not going to talk about the plan tonight," Luke cut in and he closed his eyes like he was trying to get rid of a headache. "You must all be tired from the trip. Go rest and we'll talk in the morning."
Alec couldn't hold back a relieved sigh and rose to his feet. He needed to get away from these strangers for a while. This was not going to be easy.
.
"Do you really think it's going to work?"
Hodge turned to face Luke, raising an eyebrow. His blond hair was completely disheveled, a few strands falling in front of his blue eyes. He already looked tired.
"I know they are good," he continued, "but that's a lot of egos we need to get to work together."
"It will work," Luke said with assurance, nodding. "They can do it."
Here's for the first chapter, lovelies!
What did you think?
Let me know here or on my tumblr (onceuponasourwolf).
If you know me a little, you know I like to feed my readers cookies to thank them for being lovely.
So here we go, bon appétit:
"This is Valentine Morgenstern," Luke continued and he sounded like a school teacher giving them a history lesson. "He's our target."
"I'm bisexual," Magnus blurted out, "and my eyeliner is on point today."
Luke gaped at him, while the rest of the room turned to look at him in shock.
"Sorry," he eluded with a smirk, "I thought we were playing that game where we all state the obvious."
Cheeky Magnus FTW.
I'm going to try to keep a rhythm of two chapters a week because this fic is probably going to be longer than the previous ones. I'll try to post every Mondays and Thursdays. That way, the wait shouldn't drive you too crazy ;).
also, if you know me, you know I sometimes post earlier than expected so... ;)
So the next chapter will be posted on Thursday! That is, if I don't die from a heart attack after this week's episode so really, I make no promises! These promos have been killing me softly, I don't think I'll survive the Malec episode!
All the love,
L.