Hi! This is a joint effort with Luna Moriarty. Please leave your comments for free hugs! :) x
Felix slunk through the shadows, hand on his stele. Lacey strolled along the street, she needed some alone time. Her 'parents' had just told her she was adopted and to be honest, she wasn't best pleased they hadn't told her before now. Felix saw her coming and sank back further into the shadows. She looked like a mundane but it was better to be safe. How unlike him to be safe. Lacey paused and leant over the bridge looking into the water below. She sighed. Felix swore silently and started to creep away. She bit her lip as she heard a sound behind her and spun round,
"Hello?" She called.
"Damn."
"Sorry? I don't understand..." She moved towards where the voice was coming from. Felix stepped out of the shadows,
"Don't worry about it."
"Why are you hiding in the shadows?" She asked bluntly.
"Because... I felt like it...?"
"Right... So you wouldn't, by chance, be creeping up on me to kill me or whatever it is you want to do?" She raised an eyebrow, "I did karate for three years."
"I don't kill mun-humans. And I did a sort of karate..." Yes, Felix. You did intense training with swords, that's exactly like karate.
"What are mun humans? So you do kill some things..." She clapped a hand over her mouth, "You don't kill foxes do you!?"
"No..." Felix raised an eyebrow, "That would be weird."
"And quite horrible." She paused, "So what do you kill?" Felix just smiled and started to walk away. She rolled her eyes, "See ya then." She turned around and screamed. Something was standing right behind her, an enormous mouth filled with teeth gaping open at her. Felix span around and pulled her out the way. At the same time pulling out a seraph blade and naming it,
"Irthriul."
She fell over backwards, and the scream was cut short as the wind was knocked out of her. "Oh my god..." She muttered, backing away into the wall and watching Felix with her mouth open. Felix was grinning madly and was jumping about, quicker than normal people. After a few minutes of taunting he stabbed the demon and it disappeared into the ground. By the time he had finished he was completely out of breath. Lacey stayed backed up against the wall,
"What the hell was that!?" She shouted.
"Are you ok?" He asked, ignoring her question.
"Considering I just nearly got eaten by some...Some thing...Which you just stabbed...And I found out today I was adopted... Yeah, I'm not bad, thanks for asking. How about you?" She raised an eyebrow and stood up shakily. He rolled his eyes,
"Girls. Always so dramatic."
"What even was that thing?"
"Nothing. Just forget about it." He replied, wiping his blade on his trouser leg.
"Not likely. Are there more? Am I going to get eaten again?"
"Yes, dear, course you are. Everyone is going to die except for me because I'm amazing."
"I wish I knew if that was sarcasm or not... Because after that I don't think I'm ever going to look at creepy dudes hiding in shadows the same way."
"Yeah, well, you're fine. Now if you don't mind me, I'll be on my way." He said, starting to walk off. She followed behind him, smirking.
"Not likely. You just saved my life from the thing I've been having nightmares about for months..." Felix paused,
"What?"
"That thing. I've been having nightmares about it for months...And other things similar to it...Is that bad?"
"I need to talk to someone."
"Can I come?" She bit her lip, "Why are my dreams coming to life?"
"They were already here long before you were alive. Yeah, just tag along. I shouldn't let you but never mind."
"Where are we going?" She asked, running a few steps to catch up with him. "I'm Lacey, by the way."
"You'll see. I'm Felix."
"Hiya Felix." She walked in silence for a bit, not sure what to say. Felix stopped in front of a church that looked like the roof was about to fall in. He pushed open the gate.
"What are we doing here? It doesn't look very safe..."
"It's fine. I live here." He smirked and went up to the door.
"Sam?" Lacey followed him to the door and hovered a little bit behind him.
"Oi!" The door opened after a pause,
"You can open the damn door yourself."
"Thought I'd wake you up instead." Felix grinned. Lacey smiled at the rather nice looking boy that opened the door, she guessed it must be 'Sam'.
"Who's she? Felix, why have you brought a mundane here?"
"He saved my life!" Lacey butted in.
"Yeah, great. Felix, you know you'll get killed if you bring a mundane into the Institute."
"What's a mundane? What's going on?"
"You're a mundane." Felix replied, "I don't care Sam. She needs to come in." He pushed Sam out of the way of the door. Lacey hurried after Felix, gasping as she saw the inside. Sam sighed and closed the door behind them,
"Where's Trigger?"
"Asleep, like the rest of us should be."
"Who's Trigger?"
"He runs this place. I need to talk to him. Come on." Felix started towards the stairs.
"Felix, you are going to be in so much trouble when he finds out."
"So what?" Lacey was ridiculously confused but she followed Felix up the stairs all the same, not saying anything out of fear of sounding stupid in front of Sam. Felix stopped in front of a door, he went inside. It was a giant library, a cat was lying on a table. It hissed at him as he came in. Felix hissed back.
"Aw! It's such a sweet kitty!" She smiled at it, "Hello, puss."
"Stupid cat." Felix muttered, "Trigger!" Lacey looked around her silently, so many old books! She grinned. A middle aged man came out of a side room,
"What? Why are you two up? And who's she?"
"I'm Lacey..." She mumbled.
"She's been dreaming about demons. One was going to attack her, she said she dreamt about it."
"Felix saved my life." She added quietly.
"Dreaming about them?"
"Yeah, but she's just a mundane, right?"
"If she's been dreaming about them, Felix..." Sam replied. She spun round, she didn't realise Sam had followed them in.
"So... Ok. Right, mundanes are normal? Yes? So... You guys must be something special... Either that or some weird cult..." Felix laughed,
"Yeah, mundanes are... Mundane. We're Shadow-"
"Felix." Sam cut him off sharply.
"You don't look like shadows... Other than the fact you're all wearing black. Bit boring, you should try a red trim or something." Sam looked shocked. Felix raised an eyebrow and Trigger was only just waking up.
"What?" She asked, "What've I said?"
"Maybe just don't adjust our outfits. Especially not in front of Ellie if you ever meet her."
"Uh... Ok..." She bit her lip, "Sorry?" Felix winked at her.
"Anyway..." Sam said after a moment's pause, "Trigger, how can she be dreaming about them?"
"Who are your parents?"
"She said she was adopted."
"They only told me today. They're not my parents. I don't know where my real parents are..."
"It could be possible that..." Felix started.
"Possible that what? Can someone please explain to me what the hell is going on?"
"How can she see us?" Sam asked.
"Exactly! She's got to be."
"Got to be what!?"
"Can we sort this in the morning?" Trigger asked.
"No!" She shouted, "Sorry, I know you're in charge and stuff but I am really quite confused now, I would quite like to know who you lot are, who I am, why you're living in some weird church and what that thing that tried to kill me earlier was." They fell silent.
"Uh..."
"Just tell her Felix. I'm going back to bed." Trigger said going back into the room he came from.
"Felix, you're on your own. You woke me up." Sam said, stalking off.
"Drama queen!" Lacey looked at Felix,
"Go on."
"We're Shadowhunters. We fight demons and sometimes werewolves and vampires but only if they attack mundanes."
"That's... Woah woah woah. What?"
"We're trained to kill demons. In Institutes like this one."
"That thing earlier, that was a demon?"
"Yeah, that was a demon. Not the worst I've seen."
"They get worse!?"
"Much worse."
"Blimey... What are those marks on your skin, you all have them..."
"Runes. Before we go into battle or if we get wounded we make marks on our skin. The runes are set in stone, you can't make new ones. There are runes of healing, of strength, things like that. I believe it's the equivalent of what mundanes would call battle scars."
"But they actually do things?" She touched one on his arm, "What did that one do?"
"That one gives me speed."
"Neat... What am I then?"
"I thought you were a mundane but as Sam said you can see us. You shouldn't be able to see us. And you've obviously seen demons before if you've been dreaming of them."
"I don't remember ever having seen them... But... My pa- The people that look after me said they adopted me when I was about six but that I'd just been found. I couldn't remember anything... I still can't."
"It's possible that your memories were tampered with to protect you."
"Protect me? But if I could remember I might be able to find out who my parents are!"
"Alright, calm down love. We'll go see Magnus tomorrow. Although don't tell anyone."
"You mean... I have to go home? You won't come back for me though!"
"We've got plenty of rooms here if you want to stay overnight. If you don't trust me."
"I don't."
"Charming." He flipped his hair out of his eyes, "Maybe Magnus will be having a party. Warlock parties are always great..." He mused walking off to show her to a room.
"Sounds... Weird. What are warlocks?"
"They do magic. They can make potions as well." She nodded,
"You never answered my question earlier. What am I if not a mundane?"
"Shadowhunter probably. If you were a warlock you would have cat ears or something odd. Vampire, well I'd be dead by now probably. And if you were a werewolf, I don't know. And you're not one of the fair folk, no offence."
"How can I be a Shadowhunter!? And what are the fair folk? How do you expect me to take offense or not take offense if I don't even know what they are!"
"Fair folk are faeries and they are utterly beautiful. I'll tell you more about all these things if it's ever necessary. If your parents were Shadowhunters then so are you."
"Are they dead?" She asked quietly.
"Not necessarily."
"Are they likely to be?"
"I don't know. Right you can go in this room. Just get up whenever but just don't mention that we're going to see Magnus because otherwise I'll be in trouble and you don't want to get me into trouble, do you?"
"I'm not a kid. And fine but why? Is Magnus a bad guy?"
"No, it's just he's a Downworlder and... Basically Shadowhunters and Downworlders don't mix generally."
"Uh... Ok... If I am nothing special... Will I just have to forget all of this happened?"
"We'll see. Go on, go to bed. My room's along the corridor if you need me."
"Alright. Night..."
"Night." Felix turned away and went down the corridor to his room. Lacey stepped into the room and smiled slightly, she fell onto the bed fully clothed, not even bothering to get under the covers and drifted off to sleep. Felix got changed and climbed into bed, shutting off his mind and falling asleep. About half an hour later Lacey stared to dream. For the first time, all the demons she'd ever dreamed about were in a room together. With her. She screamed. Sam heard the scream. He'd been awake, thanks to Felix and hadn't been able to get back to sleep. He jumped off his bed and ran down the corridor. He stopped in front of where he thought the scream had come from and pushed the door open before running in. Lacey sat bolt upright in bed, panting. As Sam came in she screamed again, thinking he was a demon or something.
"It's ok, it's me!" She reached for the light and turned it on,
"Oh... Oh god." She clapped her hand over her mouth. "I am so sorry..."
"Don't worry, are you ok?"
"Nightmare... Again." She mumbled. Sam walked over to her and sat on her bed, "Don't worry," he said again, "Demons can't get in here." She nodded,
"I didn't know... I'm sorry, did I wake you up?"
"No, I was already awake."
"Oh... But that was probably my fault too..." She smiled slightly.
"No, that was Felix being a jerk." He smiled.
"He did save my life though..."
"He can still be a jerk. He always has been." Sam smiled fondly.
"Are you two brothers?" She asked.
"No, we're Parabatai. It means we're fighting partners, we look after each other in battles. So, we're brothers in a way I guess." She nodded,
"Parabatai... It's a nice word..." He shrugged,
"Yeah, I guess..."
"Go with me here, so I don't sound stupid." She smiled slightly at him.
"Alright." He chuckled.
"Thanks." She smiled. "And thanks for coming to check I was ok..."
"You're welcome."
"Do you think I'm a Shadowhunter?" She asked him quietly.
"I think you could be. It's a logical explanation."
"What does that mean for me?"
"Nothing big really."
"Will I have to learn how to kill those things?"
"Maybe. The Clave would have to be told."
"What's the Clave?"
"It's like the... Uh... Government." She nodded,
"Right. Ok..." She paused, "Why do you wear all black?"
"It's just our fighting gear that's utterly black. Demon blood is black I suppose but I'm not entirely sure." She nodded,
"Alright. Sorry, I'm asking a lot of questions."
"It doesn't matter. I don't mind."
"Are there female Shadowhunters?"
"Yeah, Ellie lives here as well but she didn't wake up. Probably for the best, she's moody if she gets woken up." Sam winked. She giggled,
"I'm used to being woken up... By myself mostly..." Sam nodded,
"It's still early if you want to get some more sleep. God knows what time Felix will be up and Trigger... Well, you saw what he was like."
"I dunno, I might try and get some more sleep.. You should get some too..."
"Don't worry about me, I'm fine."
"You sure?"
"Certain."
"Ok... I don't tend to sleep after I've had nightmares..."
"I'll stay for a bit if you want."
"Would that be ok?"
"Yeah, it's fine."
"Ok then." She shrugged. Sam sat next to her and gently stroked her hair. She closed her eyes.
Felix blinked groggily and groaned at the light flooding in from his window. He heaved himself out of bed and got changed. Lacey was sitting downstairs waiting for him to finally get up. He wandered into the dining room and saw that he was late for breakfast... Again.
"You do it every time and you never learn." Sam said from the doorway. Lacey just giggled. At that moment a girl came into the room and Felix visibly moved out of her way. Lacey looked up, well she was beautiful. Typical.
"You ok Ellie?" Sam asked.
"Course she's not ok! She's having a bad hair day! Honestly, Sam!" Felix replied, grinning.
"If that's what she looks like on a bad hair day..." Lacy mumbled.
"Who are you?" She snapped, "Who's she?"
"Lacey. Yes, Trigger knows she's here. Yes, she's allowed to stay."
"Nice to meet you too." She said with a smile.
"Yeah... Are you a mundane?" She stopped, "Wait, oh my god!" She ran off.
"That was Ellie. She probably forgot some makeup." Lacey laughed,
"She seems... Interesting."
"That's one way of putting it. Right, next is food." Felix murmured going into the kitchen. Lacey laughed again and followed him through, mumbling,
"We still going to see that guy?"
"Yeah, we are. Turns out he does have a party tonight, but I'd advise you not to drink any of the drinks."
"Um... OK? If you lose me I swear I will kill you..."
"That'd be hard if you're lost." He teased.
"I... Shut up!" She laughed. He smiled and picked up an apple.
"Sam was telling me a bit more about you guys last night... I had a nightmare and he came to see I was ok..."
"Were you ok?"
"Course." He smiled,
"Good." She nodded. He took a bite out of the apple and they left the room,
"Felix, remember we have training today." Sam said as they left the room.
"Can I come and watch?"
"Uh, yeah, I guess."
"Yay!" She grinned.
"Shall we start now then?"
"Yeah sure." Felix replied chucking his apple core into a bin. She smiled at them both, just watching.
"Come on then."
"Race you there."
"Hang on, where are we going?" Felix took her hand,
"Just run with me." She nodded,
"Alright." Sam ran off and Felix ran after him, but not so fast that she wouldn't be able to keep up. She ran along with Felix, laughing and speeding up, pulling him along slightly. He sped up to match her,
"Corner in, 3, 2, 1." She half skidded around the corner, laughing all the while. Sam was waiting at the end of the corridor,
"Hurry up you two." She chuckled,
"You started first!"
"S'pose." He opened the door and Felix followed him in.
"I'll beat you any time." She smirked.
"Sure you would." Sam replied picking a weapon off the wall.
"Rematch later." She leant against the wall.
"You're on."
"Don't encourage him." Felix said.
"You're the one who doesn't need encouraging."
"I'll beat him." She smiled. Felix picked a sword of the wall and weighed it in his hands. She watched him curiously.
"You ready?"
"Yup." Their swords clashed. She tried to recoil away from them a bit, but she was against the wall. She knew they wouldn't hurt her so she tried to relax. Felix danced out of the way of the sword, "Come on, Sam!" Sam advanced on him and they fought all the more furiously. Every time their swords came too close to each other she gasped quietly. Felix's sword was knocked out his hand and Sam threw his to the sound, launching himself onto Felix. Lacey clapped a hand over her mouth. Sam pinned Felix to the ground. She let out a little giggle. Felix rolled them over so he was on top but Sam did the same. Lacey sat down to watch them, grinning.
"Come on, you can do better than that!"
"Wouldn't want to embarrass you in front of the lady, Sam."
"Oi!" Sam whacked him over the head and Felix punched him.
"To be honest, I don't think losing a fight is nearly as embarrassing as opening the door to a lady in your pyjamas." Lacey said with a smirk. However, neither of them properly registered what she said as they were rolling on the floor punching each other and having a proper full on brawl.
"Guys..." She said. They stopped when they crashed into a wall. She hurried over,
"Are you ok!?"
"Yeah, we're fine." Felix said, flat on his back. Sam stood up and pulled Felix up as well.
"That was... Intense."
"That was fun."
"Turn round." Sam said pulling out his stele. Felix turned around and let him draw a rune on his back.
"Doesn't that hurt?"
"A bit. Thanks." Felix took the stele from Sam and drew the same rune on Sam's back. She sat back down and crossed her legs,
"So what does that do?"
"Healing rune."
"So...It heals you?" Wow Lacey, genius.
"Yes, dear." She smiled.