Alec walked through the dark city streets, his bow in hand, searching for the reported demons that had been sighted. Jace and Izzy had already spotted a small cluster of demons and headed after them, leaving Alec alone, to check for any other demons hanging about. Alec caught a flash of movement at the end of one of the dark alleyways forking off from the main road. Alec snuck forward and crouched, drawing an arrow, and as he looked up to aim the demon spotted the shadow hunter and stepped forward into the light from the main street. Alec froze as he saw the demon properly, and saw it was in the form of a giant spider. Alec had only remained motionless for a moment, but it was still enough time for the demon to lunge at him before his shadow hunter instincts kicked in. Alec yelled out as the demon made contact with him, pushing him over, and forcing two giant fangs into his shoulder. With his bow now out of reach, and useless at such short range, Alec reached down to his belt to grab a dagger, but the blood now pouring from his shoulder made his hands slippery, and he couldn't quite grab onto his dagger. As the pain started to intensify and Alec's vision began to fog over he searched for another weapon, and his hand settled on a discarded arrow, which he immediately grabbed and stabbed into one of the demon's multiple eyes. It let out a hiss, but didn't let go, so Alec stabbed the demon again, and again, until finally it released him and yowled. Alec's head fell back, his body no longer being able to fight through the poison that was now being pumped through his veins, and his only satisfaction was the inhumane sounds of pain coming from the demon. Just before he blacked out Alec saw the demon loom over him, and then disappear into a cloud of mist, however instead of dissipating like it usually would, the demonic remains rushed at Alec, and his world went black instantly.

Alec groaned as he started to regain consciousness, his body protesting to any sort of movement. He felt like his skin was on fire, and the sweat he could feel pouring off his body confirmed his suspicion that he had a high fever. Alec opened his eyes to find that his vision was duller than usual, and his eyes burned as he looked at the lights above him. A quick look around the clinical room around him told Alec that he was in the infirmary, and beside him he could see Jace and Izzy, who were talking to him, although Alec couldn't decipher what they were saying. Everything sounded like white noise, nothing more than a low hum, and as he tried to tell his siblings he couldn't understand them all that came out of his mouth was a low rasping sound. Jace's firm hands gently pushed him back down into the bed, and Alec guessed he was being told to rest. Alec tried to fight the darkness that threatened to engulf him again, but the conscious world quickly slipped away, and Alec found himself giving in to a fitful sleep.

Izzy frowned as she looked down at her brother on the bed. She had been the one to drag Alec along for the hunt, as she'd been trying to offer him some sort of distraction after his break up with Magnus. She had thought that some demon slaying was exactly what he needed, and she cursed herself for leaving him alone. As soon as she'd gone back to find Alec and found him in a crumpled and bloody mess on the floor she'd known something was terribly wrong, and now the iratzes they were trying to use to heal Alec weren't working due to the demon poison in his blood. The signs of the poison were clear, especially around Alec's shoulder, where the wound was still lightly bleed and refusing to heal over. The skin around the area had also gone black, and the corruption was starting to slowly spread over his body.

"We need a warlock to heal him," Izzy said to Jace, who was restlessly pacing around the room.

"Magnus said he never wanted to see Alec again," Jace said bitterly, his hatred for the warlock growing as his brother's state deteriorated.

"We could hire a different one, Magnus isn't the only warlock in New York," Izzy said.

"Where we would we find one?" Jace asked.

"I may still have a few connections… leave it to me," Izzy said, pulling out her mobile.

"I don't want to know how you are acquainted with whomever it is you're trying to track down," Jace muttered as he watched Izzy.

"Hey, Ollie? Yeah, it's Izzy. I know, long time no see. Anyway, I was wondering, are you still into healing? Good, I have very important job for you, come to the Institute immediately," Izzy said into her phone.

She hung up soon after, and gave Jace a relieved look. After a few minutes the doorbell for the Institute rung through the room, and Izzy rushed down to get it. As soon as she was gone Jace sat down and ran his fingers through his hair, his concern for his parabatai making it hard to concentrate. The stinging of the rune connecting to him Alec was also concerning, but he presumed it was only hurting because of Alec's current state. Jace quickly jumped up again as he saw Izzy and a warlock with bright red hair and eyes walk in. On closer inspection Jace could see red scales also scattered amongst his skin at random points, but he didn't comment. The warlock started to work straight away, slightly intimidated by the Nephilim, as unlike Magnus, most warlocks were not used to working with shadow hunters so openly. After about an hour Jace and Izzy finally noticed the wound in Alec's shoulder start to close over, and after a few more minutes the warlock finished working, the orange magic that had been slipping from his fingertips as he spoke in an ancient tongue no longer lighting up the room in a strange glow.

"He should be fine now, the poison wasn't actually that bad," the warlock said, and he then looked at Izzy expectantly.

"Oh right, yes, payment. Uh, follow me," Izzy said and she then set off towards her parents room where she knew they kept enough money to easily pay for the warlock's expenses. She would deal with the consequences of tapping into that money once her parents eventually returned from Idris. Jace sat down on the bed with Alec once Izzy had left and watched his brother, looking for any sign of Alec waking up again.

A/N This is a Malec story, however it will be a few chapters before Magnus makes an appearance, just a heads up. Also, this story is rated M for later chapters. Thank you for reading and please review!