"I swear, next time shadowhunters come near my parties, they are all getting turned into rats," Magnus warned to no one in particular. "Not just the idiot mundane."
The blonde, egotist of a shadowhunter had returned with Clary, the not-so-mundane, only minutes after he'd managed to kick everyone out. The vampires had been extra annoying, complaining about their motorbikes to a Warlock who truly could not have cared less.
It wasn't too hard ending the party however; this was, none-too surprisingly, due to the shadowhunters. The Downworlders always grew tense when put under the same room with a group of Nephlim.
"You know what, for good measure, I'll keep them all rats too," Magnus added, his mood brightening slightly at the visuals in his mind. "Of course I wouldn't let Chairman near the vermin," he added seriously. Speaking of, Magnus scooped down to pick the tiny ball of white fur off from the ground. Chairman had arrived once the flat had been cleared of partiers, complaining in his high volume-to-size ratio. Magnus dropped the cat on the couch, ignoring it's pathetically adorable mewls, eyeing the living room with distaste.
Magnus had truly out-done himself that night; the living room looking more like a club with the bar along the one wall, flashing, neon lights, and expensive stereo system. Not only that, but the floor was covered in what Magnus hoped was only spilled drinks, the walls stained with who-knows-what, and a belly shirt hanging off of a window. The couch's springs were destroyed from the uncaring guests, the floor dented in from heels, and scattered glass on every visible surface.
"As if I'm cleaning this up tonight," Magnus scoffed, leaving the mess behind as he went to his bedroom.
It always took Magnus a while after a party for the exhaustion to kick in; he had spent most of his time getting the stragglers out of his house, then speaking with that infuriating nephlim, so the wall had come early that night.
Magnus stared longingly at his bed before instead going to the bathroom. As exhausted as he was, and how loud the bed was calling for him, he had to wash his face. As if he wanted to deal with the repercussions tomorrow. One didn't keep a complexion like his while wearing that amount of makeup by being careless.
Half an hour later and Magnus had finally laid-dropped-onto the bed. His limbs felt twenty times heavier than normal, and his eyes were burning when he fought to keep them open. Snapping the lights off, Magnus sighed wearily, feeling sleep come to him about one second after the darkness enveloped him.
Magnus was standing in a street of Alicante. However, something was wrong; the houses along the path were as deserted as the path itself, and the glowing towers were crumpled images of their former glory. When Magnus looked up, he watched dozens, if not hundreds, of demons flying through a sky that seemed to be bathed in blood. Some carried screaming shadowhunters, others were swooping down toward the few still on the streets.
When Magnus focussed on any single house, blood would appear to be running down the sides like rain, and he would see ghostly faces in the windows. When he took a step, the ground was soggy, bloated from the blood running through the streets.
As the ghastly wailings of the living and the dead mixed together, Magnus walked toward the living house. Despite his trembling fingers, he grasped the handle firmly. The faces in the window began screaming louder, flitting back and forth. Their black eyes never wavered from Magnus as he stared back at them with horrified eyes.
Magnus blinked, and suddenly he was inside the house he'd just been staring into. He could feel his pulse quickening and his eyes flitted back and forth.
The house was silent; nothing moved.
Magnus took a hesitant step toward the door. Even as he pulled on the unyielding door, he'd known it would be locked. The back of his neck prickled and Magnus flung around, hands sparking in defense.
Nothing.
The sound of loud footsteps came from above and Magnus looked up. Dust from the rafters fell around him, following the footprints. The only light came from the small window beside the door, bringing in a tone of red to the decrepit house.
The footsteps began trailing down what Magnus assumed were stairs. He could barely see the other side of the room, but he knew that there was a closed door on the other side.
The was silence.
A loud knock resounded through the house, ringing in Magnus's ears. He watched the door warily, clenching his hands until his knuckles had turned bone-white.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Magnus sat upright, gasping. He blinked blearily through the darkness, feeling disordered. A loud series of knocks brought him back to the present and Magnus grasped around until he found the clock by his bed.
It was 3:50AM.
Finally Magnus's breathing evened and the last remnants of the dream had left him. He wasn't sure whether to be happy for the late visitor for interrupting the dream, or pissed off due to the fact that he'd had about an hour of sleep.
Magnus settled on pissed.
He'd had enough of those dreams that they had become all too familiar. So if he was interrupted dealing with it tonight, he'd just be dealing with it tomorrow. However, now he'd be grumpy for the entire day.
Ever since the rumours of Valentine's return had been moving around, Magnus had been plagued with dreams of blood and death. He hadn't been lying to the shadowhunters earlier when he'd explained them.
Either way, everything would figure itself out in the end, and in the meantime, Magnus would prefer to have his beauty sleep.
Magnus's mind was working about half-speed as he slowly got out of bed. His limbs still felt like dead weight, and his vision was still blurred.
Muttering to himself, Magnus slowly walked to his front door. Pressing the message button with more force than necessary, Magnus shouted into the receiver a nice and simple greeting of, "GO AWAY."
There was no reply and Magnus felt on one part relieved, but also frustrated even more because whatever it was this idiot wanted, it had better have been important to show up at 3:50 in the morning. They should have at least put up a fight.
Just as Magnus was turning away, he heard the faintest of apology from the receiver. Turning back, Magnus basically pressed his ear to the device in an attempt to hear the voice.
"Ummm, I'm s-sorry Magnus-er Bane. But…." The voice, obviously masculine, paused, sounding painfully conflicted. "It's just… You t-told me to.. umm, call you. And," once again the boy paused, seeming to have difficult saying his thoughts out loud. "Well… you didn't-er… actually g-give me your….number."
Magnus stared incredulously at the sound box. Who in hell was this boy? Magnus attempted to remember the people at the party, but they were all blurred faces; the buzz he hadn't been able to sleep off wasn't helping either.
"What's your name?" Magnus barked, still not feeling overly affectionate toward the unwelcome visitor.
Once again he had to wait painfully long for the shy reply.
"A-Alec… Light…Wood"
Magnus recognized the last name as the Shadowhunter family who were in charge of the New York Institute. He thought back to the band of misfits and finally came upon the blue-eyed boy who'd remained at the back.
Magnus had to admit, he was surprised the boy had given his offer any thought. Well truly, he was surprised he could hear his offer while being stuck in that walk-in closet.
Despite Magnus's admiration in the boy's bravery, he was not going to make the boy's life easy. With a slight smile, Magnus asked into the intercom, "Sorry, Light Wood? No offense but you've got a weird name boy; and a rather suggestive one at that." Magnus couldn't resist adding the last part.
Awaiting the boy's reply, Magnus feared for a moment that he'd managed to scare the boy off. But no, the shadowhunter seemed determined.
"No…. Ummm… Lightwood is my last name. Alec's my first name-well I guess technically my name's Alexander, but I go by Alec because my parents call me Alexander whenever I'm in trouble. Jace always called me it to bug me. It just sounds too-"
"Alec, do you want to come up?" Magnus asked, cutting the boy's rambling off mid-sentence. Magnus's voice was half amused, half annoyed.
Yet another long paused. "…..Alright."
Smiling to himself, Magnus pressed the unlock button and turned around. He was met with the view of his rather disgusting living room. A sultry smile pulled at Magnus's lips as he imagined using the mess as quite the excuse. If Alec was anything that Magnus remembered, he wouldn't mind having to find another space to chat than the living room.
A timid knock brought Magnus back from his inappropriate thoughts and he grabbed the door. Magnus was greeted with a young boy with black clothes (well faded black sweater that actually pained Magnus's heart to see) and raven hair that partly covered his bright blue eyes. The eyes that were staring back at him with shock.
Only then did Magnus realize he wasn't wearing a shirt.
'Let him look. Maybe it'll help drag him out of that painfully obvious closet,' Magnus thought to himself, having to hide a smile. "So I'm not sure what exactly it is that you wanted, but whatever it is will have to be chatted about in my room, due to my mess of a living room," Magnus explained, voice almost a purr. He wasn't one to beat around the bush, and he winked at the young shadowhunters before turning on his heels and slowly walking to his bedroom. He heard the boy fumbling with his boots before shy footsteps followed him.
Once the boy was inside, Magnus closed the door before turning to him, eyes glowing with interest. "So Alexander, what has you coming to my humble abode at 3:50 in the morning?"
The boy couldn't have looked more uncomfortable standing in the Warlock's room. He was in the centre of the room, looking lost and scared. Magnus couldn't help comparing him to a child lost in a shopping mall.
"How about you sit down and relax while I put a shirt on," Magnus suggested half-heartedly. He doubted even if he stood there naked, the boy would remain standing there, looking scared and lost; probably terrified actually.
Magnus didn't hear Alec's mumbled reply, to he assumed to boy had listened to him as the warlock disappeared into his closet. He took ten minutes in the magically enhanced space of the closet before returning from it with a rather subdued (in Magnus's taste) dark green t-shirt with the bedazzled words "Kiss Me" on the front. Magnus hoped Alec would take the shirt's hint, though he highly doubted it.
Magnus was pleased to see Alec sitting on the edge of the bed, though he still looked rather pale. Magnus sat beside him, though he was sure that their arms weren't touching. "So Alec, I'll ask again. What brought you here at this ungodly hour?"
Alec stared up at Magnus before flinching and looking back down at his feet. Magnus didn't take it personal due to the boy's painful shyness, so he kept his expression open, despite the growing agitation. "I'm sorry about that, by the way," Alec mumbled, his cheeks turning pink. Magnus couldn't help smile at the boy, finding him adorably timid in a way that was completely alien to him (being the social butterfly that he is). "But you told me to call you and you didn't actually give me your number." The boy had finally gotten through a sentence without tripping over himself.
"So you came here to get my number?" Magnus asked, voice filled with amusement. He couldn't even by annoyed at the trivial actions of the boy due to his timid honesty.
Alec's cheeks turned from pink to red as he blushed harder, looking away. "I'm not sure."
Quirking an eyebrow, Magnus asked, "So you don't want my number?"
This caught Alec's attention and he looked into Magnus's eyes. His deep blues seemed to be pleading for help and Magnus smiled soothingly. "Don't worry, how about I give you my number and, if you ever feel the need to talk to someone and that blonde oaf is no help, you can call me?" Magnus suggested, though he wanted so much more from the boy.
Alec's expression actually turned relieved and he seemed to relax a minor amount. "Thanks… Magnus." Alec looked up at the Warlock shyly, eyes peering through his hair as he bit his lip.
Alec had no idea what affect he was having on the Warlock as Magnus turned away. He had never seen anyone so effortlessly sexy. Not only that, but someone who had no idea how gorgeous they were. Magnus used the excuse of searching for paper to move away from the young shadowhunter, so as not to assault him then and there.
A timid voice spoke up as he searched. "Couldn't you just snap it into your hands?"
Cursing himself for being so affected by this boy, Magnus gave an easy laugh before snapping a piece of paper and pen into his hand. He quickly wrote his name and number in electric blue ink before handing the paper to the young boy. Alec stared at the small sheet for a few moments, and Magnus asked, "What? Did I misspell my name? Add too many numbers?"
Alec looked up, shaking his head. "No, it's just," He paused, as if searching for the right words. "You write the same way I've seen in books from hundreds of years ago." The boy seemed stunned and Magnus shrugged the realization away.
"Yeah well I probably wrote those books, so it makes sense," Magnus shrugged. In an attempt to steer the topic away from his age, Magnus moved slightly closer to the boy. "Now is that all? Or did you have something else in mind that you wanted to do this lovely night?" Magnus's words were a low purr as he stared into the boy's wide blue eyes. "I mean, you woke me up. I figure you owe me."
Alec shot up, back to standing uncomfortable in the middle of the room. His face was red as a cherry. "Ummm, actually that's everything. So I should probably go and… let you sleep." Alec turned toward the door and pulled on it. The door remained shut and Alec turned to Magnus, fear on his face. "Why is the door locked?"
With a snap of his fingers, Magnus shrugged, murmuring, "Habit," as he followed Alec back into the living room. He watched Alec pull his boots on, watching him with a calculating gaze. "That number isn't reserved for only talking by the way," Magnus hinted, catching the boy unawares. "If you ever want someplace to go, something to do, call me." He winked again at the boy before moving close to him. Their chests were mere millimeters apart and Alec looked as though he were about to pass out.
Grabbing the doorknob behind Alec, Magnus pushed it open before pulling away. "Have a nice walk," he purred.
Alec seemed completely stunned by Magnus's close proximity with the young shadowhunter . He stood still for a few moments before finally turning around and walking out the door. Maghus watched Alec tuck the piece of paper into his back pocket, and he caught himself staring at the area for a bit too long. Alec turned around once he reached the bottom of the stairs. "Thank you Magnus, I'll be sure to call soon," He promised. Despite the darkness of the night, Magnus could bet the boy was blushing again.
"You better," was his reply as he watched Alec disappear. Closing the door only after Alec had disappeared into the night, Magnus slowly walked back up to his flat. He reached his bedroom and sank to the ground, pressing his back against the door.
"Magnus, Magnus, Magnus" The Warlock murmured to himself. "What have you gotten yourself into now?"