Immortality

The streets of Manhattan were generally clear, few people passing by. The rushing of the rusty fountain in the middle of Centre Park crashed loudly in Alec's ears as he walked by. He listened to the soft crunch of brown and amber leaves underneath his feet and the soft laughter and cries of children as their mothers called their names. Alec walked into the tall foliage behind the bushes. The air was seasonably warm for mid-October; the umbrage from the trees providing a cooler atmosphere. It was dark under the shade of leaves and Alec raised his witchlight stone and dimmed the light so he could see past the few trees ahead of him.

"Show yourself!" He called, apprehension escaping his voice.

"Welcome, Shadowhunter." A silky voice came from the northeast. Minimal rustling arose from some bushes by a rather large tree trunk and Camille Belcourt stepped from the shadows. "Have you considered my offer?"

"I wouldn't be here if I hadn't. I don't need you that much." Alec's voice cracked.

"Liar." She said coolly. "If it wasn't this important you wouldn't be here, right?" Alec's eyes wavered suspiciously. "You still think that you can take Magnus' immortality? Even though you hadn't the courage to do so before?" Her eyes sparked with amusement.

"I chose not to kill him because he did nothing wrong. I'm not weak."

"I never said you were." Camille's voice was unshaking. "Isn't this nostalgic? I call you to some mysterious place and you eventually succumb to my offer, only to give up half way through?" Alec heard the hardness in her words as she finished the sentence.

"Does Raphael Santiago really scare you that much?" Alec said, gaining some ground.

"Tsk! He is not worth my fear. You know what I want. And the Daylighter couldn't give it to me. You can, but…" Camille's sly smile returned to her creamy white face. "I will not ask the same price as the latter, understand?" Alec was afraid to say he didn't.

"What do you want?" Good Answer! He told himself.

"Maybe I want nothing."

"Then-" But he didn't know what to say. What could she possibly want that Alec could give her?

"You see, the Clave has been on my back for quite some time." She said as she walked further in front of Alec and laid her palm on the trunk of the tree. "I want to regain my status without the Clave's immediate concern."

"How do you expect me to do this? Am I supposed to get them off your back?" Alec knew his face probably had the most incredulous expression, so he decided to close his mouth.

"It's quite the opposite. As you know, the Clave is lugubriously preoccupied by the search for Jonathan Morgenstern. Unfortunately, the twin, Jonathan Herondale, cannot provide any answers. I want to be the most important thing in the Clave's eyes and I want to be in the topic of conversation of everyone. Make sure that the Clave doesn't forget about me. That means Lucian Graymark might be the best one for you to talk to."

"I don't understand why you want this. And what does Jace have to do with this?"

"What I'm asking you to do is to get Jonathan's name out of the Clave's mouth and place mine there."

"Why do you want the attention?"

"All in good time my friend. Do you accept these terms?"

"And you're going to show me the spell, right? At least, how to go about having it done?"

"Of course! I always keep my promises." Camille smiled and disappeared among the trees. Something about the way her vitriolic smile and unnaturally lively hair appeared to Alec told him that she didn't keep promises.

Jordan and Maia walked somewhat hastily down the sidewalk. The walkways were clear and it wouldn't be difficult to excuse the few passersby there. They were on their way to meet Simon at Taki's. They had promised to meet him there and discuss what would be done about his safety.

They bounded that last corner and entered the restaurant. People looked at them, Jordan specifically, as they entered. A few faerie girls at a table far from the door giggled at the rippling of Jordan's muscles against his close-fitting cashmere sweater. Maia gripped his left arm and pulled herself close defensively. The faeries gave her a dirty look that said: what is he doing with her? Jordan didn't seem to notice.

He and Maia smoothed into the booth, sitting across from Simon. Simon was drinking a blood and chocolate milkshake.

"Did you ever get the idea that that could be human blood?" Jordan said. Simon froze, his skin unable to get any paler.

"No." He replied. "You don't think so right. I mean, they say that it's animal blood."

"As long as it's not werewolf blood, I don't care what it is." Maia said, smiling. The faerie waitress, Kaelie, flounced back and took Jordan and Maia's orders. Jordan got a slab of lamb, raw. Maia got one of the most basic meals on Taki's supernatural menu; A cheeseburger.

"Is that all?" Kaelie's ice blue eyes gleamed fiercely. The three teenagers nodded in agreement and Maia replied.

"No thanks." Maia didn't look the girl in the face. She still remembered the fact that Kaelie served the Seelie Queen all too happily. Kaelie skipped away, her ponytail swinging back and forth until she stopped at the cash register.

"So," Simon began, but stopped as the bell of Taki's front door rang and Isabelle bounded through the door, her jet-black hair moving in the wind. She moved into the booth and exchanged a meaningful glance towards Simon before turning towards Jordan and Maia.

"So, Everyone knows that Santiago hasn't given up on the fact that he wants me dead, right?"

"Right," Maia and Isabelle responded in unison; Jordan just nodded.

"I'm confused." Started Jordan. "If you have the Mark of Cain, what do you really need to worry about. He can't hurt you without hurting himself sevenfold."

"True, but they can hurt people around him to force him to do things." Isabelle said. "Remember the whole Lilith situation?" Jordan's eyelashes fell. "What we really need to do is protect ourselves from anyone who has it out for Simon."

"Which is just about everyone." Simon added. Everyone looked at him and then away quickly.

"So, what do we do?" Jordan said.

"Do we stay in hiding?" Maia said.

"We want to take out Simon's enemies." Said Isabelle. "Or at least apprehend them and send them to the Clave."

"I guess." Simon said. "So how do we get everyone?"

"Yeah that's way too many to find…" Maia said.

"Maybe I can get the Praetor to help, huh?" Said Jordan.

"Yeah," Isabelle agreed. "And I know who our first opponents are, Camille Belcourt and Raphael Santiago."

The road grass smashed softly under Maureen's quick feet. The bottoms of her silvery white slippers were shredded. Her blonde hair whipped behind her in the wind as she dashed by the trees and bushes. She gradually picked up speed as she exited the forest and the ground became more level. She began to skip as the wooden cottage grew closer in her vampiric sight; the smell of burning wood caught her nose when she took an involuntarily unneeded breath.

She arrived at the door and waited. The rustling of the inside indicated life being present within the wooden home. Maureen placed her ear to the door and smiled gleefully. She could hear the heart beats of those inside as they heightened and quickened. They must be having sex, Maureen thought. As she heard the pulses quicken and quicken, Maureen broke the hinges on the door and ran through to the master bedroom and burst open the door.

The couple looked back at her in suspicion and horrification. "Can I join?" Maureen said. She dove in and bit the first person she saw. She knocked the woman unconscious while she drained the husband. Then she stood up and faced the woman who was awaking from her force-induced sleep against the wall and grinned. "Don't worry, I go both ways."