1991 New York
The angel Ithuriel walked calmly through the streets of Manhattan, pushing a stroller with three girls strapped in. Despite being less than a week old, all three girls showed immense beauty. It was getting dark out and the moon shown brightly in the sky.
Ithuriel approached Central Park and walked straight to the lake. He pulled out a woven wooden basket. He look one girl out of the stroller and placed her into the basket. She had a thin layer of bright red hair and bright green eyes. She was dressed in a white, flowing dress and had a golden necklace with a pendant shaped like a chalice. Then he took out a stele and a copy of the Book of Gramarye with extra blank pages in it and placed in the basket with the baby girl along with a note stating her name. Then he turned around and left the girl beside the lake, heading straight to Brooklyn.
Upon reaching Brooklyn Ithuriel headed straight to an apartment building. To any mundane it would look abandon, rundown building but he knew better. He knew the building was inhabited by the high warlock of Brooklyn, Magnus Bane. He took out the second infant and wrapped her in a bundle. This infant also had a thin layer of hair but her's was brown and she had beautiful gray eyes. She wore a gray dress and a clockwork angel necklace. He set her down in front of the door and placed the Book of White and a note stating her name beside her. With that he left her there, ringing the doorbell and rushing away with the last child.
Since Ithuriel only had one child left he decided to ditch the stroller and opted to carry the last infant. She was awake despite the time. Her wisps of blond hair was swept by the slight breeze. Her big brown eyes brighten with pure joy. She was gurgling happily in his arms. Soon Ithuriel reached the headquarters of Praetor Lupus also known as the Praetor House in North Fork, Long Island. He wrapped this small child in a cloth like the last infant. Ithuriel placed a golden cuff around each of her wrists. On each cuff was a delicate design surrounding a carving a sword. Dangling from her neck was a gold necklace similar to her sisters' but her pendant was of a sword. With those gifts he left the infant girl at the House, heading back to heaven to see his plan play out.
In Central Park the faeries started to come out to party. Leaving the court to head to the club, the faerie knight Meliorn saw an abandoned basket. Carefully, he worked his way through the tall grass and cattails. Inside the basket was a newborn infant. The baby had red hair much like his queen's and had her eyes were as green as freshly mowed grass. Inside the basket with the baby girl was book for shadowhunters along with a stele. In a moment of quick decision, Meliorn decided to take the child to his queen.
Upon entering his queen's chamber, he saw why she told him to take the night out. Inside her chambers was the Unseelie King. Clearly they were having a meeting and he angered the most powerful faeries by interrupting. Clearing his throat, he addressed his queen and the king.
"My apologies your majesties for interrupting. I found a baby girl in a basket floating in the lake. There was also a stele and a Book of Gray placed inside." Meliorn stated stoically, careful not to show any signs of weakness.
"Why is that so important that you had to interrupted the meeting between the leaders of the Fae? I should have you killed for your ignorance." The king boomed. The loud voice of the Fae King startled the child in the Faerie knight's arms. The sudden movement of the child sent a ripple through the queen's stony facade. She raised from her throne and approached her most trusted night. She looked the baby out of his arms and gazed down at the child.
"She is absolutely precious. Unseelie King look at her. She is so cute." The Seelie Queen was washed over with unexpected happiness at the baby. She gushed over the child while tickling her stomach to her make her laugh. Puzzled by her reaction the Unseelie King approached the queen and the infant. When he got close the queen handed the child to him. The king looked down at the child in his arms and received a smile of pure joy from the child. He, too, entranced with the child and had overwhelming sense to keep the infant as his own.
"I believe we have a new arrangement to make." The king rumbled while lulling the child into slumber.
"Oh and what will that be?" The queen said defensively. Despite just meeting the child, she knew that she will do anything to raise the baby as her own and the look the king had in his eyes was worrying her.
"I want to raise the child for myself. In exchange I will offer peace between our courts." To say the Seelie Queen was appalled by the offer was an understatement.
"Absolutely not," the queen scoffed. "She found in my court therefore she is under my rule."
"Your majesties, may I interject?" Meliorn asked hesitantly, unsure on how the royals would react.
"What?" The fae royalty whispered-yelled so they did not wake the precious child they are fighting over.
"Why don't you both raised the child?" Seeing their hesitant looks, the fae knight continued, "Think about it. This child could be the string that can hold the peace of the fae courts together. A child of light and darkness." The fae nobles seemed to ponder this.
"This notion seems like a suitable compromise. For the beginning of her life until the time that she can walk, she can stay with you. When she starts to walk I wanted to be messaged and then we could make arrangements to raise her." The king declared after a moment of thought. He knew he just bring an infant home. The little one needed to know how to walk before he could possibly know to take care of the child.
"That seem like a wonderful deal." The Seelie Queen agreed while taking back the child. She was overjoyed that she could be the mother to this child."Meliorn what are you holding?"
The knight straighten,"These were in the basket with the infant." He handed over the items. "There is a stele, a gray book and a note."
"What does the note say?" The Seelie queen asked since she could not receive the items with the little girl in her arms, they were given to the Unseelie king.
The king read aloud, "My name is Clarissa Adele."
Magnus Bane was confused by ring of his doorbell this late at night. He didn't plan to throw a party tonight. He wasn't even dressed for a party, he was only dressed as casual fabulous. Deciding not to keep his potential guests waiting he went to answer the door opting to change his outfit to party fabulous later.
What the High Warlock of Brooklyn wasn't expecting was the little girl on his doorstep. He looked around trying to see who left the girl here. Seeing absolutely no one, Magnus picked up the child. Seeing he was an orphan himself he sympathize the baby. He smiled and cooed at her, only to be awarded with giggles from the baby. Immediately he felt a strong sense of magic in the child. He searched the child for a warlock marked and saw none. The child also bore no signs of being of the Fair Folk. He was about to walk inside when Chairman Meow made a soft noise. Looking down at his trusty cat he saw that C.M. had his paw on the Book of White. Magnus had never been more perplexed. He picked up the book and ushered his cat inside.
The High Warlock went straight to his living room. He conjured a crib and unwrapped the baby. He saw she adorn a clockwork angel necklace. She is an enigma and she just a newborn, the warlock thought amused. He couldn't wait to see how this played out. He quickly whipped out his cell phone and proceeded to call Catrina Loss, Malcom Fade and Ragnor Fell. He knew that they would know how to handle this situation.
Upon hearing his predicament the three powerful warlocks made their way to their friend's apartment. They portaled a block away since Magnus' wards wouldn't allow them to portal straight into his home. They rushed straight into inside not bothering to knock. Catrina went straight to the baby and made sure she was healthy. Ragnor was rambling about everything that could go wrong. And Malcolm was staring at the Book of White where Magnus put it on his coffee table.
"I thought that book was lost to the ages." Malcolm choked out.
"Yeah. I thought so too. But here it is with a baby warlock with no mark." Magnus replied with practice calmness.
"A warlock with no mark. Impossible!" Ragnor scoffed.
"Actually, I sense a very strong control of magic in the child. Much greater than any Fair Folk could have so she has to be a warlock. Yet I don't see a single mark. But otherwise she is as fit as a fiddle." Catrina butted in while she returned the child to her crib.
"Okay so let me get this straight. Someone knocked on your door and what you find is a baby warlock with no marks and the Book of White on your doorstep." Ragnor said while pacing back and forth across Magnus' living room.
"No someone someone rang my doorbell. And would you stop pacing. You are going to burn a hole through my floor." Magnus said exasperated at his friend's antics.
"This is no time for your sarcasm Magnus. This is serious." Ragnor chastised.
"That wasn't sarcasm, it was technicalities," Magnus corrected.
"Are you joking me? This just happen and we are arguing about technicalities," Malcolm interrupted with annoyed tone. "This child is one of a kind and along with her came with one of our greatest spell books that has ever existed. We have to take her to the Spiral Labyrinth. She could become one of the greatest and powerful warlocks of all time. One that can help us so we don't need the protection of Nephilim anymore. We could can become our own protectors. She could learn the ways and spells of the most talented warlocks out there."
"That actually not a bad idea. We take her to the Spiral Labyrinth and as a collection of warlocks we can raise this child. But we would have to get Aldous to agree to this," Ragnor said and ceased his pacing. Catrina nodded in agreement.
"So it is settled we take our little Theresa Gray to the Spiral Labyrinth to be raised and trained by a collection of warlocks." Magnus exclaimed with a clap of his hands.
"Theresa Gray?" Ragnor asked confused.
"That's the name on the card that came with our little enigma. I think that I am going to call her Tessa" Magnus explained while holding up the card.
"Tessa is a nice," Catrina added in with a smile.
"Well let's get Theresa Gray to the headquarters of the Spiral Labyrinth." Ragnor said with annoyed voice at his companions' rabbit trails.
This time it was Malcolm who corrected Ragnor, "The name we are calling her is Tessa. Tessa Gray."
Raphael Santiago couldn't believe he was doing this. Werewolves and vampires have been enemies since the dawn of time. It was only natural considering Wolfe and Hecate (a.k.a. the greater demons that created the werewolves and vampires, respectively) were enemies. But now here he is standing in front of the Praetor House about to have a meeting with one of the most powerful werewolves out there to make a treaty between the Praetor Lupus and his clan. Raphael was about to knock when he heard giggling at his feet. Looking down he saw a baby laying by his combat boots. She looked at him with big brown eyes filled with love and curiosity. Raphael bent down and picked up the child. Despite his strong sense of smell, he couldn't make out what the child was. He couldn't make out a smell at all.
Raphael decided that he wasted too much time thinking about the child and will resolve the situation with the child later. Then he knocked on the door. It was open quickly probably because the residents of the building could smell him from a mile away. It was by a werewolf that he didn't know the name of nor did he care to learn.
"Can you take me to your alpha?" I asked hoping to get this down and out of the way before sunrise.
"There is no such thing as an alpha here. This is the Praetor Lupus, the central governing body for werewolves all over." The werewolf said in an annoyed voice. Despite his annoyance, the werewolf weaved pass other residents of the Lupus who stared at me and the child that I was holding. Finally he stopped in front of a door. The door was big, made of oak and had a golden plaque that said Praetor Scott in cursive lettering. The werewolf knocked on the door.
"Come on in Raphael. You are excused, Jeremy. Thank you for showing our guest here." The voice on the other side of the door said.
"No problem." the werewolf, presumably Jeremy, said and left. Raphael on the other hand turned the golden handled and entered. A werewolf in his mid- to late-twenties sat behind a dark oak desk who Raphael knew as Praetor Scott.
"Nice to meet formally, Raphael, leader of the New York Clan," Praetor Scott held out his hand to shake which Raphael took after he shifted the child to be held by one arm. "I didn't know you were bringing a child to this meeting."
"I didn't. She was on your doorstep. My heart may not beat but I do have some morals. Strange thing was, I didn't smell her." Raphael explained himself.
"Yes very peculiar. I haven't heard of anything like that." The werewolf thought over the knowledge he possessed trying to figure out why the baby didn't have a scent.
"Do you want her because if you don't, I will raise her with my clan. We could teach her to hunt demons better than any nephilim." Raphael had no idea where that came from but the more he mulled the idea over the more he liked it.
"That is an excellent idea. But I am sure us, werewolves could do much better raising to hunt than your clan." Praetor Scott said.
"That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard in my immortal life." Raphael countered.
"That may be but this idea might top it." Praetor Scott said standing up from behind his desk rethinking his idea over and over again, surprising himself for have such a thought. He kept moving toward Raphael until he was able to pick the child from his arms. Raphael gave him a look to go on, curious of what the werewolf was thinking.
"We could train the child together. Now here me out. Vampires are fertile so I assuming you guys don't have a natural mother instincts. But werewolves will have a natural mother instincts from our wolf ancestors. So we would give the child her nurturing she needs in her early years and at certain age your clan can train to be a warrior. She can practice her skill while hunting animals. We all could take her demon hunting. She can feel the bond that keeps the New York vampire clan and Praetor Lupus at peace." Praetor Scott said pacing the room and a wild glint in his eyes.
"So we will raise this child like divorce parents." Raphael tried to clarify.
"Yes. It wouldn't change much since we are already acting like that." Praetor Scott said with a face saying you know I am right.
"Alright. I am in. Let's work out the visiting schedule at another time. It is getting close to dawn and I need get back to Hotel Dumort." Raphael agreed after a bit of thought. "Although having this child being the sole bond of peace is kind of risky, not to mention a lot of pressure on the child."
"It's a deal. Emma should stay here tonight since she is still an infant and she was on our doorstep. You and I can work at the peace negotiations some more so this little girl doesn't feel so responsible."
"That sounds reasonable. But why do you get to name her? I feel like I should be included in that decision." Raphael said, hating to be left out like that.
Praetor Scott was quick to counter back, "I didn't name her. It is the name on the card. Emma Cordelia."