"Okay, if you don't stop acting like an airplane I'm just going to find a new parabatai because-" I was cut off mid-tirade by the Thammuz Demon I had just kicked to the ground snapping at my ankle. I gave it another good kick in the face, stabbing it with the blade jutting out of my combat boots. I'm so freaking awesome, I thought to myself as I watched the demon deflate and become a pile of dust. The boots were, in my mind, the coolest idea that I had ever had. Even if it was probably from James Bond. I was still pretty proud of myself.
"I do what I want!" As I turned around I saw Alice swing at the demon, her blade little more than an ice-blue blur. The demon jumped and grabbed the hanging fluorescent light, which must have been difficult for something less than three feet tall, swinging up to straddle the top of it.
She looked like she had it covered, so I leaned against the nearest counter to watch, "Jeez, what's taking so long? I have places to be!"
"You shut up!" She stole a quick glance in my direction, "And don't you dare touch this one. It's mine! No. Touching."
Even though I hadn't initially been planning on trying to take her kill, the chance to annoy Alice is always too tempting to resist, "Well, since you asked so nicely..." I pushed off the counter with my hip and took a step toward the demon.
"No! Leave it alone Aleks!" She desperately looked around then, with one last glance at me, took off toward the nearest counter. She leaped, her foot connecting with the edge of the counter, twisting as she switched direction. Her leg muscles flexed as she launched herself toward the light, twisting in the air and slashing the demons chest, her body flying neatly between the ceiling and light fixture. Tucking her body, her shoulder hit the counter opposite the one she had jumped off and she rolled to her feet, finishing her acrobatic maneuver with a pose worthy of a gymnastic competition.
"I'd give it a seven and a half." I said with a raise of an eyebrow.
"Are you kidding! That was at least a nine." Mock indignation was etched on her features as her hand flew to her chest, "I am honestly hurt."
"I don't know, the turn was loosely executed and your landing was audible, I was looking for tight turns and a silent roll. Better luck next year." She shoved me lightly with her elbow as we grabbed our messenger bags from the ground. "Well, we really trashed the place this time," I commented as I looked around the lab. All the beakers and test tubes had been knocked over or smashed, the papers that had been neatly stacked were now scattered across the floor, one plate-glass window looked like it had a rock thrown through it; I reminded myself that it had actually been my knee as I brushed glass and chemicals off my arms. "Maybe we should leave a note."
"Yeah, 'Sorry about the mess, but we took care of your demon infestation. God Bless.'"
"Sounds good to me."
"I mean, I would be okay if I came into my house and found that message."
I smiled as we pushed the steel lab door open and stepped into the sterile white hallway. We slowly meandered through the halls and down the stairs, carefully brushing past the poor saps who were working the red-eye shifts at the labs. The whole interior of the building was freakishly white and shiny. It gave me the creeps, but it didn't see to bother Alice, so I wasn't going to complain.
"Nine." I said as we entered the stairwell, my voice echoing off the walls.
"I killed ten." I wasn't sure if I actually believed her, but lying about our number of kills was a crime near blasphemy. Kills were sacred, at least to us since were both naturally competitive people. Crazy competitive. Like 'keep a running tally on the inside of your closet door so we know who has bragging rights' competitive.
"Well, that took longer than expected." Alice commented as we stepped out of the building to the blessedly dark street. "It's already going on nine."
"Yeah, well, no one told us there was going to be a horde of demons. It was like fighting the seven dwarfs."
"And the Shire."
"Nasty Hobbitses." We grinned at each other as we began our wander back to the institute. It was a beautiful night. The streets were glossy and rain slick, reflecting the yellow glow of streetlights and neon signs. The drizzle created a swirling mist, spinning and twirling as cars blasted through it. Wandering had always been my favorite thing to do. Some people, especially Mundanes, seemed to have a need to rush and rush, but then you miss the small beauties in life. My mother taught me at an early age that heaven was in the details. Of course, she was an artist, so she would. My father had always been the impatient one, it was always "Aleksandra hurry up!" or "Leksi we need to go!"Not that he didn't love me, but sometimes it was a toll on his patience, anyone's patience really, to humor a little girl as she softly examined the veins of a flower or insisted on running her hand over every surface she passed.
Without meaning to, I reached out and skimmed my hand over the stone of the building next to me. I hadn't seen my parents in almost a year. I guess it just comes with the territory of being Shadowhunters, especially ones as good as them, but it was still hard only seeing them a hand full of times a year, even fewer times now that the demon population seemed to be growing and no one seemed to know why. I suppose that I was simply spoiled as a child, growing up in Idris with my parents always there. Of course, if they hadn't started doing field work again, I wouldn't be here and I wouldn't have met Alice. Speaking of Alice...
She had run a few feet ahead of me, dancing in the mist, her arms outstretched as she spun and wove, dancing with her shadow. First an airplane, now a fairy, that girl seemed to have problems remembering that she is a human. At least, half human. She could have been a fairy though, at least a Mundane version of a fairy. She was about average height, slim, not many curves, but that was what a Shadowhunter should be. Her blue hair was, as per usual, braided on her right shoulder. Well, it was usually braided, the color came and went. This moment's hair was a deep blue with teal highlights. Her hair was naturally a light brown, but I had rarely seen it like that; I'd been told that shortly after she came to live with Alec and Magnus, Magnus need a potion he was developing tested and, since he hadn't initially wanted Alice anyway, he let her drink it when Alec wasn't around. The result was that she had the coolest hair ever, but you could never take her seriously. It changed color with her mood, but there wasn't any certain color to identify a certain mood. It would have been nice if red meant mad and so on, but no. That would have been too easy. When it changed color all you could do was brace yourself until you knew what mood to expect.
Suddenly, Alice stopped dancing and turned toward me, her hair changing to a deep red with orange tips, legs set in a broad stance, and green eyes wide: "Leks, you know what we should do? We should go to the movies!"
"You know we can't. If we're late getting back to the Institute again Alec going to kill us; he'll at least make us dust the ceilings again. That really sucked last time. Maybe if you hadn't taken so long killing that Thammuz..."
"Hey, it's an art form! Some of us just rush through and kill everything without thinking about it. I like to take my time and savor it."
"Seriously? Savor it? You sound like a gourmet chef."
"Gourmet demon hunter," she tested the phrase on her tongue and, deciding that she liked it, grinned.
I rolled my eyes and shook my head in mock exasperation. As hard as I tried though, I couldn't keep my face straight.
A distant bell slowly tolled nine times through the mist. "Yeah, we should probably be getting back." Our eyes held for a moment then, without saying a word, we grinned and took off sprinting down the sidewalk, much faster than most humans could wish to go. Light posts became tools to make quick turns, trashcans and front steps obstacles and opportunities for one of us to show up the other. Winning the race was only part of the competition, it didn't count if you didn't do it with style.
We didn't actually get back to the institute until after 11, but after a stern talking to from Alec, and a few cocky grins and jokes from me, we were able to escape without punishment. I was pretty sure that I just reminded him too much of my father for him to punish me. Everyone always told me that I was just like my father, the same blonde hair and cheeky comments. He had always been so self composed though. I'd never been around when he lost his temper, ran out of patience maybe, but never his temper. I suppose it could have been different when he was younger, but as long as he was my dad he was always unflappable and rolled with the punches. I, on the other hand, was probably the person throwing the punches. If I got mad at you, you would know. Sometimes it would be instant, like a kick to the shins, other times it would take a little longer, but revenge is always worth the wait. I'd never done anything really bad or that would have permanent effects, but Nair in the shampoo will always be a classic.
"Alec's wrath was totally worth it. Did you see that guy in the coffee shop! He was such a cutie."
Alice smiled, it was about the fifth time that I had said something along those lines, but she was used to it, "Yeah, maybe if he had been able to see you I'd be a bit more impressed though."
I rolled my eyes to the vaulted ceiling of the library, "But where would the fun have been in that? If he had been able to see me I would have never been able to get that close to him, and that would have been... you know, he was cute and I would have just hidden in the corner and giggled."
This got raised eyebrows from Alice, "At least you're honest with yourself."
"Painfully so. But you're the same way so you can't judge."
"Oh, I can judge. Maybe not for being shy, but for being weird. Seriously, you licked his face!"
"Did not!" More raised eyebrows and a disbelieving smile, "Okay, but it was an accident. How was I supposed to know that he would lean forward at that moment?" She just shook her head and laid down on the floor with her book.
Two hours later we were still in the library. By this time Alice had fallen asleep on the floor, her head on the book open in front of her, arms splayed to the sides. She looked a bit ridiculous, but wasn't the weirdest that she had ever looked. I was sitting upside down in the chair, feet dangling over the top, head hanging off the seat, eating Nutella with a spoon when the doors on the other side of the library opened and I heard Alec and Magnus walk in. However, when shoes came into my view they were not expensive loafers or black sneakers, but a pair of dark work boots. My eyes slowly worked their way up the body: nice fitting jeans, ripped, faded in a way that was stylish, but obviously came from being worn, a body that was clearly muscular, even through a black shirt and gray jacket, and finally the face. I couldn't help but wonder how someone got blessed enough to have a face like that. Chisled jaw with just enough stubble on it to be sexy, full lips, straight nose and even eyebrows; his hair looked like something you'd see in a boy band, short with the front spiked, but somehow he made it look manly. His eyes were the things that drew my attention; they were a beautiful blue-green that a girl could look at forever and, I realized, they were staring at me. As I just sat there and stared with a spoon hanging out of my mouth. Great.
"How the hell did you get in here?" I cringed internally at how lame it sounded.
"The front door. Isn't that how people normally get in, or is there a secret tunnel? That'd be pretty awesome." His voice was low and gravely. Yes, it was also dripping with sarcasm, but that voice and his amused half smile were still enough to get me flustered.
"No, I meant... you aren't Shadowhunters. Right?" Maybe I was wrong, but it didn't look like he had runes, nor did he have the posture of a Shadowhunter. He definitely had the air of someone who could take you out, but it was different than any Shadowhunter I'd even met. "So how did you-" My sentence trailed. Sentences are hard when your tongue stops working. I had a momentary thought that maybe he was some sort of warlock messing with my brain, but no, I was just stupid.
"We're a different kind of hunter." It was then that my brain started working again. We, as in there were more. I realized there was another one behind me. Before I even knew what I was doing I was out of the chair with my Seraph blade out. The other one was equally attractive, taller and with longer hair, but definitely related. We all stood for a moment and stared at each other. Neither had visible weapons, but I was sure that if they were given a chance they could be armed in a second. How did they even get in here?
"Who are you and what are you doing here?" I was happy to note that my voice didn't betray how nervous I was. My eyes flicked to Alice, who was still blissfully asleep on the floor. I was going to have to kick her later for not backing me up. "And I don't want any crap answers or bull sarcasm. If you don't give me a straight answer I'll- I'll cut you." I had been hoping to come up with a more menacing threat, but cutting was going to have to do.
"Well, that's about the scariest thing I've heard all day. Look at you, you're just plain cute, but maybe you should put the blade down before you hurt yourself." I was getting really sick of his arrogant tone. I was used to being the one who was cocky and mocking and this was not a welcome change in roles. "But, since you asked so nicely, I'm Dean and this is my brother Sam. Winchester."