Jace hated patrolling in the snow he decided. It was particularly cold for November and he hugged himself close to conserve his dwindling warmth as he and Alec trudged the banks of the Hudson under the twilight. Even the waters edge was frozen over, he noted, blurring the boundary between land and water where the level was the same. It was freezing. He'd left his comfortable black leather jacket in his room in favour of a thick khaki padded coat that in hindsight would probably restrict his movement if he needed to fight, but he couldn't bring himself to regret the decision at the moment. Their breaths billowed out like mist into the icy night, boots leaving black gaping footprints in the pristine blanket of white that stretched out all around them. The Brooklyn bridge was not too far in the distance and looked beautiful rising up from the snowy landscape, the majesty of winter always a great leveller hiding the sins of the land beneath.
Jace wasn't in the mood to appreciate it at this precise moment though. The bleak cold of the early New York winter was seeping into his bones despite the fifty layers of clothes he was wearing as well as the heat rune he'd activated before they'd left the institute. No, he thought, this was so not fun. He would much rather be tucked up in bed, curled protectively around a certain redheaded Shadowhunter, nestled in her warmth. But that wasn't an option at the moment. He'd taken to avoiding her as much as possible over the last few weeks since the nightmares had started after his miraculous resurrection. It was for that reason that he had willingly volunteered both himself and Alec to go and check out the demon sighting that was supposed to be somewhere around here, but had yet to reveal itself. It had definitely not been worth their effort so far he thought miserably. His toes were starting to go numb and he swore they were going to drop off if they didn't call it a night soon.
Alec on the other hand didn't seem to mind. Jace had earlier seen him stealing glances at the top of Magnus' red brick apartment block that had been visible in the distance, a smile ghosting his face when he thought Jace wasn't looking. Jace had actually thought he'd seen the High Warlock of Brooklyn himself at one point out on the terrace of his loft apartment, surveying his lands like a king. But it wasn't that close and could have just been the cold messing with his mind.
Jace was relieved that Alec and Magnus had settled their differences. Feeling Alec's misery pulsing through their bond had not been fun, though Alec had remained the consummate professional as the Head of the Institute not willing to let it disrupt his job. However Jace knew it had been wearing him down.
He was perfectly happy now though. Jace studied his face discreetly. It radiated a warm healthy glow despite the cold, a true reflection of his inner most feelings. Delicate wisps of snowflakes drifted down landing momentarily on his black hair before melting to nothing, making it damp like Jace's own, but Alec didn't seem to notice, or care. He was content, Jace thought. He absently, wondered why his own misery at his self imposed distancing from Clary, which was the hardest thing he'd ever done, didn't seem to register with Alec. There were always consequences of bringing people back from the dead his thought and this recent effect on their parabatai bond seemed to be one of them. He quickly pushed the bad memories of Lake Lyn to the back of his mind. He really didn't want to think about that at the moment.
"OK, this officially sucks" he said to Alec hugging himself tighter.
"It's not that bad Jace. Besides you were keen enough to come earlier. I thought you might have preferred some 'Clary time' instead", Alec replied raising his hands to air quote like mundanes liked to. He'd obviously been watching too much trash TV with Magnus lately.
Jace raised his eyebrows at the un-Alec like gesture and smiled finally. "Don't give me the air bunnies. She was meeting Simon" he lied.
"Everything OK with you two?" Alec asked looking directly at him thoughtfully.
"Yeah fine." He hated lying to Alec but he wouldn't burden him with this, whatever it was.
"What about you. You and Magnus back on track now?" he said turning the attention away from himself. Alec paused, then took the bait clearly trying to keep the Cheshire cat size grin, that wanted out, down to a subtle smile. It was good to see him like this. He'd repressed his desires and feelings his whole life, doing and acting as their parents had expected him to as they tried to mould him into what they thought was the perfect son. But now he was finally happy with himself and the way he was living his life – as long as Magnus was in it, that was. He totally deserved this.
"We talked". He said coming to a stop. "There's still a lot to sort through. But yeah, its good".
"I'm glad" Jace said sincerely. "Besides I couldn't have taken the soulful eyes from the both of you for much longer" he added joking, patting Alec's arm affectionately. "You heading straight there after were done?" Jace said hoping to spur Alec on to end their little escapade for the night as soon as possible.
"Yeah. Let's just finish up this stretch and call it a night shall we?" Alec replied.
"No argument from me" Jace said thankfully.
...
They wandered on in silence to where the bank dipped slightly and a woman's low screech caught their attention. They stared in the direction of the noise, on edge now and readied their weapons before continuing on, quickly creeping the last 100 yards. They found the source around the side of a small wooden hut sat on the very edge of the river bank.
At first Jace thought they'd stumbled on an amorous mundane couple who were making out feverishly, but just as Jace was about to lower his guard the dark haired man tipped his head back bearing blooded fangs up to the dark sky - vampire. The girl he'd been feeding on only looked young, maybe late teens. There was blood oozing down the side of her neck from the ragged puncture wounds and it was a stark contrast to her white knitted hat. She didn't look scared. She was likely dazed from the euphoria of the vampires venom and or maybe blood loss.
A look from Alec told him they were on the same page as he prepared to approach. He knew Alec couldn't fire off an arrow with the girl so close and he moved forward stalking the vamp, his footsteps silent now under his careful footing. As he got close he rested the sharp point of his seraph blade between the vampires shoulders to gain his attention making a small tear in the plaid fabric of his shirt. The angelic runes running the length of the blade glowed magically in the dim light, the threat to run it through left hanging in the air. The vampire tensed and froze.
"Let the mundane go" he ordered his voice even and confident. Alec was stood close backing him up with his bow raised, the string taut against his chin, the vampire dead in his sight.
"Shadowhunters" the vampire spit out, the loathing clear in his voice. It turned its head slowly to get a look at them. "I should have smelled your filth coming". The girl looked confused at what was happening unable to see past his and Alec's glamour, not realising they were there.
"What did you say" she drawled thinking the vampire was talking to her.
"This is not how we behave in New York vampire" Jace chided as if talking to a child. "Now let her go before we all see how good you look with a hole through your chest."
The vamp raised his hands slightly defensive. "OK. OK, I'll let her GO." He punctuated the last word as he suddenly thrust the girl forward with supernatural strength and speed toward the edge of the bank. She screamed out as she toppled off the edge of the snow covered path onto the fragile frozen surface of the waters edge.
Jace slashed out at the vampire seeing Alec flash by his periphery toward the mundane. The vampire was laughing dodging his blade like he was dancing, taunting him.
"What, I let her go didn't I. Isn't that what you wanted shadowhunter". He said the last with pure venom in his tone.
He was starting to piss Jace off pushing his eyes to glow gold as he instinctively activated more runes beneath his jacket. He felt energised from the effect and leapt from the ground gracefully to flip over the top of the vampire, powered by his speed and agility runes, to land behind it taking it by surprise. He whipped his seraph blade across its back to leave a long bloody diagonal slash. It turned baring its fangs to roar in pain and anger, then suddenly darted off away from them into the night, accepting defeat. Jace was about to give chase when he heard the girl scream again.
Unable to see Alec she stepped back at his touch further onto the ice startled by the sounds of the cracks appearing like a spiders web where she stood whimpering as tears fell down her cheeks. Suddenly the cracks began to deepen under her feet, eliciting another useless plea from Alec. She couldn't hear him.
"Please stop, don't move. You're going to fall in". The girl was panicking though and continued to move away, the dull crunching of ice piercing the night as it started to give way. Alec stepped out at speed before it was too late grasping her hand as she screamed tugging her back with great effort towards the bank and safety.
"Alec no" Jace shouted rushing forward, catching the mundane against his chest and falling to his knees as Alec let her go. She struggled trying to free herself from what she must have thought an invisible attacker, her continued screams deafening in his ears. He pushed her away quickly and she stumbled up running off. Time seemed slow down around him as he picked himself up to stand as close to he edge as possible reaching for his brother, every second counting.
"Jace" Alec called out desperately as the ice gave way under his feet, a terrified look in his eyes.
Jace reached out touching Alec's hand as he dropped into the freezing water, only narrowly failing to grasp hold of him. "No" he pleaded into the night watching in disbelief. The shock of the ice cold water registered on Alec's face clearly taking his breath away as it bubbled around his mouth and he gasped, desperately choking in a lungful of the filthy water. His hands flailing uselessly as Jace tried to reach for him before he disappeared under it black surface, no longer visible.