Wow. My bad. I've had this for like, two months, and I didn't publish it. But I am now. Hope y'all like it.

FishShips

The light of the station dimmed quickly as they went deeper into the tunnel. Brianna lifted a witch light rune stone into the air, letting white light shine through the tunnel. Under the harsh light, Andrew's skin took on a ghostly pallor. A dark Alliance rune stretched across the base of his neck like a bloodstain. They moved in absolute silence, save for the occasional buzz of the Sensor. About a quarter mile in, the ground began to rumble. The seven pressed themselves against the wall just before a train whipped by them, bringing with it a wind that swirled through the empty space and tugged at everything around. It ripped the Sensor from Lizzie's fingers, and onto the tracks, just under the train's wheels. In a moment, the Sensor was reduced to powder.

The train carried on, and Kieran promptly threw up on the tracks. Chase hurriedly propped the faerie up. Shaking off the close encounter, the group continued to walk. It was a moment before they noticed that Lizzie hadn't moved. Chase, practically carrying Kieran, sprinted back towards his parabatai. Lizzie's face was a mask of horror.

"What am I going to tell mom and dad? We just lost two Sensors in one day. We are so dead!"
"We are not dead," Chase said. "We'll just explain what happened to them. We lose them all the time, that's why we have, like, a thousand of them."

Lizzie straightened up slowly, and moved to catch up with the rest of the group. Chase managed to get there before her. They moved forward a few more steps before Lizzie stopped again.

"One question," she said loudly, "if we don't have a Sensor, how are we supposed to find the demons?"
"They stink," Michael stated plainly, "They smell absolutely awful. I'm sure we can track them by the smell. Or at least, we can."

He tilted his head to indicate Joshua and himself, and they moved to head of the line. Josh had never tried using the werewolf's sense of smell, but it did work. He caught the scent of the iron that was flaking off the rails, and the smell of every passerby who had ever been through the station, and, ever so faintly, he could smell death and decay. Simultaneously, he and Michael pointed in the direction of the smell. It was a strange sight, but all of them had certainly done things that far surpassed tracking demons by scent.

"Woof, woof," Andrew joked.
Michael flicked him off.

They moved forward slowly, following the werewolf and his Shadowhunter Ally through dusty access tunnels and abandoned underground construction sites. Around them, metal supports converted into beams of timber, and a faint odor filled the air. Joshua and Michael led them around a final corner, into an open and the full smell hit them all like a body blow. It was a noxious mix of rotting plants, and putrid meat that reeked of death and decay, and I blew on a hot wind from within the wide corridor. Josh and Michael reeled back, gagging. It was definitely the scent of demons. The others fell back at Brianna's signal, to plan their attack.

As they waited for Brianna to start talking, Chase scrawled a quick Alliance rune on Kieran's palm, leaning the other boy against the wall. Kieran raised his voice in complaint.

"I am in far better condition than merits the way you are treating me," the faerie complained. "There is a far lesser amount of cold iron in the older portions of the rail system. I will be almost completely undeterred, Chase. So please, stop fussing. It's becoming more bothersome than the actual metal."

Chase's face was obscured by the darkness of the tunnel, but everyone could tell that he was blushing. He spluttered something that sounded like an apology before Brianna waved her hand for them all to pipe down and they all stopped to listen. She looked at each of them in turn, and her gaze seemed to analyze them completely. She saw their talents and their shortcomings, and she knew exactly what to do with them. Her plan was ready in a matter of seconds, and quickly, she laid it bare.

"Okay," she started, "There are a ton of demons in there, so we're going to have to take this in teams. Josh, Mike, you two are going to be in the thick of it. Vermithrall are like giant worms, so what you have to do is keep them from piling together. Otherwise, things are going to get ugly real quick."

The two looked at each other and nodded. Josh pulled his sword from its sheath, letting its full weight rest on his palms. "We're on it," he said.

"Good."

She turned her attention to Chase.

"You and Kieran have to get rid of the Iblis. They're crazy fast, and almost impossible to hit, so try to catch them off guard. If they run, you're the only ones I trust to chase them down. If they get away, they'll disappear almost completely in the dark. So, don't let that happen, 'kay?"
"Got it."

Chase's smile was as bright and cold as the silver knives that slipped out from underneath his armguards. At his side, Kieran looked up with eyes the color of freshly turned dirt.

"I am fairly confident in my ability to –"
"He's fine," Andrew butted in, cutting short what probably would have been a long winded explanation of the same thing.

"I'm with Bri," Andrew continued. "We'll be in the middle of the mess, so y'all are basically covering for us while we kick ass."
"That's one way to put it," Brianna said, her voice carrying the smallest hint of laughter.
"Lizzie," Andrew stated, "you're with us, too."
"Sounds good to me. Just let me get ready."

She set her pack on the ground and reached inside. With a few strong tugs, she managed to extricate a length of chain from the bag and get it onto the floor. At its end, a hook of adamas glowed gently. The diffused light revealed the contours of Lizzie's face and glinted off the array of weapons strapped to Brianna's belt. The sparkle of steel reflected in her eyes.

"Everyone ready?"

A wave of nod passed through the group, and they slid into the tunnel wordlessly.

The swarm of demons within seemed oblivious of the Shadowhunters that now occupied their space. As the Nephilim spread out in the half light, the demons seemed like formless blobs. At Michael's feet, pale worms writhed across the floor, trailing poisonous goo behind them. Josh stepped carefully around the areas where the acidic liquid pooled. His fingers tightened on the hilt of his sword. Michael caught his eye and nodded toward the center of the cavernous space. A different breed of demon stalked there, insubstantial creatures of shadow and smoke that coalesced into thin black forms with yellow, lamplike eyes.

Josh watched the first demon die. Behind one of the shadow creatures, a flash of silver appeared as if by magic, followed by a mess of bright hair. The demon seemed to sense Chase and instant before he struck. It let out a single screech before the blade pierced its chest and it dissipated like dust in a strong wind. The whole world seemed to stop for a moment and devote its attention to Chase. The demons hissed with murderous intent.

Yet, before they could rush him, another screech echoed from the other side of the chamber, where a faerie knight held a blazing seraph blade above the fray. Brianna and Andrew separated themselves from the wall, and then the fighting began. The brilliance of witchlight and seraph blades illuminated the cavern, while Josh and Michael cut through the bugs that seemed to cover the floor. Despite all his training, Josh was not prepared for the chaos. The maggots that didn't die constantly tried to unite, forming hulking masses of toxic worms. Those were the Vermithrall, he realized belatedly, as he sliced through the center of the giant demon.

He had killed thousands of the little demons, but more seemed to seep from the walls, all of them sliding and knotting together to make more Vermithrall. With every colony that fell, another rose within seconds. Michael was beside him, tearing through the demons with blade and claw, but it was obvious that they were both on the defensive.

With his heightened senses, Josh could see that the others were faring much better. Lizzie smashed through swaths of Vermithrall. Ichor spattered her gear as the adamas chain arced through the air. Josh could only imagine how much of the foul-smelling stuff was getting on him while he split another colony of worms down its center. A wet sucking sound reached his ears, and Josh rolled out of the way just as an Iblis lunged at the place where he had just stood.

It turned and hissed at him, revealing fangs that shone like polished bone. He leapt to his feet in time to see a silver knife bury itself in the demon's skull. Looking across the cavern, he saw Chase wave at him encouragingly, a single blade in the other Shadowhunter's hand. The Iblis dissolved, and the knife fell to the ground with a soft click. Josh picked it up quickly and focused once more on the fight. Michael was engaged with two more Vermithrall, unaware of a third forming soundlessly behind him.

With a speed that would have made Kieran jealous, Josh marked a Fire rune onto the blade of the knife. He prayed that the Accuracy rune on his hand worked, and threw the knife directly toward his Ally. The blade flew true, barely missing Michael's hand to lodge itself in the mass of worms. A moment later, the demon burst into dazzling flames. As acid and ichor bubbled out of the blaze, Joshua ran back to his partner. "Saraqael," he grunted, and he felt the seraph blade in his palm grow warm. At Michael's side, he dispatched the remaining Vermithrall with relative ease. Once that was handled, he scanned the ground to find Chase's knife a few yards away. The blade was twisted and partially dissolved in a puddle of demon fluids.

Michael gave him a few heavy pounds on his back. Around them, the slaughter seemed to be winding down.

"Great job of nearly stabbing me," Michael said quickly, "by, like, not stabbing me. Good job at that. At not stabbing me. Good job at not stabbing me. Yeah. Good job at not stabbing me and stabbing the —"
"Thanks, got it."

The hiss of an Iblis came from behind them both, and before Josh could draw his sword, Michael punched the demon in its face. It let out a single vaguely confused screech. Then it crumbled to powder, leaving flecks of black demon sand stuck to the claws that tipped Michael's hand. Its dying shriek echoed off the sides of the stone tunnel before fading into silence.

It took the two of them a moment to realize that every demon in the cavern was gone. Around the room, the others seemed to be reaching the same conclusion. At Brianna's signal, they all regrouped. The witchlight in her clenched hand provided all the light they needed to see that everyone was coated in demon gunk.

"Well," Brianna started, her voice sharp and clear.

She paused to wipe ichor from her face. Most of it just left streaks like poorly applied mascara, but the rest splattered to the ground in a thick, wet blob.

"That was gross," she finished, allowing herself a small smile.
"So gross," Lizzie echoed.

It was sudden, like a switch had been flipped in all of them at once. Michael started to chuckle. It spread to Josh, who barked loudly, and then everyone was laughing, hunched over in the dark, covered from head to toe in dirt, and grime, and demon blood.

"Seriously though," Brianna said in between gasps for air, "we should probably get home. This is going to seriously stain if we don't wash it off quickly. And I'm wearing my nice gear today."
"How terrible," Chase deadpanned, starting another wave of hysterical laughter.
"I'm not joking," Bri said through a smile.
"Fine."

Slowly, they calmed down, and in amiable silence, they moved back toward the train tracks. Almost immediately upon reaching the rail line, another train came closer to killing them than any demon. The faerie threw up, again.

The first of many demon fighting adventures for our Atlanta Nephilim. But at least the Institute is always a great place for conflict free rest. Right? The next few chapters will be intermittent, though nowhere near as intermittent as the space between these two chapters. As always, favorite if you like it, and follow if you love it.

Later,

FishShips