Jace heard the tap tap of Isabelle's heels on the wood floors as she approached before the door opened into the room. Jace stretched in his chair and tried in vain to rub the bleariness from his eyes without much effect as Isabelle approached the bedside. He circled his thumb across the back of Lydia's hand as he studied her even breathing. Jace remembered coming across her, left sprawled out on the floor with blood trickling into her hair. She didn't deserve this, he thought once again, she deserved to be happily back in Idris with her family.
Right now, however, he'd settle for her waking up and giving him some answers to what the hell happened last night. Hodge breaking his punishment rune and fleeing the institute, Jocelyn and the cup vanishing into thin air, Lydia injured… the shit was hitting the metaphorical fan and Jace couldn't hide in here forever, he'd have to face those problems eventually.
He stared at Alec's broken bow propped against the bedside table, snapped string halves dangling from the ends. Jace had stepped on one of the limbs in his rush to Lydia's side and its presence in that room had only served to increase his worry. There had been no sign of Alec since Lydia had been found and no answer from his phone. There was always the chance that he was at Magnus' place… after that kiss, well… Jace could see how someone would think they'd like some alone time. The rational part of his brain argued that Lydia could have used the bow in self-defense. Shadowhunters were trained to use any weapon, after all.
Except Jace knew, Alec. He knew that Alec would never leave his bow lying around for someone else to use. He was too possessive of it. So Alec had to have been in that room with Lydia when she was attacked. What did that mean for his parabatai, then? Jace tapped his steele against his knee, toying with the idea of tracking him through their parabatai rune as his panic resurfaced. It was too dangerous, though, almost getting him killed the last time Alec had done it without his consent. He was still angry about it, to be honest.
And if Alec was with Magnus at the moment Jace didn't think he'd appreciate his rune flaring up like someone had injected him with demon venom while they were… well, Jace didn't really want to think about that, but safe to say it would be a mood killer. Jace would definitely not be getting a parabatai of the year award for over-reacting on an epic scale. He had to make sure first, so he waited as Isabelle went to check the institutes security cameras.
He turned around in his chair to look at her. "Anything?"
Isabelle opened her mouth to respond but stalled on the right words to say.
"Well?" Jace snapped and regretted it instantly when Isabelle flinched, her expression hurt.
Her brows furrows together. "I think it's best if you saw for yourself."
That didn't bode well. Jace followed her out of the room, right on her heels as they crossed into the command center. Isabelle motioned for him to sit in the chair in front of the screen, the camera footage of Lydia's room paused and another video feed was visible behind it, both waiting to be played. Jace perched uneasily on the edge of the chair, Isabelle hovering close behind him. Jace couldn't believe that he was afraid of a video, afraid of answers, but if Isabelle's expression was anything to go by the news wasn't good. He took a steadying breath and clicked play.
He watched the footage as it transitioned between the camera feeds in silence and when it was done he replayed both again, not believing what he was seeing.
"Hodge," breathed Jace, the name Lydia uttered before passing out finally making sense… and yet, it didn't. Hodge was family. Hodge was their friend, closest of all to Alec. Why would he attack him?
"I checked with Magnus just to make sure," stated Isabelle as Jace swivelled the chair to face her. "He said they parted ways with the intent of meeting up tomorrow for drinks. Alec had said he was going to thank Lydia before she left for Idris."
"Did he ask why you wanted to know?"asked Jace.
Isabelle's grimace was positively painful as she replied, "He assumed I was just being a nosy sister. I— I didn't tell him that Alec has been missing for at least four hours now and that date wasn't going to happen. At least for now, it's better that he stays in the dark. This is a shadowhunter issue. It should stay that way for as long as possible."
It was good to see that Isabelle had learned something from her mini-Maryse phase.
Jace stood up from the chair and looked around at the other members of the institute going out the business of tracking the cup. His anger was audible in his words, "How many shadowhunters in this institute and not one of them were there to stop Alec from being taken? It's no wonder the Clave thinks we're incompetent when we can't even protect one of our own."
"Jace," Isabelle snapped, "keep your voice down. I haven't even told Mom and Dad yet."
"You don't think they need to know that he's missing?" asked Jace.
Isabelle crossed her arms over her chest and rubbed at her upper arms. "Let them deal with Jocelyn and the cup. We'll be responsible for finding Alec, he's as much our responsibility as we are his."
Jace weighted the idea in his head for a moment, considering the implication of leaving the Clave and the other institute members in the dark. He thought about the fact that Alec was stolen right under their noses and realized that Isabelle was right, the Clave and their outdated law book would only slow them down. They'd only treat them like kids at the adult table. Jace and Isabelle weren't children though, and Alec was their brother. If there was anyone who could find him before he got hurt it was them.
"Just the two of us," agreed Jace. "Okay, first things first. If we want to find Alec, our best chance would be to find Hodge."
"Luke already has his pack working on tracking him by scent."
"So we'll head to the Jade Wolf and see what they've found." Jace glanced down at the suit he was still wearing, crinkled from sleeping upright, and Isabelle's golden gown. "We need to change. Meet you back in five to gear up?"
Isabelle nodded and headed down the hall towards her room. Jace sighed and headed towards his own. He tugged his bowtie loose from his neck and shrugged off his suit jacket dropping them both on his bed. He toed off his dress shoes while he started unbuttoning his shirt. Even with the small amount of sleep he'd gotten at Lydia's bedside, he still felt unbelievably tired, but that weariness was interrupted abruptly as his body was hit with a painful spasm.
He didn't understand what was happening at first, but a minute later he understood all too well, remembering the sensation that he'd felt only days ago. Jace gasped and struggled with the remaining buttons of his shirt. With a growl he ripped at the fabric, sending buttons bouncing across the floor and rolling to far off corners. He yanked his undershirt up to see his parabatai rune aglow. Jace only had a moment to stare at it, his hands trembling over the skin, afraid to touch before his sight was replaced with blinding light.
Jace gasped at the burn that coursed through his body so suddenly it felt like he'd been struck by lightning and doubled over, his knees cracking against the floor. His grasped his torso and dug his fingernails into the flesh of his sides as the white light transformed into images. Valentine was standing in front of him, stele in hand, his figure visibly distorted through watery eyes. Jace was aware of the fact that his eyes weren't in control, that the images were Alec's transmitted to him through their bond. His eyes followed Alec's own— taking in the abandoned warehouse and the faded lettering on the far wall lit up under flickering lights— trying to absorb every detail of his location before it was too late. He had no idea how long this connection would last, especially when he could feel the all-consuming pain that Alec was undergoing. Jace felt like he was being tortured himself, being able to feel his parabatai's pain but not being able to do anything to stop it.
He stretched out his hand, fingers trying to pass through the apparition. Jace felt like he was there in that moment, feeling the burning on his thigh and the arms pinioning his own to his sides.
"Alec," he cried out, hoping his voice would pass through the connection. The bond wasn't a one way transmission. He'd heard Alec's call the last time he'd tracked through the bond, and there was the chance that his call would be heard this time too and bring some comfort to his brother-at-arms.
The connection broke like a cord snapping, slamming Jace back into his own body and catching his breath in his throat. There were hands on his shoulder blades, he was conscious of them only because of the way his body trembled under their touch.
"Jace," Isabelle's voice was hesitant, as if she weren't sure if Jace was back with her or not.
"Alec," croaked Jace, pushing himself up until he was kneeling on the floor. His fingers traced the grooves his nails had scratched into the floor. He hadn't realized he'd done that. "Someone tried to access our rune connection, but it wasn't him. I could feel his resistance to reach for me… I think— I think it was a message. I saw Valentine there."
Jace looked up at Isabelle, his feelings too raw to hide from her. He was terrified and he could see that she was too. He clutched at her hands. "I think Valentine has him."
"Then he's using him as bait to get to you." Isabelle closed her eyes and Jace felt the tremor that surged through her body via their connected hands. When she opened her eyes again she looked nauseated by the thought if only because she knew what it meant for her brother.
Jace understood as well without the words needing to be said. "I can't leave him there. If I don't show— if Alec can't be used to draw me to Valentine— he'll be of no use. Valentine will kill him."
Isabelle clutched his hands tighter. "And what happens to you if you do go? There's a chance that Alec will be killed anyway and you'll be Valentine's captive. Don't you think Alec's thought of that? That it was the reason he resisted the connection."
It did sound like something Alec would do. Jace grunted a pitiful excuse for a laugh. "Alec always hated being the distraction. Guess nothing's changed."
Isabelle looked like she wanted to smile but couldn't under the circumstances. At that moment the door burst open and Clary stumbled to a stop before she could trip over them. She spared only a moment to flash them a confused look at their crumpled positions on the floor.
"Luke just called me. He said his pack caught Hodge's scent and that we should head over right away."
Jace struggled to his feet, the ache in his body a prominent reminder of the pain that Alec was probably in. "Right. Get your mundie friend. We're going to need his van."
Clary rolled her eyes at him. "You can remember that he owns a van but you can't remember his name?"
"His name isn't important. His van is." countered Jace.
"Whatever," Clary sighed before heading back down the hall.
Isabelle gave Jace the privacy he needed to change. He found her waiting outside her door, whip coiled around her arm, her other hand holding a duffel bag of weapons. She extended the bag to him as he closed his door. "We're in a hurry. You can gear up on the ride over."
They piled into van with Clary in the driver's seat and Isabelle seated next to her to keep her company. Jace climbed into the back of the van so that he could pull weapons from the duffel and strap them to his person as they drove over to the Jade Wolf.
Clary pulled the van out into the city bustle and Simon hissed like a cat that had been sprayed with water from his seated position against the door. In the distance the sun was stretching its rays between the buildings, though it was too early for it to be more than a red back glow. "I don't suppose any of you thought about the fact that you're bringing a vampire outside at dawn?"
"You alright back there, Simon?" asked Isabelle. "It's starting to smell like singed hair up here."
"Yeah, well me and sunlight aren't very simpatico at the moment."
"Oh, you'll be fine," said Jace. He dug around in the bed of the van and shook off a worn blanket. He chucked it back towards Simon. "Just put this over your head."
Simon heaved a sigh looking like he wasn't going to do what Jace said, but then a flash of sunlight reflected off the rearview mirror. Simon's hand flashed up to shield his face, the skin smoldering in the light. Simon gasped and threw the blanket over himself.
"So not cool, guys," he grunted.
"So, is Alec meeting us there?" asked Clary as she turned at a corner. Isabelle half turned in her seat to flash an anxious look at him. What do we tell her? she mouthed at him.
Jace shook his head and gave a helpless shrug. Isabelle rolled her eyes at him.
"No..."
There was a long stretch of silence, enough time for Jace and Isabelle to assume that Clary had left the question drop from her mind, but as they were approaching the restaurant she seemed to come up with a new reasoning.
"Oh, so he's with Magnus helping him track down Camile?" Clary asked as she pulled into a space around the back of the Jade Wolf.
"Um, no," replied Isabelle, cautiously. "he's not there either."
"What? Then where the hell is he?" cried Clary, turning around in her seat to look at both of them. Her eyes flickered between them. She levered a finger between them, "Don't lie to me. Where's Alec?"
Isabelle pressed her lips into a tight line. Jace knew that she wasn't the one responsible for telling Clary. "Best guess is with your mother. Hodge took him when he stole your mother and the cup out of the institute."
"What?" Simon's startled voice was audible under the blanket. "Magnus is so not going to like being stood up."
Jace nearly rolled his eyes at the vampire's priorities under the circumstances."Shut up, Vampire."
Clary's mouth parted in shock and confusion. "I don't understand. Why would Hodge take Alec?"
"Because Valentine ordered him to so that I would come after him," answered Jace. "You heard him that night he tried to take the cup from us… he wants to reunite our family. He has Alec, I make a deal to save him. When he has me, you try to rescue me. When he has both of us, if Jocelyn can be woken, she'll go to him to keep us safe. Valentine knows our relationships are our weaknesses and he'll use them against us to get what he wants."
"If all you just said is true then how do we beat him?" Clary shoved her hair back from her face. Jace could practically see her mind racing through the possibilities.
It was Isabelle who spoke up. "We do something he won't be expecting. Valentine is a shadowhunter, so he thinks like a shadowhunter. He'll either expect Jace to go in on his own or he'll expect us to alert the Clave and send in an army. What he won't expect is for us to work alongside downworlders like Luke's pack, Magnus Bane, or Raphael's vampire clan. If we do what he isn't expecting there's less chance of us walking into a trap."
"Isabelle's right," agreed Jace, "So, let's put words into actions."
He threw the van door open much to the displeasure of Simon. "C'mon, Luke is waiting."
Isabelle and Jace stood under the restaurant awning, with Isabelle propping the door open with her boot. They watched together as Clary hurried a blanket-covered Simon into the darkness of the building. Jace and Isabelle followed after them, walking to the back where Luke and his pack were waiting in a tense circle.
Jace pushed his way into the middle until he stood in front of Luke. Jace threw out his hands. "What are you all doing here? I thought you were out tracking Hodge."
"We did," stated Alaric, Luke's second-in-command, "We tracked him by scent all the way to the docks and almost had him until a gang of newly-made shadowhunters spilled through a portal and attacked us."
It was only then that Jace noticed the first-aide kit open next to Luke's hip. He scanned the other werewolves of Luke's pack, taking in their various stages of injury.
Isabelle gasped. "He's really doing it. Valentine, is making new shadowhunters with the mortal cup."
"We weren't able to fight them off in time to stop Hodge going through the portal, but he did drop this—" Alaric held up a gold ring.
Jace snatched it out of from between his fingers and held it up to the light. "This was the ring from the video— the one that Hodge used to contact Valentine with. Do you think it takes any special kind of magic for it to work? Or do you just… "
He twisted it around in his fingers, the temptation to slip it on and find out so strong within him.
"Jace, no!" Clary took a step towards him. "What if Hodge left that ring on purpose for you to find it. What if we're only doing what he wants us to —"
"It's my only way to get information on, Alec." Jace cut across her, voice unyielding. "I need to know that he's alright. Besides… if we find out where he wants me to meet him, we can take him by surprise when he's not expecting us."
No one said anything at that, seeming to accept Jace's words in silence. Finally, Luke stepped forward and motioned to the back room where Simon had been held prisoner not long ago. "Best if you make the call back there so he doesn't see the pack. We don't want to tip him off to the fact that you're working with downworlders."
"Right," grunted Jace and left the rest of the group.
When he was standing in a dark corner of the room, far enough away for the voices of everyone in the front to transform to a muffled din, he slipped the ring onto his finger.
"Jonathan," Valentine's glowing image appeared in Jace's peripheral. Jace spun to face him. "I've been expecting you to call."
"So Hodge did leave the ring behind on purpose."
Valentine smiled. "Well, just between you and me, I didn't really care if the ring was still attached to Hodge or not, so long as you were able to contact me. I'm quite surprised that he made it back in one piece."
Jace took a moment to absorb that information, wondering if Hodge was realizing how little he meant to Valentine by now, or if he was still deluded by memories of the Valentine he remembered.
"I want to see Alec." declared Jace. "I want to know that he's alright."
"I can attest that he's still breathing," replied Valentine. "But I'm afraid if you want to see him you're going to have to come in person and see for yourself."
"If I go to you, will you let Alec go free unharmed in exchange?" asked Jace.
"It's a fair trade— you for him. But you better make sure he understands the finality of this deal. If he comes looking for you again and I find him, he won't be walking away again."
That wasn't going to happen. Jace wasn't going to let it come to that. He was going to rescue Alec, on his terms, and kill Valentine. He wasn't stupid enough to allow Valentine to live and threaten the people he cared about.
"Trust me, he won't. Now, where is he?"
Valentine smiled. "We're at the Red Hook Grain Terminal."
Jace yanked the ring off his finger and shoved it in his jacket pocket. He let his hand rest in there for a moment as he considered what to do next. The more people Jace got involved in this, the less likely it would be that he'd get a clean shot at Valentine…
"Jace," Clary's red hair was visible even with the lack of light that flowed into the room. She peeked around the corner, most likely drawn by the lapse in speaking on Jace's part.
"Yeah, I'm coming," Jace made his way back out into the main room where the side conversations that had been happening broke off in favor of hearing the news.
Isabelle came over to stand at his side and Jace was suddenly aware of the fact that he'd never gone on a mission with just Isabelle. Alec had always been with the, watching from the rear for any signs of danger. Jace found himself periodically looking out the corner of his eye, thinking he'd seen Alec's dark-clad form in his peripheral only to find empty air. He thought about experiencing that for a week… a year, and an unbearable feeling rose up in his chest. He was going to get his parabatai back. He was.
"He's holding Alec at the Red Hook Grain Terminal by the East River." declared Jace. "We can expect the place to be crawling with newly made shadowhunters, so what we need to do now—"
Jace's phone came to life in his jacket pocket. He pulled it free of the worn leather and gazed at the caller ID. "It's Magnus."
He quirked an eyebrow at them, a silence question if he should answer it.
"He could have information on where Camille is," suggested Clary, a hopeful glint to her eyes. The knew where Alec was— where Valentine was, and there was a good chance that Clary's mother was there as well. If they could pull off this rescue mission then their mission to find the book would continue if they wanted to wake her.
Jace groaned. He been so caught up with saving Alec, he hadn't even remembered Clary's mother, his mother, had been taken by Valentine again. He took the call. "Hey, Magnus—"
"Put Alexander on the phone, Jace," Magnus bulldozed over anything Jace was going to say.
"He's— uh— he's busy right now, Magnus. Now isn't really a good time."
"Hah! Funny you should say that. Speaking of good times, you know what doesn't make the list? Being stood up on your first official date… you know, with the one you crashed a wedding for. I thought Alec would be able to get drinks together without getting scared off."
"You're date? Drinks?" Jace jerked his jacket sleeve up to get a look at his watch. "It's eight in the morning."
"They made plans to get drinks." Simon piped in, blanket wrapped like a shawl around his shoulders. "Magnus is a fan of mimosas, so they settled on an early breakfast."
Isabelle cast a quizzical look towards Simon. "Simon, how the hell do you know that? Have you been spying on them or something?"
Simon's gaze flashed around the group, looking like a cornered animal. "No, I just happened to be around when they had that conversation."
Clary placed her hand on Simon's arm. "I thought we talked about this after the wedding. I understand you support them but there's a line between—"
"Shh," Jace waved at them. Sidetracked by their conversation, he'd missed a minute of what Magnus had been saying, or well, actually ranting.
"I've tried his cell a million times without an answer, so put him on now. I need to have a word with that coward."
Jace glared at the ceiling, cursing the universe for what he knew he had to do now. "Magnus, I'm going to tell you something and I want you to try not to freak out."
"Oh god, did you idiots get him injured again?" Jace winced, close but Magnus was underestimating their ability to turn all situations into utter crap.
Jace braced himself for the fallout. "Alec's been taken. Valentine is holding him in an abandoned grainery by the East River. I don't want you to worry, we're going to rescue him."
Jace listened as the silence stretched on after his words, thinking for a moment that Magnus had hung up.
"Come to my apartment."
"Magnus—"
"This isn't up for discussion," Magnus' voice was steely. "If you're going to get Alec back you're going to need my help. I'm not going to let you go in there blind and risk Alec's life. Besides, I know where Camille is."
Jace sighed. "Alright, we'll be there soon."
Magnus hung up before Jace could even take the phone from his ear. It was a safe guess to say that he was angry. Jace was angry too. Perhaps they could band together and direct their anger at Valentine and deliver a fatal blow.
"We need to stop at Magnus'." declared Jace.
Simon moaned. "Oh, c'mon! Not the blanket again!"
