TRI

Chapter 2 – The Wayward Son

The boy coughed, splattering blood on the lounge's upholstery.

"Emil!" the woman with black hair squeaked, turning from Magnus to the boy, whom Tessa inferred was Emil. She went to his side quickly, pressing the sleeve of her woolen jacket to his forehead, mopping up the sweat that was collecting on his brow.

"Celia, what happened to him?" Magnus asked, shooing Celia aside to examine the boy.

"Demon metal," Celia said with a swift sense of emergency. "We ran into an Eidolon demon in Paris. It stabbed him with a demon metal needle while I was repairing the wards to the Paris Institute. It's the lower threat metal, but it's reacting to his v-vampiric energies and running rampant inside his body." At this point, Celia's eyes were shining with tears unshed. Tessa noticed the slight slip up the female warlock had on the word 'vampiric'. "I don't have as much experience with demon metal as you do, Magnus. I don't trust myself, but I trust you. Please, he's just a boy! I couldn't take him all the way back to Quebec; I didn't have enough power after I had repaired the wards. I remember you had this place. I fire messaged you as fast as I could…"

Magnus knelt at the boy's side, blue sparks leaping from his fingers as he placed a hand over Emil's heart. "Who is he?" the warlock asked with a strange look in his cats' eyes that Tessa couldn't quite decipher.

"Emil," Celia said, fidgeting with the hem of her shirt as she watched him. "Emilian Wayward of the Quebec Institute."

Something clicked inside Tessa's brain as she heard the name 'Wayward'. She knew that name from a simpler time. She put a name to a face and gasped. She could see it now. The blond hair that seemed to soak up the sun, the charcoal black eyes, speckled with gray, even just the shape of his face…

"Emma," Jem murmured from beside Tessa. She hadn't even realized he was standing there. "He must be her… Great great great grandchild or something."

"Jem," Magnus called. "Go to the desk in the corner. Get the salve in the top right hand drawer, in the black box."

Jem jumped on the orders and did as he was told. He retrieved the box and handed it to Magnus who took it gratefully. Celia watched the entire exchange with an anxious look in her fathomless black eyes. Emil's body began to react to the salve, healing his cuts and repairing his insides. He took a raspy breath and exhaled, his mouth moving as if he wanted to speak.

"Blood," Magnus said. "He needs blood."

Celia unfroze and handed him a pouch from a satchel slung between her shoulders. "Here. I have more," she informed as Magnus opened the packet and dripped the blood into Emil's mouth. When half of the bag had been dripped through Emil's teeth, his eyes opened wide. He was back in his own mind and his charcoal eyes were lit with the fire of hunger. His hand darted out and grabbed the blood pouch from Magnus, draining it in a few gulps. Three more blood filled pouches later, Emil sat on the lounge in his bloody clothes, his fangs retracted. Hi eyes sought Celia.

"Celia," the Wayward boy said. "Où est-elle? Où est Élie?"

"Au Institute," Celia replied soothingly. "À la maison. Elle ne vient pas avec nous."

Emil lay back on the couch, a sigh escaping his lips, which Tessa found odd. He was a vampire. He didn't need to breathe. "C'est vrai," he said. "Bon."

There was a hard look on Magnus's face as he turned to Celia. "We need to talk. Now."

Magnus pulled Celia in to the first room he passed by. "What was that?" he demanded in a low hiss.

Celia smiled weakly. "Is that how you greet me after so long? How many years have is been since we last saw one another? Four hundred years?"

"Five," Magnus corrected irritably. "You still haven't answered my question, Celia Warren. What was that that just happened in the drawing room? Who is that boy?"

"I told you," Celia replied in an even tone that signaled to Magnus that she was thinking quickly about how to answer. Even after all these centuries, she still hadn't cracked that habit. "Emil Wayward of the Quebec Institute in Canada."

Magnus was glowering at Celia so fiercely, she flinched, almost unperceptively. "That is not what I mean and you know it," he said. "What is he?"

"A vampire."

"That was no normal vampire!" Magnus shouted. "You think I wouldn't notice? His old Marks? Not just any vampire can work for an Institute, Celia! How he can be in the sunlight and not be reduced to a pile of ash? How he breathes?"

Celia flinched at his tone, as if his words were knives piercing her skin. "Emil… is a special case."

"I want to know everything."

"It might take a while."

"I am prepared for that."

Celia took a deep breath. "I'll make the long story short, then. When Emil was 13, he was kidnapped by a… monster. The monster took Emil to his lair and fed his own blood to the young Shadowhunter he had captured and then killed him, burying him. Emil was reborn as… what he is now."

"What kind of monster took him?" Magnus inquired as his temper cooled as he listened to the tale.

"A werewolf," Celia replied. "But… not a werewolf. Not a normal one, at least. He was a born werewolf that had been fed vampire blood as a type of cruel game. The vampires killed him and left him to hang in suspension between death and life. It was cruel. His pack thought so too when they found him a day later. Not knowing he would be reborn as a vampire, they buried him. He rose the next day as a vampire, but he still had traits of the wolves. He rose the day before a full moon. When he started to change, he was driven mad, warping him.

"Emil was just a boy. Helpless, compared to the 30 year old, 200 pounds of muscle were-vamp. He stood no chance against the thing. He knew it was hopeless, but he tried, nonetheless. Nothing worked.

"The thing brought Emil back to his lair. It was an old, abandoned motel in the boondocks of Quebec. The were-vamp fed his blood to Emil and slit his throat and buried him outside."

"And he was then reborn not long after," Magnus said, mystified by the story. "How come I've never heard of this?"

"The Clave covered it up," the female warlock said bitterly. "They were too late in saving him. Wouldn't want that to get out, would they? They didn't even save him! His best friends did! A 12 and a 13 year old! They found him when no one else could. When not even I could…" Her voice faltered. "Emil was reborn and since he was born again as both vampire and werewolf in equal measures, negating his Shadowhunter blood, he hasn't lost himself like his sire did. So far."

Those words held such an ominous ring to them, Magnus actually felt like the temperature had dropped a few degrees and shuddered.

"It's been six years since then," Celia continued. "I feel responsible for Emil. It was my job to find him and I couldn't do it. I've tried my best to save him from everything since." She inhaled slowly, letting it out in a big rush of air. "He breathes, he can be in direct sunlight, and he can be on hallowed ground. He even ages as a normal person. Yet, his heart does not beat, he cannot eat, he is weak against silver, and he is reliant on blood to survive."

Magnus too k a deep breath. "Celia…"

"Thank you, Magnus," Celia interrupted. "Thank you for saving him."

Magnus smiled. "No problem… sister."

As Magnus led Celia to a separate room down the hall, Tessa and Jem turned to Emil.

"So…" Tessa began, sitting gingerly in a chair across from the blonde boy, hoping he spoke English, too. "My name is Tessa, and this is my husband, Jem Carstairs."

"Emilian Wayward," Emil said huskily after a moment of pause. "Though, please, just call me Emil." He upturned his eyes to meet Tessa's and she was shocked at how much he truly resembled his ancestor. "You're a warlock," the blonde said, crashing in to Tessa's train of thought. His gaze shifted to Jem then, who had a hand on Tessa's shoulder. "And you're a Shadowhunter… Carstairs. Your family is in the Los Angeles Institute."

"Wow," Jem said in slight amusement. "I had no idea."

Emil narrowed his eyes and gnashed his teeth together, causing his jaw to tense up.

"You really do look just like her," Tessa blurted before she could stop herself.

Emil blinked, the anger gone and replaced with a look of confusion. "Like who?"

"Your ancestor," Tessa replied softly. "Emma Wayward."