I screamed as I entered my room. Izzy rushed from her room. "Clary?!" She then stopped, realized what was going on and started laughing.
"My stuff!" I yelled running over to a stack of boxes. Half a dozen boxes and a couple suitcases were scattered around my room. It seemed someone had located our missing belongings.
I opened one box to find it full of pencils, crayons, watercolors, sketching paper: art supplies. I smiled.
"I love seeing you happy, Clary, but we really have to get going. It's best not to keep the High Warlock of Brooklyn waiting," my parabatai reminded me.
"I know," I said opening another box. "There! I was looking for my clothes. I'm sorry, Izzy, I love you but I want to put my own clothes on."
Izzy smiled, happy to see I was in such a good mood. "Well just try to hurry up." She left my room, closing the door behind her so I could get dressed.
I pulled out my favorite black leather jacket from the box. It smelled like home. I smiled and quickly got dressed and then knelt down next to one of the suitcases. Unzipping it I smiled again at what was inside: weapons of all kinds. Tucked inside a dark scabbard was my beloved blade: Heosphoros.
I attached the scabbard to my belt. It didn't matter to me that we were only going to talk to a warlock; I wasn't going to let this blade out of my sight again. It was the single most important item my father had ever give to me.
I opened the door and considered asking Sebastian to come with us but I stopped myself. No, he was busy training the Ascended. I didn't want to bother him.
"You ready?" Izzy questioned stepping out of her room. Her training gear was gone; she now wore a black dress and high-heeled boots, not like she needed to be any taller then she already was, but she loved them.
I nodded to her and we made our way down to the entryway. Jace and Alec were already waiting. "Took you long enough," Jace remarked. I didn't expect anything less from him.
"Not now, Jace," Alec sighed. I guess it was even possible for his parabatai to get tired of Herondale. "We need to get going; Magnus sounded impatient on the phone."
We arrived Magnus's loft and Alec knocked on the door. Half an instant later the door swung open revealing Magnus standing there.
"Ah, Alexander." The warlock smiled. "And you three," he said with a wave of his hand before ushering us inside.
"How did you know my name?" Alec questioned. I had been wondering the same thing. We hadn't exactly introduced ourselves the last time we were here.
"I am the High Warlock of Brooklyn, I have my ways," Magnus answered. "Alexander, I require your assistance." He grinned at Alec before turning to the rest of us, wearing a less interested face. "Simon, the vampire from last night, wants to speak with the rest of you. He's in the alley." The vampire wanted to see us? Again? We had just seen him last night.
"If you think I'm leaving Alec here alone with you, Warlock, you've got another thing coming," Jace argued. For once, I agreed with the blond. If it were Izzy in this position I wouldn't be so keen to leave her either.
Magnus sighed. "What is with you Herondales and being so overprotective of your parabatai?"
"You've known-" Jace never got to finish his sentence and Magnus cut him off.
"I swear on the angel that Alexander here will not be harmed. Feel free to hunt me down and kill me if I break my word," the warlock stated.
Jace still looked unsure. "Jace, it's fine," Alec told him. "Really, just go. Don't keep the vampire waiting."
"I won't just kill you warlock, I'll cut-" Izzy grabbed Jace's arm and steered him towards the door.
"Okay, and we're going," she said as we walked out of the warlock's loft.
"What alley did Magnus say the vampire was in?" I questioned glancing around. There were two alleys, one on either side of Magnus's house and also the ones across the street.
"He didn't," Izzy replied.
"Looking for me?" A voice said from the shadows of the alley to our right. In the dark I could just make out a figure standing there. As we made our way over I noticed that it was indeed the same vampire from the night before, Simon.
"Izzy, Clary." The vampire was smiling, in a way that ensured we would see his fangs, as we approached. The smile disappeared when he realized Jace was with us. "Oh you brought another one."
"What I want to know, is why the two of you are on a first name basis with a vampire?" Jace asked, sounding very annoyed.
"Because some people have manners, Jace," Izzy said to him before walking over to the vampire. She gingerly set her hand on his arm. "Ignore him. He's like a puppy dog, following us around. What was it you wanted, Simon?"
I could barely contain my laughter; Jace looked like he was going to explode. Then, the vampire slapped my parabatai's hand away and I ceased my laughter completely. The atmosphere changed instantly.
"I don't want any of your games," Simon snapped. "One of you shadowhunters killed one of ours last night, while we were at the party."
"You're mistaken," Izzy told him. "We were all accounted for last night. The Ascended were all in attendance during nightly roll call."
"How do you even know it was a shadowhunter?" Jace asked as well. "Just because a vampire was killed doesn't mean we did it."
"It is painfully obvious it was one of you. You'll understand when you see the body," Simon explained. "This way, shadowhunters."
I glanced at Izzy as we began to follow the vampire down the alley. I didn't understand how it could have been one of us. We were all accounted for last night. The same uncertainty was present in my parabatai's eyes.
Suddenly, Simon stopped. He opened a manhole leading down to the sewer below. "Ladies first," he insisted.
"Vampire first," Jace cut in. "For all we know you could be leading us into an ambush." Simon sighed, realizing he was not going to win this one and hopped down first.
Izzy went after him and I followed after her, Jace brought up the rear. I was starting to think following a vampire into a pitch black sewer probably wasn't the best idea but we really didn't have any other options.
Jace produced a witch light and I realised I had forgotten mine in the weapons suitcase.
Simon glanced back. "You shadowhunters and your angelic items," he sighed.
"Sorry we can't all see in the dark," Jace retorted. For once I agreed with him. Sure, we could just draw a Nyx rune for night vision but it was probably more trouble then it was worth.
The longer we walked the more I thought I should have just drawn a Nyx rune on myself. But then Simon led us to a dead end. He climbed the ladder and opened another manhole. Following him out, onto the street, I realised we were in another alley.
"In here," Simon said leading us into an abandoned building. It looked like it used to be a storehouse for something in the past.
In the center of the room lay a body and a head. The head was severed from the body, obviously how the vampire was killed.
The vampire was shirtless and when I saw what was on his chest I stifled a gasp. It was the Enkeli rune, angelic power. And the body had multiple burns from what appeared to be a seraph blade. This vampire hadn't just been killed, he had been tortured.
Simon picked up the decapitated head by the hair and tossed it to Jace. "Open the mouth." I glanced over as Jace did as he was told. The vampire's fangs had been ripped out. Jace threw the head on the floor. Not gonna lie I would have done the same.
"Spoils of war, no doubt," Simon said. "Obviously this was done by one of you. The burns from the blade, the mark. Someone is obviously trying to make a statement of their power."
"It wasn't one of us," Jace insisted. "There's no way. The Ascended were at the institute all night."
"As I recall there were five of you at the party last night," Simon stated. "I only talked to you two." He nodded towards Izzy and I. "You shadowhunters are swift. You could have killed him and made it back to the party before anyone had noticed your absence."
Simon was walking around. He stopped in front of Jace. "Perhaps it was you, Angel boy. Or maybe that black haired one Magnus has taken a liking to."
Jace whipped out a dagger and held it to the vampire's throat. "If you ever accuse me or my parabatai again I won't hesitate to kill you."
Simon laughed as he moved away from Jace. "Then, possibly it was the other boy. He looked like he had the devil in his eye."
"Sebastian wouldn't do it," I insisted.
"I highly suggest then, that you shadowhunters figure out who it is," Simon demanded. "Otherwise there will be war. My Masters have grown tired of this." With that, he was gone.
Jace pulled something out of his pocket. A black, rectangle object.
"What's that?" I asked Izzy.
"It's a cell phone, Clary," she told me. "He's taking a picture of the body."
"A phone can do all that?" I had never had one of these cell phones, or whatever. Izzy nodded.
Jace put his phone away after taking the picture. "Let's go get Alec and get back to the institute. Maryse is going to love hearing about this."
"Maybe that's not such a good idea," I stated. "Whoever killed this vampire is obviously hiding it. If they find out we know they might be more cautious, making it harder for us to catch them."
"Clary? You can't be implying that my mother was the one who did this, can you?" Izzy questioned.
"No, of course not. I trust Maryse. But what if somebody overhears? I think it's safer to keep it to ourselves. We can solve this ourselves. It had to be someone at the Institute. Find the fangs, find the killer."
"I don't say this often," Jace started. "But I agree with Clary."
"You've never said that," I told him.
"My point exactly."
"Okay," Izzy agreed. "We don't tell anybody other than Alec and Sebastian. We're all in this together."
"Agreed," Jace and I said at the same time. I glanced at him. I thought he was going to argue about Sebastian knowing. He didn't seem to like him very much. "Let's go get Alec. I may have a warlock I need to kill."
A/N: Once again thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed Chapter 3 and the Malec! If you were expecting more, I'm sorry! I meant to write more and then the chapter got too long so I stopped. But there will be more next chapter! Remember to Review! I love hearing your feedback, good or bad! Because I can always learn! Also, who do you think is killing the vamps? Till next time~