WARNING: Reader discretion is advised.
There is an additional warning in this chapter everyone, as it gets a whole lot darker I'm afraid! But be thankful you didn't have to wait too long for this chapter.
A big thank you to all those who have left reviews - all feedback is, as ever, greatly appreciated - especially to those who left reviews telling me to get on and write more because they are enjoying this so much! :-) Makes me smile!

We have a little further to go down the rabbit hole, I am afraid though, before anything really Malec-y happen. Keep Following and Favouriting and Feedbacking folks! I PROMISE it will get better.

Jace and Isabelle took it in turns to sit with Alec all day as he passed in and out of consciousness in excruciating agony. He wouldn't let Clary see Alec like this but he did miss her. She was doing quite a good job at distracting their mother though and keeping her away from Alec.
Poor Alec.

He understood why Izzy was so panicked. Never in her life had she seen her big brother quite so vulnerable and in pain, not counting the time he was almost killed with Greater Demon poison. She had been right; Alec had always looked out for both of them, happy to let the two of them take all the glory whilst defending them and watching their backs and it was weird that they were now taking care of him. Neither of them really knew what they were doing and Jace was starting to think he was an especially rubbish nurse as things turned out.

The sun was coming up now and Alec looked like he had calmed down a bit. Izzy would have to sit with him for a few hours because he had promised to go with Clary for breakfast at Taki's, though he didn't really feel like eating anything and would probably fall asleep in his waffles.

Jace couldn't quite believe how long Alec had been unconscious and he was starting to get a little concerned. However, there weren't many people he could talk to about this to get advice without getting Alec in trouble.

He could go to Magnus of course… But that was a silly idea.

He had passed out yesterday around ten am after he had sauntered in drunk and high at 5 o'clock in the morning. Jace had been so angry with him, especially after they had rescued him from an Ifrit den the night before that. Izzy had been devastated.

He had started to convulse when he was passed out and they had both realised he needed round-the-clock care. Alec had been flailing around, clearly in pain, though completely unresponsive since then. At least he hadn't gone out last night and taken drugs again.

Jace let out a long sigh as Isabelle walked in. Although she had meant to be sleeping and getting much needed rest she clearly hadn't. She had dark circles under her eyes and she looked entirely worn out. But he was thankful she was here now. He could probably get in an hour of sleep before he had to go meet Clary; he wasn't sure he would do any better than Isabelle at getting any rest, but it was worth a try.

"How is he?" she asked nervously. Jace vacated the uncomfortable little chair that had been making his back ache to let her sit down.
"He's actually a little better I think. He's stopped crying out now."
"Still, I think we should keep the soundless rune on his door and walls for the time being, not sure I would be happy to chance Mum hearing anything."
"Agreed, though you may want to re-draw a couple of them."

"Are you going to see Clary?"

"Yeah, meeting her for breakfast at Taki's about nine-ish and then we're off to do some more training. You want me to pick you up any food?"
"Not sure I would be able to keep it down… But some coconut pancakes would be amazing." She flashed him a weak, half-hearted smile.

He assured her he would bring her back something and that he wouldn't be too long and should be returning around midday at the latest. Jace hoped that Izzy would be able to get some sleep in the little chair, which Jace now believed to be the most uncomfortable chair ever made.

It doesn't really qualify as a chair; more a torture deveice.

He managed to doze for a little over an hour, though it wasn't that restful, before he went off to meet Clary. He was hoping for a bit of advice about Alec and whether she thought talking to Magnus again would be worth it. Magnus had always liked Clary, so maybe if she spoke to him rather than himself she would have more success.
Jace had tried reasoning with the Warlock, trying to find out exactly what had happened and why he was being such a git towards Alec. He had tried to convey how miserable Alec was and Jace had even pointed out how miserable Magnus seemed too. But Magnus had just been rude to him and told him to leave. He wasn't Jace's biggest fan.

His heart sang as he saw her sat at a booth, pouring over the menu and as she looked up and saw him and gave him that gorgeous, sunny smile, Jace felt as light as air. Despite the hell he was going through with Alec and all this stupid fire in his body, she made him feel good. It was still tricky trying to touch her without getting so excited he may burn her, but he was getting there.

Her smile disappeared and she frowned slightly at him, wrinkling her nose and brow and looking cute and hot at the same time.
"You look dreadful. What's wrong?"
"Alec." Jace said simply. Clary's face darkened. "So remember we couldn't find him two nights ago and we were all scared about where he was?"

"You text me and told me yesterday that he had come home…"
"Yeah, but he had been with Vampires, doing drugs again. Definitely sleeping around too – he had puncture marks on his neck."
She looked shocked already, even though he hadn't quite finished.
"And me and Izzy have stayed with him constantly since then, because he keeps screaming in agony and having fits. It's the withdrawal from the Warlock drugs he has been taking."
"B-but, he only took it twice!"
"Yin Fen is nasty. You get hooked really easily. Mundanes very rarely survive it. Nephilim can use it and can last years on the stuff, though it slowly poisons you and eats away at your insides. It is so highly addictive though, and the withdrawal from it is really terrible. As Alec is now demonstrating."

"Well I was ok after those fairy drugs…"
"Yeah, but that's a little different. Yin Fen is basically made from demon poison. I would have thought Alec would know better, considering he almost died from demon poisoning not so long ago…"

"We don't have to train today if you don't want to. Let's just go to the park and relax. You look like you could do with a snooze." She gingerly placed her hand over his, a little cautious that she may get burnt.
"Do you think we should talk to Magnus about this?" he asked her, genuinely curious to see what she thought of the idea. He didn't want to force her to go and fight Alec's battles for him.

"I'm not sure. If Magnus doesn't want to be with Alec then we can't go round to his and guilt-trip him into getting back together with him. Although, I do think if Magnus asks you about Alec you should tell him the truth. Just don't think we should force it."

Jace thought that was the most sense he had heard for a good while; although, Alec rambling incoherently and occasionally calling out for Magnus barely counted as cogent discussion.
I mustn't forget Izzy's pancakes. He thought.

Jace was sat on a chair next to his bed; his head was resting on the mattress to Alec's left. He looked around the room; his own head was still a throbbing mess.
Izzy was no longer there and the room was dark now.

His body was screaming and he felt incredibly thirsty. Something silvery glinted by his lower leg, caught in the moonlight. Jace's stele. Alec's spare was stashed away at the bottom of one of his cupboards and Jace had confiscated his actual one after he had tried to etch iratzes all over his arms to try and block out the pain of his and Magnus' breakup. Needless to say, it hadn't worked and had only given him more scars. The pain he had caused when he had scraped his stele across his skin, however, had temporarily distracted him from the ache in his chest that was caused by Magnus' absence.

Now Jace and Izzy were very concerned about him, just because he had finally decided to try and get over Magnus and go have some fun. He was only eighteen and he deserved to have as much fun as any other guy his age.

He picked up the stele and drew a soundless rune carefully on the inside of his arm. All of those iratzes had healed up fairly well now, though it was still painful to draw new runes there where the skin was still tender. But his insides hurt so much and he was so driven by thirst that he had to get away. He didn't want to wake Jace up, who was looking so peaceful right now and who certainly hadn't had enough sleep with looking after Alec.

He slipped ably from the bed, his soundless rune ensuring he made no noise to wake up his parabatai. He ran to his bathroom and held his mouth to the tap, so desperate for water. He gulped the icy cold fluid down hungrily.

The pain did not recede. He had been thirsty, but the fire in his body was still there and he couldn't quell the flames.
Jace and Izzy had been talking about withdrawal from the drugs he had been taking.

That must be it.

He knew what his body craved now and he needed to make the pain stop, but he could think of only one way to do this and this would involve sneaking out again and hurting Jace and Isabelle. A fiery pain shot through him and almost made him gasp aloud. He had to do something.

Alec silently pulled off his soiled shirt and put on a jumper that was hanging off the back of the bathroom door. It wasn't exactly clean, but it would do he supposed. He took his leave of Jace, his room and the Institute and wandered into the city night air.

He had only just got to the end of the street when the Vampire appeared again, looking quite amused. This time, however, he was accompanied by another Vampire, a female with light brown hair, shot through with silver and wide light grey eyes as well as a purple-skinned Ifrit with pale platinum coloured hair and thick, muscular arms.

"Where have you been Alec?" his Vampire acquaintance purred playfully. "Why didn't you come out to play last night?"
Alec tried to process the information. Had he really lost an entire twenty four hours?

"I missed you," The Vampire added with a cold, wry smile.
Alec tried his best to ignore the others he was with and addressed him directly.
"I wasn't very well. But look, I need some more…"
"You want me to give you some more drugs, Alec?" he asked, his tone mocking.
Alec stared blankly at him.
"They aren't free you know."
"I don't have any money on me right now, but I can pay you back…" The Vampire strode over to him, leaving the other two figures behind, lurking in the shadows of the lamplight.
"I don't want money," he told Alec menacingly, standing so close to him that Alec could smell the sweetness of the Warlock Drug on his breath. It was intoxicating.

"Please…" Alec pleaded. The Vampire began to chuckle.

"Don't worry, dear Alexander, I will give you some. But you have to do me a favour."
"Anything." Alec told him, determined.

The Vampire took him gently by the hand and led him into a deserted alleyway that smelled strongly of refuse. His two accomplices stood at the entrance to the small street, as if they were guarding them.

The Vampire pulled Alec's arm roughly so that Alec fell into him and began to kiss him hard and urgent. He walked backwards and hit the wall, pulling Alec towards him so that the Vampire was pinned by his body weight.
It couldn't really be described as a nice kiss, but it was fairly exciting. Though for Alec, the only reason he obliged was because he could taste the drug on the Vampire's lips and it tasted so wonderful and he needed it so much...

The Vampire broke away, twisting his head from Alec's. Then he placed his hands on the top of Alec's shoulders.
"Kneel," he demanded. Alec did as he was told, confused for a moment. When the Vampire undid his fly, Alec could guess what was required.
He looked up at the Vampire questioningly.
"Do this and I will give you what you want," he said simply, before leaning his head back against the wall and pointing his face towards the sky and away from Alec. A sure sign he just wanted Alec to get on with it.

He hesitated a moment. Was he honestly going to degrade himself like this? Another shock of pain coursed through him, answering his question.

He crept back into his room to find Jace still asleep on the chair, his head resting on the side of Alec's bed.

Good. He won't know I left.

Alec carefully removed his jumper and put it back behind the bathroom door and removed the small packet from the pocket of his jeans. He quickly stashed it beneath his pillow.

Then he removed his pants and threw on some pyjama bottoms. The sound of the drawer closing once he had removed them and put them on woke Jace up. His parabatai stared at him through bleary, half-lidded eyes.
"Alec, you ok?" he asked, suddenly waking up when his brain finally caught up with his eyes.
"I'm feeling a little better now," Alec replied timidly. "Still in quite a bit of pain though."
"What are you doing?" he asked as he stood and went over to Alec, concern all over his face.
"Just thought I would get changed so I would be more comfortable. How long have I been out?"
"About thirty six hours now…"
"Wow. Sorry." Alec smiled at him and Jace huffed, folding his arms around his chest.
"Well you should get back to bed, especially if you're still in pain."

Alec didn't reply, but he obliged and got into bed.
"You should go Jace, I think I will be fine now. You look like you seriously need to sleep." Jace nodded, barely able to keep his eyes open.
"Night. And thank you for looking after me," Alec told him as he rolled over and shut his eyes.

Jace was suddenly half on top of him, hugging him ridiculously tight. It took him by surprise – Jace wasn't really the hugging type.

"You have no idea how relieved I am," he told Alec before slipping away and out of Alec's room.

Was Jace really that worried about him? He knew he and Izzy were concerned, because taking drugs and going out partying wasn't the Alec they knew, but it seemed that Jace was genuinely petrified for Alec. It gave him a sort of comfort to know that, especially after Jace had been so harsh with him the past couple of days.

That's it – he feels guilty, that's why he is acting all sweet and lovey. Alec thought darkly.

He removed the packet of shiny silver powder from beneath his pillow and regarded it carefully. He actually was starting to feel a little better now, so maybe he didn't need to take any. But then the memory of what he had just done in order to get this flitted across his mind. And he picked up a small pinch and placed it on his tongue, the flavour immediately reminded him of Magnus and he felt stupidly happy.

Another few pinches and he was feeling sleepy, hoping that he would be able to visit that hillside with Magnus again tonight.