Magnus hissed in annoyance and pain as the hot, putrid air burned his face and the sulfuric smell of failed magic assaulted his nose. It had been nearly two weeks since he had managed to track Jem to Cadair Idris and the days had passed in a blur of Conclave meetings, spells, packing, and letters. Now, Isabelle and Jace were off, jumping through the last of the prescribed hoops to get permission to search Wales for Alec, who has now considered officially missing, and Magnus was anxiously waiting, passing the time with attempted magic.
It bothered him, quite extensively, that he could not track the shadow hunter. He was convinced, the more times he tried, that it was another magical being that was blocking his spells but he had been absolutely truthful with Isabelle and Jace – he had not met another Warlock more powerful than him in centuries and the idea of Alec being surrounded by one was terrifying. He did not know if the being was help or hindrance; or even if Alec was well under the creature's wing. He remembered, all too clearly, the pale face and the thick, dark blue veins that had protruded from it when Alec had succumbed to demonic poisoning. He shuddered to think of what Alec might look like, suffering from this unknown illness and trapped by some upper demon or unknown Warlock.
He could also, a hopeful voice interred from the back of his mind, be with Jem and the Warlock girl Molly, being healed from his affliction. But, if that was the case, Magnus should have been able to track him without incident. Molly was powerful, but not nearly as much as Magnus was, and she definitely did not have the skill needed to destroy his tracking spells from this distance. Which meant that either Jace was correct and it was some disease that was hindering the spells or there was some yet unknown entity out play.
Or known, another voice spoke up and Magnus's magic flared with his irritation, alighting the remains of the ruined spell on fire. The idea of pregnancy being even remotely considered was ridiculous, but it was still an ever present, nagging thought in the back of his mind. Just to appease himself, he had sent inquiries to long time friends, some of which might have been in the suspected area the Warlock from the old myth was said to have lived in. What he had gotten back had not appeased his uneasiness; it had only fueled a fire that ought not to have existed in the first place.
He glanced at the coffee table in the middle of the room, where the newest letter, the one that had caused his initial irritation, lay. Briefly, he considered setting it on fire as well – the ingredients of the failed spell were all but ashes now, except for the black scarf that had once been Alec's. He had been careful not to ruin it, but now he was itching to destroy something else in its stead. With a glance, the letter began to smoke along the edges and almost immediately it burst into a brilliant flame before almost instantaneously dying out, nothing but black ashes remaining of the sordid letter.
He had not needed it anymore anyway; he had memorized all the important information he would have been much better off not knowing. While the idea that the pregnancy was just as absurd as it had been before the pregnancy – his correspondent made certain to add that not only were Warlocks sterile crossbreeds, but that it had been two males involved – Magnus had found out that there had been a case of a warlock being killed for supposedly cursing a young male shadow hunter to "a fate worse than death" as the conscripts apparently stated.
The Warlock had been young, less than a century old, and named Lucian. He had been born in the Byzantine Empire and had stayed there for the entirety of his life until the Shadow Hunters killed him for his apparent actions. His friend did not go into detail about what the warlock had been thought guilty of – the incident had taken place long before the accords were even thought of and even before the reparations system had been placed. But the records did include a young shadow hunter, unnamed, who had contracted some unnamed ailment after committing "inappropriate and heinous, sinful actions that no decent man, mundane or nephilim, would have partaken in, had he been in the right of mind" and that Lucian had been killed because of it.
The fact that it had even happened had been enough to terrify Magnus. The idea that he could have given Alec some form of demon disease – which was the only logical conclusion, he reminded himself sternly – was abhorrent to him and he hoped desperately that if it had happened, he was save in Molly's hands, a capable healer who, just as surely as it was true that it had happened, must have surely healed the first boy.
"Magnus! Hope your decent 'cause I'm coming in!" Jace's voice, surprisingly cheerful, rang out from the front of his apartment, shaking him out of his reverie. Before he could even respond, Jace and Isabelle were inside his living room, smiling matching grins. Both were equipped with complete shadow hunter gear and a light bag, an obvious indicator that everything went well. "We leave immediately." Jace told him, not even bothering with greetings, and still smiling. Magnus couldn't blame him; he was finally one step closer to finding his brother and had every reason to be happy about it.
Magnus grabbed the bag he had packed when he first tracked Jem successfully, and tried to banish away all the negative thoughts. He should have been happy as well – Heaven and Hell both knew he loved the boy beyond his own heart – but he could not shake the feeling that something was very distinctly wrong.
He glanced back at the table, where the breeze from the doorway had blown away the ash, leaving only the blackened scorch mark behind, and shook his head roughly before leaving behind Jace and Isabelle, who had walked out the door the moment he grabbed his bag, It was ridiculous, impossible, not true. It was just not possible.
So I really short, kind of bad chapter and I'm sorry for that. I honestly planned it to be much longer (it had an Alec scene attached) but its quite late here now and I really don't feel good, so I hoped you at least enjoyed this part. Thank you for taking the time to read this, and I will try to update as soon as possible.
