Simon paced restlessly up and down the street a few blocks away from the Hotel Dumort. He knew that he was not welcome in the home of the vampire clan, and so Raphael had given him an address to wait at. Simon hadn't seen Alec in two nights, since he was turned, and his nervous fretting gave away his inner panic. Simon heard a faint rustle behind him, and by the time he turned around Raphael had appeared.
"Where's Alec?" Simon instantly demanded.
"Seeing as you are in my territory daylighter, I advise you speak to me with more respect," Raphael said as he looked at Simon. "Alexander is still at Dumort. He is very young, and I do not wish to take him out into the world until I am sure he can control himself. You have shown me the consequences of letting a fledging out of my sight."
Simon ignored the comment about himself as he spoke again.
"How is he?"
"He was distressed at first, but he appears to have recovered. He has been training non – stop for hours, but I believe it helps him to clear his mind. His doubts seem to be fading at least."
"So no self loathing or anything? I figured there would be, with the whole shadow hunter down worlder thing."
"No, he is no where near as self deprecating as you."
"We are talking about Alec, why do you keep on making everything about me?" Simon snapped at Raphael.
"You should be flattered," Raphael replied flatly. "It would be good for you to learn from Alec, to see how to actually be a vampire, rather than act as the shadow hunter's little pet, who pretends he is still a mundane."
"Why do you even care what I do with my life?"
"It is embarrassing to our species to see you behave in such a way."
Simon tried to focus all of his anger into his heated gaze as he stared at Raphael, but the older vampire gave no sign of care or concern. Eventually Simon gave up and looked away.
"What am I supposed to tell Alec's family? Jace knows that something is up…"
"Come up with some sort of excuse, I do not care what it is, as long as they do not find out he has died."
"When are you going tell the clan? I can't keep lying forever, eventually the Lightwoods will realize Alec is gone."
"Gone? Interesting choice of words," Raphael commented softly. "It should be done within the week. There is only so long I can hide him in the walls of Hotel Dumort before someone finds him. He is also adjusting quickly, so he should be ready soon enough."
"Does Alec…did he say there was anything he wanted me to tell his family, or anything like that?"
Raphael had not asked, nor had Alec mentioned anything.
"Alexander should try and disconnect himself from his past life."
"Okay… Oh, don't call him that, he doesn't like it."
"Alexander? It is his name." Raphael replied blankly.
"Yeah, but he doesn't like people calling him his full name, so call him Alec."
"He has yet to correct me daylighter. Also I was not aware you two were so close."
Raphael felt uncomfortable with the defensive tone of his voice, but he hoped that Simon didn't notice anything unusual.
"Whatever," Simon muttered, "just trying to help."
"I must leave you now. I have matters to attend to, and of course it is not wise to leave Alexander unattended for too long."
Raphael turned and quickly disappeared into the darkness of the night without so much as waiting for a reply from Simon.
"Nice chatting to you too," Simon mumbled as he turned and started on his way to Taki's, where he was once again meeting the gang.
"Jace, is this the only place you and Izzy know?" Simon heard Clary ask as he walked into the restaurant. Jace, Izzy and Clary were all seated at a booth at the far end of the room, and Simon quickly made his way over, once again seating himself next to Izzy.
"So you haven't died, again," Jace said as he saw Simon.
"What?" Simon asked.
"We all figured you must have died, as that's the only reason we could come up with for why you weren't returning Izzy's calls."
Izzy hit her brother as he spoke, but Simon also caught the accusing glare she sent him.
"Sorry about that… There's stuff happening at Hotel Dumort."
"Stuff? Stuff that shadow hunters need to be involved in?" Jace asked with too much enthusiasm.
"No! Of course not, just political stuff, because of…Maureen. Nothing new, the vampires are just arguing about what to do."
"I thought you weren't allowed in there anymore," Clary said.
"I'm not, but I hear things from hanging about."
"That sounds a bit shady," Jace said as he shot Simon a suspicious look.
"Hey, I'm getting exclusive information for you guys."
"Well could you also pick up some blood while your with them, I swear the stuff at home has gone off," Jordan said as he and Maia arrived at the table. Simon cursed himself from not having picked up their presence earlier. He really was bad at being a vampire. He moved over so the two new comers could sit down.
"Yeah sorry, been busy."
"I noticed. When was the last time you even came home? I swear you're always in and out within ten minutes."
Simon noticed the looks he received from Izzy, Clary and even Jace.
"Speaking of absent people, has anyone heard anything from Alec?" Izzy asked.
The rest of the gang shook their heads, aside from Simon, who decided it was the best time to try and come up with an excuse.
"You didn't hear? I presumed you all knew… he and Magnus decided to go away for a few days. Something about Alec not understanding a crowded city until he had seen Hong Kong…"
"What? Why the hell didn't he tell us?" Jace asked as he pulled out his phone to check if he'd missed a message from his brother.
"It sounded like an unplanned thing. You know how Magnus is… In fact Magnus probably took Alec's phone away, like he did a couple of weeks ago."
Simon watched as the group quickly accepted his lie, amazed that they actually believed him.
"He is going to be in so much trouble when he returns," Izzy muttered in a threatening tone that put Simon on edge. Simon couldn't help but reflect on how much trouble was going to be created when they next saw Alec.
"At least he and Magnus are getting along again," Clary said.
Again Simon felt his guilt multiply as he saw how happy everyone was to hear that. If only they knew that Magnus had left Alec alone in an empty subway tunnel with a crazy vampire. He didn't know too many details about what had happened, and all Simon really knew for sure was that Magnus had unintentionally left Alec to face his death having just broken the young man's fragile heart.
