Chapter 10

Alec slipped through the service entrance at the back of the Hotel Dumort like mist and paused for a moment to let his night vision rune adjust to the dark. The air in the basement was still and thick with the smell of mildew. Giant hulking shapes rose out of the shadows, revealing themselves to be piles of abandon furniture covered in gray sheets and a dense layer of dust. Alec waited with his hand on his bow while Jace and Magnus slid in behind him. The large room had the distinctly hollow feeling of having been abandoned for many years, but Alec spoke over his shoulder in a whisper anyway, "Where to Magnus?"

Magnus glided past him, soundless and nearly invisible wearing all black. It was the first time Alec had seen the warlock dressed in something that didn't look like he had just stepped out of a nightclub. Magnus wore tight leather pants and a simple black t-shirt that hugged his lean frame. Even his makeup was toned down to simple dark kohl underneath his eyes. The strap of leather slung across his chest glittered with several wicked looking knives, and a faint aura of blue fire shimmered in the air around him. He was dressed for battle, and Alec was surprised to find that it made him nervous.

They followed Magnus through the maze of discarded junk to a doorless room tucked underneath the stairs. Alec held up his witch light. The soft white glow revealed a small space with a surprisingly neat cot, a rickety desk, and a small upright freezer that hummed quietly in the corner. It smelled of rot. Magnus sat on the cot, pulling himself back against the wall with one knee bent.

"Raphael sometimes uses this room for…company," Magnus said, his voice quiet. "The other's never come down here. We will be safe until we get the signal."

Alec nodded. They were the second wave of a two part battle plan. Izzy, Simon, and Clary were leading the rest of the werewolves and vampires in a frontal attack of the hotel at dusk. Alec, Jace, and Magnus were the nasty surprise at the end of the fight. Hopefully they would be the tipping point for taking Valentine down, although it seemed like hopeful thinking to him, Alec mused.

Jace's assessed the space before he claimed the only chair, balanced his seraph blade on his lap and propped his boots on the desk. Alec leaned against the door jam.

Jace studied Magnus from across the room, something dangerous flickering in his eyes that Alec recognized with a sinking stomach. "I didn't know you knew Raphael," Jace remarked casually.

Magnus looked back mildly. "That is a story for another time, shadow hunter."

"As you say warlock. But he is a vampire. How can we fight this war without knowing who to trust?" Jace responded, tapping his fingers on the handle of his sword.

Alec watched Magnus take a small dagger out of a hidden pocket. He proceeded to clean his fingernails with it idly, peering at Jace through his dark eyelashes. If Alec closed his eyes he could still taste the salt and smoke that had clung to Magnus's skin as they tangled in the sheets He swallowed at the memory. It seemed like a million years ago.

This Magnus looked dangerous sitting on the bed with the thin pupils of his cat eye's blown wide, swallowing all the color until they were almost black. The dagger in his hand glinted in the dark and the sharp burning metallic smell of his magic filling the room.

Alec's stomach churned in confusion. Magnus had been distant all day, seeming to be everywhere that Alec was not as they planned and plotted the retaking of the Dumort. If he didn't know better Alec could have sworn Magnus was avoiding even meeting his eye, and he wondered for a moment if he had done something wrong. He silently cursed himself for acting like a school girl when their lives were in mortal danger.

Now Magnus's eye's narrowed at Jace with barely contained anger. "The down worlders have been trusting the Nephilim for ages now despite being shown again and again that they are willing to cast us aside for their own best intentions." Magnus's voice dripped with contempt, blue fire simmering across his skin. "I can assure you that Raphael is on our side. It is not necessary for you to know how I know. Do not underestimate someone defending their home, shadow hunter. Especially a vampire."

Magnus smiled at Jace but it was cold— stripped of humanity. He continued, "You dare ask me who to trust? Where is your Clave now, Jace Wayland? Where is their honor now that the down world is in danger? They hide in Idris behind the wards put their by warlocks while we are slaughtered," he said bitterly. Alec straightened, shocked by the distain in Magnus's voice. The chair creaked as Jace sat up violently, but Alec stepped forward with his hands out.

"Enough," Alec said, glaring down at Magnus. "The Clave has called a counsel meeting. They need time to determine the best course of action. They will be here in time to fight with us, I am certain." Alec did not wait for a response before he pointed at Jace. "And you. Stop being your insufferable self. Magnus has never given us a reason not to trust him."

Magnus and Jace both opened their mouths to protest, but the sound of Alec's phone vibrating stopped them. Alec's heart stuttered, and he felt the terrible wonderful rush of battle in his veins. When he grinned down at the two of them it was without humor. "It's time," he said.

xxx

Alec came out of the portal shooting, his hands a blur as they moved from quiver to bow. The air was filled with the scream of metal against metal and the copper tang of blood. The first arrow he let loose buried itself in the eye of a forsaken that had Raphael by the throat. The forsaken fell, but Alec didn't take the time to see what happened next.

He rolled to his right, nocking his bow while moving, and let another arrow fly as he crouched in the entrance to the hotel's lobby. The arrow lodged itself in the neck of a dark shadow hunter that was bearing down on Izzy. He dropped the sword and screamed. Izzy's blade disappeared into the man's chest, cutting off his cries. She grin across the room at Alec, the flash of white a crescent moon against the inky black gore covering her face.

Alec didn't have time to grin back. He felt rather then saw his parabatai move behind him, as he rose and spun. Alec caught the handle of the seraph blade Jace tossed to him and sliced down at the forsaken who rushed up the steps at him, slashing through the soft flesh of his belly. The monster staggered and fell at his feet. Alec kicked him and flipped the blade back behind him which Jace caught neatly in the air as he turned from his own dead forsaken. "Thanks," he said over his shoulder as Jace came up beside him.

Jace put his hand on his shoulder as they paused for a moment, taking in the madness in the decaying lobby. Dark shadow hunters cut their way across the floor while vampires and werwolves fought side by side. Alec could see that their people struggling. The forsaken were lumbering, slow, and stupid, but they made up for it in sheer number. The air swirled with the ash of fallen vampires and the sharp tang of blood. Izzy stood in the center of the turmoil, the crack of her golden whip cutting through the groans of the dying.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a flash of red hair and Clary appeared, cutting her way out of pile of forsaken, her blade dripping with black ichor. Jace was gone from his side in an instant.

He scanned the room for the rest of them and caught sight of Simon, standing completely still amongst the chaos. His head was bent over the neck of a dark shadow hunter as if they were dancing to a slow song that no one else could hear. Alec released another arrow, which spun the forsaken who had been just about to reach the vampire. Simon lifted his head, his chin dripping with blood. When he smiled at Alec from across the room, his teeth were stained with red.

And then, over the sound of curses and metal, Alec heard the sound of chanting. The words were beautiful and foreign. Alec's skin pricked. Magnus's voice rose over the roar, echoing through the room until the spell pierced through the din. The whole room hesitated, frozen in the middle of movements.

Alec turned to the warlock behind him. Magnus was on fire. His body seemed to glow from within, sparks of gold danced across his skin. A cobalt light swelled in the palms of his hand as his voice crescendoed. Alec squinted against the brilliance. A cry rose up from the room, the battle forgotten.

Magnus gracefully stepped back with one foot, gathering his hands around the giant spinning sun of blue fire. He looked like a dancer as his wrists twisted and spun. With one last wave, he took a deep breath and pushed the pulsing flame of magic into the room. Alec braced himself at the last moment. He expected the wave of magic to burn, but it passed through him like a frozen wind off an arctic ocean.

The blue flames washed over the room like a giant tide and the forsaken fell in its wake. They crumbled where they stood as if the hand of the Angel had reached down and pulled their lives away.

The silence in the room was almost as deafening as the chaos had been moments before.

The dark shadow hunters moved first, realizing they were now outnumbered by more then half. They scrambled into a haphazard circle, back to back in the middle of the room. Many of them were bleeding and injured but they brandished their swords, loyal to the end. Jace shouted, his seraph blade flashing as he leapt forward.

And like a switch being thrown, the room erupted with the clang of swords and the grunts of battle. Alec lifted his bow, sighting at the remaining dark soldiers, when a movement on the opposite side of the lobby caught his eye. If he hadn't been aiming, he would have missed the figure slipping out one of the doors. Valentine.

"Magnus!" Alec cried out as he took the stairs with one jump. He didn't look around, pushing and slashing his way across the floor, but he could feel Magnus moving behind him.

Half way across, he ran his blade through a dark shadow hunter and found himself shoulder to shoulder with Jace. His brother was fighting off two enemies at the same time, the twin blades in each of his hands like the silver blur of hummingbird wings in the air. Alec paused as if to help, but Jace met his eye's wildly. "Valentine," Jace shouted, slashing almost absently through the arm of one of the soldiers who keened and stumbled. "Get Valentine, Alec!"

Alec ran. He raced through the door where the madman had disappeared, and skidded to a stop at the end of the long hallway. Magnus slid in behind him, his hand like a brand on Alec's back. They just caught a glimpse of Valentine slipping through a door, when a pair of dark shadow hunters stepped out. The glow of their seraph blades cast sharp shadows on their faces, their eye's hard. Magnus leaned forward, and whispered quickly in Alec's ear. "Find a way through, and I will hold them off. Get to Valentine."

Alec turned his head to look at the warlock. Magnus held a dagger in his fist, the blue fire dancing around him, and when he met Alec's gaze his golden cat eye's glowed. Alec felt a pressure in his chest, like there were words that he needed to say. He cast around desperately, and opened his mouth to speak. Something flickered in Magnus's eye's, and he nodded as if he understood something that Alec couldn't even articulate. But the men in the hall had swords and were moving forward quickly. Magnus shoved him urgently toward them. "Go Alec."

Alec sprung into action, racing forward so suddenly that the dark shadow hunters hesitated just enough before bringing up their swords. Alec pivoted, the edge of one sword slicing shallowly across his chest, as his blade met the other's with such force his wrist ached. Pain blossomed across his skin, but he used the momentum of his body to push against where the two blades met. The man faltered, and Alec was able to twisted away. He heard one of them yell out as a flaming blue dagger stuck in his shoulder, but Alec was gone,nocking his arrow and through the doorway before they could react. He spared the barest of moments to worry about Magnus before turning his attention to the man in front of him.

Valentine stood, framed in the light of a window, his chest heaving. His left side was saturated in blood, and he held out both of his hands to show that he was unarmed. Alec lifted his bow and set another arrow. He raised it to his cheek. Valentine opened his mouth as if to speak, a small smile growing on his face.

Alec shot him. The arrow buried itself in Valentine's shoulder even as Alec's hand blurred to his quiver once again and let the second arrow fly. Valentine cried out, the second arrow sunk deep in his leg. He sunk down to one knee.

"I have no interest in anything you have to say," Alec barked. "You are under arrest, by order of the Clave. Surrender, and I will consider not killing you."

Valentine let out a choking laugh. The blood running down his leg seemed black in the dim light. "Remind me not to underestimate you again Alec Lightwood."

Alec kept his bow trained on the man. "You won't have another chance."

Valentine leaned on his bent knee heavily and pushed himself slowly to standing. He lifted an eyebrow at Alec and grinned. "Oh I think I may," he replied softly.

With shocking speed the older shadow hunter threw himself to the side, simultaneously throwing the blade he had hidden in his sleeve. The knife sunk into the flesh of Alec's shooting hand and the arrow that had been nocked went wild, skimming across Valentine's cheek. Blood bloomed in a thin line, dripping down his face. Alec was moving again, hissing as he wretched the blade from his hand, flipping the handle into his palm.

Valentine started to run, but Alec was already on him. He shoved Valentine forward until his back hit the wall, holding the bloody blade up to the man's neck. Valentine grinned, his eye's filled with madness.

And suddenly, Alec felt something plunge into his chest and grip his heart. Valentine stared back at him, his eye's fathomless but startled. Alec felt his bones turn to water, and pain rippled through him, a cold wave that seemed to originate from his core. A strange image of blood red eye's hovered in his shattering mind. His breath came in short shallow gasps as he sunk to his knees, the knife slipped from his limp fingers and clattered to the floor. An ever growing black fog threatened the edges of his vision. From a great distance he heard Valentine laugh, but he couldn't think past the dark oily feeling slipping through his veins. He struggled to raise his head.

Valentine filled his vision. The man held a blazing seraph blade against his throat. He shook his head, spatters of blood flying. "Such a waste of talent. I should have liked to have you drink from the cup, Alexander." Alec felt the edge of the sharp blade nick his throat before Valentine raised it. He thought of Magnus then. His heart filled with something he could not name.

And then the magic was all around them, a storm of blue fire and light. Valentine staggered, roaring as the sword flew from his fingers. Alec fell to his hands, his vision narrowing like he was looking through the wrong end of a telescope. Magnus stepped next to him. His green gold eye's blazing with fury as he drove Valentine back. The dark shadow hunter held up his arms to ward off Magnus's attack but stumbled backwards. The sound of breaking glass broke through the waves of pain pulsing through him, and Alec looked up in time to see Valentine stumble backwards through the window. Shards of glass he didn't feel rained over him as he collapsed on his back.

Magnus's magic was on him then, flooding through him like sinking into a warm bath. The pain drifting away as suddenly as it had come, but he continued to fall. The darkness welcomed him. Just before the blackness swallowed his vision, he heard Magnus curse from miles away and say a name. Alec thought it sounded like Asmodeus.