I am so sorry it took so long to get this posted. I couldn't figure out how to write it, so this is the third incarnation or something. I kept writing and then deleting it all over again. Not fun. :(

I'm still waiting for that appearance description of Jonathon, by the way. . . . .

Chapter Eleven

Alec grumbled to himself, scuffing his feet frustratedly along the sidewalk. They had been wandering around Brooklyn for nearly an hour, and yet there had been no sign that they were in the right place. He had searched for any information on where to find this High Warlock character, but no luck - it just said he was somewhere in Brooklyn. Big help that was. He kicked a pebble into a nearby light post, listening to it ping against the metal.

"Jeez, Alec," Isabelle chimed from behind him, her steps carefully timed to keep pace with Jonathon. "Lighten up, will you?"

"We will find him eventually," added Jonathon, his eyes skidding over the slowly brightening sky. "There has to be some kind of clue, right?"

Alec just grunted. He knew he was acting stupid, but he couldn't help it. Ever since he had left his sister alone with that stranger - which wasn't his smartest move, when he thought about it - they had been so. . . . friendly. It was like they were friends. How did that happen? It still confused Alec when he thought about it. He had only been gone for three minutes, tops, and now there he was, the odd one out. All alone. Sulking.

Isabelle's light laugh rang out behind him, the sound seeming as loud as a fog-horn in the morning silence and Alec gritted his teeth, tucking his chin farther into the neck of his thick wool jacket. This was going to be a long day.

"What did you say his name was, again?" Alec asked, not bothering to look over his shoulder as he spoke.

"I didn't," Jonathon answered bluntly."I can't quite remember."

Alec frowned. "Why don't you ask him, Isabelle?"

"Um. . . . Are you sure?" he heard Isabelle ask behind him as he kept walking. "I mean - you can't even remember an initial?"

"Hmm. . . Let me think about it. . ." Jonathon paused, maybe just to be dramatic. "Oh, yes. I do think I remember something."

"Well what then?" Alec asked, surprising himself when it came out as more of a snarl. "We don't have all day, you know. He could be anywhere."

"Ah, Angel. When you put it that way. . . ." Alec could hear the smirk in his words and grit his teeth, but it didn't work this time. He had had enough of this irritating stranger.

Suddenly he gave an exasperated yell, spinning around on his heel and scowling at Jonathon, stopping him short. "We need to find him. We are running. Out. Of. Time!" Jonathon opened his mouth to speak, but Alec cut him off. "No. We don't have time for your stupid, selfish, idiotic games. Or your flirting. Both of you."

Isabelle blushed. "But-"

"No buts!" Alec spun back around, already down the block by the time he spoke. "Now what the hell was his name?"

Jonathon muttered something under his breath before answering. "Name's Bane."

Alec snorted, managing to roll his eyes through his frustration. "Aren't they all? Really - what's his name?"

"That's it. Or at least . . . part of it. It's all I've heard of him by," Jonathon admitted slightly sheepishly.

Alec let out a loud sigh, giving up. He hardly ever knew why he cared about anything any more, but once in a while there was something that just felt too important to let go. It had been happening more often lately, since Jace had shown up, and every time his temper seemed to get worse. Kicking another pebble across the street, he scanned for any signs of the living while the rage inside him subsided. Nothing - not even slight movement of a curtain as he passed by.

I guess it is barely six in the morning, he thought half-heartedly, not quite believing it himself. "Where is everybody?"

"Probably still asleep. Like I should be," Isabelle answered, adding a yawn just to make her point. "You know I'm not a morning person, especially now that Maryse made us start going to school."

Alec rolled his eyes. "Sure, most are probably asleep, but honestly. No one? Not even that one person who has to go to work early? Or catch a bus?" Alec stopped walking to look at his sister, an eyebrow raised. "You can't honestly tell me that no one should be awake by now. This is Brooklyn, for God's sake!"

She shrugged. "So? Just because no one's a awake doesn't mean that something's terribly wrong."

Alec stared into his sister's black eyes, looking for something to justify her ignorance. "Well, yeah, but-"

"The streets aren't filled with blood yet, are they? Is the sky on fire like Hodge said it was once when he was our age? Has th-"

"Isabelle," Jonathon said lightly, looking at the approaching corner of the block.

"-and the ground broken apart beneath us? The ocean hasn't-"

"Isabelle!" Jonathon shouted, weariness seeping through his words.

Isabelle spun around to face him, her eyes wide as she watched him.

-x-x-x-x-

Jonathon suppressed a shiver when she turned, refusing to let the sentimental side of him take over. Even when she let her mouth relax like that, her soft pink lips parting in the center as if she was catching her breath. Or when her hair fell over her eyes. . . .

Stop it! he reprimanded himself, clearing his throat nervously before he spoke. "I think I found him."

That got their attention, and before he could tell them where to look, they were already sprinting after the tall leather-clad figure loping easily down the street. All Jonathon could do was catch up as they ran, hoping he had found the right warlock as Alec grabbed hold of a tree branch and swung over a slow moving crowd blocking his way, oblivious to their awed stares while he moved quickly above their heads.

"Are they supposed to be able to see us?" Jonathon asked, not a bit out of breath.

Isabelle furrowed her brows in confusion, looking oddly at the group of humans littering the sidewalk. They seemed average at a glance, but no one knew what was really beneath the surface. You couldn't be too careful these days, Isabelle had found. It was as she was eying them that a thought came to her.

"Wasn't everybody asleep two seconds ago? I thought this street was completely empty," Isabelle said aloud, stopping to look around her, her eyebrows raised slightly on her forehead.

Jonathon stopped beside her, staring into the quickly growing crowd of people on the corners around the intersection as more poured out from the streets. There were people walking in the middle of the road, hanging out of windows, watching out the windows of parked cars. All of them were looking at one figure walking calmly down the sidewalk, his dark spiked hair shimmering rainbow in the sunlight like gasoline on water.

"It was empty, Isabelle," Jonathon answered in a whisper. "All we did was blink."

Hmm. . . . . Sorry this took so long. Apparently I'm getting popular as a beta (not to mention school seems to bring on my Writer's Block).