Disclaimer: All Characters Belong to Cassandra Clare

Chapter 12: Discuss, Reencounter

Catarina stood, regardless of the slight dizziness she felt. There was a crack on her skull which Malcolm had healed a moment ago. On the surface she was fine but the side effect still lingered. However, there was something more important than her silly sickness.

She approached the figure sitting on the bed. Alec was still in a daze from the disbelief; she couldn't provide him solace since she was the only one in the group that knew about his bond with Max. It took her some time to persuade the others to leave her and Alec alone, and it took her more time to move the Shadowhunter to the guest room so that they could have some privacy.

The group thought that it was the Circle who took Max. It was a logical deduction if they only knew what they knew.

"What?" Alec slurred. His eyes were red and their rims were swollen. He hiccupped.

The truth was always harsh. It was better to realize it than be lied to. Catarina said. "It is not the Circle."

Alec looked up at her and his pupils dilated. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I know I should tell the others but I think you should know this first. Those attackers – they are Werewolves."

"Werewolves?"

"Three of them," she said. "They came for Max, I'm sure of it."

Alec shook his head and touched his forehead as if he was having a headache. "There is no way Jon would let Downworlders get close to Max. He just wouldn't."

"So there is another party in this."

The thought troubled him and he bit his bottom lip too hard causing it to bleed again. After a while of his mind wandering, his facial expression changed to horror. Catarina knew that he must have connected some dots.

She knelt in front of him and held both of his hands. "You have a name."

"It's not a name but… I don't want it to be true." Alec gulped.

"Tell me."

"It's…" he hesitated. His eyes searched hers for reassurance. He mumbled when she nodded to encourage him to continue. "You would find out anyway. Many years ago we were experimented on – it could be them who took Max."

"Experimented?" She was dumbfounded; she did not anticipate that coming out of his mouth. "You mean people conducted tests on you?"

Alec extracted his hands form her grasp and put them under his thighs, pursing his lips into a thin line. He was frowning at what he was going to reveal to her. It could be that her shocked expression daunted him. She quickly reassured him. "Okay. But why would they take Max?"

"I don't know," Alec roughly rubbed his forehead. His brain was too chaotic to think. "I don't know."

"It's fine. Do you think we should tell the others?" Catarina said. The new information would definitely change the whole situation, but she respected his choice. There was always ways to make things blur.

"I don't know." He moaned. It was obvious that he was under tremendous stress and Catarina did not wish to add more to his shoulders. "I told them in the meeting. I told them."

Catarina swallowed. She couldn't imagine what emotional distress he was going through. The meeting must have gone terribly wrong; his slightly askew way of walking didn't escape her eyes, and the potion she made didn't seem to work. They were on the back foot.

"How much detail did you give the Council?" She asked.

"Not a lot." Alec replied mechanically. "I think… I talked about Jon and the others mostly. I don't remember how much I said about myself." He shut his eyes. "Why can't I remember?"

"You must have gone through quite a shock. It's how the brain works; it rejects bad memories so that you can feel good."

"What do we do now?"

Alec was completely lost and his mind couldn't think properly. Catarina could tell from his pale face – too pale if she might add – and the fact that he was sweating in this cold weather. The heaters in the house weren't on, but there were droplets of sweat on his forehead and neck.

She thought about how different it would be if Ragnor had just told the truth to the London Shadowhunters. What if he went to them and told them about the destination of the portal? Those Shadowhunters would have fought along his side. What if she had persuaded him until he gave in to move and live with her?

"Honesty is the best policy, Alec." Catarina grasped his hands. She didn't know if she did so to comfort him or herself.

"Everything." Alec dully said.

"Not everything," She tempted. "We just have to tell them about Jonathan and the others. You don't have to say anything; I can do the talking."

She soothed the back of Alec's hands motherly and felt tiny squeezes on her palms. Without withdrawing her hands, she got up to sit next to him.

"Now tell me."

Alec tilted his head to look at her. He was frightened. It was a secret that Alec had been hiding from everyone, like the one that he was in fact Max's mother. She would see what was to be revealed to her friends later. Now, she would listen carefully because it was his story, his life. It was his entire world.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

None except Malcolm dared to speak. The five of them sat in silence. The atmosphere was dead; it was as if they were attending a funeral. Michael was on his stomach on the sofa. Tessa sat on the arm of the chair that Magnus occupied. Malcolm gaped.

Magnus stared at Catarina who stood in the middle, where the coffee table had been.

"It's true. In the meeting Alec told them under the honesty spell: not everything, just some general information, like they were injected with demon and angel blood."

Not once in his lifetime had he heard about this. How could it be so perfectly concealed from the nosy Shadow World?

"Are you serious?" Malcolm stepped forward from the mended windows. The wards were glistening indigo that resembled the color of his eyes.

"I do truly hope you are joking," Tessa said, her body slightly trembling because of the things she had just heard.

Magnus was blank for the same reason. It clicked: everything suddenly made sense. The Circle was killing Downworlders not only for revenge for their parents, but also for the experiments.

"If I understand everything correctly, the experiments have been around for ages ago. They target mostly Nephilims, orphans. Sometimes Mundanes if special conditions are discovered. Alec says they were all injected except for Sebastian Verlac because he is the control group of their batch."

"Those bastards! And Max being kidnapped?" Michael finally aired his opinion. He was angry; his veins were visibly jumping on his face and arms. He was gritting his teeth in fury. If not for the wounds on his back he would have jerked up, grabbed a few weapons and went straight out the door.

"Alec thinks they might have taken Max."

"Not the Circle? Earlier in the bathroom…" Magnus paused. "Alec was saying Jonathan Morgenstern was the one who planned this."

"The Circle doesn't trust Downworlders, surely they wouldn't let Werewolves take the baby. Besides, there's no way they recovered that quickly after a fight with you."

"Then why should we believe him?" Malcolm argued. "You said it yourself; the Circle members do not like Downworlders. Then why is Alec an exception? He could be lying."

"He was under the honesty spell when he said all of this in the meeting, Malcolm," Catarina said. "We all know how powerful those spells are."

"Why was he hiding it from m – us?" Magnus raised the question. From the sympathetic look of Catarina he must have looked crestfallen. "He needs my help but he never wants to say something about it."

Alec doesn't trust me. He mocked himself. Why would he? He was a Downworlder. Fair enough. They had only met days ago. It wasn't like they were cuddle buddies, let alone friends. But it was important to Magnus. It was a game changer. If he was informed about this earlier, he wouldn't have even thought about letting Alec attend the meeting. He basically gave him away to those crazy Downworlders who thought they were scientists! Who knew which one of them was a spy in the hall that night? It could be anyone.

"Magnus," She said.

"What have they done to Alec?" Tessa interrupted. "What blood did they inject him with?"

Catarina sighed. Her finger brushed her lips. "They didn't give him any blood. Instead they sort of did surgery on him but Alec doesn't know what they did."

"Surgery?!" Tessa's eyes were about to pop out of their sockets. "How – how could they?!"

"And he doesn't know what they did?" Malcolm repeated.

"At least nothing is detected yet."

There was too much information to digest. It made Magnus's head spin. "What does this have to do with Max?"

Catarina shuffled her feet. "Max lives with the Circle. He is an orphan that they have taken in. Alec thinks it could be an act of revenge."

"This is ridiculous. They could be doing the same thing to Max!" Michael fumed.

Magnus didn't speak. Things were getting out of hand; when he made the deal with Alec he didn't expect so much drama and trouble. People always say you have to trust your first instinct. Look at where it got him when he didn't listen to it. He should have just healed the Shadowhunter and sent him home that day.

He'd invested too much into this to back out now. He had cared too much.

"How is Alec doing?" Tessa said.

"Not good," Catarina reported, "But he will get himself together. He will pull through for Max."

"Wait a minute," Malcolm held up his palm. "Do we have a plan? Are we going to hunt them down when we're being hunted? I don't like to remind myself about the situation but darling, Raphael has warned us about the Council."

"What are you suggesting?" Michael said, and with difficulty, he moved to lie on his side to face them better.

"I say we need a real plan, not the crap that Magnus has thought of."

"Hey!" Magnus protested.

"Malcolm is right," Catarina sided with the white-haired Warlock.

"Sadly, I agree with you. Just don't say it that loud." Magnus admitted with a sigh.

"We should rest first then see what we can come up with. We all need some time to digest all this new information." Michael proposed.

"Excuse me?" Magnus scowled.

When Catarina was talking to Alec they had introduced themselves and it was clear to Magnus that the brown-eyed man was once a trained Shadowhunter. It was in his eyes: the sharpness and strength to fight against adversity. His body was built to kill; his hands callused from holding weapons. There weren't any runes on his body, not even the Voyance rune. A man stripped of his Marks.

The interest Michael had displayed towards Alec raised his doubts and guard. And he went into defensive mode when the man made this decision.

"Since when are you one of we?" Magnus found it odd that he was so concerned about Alec's welfare.

"Magnus," Catarina curled her fingers into fists.

"It's okay," Michael said and met Magnus's intense glare. "I think I should make things clear. Years ago I was the Parabatai of Robert Lightwood."

Magnus shut his mouth.

Michael continued. "I wasn't able to adopt his kids after, you know, their deaths. I couldn't even be their guardian. Not soon after that I was stripped of my Marks. I heard about them getting into an orphanage and thought it was good for them. I didn't know about the Circle until Catarina told me about them this morning."

"Oh, I'm sorry to –" Magnus felt a pang of guilt that he had mistaken his intention.

"Don't," Michael choked a laugh as best as he could to ease atmosphere. "We are all sinners."

He looked like his father – black hair and blue eyes – but he lacked Robert's confidence and sharp edge personality. Alec was softer and blurry. He was waiting to define himself.

Robert. Michael thought. The day was vivid like it had just happened yesterday; their bodies piled up against the wall, their skin dry and wrinkled, their limps distorted. He didn't know how long they had been there. If they died instantly from the day they disappeared, they were dumped in the alley at least two days ago. However, Michael doubted those Vampires killed them right away.

After what they'd done to those Downworlders…

"Hi," Alec said. He entered the living room with a timid attitude. The young man hadn't yet realized that Michael was once very close to him. The pair of Parabatai used to take the kids to parks, playing with Mundanes and having fun. Old times.

He smiled. They were the only people in the living room. The Warlocks had gone to make plans about wards and spells which Michael knew nothing about. He was just a simple man now, and there was not much use for him except making food and such.

"I was wondering where the glasses were. I'm a bit thirsty."

Alec quickly darted his eyes to the floor as their eyes met for a second. It was so familiar; he's been like this since he was a young boy.

He recalled one time when Maryse had complained to him. Robert had gone to get the kids to study and they were left in the dining room, drinking tea.

"Michael, have you noticed that Alec…" Maryse mumbled and stirred her tea with a silver spoon.

He tilted his head up. "What about him?"

"I don't know," She leaned back and slipped into a slightly lazy position. Her frown could kill a fly. "He seems too shy. I mean, I haven't worried about it. But last night he wouldn't even look me in the eye when I talked to him."

"Maybe you scare him."

"I am his mother!" Maryse shot him a dagger with her piercing blue eyes. "He isn't supposed to be scared of me. Robert maybe, but definitely not me."

"Is he always like that or just a few times? People notice special events and think they occur all the time. Most of the time it is not the real case." Michael said.

His cup was already empty when Robert had left so he lightly tapped his finger on the table to keep his mind busy.

"No," She said firmly. "I am sure it has happened many times before. Not only to me, but to other people as well. When Valentine and Jocelyn come over he won't even say hello!"

His eyes widened when Maryse thundered.

"I understand if they are strangers or Shadowhunters that he has merely met once or twice, but Valentine and Jocelyn? He just hides in his room; Angel knows what he is doing in there. Have I done something wrong?"

"Maryse don't think judge yourself like that," Michael said. "It could be his personality. As you said, Isabelle worked out just fine. He will be alright."

"I hope so. How is he going to work in a team if he is so shy? We live in a cruel world and I don't want to see my son getting bullied."

Michael didn't continue the discussion because Maryse wasn't expecting his response. Robert had come back.

"They are settled." His Parabatai said. "Let's go."

Michael sighed from the thought of the old memory. It amazed him that his brain remembered all those details after all these years.

"Come with me."

Michael groaned as he stood up from the sofa. His wounds were healed by Catarina's hands but unluckily they were now itchy as if ants were crawling all over his back. Shrugging his shoulders to get rid of the painful and uncomfortable feeling, he walked past Alec and signaled him to follow.

They proceeded to the end of the hallway. The kitchen was simple like the rest of the house. Michael grabbed a glass from the cabinet and asked, "Just water? I can make you some coffee."

"Coffee?" Alec sounded surprised under his masked expression.

"Yeah. I always made coffee for Robert. He liked it black, though I couldn't understand why. It tastes nasty."

"You… never mind. Black coffee sounds nice, if it's no trouble for you."

Michael looked at him. He avoided his eyes again.

"In some ways you resemble your father." He commented and tried to act like it was a casual move.

Alec gripped the edge of the table and bit his bottom lip before he spoke. "You know my father?"

To be honest, Michael was a bit hurt that Alec didn't recognize him when they introduced themselves. However, it had been years since the last time they met. Not to mention Alec was only a child. Both of them had changed.

"Kind of." He said, careful with his words.

Robert was not an easy man to talk to because he didn't like talking. He liked to keep things to himself. Very often Michael had no idea what was going on in his Parabatai's mind, especially after he followed Maryse to join Valentine's killing group.

"I thought all his friends are dead."

"We were not friends." Michael said bitterly. They were Parabatai and many other things, but not friends. Not after what he had said to Robert.

He searched for the jar of instant coffee and found it behind a bunch of plates. He took it out and spooned some into the glass.

"But you knew him," Alec was looking at Michael's hands, watching them move.

"Yeah."

"Did you know he had a Parabatai?"

Michael stopped for a second then resumed his coffee making. He got everything back to its place before filling the glass with hot water, turning his back to Alec before answering. "I did."

"What happened to him?"

"Why are you asking?"

"I want to… know about my father." Alec stated. "He was killed by Vampires, you know. They drained him of his blood."

"I heard about the incident." Michael stirred the water so that the powder would dissolve and he set it on the table for Alec to take. A safe distance was maintained to not startle the young man.

"Do you know why he was killed that way? I mean, did he do something… bad to them?"

Michael stared into Alec's uncertain eyes. The young man was not sure what kind of response he was going to get.

"He did bad things."

His lips trembled. "Like?"

"He tortured them. He killed them, brutally. He looked at their bodies like they were nothing. He joined the hate group of Valentine Morgenstern for a woman and did things to please her. He was scum."

Anger made Alec's cheeks flush. He wasn't prepared to hear Michael badmouthing his father.

"How would you know? You two weren't even friends!"

"True. But I was his Parabtai," Michael pressed down his fury when Alec grimaced and made a protesting noise. "I watched him kill those people. I was there the whole time. Well, except the time he got killed. We had an argument the night before and he told me not to follow him around anymore; that he didn't want to see me again."

Alec was speechless by his confession. He swallowed. "I remember you."

"Alec," he said, "Your father and his friends got what they deserved."

"How could you say that, Uncle Wayland? You were his Parabatai, his brother!" Alec accused and raised his voice. He had not tried to control his dissatisfaction towards Michael and he didn't care if the others knew they were arguing.

"When he realized I was in love with a man, we became strangers. He blocked me out and looked at me sideways. He wouldn't even be in the room with me if were the only people in it!"

Michael gritted his teeth as he closed his eyes. The heartbreak he suffered from Robert had been buried deep inside him for years but once he started talking about it he couldn't stop. He loved him, but that didn't mean he would blind himself of his wrongdoing.

"I'm sorry." He apologized. "I shouldn't say that."

"Yeah." Alec said, it sounded hurtful from the chapped lips.

They fell into silence.

Alec looked miserable when he inspected closer. Michael couldn't imagine how his life had been after his parents' deaths. Soon after the terrible event he was disowned by the Clave. But even before that he couldn't adopt the kids. He was a filthy sodomite who fell in love with his Parabatai. In those conservative minds he was the most dangerous man within the society; it was impossible to accept the idea that a cocksucker should have kids, especially when his sexuality was absurd.

In the eye of the Clave, he was also a pedophile whose morality was as low as animals.

He was just a guy that liked guys. And this had been a reason used by the Clave to not allow him to adopt those kids. If he could've he would've given up everything to be able to raise them himself. He would've attended therapy if it was necessary to have those children live with him. He wondered if it would've changed anything. Maybe then there wouldn't be the Circle.

He felt like it was a responsibility for him to take care of Alec.

"Catarina told us about the experiments."

When Alec didn't reply and simply held onto his glass of warm coffee which he hadn't taken a sip from yet, Michael continued in his now softened tone. He was too aggressive. The other side of him was provoked when it came to Robert.

"Is there anything I can do to help? I want to help you."

"Can you train me?"

"What?" Michael raised his brows in surprise.

"I asked if you could train me." Alec firmed.

"It has been a long time since I picked up a weapon."

"It doesn't matter," he shook his head and his knuckles turned white as he grasped the glass harder. He lifted his head to meet Michael's steady eyes. "I want to fight."

A/N:

Finally this chapter is done. A big thank you to BooksAndMusicAreLife, my new beta.

There is an question that I wanted to ask: how do you guys think of the pace of the story? Is it too slow?

Also, if you are looking for some good Malec fanfiction, laurenathalasa is posting recommendations on Youtube:) Check her out whenever you have time.

Thank you for reading. A review is highly appreciated.

Wish you all a good day!