Okay, I don't know why, but at the moment I really like writing at this story :) I hope you enjoy reading it as well and I have to thank you for the reviews again. Could you continue writing them? It's really great! I know that the tension is increasing with every chapter and I'm sorry if there are too many sudden endings, but somehow it feels right to write it like that.

I don't own the characters in this story!

Chapter 13

It didn't take long until Magnus' words were repeated in the entire hall.

Hell has come...

That was the first thing he'd been able to say. But what can you do when you hear a voice of a fallen angel?

In his whole life, Magnus had only heard a few voices that were like the one which had just appeared in the Accords Hall. They belonged to Azazel, whom he'd summoned to find a way to break the bond between Jace and Sebastian, and Asmodeus, his father. At that thought, he couldn't stop himself from shivering again. The last meeting with his father didn't take place too long ago and it wasn't something Magnus liked to be reminded of.

"Magnus?" Alec's hesitant voice took him back to reality and suddenly, he realized that everyone was silent. And they were looking at him. "Are you all right?"

Apparently, that question had already been asked many times because Alec was looking very anxious and even Jace seemed to be worried. Slowly, Magnus stood up again. He didn't want to scare the others by making quick movements. Presumably, they already thought that he was crazy.

"Well, I'm fine. If everything else is okay is something we have to talk about, but nothing happened to me." he said loudly and he could see Alec and their friends relax a little bit. Of course the tension didn't vanish entirely.

Magnus took Alec's hand and squeezed it with a small smile on his lips. "And how are you?" he asked in a low voice, so that only Alec could hear him.

"Worried about you. And confused." The young shadowhunter frowned. "What was that?"

Before Magnus could do or say anything, another voice behind his back addressed him.

"I would like to know that too. And after your reaction I think that you know to whom that voice belonged."

Jia was looking at Alec and Magnus with raised eyebrows and hesitantly, the other shadowhunters began to form a circle around them. Magnus understood that they wanted to know what was going on, but he would have preferred not to be the one who had to explain everything.

Behind Jia's back, he could see Maia and Luke talking to each other quietly. Maia seemed to be scared, which was something Magnus hadn't seen in a while. After all she'd been through, it was difficult to upset her. Right now, it looked like Luke wanted to calm her down and when Maia hugged him tightly, Magnus knew that he'd been successful.

"Yes, I know it." Magnus murmured and closed his eyes for a few seconds. "And you can believe me when I say that you don't want to know it too. Maybe you should pray that I'm wrong." While saying his last words, he looked at Simon and the others significantly. Apparently, they didn't know if he was joking because their expressions were really strange. In every other situation, Magnus would have laughed, but now...

"And who was it?" Alec asked after a few moments of hesitation and looked at him uneasily.

"A fallen angel. The worst thing that can happen to you. Something you can't run away from. One of the most evil creatures in this and every other world. It was a Prince of Hell."

His voice echoed through the hall and Magnus wondered at the cold sound of it.

"You can't be serious." Isabelle whispered and when Alec and Magnus turned around to look at her, they saw that she was very pale right now. Of course she also remembered their last encounter with one of the nine princes of hell. But next to Simon, everyone else in the hall looked really good. He was as white as a sheet and shivered uncontrollably. Magnus wondered how he was able to stand upright and when he turned his head a little bit, he saw that Clary was supporting him. The little girl didn't look very happy too and he shot her an encouraging look, even though he had not very much hope.

"One of the nine?" Alec asked and looked at Magnus wide-eyed.

"Yes, and if I'm right it was Belphegor, one of the demons we don't know that much about. When he is mentioned, you only get to know that he is the one who desired power most because he never got that much of it."

Now the other shadowhunters in the hall started to murmur and Magnus wasn't able to go on. When he looked at Alec again, he saw the fear in his beautiful blue eyes. Without thinking about it, he wrapped his arms around him and they kissed as if their lives would end right now. The kiss didn't last very long, but in this moment it was enough for the two of them. They knew that they loved each other and they would be together until the end and that was everything that mattered.

Someone cleared his throat next to them and Magnus wasn't very happy to see Jace and the others standing in front of them. With a sigh, he pulled away from Alec just to wrap his arms around him from behind his back again, so that he was able to look at the others over Alec's shoulder.

"How do you know that it was Belphegor?" Jace whispered and raised his eyebrows.

"The era of the Nephilim will end and there is nothing you can do against it. Now my time is coming." Magnus quoted darkly and narrowed his eyes. "The short speech was theatrical, wasn't it? Every story about him says that he likes to use big words and tends to repeat himself. And the fact that he only spoke about him and his time shows his urge to get more powerful. Normally, demons talk about themselves in the plural because they want to have the power for all of them."

"Sounds like he's quite selfish." Clary noted and Magnus nodded.

"That's right."

"And why-" Isabelle would never be able to ask her question. In that moment, Jia clapped her hands loudly to make the people in the hall become quiet again.

"Magnus, are you sure that it was Belphegor?" Maryse asked and raised her eyebrows anxiously. Normally, it would have satisfied him that not all shadowhunters were as cold as ice, but right now he only felt a dull feeling in his stomach.

"Yes, I am." he answered and repeated the things he just said to Alec and the others.

"I think he's right." Another voice said and everyone stared at Phillip in shock. Magnus also had nearly forgotten that the faerie was there and so he just raised his eyebrows at him. "The Fair Folk has it's stories about the greater demons too and there is one about Belphegor which confirms all the features that were just mentioned. He only thinks about himself and when he works together with others, he uses them to get advantages. When they are not useful to him anymore, the other demons get killed and he searches for new ones to serve him. He doesn't want to share his power and that's what makes him so dangerous."

"But why does he appear now?" Someone asked loudly and Magnus tried to find the woman in the crowd. When he finally spotted her, he could see that she didn't seem to be much older than Alec.

"Let me be honest to you. I don't know. Maybe the events of the previous months have attracted his attention and he has decided to try to get more power too. Or he has planned everything a long time ago and now it seems to be the right moment? There are so many possibilities, but does it even matter? The important point is that he just appeared here in this hall, isn't it? And now we have to find out what we can do to keep him from destroying everything."

"And what can we do? I mean, can a prince of hell even be defeated?"

"Of course he can!" Jace answered loudly. "He may be a strong demon, but that doesn't change his nature. It just makes it more difficult to fight against and kill him."

Magnus could see Clary looking at her boyfriend reproachfully and he knew that she didn't like the things Jace had said.

"Is he right? Can we really defeat one of the greater demons?" Jia's tone was neutral, but he could see the curiosity in her eyes. The tension in the hall seemed to rise again as the shadowhunters turned to Magnus, eager to hear his answer.

He didn't like to make their hopes vanish.

"No, I'm sorry that I have to say this, but we can't defeat him."

It took some time until it was quiet enough again for anyone to speak and then Alec looked at Magnus in surprise.

"You just said that we can't defeat him." he noticed and Magnus nodded.

"That's right."

"And who can do it?" Isabelle cut in quickly and took a step forward.

"Only an angel can defeat a prince of hell. Even though the demons have fallen, there is still a connection between them and this makes it able for the angels to fight against and (if they're lucky) even kill the princes of hell. Of course no angel would be willing to help us." he added when everything was about to get loud again. "After we've called Raziel to get Glorious they won't be happy to hear from us anymore."

"So you say that there is a possibility to save ourselves, but we can't even try it?"

"I didn't say that we can't try it." Nobody except Alec and their friends should hear his words. At that moment, it seemed as if something in the hall was exploding. All the people started to talk at the same time and chaos broke out.

Jia, Robert, Maryse and some others tried to calm the shadowhunters down again, but it didn't work very well. Magnus could hear the most different opinions and some shadowhunters surprised him by saying that they were ready to fight.

He didn't know how long it took until nearly everyone in the Accords Hall was willing to risk his or her life while fighting against the demons. Now some faces he could see looked more hopeful again and Magnus thought that there had to be a way to win this war against the demons.

Without thinking about it, he took Alec's hand and touched the rune that marked him as a shadowhunter. And while doing that, he made a decision. He wouldn't lose Alec. It had taken him so long to find the love of his life and now Magnus wasn't willing to let him go again. And nothing should happen to his other friends as well. And to the downworlders and the shadowhunters. And everyone else in this world.

But was there really another way to summon an angel? Maybe...

"I don't think that we can make any decisions today." Jia's voice cut off Magnus' thoughts. "We'll meet again tomorrow evening and then we have to get ready to fight." She turned around to look at the representatives of the downworlders, which wasn't easy because they were standing in different parts of the hall. After everything that happened, nobody was still sitting or standing on the same spot as at the beginning of the meeting. "You have to tell the others of your kind what happened and you have to decide quickly whether you want to help us in this war or not."

"I don't think that we have to talk to the others first. Our answers should be clear." Maia said loudly and lifted her head so that she could see the other representatives, who just nodded in agreement.

"Nevertheless you have to inform the others about what happened." Jia's voice was a little more friendly this time and a small smile appeared on Maia's lips.

"That won't be a problem."

"Then I think we'll meet again tomorrow." Jia announced and suddenly, it was loud in the hall again.