Chapter Six

The ride was silent.

He could feel the eyes of nearly everyone in the car burning into him three in worry, the rest in a mix of confusion and fear, but he felt numb to it all.

The rage had cooled, simmering back into the cage he always kept it in, leaving him hollow in its wake and for just a moment he yearned to be in the training room at the institute. At least there he'd be able to escape into the harsh throes of training until he was too exhausted to do anything else. Instead, he was trapped in this vehicle, staring out the window into the night as he moved closer and closer to a home that held many of the bittersweet memories he'd locked away.

A hand on his arm, gentle but grounding, drew him from his thoughts as they continued to spiral and he turned to find Michael watching him.

"Are you alright, Alex?"

He nodded, only to shrug when the man glared at him for the blatant lie. Sighing, his father-in-law turned to the others.

"Thank you for helping Alexander save Daniel. I fear what would have happened if he'd gone alone."

Jace scowled. "Who are you?" He responded, voice full of ice. "And how do you know Alec?"

Alec pursed his lips at the question, and at the hurt flowing from his parabatai's side of the bond. Alejandro and David were his most guarded secrets, even from his parabatai and he wasn't surprised that Jace was angry and hurt that he'd hidden it. After all, they told each other almost everything, and beyond his sexuality, he'd tried his hardest to be honest with him.

It made him wonder if Jace had even known he'd died all those years ago. If he knew just how close he'd been to staying in the afterlife with his family.

He doubted it.

"My name is Michael Vitalino and this is my son, Daniel. Alexander is my son-in-law." Michael responded, voice cooling in turn, his hand tightening briefly on Alec's arm before he continued. "And you are?"

Maryse cut in, her gaze guarded. "Maryse Lightwood, Alec's mother. These are my other children, Jace and Isabelle. Beside them are their friends Simon and Clarissa."

Michael nodded, glancing at Magnus and Luke, who introduced themselves as well, just as the vehicle came to a stop.

"We can talk inside. My wife is cleaning up what is left of Rico, so she will be a bit late."

Slipping from the vehicle, Alec fell in step beside his mother, who wrapped her hand around his wrist in a grounding fashion, her dark eyes warming if only slightly. He gifted her with a wan twitch of the lips, and leaned closer to her accepting the comfort she offered as they entered his in-laws home.

The memories assaulted him the moment they crossed the threshold.

Memories of meeting David's family, of learning to cook old Vitalino family recipes from Liza and Michael during his rare downtime. Memories of learning to play mundane video games with Daniel. Of laying in David's arms with Alejandro's tiny form held between them as his husband read to them. Of the house party Michael threw when they finally got their own apartment and moved out just after their wedding.

So many memories had been made here and each one was more bittersweet than the last, the pain he'd spent so long suppressing threatening to consume him as he stepped foot in the Vitalino home for the first time since losing his family.

His hands clenched into fists, but he took a seat, his mother following his lead as did the others until all but Michael were seated around the living room. Instead the crime lord moved over to the bookcase in the corner of the room and pulled out a beautifully black leather bound photo album, the gold lettering as familiar to Alec as his own.

David had handmade it, engraved it in gold ink as a wedding gift to Alec, and until the man's death it had been displayed proudly on their living room table. Afterwards, he'd given it to Michael for safe keeping, unable to bring himself to open it. Not when his husband and his son's blood stained a few of the pages.

Returning to the group, the man handed him the album, his dark eyes sad as they noted the way his hands trembled when he took it.

"Take your time, tesoro. I'm going to go help Lizzy with cleaning up."

Nodding, the archer turned his gaze back to the book in his hands, listening as the front door opened and then closed once more.

The questions began almost immediately.

"Alec, what the hell was that?"

"Who are these people?"

"What's going on?"

One after the other, Izzy and Jace talked over each other, both full of questions.

Of hurt and confusion.

Full of concern.

Maryse raised her hand to stop them, her glare chilling, before it turned on Alec and softened into an expression Jace and Izzy only remembered seeing if they were hurt.

"Talk to me, hijo."

Looking up from the album, he sighed heavily.

"I met David when I was sixteen, as I told you earlier. We got married on my seventeenth birthday, shortly before I began training as Head of the Institute. I-" He swallowed thickly, hands tightening their grip around the album in his hands.

"I found out that I was one of Mihael's blessed shortly after we got married. I ran into Luke-" he nodded to the werewolf, "outside of Jade wolf after I collapsed on the way to David's. He was the one who told me about Alejandro, our son." His husband's reaction to the news flashed in his mind's eye. The cruel words, the anger. The bruises.

He said none of it. Instead he skipped past it. After all, they wouldn't understand so they didn't need to know.

"Rico," He spit the name like a curse, "and his son ordered a hit on David. His son stormed our home and opened fire, killing Alejandro and David. Alejandro was only four years old."

Daniel sent him a look he didn't care to decipher, one of the only ones aware of just how his and David's relationship had changed in the months between their wedding and Alejandro's birth. Like Michael, he'd been angered by his brother's behavior and it had led to many arguments between the two. Arguments that had often only worsened Alec's fate.

"Rico said that you killed all of his men." Jace stated stoically. "According to Luke, over 80 people were killed in the original massacre at Rico's club. And when we got there...people were afraid of you."

Alec blinked, then looked at the album in his lap, running a gentle hand over the cover. He barely noticed that the tremor in his hand was gone.

"The night of their deaths...I killed as many of Rico's men as I could get my hands on, including his son. One hundred and four men died that last time Rico crossed me and those that witnessed it began calling me, The Banshee. Eliot, one of the witnesses later told me that I'd been crying, but I don't remember much from that night beyond the screams and the blood."

Maryse moved her hand from his wrist to the hand stroking the cover of the album, her heart leaping into her throat as she saw the picture on the cover. Alec wore an off-white tux, a gold tie around his neck. Beside him stood an older male in black, long crimson-streaked black hair loose to frame an aristocratic face. Aquamarine eyes danced as they gazed at the younger, who wore a smile brighter than any she'd ever seen grace his face.

He looked...happy.

It made her wonder about the scars in their marriage that he'd revealed to Alois the night before. The real pain and understanding he'd graced the woman with. She was tempted to ask, but a glance around reminded her that she wasn't in the best company to do so.

"May I?" She asked, instead and he hummed, his gaze lost in a memory only he could see. Almost hesitantly, he handed the album to her, curling in on himself as she opened it.

The others gathered around, curious and eager to forget what he'd just revealed to them.

One the first page was another picture of Alec and the man, David. David's hair was loose, falling into his face as he laughed at something Alec had said. Beside him, the archer watched with a tiny smile, the look in his eyes one of absolute awe. The next had a splatter of blood across it and her breath caught in her throat, especially when Alec gave a choked sound beside her.

In the picture was an infant wearing a dark tuxedo onesie, a gummy smile gracing his features. A headful of curly dark hair fell in disarray atop his head in a manner that she remembered from Alec's own infancy, his eyes the same color as David's.

"Oh, Alec." She breathed, her heart aching at the silent tears falling down her son's cheeks.

"He was such a happy baby." The archer revealed the love and grief in his voice unmistakable. "That was taken on David's birthday. We went out to dinner and I just- I couldn't not take a picture. Not when Liza kept comparing him to his papa. Told him he was a "mama's" boy for sure. That he looked as handsome in a tux as I did." A brittle smile danced across his lips, gaze trapped in memories far in the past.

Everything in her ached for her son and she closed the album, unwilling to put him through anymore pain that night. She opened her mouth to say as much, but to her surprise, Bane beat her there. The warlock placed a kind hand on Alec's shoulder, his lips curling into a sympathetic smile.

"I can't begin to imagine what you're going through, Alexander," He began and Alec swallowed, looking away from the warmth in those eyes. "But I am sorry for all that you've lost. We will leave you to your evening. Thank your family for helping us bring Rico to justice."

Her son nodded, something dancing in his eyes but she couldn't tell what it was. A similar look lurked in Bane's dark gaze as it skated over him, but before she could decipher what it meant, the downworlders were exchanging words with her children and then they were gone. Once they were gone, Jace moved to his parabatai's side, gaze haunted.

"A loss like that...Alec, I can feel how much it hurt you. How the hell did you survive?"

The darkness from before reared its head, and he looked away. Whatever he was feeling must have translated across their bond because her golden haired son paled.

"Alec...what did you do?"

Clarissa scowled. "He killed a lot of people." She muttered and Izzy sent her a dark glare, but placed a hand on her brother's arm.

"Hermano?"

He gently removed himself from their grasp, taking the album from her and standing. As he placed the album back where it had been previously, she heard the door open, a worried voice calling out.

"Daniel?! Alex?!"

Daniel smiled and stood, watching as a tiny burgundy haired woman entered the room, her blue eyes full of concern as she pulled the former captive into her arms. Pressing a kiss to his cheek, her gaze checked him over for wounds in a way Maryse found vaguely familiar, her heart warm and tinged with a bite of jealousy as that gaze was turned on her eldest son.

"Oh, Alex, thank you! Thank you!"

Alec smiled at her, kissing her cheek chastely. "No problem, maman. Daniel is my brother. We are famiglia."

The woman nodded in agreement, turning to them curiously. Her gaze found Maryse's immediately and the huntress bit back a glare at the anger in those eyes.

"Eliza Vitalino. Please, call me Liza. It's a pleasure to meet Alex's family."

"Maryse Lightwood. A pleasure to meet you." She replied coldly, something in her easing as her phone went off.

Checking the message, she sighed. "We need to return to the institute. Alec," He son glanced at her. "Don't forget we still have that meeting tomorrow."

He nodded, seeing the out for what it was, and squeezed her wrist in gratitude. Herding her other children (and their tag-alongs) out the door, she spared them a glance, wondering just how their lives were going to change now that Alec's secrets were coming to light.

She also found herself wondering about all that had been revealed and why David's family seemed so bittersweet about their marriage. Everything in her told her she knew the answer and yet…

She couldn't bring herself to admit it with herself.

Not yet.