Chapter 21

Alec and Jace joined us as we watched Meliorn be escorted into the Head Office and placed on the sofa. I wanted to look away from the screen but I couldn't. Lydia came to stand in front of Meliorn so we couldn't see her face.

"This is insane. We have to put a stop to this." Izzy cried as we watched the screen.

"Yeah, well, enjoy Portaling back to Idris with Mom and Dad." Every time he spoke, I felt a little bit of my heart break off and peel away. What was wrong with me? I had known him for just under 2 weeks and yet it felt like a lifetime. I shook my head to focus in the situation in hand.

"Meliorn is here because of me." Izzy was trying to persuade the boys to help but they weren't having it.

"Alec's right. There's nothing we can do to stop this interrogation." Jace added.

"You're on Alec's side now?" Izzy snapped her gaze to Jace's eyes.

"We swore to protect each other, of course he's on my side." Alec muttered. I coughed lightly to cover the involuntary scoff.

"I'm not picking sides. Jace Wayland is Switzerland. We have got to find Valentine. Let's let this play out, Izzy. Meliorn might have some important information." I said nothing, shaking my head. I didn't know what to do. I tried to focus on what was happening here but my thoughts kept pulling back to Simon's face. His terrified, dirty face after he had pulled himself from his own grave. Why did these things happen to good people? It was our fault. We had dragged him into this life. He had followed us blindly and he had been punished because of it. I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked up to see Jace looking concerned. I forced out a half smile and turned back to the screens.

"Seelies always play both sides." Lydia spat at Meliorn. I had obviously missed something but I tried to catch up.

"You should talk to your own people about playing sides." Meliorn looked calm – almost smug.

"Excuse me?" Lydia looked shaken.

"You have no idea what I'm talking about, do you? If only Shadowhunters had a better relationship with us Downworlders, you'd know that Valentine's daughter has the Cup." Shit! I looked at Alec. His face was unreadable.

"Still think we should let this play out?" Izzy glared at Jace. He and Alec left to 'supervise' the search for the Cup so I leant up against the table, trying to sort out my mind. With a swoosh of colour and dramatics, Magnus stood in front of me.

"What's wrong?" He asked. I looked up and him and tried to speak but I couldn't get the words out. He took my hands and led me up to the roof. I don't know what it was about the roof but I always felt calm there. I'm not sure if or how Magnus knew that but I was grateful anyway. I sat down, leaning against the wall and he propped himself next to me. "What's wrong?" he repeated. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

"Simon's a vampire. Clary was part of it. Valentine has figured out how to get demons past the wards. Alec was attacked. Meliorn is being interrogated, causing Izzy to blame herself. Alec is…" I tried to force out the words. "Lydia and he are… getting married. They're engaged." Magnus took a deep breath and let out a long sigh.

"One problem at a time. Simon's a vampire. Once he gets in under control, he'll be okay. There are some good ones. He can drink animal blood. He'll be okay. As for Clary, she may not have had a choice. Out of having him there as a vamp, or losing him forever, what would you pick?" I shrugged my shoulders. I don't know. I really didn't. "I have reinforced the wards around the Institute myself – nothing will get in. Alec is fine from what I have seen. I don't know much about what is happening with Meliorn but I'm sure you will figure it out. And as for the engagement… I'm sorry." I shrugged.

"He said it make sense. Guess he's trying to make the Lightwood name strong again." I laughed bitterly. "He's so focused on what everyone else thinks. He never takes a minute for himself, to think about what he wants. Why is so hard?" I looked over at Magnus and rested my head on his shoulder.

"I've been alive for centuries. I've loved and lost and loved again. It never gets easier." I sigh. Great. "But when you're in love and loved in return, there is nothing better, and it's worth all the pain, and the heartbreak and the effort it may take to get there." I smiled sadly.

"I'm not sure we are going to get there. He's going to get married and there will be nothing I can do about it, except watch." I felt the tears trickling down my cheek and watched as the sunk into the fabric of Magnus' jacket.

The door to the roof, crashed open and Izzy came into view.

"Magnus," she stated passionately. "We need you." Izzy took us down to the training room where Jace was waiting. He looked surprised to see me, but didn't react.

"We need a favour." Jace started looking at Magnus. "We need you to get Alec's stele." Magnus and I stared at them in shock. Jace continued. "The Clave have ordered for Meliorn to be taken to the Silent Brothers, which could be a death sentence. We can't trust them with the Cup. We need to take it somewhere safe, away from here. But it's in there," Jace pointed to the rune on the floor. We knew that under that rune was a safe containing the Cup. "which can only be opened using Alec's stele."

"Let me get this straight. You need Alec's stele to open the safe, and you want me to steal it from him?" Magnus replayed.

"We prefer the word borrow." Jace muttered.

"Without his knowledge." Izzy smirked.

"No. No can do. Not happening." I sighed. I hated to admit it but I think that they were right. Maybe the Clave couldn't be trusted. And Meliorn certainly didn't deserve being treated in such a way.

"Magnus, ever since Alec found out our parents were in the Circle, he's been messed up. He can't see the big picture." Jace prompted.

"If the Clave is willing to subject Meliorn to the Silent Brothers, if they're willing to go this far what do you think will happen if they get the Cup? This affects everyone." I agreed with Izzy. This did effect everyone.

"Help us get into that safe. Help us stop this." Jace finished. Magnus looked at me. I met his eyes.

"I think they're right. We have to do this. We don't have a choice."

"You're both going to owe me. I'm talking 14th century. Gold, rubies definitely diamonds. And Alec can never know." He looked over at me again. I nodded.

"That's a given." Jace murmured.

"If we're going to do this there's no turning back." Magnus said finally. I went with Magnus hoping that I could distract Alec if he needed it. Standing by the wall to the Head Office, Magnus clicked his fingers and opened a small hole to look inside the office. Alec was sat on the desk, stripping off his shirt and fingering the bandage on his arm. I sighed and knocked on the door, opening it before he answered. He stared at me, but I kept my eyes on the bandage.

"Let me do that." I walked over and moved his hands away from his arm. He said nothing but let me work. I gently peeled away the bandage causing Alec to hiss. I chuckled. "Don't be a baby."

I was surprised when he sighed and said, "I'm sorry." I chuckled again.

"At least you're not flinching, that would make this a lot harder…" He cut me off.

"I'm not talking about the bandage." My hands started to shake as I cleaned his wound, but I said nothing. "I'm sorry about Lydia and the wedding. I'm sorry I was so cold." I shook my head.

"Don't apologise. You being cold towards me made it easier." I muttered and it was true, it had.

"I had to do it. I needed protect our name." Those words chilled me to the bone. I had never thought…

"Wait, you proposed to her?" Alec looked confused.

"I though you knew." I shook my head and stepped away from the table.

"I thought this was the Clave, or your parents, or her parents. I thought it was arranged. And that the only reason you were going through with it was because it was their wish. I never thought that you would…" I trailed off in a mixture of shock and horror. Alec stood but I backed off even more. "Was this all just a game to you?" He shook his head and approached again. "Stay back. You made me promise… promise never to leave you and then you do this. How could you?"

"Family is everything to me. You have to know that." I furrowed my brows.

"Family. You're not doing this for family. You're doing this to improve your name. A strong partnership means a strong leader. Well you know what. Marrying well doesn't make a strong leader. Being true to yourself, being brave enough to tell everyone what you want, that makes a strong leader." I noticed that the previously vanished stele was now back in his pocket, so I left.

I walked straight past an awaiting Magnus, knowing he had seen everything and not wanting to talk about it, and headed to the weapons room where I knew Izzy and Jace would be waiting.

"You might wanna pick up the pace." Jace muttered to Izzy as I approached.

"You do not wanna be on my bad side right now." She hissed back. I went and stood by the side of them and grabbed some weapons.

"Are you gonna be okay?" Jace replied to Izzy but I got the feeling that was for me as well. I ignored him.

"The whole world is turning upside down. Simon turned into a vampire. Now Meliorn might die because of some…" Jace cut her off.

"It's not anything you did. They just put a bunch of unrelated facts together, and came up with a big lie."

"I wish that made me feel better." She whispered. We turned to leave and were stopped by Hodge, sipping a cup of tea. I tried not to look distrusting and smiled at him.

"Where do you think you're going? It's a very dangerous time, and no one is supposed to leave the premises without express orders." He said, looking surprised and a bit anxious by my smile.

"Hodge, we were just about to…" Izzy started but was cut off.

"Lie to me?" Hodge saw straight through them.

"Clary needs us, Hodge. The Clave is looking for her. She could be in serious danger." I smiled at the half truth that Jace told.

"Well, in that case, I'd make a timely exit before anyone of importance notices you're gone." We nodded and Jace said,

"We won't forget this." We walked out of the Institute, readying ourselves for what we were about to do. Apparently Clary and Simon were hiding out at the Hotel DuMort, so after meeting up with Luke we headed there. Whilst we were waiting for Raphael to bring them to us Izzy grabbed my arm.

"You okay?" She whispered. I shook my head.

"Did you know that Alec proposed to Lydia? That it wasn't some arranged thing?" Izzy took a step back shaking her head.

"He chose to marry her?" I nodded and wrapped my arms around my middle. Izzy was fuming.

"How could he do that to you?" I rolled my eyes.

"He's not thinking about anyone else. He's not even thinking about himself. All he is thinking about it the Lightwood name and how he needs make it revered again." I whisper back as Clary and Simon come running out the building. When I see Simon, I can't breathe. Without thinking I run over to him and fling my arms round him, holding on to him tight. I pull back, checking him over for any signs of external damage.

"Are you okay?" I asked quietly. He shrugs.

"Apart from being a blood sucking monster, sure." Again without thinking I clip him round the side of the ear. He flinched and grabs his ear.

"Don't ever talk about yourself like that! I won't allow it."

"Ow!" he whines. I grin at him and for the first time, he grins back. I hug him again having missed him so much.

"There is so much I have to tell you!" He looked confused but before I could reel of the discoveries of the past few day Izzy cut me off.

"Can we please focus on the matter at hand? Unless no one here cares that the Clave is planning on murdering Meliorn." I nodded and headed back over to the group.

"What?" Clary and Simon echoed.

"They think Meliorn has more information on Valentine and the attack, than he's saying." I cut in.

"They're taking him to the Silent Brothers." Izzy couldn't hide the fact that she wanted to get going.

"We have to stop them!"

"That's the plan, Clary. Rescue and recovery." Jace tried to calm Clary down.

"We get him from the guards, in and out, no one gets hurt." She made it sound so easy.

"You want us to go up against the Silent Brothers, and an elite Shadowhunter guard unit?"

"Without any backup?" Luke added, obviously not convinced.

"Pretty much sums it up, yeah." Jace smirked.

"Is Alec coming?" Clary looked between Jace and I. I shook my head.

"No. Not this time." I said quietly. Clary looked shocked, but said nothing.

"If they're doing this to Seelies, no Downworlder is safe. But we can't go in alone, not if we don't want to be detected." She was right. We were going to need to team up with other Downworlders if we were gonna pull this off. I glanced up at the Hotel DuMort. I guess it was time to flex my political muscles.

"My pack will track the unit, create a distraction." Luke said first.

"I would suggest vampires, but I doubt they'll cooperate." I smirked at Simon's statement.

"As much as I hate to agree with Simon, vamps aren't exactly team players." Jace added.

"Leave that to me." I nodded when Jace looked at me concerned. "We have things in common."

Jace shook his head. "You can't tell them. It's too risky." Simon looked thoroughly confused.

"What the hell are you talking about?" He moaned, hating being left out. I clicked my fingers and brought up the ball of light. Simon stared at it until I made it disappear.

"I told you I had a lot to tell you." Simon just nodded. I turned back to look at the others.

"I can do this." After a moment Jace nodded and we headed inside. Raphael met us in the main meeting area.

"We're offering an alliance with the Seelies." I stated loudly, glancing round at his gang of vamps.

"And the werewolves." Luke said after I turned and glared at him. He was slightly apprehensive.

"Why should we believe you? You killed our people. You violated our home." I rolled my eyes at Raphael's reasoning.

"You kidnapped a mundane, remember?" Jace said from behind me.

"That was me." Simon waved cheerily.

"Look you were just following Camille's orders. She violated the Accords. You are a different kind of leader." Clary added from beside me.

"And we are a new generation of Shadowhunters. We believe everyone can be equal." Raphael scoffed. I knew this would happen.

"Shadowhunters and Downworlders? Equal? That'll never happen." I smiled.

"I wonder, can we talk alone?" I nodded to Raphael. He narrowed his eyes but nodded motioning through to another room on the left. I went in and leant against a tall oak chest.

"That's expensive." He scowled.

"And very comfortable." He rolled his eyes.

"What was so important that it meant us speaking in private?" Raphael demanded. I smiled softly.

"You believe that Shadowhunters could never view themselves as equal to the Downworld. Correct?" He nodded. "Well…" And I snapped my fingers. Raphael stared at the ball of light.

"What are you?" He asked, slightly mesmerised by the light.

"Half-Shadowhunter, Half-Warlock." Raphael laughed.

"It's impossible!"

"Magnus Bane is my father." Raphael raised an eyebrow at that. I hadn't known the two were aquatinted but the way he stared made me thing he knew Magnus in more than name. "He donated sperm to help my parents, Geoff and Amara Danvers, Heads of the New York Institute to have a baby. I'm the result. The Clave always believed it was impossible because we were so different but I'm proof that were not that different after all and I think the Clave might be starting to see that. But they are not there yet, and so for now we need to fight them. Together." Raphael nodded slowly. "You can't tell them." I nodded to the door. "All it would take is one of them to think I am an Abomination, or even to slip up and tell someone loyal to Valentine. If he found out… I am physical cacophony of everything he hates." Raphael nodded again.

"Okay, my people will help, but I ask for one thing." I furrowed my brow.

"What?"

"Simon." I began to shake my head before stilling.

"What he chooses to do, is not up to me." Raphael nodded and we joined the others. I nodded at Jace.

"We will help you, under one condition." Raphael announced. "Our newest member must pledge his loyalty to his new leader and join our clan."

"Simon's not a pawn." Clary snapped.

"No I'm not. But I accept your deal." Simon stood forward and I bowed my head.

"Simon, what are you doing?" Clary gasped.

"Whatever it takes to protect the Downworld. It's my world now." I nodded as Raphael offered his hand. I smiled and took it. We shook and then we got down to the plan.

We reached the City of Bones about an hour later and I have to admit, I kinda felt that I had a squad. We had Team Shadowhunter – Izzy, Clary and Jace, Team Werewolf - Luke and his pack, Team Vamp – Raphael, Simon and their clan and me. I didn't really know where I fit in in this little Avengers style squad of ours, but it didn't bother me too much. We rocked up and were ready to fight. We walked down through the main passage.

"This does not look like the City of Bones." Clary said to me. I shrugged. I just followed Jace and Izzy.

"This is the Downworlders entrance." Jace supplied.

"The City of Bones has a service entrance. Perfect!" I smirked at Clary's sass. That's my sister, ladies and gentlefolk. I felt bad for how I reacted when I found out about Simon and after talking to Magnus, realised I probably would have done the same thing. I made a mental note to talk to her about it later.

"I hope I have better luck here than I did last time." Simon mused and we all stared at him. "I'm just saying." I smirked at him which was returned. We stopped walking and Clary took charge.

"Everyone knows what to do?" There were murmurs of agreement.

"Text when you're in position." Jace stated. As we stared to separate, Raphael couldn't resist one last poke at the werewolves. He whistled – like an owner calling their dog.

"Stay. Good dog."

Luke wasn't having any of it and responded with, "Bite me." I was oddly reminded of Scary Movie and the argument between the professor in the wheelchair and the weird butler and his tiny hand.

"Roll over," Raphael snarked.

"Play dead." I chuckled at Luke's, quite clever double entendre. Play dead – the dog command and because they are dead. Never mind. You had to be there.

"Boom!" Simon yelled, fist-bumping Luke with excitement. As Luke left another werewolf knocked Simon's shoulder causing Raphael and his new clan to respond in anger. The werewolves then responded in kind and I rolled my eyes and the beginnings of a fight.

"Hey, enough! Enough!" Clary screamed getting in the middle of them. Using my magic, I pulled at Raphael's jacket drawing his attention to me.

"Knock it off," I mouthed at him and he stepped back, his clan following.

"All our lives are at stake! It's time we put aside our differences, and work together! Tonight we're all Downworlders." I raised an eyebrow, impressed by Clary's speech.

"Luke?" I asked, tilting my head towards him. He sighed and nodded mutely.

"Raphael?" I narrowed my eyes. He nodded too and pulled his people away. I rolled my eyes. "There is way too much testosterone in the air right now." Simon guffawed, then sighed.

"I guess I should expect people to hate me for who I am now. I'll get used to it." I clipped him round the ear again.

"Never get used to it. You hear me?" Clary snarled. He nodded with a small smile.

Izzy looked at Simon, "Let's do this." He nodded and they left. I sighed.

"We're risking everything, aren't we? Going against the Clave, against the other Shadowhunters." Clary whispered.

"Valentine's trying to destroy the world, Clary. We're trying to protect it." Jace sighed. His eyes widened and he reached into his pocket. "Before I forget, these belong to you." He pulled out the tarot card and the necklace Jocelyn had given her.

"Did Alec give you these?" Clary asked, still confused as to why he wasn't here.

"Let's just say this is where they're safest. Be careful." He whispered as he gave her the necklace.

"Don't worry. I won't activate it now that I know how it works. Thank you." Clary whispered.

"Thank me if we make it out of this alive." Jace said.

"When we make it out." I cut over him.

"Right." He nodded and we headed to our position. We climbed the steps so we were right by the entrance before we noticed figures up ahead. I activated my farsight rune and gasped as I saw Alec escorting Meliorn, surrounded by several guards.

"No," I whispered. "It's Alec." Jace quickly drew the rune on Clary before activating his own.

"Alec? What's he doing here?" Clary questioned.

"Damn it. Lydia must have sent him." Jace cursed.

"Lydia?" I took a breath. I'd forgotten that Clary didn't know about Lydia.

"Alec's future wife. Don't ask." Clary's eyes flicked to me.

"I'm fine. Don't worry." I reassured her, unsuccessfully I might add.

"Just say the word, and we'll call the whole thing off." Clary held Jace's arm, but he shook his head.

"No, there's no turning back now. So whatever happens, follow my lead." I closed my eyes. This was going to be bad.

We waited by the entrance for him to enter. Outside we could her the others doing their jobs. Alec entered, his grip tight on Meliorn's arm. He opened the door to the City of Bones and began to head for it.

"Alec." Clary grabbed his attention causing him to turn away from the entrance. Jace and I moved into position. He turned back and faced us. His eyes flicked from me to Jace and back again.

"You told me you were taking Clary back to the Institute. You lied to me." He spat at Jace.

"I did what needed to be done." Jace answered. I stayed silent. I couldn't trust my voice right now.

"Alec, the Clave has gone too far. You have to see that. Please, just let Meliorn go." Clary begged. Alec shook his head.

"I have my orders."

"You and your damn orders. Who cares about orders?" Clary shouted. I winced. That wasn't going to help.

"See? That's how little you know about being a Shadowhunter. You couldn't possibly understand…" Jace cut him off.

"It's you that doesn't understand, Alec. Not this time." Jace muttered before nodding to me. "I'm really sorry." Jace tackled Alec to the floor causing him to lose his grip on Meliorn's arm.

"Charlie, Clary, Meliorn, go, now." Jace shouted as the two writhed on the floor. Clary took Meliorn and ran but I hung back. Standing behind a stone pillar, I listened to the boys fight.

"You always broke the rules, but never the law, not until she showed up." Alec hissed ay Jace between shots.

"You've had it out for Clary from the start. And now you're getting married, Alec? We both know what this is about." I closed my eyes. Oh God Jace, did you have to make it worse.

"Oh, do we? Okay. Why doesn't the legend, Jace Wayland, tell us what's it about?"

"It's about me! And it's about Charlie. You're so confused by your feelings. It's because you're…" He was cut off then, I'm assuming by the sound of grunting and groaning because Alec hit him.

"Do it." Jace screamed and I couldn't bear not knowing so peaked around the pillar. Alec was on top of Jace blade to his throat. It took everything I had to stay where I was. "Do it! I don't wanna be alive if we're on different sides, Alec." Tears leaked from my eyes as I watched Alec pull himself off and drop to the floor. Jace stood. "Come with me. We'll fight Valentine the right way, together."

"If we do that we'll be considered traitors like Mom and Dad." I placed my head on the pillar and closed my eyes.

"I'm begging you, my parabatai, my brother. Please, Alec, come with me." The desperation in Jace's voice rang out across the warehouse. The silence was deafening. For a beautiful moment, I thought he was going to come with us. That he was finally coming to his senses.

"Look after her." I think that's when my heart broke. At that very moment. I heard Jace hold back a sob and run towards the exit. He caught sight of me and gripped my hand as we left. Two broken people leaving a third behind us.

We made it back to the Hotel DuMort quickly and I pulled myself together long enough to thank Raphael. He nodded.

"If what you say is true, about you, then maybe this is the start of change." Raphael nodded, an action that I returned.

"Guys, we have to go." Jace stated. "Meliorn is a wanted man, we have to get him back to the Seelie court where he's protected." We turned to find that Raphael had disappeared leaving us alone with Simon.

"I wish you could come with us." Clary said sadly.

"I've got a lot of stuff to work on here. Like controlling my murderous tendencies. We'll see each other soon." I nodded.

"I'll call you Si. I have a lot to fill you in on." I smiled at him.

"I'll say." I grinned and headed over to Jace. He was struggling to hold it together and I understood why. He was feeling the betrayal all the more through the parabatai bond. I couldn't imagine. I grasped his hands tightly as he pushed back the waves of emotion I'm sure he was feeling. Clary came to join us and with one last grin at Si, we left.

Outside Meliorn and Izzy were stood very close, talking quietly. I smiled. It was nice to see that at least one of us was happy. After a second they kissed. I found myself smirking at the look of pure awkwardness of Jace and Clary's faces. Clary cleared her throat.

"I hate to break up this reunion, Izzy, but we have to go." Jace said, still not looking at the loved up pair. Izzy nodded and turned back to Meliorn.

"You're in good hands." She rested her head against his. I couldn't help but think back to my room when Alec and I had done the very same thing. "I need to get back to the Institute, see what hell has broken loose. Try and talk some sense into Alec. Take care of him." I smiled at the pair.

"We will." I whispered. "Izzy!" She turned back. "Don't let him get married without us." She nodded gently and ran off.

Meliorn looked to me, "Isabelle told me it was your idea to rally the Downworlders. That you spearheaded my rescue." I smiled.

"Hell hath no fury…" I remarked. He smiled.

"Whatever the reason, you have my thanks." I nodded.

"It wasn't just me. I couldn't have done it without them." I nodded to Jace and Clary.

"We just helped." Clary remarked.

"She's being modest. You're a Shadowhunter now." Jace touched her arm gently.

"I've been surprised by more than one Shadowhunter tonight. You risked everything to unite us." Meliorn was really laying this thanks down thick.

"Right after you tried to sell Clary out." Jace muttered.

Meliorn looked almost ashamed. "Not my finest moment. Which is why I'm offering you a gift for your sacrifice." I looked between Meliorn and Clary. "If you're ready I can help you find your father." Well shit!

I know it's been a while - sorry. I figured since everyone is staying at home that more recent updates would be welcome so expect another soon.

Stay safe,

Zoe xx