Victoria was admittedly more excited about getting to hunt the werewolf alone with Zachary than she cared to admit. Zachary was beautiful and watching him run after Sylvester, watching the way his body looked in his gear, it was like watching an Angel.
Zachary had stopped to place a Close rune on the doors, which didn't quite shut the right way, but it seemed to hold. Then they turned left and headed into the warehouse. They stood back to back, Victoria with her bow nocked, and Zachary with his seraph blade. Silently they walked through the rows of boxes, rising higher than Victoria would've thought. At least twelve feet tall. She wanted to say something to Zachary, but the silence that was already there felt too hard to cut through so she kept quiet, focusing her vision, with the assistance of a night-vision rune, on finding the werewolf. The warehouse was dark, cold, and very ominous. It was almost unsettling. She could feel the shallow rise and fall of Zachary's chest on her back. He felt tensed up, but Victoria couldn't be sure.
They moved into the next row, nothing. The next, still nothing. Victoria was beginning to believe it wasn't on their side of the warehouse when the werewolf launched itself through the bottom-most shelf and took off through the boxes and towards the center of the warehouse.
"Theo!" Zachary shouted, "It's headed your way!" He took off after the wolf, following it from the outside of the rows. Victoria followed, but she couldn't match the desperation in Zachary's run. He was clearly trying to rescue Theo. But why, she wondered, Theo hates you.
Zachary, Theo, and Erelah were standing in the center where a network of inactive conveyer belts seemed to converge. Victoria also spotted a forklift. The wolf was missing again. Zachary climbed over the conveyer belts to reach Theo; Victoria followed. Now the four of them were together.
"Where did it go?" Erelah said, looking around.
"It headed this way," Zachary said. He stopped close to Theo, who noticed and took a couple steps away from him.
Theo tightened his grip on his shortsword and turned in a slow circle. The wolf appeared out of nowhere and took Erelah down with him. Theo shouted, and sliced his sword into the wolf's ribs, but he didn't seem to notice. Erelah slashed with one of her seraph blades, using the other to hold back the wolf's snapping jaw. Zachary pushed Theo out of the way, though it almost looked like he was deliberately trying to put Theo behind him, and stabbed his seraph blade into Sylvester's chest. The wolf let out one loud howl and fell sideways, collapsing to the ground. Almost immediately, Theo was at her side, stele out, drawing iratze after iratze on her skin.
"Stop, stop. Stop it, Theo!" Erelah demanded, "I'm fine!"
"Did it bite you?" Theo asked, panicked. He started examining her arms and the base of her neck until she shoved him off her and dusted herself off.
"I'm fine!" She repeated, "No bites."
Theo sighed and pulled her into a bear hug, "Oh thank the Angel."
"Now can you get off me?" She asked, "You're gonna crush my windpipe." She finally got Theo off of her and came to stand next to Victoria.
"You good?" She asked quickly.
Erelah nodded, "I'm fine."
"Uh… guys?" Zachary said, backing up and into Theo, "It seems our werewolf might have brought a friend." Victoria turned and saw what Zachary was looking at. They were cloaked, dressing in a huge black flowing cloak, their face hidden by a hood and the darkness of the warehouse.
"State your name," Theo said confidently, brandishing his sword, "By the authority of the Clave, I order you to state your name!"
"Miserable mortals who, like leaves, at one moment flame with life, eating the produce of the land, and at another moment weakly perish." The cloaked figure spoke in a voice that reminded Victoria of what she thought Lucifer might sound like. Dark, demonic. Pure chaos.
"That's a quote," She heard Zachary say to Theo, "It's from the Iliad."
"That doesn't tell us who they are," Theo hissed back.
The cloaked figure raised both their arms, the sleeves of their cloak draping to the ground like tendrils of smoke.
"Stand down!" Theo commanded. Victoria was terrified, how was Theo so brave?
Crimson red sparks crackled to life from within the sleeves of the cloaked figure's sleeves. A warlock, Victoria thought, not Fane, his magic is green.
"I said—" Theo began.
And then everything exploded.
The faeries invaded Alicante as Victoria and Erelah rushed through the crowd of Nephilim children, trying to reach the Hall of Accords. She heard children wailing, and the sound of blades puncturing flesh. Some of the screams that filled the air were from the Faeries themselves. Her mother held tight onto her hand, and Erelah's with the other. Victoria couldn't see her mother's face, just the silky smooth mass of dark hair lit up by the witchlight and the crimson red light of Demon Towers.
"Come on, we're almost there." Victoria's mother said calmly, "Just a little further."
"Where's Theo?!" Erelah demanded, her voice was cracked. Victoria knew she'd been crying.
"I don't know sweetheart," Victoria's mother replied grimly, "Hopefully Thomas has gotten him to the Hall already."
"Theo will be fine Rae," Victoria said, "Don't worry."
Then Erelah shrieked, and Victoria's mother twisted—a wave of hair turning with her—to push Rae behind her. With a shout, a seraph blade lit up and Victoria's mom screamed, "Victoria! Run! Get to the Hall!"
Victoria watched in terror as her mom met the Endarkened soldier's blade with her own. "Mom!"
"Victoria! Now!" Her mother shouted again. Erelah grabbed her hand and pulled her along.
"Come on! We have to run!" She shouted at Victoria, "There'll be more!" But Victoria didn't want to run. She wanted to stay, to make sure her mother came back, but Erelah dragged her away. They ran through the streets, both of their faces wet with tears. They turned a corner too fast and Victoria fell to her knees.
"Get up!" Erelah said, "we've got to go!"
But Victoria didn't want to get up. She wanted to lie there until her mother or her father came and got her. She wanted the Endarkened and the Faeries to go away. She wanted it all to go away. She wanted to be sitting at home, with her parents drinking hot cocoa by the fire.
Erelah shouted at her again.
"Victoria!" Erelah shouted, "Get up!"
Victoria's eyes fluttered open. Her head pounded, but she was aware enough to see that they were still in the Distribution Center. The cement underneath her was cold, and her body ached.
"Get up! Get up! Get up!" Erelah cried. Slowly, Victoria sat up and looked around. She hadn't been wrong, the warehouse clearly exploded. Except, it had exploded in a very odd way. The once-straight racks of metal were now warped, twisted into an arena shape, with Erelah and her at the center. "We have to get out of here!" Erelah continued.
She helped Victoria to her feet. Victoria's bow was missing, she looked around but didn't spot it, "Where are Theo and Zachary?" Victoria asked, she didn't see them either.
"Theo's alive," Erelah replied confidently. Parabatai bond. They could sense when one another died, supposedly losing your parabatai felt like hollowing yourself out. She shuddered at the thought.
"What the hell happened?" Victoria looked around again at the racks that had twisted themselves to create huge walls, boxing them in.
"That warlock did something," Erelah said, gazing around, "Let's try to climb the walls."
Victoria nodded, "Right,"
Before she could move, something hit her in the head and fell off onto the ground. It was white and squirming. "Is that…" Erelah said.
"A worm," Victoria confirmed. Her skin crawled, and she moved from where the worm had fallen, Erelah following her. Then, like someone had spilled a container over, they started pouring from the ceiling, hundreds of them, falling into a pile. The pile they created started to move now, building up the form of a seven-foot humanoid creature.
Erelah squeaked. Together, Erelah and Victoria backed up against the wall of the arena, "That's a Vermithrall." Erelah breathed, "If we want to kill it, we'll have to kill every single one of those worms.
Victoria pulled two seraph blades out of her belt and quickly named them, "Michael! Nakir!" They blazed up with bright white light, "Better get slicing then,"
Erelah shuddered and drew her shortsword.
"Hyacinthus," Zachary said gently, the tip of his iklwa pointed in the cement, "get up." Theo sat up, dazed, and confused. Zachary pressed Theo's sword into his hand, which he took eagerly. Zachary helped him to his feet and Theo looked around. They were still in the factory, Erelah and Victoria were missing—Erelah was still alive. Metal racks had contorted themselves all around him and Zachary in a small oval shape.
"Where are we?" Theo asked, turning in a slow circle.
"No idea," Zachary said, "I hope the others are okay."
"Erelah's fine," Theo said, returning his sword to its sheath "hopefully Victoria is too. But we have to get out of here."
"We could climb the racks," Zachary suggested, "I'll give you a boost."
Theo nodded, "Let's go." Together they raced to the edge of the oval and Theo grabbed the metal. His skin instantly started smoking and it seared the skin on his palm. He reeled back, holding his hand, and cursed.
Zachary had his elbow, and was already pulling out his stele, "Let me see,"
"I don't need anything from you," Theo snapped through his teeth.
"Dammit Theodore, you need an iratze." Zachary snapped back, gripping his arm, and pushing the tip of his stele to Theo's skin. The feeling of the iratze felt nice, and some of Theo's aching went away too. "There," Zachary said calmly once he finished, "Are you okay?" Theo ignored him and flexed his shoulders before looking back.
"What now?"
"I don't know." Zachary said quietly, "there's no way out."
"So what? We starve here?"
"Well, hopefully, Thomas will notice we're missing and send out a search party—"
"Of who?" Theo retorted, "Because our Institute is just overflowing with extra Shadowhunters to come save us!"
Zachary's face went from calm to furious in half a second, "What is your problem!?" He shouted, "I moved across the world to be with you! From Alicante, in case you forgot! You know, the most beautiful city in the world! And you're mad at me?!"
Theo was angry now too, "You and I both know that you didn't show up to be with me!" He shouted back, "You're doing what you always do Zachary! You're being selfish! Trying to rope me back in and make me look like a fool!"
Zachary reeled back, "What are you even talking about!?"
Theo didn't have the chance to respond. Several Kuri demons, large, black, spider-like creatures with eight arms, each one tipped with pincers, with fangs dripping liquid—poison—that extended from their eye-sockets.
"Don't get bit," Zachary said.
"No shit," Theo snapped. Zachary shook his head and twirled his iklwa. One of the Kuri launched themselves towards Theo, he raised his sword and sliced four of the demon's legs off. The demon screeched and fell on its side. Zachary quickly stabbed it with his iklwa. It exploded in a flurry of dust. Four more Kuri launched themselves at Zachary and Theo. They dodged two of them and struck the other two with their weapons. They fell back to back, and to Theo it almost felt like he was fighting beside his parabatai.
"Are you getting an odd sense of Déjà vu too?"
Theo's response was automatic, "If only you were peeing your pants and holding a longsword,"
Zachary chuckled and stabbed another Kuri demon, "I never actually peed myself," He said, "I only implied I was going to."
Theo found himself laughing, and then remembered what Zachary did and stopped, "Let's just kill these things and find a way out."
Zachary nodded, "Right." They stayed back to back, slicing and stabbing at the Kuri demons that were flinging themselves towards the Shadowhunters.
"You do know they're just replacing themselves right?" Theo asked.
"I figured something like that," Zachary replied, "But I don't see where from. It looks like they're all coming from the center where those others are."
Theo sliced another demon in half, sending a cloud of dust snowing over them, "Maybe that's where they're coming from then." It wasn't a sarcastic comment, just an observation.
"Like it's duplicating itself?"
"Maybe. I bet if we kill the ones in the center we'll get rid of them,"
Zachary sighed, "Let's go then." Together, still hacking and slashing the demons as they flew at them, they moved closer to the center. As they got closer Theo could see he was right. The demon, albeit very quickly, was duplicating itself. The Kuri demons were stepping out of the original's form. Some of them were surrounding the demon in the center, not because they were waiting for their turn like Theo thought, but to protect the duplicator.
"Zachary, we've got to get them out of the way," Theo said.
"A little difficult with all these other ones coming at us from the back,"
"Can you throw me?" Theo asked.
"What?"
Theo sighed, "I need something to launch myself off of," He said, "I can get to the one that's duplicating them if I have enough height."
Zachary didn't ask more questions, "You'd better hurry up. These demons look pissed." Zachary turned and held his hands out as a foothold for Theo. Theo climbed up onto Zachary's shoulders, balancing so he wouldn't fall.
"Wish me luck," Theo said half-heartedly. Now he was realizing that this was a terrifying idea.
"Die on me Hyacinthus and I swear I will kill you,"
Theo shook his head, "Don't say that," he said, drawing his sword. He raised it above his head and tried to aim.
"Hurry, they're closing in!"
Theo didn't think anymore, he pushed off of Zachary's shoulder, leaping over the surrounding Kuri demons and coming right down on the one in the middle. He brought his sword down through the head of the duplicating demon and fell to the ground as it exploded in a cloud of dust. The other Kuri demons turned on him, their fangs dripping more poison dangerously close to Theo's skin. Zachary turned, "Theo!" he shouted and started stabbing furiously at the Kuri demon between him and Theo. Theo twirled his sword, and his body with it, slicing one of the Kuri demons in half. Their stunt left the oval area full of Kuri demons, they were coming from all sides now.
This is impossible,Theo thought hopelessly, we're going to die here.
Zachary had broken through the circle and made his way to Theo. Theo kept swinging his sword at the oncoming demons, demon dust was covering him and Zachary like a downpour of rain.
Then time seemed to slow down. Theo turned briefly and watched as at least seven Kuri demons took down Zachary, forcing him to the ground, the iklwa rolling across the ground. Theo flashed back to his dream about the demons overpowering Zachary, and he shouted. He started slashing his sword as fast as he could, tearing through the Kuri demons.
Don't die. Don't die. Don't die. Don't die. Don't die. Please, Raziel if you can hear me, don't let Zachary die.
He pulled one of the seraph blades from his belt and shouted an angel's name, he wasn't even sure which one, but the seraph blade blazed up and he started swinging both swords wildly. He swung one directly into the back of one of the demons and stabbed the other through its head. It exploded and Theo could see more of Zachary, who seemed to be curled up, protecting his head.
Come on. Please let me get to him.
A Kuri demon came up behind him, and plunged its massive fangs into Theo's back, tearing through his armor and slowing him down for a moment, he turned and threw his seraph blade, it soared through the air and through the body of the demon. His back was screaming in pain, he was almost certain there was poison in his blood now. He probably didn't have much time left; he would collapse from the poison. He kept dispatching the demons pinning Zachary, slashing at them with his shortsword like a hurricane.
He launched himself at the last one, tackling it to the ground and driving his sword up into its head. It exploded, spraying dust all over him, and he fell back onto the cement, panting.
The next thing he knew, Theo was being pulled into Zachary's lap, "Theo? Theo!" He shouted. Zachary's face and hands were shredded and covered in blood. There was a diagonal mark running from one end of his face to the other.
"You're safe." Theo sighed, "Thank the Angel."
"Theo, you idiot!" Zachary shouted, starting to draw iratzes on Theo's arms. Theo could feel it now, the poison in his back.
"Don't act like you wouldn't have done the same for me, Apollo," Theo said. His body felt sluggish like he was being weighed down by a thousand extra pounds.
"Oh, Hyacinthus," Zachary said, putting his hand over Theo's. Theo with all his strength, lifted himself up and leaned against Zachary's shoulder.
"I told you that sword was for heroes."
Zachary smiled, "You say that like you're going to die,"
"Sorry about that," Theo said, "I wasn't really thinking,"
Zachary's face went white, "Theo, what—"
"At least you're okay though," Theo continued, "even if I do hate you with every fiber of my being,"
The next thing Theo knew, Zachary's lips were on his. It was familiar, warm. Theo leaned into it like he would've back in Idris, and lifted one of his arms to wrap it around Zachary's neck, pulling him down closer to Theo. His breath tasted like peppermint, and Zachary's blood was dripping in between the seam of their lips, soaking them. Theo didn't care.
Theo didn't even notice the racks falling away and leaving them in the open warehouse. Nor did he notice Victoria and Erelah clambering over the racks to get to them. He didn't even hear Victoria's gasp when she saw them.
And then Theo was fading…
Thank you, Raziel, for keeping him alive.
Darkness.