Raphael carried Simon's body through the graveyard with Jace, Clary and Alec following behind him. He could tell there was some tension between Alec and Jace, but he didn't care about that right now. For now, they needed to focus on Simon and whether they would turn him today. When they reached an un-dug spot, Raphael carefully rested Simon's body onto the ground and turned to Clary. It was time for her to tell them her decision.
"Clary… it's time. Which will it be?" Raphael asked, holding up a shovel in one hand and a sharp piece of wood in the other. He was agitated, scared that Clary might make the wrong decision. He shared a look with Alec, who stood prepared to attack Clary and Jace if she makes the wrong decision. Raphael might be able to outrun the shadowhunters, but Alec could create a portal and get them to another graveyard to complete the transformation process quicker.
Clary stood there staring at her two options before reacting out and took the shovel and started digging. Raphael felt his body relax, Simon was going to be fine, he was going to get Simon back. Alec grabbed another shovel they had brought out and helped dig Simon's grave until the hole was big enough to lay Simon to rest. Alec climbed out of the grave whilst Jace helped Clary up and Raphael gently places Simon into the grave before Alec and Jace covered Simon's body with dirt.
The wait was the worse part. Waiting for the process to start and for Simon to crawl out of his grave, Raphael had disappeared, probably to get some blood Simon could feed on. Alec knew that the first few moments after turning into a vampire were crucial to prevent the newborn vampire from going on a hunting spree. You needed to give him blood straight away. To satisfy the vampire's hunger before you could even attempt to teach them how to control their urges. Raphael soon returned with a black bag which Alec could only assume was full of blood. He stood up and opened his mouth just as Simon's grave started rumbling.
"It's happening," Raphael said just before Simon's hand emerged from the ground, then another before Simon pulled himself out of the earth, hissing.
"Simon. Simon, it's me. It's… it's Clary" Clary said, trying to calm her friend down, but Simon hissed at her and Clary stumbles backwards to put as much distance between them as possible.
"Once reborn, you emerge hungry," Raphael said, throwing a bag with blood on the ground, then another. Simon grabs each bag, ripping the top open and downing it in one go before moving to another. Clary just watched horrified as her friend drank bag after bag full of human blood, and with each drop of blood Simon slowly regain awareness of his senses and his hunger died down.
"Clary… what's happening?" Simon asked, confused. The last thing he remembered was going to the Hotel Dumort to see Raphael, and now he was waking up in a graveyard of all places with his shirt stained with some red substance and dirt.
"You, um, you died," Clary said.
"I what? What's this" Simon said picking up one of the blood bags from the ground then he felt his fangs sticking into his bottom lip, "Oh, my- Oh my- Why can't I say".
"God. It'll take time to regain the ability. There's still a lot you need to learn about our kind, Si," Raphael said. Simon felt himself relax if Raphael was here then everything was alright, "Am I a vampire,".
"Yes" this time Alec spoke whilst Raphael helped Simon to his feet.
"I need… I need time to process this" Simon said, ignoring Clary as she protested. Yes, he wanted to become a vampire, but this wasn't how he imagined this would happen. He wanted to talk with Raphael about turning and what he needed to mentally prepare himself for. He was not mentally prepared to drink blood, he hadn't had the chance to say his own goodbyes to his family yet who would now believe that Simon vanished off the face of the earth. Simon needed time to process this, so instead of hanging around in the graveyard any longer, Simon ran off.
"I'll look after Simon. You have my word" Raphael said more so to Alec then to the others before he ran off after his boyfriend.
Lydia wasn't sure why Maryse Lightwood had suddenly called her for this meeting, but reluctantly she obliged. It could be important. So, Lydia sat down in the chair in front of the desk whilst Maryse sat in her desk chair.
"What is this about Maryse?" Lydia asked. She had important work to do for the Clave she needed to finish that before evaluating the leadership of this institute, and she couldn't do that sitting inside an office all day.
"As I said, I have a proposition for you. I understand what Robert and I did during our time in the circle was wrong, and we can serve the clave as loyally as we can, but that will never be enough to forgive us of our sins, but I don't want my children to live disadvantaged lives because of their parent's misguided actions however the Clave doesn't see it like that," Maryse said, it was their children's future to work and restore the Lightwood family name to the glory it once was before it was tarnished by the circle, "I would like to arrange a marriage between you and Alec,".
"And what would be in it for me?" Lydia asked she had hardly spent any time around Alec to really judge him as a person although she had heard in Idris that Alec was planning on settling down and getting married plus Lydia couldn't deny that he was handsome.
"If you accept my proposal then Robert and I will immediately step down and hand over control of the institute to you and Alec, the Branwell family would be in charge of an institute once more and the Lightwood loyalty wouldn't be questioned anymore," Maryse said, she could only hope that Lydia will agree to it, she doubts she could find a husband for Isabelle and Max was too young to do anything with, he hadn't even gotten his first rune yet, "You don't have to decide right now, think about it and at least give me an answer by tomorrow at the latest,".
Simon went straight to his comfort zone, which was the Hotel Dumort and Raphael's bedroom. He kicked his shoes off and collapsed on top of the covers, his mind constantly swirling. He didn't know what to think, his life had done a complete 180 in the last couple of hours. He was no longer a mundane but a vampire, a downworlder. Not that he didn't mind being a downworlder because he didn't, he wanted to become a vampire for a while now he just hadn't worked up the courage to speak with Raphael about turning. And now he didn't have that choice. They took it away from him. He still couldn't remember what had happened, he remembered after being kidnapped by the werewolves, he and Alec took Clary to Magnus to get her memories erased of Alec being The High Mage and Simon's importance to the Vampires. He then decided when Alec took Clary back to the Institute, he was going to see Raphael. Simon just didn't remember making it to the hotel.
Then the next thing he knows he is waking up in a graveyard beside the New York Institute with Jace, Clary, Alec and Raphael watching him as he literally crawled out his own grave and fed on human blood. Simon was so lost in mind that he hadn't noticed Raphael enter the room until he spoke up, jolting Simon from his thoughts.
"Do you hate me?" Raphael asked, staying firmly by the door just in case he needed to quickly flee the room, "We turned you into a vampire without your permission".
"Raph, I could never hate you. I loved you," Simon said, sitting up at looking over at his boyfriend. Simon had never seen Raphael like this, he had always been brave, strong and barely unnerved by anything but right now Raphael looked scared, "I don't know if Alec told you but I wanted to become a vampire, I want to spend the rest of my eternal life with you, I just didn't want to become a vampire this way. I don't think I'm mentally prepared to deal with everything that comes with being a vampire just yet,".
Raphael's shoulders relaxed as he walked over to Simon and sat beside him, "Camille attacked you. I think she was trying to get revenge on me for overthrowing her by attacking and killing you. I was just able to get my blood into your system before you died so we could bring you back. I only went to the institute to talk with Alec but the others came out with him and considering I wasn't sure whether you wanted Clary to know of our relationship, I had to let her decide your fate. I'm sorry,".
"I don't blame you Raph, Alec knew what I wanted and I'm just glad Clary made the right decision for once in her life to bring me back," Simon said taking Raphael's hand in his as he gave his boyfriend's hand a squeeze.
"I'm glad you have a friend like Alec. If it weren't for him, I have no idea what I would have done. Alec even said that if Clary made the wrong decision, then he would have helped me take you to another graveyard and resurrect you there," Raphael said, he could only be glad that it never came to that because Alec was already in a tight situation with keeping his mage status a secret.
"That sounds like Alec," Simon said letting go of Raphael's hand and instead wrapped his arms around Raphael's neck "I love you, Raphael, never forget that".
"I love you too," Raphael said leaning forwards and pressed their lips together in a passionate kiss. Everything was going to be alright.