It didn't take Alec long to find exactly what he was looking for. In his line of work, you learned where the danger lurked. Izzy had used that knowledge to get her fixes and now Alec was doing the same. But his fix would be permanent.

He thought about going to the vampires for this, still a bit angry at Raphael for his part in the whole yin fen ordeal, but that would hurt Magnus. And a vampire might be hesitant to go against the Clave this way, even in self defense. Alec had to find someone with no conscience. A demon fit the bill nicely.

He ran into his salvation in an abandoned warehouse district, which was all the better. Less chance of being found too early or having to save a random mundane that popped up. It was just Alec and the three demons.

His mind flashed back to the night they'd met Clary, while they were trailing a demon not unlike these ones. To everyone else they looked like normal humans, but Alec could see the evil inside. It seemed fitting that it would be this way, coming full circle from that moment that was the beginning of the end. Meeting Clary had been an undeniable shift in the dynamic of all of their lives, and while he didn't have any ill will toward her anymore, it hadn't worked out in Alec's favor. It led him to Magnus, but it also led him here. He longed for the days when his life was predictable and boring, but it was too late to go back.

Alec nocked an arrow, sending it flying between the group to announce his presence. They jumped apart in surprise, narrowing their eyes in his direction when they realized what they were up against. He would have to kill at least one of them, just to show that he put up a fight. Being too obvious would raise too many questions, and although Alec wouldn't be around to deal with the fallout, he didn't want to make things harder for the people he was leaving behind. The whole point of this was to make their lives better.

One of the demons started running at him and Alec took the opportunity to toss his bow and arrow in opposite directions. He was going to have to use his blade for this, instead of his weapon of choice. Poor Alec just wasn't as good as Jace with the blade. Maybe if he'd tried harder.

The first demon was dispatched easily, with a little cocky flair added to it. Alec wanted to piss the other two off so they would be too angry to consider drawing this out. He might deserve the punishment, but he couldn't risk it. And he was so tired that he wanted this to be over with. There was the bit of adrenaline that always came with these hunts, but it was just making him shakier and more nauseous.

"Come on," Alec goaded, spreading his arms wide in challenge. He was a sitting duck here, what were they waiting for? Two against one were good odds for them. There was no reason they shouldn't take advantage of the opportunity presented to them. Taking out a shadowhunter would get them good bragging rights amongst other demons, even if it was just him.

Another demon charged him, the third hanging back. Alec tried to relax his body for the attack, but he was wound so tight that he couldn't. Without even thinking about it, his body swung the blade around and cleanly sliced through the demon, turning its body to dust.

"Dammit!" Alec ground out. Why was it so hard to die? Once again, he was failing. Alec slumped where he stood, letting the blade fall from his hand to the ground. He was unarmed, closing his eyes and accepting his fate. Alec tipped his face up toward the sky, letting the cool breeze wash over him one last time. He was done.

Simon wandered the streets, killing time before Maia would be off work. He was still getting used to his daylighter status, especially when it came to sleeping. He'd gotten used to staying in when it was light out, obviously, but once he didn't have to anymore, he adopted a more typical schedule. It helped while he was dating Clary, since going to lunch was more fun around noon than it was around midnight. But now that he was with Maia, everything got switched around again. Dating a bartender meant staying up late was the norm again, so here he was. She'd kicked him out of the bar, claiming that he was distracting her from her work and to come back for a private drink after last call. Simon wasn't going to argue with that.

So he was roaming the city without a destination in mind, just letting his legs lead him wherever they wanted to go. In his old life he never would've done this, with all the possible danger lurking. But now he was the danger, so it was okay. Simon wasn't sure how he'd gotten so far off the beaten path, but it wasn't a big deal.

It was only Simon's new vampire senses that noticed the arrow coming and jerked his head out of the way. The arrow slammed into the wall next to his face and he stared at it in shock. Who in the world would be letting arrows fly around like this? Someone could get hurt.

Simon pulled it out of the wall, trying to inspect it. Were normal arrows able to stick into the side of a brick wall? He'd never really been into archery, but he was pretty sure it should've bounced off and broken. Unless this wasn't a normal arrow.

Simon closed his eyes to focus on his hearing. They were far enough from the main part of the city for it to be pretty quiet, but there were still a few normal sounds bouncing around the area. He tuned those out, concentrating on finding something that didn't belong.

"Come on."

Simon snapped his head in the direction of the voice, recognizing it immediately. Had he happened upon a shadowhunter fight? Should he see if they needed help or stay away? Besides Alec's voice, he didn't hear much of anything. The fights were usually a bit louder, especially when the group was fighting together. Maybe he would take a peek, just in case. If Clary was here, maybe she would hang with him until it was time for him to meet with Maia.

Simon crept over toward where he heard Alec, spinning the arrow between his fingers. He'd have to come up with a funny joke about Alec's aim before he got there. Alec and he had never really bonded after all this time, the serious man more like Jace than his sister. That was fine though. Simon didn't need to be friends with everyone.

"Dammit!"

Well, that didn't sound very good. Simon picked up his pace, worried that the fight wasn't going well in the good guys' favor. He still hadn't heard anyone but Alec, but that didn't seem right. Fighting bad guys was usually a team effort.

He finally made it into a little clearing between buildings and his already cold blood went even colder at what he saw. Alec was alone, standing in front of an approaching threat with his eyes closed. There was a blade right by his side, but he was making no move to grab it. What the hell was going on?

Simon rushed forward, letting his instincts take over. He wasn't naturally a fighter, even with his newfound abilities, but he also wasn't the type to stand back and watch people he cared about get hurt. And even if he and Alec weren't close, he'd never want anything bad to happen to him.

There wasn't much thought going into what he was doing, but Simon held the arrow out in front of him like a spear. He used his vampire speed to make it to the duo just as the bad guy lifted his hand to strike. Alec still hadn't moved a muscle. With a yell of determination and maybe a little bit of terror, Simon jammed the arrow into the back of Alec's would-be killer. The thing screeched for a moment before turning to dust, leaving him and Alec alone. The other man didn't react at all.