Ellinor moved toward the newly arrived pair, wrapping her arms around Magnus's neck tightly, having to lean up on her toes to whisper in his ear. The language she spoke was one only she and Magnus understood and sounded almost like crackling flames to the unpractised ear. "Carlisle Cullen is alive. Yes /that/ one, we need to speak alone." She pulled away, grateful his face was perfectly masked in a neutral position even after the impossible revelation she just dropped on him. She turned to Alexander then, hugging him as well.
"I do hope he's been behaving for you." She said teasingly, earning a chuckle from the Nephilim.
"You know as well as I do Magnus Bane never behaves."
Magnus waved a dismissive hand at the both of them. "If I'm such a naughty boy, why don't you spank me and teach me a lesson?" He asked, wiggling his eyebrows at the shadow hunter who was turning a deep shade of scarlet.
"We are on Clave business Mag, knock it off," Alec grumbled, looking back toward the Black's house as he spotted Jacob and Nessie. "Eh, friends of yours El?" He asked as he gestured toward the others.
Ellinor tensed again, turning back to look at Jacob and Nessie, her eyes locking with Jacob's for longer than she cared for. "Not really- acquaintances more like." She muttered, ignoring Mangus's dubious expression.
"The Magic Mike look-alike appears to be more of an acquaintance, judging from the way he is eyeing you, Ellie, not getting much sleep in Seattle then? " he asked, his voice dripping with mirth, his eyes, which were the mirror image of hers, sparkled.
"We're in La Push." She quipped back, giving him a warning look. Alec had crossed his arms over his chest then, sizing up the other two. "Allies though, well, most likely." she murmured. "Not a threat for now at the least." She gestured for the Warlock and Shadowhunter to follow her back to the waiting pair.
"Right, let's make this quick. Magnus Alec, Jacob, and Nessie." She said, pointing out each individual as named them in turn. "Nessie." She intoned, turning toward the young girl. "Would you be so kind and catch Alec up on-well everything?"
Magnus and Alec both raised a curious eyebrow at her request as she took a hold of Magnus' wrist. "You, come." She said, pulling the Warlock back toward the house. She heard Jacob shift behind her, and she fixed him with a stoic gaze. "You, stay, explain the pack to Alec once Nessie is done." She retreated back into the house, not looking back to see if he had obeyed. She let the back door slam behind them.
She leaned back against the kitchen counter then, her hands gripping the edge of it, her knuckles turning white. Her mind was whirling as she stared at the ground, trying to find the words to succinctly explain to Magnus everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours. She flinched when she felt a hand come to rest on her shoulder, relaxing when she looked up to meet Mangus' eyes.
"Ellinor, you know if it really is him," He held up his hand to silence her as she opened her mouth to protest. "I know you're certain, I just want to make sure this isn't some trick or-" He let that thought trail off. "Whatever he is, he will not be hurting you. I will not make that mistake again." His voice turned quiet and somber, an unusual tone from the typically sarcastic man.
"It wasn't your fault then…" She mumbled sullenly. "We were both deceived in his character." Her eyes grew distant as memories from her past began to drift over her mind's eye."We were young then." She said with a rueful chuckle.
He smirked at that. "You were younger I'll remind you."
"By a couple of decades at most, that's nothing to us now," she said, rolling her eyes.
His gaze turned serious again. "This was supposed to be a fun explorative assignment for you. Visit some old friends…" He trailed off again. "How is he alive Ellie? Tell me everything."
And she did. She recounted her entire time here in La Push, finding her friend Billy, the trip to the Cullens, the pack, and when Carlisle finally returned. She left out the finer details about when Jacob had restrained her, and the bizarre effect it seemed to have on them both when their eyes met, a blush creeping onto her cheeks just from the memory. She had that fluttering feeling rising in her chest again, followed swiftly by a wave of annoyance the continuing effect it was having over her.
"Some point after we fled London, he must have been turned into- well they think they're vampires, but they're not. A sort of vampire, they share similar features…" She mused. "Immortal, strength, speed, they drink blood to live, though this clan sustain themselves on animal blood, there are others of their kind who do not, and to turn a human into them only takes a bite."
"The Clave will not approve of that," Magnus said, pursing his lips together. "How they've escaped their notice for all these years…" He murmured, his tone perplexed.
"They're discrete about it, it's their law. When one of their kind steps out of line they govern themselves. Beside-from what I've seen, I'm not even sure a Shadownhunter could take them on…" She said morosely, drumming her fingers on the counter's edge.
"Have you seen these wolves yet?" He asked curiously.
She shook her head. "Jacob is one of them, as is Nessie's mate." The last word made Magnus' eyebrows raise.
"Mate?" He asked with a cock of his head.
She waved her hand dismissively at his curiosity. "It is just one of the many oddities I've run across in my short time here, but the least of our problems." He gave her a skeptical look which she pointedly ignored. "Do you feel it?" She asked him in a hushed tone. "There's something about this place, something that draws magic and our kind to this area. The wolves, the vampire-things. Why was there a demon skulking about here some twenty-odd years ago that I had to banish for them?" She was talking faster now, the pitch in her voice rising ever so slightly. "Too many coincidences for my liking. Something draws us all here, which means an Institute would be of great use here as well." She finished with a smug smile.
Before Magnus could comment on her findings the back door swung open, revealing a dazed-looking Alec, followed closely by Nessie and Jacob. Ellinor tried to ignore the swelling in her chest that followed, focusing her attention solely on Alec. "Caught up to speed then?" She asked him as he shook his head to clear it of Nessie's lingering thoughts.
"Eh-yeah I suppose I am." He murmured, giving her a confused look that quickly turned into a mix of other emotions.
"Nessie, could you please show Magnus as well? Then we should all be on the same page." She said confidently, watching as the girl crossed the room, lifting her hand up to reach the tall Warlock's face. "And please leave out the melodramatics about your Grandfather. Magnus knows the truth, he was there as well." A small frown crossed the girl's face before she cupped Magnus' cheek, leaving the others in silence for a moment.
Jacob came next to wordlessly Ellinor to lean on the counter as well, still giving her a few feet of space, but not enough to keep the heat that radiated off of him from warming her. Alec's eyes darted over to the pair of them for a moment, a smirk on his lips before his eyes went back to his boyfriend.
After a few more minutes Nessie pulled her hand away, Mangus' face the most composed out of all of them after experiencing that sort of mental bombardment for the first time. He held Nessie's gaze for a moment, then looked over to Ellinor and Jacob, Alec, and back to Nessie then with a serious look. "She doesn't know?" he asked in a half-amused half rueful tone. Ellinor's brow furrowed as she watched Nessie nod her head.
"It appears that way...she will soon enough," she said with a small shrug, giving Jacob a glance over her shoulder. "I should get home." She said as she moved for the front door. She paused as her hand rested on the handle, turning back to the trio. "The invitation is still open. I know my family would be more than willing to help the Nephilim in their efforts here." She said before taking her leave.
Ellinor looked between the three men remaining, waiting for an explanation on the odd exchange. "Am I the she who does not know?" She asked, barely masked annoyance evident in her tone.
"For once, yes. I'd like to relish in it for a little while longer if you do not mind, this does not happen very often." Magnus said with a devilish grin, Alec shifting awkwardly on his feet. "Young Mr. Black, take a walk with me, would you?" Magnus asked in a tone that made it clear it was not a request, but a demand as he turned for the back door. "Alec and Ellie have boring things to discuss and I really would rather not be here for it."
"We do?" Alec asked Magnus.
Magnus gave his boyfriend a pointed look. "Yes dear, about her assignment, regarding your Institute," he said in an exasperated tone.
Alec flushed, nodding his head and standing up a little straighter. "Yes right, that, of course. Here?"
Ellinor sighed, walking back to the kitchen table to take a seat. "Here is better than anywhere else," she mumbled, summoning mounds of books, journals, papers, and a laptop or two with a snap of her finger. Alec joined her, watching the two other men head for the back door.
"Jacob, do you know of a twisted Elm tree about two miles south of here?" Ellinor asked, not looking up from the tome in front of her.
"Eh, probably, why?" He asked.
"It's one of the locations of the wards I put up last time I was here. Could you take Magnus there on your walk so he can check it?" She requested.
"Oh- sure then." He said gazing at her for a moment before exiting with Magnus.
Alec looked to the closed door for a moment, before back at Ellinor. "Well...this scouting assignment got a little more intense than we anticipated." He joked stiffly. "Sorry El, I wouldn't have let them send you alone if I thought anything like this would happen." He said apologetically. "Are you...I mean what that Nessie girl showed me…" He trailed off, torn between several emotions, worry, distrust, morbid curiosity.
Ellinor let out a heavy sigh, closing the text in front of her. "Ask." She said, leaning back in her chair, urging him to get it all out of the way.
"How do you know that vampire? And Magnus knows him too? And also do I need to kick his ass?" He asked, giving a small tentative smile, hoping to ease her tension.
She returned the smile softly. "While that sentiment is appreciated...I'm not sure you could...they're not like vampires we know- that's one of the issues here." She mumbled, mulling over that fact again. A creature like the Cullens who might not be able to be defeated by Nephilim- that was just what they needed to test the newly established alliance between the Clave and Downworlders. A Downworlder who could destroy them all. "Besides, if it comes down to it that privilege will be mine." She said, giving him a small smile she hoped was reassuring.
She moved to the coffee pot at the counter, pouring them both a cup before she returned, sighing heavily as she sat down. "You know Magnus found me in London as a child...and stuck around to protect me as I grew up. Tried to hide what I was, my abilities, give me the human life he never had?" She asked, pursing her lips as she tried to pull the distant memories of the far recesses of her mind.
Alec nodded quickly. "Yes, of course, and you fled with him when some people discovered what you were."
"Carlisle was one of those people." She mumbled, tracing her finger around the rim of her mug. She could see the confusion on Alec's face. "Now that alone I could not begrudge him for- of course." She conceited with a shrug. "But he wasn't a stranger to me- he was my husband."
