"A boy. He has demonic blood, but he…he is a Shadowhunter, my lady."

"Interesting. I will see this boy. Bring him to the throne room. And summon my father. I must have a word with him."

"Asmodeus, do you know who this boy is?"

"A child born from Lilith's blood, created by Valentine Morgenstern."

"Mmm, Mother must love him."

"He is still nothing compared to you, my dear."

"Does that make you feel better? Considering dear Lilith believes this child will be stronger than any other Greater Demon and all of your creations, I'd assume I remain a personal victory for you. Of course Mother contributed to my creation as well. She always did have the most fun with me. I do hope that this dear boy of hers can survive having her blood coursing through his veins."

Jonathan Morgenstern was terrified.

His father had sent him to Hell. Demons took him away, left him in a large room, filled with pain from the mere journey there with the monsters that showed him no mercy.

Then, a woman walked down to him. She looked human, she didn't look to be a demon. Finally, someone that might be able to help him.

She wore a long, flowing dress, black with white accents, as well as a golden circlet with blood red markings around her head. Her long, pure white hair had been pulled back behind her ears, revealing the sharp features of her face that made her seem both ethereal as well as fiendish.

Perhaps she wasn't so human, but she was the closest thing he'd seen so far.

She wouldn't be easy on him, but perhaps he could plead for her protection or aid.

"You really do have her blood. But you're still unmarred."

"I wish only to leave and return home."

"But you can't leave yet, darling. You're made of my dear Lilith's blood. So it's only fair you get the special treatment of us experiments of angelic and demonic blood."

The dark clouds of demons began flooding into the room, grabbing onto the boy and burning his skin. As he screamed, the woman walked down to him, her bare feet silent on the floor. She kneeled down and took his chin, forcing him to look to her face, revealing she was much more terrifying up close.

"Such a pretty face. Too pretty for this world, wouldn't you agree?"

The whirlwind of demons intensified the burning and the boy screamed.

"Only those worthy live with such pure skin. It is a privilege you must earn here. As I'm sure you will learn. Greater Demons, the Princes of Hell. Me. We have earned the right to such respect, to such beauty. You, however have not. But you will get the chance to try and prove yourself."

Her fingers began to burn his face where she touched him, and he struggled to escape her and the demons, but it was hopeless.

"Long ago, my skin was burned off. Layer. By. Layer. If you're really Lilith's little boy, you deserve the special, Edom, guest of honor treatment. Welcome to Hell, my boy. Your stay has just begun."

Shu woke up feeling like she was having a heart attack from how fast her heart was beating (not that she could die from cardiac arrest anyway. The demons had tried everything against her).

What the hell was that?

That couldn't have been her. But…in her angelic demon form, her features did sharpen significantly, but it looked like she'd gained a lot more control over the form, still transformed, but not necessarily in a fighting mode.

That man she'd met the other day at the Downworlder meeting…a glamour. It was a glamour to cover what that little boy became after years trapped in Edom with the demons.

Azazel. He must've been how the boy escaped. And Sebastian saved Isabelle from the Prince of Hell to gain the Shadowhunters' trust.

"Hey, you're up," Magnus called, peeking into the room. "Get ready. We're being summoned to the Seelie court for a Downworlder meeting regarding Valentine's escape."

"Right. Right…"

"Is something wrong?"

"I…" She shook her head and took a deep breath. "I am…honestly not sure."

He came in and sat on the bed, facing her. "What's wrong?"

"I had this dream. There was this woman who looked like me, but she…she couldn't have been. She was like…she lived in Hell with the demons, in Edom. She got along with father, all the other demons…she was…she was like…higher than even Lilith. Higher than any of them. And there was this boy that was apparently created by Valentine who ended up in Edom, but she…she tortured him for having Lilith's blood. Said that he had to prove he deserved having unmarred skin. So she burned it. Because she had to go through the same before."

"And is that true about you?"

She nodded. "She said she was an angelic demonic experiment, and that those like her had to go through the same trials to prove they're worthy of living in Edom, being as strong as they are. Something like…if you wanna be great and powerful, worthy of a title, you have to suffer first. Survive the torture, and only then can you be worthy."

"Is that what you believe?"

"That's…I don't know. I don't wanna believe it, but in the end, results have shown trauma to be an effective way of either making someone stronger or breaking someone down. The majority of the time, trauma and torture result in nothing but sorrow, making someone weaker in a way. But in the cases that someone is able to turn that pain around and use it in one way or another…it doesmake them stronger than someone uninfluenced. The stronger the pain you survive, the stronger you have to become. Or the weaker."

"Do you think it was just a dream?"

"Who can say? I'll ask Charon about it. If he's taken anything else from me, I might be able to get it out of him. For now, the Seelie court. An ever joyous journey."

"Valentine has escaped. Can you blame anyone for being afraid?"

"Shu."

"Yeah?"

Charon appeared behind her as she was taking off her shoes and putting them in the closet, having just returned from the Seelie court. "I've found out something."

"What?"

"The Clave, they don't have the Soul Sword."

She froze. "What?"

"They lied. Jonathan Christopher has it. I tracked him and Valentine to a cabin by Lake Lyn. The real Sebastian Verlac is dead, and Valentine's son has glamoured himself to look like him. He has the Soul Sword, he has Valentine, and…"

She heard him grunting behind her and quickly turned to find him holding his stomach, covered in cuts and bleeding demon ichor.

"Charon!"

She rushed over and helped lower him to sit against the wall.

"What happened?"

"He has Lilith's blood all right. Even though he's part mundane, and part angel, he's…pretty powerful."

"If I'm anything to go by, you mean."

He smiled and shook his head. "Oh no. You scare me a lot more than he does. If it were you, I wouldn't have been able to escape."

She moved his hand out of the way and saw a large slice across his stomach, going from the middle of his waist on the left up to about his ribcage on the right.

"Angelic energy."

"I told you. He has the Soul Sword."

"You took a direct hit from the Soul Sword?!"

"Clary Fairchild weakened its angelic properties and deactivated its Downworlder Doomsday feature, but the thing is still a sword made of angelic qualities. So yeah. Ow."

She put her hands over the wound as they began to glow grey. "Tell me everything."

Alec was staring at a tablet in the head office of the Institute when Magnus peeked his head into the room.

He knocked on the doorframe as he walked in. "Lost track of time?"

Alec looked up in realization before sighing. "I missed dinner, didn't I?"

"Only by a few hours.

"I'm…I'm so sorry. Really."

He stood from his chair and moved to give him a kiss.

"I just…it's been…so crazy here."

Magnus shook his head with a smile. "I understand."

"I can't believe I forgot."

He scoffed and put his hand to his shoulder. "It's okay, Alexander. If we can't go to the Cape, I'll bring the Cape to us."

He snapped and waved his magic, a dinner table fully prepared with food and candles appearing in the office. Alec chuckled, following Magnus over to the table.

"Lobster tails and champagne," Magnus said, handing him one of the glasses. "To toast to a successful Downworld meeting."

They clinked glasses and drank before Alec pointed to him and swallowed. "It went well?"

He shrugged. "Relatively. But the Downworlders barely trust the Clave to begin with. And the Seelie Queen went on and on about the Clave being nothing but a bunch of liars."

The two took their seats. "That's harsh."

"But Luke, Shu and I assured them that now that you are the Head of this Institute, and implementing a policy of complete transparency, change was on the way."

Magnus took a piece of lobster onto his fork and aimed it towards Alec, who laughed and took it off with his fingers. "That's good to hear."

"It is, isn't it? Oh! Drawn butter?"

"Sure."

Alec gave Magnus a hesitant look, which the Warlock missed as Alec put on a smile once more.

"You're telling me Eliot is in trouble?"

"The protection mark he had is on me," Dot said, showing her wrist.

"So more likely, he's dead." She shook her head in frustration. "Dammit. Charon was attacked when he was out looking for Valentine, who has the location of the Mortal Cup. At this rate…the three Mortal Instruments together could summon Raziel and grant him a wish."

"Where's Magnus?"

"At the Institute."

"So you two have worked out the Soul Bond?"

"Yeah. And we feel a lot better. We should get over there. The apartment of a Warlock is going to be a target if someone's going after the mark that had been put on one. We need to keep you and that mark out of enemy hands."

"After Eliot opened his own shop, we lost touch," Clary said. "But when I was little, Eliot was one of my mom's best friends."

"He introduced me to Joselyn," Dot added.

"Eliot was a good person," Shu said. "I was there at the opening of his shop. I was so happy for him."

"Now you're concerned he's in trouble?" Alec asked.

"The mark on Dot's arm is part of a protection spell. It's a sigil. It only transfers to another Warlock if something terrible has happened."

"Whatever he's got, it must be pretty important."

Dot and Clary shared a look, before Dot nodded.

"It's the Mortal Mirror," Clary admitted.

"Joselyn had it?" Jace asked.

"I know. It's crazy. The mirror and the cup. I-I guess my mom knew Eliot would do anything to keep it safe. As a Warlock he could protect it better than anyone, right? So she entrusted him with its location."

"And Eliot entrusted it to me," Dot finished.

"So you know the current location of the Mortal Mirror?" Alec asked.

"Sort of." She held up her wrist with the circular mark. "These lines coordinate to specific Ley lines in the city. I can figure it out, but it'll take some time."

"We have maps of all the Ley lines. We can help you."

"And we can protect you from Jonathan and Valentine," Jace added. "With those marks on your wrist, it's only a matter of time before they come after you."

"I'll go to Eliot's shop and see what happened," Shu said.

"Jace and I will come too," Clary said, taking Dot's hand. "You'll be safe here."

"Be careful," She warned.

The glass of the front window had been smashed outwards, and the door had been left open.

Once inside, they saw a man lying dead, his face bloodied up from numerous hits as well as blood running down his face from his eyes.

"Oh, Eliot…" Shu muttered, rushing over to him.

"You see these marks?" Jace asked, examining the shop. "A demon was here."

Shu reached out and closed Eliot's eyes. "He was tortured, and…he killed himself before they could get anything out of him."

"What?" Clary asked. "How can you tell?"

"The blood from his eyes. It's a Warlock incantation. Basically our version of a cyanide capsule."

"I'm sorry," Jace said.

There was suddenly a crunching of glass from behind, and Jace turned, reaching for his weapon, only to find it was Sebastian. "Hi."

Clary stood to meet him, while Shu stayed with Eliot.

The real Sebastian Verlac is dead, and Valentine's son has glamoured himself to look like him.

He killed Eliot. All for that Mortal Mirror. And Dot's new mark that Eliot gave her didn't even…Was Eliot's sacrifice, his pain, his death, even worth it?

"Raziel, you have created monsters," She muttered.

"Hey, Sebastian," Clary said, unaware of what the Warlock had said. "What are you doing here?"

"I, uh…I saw the alert at the Institute. Is everything under control?"

"We're still not 100 percent sure what happened," Jace admitted. "There was a demon presence here, but something doesn't add up."

"Oh my god," Clary muttered, and the boys turned to see she was staring at some dead and wilted flowers. "It's Jonathan."

"How do you know that?"

"The flowers…My mom shared a memory from when Jonathan was a baby. He'd done the exact same thing. And that grey demon ichor, that's how Valentine described the aftermath of Jonathan's childhood kills. Jonathan was here."

"Sorry, who's, uh…who's Jonathan?" Sebastian asked.

"My brother."

"He must be after the Mortal Mirror," Jace guessed. "If he comes after it again, I'm gonna have to deal with him."

"What does that mean?"

"It means I'm gonna do anything in my power to protect the mirror."

"You'll kill him?"

"If that's what it takes. Yeah."

"You don't even know if Jonathan's doing this on his own. H-He could be under Valentine's influence."

"Yeah, Clary's…got a point," Sebastian jumped in. "I mean, what if…Valentine's forcing him to do his bidding?"

"Yeah, okay, look," Jace said defensively. "I know exactly what it's like to be manipulated by Valentine. Probably better than anyone. You know, Clary, you read those journals. Jonathan Morgenstern is a demon-blooded monster who is responsible for the death of your friend. An innocent Warlock."

"Remember what Valentine made you do," She said.

"I don't have demon blood."

"Just think about it, Jace. Valentine has manipulated us both. What if Jonathan is just his latest victim? We don't have any facts. And until we do, no one is getting killed."

Sebastian took a deep breath. "Yeah, I suppose the, uh…the priority right now should be finding that mirror."

"You go on ahead," Shu said. "I'll handle cleaning up the shop and the legal issues of Eliot's death. And I'll take him to the Warlock cemetery to be buried as a hero."

"Shu…" Clary began.

"Go. I don't care who's responsible for this, who's manipulating who or doing something of their own free will. But you will not let Eliot's sacrifice be in vain, Clary Fairchild, do you understand?"

Clary hesitated, looking to Eliot's face, before she nodded.

"So you're telling me your sister's still alive?" Magnus clarified. "I don't understand what this has to do with the Downworld."

"Cleophas sent me this fire message," Luke explained. "It appears that Valentine's holding her captive. Magnus, she said he still has the Soul Sword."

"That's impossible."

"Look, I thought the same thing, but the Clave lied."

"He's right," Charon said, walking in with his hand over his bandaged torso. "I was tracking Valentine when I was giving this nice souvenir. Your sister's patched me up, but this wound is gonna take a lot of time to heal. It was the real Soul Sword."

Magnus took the fire message from Luke. "I have to tell Alexander."

Luke grabbed his shoulder as he was about to walk out. "Wait. Alec is Head of the Institute. He might already know."

"No. I just saw him. He would've told me if he knew. He would never keep something this important from me."

Alec was once again sifting through files and documents on his tablet when Magnus came walking in and knocked on the doorframe.

Alec looked up with a smile, before then turning worried. "Please don't say you've been waiting for me all this time."

"No. Just wanted to see you."

Alec sighed in relief, only to see Magnus shifting nervously. "Is everything okay?"

"I thought so. But…now I'm not so sure."

"What's going on?"

"You tell me, Alexander. From the day I met you, the one thing I knew I could count on from you was honesty. Absolute…total…honesty."

Alec looked down in realization, setting his tablet aside and standing. "I can explain."

"You knew about the sword?"

"I just found out, I swear."

"When?" He snapped. "When did you know? Tonight? When I talked about trust. Did you know then?"

Alec hesitated. "I did."

Magnus took a deep breath. "Okay."

"Look, I was worried that if the Downworld found out there'd be widespread panic. It could have led to a rebellion."

"And you didn't trust me to stay quiet? I might've told my sister, sure, but she would've found out from me anyway or through some other means, but she and I know not to spread the word of something so dangerous."

"I didn't say that you don't. I didn't want to ask you to have to keep a secret from your own people. That wouldn't be fair to you."

"Oh…" He sighed. "You're just like the Clave…Making promises you never intend to keep. Oh! Transparency?"

"Magnus! Magnus, let's not make this personal."

"How can I not make it personal? Valentine wants me dead. He wants all of us dead."

"I know."

"And after I bared my heart and soul. I told you things I've never told anyone. You looked me straight in the eye and lied."

"Magnus, I didn't…"

"I guess it runs in the family."

And Magnus turned to walk away.

"Hey! That's not fair. Magnus! Magnus!"

"Magnus, please calm down."

"Was he ever going to tell me?!"

"I don't know," Luke admitted. "Look, he didn't tell-"

"I trusted him, Lucian. More than anyone. And this is what happens?"

He let power build into his hand before he tossed it into a tray of glasses, shattering them all.

"Hey. Hey!"

Shu grabbed his wrists and held his magic back. "I know you're hurting. I know you're raging. I know what it's like when the person you think you know so well, who you've trusted your life to and your darkest secrets hides something from you, does something terrible. I know! But you have to settle down."

"No. No, now is not the time for settling down-!"

"Yes, it is. Alexander is trying. He's on our side. You think I don't hate him as much as you do right now? I wanna punch him in the face as hard as I did Camille - harder even because he actually loved you back - and he doesn't have an enhanced healing factor. But at least I know he would never do anything to hurt you."

Magnus ripped his hands free with a huff. "It's too late for that now. The Seelie Queen was right. We can't trust the Clave. They've deceived us again. Only now, Valentine is free, the sword's missing, and the survival of the entire Downworld's at stake. We need to tell her."

"I don't trust her," Luke said. "I never have."

"She's one of the most powerful people in the Downworld. If we want to stop Valentine…we're going to need the Queen's help."

Luke sighed, and Shu bit her lip in frustration.

"I'll arrange a trip to the Court."

Shu walked up and smacked Alec across the face, her nails raking across to draw blood. She would've continued further if Charon hadn't been there behind her to grab and hold her back.

She shook him off and stomped her foot down. "You know something? When I did that with Camille, it made me feel better. Now, with you, it doesn't even come close. You need to fix this. And it's not even the Soul Sword that he's angry about. It's the fact that you didn't trust him with something so important. Actually, something so trivial. It shouldn't have been such a big deal to warrant your secrecy. To him of all people. He trusted you, Alexander. He trusted you with something he was barely able to tell me. When he told me about what happened with his mother, he couldn't even get the words out it was so painful for him. Because it was the first time he'd been able to open up. He knew how hard it was to share that memory, and he shared it anyway. And you can't even tell him this little detail?!"

"I didn't mean to hurt him! I didn't want him to get dragged into this, have to keep the secret from his friends, his people."

"Trust me, I've seen worse. I know what it's like to have the person you trust most betray you. I know how much it stings, how hard that rage within you drives everything to the edge. But Magnus doesn't. He's never known love like he has with you, and he's never known heartbreak like he has with you. Because keeping that secret, he would've been able to do that without a second thought for you. And you should've known that. Fix this, Alexander. Fix it!"