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Camille sat in her office at Pandemonium and twirled her hair around her fingers. She hated this club, she hated the noise, the clientele, and Magnus across the hall from her. The place wasn't dirty, Magnus wouldn't actually stand for that, but it was still far below what she considered classy. Drugs weren't dealt on their premises, and their bartenders had strict orders to cut people off after a certain amount, but it was still a grungy club. Magnus actually ran a pretty tight ship, and it was one of the reasons she'd singled him out so many years ago. He was exceptionally competent, she liked competency in a man. She regretted that decision some days. As an outsider, she knew without a doubt that he wouldn't be in her father's pocket, he'd get the job done. Too bad his father was worse than hers.

She'd grown up under her father's thumb, and she made damn sure she'd never have to be back in that position, but she was pretty damn close. Adamantly against having a family, all she wanted in life was to be filthy rich and not have to worry about anything. So far, she hadn't achieved either one of those goals, but if she kept playing the right cards, both were just within her grasp. She just had to hold on a little longer and she could have the house, the dog, the boy toy, and no fucking worries.

Her phone vibrated on the desk and she answered it with barely a glance at the number. Very few people had the number to this phone.

"There's a problem."

"Is it going to cause a delay?" She asked with a snap in her voice.

"Yes. I think you need to come have a look."

Camille cursed under her breath. The club didn't really need her, but she'd wanted to ask Magnus what the hell Alec had been doing here. His presence was unusual, and FBI made her twitch. Meeting with Hodge took precedence. Hodge Starkweather was a competent man, so it could be minor, or it could be one more thing for her to worry about, but he wasn't prone to dramatics so she had better go look. She sighed. "I'll be out there in an hour."

"Come around back, I'll send you the new code."

She managed to beat the traffic but it still took her an hour and a half to get to the warehouse where they stored their merchandise. She used the new code and walked to the back where Hodge was standing over the body of a dead boy. Underage dead boy. "Fuck" she said as she calculated the cost of this screw up. "What happened?"

"Shot." Hodge said quietly.

"Valentine."

"Yeah".

Camille barely contained her furious shout. "Valentine is a problem." This wasn't the first time Valentine had disposed of one of their finds. This boy would have made them a great deal of money on the market, now he was nothing but a lost profit.

"He's more than a problem ma'am, he's a liability, this is the 5th kill." Hodge straightened his suit jacket and Camille appreciated his brevity.

"I agree."

"Shall I see to it?"

"Yes, his neurotic ideology is costing us money."

Camille was relieved that Hodge had framed everything in such a way. She hadn't liked Valentine from the start, he'd seemed far too unstable but he'd been sort of okay at getting the job done. These days he could barely be controlled, and his crusade had turned him into a fuck up. "Is there any connection to us on the body?"

"No ma'am, you want me to dump it?" Hodge rubbed his jaw, clearly already thinking of how exactly he was going to get rid of the boys body.

Camille sighed looking down at the small boy. He was pale and motionless, as young as he was he'd probably been a ball of energy when alive. Hell only knows why Valentine had felt the need to shoot the kid, but that was hardly her biggest worry. Dead he was just a thing she had to dispose of. "Yeah, do what you think is best. I'll call Asmodeus and let him know what happened, and inform him of our plans for Valentine." God she did not want to make that call. Asmodeus was difficult at the best of times, and not for nothing she wondered how much easier the past chunk of years would have been if Asmodeus had a little more Magnus in him and Magnus had a little more Asmodeus.

Well a mistake was a mistake, and Valentine had made his last one.

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Alec sat on his couch and watched Clary make herself comfortable.

"So why do you want to know about Camille and Magnus all of a sudden? You were very hands off when it was all going down." Clary asked suspiciously.

Alec shrugged. "I ran into them at Pandemonium tonight and I realized I didn't know anything about...well anything with them. Why'd they break up?"

Clary raised her brow. "What were you doing at the club?"

Alec glared. "This isn't a question for a question. I was giving him the key to the place so he could do the party this weekend."

Clary hummed at him. "Fine. It's old news anyway. She cheated on him, regularly and with a variety of different people. Magnus was scared to end it because she's part owner of the club, and because she's a manipulative bitch. She convinced him that he wasn't enough for her and that's why she had to sleep around. She's the literal actual worst person I've ever met. Magnus has spent the past 3 years trying to amass enough money to buy her out."

Alec thought back on the interaction he'd seen between the two of them and scowled. "Does he talk to anyone about her, about what she's like at work?"

"No, Izzy tries obviously, and so do Ragnor and Cat, but from what they say he's close lipped about anything to do with Camille. Now why are you asking.." Clary was nervously rubbing her hands together and Alec knew there wasn't a whole lot he could do to calm the anxiety.

"I don't really know what's going on yet Clary, but as soon as I have something I'll let you know." Alec hedged. Clary didn't believe him, he saw that she didn't, but he also saw that she trusted him to handle the situation.

"If you need us…"

"My first call. I promise." Alec stood up and hugged her like the sister he thought of her as. They both sat back down. "Where's Jace anyway?"

"He got called in about 5 minutes before you got here. They found a dead girl washed up on shore down by the docks." Clary pulled the couch blanket over the both of them and pulled up netflix. Alec frowned, that makes the 4th dead body Jace had been called in for in the past three weeks. That was an uptick even for New York. He made a mental note to ask him about it when he got home.

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Magnus put the key in his front door and took a deep breath, immediately calmed by the scent wafting across his nose. Rubbing his eyes heedless of the eyeliner and mascara that he wore, he ran a hand through his hair that had gone flat hours ago. It was well after 3 am and though he dearly loved his club, sometimes he did wish he could clear it out a little more quickly. Though, the night had been better than most as Camille had cleared out after Alec's visit and he hadn't seen her again.

Magnus unbuttoned his cuffs and came to a dead stop in his living room. Someone had been in his house. He could smell it, the faint hint of Irish Spring. What idiot burglar washed with such distinctive, and nasty smelling, soap? Looking around he tried to see if anything was out of order but without his lights he couldn't tell. Was this paranoia? Was there any way to be certain? Damnit, this feeling of utter betrayal and filth reminded him all too well of growing up with Asmodeus.

Magnus settled his nerves and knew that a dark look had overtaken his face. He was not about to let someone invade his goddamn home without doing something about it. Grabbing his phone from his pocket he commanded his home security system to run a report, for Google to turn all of his lights on, and then started a slow walk through his house taking pictures of every room. He'd compare them to the security camera feeds. Whoever had done it was more than likely smart enough to stay off the cameras, but maybe not smart enough to put everything back exactly as it was.

Magnus went to his room and stripped off his shirt and jewelry. He left everything in a pile on the floor, and he grabbed a black t-shirt and slipped it over his head. In the bathroom he wet a towel and washed the make-up off of his face. His last stop was to pick up the memory card from his security system, and head out the door.

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Once Lydia was on board with the idea of finding Alec a husband, she was like a whirlwind of tidal force winds battering against him. It had taken him hours the night before to fill out Lydia's questionnaire. Jace had finally come home and he and Clary had helped fill the packet out, with Jace commenting at least every five minutes "I don't even know half this crap about Clary. Clary motivates you to get out of bed in the morning? Why don't I know this stuff?" And on it went. Until all the questions in the packet were answered and he'd sent it off to Lydia.

She'd asked for another meeting, so here he was taking half a day off work and talking about sex kittens. What the hell?

"Seriously Alec, you need to pick a style. Business man is not a style. It's not what you wear at your most comfortable, and it's not what you wear when you want to go out and meet people. What do you want them to think you are? A gym rat looking for love, a hippie boy, a dandy, a mountain man, a prep, or a playboy or something else. It needs to make you feel sexy, you need to feel confident and comfortable."

"I mean gymrat looking for love would probably be accurate." Alec said hesitantly.

"Oh for gods sake. We're going with the rebel look I think, you do genuinely look good in black and you like leather. We'll add some colorful shirts, but give you a couple of different moto jackets for style." Lydia said thoughtfully as she swiped through her phone.

"What the hell is that, it wasn't even one of the choices!" Alec puts his hands on his hips and frowns.

"Also your hair is going to look great." Lydia said with a snap of the popit on her phone.

"Hairstyle, what hairstyle?"

"Well yeah, google hollywood rebel Alec and they've all got very nice hair. Now come on." Lydia commanded and she grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the barber shop they'd parked in front of. The man that sat them down had a beer in Alec's hand less than a minute after he'd made himself comfortable.

"Jake will be with you in just a few minutes. He'll fix you right up, no worries." Alec nodded along, and watched as a big burly man with a beard made his way over. Jake presumably.

"I'll just have a quick chat with him, you relax."

Alec laid back, and finished his beer before he could say anything another one was in his hand. An hour later and he felt like walking on a cloud. They'd massaged his head. He'd only ever had his hair done at supercuts, when it needed to be done and Jace wasn't available, he'd never been treated to a full head massage in his life. His hair no longer hung over his ears, his part was ambiguous and the man had styled it in a way that Alec would never be able to repeat, but even he had to admit it looked damn good.

Then the torture began. The literal living torture of shopping in the mall with Lydia. Dear god, he should have just asked Magnus he thought. At least he could have whined his way out of it, and Magnus would have brought everything he should buy back to him, he could have paid and been out the damned door. But not Lydia. No Lydia made him walk into each store. She made him pick stuff out, and then she told him why he was wrong until he caught on to what she was doing.

By the end of the shopping trip he knew exactly what kinds of clothes he should and shouldn't buy. To be fair he learned a lot, but to be honest he wanted to curl up on his couch and die. Not to mention he'd basically had to take the day off work for this nonsense.

In the end he realized that she'd kept to his taste. He hadn't picked out anything he didn't like, which was interesting because he'd never attempted to dress himself in a way that he really wanted. As they wound down, Lydia grabbed his phone out of his hand.

"The last thing I'm going to have you do is go here. I'm not going with you as it's a personal thing, but I think….from personal experience...that if you buy a few things from here you won't be disappointed." She handed his phone back with a sly grin.

Alec took it back warily and his eyes nearly fell out of his head at the website. "I can't."

"It never hurts to try, and you are trying to step out of your comfort zone a little right. Anyway, are you going to put on something nice and head to a club now?"

"I hadn't really thought about it. Maybe."

"I've heard Pandemonium is good. Do you dance?" She asked casually.

"I mean yea kinda, and yes Pandemonium is good."

"Do you think you'll go out tonight?"

"Maybe, not sure." Alec didn't really want to go out alone.

"Well keep in mind, sometimes once you get started, it's easier to let the ball keep rolling." Lydia said sagely.

Alec shrugged. Maybe she was right. "Alright I'll think about it. I don't really know how to act like a rebel though…"

Lydia cut him off, "Oh no Alec it's just a clothing style, not a personality. You do you, be yourself so you don't even have to worry about it."

"That didn't work before."

"Well hun, you weren't really trying before. Now you are, and trust me...people will notice."

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Alec paused at the entrance to the club. After careful deliberation he'd decided that he could do this alone, at least for tonight. He really just wanted to see what kind of reaction his new look got. Lydia had been right, he'd never really tried before. He'd never done anything more than throw his picture up on a dating app. Alec drew in a breath and pushed his way into the club, waving at Maia and Meliorn as he made his way to one of the seating areas on the side of the bar.

Maia leaned over and pushed a drink in his direction. They knew each other well enough that she knew his label without asking. Even though this was not his preferred drinking spot, she and Jace were really good friends. She winked at his nod, and went back to her other customers. The crowd was pretty lively tonight, the bar full and the dance floor was packed. Colored lights strobed around the room, and the beat music was on point. It was a huge bone of contention in their household, but Alec adored club music. Izzy liked rap and Jace liked rock, they both gave him hell for his adoration of pop music, but Alec didn't care.

He took stock of the men in the room and realized belatedly that he fit right in. He was neither over or under dressed for the place, and that set him at ease. A tall red headed man with wide shoulders caught his eye, then he made his way over with a drink in his hand.

"Hello!" He said loudly over the music.

"Hey" Alec replied.

"You here with someone?" He asked, leaning casually against the bar beside Alec.

Holy shit. The man was trying to pick him up, and Alec had done nothing more than sit at the damn bar. "Yeah." He lied just in case he needed to make a quick exit.

The man looked him up and down, "You dance?"

Alec arched his brow and shrugged. Why the hell not. He knew how, you couldn't be friends with Clary or Izzy's brother without knowing. So he followed the man onto the dance floor.

"Name's Nick." He said as he slid in close to Alec.

"Alec."

"You been here before man, don't think I've seen you."

Alec shook his head and frowned a bit on the inside. This guy came here enough to know the regulars, good lord.

Nick turned his head, and his distraction was apparently all that was needed because a stocky blonde guy slipped right in to take his place. "What the hell Paul, go away I asked him first." Nick growled.

Paul, with 0 shame, shrugged and grinned at Alec, "You should pay more attention to your dates Nick." With those words he swirled Alec away, and he couldn't help but grin over the guys shoulder. Alec danced for another hour, moving from partner to partner. Weston, Bill, and Josh. Josh had handed him off to Val, and Alec was finally winding down.

"Sorry buddy, I need a break."

"No problem, let me buy you a drink. Beer, wine…?" Alec considered him, he had a shaved head, dark brows and stubble on his face, with an earring in his left ear. He wasn't unattractive, but not really Alec's type.

"Just water."

"Ah come on let me get you something." Val cajoled.

Alec felt a tingle in his spine and shrugged. "I'm good really."

"A coke then." Val said eagerly.

Alec watched the man closely as he said yes, something about him was triggering a sense of something. He couldn't put his finger on it, but the man rubbed him all the wrong ways.

He turned into the crowd to go to the bar, and Alec watched him go. Distracted as he was by watching Val, he missed the surge in people around the dance floor. They shuffled him aside when a man slung an arm around Alec's waist and said "let's dance".

Alec startled and let his defense training take over, his hand had the other guys bent backwards and his heel in the guys foot before he'd taken another step. It was a simple thing to continue the move and push the guy to the ground like he was going to put cuffs on him. Well shit he thought.

The man yelled, and the dance floor went nuts. People falling all over other people, someone took exception to someone else, and from one minute to the next an all out club fight had started. Alec sighed. A tidal wave of bodies began to flow around him, so he followed the mass exodus of the club. A cool hand wrapped around his wrist and jerked him backwards out of the crowd and up by the bar into one of the first floor offices. Well this was humiliating he thought.

His face burning he turned to apologize to what he thought was the bouncer, but instead he was staring down at Magnus. The apology froze on his tongue. The sound of breaking glass could be heard beyond the door and he winced.

"Well well darling, twice in one week. You want to tell me what exactly you're doing here, and why you started a brawl on my dance floor?" Magnus said calmly.

"I can explain." He said a little nervously. No one knew but Lydia, Jace, and Clary. To tell Magnus what he was doing would be embarrassing as hell.

"Oh, well lay it on me then, in the space of less than 30 seconds you started a brawl and nearly arrested a man. Not bad for your first solo outing here, warn me next time and I'll be sure to stay home." Magnus said with an almost growl.

Alec winced. Magnus really didn't like people messing with his club. "Honestly it was an accident. That man grabbed me from behind and I was distracted. I just reacted, I really didn't mean to Magnus."

Magnus rubbed his forehead, and it was right then that Alec noticed Magnus was off. He wasn't wearing eyeliner and his usual jewelry was nowhere to be seen. He was also wearing just a t-shirt and jeans. What the fuck. "Hey are you okay?" He stepped forward almost raising his hand to his face to check Magnus' eyes, but pulled himself back when he quickly reminded himself he didn't have the right.

Magnus looked up with a wan smile. "Just tired. I stayed at Izzy's last night and I haven't had a chance to get back home so I'm wearing yesterday's clothes. I was headed up to my office to change when I saw you on the dance floor."

Alec accepted his explanation. "Thanks for pulling me out of the crowd. I suppose I should deal with the sirens I hear coming this way."

Magnus looked surprised. "Would you?"

"Of course, god it was my fault." Alec shook his head. "You go on up and get changed, I'll take care of everything." Magnus gave him another wan smile, and turned around to head up the stairs in the back. That was it, something wasn't right and Alec was going to find out what. He shot a text off to Izzy asking for what she knew. He'd deal with this, go home, and tomorrow by god he was going to sit Magnus down and figure this shit out. Alec didn't like unsolved mysteries, and whatever was bothering Magnus was bothering him. With that decision made, he headed out to the bar to wait on the NYPD.