*-*-*-*-*-*SlightlyEvilMagnusUniverse*-*-*-*-*-*
Chapter 4-
A Glimpse of Light in the Darkness
Magnus takes the Detectives to the occult shop,
Notes:
1st half of the chapter…
*~********~*~********~* Alec-Alec-Alec-Alec-Alec *~********~*~********~*Okay, so this case started with people turning up with no visible cause of death covered in bizarre 'angelic' brands.
'Normal' wasn't ever really gonna apply to this…
Still, going to an occult shop with a ridiculously pretty, almost certainly equally ridiculously dangerous club owner and his partner babbling incessantly about his favorite shows trying to help Alec 'catch up' with them…
Yeah, he really didn't see this one coming.
He really didn't know what to expect from an 'occult shop', much less the person who ran it. Walking past the storefront he glanced over curiously, the window and top half of the front door had plywood boards covering them. He felt a wave of anger at whoever did this. Regardless of how worried they were about the killings, they had no right to take out their anger on some poor girls livelihood, just because it was a bit odd and they got the crazy idea some supernatural boogeyman was behind it.
Magnus was right about one thing- she was way too forgiving. Even if she didn't want to file a report, after they got the murder cases dealt with he was still going to look into who was behind this. No way they should get away with it. Being 'scared' of something doesn't excuse violence and destruction.
Magnus led them around the side of the building to an odd, purple metal door, reaching up, wrapping quickly.
Simon tilted his head
"I've never seen a purple fire exit"
Magnus chuckled, shrugging
"Clarissa is rather unique; she said this color has a better energy."
Alec quirked his eyebrow, but said nothing,
She ran an occult shop and was close friends with Magnus…unique was probably the nicest way to put it.
"So w-" Simon began but was cut off by the door opening
A cute, perky young woman opened the door, bounding out wrapping her arms around Magnus hugging him tight, standing on tiptoes pressing a quick kiss to his cheek. He chuckled, pressing a light kiss to her cheek in return.
"Hey Biscuit"
"Hi Mag's, thanks so much for this."
He shook his head, giving her a surprisingly soft, affectionate smile
"Anything for you sweetheart, you know that."
Huh…
Okay…not what he was expecting…
She was somewhat short, in a light pink tank top with a smiley face and faded, denim Capri's decorated with hand painted flowers and a sparkly silver anklet dotted with charms, the young woman was barefoot with a bright smile and a mess of brilliant red hair pulled into a messy bun.
She pulled back from Magnus, looking over at the two detectives giving a slight wave and a brilliant smile,
"Hi, sorry I'm such a mess, I have a few projects I've been working on for an art show next month, I kinda got sidetracked, but I am totally good with helping you guys with the case. I know this whole occult, supernatural, magic thing is kinda odd and confusing for a lot of people, especially serious, by the book detectives, but I promise, whatever this is, we'll figure it out…
Oh! I'm Clary by the way." She trailed off, bouncing lightly in place…
Alec blinked, looking from the bright, cheery, girl over to his partner, before glancing up at Magnus, giving him a worried look, seemingly asking if he saw it too.
Magnus's eyebrows rose, he chuckled, giving a slight shrug,
"Sweetheart, this is Detective Alec Lightwood and his partner Detective Simon Lewis. I think you'll get along quite well."
"Hey." Alec offered, still glancing between the two nervously,
Simon gave a bright smile, and a slightly geeky wave, before moving forward, taking her hand, shaking it quickly,
"Hi Clary, it's great to meet you. Thanks so much for helping us we'd be totally lost without it. Alec's knowledge of the occult and the supernatural is pretty much non-existent and mine is basically every fantasy show from the last decade or so…
Probably not the most accurate source."
She tilted her head, giving a slight, curious smile, shrugging
"Actually sometimes they get surprisingly close…you might be more prepared than you think."
She moved to the side holding the door open, gesturing into the shop
"Well, no sense hanging around out here…come on in guys, we have sigils to look up and a murderer to track down, no time to waste."
Simon practically bounded in, nearly bouncing, seemingly trying to take in everything at once, Magnus and Alec followed at a more normal pace.
Alec raised his eyebrow, looking around…
Hmm…
Once again, not what he was expecting
When he heard 'occult' shop he'd been expecting dark, gothic, emo kind of things…lots of black…
That was most definitely not this place…
Everything was bright, cheery and welcoming. Crystals, statues, stones and various talismans littered every surface. He'd be willing to bet it was stunning with the windows clear, the light streaming in.
Over the faint sent of fresh paint he could smell something spicy, warm and pleasant.
He could kind of see why Magnus liked the place so much.
Clary led them over to the counter with the register. It was piled high with an assortment of books, looking behind the counter there was actually an entire wall filled with shelves covered with a huge assortment of books some looking like they were bought yesterday, others looking as if they may fall apart if touched. There were even a few things that looked remarkably like scrolls of some kind.
She reached over, lightly patting the stack of books on the counter, shrugging.
"When Mag's said what you'd found I figured I'd pull what I had on sigils…I mean, I'm sure there's more there, but these are the most thorough…it's a good place to start anyways.
So…why don't we get right to it; what did you guys find?"
Well, the girl seems a bit unusual…and really looked far too young to be into all this, but at least she was professional,
Simon gave her a bright smile nodding quickly. He settled in next to her, pulling his phone out pulling up the photos he took of the symbols, pointing them out-
"Yeah see…we found these on the alley walls, we don't know what they are b-"
"Enchantment runes." She said, reaching up, resting her hand on the phone, bright green eyes sharply focused, finger tracing the symbol, she shook her head softly
Alec startled faintly, blinking
"You recognize them?"
She sighed, giving a slight nod, glancing at the detectives,
"There were six in all, right?"
Alec nodded slowly
She sighed, reaching under the counter pulling out a sketchbook placing it on the table, snagging a black pen out of a cup sitting on the edge of the register…
"Let me guess, two on either side one on the back wall and one somewhere near the entrance of the alley…something like this?" she swiftly sketched out the three walls, putting quick little hash marks indicating the symbols.
Simon tilted his head, eyes widening slightly,
"Yeah…h-how'd you know that?"
"The placing has meaning…"
She took the pen; connecting the marks… it created a six pointed star…
Simon groaned,
"Ah crap…I'm guessing that's not a Star of David…right?"
She gave a surprised laugh, shaking her head
"Umm…no…It's a hexagram…though they are similar at a glance, they have very different meanings. The hexagram is very powerful in spells. It's the only way the spell would work. Enchantment runes, when placed in a hexagram are said to create a kind of field within them. When someone crosses over the barrier they would be under the sway of whoever created the markings.
Covens as well as individual practitioners use them as a way to combine and amplify their powers. The symbol itself is not inherently evil…but it does have a pretty well established place in dark rituals.
The six points symbolize the four elements, the sun and the moon…there's a lot of power in th-"
Simon gasped, eyes wide,
"Wait…"
The other three startled, looking over at him,
"What is it? Do you have something?" Alec asked
Simon shook his head,
"I-I don't know…maybe…" he paused, glancing over at Clary,
"Do you by any chance have a map of the city somewhere around here?"
She thought a second before nodding quickly,
"Yeah, in the back, let me go grab it." she turned, quickly making her way across the shop, slipping through the door.
Magnus turned to him, tilting his head,
"What are you thinking darling?"
He shook his head,
"I'm not sure…it might be nothing…hopefully it's nothing, really don't think it's the kinda answers Luke's hoping for and it's a long shot anyways, but…okay, so we couldn't figure out why the killer led Decker three blocks away to a certain alley…
All of the killings are spread out all around the city. Around the edges of the city-"
"Found it!" Clary called, bounding back into the room, spreading it out on the counter, pushing the books to the side, glancing back up at Simon, tilting her head,
"So what-?"
Alec sighed, giving a faint shrug before looking over the map,
"This morning we found another body; there's been six in all. We couldn't figure out why the killer would lead the victim three blocks to a seemingly random alley. We have reason to believe the locations are chosen first, as it doesn't seem too likely after murdering the victim they'd hang around to create the markings."
She blinked,
"So, you're thinking the locations might line up the same way as the enchantment runes?"
He shrugged, glancing back at the map.
The four leaned closer,
"Okay, the victim this morning was found…here…at 1098 Rocklin Way." He paused glancing over at Clary, hesitantly reaching over for a marker,
"Can I?"
She nodded, waving him forward. Simon gave her a slight, grateful smile, before turning back to the map. He put a mark indicating the alleyway. Hand moving searching for the spot from yesterday.
"2443 Bay Parkway… before that 466 4th avenue. 9339 Ocean Parkway. 6556 Hoyt Street. And the first was at 7227 Marine Avenue…" he plotted them on the map
Clary leaned closer, picking up a bright red marker, connecting the marks, before moving back a bit…
"Uh…"
"Damnit…I was REALLY hoping I'd be wrong." Simon sighed, shaking his head, looking up at the others.
Magnus shook his head
"Well…it does answer a few questions we had. We know why they chose the locations. And I get the feeling if the locations were chosen for a specific reason the same would go for the victims." He glanced up at the others, raising his eyebrow,
"If it was just the location that mattered surely there had to be someone closer they could have taken. Decker was three blocks away and likely getting ready to leave…there had to have been easier targets."
Alec nodded
"I think you're right. All the victims were similar body types, similar dress, similar appearance. None of them had even been drinking, and all of them were more than capable of defending themselves. There had to be easier targets.
The victims definitely didn't seem random."
The collective group looked back at the map, the garish red hexagram nearly seeming to glow.
Damnit…he knew Luke wanted them to come up with answers but somehow he doesn't think this was going to really cut down on the public's nerves.
Yeah…this really wasn't good…
"Well…it's some answers…doubt Luke will be happy with this, but there has to be a reasonable answer." Simon offered, looking over the others,
Magnus and Alec nodded hesitantly,
Clary gasped, eyes widening,
"Oh…damnit…"
The three looked over in apprehension,
"What is it?" Alec finally asked with a resigned sigh,
She gave an apologetic look, shaking her head,
"You didn't call me about enchantment runes…"
Magnus nodded glancing over at Simon who flipped through the photos on his phone, pulling up the Summoning sigil, holding it out for her to see. She leaned in, looking it over, tilting her head, squinting,
"Huh…I don't recognize the language…it's similar to a few that I know, but I've never seen it before. Magnus was right though; it's definitely a summoning sigil; there's a few things that are kinda universal. I would guess it's very old…usually very old means very powerful." She paused, glancing over the two detectives,
"You guys really need to be careful. These kinds of forces really shouldn't be messed with. Whoever is using this is combining the hexagram with the summoning sigil…using it to amplify it."
She tilted her head, glancing over at Magnus,
"Why would someone do that?"
He shrugged
"I don't know…I actually have never seen this before…"
"Well, that's concerning…" Clary muttered,
Huh…talk about concerning…
Alec glanced at the two,
"Why is that?"
Magnus and Clary seemed to freeze for a moment,
"Well; I've had a pretty interesting life, traveled quite a lot and have a great deal of interest in learning about different cultures and customs…especially the very unique, quirky, kind of out there things.
Coming across something I've never heard of really is quite unusual." Magnus offered easily, giving a slight shrug,
Hmm…that was mostly the truth, but Alec got the feeling there was more to it than that…
Still…he had told Magnus he wouldn't ask…
Alec sighed,
"Okay, so if it's something neither of you have heard of it must be something pretty rare. Clary, do you think you can look into it more for us, see if you can find anything about this kind of thing…about what combining the two things would do?" he paused
"I have to be honest; I don't believe in this stuff, but clearly whoever is behind this does. If we can figure out what they're trying to do maybe we can figure out where they'll strike next, and how to catch them."
Clary nodded,
"Yes, of course I will; like I said, anything I can do."
"Thank you; we really do appreciate the help." He gave her a faint smile, reaching forward, clasping her hand,
She froze a moment, inhaling sharply, swallowing, eyes suddenly wide and bright, she shook her head faintly,
"Oh…" Clary squeezed his hand, lingering a moment, looking up, meeting his eyes, gaze wide and almost fearful,
"Are you-"
"Please be very careful detective. There's a lot of danger around you…a lot of darkness."
Alec shook his head, tugging his hand away, shrugging,
"Umm…yeah, uh…I do work as a detective, a lot of my job involves danger…I'm usually pretty careful."
She tilted her head, looking him over slowly,
"Not like this…this case is different. Please just be careful?
A-actually…wait, just a sec," she turned from him moving quickly across the shop,
Alec leaned a bit closer to Magnus,
"Umm, I-is she okay?" he asked, glancing over, before startling at the suddenly concerned look Magnus was giving him.
"Uh, are you okay?"
Magnus shook his head faintly,
"Clarissa is quite alright…but the girl does have a bit of a gift, she's quite intuitive. If she has a sense or a feeling about something I take it very seriously. I do hope you will be careful darling..."
Alec huffed, giving him a slight smile,
"Magnus; I'm a detective…I know how to protect myself…"
"So did all the victims." Simon said quietly,
Alec startled, looking up at his partner in surprise,
"Simon, don't tell me you believe this?"
He sighed, shrugging,
"Dude; we're currently in an occult shop looking up information on enchantment runes and Summoning sigils in connection to six bizarre murders who's locations form a hexagram…
I'd say if the owner of an occult shop says she feels bad energy or whatever around you maybe it wouldn't hurt to take a few precautions…."
Alec scoffed disbelievingly,
"What kind of 'precautions' can I take against 'bad energy'?" he asked sarcastically, gesturing slightly,
"This for a start…" Clary interrupted, moving back towards them, carrying something held tightly in her hand,
She stopped right in front of Alec, opening her hand, revealing a rather odd necklace. It was clean and simple looking on a simple black leather chord, a smooth black stone with an unusual smattering of symbols inlayed in a pear green stone that caught and nearly shimmered in the light. She held it out to him.
Alec shook his head faintly,
"Umm…I'm not really a jewelry person…" he paused, glancing up
"No offense Magnus…" the man in question shrugged, looking over the stone with interest, before shifting his gaze up to Alec,
"None taken, but I do wish you would wear it. The symbols are a combination of Sumatran and Gaelic protection symbols, they are thought to be quite powerful…besides it's practically made for you, it even matches your beautiful eyes."
Alec blushed, shaking his head, glancing back at Clary,
"That's very nice of you, but honestly; I don't believe in this kinda thing…"
She shook her head,
"You don't have to believe in Magic for it to work…
Just humor me… What can it possibly hurt?" she gave him a hopeful, near pleading look. Glancing over, catching Magnus and Simon's concerned looks,
He gave a faint huff of a sigh,
"Why do I get the feeling you guys won't let up until I agree?"
Magnus smirked, raising his eyebrow,
"Because as I said earlier, you are as clever as you are gorgeous."
He shook his head, before glancing over at Clary, raising his eyebrow,
"I'll wear the necklace…you see if you can find why someone would be combining a hexagram with a summoning sigil?"
She grinned brightly, giving a sharp determined nod,
"Deal."
Seriously…how is this his life?
Alec sighed once more resigned, extending his hand…
Clary beamed, moving forward quickly, dropping it into his hand. He lifted it, slipping it over his head, tucking it into his shirt, before looking back at the other three.
"There, happy?"
Magnus, Simon and Clary nodded,
Alec nodded back,
"Okay great…so I have my Magic protection necklace, Clary is going to continue to look into the symbols, why don't we search the other scenes for enchantment runes and the summoning sigil…and I think that is the strangest sentence I've ever said…" he finished, shaking his head.
Simon flashed him a quick smile,
"Not even close to mine…"
Alec groaned,
Magic protection necklaces, occult shops, enchantment runes, summoning sigils and Hexagrams…
Next to this 'Angelic Protection Allergy' was sounding more ordinary by the minute.
*~********~*~********~* Simon-Simon-Simon-Simon-Simon *~********~*~********~*Oh my god, Magnus was SO freaking cool!
Yes, that sounded like an overexcited, screeching fanboy but it was totally warranted.
It was so hard pretending not to see the magic, not to just gawk like an idiot or say 'ooh, pretty!'
He really should be fairly used to this; I mean he's been able to see Supernaturals and Magic and all that since he was eleven. That's over fifteen years he's been able to hide his reactions to the things he'd see, stay calm and seem totally clueless to all the things that are supposed to be invisible to humans.
Hiding his reactions from normal humans, from Supernaturals, from his parents…
He has a LOT of practice okay?
But geez…
Magnus is just on a whole different level. He's been around warlocks before, and you can usually see a bit of their power, but Magnus's just blew all of them out of the water. It wasn't just a bit of a flicker; it was like the man radiated power. He was certain even normal humans had to be able to feel it at least to an extent, even if they didn't know what the hell it was they had to feel at least a bit of 'something' from this dude.
The way his magic reacted, changed flickered and shimmered was unlike anything Simon had ever seen. Magnus's magic was almost like a living thing, truly like an extension of himself. It ebbed and flowed: at times almost unnoticeable to the eye, though you could still feel it. Other times it'd spike up, flickering like a brilliant violet flame, licking at the air. Then there was how it looked when he was purposely wielding it, like when he was baiting Alec...
Oh man!
It would crackle and spark like lightning, the energy absolutely radiating from him. His brilliant gold feline eyes would shimmer, flash and flicker, at times he swears they were actually glowing.
It was nearly mesmerizing…
He'd never seen anything like it. He couldn't imagine what he'd look like truly angry, ready to fight...
Woah, that was a scary thought
Not long after they got to the most recent Scene was the first time he'd actually truly seen Magnus in action; it'd taken near everything he had not to just stare dumbfounded. He'd moved a bit away from Alec and Simon, making a few subtle, graceful gestures, magic flickering up, trailing up his arms, his eyes flickered, slit pupils dilating rapidly. Magnus tilted his head, the movement seeming unusual, not quite human, gaze roaming the alley, seemingly seeing through everything, almost appearing to be in a trance.
Simon tried to keep Alec's attention as long as he could, though all he wanted to do is just watch the warlock work, he'd never seen anything even remotely like what he was doing…it was just absolutely astounding. Still, they needed the case solved and Magnus had already found something everyone else had missed, Simon really wanted to give him a chance to find anything and everything he possibly could.
He'd kept Alec's focus for as long as he could but there were only so many things to examine in the fairly small, narrow alley. After the first hour he was running out of ideas…he hated interrupting Magnus's focus, but when he'd seen him kneel down, he couldn't help being curious. Just as they'd reached his side he saw the flicker of magic as he blew the dust, revealing something on the ground.
A Summoning Sigil…
Yeah, 'not good' was about the understatement of the century.
He was SO glad they had Magnus's help on this; he wouldn't even know where to begin to deal with somebody summoning anything. For once he wasn't lying, the only things he knew about dealing with summoning was what he saw on TV shows.
He really didn't know what they'd do without Magnus and Clary's help. And really meeting her was almost as cool as meeting Magnus!
He'd never heard of a warlock who actually ran an occult shop; usually they were quite guarded about their Magic and expected others to do the same. Simon would wager her shop probably got her quite a bit of flack from other warlocks, though he could definitely see why Magnus liked her so much. She was so kind, bright and bubbly. Her shop was beautiful; stepping into it felt like home, totally welcoming and peaceful.
He was a bit worried about her reaction to Alec…as well as Magnus's comment about her being quite 'intuitive'. Simon had heard rumors that there were some warlocks that where somewhat clairvoyant, though he'd thought it was just that; rumors. Still her reaction to Alec, as well as Magnus reaction to Alec made him wonder.
If she was clairvoyant he'd really have to be on guard…which really sucked, she seemed awesome and he really wanted nothing more than to go back to the shop and talk to her more.
Kevin was the only one who knew what he really was, the only person who really knew what all he could see. He was awesome, absolutely amazing…the best friend anyone could ever hope for. They'd been best friends since they were seven years old, he'd be totally lost without him.
Hell, if it weren't for him he'd of probably ended up thinking he was crazy when he started to see Supernaturals…or worse yet asking his parents about it…
Yeah…that would have been REALLY bad…
Still he would love to be able to talk to a warlock about magic, symbols, spells and all of that- once again, he wasn't lying when he said he was a nerd. He found all that stuff fascinating, but most warlocks didn't discuss that kind of thing with anyone but other warlocks.
Clearly Clary wasn't 'Most Warlocks'. Probably one of the reasons Magnus liked her so much.
They'd left the shop hours ago, heading back to the other crime scenes. So far they'd been to three more. At every one of them they'd found the enchantment runes as well as the Summoning sigil. Magnus had pointed out a few other marks; nothing major some scuffs in the dirt, a few marks that looked like maybe someone had sat or kneeled down.
There was one thing that seemed really odd. At the second scene, behind a stack of plywood scraps he found a broken charm from a key chain. It looked like a silver wing.
That was one of the few new things they found, other than the marks it was really all the same at the other scenes. Still it was progress. He was really thinking this case might finally turn in their favor…
Having Magnus on the case really was amazing…he really couldn't imagine anything better tha-
"Hello detective Lewis."
Simon startled, whirling around, the other man taking a step back, holding his hands up a bit.
"Sorry, I did not mean to startle you." Raphael offered with a faint, apologetic smile.
Okay…maybe he could imagine something better…
*~********~*~********~* _End Of Chapter Notes_ *~********~*~********~*Sorry for the rather abrupt ending but I really want Raphael's perspective…and I know there was like NO progression, but I had to have Simon Fanboying a bit
Anyways…
So…I kind of have this little thing in my head as to why Magnus is seemingly so much more powerful than most other warlocks…
Maybe there are different ways a warlock can come to be,
It's parents could both be warlocks (Which…duh)
OR
One of its parents is a anywhere from a mid level to a greater demon (the other parent could either be human or some type of supernatural.)
-I figure all Warlocks come from a demon and something else at some point in their bloodline, but the closer to the demon ancestor the more powerful they are-
I'm thinking the first group is what you get most often, as Calon tywyll has been blocked from the human world for over a millennia, and most midlevel+ demons can't pass through.
(I have a whole complicated background 'thing' thought up as to how Magnus ended up in the human world and all of that but we're probably not going to get all that right away…have to save SOMETHING for the second season)
I'm also thinking of maybe having his mom be another type of supernatural- either a warlock or some type of Fae and pretty powerful in her own right- and honestly I don't know if in the show's history she was duped into not knowing the father of her baby was a demon or if there was some *other* tragic, uncomfortable thing in play but I'm not doing anything like that.
She knew what she was doing; she knew who/what he was…
And I'll say right now, I'm not gonna have the whole tragic back story they have in the show for him because…seriously, I don't want to write about someone killing themselves because they couldn't stand what their kid was…
That's just messed up on SO many levels…
So we're gonna have a very different back story…apologies to anyone who'd actually miss that, but…uh…my universe, my rules
Anyways I think my back story will work quite well, be interesting and, you know, unlike canon not totally soul crushing…
Okay, enough of my random rambling…
What did you think of the ACTUAL story?
*-*-*-*-*-*SlightlyEvilMagnusUniverse*-*-*-*-*-*
* 31 *