A/N: Okay, so this might not be the happiest chapter ever, but you know what they say... Things always gets worse before they get better, right? Gotta enter the tunnel before you see the light at the end of it... So, this is us entering the tunnel... Fasten your seatbelts.
Chapter 10 – The Devil's Plan
As soon as they landed and the portal vanished behind them, Magnus extended his arm and snapped his fingers to perform a locator spell. Nothing happened. Magnus waved his hand and still nothing. He felt panic take over him.
"That's not going to work here." Magnus heard Valentine's sly voice. Magnus let his arm drop and turned to Valentine.
"Why did you bring me to this…." He looked around the tall, dark rocky hall to define the place better "…this godforsaken hell hole, if I can't use my magic?" he asked infuriated
"You can use your magic. Just not here," Valentine replied coldly. "We've made a great deal of effort to prepare this place for you."
Magnus understood what he was saying. They had used demon energy to block his magic. Some demons had the ability to isolate an area from magic. Only a handful of demons could do such a thing, a handful of very powerful demons and the fact that Valentine had gone through such extreme measures to get him there told Magnus that he was dead serious about whatever he wanted him to do for him.
Magnus took a better look at the place. The rocky walls were irregular and quite tall and the air was dense. There were no windows, so Magnus had no idea whether it was day or night. The hall was lit by some torches hanging on the walls. The whole place was just depressing and the fire light gave it a gloomy effect. No one else was around. Magnus felt like he was in a crypt. He pointed up at the ceiling.
"Are we underground?" he grimaced in frustration. They could be anywhere in the world, but he figured they must be in some sort of cave. Magnus hated caves. They made him feel like a prisoner.
Oh, the irony of that… Don't you just love being an actual prisoner in a cave, Magnus?
"It doesn't matter where we are. Now follow me," Valentine said as he turned into a corridor that, up until now, had gone unnoticed by Magnus.
They walked into a larger hall, just as gloomy as the one they arrived in, only this one was filled with Shadowhunters. This hall seemed to be the headquarters to Valentine's army. As they passed through, unfriendly looks were directed at Magnus. He avoided eye contact as much as he could, but there were too many of them so he tried giving out a shy smile every now and then. But that wasn't helping. Most Shadowhunters just looked cold and unapproachable, but more than a few looked at him either with repugnance or pure hatred.
Boy, this is going to be fun, Magnus thought bitterly as he followed Valentine through the crowd.
"That's an awful lot of Shadowhunters," Magnus allowed himself to comment once they reached their destination – a private, but dark corner that led to another corridor.
"And there is more," Valentine replied and faced Magnus cockily.
"So what is it that you want from me exactly?" Magnus opened the game. He wanted to show strength. He noticed, with relief, that it was much easier to think now that Alec wasn't near him anymore. He had to keep his head together if he hoped to escape one day.
"I want you to create a portal big enough to contain every single member of the Downworld." Valentine was straight to the point.
"You want to send the Downworlders through a portal? That's your big plan?" Magnus wasn't sure this made any sense. "You know, there has to be something behind a portal. Can't just send people into nothing." Magnus shook his hand to showcase his last phrase and raised an eyebrow.
"They are not people." He paused for a moment. "I'm sorry, I meant you are not people," Valentine said with a smirk. "And I'm aware of that. Which is why I also need you to create a place for them to stay in. Something… agonizing for all of eternity."
"Well… if that's the case, I wish you had said that earlier. It could have saved us a lot of time and trouble. Because I can't help you," Magnus said angrily.
"I think you could at least try. I've heard such incredible things about you, Magnificent Bane. Especially, about how your father, being a Greater Demon, grants you special powers. Or is it all just lies?" Valentine said too smoothly for Magnus's taste. He definitely wasn't letting Magnus's anger get to him.
Magnus's father was a Greater Demon, which did make him more powerful than most warlocks. And while in any other situation he would have been flattered to be called 'Magnificent Bane', hearing it from Valentine just made him sick and furious.
"At best, I can create portals to places I know that exist. I can't make up a whole new dimension of hell! You need a demon for that," Magnus spat the words out to Valentine. He was really getting mad now.
"I could never trust demons with something so important. I need this portal to be one way only. Get the Downworlders in… "He paused, smirking. "…and close it forever."
And who said you can trust me? Magnus tried to clear his head of the angry thoughts and took a deep breath before answering.
"I'm sorry to disappoint you. I'm just one very humble half-demon. I'm afraid what you have in mind is... beyond me." He gave a little bow at the last two words.
"I'm just not powerful enough," Magnus said calmly like he was explaining how to tie shoelaces to a five year-old.
"I suspected you would say that," Valentine said after a few seconds of silence. "So we prepared a little… treat for you. Something to strengthen your powers."
Valentine nodded to the end of the corridor and started walking, gesturing Magnus to follow him without bothering to look at him.
I do not like the sound of that, Magnus thought apprehensively as he followed Valentine through the corridor.
Entering the room at the end of the corridor, Magnus's eyes fell on a rather disturbing scene. There was a considerably large pentagram drawn on the surprisingly flat floor, with four Downworlders and a Shadowhunter chained by the leg at each point of it. The Downworlders consisted of a werewolf, a vampire, a faerie and a young female warlock he remembered helping years ago. The Shadowhunter was Hodge Starkweather. The werewolf was apparently unconscious, but the rest of them blearily raised their eyes at Magnus in surprise. None of them were expecting to see him here.
As Magnus observed the scene, a terrible sensation creeped up on him like poison. He knew what Valentine wanted him to do. But he couldn't do it. He wasn't capable of doing something so evil. He got goose bumps from fear as he turned to Valentine.
"No," he objected, his voice not as firm as he had planned.
"You said it yourself. You don't have enough power to create that portal for me. So this is your chance to get more power," Valentine said a matter-of-fact tone.
"I am not going to assassinate innocent people!" Magnus fumed at Valentine.
"Well, the choice is yours, of course. But remember, if you refuse to do this you'll be breaking our contract. You wouldn't want to sacrifice you beloved Alec's life just after saving him, would you?" Valentine said with a sly smile.
"Let me try first," Magnus said with despair dripping from his voice. "If it doesn't work, we'll do it your way." He slowed down and took a deep breath. "Maybe I underestimated myself. There's a first time for everything." Magnus forced a smile on his face hoping he could convince Valentine.
"No. You can live with your morals intact or with the knowledge that the person you love survives. But you can't have both," Valentine answered harshly.
Magnus's weak smile died hearing those words. He let his guard down for the first time since he'd followed Valentine through the portal and a shiver of fear took over his body. Magnus had never used his magic for such a terrible purpose. Taking away people's lives and using their souls to create more magic was an abominable act and he wanted no part in it. But he couldn't let Alec pay the price for his morality either. This was a terrible, terrible choice.
"You can't do this to us," Hodge whispered suddenly. He was in a terrible state, he was barely standing, his clothes were dirty like he had been in them for weeks, and the wound where his hand was cut off looked infected. The dim light gave the scenery an especially gloomy touch, and Magnus averted his eyes.
"Oh, Hodge." Valentine walked around the circle of prisoners as he spoke. "You know you would have spent the rest of your life in prison for betraying the Clave. That would have been such a waste… At least your life will serve a higher purpose now," Valentine said as he completed the circle and got back to Magnus.
"Magnus…" the warlock woman begged, "Please, help us."
Magnus closed his eyes in despair. He begged the Universe to help him out, to do something, anything to avoid this. He did not want to kill those people. When he signed the contract he knew Valentine wouldn't ask him to summon any fluffy unicorns, but he didn't expect being forced to hurt people.
He took a deep breath and thought of Alec and how he wanted to go back to him. Life was so unfair, separating them before they even had the chance to be happy together. Magnus knew it couldn't simply end here. He needed to go back to Alec and let them take their chance at happiness, because they both deserved it.
Magnus opened his eyes as he finally gathered up the courage he needed.
I'm so sorry, he thought as he lit up a blue magic ball in his hand and watched it slowly turn to purple and then gradually intensify to bright red. His magic worked just fine in here. He channeled his inner demon, despite how much he hated doing it. As he looked up at the terrified prisoners with glowing yellow eyes, the warlock woman let out a hopeless scream and Magnus lashed out at her first, out of mercy, so she wouldn't have to witness him kill the others.
He took them out one by one and a piece of him died with each life he took. He knew he would have to live with their screams in his head forever. He stored up their souls in his demon part, knowing that his own soul would never be the same again.
Magnus hated Valentine for making him do this, this horrendous crime, and he swore he would take his revenge by any means necessary.
A/N: Thanks for reading! Please review, it means a lot to me! :)