Magnus crunched along amongst the pretty fallen tones of russet and golden brown. Autumn in New York was always lovely and he was feeling particularly joyful today. The season had descended rather early, but for that Magnus was glad – the wedding pictures would look extraordinary.

The great door to the Institute opened easily for him now, as if the building itself knew well enough now he was a permanent fixture rather than a visitor. He had once thought he would hate living at an Institute, but it turned out that he rather enjoyed it. Obviously, he had made a few minor modifications, mainly for his own sanity, such as the addition of a television. He had convinced Alec that he had 'magically' made it so they could pick up an astonishing number of channels, when in reality he had rigged it so they now got free cable with the help of an Ifrit called Donald who knew about these things. But what the Shadowhunters didn't know didn't hurt them. He was still working on them to let him run internet cables into the building.

Magnus had once believed that living with Alec in such a busy place as an Institute would be detrimental to their relationship, but he had been pleasantly surprised that the hustle and bustle suited them quite well. He would sooner be in Alec's company than anyone else's, but he had to admit that it was nice to have friends around too. The Institute was certainly large enough for all of them to not get under each other's feet. He had to take a deep breath, however, before closing the door to the elevator and ascending upwards to the Institute proper. There was only one week to go now. Needless to say tensions were running high. Everyone seemed to only be existing in a constant semi-panicked state. There had been a fair few arguments all round and he wasn't totally blameless for starting a few of them.

However, he wasn't quite expecting the general level of panic that awaited him in the foyer.

"Oh my god! There you are!" Isabelle screamed at him, her face flushed and her hair fallen in disarray.

"What's wrong? Is it Alec?" Magnus asked, as if his brain was on auto-pilot.

Izzy furrowed her eyebrows at him in puzzlement as she said, "no" confusedly. "He's back!" she yelled off into the distance and then grabbed Magnus by the arm and dragged him away towards the library. He almost tripped over twice and started to get angry with her, contemplating silently about what horrible creature he could turn her into in vengeance. Until he saw a group of worried, pale looking faces staring at him, all grouped around Alec's desk.

"Whoa, who's died?" he asked, in all seriousness.

Clary rose up and inhaled, about to speak to him but Jace beat her to it. "Jocelyn is in labour. Can you get us to Idris?" he asked with urgency, though keeping his voice soft and measured clearly for Clary's benefit. The red head looked grateful for his interruption rather than annoyed by it and she smiled nervously at Magnus, twiddling her engagement ring that was slightly too large for her finger. She wouldn't allow Jace to take it to be re-sized. Magnus had suggested she put on weight instead, which did not go down very well, even though he had said it more out of concern than anything else. She had been worrying too much about the new baby and neglecting to eat. And Magnus was worried Jocelyn would somehow blame him for not looking after her daughter.

"Of course," Magnus informed them, trying to sound cheerful and positive, but was met with sad and worried warning stares. "It will have to be in the garden though. It will take too long for me to set one up in here I would imagine, having to bypass the wards."

"How long?" Clary asked him quietly, her voice high-pitched with panic.

"Get ready to go in twenty minutes. It shouldn't take longer than half an hour if it's just the two of you and you go through together."

Jace nodded approvingly and looked at Clary who smiled finally at the Warlock.

"Thanks Magnus," Alec said as he got up from his chair behind the desk. "I'll come with you."

"It's quite exciting isn't it?" Alec asked as they walked out into the garden together, Alec's hands full of spray paint cans. He sounded a little unconvinced though.

"What? Jocelyn and Luke's baby?"

"Well, yeah. The arrival of a new life and everything. It's quite exciting."

"Sorry," Magnus apologised, slightly confused. "What's your point?"

"I don't have any point. I was just making an observation," he told the Warlock candidly with a shrug of his shoulders.

They worked together in silence, with Magnus drawing the required runes on the ground and the wall with spray paint and Alec handing him the cans and taking away the empty ones.

"I didn't realise you liked babies so much," Magnus finally said, breaking their methodical portal-making. Alec started and almost dropped some of the cans he was holding.

"I don't," he stammered indignantly. Magnus couldn't suppress a smirk.

With that, Jace and Clary followed by Isabelle and Paul made their way out into the garden hurriedly, a buzz of anticipation piercing the atmosphere as they approached.

"Ready?" Magnus asked with an encouraging smile.

Clary hugged Isabelle and Paul and then Alec quickly. Jace followed suit, though he ruffled Paul's hair rather than hugged him. Magnus noticed that Jace went to hold out his hand to Alec for a handshake and Alec shot him an exasperated look before folding his parabatai into what looked like a suffocating embrace.

"Magnus, do you think everything will be ok?" Clary asked him nervously, fiddling with her hair. In response, Magnus hugged her close to him, attempting to comfort her. "Everything will be fine. You know where we are so just send a fire message if you need anything." She nodded resolutely and held out her hand for Jace to take, her engagement ring sparkling prettily in the glow of the low afternoon sun. And they disappeared together, the portal disappearing only a second later with a 'pop'.

"Maybe we should have gone with them?" Isabelle ventured.

"I do feel bad," Alec admitted, wrapping his arms around himself. "But we do have a wedding to plan."

Alec awoke with a pounding headache. He hadn't slept well. Again. He was starting to think that he would look like a zombie on their wedding photos unless he got at least a few hours. But he was just too restless; the day played out in his mind as various disaster scenarios and Alec just knew something would go wrong. He just hoped it wouldn't be him who spoiled it all.

Magnus was snoozing peacefully at his side, warming against his own body and comfortingly familiar. The warlock had put such effort into the Wedding and Alec found himself in recent days muttering small and panicked prayers to whichever force or deity that may be taking notice that everything would go smoothly for Magnus' benefit.

His fiancé stirred and edged closer to him, still half asleep but with a contented smile on his face. It was in these moments that Alec remembered why exactly he was putting himself through the ordeal of a wedding: because he wanted to get married to Magnus more than anything else in the world. He stroked his lover's silk-smooth hair affectionately and Magnus sighed into his touch. He was soon greeted with sleepy golden-green eyes, their colour intense and molten despite their clouded drowsiness.

"Good morning," Alec whispered and ran his fingers a little more forcefully through Magnus' hair, earning almost a purr of affection as he massaged the warlock's scalp.

"Morning," Magnus returned with a yawn as he stretched his body out. "What's wrong?" he asked suddenly, almost snapping to fully awake and staring at Alec's face.

"What? Nothing," Alec returned in slight confusion, angling his body towards the other man to try and get closer to his warmth. Magnus was like a radiator in the mornings and his body sought out the heat almost involuntarily.

"You look like you haven't slept," Magnus said warily, accompanied by a slight yawn. Alec could feel himself blushing slightly and found he couldn't gather the words quickly enough to piece together a convincing lie. "So you haven't slept? Again? Alexander, what are we to do with you?" Magnus asked him as he wrapped Alec up into his embrace.

"I did sleep," he lied, rather pathetically.

"You need to stop worrying so much, my love."

Alec let out a heavy sigh. "I know," he said, pushing his nose into the crook of Magnus' neck. "But I can't help it. I would really rather get some sleep than stay awake all night fretting if I could choose, but it's not that easy."

"I could always put together something for you to take…"

Alec sat up and stared at Magnus in annoyance. "I've already told you, Magnus, I will not be marrying you if you drug me with some magic potion."

The Warlock chuckled, which annoyed Alec even more. "I solemnly swear I will not slip anything 'magical' into your coffee." He grinned at Alec, but the Shadowhunter was feeling too grumpy through lack of sleep to completely let go. "Without your prior consent," Magnus added with a wink.

A hot shower and breakfast put him in a slightly better mood, though he felt worn out. Magnus had a client appointment to get to so Alec was left to his own devices. He had a choice: he could either go training or he could go and do paperwork. Ordinarily, he would choose training every time. But today he was so tired he decided he had better catch up with admin rather than swing weapons around. Plus, Jace was not around and training was never as fun without him.

However, doing the paperwork and addressing the Institute's various utility bills proved to be the wrong choice.

"Sleeping on the job, Alexander Lightwood?!" his sister exclaimed, waking him up. He had been sleeping, his head on top of a mountain of official papers.

"What? Um, no, I was just a little tired but I'm not sleeping."

"Well, no, you're not sleeping now. I just woke you up."

"Just leave it Iz," he pleaded, rubbing his hands down his face in exasperation, directed mainly at himself for falling asleep in the middle of work.

"I don't blame you. I can't think of anything more boring that filing heating bills. Don't the Council get suspicious that an old abandoned church has such high expenses?"

"I think they are grateful of the money and don't question it in case the funds stop." He let out a yawn, not being able to help himself. "Sorry," he apologised to his sister.

"You should really go and take a proper nap. I've never seen you so sleepy!" Isabelle told him in concern, perching herself up onto the desk and sitting on some very important documents without even a second thought.

"Hmm, maybe I should…"

"Yeah, you totally should. After you deal with Magnus' friend downstairs."

He looked at her, stunned. "What?"

"I came to tell you there is someone here to see you. A she-warlock. Probably an ex-girlfriend of Magnus'. I didn't pry."

"No, I'm sure you didn't," Alec said angrily, getting up in a rush to make his way downstairs and see who was waiting.

She was tall and dressed in a long old-fashioned black cloak that covered her completely. She was staring at a mural of the Angel Raziel in the entranceway. "Um, hi?" Alec ventured, not quite sure how to greet a warlock who had seemingly just popped in for a visit. Warlocks usually didn't bother Institutes because they generally wanted nothing to do with the Clave, so he had to admit this was the first time he had ever known the Institute to have a non-Nephilim visitor.

The warlock turned to face him in an odd, slow and graceful movement that immediately put him on edge. Alec suddenly wished he had brought a weapon. She was alabaster pale, with no colour in her cheeks and her lips stood out in a ghastly blood-red. But she was beautiful, almost statue-like. Alec almost leapt backwards when he realised why her eyes looked so familiar to him.

"Eris?" he ventured. And she nodded in confirmation, though she did not avert her gaze from him for even a moment. "Magnus isn't here…"

"I had gathered that already and find it deeply annoying." Her voice was silken and she spoke with a strange, exotic accent. "He has always been under the illusion that being as insulting as he possibly can towards authority gives him power."

Alec could only stare back and hope she would leave sooner rather than later.

"It puzzles me, Mr Lightwood, so please forgive my impertinence. That such a character as Magnus Bane would consent to live in this place among the Nephilim is rather inconceivable to me and yet this is what the Downworlders of New York say."

Alec flinched. She didn't know about him and Magnus.

"Though now I see what the Head of the New York Institute is like I believe I may have some idea of my brother's motive," she smirked.

Shit.

"Can I help you with anything?" Alec asked, finding himself being polite even though his first instinct was to try and locate a weapon and a vantage point. She was his fiancé's sister after all, and he couldn't deny how charming and polite she had been to him.

"I thank you, Mr Lightwood, but I do not think you can. You could pass a message to Magnus for me though, and I would be very grateful?" Her smile was genuine and touched her eyes, illuminating them in a warm and beautiful way exactly like Magnus'.

"Of course," he smiled back, somewhat relieved. She was not as bad as Magnus had made out after all. Although he could well understand that some sets of siblings do not get along, considering the amount Isabelle annoyed him.

"Please simply tell my brother that I called and wished to speak to him of a matter concerning our father. I require his assistance urgently and he can contact me in the usual manner."

Alec nodded his understanding dumbly and she smiled again at him. This time, however, her mouth looked unnaturally red and wide and she showed her teeth, which were sharp and pointed. Alec involuntarily jumped a little.

"I must urge you to pass my message on in haste. I would be pained to waste time in so pressing a situation."

"What situation is that?" Alec asked, unable to suppress his curiosity.

She ceased grinning and looked darkly at him. "That is mine and my brother's business."

Alec was a little affronted by the sudden change in attitude and wrapped his arms defiantly around his body. "Well I don't think Magnus is too keen to speak to you. So it may take some persuading. Maybe if you told me what this is actually about I will be able to convince him of how important it is to contact you."

Her eyes lit up with anger for a second before she regained her composure and her face fell back into her practiced mask of affability. "My father is worshipped as a God by some. It is understandable considering the magnitude of his power. However, he is not infallible and he is not all-powerful as he would have everyone believe."

Alec nodded to try and urge her on.

"As with most beings of great power he is afflicted with the most common of diseases. Greed. Which is very amusing considering," she grinned at him wistfully. He supposed she found that idea amusing as Asmodeus was meant to represent the sin of lust in some cultures, but he pretended to not understand her musings so she would continue more quickly.

"Those who have power, Mr Lightwood only ever desire more of it. It is like a drug."

Alec was about to argue with her but then thought better of it. "And Asmodeus is looking for more power?"

"Always," she grinned. "And those that worship him would grant it him if they could. There is a cult in Staten Island. They have proved themselves resourceful and unexpectedly pleasing to my father. In turn he has granted them his patronage and they are now undertaking all of his bidding."

"And what is his bidding?"

"Ordinarily I would have no concern for his affairs, but it appears that a cult member stumbled upon a very valuable piece of information thought lost, almost mythological," she said, pointedly refusing to give him the satisfaction of a straight answer.

"My father desired my particular skills and the cult sought my employment. In turn, I have been able to accomplish the extraordinary."

Alec opened his mouth to speak but she waved her hand for him to be quiet. "However," she continued, "last week I stumbled across certain documents that revealed the true intent of Asmodeus and I have fled from my employers. Without my assistance they will not be able to continue with their plans and I seek my brother's help to avoid detection."

"So you need Magnus' help because you are frightened your father will come after you?"

"Not he. Asmodeus holds no power over this world. He hasn't for a very long time. But this does not mean he will not ever again. I am more concerned that the members of the cult will seek to imprison me when they conclude I shall not be returning and continuing with the work."

"Look, if you want me to drum up some sympathy in him for you then you are going to have to tell me exactly what is going on. He is not heartless and however he feels about you he is a good man and he would protect a fellow Downworlder as best he can. But you can't expect him to risk everything without knowing what he is getting himself into. He will be dragging us into this too, so I think you had better tell me."

"Or else?" she sneered at him. "You dare to threaten me boy?" her voice was dangerously quiet.

"It's not a threat. I will still pass on your message but I won't be pleading your case, I shall leave it up to him to decide whether he will help you. And after your last meeting I don't think that is likely."

"And you can persuade him?" she asked warily, narrowing her eyes. "What influence do you hold over my brother?"

"He's my fiancé," Alec told her on a boastful whim. She did look genuinely shocked for a moment and that was satisfaction enough, even though he immediately regretted divulging to her how much he and Magnus meant to each other. It could only serve to put them in danger.

"In that case," she said quietly. "You may tell my brother that the cult employed me for my particular skill in necromancy. I sense I do not need to explain this further as considering how close you and my brother must be he has undoubtedly told you of this. They had stumbled across an ancient spell book thought lost that… adds another stage to the process."

"What stage is that then?"

She let out an exasperated sigh. "As Magnus has no doubt informed you, I am particularly skilled at raising dead vampires. A skill I acquired quite by accident. It is a difficult process but in some ways more achievable than bringing back a mortal. You see, the vampires I bring back have not really departed. It takes a great deal to actually kill a vampire to the point they are truly dead. I cannot bring back those who have completely gone. But vampires can exist as ash and dust and still recover with the right input. Resurrecting mortals is easier in that it does not take as much magical force to bring them back – so long as their death was fresh – but their minds are always warped. To bring back a vampire is more difficult because often the lack of body proves an obstacle, but at least their souls are used to being undead. Mortals brought back cannot adapt to the change and they become frightening creatures, mindless and broken and useless. This additional magic I speak of is a purification spell. It allows mortals to be brought back and returned to how they were, before they died. If common knowledge of it got about it would mean successful necromancy could occur. We warlocks would finally be able to unlock the secret to resurrection."

"Well I don't see what this has to do with Magnus," Alec told her pettily. "And I don't see why you have given me any reason to ask him to help you."

"Listen," she told him angrily through gritted teeth. "The cult do not want to resurrect their friends, they wish to resurrect vampires. This is why they sought my skills over another Warlock. The purification process has a rather unexpected effect upon a resurrected vampire. And bestows on them certain qualities my father intends to use to his advantage."

"This is taking too long," Alec told her, suddenly brave. If she hadn't killed him by now, she probably wasn't going to try anything. "Just get to the point."

"The purification process, for the first instance, makes reclaimed souls forget the pain of the necromancy ritual. Having one's soul pulled back into this world is the most painful thing to ever have existed. My… experiments… in the past have suffered immeasurably because of it. I have not been successful in the past as the resurrected vampire always wished to die rather than attempt to bear the pain. But the new ritual takes the pain away. But more importantly, it makes them mortal."

She finished and looked at Alec with great expectation.

"I'm sorry, I still don't see what your point is?"

She roared. Actually roared. With rage. Alec jumped backwards in response, planning his retreat.

"Stupid little Shadowhunter! Do you not realise what this will do?!"

"I don't see what is so scary about mortal vampires, no. Surely they will be easier to kill," he tried to reason. Suddenly, her frenzy stopped and she visibly calmed.

"That may be the case, Shadowhunter," she said in her dangerously silky voice. He sensed she hadn't so much as given up trying to explain as she had thought better about telling him anything more. "Tell my brother all of this. And tell him to contact me, won't you?"

"Fine, I will. But first you have to tell me if the vampire you brought back was Camille."

Eris smiled at him in a horrid way. "Ah yes, your friend Camille. I shall reveal to you, though I have no need to, that this is the name of a female I resurrected. I did bring back a male as part of my experiments. He was useless to the cult and they disposed of him, despite my protestations as he was the first perfect specimen."

"Why would male vampires be useless?" Alec asked, genuinely curious.

But Eris shrugged at him, her expression amiable once more. "I am just telling you what I know. I should leave to to you and my brother to try and grapple with the reasoning of a cult."

"And what does this have to do with your father? What did you find out that means you ran away from them?"

"My father wishes to amass an army of these mortal vampires. No doubt to infiltrate this world and pave the way for his invasion. But I know no more of this, only that it would have been devastating had I stayed and continued to carry out his orders." She looked angry again. Clearly Asmodeus had that effect upon his offspring.

"Wow – that's, um – quite a scary prospect I suppose," Alec concurred.

"A scary prospect?" Eris asked him, raising her eyebrow in exactly the same way Magnus had mastered. He briefly wondered whether Magnus had learnt it form her example. "You Shadowhunters are really rather stupid. Or immeasurably brave. Or both, I cannot tell."

"I would prefer brave," Alec announced a little haughtily.

"Whatever. I have no more time to stand here chatting. Please tell him that I called and require his assistance urgently. I trust our exchange has been sufficient in persuading you to use whatever power you may hold over him to secure his assistance."

Alec was about to berate her but she swept away. He followed, gritting his teeth at her rudeness, but when he reached the elevator there was no sign of her. He did. However, manage to hear the great doors to the church below slam loudly. Clearly she had left.

"I had a visitor whilst you were out." It was the first thing Alec said to him when he returned and after Magnus had hugged his fiancé and given him a kiss. Magnus raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

"You know, you and your sister are scarily similar."

Magnus felt like his heart had just frozen over. "What?" he asked quietly.

"Eris paid me a little visit," Alec told him candidly, trying to make the whole situation appear light and inconsequential.

"Oh my god are you ok?!" his fiancé shouted, running over and wrapping him in a suffocating embrace.

"I'm fine!" he protested, but Magnus began to look over him with a great amount of worry for any sign of injury or malice. "Stop fussing," Alec told him sternly, eventually growing frustrated at the over-zealous attention.

"I just want to be sure Alec," Magnus told him. He felt sick. "You don't know what she is like – what she can do."

"It's not like I can't take care of myself," Alec argued huffily, which made him take a step back.

He softened his tone to explain, "You're right. I'm sorry. It's just that I don't want anything bad to happen to you. Especially because of me. And Eris scares the living daylights out of me."

"Well she didn't seem that bad to me…"

Magnus gawped.

"She was actually quite civil, considering what you had said she was like. Maybe she just hates you."

This attempt at teasing Magnus went completely unheeded.

"B-but what did she say to you? How long was she here? Wait. What the hell did she want?"

"Ok calm down. I actually managed to get quite a bit of info from her about the Camille situation," Alec told him with a smirk.

"And?"

"So Asmodeus has a cult on Staten Island who employed Eris to resurrect dead Vampires and turn them mortal. Something about Asmodeus using them as an army to invade this world, though I don't see how mortal vampires could be much of a threat…"

"Hang on – what?!" Magnus' mind was swimming with all of the information.

Alec looked at him and sighed. "Asmodeus has this cult…" he started again.

"No, I heard everything you said. I don't need you to repeat it," he snapped. Alec shot him a dangerous look in return.

"Eris wants you to contact her urgently. She wants you to help protect her from this cult. She ran away when she found out what they were up to."

Magnus went numb. If Eris had run away then this definitely wasn't a small threat. This was something potentially apocalyptic. "She can turn Vampires mortal?" Magnus asked, trying furiously to piece together disparate memories and pieces of information in his mind to figure out what was actually happening.

"Yep!" Alec told him with a fake brightness. "Ooh, but the cult only want her to resurrect female vampires. She said she brought back a male one as part of practicing the ritual but then the cult killed him. She didn't know why though," Alec poured out, clearly intrigued as he remembered this detail.

"And Camille?"

"Yeah, she said Camille was one of the vampires she had brought back."

Magnus paused. "One of the vampires? How many has she brought back already?"

Alec looked sheepish and shrugged at him. "She said you should make contact with her in the usual way."

Magnus nodded and tried to quickly sort out his brain before he sent for her. Alec draped his arms around Magnus' neck and hugged him gently. It made him feel better almost instantly.

"The way she makes them mortal – she said the cult had discovered a purification process. It would mean Warlocks could resurrect humans without any side effects," Alec told him, his voice quiet. Magnus held him close. "Magnus; that could mean everything to our kind. For us, even. You wouldn't have to worry about me fighting demons anymore…"

"My darling," Magnus interrupted. "Necromancy is a most evil process. With a purification ritual that does what my sister claims, perhaps one could forget the pain of their soul being ripped back into their bodies. But the Warlock who performed this would not forget the pain they had caused. I could not forgive myself for inflicting that kind of pain on anyone, even if they did not recall it afterwards."

"I understand," Alec said, sounding melancholy. "But I wouldn't care Magnus. I would want to be with you no matter what. If I died I would want you to bring me back, I wouldn't care about the pain. It would be nothing compared to the pain of being parted from you."

Magnus didn't know what to say to him. His own views were very different, but maybe that was because of his age. Alec was still young and he could understand him being a little afraid of death, despite all of his Shadowhunter posturing on the subject. He held his fiancé tightly and thought carefully about how he would manage his sister.

He definitely wasn't going to offer her the couch to sleep on.

AN: Please do let me know what you think of this chapter, the whole story, or my writing in general. I have taken certain comments on board and a few of them have actaually persuaded me to change some of what will happen! So always worth leaving your thoughts...
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The next chapter will be the BIG DAY everyone! WHOOP!