Silver Starlight
Once Seraphina and I have been summoned to Father's study for our parental powwow, which, surprisingly, has nothing to do with our little tryst, we hustle to get there within the allotted fifteen minutes. When we arrive, Father and Mother are laughing to themselves about something, although they abruptly hush, as we enter the room. I remembered to bring the blueprints Father has asked me for, so I lay them out on the table now.
"Thank you Jonathan." He says.
"Yes Father." I reply. He doesn't appreciate flowery or long winded answers, just yes, Father or no, Father and such.
"Now, we have called you in here to discuss plans for the upcoming lupine expeditions. The two of you and your team will be starting out in Bangladesh. I assume, you have learned enough Bengali to get by over there?" He asks us.
"Ē'i āpani daẏā karē nā" Seraphina says. Father smiles at her.
"Ēṭā yathēṣṭa habē" He nods, in mild approval. "You will be starting out in a rural community which I have marked for you on this map. Our sources say that one of the larger werewolf packs has been making quite a nuisance of themselves in that area. When you are finished the slaughter, you will take the heads of their pack leader and his lieutenants and mount them, in plain sight, at the front of the institute in Dhaka.
"When you arrive in Bangladesh, you will phone a number that I've programmed into these phones for you. It will put you in touch with our scout there. I've recalled the Penhallows and Lightwoods from Idris (with the exception of Jia and Robert who I am happy to say, have been elected for the new consul and new inquisitor positions with an overwhelming majority of the council's vote and you know what that means). Now that they've accomplished what I need from them, there is no reason for their families to remain in Idris.
"The Lightwoods will be spearheading the vampire elimination team, beginning here in New York, similar to what you have done with the werewolves but the Penhallows will be scouting all of your lycanthrope targets prior to your team moving in. So, it is Patrick who will be your contact in Bangladesh and I expect you to be polite, he's one of my best operatives. He'll be staying a step ahead of your team, so you aren't going into any of this blind. After you have delivered your message in Dhaka, it'll be on to Singapore next.
"However, that is about the time you will need to step up your game. By then, word will be out that we are targeting the werewolf packs and 'visiting' the institutes, so you'll have to watch your backs. Fortunately for us, you will only have to contend with the local Shadowhunters in each area, since the council is now in our pocket and will not be sending them any reinforcements. Even still, I want you to be careful. Now Jonathan, I am letting you run the show on this, but I need to be sure we are clear on something.
"Tell me, Jonathan. What is the number one weapon you have at your disposal?" He asks. Ooh goody, I know this one.
"Seraphina." I say, with a nod to her.
"Correct. And if she's compromised?" He questions. Trick question, sneaky.
"I do not allow her to be compromised." I recite. We've obviously been over this line of questioning before.
"And if anyone poses a threat to Seraphina?" He inquires.
"I eliminate them." I say without hesitation. I mean, obviously Father, that's a no brainer!
"Excellent, it would seem you are prepared for this."He smiles. "I'd like see the both of you back here, ready to go, in six hours' time. The rest of your team will be assembled by then and ready to accompany you. These blueprints are numbered chronologically. The first set is of the safe house where you will be staying. The second set is of the werewolf lair that you'll be invading, and the third set is of the Institute in Dhaka. If you have any problems with the Dhaka Shadowhunters, our inside man stationed there is a young fellow named Blake Blackwell, he's an Aussie lad, formerly of the Melbourne Enclave and he's Samuel's first cousin. Again, I don't have to remind you to foster good relations." He nods that we are dismissed for the time being.
"Before you take off, Jon, Sera, I have prepared a little parting gift for each of you. These backpacks are slash proof and waterproof so you can take them with you on all of your missions. There are supplies in them that you may not think to pack and some things that may be harder to find there. There is also room inside to add a few things of your own as well, since these will be your only travel bags because you need to travel light for this excursion. You shall find everything else that you need at the safe house when you arrive and if there are ever any problems, again, you have Patrick's number (as well as Blake's), programmed into those phones your Father gave you. Patrick is your main contact though. If you need to contact Blake, be sure to speak in Circle Code, we can't afford that his cover should be compromised." Mother says to us, handing us the bags. I take mine and thank her for it.
"These are super cool, thank you Mother!" Sera says, taking a mental inventory of the contents of hers.
"You are welcome. We'll all be here to see you off, but I'm going to take a minute now to be motherly and give you both goodbye hugs so that I'm tempted to do so in front of the rest of your team later. I know we are doing the right thing by sending you because it's for the good of the cause, but rest assured, I will miss you both every single day that you are gone. So will your Father and Jace, although they are probably too proud to tell you so. So, I speak for all of us when I say, we love you and good luck." She says, hugging each of us in turn.
We won't be coming home in between the different missions of the lupine hunt. So I can understand her desire to be sappy, since she won't see us again until our objective is complete. It will likely be at least several months. Or longer, since we're supposed to hit all of the countries with a sizable werewolf population. From what I understand, practically the only place we aren't going is to Idris.
Father will be taking the heads of Maia Roberts and Praetor Scott to Alicante in person. He'll be displaying them in front of the house of the Council's werewolf representative; Lucian Graymark. Lucian used to be Father's own Parabatai, back when he was a Shadowhunter. But the unfortunate sap got himself bitten and turned into a mangy dog. So now, he's the enemy. Sufficed it to say, Father also has a personal score to settle with him as well.
When they were younger, Lucian had taken a liking to our Mother, and after his transformation into a werewolf, he was half crazed. And in his barely lucid state, he sought her out. Upon hearing that she wouldn't leave Father and run away with him, he rapped her. Father would have killed him then, but the pathetic mutt went into hiding and then all of Circle members had to flee Idris after the uprising, lest they be identified and punished for the deaths of all those filthy Downworlders.
At any rate, I think the reason we've begun with eliminating the werewolves first, has a lot to do with Father wanting to intimidate Graymark, before, eventually, torturing him to death. Pair that with the fact that a werewolf also killed our grandfather, which is another story for another time, and yeah, all of this is definitely personal for him. They dismiss us now and we leave with our packs to go get ready.
"The moon is beautiful tonight." I say to Seraphina. We have finished getting ready and we still have a bit of time before we rally. Jace has been avoiding us all day because he sucks at goodbyes, although really, we all do. So, the two of us are standing out under the starlight, up on the widows walk, together, gazing up at the moonlit night. Our last few moments of peace before marching into battle so to speak.
"It will be the same moon we see in Bangladesh." She smiles.
"True, but we'll probably be too busy to enjoy it." I sigh, resting my hands on her shoulders.
"There will be moments of downtime. And at the safe house we will be sharing a room, so there's that to look forward to." She smirks.
"Mmm, I like the way you think!" I laugh lightly, kissing her along the crevasse of her neck.
"Oh yeah, well I like the way you fuck!" She says, spinning around to face me, then grabbing fistfuls of my shirt and puling me abruptly against her. We're both knocked of balance by the suddenness of the gesture and thankfully, I recover fast enough to keep us from falling over the railing. It would have been a long way to fall and when I say I'm falling for Seraphina, I'd like it to mean other things, rather than plunging to our doom.
We both laugh with relief and take a step back from the railing. "Sorry, I got a little carried away there." She smiles, slightly flushed.
"You could say that again." I grin. "Don't worry, I saved you." I say.
"Just like you, always saving me from myself, Jon. I appreciate it, thank you."
"Don't you worry, Sweetheart. I will always have your back."
"You two all packed?" Jace asks us on our way back in. He is coming out of the training room, wiping sweat off his forehead with a towel. He's been in there most of the afternoon, avoiding us.
"Yeah, we are. But I've still got room, want me to sneak you into my backpack?" Sera asks, embracing him with all her might and getting caught up in a rather intimate kiss.
"No thanks, I don't think I'd fit in there with all your sexy lingerie." He smirks.
"How did you know I have sexy lingerie, did you go through my bag?" I grin.
"Nope, just happened to overhear our parents joking about how after they found you two, Mother took the liberty of throwing in some naughty little numbers for you and a whole lot of condoms for Jon. They didn't know I was standing there, obviously." He says, looking a bit uncomfortable.
"Shit, I'm sorry man. I know the timing really sucks on all of this. I mean, you and Sera haven't really had any time together, since, well, you know. I just hope there are no hard feelings?" I ask. Sera had talked to Jace briefly, right after our encounter, just to let him know what had happened and find out for sure that this thing between us is still alright with him. She assured him that he's not in any danger of losing her. But that was on our way down to meet with our parents, so right after that was when we found out we would be leaving today. I don't think any of us expected this. It's come at a rather inconvenient time.
"No I'm cool. I'm truly grateful that Sera's gonna have someone there looking out for her who loves at much as I do, Jon. You and I are fine, man, I promise you. And actually, I'm going to be far worse with the whole issue of not having you here than I will with not seeing my girlfriend, obviously and I know you'll be feeling that loss too." He assures me.
"Yeah, I don't even know what the Clave would do if they found out that Father has ordered us off on separate missions for this long a time span. It'll be interesting to see what the effects are of this. And by interesting, I think I mean painful." I say with a grimace. The longest I've ever been away from Jace since we became Parabatai was three days and even that was almost unbearable.
"Nah, don't sweat it, man. You've got the portal princess on your team, if you're hurt in battle you can get back to me in about 5 seconds. And if anything happens on my end, I have the numbers for the phones Father gave you both, alright?" He says, trying to alleviate my concerns.
"Okay, well, we're still doing runes for one another before I leave, Jace, so let's go take care of that now." I say, pulling him down the hallway. "Sera, I'll meet you in the study when we're done." I call to her as we walk away.
"My two sexy boys are gonna take their shirts off and I don't get to watch?" She yells with a pout.
"Nah, you can't handle so much sexy at one time, Baby!" Jace yells back, teasing her.
"You'd be surprised to see just how much I could handle at once!" She yells, waggling her eyebrows at us.
"Did she just insinuate what I think..?" I ask Jace.
"Don't think about that right now, man. The last thing you need is to go marching off to battle with visions of threesomes dancing in your head." He laughs, as we sit down in my room.
"Yeah, you're right. But you can't tell me it wouldn't be hot double teaming her." I say, casually.
"No, you're right, I can't tell you that." He chuckles.
Jace and I return to the study just after the last of my team has been ushered in and offered a drink by our parents. Everyone is here now and we are almost ready to head out. I am a ball of nervous energy because this is the biggest expedition I've ever been on, let alone been in charge of. I'm doing my best to play it cool, though.
"There you are, Sir. Your father was just telling us that you and your sister are somewhat fluent in Bengali and you will be able to translate for the duration of our stay and handle any problems with the local mundanes there?" Blackwell asks me.
"Why yes, I don't believe we will have any problems in regards to the language." I say.
"Perfect, I'm glad to see Valentine's children have been following in his footsteps. They're rather large shoes to fill, as I'm sure you realize." Blackwell grins.
"Indeed they are. Fortunately for us, he has taught us well." I nod. And that's it for everyone's time to socialize, as now Father gathers us all for a last minute speech and he's such a charismatic speaker that he gets everyone all riled up and someone starts to sing our Circle anthem and everyone else joins in.
Seraphina opens the portal into the safe house in Bangladesh and everyone piles though it. We go last, so we have a brief moment to say our final goodbyes.
"I want you to never have less than five steles on your person at all times, Sera." Our Mother insists, trying not to tear up. "And Jonathan, you take good care of my Baby girl, okay Son?" She says, hugging us each again although she said she wouldn't. At least everyone else has gone through the portal where they can't see her mini spectacle.
"And I want weekly progress reports from the both of you, and a Com rune conference as when you finish the mission in Bangladesh and every subsequent mission in turn." Father says. Thanks to one of Seraphina's newer runes, we can now communicate over long distances for a short period of time. It opens a com link between Seraphina and whoever she's attempting to contact and it lasts five minutes.
"Yes, Father, Mother, we will be following protocol to the letter, you needn't worry." Sera assures them and then turns to speak to Jace. "You know, I'm not sure if you realize this, but Jonathan isn't the only one who will be drawing strength from you on this trip of ours. Just knowing that you'll be here, waiting for us to come home, is what's going to drive me the most. I hope you know how much I love you, and that I couldn't do this without you, Jace." She says, embracing him one last time.
"And I hope you know, that if anything at all happens to you out there, I swear by the angel that I'm coming to hell to get you back from death himself, okay?" He says emphatically leaning his forehead against hers, looking her in the eyes.
"Who says I'd go there? It could be the other place!" She laughs.
"A merciless killer like yourself? That'd have to be one generous deity doing the judging!" He chuckles. "Now get your sexy ass through that portal before your team thinks you aren't coming. My feisty little red-headed assassin!" He says, spanking her good and hard on the bum, making her jump a little.
"Jace, I've told you, time and time again!" She pouts.
"I know, I know, 'It's not red…
"It's copper!" He and I both finish at the same time in our best impersonation of Seraphina.
"Now get going you two, or I'll push you through myself." He says, eyes secretly watering. He pulls us both in close for one final group hug and whispers, "Mizpah."
(Bengali translation is from Google translator and is a phonetic pronunciation of what they are saying.
Seraphina says 'Does this please you?'and Valentine replies 'It will have to suffice.' My apologies if there are any errors in the translation.)