Raphael watched his fledgling curl up in the middle of the clan. They were hanging out in the den watching a movie that was about a tiny man and a baby girl who had magic and a queen or a witch that was trying to kill the little thing. Raphael had unfortunately not been able to stick around for most the movie due to meetings that he had been postponing. It had been two weeks since the clan had got their fledgling back. Magnus had done a checkup last night and declared that Simon could start back on regular blood in small amounts while still drinking some vampiric blood. He had explained that the blood Simon would get from another vampire had hormones in it that Simon's body wasn't creating and that he was trying to jumpstart the creation of said hormones. The entire clan had pitched in when it came to Simon's special blood though Raphael still made sure he was the main source.
"Why don't you go join them?" Lily asked coming up behind Raphael. She was wearing pajamas and had already taken off her makeup which made her look younger.
"I have work to do." Raphael said but the excuse sounded flimsy even to his own ears. Lily snorted.
"The paperwork will be there later. Simon needs his Sire." Lily said and Raphael sighed. He wasn't sure how she knew he had switched Simon's sire from Camille to himself but it was Lily and she always seemed to know everything. It was the reason she was his second in command. With a shove from Lily, Raphael strolled into the room as the movie was ending.
"Rapha!" Simon called sleepily reaching out for the clan leader.
"How you feeling Bebé?" Raphael said sliding into the space the clan made for him beside Simon. Simon curled up in Raphael's side much like a cat.
"Hungry." Simon murmured and Raphael nodded.
"I'm sure you are. I doubt you've eaten since I left." He said sliding his arm around Simon's shoulders so that he could bite down on the wrist. Raphael knew Simon prefered feeding from his neck as it allowed Simon to 'pin' Raphael down but Raphael refused to let him in front of the clan for several reasons. The biggest being that it was a intimate position that wasn't to be done in public.
Simon carefully bit into his wrist and began to feed. The clan sat like that until the sun was rising, watching some odd movie with cheesy special effects and way too much glitter. Simon was asleep before the beginning credits rolled and Raphael let the fledgling snuggle into his side. As the sun rose outside the clan turned the TV off and disappeared into their respective rooms.
"Come on Bebé. Let's get you to bed." Raphael murmured to the sleeping fledgling as he detached Simon from his wrist and lifted him carefully into his arms. He carried Simon to his penthouse where he was keeping his fledgling and tucked him into the large bed before slipping out to the small living room and starting on more paperwork. It wasn't more than two hours later that the bedroom door opened and Simon shuffled out to sit on the dark brown leather couch that he seemed to favor over the armchairs.
"Bad dream Cariño?" Raphael asked lightly even though he knew the answer was yes.
Simon didn't give a verbal response, just nodded his head and curled in on himself as he sat two feet from where Raphael was working at his desk. Raphael hummed but didn't push. It would only make things worse if he pushed. He continued to work, slowly typing away at his computer while keeping an eye on the fledgling. Simon was falling asleep on the couch, a usual occurrence, and Raphael stood to collect the soft blanket that he kept for these moments.
Once Simon was laid out on the couch with a blanket covering him Raphael returned to his work. It was close to one in the afternoon before he was done and he stretched feeling his vertebrae crack as he did so. Shutting down his computer he scooped up Simon who had wrapped himself up in the blanket like a burrito and carried him into the bedroom. He set his fledgling down on the bed and used his vampire speed to change into more comfortable clothes before sliding into the bed beside the young vampire. As he was drifting off he felt Simon shift and a cool hand wrap around his wrist. It didn't bother him and he fell into a deep sleep.
Clary hated Alec. The bastard had not only given her and Izzy the most boring and menial tasks he had also taken her off the patrol schedule and had mentioned sending her to Idris for some sort of schooling. It was demeaning. All she had been doing was trying to rescue her best friend and from the looks of Simon he was in desperate need of rescuing. What had those vampires done to him? Brainwashing was a certain thing, he had barely looked at her when she had last seen him and had been shaking like a leaf. Santiago was a twisted bastard if he thought he could get away with taking her Simon away and treating him with such cruelty. She was currently scrubbing the entrance hallway floor on her hands and knees with a sponge and a bucket when she heard a familiar set of footsteps approaching. Looking up she saw Jace walking towards her with his hands shoved in his jeans and a solemn look on his face.
"Jace!" She cried with a beaming smile. He nodded to her and stopped.
"Hey Clary." He said but it wasn't as friendly as she had expected. The last time she had seen him he had told her that he was being put on probation and that he would be back.
"What are you doing here?" She asked pushing a clump of hair off her forehead where it had been stuck. She knew she looked like a mess, clothes wet and hair in disarray but she hoped that Jace was still into her. Most of the Shadowhunters were stuck up prudes or in a relationship and not willing to risk it for a hook up.
"The Clave has made their decision about me. I'm getting the results from them today." He said with a shrug.
"I'm sure they have realized how valuable of an asset you are. We've all missed you, Alec's been a stick in the mud since you left." She said with a smile. He frowned which was the opposite effect that she had wanted but nodded.
"I'll talk to him." Jace said before leaving her alone. Clary frowned but went back to scrubbing the floor. The sooner she was finished the sooner she could get back to training. Hopefully this 'punishment' would be over soon and she could get back to actually being a Shadowhunter.
Izzy was carefully washing dishes in the kitchen. She was taking her time, making sure each were sparkling clean before moving on to the next one. Unlike Clary, she knew that her punishment was only just the beginning. They had screwed up majorly.
Clary had said that she was going to be drawing a rune that would make Simon more pliable to their suggestions but that wasn't an excuse to her part in it. She had known what could have happened to the vampire when the rune was drawn. At the time she had been blinded by her attraction to the redhead and wanting to rub it in her parents faces that she was an adult and could make her own decisions without screwing up. And then she had made the largest screw up ever. She closed her eyes and the image of Simon's emaciated form shuffling out of the penthouse bedroom flashed before her vision. If she had eaten anything in the past few days she would have puked at the memory.
It was horrifying to think that she had been a part of the cause. Simon didn't deserve that. She had asked Alec about how Simon was doing and he had said that the clan was taking good care of the fledgeling. It had made Izzy feel slightly better knowing that Simon was being taken care of by his own kind. That someone was helping him now and that he would be safe. Lord knew he hadn't been safe here. Izzy had caught Clary trying to force an erection out of a unresponsive Simon. She had intervened of course, but only when she caught the redhead doing it.
"Never thought I'd see the day where Isabelle Lightwood wasn't wearing makeup." A familiar voice said teasingly. Izzy whipped around to see Jace standing in the doorway, a soft smile on his lips. A similar smile slipped onto her own face as she wiped a loose strand of hair out of her eyes leaving a large wet streak across her forehead.
"You're back?" She asked hopeful and he nodded.
"Just got reinstated." He said and she nodded before turning back to the dishes.
"I'm sure you've heard what happened. With Simon." She said, trying to keep her voice from cracking with emotion. She listened as he came closer, footsteps echoing around the kitchen.
"Yeah, yeah I did. What happened Izzy? I know you didn't tell them the whole truth once you broke your rune." He said leaning against the counter beside the sink. She shot the dirty water a wry smile, refusing to look at him.
"How do you know that?" She asked sharply and watched him shrug out of the corner of her eyes.
"Because I know you Izzy. You're not an idiot and you do have a large heart even though you pretend you don't." He said before adding, "I did live with you since we were kids. You had the biggest heart out of the three of us." She quietly scrubbed at a particularly difficult stain on a frying pan for a few moments before finally giving in to the soft pressure.
"I thought she loved me as much as I loved her. It's stupid I know but once you left she spent so much time with me and I thought we would be happy together. She told me things, supposed secrets, and made me feel special. She said that she was just going to use the rune to get Simon to get the book. That once that was done she would take it off him and he would forgive us. That he always forgave her for things and that this would be no different. I had my reservations but she made it seem like the rune would just make him forget his worry and that he really did want to help but was scared. She said that the rune wouldn't really do anything but would give Simon plausible deniability if the clan got mad. He didn't scream much past the first few seconds but he began to convulse and I had to hold him down to keep him from hurting himself. I was so scared that we had killed him and then Clary gave the first order and he did it. Just like that. It was like watching a puppet and Clary was the one holding the strings. I tried to give him an order and he just stared at me. We got the book no problem and then when we got back to the Institute I told her to let him go but she just laughed. Said that she liked Simon this way and that she was going to keep him."
Izzy took a shuttered breath before continuing, "It was like he was a pet to her. I was hurt, tripped on our way back and scraped up my arm. She said that she was drawing a healing rune and then drew the secrecy rune. Said that if I loved her then I would leave it be and let things stay the way they were." She laughed a bitter laugh before saying the next line, "It was that night that she first slept with me. Kept telling me that she was so proud of me for keeping her secret and that her mom would love me. Looking back she never said that she loved me that night nor any of the other nights we spent together." Izzy fell silent and Jace gave her a quick hug.
"He's safe now. You know better. We all learned that Clarissa Fray cannot be trusted and that she's manipulative." Jace said and Izzy let out a shaky laugh.
"I was so proud when he escaped. I kept her from finding him for so long after that, used a potion that I bought from this warlock in Queens on everything of his that I could find so that she couldn't use a rune to track him. Thought that if I could keep her from finding him that he might have a chance to heal, to survive. I should have done more for him, should have saved him somehow." She said.
"Why didn't you mark through the rune then? It would have freed him." Jace asked and Izzy shook her head.
"I was lucky if I got a minute alone with him. She was always lurking around so I just kept him fed when I could. If she couldn't be with him she would lock him in her bedroom and for some reason all the spare keys to her room had gone 'missing'. I think she stole them so that no one could get to him. The only reason he was left out that night was because the call was an emergency and there wasn't any time for her to lock him away." Izzy explained and Jace hummed.
"I think you did the best you could with what you were given. I'm sure Raphael appreciates hearing all this from you." Jace said and the large pot that Izzy had been scrubbing slipped from her fingers as she spun to face him.
"What?" She asked shocked and Jace held up his phone to show that there was an active call between him and 'Santiago'. Vertigo made Izzy feel like she was on a ship as she realized that he must have set this up so that she would spill everything. Sinking to the floor she was barely aware of Jace telling someone that he needed to go or when two strong arms wrapped around her.
"I fucked up Jace. I fucked up so bad." She said as she clung to his shirt. He pulled her into his lap and rubbed her back soothingly.
"I know. I can't say things will get better now that the vampire leader knows your version of the story but things can only go up from here. You will be okay." He murmured and she let herself cry. For both herself and for Simon.
