UPDATE! I know I usually post a new chapter every wednesday or thursday but life happens and yeah... I hope you like it, please review and tell me what you think. Read you soon!

Special thanks to KTRN for the constant support and for enquiring about my well-being and the state of this fic, you wonderful person you! :)

Chapter 6: Save my life

I'm returning to life
I am back in your arms
you give me hope
when I'm cold and alone.

-Returning to life by Leaves Eyes.

Alec had the feeling of being observed the entire time that he and his siblings wandered the streets of New York towards Queens, even in the fully packed subway stations. He knew that it was probably his ridiculous paranoia acting up against him, but with all Sonneillon had put him through so far, it was very hard to calm his nerves.

Clary, Jace and Izzy seemed to notice his distress. His red-haired friend knew enough about his situation as to abstain from asking questions, unfortunately, the same could not be said for his brother and sister.

"You look as if you've seen a ghost Alec, what's up with you?" Jace tried to act cool while asking the question, but the tight set of his jaw and the frown of his face did not go unnoticed, putting his efforts to waste.

"I'm fine" Alec lied "I just felt a chill, that's all, it's probably the weather"

Izzy raised an eyebrow in question "A chill because of the weather? In the middle of July inside a subway at rush hour, its 84 degrees right now Alec"

The blue-eyed shadowhunter looked away from his siblings concerned gazes, he held the rail tighter in order not to fall; if he did then everyone would know how sick really was. Weak to the point that even standing up was a challenge.

Jace seemed to be about to say something, luckily, the board that announced each of the subway's stops lit up, signaling that it was their turn to get down next.

"Come on" Alec said, glad for the change in subject "Our stop is next"

As they got off the train and walked along the platform the sensation of being observed came back to Alec in full forced, the Nephilim looked around, careful not to catch his friends' attention. In his peripheral vision Alexander caught a brief glimpse of what seemed to be a man's shadow as well as a flicker of light that could have been either pale blue or maybe white, he wasn't sure, and it happened so quickly that he thought it best to put it out of his mind, he needed to focus on the task at hand rather than worry about imaginary threats.

The four shadowhunters exited the station and turned left. They walked in silence, Izzy and Jace had many questions to ask their brother but decided to drop the matter for the time being. They had detected demon activity as soon as they exited the subway, they needed to focus all their efforts in annihilating the demons, then they would interrogate their brother and get their answers even if they had to force them out of him.

When they arrived at the place where the demonic energies reached their peak they found nothing unusual, but they could not trust this fake sense of calm, they had already been taken by surprise once, and it had been one time too many, they would not let it happen again.

Together they scanned the premises, at first they found nothing, but their demon-energy detectors kept going crazy, so they couldn't just call it a day. Almost thirty minutes after their arrival they found something that was quite interesting.

At a first glance it looked like an animal nest, a freaking-huge spider's nest perhaps, but they knew better.

"Anyone willing to guess what those are?" Jace asked, trying-and failing- to hide the excitement in his voice.

Alec just made an exasperated sound with his throat, but didn't give an answer, Izzy didn't either, so Jace turned to his petite girlfriend for an answer.

"Well Clary, let's put all those demonology lessons to the test, what species is that?"

Her green eyes scanned the nest intently, taking her boyfriend's test more seriously that was necessary, a good two minutes passed before she gave an answer in firm, certain voice.

"That's an iblis nest"

Jace smiled and nodded proudly, before turning his attention from Clary to his brother and sister.

"So what do you think, will we actually have some fun?"

Isabelle smiled, placing a hand in her weapons belt, reaching for her whip "Not much, but enough to kill some time"

Alec clenched his fists and scowled at them both "This is no time to play around! Both of you being so careless will get you killed one of these days, you HAVE almost gotten yourselves killed SO MANY times already! Just because these are some low-class demons doesn't mean you can lower your guard!"

Everyone- Alexander included- was stunned into silence after his sudden outburst. Jace and Izzy had no way of knowing that their brother was in unimaginable pain and that it was the pure strength of his will that kept him from collapsing on the floor in a heap of panting breathes and bloody coughs. That, plus his pounding headache, Sonneillon's voice constantly inside his head and the sudden sense of being followed and watched had only made matters worse. All in all, it was a really bad day for the younger Lightwood children to make jokes about demon slaying and disregarding their own safety.

"Calm down Alec" Izzy pleaded "We were just joking, we always look out for one another, right? There is nothing to fear"

"Nothing to fear" Alec repeated, though his voice sounded hollow, his eyes looked far into the distance for the briefest moment before focusing back on the three shadowhunters that were with him.

"Let's get this out of the way so we can go home" The blue eyed Nephilim said before walking past his companions and towards the demons' nest.

The other three followed behind him, still taken aback by Alec's behavior, well except for Clary, she knew what was going on, but it was not her place to say anything.

Their approach stirred the demons lying within the nest, the swarm of demonic creatures moved as one and attacked the shadowhunters, but unlike last time, they were ready for battle themselves, and each with their favorite weapon started cutting demons apart.

Alec let arrow after arrow fly at the demons, hitting their chest squarely, he was completely focused on his duty, shutting off his feelings and thoughts and it was like a trance, a soothing numbness where the only feeling was the absence of feeling.

It was then that he heard it, a low guttural chuckle that brought him back to reality. He looked around, trying to slow down his racing heart, surely he must have imagined it; he couldn't be here. But there it was again, that patronizing chuckle that made a cold chill run down his spine, accompanied by a voice that seemed to whisper in his hear and ring all around the street at once.

We meet again, Alexander.

He kept his arrows flying, killing iblis demons as quickly as he could, Jace and Izzy had been right of course, this was not much of a challenge, the only advantage the creatures had was in their seemingly never ending numbers.

Alec kept ignoring Sonneillon's taunts, shooting arrow after arrow until eventually, no more demons came to fight them.

Jace turned to them, smiling that crooked grin of his "See? Didn't even break a sweat"

Izzy and Clary rolled their eyes, Alec gave an annoyed grunt "Destroy the nest before some hidden surprise attacks us"

Jace moved toward it, but before he could do anything, the four shadowhunters were engulfed in a mysterious dark fog.

"What's going on?" Clary asked with obvious panic in her voice.

"I don't know" replied Jace and Izzy at the same time. The blond boy seized Clary's hand and added "It can't be good, we need to find a way out"

They turned to Alec, who had made no sound since the darkness swallowed them. His eyes were wide and his skin was clammy with sweat, it seemed as though he was muttering something, but his voice was too low to hear.

What their brother was muttering was a plea, he was begging Sonneillon to let his family go.

"They know nothing of this" he said "They are of no use to you, Magnus cares even less about them than he does about me, please PLEASE!"

The demon chuckled. You have just proven how useful they are. After all, nothing can torment people more, willingly or not, than those thing they love most. And I will prove to you just how true that is.

All of a sudden Clary, Jace and Izzy gasped in pain and collapsed on the floor, unconscious. Alec kneeled beside them, their pulse was strong and they were still breathing. Nothing seemed to be wrong with them.

"What did you do?" Alec hissed "Damn you, what did you do to them?!"

Nothing much. Sonneillon was laughing at him, the bastard. They would have just gotten in the way of our quality time together, so I put them to sleep, but not before getting a little help from them, of course.

Alec felt his blood boil. "What do you mean by 'a little help'? What's that about?"

Well, having no body is quite a hazardous situation. The curse helps a little, giving me the strength and power it drains from you, but it is so slow and I'm growing impatient! I took a tiny bit of energy from each of them, but since they are so healthy they won't even feel it, unlike YOU.

Alexander felt revolted, here was another detail of that fucking curse that he didn't know about. It leeched off his energy, making Sonneillon stronger as he wasted away, and now this? Now his family was involved when that was the last thing he ever wanted.

Without a thought, Alec unsheathed a seraph blade and charged towards Sonneillon's general direction, guided by the demon's only feature that he could see: Those disturbingly human-looking red eyes of his.

The demon scoffed and spoke to the shadowhunter's mind again. Now little Angel, what were you hoping to accomplish with that? Stabbing a shadow, are you truly that desperate?

"What more could I possibly loose?" Alec said with a barking laugh "I am as good as dead anyway"

True. But you shouldn't have to suffer….more than necessary, though now I really will have to punish you.

Alec felt a cough coming but was unable to stop it like he usually did, he felt the cough rack his body and he let out a disgusting wet sound, when it was over there was so much blood in his mouth that he had to fight not to choke, even though a considerable amount had already stained both his palms and some more was running down his throat.

He felt a stabbing pain in his gut and head, and his knees gave way under him. It was too much and he screamed, unable to control himself.

You really should not anger the person that holds your life in his hands.

Alec used what little strength he had left and flipped the demon a rude gesture.

"You are not a person demon. You are the farthest thing from a person there could ever exist"

The shadowhunter felt another wave of hot pain attack his body, but he was too weak to do anything more than close his eyes and pray for oblivion. Behind his closed eyelids he saw the bodies of Clary, Jace and Izzy; pale and unmoving and the surge of terror he felt made him open his eyes again, Isabelle was the one closest to him and he tried to crawl over to her, though he didn't manage to move more than a few inches before collapsing again. He extended his arm and placed his hand on top of his sister's, he gave her a sad bloody smile, before turning his head towards the demon.

It had drifted closer and closer, catching Alec unaware. The shadowhunter realized that Sonneillon's shadowy figure now seemed almost human, he could make out a perfectly human body with limbs and hands and toes, though he still looked like a shadow or a puff of smoke, his eyes seemed to shine with an iridescent glow, which made Alec shudder only by looking at them.

The demon put a hand to the shadowhunter's cheek and placed the other on the curse mark painted on his chest. The touch made it burn painfully, but Alexander didn't have the strength in him to make even the smallest noise of protest.

Alec never found out what Sonneillon had planned to do, the dome of darkness that had surrounded them all suddenly collapsed around them like a broken mirror and the next thing Alec's foggy mind registered was an explosion of blue light, the demons smoky hands recoiled from the nephilim's touch as if it suddenly burnt him and Alec was glad, the demon's touch never failed to make him feel dirty.

Alec realized that Sonneillon had turned away from him and was now facing someone else, a new threat? He followed the demons gaze and saw sparks of fire and the dark shadow of a man. It clicked in his mind at last, this was the presence he had felt since exiting The Institute, and now he knew who it belonged to, since those beautiful golden-green eyes that so resembled a cat's could not be mistaken.

Magnus is here. He came to save me. He CARES

Alec thought he could cry, but he was too weak to try it, he felt the blissful darkness of unconsciousness closing over him, he heard Magnus call his name and turned his head toward him, he saw the warlock's terrified expression and couldn't understand the reason. Then he remembered that he was lying on the floor with other three shadowhunters. Blood running down his mouth and chin, staining his gear, surely that would freak a lot of people out.

It was then than the demon spoke, and if Alec thought the situation could not get any shittier, he was soon proved wrong. Big surprise

It is so nice to see you again Bane! To what do I owe the pleasure?

Alec saw Magnus confusion in his face and how it gave way to recognition, then shock and finally fury, more blue sparks flew from his ex-boyfriend's fingertips and he charged towards the demon.

The last thing Alexander Lightwood heard before he passed out was the warlock's roared command to the demon "Die, stay fucking dead and leave Alexander out of whatever shit you are plotting!"

Too late. He didn't know where the words came from, had he thought them? Had he said them aloud, had Sonneillon said them to Magnus?

Alec didn't find out, since it was then than the darkness claimed him and he passed out.

SUSPENSE! SO...What's coming next?