Here you go lovelies, an update! You can't imagine how grateful I am we have reached almos 4,300 views! And last chapter was the most reviewed one so far, I hope you like this chapter. Written entirely from Magnus' perspective. Read you soon!

Chapter 7: Before the last petal falls

I know my dreams are made of you

Of you, and only for you

Your ocean pulls me under

Your voice tears me asunder

Love me before the last petal falls

- Beauty and the beast by Nightwish

In the moment Magnus recognized the demon's presence terror overcame him. He saw Jace, Clary and Isabelle passed out on the floor, though apparently unharmed, then he turned to Alec again and for a moment he feared the worst. Seeing him there with his eyes closed, silent, pale and bloody Magnus thought his love was dying, he sent a wave of magic in Alexander's direction and let it sink into the shadowhunters body, relieved to find that the shadowhunter was alive. Only then did he turn his attention to the mass of darkness that had once been one of his deadliest foes.

Magnus' initial outburst had been powerful enough to get the demon away from Alec and dissolve him back into his cloud of smoke aspect, and now they stood face to face, or face to smoke?

"How the hell did you manage to escape my contention seal?"

Magnus moved around Sonneillon's smoky self, using his blue sparks to open himself a path towards Alec's unconscious body, once there he placed himself between the shadowhunter and the demon, as a sort of living protective barrier.

With patience and careful planning. Said Sonneillon, in that irritating mind-speak of his. The power of your spell weakened a few weeks ago, did something happen?

Magnus clenched his teeth, not deigning the comment with an answer. Most likely the demon already knew everything about his recent emotional turmoil, he was not going to humor the thing with an explanation.

"I'll just put you back in that tiny box again, I'm sure you are both in need of each other after this time apart"

Oh? That's quite the progress after the death threats and murderous magic. But still, you can't do that, I took my precautions.

"If you try something on Alexander again, death will be the last of your worries, I can do much worse, as you well know"

Sonneillon's amorphous presence made a sound that seemed dangerously close to a chuckle, it tried to move closer to the warlock and the unconscious shadowhunters, but Magnus put up a magical barrier that made the demon recoil again, making a sizzling noise that the warlock later identified as a hiss of pain.

How poetic, the son of a demon and a child of the angels. But you can't hide him from me, it's too late for that.

For a moment, Magnus wondered what that was supposed to mean, but he didn't give it much thought, he could feel his strength leaving him, he had been using staggering amounts of magic for the past few hours and all the protections he had placed around the Nephilim were only making matters worse, he needed to get out of here before he fainted too.

"I don't need to hide him from you" Magnus said between clenched teeth, fatigue washing over him "I just need to be more powerful than you, which coincidentally, I am"

The demon laughed again. Have you learned nothing from your father's experience? Pride and vanity can be the worst flaws of character, so many angels fell because of them.

"Like you" The warlock spit without hiding his distaste "Grand demon Sonneillon, Duke of hell and fallen prince of Thrones"

Indeed. All of us who once were angels fell to pride or jealousy, even to hate. Hate towards that second, weakest and yet better loved of god's creations: humans. Such a powerful thing, emotions and amongst them, love is perhaps the most dangerous. It has been the ruin of men, downworlders, even angels. Surely it will destroy you.

"Is that supposed to be a threat?" Magnus had hoped his voice sounded far more menacing, but he was too tired to manage it.

I wouldn't dare. It's more of a warning really, that boy will be your undoing if you are not careful.

Magnus had had enough, he couldn't waste any more time, his magic was practically drained and he still needed to move and treat the shadowhunters, and Alec, he needed to treat Alec, he was the one whose condition looked the most critical.

Quickly, the warlock put down his magical barrier, Sonneillon didn't miss the chance and lunged at Magnus, who managed to hurl a ball of pure magic at the demon, the cloud of smoke vanished, but Magnus knew better than to hope Sonneillon was gone for good, a last eerie chuckle that resounded all around him was the only confirmation he needed.

As soon as Magnus was sure that the demon was gone –for the moment at least- he turned around to check the shadowhunters. Clary, Jace and Isabelle seemed to be perfectly well, if only a bit pale, they would most likely wake up by themselves. Alexander though, he was an entirely different case.

There was something messing with Alec's body, something that did not allow the warlock to assess the full extent of the shadowhunter's injuries. That had Magnus worried and scared, but he wanted to believe his own fatigue had something to do with it, he would try again when he wasn't so tired. For now he cleaned the blood in Alexander's chest, chin and mouth, while sending as much healing magic through his body as he could manage. Magnus knew it should be helping, but apparently it wasn't enough, since Alec looked as pale and sickly as he had at the institute –worse, actually- and he didn't give any signs of regaining consciousness.

The high warlock of Brooklyn was relieved when at last, one by one, the shadowhunters –except for Alec, much to his constant worry- woke up one by one. The first one was Clary, who looked around, confused and scared. When her eyes finally settled on him he saw a flash of confusion pass through her face, followed by a look of a fear that rivaled his own, when she realized just who Magnus was hugging to his chest with all the strength he had.

"Wh-what happened?" She asked, looking at Magnus, who was still clutching Alec protectively, after a moment she turned around towards Jace and Isabelle, hugging her boyfriend protectively while holding one of Isabelle's hands before turning towards the warlock again.

"I'm not really sure" Magnus replied honestly "You were fighting that nest of iblis without a care in the world but then you were ambushed by a high-class demon, he did something and you passed out, how are you feeling?"

Clary stopped to think for a moment before replying "Fine, a little dizzy, but I'm ok" She looked to Alec again, and Magnus noticed again that she seemed anxious and scared.

"How long have we been out?"

"A little over a half hour, though Isabelle and Jace should be waking up soon like you did" At least Magnus hoped so.

On cue, the other two shadowhunters started to stir and mumble, they sat up, confused as Clary had been at the beginning. Jace hugged his girlfriend tightly while Izzy looked around, until he noticed her brother, unconscious in Magnus arms.

"What's wrong with him?!"

"I don't know" It was the second time in a row that the High Warlock of Brooklyn had to admit his ignorance, and it infuriated him, especially because this time his lack of knowledge could prove dangerous to Alexander's life.

"What do you mean you don't know? We have to treat him!" Isabelle sounded as panicked as Clary had looked, but the way she spoke to him, plus Magnus' growing fatigue, only made him angry.

"What do you think I've been doing? Having a picnic in the park? My magic is almost completely drained and your brother is not responding to anything I can do with the little resources I have here. We need to get him to the institute quick, and I need to restore my magical supplies so that I can heal him"

To everyone's surprise, it was Jace who spoke next, acting as a voice of reason –which was clue enough to his despair regarding his brother's health-

"We can give you some of our energy if that's what you need, Alec told us about how he gave it to you twice before. That won't be a problem, let's just take him home so that he can rest".

At once, Izzy, Jace and Clary helped Magnus stand up, since by this point he seemed about to pass out too. They offered to carry Alec. But the warlock shook his head and held the blue eyed boy even tighter to his chest, so the shadowhunters helped Magnus, making sure he didn't fall under his own weight.

Almost an hour passed before the shadowhunter and the warlock arrived safely at the institute, and given the circumstances it had felt even longer. Alec was carried to a bed in the infirmary. Magnus tried to check his condition again, but his exhaustion didn't allow him to do much.

"I think this is where I come in" said Jace, extending a hand towards Magnus "Alec told me you entwined your fingers in order to use some of his energy, I hope just holding my hand is enough, a lot less touchy, if you get my meaning"

Magnus sighed but nodded, taking the hand that had been offered to him, he was surprised when two other hands grabbed his.

"He's my brother, and apparently this is the only thing I can do for him right know" A fact that seemed to both irritate and sadden Isabelle Lightwood, based on her facial expression.

Clary just stared at Magnus and then let her gaze wander towards Alec, her lips pierced, she merely nodded and tightened her grip on Magnus' wrist.

The bundle of hands started to shine, and Magnus was transported to another place. That time it had been him who had been in mortal danger, and Alexander had offered his energy selflessly, so that he could heal his injury. The irony was not lost on him.

"Thank you" he said simply to the three teens, before heading towards Alec's bed.

He let his hands roam through Alec's figure, sending small waves of magic through his hands, as he scanned the shadowhunter's frame he was perplexed to realize just how sick his ex-boyfriend was. There was a lot of damage to most of his organs, he was bleeding internally and it almost looked as if his body was slowly giving up on him.

He cursed under his breath and turned around to look at Alexander's family, Jace and Izzy were both starring down at their brother, worry and fear obvious in every feature of their faces. Clary stood a little farther back, she seemed apprehensive and every time her gaze fell on Alexander she looked away glassy-eyed, as if she was trying not to cry. What was that about?

It was Isabelle's panicked ramblings that brought the warlock's attention back to reality "Is he doing any better now?"

He wanted to give her hope, he knew how the whole family had been destroyed with Max's death, but she had taken it worst, Alexander himself had told him so. And now another brother laid unconscious, without any signs that he was getting better. He wanted to tell her Alec was fine not just to reassure her, but also to quiet his own growing fear that was threatening to drive him mad. Alexander had to be ok, he couldn't die. He couldn't die!

"He's marginally better" Magnus replied dubiously

"Though he's starting to develop a fever, could you fetch me some clean cloth and cold water?"

"Why don't you just summon them?"

It was the first time in hours that Magnus heard Clary's voice, and he was still very curious about her attitude, it was obvious to him that she was hiding something. And he intended to find out, though that was not a priority at the moment, so he just answered her question.

"Because I need to save my energies. If Alec's condition worsens because of the fever, I will need my magic to continue treating him. Besides, that demon that ambushed you was a duke of hell, even in his weakened state, he's not someone you want to mess with, and he's after me. We will need all the strength and magic we can get if he decides to come here, so I won't waste my magic in such a petty matter as the summoning of cold water and cloth, so go get them for me!"

That seemed to get a reaction, Isabelle and Clary scrambled hastily towards the door, talking about what other things they should bring that either Alexander of he could need. Jace stood behind him for a moment but then he headed outside of the room too.

Realizing that he was alone again, Magnus collapsed in a chair placed by the head of Alexander's bed. He caressed the shadowhunter's cheek and smiled down at him.

"You will be all right darling, I'll make sure of it" He placed a gentle kiss in his blue-eyed beauty's forehead.

His skin felt extremely hot under the warlock's lips. Magnus looked closer at Alexander and realized that the boy's skin was flushed and sweaty, he was panting for each breath and was starting to toss restlessly in his bed.

Magnus squeezed Alexander's right hand with his own "It's all right darling, I've got you, it's ok" with his free hand the downworlder opened the shadowhunter shirt, so that he could clean the seat there, it was then that he noticed the strange symbol painted over his chest.

A demon's mark

"What's the meaning of this?!" Magnus only knew it couldn't be good, and his last encounter with Sonneillon made a dreadful sensation run down his spine. Bastard, I will get you for this, you will regret whatever it is that you did!

Shit's getting real! So what do you think will happen next? Please review and share your thoughts with me :D Until next time!