Author's Note: Thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter. Please, keep it up. I do appreciate the encouragement. Enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 7: Loyalty

The Circle gathered the next night for Luke's memorial. There was no formal funeral, as there was no body to burn. Luke's death was only noted in the archives in the Silent City, then, everyone was expected to put it behind them, however, Valentine thought it was best, for closure, that the Circle get together to say their goodbyes.

"Stephen?" Jocelyn asked. Stephen looked up. It was a little while before the funeral was to start. Stephen had arrived an hour before, unable to sit with Amatis any longer. Amatis was absolutely destroyed emotionally and could barely climb out of bed. Stephen knew it was his duty to be at her side, but he felt like his grief was slowly crushing him, and Amatis's inescapable anguish was only hastening the process. He left early for the memorial and spent the afternoon riding aimlessly around the countryside.

Now, he was sitting in the kitchen beside a window, watching as Robert and Michael built a huge bon fire beside the lake. Maryse was out on the patio, catching up with some of the other Circle wives as she tended to her newborn son, Alec. Stephen had yet to greet her. He feared seeing a tiny baby wrapped in a blue blanket. He wasn't sure who he was grieving more: Isaiah, who never lived, or Luke, who lived life to the fullest.

"Yes?" Stephen asked.

"Have some water," Jocelyn said. She pressed a glass of cold water in Stephen's hand. He drank it all, then set the glass down and looked at Jocelyn. She was dressed in a gray dress, as none of her mourning clothes fit. She was greatly swollen with her pregnancy and Stephen felt bad for looking her over, though he couldn't look away, either.

"How far along are you?" Stephen asked.

"Seven months," Jocelyn replied. "I kept the pregnancy hidden for a little while. I wanted to be the one to tell Luke, in private. It just seemed more proper that way. Now…"

"You were close with him," Stephen said.

"We grew up together," Jocelyn said. "He was practically my brother. We-"

"We should begin," Valentine said, walking in, followed by Hodge. They were dressed in white and each wore red runes.

Valentine looked as though he lost the only person he ever loved. His eyes were bloodshot red, with dark circles beneath them. His voice sounded hoarse. Stephen was unsure of his ability to forgive Valentine for Luke's death. Yes, it could have been an accident, as Valentine insisted, though Stephen was suspicious.

"Stephen," Valentine said. He put a hand out that feebly shook. "Come here, brother, I want to greet you."

Stephen stood up and walked over to Valentine, who put his arms around Stephen. Valentine kissed Stephen on the cheek and lay a hand on Stephen's lower back.

"Thank you for being here. I know you and Luke were friends, and you were very angry and upset about his death," Valentine said. "It's like we discussed before. Sometimes, these things, they just happen. We must not question the will of the Angel."

"We all have a purpose," Stephen said.

"We all have a purpose," Valentine echoed. He lightly slapped Stephen's cheeks and kissed him again. "Let us begin."

They filed out of the house with Stephen and Celine bringing up the rear. Close to thirty people had gathered around the bonfire. Some of the people Stephen recognized, and some were unfamiliar. Many of Alicante's best known citizens were in the Circle. There was Aksel Pangborn, who sat on the council in Idris, and his brothers Emil and Anson. Anson was employed with the Gard; Stephen ran into him once or twice, though he never expected any members of the Pangborn family to be involved with the Circle.

Jocelyn went to stand with Valentine. Stephen felt someone touch his hand and looked over to see Michael beside him. Celine stood on Stephen's other side.

The memorial began with Valentine giving a moving eulogy. Then, he invited everyone to offer a memory they had of Luke. Valentine spoke of the day he swore his parabatai vow to Luke, while Jocelyn shook her head and didn't want to share. Stephen had good memories of Luke, but it didn't feel proper to share them. Many of these people had known Luke for years, while Stephen only met him in March and married his sister in June. Now it was September. Six months didn't feel like long enough to know someone, though Stephen had felt close to Luke.

"Luke introduced me to my wife," Michael said. "He kept telling me there was this girl I had to meet. He put the whole first date together. My wife fell in love with me that night… so I owe Luke a lot. He was a great man. He was loyal, and always in a good mood… he was an amazing friend." Everyone nodded. Stephen wondered if anyone would dispute the fact that Luke was a great, loyal man and amazing friend.

"Stephen?" Valentine asked. "Is there something you would like to share with the Circle?" Jocelyn looked at Stephen. She was crying, not obviously, but there were tears in her eyes. Stephen had to remind himself, again, that Luke really was gone.

"I just…" Stephen began. His voice cracked. "He was there when I needed him. When I didn't expect him to be there, when I didn't think I deserved him there, he was. And when I married his sister, he trusted me, and believed in me. Luke was…" Celine grabbed Stephen's hand and held it tightly as he started to cry. "Luke was good!"

"He was very good," Valentine said. His voice was soft and soothing, with a tinge of pain. "Celine, darling, do you have something to say about Lucian? Some sort of special memory you have, of just the two of you?"

"No," Celine said. "He was a wonderful man. So sweet and kind to everyone."

"But surely you and he shared some sort of… special moment?" Valentine asked. "You can tell us, darling. We're all family here."

"There's nothing to say," Celine said. "Maryse?"

When the sharing was done, Valentine stoked the fire so that it burned hot and brought out an amulet.

"This belonged to Lucian. He gave it to me before we went out that awful night," Valentine said. "Tonight begins a new chapter for the Circle. We did not lose Lucian, he was taken from us by a savage pack of werewolves. We will no longer sit by idly and allow the Downworlders their run of the world. This is our world! We have been sworn to protect it! We will fight harder! We will avenge our fallen brother's death! We will kill anything that stands in our way!"

Valentine threw the amulet into the fire. Stephen saw only a flash of silver before the flames consumed the metal. Then Luke was gone, forever.

Food was served soon after, though Stephen didn't feel like eating. He instead took a tall glass of dark beer and walked off the patio, planning to walk around the lake and perhaps put his mind back together. The night was cool and crisp, with a nip of frost in the air. Stephen passed the still simmering fire. Robert and Michael stood beside it, talking in quiet tones.

There was a language parabatai spoke in, Stephen noticed. They only had to say half the words ordinary people would in conversation. Even now, Michael had his hands in his pockets, looking away from Robert, but Robert was nodding slowly and taking careful drags on a cigarette. Michael was standing close to Robert, so there was barely any space between them, and Robert was not only allowing it, but welcoming it. Stephen wished he could communicate that way with someone. He wished he had allowed another man to know him that intimately. Michael might have, but Stephen knew he would never be as close to him as Robert was.

"Stephen!" Celine called. Michael stepped away from Robert and sipped his glass of beer. Walls went up between them where there were none moments before.

"What?" Stephen asked, turning around. Celine was walking over to him, holding the hem of her dress up off the wet grass.

"May I walk with you?" Celine asked. "I need some air. It's such a nice night." It wasn't a nice night, but Stephen didn't point that out. The night before last, Luke died, tonight, they burned his amulet.

"I'm not carrying you," Stephen said. "Or doing anything else with you." He added the second part under his breath. Celine took the hint and caught up, while keeping a respectable distance between them.

They didn't speak until they reached the other side of the lake, where little conversation could be heard from the patio, and those on the patio blended into shadows. Celine looked so ethereal in the moonlight. She could have been a ghost rather than a young girl. She wore her hair down, loose, with barely any make up on. She was trying to pass for innocent, Stephen knew. She was trying to make Stephen think that the night of his initiation never happened.

Stephen stopped walking, grabbed Celine by the arm, and spun her around so that she faced him. She was gasped in shock and tried to pull away, but Stephen held her tightly and enjoyed the look of fear in her eyes.

"So did you have a special memory of Lucian?" Stephen asked. "Something special that happened, just between the two of you? Did you have sex with him, Celine?"

Celine gasped as her eyes filled with tears. She dropped the hem of her dress and punched Stephen, hard, in the shoulder.

"What a thing to ask!" Celine cried. "Did I have sex with him? You're asking me this, when we just laid his memory to rest? Have you no respect for the dead?"

"Respect has nothing to do with it, doll," Stephen said. "You're the one who tried seducing me. You're the one who came to my room, barely dressed, and offered yourself to me. To the victor go the spoils, remember? Besides, if Luke did have sex with you, I doubt he would mind it becoming public knowledge. It's not like Valentine didn't already know."

"It was never to become public knowledge!" Celine exclaimed. "Who cares if I did? He was a hell of a lot more man than you will ever be. At least he was loyal to the woman he loved. You're married and you kissed back."

Stephen gaped at her as she and continued walking around the lake. Celine was nothing like she was before. There was fire and passion in her she never showed to anyone. She wasn't as passive as she normally appeared to be and she was crying, like she really did care about Luke. Stephen started after her, and then stopped, but there was some small part of him that couldn't handle it when a girl cried… not even a girl who tried to tempt him into destroying his marriage.

"Celine, wait," Stephen said. He caught up with her and grabbed her by the elbow. Celine spun around, fist flying, though Stephen avoided it. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything."

"I could have loved him," Celine said, starting to cry harder. "He could have loved me, you know. Now, he never will."

There was a small fire pit on this side of the lake as well, with several stones around it for benches. Celine sat down, so Stephen sat beside her. She was still shaking with sobs and Stephen put an arm round her, drawing her close.

"You could have loved him?" Stephen asked.

"We had a thing… before," Celine replied. "I've known him forever. He and Valentine met when they were twelve and were always training together. I was always Valentine's little sister, until suddenly I was no longer Valentine's little sister, but just his sister."

"I beg your pardon?" Stephen asked.

"I grew up. I grew breasts and pretty hair and everything you boys look for in girls," Celine said. Stephen looked down and noted that yes, Celine did have an ample set of breasts. He saw them once, I fact, when she had been skinny dipping. Had that really been only three weeks ago?

"Yes, breasts," Stephen said.

"You're hopeless, Herondale," Celine said. "Luke noticed. And he continued to notice, and soon, I saw that he was noticing… then one day Valentine went upstairs to take a shower and Luke and I kissed in the kitchen. I was fifteen by then, and Luke was twenty. Nothing should have happened, but…" Celine shrugged. "We started sneaking around together, though Valentine knew. He encouraged it. We had sex not long after. Luke was my first. We started talking about getting married when I turned eighteen, but I knew it would never happen. He could have loved me, but he didn't."

"He loved Jocelyn," Stephen realized.

"Luke said he loved me but he wasn't in love with me. He was in love with Jocelyn and always had been. Even when Jocelyn and Valentine got married, he still loved her, so I told him I would never love a man who still loved another woman," Celine said. "We broke up, swore nothing ever happened between us… we became better friends than we ever were lovers."

"But you love him?" Stephen asked.

"Luke's gone," Celine said. She turned to Stephen, her eyes full of tears which shimmered in the moonlight. "I'll never love him, ever again. I'm sorry for the night I came to your room. It's just so easy to want to reach out and grab something to stop your fall."

Stephen knew how that felt. He had been in a free fall for the past three weeks, with Luke and Isaiah's death being only ledges to hit on the way down. The world was spinning and Stephen couldn't decide if he wanted to stop or keep spinning. Then there was Celine, who knew, somehow, what Stephen was feeling.

"I know," Stephen whispered, "I know how you feel."

Celine's golden eyes looked translucent in the moonlight. Her hair was nearly silver, her skin pale as the last vampire Stephen ever saw. She smelled of orange blossoms, warm cotton, and life. Stephen took a shuddering breath, fell forward, and kissed her.

"Stephen!" Celine exclaimed. Her hands came up, resting on his shoulders, not pulling him closer but not pushing him away either. She exhaled hot air against his throat and kissed him over his pulse as he pushed a few curls off her face. Stephen ended up on his knees before her, his hands on her waist as her warm lips brushed against his. Maybe this was a mistake, maybe it wasn't, and Stephen did not care. He kissed her again, crushing her lips against his, feeling pain and pleasure and heat and her, Celine, a woman who had just as many secrets as he did.

Stephen dropped a hand down and moved it beneath Celine's dress, running his fingers up her shin, along the back of her knee, up to her lower thigh. Celine bit Stephen's lower lip and tugged on his hair just the slightest bit. Stephen groaned as he felt himself begin to stiffen. Celine spread her knees apart and gave Stephen a small smile.

"I want you," Stephen whispered. "Here, now. Please." He looked into her eyes, then kissed her jaw line softly as he moved his other hand beneath her dress.

"You're married," Celine said. She pushed him away and stood up, fixing her dress. "I won't love a man who's in love with another woman."

"Who said anything about love?" Stephen asked.

Celine stomped away, leaving Stephen all alone in the moon light.

The number of Circle members had diminished by the time Stephen got back to the patio. Celine was talking to Jocelyn in the corner with Maryse. She was feeding the baby a bottle as Maryse looked on. Michael was gone and Valentine was noticeably absent, as was Hodge.

Robert was hovering on the outside of the group, leaning against a railing with a drink in his hand. He looked Stephen up and down, then smirked and sipped his drink. Stephen looked down to see that the knees of his white pants were stained with dirt and ash. Robert nodded and raised his glass to Stephen, but the gesture wasn't intended as congratulatory. Cheating on one's grieving, heartbroken wife wasn't exactly accepted in the Shadowhunter culture.

Stephen felt his cheeks flush red. He scanned the crowd looking for Luke, and remembered that he wasn't there, not any more, anyway. Luke should have been there to hold the group together and be the person everyone felt comfortable talking to. Luke should have been there.

"May I talk to you, Stephen?" Valentine asked. He'd walked up behind Stephen and laid his hands on Stephen's shoulders.

"Of course," Stephen said. He followed Valentine into the kitchen, where Valentine pulled out two shot glasses and a bottle of dark liquor. He went to the ice box and got a lime which he sectioned with a knife as Stephen stood by, silently questioning his purpose for being in the kitchen.

"The mundanes call it tequila," Valentine said. "Would you like a shot?"

"Not if you're pouring it," Stephen said.

"So you are still sore about the other night," Valentine said.

"Which one?" Stephen asked. He didn't mean to be insubordinate. There were just so many other nights Stephen couldn't forget about. A look crossed Valentine's face, the closest he would ever come to looking guilty.

"The night… Lucian died," Valentine said. "I'm sorry about it. I thought you knew I wasn't drinking, and thank the Angel I didn't drink, or I could have been killed as well."

"Angel forbid," Stephen said. "I don't believe that you didn't harm him."

"Why would I do anything to compromise his life? He was my parabatai, Stephen. Do you have any idea how much it hurts when one parabatai loses the other? It hurts, physically, mentally… I was bound to him. Our souls were linked together, and when he died, I felt us rip in half. Why would I want that to happen? Lucian was everything to me. Everything. I don't expect you to understand." Valentine poured himself a shot of tequila and drank it.

"You think I harmed him the way I harmed you and harmed Michael. I didn't," Valentine continued. "You hate me for what I did to you, I know it. I can see it in your eyes, feel it in the way you are around me. You hate me. I don't care. I had my reasons for throwing you to the vampires. You're all talk, Herondale. I know you. You try to act like you want to make a difference but at the end of the day, you're too much of a pussy to follow through. You worry about what your mother will say. You worry about your father. You think before you act. You never just act. So I forced you to, and I don't give two fucks whether or not you hate me. I made you do what you would have never done otherwise. You should thank me."

"You violated the Accords," Stephen said.

"No, you violated the Accords. You're either with me, or against me, Stephen," Valentine said. "What's it going to be?" Stephen clenched his jaw shut and stared down at the empty shot glasses. Valentine poured them each a shot and laid two limes beside their glasses.

"You told me you wanted to make something of yourself. You want to make a difference. So some Downworlders died in the name of progress? What are a few Downworlders to us, Stephen? They're hellish creatures. Abominations. Heaven has no use for those of evil origin. They have no feelings. They aren't human. You did nothing wrong that night," Valentine said. "Repeat after me, son. You did nothing wrong."

"I did nothing wrong," Stephen said.

"You did nothing wrong," Valentine said. He lifted his shot glass and drank it, as did Stephen. The alcohol was hot and burned its way down Stephen's throat. He set his glass down, picked up the lime slice, and bit it, feeling the tartness of it cool the burn. They looked outside, at those from the Circle who remained. "They're lost without Lucian, you know. You're lost without him."

"He was a good man," Stephen said.

"Like you, I saw great things for him. I was grooming him for leadership, to be my second in command, but Luke wasn't made to be a leader, he was happy to follow. Even in school, and when we were training together, Luke allowed me to have the glory, always. He was happy in my shadow. I don't need another shadow. I don't need another doe eyed follower, I have enough. What I need is a lieutenant, and I would like it to be you."

Stephen imagined that Valentine would have wanted him to spend this moment fawning over him and insisting he wasn't worthy of such a position, but Stephen had been on his knees once already tonight, and besides, Valentine wasn't worthy of that degree of admiration.

"What do I have to kill now?" Stephen asked.

"Nothing. Christ, Stephen, must you always be so morose? I'm offering you a chance at greatness," Valentine said. "You joined the Circle because you wanted to be a part of something, right? This is something. You and I- we could go down in history together. Years from now, people could remember us for this. I can't do it alone, Stephen. I need your help. Help me lead the Circle to glory."

Valentine refilled their shot glasses. Stephen looked at his glass and felt Valentine beside him, offering him glory and greatness for nothing. He had lost so much, perhaps, now it was time to gain something back.

"I'm with you," Stephen said. He tossed back the shot of tequila and dropped his glass onto the counter as his body seemed to burn from the inside out.

Author's Note: Thanks for reading. Please review. I would like to know what you think, if you have any questions… so feel free… please? I just want to know this is at least being read and perhaps enjoyed. Please? Here's a teaser at least one of you should love:

"I know what happened that night," Amatis said. "Celine told me."