Chapter Twenty-One

The atmosphere around the Eiffel Tower was heavy with the suffocating stench of sulphur, there was a red fog slithering through the air carrying demonic energy with it and Magnus soon couldn't see what was in front of him. Fear scuttled through him, yet he had to control his emotions or he knew he wouldn't be able to go through with the plan. As he walked, his phone buzzed letting him know that Theo ad Jace had cleared the area of mundanes, allowing Magnus to turn his back to the tower and create the barriers that would conceal the carnage. The walls stretched above the tower, making a dome at the top and restricting the menacing fog from going any further. While he cautiously wandered, he cleared the fog, allowing him to see something that not even his nightmares would cruelly conjure up. Hanging from the highest barrier of the Eiffel Tower was a cage made of red magic and sitting helplessly in it with fright taking over him was Max. The pain that Magnus suffered as he watched Max cry was incomparable to any physical agony he had even endured. As he wiped away a tear, he formed a small blue bear, sent it running up to Max and smiled as he watched his son play with the bear and hug it.

"Papa!" Max cried,

"Well it's about time," Ember sighed,

"I know this may not work, but let him go and please stop with this whole psychotic bitch thing; it's not a good look," Magnus said as he approached Ember,

"Make my portal."

The twisting and winding red smoke circled them underneath the great attraction and once Ember clicked her fingers, it morphed into a ring of various demons all ready to devour their prey if it didn't comply with their masters' wishes. This was the part of the plan that could go dreadfully wrong if everything wasn't timed perfectly.

"It will take time," he said before sending blue sparks into the air,

"Then do it quickly," Ember urged.

Magnus grinned as he looked behind her to see his tiny spell fade, revealing Alec who cracked his knuckles as he scanned the growing number of demons around them.

"He's not your bitch," he said before elbowing her to the ground, "he's mine."

At the release of his arrow, the other Shadowhunters gathered and began to fight the demons as Magnus reluctantly started to create the portal. The whole thing would involve weaving the ground, the protective barriers and even the great tower itself with spells and enchantments allowing there to be enough demonic energy for the portal to exist. The last time a portal like this was made, it took months and Magnus watched an old friend die for it, how he was going to create one in a matter of minutes was beyond him.

"We had a deal," Ember said as she got up,

"Yes we did, but you didn't mention any specifics," Magnus spoke as he spread his magic through the ground, "oh and I hope you brought your own sacrifice, because I'm certainly not giving up my family for this."

Strangely, as the amount of magic he used increased, the stronger he felt, but there was doubt in the back of his mind over whether his plan would work and they would all leave Paris unharmed. He heard an arrow fly past him with a kind of singing noise and he had to dodge a couple of daggers as he concentrated on the portal.

Fighting the demons was the easiest thing for Alec, yet trying to get to Max was proving significantly harder; with every step he took up the Eiffel Tower steps, a demon was there to slow him down. As he ran up the final flight of stairs, he dodged an acanthus demons' prickly arm, shot an arrow through its back and swiped it down the stairs with his bow before watching it turn to ash. He breathed heavily as he walked onto the balcony and looked at the scene below. He could see merely black dots, yet he knew which dots were demons and it seemed that Ember was making her army increase with each one that was struck down.

"Here for the kid are you?" a voice chuckled.

Alec turned to see Fraco with green balls of magic hovering over his open hands and behind him was the cage that held Max. There was nothing in the world that was going to keep Alec away from his son, especially not a gilled idiotic warlock.

"You don't have to do this," Alec wanted his son to see him being empathetic.

Instead of accepting his offer to surrender, Fraco threw one of the balls of energy towards him which Alec somersaulted over. Alec pointed his seraph blade to Fraco's throat, but he made the handle unbearably hot, forcing Alec to drop it and then kicked him in the chest. More magic was thrown his way which he effortlessly dodged and in frustration, Fraco threw him against the metal barriers of the balcony, leaving Alec's torso paralysed. The warlock came closer with a taunting grin on his face and his gills pulsing as Alec struggled to move and though he kicked out at him, he was too far away.

"Isn't it a shame that your son will have to watch you die?"

To wipe the smile off of his face, blue sparks hit Fraco onto the floor and Alec was released. He pushed himself off of the barrier, punching Fraco as he landed and rolled to grab his bow. As he brushed his hand through his hair, he stamped on Fraco's back, pinning him to the ground and then fired three arrows along his spine. He knew that he wouldn't die, but it would take him a long time to get up from having three arrows lodged in his back and connecting him to the floor of the balcony on the Eiffel Tower. Alec ran to the barrier keeping him away from the cage and cut through it.

"You can't touch the bars or they disappear," Max warned,

"Thanks buddy, but that still doesn't help me get you out," Alec sighed as he analysed the cage,

"You're the Shadowhunter, you figure it out,"

"When we get home, we're going to have a talk about your growing attitude."

He carefully put his arms between the bars, but even when Max moved as close as possible to him, he couldn't reach him to stroke his cheek and reassure him that everything was going to be alright. It was a relief to see a smile on Max's face despite hanging above Paris, but the smiles were disrupted by the arrival of a ravener demon. Alec clutched his seraph blade and ran at it, slicing off two of its legs, however as the demon attempted to keep itself upright, it swung its deadly tail, making him bend backwards. This gave way for the tail to hit the cage.

The cage that could not be touched.

As if in slow motion, Alec heard the magic fizzle out like a dying sparkler and a gasp from Max that echoed through his ears. He could only reach out for Max and then watched as their hands barely touched and Max fell.