All right, so here's the first chapter. I fretted over it long enough. :D Do enjoy.
Igniting a Flame
Magnus's cat eyes regarded the mess before him lazily. A vampire stood what little light the room had to offer, pale hands twined together by long fingers. Everything about him was normal, if not dull, from his monotone brown hair and eyes to his passable features. There was blood all over his t-shirt and jeans and his hair was mussed.
The vampire tossed his weight from one foot to the other. His eyes never rested on one certain thing and never on the High Warlock. Magnus wondered, not for the first time, how fast his heart would be beating if it could.
"So," Magnus began, head cradled by his hand. "You want me to – what? – make a potion that would kill this girl?"
The vampire nodded, Adam's apple bobbing. Magnus guessed that he was a fledgling vampire considering he still swallowed and took breaths reflexively. "Yes." He replied meekly.
"Why don't you just do it? You are a vampire." Magnus wasn't normally so snappy with clients, but he was working on less than eight hours of sleep for the whole week.
"I can't!" The boy screamed. He sighed, seeming to calm down a bit, and began again, voice soft. "I can't or she will become one and then…well—"
"Then you'll be dead too." Magnus nodded. It was not unheard of for a new vampire to find themselves changing someone. There were two ways to deal with that. Either the Changer is killed or kept alive. The former happens more often; it depends on whether the Clave or the Clan gets to him first.
"What makes you think that I will be able to find a potion that will kill the vampire inside of her?" Magnus inquired. He was inspecting his nails. It was definitely time for a new coat.
The boy looked at the clock. Was it possible for his skin to become even paler? "I've heard of you and the things you can do."
"Just because I can doesn't mean that I will go around and clean up a stupid vampire's mistakes." Magnus stated. He sighed and rose from his chair gracefully. Standing, he was almost a foot and a half taller than the boy.
The vampire froze as Magnus reached behind him and grabbed something out from the shelf. It was a plastic water bottle that was filled with a colorless liquid. "Here." Magnus thrust it into the boy's hand.
He put the bottle in the light, examining the contaminants. "This is it?" The boy inquired incredulously. "It looks like water."
Magnus raised an elegantly sculpted eyebrow. "If you don't believe me, you may take a sip." He offered. The boy stopped mid sniff and shook his head. "I didn't think so. That is holy water mixed with a poison. It should do the trick."
"I'm not paying you for should."
"Then you can give it back and find another generous High Warlock." With that, Magnus opened the door, waving the man out. Little blue sparks fell like shards of glass; beautiful but deadly.
Having seemed to have lost his bravery, the vampire skittered from the room, his face was on the warlock until he completely vanished; swallowed up by the dark halls. Closed off eyes watched the vampire leave. Alexander Lightwood leaned against the doorway to Magnus's flat. He looked gorgeous as always, with his jet black hair and ice blue eyes. He was wearing dark jeans and a black sweater; both things were worn and faded.
Alec turned his calculating gaze on Magnus. He lingered on the dark circles on his eyes but all he said was, "I hope nothing illegal happened in there."
"Technically, it is legal for him to ask for an invincibility potion that could work for a whole Clan," the warlock replied.
The joke seemed to not even affect Alec. He shrugged off the door frame and strode right up to Magnus. It was refreshing to be around someone who could look him in the eye. "You said a name in your sleep last night."
"I take it that it wasn't yours." Magnus said, seemingly unfazed.
Alec's eyes darkened, his chest rose and fell once in a quick huff. "No." A thick silence followed. When Magnus opened his mouth say something, Alec cut him off. "You look tired. Have you slept at all in forever?" His eyes were trained on the warlock's.
Magnus looked confused. "I don—"
"Because, you've been awake when I wake up to leave and – not that I don't love kissing an awake you goodbye in the morning instead of angry, drowsy you, because I really do. It's just really rare for you to wake up. I mean, you even schedule your clients until later because you like to sleep in. So, it makes me wonder why—"
"Alexander!" Magnus's voice was forceful. Alec stopped, his mouth hanging open in surprise. "Now, what was the name?"
Alec flushed. He looked away, jaw set stubbornly. "Forget it. I don't wanna talk about it anymore."
"No? Then why did you bring it up?" Magnus's eyebrow arched elegantly.
"Because."
Magnus felt as if he was part of a suicide case. One false move and it could all go to hell. Still, he was curious at what name could have been called. "Because what?"
"Because, Magnus," Alex exploded, blue eyes like a storm. He stopped fidgeting with the hem of his sweater and threw his hands in the air in exasperation. "I feel like I'm out this huge loop of your life. You can sit there and talk to other people and shoot out random facts about people you've known and I feel like if I wasn't there I would know next to nothing about you. I mean, by the Angel, I don't even know your birthday!"
Magnus was stunned into silence. Dark hair hung in his lover's eyes but the blue continued to burn intensely. Magnus crossed the distance between them and tucked the hairs behind Alec's ear. "Are you done?"
"Ambrose," Alec finally spoke. "You said Ambrose." Magnus's expression gave everything away, because Alec looked like he swallowed something sharp. "He meant a lot to you then."
Magnus paused delicately. "He…changed my life, yes." Alec's face had gone blank, as if someone erased everything from it. "But, Alec darling, you have to understand—"
"I don't wanna hear about it, Magnus."
"But I think you should," Magnus was adamant. In the corner of his vision, he could see Chairman Meow pawing at his plant. "After all, didn't you just say you wanted to know all about my past?"
"Yeah, but not the guys you screwed." Though his voice was quiet, there was a harsh under-current to Alec's words. His blue eyes were bright and his cheeks were flushed with rage. In a quick motion, Alec was out of his boyfriend's arms and over to his cat.
Magnus looked fairly hurt. "So, that's what you think of me? That I'm a whore?" Alec's hand froze right over the cat. There was silence before Magnus spoke again. "We have plans for tonight; are you going or not?"
Again, silence. With a sigh, Magnus kissed Alec's cheek and left.
When Alec was little, he cut Isabelle's two favorite skirts up so he and Jace could have parachutes. It was stupid and rude, but it took him two whole weeks before he could bring himself to apologize and by then Izzy had already gotten five new skirts and two dolls, so it didn't matter.
Alec was never a good at words in general; he didn't sugarcoat things or beat around the bush. Jace was honest in a charming way and Alec was blunt, no other way around it. He was staring at the numbers that made Magnus's personal cell phone, hand poised right over the send button.
Of course he should apologize; that wasn't problem. How would he apologize?
Alec dropped his phone onto the counter. With a groan, he buried his face in his hands. "This is useless." He murmured.
There was a soft thump and his head shot up. "Magnus?" Hope swelled in his chest, only to deflate when a familiar meow sounded.
Chairman Meow was sitting on top of table, holding the cell phone in his mouth. "Hey!" Alec reached for it, but Chairman hopped from the counter. The cat padded over to the doorway. Alec followed slowly, palms flipped up. "I'm not gonna hurt you or anything, just give me the phone, Chairman." He spoke as if he was talking to a scared child, soft and careful.
But the pale cat was having none of that; it stuck its tail in the air and – quick as lightning – sprinted into its master's room. Great, Alec thought, now I'm never going to find you.
Reluctantly, Alec trudged into Magnus' landfil he calls a room. Riots of clothes, makeup, and glitter were strewn everywhere. Alec calculated how long it would take to find the dwarf cat and winced. He needed to apologize to Magnus now.
There was a light coming from under the bed. He got down on his stomach and army crawled. By the Angel, there was no amount of training that could prepare me for something like this. Alec reached under and felt around for his phone. His hand curled around a small, rectangular object.
But it wasn't his cell phone. What he grabbed was a small leather-bound journal. The brown cover was faded and cracked, smelling of preservatives. Embroidered into the cover in faded gold were the initials MB. Ever so curious, Alec opened the journal carefully.
It very much belonged to Magnus, he could tell that much. Though it was in another language, Alec was able to read it.
I have been given a name. No longer am I just Magnus, as the Silent Brothers called me, but I have a last name: Bane. Ragnor Fell – he is my teacher of the magic arts – has decided it be suitable. Upon telling him that Magnus means great, he said my last name should be Bane. So, I shall keep it.
A paper fell out. It was yellow with brown around the edges. Indentations were placed in the middle of the paper, where it must have been folded more than once.
Alec thought he saw the black ink turned a bright shade of blue, but shook his head.
Downworlder warlock,
The hand that wrote it should have been elegant, with its scrolling text, but it came out stressed and over-worked. Alec continued to read on.
As protectors that rid the world of the havoc that your kind wreaks, we have laid down some rules that are to be abided by and things that are not to be done on the back of this letter so that there will be no misunderstandings. If you find anything disagreeable with our status as sovereigns over you and your kind, or the rules that we implement, that is unfortunate. Are these rules to be broken by any Downworlder, said malefactor will be punished to the fullest as the Clave sees fit.
Shadowhunters
There must have been over a thousand rules written on the back in a sloppy, small print. Alec vaguely remembered Hodge going over the chapters of what was permitted for each Downworlder, but he hadn't recalled it going on for so long.
Alec snorted, setting the paper down, and continued on to the next page where Magnus's spidery – though elegant, - hand continued on:
Downworlder —a name that spreads to all. The Moon's children, the night's children, Lilith's children, and the Fair Folk all jumbled into one worthless mass in the eyes of the "new order" or Shadowhunters. We are bound to strict rules, are we to value our lives.
Somewhere in the distance, Chairman gave a startled meow as a harsh wind blew into the house. Alec grumbled about Magnus' inability to close a window but continued to read. A thick, overbearingly sweet scent filled the room.
It smelled like magic. "Chairman Meow if you—"
But Alec stopped. Long, dangerous looking tendrils of smoke had filled the room. It was a dark purple and thick, full of magic blue sparks. Alec was reminded of a snake. It came toward him, an impenetrable wall. He jumped up, as if to run away, but there was nowhere to go.
The smoke set up a perimeter around the room, closing off every possible exit. The snake-like smoke found its way to Alec's feet. It slithered up his tense body, tightening its grip, before swallowing him whole.
Alec had gone through many portals in his time. He had grown accustom to the weightless, the whirring of wind ripping past him, but this was entirely different. Alec was falling, sure, but he was surrounded by thick, smoky violet; it filled his eyes and lungs, making it hard to breath. It smelled of sulfur.
Through his blurry vision, Alec could faintly make out a silvery, hard looking mass that he was hurling toward. It looked fairly familiar. Alec threw his hands up in front of his face just as he hit the mass…and passed right through it; spiraling down into icy indigo.
The impact of his body connecting with the mass caused what little air was left to escape in a rush. He tried to take a breath, but was filled with an icy chill as his body continued to plummet toward a new darkness—
When strong, warm arms wrapped around his stomach and hauled him up to the surface. He went to suck in a breath, only to have lungs reject it. Alec was sent into a sputtering, gagging fit as spots danced in his vision. He was dimly aware that he had just come out of the water. That was why it looked so familiar.
Alec was deposited on to hard earth, on his stomach. Someone was striking him right between the shoulder blades, hard, until his lungs released all the water and remnants of magic. There was a sound coming from behind him, but Alec couldn't make out the words.
But heard that tone before.
"M-Magnus?" Alec croaked out before the spots expanded, filling his vision with darkness.