The room was laid out in a business-like fashion, straight-backed chairs surrounding a large, oval table and a whiteboard occupying an entire wall. Jane motioned Maura into a seat and just sat beside her as the other started to trickle in.
Tessa, Jem, and Sean remained standing by the board, but everyone else sank into chairs and looked up at them expectantly. Jem was leaning against the wall, arms crossed while Tessa stood beside him without assistance, hip cocked and face grim. Sean's brow was furrowed in worry, but he was calm as he cleared his throat.
"Over the past several weeks, mundanes have gone missing-"
"Since when are human disappearances our thing?" Giovanni interjected. Everyone turned to stare at him, Jane in particular had a 'Really?!' look upon her face.
"Since they turn up a few days later killed by supernatural weaponry, Mr. Gilberti," Jem answered, voice low but not unkind.
Sean tossed a folder full of photographs on the table. "A few were killed by demon poison, or demon weapons. Others were killed by a seraph blade while other wore marks and were on their way to becoming forsaken when they were offed with faerie poison."
"Either everybody agreed to start killing humans but neglected to tell us, or we have one sick bastard on our hands," Sean announced.
Tessa piped up, "We're fairly certain it's one person, or one team of people doing this, and we have a few leads. Obviously it's someone who can attain all of these items to use against the local human population, which should rule out the vampires and werewolves. They don't generally cause trouble for either demons or Shadowhunters and thus probably don't have access to the weapons."
"It's probably also safe to rule out demons, as they can't invoke the powers of a seraph blade, let alone wield one long enough to inflict this kind of damage," Jem added.
Tessa nodded. "However, that does leave the Shadowhunters, faeries, and warlocks. I've taken the liberty of presuming that you all are innocent as I feel we would have noticed if you'd acquired such an arsenal." She smiled briefly. "And Jem here spoke to the faerie queen, they go back quite a ways, and he insists that they are not aware of any of their people committing such acts."
"The Queen is very certain and she knows everything her subjects get up to. It's all a matter of asking the right question, and I trust the answer she gave me," Jem supplied.
"Leaves us with warlocks," Frost put in and Tessa nodded.
"I hope you can all agree to rule me out, but I understand any misapprehensions you may have. In any event, there are only a couple of warlocks in town aside from myself, and both of them have solid alibis." Tessa explained.
"So what does that mean?" Gio asked, shifting in his chair.
"It means that there's another warlock here who hasn't declared himself and it means that he is most likely our perpetrator. We have to track him down and hold him until the Clave can schedule a trial for him," Jem responded, uncrossing his arms and tucking his hands into his pockets.
"Hang on, why is he standing trial? The killing of mundanes by Downworlders is in breach of the Accords and so he doesn't get a trial; we just kill him on the spot," Jane argued in confusion.
Sean nodded. "Normally, yes. However the Inquisitor wishes to make an example of him and so he will go to trial and then be publicly dealt with, as a sort of warning to any others who may wish to kill so many innocents."
"That's bullshit," Jane declared, gripping the arms of her chair tightly.
Sean silenced her with a look.
"Whether or not you find it to be bullshit is beside the point, Rizzoli. We will do as the Clave instructs and then we will move on with our work and continue to get things done." Sean commanded.
Tessa took over, "Now, we have reports of magical happenings sprouting up in various places, and the local guys haven't taken credit for the spells. So," she moved to the corner and pulled out a rolled up poster. She tacked it to the whiteboard and the group found they were looking at a map. After picking up a pen, she drew circles, highlighting certain areas.
"These are the locations. Now, they're all in the same general area, so it only makes sense that our warlock has set up camp there too."
Jem stepped in, "We're thinking patrols until we have someone to firmly concentrate on. Look for anything out of the obvious, anything sketchy, you know, the usual. Six hour shifts, in pairs, and everyone rotates. No exceptions."
Sean nodded. "Working in parabatai partners, obviously. Frankie and Giovanni, Frost and Rizzoli, Korsak and myself, Tessa and Jem."
"What about me?" a voice popped up from the back. Angela hadn't spoken all meeting.
"Ange, there's no one else to take a shift. If this takes a while, we can start subbing you in for others, but at the moment, you can just hold down the fort," Sean said, taking a step toward her carefully, holding his hands out, palms up.
"I – I could go with her," Maura offered. Jane's fingers were suddenly around her wrist as people spoke over one another, all saying something different, but all inherently agreeing.
"No, no way," Jane said above them all. "She's had no training, absolutely not."
"Shut up!" Sean hollered over the din, and they all fell silent. He turned to the doctor. "Maura, it's really sweet and courageous of you to offer, but Jane has a point. I cannot and will not knowingly put an innocent such as yourself into harm's way. I'm sorry."
He turned back to the group at large. "Tessa and Jem have offered to go first, then Korsak and I will, then Rizzoli and Frost, and then Giovanni and Frankie, if he's up for it. If he's not, Angela will go with you." He paused. "You all have phones, call us if something seems even the slightest bit amiss. If you witness an abduction, call for back up and proceed with caution. Let's catch this slimebag as soon as possible, alright?"
"Yes, sir," they all answered, crisp and military-like. He nodded for them to leave and they filed out hastily, the younger Shadowhunters automatically going upstairs to the infirmary, Maura following for lack of a better option. They circled Frankie's bed, making themselves comfortable on the chairs.
They stayed there all night. At one point, Jane had approached Maura and told her that she was welcome to return to her room for the night and get a decent night's sleep, but the blonde shrugged her off. If they were going to stay here and pay their respects to their healing brother, the least she could do was sit vigil with them.
Not to mention the thought of having to be in that room by herself while God knows what went on outside the door frightened her a little bit.
Jane acquiesced to her preference, but kept a watchful eye on her that night.
Which is why she knew precisely what time it was when the door to the infirmary opened and Angela strutted in. Two hours 'til dawn.
Angela met her daughter's gaze and gestured for the brunette to move over to her. When she got there, Angela told her quietly to wake the others, that Korsak and Sean had sent a message saying that they thought they found something and were requesting immediate assistance.
Jane nodded but said, "We can't just leave Frankie alone, Ma."
"I can watch him," Maura's voice was thick and laden with sleep, but it was clear and insistent nevertheless. "I can't help you guys fight, but I'm a doctor; looking after patients is kind of my area of expertise."
Angela smiled widely and genuinely. "Thank you, Maura. That would mean a lot to us."
Jane looked like she wished to comment, to say something, but she held her tongue, opting instead to simply rouse the other two and send them to go get their gear. "Downstairs in ten," she instructed, and then after a final look at Maura, she left to put her own gear on.
In ten minutes, the lot of them were on the front steps and making their way to the van. Angela tossed Jem the keys and climbed in the back with the younger generation.
Another ten minutes found their group in an alley at the coordinates Sean had sent them via text, seraph blades drawn, movements quiet and purposeful. They pressed on to the exact location, and spotted the two older men crouched behind a stack of wooden pallets in an alcove. Communicating with silent hand gestures, they moved in.
The building was a modestly sized old shop front, though it looked like it hadn't seen any activity in years, maybe even a whole decade. The chain gate was rusty, but Angela pulled a bottle of hand lotion from a pocket on her belt and greased the hinges before they entered.
The muffled tones of voices crept upon them as they carefully started clearing sections of the building. They found a staircase at the far end, leading down into the depths.
Wisps of black smoked swirled into Frost's periphery and he took a mighty swipe at it with his blade as he loudly whispered, "Iblis demons!"
Out of nowhere, the smoke grew thicker until it formed vaguely human shapes, and then the group was surrounded by them. At least a dozen of them were there, staring at the Shadowhunters as if they were flies on a wall.