Chapter 4: Worries

Magnus was woken up by the sunlight creeping through the curtains, as soon as he was awake enough he had a look around the apartment for Alec but he was nowhere to be seen, he wasn't in the bedroom or the kitchen and he certainly wasn't in the living room. So where is he? If he had been and gone he would have left a note but there was nothing to say he was even here.

Now Magnus was really worried, it isn't like Alec to stay out all night and they hadn't had a fight or anything so there was no reason unless he was in trouble, and it is their wedding rehearsal today and he wouldn't miss that would he? If he didn't want to do it he would have said wouldn't he? He was excited about it before, had he changed his mind? Magnus hoped he still liked him and started to strut towards the phone, but then he sensed someone approach his front door.

He went as still as a living statue as the door got scratched at, he slowly stalked towards the door careful not to give away the fact that he was there. He approached the door and cautiously reached for the door handle and the scratching stopped. He swung the door inwards and peered around the corner of the door and saw nothing until he looked down and saw Chairman Meow sat staring up at Magnus with his beady green cat eyes surrounded with thick, luxurious white fur with faint greyish-ginger stripes. Then Magnus noticed a delicate, blood red ribbon tied around Chairman Meow's neck and on the ribbon was Alec's engagement ring with a note through the ring. Magnus knelt down and untied the ribbon and unhooked the ring, and then he stroked Chairman Meow's soft, little head and watched him trot off with his tail hung high.

Magnus pulled at the note and unrolled it. He started to read it.

"Magnus,
I have Alec, don't worry he's alive; for now but I might get bored and start cutting him up bit by bit if you do not turn up at Hunters Moon, 12pm tomorrow night. Meet me around the back and come alone if you do not obey my wishes you know what will happen. Oh yes, if you tell anyone else about this note we will know and of course you know what will happen to Alec.
From X"

Magnus put the ring in his pocket with shaky hands, he then held the note in his palm and all of a sudden the note turned to ashes in a flash of blue sparks.

"Now that is just antisocial! Huh I wonder who this could be." Magnus said as he started to pace in a tight circle. Should he tell someone? No that would put Alec in danger. The only thing he can do is meet their demands; to meet them at Hunters Moon, which is a pub for werewolves, was Alec's kidnapper a werewolf? It was possible, but what would a werewolf want with Alec? Magnus didn't know what to do with himself, so he decided to close the dull, heavy green curtains and curl up on the sofa to read the book of white, this was a small book bound in white leather with the title in Latin, in gold writing. This book contains spells and potions and came with extreme power and responsibility, it had come to Magnus's possession after Clary found it and asked him for his assistance in getting her mother out of the coma she put herself in after Valentine captured her. That took guts and Magnus liked that in a person so it gained her his respect.

Jocelyn was easy to get on with but the same couldn't quite be said for Maryse and Robert; Alec's parents. Maryse was nice enough and she accepted the fact that Alec was gay and he was happy with Magnus but Alec's father, Robert was not so keen on it, in fact he was disgusted and because Max; Alec's younger brother had died and the only other Lightwood was Isabelle, Robert was also upset because the Lightwood name would soon die out because there was no way for it to continue with Alec being gay.

All this thinking made Magnus's head hurt a little so Magnus flicked his fingers and in a shower of blue sparks, a bottle of water and some aspirin appeared on the cold glass table in front of him. As Magnus swallowed down the aspirin and took a swig of refreshingly cool water. Chairman Meow decided to jump up and settle himself on Magnus's stomach, purring softly as he drifted off to sleep. He couldn't focus on the book or drift off to sleep because he was too worried about Alec.

Chairman Meow was warm and heavy on Magnus's stomach and bounced slightly whenever Magnus breathed. This was strangely comforting and Magnus found himself humming lightly along with the cats purring. Before long Chairman Meow had stopped purring and started to snore, loudly, it reminded him of Alec and this only made him more upset. Would they really kill Alec if Magnus didn't show up? He couldn't really take that chance and fail Alec; he would never forgive himself if something was to happen to him.

Chairman Meow was lying on the book of white so if he wanted to read it, he would have to move the cat but he looked so peaceful that he didn't want to disturb him. So he gave up with the reading and tried to find something else to occupy his mind, but there was nothing else so he started to day dream about the future and what it could hold if this never happened, that Alec was never kidnapped.

Then there was a sharp knock on the door which made Chairman Meow jump up in surprise and start to hiss at the door, his back bent and his fur standing up on end as if he wanted out of his skin. Magnus pushed Chairman Meow off his stomach and went to the door, brushing off fur from his shirt. He removed the chain on the door and opened it with caution and standing there in a neat black suit was Jace with his chin length hair tied up in a slick ponytail, which brought more attention to his angular face and his narrow mouth. He looked handsome in the suit that fitted him well, he was slim but muscled and a 5ft 11ins frame.

"By the Angel, Magnus look at you, did you sleep in those clothes? Anyway I'm not here to give you fashion advice, it's just we missed you at some wedding rehearsal; it was rather boring actually because neither of the happy couple bothered to show up, why was that? I wonder." Jace said smiling. Magnus could see the chip in his incisor tooth clearly whenever he smiled.

"Good to see you too Jace and for your information I did sleep in these clothes, thank you very much. As for the reason why we didn't turn up to the wedding rehearsal was, well oh shit you might as well come in." Magnus replied rather harshly but he then realised that it wasn't Jace's fault so he calmed down a little.

As Jace strode past him, Magnus could smell his deodorant which smelt manly and masculine. It smelt slightly of Alec, which made Magnus wonder if he stole some from Alec's dressing table at the institute, this was where Alec used to live with his family and it was a place of residence for any travelling shadow hunters or any of the shadow hunters that needed help. The institute looked like an old gothic cathedral but mundanes are unable to see it because it is glamoured.

"What are you so wound up about?" Jace asked annoyed with Magnus's sudden outburst. Magnus closed the door slowly, looking around the door, making sure that there was no one watching.

"Look, I'm sorry about being rude and I'm about to tell you something and you have to promise me you will not repeat anything that has been said in the room. Do you understand?" Magnus urged Jace to understand and to promise because he could not do this alone, he had to share his worries; otherwise he would eventually grow insane.

"I understand and I promise. Now what is this all about? Why are you so jumpy?"Jace was slowly tensing to get ready for the bad news that was coming his way.

"Alright, I'm just going to come out and say it, like ripping off a Band-Aid. Alec has been kidnapped and the kidnapper is demanding to meet me at the back of Hunters Moon, tomorrow night 12pm. ALONE." Magnus emphasised the alone because he knew Jace would try to come along, with permission or not.

"Well, you need a plan. You got any ideas?" He asked.

"I think so. It's going to be a risky plan but it might just work."