CHAPTER 7: FUN
[S1E3Dead Man's Party (Part II)]
The two Shadowhunters made it back to the Institute in record time, sneaking in through the back. After Alec gathered his bow and arrow, Margo helped him rune the arrows.
They were almost finished when Margo heard footsteps near the pair. She tossed a worried look Alec's way before thinking quickly on her feet. She made her way to the table where the arrows lied, pushing them back before hopping up herself. "Alec."
She motioned for him to come forward. When he was within arm's length, she grabbed hold of his t-shirt, pulling him between her legs. His hands immediately rested to either side of her, trapping her as he leaned down. Margo's lips found Alec's neck, leaving
trails of kisses along his skin, hoping to distract the intruder.
"Alec. Margo."
Hodge's voice caused the pair to spring apart in mock surprise. Alec turned around to face him, stepping to Margo's side and leaning against the table by her thighs. "Didn't know you two were here."
As Alec started stammering, trying to come up with an explanation, Margo cut him off, taking the lead. She grabbed Alec's hand, a gesture that did not go unnoticed by Hodge. "We were just looking for some privacy. You know, with the whole Clary thing
going on, there isn't much time to spend alone."
Hodge cleared his throat. "I was always rooting for you two," he smiled softly. "Ah, Clary, yes. That girl is Valentine's..." The rune on his neck put there by the Clave seared, causing Margo to tighten her grip on Alec's hand. Hodge groaned, taking a
big exhale before starting again. He held onto his neck with one hand while the other held his cup of coffee. "... The monster's daughter. There must be some reason why the roaches are coming out of the woodwork again, right?"
Margo nodded slowly, letting him continue. Her arm repositioned itself so it was resting on top of Alec's shoulder. "I'll leave you two to it, then." He raised his cup to them before retreating.
"Hodge," Alec called out before Margo could stop him. He turned back to face the Lightwood. "Thank you."
Hodge smiled, nearing Alec and Margo once again, patting the boy on his other shoulder. "You remind me of me, Alec - a loyal friend standing in the shadow of the chosen one." Margo scoffed lightly, crossing her arms as she watched the two. "Hey... Don't
make the same mistakes I did. Look where it got me." He walked away quickly after that.
Margo spared no time in jumping off the table and standing in front of Alec, who still leaned against it. "Hey." She took his face in her hands. "You're not standing in the shadow
style="font-size: 20pt;"of anyone. You know that, right?"
He nodded his head, though his eyes never met Margo's. She frowned, leaning down to meet his eyes. "Listen to me, Alec. Seriously, you are not in anyone's shadow. Besides, if you were, don't you think I'd be into Jace and not you?"
His smile grew as he pulled the girl into a hug. Upon pulling away, Alec fixed a stray hair on Margo's head, causing the girl to blush. His hand moved to her cheek, cupping it lightly as he eyed her lips. Margo's green eyes found their way to Alec's full
lips, feeling the need to kiss them. She closed her eyes, her hands gripping onto his t-shirt, as he pulled her closer.
She could feel his breath hitting her face and just as they leaned in, and Alec's lips ghosted over Margo's, his phone rang. The two jumped apart, clearly not expecting the distraction. He glanced at Margo before glancing at his phone screen to see a
text from Isabelle. After reading the unnecessarily long text, he turned to the brunette in front of him.
"Izzy found a way in. Come on."
They made their way to the address Isabelle had texted, all without mentioning the almost kiss. They walked up the stairs of an abandoned building quietly, until they reached the young Lightwood, who was wearing a very persuasive red dress.
"Izzy. Where are we exactly?" Alec asked as the two walked up to Isabelle.
She looked between them, clearly acknowledging the strained aura around the two. "It's an old meatpacker's service entrance. If we go back there, we come up into the basement of the Hotel DuMort. Perfect, right? We distract the vamps, Clary and Jace have
time to find Simon."
She was awfully proud of herself, Margo noticed. She smiled a little at her best friend. She did good.
"Okay," Alec stated, following his sister.
She stopped short, turning back around to her brother. "Okay? It was hard word interrogating Meliorn to get this intel."
Margo substituted Alec's response, squeezing her best friend's shoulder gratefully. "Great job, Izzy."
Her parabatai smiled, thanking her best friend.
"You have faerie dust on your dress," Alec observed, walking ahead of the girls as his sister rubbed off the residue. "And I hate being the distraction."
Isabelle turned to Margo, hoping for an explanation but the girl just shrugged. She turned back to her brother. "I don't. You know, you'd be a lot happier if the two of you weren't so freaking repressed." Alec ignored her, as did Margo as followed ahead
of Izzy. "Alec? Margo? Hello?"
The two looked at each other, both rolling their eyes, before walking ahead. After a few minutes of silence, Isabelle spoke up again. "You two are really not going to talk to me, are you?"
"That's because you have no idea what you're talking about," Alec hissed.
"But I do," she challenged. "You're hiding from yourself, not me." She turned to Margo. "You too. You guys have feelings, whether you like 'em or not," she reminded.
Alec found a ladder leading up to the ground floor, and helped Margo up first. "This is not the time or the place, Izzy."
The younger Lightwood shrugged. "I don't know. Looks pretty smooth so far."
"This must be the way," Margo stated as the three went up the ladder and into a hallway.
Isabelle opened a door, not realizing what was at the end of it. There stood a group of vampires, all hissing when they saw the three Shadowhunters.
Margo and Isabelle helped Alec shut the door and keep it closed as he tried to rune it. "Well, not so smooth," Izzy admitted, waiting for her brother. "Any day now."
He growled, "Yeah, if you hold the door still, it might be a lot easier. It's not taking it." Margo nudged Isabelle, pointing to a pipe on the ceiling. Isabelle used her seraph blade to cut it off and slide it through the door handle and another pipe,
shutting it temporarily.
She smirked at Alec and Margo. "Whoever said, 'The pen is mightier than the sword,' was an idiot."
Alec shrugged, waiting for Margo to walk in front of him. "When you're right, you're right," he confessed, shrugging as he followed behind the two girls.
They stood a few yards away, watching as the many vampire hands clawed at the door. Their shrieks filled the halls. "Do you think they know where we are?" Izzy asked.
"That's the idea, right? How long do you think we have to distract them for?"
Margo took a gander. "Ten more minutes?" she guessed.
He eyed the girl. "Ten minutes? Are you kidding?" He reached behind him, grabbing an arrow to prepare. "We're liquid lunch in five."
"So, let's distract them."
Alec looked down at Margo as he pulled an arrow back in his bow, getting ready. "So, let's distract them," he agreed.
The incessant growling grew louder. "You better get ready," Izzy advised, allowing her snake bracelet to turn into an electric whip.
Margo held her seraph tightly as the vampires broke through. She handled the ones that got past Izzy's whip and Alec's arrows. The vampires hissed and shrieked as they were attacked by the Shadowhunters.
Margo quickly glanced between the Lightwood siblings. "This is fun," she heard Alec say.
"Great anger management," Margo agreed.
Izzy chuckled. "Keep coming, boys."
And they did.
And the three kept fighting them off.
They reached the real action in no time. Clary and Jace were trying to fight off vampires. The former was currently in the death grip of one. Alec noticed and pulled back an arrow. The vampire used Clary as a shield and the Shadowhunter smirked. "Okay,"
he simply said, aiming his arrow for the wall instead, where sunlight started to pour through. The vampire was left to burn to ashes, leaving Clary to pick up her blade and join the others in fighting off the Downworlders.
As she sliced through the last vampire, her seraph fell out of her hand, clinking onto the ground. This caught the attention of her friends, who looked at her questioningly. "I killed him," she whispered to herself, eyeing the spot the vampire had just
vanished from.
Margo rolled her eyes. "He was already dead."
"Plus, he wanted to kill you. Remember that," Isabelle reminded. "She did great, right?" She asked Jace.
The blonde nodded, looking at Clary. "Yeah, you did. You should be proud."
She smiled softly. "Thanks, but... it's not about me. Let's go find Simon."
The five Shadowhunters made their way around the Hotel DuMort until they reached Simon, who was currently being held by the same vampire they had acquainted under the bridge. "Simon!" Clary yelped, seeing the vampire hold a dagger to her best friend's
throat. Alec grabbed an arrow, pulling back his bow, ready to attack.
Jace pulled Clary back as she tried nearing Simon. "That's not going to do any good, Clary."
The vampire spoke up. "Listen to him, Clary Fairchild. Put it away. I've had more than enough of your friend for one day. I'd love to cut his throat. Don't give me a reason." He saw Margo tightening her grip on her blade and immediately yelled, "Put it
away, sweetheart!" to her.
She clenched her teeth, eyeing Simon before glancing back at Alec, who subtly nodded at her. Her grip on the blade loosened. The other Shadowhunters followed suit, putting away their blades.
"Simon. Simon, are you all right?" Clary asked.
He shuffled. "I wouldn't say all right..."
The vampire holding him neared the blade to his throat. "Stop talking! Now, if you would all just follow me. Let's go! Come on, let's go!" They all reluctantly followed, Alec leading the group up. "Up here, now! That's right, get down there now or I'll
kill him." They followed his directions, going up the stairs.
The vampire and Clary exchanged words that were unheard by Margo as she observed Alec, who grabbed her hand in his. "Open that door right now or I'll kill him right here," he ordered Alec. He opened the door of an exit, letting light seep in, ignoring
Clary's attempts at trying to get Simon back.
"Go," the vampire urged, "Take him! Go!" He was suddenly pushing Simon away, towards the Shadowhunters.
Simon turned back, eyeing the vampire. "I don't know how to thank you," he stuttered.
"Don't thank me. You mean nothing. This is about Valentine and the chaos he can bring." Jace ushered Simon out the door, about to help Margo out until the vampire called him back. "Jace Wayland!" he panted. He eyed Margo before glancing back at the blonde.
"Remember who your friends are."
Jace turned back until the vampire called out again. "Sweetheart." Margo's head turned back, seeing the vampire give her a small smile. "Be careful." She found it oddly comforting that a stranger was looking out for her. Maybe not all Downworlders were
bad.
"What's your name?" she asked the vampire.
"Raphael."
"I'm Margo," she introduced before Jace quickly guided her out the door.
They joined the others on the rooftop, Margo's feet immediately leading her to Alec. His hand came up, his fingers running over the cut just above Margo's cheek. She slightly winced, letting him lean down to kiss it softly. She smiled when he pulled back
before her eyes landed on Simon as he spoke up.
"Shouldn't we get the hell out of here?"
"Why, Simon?" Jace challenged.
His eyes widened. "They're right downstairs."
"Let them come after us. They'll just turn into a bunch of fried eggs out here. I thought you said you watched movies," Jace snapped before following Izzy up another set of stairs connected to the rooftop.
Margo looked up at Alec, who stood in front of her, and saw him eyeing his parabatai. She took his hand, squeezing tightly before bringing it up and kissing the back of it, causing a grin to break out on Alec's face. They followed Jace and Isabelle above
the small set of stairs before turning back and overlooking Clary's hug with her best friend.
Alec pulled Margo under his arm, pressing a kiss to her head as she wrapped an arm around him. He turned to Izzy when she spoke up. She held her phone in her hand, using it as a mirror as she reapplied her red lipstick. "Well, no accounting for taste."
Her older brother scoffed. "Yeah, you should talk."
Margo stepped away from Alec and towards her parabatai as he turned to face his own. "Look, can I just say one thing?"
Jace's lips tightened to form a line. "You will, whatever I say, so shoot."
"You think you know Clary, right? But you may not. Think about who her father is."
Margo glanced Isabelle's direction, feeling her parabatai grab her hand as they watched their best friends verbally knock each other out. "You know what, Alec? Do not start this again with me."
"She just came out of nowhere, Jace."
"She has no one," Jace retorted.
Alec wouldn't give up. "Just listen to me for one second-"
"Alec, stop!" Jace roared, shutting down any conversation Margo and Isabelle or Clary and Simon were having.
The four turned to face Jace and Alec, eyes wide in shock. None of them had ever heard Jace yell like this. "Just stop," he reiterated, much more calmly.
"I'm older than you, Jace. I'm not in your shadow," Alec retorted.
Margo's thoughts immediately went back to the conversation they had with Hodge. She tried to console Alec, to tell him he wasn't in anyone's shadow, and it looked like now, he was trying to deny it too. She didn't think he believed himself much, seeing
as he choked up a little when he said it.
Before Alec could turn away from Jace, the blonde asked him one last question. "If you really feel that way about her, why did you help us tonight?"
And to that, Alec had no answer... at least, not one Jace would ever understand. So, he turned away, following after Margo and Izzy, who held hands and made their way down to the busy streets of New York City.