The party was in full swing by the time Magnus started to feel sick. He was surrounded by Seelies and Vampires so it wouldn't surprise him if he picked up the wrong drink, so he thought nothing of it. He wandered around the party, half anxious that people were having a good time, and half anxious of the timer on his chest.

Why did Magnus think it would be a good idea to have this many people around when he was meant to meet his soulmate. Why? Well, Magnus was just thankful that none of his actual friends were able to make it; Raphael stuck doing Camille's bidding and the others just not in the mood for one of Magnus' parties.

Magnus considered just snapping his fingers and transferring the party elsewhere, but what sort of a host did that? But every time another Downworlder propositioned him, or spilled a drink, or got sick not in the bathroom, he really felt like giving up his home to the partier's and going for coffee down the street.

The knots in his stomach only got worse as the night progressed, until he had swapped from the alcohol being served, to a concoction that he could play off as an alcoholic one. Well, fuck, what are the Vampires bitching about now? Magnus felt highly bipolar with how he swapped from wanting to be here, to wanting to run away to some remote place where there was no chance of finding a soulmate and no chance of getting his heart broken.

The only upside that Magnus was currently seeing was that he was surrounded by immortals, so his soulmate should be immortal, right?

He could hear the doorbell ring through the loft and he sighed, back to berating himself for inviting so many people, for having a party in general.

He moved through the throng of people until he'd reached the door, his attention divided between his new guests behind and the uneasy, sick feeling. He took a deep breath to keep the bile down his throat and opened the door.

To say he was surprised was an understatement. His mind went blank as he took in the four Shadowhunters and one Mundane, who obviously were not invited to his party. He must have been distracted for longer than he realised because the brunette girls started speaking.

"That would be me," he replied to her question. He was still surprised, though he was relieved to find that either he was so distracted to notice his previous ailments, or one of these Shadowhunters was his soulmate. Right not, Magnus hoped for the former. "Children of the Nephilim," he continued, going back to host persona, "well, well. I don't recall inviting you." Because the last thing Magnus would have wanted was to have mortals around when he was due to meet his soulmate.

The brunette pulled an invitation out and waved it in his face, "I have an invitation, these are my friends," she said. As if the group of four behind her were anything other than what she said.

Magnus took the invitation and check that it was valid before grudgingly opening the door wider for the group to enter his loft. "I must have been drunk. Come in. And try not to murder any of my guests." He stepped to the side and took stock of the would-be party crashers.

The brunette woman, the blonde man, the redhead woman, the mundane… and the gorgeous brunette man in the back, who wouldn't meet his eyes.

They exchange more words that Magnus wouldn't remember by the time the night was over, mostly because he was taking in every detail of the brunette, thinking that even if his soulmate doesn't show at least there was some amazing eye candy on display. He ignored them quite well until a vampire came over to complain about how his bike was destroyed by holy water. After that rather simple disagreement the brunette finally spoke.

"We put the holy water in his gas tank, you know." And what a voice it was. If Magnus could he fall a little more in lust before the blonde decided he wasn't happy that his friend has outed them.

"I assumed that," Magnus said. His eyes couldn't leave the blue eyes that now stared back at him. He felt a flip in his chest that, if he were mortal, would have worried him. He rubbed his chest for a moment and then his eyes widened in realisation. This was his soulmate; his mortal, male, Shadowhunter soulmate. He cursed anyone who he'd ever pissed off for this turn of events and proceeded to act as naturally as he could.

The rest of the night seemed to proceed quickly. Clary, the redhead, wanted her memories that he took. The blond male was an ass, the brunette man's name was Alec and beautiful; Magnus thought that Alec as a soulmate wouldn't be so bad, if he could get past everything standing in their way, starting with his closeted personality. The brunette woman let the Mundane get turned into a rat. And then they left.

Magnus told everyone to leave; he was tired and wanted to be left alone to contemplate just how complicated his life had just become. Oh, well. At least he's cute, was Magnus' last thought as he drifted to sleep.

*Some time later*

Magnus woke to incessant buzzing from his door. He groaned and rolled over, pulling the pillow with him. But the noise wouldn't stop. The noise wouldn't stop. He contemplated ignoring them or just answering it when he realised they weren't going to be ignored.

He blamed his mood on an array of things, that started and ended with the amount of alcohol he had to consume to pass out so he didn't dream of blue eyes, black hair, and a firm ass that made Magnus salivated at the thought of sinking his teeth into the fleshly globes.

"WHO DARES DISTURB THE HIGH WARLOCK OF BROOKLYN?" he yelled into the speaker box, hoping to get a little revenge for the early call.

"It's Jace, the Shadowhunter from the party."

Magnus smiled thinking about the blue eyes, before realising where this was going, yet he still asked if he was the one from his dream. After dealing with a missing rat and discussing Shadowhunter history with his blue-eyed dream star and sending them on his way, he resolved to ignore Shadowhunters for the next century. If the brunette couldn't even look at him and wanted to remain ignorant of Shadowhunter atrocities than Magnus wanted nothing to do with him.

He sank back into his bed, wondering if maybe the universe had made a mistake, or maybe he had and his soulmate was someone else. But the only person to catch his eye was Alec. Magnus felt his heart jump at the thought of Alec and that scared him, he'd closed himself off from the world because he didn't want to get hurt. He knew, without a doubt, that Alec would break his heart; if not by his actions than by the fact that he was mortal. He would die, while Magnus lived.

*The next day*

A fire message appeared on the table next to the old tomb Magnus was looking through, hoping to find something to erase the timer on his chest, one that now started counting up. His friends had never mentioned their clocks after they met their soulmates and he wanted to understand why it was still counting.

He saw it was from the Shadowhunters and almost ignored it until he noticed what its contents were. He threw on his jacket and opened a portal before the note had truly registered in his mind. One of the Shadowhunters had been injured and Magnus was afraid for Alec. He landed in front of the Institute and opened the doors. He swept through the hallways to the infirmary where he saw his soulmate writhing on the bed, a wound on his chest.

He pushed the brunette aside to get to her brother, and told her to leave, not letting her say much more than what demon had attacked him. His gaze ran over Alec's body, hopefully another occasion would let him spend more time digesting the dips and markings on his body, but now he just needed to focus on the wound and getting the poison out.

The sun dipped past the window, and then re-emerged hours later, but Magnus was so focussed on healing Alec that it past without fanfare from those in the infirmary. When Alec was out of danger, Magnus just sat beside him, holding his hand. Alec muttered and mumbled throughout the night, nonsense passing through delirious unconsciousness.

Magnus spent his time tracing Alec's face and body with his eyes, checking for secondary injuries and then just letting his mind wander. He fell asleep at some point, clutching Alec's hand like a lifeline, until just after sunrise when he was awoken by murmurs outside the infirmary door. With one last examination of his patient, he left.

He past the blonde and the brunette and explained Alec's condition, before leaving the Institute and walking home. He was tired, yes, exhausted. But the walk was more to clear his head from feelings that were growing to quickly for Magnus' liking, and fears that he knew would come due to the nature of the world they live in and the roles they play.

Opening the door to his loft, he picked the Chairman who purred. He crawled up on the couch and snuggled the Chairman until he fell asleep.

*Author's Note*

I am so bloody sorry that this has taken so long, life drama has kept me away from writing and I've realised that I need one more chapter after this one - it is half written and will follow the storyline of Kissed, so if you haven't read that I recommend you do (not because it matters to the story, but because it's really cute).

All things willing, the internet will get better and the next chapter will be up in the next two weeks. *cross fingers*