A/N: Hiya, all. How have you been doing? Good, I hope. I know that I've posted this a bit later than was hoped, but there were parts that I was having to change as I wrote, and there still might be some mistakes. If there are, please let me know so that I can change them.

I would like to thank everyone that followed, favorited, and reviewed this story. I love hearing your opinions and feel free to offer constructive criticism.

Songs listened to while writing:

Locked Away (Adam Levine),

How to Save a Life (The Fray),

Counting Stars (One Republic)

Disclaimer: I, unfortunately, do not own any recognizable content. *Lies down to sulk.*

~The Beginning of Something New~

Alec closed into himself in the following weeks, shutting Isabelle, Jace, and Max out as he started spending every waking moment in either the library or Central Park. He had found a nice warded area that only downworlders went to, and even they were few and far between. The ones that did go ignored him after the first couple of times he went. It was a good place to try to take a break from his research on how to get Lucifer back. Despite his efforts to stay healthy enough to continue his searching, he could feel a constant cloud of dread and weariness weighing him down.

He was currently reading a book on demonology, hoping that it would help since in all of the books he had consulted on angels, not one of them mentioned Lucifer. Some vaguely referred to him as "Serpent", "Devil", and "Satan", but none them seemed to want to admit that he had once been an angel. He had gone from being the great Morningstar to being considered the most evil thing in the whole universe.

Alec was about ready to thump his head on the table as he skimmed over yet another page of pointless information. It really was too bad, though, that he was so busy hunting for a way to get Lucifer back, because some of the information known on demon politics was actually really interesting. He knew some of it was incorrect because of the brief glimpses he had gotten in of Lucifer and the Princes, but some of it seemed accurate.

He got to a chapter on summoning demons by hiring a warlock, and his eyes lit up for the first time in three weeks. Maybe he could hire a warlock to summon him? Meeting him in person would be infinitely better than just dreams. He quickly shook his head, though. There were too many flaws in that plan: he did not have that much money, he would just make Lucifer mad, and there was no way in any dimension that a warlock would agree to summon the Father of Demons.

Alec pushed the book away and stood up, raking a hand through his hair, grimacing at the greasy feeling. When was the last time he had washed his hair? He honestly could not remember.

He made his way to the kitchen, having trouble keeping his eyes opened. If he had though he slept bad with the dreams, it was nothing compared to going to sleep knowing that he would not get see what Lucifer was up to. He was so used to Lucifer always being there like a best friend or an awesome older brother, even, that it was painful for him to not be there.

He started to walk around the wall and into the kitchen when a hissed voice made him freeze on the spot. He listened carefully.

" - Well what are we supposed to do, Isabelle, since you apparently know everything?"

There was a long, drawn out sigh. "I don't know, Jace, but we have to do something. He's driving himself into the ground, going on like this. We can't just let him destroy himself!"

"Oh, of course, because that's exactly what I wanted. The perfect present. One self-destructing older brother for delivery. Honestly, Isabelle."

Alec's eyebrows furrowed. He wasn't being self-destructing, was he? He was eating and sleeping – well, some, anyway.

Isabelle made an infuriated noise, and there was a sharp click as she huffed and lightly stomped one of her heel-clad feet. "He's wasting away in the library all the time, and when he's not in there, he's Angel-knows-where! Have you even seen him lately? He looks like he hasn't slept or showered since his birthday."

"So what do you want me to do? Hold him down while you drug him and soap him up?" Jace asked rhetorically.

"Do you even care that he's slipping away, Jace, or are you just more concerned about Clary?"

Alec flinched at that. Was that it? His brother had seemed slightly obsessed with the mundane-raised Shadowhunter since the other night at Pandemonium. It did seem like most of of his sentences were along the lines of "Clary this, Clary that.".

"By the Angel, no, Isabelle. Of course I care about Alec, but you and I both know that he's not going to stop until he finds some way to get his dreams back."

There was dead silence for a moment, then Isabelle spoke in a cracked whisper. "What if his dreams weren't real?"

Jace scoffed. "You and I both know that Alec knows way too much for those dreams to be anything but real. Remember that one time that we were fighting that Greater Demon and couldn't figure out how to kill it, and he just knew? When we asked him how, he just calmly said that Lucifer had mentioned it once. And have you noticed how he walks and talks? He's been picking up that mannerism from somewhere."

"Yeah," she quietly agreed, and Alec was just confused.

Jace spoke up. "I don't like the idea of Alec dreaming about Satan anymore than you do, but he seems to think he's changed, and we have to trust him! Just so long as he doesn't start asking us to befriend ducks."

Alec did not want to hear anymore, and he quickly made his way to the door of the institute, planning to go back to the clearing in Central Park. He thought over what he had overheard, and he kept going back to the comments about him being self-destructive and having odd mannerisms. He did not think he had either. He pushed the thoughts away.

With his fast pace, it did not take long for him to get to the section of the massive park, and the downworlders there barely glanced at him before going back to what they were doing. They had gotten used to his presence.

Alec made his way to the large tree that he had taken to sitting under when he came and he started at the large reflection of the nearly full moon on the dark water of the large pond in front of him. Every once in a while he would glance up and watch as more and more downworlders showed up as it got later.

He took out his stele, turning it through his fingers in a poor imitation of what Lucifer sometimes did with a dagger as an intimidation factor. An unknown amount of time passed when the clearing fell into complete and utter silence, and Alec reached for one of his seraph blades immediately, rising to his feet with grace that had not been tarnished by his lack of training in the past few weeks.

Confidently strutting into the clearing was a tall man that was . . . colorful. His hair was perfectly spiked with what looked like glitter in it, was wearing rather dramatic makeup, clothes that were an explosion of color, and slightly heeled boots. He was also incredibly attractive.

No, bad Alec, he chastised himself. He did not find the downworlder attractive. His parents would never stand for it. Him being gay was already probably enough for him to be kicked out, and to like a downworlder was really pushing it. Not like it matters. Someone like him would never be interested in someone like me.

Alec pushed the man out of his mind as he stared back into the pond, running back over what options he had to either get his dreams back or actually meet Lucifer in the waking world. Regardless, he wanted to know how he was involved in Lucifer's plans.

Maybe it really would just be better to summon him? He obviously knew about Alec and did not seem to have any ill feelings towards him. He had actually seemed very excited by the fact that he had been born.

"Ahem."

Alec looked up, startled, at the pointedly cleared throat. Standing above him, looking amused, was the sparkly man that had been wandering around the clearing. He blinked. "Did you, uh, need something?"

The man smirked and his oddly familiar green-yellow cat eyes practically gleamed. A warlock then.

"Yes, actually. I was giving out invitations to a party that I'm throwing for my cat's birthday, and I normally don't invite Nephilim, but how could I possibly possibly not invite someone with eyes like yours?"

The warlock's eyes raked over his form, and Alec felt the heat rising in his face, feeling mortified when he realized how filthy he looked. He knew the circles under his eyes had to be as dark as an abyss by now, as well.

The warlock grinned. "Aw, you're blushing. How adorable. I'll be expecting you at my party, Nephilim."

With that the warlock dropped a vibrant blue piece of paper into his lap and walked away with one eye dropping into a glittery wink.

Alec stared after him silently for nearly five minutes before he snapped out of it and quickly left, tucking the paper into his pocket without looking at it. He would not go, he knew, but something told him to not throw the paper away, and he was always one to go with his instincts.

He ran over everything over in his mind as he made his way back to the institute, wondering what exactly had just happened. Things like this never happened to people like him. He wondered if he had imagined the entire thing, but when his fingers brushed the paper in his pocket, he knew it must have been real. He tried to push the warlock out of his mind. He had a fallen angel to find; he did not have time to go to a random party to stand awkwardly in a corner.

He quietly made his way back into the institute, closing the door with a near silent click behind him. He started up the stairs, but a soft noise coming from the living room stopped him. He turned on his heel, making his way into the room, and he smiled at the sight he was greeted with.

Isabelle, Jace, and Max were are curled up in various different positions on the couches, all facing the door, probably waiting on him to get back. He felt a slight pang of guilt that he had worried them. He pulled blankets over all of them before he went up to his room to take a shower.

Some time later, skin and hair clean for the first time in some time, Alec sprawled out onto his bed, feeling incredibly sleepy. His last thought, instead of Lucifer, was of the colorful and glittery warlock that he had never gotten the name of.

Alec stretched as he slowly woke up, his muscles releasing some of the stiffness and tension from sleeping in the same position for too long, and he peeled open his eyes to glance at the time. When he did, he jolted so hard that he fell out of the bed, legs tangled in the covers. He had slept for a full fourteen hours. He had never slept that long in his entire life. He felt very incredibly refreshed, though. He was just thankful for the pleasant change.

He untangled his legs and got up to get ready for the day. He was in a good mood already, and it seemed like nothing would change that anytime soon . . . until he found out that while he had been distracted the day before, apparently something had happened with Clary and she was apparently unconscious in the institute.

"What do you mean, you already told me?" he asked incredulously.

Jace looked annoyed. "I mean that I already told you. Three times. At least. And you said 'Okay.' every time."

Alec tilted his head, one of his hands rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "I really don't remember." Then as an afterthought, he asked, "Is the mundane alright, at any rate?"

"She should be, oh and guess what I found out when I went to check on her? She does this thing in her sleep where –"

The next couple of days were a whirlwind of action. If Alec had one thing to say about Clary Fray, it was that she was incredibly good at being annoying. And confusing. She was sending a whirlwind of chaos around her, and it was getting ridiculous. It was very strange that she was the daughter of Valentine, and knew nothing of their world. It made no sense. Or maybe she was an element of Lucifer's plans. It had seemed like more and more strange things had started happening around him since that last dream.

He brushed off the thought as paranoia. He was starting to imagine people and things that could be involved in or affect the fallen angel's plans since he had first heard of them.

He glanced around his room, and let out a sigh. He wondered if that Silent Brother had left yet. He shuddered slightly, remembering his last experience with them, but steeled himself, leaving his room. Thankfully, the Silent Brother was gone, as were Jace and Clary, despite the incredibly early hour.

He started to make his way to the training room, but, after a moment's hesitation, turned on his heel to head to the exit of the institute. He wanted a break from the institute and being a Shadowhunter in general right now, and there was almost nothing better to take his mind off of things than mindlessly wandering through the city.

As often happened, his feet lead him towards the large park, but he kept away from any parts of the park meant for Shadowhunters or Downworlders. He observed the mundanes in curiosity, most of them looking half asleep, wondering what their lives were like. He could not imagine a life with so little worries. They were able to walk out their doors every day, always so sure that they would be walking back through their front door soon.

Caught as he was in his thoughts, he nearly missed a burly man bumping into an expensively dressed man and smoothly changing shape. He did a double take, but there was no mistaking the fact that he had just found a shape shifter. Figures.

He smoothly changed directions to follow it, and he briefly considered calling Jace and Izzy, but he knew that Jace was probably still busy with Clary, and Isabelle might still be asleep.

The shifter moved fluidly for nearly thirty minutes towards Brooklyn, changing shape three times, and he followed it, hand twitching towards his bow the entire time. He wondered if Lucifer knew that one of his underlings was wandering around the city.

The demon suddenly turned into an alley, and he hesitated for a moment, but followed after a moment. The first thing that he noticed about the alley was the disgusting smell that got stronger as he approached the warehouse door at the end of it. It definitely smelled like demons, and his Sensor was definitely sensing them. He was going to need backup.

He dropped back to the mouth of the alley, eyes flickering over the area, and pulled his phone from his pocket, easily dialing Isabelle's number.

"Alec? Where are you?" she demanded immediately upon answering the phone.

He glanced at a sign on the street. "Just outside of Brooklyn. Look, I followed a shape shifter, and I think I just found a massive nest. It smells like it at any rate."

The was a pause. "Hold on. I'm coming."

There was a click as she hung up the phone, and Alec rolled his eyes, not bothering to wonder how she was going to find him. She had her ways.

He was going to wait on her, but there was a faint squelch noise followed by at least a dozen hoots, and he grimaced. There were Raum demons then. He wondered if they were retrieving something for a higher ranking demon.

His eyes raked up the building the noises were coming from, and moved to the edge of the building, where the fire escape was. He launched himself onto it with a slight wince as there was a slight creak from his added weight. Thankfully, there was no pause in the noises from inside the building. He carefully made his way to the roof, and eventually crouched over a filthy skylight, peering down into the near darkness that was only broken by the faint morning light that was mostly concealed by the tall building beside it, cloaking the roof in shadows.

He quickly adjusted to the lighting, and he made out the glint of pale tentacles with blood red suckers. His nose wrinkled, and he tried to count their number. As far as he could tell, there were a little over twenty of them, but he was having trouble locating the shape shifter. He was getting a bad feeling, the hair on the back of his neck prickling, and he glanced around, wondering when Isabelle would get there.

"Well, well, what have we here?" a voice with a strange accent asked, and Alec's body stiffened, shocked that he had not heard it approach. "What, has a demon got your tongue?"

It laughed at its joke, and Alec let it approach him. When it was merely two feet from him, seeming to let its guard down in arrogance, he lunged at it, seraph blade glinting. It huffed out a breath as all of Alec's weight pinned it to the ground, and it made a horrible noise, viciously jerking its knee into his stomach, knocking him off it with an impressive display of strength.

His fingers flexed around his seraph blade and his eyes darted to the alley. He had never actually killed a demon, and he had no plan to change it now. When the demon pounced at him, he side stepped, trying to knock it out, but it was seeming very likely that he would have no choice but to make his first kill which he would rather not think about.

The shifter jumped up from its crouch, and moved with incredible speed, pinning him to the wall. He leaned his head away from its rather foul breath and prepared to sink the blade into its rib cage, when its eyes widened and it stumbled away. He watched it in confusion.

Its eyes flashed to an acid green color in panic and its hands started to shake in what he could only conclude was fear. It let out a sharp breath. "I apologize, my lord, I had not realized that it was you."

He froze, glancing around him, but they were alone. Why on earth would the demon call him that. He had only ever heard the demons refer to Lucifer himself as 'lord'. "What are you talk –"

"Alec!" his sister's voice sounded, and suddenly she was swinging herself onto the roof, and he dearly hoped that she had not heard anything.

The shifter backed up, looking cornered, and smoothly leaped off the edge of the building into another shadowy alley, quickly making its escape. Alec stared after it blankly, mind reeling, trying to make sense of what it had just said.

Isabelle looked over the side of the building and made a disappointed noise, lowering her whip. "It got away. Were there others?"

Alec snapped out of his thoughts and nodded, walking back to the windows with gravel crunching under his black leather boots. He peered through the windows, but saw no sign of the slimy creatures that had been there before. "There were some Raum demons, but I think they ran when I was fighting the shifter."

Isabelle hummed, and with no hesitation slipped back down the fire escape towards the door of the warehouse. He followed her, hoping that she was not about to do something stupid.

Isabelle kicked the door once with great enthusiasm, and it budged almost immediately, rust flying into the air. She quickly went inside, oddly silent considering the fact that anything that had been in there definitely knew they had entered.

What followed was nearly another hour of the two of them searching the building that was completely and totally deserted except for the disgusting smell. While a part of Alec was relieved that they did not have to fight, another part of him wanted to hunt down that shifter and demand answers.

Isabelle stopped and turned to him with a sigh, putting her whip away. "There's nothing here. We need to head back to the institute. I'm starving."

Alec's stomach let out a growl of agreement and they made their way back home, getting back sooner than he had expected. Almost the second he walked through the door, his phone buzzed with an incoming call.

He answered it and listened, slightly annoyed, as Jace demanded that he join Clary and him at Taki's for breakfast. He passed on the message to Isabelle, who went to change clothes and get the mundane.

He glanced at the time, and sure enough, it was still technically still breakfast time. He trudged to his room to get change out of his gravel-dust covered clothes and into something clean. He really hated hunting in the morning as it always made the day seem infinitely longer. Knowing his luck, there would wind up being a hunt that night as well.

. . .

Not much time had passed when Alec found himself staring at the blue piece of paper in his hands with more than a little bit of shock, trying to keep his siblings and the mundanes from noticing. It was identical to the one that the sparkly warlock had given him a few days before. "It's a party invitation."

"No kidding," Jace said dryly, grabbing the paper from him, and quickly reading it over. "It's for a party tonight that is being hosted by 'Magnus the Magnificent Warlock'. I guess we found him."

The mundane, Simon, cut in. "Wait, like Magnus Bane?"

Jace looked rather smug considering it was Isabelle who remembered the paper. "Magnus isn't exactly a common name. Apparently he's the High Warlock of Brooklyn."

Alec felt a bit like he was drowning. He had not planned on ever seeing the cat-eyed warlock again, and he felt like smacking his head onto the table when he realized that the warlock's name was on the stupid invitation the whole time. "Does this mean we have to go?"

When Isabelle and Jace shared identically wicked looks, he groaned loudly, but his heart sped up and his palms started sweating slightly in anticipation.

. . .

Since the party did not start until ridiculously late, Alec and Jace made their way to the weapons room and spent the majority of the afternoon training and making sure the weapons were still in good shape.

It was not until nearly six in the afternoon when Jace grew bored of sparring that Alec could go to the kitchen, quickly eat some leftovers, and head to his room. He closed his door behind him, and quickly took a shower, yawning multiple times. It was almost six when he finally collapsed on his bed to get some much needed sleep before the party, and his dreams were haunted by both Lucifer's melodic laughter and the warlock's – Magnus' – eyes glinting from the shadows in amusement.

. . .

It was a little after midnight when they made their way down the Brooklyn streets, Isabelle the only one among them not wearing black. Her silver sequins were creating a disco ball effect every time they walked under a street light, and she seemed to be over exaggerating her movements to make the effect more obvious.

Thankfully, it was not too long before they came across some vampires' motorcycles, which answered whether there would be vampires of werewolves there. They were almost never invited to the same parties because of their animosity towards each other. Jace was not-so-subtly putting holy water in some of the gas tanks of the motorcycles.

Isabelle seemed highly impatient to get into the party, and she pressed the buzzer with 'Bane' written on it several times before Alec told her to stop being rude.

Eventually the door was thrown open by Magnus with an expression that was a mixture of curiosity and slight annoyance, probably at the multiple buzzes. His eyes flickered over them, and there was no way that Alec imagined the way that the warlock's eyes hovered over him longer than anyone else.

Alec felt the heat rise in his cheeks and he barely resisted looking at his shoes, practically hearing Lucifer lecturing him about appearing confident and in control in every situation.

After a brief conversation with the others, Magnus let them in. Alec actually really wanted to try to initiate a conversation with the attractive warlock, but Clary dragged him away, presumably to talk to him about her memories. He sighed, but really, he did not have a chance of the warlock liking him anyway.

Isabelle and Simon had made their way to the dance floor, and after a moment, Alec made his way towards Clary, Jace, and Magnus. He reached them just as a vampire started yelling and complaining about his ruined motorcycles, and Magnus seemed unbothered, easily using his magic to force the vampire to leave.

Alec laughed almost without realizing it. "We put the holy water in his gas tank, you know."

"Alec, shut up!" Jace said, looking warily at Magnus.

Magnus' eyes went to him, and he was once again startled by how unusual his eyes were. "I had assumed that."

Before Alec knew it, he was getting herded up to Magnus' room with Jace and Clary. The bedroom was . . . colorful to say in the least. For the majority of the conversation that followed, Alec did not say much, but his eyes kept going back to Magnus, and he hoped that the warlock did not notice. But of course he did, and he winked at Alec when no one else was looking.

Alec could feel that his skin was flushed as he left the room with the others, and he started to follow Jace, but stopped when he felt a hand encircle his wrist. He turned quickly to come face to face with striking eyes.

Magnus had a slightly predatory grin on his face, and the glitter in his hair was reflecting light in a highly distracting way. He released Alec's wrist, and glanced over him. "You want to get a drink with me, blue eyes?"

Alec sputtered slightly, but eventually said, "Um, uh, sure."

He followed the tall man through the crowd, watching with some awe as people moved out of him way without seeming to even think about it. He wondered exactly how powerful he was.

They approached the bar that had been set up, and Magnus waved him towards a bar stool. "Sit. Sit. What would you like to drink?"

Alec lowered himself onto the stool beside Magnus, and he shrugged. "As long as it isn't alcoholic, dangerous, or have unwanted effects, then whatever it fine."

Magnus seemed to pout. "Now that's no fun. What's a little alcohol going to do?"

He shifted slightly in his seat. "There might be a hunt later –"

Magnus waved his hand, a smooth and graceful movement that reminded him of Lucifer's controlled grace. "That's no excuse."

On some signal that he had apparently missed, the four-armed lilac skinned woman that was acting as bartender slid a set of shots to them.

He opened his mouth to protest, but decided against it. Magnus had a point; Jace and Isabelle could handle anything that came up. He picked up a shot and downed it, his throat burning.

Magnus grinned delightedly and picked up a shot glass as well. "I thought that you might not show up, blue eyes."

Alec got a sheepish smile on his face as he reached for another shot. "I almost didn't, but we needed answers for Clary. And my name's Alec, by the way."

Magnus raised an eyebrow. "I know. It looks like I owe Miss Fray a 'thank you' then."

Alec did not reply, and there was a slightly awkward silence between them as they finished the shots in front of them, and the bartender gave them more.

He watched Magnus out of the corner of his eye, and he blurted, "Can you show me some magic." His eyes widened as he realized what he had said. "I mean – erm – sorry, I've never really talked to a warlock before."

Magnus looked amused. "I can show you a lot of things, blue eyes."

Alec felt the blood rush to his face as the warlock winked at him, and there was no misinterpreting the statement. He must have been getting drunk fast though because all he said was, "Maybe I'd like that."

Magnus' eyes widened, obviously not expecting that, but before he could say anything, Jace showed up. He looked annoyed. "There you are. The mundane's turned into a rat. I guess his true side is showing."

Alec looked at his brother, and his face seemed kind of blurry and the red lights in the room were shining off his strangely. A noise that sounded suspiciously like a giggle left his mouth. "You look like a demonic angel."

Jace looked at him incredulously and turned to Magnus with an expectant expression.

Magnus shrugged. "Sorry, I must have gotten him drunk." He gave Alec a considering look. "He is rather amusing like this, though."

Jace looked exasperated, and he tugged Alec up. "We have to leave before the rat gets lost."

Before he was pulled away, Magnus slipped a bright green piece of paper into his front pocket and winked. "Call me."

Jace dragged him away. Alec stumbled and protested, "But I was talking to the glittery rainbow!"

Jace snorted, but continued to pull him away.

Alec kept getting side tracked by different things as he was pulled along, and he kept stumbling. The room was spinning slightly, causing him to laugh quietly.

Suddenly, Jace stopped and said something. Alec did not hear what. The blond suddenly swore loudly, and pulled him along behind him as he headed towards the door.

"Wha'?" Alec asked.

"The mundane's gone."

Oh. Huh.

Isabelle appeared out of seemingly no where, and started gently leading Alec away. She seemed upset. "Come on, Alec. Jace and Clary will come back in a little bit. I think they're looking for Simon."

Alec made a noise that might be taken as an "Okay.".

The way back to the institute was a blur, but he could feel his head clearing just slightly. Isabelle left him outside his bedroom door, but he didn't feel like going to sleep. He made his way towards the roof, stumbling slightly, so that he could get some fresh air.

He sat well away from the edge and observed the bright lights of the city. He wondered what it would look like if the lights were some other color, like blue or green. He laughed.

There was an amused noise behind him, and then a sharp stink in his neck. He started feeling very sleepy, and panic coursed through his veins.

"Sorry, little lord, but I have my orders."

The last thing that Alec saw was pale skin and eyes that looked eerily similar to Magnus'.