A/N: So I've redone this chapter. Yay. It should be a lot better now. In other news, the traffic graph seems to be messed up. At first I just though I wasn't getting any views, but then I got a review on a day that the graph was claiming no one had viewed the story, so something must be up. Hopefully it'll get fixed soon.
I'm about to go visit family for a few days, so I don't know when I'll post the next chapter, but it'll be within a week, but after that it'll go back to every other week.
Disclaimer: If I owned the Mortal Instruments then a lot of stuff would have been a lot differently * cough, those unspeakable pages, cough *
Songs Listened to While Writing:
How Bad Can I Be (The Lorax),
Renegades (X Ambassadors),
Devils (Say Hi)
~The Start of a Most Chaotic Week~
The air seemed to have a permanent chill in the air, and Alec felt himself shudder slightly. His hair was standing on end, and he glanced to Lucifer to see if the fallen angel had noticed. Lucifer seemed calm.
Alec warily glanced around himself, and he hated the fact that there were so many shadows that creatures could be hiding in. He had always liked the dark, but now . . . there was something ominous about the shadows.
They were quickly approaching the snarling and shouting of the raging battle when he saw a darkly shadowed being darting into the air, dark mist trailing after it. His eyes widened and his breath caught.
"What is that?!" Alec demanded, nudging Tenebris closer to Lucifer.
Lucifer's eyebrows furrowed in confusion, but he hummed when he saw two more shadowy beings fly out of sight. "Oh, those are reapers. Nothing to worry about, I assure you."
Alec's eyebrows rose incredulously. "Reapers?! And you don't want me to worry?!"
Lucifer's lips twitched, and he gave the shadowhunter a side-long look. "They are just doing their jobs. They are agents of Death, and they transfer souls to the appropriate locations after they depart from this world. I'm sure you will meet one eventually. Most of them have an interesting sense of humor."
Alec opened his mouth to reply, shook his head, and closed his mouth. You'd think he would get used to things like this, but apparently not.
Before he could decide to say anything, Lucifer slowed Aster. The fallen angel's glowing eyes glanced at him and a smirk curled on his lips. "Are you ready, Alec?"
Alec swallowed and nodded, and it was not lost on him that the fallen angel had used his preferred name. The sounds of the battle were incredibly loud and he took a deep breath, fingers wrapping securely around his bow.
Lucifer led him up the small hill and when they got to the top, Alec's breath caught. The area was bathed in shadows, but he could see the ghastly pale skin of dozens of Forsaken, the glowing amber eyes and glinting fangs of werewolves, and the dark blood staining the ground. Here and there, reapers were flying around.
"Want to see what happens when an angel smites something?" Lucifer asked him. Without waiting for a reply, he raised a hand to the nearest Forsaken. In a blinding and deafening strike, a bolt of lightning struck down from the sky.
BOOM!
Alec's eyes were impossibly wide, and he could feel electricity running through his veins, causing his skin to tingle. Lucifer looked awfully smug when the clearing descended into dead silence, a hundred shocked gazes locking on him.
A smirk was on his lips when he said, "Oh, don't stop the battle for my sake. Do go on."
There was a pause and many exchanged looks, but eventually everyone did exactly that. The snarls and yells were once again in full swing, and Alec gave a Lucifer an incredulous look. "There was zero reason for that, I hope you know."
Lucifer shrugged and drew a gleaming sword. It was shining similarly to seraph blades, but his was the same color of the sun – blinding and golden. The fallen angel easily leapt off Aster and gestured for Alec to join him.
Alec swung off Tenebris in a much less graceful move than Lucifer and watched as the two horses started circling around to the other side of the clearing, shadowy hoof prints burning into the ground behind them.
Alec followed Lucifer into the battle, knocking an arrow as Lucifer easily swung his sword, occasionally using some type of angel-telekinesis thing to destroy his enemies.
"What are the horses doing?" Alec half-asked half-yelled to him, taking down a Forsaken that had been sneaking up on a werewolf.
Lucifer launched himself over a Forsaken, cutting through it on the way, and landed on another with a dagger in his hand, driving it into its chest. He looked victorious when he replied, "They're keeping a perimeter. They'll herd the creatures to us."
"Great," Alec huffed, firing off three arrows quickly taking out the three Forsaken that had been getting too close for his comfort.
Lucifer whirled in between four Forsaken, cloak swirling, and easily killed them all with one quick spin. He had a predatory grin on his face when the creatures fell and he certainly looked evil with the dark blood splattered on his face and shirt.
Alec was definitely not at Lucifer's level in the 'whirlwind of destruction' department, but he was still doing well. He had already been a pretty good hunter, but with Lucifer's tutelage, he was infinitely better, especially when he started nudging his arrows telekinetically when Forsaken started side-stepping.
Alec caught sight of a werewolf that seemed to be losing in its fight, but before he could fire an arrow, Lucifer had already launched himself over the werewolf, landing with his legs wrapped around the Forsaken's chest and his sword coming down in a downward arch of vengeful light.
Alec's eyebrows rose. Lucifer hadn't had time to teach him anything like that in their training.
With their horses – or Guardians of the Abyss or whatever – herding the creatures in, it was starting to get more difficult to just use a bow, so Alec swung it back onto his back and drew a gleaming seraph blade. He had just glanced at Lucifer when the fallen angel caught his eye, moved his fingers in an over exaggerated way, and tilted his head.
Alec figured he was trying to tell him to use his powers now, so he nodded once. He easily enough took out three Forsaken, but a fourth one almost snuck up on him. He turned just as it had raised a spiked club to hit him. His eyes widened and he quickly moved his hand to the right, sending the club sailing across the clearing.
Both he and the shocked Forsaken watched the club's path, and it thankfully managed to take down another Forsaken. With a grin, Alec quickly took out the now-clubless creature.
The numbers of Forsaken were finally dwindling when there was a shout from one of the entrances of the grounds, and Lucifer was by his side again in a heartbeat. They both distractedly fought off the Forsaken that tried to attack them, but most of the creatures had barreled off in the direction of the shout.
The duo watched as darkly-clothed figures suddenly poured into the clearing, quickly killing the creatures that got into their path.
"The shadowhunters have arrived, then," Lucifer observed, a pleased expression on his face.
Alec hummed in agreement, watching with alert eyes. The amount of reapers sweeping in and out had slowed as well. As if reading his mind, one of the reapers, a girl with chalk-white skin, dark hair, and solid white eyes caught his eye with a mysterious smile and a slight nod of recognition.
He nodded back, unsure of what else to do. She latched her hands into a Forsaken's chest and pulled out a ball of light – a soul, he realized with slight horror – and she swept into the sky in a whirlwind of darkness.
He turned his attention back to the shadowhunters, looking for familiar faces, and he could tell that he was slightly pale.
"Lucifer," he murmured urgently, eyes caught on two incredibly familiar figures. "My sister and mom are here. I wonder why she isn't in Idris."
Lucifer got a mischievous look on his face, and Alec was just thankful that he had wiped the blood off his skin. "Good. Be ready to shake the foundations of the world, Alexander."
Alec wasn't sure how to be ready for something like that, but he did notice that their horses were no where to be seen.
Lucifer watched unblinkingly as the fight came to a stop, his entire stance practically shouting elegant and confident. Alec tried to incorporate some of his lessons into his own stance, but he could only do so much.
Lucifer had an amused smirk on his lips when the clearing descended into silence and the werewolves and shadowhunters turned their attention to the two unknowns, weapons in hand and wary looks crossing their faces.
There was a pause, then one of the male shadowhunters stepped forward, opening his mouth to speak, but Lucifer cut him off by raising his hand in a casual gesture. The man closed his mouth.
The smirk was still tugging on his lips when he spoke, "Now that we have your attention, we have an important announcement to make."
Alec was barely paying attention to him, keeping his eyes glued to the only members of his family currently there. His mother just looked confused and indignant, but Isabelle was starring right back at him with a frown on her red lips.
Just as she seemed to have dawning understanding on her face, Lucifer smoothly continued. "This," he said, gesturing at Alec, who shifted uncomfortably, "is one Alexander Lightwood."
Before anyone could do more than make a confused noise, he said, "To sooth any concerns, let me assure you that he has been safe and staying with me. He had been learning of his new responsibilities."
He paused for a theatrical moment. "Oh, how rude of me. I completely forgot to introduce myself." As if. "My name is Lucifer, leader of fallen angels, father of lies, morning star, and prince of pride. You are probably more familiar with me as the serpent, dragon, devil, and Satan. You may refer to me as Lucifer."
Here he smirked and he gestured to Alec with presenting arms. "And this," he spoke, once again pausing for an affect, "is Lord Alexander, King of Hell."
There was a look of horror in everyone's eyes and Lucifer got a predatory smile on his face. Lightning once again struck through the sky, and the fallen angel let his eyes flash with bright ethereal light and he revealed the silhouette of his intimidating wings.
He easily wrapped a hand around Alec's shoulder, and in the next moment his wings, still revealed, rose to their full length preparing for take-off. Before Alec was able to fully process the situation, he was standing miles away in an alley, stumbling as he tried to regain his balance.
He braced himself on a wall and he met the mischievous eyes of the fallen angel. "That was not the way to make people like you. Even I know that."
Lucifer waved a dismissive hand. "I proved who I was, told them who you are, and announced our presence in this world. I met my goal for the night."
Alec shook his head, wondering why every blond in his life was crazy. He pushed himself upright, and he wiped a hand across his face, grimacing when a mixture of dark blood and sweat came away with it.
He looked around the alley. "Where are we, anyway?"
Lucifer tossed him a wet rag to get the blood off his face. "A couple of blocks away from the place we're going to be staying for the foreseeable future, or at least until we can find a better head quarters. Asmodeus and Esmeralda assured me that we will take it to our liking."
Alec nodded and started to take out his stele, but Lucifer plucked it from his fingers, shaking his head. "We're not going in invisible."
Alec looked at the fallen angel with an incredulous expression. "How? We're covered in blood, have weapons all over us, and we're wearing clothes that look like they belong in one of Max's comic books!"
Lucifer looked amused. "We've both gotten all of the obvious blood off ourselves and we can put our weapons in this," he claimed, pulling a small bag out of his boot. When Alec looked at him like he was a special kind of stupid, the blond rolled his eyes. "It's bigger on the inside. A gift from Gabriel in the fifteenth century."
"Okay," Alec said, handing over his weapons, watching with no small amount of astonishment as everything easily went into the tiny bag. Something occurred to him when he was handing over his bow and quiver. "Hey, why didn't I run out of arrows during the battle?"
Lucifer blinked. "Did I not tell you that I got an enchantress to enchant that quiver?" At Alec's blank look, he shrugged. "I have it set up to a huge collection of arrows in the weapon room in your house in Hell. I severely doubt you'll run out of arrows for decades, and that's if you never retrieve them."
"Oh," he said, and then he glanced down at his tight one-piece suit. He pulled the black material away from his chest and frowned when it easily snapped back into place. It was good for protection, sure, but it still looked pretty stupid. "And what about the clothes?"
Lucifer looked sheepish. "There's not much I can do about that. I don't have any other clothes on me. This would be a good time to let you see me use a glamour and see if you can mimic it, though."
Alec chose not to respond to that, not sure that he could keep himself from saying something rude. He followed the fallen angel out of the alley and he felt incredibly uncomfortable when a man that had been walking by did a double-take.
You know you're out of place when even New Yorkers look at you strangely.
Lucifer suddenly snapped. "I forgot our crowns!"
Alec's eyes widened, and his hands quickly went to his hair. He quickly snatched the crown off his head, and all but tossed it at Lucifer. The fallen angel quickly put both of their crowns away.
"Now," Lucifer said. "Watch me closely and see if you can see the magic work when I do this glamour. Maybe you can do it, too."
Alec glanced around them at the people giving them strange looks. "Is this really the best time and place for learning this?"
Lucifer looked insulted. "There is never a wrong time or place."
Lucifer raised his hand and very slowly twisted his finger, deliberately over-exaggerating the movements. Alec realized with shock that he could see little gold strands of light coming off his finger-tips and slowly surrounding himself.
When he was completely covered in the little lights, he lowered his hand, and the lights went invisible, and Alec fought to keep his eyes from sliding away from him. The glamour obviously worked. Lucifer looked at Alec with an expectant expression.
"Um," Alec said. "I can try."
He raised his hand, trying to copy Lucifer's movements. He tried to imagine that the same lights that Lucifer had created were coming off his fingers, and he imagined the lights wrapping around him, protecting him from people's notice. His eyes slipped closed of their own accord.
He let out a quiet gasp as he felt a sudden drain of energy, and his eyes snapped open. He was covered in deep blue and silver lights, he realized with shock. The lights pulsed once, then faded. He looked at Lucifer with wide eyes.
The fallen angel looked surprised, one of his eyebrows raised, but he quickly grinned. "Nicely done. I honestly didn't think you would be able to do anything but telekinesis. Hm . . . this opens whole new possibilities."
Alec felt bone-deep exhaustion and he stumbled slightly. "That's great and all, but I really, really need to go to sleep, Luce."
"Of course, of course," Lucifer said, herding him towards a huge, extravagant building. He kept a hand on Alec's arm, making sure that he wasn't going to collapse.
When they walked into the building, the only person there was a woman behind the welcome desk, and her eyes easily slid off them. Alec glanced around the room, and whoa was this a nice place. And obviously very, very expensive.
He fought off a yawn as Lucifer lead him to an elevator. Rather than press a number, Lucifer slid a key into a key-slot, and the elevator started to make its way up. He gave Lucifer a confused look.
The fallen angel noticed his look. "It takes us to the top floor penthouse. There's two on each of the top two floors. Putting this key into the first elevator on the right takes us to ours."
"Oh," Alec said.
When the elevator finally stopped and opened, Alec's eyes widened. There was a richly decorated entrance room in front of him, complete with two lavish couches and floor-to-ceiling windows. The view was probably of Central Park, but with the light on all he saw was his and Lucifer's reflections.
He winced slightly when he saw how exhausted and filthy he looked. With a quick look to the light carpet, he quickly pulled off his boots, noticing that Lucifer was doing the same.
A yawn forced its way out of his throat, and Lucifer laughed. "Come, little shadowhunter, let's find you a bedroom."
Alec allowed himself to be led to the right, catching a brief glimpse of a massive round table and kitchen. They walked through a huge hallway full of doors, and Lucifer paused at the very end of the hallway in front of two doors.
"Pick whichever one you desire, and I shall take the other," Lucifer told him.
Alec nodded and half-walked half-stumbled to the right door. He paused with his hand on the door knob. "Hey, what happened to the horses?"
"Do not worry for them. I plan to convert one of the rooms here into a mock-stable for them. It should be easy enough."
Alec just nodded, having no energy to even attempt to comprehend that statement. He entered the room, closing the door behind him. The room in front of him was huge and tastefully decorated.
The bed look so, so comfortable, and he wanted nothing more than sleep, but he desperately needed a shower first. It was almost painful to drag himself to the shower, but it was obvious how necessary it had been when the water turned dark red with blood.
When he left the bathroom, there was a pair of pajamas on his bed and he eagerly changed into them, and jumped into the bed. He was asleep before his head hit the pillow.
. . .
A bright light woke Alec up, and he groaned, burying his head under a pillow. He spent the next ten minutes trying to go back to sleep in vain. He grumbled as he crawled out of bed, noticing with a grimace that it was the sun shining in through some floor-to-ceiling windows that had woken him up.
He remade the bed, and decided to explore his new room. The bathroom was fully stocked with all the bathroom necessities, and there was a ridiculously large walk-in closet. He realized that the closet was full of his clothes, and they seemed to be organized by when to wear them. He grimaced when he saw no casual clothes.
He dug through the drawers, and found – hallelujah! – some exercise clothes. He was reaching to pull them out to wear when he saw a note. He warily picked it up to read it. It said:
Do not even think about it, Alexander. Exercise clothes are for exercise, not everyday wear.
Put on something nicer that I got you.
The note was unsigned, but there was only one person that would write that. He sulked a bit as he tugged on "nicer" clothes. Was it too much to ask for to be comfortable? Lucifer was obviously a member of fashion police.
He had stopped sulking by the time that he left his room and went to the dining room area that he had briefly seen the night before. Currently, Lucifer, Asmodeus, and Esmeralda were all hunched over various documents and papers on the round table.
Esmeralda looked us with distracted green eyes, platinum blond hair falling from its bun. "Breakfast's in the kitchen."
Alec nodded, but she had already looked back down at the papers spread out in front of her. His eyebrows rose, but he made his way to the kitchen to get some pancakes that were sitting on a huge island.
He sat silently beside Lucifer, listening to the occasional rustling of paper. He ate quickly, and the second he was done, he leaned closer to Lucifer, trying to read what the fallen angel was holding. "What's going on?"
Lucifer looked slightly startled as he looked up. A smirk danced over his lips. "Every major government in the downworld, including the Clave, had emergency meetings last night. We've been going through the reports."
"Reports?" Alec repeated, confusion evident in his voice. "You have people in the governments reporting to you?"
"If there's an important government out there, we have people in it," Lucifer confirmed, pride evident in his voice. Alec didn't miss the fact that he said we. "I've had centuries to set up a good system."
"The Clave is most unpleased," Asmodeus said, looking up from his bundle of papers. "They are trying to figure out how to . . . remove you, my lords."
"Most of the creature councils are trying to find more proof," Esmeralda said, "but they are all trying to find ways to appease you, my lords, on the chance that you are who you say you are."
An amused smirk flitted over her lips, and she tucked a strand of hair behind one of her slightly pointed ears. "So we have some of our demons going through most of the major cities in the world, spreading word of your return and their new king."
Asmodeus looked incredibly amused when he said, British accent thick, "The Clave is in an absolute uproar. They are running around uselessly. I've never seen them so scared in all my years. It's bloody brilliant!"
Lucifer smoothly cut back in. "We are already getting requests for meetings from all around the world, but we need to focus on the local clans and councils first. And the Clave, of course. The others can wait for now. One of the most important things on our agenda now is taking back control of the demons."
Lucifer sighed. "Unfortunately, Lilith is still giving orders from Hell through one of the cracks, and none of the rebelling demons are going to take it well when we start taking them out. We are looking at having a huge war on our hands, and Lilith will undoubtedly want to use the earth as a battle field."
Alec's eyebrows furrowed. "But how are they going to get out of Hell without our permission?"
"It's easiest to get out with permission," Lucifer explained, "but not the only way. They can climb out, but that takes years. They can wait until a solstice when it's easier, but that still takes a lot of time and energy. More than likely, they'll get Valentine to corrupt Raziel's sword. Then millions could easily slip in within seconds."
Alec's eyes widened. "How are we supposed to fight that?!"
Lucifer waved a dismissive hand. "Not to worry, Alexander. We have nearly three times the amount on our side, and if we can get the shadowhunters and downworlders on our side, we should have little to no problem."
"But with that many people fighting, how on earth are we going to keep mundanes from noticing and getting hurt?"
Lucifer frowned. "And that's the problem, little shadowhunter. I have no idea."
Alec hummed. "Well, the Americas definitely aren't an option. Asia is too densely populated. The same for Europe and Australia. Africa has some potential, but . . ." He shrugged. "Honestly, the best place would probably be Antarctica."
"I . . ." Lucifer mumbled. "I honestly had not even thought of that. Hmm . . . maybe. We'd have to do something about the cold and satellites, but maybe . . ."
Lucifer and the two powerful demons spent the rest of the morning hunched over a piece of paper, mumbling to each other. Alec glanced over to see what they were writing, and immediately got a headache at the incredibly complex formulas scribbled on the paper.
Think rocket science, make it ten times harder, then add some undecipherable runes for good luck, and that's about what they had.
Alec shook his head and quickly retreated before his brain could spontaneously combust.
. . .
Some time later, Alec was grimly staring at a phone held between his fingers. He warily looked at it.
Lucifer huffed. "It is a phone, Alexander, not some monstrous creature. Just call the people I told you to, and get them over here."
"But they're going to kill me!" Alec claimed, not even entirely sure if he was exaggerating or not. There was no telling, really.
Lucifer frowned and stared at him blankly until Alec started shifting uncomfortably. Still, the fallen angel's gaze did not lessen.
"Fine! Since you obviously want me to die," he muttered, quickly dialing familiar numbers.
"You can't even die, you moron," Lucifer muttered.
"Hello?"
"Izzy," he greeted, forcing himself to sound cheerful. "How's it, uh, going?"
There was a pause, then: "ALEC LIGHTWOOD! Where the hell are you?! You'd better have a good reason for that mess last night! Are you okay? Do you need help? Are you being held hostage?!"
He winced, holding the phone away from his ear at her volume. "Er, tell you what, Izzy, I'll just text you the address. Can you bring Jace, Luke, Magnus, and the mundanes? I'll text you the address."
"Be there in ten."
There was a click, then nothing. He sighed, looking up for guidance after he sent her the address. "What did I do, God, to deserve this?"
Lucifer snorted from beside him. "I can assure you that my father did not mean this as a punishment, little shadowhunter."
Alec grumbled slightly, snatching one of the apartment keys from a plate by the door. "I'm going downstairs to wait for them."
Lucifer nodded. Before the doors of the elevator closed behind him, he could hear the fallen angel chattering in a fast passed and unfamiliar language on another phone. Huh. He wondered what that was about. Maybe he was talking to Asmodeus or Esmeralda since they were traveling around the world, acting as temporary liaisons to the various governments.
When he arrived in the lobby that was ten times more impressive now that he wasn't exhausted, he made his way to a couch to wait. True to her word, Isabelle and the others were marching inside about ten minutes later.
The woman behind the front desk gave the new comers a disapproving look at their clothing choices, her eyes lingering over Magnus's glittery top. Thankfully she said nothing as Alec rose to greet them.
All of them quickly looked at him and all of them seemed shocked at the nice clothes that he was wearing. Before any of them could say anything, he ushered them to the elevator, and slid in the key.
Thankfully, everyone seemed to understand that he wanted to wait until they got upstairs for their conversation, and there was an uncomfortable silence.
Simon coughed. "So, snazzy place," he commented. Everyone shot him an incredulous look, and he shrugged, but said nothing else.
The elevator door finally opened, and Lucifer paused in the middle of a sentence in that strange language. He said something into the phone, then hung up. He made presenting hands. "Welcome."
His greeting was met with an array of wary looks. Alec noticed that both Jace and Isabelle had their hands close to weapons.
"Everyone, this is Lucifer. Lucifer, this is everyone," Alec said, feeling incredibly awkward standing between everyone.
"It's a pleasure," Lucifer said, voice silkily smooth. "Do make yourselves at home," he continued, gesturing towards several couches, and he made his way to one.
Alec led the others over there, and after a moment's hesitation, sat beside Lucifer. The others slowly lowered themselves onto couches as well. His siblings sat beside each other, the mundanes sat with Luke, and Magnus sat by himself, sprawling out on an armchair.
"Now," Jace said, seeming to be unable to keep quiet any longer. "Care to explain what in the Angel's name happened last night?!"
Alec rubbed the back of his neck, and looked at Lucifer for help.
Lucifer raised an imposing eyebrow back at him, silently telling him to explain himself.
Alec grimaced. "Uh, well, as you all probably know, I was kidnapped last week."
"No kidding," Isabelle muttered.
Alec ignored her. "Lucifer, here, ordered one of the Princes to retrieve me for training, and so I was brought to him, and he started teaching me."
Magnus's eyebrows furrowed. "You were kidnapped, and you just went along with it, and trusted someone claiming to be Satan?" He shook his head. "You Nephilim are getting more ridiculous by the day."
Lucifer's lips twitched in amusement. "You forgot to mention your dreams, Alexander."
"Oh, yeah," he said sheepishly, feeling his cheeks heat up. "Sorry. Since I was really little, I've been having dreams about Lucifer, so I've kind of known him all my life."
Lucifer, having mercy on Alec, started to explain, "My father – God, for those of you who don't know – sentenced me to eternity in Hell, but I regretted by actions, and my father agreed to give me a second chance, so I've been working on trying to fix the repercussions of my mistakes."
He threaded his fingers together thoughtfully. "By the time I tried to clean up after myself, I had already done a lot that I would be unable to fix by myself, so I met with my father and the most powerful and influential angels."
"And they came up with a hare-brained plot," Alec helpfully added.
Lucifer shot him a disapproving glare. "We came up with a simple enough answer. If I couldn't rule, then I could just make someone worthy immortal and let them rule instead. So we watched the family lines to try to figure out where the best chance laid."
"And dear old Luci decided I was it," Alec said sourly.
Lucifer made an amused noise. "Either way, I had to get him properly trained once he was old enough, so I had one of my most trusted bring him to me for proper tuition. With my father's help, I was able to secure more time than what it seemed I would have."
"What do you mean?" Jace asked, golden eyes narrowed.
"Time traveled really slowly where we were," Alec said. "Something like two weeks for every day."
Lucifer nodded in agreement. "It was plenty of time for what had to be done, thankfully, even if there is still much to do. And with the way my plans are progressing, demons should be fully under Alexander's control within a decade."
Jace seemed to be piecing the information together incredibly quickly. "But without demons being a problem," he said slowly, "what will shadowhunters do?"
Everyone seemed highly interested in the answer, and Alec let Lucifer explain. The fallen angel smirked. "You can do whatever you want. You can get normal jobs, you can act as regular police for the downworld, you can do nothing." He shrugged. "It's your choice, really."
There was a stunned silence for a moment.
"What about the Clave?" Luke asked, ever the voice of reason. "You do know they're preparing for war against you, right?"
"Oh, we know," Lucifer assured. "And not to worry, the Clave will cease to exist soon enough."
Several people began to choke on air. "WHAT?!"
Lucifer nodded, a pleased look crossing his face. "Oh, yes. The Clave is useless and irredeemably prejudiced. Alexander and I will overthrow it soon enough, and set up a new one."
"How can you just overthrow a government?" Clary asked, voice faint. "And who would even lead a new one?"
Lucifer and Alec exchanged a look.
"It would be easy enough to overthrow," Alec said, shrugging his shoulders. "The Clave is incredibly incompetent, and it wouldn't be too hard to get people to agree with us once we start proving how useless it is. Then it would be simple enough to set up a government for all non-mundanes on earth."
"You would include downworlders and demons?" Magnus asked, an eyebrow raised. Alec tried to ignore how the light caught in the glitter in the warlock's hair when he shifted.
"Equal representation," he agreed with a nod. "Anyone with intelligence enough to vote for representatives and is a resident of earth will have a vote. Obviously, demons in Hell will not."
Luke's eyes were wide. "There would be representatives voted in?"
Alec nodded. "No more family seats."
Simon leaned forward in interest. "And what about a leader? Would they be voted in, too?"
Lucifer answered this. "Actually, no, they would not. We need someone to get the government going without pesky things like getting voted out. They would be able to step down eventually and set up a voted leader, of course, but not in the beginning."
Lucifer's eyes practically sparkled. "Alexander and I have thought long and hard about our choice for a leader." His eyes sought out one of the people in the room. "It is our belief that you are the best choice, Miss Fray."
Clary sputtered, seeming unable to form any coherent words. Everyone else in the room had wide, unbelieving eyes. Finally the redhead choked out, "But – but that's insane. I'm a teenager, and I didn't even know about shadowhunter until a week ago! Have you lost your mind?! I can't lead a government!"
Lucifer looked amused. "Now, now, Miss Fray. This is a good thing, I can assure you. Because of your lack of knowledge on the downworld, you have no prior prejudice and you are in the perfect position to be groomed for the role."
Clary seemed to be ready to argue some more, but Lucifer continued, "You would have as much help as you need, of course. It might be difficult at first," he admitted, "but you would do fine. You would not have complete control, but you would be in charge of keeping things in order. In extreme cases, you can even veto laws, although you would have to make a good case in front of the Archangels as to why."
Clary was once again sputtering, and her face was turning red.
Alec quickly said, "You have time to decide, of course, so just think it over, okay?"
Lucifer glanced at the time, before saying, "I'm sure you're all curious as to why you, in particular, were called here. The reason is because Alexander is going to need both liaisons and advisers, and all of you in this room are capable of doing both. If you so choose, you would be granted an eternal position in Alexander's court with immortality for those of you that wish it."
"You don't have to do either," Alec rushed to add, seeing the stunned faces. "And you definitely don't need to decide now. Just think about it."
Lucifer smirked and rose to his feet. "Now, I'm sure we all have better things to do than sit around and chat, so if you would please depart so Alexander and I can get back to work."
"Don't kick them out, Luce," Alec reprimanded. He glanced at a clock and wined lightly. "I really am running short on time though. I was going to try to have dinner with my parents tonight."
No one had any real problem with leaving, all of them needing to think over the conversation. Clary, Simon, and Luke all quickly left.
When his siblings walked past him, Isabelle said, "We'll see you at dinner, and we need to talk before you leave." She paused for a second. "Be careful getting inside, okay? We're being watched."
Alec nodded in agreement, and then he realized that the only person left was Magnus. The warlock walked closely by him. "Good night, Alexander."
Magnus's arm brushed against him as he passes, and he got a good nose-full of the warlock's scent, and by the Angel, did he smell good!
It wasn't until the elevator had closed that he realized that Magnus had slipped a lime green piece of paper into his pocket. His face turned red as he read the note. It said:
Instead of getting kidnapped to get out of calling me, how about you just dial the numbers this time?
Below that was a phone number with a smiley face.
Alec all but collapsed onto a couch, and covered his face with his arm, a smile tugging at his lips. "This is going to be an incredibly long week, isn't it?"
Lucifer cheerfully agreed.
