Under the Stars
The cold night air hit Alec's face as soon as he stepped out of the portal behind Kat, and he coughed, clearing the last remnants of demonic fumes and smoke from his lungs. He looked around at the unfamiliar landscape trying to get his bearings. In front of him laid an enormous expanse of flatland that extended farther than his eyes could see in the darkness. They were standing on a hill, and the ground below his feet was dry, hard clods of earth splitting apart under the weight of his Shadowhunter boots. The air was exceptionally dry, as if all humidity had been extracted from it, and the wind whistled as it ruffled his hair.
He turned and saw Magnus emerge from the portal just a second before it closed, the last rays of light emanating from the energy well dissipating and leaving them in almost complete darkness. "Where are we Magnus?" he asked, and Magnus looked up at the sky and smiled.
"There can be only one place where the stars shine this bright, especially on a moonless night," he said, pointing towards the heavens. "We are in Kat's homeland, or at least very near it."
Alec looked up and noticed, for the first time, a dark velvety sky studded with thousand, or perhaps millions, of the most brilliant stars he had ever seen. Alec had grown and spent most of his life in New York where, unless there was a blackout, all but the brightest of stars were outshined by the city lights. Of course, he had looked up at the stars in Idris during his sporadic visits. But even that sky, which was mostly unhindered by city lights, was nothing compared with what his eyes were seeing now. He thought that perhaps they were at a great altitude because the stars seemed closer to the ground, as if the sky and the earth were about to collide.
Before he could ask Magnus to be more precise about their whereabouts, Kat double backed and walked in the direction from where they had just come. Alec and Magnus turned and saw that they were about a hundred meters from the hill's summit where several gigantic constructions –futuristic in their design, their cylindrical façades glittering silver against the dark sky –stood in a circle around a glass-covered building.
"Welcome to the VLT, short for Very Large Telescope," said Magnus as he signalled for Alec to follow him and Kat up the hill. "I know, the name is not very creative; but it is accurate. This is the largest and more advanced telescope in the world, and it is located in the Atacama Desert, the driest desert in the world. The lack of humidity in the air makes the sky perfect for sky gazing."
"This is where I work," added Kat as she guided them up the hill.
"Why are we here?" asked Alec.
"I need access to the telescope," replied Kat as she took a magnetic ID card from her pocket and hanged it from a clip on the belt lopes of her jeans.
A few moments later, the three of them walked through the installations' gates, where Kat presented her ID card and spoke amicably and in perfect Spanish with a security guard. They then proceeded through the doors of the building at the center of the compound, and along a series of corridors leading to her office in the second floor. As they went along, Kat affably greeted colleagues and coworkers in at least four different languages. No one seemed suspicious of her companions, or if they were, Kat was a respected enough scientist that no one dared question her.
They finally entered a spacious office in which two large tabletop touchscreen computers competed for space with bookcases full of rare books and an antique desk, its surface covered with papers and prints. The space was an odd combination of a high-tech lab and a museum curator's office. Carpets in rich earthly colors covered sections of the concrete floor. A comfortable sofa covered in colorful wool blankets sat on a corner facing a floor-to-ceiling window. More books surrounded this sitting area, this time piled one on top of the other on the floor, resembling the fortresses that Alec and Izzy used to build in the Institute's library when they were children. Astronomy instruments, potted cacti, antique artifacts and large framed prints of star constellations decorated side tables, shelves and walls, adding to the feeling of being in a space in which past and future, modernity and antiquity, coexisted.
Magnus took Alec's hand and pulled him towards the sitting area where a reading lamp on a side table had been left on, its light illuminating a page on a book laying on the sofa, as if Kat had left just a minute, and not weeks ago. He pulled down the zipper of Alec's sweater just enough to rest his hand atop the rune on Alec's chest. Magnus wanted to make sure Alec was not injured but was also conscious that Alec didn't want anyone else to know about the rune. The rune felt warm to the touch, warmer than the surrounding skin, and Alec involuntarily winced as if in pain.
"Does it burn?" Magnus whispered, his voice devoid of the jovial tone he had used a few minutes ago as they walked up the hill and towards the observatory. "What did that woman do to you?"
"I don't know," Alec whispered self-consciously. "Whatever it was, it burned as hell, but the burning is gone now. Don't worry, I am fine."
"That was a very ancient, very rare, and very obscured rune on Acquaclara's arm," Kat said as she walked towards her desk and began to ruffle through a pile of papers. She hadn't heard Alec and Magnus' exchange, but had witnessed the encounter between the woman and Alec outside the Zürich Institute. "It is almost as powerful and as old as the parabatai rune, but considerably darker. It is drawn with a stele which tip has been dipped in the victim's blood and it can create almost the same link as a parabatai rune, allowing the bearer of the rune to inflict pain. She must have gotten some of your blood when you were in Barcelona. The good thing is that it only works in close proximity. As long as you keep your distance, Acquaclara cannot hurt you."
"You know that woman?" Magnus said, turning to Kat with an inquisitorial expression.
"Oh yeah, we have had a few run-ins and I knew some of her ancestors. You are not the only one with a complicated history with the Nephilim, Magnus. She is a nasty Shadowhunter, hateful, distrustful and a bigot."
"Great, as if we don't have enough of those to deal with," said Magnus, throwing his arms up in a gesture of defeat. "Can we do anything to prevent Acquaclara from using the rune again?"
"That I don't know," replied Kat. "I would need to do some research. You know, some Nephilim believe that they are more angel than human; but in fact, sometimes they appear almost demonic. The most occult of their angelic magic resembles black magic a whole lot."
"I am fine Magnus," said Alec in a tone that left little room for more questions. "We have more important things to worry about," he added looking at the two warlocks with a determined expression. "It is time we get ahead of Annaliese and her band of thugs. They went back to Zürich for a reason; they needed that explosion, which means that there is a pattern and purpose to these attacks."
"Jeremy and I found out that the attacks are linked to the movements of a very distant star constellation that appears in the night sky every fifty years or so," stated Kat. "But so far we have only been able to predict one target at the time and with no more than twenty-four hours in advance. No much time for pre-emptive action. I hope that by observing the constellation directly through the telescope, I can be more precise. But, without knowing why she is using the stars as a guide, we are still guessing Annaliese's endgame."
"She wants to summon Lilith, I am sure of it" Magnus said.
"She would need a summoning spell for that, wouldn't she?" asked Alec.
"Yes, and Lilith is the mother of all demons," Kat said. "She isn't just any demon; the summoning spell has to be very specific, and it must be very powerful, more powerful than any magic we know. Annaliese has to create that spell."
"Magnus, you said that the warlocks at the villa were also observing the stars," Alec interjected. "I would assume any equipment they have would not be as powerful as this telescope. That should give us an advantage."
"Yes, possibly," replied Magnus. "But Annaliese also had her people looking for something else, something important that she needs for the spell. I was planning to find out what, but then you guys rescued me, so that plan was a bust."
Kat walked towards one of the tabletop computers, turned it on, and linked the digital recorder she used during the autopsies to it. "There is something familiar about the words the warlocks were chanting," she said. "I am going to run the recording through speech recognition software."
Alec turned on the other tabletop computer. On one side of it, he called up a map and pinned the sites of the explosions; on the other, he called up the star chart that they had been using to predict Annaliese's movements. There had to be a pattern to the attacks, he thought, as he began to draw lines between the different cities beginning with the order in which the attacks had been carried out.
"I don't think the order of the explosions means much," said Magnus as he approached the table where Alec was working. "Time in Hades is not lineal. Past, present and future collide and may be experienced at the same time. And, I think you should eliminate New York from the equation. I suspect that explosion was more like a message than part of the overall plan."
"What kind of message and for whom?"
"It was a warning directed at me," Magnus replied looking at Alec. "Annaliese wanted me to know that she could get to you; that unless I cooperated, she could hit me where I am most vulnerable."
"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned," Alec said with a faint smile, and Magnus wondered whether Alec had forgiven him, or whether what he saw in his eyes was jealousy. With a tap of his finger, he removed the pin that pointed to their home.
Alec concentrated once again on the map, searching for any patterns or invisible lines connecting the cities. There was a connection, he was sure of it; he just needed to find it. He and Magnus had been in Paris, Florence, Rome and Barcelona during their vacation. It felt now that those happy, careless days had been years and not just weeks ago. He doubted, however, that their presence on those cities had any bearing on Annaliese's decision to target them, especially if she was using the stars as guide. Whatever she was planning, she had been planning for a long time, and he suspected that his and Magnus' link to those cities was incidental.
"You know," Magnus said after a while, "there is almost a straight line connecting Lisbon, Madrid, Barcelona, Zürich and Berlin. The only ones that don't fit on the line are Paris, Rome and Florence."
"That might mean something," Alec said. "Kat, do you have a pattern recognition app on this computer?"
"Only the most powerful one," replied Kat tapping on the screen to call on the program. "This software will look not only for star constellations, but also for geological data, geographical markers, historical records, and a whole lot of other permutations. It will take a while to complete the analysis, but if there is a link between the cities, it will find it. Though, there might be too many links, which will not be helpful."
While Kat set the search parameters on the app, Alec and Magnus examined the map and the star chart once again. After a while, Alec looked away from the screen, as if wanting to give his eyes a rest. He gazed around the office, noticing once more the odd combination between the ancient and the modern that characterized Kat's working space. It was as if the warlock lived with one foot in the past and the other in the future, one on the ground and the other in the heavens. Magnus loved human inventions but, in many ways, he preferred simple old things: antiques and magic rather than technology. Magnus seemed more focused on the past, on the history he had witnessed, than on the future; Kat embraced both. Suddenly, something occurred to him, a connection that he had not seen before.
"You know," he said looking at Magnus. "We may be approaching this whole thing with too narrow a focus. You said that in Hades time is not lineal, that past, present and future can collide. What if the answer is both in the technology that allows us to map the stars and in the past, in history, perhaps even ancient history? You said, Kat, that Annaliese would have to devise a spell to summon Lilith, what if the spell already exists? What if this is not the first time someone has tried to summon her, someone who left the spell written somewhere?"
"That is possible," said Magnus, the index finger of one hand tapping the side of his mouth in a familiar pensive gesture. "But where could such a spell be found?"
Kat looked at the map once again and, suddenly, the expression on her face changed from confusion to realization. "The Rome attack might have been a distraction," she said. "Annaliese's target might not have been the Institute but the Vatican archives; Rome might not be part of the pattern either," she added, reaching for the phone in her pocket. "Do you know what else is in Rome besides the Institute, Magnus?" she said, her fingers flying through the screen as she composed a text.
"It couldn't be," said Magnus, incredulity in his voice.
"What?" asked Alec.
"It is said that the Vatican contains one of the biggest collections of magic and other obscured artifacts in mundane hands. Whatever Annaliese is looking for might have been there" Magnus explained. "Who are you texting Kat?"
"Jeremy, and don't worry, this line is completely secure and untraceable," replied Kat with a naughty smile, which Alec thought was a rare expression in Kat. She always seemed the quietest, most serious and least mischievous of Magnus' friends. "I am asking him to contact a friend of mine in the Vatican and to begin a new search of the records."
Suddenly, Alec's stomach gave a growl loud enough for Kat and Magnus to hear. He flushed and gave Magnus a sheepish smile.
"When was the last time you ate?" Kat asked looking up from her phone.
Alec considered the question and, looking at his watch, realized that the last thing he had eaten was the croissant he shared with Magnus at breakfast the day before. "I am okay," he replied dismissingly.
"No, you are not," said Kat firmly. "You need to eat and rest. We don't know what we will be up against next, and neither of you can afford to fall over because of hunger, thirst, or exhaustion. It is going to take a while for the computers to run their analyses, and I am going to spend all night at the telescope, and searching the archives we keep in a vault in the basement. Unfortunately, you guys do not have clearance to come with me. So, you two go, get some food and rest."
"Are you sure you don't need help?" Alec asked.
"I will be fine, really. Besides, this is one of Magnus' favourite places in the world and he has great stories to tell you about his times in the desert," she said giving his friend a playful smile. "We are safe here for now and our people are safe back home. I think we have at least twenty-four hours. Take the time to rest."
"Come on, Alexander," Magnus said. "Kat is right, let's get some food. I know a perfect place for a midnight picnic."
"Okay, but first, Kat, can I borrow your phone? I would like to check-in with Izzy and Jace and get an update on the situation in New York," Alec said. As soon as Kat handed him the phone, he walked towards the sitting area. A couple of seconds later, he was greeting Jeremy and asking him to let him speak to his sister or brother.
"Talk to him Magnus," Kat advised her friend once Alec was out of earshot. She had noticed that, while Magnus and Alec seemed to have reconciled, something, some unfinished business still lingered between them. She had seen it in the way Alec and Magnus looked at each other when the other wasn't looking. "We are safe for now; no one knows where we are. Take the time and fix this relationship once and for all. Do not make the same mistake you always make."
"What mistake is that?" asked Magnus feigning surprise.
"You know which one; the one where you close yourself off in order to protect your feelings and secrets. What you have with Alec is a good thing. Do not mess it up."
"Alec is asking for something I cannot give," Magnus replied, sadness in his voice.
"Didn't you say that once about a young Peruvian?" Kat said with a knowing expression on her face.
"This time, I am afraid is true. What he is asking for is impossible," Magnus replied glancing at Alec who, at that moment, had his back to them and was talking on the phone in a low voice.
"Nothing is impossible," Kat said. "Things might be hard, but not impossible, especially when it comes to love." Kat and Catarina had been dubious about Magnus' relationship to the young Shadowhunter. They had discussed it extensively even before Kat met Alec. Magnus had a complicated history with the Nephilim in general, and with Alec's ancestors in particular, and Kat was concerned that history would get between them. But her opinion had changed in the last few days as she had seen Alec and Magnus sacrifice so much for one another. This relationship was one of the good ones, she thought: the kind that leaves a mark that is impossible to erase no matter how eternal one's life is. Thinking of Jeremy, Kat wondered whether her own new relationship to a Shadowhunter was also the unforgettable kind.
A few minutes later, Magnus was guiding Alec down the hill and then about a kilometer on a trail that was barely visible despite the witch light Alec used to light the way. Eventually, they reached a place where a big and smooth boulder provided ideal shelter from the wind.
"Aren't deserts supposed to be warm?" Alec asked as they approached the place. He rubbed his hands together and blew into them for warmth.
"Only during the day," replied Magnus playfully. With a snap of his fingers, he produced a campfire. With another, he conjured up several alpaca blankets and some cushions, colorful and with the intricate designs that characterized Aymara and Inca craftsmanship, the ancient peoples who still inhabited the desert.
They sat cross-legged and side by side on the blankets and cushions, and leaned their backs against the boulder, the stone still irradiating some of the heat of the day. With a flourish wave of his hands, Magnus conjured up clay dishes with empanadas made by a local woman whose small restaurant he and Kat once visited; warm homemade bread baked in the clay oven of a man who sold it on the side of the road; freshly churned butter, fresh goat cheese and Quince marmalade from a store in a small town a hundred kilometers away; and olives and olive oil from the Azapa Valley, which Magnus thought were the best in the world, better even than in Greece. He even produced a jug of pisco sour made with the best lemons that against all odds grew in that arid land. Papayas, grapes and bottles of water completed the feast. Aware of Alec's scrupulous nature, he made sure to leave behind enough money to cover the cost of food and more on the counters and pockets of those from whom he took.
Looking at the spread in front of him, Alec smiled. "You never cease to amaze me, Magnus," he said, reaching for a piece of cheese. Magnus took a piece of bread and broke it in two and gave half to Alec.
They ate, drunk and talked about everything and nothing, and as the pisco sour warmed his spirit, Alec began to laugh easily and wholeheartedly at the many anecdotes that Magnus told him about his visits to this part of the world; at stories of flying carpets, monkeys, guinea pigs and mishaps over the Nazca lines. He even smiled warmly when Magnus spoke of heartbreak and a life of crime.
After a while, Magnus fell silent and looked deep into Alec's eyes, thinking that if it wasn't for Annaliese, this would be the perfect way of spending an evening with the man he loved. Alec took an olive and placed it in Magnus' mouth in a tender, sensual and suggestive gesture that erased all negative thoughts from his mind. The gesture stirred something in the pit of Magnus' stomach and put all kinds of naughty ideas in his mind. Returning the gesture, he fed Alec small pieces of cheese, dipped in fragrant olive oil. When Alec reached for a napkin, he stopped him and kissed him instead, the taste of the oil making Alec' lips even more sensual and delectable.
"You taste delicious," he whispered and Alec flushed and smiled, embarrassed or pleased, Magnus didn't know. He kissed him again, relishing in the sound of pleasure that Alec gifted him with. He entangled his fingers in Alec's hair, and Alec responded by grabbing the lapels of his jacket and pulling him closer.
"Where are we exactly?" Alec asked sometimes later, his voice a little breathless.
"We are in the Atacama Desert," Magnus repeated. "Lima, Peru is about three thousand kilometers that way" he said pointing north, "and Santiago, Chile is about a thousand kilometers that way," he added pointing south. "The Pacific Ocean is about an hour drive west of here and the Andes which we cannot see very clearly right now are about another hour drive east. This is Kat's ancestral land, where she was born and where she likes to live and work. She is a scientist, right now an astronomer in the observatory where we just left her, but she was born when the Inca Empire still ruled this land, before any Spaniards or Shadowhunters ever set foot here. She was part of an Incan elite entrusted with knowledge of the stars."
"I don't think I have ever been this far from home before," Alec said, surprise and awe written on his face. "The sky is beautiful here," he added looking up at the stars once again.
Magnus observed Alec in silence, amazed to see how the light from the fire shone on those brown eyes, making them look almost golden. Alec seemed relaxed, but Magnus knew that a fast current of emotions and concerns run just under the surface of that apparent calmness. Underneath, Alec was alert and worried about everything that was going on. And, their unfinished conversation, that request that Magnus thought he could never fulfill still lingered between them, like an unacknowledged presence. Magnus recalled Alec's face in Zürich, the expression of pain and confusion, as Acquaclara demanded that he stayed, and a renewed surge of anger run through him. Alec didn't deserve what had happened to him. He shouldn't have to suffer just because of who he was and who he had chosen to be with.
Alec shifted his gaze from the sky towards Magnus and smiled, as if he had become suddenly aware of Magnus' eyes on him. Magnus placed one hand on Alec's cheek and the other on the place where that sad reminder of pain, abandonment and absence was hidden underneath Alec's shirt. As if wanting to push the memories away, Magnus sought Alec's lips again and kissed him deeply and tenderly.
"Magnus," Alec whispered when their lips parted momentarily. Not wanting to hear what he knew Alec would say, Magnus silenced him with another and even more heated kiss, a kiss that enticed Alec's lips to part so Magnus' tongue could invite his to play.
"Magnus," Alec repeated a few moments later, as he placed his own hand atop Magnus' on the rune. Understanding that he could not erase the plea from Alec's lips, Magnus pulled back, his eyes full of desire and resignation.
"You have to take this rune off me Magnus," Alec said. "Look at what Acquaclara did with it. Think of what it will do to us if you don't remove it. As long as I have it, Inquisitor Dearborn will be a constant presence in our lives, and you won't be able to forget what it signifies."
"You think I cannot look past the rune", Magnus said, the implications of Alec's words finally dawning on him. "You think that I cannot desire you the same way as long as you have it. Why?"
"Because now you know what it means; because it symbolizes something ugly and hateful."
"You think that the rune makes you ugly or undesirable to me?" Magnus asked, the implications of Alec's words feeling like a rock that hits the calm surface of a lake, creating ripples that spread and disturb its peace. "Alexander, I remind you that my own past mistakes have landed us in a huge mess, and you are able to look past that. What makes you think that I won't be able to look past this?" he asked pointing at the rune.
He shifted position and, bringing one leg across, sat astride on Alec's lap facing him. "Nothing could ever make me stop desiring you, Shadowhunter," he whispered in Alec's ear, the words full of promise and certainty. Determined to show him, Magnus brought his lips to Alec's once again, the kiss hungry and full of fire silencing any further protest; his demanding tongue staking an undisputable claim to Alec's mouth. He reached for the zipper in Alec's sweater and pulled it down, and without breaking the kiss and the maddening motion of his tongue, Magnus pulled the garment past Alec's shoulder. He run his hands slowly down Alec's chest and abdomen relishing once again in the feel of his hard muscles. He searched for the hem of his shirt, and when he found it, pulled it up to expose the skin underneath, so his hands could stake their own claim on the hard planes of Alec's chest.
Alec inhaled loudly and with a hissing sound, goosebumps forming as the chilly air kissed his skin. With a quick snap of his fingers, Magnus made the fire burn a little hotter and with another he raised wards that sheltered them and their makeshift camp from cold wind and prying eyes.
Alec relaxed his back against the rock, the playful motion of Magnus' tongue and the naughty movements of his hands pushing away all thoughts of runes, Inquisitors, and evil warlocks. He wrapped his arms around Magnus' waist and his own hands made their way under Magnus' shirt in search of the soft skin and hard muscles of his back. When Magnus entangled the fingers of one hand in his hair and gently pulled his head backwards, Alec exposed his neck so Magnus could kiss and bite it gently in an upwards and downward motion that ignited a volcano in the center of Alec's chest.
Bringing his hands down to Magnus' lower back, Alec grabbed his behind and pulled him towards him, desperate to make the distance between their bodies disappear. Magnus rewarded him with a loud intake of air and a sound of surprise that made Alec smile, and when he looked at Magnus, he saw the glamor dissipate from his eyes. Magnus' cat eyes shone brightly reflecting the light from the fire as the demon side of the warlock came out to play, and Alec welcomed him with a broad and loving smile.
Alec reached for Magnus' belt buckle but Magnus stopped him. "Not so fast Shadowhunter; we have all the time in the world," he whispered, and Alec believed him. For at that moment, time seemed to stop inside the magic bubble that the warlock had created to shelter them. With surprising strength and dexterity, Magnus shifted both their bodies and a second later, Alec was lying back on soft blankets, his head resting on a cushion. Alec let escape a deep sigh of pleasure as he felt the weight and feel of Magnus' body on top of him.
Every time they had made love before, Magnus had given Alec a way out, a certain amount of control, wanting him to have the freedom to stop, to say no, to walk away. Deep down, Magnus had been afraid that Alec would one day decide that he was just too much to get used to; that they were just too different; or, what was worse, that he couldn't live with the demonic part of Magnus. By giving Alec control, he had also allowed him to explore his own capacity to give and take pleasure, and Alec had not only discovered himself, but had also shown Magnus new ways of loving. Now, however, he wanted to be the one in control; he wanted to show Alec that nothing, no rune, no mark, no past, no pain, could ever diminish his feelings and his desire for him. He wanted to erase from Alec's mind all doubts, uncertainties and insecurities.
What he didn't realize was that showing Alec that he accepted him unconditionally required that Magnus bring down the barriers he constantly kept between the human and demonic parts of him. He needed to let the demon inside express his own unconditional love for Alec. As the barriers fell, magic began to flow freely through his veins, making its way to the surface of his skin, and from there, flowing into Alec, as if there was no separation between them, no place where one ended and the other began.
As he slowly peeled Alec's clothes and his own off, wanting to extend the pleasure and the anticipation as much as humanly, demonically and angelically possible, Magnus' fingers drew multicolor magic circles and swirls on Alec's skin. He had done this before during intense moments of lovemaking when he had lost control. This time, however, the sensation was different, stronger, more powerful. For as he shared his powers with Alec, as magic began to flow between them, Alec's own fingers began to emit magic energy that drew similar lines and circles on Magnus' own skin, tickling him with soft touches of electricity that awoke every nerve ending.
As Magnus shared his magic with Alec, Alec experienced new and previously unimaginable sensations, sensations he didn't have words to describe. It was as if every cell of his body had come alive and vibrated at unison, and he could feel how Magnus drew power from everything around him, from the air, the ground, and even the water that run deep under the dry earth. At that moment, he understood, perhaps better than any Nephilim ever before, what it was like to be a magic-maker, and he knew with absolute certainty that there was nothing evil or ugly about Magnus.
That night under the stars, Magnus and Alec made magic together, casting new and mysterious spells as they wrote their names on every inch of each other's skin; staking new claims; sharing new energies; and building new and stronger foundations for their relationship. In the process, each offered himself to the other freely and completely devoid of secrets, their souls more naked than ever before.
Minutes or hours later, Magnus felt Alec's muscles tighten under him as the energy built within Alec for the powerful climax that Magnus knew Alec was about to unleash. "Look at me Shadowhunter," he said, wanting to delay the release a little longer, his fingers entangled in Alec's hair, his voice strained. "I want you to look at me," he repeated.
Alec obeyed, and when those big brown eyes opened, they resembled bottomless pools of gold as Magnus' magic whirled in them. Alec fixed his intense gaze on Magnus and Magnus' gasped as the power of those eyes overpowered any attempt to delay their shared orgasm. Magnus let go then and cut of all ties to this world, as he let Alec taken them both over the edge in the most powerful of climaxes.
For a moment, or perhaps for an eternity, Magnus became keenly aware of the incredible sensation of Alec's racing heart echoing on his chest right next to his own. He felt in the very center of his being the wave after wave of pleasure that washed over Alec, each wave increasing exponentially the intensity of Magnus' own ecstasy.
Eventually, exhausted and sated, Magnus collapsed on top of Alec and rested his cheek against Alec's chest, Alec's heartbeat echoing in his ears and on his chest at the same time. Alec reached for a blanket and covered them.
"Well, that was something," Alec said and smiled after a few minutes of silence. Magnus smiled too, and when he looked up, he saw the last vestiges of the magic they had shared fade from Alec's eyes. They laid in each other's arms, their bodies entangled in an unbreakable knot. As Alec was about to drift off to sleep, Magnus finally whispered the words he had been silently wishing to hear since the beginning of their relationship.
"I love you Alexander Lightwood."
With four words, Magnus had shattered Alec's heart into a thousand pieces a few weeks ago; now with just three words – I love you –he gathered each one of those pieces and put them back together, healing Alec's heart as if it had never been broken. Alec took a deep breath as if inhaling each word, wanting to absorb them into each cell of his body. Most of his life, Alec had felt like he stood apart from those around him, alone and lonely because of the secret he carried. Now with those words, this magnificent magic soul beckoned him to tie their life together.
"I love you too Magnus Bane," he replied, a sight of contentment following the declaration.
Magnus brought his lips to Alec's ear and softly whispered a name, the human name that his mother had given him almost four centuries before; the name he used before he became Magnus Bane; the name no person alive had heard or used in all those centuries. Magnus whispered the name because he meant only for Alec to hear and know it. Not even the stars, the night, the wind, or the fire heard the name because it was a secret entrusted only to the one Magnus loved most.
"I like it," said Alec with a warm and loving smile. "I will treasure it forever."
They laid in each other arms, and looked up at the stars, the only witnesses to their lovemaking until Alec felt Magnus relax in his arms and his breathing change. Only when he was sure Magnus was asleep, did he let sleep take him too.
Alec woke up a few hours later as the first of the sunlight shone above the peaks of the majestic Andes and penetrated the wards under wish Magnus had kept them sheltered and warm throughout the night. Magnus was sitting cross legged beside him, his shirt back on, and he was looking towards the sunrise. Putting his own shirt on, Alec sat up beside him and reached for Magnus' hand. The sunrise was spectacular, and Alec thought that he had never seen mountains as tall and beautiful as these ones, their snowy peaks reflecting the morning light in a startling white that contrasted with the brown and terracotta of the desert below.
"The sunrise in this part of the world is one of my favorites," said Magnus. "Nowhere else, you see a bluer sky or a clearer sun."
"It is beautiful," said Alec. "The size of those mountains makes you feel small, as if everything else, all troubles, were insignificant; as if life was transient."
"You understand," Magnus said with a tone of surprise as if Alec had just put into words precisely what he was feeling.
Alec put his arm around Magnus' shoulders and Magnus' relaxed against his body. They sat in silence for a while, letting the morning sun clear the webs of sleep away, leaving just the sharp and pleasant memories of their night together.
"I will do it," Magnus said quietly after a while.
"What?" asked Alec.
"I will try to remove the rune, but I have two conditions."
"Name them," said Alec, relief washing over him.
"I need Catarina or Kat's help, and you need to tell Jace. You will need the strength of your parabatai to survive the procedure."
Alec simply nodded and smiled. He would have preferred no one else knew about the rune, but he was willing to live with Magnus' conditions if it meant that he would honor his request. He wrapped his arm even tighter around Magnus's shoulders and kissed the top of his head because he understood that agreeing to do what he asked was hard for Magnus, and he was grateful.
Once the sun completely cleared the mountain peaks, they got dressed and, after Magnus used his powers to clear their makeshift camp, they headed hand-in-hand back to the observatory. As they approached the bottom of the hill, they saw Kat heading down with determined and hurried steps, a backpack strapped to her back, his hair in a tight braid falling down one shoulder, and sunglasses covering her eyes.
"We have to go," she said as soon as she reached them. "Jace called; Dearborn gave the order to eliminate the New York vampire clan. He is planning to attack the Hotel Du Mort this morning."
"During the day?" asked Alec. "They won't be able to escape; it will be a massacre."
"I am going to kill Dearborn," said Magnus through clenched teeth, as he waved his arms to open a portal.
"Get in line," said Alec, as he prepared to follow Magnus.