Chapter 10: A Lovely Gift

Magnus' stared at Catarina for a few seconds wondering if she was lying or not. Her eyebrows gave a straight arch and her lips were pursued. Her grey arms were crossed on her chest and her eyes were dead hard serious. She was still analysing him as if he was a ticking time bomb that could explode at any time.

"I've been studying about a 'demonic infection'." Magnus half-lied through his teeth, making Catarina's eyes widened in interest. "I actually found some weird creatures with pentagrams in their eyes. Those creatures acted very strangely and violently. So vicious and ruthless that they'll even eat their own kind."

Rose's mouth gave a slight frown and her grey eyes watched him closely. "Magnus….where did you find these 'creatures'?"

"Doesn't matter." Magnus answered coldly keeping his eyes on the grey-skinned warlock. "If you're right about Alec's 'condition' in that asylum, he possibly could've been infected."

Catarina's eyes scanned him even more, and her head shook in disappointment as some of her white stands feel out of it's knot. "Isn't it more of a possibility that the boy was simple mentally ill? Magnus, even if, the symptoms of this so called 'pentagram' is similar to Alec's, that boy was never even seen with any pentagram or demonic worship. He just seemed like an insane traumatised Shadowhunter. Can't you simply accept that Alec has gone crazy and died because of it?"

He clenched his teeth trying to contain his upcoming growl. His fists were shaking in anger. How dare she insult Alec? Even if he was crazy now, deep down, Magnus knew that Alec would never turn so dark, it just seemed too impossible. "Perhaps your observation has more probability, but I knew Alec the most." He drawled with pride.

In a hard tap, Catarina set her teacup on it's saucer. Her fingers shook making some of the hot liquid spill on her palm, Magnus raised his chin preparing himself for an outburst. "Magnus…." She stuttered at first.

Standing up, she grabbed a fistful of his shirt and shouted on his chin. "Don't you get it?! Alec's dead! It wouldn't matter if he was infected with this demon disease or was just simply insane! All I know is that you should stop obsessing over your dead ex!"

"Obsess?" Magnus growled grabbing her thin wrist, squeezing it tightly hoping to break her bones. His eyes were glaring daggers at her as Catarina glared at him back.

"Guys please stop!" Rose screamed, franticly pushing each of her companions' shoulders away but they refused to budge.

"Yeah, obsessed." Catarina gritted her teeth, as small sparks of magic started blazing on her free hand. "You've been ignoring Rose ever since Alec came back on your head. Have you ever thought that you've been selfish and ignorant towards her?! She has been suffering so much and she has kept it quiet for you! She even tried to help you even if you consider a dead ex more important than her!"

"Catarina.." Rose hushed her. "Magnus…please…"

His eyes softened at Catarina's statement and he slowly loosen his grip around her grey wrist. Guilt and pain started to grip his heart as he swayed his glance to Rose who held a pleading innocent face with tears threatening to pour from her eyes. Perhaps he was being selfish towards her, even if she was so kind and loving, but why does his heart still belong to Alec?

Sparks of electricity still pulsed in Catarina's free hand like threads of blue lightning wrapping around her fingers. Both Rose's and Magnus' eyes widened at her magic, Rose shouted at her to calm down while Magnus shut his eyes preparing for a huge shock.

Thankfully, Magnus felt the strong magical aura around Catarina weaken. He slowly opened his eyes and the threads of lightning died down while Catarina's eyes seemed distant and unmovable. Her grip on his shirt weakened as Magnus slowly drew away from her, staring at her gaped mouth.

She stood frozen for a few seconds, just staring up the ceiling, till she just broke and run away from the scene. Rose and Magnus exchanged confused looks before going after their friend.

The duo stopped behind Catarina ,who stood on the entrance of the front yard, with her hands wide opening as a blue mist erupted from her fingers and swirled around the fence area. Magnus looked over right shoulder and his eyes widen.

Beyond the fence were three goblins crouching around a dead dear. The dead animal's legs were in weird angles and it's body was being ripped apart by sharp teeth. Bits of messy flesh and blood spilled from the goblins' mouths and one had bitten off the dear's full head.

The skull was thrown just a few feet away from them as Magnus could feel Rose's fingers wrapping around his upper arm in fear. He was also shaking in fear and horror as a goblin chewed on a leg.

"This forest is usually packed with demons." Catarina explained as she swayed her hands in large gesture making the blue mist spread over the house like a dome. "I usually put up a magical barrier to keep them out. But today…somehow…it broke.."

"Can you fix it?" Rose asked worriedly.

Catarina slight lowered her eyes. "Maybe…but it won't be as strong as the old one."

Rose drew in a worried breath tightening her hold around Magnus's upper arm. Magnus, still staring blankly at those monsters, was still shaking with his eyes still wide. Images blurred in his mind of how Alec killed those monster brutally with Jem's cane, how he used the walking stick as a sword slashing everyone in his path, how he stood on the pile of blood and corpses looking like the devil himself, how each body was slain so brutally, and how he starved each and every one of them so he could laugh as they pathetically ate their own family.

Scenes of Rose and Catarina entered his mind, of how they could be eaten slowly, of how teeth would enter their bodies as they beg for mercy. Magnus shook himself from the horror and couldn't bare to see them eaten alive. He also couldn't imagine them killing theses beasts with their own bare hands, killing them so brutally and harshly. He couldn't bring them to do that for him.

They'll regret killing all the beasts no matter how wild they are, just like how he was horrified when Alec massacred them all even if it was necessary because he would have been slaughtered.

"Wait…." Magnus announced. The two women gave their attention to him as the goblins were almost done with their meal. "Magic won't affect them."

"What?" Rose gasped.

"Are you sure?" Catarina asked disbelievingly.

"Remember what I said about the demon infection and pentagram." Magnus kept his eyes on the goblins as they devoured the dear's final two legs.

The two women nodded.

"Well those things are not demons. They're only demon infected and even if they're only infected, they're somehow unaffected by magic. Look at their eyes." Magnus pointed at the beasts.

They both followed Magnus's finger, spotting the bright red pentagrams glowing on the goblin's black eyes.

Catarina faced him. Her mouth giving a small frown. "So, you're saying, anything we do is useless?"

Magnus pulled his arm away from Rose's grabbing hands as Catarina lowered her hands making the blue mist disappear "I'll handle them. You and Rose should go back inside."

"What?! No! You'll get killed." Rose screamed.

Magnus kissed her forehead and looked at Catarina. "I know a way to kill them. Just go inside. It'll be fine."

Catarina sighed but agreed. She dragged a reluctant Rose back to the house. Once Magnus could hear the door closing behind him, the goblins finished eating their meal.

The goblins looked at him with such hunger ready to slaughter him for food. Magnus grabbed a nearby long shovel and raised it.

Rose was frantically struggling against Catarina's hard grip as she was dragged towards the house. Magnus was going to die she thought worriedly, reaching our her hand trying to reach for him but Catarina pulled her in the living room and closed the door.

When she was finally free from Catarina, she glared at the other woman. "How could you leave Magnus with those….those…things?!" She clutched the other woman's wrist tightly as Catarina struggled against her hard grip. "He could get killed. You know that he can be so stupid! He could be-."

"Rose, shut up!" Catarina broke her off in a rather loud voice. Rose loosen her grip in shock and Catarina drew away from her. "I think that Magnus does really know what he's doing!"

"I know you may trust Magnus but this is something we all have never seen or hear about."

"Perhaps, but don't you think he's hiding something?" Catarina grabbed her shoulders and forced her to look at her eyes.

Rose rolled her eyes. "Obviously, I'm not that dumb."

"Well, maybe he's hiding about those damn goblins and that demonic infection thing."

"Catarina, we already know he's been studying about it…"

To Rose's surprise, Catarina pushed her away quite softly and muttered. "Maybe…"

Without another word, Catarina rushed up the staircase. Rose quickly followed the other woman as she kept quiet. They both walked over the wooden steps as Rose marvelled at the hanged frames beside them. She saw a photo of a black and white couple holdings hands and a coloured photo of Catarina, when she was still blue, and a purple skinned warlock.

When they reached the second floor, Catarina lead her to Magnus's room. They stood in front of a usual guest room with blue powdered walls and a small single bed sitting beside a closet. Rose frown when she glanced around. She knew that Magnus didn't want to share a room in their stay.

Catarina rushed towards the closet and opened it. She started looking through the contents as Rose only stared at the prying woman. In the back of Rose's mind she wanted to stop Catarina but she was also tempted to find out what Magnus was hiding.

A handbag designed with pink glitters was in Catarina's grip and she shoved it to Rose.

"Is this yours?" Catarina asked. "Magnus may be flamboyant but even he can't use a girly handbag like this."

Rose analysed the bag and lowered her eyebrows. "No, I never owned this one. I once saw it in the attic at home but Magnus tells me that he'll use this only when he needed to hide something important because it only opened with a specific spell."

"Can you open it then?"

The redhead nodded as her green hands started sparking. Rose would've normally protested but now she knew that Magnus won't tell her anything no matter how long she waited. In her last enchantment, the bag's lock clicked and Catarina grabbed the bag from her.

She opened and picked up a small stack of old papers. Rose peaked over Catarina's shoulder and scanned the paper. They were old with yellow staining it's edges. Sketches of those creatures were drawn everywhere and runes that she could never recognise were scrolled on the spaces.

"I knew it!" Catarina sneered crumpling the sketches in a tight hold. "He was going crazy."

"Catarina, didn't he say he was studying them? Maybe those are just the notes of his researches…" Rose rambled.

Catarina gave her a pitiful look. "Rose, I know you love and trust Magnus but if you look closely, these can't be just researches. The runes here are not the Shadowhunter ones and they look so ancient that I doubt anyone can read it."

'What are you trying to say?" Rose gasped.

"I'm saying that maybe Magnus found these papers and started experimenting on his ex. When Magnus broke up with Alec, he had gotten crazy and was sent to the asylum. Because of Alec's first failed experiment, Magnus has done it on other creatures and possibly succeeded. Now the experiments who he had abandoned tracked him down and wants to kill him."

Rose lowered her eyes. "That sounds impossible. You're overreacting."

"At least I'm not the one keeping too much secrets."

Magnus smashed the last goblin's head as the skull itself crumbled and blood and organs flowed out of it's mouth. He cringed at the three corpses, he left on the forest ground. Dropping the shovel, he huffed and wiped off the blood in his hands.

He knew he looked like a murderer with blood staining his clothes and his hands taking away lives in such a brutal way. He thought for a second that is this what Alec wanted? For him to be as insane and crazy as the former shadowhunter himself.

The warlock sighed and entered the house again, ignoring the blood dripping off his fingers and staining Catarina's carpet. He roamed through the living room and entered the kitchen where he washed his hands over the sink and dried it with a small dish towel.

The moonlight seeped through a nearby window as Magnus left the room pitch black. He knew he could still see through the dark because of his cat-like eyes. It was one of the good things about his devil's mark but even so thinking about his freaky eyes made him see painful flashes of old memories like how his mother hanged herself or how his stepfather tried to drown him in a river.

He paused once he reached the top of the staircase leading to the second floor. A weird feeling came on to his right pocket as his hand reached inside it and grabbed the blue lily, Alec had given him. Unlike the new 'gifts', the blue lily was always kept safe with Magnus because he felt that maybe it had such great importance in the 'game' than the other presents.

Even being in his pocket for so long, the flower still looked fresh and beautiful. It's petals still brilliant blue and it's fragrance still strong. Magnus wondered on how the lily still stayed alive, because he never even bothered to water it. The plant basically defied the laws of the universe.

Now Magnus could sense some sort of weird feeling flowing through the plant like some sort of message going through him.

His feet seemed to move by itself towards the second staircase leading to the attic.

The attic is empty and cold, Magnus noticed when he reached the top of the staircase. A large window was wide open making all the cold air flow in and the floorboard were old and slightly cracking when he would step too hard. Slowly he carefully moved forward and paused when he saw a familiar figure leaning beside the window.

Alec stood there. His one sapphire eye shining in the dark while the other hidden within his long bangs. His mouth titled in a crooked smile as his hand extended towards Magnus. Crimson caked his hands and chest as his eye seemed to give a sadistic glint. His arm swayed forward and his palm bloomed open showing off a red heart, as in the literal organ with it's arteries and veins.

Magnus gave a small yelp in horror refusing to take his eyes off the dead heart.

"Seems you have literally stolen my heart, Mags." Alec's laughter echoed throughout the dark creaky attic.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Mortal Instruments.

Author's Note: Hey Guys. Sorry it's been a long time since I've updated. I've actually been working on a whole story outline so I could easily update faster. Hopefully you guys like this chapter and I've decided to work on this story first since I already made a whole story outline for this.