Chapter 13: Rising Flames
Flames were the only adjective Rose could use to describe the boy in front of her. He was heat and fire itself. An unstable spark that could explode and destroy buildings within a second. The tension and impatience in him seemed to make those sparks ignite as his long sharp nails stabbed the surface of the table.
"Well?" He said, expecting an answer. His nail had gone deeper into the oak and his eyes stared at her like he wanted her to be the wood he was destroying.
Rose swallowed her fear and straightened her posture making herself look calm and composed. She sat down on the seat across him, still staying silent.
Both of them refused to speak while glancing at each other's eyes. Rose scanned the former Shadowhunter. He still had a wide smile on his face as he finally let his nail escape from the oak. His right eye was covered by a curtain of bangs, and the visible eye was dark blue like bottled glass.
For a moment, Rose knew what her husband saw in this boy. He was terrifying yet beautiful in a way. Pale skin like a flawless pearl, hair smooth like ebony, and eyes like precious sapphires.
Ugly lines of jealousy started to unravel on Rose's lovely face making Alec smile in amusement. He leaned towards her with pleased yet calculating eyes. His mouth showed sharp canines as he said. "So, Mrs. Bane, what do you want to say?"
More wrinkles appeared on her face when she sneered in offence. He said 'Mrs. Bane' in a way someone would scoff at a bad joke. She wanted to shout insults at his face and make him burn with her magic, but instead she only asked in cold calm voice. "How are you alive? You're suppose to be dead."
"Seriously.." Alec scoffed in disappointment as he bent back towards his chair. "Magnus, also asked the same thing though he had better wording and a much more amusing face."
He yawned exaggeratedly indicating his boredom with her. Rose could feel more irritation building up in her. "Are you always this annoying?"
He only smirked and drawled out. "Are you always this predictable?"
Her fists tightened even more and a growl escaped from her throat. "Can't you take me seriously?"
"Well, everything you say is boring and your intentions are boring too. The only thing that amuses me right now is your annoyance and jealousy." He giggled.
"I'm not jealous."
"Also your constant denial is funny too."
Rose couldn't take it anymore. Red flames bursted out of her palm and she aim her hand towards him. "I should just kill you right now."
Even with a threat looming over his head, he only pouted and inspected his nails. "Will my death really contribute anything?"
"It would certainly make you finally stop destroying Magnus."
He laughed making Rose ignite her flames even stronger. "Oh darling, I'm not just destroying Magnus." He swayed his head making his bangs blow away from his face showing off the horrifying glowing red pentagram that is his left eye. "I'm eliminating him because he deserves it."
His voice was no longer amused or light, but instead so unstable and rough like a monster. No, not just a monster but the incarnate of evil himself, the Devil. Rose cringed in fear, quickly shooting the killer with her evolving flame.
Bursts of orange and red flared in front of her. The chair was thrown backwards and it's wood was decaying into ash. But Alec wasn't there anymore.
Panic jolted in her brain as her eyes scanned the room looking for him.
"Looking for me." A familiar hot voice whispered in her ear.
Before she had a chance to retaliate, a white hand wrapped around her neck tightly and a sharp blade was aiming towards her left eye. Hot iron was being stuffed into her lungs as she struggled to gather oxygen but his fingers only tightened around her throat.
"You know, I don't think taking off your eyes would be a big deal, Rose. After all, you were blind since the first place." Alec's breath hit the back of her ear.
She struggled to move her limbs, but her nose refused to take in any air making her arms fall limp. Small cracks could be heard from neck as Alec's grip grew even tighter. Thick saliva was escaping from her mouth as her life was slowly dying away.
The blade was edging closer towards her pupils.
"Your eyes are just a boring color, just like you." He drawled out.
Suddenly, his grip was loosened and she fell to the ground sitting on her knees. She coughed out the built up saliva in her throat and kept breathing in cool air to erase the burning coals in her lungs. Her limbs slowly started gaining strength as more and more oxygen finally entered her.
"Besides, I'm not after your eyes anyway. Magnus's would be much prettier though." He turned his back towards her and started to stroll away.
She ignored the pain in her neck as she twisted herself to face him. Her throat burned as she screamed out. "I will beat you, Alec Lightwood. I will keep Magnus safe."
He paused and titled his head back towards her. Something flared in his eyes and she didn't like it. "You're not as boring as I thought you were. Perhaps when we meet again, we can play some fun games together."
He then left leaving her in pain and suffering.
When the blood covered woman barged into his office, Matthew almost barfed and fainted. Images of his daughter's corpse started to form in his head. Her head ripped off and her organs spilling everywhere. There was so much blood and red.
Red. Blood. Red. Blood. Red. Blood.
Catarina's hand on his shoulder awoke him from his hallucination. He straightened his back and concentrated on the woman who entered. She wore her training gear and her pale skin was covered in crimson and black blood. Her face which looked lovely was twisted in a frightened look yet she stood with clarity and dignity.
"Who are you and what happened?" Matthew demanded.
"Jane Blackthorn, head of the Los Angeles Institute." It was quite impressive that she could speak with such confidence and maturity even if her blue-green eyes were shaking in fear and sadness. A bloodied hand pushed her blonde hair away from her forehead as she continued. "The Institute has been attacked, Inquisitor Lovelace. I came here as quickly as I could through a portal."
By the time she mentioned an attack, Matthew quickly got his phone and texted for reinforcements to come to them. "Reinforcements will come in about five minutes. Catarina cold you make a portal to the Institute."
Catarina nodded. Her hands blew out blue sparks as she swayed her arms and muttered enchantments. A swirl of aquamarine and white made started to appeared in front of her.
"How was the institute attacked and what do we have to watch out for?" Matthew faced Jane.
She answered. "Weird creatures suddenly came in the institute. The wards don't seem to affect them."
Matthew's eyes brightened as Catarina's portal grew weaker from her rising fear. The Inquisitor lowered his hand towards his desk drawer and took a stack of sketches from it. He showed them to Jane. "Do those creatures look like this?"
Jane's eyes widened in shock as she pursed her lips. "They look like them perfectly, sir. How did you get these?"
"From Catarina, and she told me she specifically got these from a friend named Magnus Bane."
Catarina thought that the Los Angeles Institute was beautiful. It was a house made out of polished wood and clear glass. It stood beside a beach as the waves of the ocean would occasionally hit it's stone base. Delicate lacy curtains were hung around it's window and pearly shells were hung like decoration.
But now, she thought it's beauty was destroyed. It's polished wood and clear glass were covered in red and gore. The decorative shells fell and shattered on to the floor boards. Corpses were scattered everywhere and the curtains were ripped into shreds.
She stood on the front wooden porch cringing at the rotting body laying over the railing. It looked like a man with his front jaw ripped off and his eyes gouged out.
Those empty sockets reminded her of an old asylum always covered in dirt and blood. A certain boy with love of torture. Dead animals and people always found in his cell.
She shook her head breaking her thoughts. Matthew was glancing at the group of elite Shadowhunters strolling out of the portal.
"Alright, men. I want you to take a caution even though the Institute seems to be abandoned. We might encounter some unknown beasts and we have only minimal information about them. So far we know that magic can't affect but weapons can." Matthew stood up tall in front of his people looking confident and strong like a true leader. "Alex, you and your team will check if there are any survivors. Hugo, you and your team will scout the perimeter."
The mentioned shadowhunters nodded and left to do their assigned jobs.
"Jane. You will take me and Catarina where the portal you escaped in. There is a possibility that someone else could have used that portal." Matthew told her.
She nodded and sprinted forward into the Institute. Matthew easily managed to keep up with her pace because of the speed rune drawn on his tanned arm. Catarina, on the other, had trouble catching up with the both of them. Physical fitness wasn't a strength of hers and also the tall professional heels she wore made her feet ache as she tried to run faster.
The inside of the Institute was as horrifying as the outside. The wooden walls were covered in streaks of crimson and in every five steps you take a corpse or at least a part of a corpse could be seen laying on the floor. The black and white tiled floors were no longer as clear and glossy. Catarina cringed when her foot almost touch a nearby decapitated arm.
Jane lead to another corridor filled with broken pieces of vases that used to be lined up to the right side of the walls. She stopped in front a set of large french grand door with a silver knobs and golden runes painted on its outer edges. She twisted the knobs and pushed it slowly as the metals knobs made a slight creaking sound.
The library was destroyed. The book shelves were crashed on to the marbled floor. Bits of glass and wood were scattered everywhere. The red couches and wooden furniture were ripped into shreds, and the once hanging chandelier fell into a pile of curved metal and destroyed jewels.
"Catarina check if there are any traces of magic around here." The Inquisitor prepared his seraph blade as the leader of the Institute brought out a dagger from her boot. "Me and Jane will investigate the area."
Once the pair of Shadowhunters was away from her field of vision, she rubbed her hands together to start the spell. As blue mist escaped from her palms, her eyes were closed shut. She focused on the magical field around her. It felt mostly empty but she could sense small traces of magic. Quickly before those traces disappeared she tapped into them and analysed it's energy.
The energy was quite powerful, she scanned. It was also quite familiar. So so familiar.
Her eyes opened in shock when she realised it was Magnus's magic she sensed.
"Catarina, you have to come look at this!" Matthew's voice echoed through the room.
She followed his voice with no questions because her mind was still blank from her recent discovery.
But she paused when she stopped beside Jane and Matthew staring at a single flower laying down on the floor.
That flower was a blue lily.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Mortal Instruments
Author's Note: Sorry, that I haven't updated for so long. I've been having writer's block and I'm having a hard time arranging the events of this story. Hopefully you guys like this chapter and I'm sorry that Magnus isn't really shown here but don't worry he'll be there in the next chapter.