Bonjour! I hope you like this. If it's confusing or anything, let me know.

So I hear some more smut is in order: I always feel like I'm getting it wrong when I write 'those' scenes, but of course I will if that is what you desire. After all, this is for you not me. Next chapter, I promise!

I own nothing except April.

Alec woke- alone for once- out of a rather interesting dream involving a whole mundane football team; they had varied in appearance, but each one had catlike green-gold eyes.

He wished there was someone with him who could summon hot coffee out of thin air.

Wow, Alec thought, I've only just woken up and I already miss Magnus. He snuggled slightly into his warm, rumpled sheets before tumbling out of bed, the morning air covering him in its chilly breath due to the fact that he always slept with the window open. Magnus complained it made his toes freezing, but never actually shut the window as it gave him an excuse to cuddle up close. By the Angel, I'm obsessed with him.

Alec was about to stumble into the bathroom, the urge to brush his teeth already nagging at the back of his mind, when- twitch.

The curtain twitched.

Twitched.

Maybe I shouldn't sleep with the window open…Alec mentally cursed. Was there something there? No. Of course not. How could there be?

He thought briefly of just ignoring it, but knew his curiosity would eventually get the better of him. It always did.

Alec flung the heavy material back, light gushing into his room like water through the windows of a sunken car, silhouetting the figure crouched on the windowsill.

Jace.

"Jace! What the hell are you doing behind my curtain!" He looked pale and drawn, bruiselike shadows lurking beneath his eyes as though he hadn't slept.

"I had another nightmare and had to see if you were okay."

"And after you saw I was okay you thought you'd hide on my windowsill? Were you watching me sleep?"

"Yes." Alec backed away, running his fingers through his scruffy black hair, an uneasy look in his eyes that would haunt his parabatai. "Alec you don't understand, I have to protect you!"

"What are do I need protecting from in my sleep, pillows or something?"

"I don't know what I'd do if something happened to you, Alec. I can't even imagine how I'd go on. It's like Lucie in 'A Tale of Two Cities', when she stands outside Darnay's prison every day in case he can see her; what I'm trying to say is that I can't let you get hurt."

Alec looked down at his pale toes, buried in the rug for warmth, trying and failing to hold back his anger.

"The only reason I've been hurt lately is because you were so distracted that you nearly cut my throat!" The look in Jace's eyes was the one only Valentine had ever seen: when he had stabbed him beside Lake Lyn. It made Alec suddenly regret what he'd said.

"I'm so, so sorry about that- I still can't believe it happened, and I swear on the Angel I'll never be that careless with you again. I swear."

"Look, I didn't mean for it to come out like that, Jace, I just don't need to be protected all the time, okay?"

"You don't get it Alec. You could die any time; from demons, or a traffic accident, or I don't know- someone throwing a golf club."

"So could anyone. Not just me, any of the people you care about, you don't need to watch me sleep- that's probably the safest time of the day."

"I want you to become immortal."

Alec nearly choked on his tongue. He half sank, half collapsed onto his bed, speechless.

"You want what?"

"You heard me. Then you'd be a hell of a lot harder to kill. Think about it, it's a win-win situation- you get to be with Magnus indefinitely, and I don't have to worry about you so much." Jace placed a large, warm hand on Alec's shoulder, thumb brushing the edge of his collar bone where his parabatai rune lay. "Yet another of my stellar ideas, if I say so myself. Which I do."

"But I'd have to use black magic, or become a vampire, or-"

"Alec, we will always be parabatai, regardless of runes. If you were no longer a Shadowhunter, it wouldn't change the way I feel about you. I'd still fight, even die for you, you're my brother for Raziel's sake, that can neverchange."

Later that day

The training room was bathed half in darkness, half lit up by thick yellow light streaming in from the window: even in the shadows it glinted off countless blades. Alec and Jace weren't sparring, due to the previous day's events, just practising together, trying to master a particularly tricky move that –when performed correctly- could sever the heads of three demons simultaneously.

They nearly had it when Izzy burst in, a wild look in her dark eyes.

"Alec, Jace, Inquisitor Whitelaw's here, he wants to talk to us!"

"What does he want with us?" Jace didn't bother to disguise the confusion on his face.

"Well, he wanted Mum or Dad, but since neither of them are here we'll have to do."

"I see." Jace's features had settled into their default expressionless mask, the one he always wore when speaking to people other than the ones he had any particular feelings for.

The inquisitor didn't greet them, he simply lurched into speaking as they trooped in, still clad in their gear and slightly sweaty.

"As I'm sure you've heard, the head of Manhattan's vampire clan, Raphael Santiago, is deceased." Both his siblings shot Alec a look, which he refused to acknowledge. "The Clave believes he was murdered through magical means, not by another vampire, and have therefore deemed it appropriate to investigate. Charge of the Clan has also been handed to his second in command, April Tostavin, seeing as that is the case. They shall probably arrange a meeting with you, which you may want to- ahem- inform your parents of."

He looked uncomfortable. And not without reason, Jace mused absent-mindedly (he supposed Alec was listening and therefore he wasn't required to) social protocol suggested they should have offered the man a cup of tea.

"The reason I am here is that there was a piece of evidence found at the scene suggesting that Santiago was in a dispute with Magnus Bane, making him a strong suspect for the murder."

Alec gasped quietly.

"No, he can't have, he-" The Inquisitor cut him off with a glare that quite clearly said 'I'm not done talking'.

"You have the means of contacting him, and this is the place where he should be questioned."

"Oh, Angel," Alec breathed, head in his hands. "Dad is going to love this."

"So, how do you intend to summon Warlock Bane?"

Alec reluctantly handed the Inquisitor his phone.

"Just to warn you, he's usually waking up around now, so…" he trailed off, blushing.

Isabelle, meanwhile, was busy wondering whether Robert and Maryse knew, and if not, how to tell them. 'By the way, you need to come back because Alec's boyfriend is a murder suspect and you're needed in the investigation' sounded a little harsh.

Inquisitor Whitelaw fiddled around with the small, cracked black phone as though he was unused to such modern technology, navigating the touch-screen clumsily with his large, clunky fingers. Alec was tempted to ask if he wanted help, but was afraid that he would be offended by the suggestion that such a senior Clave member would need assistance from an eighteen year old.

"Ah, Inquisitor, you seem to be having trouble," Jace cut in. "It is a rather tricky phone to get used to, it took Alec and I ages to work it out." He lied, smoothly. "Would you like me to-"

"Thank you. Living in Idris, one becomes accustomed to rather old-fashioned ways of doing things." He smiled awkwardly, the change in features instantly revealing a kindness in his face that hadn't been visible before. Maybe, Alec thought, he had been too quick to judge the man.

He wasn't too worried about waking Magnus up with the call, as he was always very polite when talking to members of the Clave.

Unfortunately, Alec had forgotten about caller ID.

Magnus answered almost immediately, purring like a cat being stroked.

"Hey sex toy, miss me already? Why don't you come over, I'm in the kitchen and I've got something you'd love to give a good licking, in fact-"

Had Alec not been a Shadowhunter and raised to find such things out of the question, he might have strangled himself in embarrassment. Whitelaw looked as though he was having similar thoughts.

"Ahem, er, Warlock Bane, this is Inquisitor Whitelaw, concerning Clave matters."

The heavy silence was broken only by Izzy, who had discreetly shoved a tea towel into her mouth to muffle her laughter.

"I see, my apologies then. Magnus the Magnificent speaking, how may I be of service?"

It turned out that Magnus wasn't too bothered about being a murder suspect: he considered it a mild annoyance, similar to Jace or a blocked sink, however, the inquiry couldn't be unblocked or made to shut up with a wave of his hand- and so he was summoned to the Institute for questioning.

Camille snatched up a thrashing body from the floor of her quarters in the unused subway station: it writhed and screeched in her grip, but her blood-slippery hands refused to release it. She tore out the throat with her teeth, slurping until she'd had her fill, then threw the body to the ground again, where it crumpled like an empty coke can.

"How dare they!" The vampire shrieked, blood-soaked blonde hair whipping about her face as though she stood in a high wind. "Those pompous interfering Shadowhunters, I could kill them! I could kill them all!"

The Seelie Queen watched, quietly amused, from where she lounged on Camille's velvet sofa; her loose silk gown spattered with little scarlet drops.

"I would not advise it. The Shadowhunters are a ruthless and vengeful folk. Not unlike the vampires."

"Or the fey." Camille spat, her eyes blazing with cold fury. "The Manhattan Clan is rightfully mine, they have no right to take it from me!"

"The Clave are foolish, but they are powerful. You shall have the Clan. Now that Raphael is dead, you should be able to meet with the new leader and come to some form of agreement- after all, you did not abdicate your position. Do not fret. It shall be yours."

Camille seemed to calm a little at the Queen's words, fangs sliding back up into her gums. She sank into a violet armchair, breathing raggedly.

"You are right, of course. Sometimes I just… overreact." She had no idea why she was opening up so much to the fey, after all they hardly knew each other. She also had no idea why they saw each other almost every day, why they put so much of their energy into the plot that was no longer solely Camille's, but theirs.

"Well," The Seelie Queen stood fluidly, her gown shimmering over the soft curves of her body as she leaned down to lay a hand on Camille's arm. "There's no need for that."

So April is a lot like Denethor, the Steward of Gondor- he rules the land in the absence of a monarch, in this case Aragorn, but is not considered King. Following this premise, Camille is Aragorn- the Clan is rightfully hers but she has to get through the Steward to get it.

Obviously Aragorn didn't have to do that, as Denethor dies and Faramir was pretty content to let him have the throne and be mates. But Camille does.

Love as always. China xxxxxxxxxx