Malace || Shadowhunters || Malace || Demon On Your Shoulder || Malace || Shadowhunters || Malace

Title: Demon On Your Shoulder – The Split Soul's Soulmates

Fandom: Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments

Disclaimer: All rights to the Shadowhunters show reserved to Ed Decter, the books the show is based off and its characters belong to Cassandra Clare. This fanfiction on the other hand is entirely mine. No money is made with this, though reviews are more than welcomed.

Tags: polyamory (m/m/m), alpha/beta/omega dynamics, soulmate AU, daemons, past child abuse, hurt/comfort, angst, explicit intercourse, anal, oral, f/f, m/f

Main Pairing: Magnus/Alec/Jace

Side Pairings: Lydia/Izzy, Simon/Clary, Luke/Catarina

Shadowhunters Characters: Jonathan 'Jace' Herondale, Magnus Bane, Alexander 'Alec' Lightwood, Isabelle Lightwood, Clarissa 'Clary' Fray, Simon Lewis, Lydia Branwell, Madzie, Catarina Loss, Luke Garroway, Raphael Santiago, Maxwell Lightwood, Imogen Herondale, Valentine Morgenstern

Daemons: Aurea (Jace's Golden Retriever), Celestina (Jace's barn owl), Shyama (Magnus' panther), Minerva (Alec's snow owl), Dolios (Max's raccoon), Nagendra (Izzy's cobra), Timon (Lydia's lynx), Seraphina (Clary's robin), Adina (Simon's rat), Ares (Andrew's dog), Piedad (Raph's bat), Menelaus (Cat's lion), Regulus (Madzie's bunny), Lupercalia (Luke's wolf), Cornelius (Imogen's horned owl)

Summary: Everyone had a daemon, an animal-shaped manifestation of their own soul, and bore a picture of their soulmate's daemon on their body. Everyone, aside from Jace. Because Valentine split his soul, giving him two daemons – and took the one on his soulmate's marks. So even when he meets them and recognizes them by their daemons, his daemon doesn't match.

Demon On Your Shoulder

The Split Soul's Soulmates

Chapter 2: Enter the Panther

It was hard to accept that Alec wasn't his soulmate – or rather that he wasn't Alec's soulmate – but Jace managed to adjust to it. He was just glad to be in Alec's life. He was glad to be Alec's friend. Best friend, even. Not that Jace had much competition in that department, because Alec was not a very social guy. Izzy liked spending time with others, but Alec kept to himself and his siblings. And Jace. He let Jace in and the two grew closer than Jace ever thought was possible for him.

"It's a soul-bond," whispered Jace softly, twirling his stele in his hand. "It's not the soul-bond we should have, but... it's a soul-bond. It might be as close to the real thing as I can get."

"You should just tell him the truth, Jace," argued Celestina upset.

She hopped closer and brushed her head against Jace's cheek. "It's not... It's not that easy. I can't tell him that I'm his soulmate but no actually my father's experiments on me changed my demon. That sounds ridiculous. Who'd believe that? Besides, whatever father did to me, it severed the bond so it's not... It's useless. But this way. I could have a bond with him, I could be... important to him."

"Jace," Celestina's voice was urgent. "You are important to him. You are."

"But not..." Jace groaned frustrated and rolled over on his bed. "Not like I should be."

That made Celestina sigh, because she knew there was no arguing with Jace anymore. The blonde was very set on that. He wasn't Alec's soulmate anymore, he didn't hold the role he was supposed to have. And he was desperate to make up for it. He wanted to mean something to Alec, not just as a friend because friends could drift apart and lose sight of each other. But parabatai, that'd be different. Well, they could apparently drift apart too – their fathers were proof of that – but Jace wanted that kind of bond with Alec. Their souls, he knew, belonged together.

"I'm gonna propose a parabatai bond to Alec," declared Jace determined.

/break\

Minerva tilted her head in concern. The snow owl daemon was always worried about her human, because Alec was so burdened. So many expectations piled onto the eldest Lightwood heir and he set high expectations for himself too. She wished he'd get to just be a child and have fun.

Though ever since Jace had moved into the institute, Alec seemed more carefree. The boy took more time to play around, have fun. In Minerva's opinion, Jace did him some good.

"I don't know what to do, Mine," whispered Alec in frustration.

He was pacing his room, the whole length of it, fidgeting with his hands. Yesterday, Jace had asked him to become parabatai. Ever since, he'd been torn up about what to do. Next to marriage, this was like the most important decision a Shadowhunter could make. A lasting soul-bond. After a soulmate-bond the strongest bond there was. But it wasn't a soulmate-bond. In their society, it was a strictly platonic bond. Which conflicted with Alec's romantic feelings for Jace. But then he wasn't supposed to have these kind of feelings for Jace to begin with.

Because Alec had two soulmates waiting for him somewhere. Two people to love him romantically. He shouldn't desire someone else. That was greedy. Not to mention, they were both betas, both boys. That wasn't allowed, it wasn't accepted. Yes, people had relationships before meeting their soulmates, but not like this. Alec would be allowed to date a nice beta girl. Not a boy.

Alec knew he had to move on from those feelings. He knew that. He just seemed unable to. There was something about Jace that just made him love the blonde even more with every single day. With every smile, with every time they sparred with each other, every time that Jace opened up to Alec enough to share some of his past trauma, or when Jace stood up to a bully for Alec.

They were a team. And deep down, Alec knew they belonged together. He couldn't explain it, he couldn't pinpoint it to why exactly he knew this, but he knew it. So this bond, it could mean the world to him. At least right now, because his soulmates were faceless hope, but Jace was real and he was right here and Alec didn't want him to disappear from his life again. Maybe even more importantly, he wanted to be there for Jace. He'd learned about the abuse Jace had suffered from his father and he knew that Jace needed someone in his corner. The blonde had already lost his mother and his father – regardless of what kind of person Michael Wayland had been, he'd been the only person Jace had in his life. Then Jace had been all alone and Alec, he never wanted Jace to feel alone again, he wanted Jace to know that Alec would always be there for him.

It'd be okay. They were both betas and boys so Alec couldn't pursue the feelings he had for Jace anyway. A parabatai-bond would put a definite stop to that, perhaps it'd even help him fall out of love with Jace...? And then, one day, they were both going to find their soulmates.

/break\

For the first time in perhaps all of his life, Jace felt like he belonged. Closing his eyes, he pressed a hand against his hip, feeling the heat of the parabatai-rune. They'd gone through the ceremony today and the rune still felt warm. Or maybe Jace was just imagining that. What he wasn't imagining was the bond though. He could feel Alec, feel him through the bond. His emotions, his warmth.

"Are you alright, Jace?" asked Celestina, sounding worried.

"Yes," Jace laughed. "Yes, I am... I'm good. I just... Alec chose me. Even if I'm no longer his soulmate, he still... He's not just friends with me because his parents wanted him to keep an eye on me, he's friends with me for me. And now he chose me. We're parabatai. I can feel Alec, he's right there. I feel like... like I found my place. Right next to Alec."

It was weird, it made no sense to him, but at the same time, it made all of the sense. Like he was completed. As though tying his own soul to Alec's had fixed what Michael had broken when he had cut a part of Jace's soul out and... No, no, no. It was a happy day, Jace was happy, he didn't want to think about Aurea and about what Michael had done to him. From hereon out, Jace's life was going to get better. He was training hard to become the best Shadowhunter the Clave had ever seen and now that he had this bond with Alec, he just knew that the two of them would do great things.

/break\

There was something strange about Jace. That wasn't meant in a mean way, Izzy loved Jace a whole lot. But there were times where he'd just space out or get strangely defensive. Mostly when the topic of soulmates came up. Isabelle, for her part, was quite obsessed with them. Particularly since she had gotten her own mark months before Jace had come to the institute.

A beautiful lynx stretching over Isabelle's back. Part of her was very excited that she had a big cat soul-mark just like one of Alec's marks – the black panther. Big cats were impressive, they had an air of royalty and leadership to them. Nagendra was a bit grumpy about it, because he had presented as a snake and had hoped that Izzy's soulmate would also have a reptile as a daemon.

While Izzy was completely obsessed with it, eager to find her lynx and meet her soulmate, Jace seemed very dismissive of the whole notion. He was older than Izzy but he didn't have a soul-mark yet and he didn't seem to care about getting one either. Who didn't want a soulmate?

"Leave it be, Iz," requested Alec with a frown.

"No, come on," Izzy sighed. "It's been years now! And he's not even eager to get a soul-mark. I don't get it. I mean, who doesn't want to have someone out there just for you?"

"Maybe I'm the someone who's just for him," replied Alec in a soft voice before blushing. "I mean, since we're parabatai. We have a bond now. Perhaps he doesn't need anything more."

Isabelle raised one eyebrow at her brother at that. Something about Alec was off too. When it came to Jace, it was like Alec was blind for anything but Jace. The way he'd look at Jace, the devotion. Sometimes, Izzy thought that she'd be lucky if her soulmate looked at her with half the love Alec looked at Jace with. Not that Izzy was going to say anything. She knew Alec had made his choice. Though she hoped that when Alec's soulmates came around, they'd pick up the pieces.

/break\

It was supposed to be a routine mission. Izzy put on a slightly tacky white wig, because she liked to try something different during these kind of missions, and they bantered. They killed the demon in the nightclub as they meant to, it could have been routine. But then there was the redhead.

The redheaded mundie who could see Jace and suddenly, Jace latched onto her. It didn't sit right with Alec at all. But then he was personally biased; he'd always been possessive of Jace. As a friend who knew how much Jace had been hurt in the past and as a love-sick fool who couldn't help but be in love with Jace. He had actively tried not to be in love with Jace for years but it hadn't been working so far. At this point, his only hope really was for them to meet their soulmates and life to take them into different directions romantically.

At this point, Alec had a hard time to believe that Jace didn't have a soul-mark. Honestly, Alec guessed that Jace may have had a soul-mark even when he came to the institute. Perhaps his father's upbringing had corrupted his notion of soulmates, perhaps he was afraid to disappoint his soulmate or to be rejected by his soulmate. Either way, Alec was going to be there for him.

When it was Jace's soulmate. But this redheaded mundie wasn't, so Alec allowed himself a certain degree of possessiveness and protectiveness. Besides, this redhead spelled trouble, he just knew it.

Alas, Jace wasn't the only one latching onto her. Isabelle, who barely ever got to spend time with other omegas because there weren't many omegas in the New York Institute at all and the few that were, all were much older than them. Clary Fray, she was about their age and an omega.

"I'm telling you, Alec! Something about this is suspicious!" Jace seemed agitated as he paced in front of Alec. "She's a mundie but she can see us, can take runes. When I went to her place, there was a demon. Her mom is missing now. Something isn't right. Isn't it our responsibility to help?"

Alec's eyebrows furrowed at that, because it was impossible to deny Jace. At least it was for Alec. One look from Jace and Alec was ready to lay the world down at his feet.

"What do you want us to do, Jace?" asked Alec irritated.

Jace heaved a sigh and ran his fingers through his hair, making it fall loose. That always got Alec's attention, he always wanted to run his own fingers through those golden-blonde locks. Damn it, Jace really knew how to get to him – even unintentionally. That pout did things to him too.

"I don't know, Alec," Jace made a frustrated noise. "I just know that she needs help. She already lost her dad before she could even remember him and now her mom disappeared..."

Oh. This time, it was Alec who sighed, before he reached out to grasp Jace by the neck. He pulled the blonde against himself, wrapping his other arm around Jace's waist to hug him tightly. The redhead reminded Jace of himself. Lost one parent before ever getting to meet them and recently losing the other parent, lost and without guidance. Jace melted into their hug.

"Okay," whispered Alec reluctantly. "We'll help her. Together."

/break\

Magnus wasn't a fan of Shadowhunters in his club. They always caused trouble. So while they weren't explicitly banned, they usually knew to steer clear. Until a little trio of Shadowhunters came into his club and caused trouble by bringing their demon hunting into his club.

Which in itself was already irritating enough. And then these Shadowhunters brought the danger into his very home. Clarissa Fairchild, the precious little girl all grown up now. Yet her presence seemed to fade away when Magnus became aware of one particular daemon in the room.

Nestled in Clary's red hair was a red robin, her little friend had a rat sitting on his shoulder, the long-legged Shadowhunter had a snake wrapped around her shoulders and overhead above the two other Shadowhunters were two owls circling. Both were gorgeous, mostly white. One dusted in gold and the other dotted in black. Magnus' breath caught in his throat.

Shyama next to Magnus started purring, loud and pleased, as she too spotted the snow owl. Magnus' snow owl. He knew it, he didn't know how, but he just knew that this one was a very special snow owl, that this one was his snow owl. Magnus' eyes wandered down, wondering which of the two Shadowhunters the owl belonged to. Strangely enough, he couldn't tell that. Why not? Shouldn't he know, seeing his soulmate, with the same clarity as he knew the owl was his...?

And it got more confusing when both owls landed on the shoulders of the blonde one. Both. To be allowed to touch another's daemon was a rare privilege. Magnus himself had never let anyone touch Shyama. Somehow, these two Shadowhunters were entangled. Parabatai?

"You're beautiful," whispered the tall dark-haired one, looking straight at Shyama.

He knelt down in front of Magnus' daemon. Shyama tilted her head curiously. She circled him with slow, lazy steps and then she sat down, staring at the blonde with the same curiosity. Was even Shyama confused about this? Very peculiar. Perhaps the entanglement of souls that the parabatai-bond brought with it was meddling with the soulmate-bond?

"Now, I believe you Shadowhunters are here for a reason. Let's get on with it," stated Magnus, clapping once to gain everyone's attention. "You said you're here for Clarissa's memories. We'll need some things for the ritual so everyone of you can make themselves useful."

For a moment, Magnus paused, drinking in the sight of tall, dark handsome, smiling at the Shadowhunter. "And then we talk some afterward, pretty boy."

/break\

When Clary had entered their lives, Alec perceived her as an annoyance, but standing in the High Warlock's loft, after a visit to the City of Bones had given them the name 'Magnus Bane', Alec couldn't help but wonder if it was all fate after all. Magnus Bane, High Warlock of Brooklyn, gorgeous to look at, an alpha who smelt like cinnamon and lavender, with a large black panther as his daemon. Alec didn't know how to even comprehend it. His first reaction had been to approach the daemon, because he knew that cat, he'd looked at this cat so often on his own skin. But the man? Alec had no idea how to approach or talk to the other. So he was relieved that Magnus wanted to take care of business first and gave Alec the chance to digest.

Not that he got a lot of time for it. Between running an errant for the ritual and then the ritual itself, Alec was quite preoccupied. All he could think about was the heat he had felt at being called 'pretty boy' by the warlock. Like his entire body was aflame. He wanted to talk to Magnus, but then he also kind of didn't. His alpha was a man, a Downworlder. He'd spent so many years denying his attraction to Jace, hoping that it'd pass. Yet here was one of his soulmates, not just a man but also a warlock. This wasn't going to go down well with his parents or the Clave. Robert and Maryse had put all their hopes into their children's soulmates being influential Shadowhunters.

So those were the two only thoughts Alec was able to comprehend. Gorgeous alpha calling Alec pretty. Gorgeous alpha being a Downworlder and a man. A rollercoaster of emotions.

And then they summoned the memory demon and Alec had to give up a memory – a memory of Jace, of the person he loved the most – and Alec panicked. Of course he did. Nobody should know about his feelings for Jace. While Alec panicked, it didn't seem to even register to Jace. Of course not, the blonde probably thought it was the love between parabatai. Only that it wasn't.

"You seem stressed, darling," Magnus' voice was like warm honey.

Darling. He couldn't deny that he liked the sound of that. Nobody had ever called him something like that. Still, Alec found it hard to look the warlock in the eyes. Mainly because his eyes were transfixed on the black panther. His black panther. She was beautiful, in real. The black fur, the golden eyes reflecting the light. The way her tail whipped lazily back and forth.

"Stressed doesn't even begin to cover it," Alec heaved a sigh, leaning against the table. "I can't believe all this... this mess, that it... made us meet. You and me. You're my... You're mine."

Now it was Magnus' turn for the first time, to look flustered. Huh. Alec, being capable of putting that kind of look on someone's face? And the face of a handsome man like Magnus...?

"I... suppose that is one way to put it," Magnus smiled, nearly bashful. "Her name is Shyama."

"Ah," Alec nodded, his eyes on the panther once more. "My daemon's name is Minerva."

The snow owl had landed close to Shyama and was currently hopping closer and closer, ready to inspect the big cat up close. Alec wanted to do that too. He wanted to run his fingers through Shyama's fur, wanted to feel the daemon's heartbeat for himself.

"I've been waiting a very, very long time to meet you," whispered Magnus.

And oh. Alec's brain hadn't gotten this far yet. Yes, he had always had the black panther, so he'd guessed that his soulmate ought to be a decade older. Magnus Bane however, he was a warlock, he was centuries old. Which meant that he had spent centuries alone, without a soul-mark...

Alec tried to offer a soft smile. "I'm sorry to keep you waiting."

"I'm okay," Magnus smiled faintly. "I just... I can't wait to get to know you. I want to know everything about you, darling. And our other... Have you met them yet...?"

Magnus lifted one hand up, turning it slowly. On it was Alec's little puppy. Or rather, their little puppy. Alec couldn't help but step closer and reach out for it with longing. Before it fully registered, Alec was holding Magnus' hand. The alpha looked at him with fondness in his eyes. So much warmth and so much love. His scent was very alluring too, lulling Alec into a feeling of safety. As though he could just curl together in this stranger's arms and be safe.

"No," replied Alec after a beat. "I haven't... I haven't met them yet either."

"Okay," the smile on Magnus' lips softened in a reassuring manner. "Then we'll find them together."

And how strange that was. To feel reassured by a man he had barely known a few hours. There was a connection between them, something that made Alec feel as though he'd known Magnus all his life. Like his soul recognized Magnus. Alec smiled faintly in return.

/break\

"He's gorgeous," Jace's voice broke a little. "And the panther, even more impressive than on the picture. I don't... I... After he saw Minerva and Alec, he looked right through me."

Regardless of how often Jace tried to convince himself that it didn't matter anymore because he wasn't Alec's soulmate anymore, it just didn't work. And meeting their third only stirred things up again. Jace wanted it so desperately, he wanted to belong. His nails scratched over his bare thighs, over the soul-marks that were all his, the ones to which he now knew the faces and names. Letting himself fall backward, his hand wandered up to cover his parabatai-rune.

"I'm sorry," whispered Celestina, looking guilty.

"It's not..." Jace swallowed hard. "It's not your fault, Cel. I'm... I'm grateful to have you."

His free hand reached out to pull the owl close, until she was nestled against his chest. He was, he truly was. As angry as he was about the loss of Aurea, as much as he hated that Alec and now Magnus didn't recognize him, he was glad to have her, to not be all alone. No, he did have Alec. Just not in the way he should, mh? He wondered how much things would be changing now...

Author's note: Aaand here he is, our panther! Now, next chapter will mark the return of Michael Wayland