Max Lightwood was standing in the Ops Center of the New York Institute, going over mission schedules when his sister Izzy came up to his side.
"No word from Magnus yet?" Izzy asked, getting right to the point.
Max shook his head, "not yet Iz. He was pretty frazzled after the take down with Lillith, you know that. I still think asking him to go to Edom for help was the wrong decision."
"We didn't have a choice," was Izzy's response every time they had this discussion.
"He's not responding to fire messages, and his Brooklyn apartment is still on lock down." Said Max, instead of continuing the argument they'd had thousands of times already in the past month. "He'll let us know when he's ready to talk to us again."
"I know, mi hermano," said Izzy, "I just miss him." Guilt was weaving through her voice.
"Did Jace finally get some sleep?" Asked Max, knowing his parabatai was still upset over the loss of Clary.
Izzy shook her head, "he's in the training room. He tried to go out on another patrol, but I was able to persuade him not to."
"Max!" Called out Raj from the other end of the Ops Center, "we have another incident report from the Clave. More Shadowhunters were found dead, this time from the Baltimore Institute."
The Head of Security handed Max a tablet with the report. Max glanced over it quickly, "Thanks Raj. Let the patrols know to be careful when they are out. We don't know if these attacks are connected or not."
"If the Clave does have information on what's going on, why the hell are they keeping it so underwraps?" Asked Izzy with frustration as she read the report over Max's shoulder. This was not the first time the Clave had pulled something like this, giving out the bare minimum of information and it was really starting to irritate the Lightwood children.
"You know how they operate Iz," said Max absently as he copied the report and added it to his personal cloud to review more in depth later. He finished going over the schedules, before turning to go to the training room. Jace needed to get some sleep and Max was the only one who could force him to do it.
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Magnus centered his breathing as he sat on the floor in his Brooklyn apartment. His wards were at their maximum setting, not letting anything in. He was on the floor in front of his couch, sitting crossed legged as he worked to center his breathing. He was going to attempt to dive into the magic surrounding the pentagram on his side. It'd been almost two weeks since his meeting with Alec in Paris, where the demon had let drop that he could freely move between Edom and the Mortal realm. There were very few changes in the pulses he would sometimes get from the circle, but until now Magnus had been terrified to even attempt to study the connection.
After the encounter, Magnus had spent a few more days in France, before deciding to come back to Brooklyn. He felt safest in his loft, as it had the most warding with how long he'd been living there. The idea that the demon had been stalking him was terrifying, especially because Magnus couldn't figure out why. Yes, the three friends had their theories, but ultimately they couldn't prove any of them without actually speaking to the demon in some way. They all collectively shot down the idea, because demons had layers within layers of what they said and how they said it (proven with the wording of Magnus' deal). They weren't confident they would get a straight answer out of Alec, let alone the truth.
Which left Magnus with the pentagram seared into his side, that tingled with the feel of the demon's magic.
Magnus shook himself out of his thoughts and recentered his focus on his breathing. After a moment, he turned his focus inward towards his own magical core. When he was at his center, his magic humming around his consciousness, he moved towards the feeling of Alec's magic infused in the pentagram. Magnus tentatively brushed against the magic with his own, not sure what to expect.
When nothing happened, he became bolder in his exploration and reached out again, more firmly. There was a small pulse in the magic, before it settled again. The magic had a heat to it, that reminded Magnus of Edom and the fires that burned there when the sun was feeling particularly oppressive to the inhabitants.
Magnus became more confident, when he realized the heat wasn't going to harm him. He wrapped his magic completely around the foreign magic and pushed, then tugged, trying to see what it would do. There was another pulse, before the magic settled in Magnus' hold. Suddenly Magnus was filled with emotions that he realized were not his own: wariness, begrudging respect, protectiveness, and even a small ember of lust shot through his person. Emotions that were all aimed directly at Magnus. It was enough to jolt the warlock out of his meditation. He also felt an intense feeling of being watched.
Like he wasn't alone in the loft.
Which was ridiculous because his wards were still up at full power and nothing had pinged his many warning systems that something was coming.
Magnus kept his magic surrounding the demon's, as he wasn't quite ready to lose the feeling the foreign emotions created in him, and opened his eyes.
Only to be met with fire burning eyes staring directly at him, a completely closed off stoic face, and the demon he shared a bond with sitting on the other side of his coffee table, barely out of arm's reach.
Alexander was sitting across from him. On his floor. Only a coffee table separating them.
"Really Little Warlock," said Alec, his flirty tone completely at odds with his closed off expression, "if you wanted me to visit, you just had to send a fire message."
Magnus didn't jump, but he did instinctively tighten the hold he had on Alec's magic.
There was a slight twitch of Alec's facial features, as well as a slight curling of his fingers, which Magnus could see through his glass coffee table, were sitting on Alec's thighs, before both reactions were covered back up and the demon's features became impassive again.
"And into bondage I see," said Alec again, his purring tone at odds with his expression and body language, "I'll keep that in mind." The only thing out of place with his statement was, Alec's eyes didn't wander down Magnus' body like they usually did when he flirted. No, his eyes were locked onto Magnus' own. There was a high level of wariness in his look as well, his body tense under its deceptively relaxed posture. His eyes briefly flashed with fire one final time before setting to the hazel blue they were from the pair's interactions in Paris.
Magnus' brain, which had short circuited when he realized Alec was in his loft, finally caught up with the situation. He ran through the last couple minutes, the pull on the demon's magic, the lack of warning from his wards, the facial expressions, body language and emotions of the demon, and even the words he'd said.
Suddenly everything clicked into place. Magnus had summoned the demon to him through the bond, the pentagram, and with his magic surrounding Alec's in their bond… Alec was pretty much at his mercy.
Testing his theory, Mangus partially released the tight hold he currently had over the other's magic, but not completely. Immediately the demon's posture lost a small hint of tension, which, had Mangus not been specifically looking for it, he would've missed completely.
Mangus felt empowered with confidence, he finally had the upper hand in an interaction with Alec, but also slightly terrified because he had no idea what the other would do when he totally released the hold he had on their bond.
Fighting a blush at the demon's bondage remark Magnus instead said, "how did you get through my wards."
"I didn't," came the reply moments later from Alec, who hadn't moved an inch when Magnus spoke to him.
"Yet you're in my apartment," came Magnus' reply a moment later. He reflectively tightened his hold on the demon's magic again with the not answer he'd just gotten.
Alec visibility tensed a moment, before narrowing his eyes some at Magnus "Perhaps," he began with a slightly icy tone, "my initial assessment of your intelligence was too high, if you are going to ask me questions you already know the answers to."
Magnus pushed down his reaction. Alec was attempting to rile him up so he'd lose focus of his magic and drop the hold he had around the other's magic in their bond.
"Why have you been stalking me!?" Asked Magnus, tone tight with anger at the demon. He was tired of playing games and he just wanted answers.
Abruptly Alec's emotions, his wariness and respect turned into full blown amusement. The protectiveness and lust were still there, but overshadowed by the new emotion. Physically, Alec's impassive face turned back into the small smile he typically wore when interacting with Magnus. Like he knew something that Magnus didn't, a secret he wouldn't share.
"I'm not," was all Alec said, which infuriated Magnus even more, especially with the amusement he could feel growing in their bond.
"Yes you are," said Magnus with anger building in his tone, "first you were in Paris, then the park here in New York. I know it was you who gave Madzye that ice cream even if I can't prove it."
"Oh my," said Alec, his smile widening to include more teeth, "how very arrogant of you to believe my entire existence on Earth is to follow you around like a lost puppy. I haven't seen that level of arrogance since your father and I last spoke, and even then, his pales in comparison to yours."
That jolted Magnus enough that he again released the tight hold he had around the bond- not enough to let it go completely, but enough that Alec's posture visibly relaxed again.
"Don't compare me to him," said Magnus automatically with no small amount of snark. He hated anything to do with his father. Especially being compared to him by other demons.
Whatever comeback Alec was going to make died on his lips with a quick gasp of air. His smile died away and his eyes widened and glanced down to his right arm. His emotions quickly turned again to fierce protectiveness and urgency tinged with a sliver of pain.
The fire that would occasionally lick through Alec's eyes was suddenly a burning inferno, "Release me. Now."
Alec's tone was as dangerous as the look in his eyes, but for once Magnus realized it wasn't directed at him.
"What-" was all Magnus could get out before the urgency grew in Alec's emotions and the demon interrupted him, "Now!"
Startled, Magnus completely let go of the bond. Not a second later Alec was gone from his apartment.
The warlock was feeling empty inside with the dropped connection. He realized he'd enjoyed the brief chance to feel the demon's emotions. /I didn't even think demons could have those kinds of emotions./
Ten minutes later had him answering his phone to a frantic Catarina.
Madzye's day school had been attacked.
Magnus was moving through a portal before the call had even ended. His interaction with Alec was practically forgotten with this new crisis.
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30 minutes earlier
Raymond was leading his small patrol group of five other Shadowhunters down the streets of Brooklyn towards what he knew was a warlock day school. Raymond and three of his group were ex-circle members, who had "renounced" their ways with Valentine's death. The other two were sympathetic to the cause, but had never officially joined the circle.
What the Clave didn't realize was, even with Valentine dead, the Circle was in fact still very much working in the shadows. Yes many members renounced the circle and kept their runes, but others still decided to further the cause and die like their leader. Just enough to make the Clave think they had won.
It was all part of Valentine's master plan. And it was so far working flawlessly.
Today, Raymond was taking his group to the warlock day school so the two non-circle Shadowhunters could complete their initiation ritual.
And Warlock Marks were the best trophies in Raymond's opinion.
They were overly prepared for this hunt, with magical binding cuffs for both the adults and the children. They also had a ward destroyer if needed, courtesy of the warlocks Valentine had under his control while he was still alive.
The group reached the day school and moved into the wards like they had a right to be there, pushing open the front door and entering the main lobby.
"May I help you?" Came the wary voice of one of the warlocks working at the school. She approached the group with caution, it was never a good thing to have Shadowhunters coming to their homes or schools.
"There was a demon nest in the area, a couple of streets over," said Raymond lying smoothly, "we were tracking some that tried to get away and just wanted to check to make sure it didn't end up here."
"Our wards keep demons out just fine," replied the warlock, "there is no need for you to search here any longer."
Raymond's group were fanning out in the room while the pair talked. One of the new recruits was behind the warlock. He stealthily pulled out his cuffs and closed them on the warlock before she realized what was happening. He then used a dagger to slit her throat.
"Oh," said Raymond, as he watched her fall to the floor, "but there is."
The recruit let the body drop and used his steele to unlock the cuffs to use on another warlock.
"Excellent work James. Let's get to work." said Raymond. It was the cue for the group to split into teams to start cutting down the warlocks. All of them shared a very malicious smile as they moved further into the building.
The Shadowhunters got one more adult warlock before Raymond and James reached Madzye and her friends who were having a tea party break between lessons.
She and Raymond immediately recognized each other. The Shadowhunter had her in cuffs before she could reach up to remove her scarf around her neck. He managed to break her arm where he was gripping it to get the cuffs on, which made her cry out in pain and try to pull away from him, making it worse. Madzye's forehead suddenly had a soft fire red glow emanating in a strange shape that Raymond didn't recognize, or get a good look at. Madzye felt a familiar heat surrounding her and she relaxed, even with the cuffs and pain in her arm.
Her friend was here. He would fix everything like last time.
Madzye saw Raymond grab for a dagger on his belt, when she was suddenly covered in blood splatter. Alec was standing behind him, reaching back through Raymond's body to crush his heart in his hands and drop it on the floor. The shadowhunter fell over where he stood, but no one paid him any mind. Alec was already turning on the other Shadowhunter and using his elongated nails to slit his throat wide open. If time wasn't of the essence, he'd take the time to torture them first. But as it was he had other things to do.
Even with a broken arm, magic binding cuffs, and covered in Shadowhunter blood, Madzye felt completely safe. Alec looked the group of small girls over quickly before saying a quiet, "stay behind me."
Madzye nodded and moved to follow him. Her friends jumped up with her and created a barrier around her as she was the most defenseless with the cuffs on. The girls all knew Alec was a Greater Demon, but Madzye had spoken highly of him in the past, and he'd just saved them from certain death.
Alec found the other four Shadowhunters when they heard the screams of several more children. He pushed the girls into a small closet, and told them to remain silent, before vanishing and appearing in the room where the Shadowhunters had killed one more warlock and stabbed another.
The demon had the element of surprise on his side, and managed to take down two of the Shadowhunters before the others reacted. Alec evaded a few swings of the seraph blades, before he lunged at one, grabbed him in a full body lock, and used him as a human shield. He used his momentum to turn them towards the other Shadowhunter. Alec also grabbed his sword arm, wrapping his hand around the other's wrist to turn the sword on his partner. The Shadowhunters ended up stabbing each other with their swords, as the other Nephilim hadn't pulled back from his latest attack towards Alec.
Alec felt the seraph blade pierce his side, but he wasn't concerned about that, still running on the adrenaline high of the fight as well as his protective instincts. He pushed the Shadowhunter he was holding more into his partner, before letting go and dropping them both to the floor forgotten.
Alec then waved a hand towards the adult warlock who had been stabbed, but not killed. He put the warlock in stasis so he didn't bleed out. He needed to get all the children to a defensible location fast, so he could drop the wards on the building and put his own up around the children. It would be more localized and he would have no problem maintaining them until more warlocks arrived to figure out what happened. Alec could then just slip away unnoticed.
"Can any of you cast a levitation spell?" Alec asked the five boys behind him.
A set of twin boys about Madzye's age raised a hand, "we can."
Alec nodded to the warlock in stasis, "do it, but be careful. We need to move. Now."
The boys linked one hand and raised the other in tandem, yellow sparks rising from their hands to surround the warlock and bring him off the ground.
With the warlock now floating, Alec nodded towards the door, "stay behind me."
The cry of a baby was heard from a closed door not too much farther down the hall from where Alec was with the boys. "That's Zeke and Benny's in there also," said one of the other boys with purple scales on his arms, "they're just babies."
"Are there any other children here?" Asked Alec, already moving towards the nursery.
"No, just them, us, and the four girls, the others were out today," replied the same boy.
Alec nodded, "then we will stay there until your parents can portal here." He opened the nursery and ushered the boys and floating warlock inside.
Alec stayed at the door and closed his eyes, focusing on Madzye. A minute later, four sets of small foot steps were scrambling up the stairs as fast as they could. The girls were still keeping Madzye protectively between them. Alec ushered the girls into the room as well, before focusing his magic on his wards.
The room itself wasn't overly large. It only had one window, facing the backyard, and a large closet. Alec layered his magic around the room, putting extra layers around the window, door, and the walls around the closet. If more Shadowhunters came the children would be inside the closet for added protection.
The twins had put the adult warlock down on the wall opposite the cribs.
Alec carefully took the two babies out of the cribs one at a time, drew a small symbol on their foreheads, kissed the spot, then handed them to the two oldest boys in the group. He then banished any unnecessary furniture from the room to give himself more space to fight if needed.
"Everyone will need to go into the closet. I will add extra wards so you are all safe. You're going to need to stay in here until I come let you out, or one of your parents does. It's not going to be safe otherwise, do you all understand?" The children nodded. As they went into the closet, Alec knelt down and repeated the same symbol, forehead kiss on all of them.
"Let me fix your arm Sweets," said Alec gently to Madzye before she could also go into the closet. "I can't remove the cuffs, but I can splint and wrap your arm so you don't move it."
Madzye nodded, and tried to not cry out as Alec first splint, then wrapped her arm so it was bound to her chest. It was a little awkward with the cuffs, but Madzye didn't say anything.
Suddenly the wards around the building dropped and Alec knew Shadowhunter reinforcements were on their way, if not already here. He realized he should've made sure the last two were dead before turning his attention to the boys, but the older warlock needed his immediate attention if he was to survive, and he wanted to get the children to a defensible location as soon as possible.
Alec gestured for Madzye to join the others in the closet, before quietly shutting the door and adding another layer of spells to their hiding spot. This would make the door look like a wall to anyone that wasn't a warlock. He repeated the process on the main room's door after quietly closing it and locking his many wards and spells in place. Alec then walked to the room across the hall and leaned one shoulder against its closed door in a nonchalant way. He crossed his feet and moved a hand over his middle (specifically over the stab wound, working subtle magic towards healing it), while his other elbow leaned against that arm and he examined his blood drenched nails.
He also added an invisible barrier to the halls three feet in front and behind him, as well as the door he was leaning against. If he was lucky a Shadowhunter would run into it with enough force to fall back down the stairs and maybe break their neck. Alec let the fire burn brighter in his eyes, an intimidation tactic that usually worked to give him an edge in a fight.
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Magnus' portal opened right in front of the school, where he was met by Lorenzo, Catarina, and the parents of all the other warlock children. Lorenzo was clearly trying to get control of the situation and calm the parents down, but it wasn't even close to working. Magnus let out a sharp whistle, which had everyone shutting up and turning to face him.
Before he could say anything though, a portal opened next to him. Max, Izzy, Andrew, Jace and Clary all stepped out, armed to the teeth with seraph weapons.
"Magnus," said Izzy, "you're back!"
"What are you Shadowhunters doing here," said Lorenzo, interrupting anything Magnus was going to say. "This is Downworlder business. You have no jurisdiction here."
"Actually," said Max, speaking up before Jace could, "we got an alert from a patrol of Shadowhunters needing backup at this location."
"This is a warlock day school," said Catarina scathingly, "there is absolutely no reason Shadowhunters should've been here to begin with." The other parents were nodding along, shooting angry glares at the Shadowhunter group.
"I agree," said Max placatingly, "but an alert SOS isn't something that can be faked. Which means they were here, making it our business as well."
"Alright," said Magnus, stepping between Catarina and Max, "everyone hold on a minute here. There is a situation happening inside the building. We don't have time to debate who should be here or why."
Max nodded, and held up a hand to stop Jace from putting his foot in his mouth.
"Right," said Lorenzo, "we need to proceed with caution going inside. I feel the power of a Greater Demon on the second floor. It hasn't moved much, but its energy is also spread out on the first floor as well, though not as prominently."
Magnus nodded, "Catarina, Lorenzo, Fay, Sebastian, and I will go upstairs. The rest of you check the rooms on the bottom floor. If we find any children alive, portal with them to my loft straight away. The wards will allow you entry."
The warlocks all nodded and started breaking into their groups. Max turned to his group, "Izzy, you and Clary check the first floor. Jace, Underhill and I will go upstairs with Magnus' group."
Max gestured for Magnus to lead the way, and stepped next to Lorenzo, who was silently fuming that the ex head warlock had taken over the situation. If there weren't children involved, he would've fought more. As it was, he would give Magnus a dressing down later.
Clary looked like she wanted to protest, but Izzy grabbed her arm before she could and started to follow the warlocks into the house.
The sight of the dead warlock in the lobby had everyone tensing up. Catarina went to check her vitals, but it was no use. She was dead. Cat shook her head and quickly whispered a prayer to Lillith.
The two groups split up, Magnus' group moving to the stairs, while the other warlocks and the two Shadowhunters started checking rooms on the first floor.
Jace stepped ahead of everyone, taking the lead up the stairs. When he got to the top he saw Alec standing relaxed against a door, farther down the hall. "YOU!" He yelled before sprinting at the demon.
This shout brought everyone else sprinting up the steps behind him, with just enough time to see Jace bouncing off an invisible wall separating him from- "Alexander," whispered Magnus in confusion.
Alec was still standing against the wall, seemingly ignoring the group in front of him and examining his blood coated nails. It was when Magnus looked the demon over he realized he was covered in blood. Magnus wasn't sure if it was his own, or it belonged to the warlocks in the building.
Before anyone could react, Jace pulled his sword and started swinging it at the ward in front of them to no avail.
"Really Shadowhunter," the words were spit out with the same anger that Alec used when Magnus first summoned him to Earth, "if you are so eager to join your kin, by all means keep swinging at the wards. I assure you, I will get upset enough to murder you very quickly despite your friend's investment in keeping you alive."
Alec had brought his head up to glare at Jace across the barrier, while simultaneously crossing his arms over his chest in anger. He did not, however, lose his relaxed stance against the wall.
"Jace," Max's sharp voice stopped his parabatai mid swing, "enough." Max turned towards Alec, also noticing he was covered in blood, "where are the children and other warlocks? Have you killed them for a ritual of some kind?"
Alec acted like he hadn't heard Max at all, but turned his focus on Magnus, "Magnus, be a darling and get these Shadowhunters out of this building. Otherwise I'm going to rip their hearts out and eat them. You have two minutes."
Alec then proceeded to look over Max, Jace, and Underhill, before locking eyes with Underhill, "this one however, can stay longer."
Magnus realized straight away that Alec wasn't bluffing in his threat. He briefly toyed with the idea of using the bond against the demon, to hold him in place and possibly drop the wards, but decided against it at the last second. He would need to meditate to do that and something told him Alec wouldn't be as accommodating as to allow him to do that in this space.
"We can take care of ourselves Magnus," said Jace arrogantly from where he was pacing in front of the ward.
This whole situation wasn't sitting right with Magnus though. They were missing information that Alec clearly had but was unwilling to share with the Shadowhunters present. And there was the issue of the potentially missing, hopefully not dead children.
The question was, WHY would Alec be standing behind a ward like he was.
/Unless… But again… why?/ A strange thought floated swiftly through Magnus' head while he assessed the situation.
"Max, Jace," said Magnus, turning to his friends with a 'do not mess with me tone,' "take Fay and Lorenzo and check the other rooms up here."
Max glanced at Magnus, then back towards Alec, before nodding and pulling his parabatai along with him back down the hall.
When the group of four was inside the first room, Magnus turned back to Alec to whisper, "are the children safe?"
Magnus realized Alec might not answer with Underill standing right there, but he had to be sure his hunch about the children was right. He was following his instinct and that hadn't led him astray yet. Alec's magic spiked in the bond momentarily, and Alec's eyes shot quickly to the door across from where he was standing before returning back to meet Magnus' own.
Magnus grabbed Catarina's arm and squeezed it, while also drawing in a surprised breath. If Alec could be trusted, it seemed he was protecting the children from the Shadowhunters. Underhill was also keeping quiet, not sure why he was being singled out by the demon at all.
"What is the meaning of this!" Came from Lorenzo from the second room they four went into after a few minutes. "This atrocity is a strict violation of the accords! I will be making multiple official reports against your Institute at once! Not that your Clave will see anything come to fruition. But every Downworlder will know of this, mark my words."
"I agree," said Max in a quieter, but no less angry tone, "I will be making my own official accusations to the Clave and running my own investigation on the personnel of the Institute."
From their words, Magnus, Catarina, and Sebastian were worried they'd found the bodies of the children, despite the gut feeling the ex-high warlock had about what Alec was doing.
Isabelle and Clary were coming up the stairs, followed by the other warlocks as Max and Lorenzo were exiting the room they were just in.
"Report," said Max shortly.
"Two Shadowhunters, dead," started Izzy quickly, "Raymond and James."
Max nodded to his patrol, "we need to get the bodies back to the Institute. There are four more up here. Clary create a portal please over here." Max gestured back to the room they were just in.
"Jace and Izzy, get the bodies up here back to the Institute. Clary and I will get the ones downstairs after you are both through." Max's tone left no room for argument and the girls started moving in that direction.
"You can't be serious!" Yelled Jace, angry at the situation and ready to blame the demon still standing behind the wards, "He's a demon for the Angel's sake! He's probably set this whole situation up to make it look like it does now! You can NOT believe anything he says!"
"That may or may not be true," said Max turning towards Jace, "but we currently have six dead Shadowhunters, magic binding cuffs from our Institute on a dead warlock, and a lot of missing warlock children. So we will start with what we came here to do, which was find the patrol that sent the SOS and go on from there. Magnus and these other warlocks are more than capable of handling this demon and finding their missing children. Now. Move."
Jace growled and turned to Alec, who it looked like wasn't even listening to their conversation, "I will kill you for this. Mark my words."
He then turned back into the room to start collecting the dead Shadowhunters. His mind was already working on a plan to take down the demon at another time.
Less than ten extremely tense minutes later, the warlocks, Underhill, and Alec were the only ones in the building. Alec tilted his head, listening for what the warlocks weren't sure- they just wanted to know where their children were. With a nod to himself and a pointed look towards Underhill (who realized it was best to not move and stay quiet), Alec finally pushed off the wall and made his way towards the door across from where he was standing.
Alec opened the door, and left it open as he strode into the room. A minute later the wards around the hall and that room dropped, while ten children slowly started to walk through the door. When they saw their parents they let out cries of joy and suddenly everyone was hugging and holding each other tight.
Everyone except- "Where's Madzye?!"
Except Catarina and Magnus, because Madzye didn't come out of the room with the others. Cat was moving into the room calling for Madzye, with Magnus right on her heels.
The blue skinned warlock stopped right inside the door with a gasp, and Magnus practically fell into her when he entered behind her. Alec was kneeling down talking quietly to Madzye who was attached to his neck as best she could with one arm in a sling and magic binding cuffs on.
"Madz!" and "Sweet Pea!" Broke the spell between Alec and Madzye, but Madzye was refusing to let go of the demon.
"It's okay Sweets. You need to let Magnus and his friends get those cuffs off you and fix your arm okay?" Alec was speaking softly to Madzye who was shaking now and holding on tighter, but Cat and Magnus could hear what he was saying loud and clear.
"Remember what I told you before? That you could trust Magnus to take care of you?" Madzye nodded at his words.
"Well, you have to go over to them so they can fix you up! Besides, I'll see you again. And," Alec leaned in closer to Madzye, to stage whisper, "I'll get you more ice cream." Before he continued in a normal tone, "now go on, they still have lots to do here before they can go home."
Madzye leaned in closer to Alec before she stepped away and made her way over to Catarina, who was frozen at the door watching the exchange.
Alec winked at Magnus, who was watching him in confusion, stood, and disappeared seconds later.
Magnus knelt to give Madzye his own hug and called Andrew in to get the cuffs off her wrists. When that task was done, Cat started healing Madzye's broken arm. /Her right arm/ thought Magnus slightly hysterically with the different clues starting to piece themselves together. Underill came in, used his steele to get the cuffs off Madzye and stepped back into the hall to stand near Lorenzo. He would make sure everything was under control here, then head back to the Institute for his report.
The ex-high warlock then moved over to the warlock laying against the wall, presumably dead. When he got there however, he realized the other was actually in a stasis spell and in dire need of medical treatment.
"Cat!" He called out to get his friends attention, "we need your healing magic here. He is still alive!"
Cat stood, while lifting Madzye into her arms and quickly made her way over to where Magnus was kneeling over the warlock's body. She ran a quick diagnosis as she also knelt down, but kept one arm around Madzye so she would stay close. "Hmm. This is Felip. I need you to lift the stasis spell so I can heal him."
When Magnus did, she started using her magic to heal Felip's stab wound. He gasped before falling into a deep sleep, "He's going to need blood replenishing potions."
Magnus nodded, "I have some at the loft. We can bring him there." He opened a portal to allow Catarina to bring Madzye and Felip through. He then went to speak with Lorenzo and the other warlocks to see if the children had any information on what had happened here. He had a feeling he'd need at least two bottles of liquor before the day was out.
It turns out, he needed way more than two bottles. He drank through practically his entire alcohol stash that night. And it still didn't feel like enough liquor.
-end chapter 3-