Chapter 27
Alec and I spoke for a few minutes before deciding that we needed to thank for Lydia for being okay with this and so set off to find her. Alec went to ask his parents whilst I went to check the office. As I walked through the hallways of the Institute, I shook my head in elation, confusion and disbelief. Was this really my life? Had Alec just gone against his whole upbringing and his 'straight and narrow' personality for me? I had never expected that. I couldn't believe it. I reached the office quite quickly and knocked.
"Lydia? You in there?" No answer. I slowly pushed open the door to find Lydia unconscious on the floor. I ran to her and felt her pulse. It was weak but there. I ran my stele over her healing rune and cradled her head. Who could have done this?
As if hearing my unasked question, Lydia croaked out, "Hodge." My breaths got heavy and painful. How could he do this to Izzy, Alec and Jace? They had known him their whole lives. He trained them. A clearing of the throat caused me to pull my gaze from Lydia to a shocked Alec in the doorway.
"Get help." He nodded and ran off to the control room. Lydia tossed in my arms, groaning in pain. "It's gonna be okay. Just keep still." Alec was back in a flash with some other Shadowhunters including Maryse and Robert. Someone I was surprised to see follow them was Magnus. He said nothing but knelt down next to Lydia. His hands hovered over her skin and he whispered and chanted several healing spells.
"What happened here?" Robert asked. I looked back at Lydia who had long since passed out again.
"She only said one thing; Hodge." Robert, Maryse and Alec looked at each other in confusion.
"We will check the footage," Alec stated and with a glance back at Lydia, we left the room. We went to the control room where Izzy, Jace and Clary were surrounding a monitor. I guessed Alec had informed them of the situation. I got smiles from all of them when we approached. Clary and Izzy's were more smirks with a definite "We will talk about this later" air to them. I nodded subtly and focused on the monitor.
"How's Lydia?" Clary asked. I shrugged my shoulders.
"Better? Magnus is doing what he can to help her, but it's bad." Clary sighed.
"And the Cup is definitely missing." Alec added.
"So is Hodge." Jace finished. Guess Alec told them about that as well.
"Maybe he was attacked, too," Izzy supplied, pulling up the footage from the office.
"Maybe he's the one who attacked her," Clary stated. I agreed with that thought. He had always weirded me out.
"Hodge? No way. We've known him our entire lives. He would never do that to us." Izzy ran through the footage as we watched people walk in and out of the room but no-one go near the cup. She quickly paused it however when Lydia fighting someone came up.
"Zoom in." I told her, leaning forward to see better. She did and continued the footage. Lydia was squared up against someone but the punched her straight across the face causing her to go down. We were right. It was Hodge. Clear as day we watched him pick up the Cup from Lydia's unconscious hand and walk out of the office.
"I led him right to the Cup." Jace whispered. I put a hand on his shoulder.
"We treated him like family. How could he do this to us?" Alec was betrayed. I looked around at their faces. They all were. Izzy pulled back the video and looked back further into the day.
"There!" I pointed towards the footage of the room where Jocelyn currently resided. Hodge stood next to her. For a second, he was just stood there, and I wondered whether we were going to get anything from this search. However, he then took a ring from his pocket, put it on his finger and began talking. We couldn't see to whom but I'm not sure we would anyway. I could sense the magic from here.
"That's how." I murmured.
"What is that ring?" Clary asked. I shrugged.
"It's magic – I can tell you that."
"Looks like he's talking to someone." Izzy added. I nodded. On the video, Hodge pulled out the Cup and held it out. Almost like he was presenting someone with it.
"Three guesses for who it is?" I joked, feeling heavy from the tension.
"Valentine," Clary spat.
"Well, that explains how he deactivated the Punishment rune, but it doesn't explain where he got the ring." Alec; always the one to keep us on track.
"You think someone smuggled it past the wards?" Clary asked.
"Maybe. Hodge wasn't the only ex-Circle member around here." Jace looked over at Alec. We all knew what he was insinuating.
"Look, I know I don't always see eye to eye with my parents, but I know they're not traitors." Izzy turned round in her chair and looked at us.
"Really? Isn't that what you just said about Hodge? It'd have to be someone we trusted, but if there was an intruder inside the Institute, we would have found them by now," Jace continued. It didn't sit right with me. Robert and Maryse had done everything to repair the damage done by their involvement in the circle. No way would they do this and ruin any chance they had of a relationship with their children.
"What about the Forsaken attack?" Clary wondered aloud. I turned to her in surprise.
"No. We killed that thing, and I didn't see a ring," Alec disagreed. I quickly put a hand on his chest to stop him.
"No, she might be on to something. Who fought it?" Alec furrowed his brow at me.
"Me… and Hodge." I raised an eyebrow and leaned forward towards the computer. Izzy was already winding through the footage of the attack. We ran through it but couldn't see anything from where we were.
"Go to the other camera," Alec said.
"There." Jace pointed at the screen. Hodge was sat atop the Forsaken having just killed it. I thought he was going to get up but he turned his head to check the area before taking the ring of its finger. I sighed in frustration. Alec got hurt by this thing. It was killed but still succeeded in its mission.
"So, it wasn't a random attack," Clary huffed.
"He was just the delivery boy." Jace was pissed. His breathing was harsh and his voice gravelly.
"If he gives that Cup to Valentine, he'll create an army of Shadowhunters. With that kind of power behind him, he'll kill thousands," Alec bit his lip. None of us knew what to do.
"He'll kill thousands just creating the army. Most mundanes won't survive that," Izzy added.
"We won't let that happen," I sighed.
"I'm gonna make sure of it." Jace stalked off leaving us in silence. I looked at Alec.
"Now what do we do?" He shrugged, gave our enclosed hands a small squeeze and followed after Jace. Izzy turned back to the computer and started looking at the footage of outside the Institute, I assume to try and see what direction Hodge left in. Clary turned to see her mum. I decided my time was best spent seeing how Lydia and Magnus were getting on. As I walked up the hospital bay, I could hear voices. More importantly I could hear Lydia's voice. It was quiet but definitely her. I knocked on the door lightly, and on the clear 'Come in', pushed open the door. Lydia was propped up in bed with Magnus sat beside her. I gave them both a small smile.
"How are you feeling?" She nodded lightly.
"Better. Magnus is a genius." I laughed.
"No, just a magician," I mocked. At Magnus' offended face, Lydia laughed. "Do you mind…?" I asked Magnus. He shook his head and left. I took a seat on the bed and took a breath.
"Did you find Hodge?"
I shook my head. "Not yet, but Jace and Alec are on it. He got this ring from the Forsaken attack. We think he's been using it to talk to Valentine. He's broken his punishment rune too." Lydia sighed.
"I shouldn't have let him get the better of me."
I shrugged. "You didn't expect it. No-one did. He caught you off guard." Lydia nodded. "I have to ask. Did he know? About me? About what I am?" Lydia's eyes widened.
"I hadn't even thought of that. I don't know. He never spoke about it, but it seems he may have had his ways. You need to prepare yourselves for Valentine finding out." I raised an eyebrow.
"You're leaving?"
She smiled softly. "There is no reason for me to stay. My presence is required back in Idris anyway."
I looked down at my hands. "I don't know what to say."
"You don't need to say anything. Even a blind man could see what you and Alec have. I was only prepared to stand in the way of that when I thought that was what he wanted, but when he saw you about to leave… I knew that was it."
"I didn't expect it to happen."
Lydia's eyes narrowed comically. "What, the kiss or falling in love with him?" I flicked my eyes to hers in shock. Love?! That wasn't what this was – was it?
"I don't know about that."
"I do. I see in you what I used to see in myself. I never realised it was there til I lost it." I was confused.
"You loved Alec?" She laughed.
"No. I was engaged before. He died on a Clave mission." I put a hand on hers.
"I'm so sorry." She shrugged.
"We all have stories like that." I chuckled.
"Not quite, but I suppose we all have stories where we thought we had found happiness but it didn't work out like that." I thought of Nieve. "My ex fucked off to Europe with all my money, didn't tell me and didn't come back for a year." Lydia cringed.
"Ouch."
"Yep."
"What happened when they did?" Lydia asked curiously. I sighed.
"Nothing. I realised that by then I had moved on. To be honest the hardest part was explaining the whole thing to Alec." I grinned at Lydia comic eyebrow raise.
"He was there?"
"Yeah, he had a lot of questions about her…" I looked up at Lydia to gauge her reaction. Surprisingly she just nodded with a sad smile on his face.
"It's not something that's talked about in this life." She added quietly. "Hell, love isn't really talked about in this life. Most are married out of necessity and to build status. Only the lucky few get both." Lydia looked down into her hands. "I had that… with him. I really did. But nothing lasts forever." She sighs.
"It will happen for you Lydia. I truly believe that. You're powerful, confident and a complete badass. Someone will fall head over heels for that. For you." Lydia smiles softly. I sigh. "I have to go. We have to find Hodge." She nods and takes my hand.
"Love him, with everything you have. You never know when it will be gone."
"I will." I whisper shakily before squeezing her hand and leaving.
Tensions were high in the Op's room. Everyone was reeling from Hodge's betrayal. I looked around and saw Clary marching towards the weapons room. Oh no, this can't be good. Following her in I saw what she had seen, Alec and Jace gearing up to go after Hodge.
"Jace, what are you doing?" Clary asked. I rolled my eyes, wasn't it obvious?
"Every second we waste here, Hodge gets closer to Valentine." I decided I wasn't going to get in the middle of this and stood silently by the door.
Clary looked shocked. "Hey, we're a team, all right? I know you're mad right now, but Hodge could be dangerous."
"Two of us, one of him. Check the math, but I'm pretty sure he's outnumbered," Jace muttered under his breath. For once I actually agreed with Clary. They didn't know what they were going up against. He could've already reached Valentine and then they were the ones who would be outnumbered. I couldn't believe they were planning on going without me!
"What is with you? Would you just talk to me for a second?" Clary was getting desperate now. She knew just as well as I did that once Jace had made up his mind there was nothing (or no-one) that could change it.
"Lydia, Hodge, all this is happening because I didn't stop Valentine." I rolled my eyes again and as if feeling my annoyed presence, Alec turned towards me. I raised a silent eyebrow at him to which he had the good sense to look a little guilty before turning back to Clary and Jace's conversation.
"Jace, you cannot let emotions cloud your judgment. Your words, remember? When I first wanted to find my mom, I didn't care about anyone else. But you were the one that taught me that it's about a world that's bigger than us." I smiled gently. She was learning.
"That's why you need to wake her up. She was his prisoner and his wife. If anyone can stop him, she can." Now I was conflicted. I knew that waking mum up was important, but a part of me really didn't want to let Alec and Jace go alone.
"Jace, listen to me…" Clary started but was cut off by Jace.
"You can do this."
"Maybe I can. But it's not about me, it's you I'm worried about. You cannot let Valentine's evil poison you!" Clary touched his hand gently but it seemed to have no effect.
"He's my father."
"Actually," Clary stated. "He's our father."
Jace huffed. "You don't get it," and proceeded to grab his stuff and start to leave. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw me by the door. I sighed gently.
"I'm not gonna say I'm not offended I didn't get an invite, but I get it. I can be more use here."
"Charlie!" Clary gaped.
I turned to her. "Look, I agree with you. It's stupid to just run out and expect to take him down on your own but I get why you are. We will do what we can from here to help." Jace sighed in relief and approached me.
"Thank you." I nodded as he kisses the side of my head gently.
"Look after him," I whispered to Jace. He huffed out a small laugh.
"You know I will." He brushed past me gently. I looked over to Alec who had grabbed his bow and arrows and looked ready for a fight. He came over and wrapped an arm around me. I held him close.
"Come back to me, yeah?" I whispered into his shoulder. He pulled back and looked me in the eyes.
"We still need to go for that drink, remember?" He quirked a small smile. I closed my eyes and nodded.
"I'll hold you to that." I opened my eyes to find his face getting closer to mine. I closed the gap softly and kissed him. It was only for a short time but I felt what he needed me to feel. The promise to return. "Look after him," I added, nodding to Jace once we had pulled back. "He's gonna take this harder than anyone." He said nothing but kissed me again quickly before following after Jace. I sighed before looking back over to Clary. "We have to trust them. For now let's try and wake up mum, and I know just where to start."
We made quick time to the Hotel DuMort. We had to talk to Camille. She knew where the Book of the White was and we needed it. Clary and Isabelle followed behind me as we were escorted through the halls by two of Raphael's henchmen. We came into the main room to find the Vamp Queen himself and Simon stood talking quietly. They turned as we entered, and a smirk worked its way onto Raphael's face.
"For Shadowhunters, you don't seem to do a lot of Shadowhunting." I rolled my eyes and raised an eyebrow. Isabelle scoffed from behind me.
"There is more to the job than killing demons." She spat back, obviously not amused.
"We need to talk to Camille. We know you have her here. I tracked her to the DuMort." Raphael raised an eyebrow at me but continued to smirk.
"It's true, but I'm afraid she's a bit tied up at the moment. Is there something I can help you with?" I got flashes of Camille chained down and screaming. I glared at Raphael.
"Very funny. This is serious." Simon took Raphael by the arm and with a quick, "Just a second," to us pulled him over to the side. Probably to advise. I tuned to Clary and Isabelle hoping that Simon could work his magic.
After a few moments, they came back towards us.
Raphael sighed before saying, "I'll bring you what's left of Camille's things, but speaking to her is out of the question." I rolled my eyes.
Clary obviously felt the same as she snapped, "Her things? This isn't the kind of book she would've just left sitting around." Simon kept his eyes on the floor.
"I'm sorry but that's the best I can do." I chuckled bitterly. This was not going to end well.
"We're supposed to be allies," Clary continued.
"And we are. But Shadowhunters have no business interfering with the Night Children's affairs. You may look to the Clave for justice, but the vampires look to me. Camille stays where she is." I huffed in frustration before turning to Simon.
"Watch this one Simon, if he keeps going the way he is his head won't be able to fit through the door."
"You're making a huge mistake." Clary muttered before stalking away. I went to turn away before Raphael grabbed my arm. I stopped and turned to face him once more. He kept a grip on my arm before waving off the other vamps in the room leaving me, him and Simon alone.
"This is not going to end well, you know that right?" I muttered. Raphael nodded.
"I have to think of my people. Camille is a danger to everyone." I scoffed and pulled my arm out of his hand.
"Don't you think we know that? She turned our best friend into a vampire." I quickly caught Simon's eye. "You're doing a great job at it though." He smirked as I turned back to Raphael. "Raph, we have to talk to her, and you know that we will with or without your help." If Raphael noticed the nickname he didn't react, he just turned and left the room. I looked up at Simon. "We have to get in there." Simon nodded so I turned and left, following after Clary and Isabelle. Once I reached them, I explained my plan. Clary and Izzy followed the vamp down to where Camille's stuff was stored, and I went with Simon to find a way into the basement.
'Perhaps this wasn't a good idea', I thought to myself as I lay in a closed coffin waiting to Simon to give me the all clear. I never was a fan of small spaces. I closed my eyes and tried to count my breaths. I could hear Simon using his new title as adviser to throw the guy on the basement door and a few moments later, the top opened and I could see again.
"Sure this will work?" Simon whispered, sounding unsure. I nodded.
"They're pros. By the time that vamp finds Raphael, we'll be long gone." I hopped out of the coffin and walked over to the spooky looking chained up coffin. This was definitely the place.
"Let's get this over with. If anyone catches us, we're dead." I muttered.
"Some of us already are." Simon quipped and I couldn't help but smirk. I'd missed him.
"Once we open this, there's no going back. Everything we've done to unite the Downworld goes out the window." I sighed. Simon was right, but at this point we didn't have a choice.
"I wish there was another way, but if Valentine gets a hold of the Cup there won't be a Downworld left to unite." Simon sighed again but didn't object when I cut open the chains binding the coffin. We pulled the top off to find Camille, eyes closed but still very much alive…ish.
"Okie Dokie Camille, time to wake up. Nap times over." With a blur of colour Camille sat up with a hiss and a flash of sharp teeth. My seraph blade was to her neck before any damage was done. She glared at me.
"Tut tut, not so fast." I waggled my other finger at her which seemed to piss her off even more. She turned her focus to Simon and smirked.
"What took you so long?"
"Excuse me?" He scoffed.
"I knew you'd come back for your sire, just like you did before. We're forever linked, you and I." I rolled my eyes at the dramatics. Simon was not as calm.
"How do you know I don't want to stake you?" His voice wobbled slightly.
"Do you?"
"No." He whispered.
"I do." I cut into their conversation but bringing my blade closer to her neck. "But that's not why we're here. Where's the Book of the White?"
"The book of the what?" She replied quickly.
"The Book of the White. Big, white spell book. Kind of explains itself." Simon spoke quickly and quietly. He was nervous.
"Never heard of it." Camille rolled her eyes and faked yawned.
"And yet we tracked it to you." I narrowed my eyes further.
"Darling, what would I possibly want with a spell book?" Camille was starting to piss me off now. I huffed and pushed her back down into the coffin.
"We don't have time for this. Put her back in."
This seemed to panic Camille. "Okay, okay, okay. You said it was a warlock book?"
I nodded. "Yeah. We think Jocelyn Fairchild gave it to you. She ran an antique store. Vampires sell that sort of stuff, right?"
Camille nodded. "All the time. But if she was a Shadowhunter like you, I'm pretty sure I'd remember her."
"What about Dorothea Rollins? She was her assistant." I added. This seemed to perk her interest.
"Dot? Oh, but of course. She was our favourite customer." I huffed. This was taking too long.
"Do you know where it is or not?" I said through gritted teeth.
"It's in my apartment on the Upper East Side. My own pied-a-terre. I can take you there, but you'll have to get me out of here first." Simona and I looked at each other. This wasn't ideal. Camille saw our hesitation and lay back in the coffin. "Or you can leave me in here, and never get the book. Totally up to you."
Well fuck. Looks like we were really in a lose-lose situation.
We left the basement very quickly knowing that Raph would be on out tail by now.
"Simon, it's 6:00 a.m. The sun's almost up. Do you know another way out?" Simon nodded.
"No problem. We'll go downstairs and take the tunnels out. Come on." He led us to the exit, but we screeched to a stop when Raph and his goons rounded the corner.
"Going somewhere?" He smirked. I rolled my eyes.
"Be honest, you were waiting there for dramatic effect, weren't you?" I joked. It didn't seem to help. Camille stalked through us.
"Raphael." She hissed.
"You should have stayed put." Raph looked over at Simon. "I'm disappointed in you."
"I guess it's too late to put her back in the box?" Simon quipped but I could tell he was scared.
"I'm afraid so." Raph turned to me next. "Our alliance is finished. The Accords may prohibit killing mundanes, but they say nothing about sunburned vampires. Simon's betrayed us just as Camille did. They deserve the same fate. Adios. Kill them." All the vamps starting heading towards us. We began to back up very quickly. A large explosion caused a blinding ray of sunshine to flow into the room separating us from Raph and the Vamps (cool band name). Izzy and Clary stepped through the hole with smirks on their faces. He heels clacked on the floor as she sauntered over to us.
"Seriously, guys? Typical vampire always underestimating a Shadowhunter. Adios," and with a sultry wave from Isabelle and a hoot of laughter and a, "I'll text you," to Raphael from me we left the Vamps to deal with the current sunlight problem. Simon led us to the tunnels and we had a brief moment of silence until Camille opened her mouth again.
"I think I'd have been better off just staying in the coffin."
"But you didn't. We got you out." Clary said almost sounding like she wished we didn't. "Now, tell us where the book is."
"Patience, my dear…" Camille started snarkily, but Clary had clearly had enough.
"Enough! Just because we got you out doesn't mean I won't kill you right here." She pushed Camille to the wall with her seraph blade out.
"Clary!" I warned and put a hand on her shoulder.
"There's still one more thing I require of, um…" She pointed to Simon.
"Are you kidding me?!" I hissed at her.
"Simon." She said quietly.
"A Writ of Transmutation." My heart stopped. I knew what that was, and I was not on board with this plan.
"What the hell is that?" Clary said, turning to me and Izzy.
"A document stating you asked her to turn you into a vampire." I muttered knowing that Clary would not like it.
"Signed and sealed in your blood, of course." Camille looked hungrily towards Simon.
"Haven't you had enough of my blood?" He groaned.
"Never. And I definitely don't want the Clave to falsely accuse me of killing mundanes." Camille smirked at our upset faces.
"You want Simon to pardon you? No way. You killed Simon. The least we could do is return the favour." I sighed.
"And yet the second I go up in smoke, so does any hope of you finding your precious book." Camille knew she had won this round.
"It's okay." Simon put a hand on Clary's shoulder. She groaned.
"So where do we get this document, huh? I can't imagine you have many friends left." Camille smiled a wide grin.
"I know a guy." Turns out we did too.
