"What happened?" Magnus' eyes were wide when Simon and I dragged Luke into his living room, Clary rushing alongside us. "What's going on?"

"What's going on is Luke's bleeding all over my new jacket after stealing my kill and becoming leader of the damn wolf pack." My teeth were gritted and I forcefully pulled him when more of his weight laid on me. "And if I can't get this out, I'm going to kill him myself—"

Simon shot a look of disbelief in my direction. "Seriously-? He was attacked!"

"Yes, seriously." My head snapped toward him. "I really love this jacket."

"He needs a warlock." Clary cut the both of us off. "He needs you."

"Put him here." Magnus grabbed a white sheet and laid it over his leather couches before Simon and I tugged him towards it and laid him down.

"Where are you? I can't find you." Luke murmured for the hundredth time and I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Jocelyn!"

"No, Luke, it's Clary." Clary grabbed onto his hand and desperately tried to get his attention. "Can you hear me?"

"Clary, listen to me." His gaze fell on her, unfocused. "Listen, you have to listen to me. I have to tell you, just in case—"

Clary stops him. "No, don't even say it, don't."

"No, you need to know!" Luke raises his voice.

"Need to know what?" I snapped out of frustration. "Spit it out already."

Luke begins. "Listen-"

"Was he bitten by an alpha?" Magnus asked.

Simon looks up. "Yeah, why?"

"Three, two, one-" Magnus counted down and Luke shot up from the couch with a growl. His eyes glowed bright green and his body shook, his growls getting louder with every moment. Magnus rushed into another room and then returned with something in his hands, placing a piece of bark between Luke's teeth. "We don't have a lot of time. It'll take a few moments to take effect."

Clary stared worriedly at Luke as he slowly calmed. "What's happening to him?"

"Random werewolf transformation." Magnus stood back up. "It's a side effect of the poison in the alpha bite."

Luke was unconscious within seconds and Clary stayed by his side, a concerned look stretched on her face. Simon stood a few steps behind her and Magnus left the room to gather a few things.

I slipped off my jacket with an irritated look on my face at the blood stains all over my leather jacket. I ran my free hand through my hair and my eyes caught Simon, who was examining the blood stains on his palm from Luke's blood.

He took a glance around to make sure no one was looking, missing me by a quick second and then his tongue escaped his lips.

And licked the blood.

"What was that, mundie?" My stare was fixed on Simon and I watched him flinch at my voice. I gripped my jacket tightly in my hands and my eyes remained glued to him. "Curious?"

Simon glanced at me and then shied away, walking towards Clary and attempting to comfort her before he could get further called out.

It all made sense in that moment.

"The bark will stop the transformation for now, but— Luke needs an antidote to stop the poison in his system." Magnus entered the room and dropped a ton of items onto a table already filled with enough things. "And I don't have all the ingredients here."

"Okay." I looked at him and sighed— the things I'd do to keep an illusion up. "Just tell me what you need and how to get it."

"No, you stay here." Magnus points at me and I shot him a look. "Well, from what I've gathered from bits and pieces is that you went one on one with an alpha and practically won before Luke jumped in. If we run out of time and he transforms— I trust you to keep us alive."

"You trust me, the prodigy of Valentine Morgenstern and not your sparky hands?" I exaggerated while placing my free hand onto my waist and leaned my weight on one leg. "Bad idea, don't you think?"

"You saved my life." Magnus' eyes were glued to mine and he paused for just a moment. "And you protected Zoe. That's good enough for me."

I blankly stared at him.

"I'll go." Simon offered suddenly.

Jace then walked into the room, blood dripping from his nose. "I'll go."

Magnus walked over to him and examined his face before tossing him a box of tissues. "Jace, what happened to you?"

"We left you for five minutes." I held up my hand. "Five."

"Luke's car may have found its way into a pole while I was stashing it." Jace shrugged lightly and wiped the blood dripping from his nose. "I don't do mundane driving."

I eye him with an amused look at his appearance. "Yeah, apparently."

Jace waves me off easily and looked at Magnus. "What do you need for the antidote?"

"Hey, I got this." Simon argued.

"Phoenix eyes, moon salt, and Idris fulgurite." Magnus brought out of a pot and set it on the table, tossing a few things into the mixture.

Simon made a beeline for the door of Magnus' apartment. "One trip to the pharmacy, it'll take two seconds."

"I know a guy." Jace grabbed his arm to stop him. "And, uh— I don't need him."

"Too bad, you're getting me." Simon seethed at him. "We'll be right back."

"You can't even get those things at a pharmacy." I blinked and then looked away in thought. "Oh my god, can you? Like actually? Am I missing out on some trippy stuff?"

"You can't." Magnus eased my conscious and then looked at Jace. "One more thing— I need your tall friend. What was his name? Alec."

"What?" My head snapped toward him and my face twisted into a sour look. "Why do you need him? Let him go please Mommy and Daddy like the little kiss ass he is—"

Something gleamed in Magnus' eyes at my reaction and he just shrugged, making up an excuse. "Virgin Shadowhunter energy."

"I knew it!" I dropped my jacket on a chair and clapped my hands together once. "That explains so much. Can you seriously tell he's a virgin by like— magic? Because I need this written on paper so I have evidence for when I shove it in his face later for straight up lying to my face."

"He's not." Jace sighed and shook his head at us. "Anyway, yeah— I can't."

"Jace, just ask, please." Clary finally spoke and stood straight. "You guys need to talk."

-

"So," I began, watching Magnus as he poured a few things into the cauldron he was making the antidote for Luke in. "What's all this for if you don't have all the ingredients?"

"It's the base for the potion— stir." Magnus handed it over to me and walked over to a cabinet, opening it up. He reached in and grabbed a few more tiny bottles. "We need to have it ready before your boy toys get back."

"Oh, ew." I cringed at the thought and stirred the potion. "They are so— themselves."

"Okay, I agree— they're more Clary's boy toys than they are yours." Magnus nodded in understanding and came back over, pouring a vial of a substance into the pot and I continued to stir. "And Alec-"

"Don't even get me started on that nuisance." I gripped the handle on the spoon tighter and stirred a little faster. "Whenever he opens his mouth, I just want to punch him in the jaw-"

"You're not too fond of him I've noticed." Magnus' eyes gleamed and he sprinkled something into the potion. "Why is that?"

"He's always ruining my fun." I rolled my eyes. "And he doesn't know how to shut up. He always meddles in things that aren't his business, he's all about the law and rules— I mean, can he loosen up a bit? And don't even get me started on his trust issues— he can't trust anyone to save his own life. And the list doesn't stop there—"

He wasn't easily fooled.

"Okay, okay, okay." Magnus held up his hand to stop my vent and poured something else into the bubbling substance I was stirring. "Let me rephrase— you hate him."

"I despise that man with every fiber of my being." I had started to stir more aggressively without realizing so I gentled it up a bit. "And that says a lot because usually I have a simple dislike for everyone but him? From the moment I met him I wanted to punch him right in the face."

Magnus softly laughed and shook his head to himself. He sprinkled a powder into the cauldron and I stirred it in until Luke started to gasp and yelp for what felt like the hundredth time already.

"Jocelyn!" Luke was stuck in a trance, fidgeting a bit while Clary and Magnus ran over to him where I stood still, just watching. "No, don't— wait, don't touch her."

"Luke, I'm here." Clary kneeled quickly and grabbed onto his hand. "I'm here."

"Let me take your pain away." Magnus' fingers sparked and his eyes lit up with his magic, pausing when Luke started to protest at his solution. "Agitation only makes the venom work faster."

"I need to tell Clary— she needs to know." Luke was out of breath and heaving. "You need to tell her, all of it. Promise me."

Magnus nodded lightly and then snapped his fingers, Luke's head dropping slowly and he once again, was resting. "The poison is spreading— your suitors need to hurry."

-

"Tell me what?" Clary was stressing out and I watched her pace around the room whilst I sat comfortably on one of Magnus' single couches, holding a drink he had made for me. "What's so important that Luke risked his life?"

"Everything Jocelyn hoped to hide from you." Magnus sighed, making himself a drink and then waved his hand in a air— a sketch book and a piece of charcoal appeared on the table in front of Clary. "When you were younger, I'd watch you sketching— it was your bliss. You're gonna need some bliss now."

"Back then, there wasn't a day I didn't draw— it was like breathing." Clary sighed and sat down in front of the table, opening up the sketch book to a blank page. "Now, I look at this blank page and I barely even know what to do. Sometimes I feel like my art, my memories, my life— it all vanished with that Memory Demon."

"God, who cares?" I abruptly snip out of impatience. "Luke is withering away and you want to second guess yourself? Get a grip-"

"What she means is-" Magnus began, putting a hand on Clary's shoulder. "Your art, everything you are— they're all still here. You're the woman your mother always knew you could be."

"Well— he put it in a much nicer way than you did." Clary looked at me, picking up the charcoal.

I took a sip of my fairly strong drink. "That's wonderful— we are still wasting time."

"I'm ready." Clary nodded and sighed, looking up at Magnus. "Bring it, warlock."

"When I first heard about your father, around the time he and Margaret first got together, long before the Uprising and the Circle, Valentine elevated the Morgenstern name to be synonymous with virtue. And your mother, Jocelyn— was at their side. They were all very good friends." Magnus began to explain, pacing around the room as he spoke. "But by the time my people came to know him, barely two years later— his name had become synonymous with devastation. Jocelyn told me it was then she first saw the signs— about how she went wrong and how corrupted Valentine and Margaret had become— they never found all the bodies and we'd all stood with the Clave for centuries."

I stopped breathing for a moment and my attention was completely fixed onto Magnus. I was dissecting every sentence he said, trying to make sense of their relationship timeline— trying to make sense of the two people I was serving.

Clary was stuttering in shock. "How could that not matter to him?"

"He was obsessed with ensuring purity of blood." Magnus went on. "Convinced that the impurities were a threat to peace."

"When he was the threat to peace— always has been." I swallowed hard as I said that one— he could have my head on a stick of that one. And for even being in a Downworlders apartment, let alone trying to help save one's life. But, I was here on a mission and keeping up the act was one of them. "Mad men rarely make sense."

"Mostly, they just hate." Magnus nodded lightly. "And he hated the Downworlders, for the gifts that we possess that he could not have— he hated us enough to kill us all."

"Ever since my mother was kidnapped, and the Shadow World invaded my life, so many Downworlders have helped me, not even thinking about what it might cost them." Clary was in disbelief. She looked down at her drawing and added some shading. "How could Valentine not see good in any of them? Why didn't the Clave stop him?"

"He was blinded by his ambition— and he was clever." Magnus said. "He and his followers, they managed to convince the Clave that the Downworlders they killed on their special missions had violated the Accords in some way. Complete fabrications."

Clary questions. "How could the Clave not see?"

"Shadowhunters believe in the Law as absolute." I looked at the liquid still sitting in my glass, my voice low. "They could never conceive of one of their own going astray— so they push it all under the rug like always."

"Our father didn't go astray, Zee." I mentally cringed when she said "our". "He went insane."

"What happened back then is happening again— The Clave refuses to believe that Valentine's a threat." Magnus finished the rest of his drink and exhaled. "Nineteen years ago, their lack of vision allowed the Circle to almost decimate the entire Shadow World."

"That was the Uprising?" Clary asked.

"Yes." Magnus answered. "Valentine wanted to create a new Shadowhunter army— and for that, he needed the Mortal Cup. He knew it would be on display at the signing of the Accords as a show of the Clave's power. He seized the opportunity to accomplish everything he ever wanted— destroy the Accords, murder Downworlders, and secure the Cup."

"How could my mom and Luke be a part of something like this?" Clary looked horrified.

"Jocelyn and Luke tried to prevent the Uprising." Magnus assured her. "They tried to change Valentine and Margaret's minds about Downworlders— if it wasn't for your mother and Luke, the Circle would have won."

"Ever since I found out Valentine was my father, I wondered how my mother could love someone like that and why she kept going back for as long as she did." Clary set down the book and put her head in her hands, her elbows resting on her knees. "How could she— especially when he was already vowed for life to someone else?"

My blood boiled at the thought.

She ruined everything before I was even born.

"Someone people just made bad choices." I muttered and gripped my glass tightly. "Without thinking about the consequences to other people."

"She had to stop him— and safeguard the Cup." Magnus sighed. "Everything Jocelyn did, she did to save the people she'd sworn to protect— she took her oath as a Shadowhunter seriously."

Clary huffs. "I understand, but how does that help me find the Cup?"

"Maybe Luke thinks if you know your mother better, you'll know where she hid it." I downed the rest of my drink and stood up. "So— think really hard, Fairchild."

Clary nodded and then looked at Magnus, sitting up more. "Tell me why she gave up being a Shadowhunter."

"Because the one thing in the world she loved more is you." My heart stung lightly with jealously when Magnus said that. "She had to protect you."

"From my father, the lunatic." Clary swallowed hard and then her head snapped up from Luke's grunting. "Luke?"

Magnus and Clary rushed to Luke whilst I stood where I was, watching. Magnus ran his hand over Luke's head, his magic gloomy lightly in the dim light. "The magic's wearing off."

"It was our fault." Luke was stiff and groaning loudly— still stuck in a trance. "It was our fault!"

-

"I'm running out of magic." Magnus shouted to us over Luke's loud groaning in pain and the rumbling of the ground. Vases were shaking and falling over, as I scrambled to grab one before it fell over and shattered. "He's slipping-"

Clary gripped a couch. "What do I do?"

"I can't leave him, but the potion stock still needs Komodo scale." Magnus remained focus on trying to keep Luke alive. "Find it, add the rest when they get here— you'll have to feed it to Luke."

"What about you?" Clary asked.

"I'll hold on as long as I can." Magnus exhaled slowly and when Clary didn't move, he raised his voice. "Go!"

I stumbled lightly when another rumble came through and I gripped the wall, looking towards Magnus— who looked weak. He looked like he was about to fall over and Clary was rushing around— so, I went over to him and kneeled by him, holding him up.

"Biscuit-" Magnus breathed heavily, his lumps slightly shaking and my eyes were sort of wide. "Please— I need your strength."

I paused for a second and then slightly nodded, grabbing into his hand despite how sore and weak my limbs already felt. And then— I felt like all of my energy was being sucked out of my body and I gripped onto his hand tighter to try and steady myself.

I didn't tap out, I kept letting him use me as an outlet for more power to help Luke— I just tried to hang on as long as needed. But with every moment that went by, I felt more and more weak.

Clary, Jace and Simon came rushing towards Luke and Clary was pouring the white liquid from the potion into his mouth. Luke swallowed the liquid and abruptly— everything stopped.

And I fell backwards.

My body hit something hard— but I hadn't reached the floor yet.

It was another body.

My head fell into that person's hand and before I could try and prevent it— my entire vision went black and I lost all consciousness.

-

I felt someone's stare on me.

I was starting to wake up and I felt warm and comforted in whatever bed and covers I was laying in but I wasn't alone.

Someone was in here with me.

I was immediately alert before I even opened my eyes and I felt on my leg for one of my knives— nothing.

I was stripped of anything that could be used of a weapon so I simply just clenched my fists at my sides and prepared myself mentally to slam my fist into the person's face.

But when I opened my eyes, I relaxed— because sitting on a chair next to me was Alec Lightwood.

"Chass." I addressed, my voice was raspy from sleep and I unclenched my fists, slowly sitting up. "What the hell? What is this?"

"What is this?" He repeats, his eyes a little wide trying to understand why I had asked that. "It's a bed. Looks like a very comfortable one—"

"Compared to your chair, sure." I looked around the room, noticing all of my knives on the nightstand table. I noticed I was in a perfectly furnished bedroom, red silk sheets covering a ridiculously huge bed. "Where am I? Why am I here— and why are you here?"

"This is Magnus' bedroom. Luke's in the guest bedroom—" Alec said, his arms crossed over his chest whilst he slouched in his chair. "He stripped you of all your knives, though— was afraid you'd stab yourself in your sleep or something. You passed out while trying to keep Luke on the surface."

"Right." I blinked slowly and looked at him suspiciously. "And how did I get in here— and again, why are you here?"

"I arrived right as you passed out— decided to come and help after all." Alec broke eye contact. "Luke's okay, by the way."

He didn't answer my question.

"Okay." I narrowed my eyes at him. "Now, why would you come and help, Mr. Kiss Ass— or even better, why are you at my bedside?"

"Why are you so filled with questions?" Alec questioned. "I guess hoping the silence would go on just a bit longer was a stretch, huh?"

"Well, I think it's good I'm the one with questions for a change." I argued, leaning back against my headboard. "Aren't you the one questioning my every move?"

"Because I'm not as foolish as everyone else." Alec stared at me with a blank face. "I'm going to show everyone I'm right— I'm onto you."

"Ah— this dance of ours is truly exhilarating." I laughed slightly, crossing my arms over my chest and sighing gently. "Will it ever end?"

"No, it won't." Alec's eyes skimmed over my expression, like he was studying every detail of my face. "Not until you lose."

I click my tongue. "Good luck with that."

authors note:

hi, I'm so so so sorry.

i didn't mean to be gone for this long but i was and I'm soooo sorry. but I explain why on my message board so go there !!!!

but ANYWAYS, I have so many ideas for this book and I'm excited to finally once again try and get them out there

zee being livid that luke stole her kill ??? HAHA

zee and magnus bonding a little aww

but if you guys didn't notice, alec was definitely the one who caught her and then took her to the bedroom. stayed with her for reasons LEFT UP TO YOUR IMAGINATION but we can all think of why :))) remember, this is a very slow burn

poor zee for passing out because of all that damage to her from her parents smh

but thank you so much for 5k !!!

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