alec lightwood

Cornered was what they were.

Alec held onto his bow tightly. A pool of sweat started to form on the centers of his palms and his entire body had washed over with a sense of anxiousness.

He took a look at their surroundings once. Twice. Three times. He stood a good distance away from the New York Institute, his back facing his parabatai's. Next to him was his sister Isabelle, and standing behind them was Clary Fray and her mundane accomplice.

Alec's mood was already sour and their current situation wasn't making it any better. Clary Fray had suddenly dropped out of the sky that night and was the reason that they never found out who was peddling mundane blood. She had screwed up their mission at the Pandemonium and now was in their presence, receiving their hospitality. Her mundane friend had followed her here and because of him, a group of Circle Members— whom, to this day were believed to be gone for good— had been led right to them. Or, more accurately, to Clary.

There were six of them. Six vicious men who were completely devoted to Valentine Morgenstern. And they were here for Clary. Alec knew that himself, Jace and Isabelle were the only ones who had a fighting chance. Clary and her mundane friend would be dead within seconds if left unprotected, which left them all rigid and on defense.

"Give us the girl." The biggest one, took a step forward, a tight grip on his seraph blade. His eyes were dark and his expression was threatening and murderous. Alec wasn't particularly scared of him, he knew he could take him. But, he was more worried about letting go of the arrow he was holding and starting a whole brawl.

They had to think about this strategically. If they didn't pay enough attention, if they didn't keep Clary and the mundane covered and away from harm throughout the entire fight, they would end up dead. If they didn't—

Alec's thoughts came to an abrupt halt when a blade came flying through the air and past his head— a kindjal, to be exact— sank right into the man's head.

The sharp blade had hit the man dead center and whatever the man had planned to do next died with him. He staggered and collapsed onto the ground, dropping his blade.

Another kindjal identical to the one that had just flew past Alec's head soared through the air and landed into the head of the man to Alec's right— another bullseye. But, no one could locate where the two blades had come from or who had executed such precise knife throwing.

Alec, Isabelle and Jace could barely get a word to each other because they were looking around for the person evening out the odds. Clary was gasping and shrieking with every kill and the mundane beside her who could see all of this because of the lack of glamour had his eyes so wide they could fall right out of his head.

With two of their men down and every other man looking around wildly, the rest of the Circle Members were panicked. We were the least of their worries when they were being killed one by one by someone they couldn't see.

Another blade shone through the air from behind one of the frantic men, the seraph blade cutting through the air and slicing the man's head clean off his neck. His head rolled away from his body and his discarded body swayed for a moment. The body dropped forward and the assassin was revealed—

A woman.

Alec couldn't wrap his head around it. A woman who looked relatively harmless and innocuous, was capable of such brutality and violence.

A very stunning woman.

One of the men caught Alec's attention as he looked closer to the woman who had graced them with her presence. Alec heard his words but not once did his eyes leave the woman. "What the hell are you doing? You're supposed to-"

The woman acted quickly, pulling one of her kindjals from the head of a dead corpse and leaped. She landed onto his back and cut his sentence off by stabbing the already blood stained blade into his skull, blood splattering all across her face and spilling over the front of her shirt.

She fell with him onto the grass as the last two members ran to her and tried to disarm her. She spun and dug her seraph blade into one of the men when they tried to tackle her. She rolled with him, impaling the blade further into him. She pinned him to the ground and pushed the blade so far into him that you could hear it meet the dirt and grass along with the man's scream.

She spun and grabbed the collar of the last man, pulling him down with a hard tug and slamming his head into the cement with all her strength. She reached into her boot and pulled out a smaller knife, slitting his throat open and coating herself in even more blood with that kill.

Alec watched as she took the men out one by one. He watched as she stabbed blades through their heads and their chests, he watched as she smashed his head into the cement with ease and a thought struck him before he could stop it.

Alec didn't know whether to fear or fall in love with the murderous and ferocious woman before him.

The woman pushed herself onto her feet and retrieved her weapons one by one, wiping the blood and dirt on the clothes of the dead men.

She turned to a stunned Alec, Jace and Isabelle. Clary was frightened as was her mundane friend, who was shaking and repeatedly questioning Clary on what they had all just witnessed.

The woman looked between them all, her expression relaxed— as though she didn't just kill six men in the span for two minutes. "What, no 'thank you' for saving your lives?"

Jace was the first one to speak. His expression held shock and— electrified. He was impressed. "Who are you?"

"Oh, right—" She placed her blood smeared weapons into their sheaths. She took a deep breath, and with a curve of her lip, she introduced herself. "Zee Morgenstern."

The name hit Alec like a truck.

Zee Morgenstern.

His blood ran cold. The chilling feeling quickly turned into a burning fire, his blood was now boiling and anger ran through his veins.

It dawned on Alec in that moment as he stared at the woman who stood before him, standing so calm and composed, beautiful in crimson. A smug smirk on her lips filled with complacent that she had just successfully murdered and betrayed who she was supposed to be partners with. Neither option from his first thought about her were acceptable.

He had a feeling she would be more trouble than she was worth. He had a gut feeling that something was off about her right away, despite the fact that she had just saved them. He knew she was hiding something and that she would not be obedient. She would push his buttons and cross limits more to count.

Just looking her, one thought became abundantly clear. He knew in that moment.

He was meant to hate her.

authors note :

okay i know i called her an assassin but she's not like ??? doing it for political reasons or anything. she's just a— murderer, who attacked with the element of surprise

^ I DONT EVEN KNOW WHY I FELT THE NEED TO CLARIFY THAT BUT IT NEEDED TO BE SAID

but okay, i know this is a kind of a rocky start to a new book?? sorta, but my first chapters always SUCK so it's okayyy

this chapter was in alec's pov and then future chapters will be from zee's pov. i'll clarify in the next chapter that it's zee's pov just so no one is confused but after that, it's strictly zee's pov.

anyways—

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