The Strongest Heart
Enjoy, @tarienemrys!
My darling fellow Alec fan, I really hope you like it :)
The only thing more overwhelming than the fog in his head, was the pain. He sucked in a deep breath, if that’s what you could even call the raspy way air slowly filled his lungs. He tried to move his head, but it felt like it was made of lead. He attempted to open his eyes, but they felt like they were glued shut. The most urgent matter, though, was the intense pain blooming out from his center. He tried to breathe, get the air to go in his lungs faster, and the sound he made trying to do that simple task was terrible. If he had been able move, he would have been absolutely panicking, but instead all he could do was wonder somewhere in the back of his head if he was going to suffocate or die from the pain first.
Then something changed. The pain was washed away and replaced by a heavy warmth settling on his chest. He knew that he had felt this before, but his muddled brain couldn’t recall when. He tried to open his eyes, and when he couldn’t, he tried to call out. The warmth on his chest kept intensifying, and with it the pain ebbing away more and more. He registered a voice, but couldn’t get his mind to make sense of the words. He knew that sound. It was soothing, and yet strong and vital at the same time. That voice held the promise of everything he ever wanted. Images came to mind of rich jewel tones, beautiful feline eyes, beautiful features, kind smiles, powerful hands, and graceful movements. He knew without a doubt that he was safe if this voice was near. So he let go, simply stopped trying to fight with his uncooperative body, and let himself drift off.
Alec clasped both hands behind his back and projected his voice. “We need all hands on deck here. Unless you’ve been given specific alternate orders, this is what we all need to be focused on. I want teams of three. Don’t split up, and cover your area thoroughly before reporting back to me. If I’m not available, then you can report to Isabelle.”
It was barely nine in the morning and already Alec found himself looking out over the op center and giving out orders for a mission. It seemed that the demons from the rift that had “vanished” into thin air had come back to bite them in the ass. Nine months. It had taken nine months for them to come out from wherever they had been hiding and make a move.
On one hand, Alec was almost relieved, because demons most certainly didn’t just come out of literal hell to simply vanish into thin air. On the other hand, now he had a problem. He wasn’t sure how big of a problem yet, but he knew he needed to get this under control as quickly as possible. So far only one demon had been sighted at the scene of a mundane murder. The demon got away, but not before it was identified by a fellow Shadowhunter as one of the ones they had been searching for.
Alec finished his briefing and dismissed everyone to their tasks. He went down to the weapons area, where Jace and Clary were, to get his bow and quiver. Izzy fell in step beside him, and Alec knew she had a questions before she even asked it. “Alec, why after all this time?”
“I don’t know. I’m worried we are going into a trap of some kind,” he answered.
“Like a diversion?” Izzy caught on to his train of thought quickly.
“Maybe, I mean, only one has resurfaced after this long, and then it just attacks a random mundane? This doesn’t make any sense. We could be searching for this one and the others might be on the other side of the city hurting people.”
“The sensors will pick them up. Don’t worry.” Izzy laid a comforting hand on his shoulder.
Alec gave her a weary look, “By the time we know where they are and get to them, they could have killed hundreds of people.”
Jace asked, “Should we alert the downworld?”
He answered quickly, “Yes, we should.”
“Even the seelies?” Izzy asked.
“Knowing the seelies, they already know about it. Hell, they might even have something to do with it. I don’t trust them.”
“You didn’t answer my question.” She said, handing him his bow.
Alec thought about his promise of total transparency. He had kept up his Downworlder council meetings, and Meliorn had been coming to them, but the Seelie claimed to have no idea what Valentine had offered the Queen for her to provide him passage out of New York. So, he continued to work with the Seelies, but cautiously. If Izzy trusted Meliorn, then he tried his best to also, and besides, there was no way he could ever let Magnus down again by withholding information that affected all of them.
“Yes, please inform Meliorn. I’ll call Raphael and Luke myself.” He pulled out his phone and was just holding it up to his ear when it rang.
He answered, “Luke! I was just about to call you.”
It turned out that Luke was actually calling him for help. He held up a finger to his siblings, letting them know he needed a moment. He listened to his friend’s hushed words of concern, and then weighed his options for only a moment before he said to him, “I’ll meet you there in twenty,” and ended the call.
Clary asked, “Is everything okay with Luke?”
“Yeah, it’s just…he needs my help with something. You guys go ahead and get started without me. I’ll catch up.”
“Wait, do you need my help?” Clary asked.
“No, I need all of you working on this. I don’t think I’ll be gone long.”
“Alec, there isn’t something wrong with Magnus, is there?” Izzy asked, concerned.
Alec shook his head. “No, it’s not Magnus. He’s still out of town with a client. It’s a wolf thing.”
“A wolf thing?” Jace asked. “So are you the Downworld liaison while Magnus is gone or something?”
“Uh, I don’t know about that, but Luke and I are friends and he’s asking for my help, something he doesn’t do often, so I’m going. I don’t think it’s going to take long, and I’ll catch up with you as soon as I can.”
He hurried off to meet Luke, ignoring his family’s hushed whispers and quizzical looks. He knew that they thought he was helping Luke primarily out of respect for Magnus, but the truth was that he and Luke had grown close since the party at the Hunter’s Moon after they defeated Valentine.
That was during a time when he and Magnus had been fighting, and even though they had worked together on the mission, it was still awkward, and Alec thought that Magnus didn’t want to see him. He hadn’t been planning to go to the party at all, knowing that it was much more of Magnus’ type of thing, and wanting to give him his space. He had been sitting alone on the roof of the institute when Luke texted him a picture of Magnus, a drink in his hand, holding up the wall with a frown on his face. “He misses you, even if his pride won’t let him say it,” the caption read. Alec had been surprised, but he couldn’t stop his feet from carrying him to The Hunter’s Moon the moment he saw the sad look on Magnus’ face. He was forever grateful for that little push that brought them back together sooner rather than later. He and Luke hadn’t spoken of that little nudge since, but something shifted after that moment. What was a mutual respect between two people with similar personalities had quickly turned into a friendship.
Luke was already there waiting for him when he arrived at the discussed place.
“Hey, man. Thanks for coming. I’m sure you are busy,” he said, reaching out and slapping Alec on the back.
Alec scoffed, “Oh you know. Another day, another missing demon returns to make your life a living hell.”
Luke raised his eyebrows in question.
“I’ll fill you in on that later. First let’s take care of this. So you got called to investigate a dead body, and you think it was a rogue wolf attack?” Alec asked, looking around the woods.
Luke shook his head, “See that’s the thing. I don’t think it was a wolf. It’s similar, but I’m not convinced those marks were made by a wolf. The police are putting it down as an animal attack, but I’m pretty sure it isn’t, not even the supernatural kind.”
Alec asked, “You think someone is making it look like a wolf attack?”
“Yes, that’s definitely a possibility. I didn’t scent a wolf anywhere near the body. But, in the event that I’m wrong, I don’t want to get the other wolves involved. If by chance it is is one of them, I don’t want them to know I’m onto them. I want the upper hand. So I thought maybe you could help me look around, see if we can find anything. What the other officers don’t know, because I snagged his phone, is that the victim was with his girlfriend last night, and as far as I can tell nobody has seen her since. I think I can track her.”
“If this is true, there’s a good chance that it’s the Seelies trying to stir things up between the Downworld and the Clave again.” Alec took a deep breath. “This isn’t good Luke. We are going to have to do something about this Seelie Queen.”
“It’s not going to be easy,” Luke said.
“Nothing ever is in this world.” Alec muttered, and readied his bow.
They worked in comfortable silence for awhile with Luke picking up the trail of the missing girl and Alec following behind with his bow and quiver ready, covering him as the went.
Finally, Luke asked, “When does Magnus come back?”
“A few days, depending on how things go. It’s an important client, and he’s been preparing for this trip for awhile.”
“You wanna grab a beer and some pizza tomorrow? I figure you must be starving without Magnus around to magic you up some grub.” Luke said, stopping and looking around, trying to decide which direction to head to next.
“Sure, sounds fun,” Alec answered, but Luke had already taken off running, transforming into his wolf form mid jump. Alec kept up with him easily. Suddenly Luke stopped abruptly in front of him, and slowly started walking toward something in the trees.
Alec was tempted to look at what had Luke’s attention, but his training taught him that he needed to put situational awareness above all else. He tightened his grip on his bow, his fingers tensing on the string, ready for a target, as he scanned the the woods. He stepped closer to Luke, who was now in his human form, but remained on alert.
Luke leaned over the body of a young woman, bleeding from what looked to be knife wounds, with a trail of blood heading away from them. “It’s her. And it’s definitely not a wolf,” Luke whispered, checking her pulse.
“Alec caught Luke’s eye and nodded in the direction of the blood. Whoever it was had obviously heard them coming and run off and he didn’t want them to have a chance to get away. Luke nodded as he searched the woman’s pockets. Alec had only gone about ten feet when he saw movement up ahead in the trees. He trained his bow in the area, but whatever it was seemed to disappear. He focused on the greenery, using his Shadowhunter sight to help him, but still nothing.
He heard Luke’s futile attempt to warn him just as the pain ripped through his side. He dropped his bow to the ground, and whirled around to see a Seelie smile serenely at him, as if he hadn’t just stabbed him in the back. His smile didn’t last long, because Luke tackled him easily to the ground. Alec subjectively knew that as painful as it was, where he was stabbed wasn’t a life threatening injury as long as he didn’t lose too much blood. So he was trying to figure out why the Seelie had every opportunity to kill him and he didn’t hit a more fatal part of his body than his lung.
He swayed on his feet as his vision started to blur. He knew he should help Luke, but he couldn’t get his body to do anything. He felt sick and weak and like he was on the verge of passing out. He blinked and the world spun. He felt as though he had been poisoned. Suddenly it hit him, that the blade must’ve been laced with poison and he forced himself to choke out the words, “Demon venom,” as his tall frame went horizontal and his vision went black.
He just wanted to sleep, but people kept jostling him. He was burning up, and suddenly cool air hit the boiling skin of his bare chest and he shivered. A flurry of voices were around him. Izzy’s the closest, so he tried to focus on hers.
“We have to get Magnus! He isn’t answering my fire message….I don’t know! Look in Alec’s phone. I think they share a calendar.” Her voice was so frantic, and he wanted to comfort her, but he couldn’t get his mouth to work. He knew exactly where Magnus was, but he couldn’t get that out either.
“His iratze isn’t working. I’ve never seen demon venom like this before. I have no idea how to stop it from spreading. It’s going to go to his heart fast. We have to get Magnus here.”
“Simon, can you reach him?”
“Jace, help me move him up here.”
“Maybe we should just take him straight to the loft.”
“No, I don’t think he’s stable enough to keep moving him.”
“Oh, Magnus. Where are you?”
He tried to keep listening, tried to focus on the feel of fingers squeezing his, but everything got heavy and he blacked out again.
Alec heard that voice again, “Come on you stubborn Shadowhunter. Don’t bail out on me now.”
He took a breathe and peeled his eyes open with great effort.
“Magnus.”
“Hey, there you are. Welcome back to the land of the living, but don’t try to move. The venom is all gone, but you still took a knife to a lung.” Magnus leaned in and pressed a kiss to his forehead.
“Luke?” Alec asked, suddenly worried about his friend as things came rushing back to him.
“He’s fine. He got the Seelie, and he said you owe him a beer.” Magnus brushed a strand of hair from his head with smooth fingers.
“He owes me a brewery.” Alec said.
Magnus chuckled, “Oh, I’ll be sure and tell him. Also, Isabelle would like you to know that they got the one demon before it hurt anyone else, but they still can’t find the rest. She also says not to worry and get some rest.”
Alec was relieved that everyone seemed to be okay, and he looked around the dark loft, expecting the others to be there. “Where is everyone?”
“Well it’s the middle of the night, darling. You’ve been out for about eighteen hours. I sent them home to rest.”
“How did things go with your meeting? I’m sorry you had to come back early.” Alec circled his hand around Magnus’ hand and brought it to his chest gingerly.
“You nearly died, again, and you want to know how my meeting was?” Magnus sighed. “I was in the middle of summoning a particularly nasty demon when you were hurt. You have impeccable timing, Alexander. Do you know that?”
“I’m so sorry, Magnus. I’m sure you were frantic. Thank you for saving me, again. I promise to not try and die the next time you leave town.”
Magnus laughed, “Oh, no. I’m never leaving town without you again. You get to spend all your off days traveling with me to see out of town clients from now on. My old, fragile heart can’t take anymore of this.”
Alec smiled, and brought their hands up to brush his lips across his boyfriends’ knuckles.”Magnus, you have the strongest heart of anyone I know. The most beautiful one, too.”
