West of Words (Alec Lightwood)

🗝 Chapter Fifty-Five 🗝

The words were decorated with a yellow-green.

Happiness that fully revolved around the injuries and pain of someone else, and that someone was so specifically Varian, that the Warlock wasn't sure how to react. It was, of course, entirely obvious that he should fight against the hands holding him down, but the prescience of someone unworldly joining the father-son duo on the top deck distracted him.

"Let me loose." Varian's words were much more confident than he felt, and he started to struggle, to push against the hands holding him no matter the pain it caused him. Externally he would not stop, internally he was building up all possible energy in an attempt of bringing his magic to the forefront of his mind for an escape attempt.

Valentine took pride with every second that passed with Varian struggling, and in that moment the Warlock new he had to play a waiting game. He wanted Varian to struggle, and he would not comply.

 Varian fell limp in the arms of the man on his back, clenching his fists together as another new Shadowhunter made an attempt to unravel his fingers. The presence inched closer, a looming force that was undoubtedly ancient. It had no emotion, a pit in the world that could only seem to steal the light from the area around it.

Maletdi.

The name was supplied without Varian realizing where it had come from, the legend reeling through his mind quickly and without pause. It was a story that his baba  had muttered to him when he was just a few years into training

It started off as a nightmare, Varian woke up shouting for his baba  when he was just seven years old. Shouting about a man in his dreams that tried to get close to him, a dark hollow of a man who stole from the world around him. His baba  told him that that figure, that shape in the darkness was the Maletdi, and haunted the dreams of young Warlocks.

The tone was joking, the colors yellow with an undertone of grey-black, his baba  was serious, and the story was a warning. It continued with a subtle rocking of Varian in his baba's  arms, a comforting gesture nearly ruined by the harsh story. The Maletdi was a generation of children descended from a Greater Demon, though they all died off thousands of years ago the memory of them and what they did to Warlocks and Witches stuck around.

His baba  tucked Varian back into bed with two promises; He would be right in the other side of the apartment if he needed, and that his little Bird would never see a Maletdi in real life.

The promise was, of course, accidentally broken.

Neither father or son knew of the continued existence of a Maletdi, especially one as ancient as the force that stood in front of Varian, all looming darkness and painful whispers. Varian's struggling started up again, pushing against the three bodies holding him down and pushing at the magic that wouldn't come forward.

"Ah, so you recognize my associate." Valentine's voice was a sneer, his eyes a black hole in the painted sky. "One of the last few, had to sell a few souls to get her to work for me."

And there it was, a spark just below the surface of Varian's skin, and suddenly he was on fire. The hands holding him quite literally melting away with barely a scream of pain, their bodies vanishing into nothing, the Warlock felt a passing feeling of remorse, before pushing himself to his feet and lifting his hands towards the empty space.

It was his first time seeing the form and to describe this nothingness as a woman was not the right word. She was a black hole. The area around her empty and void of something so specific that Varian couldn't place his finger on it.

The fire around him burned brighter, everything within a few feet becoming scorched or melting away in its entirety. The world started to turn, to tilt as his energy entirely drained away, the few minutes of heavenly fire a strain in his already depleted body.

Varian stumbled backwards, not minding how much the water terrified him as it was such a welcoming energy compared to the terror on deck. The handrail dug into his back, and just as he pushed himself to sit on top and fall backwards into the cool of the water the Maletdi moved, launching across the deck at a speed that was inhumane and terrifying.

It's hand reached through the heavenly fire whipping around Varian to wrap around his upper arm and the second it touched him the fire vanished. Disappearing without a trace, Varian's energy following quickly, he slumped down the side of the rail, his arse hitting the deck in a jolting way, the world so strangely dull around him.

"We've met before." Valentine had already muttered that realization before, but this time it fell on cotton thick ears, Varian's head rolling over to look at him. "Where have we met?"

The hand wrapped around his arm tightened, the world started to fade the tighter the grip. A hand smacked across Varian's cheek, the grip on his arm falling away with the jolt of the action, Varian fell to the ground. The ancient force stepped away at Valentine's command, he grabbed Varian by the chin, lifting him slightly as he looked down, a sneer on his face.

In a moment of confidence, Varian spat blood at the mans face, watching in satisfaction as it splattered across his cheek and eyes. Another smack landed on his cheek, sending him to the floor once again.

"You almost look like her." Valentine's words were taunting, he smacked Varian again to punctuate the words. "You're her brat aren't you."

Varian did not believe the words warranted a response.

"I should of known she'd start on that Werewolf the moment he we-"

It was idiotic to interrupt when Valentine had the high ground on him, he flinched despite the fact that Valentine made no move to hit him. "She didn't." It was a simple response, but it was all Valentine needed to piece the situation together.

"You're my-" Valentine almost looked shocked at the information, but that look was wiped away quickly in favor of a satisfying smile. He stood, his eyes moving to the Maledti before back down to his newfound son. "Then this will be all the better."

And then the hand was on him once again, dulling his senses the moment the grip was firm around his arm. She pulled him across the desk with a strength that she should not possess, Varian did not have the strength to pull away, his fear taking over in his mind.

Valentine began to speak, his voice soft in a threatening way.