Brothers by Blood (Alec Lightwood twin)

Chapter 43

MAGNUS' POV

"On the video call, Simon was in Aldertree's office. This way." Clary said, leading me to Aldertree's office. I knew where it was, but I was following her lead nonetheless.
"Careful, Clary. Circle members could be anywhere." I warned her. We looked to the end of the hallway to see Madzie. She locked eyes with me before she walked away.
"Madzie." I said. Clary then spoke up.
"Go get her. I'll find Simon." She said.
"Are you sure?" I asked, wanting to make sure she would be ok by herself.
"She's being used, Magnus. None of this is her fault, but she needs to be stopped." She told me. I nodded.
"I'll meet you in Aldertree's office." I said simply. She nodded and we parted ways.
"Hello, sweet pea. Do you remember me? I'm Magnus." I said gently. "I know you're scared. You don't have to be." I then kneeled down slowly and showed her my cat eyes as I did so. "See? I'm just like you, Madzie. I'm a warlock too." I told her, keeping my voice soft. She calmed down after I told her this. "These men are using you for your abilities." I told her.
"He said Nana was here." She told me. My eyes saddened, all this little girl wanted was to get back to her Nana. I knew she couldn't, but Valentine was using a promise to take her to her Nana to manipulate her into doing as he asked. I had to stop this.
"He lied." I revealed, a sad look on my face. "I wanna help you, Madzie. For real." I told her kindly. She must have seen the sincerity in my eyes and tone, because as I offered my hand to her, she paused briefly before stepping over to me.
"I'm going to take you to my friend Catarina's house so that you can be safe for now. Ok? I promise I will come back for you, but I need to make sure you are safe." I said calmly. She nodded at this, and I made a portal. She held my hand and we entered the portal, transporting ourselves to Catarina's house.

ALEC'S POV

"It's not working." Aldertree said incredulously, being denied access for the third time. He looked at me. "The bypass must not apply to exterior access points." He explained. Just then, I heard the door open, both of us turned to see four Circle members coming through the doors. We both got out our seraph blades. "Four against two." Aldertree said.
"Could be worse." I replied. Suddenly, I heard a whip crack and saw it wrap itself around one of the Circle member's necks. They flew backwards and to the ground to reveal my siblings. "Izzy! Ben!" I called in shock. How did they find us? They both took out all four Circle members before they acknowledged us.
"Alec, are you alright?" Izzy asked.
"Yeah, we're fine. You?" I replied.
"Both fine." Ben said. I gave them a once over, Izzy was relatively untouched. Ben, on the other hand, had a gash on his forehead with blood trickling down the side of his face, and one of his sleeves was torn.
"We have a problem. We just can't shut down the power core from up here." I told them. They glanced at each other and looked back at us with firm expressions.
"We'll think of something, we always do." Ben said.
"Come on, we need to help Jace. I have a feeling he is going to do something stupid." Izzy added.

JACE'S POV

Simon and I were sneaking back to the Ops Centre, where I had seen the Sword when I first came in as Clary.
"Hey, about, you know, what happened back there I've heard of blood thirst, even felt it, but never that badly. Once I started feeding, I couldn't stop. I'm really sorry." He apologized. I turned around and looked at him.
"Don't apologize." I replied.
"I would have killed you." He said, regret in his eyes.
"I would have let you." I said lowly. He paused at my answer before continuing.
"You, like, rescued me from actual death, so thanks. A lot." He added. Does he ever stop talking? I turned to him again.
"Hey, you know how you can thank me? Shut up." I said.
"Right." He said. The silence that came from him was very strange. He looked across to where the Sword was. "Looks like they have the sword tapped into that power thing." He observed.
"Not for long." I said. I then turned to him. "Hey. You know how to use that?" I asked, gesturing to the knife in his hands. He then raised it and pointed it right at me.
"Yeah, just point and stab, right?" He asked, jerking it forward slightly. I raised an eyebrow before pushing it to the side lightly with a single finger.
"Use your vamp speed." I said, before looking back at the Sword.
"Obviously." He said quickly.
"As soon as we get back up, we move in." I said, looking at my phone. I heard a shuffle and Simon spoke up.
"It might be too late for that." He said. I looked up at him and he was staring straight at the Soul Sword. I turned around to see Valentine and another Circle member dragging Clary towards it.
"No! Let me go! No. You can't make me do this. I won't do it!" She said in protest, trying to break free of their grip.
"Unfortunately, you don't get to decide that. I am doing this for you, and for your brother, and for the rest of humanity. Clarissa, this planet is under siege by demon-blooded creatures, intent on death and destruction. Once I wield that sword, the Downworld will no longer be part of our world. And the lives of my children will be that much safer." I heard Valentine say.
"Let go! Let go! No! No! No!" She called. Before I could do anything, Simon had rushed over to them and cut all the Circle members who were there down with his knife. Impressive. He then walked over to Clary and helped her up. I walked over to the Soul Sword, fully intending to destroy it when I heard a voice behind me.
"Jace." Clary said. I turned to her. "What Jace, what are you doing? Jace! Don't. If you touch the sword, it'll kill you." She said. I turned back to the Sword and dropped the blade I was holding. It landed on the floor, the sound echoing through the room. I heard feet rushing into the room and looked up to see Ben, Alec, Izzy, and Aldertree had entered the room.
"Jace Lightwood. Do not touch that sword." Ben said in a commanding voice. I turned to him and looked at him in shock, mostly because of the last name he had just called me by.
"I have to. A demonic Morgenstern can destroy the Soul Sword." I told him.
"You are not demonic Jace. Valentine lied to you." Ben said seriously. "If you touch the sword, you will activate it, not destroy it. You have Angel blood, not Demon blood." Ben revealed.
"How do you know?" I asked.
"Just trust me on this ok?" Ben replied. I backed away from it and everyone walked up to me. Alec slapped me on the back of the head.
"Ow!" I complained.
"I told you not to do anything reckless!" He scolded me, before pulling me into a hug.
"I thought I'd lost you." I whispered so only he could hear me.
"I'm not leaving you Jace. I would never." Alec replied. He then pulled away. "Plus, you knew I was alive. You would have felt me die otherwise." He added, his voice its regular volume now.
"It's just, on the phone you cut out and I heard struggling, swords, and all that. I was worried." I told him. He smiled sadly.
"I know, and I'm sorry for not picking it up again, but I'm fine, we're all fine." Alec assured me.
"Where's Valentine?" Ben asked.
"Guys, the Sword's gone." Aldertree said, grabbing all our attention.
"I'm going after it and him." I said immediately.
"I'm coming with you." Alec said immediately, but Ben stopped him.
"No. I'll go. You go find Magnus. He must have portaled in with Clary so he must be somewhere in the Institute. You should go find him, I'll help Jace." Ben said. "The rest of you should clean up around here. Go through the Institute and gather up all the dead and injured. Put the injured on one side of the infirmary and the dead on the other. We'll be back with Valentine as soon as we can." Ben said. Everyone nodded at his orders and we all split off to do our respective jobs.