Brothers by Blood (Alec Lightwood twin)

Chapter 48

SEBASTIAN'S POV

Once the food was ready we sat down at the kitchen bench and started eating and talking.
"Mm! Oh my God, this is amazing!" Isabelle exclaimed.
"I ate at this café in Paris, once and I watched this chef make his Bouillabaisse. So the next time I wanted soup, I copied him." I said as if it were nothing.
"What do you mean you copied him?" She asked.
"I memorized everything he did and then I did it myself, and voilà! I said, gesturing to the food.
"Yeah. Sometimes just knowing that someone else can do something remarkable makes it possible for you to do it too." I said. She smiled. "So, tell me about your brother." I asked, knowing she had more than one as she had already mentioned it.
"Well, I actually have four brothers, including the one I just called. There's the twins, Alec and Ben, then Jace, who's adopted, and then Max, who's the youngest out of all of us." She told him. "Alec and Ben are three years older than me, Jace is two years older than me, and Max is ten years younger." She told me.
"Hold on, are you a Lightwood?" I asked curiously.
"Yeah, how did you know?" She asked.
"Because those are the names of the Lightwood children." I said. "Alec Lightwood, Ben Lightwood, Isabelle Lightwood, Jace Wayland, and Max Lightwood."
"What about you? Do you have any siblings?" She asked honestly. I couldn't tell her the truth, so I decided to tell her the partial truth.
"No. It was just my mother and I. I never knew my father and I was an only child so she was all I had." I said. While it was true that I only had one parent, it was my father than my mother.
"Is she in London?" Isabelle asked curiously.
"No. No, she, uh, well, she's gone now, so." I said sadly. Her face turned sad.
"Oh. I'm sorry." She apologized.
"Oh, don't be. She was miserable. Yeah. In the end, I forgave her, but she loved me. She just had a strange way of showing it." I said. It was true, except for the fact that I didn't really know my mother, and I grew up with my father, who was now in the clutches of the Clave at the New York Institute. I had to plan this out carefully so as to avoid being caught.
"This was great. Honestly, we should do it more often. I should get back to the Institute though. You're should come with me." Isabelle offered. Step one, check.
"I've kind of gotten used to being on my own." I replied.
"Sometimes change is good." Isabelle said. I nodded, before getting my coat and we headed out.

BEN'S POV

Why they summoned Azazel to the Institute is completely beyond me. Alec did tell me that Jace could now activate his runes without his stele, something no other Shadowhunter can do. I was looking at the monitor that showed the camera to Valentine's cell. The audio was on and he was shouting out something that I found very odd.
"Please! Please! Guards! Somebody! I am not Valentine, I am Magnus Bane! Valentine has escaped! Please, somebody! Somebody!" He screamed. What? I need Alec. Now.
I walked out into the Ops Centre, to find Alec, Jace, and Inquisitor Herondale talking. As I got closer, I heard what they were talking about.
"Don't put this all on Jace. I had a part in this, too." Alec said to the Inquisitor.
"Look, if you want to bench your best fighter with a greater demon on the loose; I'm happy to oblige." Jace added.
"No. First we vanquish Azazel. Then I'll decide what to do with you." Inquisitor Herondale stated. She then walked off. Alec began to follow, but Jace made no move to do so. He then looked up at Alec.
"Go. I'll catch up." He said quickly. Alec then turned around and I walked up to him.
"Alec, I need to talk to you." I said urgently.
"Can it wait?" He asked, almost as if he needed to be gone at this very second.
"No, unfortunately, it can't." I replied in an apologetic tone.
"What is it?" He asked.
"I was looking on the monitor for Valentine's cell, and he started shouting something that I did not think possible." I told him.
"What?" He asked cautiously.
"He was calling out to the guards, trying to get someone's, anyone's, attention. He started saying 'I am not Valentine, I am Magnus Bane! Valentine has escaped!'" I revealed.
"Are you sure that's what he said?" Alec asked, shocked by my comment.
"Yeah. I'm not exactly sure whether to believe him or not though."
"Ok. Well, we'll deal with that after we find Azazel. We have bigger problems to deal with at the moment." Alec said. I nodded at this and we walked over to one of the tables together, Valentine's comments still playing on my mind.