Brothers by Blood (Alec Lightwood twin)

Chapter 49

BEN'S POV

Alec, Jace, Clary, and I were standing around one of the tables in the Ops centre, looking at a holographic map of part of the city.
"Azazel's attacks go as far south as the meat-packing district. And then the trail goes cold." Alec said.
"It's no use just tracking the dead bodies. With his ability to dematerialize, he could be anywhere." Jace added.
"Maybe we can help." I heard Izzy's voice pipe up. Izzy and a blond man I had never met before walked over to stand at the table.
"Izzy! We've been so worried about you. Where have you been?" Clary asked, embracing Izzy in a hug.
"Looking for Azazel." Izzy said as she pulled away. She then turned to the unknown blond man that she had brought with her to the Institute. I could tell he was a Shadowhunters due to the huge Calm Anger rune on his neck. That's a weird place to have that rune. I shrugged it off when she began speaking again. "This is Sebastian Verlac from the London Institute. When the demon came after me, Sebastian saved my life." She introduced him.
"Well, I simply lent a hand." He said with a smile. I noticed that Jace was caressing his blade when Izzy was introducing him, and Alec had a look on his face that made it look like he was wary of Sebastian.
"Sebastian's an expert on all things Azazel." She continued.
"When I studied abroad at the Paris Institute, I specialized in Greater Demons." He explained.
"Thanks for saving my sister. I'm Alec." Alec introduced himself, leaning over the table and shaking Sebastian's hand.
"Thanks for saving Izzy. I'm Ben." I said, doing the same.
"Yeah, thank you. I'm Jace." Jace said, copying our action.
"Ah, the great warrior in the flesh. Your reputation precedes you." He said, looking at Jace. He then turned to Clary. "As does yours. You must be Clary, Valentine's daughter." He said, shaking her hand.
"Yeah, don't hold it against me." Clary said with a smile.
"Yeah, we don't choose our parents." He told her, shaking her hand. I saw something in his eyes in that comment. I wasn't quite sure what it was, but it wasn't something I felt comfortable with. I also noticed his use of "we" and "our" instead of "you" and "your". I'll talk to Magnus and my brothers about it later.
"So tell us about Azazel. How do we take him down?" Jace asked, changing the subject.
"The only way to banish him is to puncture his demonic core. In corporeal form, it's between the T8 and T9 vertebrae, but it's not that simple. The core is about the size of a pea."
"Oh, so the entry point's right below his sternum?" Jace asked. Sebastian nodded, confirming the location. "If I can get close enough, I can kill him." Jace added. Sebastian shook his head.
"You wouldn't have enough velocity, and even if you did, the defeat's only temporary. The nasty buggers always find a way to break out of their realm and come back." He said, looking back at Jace, then to the rest of us.
"Thank you for the intel. We'll take it from here." I said. Everyone looked at me.
"If I can, I'd like to help." Sebastian requested. I could sense weird vibes coming off this guy, and I wanted to protect my siblings from him.
"We appreciate that, but you don't have clearance to go on mission. Not this Institute." I said.
"Ben, you can't be serious." Izzy said.
"Hey, Ben. Look. He clearly knows more than us about Azazel. We could use all the help we could get." Jace said, trying to calm me. I had a very unimpressed look on my face, the same one Alec had on a daily basis.
"Now, as far as tracking is concerned, we should really think about-"
"We have a very capable warlock for that. You do what you want. I'm gonna work with Magnus." I said, walking away.
"Ben, stop! Stop! What's your problem?"
"Sebastian Verlac shows up out of the blue and saves you? There's something not right about this."
"What are you trying to say?" Izzy asked. By the look on my face she obviously figured it out. "Don't treat Sebastian like the enemy just because he was able to help me." She said, her tone warning.
"I can't deal with this right now." I said, walking away from her before she could come after me. I decided to call Magnus to see if he could help us.
"Hey, Ben." He answered.
"Hey. Look, I know you had a rough night, but, I need your help tracking Azazel." I requested.
"I wish I could help, but I'm busy with a client." He said tersely. The tone of his voice made me frown.
"Are you OK? You sound strange." I asked him.
"I had a rough night. Look, I need to get back to my client. If you need a warlock, call Dorothea." He said before hanging up. I took the phone away from my ear, frowning as I looked down at it. I walked over to Alec, who was standing with Jace, Clary, Sebastian, and Izzy.
"Alec? Could you go to Magnus' place and check on him please?" I asked. He raised a questioning eyebrow.
"Why?" He asked.
"I just called him and he sounded strange on the phone. Terse." I revealed.
"Ok. I'll go check on him."

*A little while later – at Magnus' loft*

ALEC'S POV

Magnus' door was locked when I got to his apartment, so I knocked. No answer. I knocked again.
"Magnus, you there?" I called whilst knocking.
"Hello." He said. It was weird how a) he wasn't calling me Alexander, or b) using any pet names.
"What's going on?" I asked curiously.
"Nothing. Why?" He said shortly.
"Well, it's just Ben said you were acting strange on the phone just now. Terse, I believe the word was." I replied, stepping around him and into his apartment.
"I told you. I'm busy." He said.
"Right. It's just, uh you've never refused to help me when I need it, and I just-" I said, but I cut myself off with the look on his face. "Magnus. What's wrong? Hey talk to me." I said, trying to get him to open up to me, placing my hand softly on his cheek. Suddenly, Magnus was swept to the side.
"Did I not tell you to get rid of him?" I heard another voice say.
I looked back to where Magnus previously was to see it was Azazel. I immediately deglamoured my bow and notched an arrow.
"Alec, don't!" Magnus called.
"I got this!" I said. Azazel flung me backwards, but I released the arrow as I flew backwards. It landed right in his demonic core. He roared at me and disappeared in a cloud of smoke, leaving only dust in his wake. Magnus then crawled over to his remains quickly as I got up and made my way over to him.
"No. No. No. No." He kept repeating.
"Are you OK?" I asked, kneeling down next to him. He didn't look at me.
"Fine." He said, not looking at me.
"Why'd you tell me to stop?" I asked curiously.
"I was afraid something terrible would happen. Something that couldn't be undone." He said ominously, but he still wasn't looking at me.
"Hey. You're OK." I said softly, bringing him into a hug.