Brothers by Blood (Alec Lightwood twin)

Chapter 67

SEBASTIAN'S POV

I'd just seen Luke making his way towards the Annex and I had a fairly good idea of what he was going to do. I needed to tell Alec about this so we could stop Luke. However, I couldn't do it alone to risk being discovered. Valentine couldn't die today. It wasn't his time, and him doing so would disrupt my carefully thought out plans. I hated to interrupt the meeting, but I had no choice. I walked into the room to hear Alec speaking.
"I understand your concerns. When Luke gets back, we can discuss a neutral location for meetings." He told everyone. I walked up to him and tapped him on the shoulder.
"Might I speak to you for a moment?" I asked in a low voice. He turned back to the Downworlders in attendance.
"Excuse me." He said respectfully, getting up and following me a little ways away.
"What's going on?" He asked, frowning slightly.
"I saw Lucian Graymark heading to the Annex a few minutes ago. Now I know there's a secondary door to the sub-cells through there, so I checked the security feeds. Luke disappears between the cameras." I revealed.
"Someone's looping the footage?" Alec asked. It sounded like he was asking more for confirmation than anything else.
"Yeah." I replied. With that, we practically speed-walked out of the room, heading towards the Annex.

Once we got to the Annex door, we found it to be unlocked and Valentine and Luke fighting. Luke was currently choking Valentine, who looked slightly limp in his arms. Both Alec and I rushed in to split the two of them apart. As we did so, Luke dropped Valentine. I knelt down to make sure he was alright.
"You don't get to die today." I said lowly so that Luke and Alec could not hear me.
"Do I know you?" He asked. I knew he wouldn't recognize me since I looked very different from when I was a child and he sent me to hell, so I wasn't at all surprised by this comment. I stood up again and went with Alec as we handcuffed Luke and moved him to another cell.

*A few minutes later*

I was looking through the security logs to see if I could determine whose clearance was used to access Valentine's cell. I mean, I knew who it was, but I had to act like I didn't. Alec pulled up a chair and sat down.
"Why would you try and kill Valentine?" Alec asked Luke with a tone of 'you-did-something-truly-stupid-why-the-hell-would-you-do-that?'
"Well, he escaped once. He can do it again." Luke retorted.
"And if your plan failed, it would have endangered everyone in this Institute." Alec said in a serious tone.
"The security logs have been wiped clean. There's no data on whose clearance was used to unlock the Annex door." I told them, trying to find any data on who might have wiped the security logs, who could have looped them in the first place, or who could have unlocked the Annex door.
"You really have no idea who this mystery accomplice was?" Alec asked.
"No. They used a burner phone and a voice modulator. No discernible speech pattern. Hell, I can't even give you a gender." Alec looked up at rolled his eyes in an 'of course they did' way as soon as Luke said "burner phone".
"But they had to be inside the Institute in order to loop the cameras, right?" Sebastian asked for confirmation.
"Everyone in this Institute has been affected by Valentine. It could be anyone. We have nothing." Alec said in a dejected tone.
"Well, you got me. The Clave would love to put me behind bars." Luke said factually.
"And they'd be right to. What you did tonight was reckless. Innocent personnel could've been hurt. You deserve to be in prison. But, consider this your get out of jail free card." Alec stated, using his stele to undo Luke's handcuffs.
"Why is that?" Luke asked curiously.
"Because I'm trying to prove to the Downworld that we don't see them as an enemy and arresting you would prove the opposite." Alec said, turning to face them.
"Look, so what do we do about the mole?" Sebastian asked.
"We track him down. One thing's for sure Valentine's not safe here." Alec stated.

ISABELLE'S POV

I was typing up a report when Max burst into the room, tearing my attention away from what I was doing. The look on his face, and the fact that he was panting as if he were running, suggested that something had happened.
"Max? What is it?" I asked, getting in
"Ben's awake." He said. With that, I abandoned what I was previously doing, and we both rushed to the Infirmary.

Once we got to the Infirmary, I saw Mum and Ben talking. Mum brushed the stray hair away from his face. They smiled at each
"Ben!" I exclaimed, rushing over to him. Both Mum and Ben turned to look at us. Ben smiled when he saw Max and I.
"I told you everything would be ok Maxie." Ben said, his voice slightly hoarse. Mum stood up and made room for Max and I to go over and hug Ben. He hugged us back as tight as he could.
"We were so worried that you wouldn't make it." I said softly as we all separated.
"Come on Izzy. You should know that you can't get rid of me that easily." He said. "But thank you for rescuing me."
"Anytime big brother." I said with a smile.
"Where are Alec and Jace?" Ben asked curiously.
"Jace and Clary are on a mission to the Seelie Court, and Alec is in a meeting." I explained. He frowned.
"What are Jace and Clary doing at the Seelie Court?" Ben asked.
"Well, one of the things they are doing is trying to get information on Kaelie and why she was attacking Shadowhunters." I explained.
"I can answer that." Ben said softly. I frowned.
"What?" I asked, surprised.
"She told me why she was doing this before she started carving out my runes." He stated.
"What did she say?" I asked with interest. If Ben could give us even the slightest clue as to why Kaelie had done this, it would be a breakthrough.
"She said 'Shadowhunters need to feel what it's like to lose someone they love. My brother Samuel was all I had in this world, and now he's gone thanks to your brother Jace.' It was revenge for the Downworlders who died in the attack at Valentine's attack on the Institute, her brother especially." Ben revealed. I couldn't discern whether I was shocked at her reasoning, or glad that we had finally got an explanation.
"Well at least that's a start." Mum said. We all turned to her. Honestly, I had forgotten she was here for a moment.
"Does Alec know I'm awake?" Ben suddenly asked. All our attention went back to him immediately.
"No. He's in a meeting and I didn't want to interrupt him. Also, Mum told me to just go and find Izzy." Max piped up.
"Oh, another thing you should know is that Alec is now the Head of the Institute thanks to Jace." I told Ben. He beamed at this.
"I'm so happy for him. He truly deserves it." He said, the smile never leaving his face.