The Stars of Our Love [ Wattys 2017]

Chapter 9

"Do it," Isabelle said softly. She looked up at the warlock with tears in her eyes. She always was a brave one, Magnus thought. He offered her a small, grim smile, then turned to Clary as she came running into the room carrying several bottles of a clear liquid.

"I have it," she said breathlessly. Magnus thanked her, took a jar of holy water, and opened it. Then he stuck a thin rod with a wad of cotton on the end in the jar. After letting it soak for a minute, he took it out. The cotton was turning a faint blue as if an aura were surrounding it. Magnus looked up at Jace and Isabelle. They received the silent message and held Alec down. He had been lightly resting, so when they touched him, he instantly woke up and went into attack mode.

He ripped away from them, causing his shoulder to tear even more. He cried out and jumped away behind the ruined bed frame. Something about him seemed desperately off; even more so than he had been in the past three days. There was a feral, animalistic look in his eyes, which were turning faintly red. His teeth were bared and a low growl was escaping his lips. The shadowhunters all looked at him in astonished horror. Jace was the first to recover from the shock. "We're not going to hurt you," he said soothingly as he inched closer, his hands out in a gesture of peace. But Alec wasn't having any of that today. The half-possessed boy snarled and even snapped at him a little.

"Stay back!" he yelled. His breaths were coming in ragged gasps, his chest heaving with the effort. Magnus knew if he didn't do anything soon, the boy would be completely overtaken by whatever was being harboured in him.

"Alec, sweetie, it's ok. This isn't you. This monster in you is in control. You need to fight it so I can help you. It's not too late to stop the changing," he said. Isabelle and Maryse looked astonished at this, but Jace had a look of grim understanding as if he had suspected it but had hoped it wasn't true. Clary just looked confused. "We can stop this."

Alec's eyes filled with a new emotion Magnus couldn't pinpoint. Hurt? "What if I want it to take me? What if this is what I want?" Alec asked. His voice was strained and weak, making him sound like a lost little boy. He is a lost little boy, Magnus realised. He needed guidance from him. He couldn't just leave him on his own like this when he needed him most. He couldn't do to Alec what the whole world had done to Magnus his whole life. The warlock scooted forward, and Alec quickly moved back, hitting his back against the wall. His chest was rising and falling rapidly as sweat collected on his forehead. 

"You don't want that, baby, trust me. Killing for blood, fearing the sunlight, never being able to visit the Institute," Magnus reasoned. But this just made Alec angrier.

"STOP THAT!" he screamed. Tears began to slide down his cheeks.

Magnus frowned at him in confusion. "Stop what?"

"Talking to me like we're still together! I hate it! Make up your mind! Do you despise me and think of me as a child, or do you love me and care about me? CHOOSE, GODDAMMIT!" The tears were pouring relentlessly down his cheeks. His shoulders were shaking with silent sobs. "M-maybe if I were a vampire, we could finally be together. We could live tog-gether forever and we wouldn't have to worry about m-me getting old..." Magnus looked at the lost boy in sadness and guilt as he rambled on about how they could live together, repeating the same thing many times. I did this to him. I broke him. Then Magnus crawled over and wrapped his arms around him. Alec struggled against him at first, then stopped in defeat. "We'll never be together again, will we?" he asked softly. The broken despair in his voice caused Magnus' heart to shatter into a million tiny pieces.

Magnus didn't know how long they sat there with Alec sobbing into his shoulder and clinging to him like his life depended on it. But by the time he finally pried Alec off of him, his jacket was soaked in tears and blood. "Alec, sweetie, we need to clean your shoulder now," he whispered softly in is ear. Alec nodded and laid down, bracing himself for the horrible sting he knew was coming. After re-soaking the cotton stick, Magnus gently probed around the bites. A hiss escaped Alec's closed teeth, but that was his only sign of discomfort. "This will hurt a lot," Magnus warned, then stuck the stick into the bite. Alec's mouth opened in a silent scream as his eyes screwed up in pain. He clenched his jaw and writhed on the floor. Magnus closed is eyes against the heart-wrenching scene, slowly turning the cotton stick to clean the wound. Then he pulled it out and began cleaning the other entry. Alec's face and neck were covered in a sheen of sweat, and his breathing was becoming noisy. This whole process was taking a toll on his body. The cotton stick was finally pulled out, bringing some relief from the pain.

"Clary, get me a jar of Holy Water," Magnus instructed. Then he poured the jar over Alec's stifling body, bringing a content moan from the prone figure. Sensing Alec's need for relief from the constant burning through his body, he propped him up and helped him drink some of the water. "I'm going to inject some of this into your veins. This will hurt more than anything you have ever felt, but you need to be strong. You need to fight it off," he warned."Can you be strong for me, Alec?" he whispered to him. Alec just nodded, leaning his cheek against Magnus' hand. Being this close to him was like Heaven to the shadowhunter, especially after being through Hell the past couple days. 

Taking a shaky breath, Magnus brushed Alec's sweaty hair off his forehead and placed a gentle kiss there. He knew this wouldn't help anything, but he needed it for himself. He had to indulge his sick desires at least once, or he would be haunted by the prospect that he had a chance for one last show of affection yet squandered it. Alec looked up at Magnus, unsure of how to feel about what just happened. He didn't get a chance to worry about it for much longer when Magnus found a vein on his arm and unceremoniously stuck the needle in. Alec went rigid as the holy water rushed into his bloodstream. His body convulsed once then went stiff as he arched his back into the pain. 

Alec's eyes followed Magnus' as he was passed off to Jace's lap. "Make sure he is soaked in Holy Water every half hour, and have him drink some, too," Magnus told the blond boy. Jace nodded but looked a little confused.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"Taking a break," he said tightly as he got up and left, not being able to stand watching his love in such pain.

Be grateful that I stayed up this late to finish this chapter. And that I made it this long, too. I'll probably edit it later, 'cause I'm really tired. I could be sleeping, but here I am (or was) writing this for you guys. It was especially hard because the 'H' key wasn't working. Ugh. HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH there. So if you see a missing H somewhere in there, get from there <-ENJOY AND TELL ME HOW IT IS! This is almost done too. Oh, and sorry for the swearing. It just seemed appropriate for the tension-filled scene c: