Brothers by Blood (Alec Lightwood twin)

Chapter 92

BEN'S POV

I was standing with Izzy and Alec having a look at the 3D holographic map of the city to see if there were any threats or possibly locate Valentine whilst we were waiting for Jace and Clary to get back. Clary and Jace then walked down the stairs and up to the table.
"Anything new?" Izzy asked hopefully.
"We tried tracking him together, like we did with Jonathan, but for some reason it didn't work." Clary replied, sighing as she finished her sentence.
"Magnus's wards are up, Valentine must still be in the city." Jace added.
"Thank the Angel for Magnus and the warlocks." Izzy said.
"They didn't raise the wards for us." Alec said. I rolled my eyes at his pessimism.
"Teams are out doing block by block sweeps throughout the city. We'll find him." Izzy told them. Izzy and Alec then made the map disappear and rounded the table to look at something else.
"Hey you OK?" Jace asked Clary, seeing the look on her face.
"I thought I'd be relieved when Jonathan was finally dead. But actually, I feel worse." Clary said. I glanced at Jace and then back at Clary.
"I get it. He was your brother." Jace said. She smiled at him and their hands intertwined. However, their moment was cut short by alarms going odd.
"Aerial sensors." Alec said. We all walked over to one of the monitors. A red dot was moving relatively quickly through the city, however, we weren't exactly sure what it was.
"Is it Valentine?" Clary asked.
"No. Could be some kind of wraith demon." Izzy replied.
"Ok, Ben, you stay here and monitor its progress and let me know if there are any changes. Clary, Jace, Izzy, gear up." Alec all but ordered. I nodded at his order. At least I'd be able to do something useful.

ALEC'S POV

Clary, Izzy, Jace, and I were running towards the demon's location. We ran down the road and stopped effectively in the middle of an intersection though none of the cars were moving for some reason, despite it being the middle of the day.
"Where is it?" Jace asked. Everyone was on their guard.
"It should be right on top of us." I replied.
"ALEC!" Jace called.
"I've never seen a demon like that." Izzy said. Honestly, I agreed with her. What type of Demon was that?
"On your six!" Jace yelled to me. We immediately switched places and I fired an arrow at it.
"Can you see it?" Izzy asked. None of us could, but we could clearly hear its roar.
"What the hell is it waiting for?" Clary asked.
"It's coming around for another pass." I said to no one in particular. Suddenly, the demon appeared from around a corner and began flying towards us.
"Alec!" Izzy said, her voice slightly raised. I knew she was telling me to just fire the arrow but I needed to get a perfect shot or it would be a waste.
"Relax. I got this." I said calmly. I fired the arrow and the demon exploded. Direct hit.
"Nice." Izzy complimented me. I lowered my bow and all we could hear for a few moments was the sound of horns beeping. Suddenly, the demon's remains came to life to form smaller demons. It had split up into four smaller demons. They began to scuttle around in different directions. One hopped on a NYPD police car before jumping up to dash across the building next to it.
"Over there!" I said, indicating to two more that had scurried up the building on the opposite side of the street.
"They're splitting up!" Clary said. Suddenly, one came running towards us, before suddenly redirecting its path towards the entrance to the subway. We looked at each other, not exactly knowing what to do.
"At least four demons are still unaccounted for. Notify all available personnel." I said as we began walking back to the Institute.
"What's wrong? Is everything OK?" I heard Jace ask from behind me. I turned around to see he and Clary had stopped and he was facing her.
"That was Luke. Valentine's on his way to Idris." She said, looking at all of us.
"What?" I asked in disbelief.
"How?" Izzy asked, almost immediately after me.
"He made a deal with the Seelie Queen. Luke's warned all the other Downworld leaders." Clary said.
"Damn Valentine." I heard Jace mutter.
"If Valentine gets to that lake-" Izzy began, but I cut her off.
"He won't. Malachi's army is armed and waiting for him." I said.
"We need to warn him. Who knows how many Circle Members will be there?" Clary said.
"If we lower the wards, these demons can get out. Spread beyond the city." Izzy warned.
"Maybe we don't have to lower them. Maybe my portal rune can pierce the wards." Clary suggested.
"We can't all go. The demons need to be dealt with." I replied.
"Clary and I'll go. You two stay here, slay the beasts." Jace offered. I paused, not really wanting to send him off alone, despite the fact that I knew he could handle himself.
"Fine. Be careful." I said seriously. Jace looked up at me.
"Likewise." Jace replied in the same tone. "And when am I ever not careful?" Jace added on slightly playfully. He and Clary then turned away from us. Clary drew her portal rune and created a portal before us. Honestly, it was quite impressive, even more so that it could pierce the wards. They both walked through it and disappeared, along with the portal. The portal closed and Izzy and I looked at each other, concern clear in both our eyes. We then headed back to the Institute to see if Ben had found anything useful.

*Back at the Institute*

Izzy, Ben, and I were currently in the Ops Centre talking. Izzy and I had just given Ben a run down of the mission, what happened, and where Jace and Clary were.
"There's over 50 of them now, with numbers increasing." Ben said.
"They haven't attacked once. What are they doing?" I asked.
"I don't know, but demons don't usually come into our realm to sight-see. We need to find the rift where they're coming from and seal it." Izzy said seriously.
"We'll need a warlock for that." I said.
"Not just any warlock. The most powerful one in New York." Izzy replied, looking pointedly at me. I looked down and shook my head before looking back at her.
"Magnus is not interested in helping the Shadowhunters. He said so himself." I said, no emotion in my voice.
"He still also thinks the Seelie Queen is on their side. He needs to know about the deal she made with Valentine." Izzy replied.
"Well, not from me. He doesn't want anything to do with me." I said.
"Don't make this personal, Alec." Izzy advised.
"I'm not!" I retorted.
"If you don't ask him, I will." Izzy said, grabbing her jacket and walking away from us.
"Izzy, wait." I said. She turned around, one of her, 'I win' smirks on her face, but what I next said both wiped the smirk off her face and threw her off. "I'll send Ben instead." I said. Izzy rolled her eyes and sighed before walking away.
"You're sending me? I thought I wasn't allowed out in the field." Ben asked, confusion on his face.
"Going to Magnus' apartment and coming back isn't battling Ben." I said. He sighed.
"It might as well be at the moment." He said. Honestly, I couldn't disagree with him there.