CODE NAME: VAMP

CN:V.5 - I'm Sorry, Simon

"I'm sorry, Simon." Jonathan said shaking his head. "You won't get the chance. You'd be as dead as your friend over there before you get within ten feet of my father."

Something flashed behind Simon's eyes and Jonathan had no doubt he was staring into the eyes of an insane boy. "Wanna bet?"

And he had found that strangely hot.

****

"I know this." Simon said, suddenly. He stood in the little girl's room looking around. "I mean, it's familiar."

"What do you mean?" Izzy asked. Simon took a deep breath.

"Wait, I'm thinking." He said shortly. He spun in a semi-circle, looking at everything and nothing. Then he saw it.

"There." He said, walking to the spot under the bed. He wasn't surprised that the police missed it. It was nothing but at the same time, it was their first clue.

He picked up a small black...chip and held it up. Izzy squinted at it, frowning. "What is that?"

"A bug." Simon said. Then he stood up. "Let's go."

He was suddenly itchy and he had to get out right now. He already knew who was involved but he wasn't sure he was ready to believe it.

The last time he saw this, he was fourteen. He had had his face pressed on the floor, being forced to watch as his mother and sister were...

...his throat was hoarse from screaming in pain and anger. His mother still screamed, still fought, but Becks had...had stopped screaming a while ago. He saw something blinking from the corner of his eyes and he focused on it.

It was a small black...thing. He had seen them all around the house but he had ignored them, thinking they were...he couldn't even remember what he thought they were. But right now, this one was blinking. First, red, then blue, then red again. Every four seconds, the color changed.

Red

...

...

...

....

Blue

...

...

...

...

Red

...

...

...

...

Suddenly the boot on his face was gone and he was yanked to his feet. His mother had stopped screaming. In fact, she had just,,,stopped.

"Valentine is going to love you..." the man holding his arm said lightly.

Simon jerked as he felt someone grab his arm. He instinctively gripped a dainty wrist and yelped as he felt a sharp nick on the back of his hand. He blinked and saw Izzy had one of her small blades on his hand. Her expression was worried.

He let her go. "Sorry."

He looked at the bug in his gloved hand. It was just a bug. Not blinking. There was no screaming, no pain.

Well, except where Izzy had nicked him.

"Warlock..." he tapped his communicator. "We need to get the family out of here."

"Why?" Izzy asked as they both walked downstairs. The parents of the missing girl were standing by the stairs when they got down.

"Did you find anything?" The man asked. The father, he assumed.

Just as Simon was about to speak, Izzy cut in. "We'll have to get back to you on that. We are working on it. In the meantime...." Simon tuned out and walked outside.

Alec was standing outside their black van, scowling at...something. The guy was always scowling at something. He straightened and walked towards Simon. "What did you find?"

Simon held out his palm, showing Alec the bug. Then he smiled. "I have a job for you."

Alec looked so hopeful, Simon almost felt bad. He placed the bug in Alec's hand.

"There's more of these around the house." Simon said. "Find them. And let me know if anything changes."

Then he picked up his phone, and pulled up Jace's name. "Give this to Magnus and tell him to find out exactly what it is."

"I thought it was a bug." Alec said, looking down at the innocent looking thing in his huge hand.

"It is." Simon said. "But it's not going to tell us that, is it? Now, give this to your boyfriend. I'm out."

"Where are you going?" Alec said as Simon started walking away. He would get an uber to his place and then drive over to Jace.

"I have a date."

He needed to get away from it all, even if it was just for tonight.

Besides, if things went the way he wanted, he'd have a lot of fun forgetting about everything.

*

He saw Jace before he saw...him.

At first, he couldn't be sure. It had been years since he saw him last. And the last time they saw each other, Simon was crouched over Valentine Morgenstern with a bloody shard of glass in his hand.

He had stared at Simon with a mixture of horror and betrayal before his features had morphed into fury. Simon remembered bracing himself for an attack before he had been pulled away minutes before the Institute operatives had stormed the compound.

And "rescued" Simon and the rest of the kids.

"Hey, sexy." Jace said, his expression open and happy. Simon grinned at him, his arms open.

"Here I am, like you wanted, sunshine." Simon said with a wink.

Jace rolled his eyes. "How was work?"

"I don't want to talk, or even think about work." Simon said. "I..."

He saw the tall blonde with the cold eyes staring at him from across the room. His face tightened for a second before it smoothed out into a stoic mask.

Jonathan Morgenstern still looked good. Simon could feel his face flush as he and Jonathan stared at each other from across the room.

The man was dangerous and they had unfinished business.

He turned away and looked a Jace. "You said something about free booze?"

Jace shook his head and led him to the bar. As he ordered their drinks, Simon could feel the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. He refused to look back.

"Simon Lewis." A voice he hadn't heard in more than a decade drawled behind him. "What a surprise."