Overwhelmed [3] 《SHADOWHUNTERS》

Chapter Sixteen

Magnus had been left alone by his boyfriend after a worrying insistence that the man needed to return to the Institute. He had settled into his concern with a marathon of monotoned true crime that ran on his television, a cup of tea in his grasp that was spiked with a root meant to settle the mind. His most recent couch had very inviting leather, and the cashmere blankets much too comforting to avoid slumping into.

His eyes had been lulled into droops as he vaguely absorbed the information that droned on about a serial killer from the eighties, speculations offered over where presumed victims had been left and why they had been targeted. The harsh wind that smacked his cheek and lifted up his hair would have been excusable had the night not been too cold to keep his patio doors propped open. The smack of something heavy found the floor behind the furniture he had dozed in, and if that was not enough to force himself to face a startling interruption, the tell-tale whip and flash of a portal snapping shut was the final jolt.

He sprung up and glanced to the once-empty entryway behind him, arms poised in defense as he prepared to use his magic. Unexpected was the still-present gleam of angelic power that surrounded his partners' chosen responsibility, the blond appearing quite pissed off as he took in his surroundings. Four swords had become embedded into his hardwood at each corner of the square of light, which earned a look that likened Magnus' eyes to large saucers. He found his partners stood with Isabelle, each at one of the weapons and trying to catch up to where Clary's magic had taken them.

"What is going on?" Magnus' befuddled words pulled Andy and Alec's attention towards the man, who they found propped up against the back of his couch with an exacerbated look. It became abundantly clear to the Shadowhunters that Simon had not finished delivering their message. A heavy by the Angel escaped from Jace, who crossed his arms in aggravation. He should have known that the two older Shadowhunters' minds would have led them there, to the warlock's well-kept apartment. 

Alec shot a look towards his partner, not a single idea of where to begin explaining their current predicament. The blond that was not happy to be stuck in the midst of it all caught onto the dysfunction. His voice was tainted with a jagged corner usually reserved for moments in which he tried to block the world out. Now, though, he seemed to put everything into whatever insult he could summon. "What, you guys didn't update your boyfriend?"

Andy's brow furrowed just as deeply as Magnus', the warlock's eyes bouncing around to figure everyone out. Jace's gaze – full of shattered colors – met Andy and he hammered through her lost expression. "Dad would be pissed," he scolded the thought of a Shadowhunter fraternizing with a downworlder with raised brows, as if that had ever mattered to either of them. Isabelle took stock of the group with disease, drowned in a sea without a life preserver in sight.

Jace's comment emitted a deep scoff from his sister, along with an eye roll that must have strained her muscles to complete as the whites of her eyes made an appearance. She cared little of what he had to say anymore and stepped up to the barrier between them. Her face was sharp as she questioned, "Bet whoever's got control of you is real proud." Her lip had curled up and Izzy and Alec remained on edge, nearly expecting her to pounce.

She was met with a mirrored intensity from him as he recognized her focus towards breaking the bond between him and the dark force that had a hold of him. The High Warlock had raised himself up in interest as he was forced to catch up to the story hidden within their conversation. When the Herondale siblings found themselves stood at odds in a stubborn silence, Magnus piped up nervously to discuss what had destroyed his perfectly polished planks of dark wood as he spared a slight twist of magic to answer the questions that arose in his mind. He found nothing from the man beyond the odd streak of platinum power but the sense of a demon that did not want to be found out. Isabelle had bitten her lip as she glanced at the two uncompromised members of her family.