Assassin, until the first moment (🇬🇧)

Fallen roses

There had even been a few moments during the past two months when he wished for nothing more than to heed his own judgment as easily as he had done before. In the darkest moments, he had cursed the choices that he had led him to develop such strong feelings for Magnus. The pain of losing the assassin lay heavy in the pit of his stomach like a searing stone that burned him relentlessly from within.

One of the worst things about the situation was that there wasn't even a place where Alec could mourn Magnus. There was no grave to lay flowers, no headstone to recognise him. Magnus' body had still not been found and the official statement had been that, for reasons unknown, the Duke of Edom's son had gone missing during his travels, being considered most likely dead. Nobody, except himself and Jace, knew the truth. No one knew that Alec's refusal to Jonathan to rape that poor boy had resulted in the assassin’s death.

More than once, Alec had been ready to reach out to Asmodeus and ask if he knew anything about the whereabouts of Magnus' body. But then Alec would have revealed their secret - that he knew of Magnus' second identity as an assassin, and that would mean his own death.

In spite of everything, Alec held onto the brief and fleeting time he had spent with Magnus like a precious treasure, safe and secure locked away in his heart. That and the support from his family and closest friends, especially that of Jace, was something that had helped him survive the past few weeks. It had prevented him from crawling into the dark recesses of his mind.

Alec bit his lip and tried to get his feelings and thoughts under control. Another rumble of thunder echoed through the charged air and the first droplets of rain started to fall from the darkening grey sky, forming dark blemishes on the fabric of his suit. The Duke dropped to his knees and his shoulders sagged from the weight of what had happened over the past few weeks.

Shortly after Jonathan was arrested, countless diaries had been found in one of the basements within the Morgenstern summer house, hidden behind loose stones in one of the foundation walls. It had become apparent that the crimes had all taken place within the basement of this house, and that after he had killed them Jonathan had moved his victims’ bodies to the sites where they were finally discovered. This further explained the lack of evidence in the respective areas. Still, it was astounding to Alec, just how Jonathan had managed to do all of this unnoticed. After all, the locations of the bodies were not the most discrete of places.

The police had hoped to interrogate Jonathan about the murders, but he had not regained consciousness after he was shot and placed under arrest. The gunshot wounds he had sustained had been so severe that he died as a result in the hospital a few days after Alec's rescue. The full moon murderer was interred in private shortly after his death and no one knew exactly where in the cemetery Valentine's son had been buried.

The police officers had studied the full moon murderer’s diaries thoroughly. Even though they couldn't find adequate information in regards to Jonathan's motives, they gained further insight into the planning process of the murders. Alec still shivered when he thought of how detailed Jonathan had outlined all of his plans. In addition to everything, they also learned that Jonathan was indeed behind the poison attack on his family but his connection to Lilith still remained a mystery. He hadn't mentioned her, not once.

For Alec, it was doubtful that Valentine Morgenstern hadn't been aware of his son's gruesome acts, that had taken place right under his nose in one of his very own properties. But the police had nothing on hand to prove the Duke other than unwitting in his son’s horrendous acts. 

Valentine had stated that the summer house had not been used by his family over the past few months and that he had not heard of the atrocities that had happened there. No attendants had been quartered in the house, and the caretaker, who had checked the house every now and then, hadn't noticed anything unusual. Jonathan had clearly known that the house was not being used and had taken advantage of this for his plans.