moira | alec lightwood

2

"Who the hell is Chass?" Alec retorted.

I stare. "That's not— that's not a name."

"Alright." Alec crossed his arms across his chest. "What the hell is a Chass?"

"It's short for Chasseur. It's French for huntsman." I stared at him blankly and crossed my arms over my chest like he did. "Silly me— of course you wouldn't know. I imagine a good education might be hard to come by these days for the impoverished—"

I watched in satisfaction as Alec's face twisted into an angry scowl. "Did you just call me poor?"

"I did." I mirrored his unamused expression.

"Ah." Alec composed himself but his jaw was set. "I understand— I imagine good manners are difficult to obtain for hooligans."

My jaw dropped. "A hooligan!"

"Guys!" Jace finally interjected between our squabble. Only when he came between the two of us was when I realized he, Isabelle and Clary where all watching us bicker in amusement. "That's enough—"

"I don't have time for this— I need a plan." Clary suddenly snapped back into reality and spun on her heel, storming further into the Ops Center. "Uh, look at all this stuff, these screens— I mean, can any of this help me find Simon? Where is he, anyway? Some kind of crypt in Transylvania?"

"Actually, no— that was Camille's outfit, right?" Jace looked at Isabelle for clarification as he followed her. Slowly, Isabelle, Alec and I followed them. "They're locals."

Isabelle nodded in confirmation and sat down on the table instead of the chair. "They're at the Hotel DuMort, down in Gansevoort Street."

"And we came back here— why?" Clary immediately demanded without missing a beat. "We have to go there, let's go, now— come on."

"Wow, you guys must really have no sense of direction if you're letting her order you around." I remarked, leaning back against the table with my hands resting on the surface. "How long have you been a Shadowhunter— twenty four hours?"

"We're not taking orders from her." Alec snipped at me and then looked at Clary. "We need a Clave resolution for that— and we can't react without considering our options. Downworlders are slaves to their impulses— we're not."

"Alec, you can't just jump on all the Downworlders." Isabelle shot him a smile.

"Oh, that's right." Alec acknowledged blandly. "Seelies have their charms, apparently."

"Seelies?" Clary questioned.

"Like faeries— the Fair Folk." Jace seemed to be the one to always answer her. "Pixies, nixies, elves— anybody half-angel, half-demon. It's pretty much a catch-all term, and Izzy can tell you all about them— she's got a thing."

Isabelle was smiling as she shook her head at him. "We've all got our things, don't we?"

Clary huffed. "Okay, I can't listen to this—"

"You asked." I stared at her blankly.

"I don't care." Clary snipped at me and then started to back away. "What I care about is that Simon's been kidnapped by vampires."

The corner of my mouth quirked up just slightly. "I bet he's having fun."

Clary heaved out a frustrated sigh and turned on her heel, starting to walk towards the huge double doors leading out of the Institute and outside. "I guess I'll just take care of it myself."