01| ties
As I stepped out of the portal, I noticed Alec walking out of our bedroom's bathroom. His footsteps halt, fingers glued on the buttons of the dress shirt he was wearing, when he noticed me standing in the middle of the room. We both cleared our throats, the awkward tension lingering between us
"Where were you?" He asked.
I glanced at him before looking away almost immediately, my cheeks heating up for some reason I don't know – or I do know but refused to even acknowledge.
I shook my head before plopping down on our bed and stared at the ceiling, "I went back home."
"Oh," My eyebrow's shot up, and threw a glance at him. Alec licked his lower lips, his frown deepening. I lifted myself up, propping my elbows at the bed, and noticed how he look slightly bothered.
"What?" I asked.
His eyes snapped up to me, his hazel eyes held my boring black ones – and for a moment I found myself lost in them, my loud heart beat drowning the silence lingering between us. Alec swallowed, breaking the eye contact first, and lightly shook his head.
"Nothing," He breathed out. He cleared his throat again and resumed to button up his shirt.
I frowned, biting my tongue to refrain from saying anything before laying back on the mattress when suddenly walked towards me, stood in between my legs, his hands latching around my wrist in a tight grip and without a warning, pulled me up. A surprised gasp escaped my lips, my eyes widening as I frowned up at him. Alec raised a brow and gave a pointed look at me.
"You might accidentally shoot yourself with that." He said.
It took me half a minute to process what he was saying before letting out a small 'oh', making Alec's lip to twitch upwards. My hands crawled up to my chest, reaching for the strap and smoothly unlatched it around me and placed the gun holster at my side.
"I know a few people who would be so damn happy if that happens." I muttered to myself, but Alec caught it.
"Who?" He frowned and crossed his arms.
"No one." I forced a smile, and mentally scolded myself. I shook my head, and eyed my husband, who oddly still hasn't finished buttoning up his shirt, his bare chest still in view, the rune – our wedding rune peaking through. I had another sharp intake of breath when I realized the position we are in – he was too close.
Too close that I couldn't have myself breathe normally.
I cleared my throat, "C-could you – uh, I don't –"
Alec's face got confused at first, his cheeks turning into a light shade of red after realizing what I was trying to say, and he quickly stepped away.
"You have a mission?" I asked after I composed myself. Alec smirked, his eyes shining with amusement.
"We have a mission," He pointed at me and the next words rolled off his tongue took me by surprise, "After we got married – you know, we have become some sort of like a package deal."
It wasn't always that Alec show or voice out his opinion about the marriage — it was a very sensitive topic, one we always try to avoid. Although he may seem to act like everything is well, I knew that it wasn't.
Being forced to marry someone you don't even love — no matter how close your ties were, will never be okay.
For a few seconds, none of us said a word, just staring into each other before Alec look away again and continued buttoning up his shirt.
Just how many damn buttons his shirt has?
The awkward tension was soon broke by Isabelle as she entered the room, wearing a white two piece dress and a platinum wig on her hand.
"Hurry up, people. We've got demons to slay." She announced. Isabelle turned to her brother and noticed that he was wearing something other than his sweatshirts, "Oh, wow. You're not being boring."
Alec frowned and pointed at me, but I just grinned and turned, making sure that my bare back was on sight just as I reached down to grab my gun.
Alec scoffed, his eyebrows raised as he gave the both of us a pointed look, "Really?"
Isabelle gave him sly smile and nudged her brother, before linking arms with me as we walked out of the room towards the Ops center, "What can I say? Demons dig blondes."
I let out an amused laugh, "But that isn't blonde." I pointed out, taking the wig from her hand and finger combed the strands.
Alec bit his lower lip, a smile threatening to break out of his face as he stared at me before rolling his eyes, making me smile.
"Of course they do, but that's white."
"Mm," I hummed, shaking my head as I twirl the wig around my finger, "It's platinum, not white. Totally different concepts."
"And they don't exactly like Shakespeare." Isabelle interjected, "Okay, Alec?"
"You're plenty distracting on your own."
Isabelle let out a sigh, but smiled up at Alec, "So, be yourself, is that what you're trying to say?"
Alec rolled his eyes again and turned to me, looking as if he wanted to say something but decided against it.
"Never mind. Looking good, let's go." He said. Isabelle turned to me and made a face, before pulling me to follow Alec.
"We're ready, Jace." Isabelle called, announcing our presence as we neared him, catching Jace's attention as he stared at the monitors in front of him.
"Nice choice, Izzy. Demons dig blondes." Jace remarked, glancing at the wig on my hand.
Isabelle smiled, taking the wig on my hand and threw a glance at her brother, "Told you."
"That's not blonde," I muttered under my breath.
"Yes," Alec said, agreeing with me, "It's platinum."
Jace turned and started to walk away, completely ignoring our comment, "All right, guys. For some reason our demon friends are killing mundanes and draining their blood."
My eyebrows furrowed, "Wait, blood?"
"Why do they want blood?" Alec added, falling into step beside me as we followed Jace into the weapons' rack, "Isn't that vampire territory?"
"I don't know, Alec." Jace threw us a glance, "Lazy vampires, maybe?"
" – Or, there must be something special about their blood." I quipped without looking at them as I adjusted the strap of my shotgun holster.
"What could be special about mundane blood?" Alec says, rolling his eyes, as if it would help prove his point.
"You get me a sample and I'll tell you exactly what they're looking for." Isabelle said.
Jace stopped in front of a wall, and pressed a button to open a rack full of seraph blades, taking two and handed it to Alec and Isabelle, before taking one himself. I pursed my lips, and pinched the bridge of my nose, feeling slightly annoyed at his antics.
"Here,"
I blinked, halting from walking back towards the racks upon hearing Alec's quiet voice beside me. He pushed it into my hands, before picking up one for himself and followed Jace. My lips pursed, my fingers tightening around the blade, before taking a deep breath.
"It's okay,Amaris." I told myself, repeating it like a mantra. I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath as I'm sure I would be needing it before I followed them.
"This is what our target looks like," I heard Jace says, pointing at the screen where a picture of an old Asian man wearing a corporate suit is displayed.
"For now," I added as I neared them. Alec glanced at me, as I stood beside him, his gaze lingering longer than I wanted. I cleared my throat, glancing at him.
"Eyes on the front."
"R-right," Alec nodded and did what he was told, clearing his throat, "Right. Great, I'll get the approval for the mission."
"Come on, Alec," Jace started, his lips curling into a smile – a smile I know that will lead us into another unsanctioned mission, "By the time you've sent that message, we'll have killed six demons."
"Besides," Isabelle drawled, "It's more fun to break the rules than to follow them."
Alec and I glanced at each other, his eyebrows raised and I shrug as I take his wrist and pulled him along, "Come on, it isn't like we can actually stop them – besides, Isabelle's right. It's more fun to break the rules than to follow them."
-
I ran my hand through my hair, my eyes trained on the man that had just passed by me. I folded the newspaper I was holding, placing it neatly on my side before pushing myself off the bench I was seating in, and followed right after him. My lips curled up as I passed by Alec, his hand latching into mine as we shot up in the air when our target tried to look behind him.
"Smooth," I commented as we watched our target bumped into two different people, and shapeshift into them, the last being a woman in a purple dress.
Alec and I walked across the roof, meeting Jace and Isabelle in the middle before jumping off the roof to follow our target walking inside the Pandemonium. We headed right after, our eyes locked on it.
"Jace!" I heard Alec called out. I turned around, noticing Jace walking away from a ginger-head girl.
"Who was that?" Isabelle asked.
"Not now," Jace simply shook his head, stepping in front of me, his arms crossed, blocking my view of the girl he was talking to earlier. I frowned, and tried to peek behind him.
"Who –"
He cut me off, walked past us and inside the Pandemonium. "Let's go slay demons."
"More mundane blood for your boss." I heard her say, slipping a small bottle filled with a red liquid to the hands of a man wearing a black suit, the latter handing over a small pouch to the lady.
We followed our target on the farther side of the Pandemonium, the thick curtains falling as we stepped inside a more private area.
"Izzy." Jace nodded.
I slowly reached for my gun behind my back, walking over on the other side of the room, with Alec on the other side. The demons surrounding us getting distracted as Isabelle stepped on the platform, pulling off the platinum wig and the black coat she was wearing, dancing and distracting all the demons inside the room.
"I hear you've been peddling mundane blood." Jace said, his voice low as he stepped behind the woman.
"Why?" She questioned, "Are you looking to score?"
"I'm not," Jace smirked, the lady facing him, "But you're gonna tell me who is."
"Well, you're outnumbered here."
"Oh, I like our odds." He replied, his smirk dropping off as he brought his blade out, "Last chance."
My eyes darted to Alec, and he locked eyes with me. A silent communication went between us before he gave me a small nod of approval. I run my fingers through my hair, lifting up my gun to my eye level after I found a comfortable position, fingers tightening around the trigger when a scream broke out, catching us all off-guard.
"Watch out!" A ginger head girl - the one Jace found earlier, ran through and pushed off our target.
"What the hell," I muttered, before going back into my position, firing the gun towards the lady as Jace pushed the mundane I had no time to pay attention to as the demons continued to swarm towards us. My breathing spiked up as I kept firing off, covering Alec, Izzy and Jace's blind spots as they fought.
"Amaris!" Alec called out.
I quickly turned behind me, knocking the demon with my gun. I ducked, swiping my legs on his, a grunt escaping on his lips as he fell on the floor. I placed a foot on his chest to keep him in place and aimed my gun at him, but before I could pull the trigger, an arm wrapped tightly around my neck, catching me off guard.
The gun fell of my hands as I choked, and quickly reached for the seraph blade strapped on my thigh, the blade lighting up as I thrust it on his stomach, killing it. I fell down on the floor, gasping for air as Alec slid down beside me, his hand pressed against my back, the other holding my gun.
"Hey. You okay?" He asked as he helped me stand up.
"Yeah, I am." I panted, pushing the hair out of my face, taking a deep breath as my eyes scanned the empty room before staring up at him, "Let's go back to the Institute."
-
I sat cross legged on the bed, wearing an army green oversized shirt, placing huge pillows in the middle of the bed when Alec walked in. His eyes remained on the pillows I placed to mark each others sleeping space in our shared bed as none of us wanted to sleep on the couch.
"What?" I asked, catching his attention. Alec cleared his throat, his gaze drifting in mine, his lips curling up in amusement. He removed his leather jacket, placing it on the armchair nearby.
"Getting ready to sleep?"
I rolled my eyes at him playfully, "What does it look like I'm doing?"
"I don't know, taking a breather?" Alec shrugged, seating on the armchair as he removed his shoes, "You know from being choked and all."
"You're not funny."
"I wasn't trying to be." His lips curled up into a smirk — my expression automatically mirroring his. He leaned his back against the armchair, eyes solely focused on me. I licked my lower lip, turning my attention away from him and to the pillow wall beside me, feeling flustered all of a sudden.
I feel like I'm being choked again because I can't breathe properly.
"You know, if I were the demon and I encountered a Shadowhunter with a relatively short height, my first instinct would be having is to pick it up, not put on choke hold," I pursed my lips, wanting to stop my rambling but my mouth has a different idea, "But okay, I get it that putting someone in a choke hold is a much easier task and definitely has less effort than lifting. So yeah, I literally don't know why I said that. I'm not a demon and will not become a demon 'coz that is just way too impossible."
Alec was biting his lip, stopping a grin from breaking out his face when I looked at him.
"I'm glad one of us finds this entertaining." I told him. He shrugged, fighting back a smile.
"I'm not. I —" A knock on our door cut Alec off, his light demeanor quickly changing into a stricter one, as Jace peaked his head behind the door.
"Hey," He clears his throat, eyes darting between Alec and I, "Infirmary now."
My brows furrowed and turned to Alec who rolled his eyes, "What is going on?"
"Jace brought a mundane."
"A mundane?" I repeated, straightening up my body, confusion swarming me. I looked at Jace, "Why?"
"She is not a mundane," Jace huffed out in annoyance, crossing his arms against his chest, "You'll see. C'mon, let's go to the Infirmary now."
I blinked, Jace shutting the door as he left. I turned to Alec, shaking my head as I lay on the bed.
"No. I'm not going. It's hours past my bedtime already!"
I heard Alec chuckled, the frown on my face slowly disappearing at the sound, a small smile gracing on my lips as I stared at him.
"You heard Jace," Alec spoke up, now beside me, "Get up."
"Jace and I aren't exactly on speaking terms so he was talking to you," I said, not noticing the way he tensed up at my words as I was busy pushing his hands away as he try to make me get up, "So by all means, the door is very much open for you to walk out and follow your parabatai."
"Amaris,"
I huffed playfully, before standing up from the bed, the oversized shirt sliding across my mid thighs, covering the black cotton shorts I was wearing. I grabbed my leather jacket on the wardrobe, slipping on the platform boots I was wearing earlier
"Let's get this over with," I muttered. Alec eyed me up and down, before turning away, heading towards the door and out on the hallway.
"You look like you're gonna practically walk half-naked around the Institute." He said, barely throwing me a glance.
"Except I'm not really half-naked." I quipped, amusement lacing my tone.
"Funny."
"I wasn't trying to be," I replied, using the same words and tone he threw at me earlier. Alec's lips twitched, eyeing me from the corner of his eyes.
"There you are." Jace said, meeting us halfway as we neared the Infirmary.
"A mundane shouldn't even be here." Alec told him off as we entered the room where Isabelle sat on one of the beds, a ginger head girl that looks strikingly familiar sitting in front of her, face streaked in confusion and fear.
"Where is here exactly?" She asked, her eyes darting between all of us.
"She is not a mundane, Alec." Jace replied without sparing him a glance. Alec's brow shot up, scoffing as he crossed his arms against his chest.
"How did you even know that?"
"Alec —" I started, worry lacing my tone, my eyes darting to the ginger head who looks like she's seconds away from completely freaking out.
"Because the seraph blade lit up when she touched it," Jace explained, and gestured to the girl. He stood beside Isabelle, lightly tapping her shoulder, "Look. Isabelle, can you —"
Isabelle smirked, before getting up from the bed and sitting on the chair at the side.
Jace heaved a sigh, and offered his hand, "I'm Jace Wayland."
The ginger head blinked, stammering as she looked at us, "I'm, uh —"
"Clary Fray. We know who you are,"
"Wait," I frowned, turning to Alec and Isabelle, "We do?"
"Oh, shush," Isabelle rolled her eyes playfully at me, her arms wrapping around my shoulders and gesturing me to keep quiet.
"Am I the only one who finds this unusual?" Alec sighed in annoyance, glancing back and forth between all of us.
"You find everything unusual, Alec." I smiled, but dropped it when Alec gave me a look, his frown deepening as he spoke again.
"I have to report this to the Clave."
Jace exhales, "You know what? Dial it down a notch."
"My brother doesn't have a dial," Isabelle laughs, turning to her brother, "I love you, Alec, but you have a switch that's always on."
Alec smiled briefly at her, "I love you too. But this –"
"Hey, you know what? Give me a minute." Jace looks up at him, raising his hands up against Alec who just gave him a blank look. He sighed, his eyes darting towards me and back to Alec.
I sighed, glancing at Isabelle, and then at Clary who was awkwardly watching the exchange. I smiled softly at her before stepping beside Alec, and placed a hand in his arm in a reassuring manner.
"Alec – Jace knows what he is doing so let us leave him be, yes?"
"Here's a word you never hear me say. Please?" Jace added, his head slightly nodding as if he was agreeing with me, before gesturing towards the door. I rolled my eyes.
"Alec, c'mon –"
"What is with you?" Alec started as I linked my arms around his, pulling him out of the Infirmary, "Really, no, what is with him?"
"Walk with us big brother." Isabelle drawled, her hands on top of Alec's shoulders, guiding him out.
"We don't know this girl." Alec continued, looking at me as we walked through the hallways, "There's no such thing as new Shadownhunters."
"There is now." Isabelle added.
"No –" I gave her a pointed look before turning to Alec, "She is not a new Shadowhunter, Alec. She's always been one – but just learned about it a little late." I added, my eyes squinting in the process as I emphasize the word 'little'. Isabelle snorted, shaking her head and walked away.
"Good luck in toning down his dial," She muttered. Alec frowned and turned back to me.
"How could you know?" He asked, "You don't find it strange?"
I half-heartedly shrugged, rubbing his arms in comfort as I lead the both of us back to our room, "Jace said so himself – don't you trust your parabatai? Besides, how can you explain how she didn't die the moment she stepped foot in this Institute. These floors are filled with runes that could kill any mundane – and she's doing fine."
Alec just stared at me, not taking any words I was saying. I stopped, eyes fixed on him, "Alec – I know you are just being a good leader," His expression softened so I continued, "And there are a lot of things on your mind right now. But maybe – you could lay off for a moment – let Jace do his thing. He knows what he is doing."
"Look at you defending him when he couldn't even talk to you for at least a minute," He scoffed. My fingers tightened around his, my mood slowly dropping as he continued, "You know what? Maybe I'm pissed that she's ruined the mission," He leaned close, his jaw clenching as he spoke, "We never found out who's buying the blood. That was our one job."
"Alec," I called out, sighing as he pulled away from me, leaving me alone. I ran my fingers through my hair, and tilted up my head in frustration.
"This day couldn't get any worse, is it?"