"Let me guess, Camille?" Serena asked as she surveyed the dead body on the table. Shortly after Alec had locked the cup away, the perimeter alarm had sounded, signalling that someone was nearing the wards around the Institute. It had turned out to be Raphael carrying Simon's dead body.
They'd all retreated to a basement room, Alec running back upstairs to inform people that they'd found nothing.
"Yes. She attacked Simon on her own," Raphael said.
"And how do we know that you're telling the truth?" Jace asked and his sister glared at him.
"Watch it JJ! And anyways, Raphael doesn't lie to me. We have an understanding," Serena said, the vampire offering her a nod in agreement.
"I also could've gotten rid of him. You'd have been none the wiser. Instead, I brought him here," Raphael defended. "I warned the mundane to stay away, but Camille gave him a taste of her blood and like an addict, he came back for more."
That's why Simon had been so strong and agile that day at the loft. He'd ingested vampire blood. The was why he had the Sight.
"The only reason Simon ever tasted Camille's blood is because of you!" Clary shouted at the vampire with tears in her eyes. "You kidnapped him! You dragged him to the Hotel DuMort. You delivered him to Camille! You -"
"And you were the one who brought him into this world Clary," Serena pointed out, stepping in to defend her friend. "This is what happens to all mundanes who get involved in the Shadow World and we warned you about it, but you didn't listen. So, before you go pointing fingers at me and my friends, take a look at yourself first."
Clary only began to cry more, clinging to Simon's body as she begged him to come back.
"There is a way," Raphael said and Serena whirled on him.
"Raphael, no. She is not the person that should be making this decision."
"A way, what? What is he talking about Rena?" Jace asked his sister.
"A way to bring Simon back," Raphael answered.
"You can do that?" Clary asked as she looked up from Simon's body. "How? How?!"
"He's a fledgling. It's a state of transition. Your friend can be resurrected."
"Or trapped in agony for all eternity, there's that," Serena voiced but she was ignored.
"No," Jace agreed with his sister.
"Clary no," Izzy joined.
"So, I could have Simon back?" Clary asked. "Alive and breathing."
"That just it! He won't return alive or breathing. He'll be a vampire," Izzy dumbed down for the redhead.
"And not the sexed-up, romantic kind," Jace said. "The ugly, blood-sucking, coffin-dwelling kind."
"Jace. That's offensive," Serena warned. Relations with Downworlders was something she took very seriously, a trait that had even rubbed off on Alec, the boy also joining his wife in the fight for equality since he married her.
"Coffin implies wooden box. We have caskets now. They're made of 14-karat gold," Raphael smirked from his seat.
"My bad," Jace said sarcastically.
"It's almost sunrise," Raphael noted as if sensing where the sun's rays were about to hit as it rose over the horizon line. "Simon must be turned into a vampire tonight or staked through the heart."
"And if I do neither?" Clary wondered, wiping her nose on her sleeve.
"His soul will be trapped for eternity. You have until sunset to decide. The clock is ticking."
Serena nodded as she held out her hand to shake.
"Thank you, Raphael."
Raphael in turn kissed the back of her hand. "My pleasure, senorita."
And Serena shot her brother a glare, silently telling him to behave before going after her husband, leaving the others with a tough decision to make.