******
ASHER FOLLOWED ALEC quietly as they slipped into the Institute. By now, the common area was vacant of any Shadowhunters. She remained on lookout as Alec opened the weapons rack. He quickly grabbed a few daggers and handed them off to Asher before taking his infamous bow and arrows.
"Okay, let's go." Asher turned on her heels to leave the way they came when Alec stopped her. "I have to still rune the arrows." He lowered his voice to make sure no one heard him.
Asher rolled her eyes. "You can literally do that anywhere besides here." "We have until Dawn." Alec pointed out. "We might as well wait here until it's time to go." "Fine." The brunette huffed and walked away. "I'm going to go grab my belt. Just don't look too suspicious."
The female Shadowhunter quickly passed through the hallways and into her room to pick up the utility belt she usually wore during missions. When she got back, Hodge was walking in the same direction with a cup of tea in his hand.
"You moron." Asher mumbled as she saw Alec runing his arrows out in the open. Hodge went to take a sip from his mug and paused when his eyes landed on the older Lightwood. "Alec." He announced, making Alec jump and quickly put down the arrow he was holding. "Didn't know you were here."
Alec tried stuttering out a good enough response when Hodge cut him off. "Don't tell me." He slowly moved his mug around in a circle to cool it down. "I don't wanna have to report you." Alec visibly relaxed and let out a sigh. "It's just that, you know, Clary is-"
"That girl," Hodge looked down at him. "is Valentine's dau-" The circle rune on his neck seared his skin, making him clench his teeth shut in pain. He grasped onto his neck for a moment before the pain subsided. "Is that monster's daughter." Hodge changed the wording so that he could finish what he was saying. "There must be some reason why the roaches are coming out of the woodwork again, right?"
Asher listened in on the conversation, watching curiously as Hodge continued to talk to the older Lightwood. "You remind me of me, Alec." He gave him a smile. "A loyal friend standing behind the chosen one." The female Shadowhunter furrowed her brows in confusion at Hodge's statement. Why would he say something like that?
"Hey-" Hodge slapped his hand onto Alec's neck. "Don't make the same mistakes I did. Look where it got me." He gave him one last nod before retreating to where he came. Asher quickly got out from her hiding spot to meet Alec, causing the Lightwood to scramble for an arrow.
"So much for trying not to draw any attention." She hissed quietly. "Why are you runing the arrows out in the open?" "I'm hiding in plain sight." Alec replied nonchalant, continuing to rune the rest of his arrows. Asher narrowed her eyes suspiciously at the boy.
"Hey." Asher nodded her head towards him. "How come Hodge said-" "I'm done." Alec immediately cut her off. He grasped all of the arrows in one hand and the bow in the other. "Let's go." He rushed through the door they came from, not waiting for Asher to follow.
The female Shadowhunter sprinted to catch up to Alec and managed to fall in step with him just as he turned onto the street. "Wait, where are we going?" "No idea." He responded. "Izzy only sent me her location."
The brunette had a difficult time trying to keep up with Alec due to his long legs. "Hey, four-eyes." She huffed as she tried to maintain her pace so that she wouldn't get left behind. "Mind slowing down a little?" The older Lightwood continued to stare in front of him, but slowed his stride.
"Are you going to tell me what's bothering you?" Asher peered up at her childhood friend. "Or are you going to continue to ignore me." "It's nothing." Alec mumbled and he took a sharp turn to the left. Asher scoffed. "You're such a bad liar."
"Am not."
"Are too."
The pair continued to bicker like children until they stopped in front of a large building, at least ten stories high. Ionic swirls and beautiful corinthian leaves were etched into the stone to add another level of elegance. The once grand ivory color was now faded to a mustard yellow as grime covered ever inch of the outside. Half of the windows overlooking the street were either broken or boarded up.
Despite the run-down state of the building, Asher knew that back in its day it was the prime wonder of New York. She looked up at the sign hanging over them. Faded gold lettering spelled out 'The Hotel Dumort', except the 'R' was spray painted over the original letter in red.
"Are we supposed to walk through the front door?" Asher looked back at Alec, who has his phone right in front of his face. He started to walk further down the block and then quickly turned left into an alleyway.
The brunette continued to follow him blindly until he led her to another building right behind the hotel. This one seemed run down as well, except the large brick wall covered in windows remained intact.
"Izzy's in there." Alec nodded up at the brick building. "All we have to do is find the entrance-" He didn't get to finish his sentence before Asher kicked open the metal door in the alleyway. She looked at him and grinned. "Found it." Alec gave her a disapproving look before making his way inside with Asher right behind him.
The two slowly descended the stairs into an eerie-looking hallway. Half of the lights on the ceiling were broken and the other half continued to flicker. Asher kept her grip on her seraph blade in case anything were to jump out at them.
They continued down the hallway to a flight of stairs. "We're supposed to go up these." Alec informed her before taking the first step. Asher maintained her guarded stance as they walked up the single flight of stairs.
"Izzy!" Alec called out as he emerged. "I got your text. Where are we exactly?" Asher found herself in what looked to be an abandoned factory. Thousands of pipes ran along the ceiling, illuminated by the group of differently dimmed lights scattered across the room.
Izzy was already waiting for them in a skin-tight red dress and her hair styled back. "It's an old meatpacker's service entrance." She beckoned for them to follow her and pointed across the room. "If we go back there, we come up into the basement of the Hotel Dumort. Perfect, right?"
The younger Lightwood grinned at Asher before continuing on with explaining the plan. "We distract the vamps, Clary and Jace have time to find Simon."
"Okay."
"Okay?" Izzy eyed her brother, clearly annoyed with his response. "It was hard work interrogating Meliorn to get this intel." "Great job, Izzy." Alec responded sarcastically and plastered a fake smile on his face. He pointed at a spot on her dress. "You have faerie dust on your dress."
The older Lightwood carried ahead of the other two Shadowhunters to the door that Izzy showed them earlier. "And I hate being the distraction." He grumbled angrily.
"I don't." Izzy smirked and followed after him, heels clicking against the concrete floor. "You know, you'd be a lot happier if you weren't so freaking repressed." "Wait. "Asher quickly followed Izzy with a confused look on her face. "What are you talking about?" Alec ignored the both of them.
"Alec." Izzy called out to her brother as he scanned the next room to make sure it was clear. "Hello?" Asher couldn't see his face, but she knew him well enough to know that he was probably rolling his eyes at her.
The three Shadowhunter continued their way to the Hotel Dumort, walking underneath the large factory through yet another empty corridor.
"You're really not going to talk to us, are you?" Isabelle piped up after a few minutes of silence. Alec slipped on his fingerless gloves. "That's because you have no idea what you're talking about."
"But I do." Izzy glanced at him, "You're hiding from yourself, not me. You have feelings whether you like 'em or not, Alec." "Wait a minute." Asher stopped in her tracks and let her hand that was touching her seraph blade drop by her side. "What the hell is going on?"
"Nothing." Alec glared at his sister once they made it to the ladder that ascended to the Hotel Dumort. "This is not the time or the place, Izzy." "I don't know." Isabelle placed her hands on her hips as Alec started climbing. "Looks pretty smooth so far."
Asher huffed in annoyance as Izzy went up the latter after her brother. "Sure, just have an entire conversation without me." She mumbled and followed the siblings up.
Asher unsheathed her seraph blade and gripped it in her hand as she quietly maneuvered around the large vents and pipes that were sticking out from the floor.
Isabelle walked up to the only door in sight. "This must be the way." She grasped the handle and swing it open, only to be met by eight hissing vampires. The younger Lightwood abruptly shut the door just as they sped towards them. "Well, not that smooth."
Alec and Isabelle both leaned up against the door to prevent any of the vampires from getting through while Asher stood in a fighting stance in front of them in case any did.
"Any day now." Isabelle called out as her brother fumbled to grab his stele. "Yeah, if you hold the door still, it might be a lot easier." Alec snapped back at her. Asher rolled their eyes at the sibling bicker and pulled out her stele from her utility belt with ease. "Move aside."
She pushed her way in beside Alec and tried drawing a holding rune on the door, huffing in annoyance when she realized that the door was enchanted. "It's not taking it."
Asher looked around for another way to block the door when her eyes landed on a steel pipe overhead of Izzy. She quickly sliced her seraph blade through the air, catching a decently long piece of it before sliding it through the door handle and the yellow pipeline stationed beside it.
The siblings both backed away from the door slowly and relaxed when they saw that the quick idea held up. "Whoever said, 'The pen is mightier than the sword' was an idiot." Isabelle smirked.
Asher shrugged and flipped the seraph blade in her hand. "When you're right, you're right." The three Shadowhunters migrated to the center of the room, weapons at the ready.
"Do you think they know where we are?" Isabelle joked from Asher's right side. Alec shrugged from the left. "That's the idea right?" The pipe holding the door shut started to bend from the sheer force of the vampires on the other side.
Alec glanced at his sister and Asher. "How long do you think we have to distract them for?" "Ten more minutes." Isabelle responded casually.
"Ten minutes?" Alec stared at the two female Shadowhunters incredulously. "Are you kidding? We'll be liquid lunch in five." He reached for one of the runed arrows strapped to his back.
Asher slid her seraph blade back in its designated belt loop before pulling out two of the daggers she took from the Institute. "So let's distract them." She twirled one of the knives in her hand.
"So let's distract them." Alec repeated her words and pulled back the arrow, aiming towards the door. A hand with long yellow fingernails reached through the crack of the door, gripping onto the bent steel pipe. "You better get ready." Isabelle announced.
The door flew open to reveal four vampires, each baring their fangs threateningly The glamour on Isabelle's whip fell away and she lashed it forward, bringing one of the vampires to the ground.
Asher heard movement behind them and quickly spun around to throw her dagger, hitting one of the vampires square in the chest. The vampire burst into flames and the dagger clattered to the ground.
"This is fun." Alec smirked and pulled back on the string of his bow. Asher darted to Alec's other side and flung another dagger, hitting one of the vampires trying to cower behind the wall. "Ha!" She fist bumped the air. "I still got it."
Grabbing her seraph blade, Asher sprinted through the door and jumped onto the wall. She kicked off and twisted her body effortlessly in the air. Asher swung her seraph blade to kill the last three vampires hiding behind the doorway before landing onto the ground. She stood up and motioned to Isabelle and Alec. "Let's go."
The Lightwood siblings just stood there, mouths hanging open. Asher rolled her eyes and raised her voice. "Come on." They both quickly snapped out of their daze to follow her lead.
The three Shadowhunters made their way through the Hotel Dumort, killing any vampire that dared to try to stop them. Asher followed Alec from behind as he led her around the corner to Camille's layer.
Clary and Jace were already there, but found themselves in a slight predicament with some vampires. Jace was currently fighting two of them while one of the vampires had Clary in his possession. He gripped her by her waist so that he had a clear path towards her neck. When he noticed Alec with a bow, he quickly turned her around to use as a shield.
The vampire's eyes scanned the newcomer's until his eyes landed on the brunette. Fear set into his eyes. "Asher Montgomery." Asher smirked and held up one of her daggers. "Boo." Before the vampire could register what was going on, the Shadowhunter flung her blade at the decrepit wall behind them.
The size and force of the dagger caused the wall to crumble away, revealing the sunlight from outside of the hotel. Clary stepped out of the way just in time for the vampire to vaporize into thin air.
The redhead searched around and quickly picked up the seraph blade in the corner of the room before stabbing one of the vampires in the stomach. Jace managed to get to his feet and sliced the other vampire with his own blade.
Clary's body froze in her last position with the seraph blade sticking out in front of her. She slowly looked up at Jace. "I killed him." "He was already dead." Jace reminded her. Asher slowly walked up towards the girl. "Plus, he wanted to kill you." She told her. "Remember that."
"She did great, right?" Isabelle commented excitedly behind them. Asher turned to look at Jace, who was already staring in her direction. "Yeah." She said, eyes not leaving him. "She did." The brunette cleared her throat and quickly looked away and centered her attention on Clary once more. "You should be proud."
"Thanks." The corner of the redhead's mouth curled upward for less than a second. "But, it's not about me. Let's go find Simon."