"Can you pull the Cup out?" Alec asked after Nyx had handed the card to her sister, watching her tap and scare at the material at an attempt to pill the mortal instrument out.
"I can...theoretically," Clary answered, frustrated. "I just- it's not as easy at it looks Alec.
Nyx couldn't believe it. All of their attempts at getting the damn thing, and now that they finally have it- theoretically- Clary may not be able to pull it out like she thought she could.
"Listen, you two can discuss theories as much as you want when we get back to the Institute," Jace told the two, not in the mood for them to argue.
"Guys," Isabelle warned, eyeing her ruby necklace which began to pulse a vibrant red. A sign that demons were near.
"At least we know the demon necklace works," Nyx shrugged, her hand clenching around her seraph blade handle.
"Never a dull day," true to that, "Let's go." The group began walking away from the police building at Jace's words. Clary was lagging behind, looking around in panic while she called out for them to slow down. Nyx, upon seeing her sister a few paces behind them, fell back and grabbed her arm, pulling her along with them and forcing her sister to walk faster.
"Oh, I am so sorry," Clary apologized once she bumped into an old lady, the bag in her arms dropped to the ground in a thud. The red head crouched down to grab the bag, looking up to the hold lady's face to see it splitting open to the sides, forming an X like shape with her mouth in the middle, revealing dangerously sharp teeth.
"Grandma," Nyx smiled sarcastically, pulling out her seraph blade and thrusting the glowing weapon into the monster's chest, watching it shriek and disintegrate into ashes.
"What the hell?" Clary said.
"Language," Jace chided, the three shadow hunters came back to stand in front of Nyx and her sister. "Not in front of grandma."
"How did it find us?" Alec asked tensely.
"I don't know, but she brought friends," Jace answered, looking somewhere behind them. Looking back, Nyx could see an officer step out of his police car, his eyes flashing an unnatural turquoise-blue color.
"How can you tell?" Clary asked, confused.
"It's like seeing through a glamour," Jace answered, turning and walking away quickly, the group following him a well.
"You just gotta pay attention to the details," Nyx cut in, sheathing her seraph blade back into he back, grabbing her sister's arm and began dragging her one again, not wanting her to fall back when there were demons out and about.
"But I can't see anything," she protested.
"Behind us," Isabelle said without turning her head, keeping her eyes forward.
"I- I still can't see anything," Clary said, her eyes moving around from person to person, not seeing the unnatural features on some of them. "Okay, there's too many people."
"I don't say that often, but I agree with Clary," Alec said. "We gotta get out of here."
"Hey, this way!" Clary told them, walking hastily towards a set of concrete stairs, running down them and towards a door that read 'Electrical Room'. She stopped and looked back to Jace, her stele in hand. "What's the Unlock rune again?"
"Open sesame," Nyx huffed, kicking the door open with her foot. "Go," she looked back at them, gesturing for them to enter the dimly lit room before her. After they entered, Nyx took a second to look around in the dark, her fists clenched tight as one thought kept repeating in her head.
Damn demons.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Alec asked Nyx as he saw her walk in and stop after a few steps, her hands pulling out her two seraph blades, twirling them as they glowed a bright white color.
"Holding them off," Nyx answered like it was obvious. "Take Clary back to the Institute," that was mainly directed to Jace who had also joined in next to Alec as they stood in font of the older red head. Alec, knowing that he shouldn't leave her alone, swiped his hand over his shoulder, revealing his pouch filled with red feathered, runed arrows and his bow.
"No. If your staying, I'm staying. We fight together," Jace told Alec firmly once seeing him get his favorite weapon out.
"Don't be stupid. If the demons get the Cup, we're dead anyways," Alec told his beloved parabatai.
"I'm not leaving anyone behind."
"You don't have a choice," Nyx told him, facing the door once again.
"Don't worry. It's not like this is the first time Alec and probably Nyx had saved your life. I doubt it'd be the last," Isabelle tried to reassure her adoptive brother, a smile on her red painted lips. Both her and Clary turned around and began walking, the Lightwood's hand on her friend's shoulder as she caught the hesitant look Clary sent to her older sister, not wanting to leave her behind.
"Go," Alec stated firmly, raising his bow after attaching an arrow, coming to stand next to the combat ready red head. He sent her a nod, to which she responded with one identical to his.
Nothing happened for a few minutes. It was only silence as both shadowhunters stood tense with their weapons out, ready to send any demons back to hell if they arrived. Suddenly, Nyx's phone rang, shattering the edgy silence. The girl gave no indication that that noise scared or surprised her, but Alec's faint gasp and the clench of his fingers around his bow gave it all away.
Looking at the caller i.d, she furrows her eyebrows when she saw that it was Simon. "Simon."
"Nyx! Thank god, I've been trying to get a hold of your sister, but she's not answering her phone-" the red head cut him off, rolling her eyes, but also frowning at the panicking tone of voice that belonged to her sister's nerdy best friend.
"She's a little busy right now, and I can't say that I'm not as well," sheathing one of her swords to hold her phone better, she relaxed slightly from her rigid position, still staying alert of her surroundings. "What's going on?"
"Nothing, it's just-" he kept stammering, his voice growing more and more despaired and frightened.
"Simon, hey, calm down. Al right, just tell me what happened."
"I-I need help," Nyx wanted to make a comment about that, but hearing his terrified tone of voice sent alarm bells to her mind.
"Are you hurt? Are you in any type of danger? You haven't gotten kidnapped again have you?" Nyx fired out questions. The guy may be a pain in the a** to her, but that doesn't mean that she didn't care for her sister's friend-zoned best friend. The care may seem small and nonchalant, but she still did, and didn't want him to get hurt, as this world- the Shadow world- is dangerous and no place for a mundane, especially Simon.
"No! No, I'm fine, it's just that," he hesitated once more, and before Nyx could call him out, he blurted out words that startled her greatly. "I think I'm becoming a vampire."
"What?" Nyx demanded, turned her head so that she would;t have to look at any of Alec's questioning looks. She could also tell that he was kind pissed that she was speaking on her phone instead of being alert of any demons like she was supposed to.
"Explain."
"I-I have these impulses, bad ones. I get really frustrated and angry easily, and I just broke my table in half after slamming my fist on it because my mom and sister were arguing. I also have these hallucinations-"
"What type of hallucinations?" Nyx inquired, bringing Alec's attention back to her again.
"Of me with fangs, and blood on my lips," he answered, and then added uncertainly, "of Camille."
"But you know that there not real right?"
"That's what I thought at first, but they seemed so real! I-I'm losing my mind here!" she could practically see the tears that were welling up in his eyes, thickening his voice. "I need your help. Please."
"Okay, okay calm down. I'll help you, okay, of course I'll help you." Hearing a set of footsteps, Nyx quickly went back to standing next to Alec, holding her glowing sword in front of her. "Look, I can't talk right now, but I promise, I'll help you in any way I can. Just hang in there alright? Those hallucinations aren't real, no matter how they may seem. Fight any urges that comes over you, and no matter what, don't go back to that hotel."
"Okay," Simon breathed out, already seeming relieved. "Okay, thank you Nyx, thank you so much."
"Don't thank me just yet," with that, Nyx hung up the phone, shoving it back into her pocket as the footsteps came closer and closer until a face emerged from the shadows. It was Luke. But it could also be a shapeshifter demon, like Dot in the loft.
"Hey, hey, it's me, Luke," Luke held out his hand, eyeing the weapons that were directed towards him. "Nyx, it's me."
"Prove it," Nyx demanded, not wavering as she held the sword threateningly towards his chest.
"I gave you your first gun when you were 11 years old. Jocelyn was pissed but your were practically jumping in joy, that is, until you found out that the bullets were rubber and not metal," he smiled at the memory, recalling back to the small redhead that punched him when she saw the bullets. She may have been 11, but she had a hell of a punch.
Nyx's hand lowered lightly, but stayed in it's place near his chest. Alec watched her with carful eyes. It was all up to her, whether she believed that that was her stepfather or a shapeshifter demon.
"I held you in my arms every night for almost a year when you were plagued with nightmares when you were 13," Luke continued, lowering his hands to his sides, his brown eyes staring directly to her blue-green ones. Nyx completely lowered her blade down, her mind thinking back to when Luke had sat on her bed, with her enveloped in his arms, while they just sat in comfortable, silence. He knew that if she wanted to talk about her nightmares, she would, so he didn't pressure her, he just told her that he and her mom and sister was there for her, and sat there with here until she fell asleep on his chest.
"Luke?" Nyx asked quietly, hopefull.
"It's me, Nyx," smiling, Luke rushed froward and pulled the eldest Fairchild daughter into a hug, squeezing her tight. Alec, once realizing that there were no demons, relaxed and stepped back, wanting to give the two of them a little space since the last time Nyx saw Luke, he was lying unconscious on Magnus's couch, recovering from a lethal werewolf bite delivered from his former Alpha.
"Let's find the others," Nyx told the two men, keeping her sword his hand as she sauntered into the tunnels, wanting to find her sister, Isabelle and Jace and just get back to the Institute so that she could explain everything, help Simon and get some sleep.
***
"Hey, Clary, it's me," Nyx said one she found her clutching her seraph blade in defense.
"Prove it," at least Clary was clever enough to not trust her on first glance.
"I got you the necklace you're wearing right now for your birthday after you faked being rejected from that art school in Brooklyn," Nyx answered calmly, gesturing towards the gleaming necklace that hadn't left her sister's neck since the beginning of this whole ordeal.
"What happened?" Luke asked Clary once she lowered her weapon.
"Demons," she answered shortly. "Long story. Um...where'd you come from?"
"Jail," Luke told her plainly, before pointed to Nyx and Alec with his thumb. "I ran into Nyx and Alec. Said you might be down here. Thought you might need some help."
"Apparently not. Looks like she took care of it," Alec said after seeing ashes on the ground disappear into nothingness.
"Shouldn't we get going or something?" Clary asked with urgency, not wanting to be down here any longer. "More demons could be coming, right?"
"Oh, don't worry about it," Luke shook his head, "I got the pack on the lookout. If there's any other demons, we'll take care of them."
"Look at you, leader of the pack," Nyx smirked, proud of the man that served the roll of a father figure in her life.
"Well, you know it had its perks," Luke shrugged, returning her smirk with his own.
"Shall we?" Clary asked.
"Yeah, right," Alec said, allowing Luke to lead, with Clary behind him and Nyx after her.
***
"Right now, Clary is the only thing that matters," Clary, Alec and Nyx heard as they stepped further into the Institute.
"Feeling the love," Nyx scoffed, catching the tiny nod that Alec gave.
"Jace!" Clary yelled out, stepping down the stairs in a hurry to get to the person she has come to trust and like, maybe even love.
"Clary," he sighed, enclosing his arms around her when she pulled him into a hug. Nyx took her eyes away from the scene before her and watched Alec for a second, watching how he averted his eyes, not being able to look as his lover interacted with his lover.
"I did it, I got the Cup," Clary told him with an excited smile.
"I don't care about the Cup," Jace shook his head. "When I came out of the tunnels, I didn't see you. I was worried something might have happened..."
"There was a demon," Clary told him, "shapeshifter. It looked just like you."
"You all right?"
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine."
"And the demon?"
"I sent him straight back to hell."
"How'd you know it wasn't me?" Jace inquired curiously.
"I just knew," Clary smiled softly.
"Really? Kind of a risk, isn't it?" Jace also smiled.
"Well, this may come as a surprise, but I actually do listen to some of the things you tell me. You just have to pay attention to the details." Nyx wanted to tell her that she was the one that told her to pay attention to the details, not Jace, but she opted not to ruin there moment, as much as Alec silently wanted her to.
"Yeah, well, I told you the first time we met, you have the Sight. You're a shadowhunter, just like the rest of us-" before he could say anymore, Clary grabbed the back of his neck and pulled him into a kiss, him responding almost immediately, grabbing the side of her face while tilting his head a bit.
Alec, upon seeing them kiss, looked absolutely heartbroken, not saying a word as he left his sister, not wanting to see her sympathetic, saddened eyes. However, he did stop when he felt a hand latch onto his arm, stopping him from further venturing into the place in which he called home.
"You should't get too hung up on Jace. There are a million other guys out in this world, Shadowhunter or not, guys that are worth your time and attention," Nyx gave him a rare, raw smile, walking backwards towards her room. "Guys like Magnus, just saying."
Alec was left pondering, as Nyx turned around, disappearing around a corner with her phone pressed to her ear as she tried to call Simon, who had turned off his phone, ignoring Nyx's instructions and stepped into Hotel Dumort, unknowingly signing his death sentence.