The three spun around to see a man standing at the edge of the path, holding a sword.
Jace dashed forward to disarm the man, whilst Alec stepped in front of Jonas to protect him. Jonas was silent as he watched the ensuing fight, and Alec kept one eye on him as Jace fought with the Circle member.
"Jonas, what's going on?" Simon asked.
"If you give us the boy, I'll let you live," the Circle member said.
Jace, who had the man in a chokehold, replied, "You're in no position to be making rules."
In response, the Circle member headbutted Jace and broke free. Alec watched with a sharp gaze as the two struggled against each other. It didn't surprise him when Jace got the upperhand and managed to stab the Circle member with the man's own seraph blade.
"We'll never stop hunting him," the guy rasped out, his last words.
I'd like to see you try, Alec thought, surprising himself with the sense of protectiveness he felt for Jonas.
"This is for my father," Jace replied and shoved the blade in deeper.
"He dead?" Jonas asked, voice low but no longer accented in any obvious way.
Simon stepped towards Jonas and asked, "Is who dead?"
With perfect timing the glamour on the dead Circle member faded, and Simon stepped back in shock as he saw it. "What the..."
Jonas looked at Simon for a while, before glancing between Jace and Alec. His fists were clenched, lips twisted in an almost snarl. "Take your glamour off."
Alec shot a look at Jace, and found that his parabatai was already deactivating the rune. Alec didn't want to have to deal with another mundane, but he took his glamour off anyway. The sooner this was over with, the better
"Um... what is happening?" Simon asked as Alec and Jace appeared in front of him.
"Yeah, we don't have the luxury right now, kid." Jace turned and started walking back to the Institute. "Everyone back inside."
"Jonas, who is this?" the mundane questioned. "Did he take Clary?"
Jonas shot Simon a bored look and said nothing as he followed after Jace.
"What? Where are you going?" Simon called after him.
Jonas huffed, seeming annoyed. He turned and faced Simon. "These two" —He jerked a thumb in Jace and Alec's direction— "are our only shot at getting your best friend back, so if I were you, I'd shut your mouth and try not to piss them off."
With that said, Jonas headed back up the steps, taking them two at a time.
Alec shot the man a wry look as he neared. "Nicely handled."
Jonas ignored his taunt and entered the church whilst Jace held the door open. Alec followed after, staring curiously at the enigma in front of him.
Simon, unsurprisingly, started speaking again. "How do we know this Mick Jagger-looking guy and this Abercrombie & Fitch model wannabe are even gonna try–"
"Mundane," Jace interrupted. "We do not have the time."
Jonas sighed and yanked the boy inside. The four stood just within the entrance of the church, and stared ahead. Jace glanced at Alec. "No way, don't look at me," Alec told him.
With an exasperated look, Jace brought up his left arm and rolled up the sleeve. Alec watched Jonas study the blonde intensely as he drew a rune on himself with his stele.
Simon gasped and looked extremely uncomfortable. "He's, like, burning himself," Simon whispered to Jonas.
Jonas looked at the boy and replied with a simple, "Yes."
Alec barely resisted the urge to laugh.
Once he was done, Jace grabbed Simon's hand with his left. Simon immediately began to squirm away. "Buddy, what's going on, man? I'm not your type–"
"Shut up," Jonas cut him off.
Simon continued to mutter under his breath until suddenly the Institute began to reveal itself to the mundane. Simon gaped. "Where are we? What the hell?" Simon paled. "Is there a war going on that I don't know about?"
"There is now," Jace replied.
The four of them headed inside, with Alec lagging behind to make sure they didn't stray. "What is this place? There's a lot of gear in here. What'd they do, rob a tech shop?" Simon questioned in a rush.
Alec was about 100% done with this new mundane.
"So this cold-blooded killer is gonna help us?" Simon whispered to Jonas, loud enough for Alec to hear.
"Mhmm," Jonas hummed in reply.
Jace elaborated, "We're protecting you. It's sort of our thing."
"Your thing? You guys have a thing?" Simon continued.
Jace glanced at Jonas, expecting the man to answer. When he didn't, Jace spoke up. "We're Shadowhunters. We protect humans from demons."
"Demons, right. That makes perfect sense, 'cause there are demons running all around New York."
"That is the first correct thing you've said all day," Jace responded.
Alec pressed his lips together to avoid smiling. He appreciated his parabatai's lack of tolerance for the mundane. Helping Jace bring up the surveillance system, two cops were shown on the monitor, both trying to get inside of the Institute.
"Are they a problem for us?" Jonas asked.
"No," Jace said. "Our wards will deter them. And the NYPD will do their typical mundie thing for a few hours and then the area will be clear."
"Alright, okay. Enough with the show and tell, let's get rid of the mundane." Alec turned pointedly towards Simon.
Jace shook his head. "We can't. The Circle will just keep following him to get to Jonas."
Simon spoke up, "What exactly is the Circle and why are they trying to kill us?"
"All we know is," Jace began. "A long time ago the Circle led a revolt. A lot of Shadowhunters got killed... including my father."
"And since the revolt we've been forbidden to even hear about the Circle," Alec added.
"That sounds like a terrible attempt at trying to discourage you from joining the Circle," Jonas said. Alec staared at the man as he noticed the Irish lilt again.
"Anyway," Jace said, clearly unsure how to respond to such a statement. "I have an idea on who can tell us why they took your mother."
Alec noticed how Jonas' expression soured at the mention of his mother, but he didn't say anything so Alec didn't press.
"You coming?" Jace asked as he began to walk off.
"Definitely," Jonas said.
Alec began to walk with them, then paused as Jace stopped.
"No, no, no." Jace reached out with a hand to halt Simon from approaching. "Not you."
"I have every right to find out what happened to Clary," Simon said. "She's my best friend."
"There are runes all over the training room floor that would kill you," Jace replied.
Alec was deeply entertained by the blatant lie.
"I'm tough." As he defended himself, Simon straightened up so he appeared taller. "I can handle runes. So, uh, bring on the runes." He flicked his hand out, smacking Jace, who didn't even flinch. Simon winced and pulled his hand back, shaking out the pain of hitting Jace's beefy shoulder.
Jace scoffed.
Simon appeared hesitant. "What exactly are runes?"
"They give Shadowhunters our demon-fighting powers," Izzy said as she appeared behind them, arriving with her usual dramatic flair. To demonstrate, she activated the runes on her forearm and Alec noticed that Simon was gaping at her. Jonas, however, seemed once again uninterested.
"So hot," Simon mumbled. He then cleared his throat and clarified, "The rune."
Izzy chuckled and approached Simon. "Don't worry, guys. I'll watch over the mundane. In fact, I was about to make breakfast."
Jace inhaled sharply. "On second thought, the runes might be less lethal."
Izzy scoffed. "I'll pretend I didn't hear that." She then turned and introduced herself to Simon, "I'm Isabelle.". Izzy held her hand out, palm down, like she was some kind of royalty.
Simon took her hand eagerly. "Lewis. Simon, Simon Lewis. Two first names. Am I still talking?" He giggled nervously, and Izzy smiled patiently at him.
That's enough of that, Alec thought. He turned to the rest of the group. "Let's go," he encouraged, and then lead the way up to the training room. Jonas followed obligingly, and Jace paused to whisper something to Simon before joining them.
Kat