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They’re in Magnus’s loft, the sun setting and causing a hypnotizing light to shine gently through the big windows that make up one of Magnus’s living room walls. The television is on, but Alec isn’t paying much attention to it. He feels comfortable here, with the light graze of Magnus’s magic settling over him and just the general warmth and homey-ness of the loft. He can feel himself dozing, the sleepiness from the late nights patrolling overcoming him. He jolts a little when he feels himself slide down the couch and Magnus turns to him, his almond-brown eyes shining with amusement.
“Alexander.”
All he says is his name, his full name, but it sounds like salvation, like the warmth of a fire in the middle of winter, like the relief of chilly water on a muggy day. It makes him break out in goosebumps, but he ignores it and crosses his arms against his chest. He refuses to fall asleep on the couch, no matter what Magnus says. The Warlock beside him huffs out a breath of amusement but doesn’t say anything. He turns back towards the television, watching intently as the models walk down the runway, turning this way or that to display the clothing that they’re wearing. When Alec had first gotten to Magnus’s, he had a couple of books with him. Most of it was about the history of Shadowhunters and the relationships between them and Downworlders. However, the one book that he didn’t bring to catch up and refresh his memory on history was still lodged deep inside of his night bag that sat next to the red loft couch. He didn’t know where it came from, not exactly, but he was halfway through it. It was interesting, especially for a Mundane book, and he had already taken notes on the sides of the pages of what he already read. However, he had a slight headache from not enough sleep and the enormous amount of reading did not help in the slightest. His eyes are burning, and he knows the edges of his eyes are turning red, but he can’t help but feel on edge. He’s tired, but he knows the second he falls asleep he’s going to be needed and his rest will be ruined, and he’ll end up being even more tired than he already was. He told Magnus that when he arrived, but the Warlock had just shaken his head and laughed before hand-making him tea and pulling him onto the couch. He should have understood what was going on when Magnus left and came back with thick, fluffy blankets, but all he could think about how comfortable and soothing cuddling was. However, he did figure it out, right after he drank the tea. He didn’t know what Magnus put in it, but it made his body feel warm and loose and made him want to settle down and sleep. Magnus swears he didn’t use magic, only herbs, but Alec doesn’t believe him. Especially not since Magnus was grinning down at him and his brown eyes were alight with mischief when he said it. The point is this. He’s tired and his shoulders are aching from being so tense. His Endurance rune is burning from overuse and his headache is coming back. He just wants to sleep. But something is keeping him from sleeping, makes him jolt every time he drifts out of awareness, makes his legs ready to jump up and take a defensive position even with the high possibility that he would fall over with the slightest push. By the Angel, he just wants to be able to close his eyes for five seconds without them snapping back open and watching the front door from his peripheral vision. He shifted again, ignoring the painful twinge in his lower back, and sat back up from where he had shuffled down. Beside him, Magnus sighed. Alec was about to ask him what was wrong when suddenly his upper body was being dragged to the side. His hands came up, adrenaline rushing through him, but suddenly he was being gently retrained. His body relaxed before his mind did, eyes wide as he was laid down onto the couch horizontally instead of vertically like before. There was a short exhale near the top of his ear, and he shivered lightly before realizing the blankets that had gotten thrown off a while ago were moving to cover him. He realized something else a few seconds later. He was laying on top of Magnus, his head laying right underneath Magnus’s sharp chin and muscular arms wrapped around his shoulders. He forgets sometimes, with how tall he and broad he himself is and how light and airy Magnus walks and how Magnus always uses his magic, that Magnus is strong, not just magically, but physically too. He relaxes against the Warlock, closing his eyes when he starts to run ring-less fingers through his hair. He feels secure, protected even, and his mind blanks. He’s drifting when he suddenly stiffens making Magnus stop running his hand through his hair. He groans, in frustration and pain, and he grits his teeth. He’s so tired he wants to cry. Magnus shifts underneath him and then the hand in his hand tightens and pulls his face up towards him. The slight pain the action caused clears everything else out until all he can focus on is Magnus’s mahogany eyes. They’re narrowed and watching him, like he’s trying to figure out why Alec won’t just go to sleep. He opens his mouth and Alec sees a flash of gleaming white before Magnus closes his mouth with a snap. He sits up sharply, making Alec go with him and his back twinges painfully at the abrupt movement. He’s about to ask, rather rudely, what Magnus is doing before he realizes how quiet it is. Magnus turned the television off and even Chairman Meow isn’t making noises. He’s sitting up, just like his owner, and looks ready to bolt at the first sign of conflict. Alec sighs, shakes his head like it will get rid of the fog hovering over his mind and reaches for his stele that sits upon the coffee table in front of the couch. He stretches slightly so he can run his stele over his Agility and Accuracy rune, grunting under his breath from the slight pain it causes. When it makes his head pound, like a warning to stop before he gets another headache, he runs his stele over his Iratze rune. He looks to the side, where Magnus is, while the pain slowly leaves his body, making his mind clearer. Magnus is staring back at him, a hard look in his eyes, and Alec resists the urge to flinch. He already knows what that look is for and he’s not looking forward to another talk of overexerting himself and his runes. Magnus quirks an eyebrow at him before looking back at the door. He continues to stare, magic crackling in between his fingers. His normally blue magic is flickering red at the base, but then, right before there’s a knock at the door, his magic turns a bright red before disappearing completely. There’s a slight smell of smoke before that scent also dissipates, but Alec makes sure to keep the scent and the color of Magnus’s magic in his head to think about later. Magnus stands up and almost runs towards the door as the ring at the door turns into frantic rings of the doorbell. He follows the Warlock at a mediate pace and keeps his hand on the small dagger he found in one of his shoes. When Magnus opens the door, it almost slams into the wall behind it, but magic stops it an inch before it’s able to. Alec is so distracted by the door that he entirely misses who ringed the doorbell until a horrid gasp escapes from Magnus’s throat.
“Oh, Raphael.”
Alec can’t actually see the Vampire because of how his face is tilted, but by the way Magnus jolts to catch him when Raphael stumbles forward with a pained grunt, he can tell that something bad happened. He puts away his curiosity of how well Magnus and Raphael know each other to the side and drops his hand from his dagger, preparing himself to help Magnus in any way that he can. The words are spoken softly, but he catches them all the same. “I didn’t know where else to go.” It’s said shakily and Magnus makes a hurt noise. “You are always welcome here, my poor boy. Always.” The Vampire nods and then tilts his head up and Alec has to stop the gasp that wants to escape him. There is dried blood all over Raphael, but the most shockingly place is his face. The blood on his face is like dried tear tracks, and the Vampire’s dark eyes look crazed and distraught. Magnus is watching him, a deep frown creasing his forehead. His eyes are shining gold, his cat eyes narrowed into thin slits. Alec is momentarily surprised to see his true eyes and the curiosity of Raphael and Magnus digs deeper into his mind. The Vampire doesn’t say anything at the sight of him, just curls a shaky lip over his fangs to bare them, before ignoring him. “My poor boy, everything’s going to be alright. I’m going to take care of you.” It’s firm and from the way Raphael nods and lets Magnus guide his body around Alec and towards the black single chair in the corner of the living room, this isn’t Magnus’s first-time taking care of him. When Raphael sits down in the chair and leans down, pain flickering across his face, Magnus’s face tightens with anger. The faint scent of smoke once again drifts through the air and Alec frowns. The smoke, unbelievable as it is, smells angry and it burns his nose. Raphael must be able to smell it as well because he sniffs before gently lifting his body up and giving Magnus a look, who only rolls his eyes and shoulders in return. “Calm down, Apá. Your scent is bothering the Shadowhunter.” Magnus rolls his eyes again. “Well, sorry that I’m upset that you’ve apparently been crying, Cahya.” The vampire sighs, but he smiles a little at the Warlock. At this point Alec is invisible to both Raphael and Magnus but he’s not sure how to feel about it. He’s about to move, possibly leave to let Magnus and Raphael have this moment, when Magnus speaks up. “Darling, would you please go to the kitchen and make a glass of blood please?” Alec stares at Magnus, who looks back at him steadily, for a second before nodding and moving towards the kitchen. He opens the refrigerator, not surprised to see a bag of blood sitting there that wasn’t there when he arrived earlier. He picks it up before looking for a glass in Magnus’s cupboards. When he finds one that’s not a wine glass, he takes it out and sets it on the counter. He can’t hear talking from the living room, but the rustling sounds tell him that Magnus is trying to make Raphael more comfortable in the living room. He turns his attention back to the bag of blood and the glass when he almost pushes the glass over the counter. He cuts open the bag with his dagger and then slowly pours the blood into the glass, watching as the dripping droplets. The smell of it is strong and Alec sighs. He’s still tired. When the blood is finally all in the glass and Alec is struggling to stay upright on his feet, he half-heartedly throws the bag into the trashcan underneath the sink. When he somehow misses, he resists the urge to throw the glass of blood on the floor and cry himself to sleep. Instead, he bends down slowly until he can grab the bag and puts it into the trash. When he straightens up, his back twinges and a pained noise escapes him before he can stop. “Alexander? Are you alright?” Magnus’s voice carries into the kitchen and for a second Alec imagines saying no and demanding that Magnus use his magic to knock the Angel out of Alec so that he can finally close his eyes for more than ten seconds. Alec takes a deep breath in and out, tries to keep himself together. Then he walks back into the living room, ignoring the way his hand trembles when he hands the glass to Raphael who’s now sitting on the couch. In Alec’s spot. Irrational jealousy flows through him, but he grits his teeth and turns away before he says or does something he regrets. “Magnus, I’m going to sleep.” The man in question looks up at him from where he was gazing down at Raphael. He eyes Alec’s face before nodding. “Would you like your own room, currently, or...?” Alec knows, intellectually, why Magnus is asking him this when Alec has slept with in Magnus’s bed before. He knows that Magnus is asking because sometimes Alec likes his own space sometimes when he wants to sleep, and it’s been discussed in great detail. Alec knows all of this intellectually. Emotionally? Alec wants to stomp his feet and throw a temper tantrum, regardless of the fact that he’s in his mid-twenties. He wants to yell at Magnus for throwing him away for Raphael, wants to, once again, take the glass of blood out of the Vampire’s hand and throw in on the carpet. He wants to cry because he wants to sleep with Magnus and have the Warlock wrapped around him and he wants to feel as safe and secure and protected like he did on the couch, but he can't. He can’t because Magnus is wrapped up in Raphael and- By the angel, he needs to go to sleep. He doesn’t exactly know what he says to Magnus, nor does he know if what he says is even coherent, but Magnus nods, Raphael grimaces, and Alec is suddenly under golden sheets. The bed isn’t too big, definitely not, but it suddenly feels like the bed covers the span of the room and he’s stuck, alone, in the middle. The bed is warm, and so are the covers once he settles, but he still feels cold. He closes his eyes and hopes he won’t be cold when he wakes up.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Alec smiled as the man on the television channel made a joke he didn't really understand. He glanced up at Magnus when his ring-free fingers stopped playing in his dark hair befofe sitting up. Something was wrong. Magnus looked down at him, his eyes widening when he saw that Alec was already looking at him. Magnus was about to say something, pink mouth open, when a rapid series of knocks rang through the apartment. They quickly got up, Alec already activating his runes and grabbing his bow, and Magnus getting his magic ready. Suddenly he stopped and rushed to the door. He hurriedly opened it and there stood Raphael. His usually pale face seemed unnaturally paler, red blood test tracks on his face, and dark eyes saddened. Alec felt his parental instincts rise in him and he grabbed Raphael and tugged him into his arms. He started sobbing and Alec looked at Magnus, who gave him a little nod, before guiding Raphael to the couch. When Magnus came back into the living room with a glass of fresh blood, he sat on the other side of Raphael. "Oh, pobre bebé, háblame cuando estés listo, pero por favor bebe este vaso de sangre." Raphael looked at the glass before nodding with a small "Sí." and took a small sip of the blood. A small smile appeared on his face, brightening his eyes. "Chocolate?" Magnus shrugged before Alec started talking. "What's wrong?" Raphael looked back and forth between Magnus and Alec before cracking. "¡Papá! Hice algo horrible y ahora estoy fuera de la ciudad. ¿Qué hay del clan? No sé que hacer Papá!"Magnus's eyes flared gold and Alec's eyes darkened. "WHAT?!"
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
After putting Raphael to sleep in his old room, Magnus shifting his apartment with magic gone red in anger, he turned to Alec. "We need to figure out what's going on." Alec nodded, determination shining in his eyes. He suddenly started to rub his fingers together. "We could call Clary?" Magnus looked him over with gold eyes before nodding. Alec nodded back before taking out his cellphone. He tapped at the screen before putting it to his ear. Magnus watched different emotions cross his face while the conversations proceeded. Alec grunted out a harsh "Bye" before somehow managing to look up at Magnus, despite the height difference. Magnus gave a short smirk. "Lets go." ~~ Simon gasped sharply as his door suddenly shook. He eyed it nervously because he was sure that his roommate had already left for his party that he was going to. He opened it, hoping it wasnt an enemy and praying that he wouldn't hurt anybody on accident, before letting out a sigh of relief. It was just Magnus and Alec. Only it wasn't just them because suddenly Magnus was in his face, gold eyes flaring in anger, before he flew back from the hit he got from the damned Mark on his forehead. Magnus brushed himself off, before he stopped and stared at Simon.Only, he wasn't staring at Simon. He was staring at the Mark.He looked into Magnus's eyes, which were no longer gold but brown and practically drowning in sadness and anger. Magnus walked towards Simon before stopping in front of him. Alec felt his legs go weak. He knew that Mark. "Si, what did you do?"
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
"Look I-I don't even know how it happened! Honestly, I-I just went to the Seelie Queen, who is actually very manipulative just so you know and I don't really understand what she wants with me and I-" "Simon. Calm down and tell us relevant information." Alec said while rolling his eyes, distant fondness in them. "Okay, so I went to the the magical land and stuff and we made a deal!" Magnus near exploded. "You made a deal!? You forget, little vampire boy, who you are dealin-" "But I had to Save Maia! And Luke! She ha-had kidnapped them, you know? And Hey! I'm not a little boy! I'll have you know that I'm eightee-" The rest of Simon's sentence is gone as Magnus snaps his fingers and Simon's voice disappears. Magnus smiles at Alec before looking back at Simon. "You, dear boy, are in a lot of trouble." Simon, clearly forgetting about his lost voice, starts trying to argue, but after realising that he can't hear himself talk, he pouts. ••• "Sorry, Si, we can't bring you to the apartment." Alec says, scratching the back of his head. "We'll just have to do this here." Magnus replies, waving his fingers around in their usual flourish. Small and big books start to appear. "Simon, you have the Mark of Cain on your forehead. I suggest you start reading up." There's a groan, sudden excited yelling, and then a whoosh. Simon turns to see empty space and he turns back around to look at all the books on the table. "Go-" He chokes. "Dammit."
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
They're on the street walking, bright lights from the stores around them. Alec lets out a frustrated sigh. "What are we going to do? Clary said that Simon hurt Raphael, but we know he has the Mark now. Simon probably didn't do it on purpose. You know that, Mags." Magnus nodded, a thoughtful look on his face as he thought about their situation. Raphael was to be banished and Simon had the Mark of Cain. What are they going to do indeed.
~~~ When Raphael wakes up, his face is covered in red tears and his bottom lip is bleeding. He quickly gets up, feeling disoriented while he looks around in the room he's in. He feels his chest start moving unnecessarily and involuntary. He's panicking. He can't see and that worries him because he's a vampire and his eyesight should let him see in the dark. Raphael feels like he's going to drown. He's trying to keep his panic in control while trying to find the door when suddenly it opens and a ray of artifial light passes through. He runs out of the room and straight into Magnus. Magnus startles as something hits his chest but he relaxes as his magic realizes Raphael. Magnus starts to frown as he feels his body shaking. Only it isn't him shaking, but Raphael. He steps back, worry in his clamored brown eyes. "¿Que ocurre bebe? ¿Estás herido? ¿Que pasó Rapha?" Alec, seeing the situation, turns to go into the kitchen and make Raphael a glass of blood. When he passes Raphael and Magnus, he runs a hand down Raphael's back for comfort. Raphael breathes in shakily before answering Magnus. "Estaba tan oscuro allí. Creo que tuve una pesadilla....Ella estaba allí, solo mirándome. ¡Papá, No sé qué está pasando!"Alec, who had walked in in the middle of his explanation, frowns.
The action causes wrinkles to appear in his forehead. He hands Raphael the glass of chilled blood before asking the important question. "Who? Who was watching you?" Raphael turns away before answering. "I-Isabelle."Alec's face twists in confusion, defensiveness making his shoulders tight. He's about to say something before he glances at Magnus who's glaring at him. He looks back at Raphael, who's shoulders are bunched in tight together and back curved like he's trying to draw into himself. Like he knows Alec won't believe him or trust him. Not after the blood incident. Alec sighs and picks up his phone. After a few taps, the phone starts to call an important person in his life. "Izzy? We need to talk."
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Footsteps seem to echo through the hallway as Isabelle Lightwood stalks through with stark red high heels and black smooth body suit. She stops outside of Magnus's door and calms her nerves. 'Nothing is wrong. Nobody is hurt.' She thinks to herself. She knocks on the door and it opens, revealing the furniture and luscious space in the room. She steps inside and jumps when the door slams behind her. She slowly slips out ber knife that was hidden in her suit, and walks quietly to the living room. She sees a blur in the corner of her eye and throws her knife at the figure only to notice that it's Magnus far too late. Luckily, Magnus stops the knife with a small burst of Magick. "I'm so sorry, Magnus!" She smiles nervously at him but he doesn't smile back. 'Weird.' She thinks as she tries to figure out what she did wrong.She doesn't notice the other people on the room until she hears the cleared throat behind her. She turns around and smiles brightly when she sees who's behind her. It's Alec."¡Hermano! Where have you been? I haven't seen you since forever and everything is falling apar-" Why is Raphael here when he should have been long gone?She stalks up to him and ignores the way his eyes widen with an emotion she's sure is false. He can't be afraid of her. She stops in front of him, anger visible in the lines of her body. "I told you to leave!" She seethes. She doesn't see the way Alec and Magnus look surprised.A hand on her arm turns her around, making her face Magnus and Alec. "Yeah, see about that. We have to talk." 'Oh Good. Now they can tell Raphael to leave for his own safety.' Little did she know that this was the start of a downhill battle.