Chapter 1

It was a Friday night in New York City and that meant only one thing for the young 20 somethings of the city: it was time to hit the bars. This also held true for the High Warlock of Brooklyn, even if he was more of a 400 something than a 20 something. For once he hadn't felt like throwing a lavish party so he'd opted instead to get dressed up, put on a truly insane amount of glitter, and convince one of his friends to go out drinking with him. Tonight's victim- er- friend was Elizabeth Lilan, his fellow New York warlock. It had taken a lot of convincing but eventually, he'd managed to convince her to put on a cute dress and leave her Soho apartment. He loved Elle but she was quickly moving beyond homebody and becoming a flat-out hermit. She was currently sitting at the bar next to Magnus, sipping her margarita, and glaring at any guy who looked like they might approach her.

Elle was looking stunning tonight as usual. Her long chocolate curls were pulled back into a simple ponytail, revealing her delicate features and the bright silver eyes she possessed because of her demon heritage. She was also wearing a beautiful red dress with an open back. Elle leaned towards the more Bohemian style clothes and this dress was no exception. The top was red lace that tied behind her neck. The bottom was a handkerchief skirt that fell just past her knees with the waist showing small slivers of her peach skin. If Magnus looked carefully, he knew that he'd be able to see some of the silver scales that were spattered across her abdomen, her demon's mark along with her eyes. The rest she'd glamoured for the occasion. For someone who didn't enjoy the attention, looking the way she did in that dress, Elle had placed herself on every guy's radar.

"Remind me again why I keep letting you take me out bar hopping with you when I could be enjoying the comfort of my couch?" Magnus Bane looked over at his friend in fake shock.

"Are you seriously telling me you'd rather be cooped up at home with your 50 cats instead of out at a bar with my fabulous self?"

"Yes! I could be at home, braless and curled up on the couch with Netflix right now. And I only have 5 cats!"

"Shhhh! If you didn't have me dragging your lazy butt out with me every once and awhile you'd be a crazy cat lady hermit by now."

"What's so wrong with that?"

"Elle, when was the last time you went out and got laid?" Elle flushed. "Too long I'm guessing. Honestly, it's like you don't care that you never get laid."

"You make it sound like I've never had sex. I have been married 3 times, Magnus."

"Please, those first two don't count. The 1700s were just confusing for everyone involved and those were arranged. Arranged marriage sex doesn't count."

"And the third one?"

"I saw the pictures of Amos. Trust me, he counts. But the 1800s was two whole centuries ago. When was the last time you had sex this century?" Elle thought.

"Probably… last year? New Year's Eve." Magnus cringed. Elle glared at him. "Okay, Mr. High Warlock of Brooklyn. When was the last time you had sex?"

"Uhhh…" The truth was it had been a while since Magnus had gotten laid as well. Ever since he'd met a certain Shadowhunter he'd found himself reluctant to call up his former booty calls when he could be texting his Angel.

"Just as I suspected. You're still focused on that Lightwood boy, aren't you?"

"And if I am?"

"We've been over this before Magnus. He's a Shadowhunter, a closeted one at that. I don't know what you're expecting of him."

"Nothing. He's just interesting. And he looks so much like Will Herondale!"

"Do not tell me that all this is because of some unrequited crush you had on Will centuries ago. Look Mags, I was Will's friend too. I remember how hot he was. But this new Lightwood boy isn't Will. Will's gone and he just looks like him because Gabriel Lightwood tricked Cecily into marrying him and then procreating. I swear the only reason those Lightwoods still exist is thanks to alcohol and Cecily's good genes mixed up with theirs."

"The Lightwoods have been particularly insufferable in the past haven't they?"

"All Nephilim are insufferable, the Lightwoods just take the cake. Now Gideon and Sophie were a different story. Gideon was the best of the Lightwoods that I've known. Sophie married in, so I'm not counting her."

"You know, Alexander's middle name is Gideon." Elle groaned

"Not Alexander again. I swear if you're this determined to hold onto your bizarre fetish for this Shadowhunter just hook-up with him and get it over with."

"No, it's not like that. He's different, special."

"He's a Nephilim. Even if he is different, you know just as well as I do what they're like. Even when they're trying to be good and 'enlightened' they were made to fight demons. And like it or not, we're half demon. They're designed to hate half of who we are. It'll never work." At that moment his phone went off. Elle rolled her eyes. "Saved by the bell." She said as Magnus answered the phone. He was surprised to find the very person he'd been thinking about on the other side.

"Magnus! We need your help! Now!"

"Whoa! Alexander, calm down. Tell me what's wrong?"

"Clary and Izzy were out and they ran into some kind of demon. Izzy is fine but Clary is hurt pretty bad and we don't know what kind of demon it was and what to do."

"Breathe Alexander. We'll be right there, the Institute right?"

"Yes! Wait, we?"

"I've got a friend with me. She can help, trust me. You want her more than me right now." Elle specialized in healing magic and she knew far more than Magnus about it.

"Okay, just hurry!" With that, Alec hung up. Magnus looked over at Elle, who'd heard his half of the conversation.

"Who needs my help?"

"Shadowhunter with injuries after fighting an unknown demon. Please, best behavior." Elle downed her drink in a swift gulp and then finished off his. Magnus knew she hated Shadowhunters but hopefully, the buzz she had from those 2 drinks and her usually exceptional bedside manner would keep her pleasant.

"Sounds typical of those bumbling idiots. Let's go."

When they'd gotten to the Institute Elle had immediately rushed to see to Clary's wounds. She'd told Magnus to wait in the hall with the rest of the Shadowhunters, assuring him that if she needed his help he'd certainly hear her yelling at him. Jace had been pacing up and down the hall angrily, clearly showing his affection for the redhead and frustration at being unable to help her. However, Alec had shooed him off to the training center after he nearly kicked a chair to smithereens after he tripped over it. At least there he could vent his anger and the furniture would be safe Izzy had vanished off to the kitchen, saying she was going to make something for Clary to eat when she was up to it. Simon had dashed off after her, trying to convince her that making Clary eat her food would make the injured girl worse. That left Magnus and Alec alone in the hall, sitting in awkward silence outside the closed door where Elle was busy with Clary.

"So," Alec said, breaking the silence.

"So," Magnus replied.

"Thank you for coming. We weren't sure what to do."

"It's no problem, Alexander. You should save your thanks for Elle, she's the one doing the healing."

"Yeah." Alec fell silent for a moment when Magnus brought up Elle. "Ummm… So, you know Elizabeth Lilan."

"Of course, we've known each other since the 1800s."

"That long?"

"Yes. She's a great warlock healer. Clary's in good hands."

"That's good. Especially, since you know her so well."

"Well, I have known her for 150 years or so."

"Yeah." Alec paused. "That's a long time. To know someone."

"We're warlocks. We live for a long time."

"Right. You do." Something in his voice was off. Magnus was concerned, was Alec alright? Was he that worried about Clary."

"Alexander," Magnus started, only to be cut off by Elle walking out into the hall. Both of them immediately turned to her.

"Well, she'll be fine." They both let out a long sigh of relief.

"What was it?" Alec asked.

"Behemoth. Looks like some of the demon's slime got into her bloodstream through her wounds and it wasn't letting her heal. I gave her a potion to clean it out and used a purifying spell to get the process up and working more quickly. She's resting now, but when she does wake up it'd be best for her to stay inside for a few days until the potion is out of her system. She'll be especially sensitive to toxins in her body like smog, smoke, and alcohol. The less exposure she has to them, the better. I'd just avoid anything that could be considered poisonous to the body."

"In that case, I really hope that Simon convinced Izzy not to cook," Alec said. Magnus winced but nodded in agreement.

"I've written down a list of what she should avoid but I'll add that to it."

"Thank you, and thank you for coming."

"It's no problem. Better than another night at a bar with this idiot." Elle said, waving to Magnus. Magnus was indignant.

"You make it sound like I torture you there."

"You do."

"I just make you leave the house every once and a while and go out and have fun." Elle groaned and rolled her eyes, looking over to Alec.

"Are you seeing this? Do you see what I've had to deal with for 150 years?" Alec chuckled.

"Sounds like me and Izzy. She's always trying to convince me to go out to parties with her." Elle threw her hands up in the air.

"THANK YOU!" she exclaimed. "Finally, someone gets it. I'm perfectly fine at home, I don't have to be constantly going out to have fun. But this one," She said, pointing to Magnus. "Is always after me to go out to this party or that bar. Can't I enjoy being home with my cats and Netflix?" Alec laughed, while Magnus grumbled to himself. "I swear, he's always been like this. He always thinks he knows what's best for me, like some kind of annoying big brother!"

"That's cause you act like a stubborn little hermit and spend all your time with your cats."

"You say that like it's a bad thing. You have a cat too!"

"I have A cat. You have 5! You're turning into a crazy cat lady!"

"I like being a crazy cat lady." Alec was dying of laughter at this point.

"You two do sound like Izzy and me! If I didn't know better I'd think you were brother and sister." Elle rolled her eyes.

"Oh God! Related to this glitter bomb! Really?"

"I like glitter!" Alec laughed again.

"I should go find Jace and let him know what's going on before more of our furniture pays the price. Thank you again for coming you two."

"No problem." Elle supplied. Alec flashed Magnus a beautiful, blue-eyed smile that took the warlock's breath away and turned to go find his angry, blonde parabatai. Magnus couldn't help but watch him as he walked away, flushing bright red. Elle caught his eye and gave him a knowing smirk. Magnus slammed his hand down onto a nearby side table, almost crying out at the pain. "You're right. He is different. I could almost like him, but I'm also drunk."

"Damn Shadowhunter! That's it, I'm gonna have to kill him!"

"Normally I'd support you but I think it'd be more fun to watch you suffer. Man up and actually ask him out." Magnus looked away, still bright red and muttered to himself.

"Killing him would be so much easier."

"Yes, but then how am I going to torture you for dragging me out to a bar."

For anyone coming back to this story after 1/15/20, and wondering why it seems different, I went back and decided to fix some mistakes in the previous version and add in some extra content. Hope this resolves any confusion

~ Mallorie a.k.a. Lilymaid620