He was lying in bed. Comfortable, snuggled up in a thick blanket. Some flashes of light shone through the curtains and dimly lit the room. He could feel the warmth of Magnus snuggled close to his body. He should get up, but it was nice to just lie there. Just a little bit longer.

He closed his eyes and rummaged through his memories of the last evening. Magnus had taken him out to a fancy restaurant. As always Magnus had worn something extraordinary, this time a purple and rather sparkly suit, which immediately caught everyone's attention at the restaurant. They shared a nice dinner with good wine. It was a great evening. He smiled as he remembered the kiss they shared as Magnus had dropped him off at the Institute.

Realisation hit him like a brick wall. Magnus wasn't here. But something certainly was.

He wanted to turn around but his body didn't react. His breathing increased. Something was seriously wrong. He couldn`t move. All he could do was stare blindly into the pitch-black room, feeling this foreign body.

"You can't get away from me", a soft voice purred. Something was slowly stroking his back.

He desperately wanted to escape that thing. He just needed his legs to start working. This couldn't be real.

His eyes found the spot where his window should have been. He remembered the light that had been there just a few moments ago, but now everything was completely black. It had changed on itself. Than he realized: it was a dream. Just a rather uncomfortable and stupid dream. He nearly laughed out of relief.

"That won't help you." He could feel a warm breeze on his ear.

He couldn't reply. His mouth felt like it was glued together. He took a reassuring breath. This wasn't real. It was his dream and therefore he could control it.

"Oh really? I would very much like to see that." Sharp claws scraped over his bare back. He jerked in shock. He knew that he had to remain calm to gain control, but it had felt so painful. So real. He just needed to get his body to move. Go over to the window and let the light in. Somehow he knew that this was the solution. The key to finally waking up.

But he was panicking. How was he supposed to keep a level head when this monster was inflicting him with pain at the same time? He gasped for air as he felt warm liquid running down his back.

This was ridiculous. He was a shadowhunter for god's sake. He knew about sleep cycles and lucid dreaming. This was only hard because he himself made his subconscious belief that he couldn't escape.

Suddenly he was standing next to the window. He did not know how he made it, but he could hear rustling from the bed. Footsteps and deep breaths.

Without hesitation he ripped open the curtains. Light flooded the room. He turned around to face the monster.

The room was black.

"You are powerless, because you still don't believe it. You won't even believe yourself. And until then you belong to me."

He felt an embrace. Than his body was on fire. Every inch of his body was burning with an intensity that just had to be real. He would not get out.

He couldn't catch a clear thought. His mind was screaming. Maybe he was also really screaming. He did not know. There was nothing, only pain and flames and noise.

With a start he sat up in bed. Immediately Alec jumped out and stumbled out of his room into the bathroom. Heavily breathing he leaned on the sink and let the stream of cold water run over his trembling hands. He raised his head and looked into the mirror half-expecting to see raw red and burned black skin. The Alec that stared back at him was alright, though. There was only pale skin that stood out to his black tousled hair.

He cupped some water with his hands and splashed it into his face.

He was awake now. He was okay.