Chapter Text
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It had been a long day and all Alec wanted was to power down his laptop, grab his jacket and head to Brooklyn to have a nice dinner with Magnus. But one look at the determined face of his parabatai who stood in front of his desk, and he knew that a cozy night at the loft lay not in his future.
Jace had stormed into his office a few minutes ago, without knocking (of course) all geared up and ready to head out into the night on patrol. Alec knew that Jace wasn't even scheduled for patrol tonight. But Jace had never been one to follow the rules. Especially not since Clary had crashed into their lives.
Now, the tiny redhead stood beside Jace, an eager grin on her face. Despite the fact that Alec knew that Jace would ignore anything he said, he at least had to try and dissuade his brother from going on patrol. They had had several demon alerts already, and it was barely after nightfall. While Alec knew that Jace could handle any demon out there, Clary couldn’t. She was still new to all this and judging from the training sessions Alec had witnessed, she wasn’t even remotely ready for this.
“Jace, I don’t think this is a good idea”, Alec said, looking up at his brother.
“Oh, come on Alec.” Jace huffed. “Don’t be such a spoilsport. I’ll take care of Clary and we’ll stay away from the demon hot spots. But this is a great opportunity for her to see how we work. And how to fight.”
While Alec couldn’t deny that this statement had some truth to it, he would prefer Clary to learn to fight in their computer simulations, first. He tried to reason with his brother, although he knew that he would lose. But he was the Acting Head of this Institute, Jace’s superior, and Jace should at least hear him out. “If you’d read the reports, Jace, you would know that only last week we had four attacks by large packs of ravener demons. And the day before yesterday a patrol was attacked by Croucher demons.”
Jace scoffed. “Croucher demons are like chihuahuas. You barely need any skill to kill them.”
“Eww.” Clary made a face. “That is gross.”
At her side, Jace shrugged. “I’m not saying I would kill a dog. Just that Crouchers are easy.”
Alec felt his patience wear thin. “That is not the point, Jace. The point is that right now the streets are, for some reason, overflowing with demons. Even demons we haven’t seen in a while.”
“Exactly!” Jace exclaimed. “That’s the reason why Clary should go on patrol tonight. To learn about demons. What better opportunity than this?”
Alec sighed internally. Through their parabatai bond, Alec could feel Jace’s eagerness to hunt. But he could also feel the need of his brother to impress Clary, to show off for her. Jace seemed to soak up the attention Clary gave him, and while Alec could not – and never would – begrudge his brother his feelings for Clary, he just knew that the streets were not safe at the moment. At least not for an untrained Shadowhunter. If this was anyone else but Clary, Jace would never even suggest to take her out.
This was not the first time that Jace had asked to go out with Clary, and Alec had usually denied the request. Not that Jace had listened to him. Not really. Jace was frustrated with him and his stand on not taking Clary out of the Institute without proper training and permission from the Clave.
Sometimes, Alec hated to be the voice of reason, but if this ended badly, the Clave would place the blame on his shoulders, not on his brother’s. And Alec really didn’t want to have to creatively rewrite a report just to fix the mess his brother had made.
He opened his mouth to argue with Jace, but when he saw Jace cross his arms before his chest and furrow his brows, he knew that it was a lost cause. Even before Clary had entered their lives, Jace had only seldom listened to caution. And since Clary was here, he didn’t listen at all anymore. Alec wondered why Jace had even bothered to stop by his office, when he didn’t intend to listen to a word he said. Of course, he could just order Jace and Clary to stay in the Institute, but he knew that Jace would slip away anyway. And who had to handle the paperwork and lie to the Clave? Exactly. Alec. And if Jace went behind his back, Clary would be completely unsupervised.
With a mental shake of his head, Alec sighed openly. He looked up at Jace, who smirked, knowing he had won. “Alright, Jace”, Alec said and when he saw his parabatai grin at Clary, he lifted his finger at him. “I’ll allow Clary and you to go on patrol tonight, but under two conditions.”
Jace didn’t even pretend to be concerned and Alec sighed mentally. “First”, Alec lifted a finger, “I’ll go on patrol with you, and second”, he lifted another finger, “we take Izzy with us, too.” With his sister on patrol with them, the chances of Clary surviving this night were definitely better.
“Great!” Jace clapped his hands together and grinned. “Let’s hunt some demons.”
Getting up from his chair to grab his own gear, Alec shook his head at himself. What was the point in having a chain of command when not even his own brother listened to him?
On their way to the armory, they collected Isabelle. When she heard that Alec wanted her on the patrol, she just shrugged. “Fine with me. I have nothing better to do, anyway.”
While Isabelle suited up, Alec sent a quick message to Magnus to inform him that he would not come to the loft for dinner after all. Magnus only sent him back a smiley with a sad face, and Alec felt his stomach twist. This was not the first time in the last weeks that he had to cancel his plans with Magnus, and he hated it. While Magnus always understood that Alec’s work could get in the way of things, Alec felt his frustration with his limited free time rise. When Jace clapped him on the shoulder with a “Let’s go!” he could not fully repress the irritated glare.
While Jace chatted away at Clary, retelling some widely exaggerated tale of a hunt a few years ago, in which Jace had single-handedly killed a horde of demons, Alec fell in step beside Isabelle.
“If you glare any more at his back, he could catch fire”, Isabelle said and bumped her shoulder against his side. “Relax, Alec. It’s just a patrol. Nothing bad will happen.”
“Don’t jinx it, Izzy!” said Alec and shot her a sideways look.
“Okay, okay, I take it back.” His sister laughed. “This will be the worst patrol we ever had.”
If Alec had known in that moment how right his sister would be, he would have put the Institute in total lockdown.
Tbc!
Comments and kudos are appreciated my lovely readers. :)