Chapter Text
James collapsed onto the floor of Blackthorn Manor, panting from his experience in the demon realm. He was practiced enough to resist the temptations of staying inside it but he had to navigate his way to Idris. He was met with resistance, and James wondered if his mother had placed more protective spells onto the manor since his last trip. Nevertheless James rose and glanced around the property. He heard the faint sounds of a piano from the drawing room and he entered it to find his foster brother Jesse playing it.
“Jamie!” Jesse exclaimed upon his entrance to the room. “You’re safe!”
“Indeed, but it was harder to get here this time.” James rubbed his eyes, they were stinging from the overwhelming information he’d just received.
“I could sense the protection in Idris heightened but I am unsure of why since I was worried for your safety.” Jesse explained. “It would have taken time to float to the city of glass without an anchor.” He unclasped the bracelet on his hand and gave it to James. James glanced at it and hesitated, but then took it anyway to put it back onto his wrist. Jesse seemed to note James’ silence. “What's the matter?”
“Am I a shadowhunter?” James asked. “Is that why I can enter Idris just now despite whatever is protecting it?”
Jesse blinked at James and frowned. “That...would explain so much. But the only person that can answer that is our mother.”
“
Your
mother.” James sighed and sat in a nearby armchair with his head in his hands. “I had the most peculiar encounter with the head of the London institute. I feel so stupid!”
“What did they say?” Jesse floated over to James and knelt in front of him.
“They said that mother was sent here to Idris to be healed. Then Mr. Heondale brought his wife to me for a private discussion. They both seemed convinced that I am their blood son!” James removed his hands from his face to look at Jesse in the eye. “Did your mother kidnap me?!”
“I…” Jesse blanched. “To be fair I never questioned Mother’s story about finding you abandoned in the streets. I will say this: before you arrived at Chiswick the clave tore through the house, Mr. Herondale included, searching for something. I was briefly questioned about a child but I couldn’t report anything out of the ordinary. Maybe it was due to my uncle’s pity for my illness but they didn’t try me by the sword because I was not a fully realized shadowhunter. You came into the house shortly after their investigation and I never connected the two events ever.”
James stood up from his chair and threw his cloak off, his rage was making him overheat and he could feel a looming sense of dread as the shadows on the wall veered towards him. “I just threw a flaming book at my birth parents!”
“James!” Jesse looked alarmed and tried to comfort him by placing a hand on his shoulder, but it passed right through. James’ magic was out of control and even with the anchor on the warlock's wrist Jesse was still a ghost. “James, you need to breathe!”
“I’m...trying…” James took controlled breaths and rested his hands on his knees. The walls were closing in on him and he could feel himself tilting over. “I feel faint…”
“Jamie!” Jesse’s voice of concern was the last thing James heard before fading to black. When he rose he realized he was back in the realm of demons. This time though, there was the figure of a man standing before him. He was clearly demonic in nature, but as James stood up he noted features of himself and the woman he was introduced to earlier in the man’s face. James decided this was a trick of the eyes, and narrowed his golden ones at the demon.
“Who are you?” He demanded. The demon man chuckled and spread his arms wide.
“Take a wild guess James, you’ve been travelling through my realm for years.” He boasted, with a hint of amusement in his eyes.
James scoffed and averted his eyes. “It wasn’t like I had a choice…”
“Oh but you do.” The man chuckled and James came to the realization that this was Belial, or at least, a representation of him. His mother- or his kidnapper often met with Belial and relayed her meetings to James but he had never met him face to face. “You have free will after all. You aren't bound by the laws of shadowhunters or the warlocks.”
James bristled. “As if I could disobey my mother-”
“She isn’t your mother, haven't you been told that your whole life?” Belial chuckled like he knew something James didn’t, but James had a hunch he wasn’t privy to what James had just learned.
“She raised me, therefore as my caregiver I haven’t strayed from her guidance.” James decided not to divulge any information that Belial himself may or may not know.
“True. Although I shudder to think what kind of “care” that sort of woman offers.” Belial walked closer to James, with a tilt of his head. “I could give you more power than she has allowed. I am her overseer, my word outranks hers.”
“Is that so…?” James took a hesitant step back, even as a warlock he was trained never to trust demons. A demon’s mission was to take over the world he resided in and no one would be spared from a terrible fate, even him. “At what cost?”
Belial smirked and opened his arms wide as if to demonstrate peace. “Depends on what you define as ‘cost’. You never questioned your mission before, did you discover something of interest?”
James narrowed his eyes at Belial’s knowing gaze but refused the bait. “I only wonder why you have chosen to send your demons upon my mother who has been your loyal servant all this time?”
“Time isn’t relative to demons and mortals.” Belial chuckled. “I do have a reason for the attack, though it remains to be seen if you would accept it. Your local Enclave never received cooperation from Tatiana regarding any matter, so to remove suspicion of her involvement I ordered the attack. It is not meant to be lethal, though time will tell if she survives.”
“You are avoiding my question.” James gritted his teeth, if he wasn’t going to get any information from this conversation he couldn’t remain in this realm in this state of uncertainty. “What is the cost of the power you claim to be able to bestow?”
“Your soul, and body.” Belial shrugged as if his request were simple enough. James blanched at the news and took more steps back. “Once I’ve taken over all the power I possess and more can be utilized in your world.”
“You can’t be serious.” James shook his head. “That's an invitation to my death. I won’t do it.”
“You don’t have to decide now.” Belial smirked at James. “But I’d hate for anything to happen to your family.”
James bristled, he recognized Belial’s threat to Jesse’s dormant body in the manor. “You can’t touch him! I know you need permission from a living soul to enter our world and Jesse cannot give it.”
“Who said anything about dead souls?” Belial’s expression darkened and James noted a demonic glint in his irises. “You shouldn’t speak of things you don’t yet understand boy.”
James gulped but he decided he didn’t want to play this game anymore. He had to get back to Jesse before something happened to his body. He turned around as if he intended to walk away from the situation and found himself blinking away. He was lying on a bed and a hooded figure was looming above him. James yelped and backed away, bumping his head against the headboard and wincing.
James Morgan Herondale, settle yourself.
A voice rang inside his throbbing head. James gasped and clutched his head. He finally realized he was back in the manor, and this figure before him was a silent brother.
“Why are you calling me that?” James stole a glance at the mythical Silent Brother. He had heard of them, and when Jesse was alive they had been summoned for his shadowhunter ceremony. James was forced to hide away during these events, because Tatiana told him his existence was a secret. Now he suspected it was because these men would have immediately identified him like this Silent Brother had.
It is the name that your parents, my parabatai and the love of my life, bestowed upon you.
The silent brother pulled his hood away and James noticed that while his mouth was sewn shut and eyes were closed and scarred, his presentation was surprisingly still human.
“You are Jem Carstairs.” James blinked, recalling the tales his mother spun. “Your name is short for… James…” James trailed off and slapped his forehead with a groan. “Stupid!”
I am now Brother Zacheriah, but no one blames you for your ignorance.
Despite the chills going down James' spine every time Jem- Brother Zacheriah spoke, he could tell the man was trying to comfort him.
“Why are you here?” James rubbed his own forehead, his head still throbbed from knocking it.
Your father sent me a message to come to this manor immediately. It was an unusual request so before I headed to the spiral labyrinth with Magnus Bane we headed here.
“Magnus Bane?” James flinched at the mention of the famed warlock. Tatiana had attempted dealings in the past, and even though James had never met the man he heard of how powerful he was. “He is here?”
“Of course, I wouldn’t miss the opportunity to trespass a Shadowhunter’s lavish manor in Idris would I, Brother Zacheriah?” A brown man with long hair and cat-like eyes entered the room. He was dressed in a dark overcoat with a golden and deep purple waistcoat gleaming underneath. His pants were slim fitting and he wore high boots that would have been mens fashion a hundred or so years past. Perhaps they were from that era, James belatedly realized, since he had no idea how old Magnus Bane was. “How on earth has no one identified this spitting image of Will Herondale until today?”
“I was forbidden from leaving the home without glamour, and I rarely left without supervision...” James bristled. “I never met Will Herondale until a day ago.”
Except on the day of your birth.
Stated Brother Zacheriah and James raised his eyebrows. He didn’t think the Silent Brother’s were known for their jokes or sarcasm but even with the monotone it was clear as day.
We would like you to come with us to the Spiral Labyrinth.
“No!” James shot up suddenly and swayed as Magnus Bane caught his arm. Once he was steady James tore his arm away, “I cannot leave the manor.” He noted through the dusty curtains that it was dawn, and would explain why the room was empty of Jesse.
“Is there a reason you’re so attached to this place?” Magnus crossed his arms and James lowered his gaze. If Magnus was as powerful as his reputation then he already knew that Jesse’s corpse was lying in the basement. James brushed his hand on the bracelet, as long as he had it on him Jesse’s ghost could follow.
“No,” James raised his gaze back up at the two adults. “Take me, I have nothing to lose.” He would not lose Jesse, whether it be by Belial's hand or this warlock or the shadowhunters. He may not be Tatiana’s blood son, but Jesse treated him as his own brother, blood or not. That was the most precious thing James possessed.