Chapter Text
She woke up dizzy and disoriented, not knowing where she was and what day it was. It was dark, and she was lying on grass, no living soul anywhere near her. The ground under her was damp, and she could feel that some of the wetness had already soaked through her clothes, the fabric clinging uncomfortably to her body.
Izzy reached out to touch her head and check for any possible injuries. She didn’t feel any pain, but she knew it wasn’t an indicator that she wasn’t bleeding anywhere - years of going on missions had taught her more about injuries than any book ever could. Her eyes needed a moment to focus, but once they did, she saw that her hand had come out clean, no traces of blood to be seen.
The next thing she did was to sit up slowly and take a look around. There were a few trees and benches, scattered all over the grass, and something that looked like a path. Her brain still felt slow and foggy, but was clear enough to process those pieces of information, and tell her that she was probably in a park - or some private property. If it was a forest, it was a rather odd one.
Something small and black was lying on the grass close to her, and she tentatively reached for the object - careful, in case of any possible injuries. The weight of the object was familiar and brought her a sense of comfort, and she sighed in relief once she realised it was her phone. The screen looked to be broken, but it still worked, so she unlocked the screen and opened the contact list, to dial the first number under the letter A.
“Alec?” Her voice broke down when she said his name, and she started to cry. The voice on the other end of the line went from distressed to calming, as she sobbed, uncontrillingly. Izzy’s mind registered that someone else must had taken the phone from Alec, because a familiar female voice was suddenly coming through the speakers.
“Izzy? It’s going to be okay, sweetie. Can you tell us where you are?” Izzy’s hand was shaking, and she almost dropped her phone. “Jace! Max! Try to track her phone! Izzy? We will find you soon, okay? Just stay with me. Focus on my voice, okay?” She nodded, even though the woman couldn’t see her. “Your brothers and I will get to you soon. You don’t have to worry about anything. We’ll get Luke’s police car, or my car, if we need to be discreet, and we will bring you home.”
“Mom?” Izzy’s voice broke again, recognising Maryse at the other end. The older woman almost sobbed in relief, hearing her voice.
“Yes, it’s me. I won’t let anyone hurt you, okay? Do you know where you are?” Her mother asked, calmly. Jace, Max and Luke were trying to localize Izzy’s phone, but maybe she could get the information that could help find Izzy from her daughter herself. She had no idea where Isabelle was, or what condition she was in, and every second could be precious.
“I don’t know mom. I’m sorry, I don’t know.” Izzy said through tears, shaking her head vigorously. The movement only made her feel nauseous, so she stopped and held onto her pounding head with one hand.
She couldn’t remember the last time she had cried that much.
“It’s okay, sweetie. Can you see anything around you?” Maryse tried again, calmly. She herself was seconds away from breaking down, but she knew she had to keep strong for her Isabelle. Nothing during her shadowhunter training had prepared her for this, for how she felt as if her heart was breaking into hundreds of pieces - first, when she heard Isabelle had gone missing, and again now, when she heard her cry, not knowing where she was and if she was hurt.
Izzy wiped her eyes with her sleeve, then spoke again. “Trees. I think it’s a park. There are benches and trees, and…” A loud sob wrecked her body and she leaned forward, wrapping her arm around her frame.
“We got her!” Someone shouted in the background, and Maryse sighed in relief.
“We are going to get you. Are you hurt?”
Izzy moved her legs slowly, to check for any broken bones. “I don’t think so. I just want to go home.”
“You will, soon. I promise.” More shouts could be heard through the line, someone saying they grabbed the first aid kit, and another person informing they have the car keys. “Just stay with me, okay? I will talk to you all the time.” Maryse informed her.
Izzy had no idea how much time had passed, when she finally heard Max’s voice, louder and more clear than her mom’s that had been coming through telephone’ speakers. “Over here!” She shouted weakly, her throat dry and sore.
Jace was the first person that spotted her, and run up to her, Luke and Max following close behind. She could see all three of them stopping in their tracks when they got close, and look at her with shock written on their faces.
“Why are you standing here?” Alec’s voice broke the silence, and spurred Jace into action - he knelt down next to Izzy, and hastily checked for any injuries, then wrapped a huge blanket around her, and lifted her up. During that time, Maryse managed to find them, and there was something in her gaze that made Izzy scared again - a sadness, pity, something she couldn’t quite name. Alec and Luke exchanged a look between them, but before Izzy could ask them what was going on, Jace began to walk towards the car.
“We’ll get you to the Infirmary soon. Don’t worry.” He held her closer his his chest, and she wrapped her arms around his neck in return. She was so relieved that they were finally there, that she didn’t feel him tense.
They were the first ones to reach the car, and Jace clearly didn’t have the keys on him, because they had to wait for the rest to catch up to them. Luke opened the backdoor for them, so Jace could position Izzy gently on the back seat, then climb in after her. Luke took the place behind the wheel, with Alec occupying the passenger seat and Maryse sitting on Izzy’s left. Alec was vigorously texting on his phone, as Luke started the car.
“Max?” Izzy asked, seeing that her parabatai wasn’t there.
“There isn’t enough space for him in the car. Don’t worry, he’ll walk.” Maryse tried to give Izzy a reassuring smile, but her daughter could see right through it - something was wrong, and no one was telling her what it was.
“We can’t go to the Institute. Mom, do you have the keys to your place?” Alec asked, looking at the Maryse in the rear-view mirror. Jace opened his mouth, about to protest, but his brother just shook his head.
“Yes, I have them.” Maryse replied, glancing briefly at Izzy.
“Why are we not going back home?” Isabelle asked, trying to catch Alec’s eye. When it became clear he wouldn’t look at her, she turned to her left instead. “Mom?”
She reached for Izzy’s hands, and grasped them tightly. “Honey. What do you remember from the time when you were gone?”
Izzy looked at Maryse, confused. “...how much time have passed?”
They could all hear Alec cursing loudly in the passenger seat. Jace put a reassuring hand on his shoulder, and squeezed it. Their parabatai bond meant he didn’t need to do so to comfort him, but the very human act of touching was capable of conveying a lot. Ever since Alec, Jace and Izzy were little kids, they liked to cuddle together, or sit close so their bodies were touching, and that didn’t change after Alec and Jace had become parabatai.
Parabatai.
Isabelle pulled one of her hands out of Maryse’ grasp, and touched the place where her own parabatai rune should be. The constant presence of Max that had been there for years was suddenly gone, and she couldn’t believe she hadn’t realised it sooner.
“Breathe.” Jace told her, as she began to hyperventilate. They were already parked under the the complex where Maryse lived, but no one dared to move out of the car, all four sets of eyes glued to Izzy as her mind tried to make sense of everything.
“Everything is going to be okay.” Alec tried to reassure his sister, as she was leaning back against Jace, but that phrase was only making Izzy more worried. What had happened to her? How long was she gone? Why couldn’t she feel Max? Led by a hunch, she rolled up her sleeve.
All her runes were gone.
“I think we should get her inside.” Luke suggested, and the Lightwoods nodded silently. Maryse hesitated, not wanting to leave her daughter alone, but Jace told her that they would catch up with her soon. He and Alec helped Izzy out of the car, then up the stairs, as she stared blankly at her arm.
Later, she wouldn’t even remember how she had found himself on a red couch, squeezed between Jace and Max, as Alec paced around the room.
“Hey.” Max reached for Isabelle’s bare arm, and covered the place where a rune used to be with his hands. “Don’t even think about it.” He pulled down her sleeve, then pulled her into a hug. They could both hear a loud inhale coming from someone, and the room seemed to held their breath. “The only thing that matters is that you are okay.”
“What happened, Max? I can’t remember anything.” Izzy whispered, still clinging tightly to her parabatai. He leaned back in her embrace and cupped a side of her face.
“Let me just.” He reached into his pocket and took out his phone, then opened the front camera and showed it into Izzy’s hands.
The sharp teeth stood out, even against her pale lips.
“No.” Isabelle handed her brother his phone back, shaking her head and trying to get away from the cursed object. Her back met with Jace’s chest, and the blonde once again held her close. “No, it can’t be. I wasn’t gone for long. I don’t feel the thirst. You don’t look scared.”
“Izzy.” Maryse stood up from the armchair she had been occupying, to kneel in front of her daughter. “Sweetie, you were gone for over a month. We have searched all the continents, looking for you, even long after Max lost his parabatai rune. We couldn’t trace you, couldn’t find you anywhere.”
“No. I can’t be…” She couldn’t even say that word. A vampire.
“We will find whoever did this to you.” The anger was clear in Alec’s voice. “They must have kept you for long, because you seem to do well around...yeah.” He cleared his throat, looking embarrassed at being unable to talk about this. Alec felt responsible for it - he was Izzy’s older brother, the Head of the NY Institute. He hadn’t made sure she was safe, and it costed her everything. “Do you remember anything from that time?”
She shook her head, and he pressed his lips together, clearly hoping to get some answers. To held whoever had done this accountable.
“On my way here I called Raphael. He should be here soon.” Max spoke again. Alec nodded wordlessly, his head clearly somewhere else, but Izzy wasn’t as calm about it as her brothers were.
“Raphael? The clan leader?” She has barely met that man in her life, maybe interacting with him a handful of times over the years. Did them calling him mean they want to put her in Hotel Dumort?
As if reading her mind, Max reacher for her hand again. “He’s only coming here to give us some insight. Him and Alec will lead a joined investigation on what had happened to you.” Ever since Alec had become the Head if the Institute, things had begun to change. He opened a dialogue with the Downworlders, that hadn’t been there before, and tried to fix the mistakes of the past by treating Downworlders as Shadowhunters’ equals. “Plus, you do need to eat something, eventually.”
Izzy shook her head again - it seemed to be a constant theme of the last hour or so. “I don’t feel thirsty.”
Just as she said those words, the doorbell rang. Alec went to open the door, since he was the only one standing. A quiet exchange of ‘hello’s’ and pleasantries could be heard from the hallway, then the two men joined the group.
Instead of greeting the people present in the room, Raphael scolded at the windows. “There are still two hours till the Dawn, but shutting the curtains never hurt anyone.”
Maryse stood up, embarrassed that they have forgotten about it, and shut the blinds then drew the curtains in the room. At that sight, Izzy seemed to shrink onto herself, wrapping the blanket tighter around her body.
“Hello.” Raphael directed those words at Izzy, and walked up to her with a soft smile. “I’m Raphael Santiago. The leader of a vampire clan.”
“I know who you are.” He seemed surprised by her words, but quickly covered it with another smile. A true diplomat , she thought briefly. “I’m Isabelle Lightwood. We have met.”
“We have, indeed.” the vampire replied.
Jace stood up to make space on the couch, and Raphael motioned towards the empty spot. “Mind if I sit down.”
“No, not at all.” Izzy scooted closer to Max, both for comfort and to make more space. She wasn’t afraid of the vampire, but she needed her parabatai’ strength to help her get through whatever was happening. Could she even still call her little brother her parabatai? Even without looking, she knew the rune was gone, and she wasn’t even a Shadowhunter anymore.
All that thinking made her dizzy again, so she focused on the present conversation instead.
“Do you remember what happened?” Raphael asked.
She was tired of that question. No, she did not remember what had happened to her. She had no idea a whole month had passed, she didn’t even remember being kidnapped, she didn’t remember anything .
Sensing her growing frustration, Raphael decided to approach everything differently.
“How are you feeling right now?” Every member of the Lightwood-Garroway family was listening in to the conversation, and suddenly, Izzy was very aware of that. She shifted in her seat, and looked down at her hands.
“Luke, Jace? Could you help me with dinner?” Maryse asked softly, and Isabelle sent her mom a grateful look. Once the three of them were out of the room, she felt as if she could breathe more easily. Alec took up the chair previously occupied by mom, leaning forward and trying to take in every word, to find all the information that could help him catch whoever had hurt his sister. He was in what the Lightwood siblings jokingly called the ‘leader mode’, but seeing him like that right now was oddly reassuring. Izzy felt as if everything would be okay.
“Isabelle?” Raphael asked softly, bringing her attention back to him.
“Right. I feel…” She bit her lip, taking a moment to think about how she felt. “I don’t feel anything. I can’t feel Max through our bond.” Her younger brother squeezed her hand again, to tell her he was still there, with her. “I’m not in pain. Should I be?” she asked.
“No, unless someone has hurt you.” Raphael smiled encouragingly at her, and she could feel the corners of her mouth going up as well. He was...gentle and kind. Not like in the rumors she had heard. People talked that the Clan Leader was a grumpy man, scoffing at others all day and rolling his eyes. But, here he was, smiling, even though she could see the shadows under his eyes.
Maybe those were just a vampire trait, and not a sign of tiredness.
“I...don’t want to eat.” To say that she didn’t feel thirsty at all would be a lie. Her throat was still dry, and as much as she would like to lie to herself and state it was because she has spend some time laying on a wet grass in the park, the truth was, she was starting to get hungry. And it was scaring her.
“You will have to drink something, sooner or later.” Raphael’s tone became very businesslike. “I know that it can be quite a shock, at first, but you get used to it. It gets easier.”
She didn’t want it to ‘get easier’. She wanted to avoid it altogether. Until she would have to drink blood, she could still pretend everything was the same as it used to be. That she was still alive, a shadowhunter, and could get back to her home anytime she wanted. That she could walk in a sunlight and enjoy mom’s home-cooked meals. When she closed her eyes, she could almost feel Max at the back of her head again.
Almost.
“Isabelle.” Raphael glanced briefly towards Alec, and the man stared right back at him. After a short moment, though, he stood up, resigned, and went to join his family in the kitchen. Alec respected the vampire - he was just worried about his sister. One glance at Izzy and Max, though, told Raphael that Max would be staying for the entire conversation. “You need to eat. We can’t control whether or not we drink blood.” Raphael knew, that the more he would repeat that phrase, the sooner Isabelle would get used to it. “But we can control how and when we drink it. The more hungry you get, the less control you have.” Max had updated Raphael on everything they had known - how long Izzy had been missing and when had his parabatai rune disappeared. She was around a month old, so controlling her thirst wasn’t impossible, but the way she restrained herself from attacking others made Raphael realise that someone must have led her through the transition - and he wondered who could it be. “I brought you some blood. It’s easier when you pour it into a mug, and treat it as any other drink.” Izzy made a disgusted face, but Raphael was a no stranger to such reactions, so he didn’t feel offended.
“He’s right, Izzy.” Alec’s voice could be heard from the doorway, and Raphael fought hard to keep his expression neutral. Alec may be a progressive guy, but he still had no idea what it was to be a vampire. No matter what the Lightwoods believed, Raphael wasn’t doing them a favour - he was looking out for a young vampire. A possible future member of his Clan.
Alec then addressed Raphael. “I will tell at the Institute that we haven’t yet found her. Or, that I sent her on another mission. Whatever they will believe in more.” He was playing with his hands, probably not aware he was showing just how stressed he was. “We need to find out what happened first, before we let them know. We can’t…” Alec was lost for words.
“It would be best if Isabelle stayed at the Dumort. No one would look for her there, and she would have all our resources at hand.” All the blood, all the vampires that had gone through the same thing. Everything she would need.
“No.” Izzy’s voice came out firm. “I’m staying here. I’m not going anywhere.” She looked straight at Raphael.
He, in turn, looked back at her, trying to guess whether there was any room for negotiations. Not tonight, he had decided.
“Very well. I will come back tomorrow, to check on you.” He had things to do, but he didn’t trust anyone else to handle such a delicate situation - after all, not every day the sister of the Head of the Institute has been turned.