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“Jace get down!” Alec shouted, sliding under the swipe of claws coming at him from the Ravener demon. The next arrow he fired had a dark swirl of gray snapping magic around it and the demon was incinerated an instant later and Alec had to pray that Magnus wasn’t paying enough attention to realize his magic wasn’t the only one being used in this fight.
Once he had an instant to breathe, Alec drew another two arrows and headed towards the flashes of blue and red magic he could see coming from where Magnus was fighting the demons coming out of the rift and trying to close it at the same time.
“Alec, we’re going to be overrun soon!” Izzy shouted, her whip snapping another Shax demon that goo close to him.
Alec panted and fired arrows into the two demons trying to crawl out of the rift. Then another, then another.
“Alexander!” Magnus snapped. “That isn’t working, and all it’s going to do is leave you unarmed in the very immediate future! We need another warlock!”
Alec cursed and looked back at Izzy and then to Jace and then to Magnus who was looking at him in confusion. His magic itched under his skin and he looked to Magnus helplessly. He didn’t have enough knowledge and control over his power to be able to do what Magnus needed.
“Alec!” Izzy shouted, her whip thrashing through another two demons. “Either now or never, or we need to retreat and call for backup!”
Alec bit down on his lip and stepped up next to Magnus, sheathing his bow and taking a deep breath. Focus. He had to focus and breathe. He could do this. Give the magic a task and put all of his focus into it. Just like firing an arrow.
“Alexander-”
“I’ll hold it, you close it,” Alec snapped. He didn’t look over at Magnus, but with another slow breath, magic, shades of silver and gray, sprang to his fingertips and he narrowed his eyes, staring at the portal. A net. A net to hold them back while Magnus closed the portal. He heard Magnus call his name again, but he threw his magic forward with a grunt, wrapping the net around it.
Magnus had trained many young warlocks, and feeling Alec’s magic surrounding the rift, he could see just how young it was, how it was still growing and had so much more room for him to improve. It wasn’t strong enough to do what he was attempting, but his magic was responding to the strength of Alec’s will and Magnus ached at the sight of it.
“Magnus!” Alec snapped, feeling a demon hit the net, grunting under the pressure of holding it back. “Hurry!”
Magnus turned all of his focus back to closing the rift, pouring magic into it, stitching it back together, piece by piece, even as he felt Alec pushing more magic at the net he’d built, draining himself down to the dregs to be able to keep the demons out. “Alexander!”
When Alec didn’t answer and the net around the rift started to flicker, Magnus stepped up to the rift and shoved a wave of power through it, destroying the demons and pushing them back before he closed it the rest of the way, falling back to the ground.
“Magnus! Help Alec!” Jace shouted. “I can’t feel him!”
“Shit,” Magnus muttered, struggling to his feet, even as his legs felt like jelly, making his way over to the prone shadowhunter, scrambling to kneel next to Alec, reaching for his neck. His pulse was thin but thready, and he’d almost burned out his core of magic. “We’ve, I’ve got to get him back to my loft.”
The sound of demons being killed finally faded around him and Magnus got Alec sitting upright and cradled against him, carefully combing his fingers through his hair. His magic was already protective of Alec, curling around him even more so now that it could feel the seed of magic deep within him.
“Is, is he going to be okay?” Isabelle asked, her voice worried as she stared at Magnus. Alec was pale, his face drained of color.
“When,” Magnus panted, looking up at her, summoning a portal with effort. “When you don’t have control over your magic and can use it effectively, your only option is just to use the brute force strength of it.” He stood and with another grunt, picked up Alexander and carried him to the portal, stepping through and into his loft, feeling the two shadowhunters follow him.
He got Alec laid out on the couch and hurried to his apothecary, grabbing two bottles before hurrying back over to Alec.
“What are those?” Jace snapped. He watched Magnus pour one into Alec’s mouth and pinch his nose and lips shut to make him swallow.
“Are you really going to yell at me when I’m making sure that your brother isn’t in a coma?” Magnus snapped, yanking the stopper out of the second potion before repeating the process. Once he was done, he tossed the bottles away, glad that Jace and Isabelle were both quiet. He gathered magic into his hand, cursing under the strain before he shoved his hand against Alec’s chest, kickstarting the recovery of his magic.
Alec jack-knifed upright and his eyes were wide as he stared at Magnus slumping in relief next to the couch, his chest and throat aching, Jace and Isabelle standing in the middle of the room. He sagged back against the couch with a groan. Now everyone knew. Fuck.
Magnus looked over at Jace and Isabelle. “Both of you go back - make some sort of excuse for Alexander. He’ll need to stay the night.”
Jace scowled. “What, why?”
Magnus sighed in frustration and turned to glare at the shadowhunters, his magic snapping angrily around him. “Because I am High Warlock and I’ve just discovered there is a shadowhunter warlock in my jurisdiction that I knew nothing about. Like it or not this is something I need to address with Alec, as well as his training - which he is welcome to share with you after I discuss it with him.”
Alec watched Izzy and Jace step through the portal Magnus summoned for them, meeting both of their eyes, trying to reassure them with a nod, before he was alone with Magnus, who was looking at him with intent eyes.
“Your warlock mark?” Magnus asked with a raised eyebrow. “You are a warlock, I’m assuming? Which says things about Maryse Lightwood I certainly never needed to know.”
Alec swallowed and looked down at his hands and swallowed before spitting out a single word. “Valentine.”
Magnus froze and then pinched the bridge of his nose. “Of course. Monster. I’m sorry, please excuse my insensitivity. I’m exhausted, worried about you, and trying to figure out what the hell we do from here.”
“You don’t need to worry about me,” Alec said, trying to sit up before everything started to swim in his vision and he sank back down on the couch. “Nnngh, fuck.”
“Yeah, magical depletion isn’t fun when you’ve learned to deal with it, let alone when you haven’t,” Magnus said, sitting next to the couch again. “We need to start training you. I’m amazed that you’ve been able to hide it so long. Even more, that you’re actually able to hold runes.”
Alec swallowed and nodded. “No one besides Jace, Izzy, and Mom knows. If they did, you can imagine…”
Magnus nodded. “I can. I understand why you’ve kept it a secret. Do you glamour your mark? Or is it something easier to hide?”
“It’s not a glamour. It’s…a spell. It keeps them hidden. Sealed with a rune,” Alec said, shifting to take his shirt off.
Magnus raised his eyebrows. “Don’t feel like you have to strip for me, darling,” he teased.
Alec snorted and rolled his shoulders and looked behind him. “You’re going to want to add about ten feet of room behind me.”
Magnus’ eyes widened, but he shook his head. “I can’t do that right now. Magic is too low. Come on, to the middle of the room.” He helped Alec stand and brought him to the middle of the loft, even though now he could feel something gathering in Alec, his magic growing stronger by the second. “Here good? Or do you want to be outside?”
Alec shook his head. “Here’s fine.” He pulled his stele out and drew a rune on his arm and breathed out slowly, magic crackling around his back before he finally shifted, two large wings springing from his back.
Magnus stared in shock at the wings that must have been between ten and twelve feet each. “How…how large is your wingspan?”
“Almost twenty-five feet from tip to tip,” Alec said, rolling his shoulders again, reaching up to press at his shoulders. It was always weird to feel his magic sinking into his muscles to augment the strength to actually carry and use the wings, but it only took a minute or two to get used to it. Thankfully the extra release of the spell also released the rest of his magic. “They’re spelled to be a tattoo on my back, and locked and glamoured with a rune.”
Magnus turned his attention back to Alec. “Can you use them?”
Alec’s eyes slid from Magnus’ to the doors by the balcony. “Open them,” he said, his voice soft.
Magnus’ breath caught and his eyes widened and in another instant, they were blown open. He watched Alec move around him and break into a run halfway through the loft, jumping into the air, his wings spread. He raced out after Alec, only to watch Alec catch an updraft and soar up and past the building into the sky. He circled the apartment building, riding the thermals easily enough until he was landing on the balcony with a slight stumble.
In another quick motion, Alec was sealing his wings away with a swipe of his stele and Magnus was still staring at him in shock. “You can fly,” Magnus said, well-aware of how dumbfounded he sounded.
“Kinda,” Alec said, rolling his shoulders, unable to keep from grinning. Flying always put him in a good mood. “It’s harder here, there are not as many thermals to catch. Much easier around Alicante.”
Magnus blinked once, then twice, and gestured Alec back into the loft. “We…have a lot to talk about.”
Alec flushed and walked back into the loft. “What did you give me? I don’t feel exhausted anymore.”
Magnus realized, far too late, that Alec was walking under his own power easily and didn’t seem to be carrying that same level of depleted magic he had only moments ago and he frowned. “Nothing that should have made you recover that quickly.” He blew out a hard breath. “We have a lot to talk about.”
Alec sank down onto the couch. “I hope…you’re not too angry?” he said, glancing up at Magnus.
Magnus shook his head. “Angry, no. I understand why you kept it a secret. Confounded, confused, surprised, and wondering where the hell we go from here? Yes.”
Alec laughed and shook his head. “Sounds easy enough. So where do we start?”
Magnus summoned a drink for himself and sat down on the other end of the couch himself. That was a great fucking question. He took a deep breath and summoned a second drink, offering it to Alexander. "Let's start here. Drink break?"
This magic leaped to his fingertips, sparkling along his fingertips and to Magnus' hands when he reached out for the drink. Alec blushed when Magnus raised his eyebrows and hid behind the drink.
Magnus raised his glass to Alec. "To us," he toasted, clinking their glasses together, watching as silver magic sparked across Alec's knuckles again. Alec might keep his emotions close to his chest, but his magic, so young and eager to please, revealed far more than he likely wanted it too.