Sweet Little Serena (Original)

Chapter 24

"I can do my preliminary just fine, but I need to make sure no magic was used to make this. I need your authorisation to invite Magnus Bane, High Warlock of Brooklyn into the Institute," Serena said as she probed at the Forsaken body, latex gloves on her lithe fingers.

"Granted. He's a friend of yours?" Lydia questioned as Serena worked, making notes on a clipboard as she went.

"A friend of ours. He was at our wedding. Here you go, baby," Alec said as he handed his wife the tablet he'd hooked up to the Institute database, so she could do a digital scan of the body for any kind of foreign matter.

"Thank you, my love," she smiled as she handed him her clipboard and began tapping away.

"I'm actually quite excited to meet him. Did you know that my ancestor, Henry Branwell, the last of the Branwell's to run an Institute, and Magnus Bane invented the Portal?"

"Magnus's ego will love that," Serena joked before Alec spoke and her smile faded.

"No. Just add that to the list of things I didn't know." 

He began to walk out, Serena dropping the tablet as she began to chase after him when Lydia's voice stopped both of them.

"I'm sorry. For what it's worth. You shouldn't have had to find out that your parents were ex-Circle members. Not like that. Not from me."

Neither one said anything for a moment until Serena sighed and eventually spoke.

"I'll call Magnus. And get Izzy to do the prelim. We need a minute."

"Of course."

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"Alec, talk to me," Serena urged as they walked into their room.

Alec began to pace.

"Hey. Hey!" she said as she stopped him, hands on his cheeks. "I'm angry too, but you will explode if you keep it in anymore."

"They lied to me," a sentence filled with so much sorrow and pain and betrayal that it made Serena's heart hurt as he broke from her grasp, pacing again, but talking as he did.

"My entire life they drill me about loyalty and honesty and honour, when they've been nothing but hypocrites this entire time. They were with Valentine. They were going to help destroy the Downworld. That is unforgivable. And I doubt they were ever planning on telling us."

"Maybe they had a good reason."

"Why are you defending them?!" Alec raged. "They were Circle members!"

"I know Alec! And as much as I'm angry at them for lying to me and to us, I can't completely hate the people that took me and my brother in and gave us a home when we had nothing. The least I owe them is an explanation before I decide to hate them."

"You owe them nothing. If anything, they owe you. They owe you way more than an explanation," Alec countered as he rested his hand on her cheek, Serena leaning into the touch.

"Look, let's just get through Lydia being here and then we can talk to your parents."

"Our parents. You are a part of this family too, you and Jace. More so you, since you have my last name."

Serena smiled at him.

"Our last name."

And their lips were just about to meet when a knock on the door sounded.

"Come in," Serena called as she grinned at the annoyed look on Alec's face.

"Am I interrupting something?" Magnus asked as he came inside, a red file in his hand.

"Not at all," Alec said sarcastically as he moved to sit on their bed as his wife rolled her eyes.

"Ignore him. What can I do for you Sparkles?"

He held up the folder. "I have the preliminary autopsy findings. No magic was used to create the Forsaken."

"That should be going to the Head of the Institute. Why are you giving it to us?" Alec asked.

Magnus gave them a look as if it should be obvious as he held out the file to Serena. "I am giving them to the Heads of the Institute."

Serena smiled as she handed the file to Alec.

"Thank you, Magnus."

"Anything for you Angel. Oh, I have a gift for you."

"Sparkles, you don't have to-"

He held out a necklace identical to the one she'd received on her wedding night, the one Alec had broken to save her life.

"A new Portal Pendant to replace the last. A gift to the only Shadowhunter that we trust to wear one. Allow me?"

Serena beamed as she turned, lifting her hair up as Magnus placed the chain around her neck, the magic inside warm against her skin.

"Thank you, Sparkles. It feels good to have it back," she said as she tucked the blue teardrop pendant beneath her shirt.

"Until the next time, my favourite Shadowhunters," the warlock said with a flourished bow as he left the room.

"Where were we?" Alec asked as he pulled his wife to him, nose grazing her neck as she tried not to smile, biting her lip.

"I believe, you were going to go and give the report to our parents and I am going to go and take back my autopsy from Izzy, who is probably having way too much fun with it."

"You're no fun," Alec pouted as his wife spun in his arms.

"You know full well what a lie that is. Bye baby," she said before she pecked his lips and strode out the door. 

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"Izzy, has that toxicology screening come back yet on the blood I found?" Serena asked as she dug through the organs of the Forsaken.

"Nephilim. It's angel blood," Izzy said as she double-checked the readings and then the sample.

Serena paused what she was doing, removing her gloves and gear that protected her face as she walked over to read the computer screen over Izzy's shoulder.

"Why would it have angel blood?" she asked.

The second the answer seemed to dawn on them, the parabatai looked at each other.

Only a Shadowhunter could enter the Institute, someone with angel blood.

They needed angel blood to get through the wards.

"Oh my god," they gasped in sync.

And then they ran.