Sweet Little Serena (Original)

Chapter 146

Jonathan had been looking for the Morningstar Sword, a sort of family heirloom to the Morgenstern's. And after Izzy, Simon and Magnus had reunited with Clary, they began working to track down the sword, even recruiting Maryse who'd taken over the antique store that the warlock Elliot used to own. A warlock who just so happened to have a detailed record of rarest items in the shadow world, if they could get his safe open.

And while Luke and Maryse were working on that, Clary and Jace were investigating the rune that Lilith had carved into Clary; the rune that connected her to Jonathan and brought him back to life. 

Izzy, on the other hand, had recovered from allowing Simon to bite her. After meeting with Cain, she and him ventured to the Seelie Court - Cain as in the Mark of Cain, Cain and Abel - and found a way to remove the mark from his forehead. But the process nearly killed him and with a shortage of blood in the Seelie Court, Izzy let him feed on her. So, when she told Serena, the blonde had asked Magnus for a special tree root that helped curb Izzy's cravings.

But, after Serena had told her what Ithuriel said about the Downworlders being tortured, Izzy had contacted the guards that had escorted one of the escaped prisoners back to Idris to see what truly happened and only one of them replied.

She and Serena were going to meet with them tonight, Alec being back up if they didn't return in an hour.

But when they got there, Gard member Greenlaw was dead.

They didn't see who attacked him, but they could hear the clashing of seraph blades, so when they returned to the Institute, they did the only thing they could, they called their mother.

The four of them sat in the Head office as they explained how they thought it was a Clave hit to murder Greenlaw.

"Mom, he said something before he died and we were hoping you'd recognise it," Serena said.

"Caelestis Ignis. Latin for heavenly fire," Izzy said.

"Does that ring any bells?" Alec asked as Maryse sighed and leaned forward in her chair.

"It's the name of an off-the-books Clave program. I heard whispers but no detail. It was above my clearance level. Oh, no. One man already died so Heavenly Fire could stay hidden," Maryse warned as she figured out what her children were up to.

"They killed one of their own," Izzy replied.

"Mom, they've tortured Downworlders because of this. I can't turn a blind eye to the people I swore to protect. And neither can Izzy and Alec," Serena said.

"You didn't raise us like that," Alec agreed.

"I raised you to survive," Maryse defended. "Promise me you'll stay away from this."

The trio only glanced at each other, knowing full well what their answer was.