The Prince of Hell

The Hunt part 1

AN: As I've posted on my notice board, I have not been well. After weeks of barely being able to do anything, I'm finally getting better. Anyways, there's a lot of summarizing and small time jumps back and forth in this chapter. Nothing extreme, but it's necessary to push the plot forward. We're already over 100,000 words and there's still so much to come.

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Chapter 24

The Institute was in chaos.

The 'vacation', so to speak, was over. Reports of demon activity had began springing up throughout the city one after another. And as if that wasn't bad enough, the Clave now knew about Alec's dissapearance. An envoy was already on the way.

From the time Magnus left the Institute, the Lightwoods have not had a moment's rest. From continuing Larkspear's and Raj's interrogation, to responding to sensors going off all around the city. Sadly, no progress has been made in either case.

Both Raj and Larkspear refused to give them anything substantial. Desperate, Alec's parents had been on the brink of doing something that they had been trying to avoid since the beginning of this whole nightmarish ordeal...

Involving the Clave.

Or more specifically, requesting the use of the Soul Sword.

The Soul Sword is one of the three Mortal Instruments given to the first shadowhunter by the Angel Raziel. Once upon a time it had been kept in the City of Bones under the watchful eyes of the Silent Brothers. However, after a deadly attack some years ago, it had since been moved to Idris where it was now, along with the other two Mortal Instruments, under the protection of the Clave.

The Soul Sword was very powerful and in the right hands, namely someone with pure angel blood, could be used to bring about the end of all demon blooded creatures. But, that was not the reason why Alec's parents wanted the sword. Other than bringing about certain death and destruction, the Soul Sword also had the ability to compel the truth from anyone who held it. It was because of this power that the sword was used in Nephillim trials as well as interrogations. Official ones anyway; as in, those sanctioned by the Clave.

Unfortunately, their current interrogation of Raj and Larkspear was not. And one couldn't simply request the use of the Soul Sword as you would any other weapon in the Clave's Armory. There were protocols. A case file would have to be filed. A representative of the Clave as well as a Silent Brother would have to be present during the sword's use. Thus, there was absolutely no way that the Lightwoods would be able to get their hands on the Soul Sword without the Clave finding out about Alec's abduction. It was simply impossible.

It was this very situation that Alec's parents had been discussing when the call came in. It was Consul Penhalllow.

Everything had finally come to a head.

The Clave were aware of Alec's abduction and was sending a representative to take charge of the situation. The Lightwoods had been ordered to seize all activities until further notice.

They didn't need to bother asking how the Clave found out. It was obvious that one of the shadowhunters had taken it upon themself to leak the information to the Clave, dispite Robert and Maryse's explicit orders to keep what was happening confined within the Institute.

Either way, informant aside, it seemed as if Larkspear and Raj would be getting their chance to hold the Soul Sword after all. It was just too bad that Alec's family couldn't be completely happy about it.

As for the demon attacks, as it turned out they weren't only unique to New York. Other Institutes around the world have been reporting a sudden uptick in demon activity as well.