Trapped in History

31

"You let them stay there?" Charlotte did not scream. Will thought perhaps it would have been easier if she had. He still felt himself flush with shame nonetheless. Gabriel was nonchalant regarding the situation. There was more to what was going on than what they knew, and he did not have the same ties with Charlotte as Will. He did not care much for her position, nor her opinions, though he could admit that she was competent, that was about all that he was willing to admit. He knew that his family had been pushing to have her removed from office, and whilst to some extent he did believe that she should not be the Head of the Institute, he did not have the luxury of truly caring at the moment.

"I...There was not much to be done about it, Magnus was insisting, and you know our tense relations with the Downworlders, Warlocks especially." Will tried to defend. Personally, Gabriel thought that William had made the right call. He was right in many ways. Gabriel could not believe that two Shadowhunters had even been invited to attend one of Magnus' little parties. Such things were quite rare, if never having happened before. He was not sure that anyone had been invited in his time at the least, which granted was not all that old, but that was somewhat besides the point in the first place.

Their relations with Downworlders were standard, they had always been bad that meaning. However, it would seem that something about this Alec and Jace seeking asylum had pricked at the Warlock's heart, and that Seelie. It was the Seelie that Gabriel was honestly more worried about. Seelie were notoriously dangerous as a general rule. One was unwise to arouse their interest. It was horrifically dangerous, especially if one was not in the right mind to deal wtih them, or if they were in an unprepared state. From what Gabriel could tell, Jace was far from being prepared.

It was probably why Will neglected to mention that the Seelie had stayed behind to talk with Magnus and the two strangers. Charlotte was already freaking out over just leaving them with Magnus when it was not as though they could have done anything about it when both Shadowhunters, from what Gabriel had been able to gather, wanted to stay with them. They could not force the Shadowhunters to come with them, and with a Warlock around, it was a highly unwise decision to attempt to do so when said Warlock was clearly wishing to speak with them, and handle the situation with a bit of tact. They had gotten quite lucky that it was Magnus that had decided to deal with the two Shadowhunters. It was partially the reason, he knew, that Herondale had felt so comfortable even leaving the strange shadowhunters alone with him.

Well, that and the fact that a war between the Vampires and the Shadowhunters in the party had just about started in his living room. He was quite surprised that a brawl had not happened, which really went to show the dangers of what they had just gone through. It was likely thanks to Magnus and Meliorn's rather fortunate timing. Gabriel did not doubt had they been too much longer in emptying the premises, a fight of some sort would have broken through, and things would have gotten bloody. It was sheer luck that it had not, and likely warlock intuition.

"With all due respect," Gabriel cut in prior to any further arguing could happen. Will glanced at him from the corner of his eye, and Gabriel could have sworn that the other gave him a slight smile, and would have were it not for the fact that such things were surely impossible. "I think the more concerning factor should be why both strange shadowhunters would feel far more comfortable with two Downworlders than their own kin."

"Two?"

"Yes," Gabriel said stiffly. He noticed Will having tensed as he let slip that Magnus was not the only one who had been there to 'speak' to the Shadowhunters. He ignored it, knowing that it was best the woman had the most information possible to make a good judgement.

"Who else was with them?" Charlotte asked briskly. She was tense, likely worried that he was going to make some sort of comment, which he was not, but that was besides the point. He did not care what it was that she worried about as long as he got what he needed in the end, and that was for these two to stop bickering like school children and get with the program. Those two Shadowhunters were strange, but the picture that was being painted when one bothered to pay attention warranted some rather severe investigating on their part of the actions of some of the Institute Heads, and they needed to get through these petty disbutes to be capable of doing so.

"Meliorn, the so called First Knight of the Seelie." Gabriel spoke his words rather stiffly, but without hesitation. William, from what Gabriel could see in his periphiel vision, was livid. He had just spoken so casually of the thing which the other was trying to hide. Gabriel understood the desire to hide it, but did not care for it. "He stayed back with Magnus to speak with the two after a rather stiff and tension filled argument between the blonde one and the head of the London Vampires." To his left Herondale had sighed and put his head to his hand in exasperation.

"The First Knight and a High Warlock both wished to speak with two shadowhunters over a dispute between one hunter and one vampire. I am sorry, but why were you two sent away as well?" This time it was William who finally bothered to speak up.

"We were not trustworthy. At least, not according to the Warlock and Seelie. I can't exactly blame them either. We were not the ones invited to the downworlder party, we were only there to keep an eye on the two Aslyum Shadowhunters. Outside of that we had no reason to go, and it was the only reason that we were even allowed in the first place, our association with the other two." Gabriel spoke seriously. "I think we should worry about something a bit deeper however."

"And what exactly would that be?"

"This so called second part of the blond boy. Alec, I believe his name is, the dark haired one, put a rune on the other that caused Magnus to freak out rather severely. That is something we should investigate. It is a good place to start, and will give us a small insight as to why they had been invited to a downworlder party despite being Nephilim."