Sweet Creature ▹ Alec Lightwood [2] ( SLOW UPDATES )

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
MY SWEET BOY

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

     Adrian looked around him with a dazed expression, his seraph blade dim and loose in his hands. His hands were wet with black blood, and when he wiped his sleeve across his face, it came back stained. His hair was damp with it. Cleaning his seraph blade was a lost cause, so he let it drop from his hand, his breath rasping up his throat. The others were the same as him—covered in blood, dazed at the sudden slaughter of the cult members, looking around the room with slightly vacant eyes. Adrian's gaze flickered between all of them, looking for any sign that one of them was severely injured. Maia and Jordan were alright, any cuts they had gotten healed within seconds, and Isabelle was more than fine, if her kicking at random bodies as she walked through the room was any indication. It was Alec that Adrian found himself concerned over. He was slouched on one of the steps leading up to the raised platform where the babies' bodies still were. His weapon was discarded like Adrian's, and he was rubbing his hands on his pants, as if eager to get the blood off. Adrian released a breath and went toward him.

"Alec," he murmured softly, reaching him and lowering himself into a crouch in front of him. Alec glanced up at him through his hair. His eyes were so dilated that Adrian could barely see the blue color of them. Adrian reached for his hand. "Let's go look for a bathroom. Maybe the water works. Come on." Alec blinked at him slowly, then let Adrian drag him to his feet. Adrian wrapped an arm around his waist and led him out of the room—that awful room with the dead babies still inside—and they roamed the hallway until they came across a bathroom. Adrian and Alec went to the sinks, and both were grateful when water came pouring out. They got to work washing the blood out of their hair, off their faces, and off their hands. Maia, Jordan, and Isabelle joined them a few minutes later, and the only sound in the bathroom was the splashing of water.

Adrian got done first, though black blood remained on his clothes, and then he dug out his stele. He had a few cuts and even more bruises from hits he hadn't been able to dodge, but they could wait. Instead, he walked to where a stack of cheap paper towels rested in the bathroom and took one, straightening it on the wall. Quickly, he etched a message to Maryse on the paper with the stele, then wrote the rune beneath it to trigger a fire message. Adrian watched it burn away, then rubbed a hand down his face. He only turned when he felt someone touch his shoulder. He turned, expecting to find Alec, but it was Isabelle instead. Her face was pale, and her eyes were wide with worry.

"Simon," she whispered. It was only then that Adrian even remembered the larger threat. Lilith was in the building, somewhere, and she apparently had Simon in her clutches for reasons they didn't know. Alec was calling someone on his phone, and Maia was talking on her phone as well, presumably talking to Luke and filling him in on the situation. Adrian swallowed thickly, then grabbed Isabelle's hand to squeeze. He was going to hesitantly suggest they wait for more Shadowhunters to show up—because they certainly weren't prepared to face a Greater Demon like Lilith on their own—but before he could, the entire building seemed to tremble, right down to the very foundation. They all went still as they waited and waited—and then the sound came. It sounded like an explosion. Silent and loud all at once. All of them stumbled at what seemed to be a blast from above them, though there was no heat. Just a force that they had to brace against. It crawled on Adrian's skin once it was over, feeling oily and dark. It made him want to scrub at himself until the feeling was gone.

"The roof," Jordan said, the first one to speak after the disturbing blast. All of their eyes were trained to the ceiling above them. "I think it came from the roof." As one, all of them were moving, ducking into the larger room to receive their dropped weapons before running toward the roof. They had no idea where the stairs were, or if there even were stairs, so they had no choice but to take the elevator again. At the doors, though, Adrian paused and turned toward Jordan and Maia, eyeing both of them thoughtfully.