Scars of her Blood • Shadowhunters

Chapter 30: Iris Rouse

It had not taken them long to figure out where Clary had gone. The search for Warlock case files was still open on the screen in the command center. They had made their way to the address in the last open file immediately. Celia had thought about the name of the Warlock the entire way. Iris Rouse. Somehow that sounded familiar.

Now they stood in front of a brick town house:

"This is it.", Celia stated.

"Alright, you two take the upstairs, I'll cover the lower levels.", Jace instructed and was already gone. Izzy rushed through the front door, Celia followed behind her:

"Careful!", she hissed. They did not know what to expect. And if this Warlock was up to some dodgy stuff, then she would do anything to stop people from finding out. So Celia tried to be extra cautious.

The hallways of the house were dimly lit. Their footsteps were muffled by thick carpets that were laid out everywhere. Suddenly, they heard a loud crash from the second floor above them. Izzy sprinted up the stairs immediately, while Celia was hesitant, still not thinking that rushing into this was a good idea.

"Izzy!", Celia hissed, but she was promptly ignored. Izzy lashed out with her whip at someone Celia could not see. When Celia started up the stairs, Izzy was pulled forward by magic, falling to the ground.

Celia jumped up the rest of the stairs, her dagger drawn. Izzy was already getting back up, Alec was laying on the ground, and the woman that Izzy had attacked was picking up a little girl, holding her in front of her.
"Put the girl down.", Izzy warned her. But Iris seemed unfazed. She knew perfectly well that the little one in her arms protected her from being attacked:

"Her name is Madzie...", she said, "And she is better off with me, rather than fending for herself in this cruel world."

Iris looked at Celia when she spoke the last words. She opened a portal behind her:

"You can go and safe the red-head. But she still owes me a favor!"

Celia had the urge to go through the portal after her, but it would be very unwise without knowing where it would drop her off at. Instead, Celia made a mental note to request a kill order for Iris. She had realized where she knew this woman from: case files in the SRU archives. This was not the first time she was doing something illegal.

"Izzy...", Alec grunted on the floor. Celia looked down. She had not been that concerned about him anymore since she could hear his breathing and heart beat.

"Alec, are you okay?", Izzy knelt down beside him. Alec slowly got up from the floor:

"We need to find Clary..."

Celia sighed. Right, we are here for Clary...

Since there had been nothing to be found in the upper levels of the house, the three of them made their way to the basement. Where, indeed, they ran into Jace and Clary. Jace must have arrived in the basement only seconds before them.

"Are you okay?", Izzy immediately asked Clary, her voice full of concern.

"Yeah... Yeah, I'm fine.", Clary answered. She seemed a bit confused.

"Cool. Can we get out of these dungeons then?", Celia asked. It was not easy to creep her out, but something about this place seemed extremely off. Down the hall, she could see multiple rooms with sectioned off with bars. There were distant growls that probably only Celia could hear since they were so quiet. And it smelled slightly like burned flesh.

Celia had the urge to check a bit more thoroughly what was going on here, but everyone else was just glad that they had found Clary, and Celia certainly did not want to walk around in this place without proper backup.