His Big Secret

Chapter 1

Lies were the bane of Alec's existence. He hated it when people lied to him, mostly his sister Isabelle or Jace, but he also hated lying to them. It felt like a never-ending circle. They lie to him about their whereabouts, and he lies about his. It's not his fault; lying is an instinct of shadowhunters. They must lie to keep the mundane safe from the demons. They constantly lie to the downworlders to keep them in line, so it was bound to come full circle for it to become the norm for shadowhunters to lie amongst themselves.

We lie mainly to protect someone we care about, family, friends or lovers, and those we end up hurting the most because of our lies. Alec lies to his family to protect his relationship with a downworlder. Alec never expected that his relationship with Magnus Bane – the high warlock of Brooklyn would become anything more than just an occasional hookup. He's stressed because of the pressures from his parents and the Clave with the institute, and Magnus just knows how to press the right buttons and make Alec relax. Nine times out of ten, it was through sex, but that just need to know, and their relationship slowly developed into what they have now. Alec spent most of his nights (when he wasn't patrolling the city) with Magnus, and he had to admit Alec suspected his sister was catching on. He went from someone who hardly ever left the institute unless it was for missions or his sister forced him to. Then suddenly, he's hardly at the institute unless he is needed. And that's where the lying started.

"Come on, Izzy, we need to go," Alec said as he opened his sister's bedroom door. Izzy rolled her eyes at her brother's persistence. Nevertheless, she grabbed her platinum wig from her bed before following Alec to the ops centre.

"Hey, Big bro," Izzy said as she followed behind Alec. The sound of her heels was clipping against the metallic floor.

"Really?" Alec muttered, looking at his sister's revealing outfit, which was composed of a small white top, skirt and knee-high-heeled boots.

"What can I say? Demons dig blondes," Isabelle answered, smirking when she saw her brother roll his eyes.

"Of course, they do, but that's white," Alec said, pointing to the white-looking wig his sister was holding.

"Platinum. And they don't exactly like Shakespeare, okay Alec?" Izzy snapped. She understood her brother was being protective of both her, Jace and their younger brother, Max. It's his job as the older brother to look out for them, yet it still annoys her that Alec doesn't seem supportive of her life decisions, just like their mother.

"You're plenty distracting on your own," Alec replied, already fed up with this drivel of a conversation. He preferred to get the mission over and done with.

"So just be yourself. Is that what you're trying to say?" Izzy said, silently laughing at the loud sigh she got back from Alec. He had walked right into that one.

"Never mind looking good, let's go," Alec muttered, visibly irritated. The last thing he needed was his sister's cheap tricks. He was already having a bad day as it was. Many warlocks in Brooklyn had contacted him on rumours of Valentine's return. The warlocks and some other downworlders have noticed that their friends have disappeared with no trace. Sometimes he hated his role as the high mage of Brooklyn.

"We're ready, Jace," Isabelle said as she walked toward him.

"Nice choice Izzy. Demons dig blondes," Jace said.

"Told you," Izzy smirked, looking at Alec for a reaction. Unfortunately for her, Alec kept his face emotionless.

"It's platinum," Alec said in annoyance. He felt like he was about to have the entire conversation all over again.

"All right, guys, for some reason, our demon friends are killing mundanes and draining their blood," Jace informed them.

"Why do they want blood? Isn't that vampire territory?" Alec said, confused. He's in constant contact with Raphael and has never heard of vampires paying demons to get blood for them. It seems ludicrous just thinking about it.