His Big Secret

Chapter 10

"Clary's found out where the mortal cup is. However, I don't trust the Clave to look after it," Luke said when he approached Alec.

"Where is it?" Alec whispered. It's risky talking about the mortal cup in the presence of shadowhunters. Who knows what will happen if someone overhears and tells his parents? He doesn't need the harassment which will come with it, plus Alec doesn't know if he can trust the Clave to keep it safe and out of Valentine's reach. He'd rather the downworld look after it until the circle and Valentine is no longer a threat.

"At my work, it's a long story. I'll explain on the way. " Alec nodded before following Luke out of the institute, unaware of the redhead following behind them.

Alec followed Luke inside the police station; Luke smiled as people walked past and greeted him.

"You've kept the mortal cup here?" Alec asked, looking around the station. This place is hardly defensible; he's worked out twenty different routes if he'd tried breaking in secretively as a Shadowhunter, up that to 200 if he used the magic in his mage ring. Keeping the cup here was risky, but then would Valentine expect the mortal cup to be hidden among the mundanes?

"It's not what you'll expect. I didn't realise I had it until Clary... unlocked her abilities," Luke said. Alec raised his eyebrow, motioning for Luke to continue. "Have you ever heard of shadowhunters having unusual angelic powers?"

"Briefly. Why? You telling me Fray has angelic powers?". The looking on Luke's face said enough, "Great. Why does this have anything to do with the cup?"

"Because she inherited them from her mother, Jocelyn. Clary has the ability to put physical objects into drawings...." Luke said. Alec sighed; he hated how much they were dependent on Fray.

"And if Clary has this ability, she must've inherited it from her mother. So her mother's hidden the Mortal Cup in a drawing of some kind?" Alec finished. It explains why no one, not even Warlocks, could find the angelic and magical trace of the cup; with it hidden in another form, its celestial signature has been disrupted.

"Yeah. Jocelyn made some tarot cards, and a detailed painting of the Mortal Cup is on the back of the Ace of Cups. When I reunited with Jocelyn, this was years after she made them; I'd always thought it strange that this tarot card was the only one to represent something in the shadow world. I never knew about Jocelyn's ability, and I wouldn't be surprised if she kept it a secret from Valentine. If we're lucky, he won't be looking in the right place; he and the Circle will look for the cup, not a painting of it," Luke said.

"Jocelyn Fray sounds like a smart woman," Alec replied. It's sad the same thing can't be said about her daughter.

"She is. Oh, you might want to turn off your glamour rune. We don't want to draw unwanted attention to ourselves, and a few downworlders work here. I don't want to advertise we've got the Mortal Cup. Valentine could have spies anywhere," Luke said, stopping Alec just before they reached his office. Alec nodded, pulling his stele from his pocket and cancelling his glamour rune.

Luke nods in greeting his colleagues as he approaches his desk; Alec follows closely behind. They reach his desk, and Luke goes straight for the bottom drawer; there wrapped in a plastic bag are some cards Alec could only assume were the tarot cards Luke said about; before he can pull them out, a group of men walks over to them.

"Stop right where you are. Don't touch anything. Detective Garroway, I need your badge and your gun," the man said. Alec and Luke share a confused look before Luke turns to face the only woman with them.

"Who's this?" Luke asks, but the woman doesn't respond. The man pulls Luke to his feet and away from his desk whilst another reaches into the drawers in Luke's desk and starts pulling things out.

"His name is Fisk. Internal affairs. My hands are tied. You're gonna have to cooperate," the woman said. Alec looks at Luke again; this isn't happening. He's not letting Luke get carted off when they're close to getting the Mortal Cup.

"We don't have time for this," Alec said; the man Fisk glared at him.

"Oh yeah, and who do you think you are?" Fisk snaps. Alec stares back, clasping his mage ring in his hand; Alec activates the last sliver of magic in it.

"Listen here. Anything you have against Luke Garroway will vanish. You will return his possessions and walk out of this station," Alec said, the magic swirling around each word as it manipulates the men and woman in front of Alec. One put Luke's stuff back into his draw. The woman returns to her office whilst Fisk and his men walk out of the station; the others stare at their work as if nothing has happened.

"That's a helpful trick," Luke said as he pulled the tarot cards from his desk.

"It's the last sliver of magic in this ring, so let's hope you're wrong about Valentine's spies," Alec said. Oh, of course, the second Alec said that everything went wrong.

Demons poured out into the streets before the police station; Alec had never seen so many in one place. Mundanes were screaming, running around, trying to flee from the monsters in front of them. In the centre of it was a familiar red-haired annoyance, trying to fight the demons all at once.

"You've got to be shitting me," Alec swore. Clary must've overheard them and followed them from the institute. By leaving the institute's safety, she's brought all the demons after her. This girl, ah! Alec was getting sick and tired of protecting her; he could only be glad that Alec brought his bow and arrows along.

Luke charged, shifting into his wolf form and crashing into a group of demons. Alec pulled an arrow from his quiver and sent it flying into the nearest demon, then another into the next. He made a path to Fray, his eyes searching through the demons for his siblings. To Alec's relief, in Fray's haste to follow him, she'd neglected to call either Jace or Izzy. Alec's not sure how he'd feel if his siblings knew he'd effectively snuck out of the institute to find the Mortal Cup without telling the Clave they have a potential location on the artefact they've been desperately searching for.

Alec grabbed Fray by the arm and pulled her away from the demons attacking her. She tried to fight him, but Alec kept a firm grasp on her forearm and shoved her behind him as he took out another demon.

"Stay put before you make this worse," Alec said before returning to the fight. Once Luke knew Clary was safe, he growled before jumping from demon to demon, tearing them to pieces until there was none left. Luke shifted back whilst Alec turned to face Clary.

"What the hell are you doing here? After the wolves took you, you didn't think, oh, I have a massive fucking target on my back, and maybe I should stay where it's safe just in case something else tries to kidnap me or kill me!" Alec snapped.

"I overheard you and Luke saying you were going to get the Mortal Cup! I need it to save my mother," Clary argued. Alec let out a bitter laugh.

"Oh, I need it to save my mother," Alec imitated Clary, "What are you going to do with it once you have it? Hand it over to Valentine? Spoiler alert, Fray, you have no control over what happens with the Mortal Cup; just because you have magic hands that will let you pull or put things into drawing doesn't mean we're all going to bow down to you. Saving your mother might be high on your priority list, but it isn't for anyone else. Valentine is a bigger threat than anything the shadow world has seen since Demon Pox. Our focus is stopping Valentine from getting this cup, creating more shadowhunters with it, and controlling demons; if he ever gets hold of this, then saving your mother will be the last thing on your mind. Now we need to get you back to the institute before you draw who knows what to you!"

"Alec," Luke suddenly said.

"What!" Alec snapped before taking a deep breath pushing his anger towards Fray to the side, "Sorry, what's wrong?"

"The Jade Wolf's been attacked."