Distractions

Forty-Nine: Goodbye

Everest stood next to Alec, arms crossed and eyes narrowed. The young woman inside, Morgan, was throwing herself at the cell door, clawing desperately in her efforts to escape.

"Sarah. I need to get to Sarah," Morgan cried.

"Whatever dark force you are, we will release you to your realm unharmed. Just tell us who helped possess this mundane," Alec said calmly, crossing his arms.

"Take me to Sarah!"

"Who is the Owl demon?" Everest demanded.

Morgan leapt against the glass, screaming, "Sarah!"

Everest looked away from their possessed prisoner as her Parabatai entered the cell area.

"Any luck?" Izzy asked.

Alec shook his head. "There's no breaking through. What do you got?"

"Sarah's her twin sister. They share an apartment in Queens. If the Owl's MO is consistent with his previous victims, Morgan is being driven to kill someone she loves."

"It's the 11th mundane this week who's become possessed."

"The Owl is busy and unique. In a typical possession, the body cells wouldn't be affected," Izzy said.

Everest frowned. "But Morgan's are?"

"Her cells are no longer mundane. They're demonic."

Everest glanced at Morgan, who was still throwing herself at the glass. "So there's no way we can save her?"

Izzy's silence was answer enough.

...

Everest followed her sister and Parabatai out of the blood truck they were investigating, glamoured so as to not be bothered by the police also investigating.

"That vampire left behind a lot of blood, but not many clues," Everest mused.

"Maybe we'll find something out here," Izzy said as she dodged around an officer.

"Guys," Clary said, nodding to a blood splatter.

"You're sure Jace is okay?" Izzy asked.

"He's tired," Clary said immediately.

"I've seen Jace tired before. He's never missed a mission."

"I think everything he's been through lately is just catching up to him." Izzy's phone vibrated violently. "He needs rest."

"Who keeps calling you?" Everest asked.

"Someone who can't take a hint," grumbled Izzy.

"The mundane?"

"I gave him my number to get him off my back."

"Dusk, you wouldn't have given him your number in the first place if you weren't at least a little interested."

"Shadowhunters don't date mundanes." They stopped walking for a moment. Izzy opened her mouth to say something else, but something caught her eye. "So much for thinking our vampire only came here for blood bags."

Izzy picked up a bloody piece of fabric, activating her tracking rune..

"Is that part of his lab jacket? If a vampire drained a mundane you'd think we'd find a body," Clary said.

"No tracking signal. Body or not, our mundane must be dead."

They ended up wandering into vampire territory while they searched for clues. They passed groups of people warming themselves by barrel fires who stared as they passed.