Never trust a cat

Chapter 4

“One wrong move and you’re going to end up like your demon friend the other day”, the tall Shadowhunter hissed while pressing his arrow firmly against Magnus’s throat. 

How unnecessary, the demon thought, not sure whether to be amused or annoyed about being threatened once again. Of course the boy couldn't hurt him even if he tried but this was about the principle. 

He could sense that his children were getting tense again; even magic as powerful as his was barely able to suppress their natural urge to attack instantly and protect him - he still was  their prince after all. It generally didn't happen too often that Magnus forbade them to interfere but this time he very much wanted to take care of the situation himself. 

With a movement of his hand and a short phrase in Purgatic, an old demon language, he signaled his children to wait. They definitely were not too happy about the order but nevertheless they stepped back again. They wouldn’t dare to disobey him openly; unlike the Shadowhunter who was still standing right in front of Magnus with his weapon drawn.

“Didn’t we already establish that your stupid weapons can’t harm me?”, he felt the need to remind his opponent. He did most definitely realize that Blondie was picking up the necklace again but Magnus found that he didn't care too much. He could get it back anytime after all and right now he was rather focused on the tall one. 

If he was intimidated by Magnus he was able to hide it rather well; his hands were almost perfectly still and his voice sounded pretty determined. 

“Maybe”, he replied to Magnus now. “But I can imagine that it’s still not very pleasant to have an arrow piercing your eye. Might burn a bit.”

Well, well, well. If this wasn't about to get interesting. 

Magnus could see a gleam in the Shadowhunters eyes, a spark of resistance that seemed to challenge him and that had already made a fleeting appearance before. 

Now the expression seemed even more pronounced which was rather … fascinating. And kind of hot.

Maybe he had been going about this the wrong way. Maybe there was something much more pleasurable he could get out of this situation, Church and his yearning for justice be damned.

“Do you want to know what happened to the last Shadowhunter who threatened me like that?”

Magnus made an active effort to make his voice sound as icy and unaffected as possible. He definitely noticed that the tall boy was staring at his eyes for a moment, his gaze exploratory. It felt like he was trying to see right through Magnus and figure out who he really was … the intensity of it almost made the demon shudder. 

He would never admit it out loud but being looked at like that almost made him feel vulnerable in a way. Needless to say he did not like that feeling.

“I guess they were cruelly ripped to pieces just like the poor humans we found”, the Shadowhunter eventually starting talking again, his body visibly tensing up as he stopped looking at Magnus’s eyes. “Or am I wrong, demon?”

There was so much venom in his voice at the last few words that Magnus was almost taken aback. Apparently it was suddenly very important to him to make clear that he still hated demons passionately, even after staring at Magnus with that strange expression in his eyes for just a bit too long. Maybe he was trying to fool himself but Magnus knew exactly what was up. 

The Shadowhunter most definitely was feeling something else, a curiosity maybe, an urge to get as close to Magnus as possible. He was definitely reacting to him in a way that didn't just speak of hate - it was as if Magnus could hear his heartbeat quicken once they came close to each other.
Also there was of course the way in which he was constantly challenging him, significantly more than his two friends. It was almost as if he wanted to make Magnus lose his temper just to see where it would get him.