What Shadowhunters Do - A Mortal Instruments Fanfic

Part 1

Alec was busy carving his name into the wooden panelling of the fencing hall when the door was thrown open and Jace rushed into the room. Alec looked up.

"Finally!" he said. "How long do you need to-"

"I overheard your mother on the phone," Jace panted, talking over him, "and she said there's demonic activity here in Manhattan and she sent Malik and Kadir out to deal with it!"

"So?"

"So," Jace said, his eyes glowing excitedly, "Malik and Kadir live in Brooklyn! It's gonna take them ages to get there while we," he threw Alec a significant glance, "can be there in ten minutes!"

"No we can't," Alec said. "We're not allowed to go on hunting trips yet."

Jace grinned mischievously. "We don't need to be allowed."

"But-"

"Just come on," Jace said, stuffing a couple of seraph blades into his belt before dashing out of the room.

"But, Jace- Jace!" Alec yelled and ran out after him.

_________________________________________

Jace had been right. It only took them a quarter of an hour to reach the street Maryse had mentioned. It was a desolate area, filled with the square concrete blocks of warehouses and industrial buildings. The dreary grey was broken only by patches of dry shrubbery here and there, brown and withered from the fumes of the trucks and vans that crowded the streets during the day. Now, in the evening, all was quiet.

The two boys hurried down the street, Jace pressing forward eagerly and Alec throwing nervous glances over his shoulder. They saw nothing, and Alec had just begun to hope that they were at the wrong address when Jace skidded to a halt.

"It's here," he announced.

Alec turned around. "How- oh."

In front of them, just a few yards away from the pavement, lay a woman. Alec's first impulse was to run over to her, but Jace's outstretched hand stopped him.

"It's useless," he said quietly. "Look."

Alec looked and saw that his friend was right. On second glance, the woman was most definitely dead. Her torso was covered in deep gashes through which her intestines were visible, torn and bloody and clearly not functional. And where her face should have been...

Alec looked away to keep himself from retching.

"A warehouse," he said as his eyes fell on the building in front of which they were standing. "Why did the demon come here?"

"Maybe it's an alcoholic," Jace said, pointing at the emblem of a beer brand that was glowing over the entrance. "Hey, maybe it's drunk. Can demons get drunk? Would that make them easier or harder to kill?"

Alec was about to answer when a loud shattering noise disrupted the peaceful silence.

"It's in there!" Jace said excitedly, nodding at the warehouse.

"Okay," said Alec. "First we should scout the outside of the building to make sure it's clear and then- Jace!"

But the blond boy had already sprinted up the driveway and was now drawing an unlocking rune onto the gates. Suppressing a curse, Alec ran after him.

The inside of the warehouse was dark and largely empty. Only at the back of the room was one row of stacked beer crates, barely visible in the dim grey light that fell through the dusty windows. One wall was lined with loading docks for the trucks, each of them shut with a large roll-up door, and a small forklift stood abandoned in a corner.