Angelic

Alec ~ 22

It was early the next morning when I found myself walking towards Ev's rooms, my thoughts too loud to keep to myself anymore. When I opened her door, I was surprised to see her awake and out of bed, despite the early hour. She was leaning against the wall, her eyes trapped on something outside her window, watching the rainy streets of New York below.

She looked over when I came in. "Alec? What are you doing in here?"

"I was thinking about it last night," I began, "about why all these demons keep coming after you--about why you were kidnapped. And I remembered that Valentine has control over almost every demon in the other dimensions. He had to be the one sending them after you. He must have told them to kidnap you."

"Alec--" she protested, but I didn't stop. It all made since now. I had to tell her everything.

"But why would he want to send demons after you? Why would he care about you, a young Elite from Germany? And then I realized: you're a threat to him. Elites are the best of our kind. They're practically superstars. Maybe he thinks you're the only thing standing between him and Jace, because he knows that if you had to, you'd fight for Jace's life. I don't know, maybe he thinks you two are closer than you really are--" I added after seeing the look on her face. "And he knows if he fought against you, you would win. So maybe he's sending all those Greater Demons after you to do his dirty work for him."

She didn't react the way I had thought she would. She didn't look like her mind was racing. In fact, she barely seemed to have heard me. "How much sleep did you get last night, Alec?"

"Does it matter?" I questioned.

"Well, yes. When you are sleep deprived you become delirious." She answered.

"I'm not crazy, Ev." I told her. "I'm trying to help you."

"I don't need help. Not with demons, at least. I'm a Shadowhunter. Killing demons is the purpose of my life. I don't question it; you shouldn't question it either. Besides, it wasn't demons that kidnapped me. It was Downworlders. Do you really think Valentine would be working with them, all to get to me? I think you're overestimating my value." She said.

That made me stop. I was frustrated that all the thinking I had done last night could be proven wrong by one simple statement, but I was also surprised. "Downworlders captured you?"

She nodded.

"What would they want with an Elite?" I wondered.

She shrugged. "I'm as clueless as you. But believe me--I'll be looking into it." She paused, then added, "While you're here, I could use your opinion on something."

"What's that?" I asked without enthusiasm, quickly losing interest.

"I want to throw a party." She said, like it was the most normal thing in the world. "I think everyone could use a distraction right now, forget about Valentine and everything else for a night."

"Yeah, we all could use a distraction right now. But there's no reason to throw a party. What would the occasion be?"

"It could be a birthday party. We could have it tomorrow." She said, sounding as if she had already figured out every detail about it. Which led me to wonder how much sleep she had gotten last night.

"And who's birthday would we be celebrating?" I asked.

"Mine." She answered with a shrug.

"It's your birthday?" I wondered, disbelieving.

"I'm turning seventeen on Wednesday." She answered. Ev was such a good fighter that sometimes it was hard to believe she was so young.

"Oh. Well, then, that's a good idea. I'll tell my mom about it. She can find someone to help you--" I began, but she stopped me.