The River Lea ↗↖ Alec Lightwood ↗↖

Ch 1. The Mission

Just a few months back home and already it was like she never left the place. Sitting in her Parabatai's room she waited for the older brunette to finish getting ready for her mission. As she waited TJ played with the serrated hunting knife that Jace so fondly called the toothpick by flicking it up in the air and catching it again.

"Platinum or green." TJ looked to Isabelle who held up two different wigs for inspection. Her parabatai was dressed the complete opposite to herself. Izzy was dressed to seduce in a white two piece that left little to the imagination whereas TJ was in a military style jacket with plenty of pockets, jeans and, on Isabelle's request a form fitting black crop top.

"White , might as well get some use out of it before it turns yellow with age." answered TJ as she stood up, putting the serrated hunting knife in it's thigh holster. Annoyingly she wasn't allowed join any missions until the Clave once again deemed her ready to rejoin. Guess that's what dropping off their radar for a year cost. Though it pissed her off to no end, it was still worth it in her eyes.

"I'm going to head up to Robby, good luck tonight, kill some of those sons of bitches for me."

"Don't I always?" countered Izzy.

"Good point." She hugged her parabatai before leaving Izzy's room for her own.

"It's platinum."

"Sure it is." laughed TJ as she exited the room.

"Isabelle, lets go." Alec's voice rang out before TJ was out the door. Izzy still contemplating which wig to wear tonight.

"Can you tell him to give me a minute?" Izzy asked the smaller brunette. TJ nodded her head and finally left the room meeting the older Lightwood in the hallway.

"You're not Izzy."

"She needs a minute, Lightworm." TJ countered with a look of annoyance on her face and a hand on her hip. He just smirked back and leaned against the wall to wait for Izzy. With her job done TJ made it two steps to her room before Alec caught her arm and pulled her back towards him till she stood in between his legs.

"We were able to get your probation lifted early." he informed her with a smile tugging on his lips, even when slouched he still towered over her. She looked at him surprised that the Clave had ended her ban on missions that was meant to last another few months, so early. The surprise of it all made her take a step or two back from the eldest Lightwood with wide eyes.

"Ho-?"

"Does it matter?" she squinted her eyes at him and studied his face as if that would reveal the answer, it didn't. Damn poker face.

"But" he continued, ahh here it was the damn terms and conditions.

"There's always a but." She interrupted Alec who only gave her a stern look.

"You can join us tonight but the next few missions, no Bertie, no Colton no weapons that aren't Clave approved, alright?" TJ nodded her head so fast, she reminded Alec of the bobble head that sat in her room. He nodded his own head before he started to walk forward again only to be stopped by TJ.

"I gotta sort Robby out first, meet you guys in the weapons rooms?" Alec nodded his consent and the young mom was down the hall in a shot to the kitchen to find Katie, a retired shadowhunter, who now ran the upkeep of the institute and made sure everyone had food and blankets. Unable to have her own kids, Katie became a mother to everyone else in the Institute and was a massive help to TJ as she juggled being a single mom, hunter and teenager.

The older woman didn't even look up from her pot of stew as TJ barreled into the room.

"Go on that mission, I already have that little angel napping." TJ didn't bother to even ask how she knew about the ban being lifted, she had learned years ago not to question how Katie Markdove knew all.

"Thank you so much Katie, I owe you!" She gushed before running to the Weapons Room almost knocking into Hodge on the way their. A quick apology was given before she was off once again, leaving Hodge shaking his head as he made his way to get another cup of coffee from the kitchen.

She made it to the adjourning tech room a place that's always buzzing with all the different as knew problems were found and dealt with 24/7.

"Nice choice, Izzy. Demons dig blondes." was all TJ was able to catch as she joined the trio in front of the many computer screens. Her friends all grinned, happy she could finally join them once more on missions after nearly three months of the probation and a year of her self imposed exile.

"Told you." smirked Isabelle at her Parabatai and brother.

"It's platinum." the two corrected, giving each other a side glance and a smirk before following Jace and Izzy to the weapons rack. As they walked TJ threw her hair up in a quick ponytail so it would be out of the way for the mission.

"All right, guys, for some reason our demon friends are killing mundanes and draining their blood." Jace informed the group.

"Why do they want blood? Isn't that vampire territory?"

"I don't know, Alec. Lazy vampires, maybe? There must be something special about their blood." Eugh of all the things to be dealing in why go for such a messy substance, and the way they got it wasn't pretty either. I mean couldn't they just use blood bags or a goat?

"Could be for some ritual of some sort. Maybe they're gearing up for something?" offered TJ. Jace and Izzy nodded their heads contemplating the likely hood of it. Alec just scoffed.

"What could be special about mundane blood?" She just rolled her eyes at Alec's blatant racism that was towards anything that wasn't a shadowunter. She brushed past him to the table where her guns laid from earlier in the day when she'd put a few dozen bullets into the dummies to let off steam while Robby napped. Sometimes she thinks her son his half cat. She slipped her Beretta, fondly called Bertie into her jeans waistband and her Colt aka Colton between her shoulder blades where her bra strap kept it secure.

"Come to Mamma." She accepted the twin seraph blades Jace handed her as the Lightwoods bickered between themselves. Going to a separate rack she pulled off the blades holster before securing it along with the now deactivated blades to her hips. What can I say she loves her weapons?

She turned around only to see Alec not so discreetly checking out her ass. When the Lightwood boy was caught he didn't blush but sent her a look before beckoning for the gun he knew was there.

"Thought I said no Bertie." With an eye roll she handed it and her other gun over before rejoining the conversation. Her eyes turned mournful as Alec put them on a weapons rack, nearly crying out for her precious guns. Both had been gifted to her from her dad for her sixteenth but they weren't Clave approved, so big no no on bringing them to missions and Damn did Alec enjoy enforcing the Clave's ruling. He also found them lacking a certain elegance unlike his own long range weapon but hey once it got the job done.

"We'll have more answers when we figure out exactly who the demons are working for." Jace's voice pulled her from all the different things swirling through her brain.

"You don't think they're on their own?" Her brows furrowed in curiosity at Izzy's question.

"No."

"They're not exactly creative thinkers, they're shapeshifters." Alec reminded the group as they made their way to the screen displaying the demon's current form. Ya well you weren't there in '05 now were ya buddy? Her dad's voice rang through her head almost letting a laugh slip past. She covered up as a yawn.

"This is what our target looks like." stated Jace as the other three Shadowhunters studied the mans features, old, Asian descent with glasses.

"For now." muttered Isabelle.

"Great. I'll get approval for the mission." said Alec from behind TJ. She let out a groan as the tallest of them made his way to do just that.

"By the time you've gotten Clave approval the demons will be gone and draining another human." she pointed out as she walked beside him and Izzy, Jace in the lead with his own blade.

"Besides, it's more fun to break the rules than to follow them." TJ made a noise of agreement while linking arms with her Parabatai, Alec rolled his eyes and Jace just smirked.