Angels of Light

Lying Lips

   It had been Magnus who had suggested the penthouse apartment on Park Avenue for Elizabeth to stay in. It was home to a wealthy, retired Wall Street mundane who preferred living out the New York winters in the warmth of Los Angeles. Magnus had told Jace that there were already some wards around the suite as the mundane was quite the paranoid supernatural believer. 

   "He let's me stay there when he's away, in exchange for putting up wards and giving him bits of Downworlder gossip. Mundanes really are quite strange---and gullible," Magnus had said with a wink to Jace while at Taki's, discreetly slipping him the key under the table.

   It really was a nice place, Jace thought as he scrawled an Open rune on the apartment door. The lobby of the apartment was manned by security guards and everything was a white, shiny marble. The inside of the apartment was much different. The living room alone was bigger than Clary's whole apartment. The walls were all painted a dark, red colour like blood, and all the furniture was either gold, white or brown colours. Jace thought that the whole place seemed rather cold; as though someone existed there but didn't really live. There was a large sectional, several arm chairs and a dining room table that alone could've sat at least 10--but Jace couldn't picture anyone sitting there at all. He couldn't imagine that this place saw many parties or guests. It had a strangely lonely feeling about it. There was a large oil painting on one of the walls, quite like an old Victorian painting. Jace guessed that the man in the picture was probably the owner of the apartment, and if that was the case, he completely understood why this place felt so lonely. The man had thin white hair that was receding to the back of his head, beady brown eyes that looked much too small in his large, plump face, and thin lips, that even in paintings, were down turned and disapproving. 

   Jace wasn't surprised when they'd arrived at the apartment and saw Magnus lounging on the sofa, with his feet up like he owned the place. He had changed from earlier and now wore a silk night robe--with no shirt underneath-- tight fitting pants and slippers. Magnus' expression didn't change when he saw Elizabeth. Jace thought that his eyes might've narrowed fractionally, but other than that, his face remained impassive.  He was theatrically smoking a large black and gold pipe that looked like it was from the early 1900's. 

   "I didn't know you were coming tonight," Jace said, stepping out of the front entryway and into the large living space. Jem stepped out from behind Jace and nodded a greeting at Magnus, while taking in the apartment. Elizabeth watched quietly with wide, curious eyes. Jace remembered the first time he had met Magnus, how eccentric he had found him--but he doubted that Elizabeth was quite as surprised as he had been. Nothing seemed to faze her. Jace suspected that Magnus could've been sitting there stark naked and Elizabeth might've only raised her eyebrow slightly. 

   Magnus shrugged, removing the pipe and blowing a ring of smoke directly at Jace. 
"Curiosity got the better of me," He said waving a dismissive hand and looking at Elizabeth. 

   Jace supposed that now that he could actually see Elizabeth--in full light and not just dim witchlight-- she was quite beautiful. She had the same long brown hair that he remembered, but this time there was no golden aura to it. Her pale skin was just that--pale--and nothing else. The only gold that remained about her were her eyes; large golden orbs like his own. She was dressed in a long black jacket and jeans that were too short for her tall frame and looked more like capris. 

   "You know what they say about curiosity," Jace said, moving to inspect the room, but not before flashing a smile at Magnus, "It killed the cat." 

Magnus narrowed his green-gold cat eyes at the back of Jace's head. Jace could almost feel his glare piercing his brain, but he didn't turn around. Instead, he picked up an ivory vase and started spinning it in one hand. The whole apartment was furnished with pieces from different eras; odd historical vases and Chinese screens. But there were also some incredibly modern appliances; there was a giant screen TV mounted to a wall, and several computers and laptops laying around. To Jace's surprise, there was also a floating staircase in the middle of the apartment that seemed to lead to even more rooms. As if there weren't already enough--on the main floor alone, there was a living room, kitchen, dining room, bathroom, office and library, and several bedrooms. On an island where people practically lived on top of one another, it seemed incredibly absurd that one small man needed so much space.