Brothers by Blood (Alec Lightwood twin)

Chapter 59

ISABELLE'S POV

"You'll have four training sessions a day demon strategy, weapons, combat, and endurance. Breakfast starts at five. If you are late, all you'll have is a cold bran muffin." I told Max as I showed him to his room.
"I don't need breakfast. When do we start training? Now?" He asked excitedly.
"First thing tomorrow. Right now I have a mission." I told him.
"Great, let's go." Max said, walking towards the door.
"Whoa, slow down! OK? You don't get to go out in the field until you complete your training." I said, putting my hands on his shoulders to stop in his tracks.
"But I have more medals than anyone in my class. I did so well in the simulator, they had to write a new code for it."
"That's because you hacked it." I said. I knelt down to his level and began to speak. "This is real, Max. Dangerous." I told him seriously.
"I can handle it. Please? I'll follow orders." Max begged. I stood up.
"Patience, young Shadowhunter. You'll be out there soon enough." I said, before closing the door behind me. Funnily enough, as I turned around, I almost collided with Ben.
"Sorry Izzy." He apologized. Just then, a thought came to mind.
"Ben, I need you to do me a favour." I asked him.
"What do you need?" Ben asked.
"Can you keep an eye on Max? I have a mission, and I have a feeling that he's going to do something to try and follow me." I requested.
"Of course." Ben replied. I knew that he wouldn't even hesitate.

*Izzy with Raphael*

Once I met up with Raphael, I was honestly glad. I wasn't scared to be out on my own, but with all these attacks, I couldn't help but be a bit nervous.
"You shouldn't be out alone." I heard Raphael say, coming up behind me. I spun around to look at him.
"Raphael thank you for coming." I thanked him.
"I came to reason with you. For my clan. They're not going to sit around and let the Clave put trackers in them." He said.
"I don't want that either. I want to stop all of this. So if there's anything you know about these murders." I begged.
"I can tell you it's not a vampire. We would never remove runes from a Shadowhunter." He said honestly.
"Why is that?" I asked curiously.
"From the time before the Accords, the Downworlders were hunted by Shadowhunters for sport. They took our fangs, werewolf claws, and warlock marks as trophies. The vampires swore we would never let that happen again. To anyone." He explained.
"That's horrible." I said sadly. "But if no vampires are involved, what about Keytower? His blood was drained." I asked.
"My guess? A diversion. Throw the investigation off track." Raphael suggested. I could tell by the look on his face that he knew something else.
"What else do you know?" I asked. "Raphael. I respect your loyalty to the Downworld. But please, we're desperate. Innocent people are dying." I begged.
"Back in the 80's, the Downworld came together to make some demands the Clave wouldn't agree to, and it got pretty ugly. I overheard a Seelie Knight tell Camille that the only way to gain the Shadowhunters' respect was to show them how dangerous we are. Beyond killing them, he suggested an extra step. Taking their runes." He told me.
"Which Seelie?" I asked.
"Meliorn." Raphael said simply.
"We need to find him. I have one of his shirts that I wore home one day back at the Institute. We can go and get it and we'll track him with that." I said.
"You wore his shirt home, and you kept it for how long?" Raphael asked skeptically.
"You should be glad I kept it. It's the only thing helping us track him. I can't believe Meliorn would do something like this."
"The Fair Folk work in strange ways." Raphael said.
"Come on." I said. With that, we made our way to the Institute.

*Tracking Meliorn*

Raphael and I were making our way through the maze of shipping containers we had tracked Meliorn to. Suddenly, Raphael stopped.
"We've got company." He said. I unraveled my bracelet and turned it into a staff. We made our way cautiously towards where Raphael had indicated, but once we got there, he stopped me. "Wait!" He exclaimed, holding me back. Max jumped out from behind a box, Ben following him with a very 'Alec' unimpressed look on his face.
"By the Angel! What are you two doing here?" I asked him. I then looked up at Ben. "Why weren't you watching him?" I demanded.
"I was. He snuck out." Ben said in a very 'Alec' tone.
"I tracked you here." Max told me, holding up one of my hair-ties. "Told you I was the best in my class." He said with a smile.
"You could have gotten yourself killed." I scolded him.
"I smell Shadowhunter blood." Raphael said. I turned back to Max and knelt down to his level.
"Wanna prove you're the best in your class? Stay here and stay hidden. Do you understand? Do not leave Ben's side." I told him. He nodded, then I turned to Ben. "Ben, you stay with him." Ben nodded and Raphael and I turned and walked away.
We followed the scent towards the Shadowhunter, only to find Meliorn kneeling over a dead Shadowhunter with their runes carved out. He looked up and raised his hands in surrender when he saw us.
"This is not my doing. I was tracking the killer, but I'm afraid I arrived too late." Meliorn said, standing up slowly with his arms raised.
"Don't believe anything he says." Raphael said.
"Seelies can't lie." I said.
"Yeah, but they'll spin the truth until you're dizzy." Raphael warned. I lowered by staff and turned it back into a bracelet, pulling the sleeve of my jacket over it.
"I can help you find the killer. It's a Seelie, I can tell you that, and I can track them." Meliorn stated.
"Let's go." I said, wanting to find this killer as soon as possible.
"Isabelle, it could be a trap." Raphael warned me.
"I believe him, OK? I need to tell Ben it's safe to take Max back to the Institute." I said. Both Meliorn and Raphael followed me to where Raphael and I had left Ben and Max only to find that neither of them were where we left them. "Oh, no Max! Ben!" I called.