Not by Blood - BEING REWRITTEN IN SEPARATE STORY

Chapter Two

EDITED ON 5/30/2020

He realized that it'd been at least fifteen minutes and he'd allowed himself to be distracted. He had to find Clary and the girl obviously knew her way around. However, when he reached the next landing, the child was nowhere in sight. He looked around frantically but thankfully he didn't have to decide on which hallway to meander down because the door directly in front of him opened and Nurse Leigh wandered out holding a bundled up baby which, Alec couldn't help but think, looked like a large burrito. He watched the baby closely and when he saw the baby's eyes flicker from normal to black and back to normal again, he knew that it was a warlock. He was starting to piece things together. He needed to find Clary and get her out of there.

The nurse saw Alec, gave him a disgusted look and turned around and went back into the room, shutting the door behind her.

Alec instantly walked up to the door and tapped on it lightly.

Nurse Leigh came back out of the room, sans baby and shut the door quietly.

"Shh," She hushed him. "There's babies sleeping."

"I'm looking for Clary," He told her, his voice quiet but his tone urgent.

Leigh shook her head, looking at him with a look of confusion on her face.

"Who?" She asked.

Alec could tell that she wasn't lying about not knowing who Clary was, but he was still confused as to how she didn't know. This was the same woman who'd answered the door when they'd arrived. He was sure of it. He'd memorized her appearance the moment he'd seen her. Clary had definitely told Leigh her name, that much Alec was sure of. That had happened less than an hour ago. Surely, she hadn't forgotten already.

"I came here with her. You met her. Where is she?" Alec demanded.

The woman met his eyes and walked away from him, glancing over her shoulder and motioning for him to follow her.

They walked down the hall together at a too-slow-pace in Alec's opinion, but the woman was heavily pregnant so he dealt with his impatience in silence, trying not to think about all the horrible things that could be happening to Clary in the meantime.

They reached a door two right turns and a left turn later and Alec stormed in, gaze sweeping over the room. It was empty barring some broken glass and a dead bird on the ground. Alec wasn't sure what that meant, but assumed it was nothing good.

He whipped back around to face the nurse who looked slightly panicked. "Where is she?" He demanded, his heart sinking to his feet. "What have you done with her?"

When the nurse shook her head helplessly, he led her to a chair and had her sit down. He pulled another one around in front of her and despite his strong desire to stand and pace and all-around panic, he sat in front of her and talked to her in a soft voice, much like you would an injured animal.

"Talk to me," he pleaded with her.

"I don't want to get Iris in trouble." She admitted in a whisper.

"Nobody's going to get in trouble. I promise." But he could see that saying that earned him no points. "Was that your baby?" He asked, hoping that she would loosen up.

"One of them," She smiled before her face fell. "I think."

Alec eyed her warily. 'She thinks it's her baby? How do you not know your own baby?' he thought.

"She takes our memories." Leigh continued. "I just remember little bits at a time."

"Wait," Alec was about to go into pure panic mode. If that meant what he thought it did, then he had to find Clary now. "There's - There's more of you?"