Chapter Text
No matter what people accused him of afterward, this wasn’t a choice Alec Lightwood-Bane made lightly.
He’d spent years studying, trying to figure out the best way to do this, how he could make this work. It wasn’t like it was his first choice.
Ever since Alec had first started dating Magnus, the other man’s immortality was something that sort of hung silently over them. Their very own Sword of Damocles. They both felt the presence of it, and yet neither spoke of it. Not after their initial arguments back at the very start. After that, it became something silent in their relationship. There but not talked about. Yet, they felt its presence with each passing year. Every birthday, every wedding anniversary, every time Alec woke up to find Magnus watching him with that bittersweet look in his eyes.
Alec knew what he wanted – he knew he wanted a lifetime with his husband. Not just his lifetime, either. Magnus’ lifetime.
It was something Alec had spent years trying to play out. The idea of becoming a vampire was one that he’d briefly entertained, and it was one he kept on the back burner. A sort of last-resort, Hail Mary play for if nothing else worked out. Becoming a vampire wasn’t something that Alec wanted. Nor, he knew, was it something Magnus wanted. His history with vampires was too long and too full of pain. Alec didn’t want to turn their relationship into a minefield of PTSD triggers and unnecessary anxiety. Not unless there was no other choice.
But any other options were slowly but surely dwindling. Even with Catarina’s help – there was no way Alec could bring this up to Magnus, no way he could give him hope only to have to potentially rip it all cruelly away later – nothing they thought of, nothing they tried, was coming through. Each trail they followed each year that passed, Alec felt his own hope growing smaller and smaller, even as his need grew larger.
Because it wasn’t just for Magnus anymore that he had to stick around. He also had two beautiful, wonderful teenaged boys, one of who carried his Papa’s lifetime and another who was as doomed to mortality as Alec was. The thought of abandoning one son, of leaving his husband behind to one day bury the other, was something Alec couldn’t bear.
Yet time was running out. More and more, it was beginning to look like vampirism was the only option Alec was going to have.
He’d just turned forty last month. A milestone Alec hadn’t wanted to reach like this. Not without some kind of solution. Because now… now the difference in their age was starting to become noticeable. Not in a negative way, not yet. But soon. Soon, the salt at Alec’s temples would begin to spread over the rest of his hair, and the muscles he’d worked hard to maintain would fade. More and more wrinkles would appear on his face, around his mouth and his eyes, and Magnus would be there to watch all of it. To see as Alec grew old and withered in front of him.
Magnus hid how much it bothered him. He liked to pet at Alec’s hair and tease him about how distinguished those little bits of silver made him look. How everyone was going to be envious when they saw them together.
Alec pretended he didn’t catch the sheen of tears in his husband’s eyes when he said it. Or the way his gaze would sometimes catch there, and his smile falter. It was just another one of the countless little lies that made up their relationship. Tiny little moments that spoke of a pain that was waiting in the shadows like a wolf, ready to pounce.
They didn’t talk about it, yet it existed there between them, a constant presence that they both did their best to ignore, one that made every moment, good and bad, a bittersweet one. Alec swore sometimes he could see how Magnus stared at him just a little harder, a little longer, than he might with someone else, and he knew in those moments his husband was logging away the tiny little details that he didn’t want to forget. Small things that would one day become just a glint of a memory barely able to be clasped between his hands. Moments and heartbreaks that would crop up in his dreams, in the quiet of the night, or in the quiet moment when he caught a glimpse of a dark-haired shadowhunter with a rune just so walking down the streets.
The pain of it was something that Alec lived with each and every day. Something that fueled him into trying to find some sort of solution before it became too late.
It only got worse the day Max came home from the Academy and hid out in his room. When Alec had to stand outside his room because his son refused to see him, didn’t want him near, and yet Alec couldn’t bring himself to be far away while the boy he loved was in pain. All he’d been able to do was stand there outside his son’s closed door and listen to Max cry on Magnus’ shoulder at the realization that had just hit him – the realization of a loss that Magnus had been preparing himself for from the very beginning. Likely from the moment he’d turned around and smiled at Alec after delivering a terrible meat pun.
Alec stood sentry that day, guarding the door with silent tears on his cheeks while two of the people he loved the most shared in a grief Alec would never be able to understand.
After that, his need to find a way to fix this grew even more. He threw himself into studying, looking, researching, trying anything and everything he could to solve this and keep the people he loved from hurting so desperately.
If it weren’t for Jace and, surprisingly enough, Catarina, Alec wasn’t sure he would’ve had the strength to keep on trying.
More than once, he had to fight back the urge to just give it all up, to bury his head in the sand and try to make the most of what time he had left. Or to race out there and demand Simon fulfill the promise Alec had extracted from him all those years ago. If it weren’t for Jace and Catarina, Alec very well might have. He’d spent plenty of time on their couches, their rooftops, sitting with one or the other and just talking, trying so hard to hold himself together under the weight that some days felt like it was going to break him.
They kept Alec hoping, kept his strength going, with the promise that they’d find something.
Alec hadn’t realized just how little he’d come to believe that until the day, two months after his fortieth birthday, when Catarina called him to say, “I found something.”
Her words had Alec going still. He stood frozen in the middle of the loft, one hand holding a rag over the picture he’d been dusting. An ugly thing that Magnus insisted over and over again didn’t need dusting, he was a warlock, Alexander, I don’t need to do things like dust, and yet Alec still cleaned the buildup off of there each time he had the day off. “W-What?”
Rafe looked up from where he was cleaning some of the knickknacks on the mantle. Both his brows were furrowed down, and a sharp look was in his eyes as they scanned over every inch of Alec, reading him for anything that might give away whatever had made his Dad’s voice tremble like that.
“I found something,” Catarina repeated, and Alec could easily picture her face, the smile that would go with a tone like that, all bright teeth and sharp edges. Beautiful and dangerous – two words that not everyone realized could sum her up perfectly. “Get over here. If I’m right, we’ve got about four hours to get ready for this before we lose our chance for another twenty years.”
That was – holy fuck. Alec had to turn away from Rafe’s knowing gaze so he could close his own eyes and just breathe for a second. He lowered his hand from the picture and pressed it against the wall. Right at that moment, his legs didn’t feel all that steady. “You’re sure?”
“As sure as I can be. You know I wouldn’t come to you with something like this unless I thought it could work.”
The hope Alec felt was like a living, breathing thing inside his chest. Something that had gotten smaller and smaller over the years. Now it came roaring back with a vengeance that stole Alec’s breath away. He barely had enough air to tell her, “I’m on my way.” Even then, he still had to take a minute to stay where he was, to squeeze his eyes shut and try to get himself under some sort of control.
“Dad?” Rafe’s voice interrupted Alec’s thoughts. “Is everything okay?”
Part of Alec wanted to laugh out loud at that. To let out the emotion bubbling inside of him in some way. Just barely did he manage to keep that from happening. Years of practice at controlling his emotions were the only thing that saved him. That training helped Alec turn around and face his eldest without any of the panic, hope, or hysteria that was nipping at his heels and tugging away at his heartstrings.
Alec looked at his son, this amazing man who had made such a change in his life, and the smile he gave him was so bright it had Rafe blinking a few times in surprise. “Everything’s great. I just – I’ve got to go see your Aunt Cat about something. Something important.” Realization was slowly sinking in for Alec. This was going to happen. If Catarina was right, if this really was it, the next time he saw his family, he’d be able to fulfill the one silent promise he’d been holding on to for over a decade. The sheer excitement of it had Alec almost shaking as he hurried to gather his things. “When your Papa gets back, tell him something came up, but I’ll be home as soon as I can. I love you!”
He left Rafe staring after him with a stunned sort of look that only made Alec grin all the more. His smile had taken away Rafe’s worry, that was clear, yet he knew his son would be curious, as would the rest of his family when they got back home. They were all going to be curious, and no matter how this turned out today, how the events of this went, they were going to have to talk about it when he got home. Because this… this was it. This was the last chance Alec could take. If this didn’t work, he would call Simon and start the arrangements to become a vampire. And to do that, he would need his family to be on his side.
One way or another, it would be over tonight. The wait would be done. Alec wasn’t going to risk another moment.
Getting to Catarina’s was easy. Alec didn’t even bother trying to run over there. He went up to the roof, the same as he did any time she called for him, and found a portal waiting there for him. Alec made a mad dash for it without any hesitation.
The familiar feeling of Catarina’s calm magic washed over him like water on the beach. It brushed over Alec’s skin and then tugged him forward, pulling him from Magnus’ and to Catarina’s where he found not only his friend but his parabatai standing there waiting for him, the two of them wearing equally large grins.
Their friendship was something that had surprised everyone. Jace and Catarina didn’t at all seem like the type to get along with one another. Yet they did. And not just because of their connection through Alec and Magnus, but because of one another. They had a good time together. Sometimes, Alec knew, the two even went out drinking and dancing, with Magnus and without him. When Catarina wanted a good time out of the house, she went to Magnus or to Jace. When she wanted good company in her house, a quiet evening in, she called Alec.
Seeing the two together was normal for Alec. Seeing the matching grins they wore wasn’t.
The two looked at him like they were going to burst, and that flower of hope inside of Alec blossomed even more.
They didn’t make him wait. Not for something like this. No one knew better than these two just how much this moment meant to Alec. The instant he landed in Catarina’s living room and the portal winked out behind him, Jace was speaking. “I think we really found it this time, brother. Everything seems to check out. I really think this is gonna work.”
Hearing Jace’s reassurance was exactly what Alec needed, and his brother knew that. He knew Alec well enough to understand that Alec needed something to help steady him, something for him to cling to so that he’d be able to process the rest of it.
Alec grabbed on to the lifeline Jace threw him and clutched it with both hands. “What is it?”
“What do you know about the old Gods?” Catarina asked.
The answer to that was both some and not a lot. Clearly not enough for what they were about to talk about. He had the basic understanding that came from reading a lot – books had always been an escape for young Alec, one that he’d hidden as a child and one that Magnus had only encouraged as Alec got older. He loved to read, and, despite what their lives were, mythology was a topic he so very much enjoyed.
But mundane stories and random nephilim accounts – interspaced with books that Magnus provided with more factual information – only gave so much of an understanding.
Alec knew that the Old Gods existed. That, at one time, they’d ruled here on earth, ruled over mundanes at a time when angels and demons had been too caught up in their own war to pay any attention to the mundanes caught in the crossfire. Their strength was powered by the belief their people held in them, just the same as the angels were. Their power came from the belief of their follows. It was a basic tenant in the nephilim bible. So long as there was one nephilim to believe, the power of the angel would never truly leave them.
But, what Alec knew also told him of the animosity that existed between angels and the Old Gods.
“No God is going to want to help me,” Alec said bluntly. He sat on Catarina’s couch, Jace to one side of him and Catarina in her chair directly across from them. On the table between them sat books and notepads carrying countless bits of information, spells, and rituals, all gathered together for this, their one last try
“Just because the Old Gods don’t like the angels doesn’t mean they’re going to be prejudiced against all angel-blooded,” Catarina said firmly.
“Can you be sure about that? Because I’m not looking to get killed for trying to ask one of them a favor, Cat.”
Jace stepped in there, clapping a hand on Alec’s shoulder and grinning at him. “We got that covered. Cat’s hooked you up with a pretty badass protective circle so you won’t be at risk while you guys have your chat.”
“I wouldn’t put you at risk,” Catarina said, and Alec knew she meant it, knew she wouldn’t do anything that might truly put him at risk of being hurt. “I’ve looked this whole thing over, and I even had a few other people check parts of it for me, just to make sure. We’ve done everything we can to make sure you’ll be as safe as possible, and we’ve even picked the deity we think most likely to help you. All you have to do is show up and convince them to accept whatever trade you want to make.”
Oh, that was all, was it?
Not that Alec didn’t already have planned what he wanted to say. He’d thought over this kind of situation countless times over the years. Revamped it as he got older, fixing some parts of it, changing others, trying to make absolutely sure that he had just the right kind of deal to make, something that would entice someone into giving Alec the one thing that they never gave anyone.
“Who did you pick?” Alec asked.
Catarina sat forward in her seat and reached out to one of the books on the table. She pulled it out from underneath the notepads that were on it and then turned it around to drop onto the table in front of Alec. It was already open to the page she clearly wanted. When Alec leaned forward, he found a large picture on the left of a tall, muscular man holding a spear and dressed in armor.
“His name is Mars, the Roman God of war and protection…”
When Catarina and Jace said that they’d prepared everything, they weren’t kidding. They didn’t just have the information; they had the space all set up as well. The summoning circle and the protective sigils were already inscribed into the ground with all the right tools and elements, anchored into the earth and the sky, the power of nature itself acting as a tie. The only thing they’d needed was Alec’s blood to finish it off. That would not only bind the circle to the ground, but to its caster as well – to Alec.
“You’re the one asking him a favor, so we want the link that exists between summoner and summoned to be between the two of you,” Catarina explained to him.
Alec didn’t flinch at the idea of having his palm sliced open to bleed onto the sigils. He’d gotten worse cuts in training. “I don’t have the magic to summon him with, though. Won’t that tie him to you?”
“You don’t need magic to summon someone. Just blood, intent, and the right ingredients and offering.”
Which explained the bowl of things that Jace was preparing inside the summoning circle. As well as the one outside the circle that was already put together.
Kneeling on the ground at the edge of a summoning circle brought home to Alec the fact that they were really doing this – that it was really real. Today, when the day started to shift to night, he would reach out to an old Roman God to try and barter for a shot at immortality. Something which very few had ever succeeded in being granted.
If Alec had been asked to think of a God or Goddess he might reach out to, Apollo or perhaps Artemis might’ve been the ones he would’ve gone toward. There were a lot of different things that would’ve drawn him their way. But he couldn’t deny that the God that Catarina and Jace had picked suited him.
“A lot of mythology equates him with his Greek counterpart, Ares, but some books I found at the Spiral Labyrinth suggest that, though similar, they’re not the same,” Catarina had explained to him. “It’s said that Mars has a bit of a soft spot for other protectors. Many warriors had sought his blessing when they were defending their home. We’re hoping that he might feel some kinship to you, so clearly a protector.”
The whole thing felt like it sat on a bunch of what if’s and maybe’s. All of which left Alec nervous. But he trusted his friends to have done right for him. To have made sure that this was as safe as they could possibly make it.
Alec had to trust in that. Because once they got him set up, they had to leave. Catarina looked guilty when she explained that part to Alec. “This is something you have to do alone. We can’t be here for it.”
Jace clearly didn’t like that. Yet, just as clearly, he respected it.
Not once in all of Alec’s searching had Jace wavered in his conviction to help Alec. He’d never tried to talk him out of it or attempted to make him stay as he was. “Our souls are tied together, Alec,” Jace told him the one time they’d talked about his support. “How could I do anything less than help you get what your soul is practically screaming for?”
Their bond was humming with energy now as Alec rose to his feet, and Jace came to stand in front of him.
There was no time for words here. Not with Alec’s hand bleeding and power already filling the protective circle. They had just moments for one another – these last few precious seconds as AlecandJace.
Neither one had ever needed words to understand each other, though. They leaned in, forehead to forehead, holding to each other’s neck, and that moment of connection shared so much. Love built on thousands of little moments that had shaped them from the boys they’d been to the men they were now.
When they pulled apart, they shared a soft smile and one last hug. Then Alec turned to Catarina only to find her already grinning at him. “I’m not saying goodbye to you,” she told him bluntly, making Jace snicker and Alec snort. “I’ll see you when it’s all done, and then you’re gonna owe me, Lightwood-Bane.”
Alec had no idea what he’d done to deserve such wonderful people in his life. He was grateful every single day for them. “I’ll call you when it’s over,” he told her, smiling until it crinkled his eyes.
One portal later, and the two of them were gone. They left Alec standing there in the center of what looked like it had once been a beautiful stone city. He was set up atop a raised section, a perfect circle of grass and stone raised up in a clear platform. The circle that Catarina had made, with Jace’s help, took up most of the dais. In the very center of it stood a table with two different bowls set upon it. In one, the necessary meats Catarina said went into an offering, and the other a very old wine.
The ceremony itself was simple. Alec’s blood had already been added to the circles in all the right places. All that was left was to drip it from his hand down into the bowl in front of him, say a chant, and light the contents of the bowl on fire. According to Catarina, that was all that was needed to summon Mars, the ancient Roman God. From that point, it would all be in Alec’s hands to convince the God to gift him immortality – something that Gods and Goddesses weren’t known for just handing out.
Catarina had only asked Alec once about what he was willing to offer anyone they could find who might be able to grant him what he wanted. All Alec had told her was that he had it handled. She’d quickly realized that Alec wasn’t going to tell her anything else, and she’d left it alone.
The only person Alec had discussed it with was his brother. His parabatai. It wasn’t a deal, after all, that Alec could make without talking to the one person he was soul bonded with.
He just… he hoped that it would work. Alec had different options, different layers to what he was willing to offer. Years of working diplomacy and negotiating with two different groups who absolutely hated one another had really helped improve his bartering skills. Magnus teased him about it occasionally. About how good Alec had gotten at finding a deal that worked well for both parties. “It translates over pretty good to being a Dad,” Magnus had teased him. “You’re pretty good at getting those boys to do what you want them to, Mr. Lightwood-Bane.”
“No one makes them do anything they don’t want to do,” Alec had said dryly, making Magnus laugh.
They’d raised some wonderful, strong-willed, independent boys. Boys that Alec loved with every single part of his being. Who were just another layer in why Alec needed to do this.
Alec thought of them as he stood there outside the summoning circle. He thought of the haunted look Rafe had come to them with, the skittishness that came from a life far too hard for any one person, let alone a little boy. The way he had slowly opened up to them, the way he smiled so brightly now, it crinkled his eyes and flashed those deep dimples. How, despite what anyone had expected, the little shadowhunter who Alec was sure would one day surpass him in bow skills, took after his Dad in personality, and his Papa in fashion. He was on the path to one day lead his own Institute, and as his little brother liked to tease him, he was going to “Do it in style!”
Alec thought of Max, wrapped up in a blanket and left on the steps of the newly revamped Academy, his beautiful blue skin on display and the note on his chest. The way he’d smiled at them right from the get-go, and showed a spark of trouble on par with anything Jace or Isabelle had ever done to Alec growing up, and how underneath that all he carried a softness Magnus insisted he got from Alec. He thought of the way Max would still cuddle into him sometimes after a bad day, despite being a teenager and ‘too old’ for that – and the tears he’d cried on the day he realized he might not always be able to cuddle with him.
And Alec thought of Magnus. Magnus. The man who had saved him, who’d rescued him from a life that would’ve ended dark, alone, and likely far earlier. Who had taken Alec out of the harsh, dark shadows of the Institute and showed him a life that was so much fuller and brighter. Magnus, who loved him when Alec wasn’t capable of loving himself. Who made the world better just by being in it.
Alec thought of them, his family, and he drew in a breath to steady himself. Then he stood up straighter. He could do this – for himself and for them.
He twisted the hand that Catarina had cut and held it out over the bowl. The Latin she’d given him spilled easily past his lips. He’d been taught to speak that language since he was a small child. It came easily now, backed with a kind of power that Alec swore he could feel building inside of him. Each word a plea, not a demand, backed with as much of his need as he could.
With the last word, Alec used the matches they’d left, and he set fire to the items in the bowl.
They went up in a whoosh of light and smoke that almost sent Alec stumbling backward.
When the smoke cleared, the empty space in front of Alec was no longer empty. In the center of the circle right next to the table stood a man who… well, who looked nothing at all like what Alec had been expecting.
He was tall, likely as tall as Alec if not more so, and carried a lean build to him that would’ve fooled most into thinking him weaker. Only, Alec had spent years doing combat assessments and he knew how to read the lean muscle in that body, even through the soft lines of a perfectly tailored suit.
The man’s skin was richly tanned, his hair dark, and Alec was pretty sure he caught sight of a curly, close-cut beard before the man turned to look at the items on the table and his face was hidden.
“Well, well, well.” The man – the God – had a voice as thick as honey and twice as rich. It carried a cultured edge to it that Alec associated with all the older beings he’d dealt with – Greater Demons, the Seelie Queen, the Unseelie King, some of the older warlocks. Beings who’d been around a long time and who carried power.
Mars turned back to face Alec, and he smirked in a way that was dangerous, threatening, and far too attractive for Alec’s good. Even the scar on his face that went from his right temple down his cheek and past his jaw only served to enhance those good looks.
Whatever Mars saw on Alec’s face had his smirk growing. “It’s been a long time since someone’s summoned me like this. Though never one of Raziel’s chosen ones.” He twisted his body around and slipped his hands down into his pants pockets. Dark, reddish-brown eyes ran down Alec’s body and back up again. “To what do I owe the honor of this, little nephilim? What could the child of angels want from a God such as myself?”
Once upon a time, Alec might’ve been flustered by the blatant appreciation on Mars’ face, as well as the open threat that sat in those faintly glowing eyes. But Alec had faced down beings more terrifying than this one. And he was married to a man who was stunningly beautiful and who could be bone-chillingly terrifying in the right circumstances.
This was it. Alec was face to face with the being who might stand the best chance at giving him what he wanted – now all Alec had to do was convince him of it.
“I called you here to strike a bargain,” Alec said firmly.
One of Mars’ eyebrows went up, and he looked around at the circle on the ground, back to the offering, and then back to Alec. “You put that so politely. Say it outright, boy. You summoned me here.”
“I requested your presence,” Alec corrected him. He didn’t back down from that look, didn’t squirm. He kept himself calm and arched an eyebrow of his own in return. “I didn’t just pull a random spell from a book. I consulted with others, and I know my Latin. Nothing compelled you to be here.”
Mars looked pleased by Alec’s answer. “Ooh, it’s always better when they’re smart. Alright then, boy, what did you request me here for? Wait, let me guess…” He leaned back against the table behind him and crossed one ankle over the other in a casual pose that, honestly, should’ve knocked the table over. “You want money, power, prestige. Help in battle against a Greater Demon or against one of the ones you call Downworlder. A warlock, maybe, if you’re coming to a God for help.”
The loud snort Alec let out probably wasn’t the answer Mars was expecting. “I don’t think my husband would like that,” Alec said, holding up his hand and wiggling his fingers to show off the ring that sat there. Then he dropped his hand back down and crossed his arms over his chest in a pose he knew was kind of intimidating. “I’ve got enough money, power, and prestige, and I can fight a Greater Demon all on my own. I don’t need help on things I can already handle on my own.”
A smile tugged at one corner of Mars’ mouth. “You’re an impudent one, aren’t you?”
Alec smirked right back at him. “It’s been said.”
That startled a laugh out of the God. He shook his head, and his gaze warmed a little more until Alec swore that red was actually glowing like the banked coals of a fire. “State your request then, boy. I confess myself curious what it is you think I can give you.”
Here we go. The moment of truth. Alec drew in a breath and squared his shoulders underneath the weight that settled there. He could do this – he was going to win this. For Magnus. For Max. “Immortality.”
Once more, Mars’ eyebrows went up. “You called me here to ask for the gift of immortality?”
“Yes.”
For a second, Mars just stared at him. He let out a soft huff of laughter and shook his head like he couldn’t quite believe it. “You know, most people who summon a War God want help with, you know, war. This is honestly the first time I’ve been asked for something like this in all my long years. I’m curious why you chose me.”
“Honestly?” Alec drew in a deep breath and decided to take a chance from what he’d seen so far. He had a feeling honesty was going to get him further than anything else right now. “You’re kind of my last resort. Or, well, second-to-last.”
Mars blinked a few times as he processed that. His smile started to come back, slowly growing. “What’s your last option?”
“A vampire.”
Amusement lit his eyes. “Ah, yes. I can see why you’d want to hold off on that if at all possible. Nasty things, those.” He went quiet then, and as those burning eyes ran over Alec, they left him feeling as if the God saw straight down inside him in that way that only beings with power were ever capable of. Alec had withstood those kinds of stares many times before. He’d stood tall in front of them, just as he stood tall now. Mars gave a low, amused-sounding hum. “You’re a curious one. What’s your name, boy?”
Well, he hadn’t run off yet. That was a plus. Alec felt the hope grow a little more in his chest. It helped to steady him, helped pack a little extra strength into his voice. “Alec Lightwood-Bane.”
Surprise instantly lit Mars’ face. He looked so much more interested than he had moments ago, eyes going wide and then narrowing a little as he looked Alec over again like he was seeing him for the first time. “Well now, I wasn’t aware I had a celebrity here in front of me. Alexander Lightwood-Bane, the hero of the Shadow World who defied everything to marry a warlock. One of the most powerful warlocks to walk the planet. There are rumors your husband’s power is enough to rival even the Gods.”
That was… something Alec was definitely going to think about later. Though he felt a spurt of pride in his chest for Magnus the same way he always did every time someone realized just how powerful the man really was. Too many underestimated him – to their detriment. Alec had come to believe there was little Magnus couldn’t do if he put his mind to it.
Except this.
Reminded of why he was here, Alec’s smile wiped away, and the warmth in his chest cooled, leaving him with that same hard ball that had sat there for so long. The one that reminded him his time was running out. “There are some things even he can’t do.”
“Yes, I would imagine so.” Though Mars’ once more sounded amused, the look in his eyes was anything but. He was watching Alec much more cautiously now. Someone assessing an enemy who suddenly showed much more potential for trouble. “None of that tells me why you thought I might help you. I’ve yet to see what I would get out of this.”
“You’d put my husband and I both in your debt,” Alec pointed out.
The fire in Mars’ eyes sparked brighter and then was banked once more. “Appealing, yes, and were this a simple favor you asked, it would definitely be enough. I recognize the appeal of having either one of you owing me a favor, let alone both. However, what you’re asking for isn’t simple by any definition of the word. If I’m going to risk angering others by doing something that’s, well, not forbidden…” Mars paused and drew one hand from his pocket, wiggling it side-to-side in a so-so gesture. “More like… frowned upon. If I’m going to do something that’s frowned upon, I want something more ambiguous than a favor.”
Alec tried to hold on to the fact that Mars didn’t actually deny him outright. He hadn’t said no. If anything, he was telling Alec to give him a good reason to say yes. Which was a hell of a lot more than Alec had honestly expected. He’d thought for sure he would have to argue every step of the way on this. Use all his skills to try and negotiate some sort of deal.
Yet here Mars was, watching him with curiosity and something else, something that Alec wasn’t quite sure how to name. All he could guess about it was that it wasn’t bad. Whatever that look was about, it seemed to speak in his favor.
“What is it you’re looking for?” Alec asked.
Mars clicked his tongue and shook his head. “Ah, ah, that’s not how things work here, boy. You know that. You’re the one that wants something from me; you’re the one that has to make the offering. As a God, my job here is to deny or accept. So…” He grinned again and leaned forward toward Alec, still balanced against the table as he did. “What do you think you can offer me that’s worth it? What price are you willing to pay, Alexander Lightwood-Bane?”
How many times had Alec pictured this conversation? How many different ways had he tried to plan for it? He’d known that it wouldn’t be easy to convince anyone to give him immortality. It would take some kind of bargain, a deal – one that he had to be comfortable with making.
He’d avoided trying to make a deal with any kind of demon who might have the strength to help him because of those very reasons. Whatever Alec could offer them to get them to give him this, well, it wasn’t a price he was willing to pay. Not to them. Not when he knew what they’d do with it.
But a God? They were neither good nor bad. Dark nor light. They had power of their own far beyond what Alec knew he could ever comprehend. Especially the Old Gods like Mars who had been around for such a very long time. Power enough that they could’ve done damage and hadn’t.
There was only one thing Alec could think of that someone such as this might want. One thing he had to offer.
“What would the angelic power of a nephilim be worth to you?” Alec asked him.
The way that Mars eyes instantly lit up was enough to tell Alec that he had him. Even if there were details still to iron out, he had him.
“That’s quite an offer,” Mars said, affecting the same cool tone as before, but he couldn’t quite erase that fire in his eyes. “The power of a nephilim… very few can lay claim to something like that.”
“It’d be enough to give you a power boost to last for a few years, I’m guessing.”
“Oh, more than a few. Power such as yours could last me quite a long time.” Abruptly, Mars pushed up off the table, and he strolled forward to the very edge of the circle, bringing him and Alec closer together. If he hoped to make Alec step back, to intimidate him, he failed. Alec held his ground and met Mars’ eyes head-on without a flinch. The God smirked at that. “You’re a brave one. And foolish. Very few would be willing to hand power like that to one of the Old Gods. What’s to say I won’t turn around and use it against you and yours?”
Every muscle in Alec’s body snapped taut. His eyes narrowed, and he drew himself up, gathering every ounce of power and threat he could command. “It would be the last thing you ever did. You come after my family, and it won’t even be Magnus you have to worry about. I’ll end you myself.”
The God’s smirk turned into a wide smile. “I like you. You’re a true warrior. A true protector.” Mars rocked back on his heels and then straightened back up, looking suddenly so much more at ease than he had just moments ago, and yet simultaneously more serious, too. “If I take your deal, I can’t offer you any guarantees. It’s not as simple as the stories of ambrosia, or golden apples, or any of that other nonsense. I can give you the spark. What happens to you after that – that’ll be up to you.”
“Could it kill me?” That question was more important than any others. Not because of any concern for himself, but because he couldn’t do that to Magnus or his boys.
Mars shook his head. “No. The most it’ll do is leave you drained. Nothing that husband of yours won’t be able to cure with a bit of rest. This isn’t one of those great fables where the hero lives or dies in some great trial. If you fail, you’ll be drained of the energy I took, drained from the fight, but you’ll still be alive.”
That sounded too good to be true. Life… it wasn’t that easy. Or that simple. “What’s the catch?”
Again, that flash of something pleased on Mars’ face, like he approved of Alec’s questions, his suspicion. “Very few people manage this,” he said simply, spreading his hands out on either side of him. “It takes a strength of character, a strength of will, that so few humans possess. In modern terminology, you have about, oh, an eight percent chance of success.” His smile sharpened once more. “Very few consider that kind of tradeoff worth it without some sort of guarantee.”
Maybe to them it wasn’t. Alec, however, was willing to trade so much more for the chance at fulfilling this promise. Even if this didn’t work, he was still left with his life, just minus his angelic energy, and really, what was the big deal about that? If this didn’t work, he didn’t plan on staying a nephilim anyway. He could handle being a mundane for the short while it would take him to contact Simon.
This was the best option that Alec had come across. And, honestly enough, the one with the least risks.
“I want it in writing,” Alec said firmly.
Mars let out a low, raspy laugh that sent a warm shiver down Alec’s spine. “A God’s word is binding, boy. Especially in a circle like this.”
“And yet, I still want it in writing.”
There was no doubt this time that Mars was pleased with Alec’s answer. The fire in his eyes sparked brighter, and his grin grew. “Oh yes, I’ve definitely made the right choice here.” A wave of his hand brought a long piece of parchment there, along with a quill. One that he proceeded to shake out and then put to the paper.
It took almost thirty minutes for their contract to be written out to both their liking. The light had long since gone from around them, and fire had been conjured on either side of them – still inside the circle – so they’d be able to see.
Alec wasn’t afraid to contest wording anywhere on the contract. He’d spent a lifetime learning how to draft documents just so to provide himself with loopholes. Even slender ones that he had to delicately squeeze through later on. His years as Institute Head had helped that training along, but it was his years as the Inquisitor that had honed it. Alec had negotiated treaties, built and signed contracts, and written and presented laws to the Clave that were geared to further progress his agenda without ruffling too many feathers.
Eventually, however, the two came up with something that suited the both of them – one that gave not an inch more or less on either side, and offered a sense of protection on either side no matter how this turned out.
Alec was the first to sign, and he did so with a flourish that would’ve made Magnus proud.
Mars took the quill back next, and he gave the document one more look through before he put his name at the bottom.
“It’s been an absolute pleasure doing business with you, Lightwood-Bane,” Mars said cheerfully.
One copy of the contract vanished while the other was handed to Alec, folded, and carefully placed inside his inner jacket pocket. Once it was there, he straightened back up and smiled. “Thank you – and the same to you.”
“Are you going to release me from this circle now so that we can get down to business.”
In answer to that, Alec pushed one foot forward to the rune Catarina had showed him would release everything. She’d told him all he would have to do was erase that one, and the rest would lose their power. Erasing it was as simple as taking his foot and rubbing it over top to smear the blood and pain there.
As soon as the protective circle was gone, there was a part of Alec that immediately became more alert. Even with the contract between them, that didn’t mean that there wasn’t some sort of loophole that he’d missed, some way for the God to get around this. Alec was far too used to going up against beings more powerful than him to ever completely put his guard down. He had a healthy respect for those with power.
However, he wasn’t going to cower, either, or do something to give some kind of offense. So he stood up tall and met Mars’ eyes without any hint of hesitance or discomfort showing anywhere.
“You know,” Mars said, his smile growing a bit devilish. “I find myself hoping you make it through this, boy. I’m curious to see what the world would do with a spark like yours.”
The only thing Alec could think of to say to that was, “Thank you.”
A small wave of power sent the offerings somewhere else and banished the last of the sigils on the ground. Alec couldn’t feel any power from them anymore. He could, however, feel the power growing from Mars. Not just in him, but in the very air around him, pushing outward like the warmth from a fire that was slowly being stoked to life.
When Mars spoke again, his voice was deeper, and it carried an extra resonance to it. Alec swore he could hear the call of a battle horn and the faint rattling echo of swords against shields clattering in the distance. “Kneel before me, Alexander Lightwood-Bane, warrior, protector of your people. Kneel and state your offering.”
The heat of the fire in Mars grew even hotter. Yet it didn’t burn as Alec took a step toward the being in the middle of the circle. If anything, it seemed to wrap around Alec when he knelt, like curling up before a hearth on a cold winter’s day. The danger of the flames was there, and so very clear, yet so was the comfort, the shelter.
God of war and protection. Like fire, he was danger and death – comfort and life.
With a deep breath and a proud lift of his chin, Alec spoke the words that seemed to rise up from within him, called to the surface by the gentle coaxing of that fire. “I offer you, Mars, God of War and Protection, son of Juno and Jupiter, Great Warrior, the power of the angels that resides in my veins.”
Alec looked up the length of the man in front of him and felt his breath catch in his throat. Mars was watching him with his eyes aglow, a spear held in one hand, and for one brief moment, Alec swore he could see the light of something old and metal shining around him, peeking through the calm veneer of a man.
“I accept your offer, and in turn, offer you a chance to step beyond this mortal skin and ascend, as so few have had the chance to do.” Slowly, in a move that Alec hadn’t expected, the man sank down to one knee, his hand still held up on his spear. Those eyes met Alec’s, and there was respect in there, and a power Alec had never felt on any being before. “Take this spark, Alexander Lightwood-Bane, and with it, my blessing.”
Mars had warned him that this part wouldn’t feel good. What little he’d said had been a warning that the process, though it wouldn’t kill him, wouldn’t be easy. Not that Alec had expected anything else from a situation like this one.
Yet he wasn’t prepared for it when that hand pressed against his chest, and the whole world seemed to turn to fire.
Alec had been burned before. He’d had fire against his skin, had it consume him when he’d gone to Edom to bring Magnus home. He’d felt the lick of it against every inch of him.
It was nothing like this.
This fire poured out of that touch to his chest and seared through him like lava, flowing through his veins until Alec felt like his whole body was burning. His body hunched, trying to curl in on itself, as the fire burned and burned, chasing through him with every pounding beat of his heart, every agonizing breath he desperately sucked in, until suddenly it was at the core of him. The fire filled every inch of him, straight down to his very soul.
It burned through the tines of his parabatai bond, destroying those threads that had tied his soul to his brothers, and Alec felt Jace’s scream right along with his own.
His screams grew louder as the fire burned rune after rune, chasing them off his body, drawing the energy away until there was nothing but skin left behind, clear skin free of the marks of his people.
Then, just when Alec wasn’t sure he could bear it, just when he thought for sure that he would collapse and the fire would consume him – it began to change. Not cool, no. It was still so hot, but it didn’t feel like it was trying to destroy him anymore. It felt like it was all… pooling together, gathering around his soul. It touched those damaged places inside where the parabatai bond had been and pressed against them with a warmth that was healing instead of destroying.
Creation and destruction. Life and death. War and protection.
Alec felt as that fire gathered up those broken pieces of himself and burned them even as they healed them. They turned his insides to ash, only to bring them back anew – better, even. Stronger. He looked down at his hands and watched as the flames moved across his skin. They pulled inward, toward his chest until, with one last aching gasp, it seemed to merge down inside his chest – a spark, a light, right there in his core. Quiet as it settled in, and yet strong, ready to grow and become so much more.
What had been pain before was gone now, and Alec felt a little lost under that. He stared at his hands – his normal hands, free of runes, free of anything, and if it hadn’t been for the spark still inside of him, he would’ve thought this had failed.
But when he looked back up and found Mars still kneeling in front of him, grinning broadly with blue and red flames in his eyes, Alec knew it had worked.
“Welcome, Alexander Lightwood-Bane, God of Protection and Fire, bringer of life and destruction, healing and death. A light in the dark to lead the way. May the truth of your name ring from the Heavens to the Underworld.” His hand moved from Alec’s chest to come and rest against his palm against Alec’s forehead, his fingers up in Alec’s hair. “Welcome, Fire God, brother of my flame, guardian of peace. Rise.”
With only a slight helping hand from Mars, the two rose up to their feet. Alec stood there with him and drew in a breath that tasted like fire and joy. Power sang a soft, subtle song inside of him, a tune only he could hear.
Well, he and one other.
Mars curled his hand on Alec’s shoulder and offered him a grin. Power still ran in him – fueled now with the acceptance of Alec’s angel blood. “The flame tested you and found you true. You should be proud of yourself. Very few have the strength to take even a hint of the power you’ve welcomed so easily into your soul.”
“Does this…” Alec paused when he heard his voice, heard the echoes of it against his ears, ringing through this place of power. He swallowed down the emotion in his throat and tried again, fighting desperately to ignore that bit, at least for now. “I thought it might give me some power, but not… not this. Am I…?
“One of us?” Mars finished for him, taking pity on him. His smile grew and he gave Alec’s shoulder a squeeze and then let go. “Not quite. The Old Gods come from a different time and a different place, and we are tied to our followers. To an ideal. So long as there is War, so long as there are those that need Protection, I’ll be here. But you… you’re a child of the elements. Of fire itself. So long as that spark exists, so shall you.”
With a low laugh, the God beamed at him.
“A fitting consort for a King who carries the power of a fallen realm in his bones. The power you two carry is the kind made to change the world. I can’t wait to see what you do with it.”
Though Alec knew the first thing he should do was call Catarina, or Jace, the minute he was alone, he wanted only one thing, ached to see only one person. Everything in Alec cried out for the other part of his soul. The person he had just given up a mortal lifetime for and embraced the promise of eternity.
Mars left him only after extracting a promise from Alec that they’d meet again in a couple days for training. “Your power is going to come in slowly,” he’d warned Alec. “You’ll feel it filling you little by little, the spark inside you growing into a flame. That’ll give me time to teach you how to wield it. Though I imagine that husband of yours will be able to help out, too.”
However, before he left, he was kind enough to show Alec one thing he promised he had the strength for.
Alec reached out to the flame inside himself and tried to follow what Mars had told him, what he’d showed him. He let that fire go, spreading along his skin, pushing out of him. In ages, seconds, it consumed him all, and all it took then was a bit of focus, the same as a portal, and Alec felt as he went from the ancient ruins and their peaceful power to the busy streets of Brooklyn.
A curse spilled past Alec’s lips when the fire vanished, and he realized that he’d landed literally in the busy streets of Brooklyn. Battle-honed reflexes were the only thing that saved him from getting hit by a taxi.
He managed to dart out of the way – and avoid getting hit by another car – in a leap that was by far one of the least graceful moves he’d ever made.
Alec only had a moment to be grateful no one was around to see it. Then, as he started to push himself up off the sidewalk before he added insult to injury by having some blind mundane trip over him, the bright light of a portal opened in front of him and his Angel-damned family came pouring out. Magnus was at the front, his power curled inside him, ready to be called to his hands but not quite there, Catarina with magic already glowing around her hands, with Jace just seconds behind them.
For one second, the groups froze as they stared at one another. Jace, his skin pale and one hand curled against his side while the other hand still clutched a seraph blade. Catarina, eyes narrowed and body on alert for some clear threat. And Magnus – Magnus, whose eyes immediately went to Alec, the same way they always did, unerringly finding him no matter what. Even if he clearly hadn’t expected to find Alec there to begin with.
“Alexander?” Magnus took a half step forward, eyes narrowing down on Alec, and it was easy to see as he noticed what was different, as he took in the lack of runes and the power that was in the body of his husband. Alec could see the way he tensed, how he froze and suspicion overrode everything else, and Alec couldn’t even blame him. He would’ve felt the same in his shoes.
Jace, however, had no patience for that. He heard Alec’s name and followed Magnus’ gaze down to where Alec was frozen, half on the ground and half up, and his whole face lit up. “Alec!”
He shot forward, nimbly dodging the hand that Magnus darted out for him, ignoring the “Jace, no!”
Without a single care for what might’ve changed, for whether or not this was actually Alec or some imposter as Magnus so clearly felt, his parabatai flung himself right at Alec, almost knocking them both back into the streets. If it hadn’t been for Alec darting a hand out and for a little bit of magic Alec recognized as belonging to Catarina, the two of them very well might have rolled out in front of one of the oncoming cars.
Familiar arms wrapped tightly around Alec and hugged him in close until they were a tangle of limbs there on the sidewalk. “Thank the Angel you’re okay,” Jace breathed out against his neck, the words low and just for Alec’s ears. Then he yanked back, half sitting on Alec’s legs as he did, and he grinned down at him. “Holy shit. I can’t believe it worked!”
“Maybe don’t try and immediately kill him after we just got him back,” Catarina called teasingly. She reached out to lightly smack Jace’s head, though she grinned beyond him at Alec.
Their teasing felt so good, so warm, and yet despite all of that, there was only one person here Alec really had his attention on. Someone who clearly hadn’t had the story explained to him even though Jace and Catarina were here. Magnus stared at them all with his glamour down and a sharp glare that promised pain to whoever was stupid enough to keep pissing him off. “Does someone care to explain to me what exactly is going on here?” Magnus called out sharply.
The words cut through everything like the crack of Isabelle’s whip. Jace’s smile faded as he turned to look at Magnus, though he didn’t get up.
For his part, Alec tried not to grimace. He caught Magnus’ eye and held it, not saying a word, not yet. There were no words he could say yet that would let Magnus know that this was him. That it was honestly, truly him. Magnus wasn’t going to believe anything he had to say. They’d dealt with too many glamour runes, too many shapeshifters, too many beings of power who wanted to use them against one another, for either one to ever believe something so easily.
But Alec hoped Magnus would recognize this – recognize him. He looked up at the man he’d pledged his life to, the man he’d given away his mortality for, and he let himself feel all the love he always felt in Magnus’ presence. All the joy this man brought him, day after day, year after year, decades of time together, full of the kind of love that Alec had once thought he couldn’t have. A love that he’d somehow been blessed enough to find and to have returned tenfold.
Magnus blinked a few times. The anger on his face faded a little, and his eyes narrowed for a second, his magic crackling in their depths before they suddenly went wide. “Alexander?”
Moving Jace off his lap was as easy as dropping one leg and shoving. Alec ignored the way his brother grunted when he hit the ground. His own focus was on Magnus. Slowly, trying to keep his pose nonthreatening, Alec shifted and rose up to his feet, never breaking eye contact.
Once Alec was on his feet, he smiled. “Hey, Magnus.”
“What…” Magnus took a single step forward, hesitant in a way that Alec understood and yet hated. His magic was crackling along his skin in a way that Alec might have been able to feel before, but he wouldn’t have seen. He saw it now, blue flames dancing along Magnus’ skin
Alec took a single step forward. “It’s me, cariño.”
The shock in Magnus’ eyes was growing. He lifted a hand, and Alec lifted his own in return. Everything else seemed to have fallen away from them. In that moment, it was just the two of them there. They lifted their hands until they were just a breath apart, magic and power holding their breath on either side. Then Alec pressed his hand forward, and the blue flames on Magnus’ hand leapt forward, familiar and warm against Alec’s skin, at the same time that his own fire leapt out to brush over Magnus’ hand.
Judging by the soft gasp that Magnus gave and the way he pressed his hand in even closer, Alec’s fire didn’t burn, either.
“It’s really you,” Magnus breathed out. “What… what happened to you? What did you do?”
One corner of Alec’s mouth curved up. “Oh, you know. Summoned a God, flirted a little, bargained a damn good contract. And, uh… gave up my angelic energy in return for what he called a spark.”
It said something to their life that Magnus’ response to that was to bark out a laugh. “Oh, that’s all. Just your typical Tuesday.”
“Pretty much,” Alec agreed, his grin growing.
Another laugh tumbled past Magnus’ lips. In a far more graceful move than Jace’s mad tackle, Magnus dropped his hand and leapt at Alec, arms going around his neck. Alec easily caught him up around his waist and held him in close. Their bodies pressed together in a hold that was so familiar and so wonderful. One that, for the first time in a very long time, didn’t carry a hint of a bittersweet edge to it. No fear of what tomorrow might bring, of what waited for them in their future. Nothing haunting him as he morbidly wondered how many more of these hugs they would get before he was too old, too frail, to pick his husband up and spin him around in that way that always made him laugh.
Alec gave him a spin now just to hear that joyous sound echo through the street.
When they stopped, Alec set Magnus down on his feet, though neither one of them separated far. They stood there together looking at one another, and Alec felt his heart swell with joy at the love he hoped would never fade from Magnus’ eyes.
“You’ve got a lot of explaining to do,” Magnus warned him, still smiling even as he did. “I get the feeling I’m going to be pretty mad at you by the time you’re done.”
Alec grinned at him. “That’s okay.” He leaned in and pressed his forehead against Magnus’. It didn’t matter if Magnus got mad at him for this. He had all the time in the world to make it up to him.