"Madzie." Spoke the girl, her voice subtle, her gaze fixated upon the dolls that were splatered around them. Alec followed her stare, there were so many dolls, each prettier than the other. So many toys of the same category, dispite their beauty it felt kind of dull.

Maybe it was the damaged white walls or the worn out wooden floor, the brown carpet... Alec grimaced lightly, that rug is so harsh to the touch, dust and dirt seeking in, becoming one. Having steped in here Alec couln't help but notice how neglectful this room and how uninhabited the rest were compared to the gloomy, yet aesthetically pleasing, hallways. With their rich dark green walls, glossy wooden floors, red beautiful carpets and their golden frames, along with some lavish decorations. It felt peculiar, in a bad way.

"Is this your room?" Alec asked, holding in his dismay and utter detestment when the little girl beside him nodded.

Every apartment contained one room, not even extra space for a bathroom. Looking around in slight disgust, he nodded to himself. A filfthy rug, a couch from a dumpster in the streets yet so many luxurious dolls. This is no place for a child. "Do you sleep on the couch?"

Madzie kept staring ahead, downwards to her possesion without any passion or glint in her eyes. "...Sometimes it gets cold..." She begun, making a long pause before contuining on. "...Under... I sleep."

Alec raised his eyebrows, sliding his hand bellow the couch, there was indeed space for a small child to crawl in. He felt his blood boiling in his veins, a sudden rush of emotions as he slowly took in the circuemstances the kid lived in."Doesn't seem that comfortable..."

Madzie remained still, unresponsive. Alec sighned, unsure what to say other than wanting to walk out with that child in his arms, take her somewhere safe, somewhere warm. He slid off his jacket, letting it fall light on her shoulders. Madzie tensed but slowly relaxed once the shadow hunter settled back down next to her, maybe his size is intimadating? Alec wondered.

"Do you like it here?" He dared ask, Madzie lifted her chin up just so slightly before returning back her original posture, her hands hugging her knees close to her chest, tightly. Only this time, she kept pulling the jacket closer, as if trying to hide in it. Alec cussed himself inwardly, that was too straightforward. "..."

Unsure what to do Alec inspected the girl next to him, she seemed slightly thin, the jacket falling massive upon her crawled up body. She looked exhusted, the light in her eyes non existent. What did this mosntrous woman do to her? Alec tugged his arm, scolding himself. 

Alec still has no clue where those women went, what happened to them among these walls...

Madzie kept staring at her toys, most appearing new, unscratched, the hair still maintaining their shine, their faces still glossy.

Yet, among the beauties, the girl only wanted one, a worn out doll made out of clothing, an attempt to hand make a bunny, perhaps. A torn out abomination comparered to the rest, she is aware, always have been of that fact. Thus why she didn't reach for it, only stared.

Alec took notice, his features softening. "And what's her name?" He asked, pointing with his chin towards the precious doll. This doll was poorly made, handmade by anything found, Alec didn't think of it as flawed though.
He too once owned a simmilar plushy, he had made it himself back when he was but a mere child, jealous of his sister who was given any animal plushy she desired while his parents denied him such pleasantry.
He had to be creative, assembling a plushy by anything and having to destroy it later only to reasseble it again. Now, Alec can only huff at his past fear of geting caught by his parents sleeping with a mush of socks and nampkins.

"She doesn't..." This time Madzie spoke a little louder, more comfortably yet still on guard. Alec nodded, picking up the doll, he handed it to the child next to him, she took it in with caution, her eyes slightly vibrant. An unrecognisable feeling of appeasment settled between her lungs, despite the stuffy room, it felt easy to breath.

"What name should we give her?" Alec pondered aloud, for now almost forgetting where he stood, what he should be doing instead. He trusted Izzy to handle herself but if something did go wrong, Alec wouldn't forgive himself...
But at the same time, the hunter could not just leave this small girl behind.

"... Auntie says pretty things... Are allowed..." Madzie paused, drawing her knees closer to her chest, the doll becoming loose under her relax touch, as giving up the strength to hold such item. The nephilim reached out, setting her grasp firmer around the doll. "..."
Alec waited patiently for the girl to go on, she didn't.

"... Allowed to do what?" He eventually asked, the girl remained quiet.

"Be named?" Alec questioned, smiling when the girl nodded. She is still responsive, -

Maybe it was because Alec took a closer look but he could see something across Madzie's neck, three stripes, seemingly deep cuts.
He didn't move closer, despite wanting to, such movement could scare off the little girl. He needed to remain calm, "I think everyone should be given a name."

Alec tried to keep intact with their conversation while examining the scars... They didn't really look like scars, but...gills?

There is only two species that could have such trademark, mermaids and warlocks. Is Madzie a warlock? She couldn't be a mermaid or a siren, they never show themselves on human land. It will more believable to consider Iris... How exactly did Iris get Madzie?

Warlocks like vampires could not bear children, Iris can't be the mother... Not to mention that for a warlock to be born a mundane woman must have intercorse with a demon. So...

Where are they? Where are the victims?

The shadow hunter settled straight, upright while still keeping company to the little one on the floor. Who is Madzie's mother? How did she...

Iris Rose has been found lurking at areas with high demon ratio, I have even interrogate her once.

Mattias' words caused a heavy head, buzzing and aching as they kept on repeating over and over again.
Alec stayed quiet, his body tense with the sudden realisation of what may be happening. His gaze turning sharp, facing the door, as if expecting Iris herself to step in and kill him on the spot.

This is too big for him and Izzy to handle, there is no comfort of the doubt here, they don't have the luxury to take their time, not when all the women are dead or wishing to be dead with the atrocities Iris has made upon them.

If this girl really is the daughter of one of the victims... One of the mundane women... What should he do with her? She is a child, the Clave won't let her be. A new horror emerged in his chest, the Clave will finally have a downworlder, a warlock, in their hands.

Alec never fully trusted the sanity and reason of the Clave, he isn't sure what they would do to Madzie if they got a hold of her. His heart started beating rapidly, his instinct spoke of dread.

"I..." Madzie begun, her gaze forward, dull. "Was the prettiest among my siblings..."

Alec remained still, his breath caught in his throat... If Iris Rose is making warlocks, for what reason would she be doing so?

"Where are your siblings Madzie?" He dared ask, more alarmed than ever. His tone deadly low, trying to sustain his sanity, to cover up his disturbance.

"... Auntie said they weren't pretty... Perfect..." Madzie suddenly stood, the jacket falling off her shoulders with a light thud. Alec frowned deeply as he listened, the atrocities and horrors endless. No person deserves such torture, such inhumane brutality.

"Mothers of children, like that... Auntie calls them cursed."

Alec gulped down the lump forming at the back of his throat, feeling his body tensing up, urging him to stand. "What about your mother?" He asked, whispering his thoughts aloud.

"... She tried to kill the man in the basement... Auntie didn't like that." Madzie's voice kept being dull with a twist of intensity, the doll falling off her hand, weakly.

Alec could only stare at the little girl in confusion, unable to speak a word.

In fact, Alec couldn't breath.

"My Madzie here is right, I didn't like it one bit!" Iris sighed in exaggeration, being dramatic. Her tone humorous as such pitiful sight, a shadow hunter on the floor trying to gasp for air, falling weak under the power of a toddler.

The woman kept on speaking, kicking Alec's stele out of his bloody palm with a smirk. She had managed to sneak in without him noticing, truly shadow hunters seem to be just words.

Madzie unlike the struggling hunter had taken note of the woman and had acted upon her command, taking the breath of the nephilim using her gills. Madzie was just a puppet, a doll in the hands of Iris Rose, she knew that very well

"Activating your runes is all you can do in the face of death? Such disgrace and impudence to have to listen to your people of what is appropriate magic and what is not! Just because you can activate those little runes doesn't mean you have any idea what is magic!"

Iris kneeled down, her knee crushing Alec's palm with a breaking sound, blood was gushing out, his fingers trembling. "I had not one or two angel roaches roaming in here but six! Who do you believe your kind to be to do as they please?"

Alec couldn't speak a word, his mind going blank. He couldn't hear Iris' blabber, Madzie grew to be a blurry image, a distant shadow.

"They kill demons, they slaughter our chance to grow as a kind because they are scared!" Iris spat, grabbing the young shadow hunter by the hair, forcing him to face her. "Your kind is weak, mortal."

She let go but Alec kept his eyes steady forward with all his remaining strength. His insides burned, his suffering agonizing, unbearable. He wanted everything to end right at that moment but something was sabotaging him from giving up.

In the corner he could feel the presence of the fallen, lurking over the situation, disatisfied. Alec wanted to spit at it, he had never agreed to be chosen, he was never given a choice. Yet it stood there, judging him.

How is Iris not aware of it? Warlocks are sensitive when it comes to such things, even an activated rune is enough for them to notice. Yet Iris kept speaking as if that thing luming over them wasn't even there... Maybe it wasn't.

"You Nephilims reek of angelic grace!" She hissed, walking over to Madzie, Iris let her hands fall to the little girl's shoulders, urging her to restrict the hunter but not kill him, yet.

"You are united rats with an ego of a lion..." Iris commented in displeasure, just having Alec breath in her house gave her an urge to pull out her own nails.

"Your friends this morning, how unbearable they were... I knew killing one shadow hunter would lead to more showing up..." Iris sighed with light regret, "I expected your arrival."

Alec could breath with great difficulty, for some reason the warlock wanted him to hear her rant. Another thing he became anxious of was who were the shadow hunters that came here before them. There was no note of some emergency, an urgent salvation to take care of. So who where they?

A feeling in his gut told him he wouldn't like the answer.

"Just how much of your filthy blood will I have to stain my beautiful carpets with?!" Iris whined, annoyed with the parasites. "...Knock him out Madzie."

Madzie turned her gaze up to her, hesitantly, Iris pushed her forward, "Go on... Don't tell me you pity that insect!"

Madzie turned her gaze back to Alec, her eyes trembling but not shedding tears. Her little hand rose with weak confidence. "That's right" Iris smiled, petting the child on head rewardingly. "Let him meet daddy... Just like the beautiful lady downstairs... I wonder, can there be a mix between a demon and an angel?"

Alec tensed at that remark, feeling once again a burning sensation all over his body, a prickly pain on his back while his fingertips ached.

"I guess we will know by tomorrow morning..." Iris shrugged, looking down at Madzie she smiled. "We know he can be aggressive... Can't he Madzie?"

Alec closed his eyes, gathering his strength on his feet, to stand and fight. How will he get Madzie away from Iris?

Is Izzy okay?

His head felt heavy, ill. His body sinking to the floor as if gravity was his enemy, Alec needed to save Madzie from the hands of such cruel woman but his need to protect his sister, make sure she is alive and well, was stronger.

When he opened his eyes, he no longer stood below Iris' foot, instead in an empty dark room, it reeked of mold and blood, rotten flesh.

Standing up, frightened, he took a closer look, a basement short of. The nephilim walked around, his eyes running wild over anything and everything. It was empty, the walls and floor stained by whatever it kept producing such smell.

One thing Alec did recognise was the ashes of a demon, gathered in the middle of the room.