Hey, 

Here is the next chapter. I'm really sorry it took me so long. I hope you like it.

;-)

1

Luca's

The sun had set over the desert and, since the flames had gone out, the only light shining on the winged-boy came from the stars. The ash had disappeared and the smoke had lifted, therefore it was a clear night and the temperature had gone under 30 degrees. 

Everything was wrapped in utter silence, even the slim figure that approached the boy didn't make a sound. The person looked like he was fifteen and had pale white skin that glommed in the dark. The elegant black suit he was wearing made him look much taller than he actually was and the calm gaze of his brown eyes with whom he examined the other boy spoke of cleverness. Everything about him, even his dark gelled hair, was black and white, except the small golden cross he wore around his neck, that spoke of his religion. Nevertheless, the figure was a vampire and not any vampire, indeed it was Raphael Santiago, leader of the biggest vampire clan in New York. 

He grabbed the angel-boys wrist and searched for a pulse. After what had been like a minute, he reached into the pocket of his gown and after finding what he was looking for, he dialed a number and made a call. "Who dares to disturb the magnificent great poison in the middle of the night?", sounded a loud voice through the telephone line. "Believe me, I am not utterly fond of making this call, but I am currently in the middle of the Gibson-desert and I just found an unconscious warlock boy, who seems to have been attacked by daemons and is barely alive. I don't want to flatter you already enormous ego too much, but I would say your... magical expertise is needed." There was a short pause, before someone answered: "Let me rephrase that. You found a dying warlock-boy, who has been hurt by a deamons, in the middle of the Gibson-desert at about... 3a.m.?" "Precisely", said Raphael. "I'm on my way", was the answer and the returner of the phone call hung up.

***

Not even five minutes passed, before a yellow-glowing portal appeared and out of it stepped a tall man, thin like a beanstalk, who was wearing a red coat with silver rivets, which was fluttering in the air. The phenomenon had yellow-green cat eyes, brown skin and black hair which he wore in a crown of sharp spikes, towering in the air. With long steps he headed toward the other warlock and kneeled down beside him. While speaking a mantra of melodic words in an unknown language he waved his hands over the wounded releasing blue sparks in the air. 

The vampire stood motionless and watched the spectacle, his hands in his pockets. Finally, the cat-eyed man fell back in the sand with a sigh. "Exhausted, Bane?", asked Raphael. Magnus Bane, High-Warlock of Brooklyn rolled his eyes and said: "This boy better be worth it. Alexander and I were having a really nice..." "No. No, no, no, no, no, no. I don't want to hear anything about you and your relationship with that twelve-year-old." "Alec is eighteen", Magnus sounded sour. "Whatever", snorted the vampire. After an awkward pause he added: "Is that warlock, ok? I'd like to go now." "Yes. He is going to be fine, although he needs a day or two to rest." "Amazing. Then I'll be on my way." Magnus raised his head. "What were you doing here anyway?" "What do you mean? Why wouldn't I be in Australia? It's a beautiful country." "Firstly, it is sunny and warm and secondly, that's not what I meant. I wanted to ask what you were doing in the Gibson-desert in the middle of the night." It took Raphael a while to answer. Finally, he said: "Just take care of the warlock." And with the speed of a vampire, he ran off. 

 ***

Alec stood a little bit helpless in the kitchen. Normally when he and Magnus wanted to eat something they ordered it or visited a restaurant. Sometimes Magnus also just let something appear, but Alec didn't like the thought of steeling food, which was why they only did it when they were both really tired. Before Magnus had gotten a call from Raphael and had rushed away through a portal, they had lied on the sofa, cuddling and talking about what to have for dinner. Now Alec hoped that nothing bad had happened and wanted to surprise his boyfriend with cooked dinner. The problem was, that he had never really cooked before. When he was younger his mother had always been in charge of making the food. When they grew older, they either went to Takis, ordered Chinese or Isabelle had cooked, which usually meant, that they didn't eat anything. With a sigh he followed the instructions of a Spaghetti aglio e oglio recipe on the internet. Spaghetti aglio e oglio was an Italian pasta dish with lot of olive oil, garlic and little chili peppers, and since they were currently on vacation in Italy, he thought it would fit. 

He was halfway through the recipe when suddenly a portal appeared in the living room, causing everything close to it, to fly through the room. Alec ran to Magnus who held a young person in his arm that seemed to be wrapped in black sheets. Only when his boyfriend placed the kid on their couch, he realized that the sheets were actually black angel-like wings. The boy was covered in wounds, that glowed blue like Magnus' magic and which seemed to heal at these very minutes. "Magnus, what happened? Who is that?", he asked confused. His boyfriend fell into an armchair and sighed exhausted. 

Within a second Alec sat next to him, wiping of his in oil covered hands on his sweatpants. Magnus opened his beautiful eyes and smiled weakly. "I don't know", he said. "What?" "I don't know why, but for some reason Raphael was in the Gibson-desert in Australia. There he found that warlock, barely alive, blooding everywhere. Something strong attacked him Alec, maybe even a greater daemon. The air stank of daemons and there was a strong signature all over the boy, but I didn't recognize it. The kid will be alright, but he is going to have to rest for a few days." Alec seized Magnus' hands. "We'll take care of him", he promised. Magnus leaned forward placing his forehead against Alecs. After a while he whispered: "We have to warn the Shadowhunters in Australia. They could be in danger." "You can't stop thinking about the well of others, can you? Don't worry. I am going to send them a fire message, you rest."

***

When Alec returned to the living room, Magnus wasn't there. Trying to be as silent as he could, he stepped near the warlock-kid. He seemed to be a Latino, maybe Mexican or Brazilian. In some ways he looked like Jace, with his fine and elegant face and his delicate hands, only that everything golden about Jace was black about the boy. He had long eyelashes and tight but narrow eyebrows. Carefully Alec stroke over a few of the feathers, before turning away. He found Magnus in the kitchen, standing in front of the stove. He wrapped his arms about Magnus' hips and placed his chin on his shoulders. His boyfriend leaned back and whispered: "Did you try to cook?" "Oh, damn it. The food", shrieked Alec. He pushed Magnus away and tried to save the Spaghetti. "That will never work like that. You take care of the table, I will save this", Magnus said and took over pan. "Alright." While Alay tidied up the dining table, he thought about the young warlock. Who was he? How the hell had he gotten in trouble with a greater daemon? And how had he survived?" In thought he set the table and lighted up some candles. When Magnus' came with the food everything was ready and they sat down. 

They were eating out of beautiful blue ceramic bowls that seemed to be typical Italian. Alec loved it here. He also loved New York but at the moment he was just glad to be away from all the trouble. Since Simon had decided to go to the Shadowhunter academy, Clary and Isabelle were both not in a good place. Of course they had not been well before, but now they missed him even more. Alec had tried to make Isabelle happy on various ways but he hadn't succeeded. With Isabelle locking herself in in her room, and Jace taking care of Clary he had just wanted to go away and Magnus idea to go on a trip to Italy had proved to be amazing. They had been to all the close cities, Volterra with its alabaster, Luca with its cathedrals and San Gimignano with its towers. He loved all the narrow alleys with their clothes lines clamped between them, the little cafés and ice cream parlors and of course the sea. He enjoyed how warm the air was, even in the evenings, when the sky was already dark. 

"What are you thinking about?", asked Magnus and took another bite, "this is delicious by the way. You never told me you could cook." Alec grinned, "You like it?" Magnus nodded with his mouth full. "It's fantastic. You should cook more often." "Thanks. Now tell me what happened." Magnus swallowed and started to narrate: "Not much, actually. I just got there, healed the boy and came back. There's just one thing I don't get." "Only one?", Alec asked ironically. "Haha. No, it's about Raphael. He didn't tell me what he was doing there and how he had found the boy. I mean you don't accidently find a wounded boy somewhere in the desert." Alec thought about that for a while before saying: "I mean, he is a vampire. Maybe he heard or saw something from afar." "That could be. There also was a big, burned down mansion, he could have wanted to take a look at. Well, I guess we'll find out what happened, when the boy wakes up. 

***

Three days later

Cecina, Italia

Ayoka

With a groan I closed the door behind me and slide down until by bottom reached the floor. For a few wonderful seconds I could rest my eyes and take a break. Then I heard the steps of my younger siblings running through the apartment, to welcome me home. I tried to look as awake as I could, stood up and embraced them. Here, with my sisters in my arms, I felt at home. But home just wasn't what it had once been. 

Nadia and Malaika were six and eight years old and all I cared about. After my mother had died because of lung cancer my dad hadn't been the same. After barely eating or talking for month he had started drinking and had become more and more aggressive. He hadn't left his room for weeks and all he did was staring in the air and drink his stupid beer. Of course, I felt sorry for him, but had also started to hate him. He wasn't the only one who had lost mom. My sisters and I had to. Now it was on me to take care of the family. I didn't know, if I would ever get used to my new daily routine or, if I would just collapse one day. I had to get up early in the morning to prepare everything for my sisters and my own school day. After bringing them to school-luckily, I could go into their school-building before the lessons started- I always had to sprint to be on time. In my lunch-brake I would run to my sisters' school, bring them home and cook their lunch, before running back to my lessons. When my school was over, I had to play as long as I could with my siblings and then I had to go to work. Since my fake ID said I was sixteen, even though I had just turned fifteen, I could work in a bakery near home, where I would sell bread rolls or wait on tables in their café. On the weekends I had a job in a beach club, always worrying to be outed as too young. 

"Can we play legos", asked Nadia and brought me back to reality. "Sure, we can", I answered and smiled at her. As my mother originally was from Nigeria all her three daughters had her brown skin and eyes and her fluffy curly hair. Other than me, who wore it in fake braids to my shoulders, they had totally short hair. I followed them through the kitchen and into their children's-room, letting my backpack for school fall down on our way.

 ***

New Mexico

 Yohanita

 I stared into the yellow eyes of the daemon. It had the shape and size of a leopard, but instead of being covered in stains its fur was beige like the sand. Around his eyes were black circles that made them shine even more. It was a desert daemon, very common in this area of New Mexico. None of us even blinked with an eye until, with incredible speed its long tong shot forward.

 I rolled to the side, only barely missing it and its sharp spikes. The daemon hissed. "Michael!", I screamed, activating my seraph blade. I flung forward wanting to stab my enemy, but the daemon was already gone. With a growl it jumped on me from the side, pressing me onto the ground. Ignoring the little rocks that pressed against my back, I tried to grab my dropped blade with one hand, holding the daemon of with the other. I felt how my opponent's claws drilling into my legs and shoulders, while I pressed its head away from my neck. 

"Oh, fuck it!", I forgot about the weapon- I had never been good at using it anyway- and gripped the daemons throat with my bare hands. The daemon rattled, its tong twitched around, scraping my cheek. I shot the beast an angry look, pushing it away from my body. I ram my knees into its chest, reaching for another blade. "Jophiel", I sputtered and jabbed it into its heart. With a final craw it disappeared. I fell back into the sand, the world turning around me. As I reached for my stele my hands were trampling. With blurred sight, I drew an iratze on my arm, waiting for my wounds to heal. Feeling, how the pounding in my head stopped, I sighed relieved. After the stars had stopped to rotate, I stood up and tapped the sand from my gear. I collected my blades, checked the area for more daemons- there were none- and got on my way home. 

 ***

Ayoka

My own eyes were staring back at me. After getting ready for my job at the beach club, I was now examining the results. I had chosen to wear ripped black shorts, fishnet tights and a sparkling golden crop top. My hair was braided over my head, leaving short areas of skin free. Before my first day at the job, I had watched hours of YouTube tutorials, to learn how makeup me older. For today, I had shaded my eyes in black and gold, and was actually satisfied with the result. Trying not to wake my sisters, I sneaked down the hall, then stepped out onto the street, slipping my thin jacket over. 

In Italy everyone was used to be outside even late at night, especially in the summer. Five-year-old kids running over the plaza at ten thirty was totally normal, as well as, old grannies sitting on banks next to them. I grabbed an espresso from a late-night-café on my way and arrived punctually at ten fifty at the club on the promenade. A light draft blew along from over the sea and I could smell the ocean, which was only like twenty meters away. I watched a young couple holding hands and walking along the promenade. 

With a smile I entered the club called Luca's through a back door, already hearing its music echoing along the beach. I was greeted by Martina, Lucas' assistant and within minutes I found myself behind the bar. The Luca's was a mix between a normal bar during the day and a club at night. Before its front door was a cozy area with couches, armchairs and a cocktail bar. There was another cocktail bar in the lobby, along with tables and chairs. Behind that was the club. The combination of music- a mix between Italian pop and techno- various headlights and spray mist made me feel like I was in a dream. 

While I was mixing a cocktail for an already very drunk young lady, I watched this night's costumers. As always there were very different people. You could see everything, from tattooed people with colored hear and piercings, over normal teenagers who wanted to have fun, to drugged assholes. My eyes followed a young woman with a beautiful ballerina-tattoo on her bare back. For a while I had thought about getting a tattoo, but I didn't want to be a bad example for my siblings. When for a longer time there was no one who wanted a drink, I got lost in the music dancing on my own behind the bar. 

Then I spotted a boy and was so fascinated by him that I immediately stopped moving. Frozen to ice, I stared at him. The teenager was as lost in the music as I had just been, but he danced much better. His slim body moved so rhythmic that it seemed, as if he was part of the music. Just as mine his tight jeans was ripped at various spots. Along that, he wore an airy black t-shirt that had such a wide cutout that one could see a grave part of his olive-brown chest. I caught myself staring at it a little too long, before moving on to his graceful face that was framed by curly black hair. In that moment he stared back at me, his eyes had the color of the setting sun and were shadowed with black make-up. I would bet fifty bucks that these were contact lenses. He probably wasn't even looking at me but I blushed nonetheless. I devoted myself back to work, sorting out the glasses behind the counter. When I looked up again, the boy stood in front of me. Shocked, I nearly dropped the glass I was holding. "I'd like a mango-maracuja cocktail with lots of ice, please", he said with a deep melodic voice and grinned naughty. "Are you eighteen?", I asked suspiciously, since all our cocktails at the club contained alcohol and the boy looked like sixteen or younger. "Are you?", he countered. 

My heart nearly dropped. Could he know that I was way too young to work at this club? But how? Was it obvious? But then why had nobody else noticed anything: "Haha", I answered sarcastic, although I couldn't help but notice, that I sounded a little insecure. Then I made his cocktail. I watched him drink it, taking another order in at the same time, but my thoghts were elsewere. Even if he knew, would he say something? I knew I wouldn't get rid of the fear, of not knowing, whether I would be disposed or not, all night. I smiled weakly at my customer, looking after him, as he was returning to the dance floor. 

"Wanne dance?" Surprised, I stared at the boy again. His empty glass stood in front of him and he was grinning at me again, but this time it seemed to be an honest smile. I knew I had to say no. As a bartender I wasn't allowed to dance and I couldn't risk to lose my job. The boy seemed to notice my hesitating. "Come on. There are two other bartenders and its not like there are a lot of people at the bar anyway." I had to turn him down, it would be the right thing to do, but how high were the chances of ever being spoken to by such a hot boy? Wasn't I allowed to have a little life too? "Fine", I accepted and about thirty seconds later I was on the dance floor, between tons of other dancing teenagers. I knew you could either feel uncomfortable or you could let the music and the moving bodies carry you away. I chose option too. Enjoying the loud beat, the warmth of other skins around me, and the mist and spotlights taking away every bit of orientation, I became more courageous. 

I had never been an outgoing person. Whether I was in class, on a birthday party or just outside in the city, I would always only hang around with my closest friends- I didn't have any more time for- or just do everything on my own. But now I came closer to the boy, trying to dance bolder. I swung my arms and hips and winded myself around like a snake, instead of just hopping up and down. Forgetting everything about my current life, I just felt free and was happy for the first time since a long time. Then suddenly, I noticed Martina, who seemed to be looking for me. Within a second it all came back. The fear of loosing my job, the responsibility of caring about my siblings. "I am so sorry!", I screamed, hoping to be heard over the music. Pushing my way through the dancing crowd, I left the boy behind me.

***

After my shift was over, I didn't go home immediately like I usually did. Instead, I crossed the promenade and sat down on the beach. I ripped my heels off, and burrowed my bare feet in the sand. Behind me, I could hear the music of Luca's, in front of me was the sea, a waging mass in the dark. With a sigh I realized that I could never have a normal teenage life, but I swore myself that would dance at the club again, when I wasn't working, to forget about everything once again. "Hungry?", asked someone. With a shriek I flinched, before looking up and seeing the orange eyes of my dance partner once again. He sat down next to me and handed over a box of take-away pasta. "Its tagliatelle with cooked ham and champignons in cream sauce. Speechless, I opened the box releasing the delicious smell of the dish in the air. "I don't know what to say....uhh...thanks. But....why?", I sputtered. "You eat. I talk." Obedient, I started eating the food, which tasted amazing. "I went into the club today, telling myself to get to know someone. Then I saw you, this beautiful girl in the golden crop top and all I wanted to do was dance with you. Which I did, but way too short. As I left the club, I spotted you here and thought I could give it a go", he smiled at me. Truly happy, already the second time today, I smiled back.

***