Hi! Hope you all like it (though I'm starting to lose hope on this :( )

Ares ran to the New Hotel Dumort, the aftermath of a battle present. Even worse was the eerie feeling of the building. Deserted once, and deserted again. At least, that was what he was not hoping for.

The others hadn’t told him much about Andre’s Turning, but he assumed it was during this battle, straight into the hive of vampires.

And Chantelle. They were all acting weird these days. Laressa was no longer her feisty self, she almost seemed depressed. The Laressa he knew probably had a death wish, but it was a death wish in battle, like him, like Zach, like Channy, all of them. Even Andre, though his cause was no longer good.

No matter how good at combat Ares was, he couldn’t match Channy’s skills. He was reckless, and he would have died several times if it weren’t for Channy holding him back, telling him the plan, her amazing craft of words assuring him the plan would work, and most of the time it did. Now Chantelle was no longer up thinking, but not caring for anything. She was an analyst, but her character seemed to have died along with Andre.

He gripped his seraph blade, entering by the chute. It was dark, and his witchlight illuminated the room. With little caution, he searched the place. It was daylight, the curtains pulled free. He thought to himself that it was not very smart to hide in a place which requires sunlight to shield the sun, considering vampires were not to be in sunlight. He thought pulling the curtains free was a very Channy-like move. At least, her old self.

It became pretty obvious the place was empty. As he turned, he called Zachary’s name once, knowing even if he heard, he wouldn’t be able to answer, but it seemed like a natural thing to do. When he turned back, a pale face was staring back at him, well hidden in the shadows. He immediately dived the seraph blade into the vampire’s bare chest. The vampire staggered back, but lunged forward again.

Ares pierced the blade through once more, but the vampire didn’t stop. It bit into him, and Ares shoved it so hard the vampire went up the wall. It kept fighting, kept struggling till the end, when Ares pierced it with the blade that hummed in his hand, the blade sliding through its stiff body.

Ares wrinkled his nose. Barely were Downworlders hard to defeat. He looked at the red mark that the vampire inflicted on his skin. They were stronger now, much stronger although they had superhuman strength to start with, and he needed to find out why later.

“Screw the Accords.” Ares said violently, glancing at the corpse. Sure, he would have a lot of explaining to do, they just broke the Accords, but Ares couldn’t care less now.

***

They searched New Hotel Dumort, assuming Ares would be there, but he was nowhere in sight.

“What now?” Asked Laressa.

“I… I don’t know. I just wished Channy was here.” Marissa said.

“Missed me?” A voice sounded from behind them. There strode Chantelle, ponytail flying out behind her.

***

Chantelle traced her finger on the gravel, not for reference, but the gesture gave her confidence.

“If you were Ares, what would you do?” She asked, and something about her phrasing of the question implied it was directed at Zachary.

“Like what he did. Head straight here.” He nodded in the direction of the building.

“And what if Andre wasn’t here?”

“To where I think the vampires might hide.”

“Exactly.” She stood up, brushing herself off. She tried to sense Ares through the bond, but it was all hazy. “He would think to find another vampire lair.”

“And where would that be? The only lair we’ve known was in New Hotel Dumort. The clans keep changing locations. Our only hope is that they are with the werewolves or the warlocks, unless we knew someone on our side that knows where they are.”

Chantelle spun around. “Maia Roberts.” She said, and she just knew that Ares would have thought of that too.

***

Maia Roberts led the New York werewolf pack, a werewolf that knew much of Downworld, including the Praetor. She was temporarily in Los Angeles.

“Maia.” Having known the Praetor, Ares briefly knew Maia. She was talking to one of her friends, Bat.

“Ares.” Even before Ares knew her, the girl had known Herondales, and there was once when they fought side by side, even though the new Consul was seemingly slowly breaking up the alliance.

“I need to know the location of the Los Angeles vampire clan.” He told her, nodding a hello at Bat.

“Why? Is there something wrong?” Bat started.

Ares ignored him, raising his eyebrows, awaiting Maia’s answer.

Maia sighed, crossing his arms. “I’ll bring you there, but only if you tell me why.”

He crossed his arms stubbornly as well. “Why? Think I’m looking for trouble?”

Maia eyed him cautiously, trying to guess his cause. “After one or two generations, you’d kind of guess what a Herondale personality is. Runs in the genes, I’d say.”

Ares bit the inside of his cheek. “You aren’t much help, are you, Maia Roberts? It’s Zach. We believed they kidnapped him.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised. Andre is the new leader of the Los Angeles vampire clan.” Bat said.

Ares did a double take and cursed. “I was hoping it wasn’t him.”

“Come on. We’re helping.” Maia replied, grabbing her gear.

“I don’t need your help.”

“Oh yeah? To be honest, you’re a mess without your parabatai, Ares Herondale. And where is she now?”

Before Ares could reply, someone voiced out. “Here.” In the doorway stood Chantelle and the others.

***

Ares avoided looking at Chantelle the entire time. Maia managed to gather some to help, however little, including Luke Garroway. Chantelle knew that Luke was Clary’s stepfather, yet his and Ares’ paths seldom crossed. They both indeed didn’t like getting involved with the immortal.

“Immortals live sad lives in my opinion. They watch people they love die one by one, for very little are totally un-associated with mortals. The less you get involved with them, the less they mourn your loss.” Ares had whispered to her once when they were younger, before first formally meeting Luke.

Luke welcomed Chantelle happily, glad that she joined the Shadow World, yet Ares’ words stuck in her head. She was nice, but formal. She guessed more formal then she should be, but their connection was indirect. Ares, similarly, was formal, just minus the nice. He met Luke a couple of times, but made sure not to contact him if it wasn’t business.

“Won’t they get used to mourning?” She’d replied.

Ares just shook his head sadly. “I don’t ever think anyone gets used to mourning, just that they prepare themselves, for they will expect it, yet those two are not to be confused. At least, this applies for me.” That was when he turned to look out of the window, and Chantelle knew not to ask pry any further.

They could have used the Portal instead of Maia’s help, but Downworlders had recently found ways that could possibly intercept the Portal’s powers. Knowing Los Angeles’ clan in particular was mysterious, it was risky to try as no one quite knew the boundaries of Downworld’s powers, especially with collaboration with warlocks.

It didn’t take long to find the clan. They were hiding in an abandoned motel at the edge of Los Angeles.

“Spooky.” Laressa commented as Ares smirked.

Surprisingly, a neon LED sign was still working, but it was dimly flashing, and flashing at random times. Laressa started counting while waiting for Maia to survey the place. 5 seconds, “MOTEL” flashed in green twice before dying out. 7 seconds, again. Every few times of its flashing, there would be the random flicker of “DEATH” in red. It was a tall building, a doll on the fifth balcony, its head resting on the second. The windows were translucent blue, some drapes pulled off, some stained with blood. One with its drapes pulled down had its lights flickering eerily.

“Is that… someone’s leg?” Pointed out Chantelle, looking to the highest balcony.

“Creepy shit.” Laressa shivered ever so slightly. “No wonder it’s the mother of ghost stories.”

Maia stepped out from the shadows, nodding. “They’re definitely inside.”

Laressa folded her arms. “Are you sure you wanna go to such a spooky place? Not sure your insurance covers supernatural encounters. Chances it happens before the vampires even get to us. I—“ One look from Maia shut her up. She dropped her arms, shrugging half-heartedly. “Kidding.”

“Let’s split up. If anything, shout.” Chantelle said, examining the team. Everyone immediately moved to someone they were comfortable with. It was eerily quiet and it didn’t seem too big for sound travel. Judging from their fight, Chantelle thought Ares would choose to go with Laressa, but he stayed at her side.

“Aren’t you mad at me?” She asked out of curiosity.

“Why? Do you want me to be?” He raised an eyebrow. Laressa had joined Bat and they were discussing something tensely, preparing to head out.

She turned to him, saying genuinely, “Look, I said stupid things and did even more stupid stuff. I’m sorry, I have no idea what was wrong with me. I—“

“Whatever.” He replied, but a brief slack in his grim expression gave him away. “Screw this, it’s hard being mad at someone who makes you smile. Let’s head out.”

The door was bolted shut, so they scaled the building to climb through the balcony. Maia and her gang went from the higher ones, being more agile and stronger. In the air was tenseness, but it was a start for Chantelle and Ares. They barely had tight moments like these.

From a dim light in the corner, behind a shoji screen with torn wallpaper, they could check out their surroundings. There was a gramophone next to the screen, the walls partially covered with moulded wallpaper, what should have been sweet mint green. A few mannequins were at the other end of the room, and serious blood-flow staining the gravel dark.

Just then, Chantelle could hear the mumble of voices coming from upstairs, the voices muffled and quiet.

Do you hear that?

Hear what? Ares replied.

Voices. Upstairs.

No, but guess we’ll have to trust you for that.

They headed upstairs, trying to make the creaking of stairs as not-obvious as possible, but anyone listening for it could hear the sounds. The only other option was the elevator, which was old, the kinds which you have to pull the clamps apart and pull, and chances were it would make a ruckus.

Slipping behind a corner, they spotted a few vampires pacing to and fro, as if confused, talking in hushed voices.

“In spite of… leader… dead… rebel…” Was all they heard. Suddenly, they all fell silent and glanced up to a corridor above, someone standing, cloak draped. All that was seen was a pair of red eyes, and not far off, a werewolf. They indeed were working together.

“Silence.” Boomed the werewolf. The vampire / werewolf beside seemed to survey the area, and stopped for a few moments right at the spot where the parabatai were hiding. He pulled down his cloak to reveal his pale face.

“Andre.” Mouthed Ares bitterly, but he could not hide the fact that he was saddened, although this was all expected.

The corner of Andre’s mouth was red, fangs already protruding, as a vampire does when he was hungry. “There is a guest among us.” He stared right at the object they were hiding behind as he spoke. “Two, actually.” Knowing their cover was blown, Ares moved a little, preparing to shoot out, but Chantelle grabbed him, warning him not to.

Let him come.

Andre descended a flight of stairs, still visible by the pair. “One of the good things—amazing eyesight.” He moved nearer and nearer, not taking his eyes off. When he was near, he stopped. “It’s not too late.”

“Bullshit—“ Ares started, but was cut off as something leaped onto Andre, so fast it was a blur. Ares jumped past. They stared at the heap. A werewolf was attacking Andre? Knowing the alliance was over, the vampires turned on the werewolves that entered. Ares spun his weapon once and dived into the action that was breaking out—vampires against werewolves.

A pair of arms grabbed Chantelle from behind, and she reacted immediately, aiming her knife straight at her attacker—a vampire’s heart, but he moved to take the blow in his arm instead. Chantelle swung over, but the vampire was too strong for Chantelle and held her by the neck against a wall. Chantelle pulled out the next knife and aimed it at his abdomen, but he used his other arm to crush the weapon free as Chantelle squirmed. She reached to her weapons belt, but his grip was too strong and he moved to put her in a chokehold. The world was fading and stars danced across her vision, paralysed as she started to fall into a dark abyss.

Suddenly, the arms were wrestled away and she fell to the floor, coughing and gasping for air. The room seemed to sway and she gagged. Familiar arms held her as she sputtered, tears springing free. “Bloody hell. It’s okay Chantelle, Channy, I got you.” He comforted, but the pain was still so extreme. She shook uncontrollably. Seeing it wasn’t normal, he didn’t try iratzes.

“Ares!” Called someone from the fight and Laressa appeared, clothes stained with blood that didn’t seem to belong to her. “Holy shit.” She gasped at the sight of Chantelle.

Ares felt so helpless. “Shit. Laressa what now?”

Laressa crouched beside Chantelle, whose eyes were falling close. “Her throat is literally crushed. We… we need to get her checked on, maybe even operated. Like at a mundane hospital.”

“Crap. Not mundanes.” Ares’ eyes were bloodshot with fear that he was going to lose the girl who lay wordlessly at his feet. She was trying to keep her eyes open, trying to fight against the pain.

“The nearest Shadowhunter who can handle this sort of operations is probably in Alicante. At this state we can’t get a helicopter to get her there. She was a mundane once, the records should still be there.” Laressa said. At one glance down at Chantelle, she shook her lightly. “Keep your eyes open. Stay with us.”

Ares looked at her, eyes wide with fear as he picked her up. “Is it that dangerous? Will she die?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know, I don’t know. I’m not a doctor.” Despite any disagreements the two girls had, Laressa was really worried for her friend. “Go. I’ll stay here with the rest.”

Ares nodded. He went and didn’t look back.