Alec left the loft, emerging into the throne room with a bottle of blood in one hand and a note from Magnus clutched in his other. He had done as instructed and dressed in training gear, intrigued by Magnus' instruction to meet him in the courtyard, upon waking.

Noting that all of the pillar candles remained in place, unlit, along with their wedding arch, he approved of the throne room. It was much better now that there was a roof and it looked the part, a room fit for rulers of a realm.

Alec still thought it odd that they were now supposed to rule over a realm but they had been through crazier situations before. So he made his way down the aisle and out through the much more welcoming looking entrance hall.

Emerging through the large arched front door, Alec stopped in the doorway, his eyebrow rising as he looked around the ridiculously spacious extended courtyard, now surrounded by a tall, fully built wall with two huge gates that matched the front door of their home. The courtyard was huge now, large enough for him to be able to really let loose.

"What do you think of the new training yard?" Magnus asked when he caught sight of Alec, looking hot as fuck in his black sweats and gray sweater, black stripes running down the sleeves. Gray always looked good on his husband. And made it hard for him to concentrate on actual training, rather than jumping Alec's bones.

"I think you wore that on purpose to distract me," Alec said, taking in Magnus' baggy black harem pants and the baggy black tank Magnus was wearing, hair unstyled and flopping over his forehead, minimal makeup. Magnus looked like a snack.

"Nonsense, these are standard training clothes," Magnus said, rolling his eyes when Alec's eyes raked over him. As if they hadn't gotten enough the night before. Alec looked extra thirsty today. "Is there anything else we need?" he asked, allowing it when Alec appeared behind him and wrapped him up from behind.

"All I need is you," Alec murmured in Magnus' ear, having to restrain himself when he wanted to grope all of Magnus' muscles, displayed magnificently by the baggy tank.

"I meant training wise?" Magnus asked, unwinding Alec's arms from around his stomach. Alec's questing fingers, playing over his abs, threatened to steal all of his concentration. Thinking it safer to step away from Alec before they could get carried away, he gestured around again. They needed to train.

Alec pouted for a moment before putting his Shadowhunter head on. They needed to train. Glancing around, he took in the targets that lined three of the far walls that surrounded them, the racks of weapons, the large foam mat on the floor, and an area that was left clear. Space for Magnus to practice his magic, he suspected.

"It's great but do you have the magic to spare for this?" Alec asked, gesturing around at all of the gear. Magnus looked a lot better than he had the day before, not as tired as he should be, considering they had spent the night making love to each other until what he assumed were the early hours. It was hard to tell the passage of time in Edom.

"Actually, I feel much better. I think your blood helped restore me. That and the monumental amount of time we spent sleeping. It is almost evening," Magnus said, laughing at the surprise on Alec's face. He showed Alec his watch, set to the same time as it would be back in New York. Alec had slept for fourteen hours straight.

"I feel better for it too. Maybe your blood helped restore me," Alec said, rolling his shoulders. The drained, tired feeling from the day before had vanished, his now usual strength returned to him. "How do you feel about that?" he asked, wanting to be sure that Magnus was okay with what they had done.

"The blood sharing?" Magnus asked as he started stretching, his eyes flicking up to catch Alec's nod. "I enjoyed it. It made the experience even more pleasurable and was one hell of a way to spend our wedding night. Don't worry, I haven't gained some wild addiction to you overnight. I look forward to doing it again but I'm more than happy with our sex life the way it is. It's something that we can save for special occasions - if you are okay with that?"

"Of course. It was good... it was amazing. But you're right, it should be saved for special occasions. I mean, you taste amazing but I wouldn't like to drink from you all of the time," Alec said. The mock hurt on Magnus' face had his eyes rolling. "You know what I mean," he said with a shake of his head. It had been amazing. But it wasn't something that he wanted for them every time they had sex.

"I do, and I'm glad we're on the same page with this," Magnus said, pausing the stretch of his arm across his chest to give Alec a quick peck on the lips before returning to his stretches.

Alec wondered if he should be stretching too. He would much rather watch Magnus, his husband's muscles gliding against one another under his beautiful golden skin. Tearing his eyes away, he made a poor attempt at stretching before giving up.

The strength that flowed through Alec's own muscles was at full capacity and he hadn't so much as pulled a muscle since he had crawled out of the ground. Every move seemed to be easy and instinctual, and even on his miles long run from where he had portalled into the realm, to their home, he hadn't felt winded or strained once. Perks of being a Vampire, he thought with a smirk.

Alec did take a few laps around their home though, inside the walls of what he now thought of as a sort of compound. It was more for fun than the need for exercise. The wind in his hair and the world rushing past was something that he found he enjoyed immensely and he was actually looking forward to seeing what he could do. The training session that he had had with his friends and family had been great but he hadn't had space to just let go and test his limits yet.

Instead of running back around the building to meet Magnus out front, Alec skidded to a stop at the back of their house and bent his knees, pushing off from the ground. It was ridiculously easy to place his feet correctly when he landed on the roof, bending his knees slightly to absorb the impact. The view from the twenty-foot height was far-reaching. He could see a lot of the realm.

The view was boring. It was the same in every direction, stunted trees, rocks, dirt, the odd cave here and there. Boring. He could also see the things that flew through the air a little clearer, large wraiths that congregated around the rift above their home. One strip of blue in the perpetually orange sky.

It seemed that the rift couldn't hold the attention of one of the wraiths, however. Alec's fangs snapped out, a pounding in his head that almost sounded like a heartbeat but was actually his anger, taking over as he watched it fly through the sky, clearly on the hunt and aiming for the courtyard where Magnus was.

The sight of it dropping through the air had Alec's vision turning red with blood lust. He launched himself forward, flat out running across the roof, his own hunt consuming him. Coiling his muscles to give him some extra distance when he reached the edge, he launched himself off of the roof and sailed through the air to land on top of the wraith.

Grabbing it's leathery wings and not even thinking the action through, Alec ripped into its scaly neck with his fangs, snarling his fury out. All he could think of was protecting

Magnus, thanking the angel that his husband was further out, and not directly below them.

Magnus' head snapped up when he heard a furious snarl and a pain-filled screech, his heart beating right out of his chest when he saw Alec wrestling a wraith in mid-air, high above the ground but getting closer. The wraith was unable to stay in the air for long with Alec grappling with its wings. Letting red fire lick over his palms, he looked for a weak spot, somewhere that he could hit it without hitting Alec. His stomach clenched when the creature's barbed tail whipped around.

Alec almost felt the blow on his back, a split second before the Wraith started screaming in agony, the creature's back almost disintegrating beneath him. Leaping off of the wraith, he fell through the air, managing to flip his body and land on one knee next to the flailing, screaming creature where it crashed to the ground.

Alec ignored the wraith's writhing, choking out the small amount of ichor that he had ingested. It burnt his mouth and tasted vile. He had tried not to swallow any, just using his fangs to tear into the creature's neck but some had inevitably gone down.

Magnus reached Alec as quickly as he could, fighting through the panic that had shot through him when he had seen Alec fall. It had taken him a moment to remember that Alec was a Vampire now and could easily handle the twenty-foot drop but that didn't stop him from worrying.

Seeing Alec choke, Magnus produced a glass of water, urging Alec to swill his mouth out with it while he surveyed Alec's back. There wasn't a blemish on it. Alec should have had long furrows gouged into his skin by the barbs in the creature's tail but there was nothing.

"Are you okay?" Magnus asked, his voice surprisingly steady. The pitiful noises that the wraith was making in its death throwes had Magnus putting the creature out of its misery with a bolt of magic, silencing it, and getting rid of its carcass quickly.

"Yeah, it's okay, I'm okay," Alec grunted. His tongue and throat burned slightly from the demonic blood but it was healing. He would have to work on not ingesting the blood when he attacked with his fangs but had no idea how to do that. The only option he had would be to do it again but he couldn't exactly see any of the wraiths friends volunteering.

"What were you thinking? You could have been seriously hurt!" Magnus asked, unable to push back his panicked anger. He had damn near had a heart attack when he had seen Alec fight the thing. Its wingspan must have been twelve feet alone.

"I was thinking that my brand new husband was about to get eaten before we were even out of the honeymoon period," Alec mumbled, swilling his mouth out once more. The ichor really did taste disgusting. Nothing like the fresh glass of warm blood that Magnus conjured for him.

"Sorry... I just... I guess I'm still getting used to the fact that you are a lot more durable now," Magnus said, wrapping his arms around Alec's waist when Alec held one arm out. "You would think I would worry less now," he mumbled into Alec's neck, squeezing a little harder than necessary. He had spent more than a few nights worrying about Alec when Alec had been a Shadowhunter.

"Thank you for worrying about me but I'm fine," Alec said, pressing a kiss to Magnus' temple before chugging the rest of the blood down when Magnus pulled back.

"So that's what the mark of Cain looks like in action," Magnus said thoughtfully, going back through what he had just witnessed in his head. "They don't have to make physical contact with you before the mark affects the one who assaults you?" he asked, thankful for how effective the mark was. It did make it easier to know that Alec didn't have to suffer physically.

"And whatever they do to you ends up happening to them, but a hell of a lot worse?" Magnus asked when Alec nodded.

"Yeah. Simon tested it out just before I portalled here," Alec said, fighting his eye roll when he thought about Simon skidding across the training room floor on his ass.

"Ah yes, your sire," Magnus said, his eyes sparkling with mirth when Alec gave him a look that quite clearly said 'don't'. "It's not like he had turned that many people or like he was actually lucid enough to know what he was doing when he bit Heidi," he grinned. Alec had explained that Simon was his sire, and told him about how he had been transformed.

The expression on Alec's face when Magnus had explained that Alec had only needed to die with Simon's blood in his system and that the bite and the venom had been unnecessary, was one that Magnus wished he had captured.

Alec had considered asking for a hole in the rift so that he could return to New York to throttle Simon when he had found out that he hadn't needed Simon's venom to turn. As Magnus had pointed out, however, it wasn't Simon's fault that he didn't know. Simon didn't actually enjoy being a Vampire and he wasn't all that good at it so he let his sire off.

"Yes, my sire," Alec said when Magnus opened his mouth, probably to tease him again. A smirk spread across his face when his petty retort registered with Magnus. Magnus had teased him mercilessly about Simon biting him.

Until Alec had pointed out the obvious.

"Yes, well..." Magnus sniffed. He almost had a caveman moment where he clunked Alec around the head and started banging on his chest to warn everyone away from what was his. The image that filled his head, however, of him crouching over Alec's prone body, screeching "MY PRECIOUS!" was not a classy one. So he reigned himself in. Just.

"You know I only have eyes for you, right?" Alec asked with sparkling eyes and a huge grin, winding his arms around Magnus' waist. Magnus was far too adorable when he was jealous. "I promise I'll never let anyone bite me ever again," he said, batting his lashes at his husband.

"Shut up," Magnus muttered, accepting the kiss that Alec smacked to his lips. The mark of Cain would take care of anyone who tried to bite his husband. "Come on, fool," he said, unwinding Alec's arms and ignoring the chuckle to pull Alec over to the weapons racks.

"Seeing as you can't use Nephilim weapons anymore, I've upgraded some mundane ones," Magnus said, piling daggers and swords into Alec's arms. He plucked a dagger from the rack and showed it to Alec.

"What are those?" Alec asked, pointing out the small symbols that were etched into the handle of the dagger with a jerk of his head. They were similar to the runes that covered most of his old weapons. But different.

"Spells for accuracy and to give the weapons further reach. You will be able to use magic-infused weapons, now that you are a Downworlder," Magnus said, handing the dagger to Alec. "Try it out."

Alec stashed the swords under his left arm and palmed the dagger. Drawing his arm up, he sighted a target, a good fifty feet away, and let the dagger snap out with a flick of his wrist. The spells and his natural strength and aim sent it sailing easily into the bullseye of the target.

"Excellent!" Magnus said, rubbing his hands together and pulling a few more weapons from the racks. The spells had worked just how he had intended them to. Moving onto the next rack, he piled a couple of bows into Alec's arms, grinning when Alec looked like a walking armory.

"Okay, okay. I think I have enough to be getting on with," Alec chuckled when Magnus started weighing up a pike and a mace. He was keen to test out the bows. Dropping the weapons in a pile at his feet, he plucked a longbow, a recurve bow, and a compound bow from the pile and inspected the runic looking symbols on them, doing the same with the quiver of arrows that Magnus handed him.

"How long were you up before me?" Alec asked, inspecting each arrow, tiny, beautiful symbols carved into the shaft of each one. He selected the recurve bow, testing the draw and snapping the bowstring for his troubles.

"Oh, a couple of hours. I wanted to get set up, lots to prepare," Magnus said, patting Alec's cheek softly. The missing snores still bothered him but Alec had looked peaceful in slumber so he had let his husband get a couple more hours. It hadn't been as bad when he had woken to a non-breathing Alec this afternoon but it was still unnerving.

Alec nodded his thanks when Magnus took the bow and restored and strengthened the string with his magic. Taking it back, the reinforced draw much better, he slung the quiver over his back and set to work putting as many arrows in the targets as would fit. A grin split his face when he realized that no matter how many arrows he drew, the quiver never seemed to empty.

"Perks of being a Warlock," Magnus said with a wiggle of his fingers, gawping at the blurred speed with which Alec drew and released the arrows. Shaking himself off, he crossed the courtyard to the space that he had left for himself and started going through some Katas, warming his magic up nicely. He had kept a few of the targets separate for himself.

Alec forgot about practice, watching Magnus work. The beauty of Magnus' graceful movements wasn't lost on him. Magnus looked like he was dancing, fighting, and conducting a symphony, all at the same time.

Add in the magic that Magnus was directing at his targets and Alec was a goner.

"Are the weapons not to your liking, Alexander?" Magnus called out as he shaped a defensive spell into a bolt, similar to one of Alec's crossbow bolts, and destroyed a target with it. He could feel Alec's eyes glued to his back.

"Uh yeah, they're fine," Alec muttered, snatching another arrow from his quiver and nocking it. "Would you be able to put a workbench in my training room and conjure me some supplies if I give you a list?" he asked as he sighted his target and let the bowstring slide over his fingers, splitting one of the arrows already buried there down the middle to bury the new one in the target.

"Sure, what do you need it for?" Magnus asked, tossing a fireball back and forth between his hands to watch Alec. He only drooled a little bit when Alec drew his right arm back, watching the biceps and triceps of Alec's left arm go taut with the action. The focus and precision, the straight line of Alec's left arm, and the flex of his hips were beautiful to watch.

"I want to make some of my sister's three and five tipped arrows. These are great but they would come in handy if we have to face down an entire horde," Alec said, letting loose once more. They would need the range of his bow if they were to face down more than a handful of enemies, he couldn't just let them keep running at him and let the mark take them out.

During the nights when Alec had been unable to sleep, as a Shadowhunter, he had always gone looking for his sister and had usually found her making or repairing a weapon of some kind. The armory was her go-to place when she couldn't sleep either.

Alec had learned a lot from sitting and watching Izzy, helping out now and then as they had chatted, and was pretty sure he could reproduce the weapons himself. If Magnus could get enough yew wood and some decent carving tools.

"Of course. Or I could add another workbench to my workroom. That way you could have access to my ingredients, see if we can't come up with some extra protection for the weapons," Magnus suggested, smiling when Alec nodded.

Reluctantly dragging his eyes away from Alec, Magnus went back to working on his defensive spells, digging deep into his memories for anything that would help against a psychotic demon Queen and her undead minions.

Alec moved around the courtyard, switching out the bows, learning how to shoot on the fly. It was harder than he had thought it would be to anticipate where he would need to aim as he ran at top speed, to hit his target. But it was also fun. It looked like he had something new to learn about archery and relished the opportunity to add to his skills.

Deciding to test his range out, Alec leaped for the roof once more and started firing arrows at the targets that lined the walls, using the harder-hitting compound bow to bury more arrows in the bullseyes until he was satisfied that he could hit them from a decent distance.

Alec dropped down from the roof of their house once more and flitted over to the weapons racks. Selecting a short sword and Katana, he swung them through the air, getting the feel for the swords. It was a lot different than when he had been a Shadowhunter. The weight and balance of each sword were different now so he had to adjust his swing.

"Uh, Magnus? I guess we didn't really think the swords through," Alec said when he had gotten to grips with the new weights of the swords. He had his weapons but nobody to practice with. He couldn't exactly go up against Magnus.

Magnus had been watching Alec play with his swords, thinking the parries and reposts were cute. Alec looked like a five-year-old, swinging his big pointy weapons with glee. His husband was right though, he hadn't thought of a way for Alec to practice. Sure, he could conjure up a post but that wasn't exactly helpful, it wasn't like a post could fight back.

"Try these," Magnus said, snapping his fingers. Four moving straw mannequins appeared, all armed with their own swords, already swinging, all headed for Alec. The grin that spread over Alec's face was almost predatory, and only the tiniest bit hot. Until the mannequins exploded.

Alec stared around himself at the smoking, singed straw that rained through the air, growling a little out of frustration. He hadn't even gotten five good swings in before his mark had activated. So much for sword practice.

"Okaaaay, back to the drawing board," Magnus said, staring at the pile of smoking straw with one raised eyebrow. A post, it would have to be. Waving the straw away, he conjured a wooden post, vaguely human-shaped, and watched Alec start hacking at it.

Alec muttered at himself under his breath as he went to town on the wooden post, hacking his frustration out. They needed the mark but it was starting to make his life a lot more difficult than it needed to be. Sure, he was thankful that he had some extra protection for himself and Magnus but really? The mannequins had been harmless enough, huge broadswords notwithstanding.

The mannequins had been a failure for Alec but Magnus dragged his eyes away from his snarling husband and conjured a few more for himself, setting them to attack from all directions. Spinning on the spot, he threw out bolt after bolt, fireballs, spells that scattered and chased the straw mannequins, producing more and more of the figures as he destroyed them. It was nice to let loose, to challenge himself.

The evening wore on, never getting any darker but stretching out nonetheless.

Giving up on the swords for the evening when he had reduced the wooden post to splinters, Alec looked around to find Magnus slumped in a big fluffy... chair? Watching him, his husband sipping a cocktail. The huge paper fan that Magnus had conjured, waving a soft breeze was probably over the top, but the heat didn't affect him so he wouldn't know.

"What are you laughing at? It's hot here! And bean bag chairs were all the rage at one time. Plus, they are comfortable," Magnus said, conjuring a bean bag and a martini glass full of blood for his husband.

Alec slumped down onto the bean bag, taking Magnus' word for it that they were comfortable. Maybe there was a knack to sitting in one? If there was, Magnus wasn't sharing his secrets. Accepting a large glass of blood when it was offered, he sipped it, raising a questioning eyebrow when he saw the purse of Magnus' lips.

"We've worked hard today with our individual training but we need to find a way to work together," Magnus said, silently appraising everything that they had individually worked on. "I want to try something," he said, sending his glass away with a wave of his hand, straightening up.

Raising his hands, Magnus let his magic play over his palms before sending it out as a shield to wrap around Alec. A triumphant smile played across his lips when there was no other effect than him being able to shield his husband. The shield made him feel much better about Alec going up against Lilith. It was easy enough to protect himself but he had been worrying about Alec.

"Maybe the mark recognizes protective magic?" Alec asked, a little shaken by the move Magnus had made but intrigued about the mark and it's non-reaction to Magnus' magic. An arrow, appearing in his hand with a snap of Magnus' had him blinking down at it for a moment.

"Perhaps? I wonder if it will recognize...?" Magnus cut off with a strangled, pain-filled cry when he found himself flying backward through the air, feeling like his hand had been set on fire. All he had done was send a fireball towards the arrow to light it up.

"MAGNUS?" Alec was across the courtyard in the blink of an eye, leaping forward and snatching Magnus from the air before his husband could slam into the wall he was heading for. There was barely a second for him to register that the fireball had grazed his pinky, his mind storing the pain away in a small corner, his fear for Magnus taking over everything else.

Alec wrapped himself around Magnus as much as he could, trying to shield his husband when they rolled across the ground until they came to a stop. The pain-filled grunts Magnus was making made his stomach roll. He sat them upright with Magnus in his lap, his stomach dropping through the ground when he saw the hand Magnus was clutching to his chest.

Magnus bit into his lip to stop from letting another sound out. It wasn't working. Looking down at his hand when Alec had him seated in his lap, he almost blacked out. The blisters that were starting to form up the side of his hand had his stomach rolling with nausea. Snapping his fingers, he tried to focus enough to heal himself, not an easy feat when waves of agony radiated from his hand.

"Come on, Magnus, heal yourself," Alec muttered, clutching his husband to him helplessly. The sparks of magic emanating from Magnus' shaking right hand weren't working. Seeing the pain that Magnus was failing to hide, in Magnus' unglamoured eyes, he tried something that he never thought he would do to his husband.

"There is no pain. You can't feel it, it doesn't hurt," Alec said, looking into Magnus' eyes, trying to Encanto Magnus. It wasn't working, he didn't know how to Encanto anyone. Letting out a frustrated growl when Magnus blinked up at him, he tried again, cursing himself for not learning how to do it.

"Ignore the pain, Magnus. It doesn't exist, it is all in your mind," Alec said, using every ounce of his will power to take control of Magnus, his desperation to help Magnus pushing him to focus on the words coming from his mouth, to will Magnus to do as he said.

"Look at me, not your hand. It is just a tiny burn, it barely even hurts. Do as I tell you, Magnus. Heal yourself, now. Push the pain away and reach for your magic. Heal the skin there, right now," Alec said in a smooth, commanding tone that he didn't know he possessed, watching Magnus' pupils dilate, praying to the angel that it was working.

Magnus' pain faded away when he looked into Alec's eyes, the words making him forget that his hand was blistering up. A soft smile spread over his face as his head went a little woozy. Looking down at his hand again, he listened to Alec, realizing that he should probably heal the nasty looking burn.

The relief on Magnus' face and the relief that spread through Alec when Magnus' magic snapped to life, only made Alec feel guilty. It had never even occurred to him to learn how to Encanto someone before, especially not his husband. Even when Magnus' magic soothed the burn away, he still felt awful for taking control of Magnus like that.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," Alec mumbled into Magnus' neck when his husband relaxed in his arms. He wasn't sure if he was apologizing for taking control of Magnus or for hurting him in the first place. Maybe both.

"Alexander?" Magnus asked, raising a hand to brush it through Alec's hair when his head cleared. "Alexander... what...?" he asked when Alec flinched. Tugging Alec's head out from his shoulder, it took a moment for his head to un-fog enough to realize what had just happened. "Look at me," he said when Alec refused to meet his gaze.

"Magnus... I'm so sorry. I would never hurt you..." Alec said around the lump in his throat when he looked Magnus in the eye, blinking furiously.

"I know you wouldn't," Magnus said, cupping Alec's jaw, his fingers playing in the strands of hair behind Alec's ear. "I was careless, I shouldn't have just flung that spell at you like that. I should have just willed the arrow to light up like I did yesterday when we confronted Lilith. I wanted to see if we could find a way to make my magic work for you," he said.

"This mark was supposed to protect us, not set you on fire when you weren't even trying to hurt me," Alec said, screwing his eyes up in his frustration. "I'm so sorry that I Encanto'd you. You have to know, I never want to control you, to take your free will away. I just... I... it was like my office all over again. You were hurt and there was nothing else I could do. All I could think about was not wanting to lose you, and I..." he trailed off, opening his eyes to look into Magnus'.

"You helped me. I couldn't focus through the pain to... the pain. I hurt you," Magnus said when realization dawned. Sitting up properly, between Alec's legs, he tugged at Alec's left hand, holding on tighter when Alec tried to pull away.

"I'm fine," Alec mumbled, unable to meet Magnus' gaze.

"You're not fine. The mark reacts specifically to the threat against you, remember?" Magnus asked, shaking his head and tugging at Alec's hand to take a proper look at it. The blisters on Alec's hand weren't as bad as his had been but it still looked raw and painful. Placing his hand over Alec's burn, he sent his soothing magic into Alec's hand, healing it faster than Alec's natural healing abilities could.

"I still shouldn't have done that to you, it doesn't feel right," Alec said, letting Magnus heal him.

"Controlling others is never a perfect solution but you did it to help me when I couldn't help myself. It's okay," Magnus said, letting his thumb brush over Alec's now smooth skin.

"Isn't that how controlling people always justify their actions? They tell themselves that they're helping. Before they know it, they've created an army of rogue Shadowhunters and are trying to destroy the Down..." Alec cut off when Magnus shushed him with a finger to his lips.

"Nobody ever said any of this was going to be easy, love. Do you know how I know you won't turn into some power-crazed control freak?" Magnus asked, smiling when Alec's lips quirked under his finger, his husband shrugging his shoulders. "Because you find the idea of taking someone's choices away from them abhorrent. You aren't Valentine, not even close," he said.

"I know. I just want you to know that I'll never do anything like that..." Alec cut off when a flash of light went off behind Magnus. He spun Magnus behind him in an instant, putting himself between his husband and the unexpected flair of magic. "What the fuck?" he asked, his jaw, dropping.

Magnus peered over Alec's shoulder, silently reminding himself to have a word with his husband about his penchant for putting himself in the path of any and all danger. The sight that greeted him, however, put those thoughts on the back burner. It was a message, burning into the ground with a faint golden glow to the words;

Hey guys, it's Simon.

I hope the weather is nice in Edom and you aren't too bored without us.

We finally found a use for the grave dirt!

Just wanted to let you know that we went to the Seelie realm like a bunch of badass hunters and totally kicked ass

Alec tried to keep his eye-rolling to a minimum when the message cut off all of a sudden. Looking over his shoulder, he exchanged a look with Magnus before something caught his husband's attention again. Looking back at the ground he watched a new message form underneath Simon's words.

Hey guys, it's Clary here.

Ignore Simon, he got carried away. We went to the Seelie realm but Jonathan escaped. There have been some interesting developments with Izzy's heavenly fire though. She's working on a formula to

"To what?" Alec asked, staring at the ground when the message cut off again.

"I don't have the faintest idea," Magnus said, waiting for something else. When it seemed that there was nothing more forthcoming, he crawled around Alec and knelt next to the message, scooping up a little of the dirt and ash residue that was left behind. Raising it to his nose, he sniffed it before rubbing it between his fingers, scanning the dirt with his magic.

"This is Catarina's magic, I'd recognize that magical signature anywhere," Magnus said, standing up. "They used a mixture of your grave dirt, sulfur, and magic to send this," he said, an idea forming. "Alexander?" he asked when Alec disappeared, running towards the house in a blur.

Magnus took a moment to inspect his hand while Alec was gone, wondering if Alec had come to the same conclusion as him. His hand was fine now, nothing that he hadn't been able to take care of with his magic - with Alec's help. The blast had made him realize that he needed to think before he acted, however.

Magnus also thought about being Encanto'd by Alec. It wasn't a new sensation to him, Camille had done the same thing to him on more than one occasion. With one glaring difference. Camille had only ever done it when he had refused her something, refused to go along with some ridiculous scheme that she had cooked up. Alec had done it to help him, something that he couldn't find it in him to be angry about. If it had been for any other reason, he probably wouldn't have been so forgiving.

Alec flitted to Magnus' side and handed over the two jars that he had run to retrieve, one containing his grave dirt, the other containing a powder that the label on the jar, written out in Magnus' elegant script, proclaimed to be sulfur. Thankfully, all of Magnus' jars of potion ingredients were labeled beautifully.

Magnus accepted the jars and knelt to scoop up some of the dirt from Simon and Clary's messages, scanning it once more to work out exactly what Catarina had done to send the message.

Alec watched Magnus conjure a bowl and mix the dirt and sulfur together after a few minutes.

"What do you want to say?" Magnus asked, holding a handful of the mixture, waiting on Alec's instructions.

"Tell them that the message cut out and about Lilith's plans," Alec said, deciding that getting straight to the point was their best option.

Magnus did as Alec said, scattering the dirt on the ground and waving his hand to form the message with the mixture. Snapping his fingers, he lit it up with his magic as he worked. Concentrating on his friend, he sent the message to Catarina to explain about Abel and what Lilith had done, and about how they planned to go up against her.

"Tell them that we miss them too," Alec added, watching Magnus work, the words lighting up with the same golden glow that the two previous messages had.

Magnus got halfway through Alec's sentiments before he ran out of the dirt. "They must have run out of grave dirt, that's why the message cut off," he said, peering into the empty bowl.

"I should have brought a bigger jar with me," Alec said, pacing up and down next to Magnus, waiting for more.

Magnus went and collected their bean bag chairs, dragging them over to sit beside the messages and wait for more. He conjured himself some Chinese takeout and a large glass of blood for Alec, realizing that it had been hours since he had eaten anything.

It took them an hour of waiting before they realized that there were no more messages coming. Magnus had to set up a ward around the area and promise a frustrated Alec that they would check it before bed, to get his husband to come inside.

Alec gave the message one last look before he let Magnus drag him away for a shower and movie, wishing that Clary and Simon would send something more. He wanted to know what was going on with Izzy's heavenly fire, badly.