𝕤𝕖𝕒𝕤𝕠𝕟: 𝕠𝕟𝕖

𝕖𝕡𝕚𝕤𝕠𝕕𝕖: 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕣𝕥𝕖𝕖𝕟

ʙʀʏɴɴᴇ [ʙ-ʀ-ɪʜ-ɴ] / ʀʏɴ [ᴘʀᴏɴᴏᴜɴᴄᴇᴅ: ʀ-ɪʜ-ɴ ᴏʀ ʀᴇɪɢɴ]

Clary was able to stop Simon before he left the Institute and asks him for help in getting the Book of the White which contains the spell to wake up Jocelyn. Clary explains to Simon that it belongs to Camille, and without another word, Simon agrees to set a meeting with Raphael.

In the Institute monitor room, Alec approaches his mom who was checking the screens before her.

"Have you spoken with Lydia? No one's seen her since the wedding," Alec questions standing straight with his hands behind his back and receives no answer or glance from Maryse "Mom, come on"

Robert had seen his wife ignore their son walks up to them, "Maryse"

"Mom, I understand you're upset, but this is–"

Maryse cuts Alec off as she sets down the tablet she held, "Calling off the wedding would've been one thing... but kissing that warlock in front of the entire Institute? You've embarrassed all of us"

"Why?" Alec asks and with the remaining confidence he held he asks a question that's been burning at the back of his mind, "Would it have made a difference if I kissed a guy?"

"No." Maryse states almost offended that her son was insinuating anything, "The fact if she was a guy, as you say, would be the least of my worries"

Not understanding what the problem was Alec looks down at both his parents, "Then what's the problem?"

"That you chose Brynne Jeung," Maryse replies in detest

"She is a ghost," Robert explains having the same worries as his wife, "no history is documented on her, and with every play, she has been a part of someone important has stood at her side. Even for a warlock that is conniving. Alec, there's so much that you don't know about her"

"Well, then I plan to get to know her. And if you have a problem with that, then I suggest you deal with it," Alec states making Maryse look away so she'd stay silent, "Now, I have to go find Lydia"

Maryse gives her best guess, "She's probably packing for Idris in your father's office. What she did–"

"Saved my life" Alec states looking at both parents "So, I should go thank her"

Alec walks away and neither parent looks back nor says anything to each other

◇─◇──◇─────◇──◇─◇

Brynne stood in her red dress leaning back on a wooden wall in the hallway waiting for Alec. She was starting to become impatient, so much so that she started to pick at the skin surrounding her painted nails.

Alec walks into the hall making Brynne stand up straight and ask, "On a scale of one to ten, how unpleasant was it?"

"Off the charts." Alec replies turning to face her, "Yeah, I've never seen them so angry."

"Give them some time?" Brynne tries to advise but even with the words leaving her mouth she internally scolded herself

Alec looks at Brynne one more time before turning to keep walking down the hall, "You're immortal. Time is on your side. After what I did... I don't think they'll ever forgive me"

"You shouldn't underestimate a parent's love," Brynne says having seen her fair share of parent's love do wonderful things but also that same love be the things that harm a child. As they turn the corner of the hall Brynne reaches out for Alec's arm to stop him, "You don't regret it, do you?"

Alec sighs making Brynne drop her hand back to her side, "Everything happened so fast. I didn't have time to think. I just wanna make sure Lydia's okay. Now I owe her so much."

"We owe her. Lydia did something... heroic," Brynne smiles but seeing Alec look away from her she speaks up, "Alec maybe... we uh can start things slow? Like starting with that date, you owe me?"

Alec smiles with a slight head nod, "Yeah, let's do that."

Alec goes to open the door they stood before making Brynne speak up, "If I get to choose the spot-"

Before Brynne can continue Alec shouts Lydia's name at the sight of her lying on the ground of Robert's study. Alec runs to kneel down next to her and Brynne swiftly follows her dress only restraining her a bit.

Brynne touches Lydia's neck with two fingers, soon she was able to find a pulse. Brynne looks up at Alec and nods her head, Alec pulls out his stele and activates Lydia's healing run

Lydia starts to regain movement in her body making her hum in pain. Alec looks up at Brynne and orders, "Go get help"

Brynne doesn't say anything instead she just glances down at Lydia before standing up and running out of the room as fast as her heels would allow. Alec still kneeling next to Lydia comfortably says, "You're gonna be okay."

Lydia opens her eyes in a daze but whispers, "Hodge..."

◇─◇──◇─────◇──◇─◇

Brynne ended up getting Magnus' help so Lydia can have a quicker recovery. Since Magnus' wards were all around the Institute Brynne didn't want to risk the magic bouncing back and hurting her. Before leaving the infirmary Brynne does ask Magnus if can use his magic to give her a change of clothes. Now as she walked with Alec to the monitor room Brynne no longer wore a red silk dress but rather a tight black shirt, red checkered skinny jeans, lightly washed denim jacket, and low heeled boots.

Isabelle was facing the computer screens in front of her with Jace and Clary standing behind her. At the sound of footsteps making their way towards them, Clary sways around to look and asks, "How's Lydia?"

Brynne looks at the Shadowhunters before giving them the news, "Magnus is with her, helping her out. She is better but... it's bad"

"And the Cup is definitely missing," Alec states glancing to look at Jace who stood at his side

"So is Hodge," Jace informs them

"Maybe he was attacked, too" Isabelle speaks up her eyes still glued to the screen before her that held security footage of the study

"Maybe he's the one who attacked her," Clary mumbles leaning into the desk to take a closer look at the rewinding footage.

"Hodge?" Isabelle asks turning to look at Clary in disbelief, "No way. We've known him our entire lives. He would never do that to us."

With arms crossed Brynne couldn't help but comment, "Just because you've known him all your life doesn't mean he isn't capable of betrayal"

Isabelle fast-forwards the video from the moment Lydia enters the room after the wedding. She then pauses the footage playing it in slow motion so they can see who Lydia was standing before and when the video is played, they can see it is Hodge who attacked Lydia and took the Cup.

"I led him right to the Cup," Jace says his voice laced with guilt

"We treated him like family. How could he do this to us?" Alec asks but no one answers

Instead, Isabelle follows Hodge's movements throughout the Institute and ends up in the security video of the infirmary. Standing before Jocelyn's floating body Hodge puts on a ring making Clary scoff, "That's how. What is that ring?"

"Looks like he's talking to someone," Isabelle states not looking away from the screen where Hodge's lips were moving and he was showing someone the Cup

"And I can bet who it is," Jace says in disgust

"Valentine," Clary asserts with certainty and no one questioned her judgment as they also believed in her statement

On the screen, Hodge's circle rune was starting to burn making Alec mention, "Well, that explains how he deactivated the Punishment rune, but it doesn't explain where he got the ring."

"You think someone smuggled it past the wards?" Clary asks looking up at everyone but they all had their eyes on the screen monitors

"Maybe" Jace answers looking up at Alec, "Hodge wasn't the only ex-Circle member around here."

Isabelle having caught Jace's not-so-subtle comment keeps working on the footage before her while saying, "Look, I know I don't always see eye to eye with my parents, but I know they're not traitors."

"Really? Isn't that what you just said about Hodge?" Jace bitterly answers looking down at Isabelle whose shoulders tense "It'd have to be someone we trusted, but if there was an intruder inside the Institute, we would have found them by now"

Brynne couldn't help but roll her eyes while sighing, "Would you? You didn't even know about Hodge being a sleeper agent. Who says there isn't another one?"

"What about the Forsaken attack?" Clary eagerly asks but that idea was quickly stopped by Alec

"No. We killed that thing and I didn't see a ring."

"He didn't have one during the autopsy, but..." Isabelle trails off as she changes screens for older footage, "maybe there's something in the footage."

"Go to the other camera," Alec orders making Isabelle listen, and the screen changes the angle

"There," Jace and Brynne proclaim making Isabelle stop the footage so they can see Hodge take out the ring off the Forsaken's finger

"So, it wasn't a random attack," Clary claims

"He was just the delivery boy," Jace asserts his veins getting colder with all the hate running through his body

"If he gives that Cup to Valentine, he'll create an army of Shadowhunters. With that kind of power behind him, he'll kill thousands." Alec vocalizes everyone in that room knowing he was right

"He'll kill thousands just creating the army. Most mundanes won't survive that," Isabelle adds not being able to tear her eyes away from the screen where it showed proof Hodge had betrayed them

"We won't let that happen," Clary says reassuring everyone but also herself

"I'm gonna make sure of it." Jace declares before walking away from everyone on a mission

"You're going to die if you go at it alone," Brynne calls out after Jace who was able to hear her but only kept walking

It seemed Jace wasn't going to go after Hodge alone, Alec was going with him. While Alec was ready to ask Brynne for help in tracking Hodge down Jace had another downworlder in mind.

Luke's pack was able to track down Hodge and Jace had gotten to him first, by doing so Jace fought the man who betrayed the shadow world. In fighting with a man who trained you, Jace had to think out of the box to win and in doing so he cut Hodge's handoff. Before he can do more Alec pushes Jace off of Hodge who was yelling in pain. Luke calls out for his pack so they pick up Hodge but while Alec and Luke have their backs turned Jace runs away with Hodge.

As for Clary trying to get to Camille, Raphael was only allowing her and Isabelle to see the vampire's things. Brynne didn't go with them, she didn't want to get involved with Raphael's ruling especially when she had a fair guess who what it would be now that Valentine had the Cup. Isabelle was able to distract Raphael, giving Simon and Clary to sneak into Camille's tomb and unchain her coffin. Camille agreed to lead them to the Book of the White but only if they got her out of the Hotel and then she also asked for a Write of Transmutation from Simon. It's how Camille led everyone to Magnus' place so they can get the document

When a knock came from his front door Magnus answered and seeing Camille standing at the other side with Simon, Clary, and Isabelle behind him he had no other choice but to welcome them into his home.

Camille enters the apartment like she owned the place, "So, Magnus, how long has it been? One hundred? One hundred fifty years?"

"One hundred and thirty-eight. Oddly, I haven't missed you." Magnus replies making Camille turn around to face him with a smile on her red lips

"Of course, you have, my love," Camille seductively whispers

Standing behind the two exes Clary moves things along, "All right, you two can catch up later. Right now, we need to find the Book of the White."

"And you will, but not without payment," Camille states before looking back at the warlock before her and raising her brow "You of all people should understand that."

"Of course. And what is it you require?" Magnus asks wanting to get away from Camille before she pulls him back in

"A clean slate" Camille replies

"She wants a Writ of Turning-Me-Into-A-Vampire," Simon explains not once keeping his eyes away from the women who sired him

"And we need you to draft it," Clary voices but Magnus doesn't look away from the vampire before him

"Hmm. I thought I was done with you," Magnus tells Camille

"We'll never be done with each other," Camille chuckles

Isabelle leans to whisper in Clary's ear, "I'm gonna call for backup."

With Isabelle walking out of the living room and Magnus and Camille keeping eye contact Clary turns to the vampire standing next to her, "Simon, can I talk to you for a minute?"

Simon turns to Clary and without a word follows her into another room where she makes sure he doesn't feel any pressure to sign the papers Camille wants him to.

Brynne gets called by Isabelle and being right across the hallway she enters Magnus' apartment dressed for a fight. Entering Magnus' apartment alone Brynne sees Magnus creating a document while Camille watches him like he is her prey.

"What is that she-Devil doing here?!?" Brynne exclaims at the sight of Camille smiling face

Camille wasn't shocked at Brynne's tone or how she pulled the katana out of its sheath "Are you still upset about what's his name- Daniel. No, um Declan. I know his name started with a D"

"His name was Daveed" Brynne replies with a glare at the vampire's nonchalant attitude

"I did you a favor Brynne, he was a mortal." Camille says as if the word should never leave her lips, "To us immortals love is fleeting"

"And yet true love cannot die" Magnus states and it doesn't phase Camille

"But people can," Camille argues as if the words he had gifted her so long ago meant nothing

"People are not toys for your amusement!" Brynne countered her hold on her katana still and tight

"Oh, poor Ryn still so naive. You wouldn't know what to do with love if you found it," Camille says but seeing the waver in her hand makes the vampire smirk, "Or do you think you already have?"

Brynne cuts Camille's leg before pushing her against the brick pillar, "Give me one reason why I should let you live"

"You need me, but if that's not enough I'd love to be the one to make the harbinger of death return," Camille chuckles with a smirk making Brynne's self-restraint bring her back to reality, "They were always more fun"

Brynne takes a step back and puts her katana back in its sheath on her back, "I will make you pay for what you did to him"

"Why? Was he really your true love?" Camille teases just as the soft heels of Isabelle's boots can be heard entering the room

With tears brimming to pool out of her eyes Brynne turns around to see Alec and Isabelle walk in having heard Camille's words. One look at Alec's face Brynne turns around to face Magnus so she can blink away any emotions her eyes gave away.

"Well, this is awkward," Magnus breaks the silence

"Where's the book?" Alec commands

"It's complicated," Magnus chuckles glancing over at Brynne who had yet to turn around to face the Lightwood siblings

"Clearly," Alec states making Brynne sniffle before turning around to face the siblings

"I have it" Camille quickly speaks up

"And she's graciously offered it in exchange for her freedom," Magnus explains to both Alec and Brynne who didn't know what the vampire was doing in the apartment

"We don't negotiate with prisoners," Alec calmly argues taking a step toward the vampire

"Prisoner? I beg to disagree. You see, I'm your only chance at saving the world." Camille voices no one in the room intimidating her and while she spoke Magnus makes a 'she is crazy' hand movement making Alec roll his eyes while Brynne couldn't help the small smile appear on her lips, "You need me."

Camille turns to look at Brynne with a smirk, "You vixen certainly have a type. He's cute. Too bad it won't last"

Isabelle takes a step toward the vampire and menacingly says, "Say that again, you won't last."

Camille looked Alec up and down once more before saying, "I'd say he's about 20 years from male pattern baldness."

"I don't have time for this," Alec says exasperated before looking past Camille to Magnus, "Where's Clary?"

Magnus points to the other room and Alec leaves to inform Clary about how Valentine has the Cup and Jace went after him. While Clary wanted to go after Jace Alec reminds her that they needed to stay on the mission, of finding the book. Camille wanted Simon to sign with Writ right there but he said he'd sign once she took them to her apartment.

◇─◇──◇─────◇──◇─◇

Not only was the ride to Camille's apartment cramp in the back of Simon's van but the ride up the elevator was just as uncomfortable and quiet. The elevator gate is pushed up by Camille who was leading the way, and as they walk down the marble path Simon couldn't help but comment to Clary, "I thought the underground parking was nice."

Camille leads everyone to a study that had walls aligned with bookshelves and the curtains drawn closed to keep the sun out. Everyone takes a look around the room at the bookshelves that held books from the ground to the ceiling, rolling ladders against each wall.

"Wow. You've got a lot of books." Alec says looking around at the room that not only had books but also painting, even a huge hung portrait of Camille that made Magnus and Brynne both look at it with distaste

"I've got a lot of time on my hands." Camille answers 

A butler walks into the room and walks straight to the apartment owner, "Welcome home, Madame Belcourt."

"This place creeps me out," Isabelle mumbles while Simon and Clary went straight for the closest bookshelf

"Yeah. Let's check the perimeter," Alec voices looking around the room but always returning back to Camille who stood at a desk with her butler next to her

"Good idea," Magnus agrees looking the female vampire up and down "If I know Camille, she'll have a trick or three up her sleeve."

Brynne looks over at Simon and Clary asking, "You two go going to be okay?"

The friends give her a reassuring nod making Brynne hesitantly walk out of the study not liking the idea of leaving Simon and Clary with Camille but also didn't like the idea of being in Camille's apartment without searching it first.

With Alec, Isabelle, Magnus, and Brynne out of the room Clary and Simon keep looking through on bookshelf before Camille pricks Simon with a feathered pen to get his blood. With blood drawn Simon takes the feather and signs the Writ, with it in hand Camille leaves