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alma-berry · 5 years ago

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Kit’s Secret Fire Message # 15

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Ty glared at his scrambled eggs. It was what he was used to eat in the morning, even at the Scholomance, but today the mere prospect of eating made his stomach squirm. Eat, he ordered himself, and shoved the fork into his mouth. He didn’t manage to to finish his plate, not with Kit sitting at the table, as far as possible from him, annoyingly not looking at him.

There were shadows under his blue eyes, and Ty wondered if he managed to get some sleep at all. He stayed up late, straying to hear the sound of the front door open, to know when Kit came back, but at some point he just collapsed into an uneasy sleep. As soon as he woke up, he called for Livvy and asked if she saw or heard anything, but she simply shook her head.

Kit wore fresh clothes though, not those he wore to the shadow market, and his fair hair was damp and smelled faintly of lavender, Ty noticed when he passed by him. That must mean he came back, or stayed somewhere else during the night. He had a hard time not thinking of the second option, of the werewolf boy in the market, of Kit’s shattered expression as he left the institute last night.

“Ok, so basically, we just need to go and pay that warlock a visit. Ask him if he knows something about the demons, right? That’s the only thing you managed to figure out last night?” Carl barked reproachfully at Kit.

In response, Kit narrowed his eyes and said “Yes,” with such venom Ty’s head popped up from his plate. “Did you manage to bring better results, with your undercover contacts?” He sneered at him.

Carl blushed but thankfully kept his mouth shut.

“It’s a good lead, Kit. We should definitely start there and see where it turns out.” Adam gave Kit a warm, encouraging smile. “If our initial theory is right, we don’t have much time to waste.. so let’s get ready. Kit, will you join us?”

“No,” Ty sprang to his feet and felt his cheeks burn with fierce intensity. Carl and Adam stared at him in confusion, but Kit wasn’t. He was glaring at his clinched fists with anger. Ty hasten to correct himself.

“I mean, we can’t all go. Something Hypatia said made it sound like he won’t appreciate a large party. I’ll go, with Kit.”

That made Kit look up at him with suspicion, but he didn’t turn down Ty’s proposition, not yet, which made him feel a little bit better.

Carl, on the other hand, lashed out immediately.

“You can’t go alone to see a warlock, Blackthorn. Not one you don’t know of it’s-“

“His. Not it’s. And I am more than capable of going alone to wherever I want, Carl, you know that very well. I don’t need your authorization, or your guidance.” Ty was no child. He knew he was younger than most of them, but he was capable just as they were, if not more. Especially in the case of Carl Lindquist.

“And in any case, I won’t be alone. I’ll be with Kit”. Ty felt Kit’s eyes on him like a thousand tiny prickles, but he didn’t dare to look his way.

“But, Ty…” Adam started with a soft, measured voice, “What do you mean by something Hypatia said? You weren’t there, were you?”

Ty felt the blood drain out of his face, and tried to think of a logical explanation for why he would know this information if he supposedly only heard about Kit’s conversation in the market this morning, for the first time. But before he could come up with something reliable, Kit spoke.

“I told him about it last night, he stayed up and waited for me.”

He said it so casually, with a steady voice and an honest expression. Ty snapped his mouth shut and tried hard not to look guilty.

Kit had lied for him. He covered up his stupid mistake, even though he was obviously still angry at him. Ty didn’t understand if it meant that there was a chance that he could be forgiven, but it gave him hope. That’s why he wanted to be alone with Kit, so he could apologise, so he could make it right.

Ty thought this was probably the right time for them to leave, but apparently Carl wasn’t done with his questioning.

“Well why didn’t you tell us that too? What else are you hiding from us, Herondale?” He said the last word like he was talking about about the filth under his fingernails.

Ty heard the drumbeat of his own heart loud in his ears and moved faster than he ever thought himself capable of. His face was inches away from Carl’s. The proximity wasn’t something he would ever have chosen, but in that moment, his rage was stronger than his need of space. What he needed was for Carl to understand what would happen if he would speak another word about Kit, ever again.

“Don’t talk to him like this”, his voice sounded stone cold, even to his ears, but he kept on regardless. “You have no reason to-“

“It’s not even his investigation! He’s not even supposed to know what we’re doing!”

Carl’s face was shining an ugly red that crept down to his neck, sprouting fiery angry blotches all over it.

“You’re right,” Ty said slowly, barely able to restrain himself from reaching for his weapon’s belt. He wasn’t a violent person, and his preferred way of fighting was tactical, with his knowledge and not with his fists, but he was a Shadowhunter, and the angel’s blood in his veins screamed of fierce protectiveness.

“It’s not Kit’s investigation. It’s not his responsibility at all, and yet, he’s the one that solved every piece of this case that we couldn’t. He helped us for days, even though he doesn’t even have to stay here. It’s not his duty and -“

“It’s his duty as a Shadow-“

“It’s not his duty to sit here and listen to your insults,” Ty’s voice rang loud and sharp, “He has done nothing to earn this treatment.”

Carl’s voice as he answered made him sound like a petulant child, “Well he’s an ass!”

Ty opened his mouth to protest but Kit was on him like a panther, lurking in the shadows, just waiting for an opportunity to strike.

“Oh is that right, Carl? Let’s talk about your increased interest in my ass, shall we? Personally I know a grate deal of the subject of bottoms.”

“I’m sure you do” Carl’s grunt was barely audible. Ty knew that Kit would never had teased him on the matter if he didn’t insult Ty like he did when they first met, though Carl’s discomfort was written plainly on his narrow face.

“Oh yes..” Kit went on, mercilessly, “Of many kinds”.

Thankfully, Adam rose to his feet and called in an authoritative voice, “As much as I’m truly fascinated by this conversation, if you plan on visiting the warlock, you must leave soon.”

Ty took a step back and felt Carl’s instant relief. Kit was already by the door, but Ty hesitated for a second before facing Carl once again.

He didn’t look at his face, he had no doubt that Carl would hear every word he had to say. He looked intently at his hands, trembling only slightly, but his voice was low and steady. “Remember what I said. Don’t talk to him like this, ever again.”

They walked in silence for what seemed like half an hour, but was probably only fifteen minutes. Usually, Kit would have felt uncomfortable, forced to fill the empty gaps with an idle chatter, but this was not the case. Not that it was a serine, pleasant walk. He was still angry, more angry than he felt for years.

He was lied to for all of his childhood, brought up to believe in secrets, trickery and in a life of self service. Everything had a price, and nothing should have been freely given.

But he went through quite a lot since those dark days in the basement of their Los Angeles home. Now he was loved by people that asked for nothing in return, and found that he was capable of loving them more fiercely than he ever thought was in him. They gave him the absolute truth, always. And being lied to again, being looked down at, being dismissed and used.. and from all people, by Ty.. made Kit feel like he was spiralling down into a dark place that he thought he had left behind.

But this morning, Ty didn’t act like he was looking down at him. As his stood, tall and swift like a sharpened arrow, he looked like he was ready to burn Carl Lindquist alive.

In those precious few moments, Kit managed to forget how hurt he was. Seeing Ty not only defending him, but actually threatening Carl, made him feel like he wasn’t so inconsequential to him as he thought. It also made him feel like he was punched in the chest with no warning.

He still wasn’t used to this older, sharper version of Ty.. and in that moment, no one had the right to look as beautiful as he did, like he was cut out of pure silver, soft and unyielding at the same time.

Kit eyed him sideways and regretted it immediately. He wanted to stay angry, to keep his mouth shut until they reach the goddamn warlock. But Ty looked so.. sad. Why was he sad? What gave him the right to look so frustrated? And Kit had no doubt this was the case, for Ty’s hands were dancing restlessly since they left the institute, and Kit had to clench his fist hard until his fingernails dug into his flesh. He wasn’t supposed to comfort Ty, though there was nothing in this world he wanted more.

The silence was merciless. It was tangible, pulsating between them until Kit had to break it before it broke him.

“You didn’t have to do that.” He said with what he hoped wasn’t too soft of a voice.

Ty lifted his gaze towards him and fixed it at some unknown point behind him.

“I didn’t have to do what?”

“You didn’t have to say say all these things to Carl. I can manage him by myself..” his lips twitched upwards.

“I’m aware of that..” An echo of a smile hovered on Ty’s mouth, and Kit had to look away. “I didn’t do it because I had to.”

“So why did you do it?” Kit heard the desperation in his voice and cursed himself again, why couldn’t he keep it cool for at least five minutes?

Ty kept silent for a long moment before he answered, very slowly, like it pained him to say the words allowed.

“Because I couldn’t help it.”

Kit felt the trembling of his heart like it was laid in the palm of his hand.

“I don’t mind it when he picks on me. I know why he’s doing it, and it’s his business. But, the way he talks to you.. like you’re- as if he’s even-“

Kit was baffled. He never heard Ty struggle with words like this, though he knew they didn’t came as easily to him as to others. They were an instrument to him, a necessity.

“I just.. don’t like it.”

Kit didn’t know how to answer, and Ty didn’t look like he was waiting for a response.

They turned left on Northampton Rd, their destination was only a few minutes away. The stone pavement was littered with glass shards, shining between the dirty tiles like scattered glitter. The remains of a life, Kit thought.

A blue street sign told them that they weren’t so far from a children’s hospital, and the image of the all the potential captives of the demons flashed before Kit’s eyes. He was so immersed in his feelings, in his own pity, insignificant pain, that he managed to forget the real reason they were here.

Kit signalled Ty to follow his lead, as they turned into a narrow street. Right next to a brightly coloured flower shop, stood an old green wooden door with the address Hypatia gave him. He took out his stele, and quickly traced an open rune. The door creaked open, and they slid inside quietly, hidden behind their glamour.

Kit and Ty climbed two floors before they found the right apartment, a plain looking door with a metal plaque with the letter M hanged in the centre of it. Kit gave Ty a quick glance, debating whether he should say something before he knocked, but thought better of it. He lifted his hand towards the door when Ty asked in a low voice, “Aren’t you going to tell me that I should let you do the talking?”

He gave Kit a hesitant, shy smile, and all the anger and anxiety he felt flew out of him in an instant.

“Do I have to?” He replied with a grin, and knocked on the door.

Apparently, Hypatia wasn’t exaggerating when she called the warlock Marvin “unpleasant”.

The second he opened the door and saw Kit and Ty, he tried to slam it right in their faces. Kit was quick, though, and shoved his foot in the small space between the door and it’s frame.

“Ouch! That’s how you great everybody, Marvin?”

“It’s reserved to you Shadowhunters. What do you want?” Marvin was a rather short, tired looking man. He wore a blood red fluffy robe and had a slight greenish tint to skin that matched his moss coloured eyes, and a deep hoarse voice. Overall, he didn’t look like any warlock Kit had ever seen, he looked like an ordinary man that had a couple of drinks too much last night.

“My name is Christopher Herondale and this is Tiberius Blackthorn. We came to ask you a few questions about a.. very delicate matter.” Kit lifted his eyebrows to emphasise the need of a private conversation.

The warlock gave him a long, measuring look. “Herondale, you say? Are you familiar with Magnus Bane?”

“Yeah!” Kit’s mood lifted. If this warlock was a friend of Magnus, maybe he’ll be more inclined to help them. “He’s family friend. Good friend. Of both of us.” He gestured at Ty.

After another moment of hesitation, the warlock opened the door and moved aside to let them in.

Kit looked around him in amazement. The apartment was enormous, much bigger than what he would have thought just by looking at the building. The light inside was warm and dimmed, as if the sun was long gone from the sky and only the excessive amount of candles lit the room. But that wasn’t what was extraordinary about the place. Every single wall across the entire apartment was covered with books. Kit had never seen such a thing in his entire life, and he lived with Tessa Grey. He suppressed the urge to take a picture, and turned to Ty.

“Are you seeing this, Ty?”

Ty’s face mirrored his own amazement, but he didn’t seem to see the space around him. Kit followed his gaze, to know what he was looking at, and felt his mouth open in surprise.

In front of them stood Marvin, with his fluffy robe and solemn expression, but where his hands should have been, were long, slimy green tentacles. They were covered with pink suckers down to their tips, that curled inward and nearly reached his knees.

Kit closed his mouth and gave Ty a worried look, the last thing they needed was to make the warlock feel uncomfortable or angry. Sure, Kit was surprised by the addition, but he was used to warlocks. He remembered once meeting a warlock who’s entire body was covered with sparkly purple gills, but Ty wasn’t as used to downworlders as he was.

He better start talking, before things got too awkward. “So, umm-“

“Your tentacles..” Ty whispered before he could finish his words. Oh no, Kit thought, and gave Ty a meaningful look that he didn’t seem to notice.

“Yes?” Marvin’s voice was icy cold and his tentacles opened menacingly, like a strand of hair, escaping its roller.

“They’re incredible!” Ty called. “How long do they reach? Their texture indicates that they’re regularly moistened, but is it so or are they naturally slick? I wrote a paper once about the variety of oceanic marks in warlocks, but this is by far the most interesting I’ve ever encountered.”

Kit and Marvin both stared at Ty with unabashed amazement for a few seconds before Marvin stuttered a response.

“Thank you, I.. think. I just use moisturiser. I have a fella in the market that makes me a jasmine scented cream. I can give you his number, if.. you want.”

Kit couldn’t believe what was happening. He was terrified that Ty would be repulsed by the warlock’s.. unusual appearance, and now they were exchanging body care notes and discussing the advantages of tentacles in a fight. He supposed he shouldn’t have been so surprised, and reminded himself of the days he spent in the shadow market with Ty. Everybody loved him, even before the cold peace was eradicated.

An overwhelming urge to put his arms around Ty punched his way into Kit’s heart, to hold him close, to feel the steady beat of his heart against his. To lose himself in his smell of ink, rain and clean cotton. But he couldn’t do that, even if he wasn’t in danger of bursting like a lightning storm. Ty didn’t want him that way. No matter how hopeful Kit felt by his warm behaviour in the last few days, Ty had proved him yesterday that there was little left between them. It wasn’t friendship, and definitely nothing more than that.

Eventually, Kit cleared his throat and reminded the two that they came here for an important reason, not a courtesy call.

As they spoke of the demon appearances and their suspicions about the missing children, Marvin’s eyes darkened and his lips compressed themselves into a thin line.

“I admit that this is worst than what I imagined. I’ve heard things.. not many downworld residents will speak of it, but I have my way of learning things. I heard that the moloch demons are searching to strengthen their master, so he will be able to take hold of this world. If what you’re saying is correct, the ritual of sacrifice might be exactly the way they’re planning to do it.”

“So when we found them in that warehouse..” Ty started in a shaken voice.

“They were looking for a place to preform the ritual, and hide the kids.” Kit completed, his fingers pressing hard over the knuckles, threatening to pop the bones out of their place.

“In the map we made, where we traced the demons appearances with the locations of kidnap, the warehouse was near one of the places where three kids were taken. That means they’re staying close to where they were seen last.”

Ty spoke slowly, as if he was seeing and interpreting the map right before his eyes. “Now all we have to do is look in that area for a potential place of hiding for them.”

“Yes,” Kit whispered. “A place that has an underground entrance.”

Ty sat on the floor to the foot of his bed, his hands planted deep in the soft maze of Irene’s fur. She was sprawled on his lap, her eyes following Livvy as she floated around the room.

“So you found the place? You know where they are?”

Her voice quivered with excitement and worry. Ty knew that she, like him, couldn’t help but remember the day their brother Tavvy was taken by Malcolm Fade. He tried to cast away the memories, Tavvy’s small body slack on the stone table, Malcolm’s army of the dead.

He shook his head and turned to his sister.

“We have a couple of potential locations that fits the profile we’re looking for. We can’t go during the night, because the demons can follow us outside. It’s safer to do this during the day.”

She nodded, her expression clouded, as if her mere existence was hiding away a secret.

“Is.. Kit coming with you?” She asked with that voice of hers she used whenever she was about to touch a subject Ty was less than inclined to discuss.

“I don’t know.. I hope he will. I think he’s still angry with me. I planned to apologise but I was so angry when we left the institute, because of Carl and because I couldn’t stop him before he said more hurtful things to Kit.. I just couldn’t find the right words. And when we left Marvin’s apartment we got so caught up in the investigation.”

“But when you came back? He’s still here, right?”

Ty pressed his cheek to Irene’s back and listened to her peculiar heartbeat. It grounded his mind to a single thought, to a single purpose.

“He’s here. As soon as Carl entered the room he left, but I heard him in the training room earlier.”

Livvy floated closer to him, something she didn’t usually do when Irene was so close, because it made her jumpy.

“Ty, you should go talk to him. You should apologise. Tomorrow you’re going to face the angel knows how many demons. You should do this.. before.”

Ty considered her words. In the next day they were headed towards danger, something that never frightened Ty. He was a Shadowhunter - danger was their closest companion, even in the Scholomance. But if Kit will come with them still thinking Ty didn’t trust him, it could seriously compromise them as a team, and therefore put Kit in danger.

He picked up his phone and checked for the time. It was late, and Kit was probably already asleep.. but it wouldn’t be the first time Ty had woke him up.

He gently lifted Irene off him, and placed her on the makeshift bed he had made for her when she arrived a few days ago.

With a witchlight in his hand, Ty walked the narrow corridor that led to Kit’s room.

Ty hesitated a second before he opened the door, but the thought of seeing Kit again filled his body with an excitement that wiped away the fear of his reaction. He pulled the handle down, and thanked for the soundless rune he put on the soles of his boots.

In the far corner of the dark room, lay Kit. Half covered with a heavy white blanket, his bare back facing Ty.

Ty felt the breath abandon his body completely. He never saw Kit like this, not now and not when they were younger.

He remembered the day he got injured, the day they met again, and Jem’s steady hands searching his body for hidden injuries. He remembered how completely shell shocked from desire he was by the mere sight of Kit’s feverish, exposed skin.

He fell to his knees in front of Kit’s bed without having any control over his body. The need to touch him was overwhelming, to trace the hard muscles of his back with the tips of his fingers, to study the curves and hollows of his bones all over the desert of his skin, to name each birthmark with his lips.

Ty shuddered violently and told himself, commanded himself not to do anything to scare Kit away.

“Kit,” his voice was an inaudible whisper. “Kit, wake up”.

Kit didn’t stir, not even a slight movement.

Ty lifted a trembling hand and shook Kit’s shoulder, “Kit, wake u-“

And with a flash of silvery light he barely had time to see, Ty was lifted off his knees and slammed hard onto the bed.

Kit’s fist held the front of Ty’s shirt, pinning him to the bed, and his other hand held a dagger to his neck. The Herondale dagger.

He was on top of Ty, his entire body pressing down on him, and Ty felt him, each part of him, with a frantic voice screaming in his head that he must remember this, every second of this moment, every part of the way Kit’s skin felt against his.

His eyes, midnight blue and darker than Ty had ever seen them, focused with a visible effort on his. He didn’t say a word, and Ty barely managed to notice how hard he was breathing, like he woke up from a nightmare but wasn’t sure if he was still asleep.

Ty couldn’t speak. Kit’s face was a blaze of golden white in the pale moonlight, he was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. The sweet scent of his breath on his made him feel dizzy, and for a second, he wasn’t sure he was actually there, or still on the foot of his own bed.

“Christoper,” He whispered, his voice hoarse and thick. “I-“

And his lips were on his, hard and hot like a burst of flames erupting from stone.

He kissed him with a violent desperation, like he was on the verge of death and could find air only in-between their lips, like every drop of water that ever existed was to be found when their tongues met, melting his body into the stormy sea of a lost world.

Every place Kit’s lips touched made Ty burn, and they touched him everywhere. His jaw, his neck, the deep hollow above his sternum. He was burning like he never touched before. Every kiss he ever had, every place his body was touched until now was nothing but shadows, outlines of a desire he never knew existed.

His fingers grazed Kit’s naked back, touching all the places he yearned to touch before, tasting the velvety skin in the nape of his neck and the soft curls of his hair felt like feathers in his hands.

Kit’s lips found his again, and Ty could feel the need in him, the hunger. He bit his lower lip and Ty let out a low, breathless moan.

And with another flash of light, Kit was gone.

Ty felt like something was ripped away from him, an essential part of his body. He nearly screamed in pain when he saw Kit hunched in the corner of the bed. His back was trembling like he was stranded naked in the coldest of nights.

His thoughts sharpened slightly by the absence of Kit’s touch, Ty sat slowly, not touching him.

“What- what’s wrong?”

He heard his own voice like it was a stranger’s. There was nothing familiar about it, nothing reassuring, nothing to hold on to.

Kit didn’t answer, and Ty feared that he was crying. But why? Why would he be crying?

Ty’s blood sang in his veins, the strength of his emotions nearly knocking him back on his back.

He wanted to wrap his arms around Kit, to kiss the softness under his eyes, to press his hands against his heart and tell him, he wanted to tell him that-

“Leave.”

Kit’s pleading voice was barely a whisper, and Ty wished he only had imagined it.

“Please, Ty.. please. Leave.”

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