Chapter 4: A Legacy

Alec fell back against the couch violently with a loud scream, followed by loud gasps of pain as his eyes began to glow bright yellow. His eyes were like fire. He reached out grabbing Magnus' hand squeezing tightly as he writhed in pain on the couch. He continued to scream and gasp as his body began to convulse. It was like waves of power were coming from somewhere and hitting him over and over again. Within moments all of them were blinded by an intensely bright light that filled every corner of darkness in the entire house. Next thing they all knew they were standing in a field out in the middle of the woods somewhere in the mundane world. The bright light had brought them all here. Even Clary, Simon, and Izzy were summoned looking quite confused and scared. They all stood there blinking as their eyes adjusted to the dimming light next to Alec, who was now laying on the ground atop the fallen leaves. They were all standing in a half circle around Alec. He was still writhing in pain but the light had faded from his eyes. Jace could still feel the power surging through Alec and it was clearly coming from the creature of light who was beginning to appear beside Alec. Jace was brought to his knees by the pain coming through the Parabatai mark. Slowly the light cleared to reveal an angel whose eyes burned like fire and whose wings were made of fire.

Everybody now knew what had happened. By saying the Angel of Death's true name in front of Alec, they had unwittingly summoned him. Or perhaps the angel Samael was simply waiting for all of them to figure it out before making himself known. Now the angel Samael's eyes were no longer flaming and turned to a brilliant blue. His wings lost their fire as well and turned to a natural looking black set of wings. The angel Samael looked at everyone in front of him. Although the light had left Alec's eyes he continued to lay on the ground completely still. Jace's pain eased away but he could feel Alec's power humming through him as it came across the Parabatai mark. Jace stood up and started to move towards Alec but one of the angel's wings shot out from around his body and covered Alec's body, blocking Jace. The angel Samael began to speak as his wing retreated back behind him again into its resting position.

"You have been summoned here because you are his acolytes." There was a ring in the air that accompanied his voice. It made them all feel a little dizzy hearing his voice echo around them. There was so much power radiating from the angel. Jace spoke up to the Angel. "We are not his Acolytes, we are his family, we are his friends!" The angel Samael looked at Jace with a questioning look as he spoke. "What is the difference, you work to support him, you protect him and help him. This is all that matters, no?" The angel continued on. "Alec Lightwood is my chosen heir. He has been summoned to take the power of his father. Many generations have my children lived amongst the mortals. I gave birth to the beginning of these children for one purpose. For the day that the world would need protection from the Original Sinners. In all these years the Unforgivable Ones, the Original Sinners have yet to surface and so the traits of my children went dormant until the time of their needing. It is time Alec, they have finally risen, and it is time for you to rise to your calling."

They all collectively gasped. Simon stepped forward and asked, "Do these creatures you speak of have anything to do with the mist that attacked us and Alec?" The angel simply nodded a confirmation. "What exactly are they and what does Alec have to do with it?" Izzy asked but before the angel could answer Magnus stepped forward, "Why is Alec still lying there on the ground? Is he alright?" The angel smiled at Magnus and looked towards Jace as he answered, "I am letting him rest for a moment. I have put him into a deep sleep to recover. My powers have awakened in him and he is only human. It is painful. He is still my child and I do not wish for him to suffer. You can feel him through your connection. It is a True Parabatai, is it not?" Jace stepped back a little confused. "Y-yes. Why does this matter?" Jace was worried. He could feel Alec still humming with energy but he was definitely asleep as the angel Samael stated. "You will be receiving some of his power because of your connection and its intensity." The angel looked at Simon, a flicker of what seemed like anger crossed his face for just a fraction of a second. Izzy moved closer to Simon, fearful of the angel's intentions for Simon.

The angel spoke to Simon now. "You were once a vampire, were you not?" Simon only nodded, not wanting to anger the angel. "I am glad you are no longer that vermin. A mockery of me made by the very evil we now face." They all stared at the angel wide-eyed. How can a vampire be a mockery of an angel? They are nothing alike. Clary was the first to have the courage to ask this to the angel. The angel Samael smiled at Clary's question. He let his smile grow until they could all clearly see his teeth. Two sharp canines not unlike a vampire's showing clearly through his smile. They all collectively stepped back except Jace and Magnus who dared not leave Alec. The angel continued, "The Unforgivable Ones thought it a foul joke to corrupt the first of the humans with a demonic curse of their making based upon the Angel of Death, the Justice of God!" The angel was clearly very angry now. "The lifeforce given to you by the divine, should only ever be taken by his champions of Justice as penance for the transgressions of evil. Now there is a whole subspecies with a need to take that lifeforce which was never theirs to take. Only the Divine should give this power of immortality. The worst mockery being of how they are made. Buried and risen like zombies! Disgraceful. But fear not I will show you all tonight how the Divine Bleeding is truly done."

They were all more fearful than ever of the Angel of Death. It was clear now that he was the Original Vampire and the greatest of Archangels. There would be nothing they could do to stop whatever he had planned for them or Alec. The angel was not done with his monologue yet, though as he continued. "Now I will answer your earlier questions. The Original Sinners, the Unforgivable Ones, they have a true name. They are the Leviathans." Ezekiel fell to the ground clearly thrown by the information. They all looked towards him for an explanation. Ezekiel was breathing heavily as he began to speak. "I-I-I th-thought they were legends. Th-that they were destroyed by the Divine. How can we hope to stop them? Aren't you the last of the Divine Defenders as you were the first and strongest?" The angel nodded as he spoke, "I am the last of my kind of Seraphim. We lost them all when we were sent to kill and trap the Leviathans when the lord deemed them unstable creations. I managed to trap the last of them with a powerful spell, but I knew it would not be able to hold them for all eternity so I created more of my kind in the only way that I could."

Now everyone was staring at Alec still lying motionless in the center of them with the angel next to him. The angel's wings began to stretch out as he raised his arms out to either side. Alec began to levitate and rise into the air, turning so that he was upright as if he were standing up but he was floating a couple feet off the ground as if he was weightless in water, his shirt slowly rippling with his hair. "Alec is my child and he has my powers now but he is not complete. His human body is not able to receive the full power he will need to defeat the Leviathans. He is asleep now but he has heard everything happening here so he is aware of what we have spoken. I am going to awaken him now."

Alec's eyes shot open as he floated there amongst them, clear terror in his eyes. Jace shot forward towards him feeling his fear and pain. Once again the angel shot a wing out to stop Jace from approaching Alec. Jace began to plead, "Please Samael! He cannot shoulder this burden alone. Let me help him, please!" The angel Samael's expression once again went soft. "You will help him, all of you. You are his True Parabatai as I stated earlier. I am going to give Alec the Divine Transformation, making his body divine like mine, he will be as strong as me. He will be an Angel of Death. Your connection will afford you half of this strength. It cannot give you all of it or your body would bend under the power. You will be a powerful ally to him and me. He will need you for more, though. You will give him great power because of your connection when he feeds on you."

Jace stumbled back falling to his knees. Realization shredding him up from inside. The angel was going to turn Alec into a vampiric angel. There was no way for any of them to stop this; they were simply no match for the angel. Sensing Jace's realization and final defeat, the angel looked towards Magnus. " You will give him great power as well through your bond of love and the fact that you are a high warlock. Drinking your blood will give him great power. It is important that you help him cope with his new life. Once transformed and if he makes it through the fight to come he will live forever and he will always need to feed as your Downworlder vampires do. But he will not be one of them, the sun will not affect him or anything angelic as he will be more angel than regular angels. And above all he cannot drink from anything but live people, a blood bag will not nourish him. Animals will not nourish him."

Izzy stepped forward, tears streaming down her face. "Please, please take me instead. Please don't do this to him." For the first time Alec began to struggle against the force holding him. The angel immediately released him and he dropped onto one knee. He looked up at Izzy as he began to stand up. He smiled at her and said, "Izzy it is fine I accept this responsibility. If the world is in danger and I can do something about it there is no way I wouldn't do it. There is a silver lining here. I will live forever. Magnus, you know what that means for us, for Madzie. I will never leave you." Jace, still on his knees, looked up. "Alec, you will have to drink blood." Alec laughed. "If Simon could handle it I think I can." Simon stepped forward. "Yes I did but I had that blood delivered to me and the few times I had to bite someone it was personal and I felt horribly guilty. I know you are stronger than me but this is a serious decision."

The angel Samael looked out at everyone and then with a flash wrapped his arms around Alec holding him against his chest and a barrier of light exploded from the ground around them both. The light faded away quickly but they all knew that there was an invisible barrier between them and Alec now. The angel spoke again, this time his voice echoed loudly off of their surroundings making all of them want to hold their ears. "You seem to think that it is yours or his choice to make. It is a legacy that I will pass to him regardless of his wishes. This is his destiny and the world depends on him. There is no choice." Alec, still being held by the angel's arms around him, looked up at him and said, "Regardless of whether it is a choice I have or not it is a choice I am making. I will accept your transformation without resistance, to save the world and all my loved ones. You're right it isn't a choice. I have to."