"Sire, we have news from the front," said one of the knights at Robert Lightwood's side. The king barely looked at him.

"Let's have it then," he demanded, his eyes still scanning a pile of maps.

"The demons have taken Penhallow."

"Dammit," The king punched the table. "That's only miles from here! We can't hold them off much longer."

"I thought you called for Him." said one of the king's advisors. "Why hasn't he come?"

"We shouldn't be waiting around for a sorcerer," said Jace, dressed in a blue tunic that made him look like the embodiment of the sun and sea. "We should be fighting! Send me and my men. We can still win this!"

"I'm not risking you now!" The king snapped, "The royal guard is our last line of defense. I'm not sending you out until it's absolutely necessary."

Isabelle was sitting in a chair by the window, her dark eyes on the garden outside looking distant and troubled, and Alec stood beside her, his eyes down and his expression haunted. His mind still picturing burning hillsides and screaming people.

Demons aren't people. He thought. Humans cannot fight them. We need a much grander force, or all of us are going to perish.

At that moment there was a pounding on the door.

The room collectively jolted in surprise.

"Who is that?" asked one of the knights. "Could it be Him?"

"But how did he make it passed the wall?"

Alec straightened, his arms falling from his chest. He moved to open the door.

Jace seized his arm. "What are you doing?" He demanded, eyes blazing. "It could be dangerous!"

Alec's expression became set. "It could be Him!"

"He's right, you know," came a sudden smooth voice. The entire room whirled around to see a tall, thin man lounging sideways on the kings chair. "It really could be."

Alec's eyes became wide and startled.

He had seen Magnus Bane before– everyone had. He often attended court, and was known for throwing lavish parties, but Alec had never seen him this up close.

He was dressed opulently in a gold tunic, his black hair done up in gravity defying spikes, and he was extremely handsome. His body long, lithe, and dark with rich almond skin. His slitted eyes a sparking gold-green like a cat's.

Alec felt like he was holding his breath.

Magnus turned his eyes on Robert. Giving him a look of mild impatience, "Well?" He demanded with entitlement, "You called?"

Robert glared at him.

"We need your help," he gritted, as if his teeth themselves were trying to hold back the words. "The war–,"

"Yes, yes." Magnus fluttered his fingers through the air, "I know all about it. Demons killing and burning through the towns. My question is, what are you asking of me?"

The king's eyes darkened.

"Give us something to help us beat them." he said. "We can't do it on our own."

Magnus grinned.

"Are you willing to make a deal with me then?" he asked. "You realize that anything I give you must come with compensation. Something of equivalent value. Are you willing to give something up for what you want?"

"Yes," said the king, leaning his arms heavily on the table, "We need your help, warlock. I'll give you all the money you want."

Magnus snickered. "Ah," He wagged a finger through the air. "But I don't want money. My prices require a much greater sacrifice. Things that are irreplaceable, things that are unique."

"Then what do you want?" Robert's dark eyes narrowed sharply, "Name your price."

Magnus' eyes flickered around the room, and–almost immediately– Alec thought they landed on him. The warlock smiled.

"Perhaps we should talk about what you're getting first." Magnus said, swinging his legs around and sitting up in the chair. "After all, I cannot just whisk away an army of demons. Nor do I plan to fight them for you. What I can do, is give your soliders a way to be strong enough to beat them yourselves."

"How?" it was Jace who asked this, his face alight with fascination. Alec wasn't surprised. Jace thirsted for strength. How incredible an idea it must have been for him to have enough to kill demons.

Magnus's eyes cut to Jace with a look of dark understanding.

"I have in my possession," said the warlock, "An extremely powerful goblet. It was passed down from Angels, and inside it, holy blood flows infinite. Anyone who drinks of it will become a warrior of light, with all the power from on-high flowing through their veins."

Magnus' words settled over the room with an awe-filled hush, and even Alec's lips were parted in stunned disbelief.

"There are however," Magnus added, pressing the tips of his fingers together like a church steeple. "A few strings attached."

"What?" Asked Jace, immediate distrust in his eyes. Alec shot him a look.

Magnus eyes shined.

"The first, is that what is done can never be undone," Magnus said, "Those who take on the angels' blood will be their warriors forever. They will never become human again."

"The second," he continued, "Is that those with the blood of angels will be eternally bound to seek out the demons who permeate this world. They will forever be drawn to fight and destroy them, even against their own will. It will become their duty, and their duty alone, even at the risk of their own lives."

"And Last," said Magnus, leaning back and crossing his ankles against the floor, "Is that not everyone who partakes of the angels' blood will live. Only those with the proper strength, and the purest hearts, with be able to stomach the power. Those who cannot will be destroyed by it."

"So," Magnus grinned, clasping his hands together. "Are you ready to make our deal?"

The was a rush of murmurs through the room.

"You never told us your price," The king said slowly, after a moment of hushed muttering with the advisors at his side. "What do you want in return for this?"

Magnus' eyelids lowered over his slitted eyes.

"Well that's rather simple," Magnus replied. "Like I said before, I want something equal, something as valuable and one-of-a-kind as what I am giving." Magnus raised a dark, long-fingered hand and pointed across the room. "I want him."

The there was a collective inhale as everyone one in the room turned to see that Magnus was pointing at where Jace stood, still gripping Alec by the arm.

A dark silence oppressed the room.

"You want Jace?" The kind demanded, and Jace uncomfortably shifted his eyes back and forth.

"Umm… you're not really my type…"

Magnus expression scrunched up and soured. "No, not him." he said with a dismissive wave of his hand that seemed to instantly wound Jace's pride. "The boy with the blue eyes."

Alec thought his jaw might have dropped.

"Me?" he asked in complete and utter shock, that was a little less horrified than it perhaps ought to have been. "You're asking for me, in return for The Angel's Cup?"

The entire room seemed to be looking between them, as if waiting for Magnus to suddenly snort and say "Just kidding!" Or at least that's what Alec was waiting for.

But Magnus just gave him a warm smile.

"Well of course," he said, "Living beings are among the most precious and unique things in the world, and you, in particular, happen to be a young life, not to mention the oldest son of a royal lineage, the next heir to a throne. You are the equal payment that I require."

"You cannot ask for my son!" Robert Lightwood roared, "There must be something else!"

"There isn't," Magnus' voice was cool, and even. "Each deal I make has a single price. You can pay it, or you can turn the deal away. That is how it works."

"But what your giving us comes with it's own prices," Robert protested, "This isn't fair!"

"The sacrifices The Cup requires are not my problem," Magnus stated, crossing his legs. "I am not the cup, it's costs do not concern me. My deal is simply turning it over to you, not what happens once you have it. But I'll tell you what," Magnus stood. "If you give me your son I promise to let him go on living his life. He will still preform as the prince, he will still see his family, he will still exist in the world as he always has– but now he will do it while belonging to me. He will be bound to me, must do anything I ask, and every night by midnight if he has not already, he will be forced to return to my side and live in my manor with me."

"But why?" Jace asked, pushing Alec behind him as if for his own protection. "What will you do with him?"

Magnus turned to look at Jace with sharp eyes.

"He'll be my servant, of course." Magnus said, "Not to mention, owning a prince is quite an influential position to find myself in."

Jace's lips curled back from his teeth.

"I'm not going to barter my son away," Robert said, suddenly stepping to Alec's side and clamping a hand down on his shoulder. It didn't feel protective, though. It felt possessive, like someone clutching their wallet in a tighter fist when someone asks them for money.

Suddenly Isabelle, who had been entirely silent up until now, stood up.

"Alec," Isabelle said, her black eyes intent on her brother's face. "What do you want to do?"

Alec's eyes widened.

The entire room fell silent then, and for a moment nobody moved.

Alec caught a look on Magnus' face that might have been admiration as he looked at Isabelle.

Slowly Jace and Robert turned to look at Alec.

"You don't have to do this," Jace said sternly, his eyes intense on Alec's face. "We will find another way."

Alec looked back at him, and his expression softened.

"No, Jace," He said, placing his hand on Jace's shoulder like he was pleading with him. "We won't."

And with that Alec stepped out on his own.

Magnus watched with gleaming eyes as Alec approached him and extended his hand.

"I will make the deal with you," Alec said, a steady, warm light in his pale blue eyes. "Give my family what you promised for our kingdom, and I will be yours."

Magnus lips stretched out in a slow, sly smile.

"It's forever, you know." said Magnus, "Whatever happens now, you can never take it back."

Alec's expression steeled.

"I know," he agreed, a determined strength visible in the set of his shoulders, "but what you're giving us could protect my people forever too. So, for me, that's a fair trade."

Magnus' smile softened.

"Smart and brave," Magnus said, "I knew I made a good choice."

Alec blushed at that, and in an effort to look away he glanced at Isabelle, who was looking at him with unreadable eyes.

He tilted his head. "I'll be okay," he mouthed silently to her. Isabelle smiled.

"I know," she mouthed back.

It was at that moment Alec saw something in Isabelle's face when she looked at Magnus, but he wasn't sure, at first, what to make of it.

For some reason… it seemed to him like a kind of certainty; the confidence of someone who already knew what lay ahead.

Then Magnus took Alec's hand.

"The deal," Magnus said, his warm fingers tightening around Alec's, "is struck." and blue sparks began to flow over Alec's skin.

Alec sucked in a breath, bracing himself for the pain he's was somehow expecting to follow, but nothing came. Instead, the fluttering blue lights seemed to all sink into the skin around his wrist and stay there, until the image of a wristband, cut from blue fire, was seared into his arm.

Alec's eyes widened in surprise, and Magnus released him.

"Now you're mine," the warlock said, as the blue light of the tattoo danced momentarily in Alec's eyes. Then, slowly, it faded until there was nothing but the black image of fire looped around his wrist. Alec raised his eyes to meet, Magnus', and there was no fear in them as he nodded his head.

"And this," The warlock added, snapping his fingers and making a cloud of smoke raise from his hand. A gold and crystal cup, full of radiant platinum liquid, appeared clutched in his fingers. "Is yours," He handed it to Alec.

Alec took the cup between the his hands, and realized it was warm.

Robert reached for the cup.

"Ah, ah," Magnus stepped between the king and Alec. "I'm afraid, Alec is the one who agreed to my deal. That means the cup belongs to him." Magnus snapped his fingers and suddenly Alexander Lightwood appeared in shining white cursive along the base of the cup. "That means only he can take possession of the cup, or allow others to use it."

Robert's expression tightened in fury, "I am the king–," he started to roar, but Alec stepped out from behind Magus.

"Father!" he broke in quickly, "Just ask me for it,"

Magnus looked down at Alec with a delighted grin.

The king looked like he was about to boil over.

"May I use the cup for our armies, Alexander?" Robert demanded, an angry strain in his voice. Alec saw, in the corner of his eyes, as Isabelle turned towards the window, covering a smirk with her hand.

Magnus made no effort to hide his.

Alec remained perfectly steady, "Yes," he offered the cup to his father. "Please take this and use it for our armies."

Robert reached out and took the cup from his son's hands.

He narrowed his eyes.

"You may have made a mistake, Alexander," The king said darkly, "aligning yourself with this man."

Alec raised his chin.

"I don't think so," he said, "but either way, it's my mistake to make."

His father's eyes narrowed as he turned away from him in a sort of manly huff and next Jace approached him, a contrite expression in his eyes.

He sighed.

"That was a crazy thing to do," he said, his gold eyes shifting warily toward Magnus.

Alec smiled, "It was the right thing to do."

Jace's expression changed, and he looked like he was about to protest when Magnus' hand came to rest on Alec's shoulder.

"Sorry to bother you, darling, but it's about time for us to be going." Magnus said, and Alec turned to look up at him.

He straighten his shoulders and nodded, "Of course."

Jace's eyes widened, "You're taking him now? I thought you said he could live his life!"

"Around my dictation, he can," said Magnus, "but right now, I dictate that he comes with me."

Jace's eyes narrowed and he opened his mouth to speak but Alec cut him off.

"It's fine," Alec smiled, "He's right. Don't worry Jace, I'll see you soon."

Jace teeth clicked together with a hiss. "Fine. But you'll be here when we start the ceremony for the Cup, won't you?"

Immediately Alec turned to look up at Magnus, obviously leaving the answer up to him. Magnus smiled approvingly.

"He will be," Magnus replied, draping his arm around Alec's shoulders, "as will I, as I'd rather like to see it for myself."

Jace frowned at Magnus but nodded. "Then I'll see you both tomorrow." and he turned away.

Alec's sister suddenly reached for him, wrapping her arms around him in a hug.

"Good luck, big brother." she said, squeezing him."promise me you'll give me details on what the Dark Manor is like."

"Now, now," Magnus said, with a glint of humor. "A warlock doesn't reveal his secrets so easily."

Isabelle grinned at him as she released Alec. "We'll see." They both shared a strangely amicable stare that Alec didn't totally understand.

Then Magnus snapped his fingers, and the two of them disappeared into a cloud of smoke.