Alec crouched down and examined the body of the mundane laid out on the pavement. He lifted the edge of the man's jacket and grimaced at the demon ichor that oozed from the fatal wound to his chest.

He tried to breath through his mouth as the rotting smell hit him. "The heart's missing. Looks like the demon ripped it clean from of his chest."

"You're actually enjoying this, aren't you?"

Alec glanced up at Jace where he leaned against the bricks of the alley wall, twirling a dagger by its hilt between two of his fingers.

"Jace, we're standing over the dead body of a mundane who smells like he was dragged through the sewers. Why in the world would I be enjoying this right now?"

Jace shrugged. "Because the murder of a mundane by a demon is dangerous enough to warrant having the head of the institute back in the field. C'mon, you know you miss going on hunts together."

Alec rolled his eyes. "A man is dead, Jace. Please, just try to show a little decency."

"That's not an answer."

Alec glared at him. "Are you just going to stand there annoying me or are you going to help me?"

Jace threw up his arms. "I did help you! I was the one that killed the demon and called you out here in the first place."

"Yeah, well now you're going to be the one that gets the gurney so we can bring him back to the institute."

Alec waved him out towards the mouth of the alleyway where the remnants of a chain link fence once stood. "Go."

Jace huffed and shoved off the wall. "Being head of the institute is making you pissy, Alec. I pity Magnus."

Alec glared at him, but his parabatai had already turned his back on him and was walking away.

Alec pushed himself onto his feet. A dog yowled a few blocks away. The sound sent a shiver down his spine as he peeled the medical gloves off of his hands and tossed them into the dumpster next to him.

"Alec!"

"What? You literally weren't even gone for a minute. What could possibly—"

Alec turned to see Jace sprinting across the street towards him. Alec's hand went to the seraph blade at his hip, ready to draw it at the first sign of danger.

The howling started up again, but it was more than just one dog this time. It gave Alec a horrible feeling in his gut.

"Alec, it's the wild hunt!"

Alec caught him as Jace practically barreled into him. Jace tried to pull him along but Alec planted his feet and grasped Jace by the shoulders. "Do be ridiculous, the wild hunt only goes after mundanes. By law they have no right to attack shadowhunters—"

A low growl emanated from behind them. Alec turned to see a black spectral dog treading slowly towards them. It's eyes glowed yellow as it entered the gloom of the alleyway where they stood.

Alec took a step back and placed his hand back on the seraph blade at his hip. "Is that—"

"A bloodthirsty hellhound staring directly at us?" Jace's hand tightened on his arm until Alec could feel his nails through his shirt. "Yeah."

The hellhound crouched low to the ground with it's teeth bared and hackles raised.

"That's… not possible. Hellhounds don't attack nephilim."

"Not unless they're order to." Jace's murmured.

Alec met Jace's eyes nervously. They both knew what the hellhounds preceded and two shadowhunters were no match for a pack of faeries, especially not faeries as skilled in battle as those of the Wild Hunt.

Another growl joined the first as a new hellhound stepped out from behind its brother.

"Run!" Jace dragged him away from the dead mundane and further into the darkness of the alleyway. They pounded the pavement, dodging fallen trash cans and dashing around corners.

The alleyway opened up into a courtyard, walls thickly covered with ivy and graffiti alike.

Without sparing a moment, Jace scaled the cement wall on their left. Alec fisted his hands in the thick tangle of ivy and scrambled over the other side after him. He landed harshly on a corroded metal patio table that clattered to the pavement as Alec rolled off of it, landing with his boots on the ground.

Jace was in the process of pulling Alec up onto the ledge of the second wall when they realized the sounds of pursuit weren't slowing. Alec panting, risked a look back over his shoulder just in time to see the hounds run straight through the wall across the courtyard, passing through it like it was nothing more than thin air.

"It just had to be spectral hound!"

More howls filled the air.

They jumped from the ledge.

Jace and Alec came out onto a stretch of chinese restaurants and specialty shops, shuttered tight for the night. A flash of yellow to their left told Alec all he needed to know. "This way!"

They lurched to the right. Mundanes parted unconsciously before them as they raced up the sidewalk. Alec's lungs burned with exertion and he could feel the endurance rune on his chest burning fiercely.

"Left!" shouted Jace. "They're trying to flank us."

A taxi swerved and blared its horn as they lurched across the crowded road and into the nearest alleyway.

At the end of the alley a fire escape sat with its ladder pulled down. Alec knew without asking that they were both thinking the same thing. Higher ground would be the only thing that stopped them from becoming hellhound jerky. They'd just have to risk finding out how high hellhounds could jump.

"You ready?" Jace's eyes were nailed to the bottom rung of the ladder as they drew closer. "On three… one—"

Alec grabbed Jace by the back of his shirt so suddenly that the skidding stop he'd originally intended turned into a full out slide across the pavement. Jace cried out at the raw pain in his bleeding forearms. Alec was feeling it too, they'd definitely scraped away a layer of skin on that pavement.

"Ah— Why the hell would you— " Jace rolled onto his hands and knees. His attempt to stand was stopped with a blade at his neck.

"Faeries." grunted Alec as he eyed the one standing before him, blade in hand. "That's why."

Alec's fingers stretched discretely for the dagger in his boot. Teeth snapped loud in Alec's ear and he didn't dare risk turning his head to find out exactly how close. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the other hellhounds tightening rank in a half circle around him and Jace.

Alec flattened his hand against the black top and abandoned the idea of arming himself all together.

The faerie knight in front of Alec smiled. Alec took in his angular face and studded leather armour. He couldn't place his face but he didn't bare the common floral embellishments of the Seelie court. "Wise decision, Alexander."

Jace stood up fast, shoving aside the blade leveled at him. The other faerie flicked it back against his neck the moment he had his feet under him.

Jace spared him an irritated glance, but returned his attention to the faerie knight in front of Alec. "How do you know his name?"

"I'm sorry, is it some well kept secret?"

"It should be to a member of the Unseelie court." said Jace. "Your people don't associate with other members of the shadow world."

"I'm not of the Unseelie Court. I wander where I please. Serving any court that requires my services."

A solitary faerie. Like lone wolves, it wasn't often that you saw one calling such blatant attention to themselves. Alec, knew however, that unlike lone wolves, any faerie that could survive outside of a court was ten times more dangerous than their regular kin.

"Then who are you?" asked Alec. "And what do you want from us?"

The faerie sheathed the dagger he was holding and crouched down until he was almost at Alec's eye level. In a relaxed manner he tucked a stray section of his hair behind his ear.

Alec stared into his dark brown eyes and didn't feel the least bit comforted when he smiled again. The hint of a nasty smirk laid behind his every expression. In him, Alec sensed the worst of faerie mischievousness.

"My name's Cillian, and as for what I want from you… nothing yet. The Seelie Queen would have it otherwise, but for now I simply wanted to set eyes on you."

He braced his hands on his knees and pushed onto his feet.

"Call off your hounds, Gabe. We're leaving."

The other faerie whistled a quick sharp tone and the hounds darted around them. It was only when they were alone in the alley that Jace finally moved to help Alec to his feet. His offered hand didn't release Alec after he had both feet on the ground, however.

"Alec, what the hell was that all about?"

Alec looked off to where they faeries had gone. "I don't know, but I have a feeling we're going to find out sooner rather than later."