Magnus Bane, The High Warlock of Brooklyn, The Magister of area Four
New York of the twenty-first
century wasn't very different from any other city in the world. There were
plenty of mundanes living their life oblivious to what was happening around
them. There were Shadowhunters, the descendants of Angel Raziel, half-angel,
half-human with improved skills in hunting and killing. And to the contrary, to
keep a balance in the world, were the Downworlders. The children of the night -
vampires. The children of the moon - werewolves. The Fair folk - faeries. And
finally the most dangerous, with the greatest power, the children of Lilith –
warlocks, half-human, half-demon.
There has been a war going on between Shadowhunters and Downworlders. A war of domination, power, survival.
It all started seventeen years ago, when Valentine Morgenstern, a young Shadowhunter along with his friends began the events known better as the Uprising. Valentine yearned for power since the very beginning. He was the one who wanted to destroy the Clave, the rules of the Accords between Shadowhunters and Downworlders, the whole Shadow World. Morgenstern wanted to get rid of the Downworlders, so the world would belong to the Shadowhunters, and only to them. He allied himself with demons and the group of his friends.
But as they say, when you chase something that's not yours to have in the first place, you fail.
Downworlders weren't sitting in the corner waiting for their destiny to reach them, to die. Quite the opposite, they fought as hard as the Shadowhunters if not harder. All kinds, werewolves, vampires, Fairies, Warlocks. All of them, allied with each other for the first time.
Together, hand in hand, they managed to defeat Valentine Morgenstern and his companions.
But it didn't end with that.
After the Uprising, the whole Shadow World changed.
The peace, once fiercely won, was now buried deep underground. Even with Valentine's death, the Shadow World was still divided.
Companions of Valentine Morgenstern were still feeding their children and grandchildren the ideas of taking the Shadow World for themselves. They were still attacking Downworlders and the other way around.
It was Shadowhunters versus Downworlders in their brutal war of surviving.
Downworlders made new rules for their community. Every city in the world, where Shadowhunters and Downworlders were living, was divided in two sides. Shadowhunters kept areas close to their local Institutes, while the Downworlders took the rest of it. Every Downworlder community in every Region, had their King or Queen. They had a Prime Magister who technically ruled the areas in the corresponding cities, and local Magisters to keep an eye over the specific areas.
And so one of them was Magnus Bane, the Magister of area four known better as Brooklyn, in New York.
He hated that position, truly hated it. He rarely could leave the town. The Prime Magister was keeping him in the city on a tight leash. And for once the leash wasn't something that Magnus enjoyed.
"Who are you?" a young, blond haired vampire looked at Magnus as he stood in front of the Prime Magister's residence. Magnus came back to town after a week of absence. He had been assigned to help the Magister of area two in London, known better as the High Warlock of London, Ragnor Fell, the one of the three true friends of Magnus Bane.
"Good evening. Is the…" Magnus wanted to insult somehow the Prime Magister, but he knew that the vampires were listening to him "Is the Prime Magister inside?"
"I asked who are you? Name, position and number"
"Magnus Bane, the High Warlock of Brooklyn, Magister of area four. Number: 401."
"Let him in!" A loud, deep voice with a Spanish accent interrupted the warlock, very familiar voice.
"You may step inside, Magnus Bane."
"Master Bane for you, sweetie," he winked at the young vampire, as he moved himself into the main room, known better as the 'throne room'.
Hotel Dumont had changed as well. Magnus still remembered it from the twenties, when the hotel was the most beautiful hotel in New York. He remembered his first night here, with a quite pretty lady named Etta. Ah, she had been truly amazing and young then.
"Bane, how nice that you're finally back," the Prime Magister was sitting on his throne, or like Magnus liked to call it, a very awful, blood-red big chair, with horrible gold frames. The Prime Magister looked quite ridiculous at it, and not only because he wasn't really tall, but he was also slim. There he looked like a little young boy, just as Magnus remembered him from the very first time he met him, back in the fifties.
"Oh, we're back to last names now?" the man was glaring him with an annoyance. "It's you who assigned me to London. So don't complain boy."
The rest of the vampires in the room inhaled air sharply to their throats, though it wasn't really necessary. After all, they don't need to breathe. It wasn't the first time Magnus called the Prime Magister like that, they knew each other for a long time now, so that shouldn't surprise anyone. And yet, the Prime Magister's slaves were murdering him with their bloodshot eyes.
"Oh come on," Bane mused under his nose, before turning to the man he came to speak with "Anyway, couldn't you move your skinny cold ass to Brooklyn if you missed me and wanted to talk?"
"Dios Mio, shut up Bane. Uno I didn't miss you, estupido," he came closer to the warlock, and tugged the sleeve of a very expensive Dolce red jacket. "Dos, we need to talk, amigo"
"Now we're amigos?" the smaller man raised his eyebrows at the warlock.
"Just come with me."
They were walking in silence, outside the Hotel. The vampire was leading Magnus through the darkest alleys of Manhattan, while being careful not to cross the border of the Shadowhunters' area. Manhattan hosted both of their communities, as the Institute and Hotel are both located here. Hotel Dumont, or Dumort now, has been the vampires' nest for a long time now, long before the war.
As they moved to the Kennedy's bridge on East River, Raphael stopped. He looked around, and closed his eyes. Magnus knew then that he's listening if there is anyone eavesdropping on their conversation. Ten seconds later the vampire opened his eyes and looked at the warlock, who was looking at him thoughtfully.
"So, what's the deal? It's so not you to drag me somewhere. I know I'm super-hot and all, but I've known you for a while…and last time I checked you don't play for my te…"
"Shut up Magnus," the warlock stuck his tongue at his companion. "It's serious."
"What?" Raphael turned towards the water, leaning on the railing. Magnus did the same, moving himself closer to the younger man. "What's going on?"
"Shadowhunters…"as always, Magnus thought. It wasn't anything new to him. Shadowhunters caused problems for Downworlders all the time, especially when they were on their 'hunts' on Magnus's community. "Some more of them came to the city. Aldous noticed four new. And the Magister of the Fair Folk…"
"Meliorn," the vampire nodded.
"He's almost sure that they are gathering again," Magnus raised his eyebrow at him. "That they will attack us again. And not some hunts or stupid fights…but an actual attack. Like the Uprising."
"Please…without a leader they are nothing. Who will lead them, huh? Last time I checked Valentine is dead."
"Yes, but the head of the Institute is…was his friend and he's whipped on those ideas," that made Magnus think for a bit. He tried to remember who Raphael is talking about. But his memory wasn't helping now.
"You mean Adam Whitelaw? Isn't he like old now? What possibly could he get from making an attack on us?"
"Dios, do you even know our local hunters?" Magnus just shrugged his arms. "The Institute is ruled by the Lightwoods now. Robert and Maryse Lightwood."
"Robert Lightworm?" Raphael titled his head to the left in a puzzle. "Never heard of him."
"Remember the Uprising?" A nod from the warlock. "He was the second in command of Morgenstern, just after Lucian Graymark. He was the one that killed the previous Head of the Institute's daughter, when she tried to protect those werewolves in Chinatown."
A quick memory came to Magnus's mind. Once again, he saw the fight with the Shadowhunters, the arrival of Whitelaws, killing Rachel, the death of Whitelaws.
"Ok, but he's like forty now, right? And he's leading the Institute," the vampire agreed. "So why is he potentially planning the attack, as you are saying? And who will stand beside him? Most of the people from the Uprising are dead, or they are no longer Shadowhunters. So who will stand beside him in it?"
"His kids. The young generation of Shadowhunters."
"Please…"
"You haven't seen them," he interrupted him brutally. "Jace Wayland…he's…he's like a true killer. Isabelle Lightwood can kill you in the blink of an eye with her whip. And there's the archer. Alexander Lightwood, he can kill you with one shot. They are really good. And if they train some more Shadowhunters…"
"We will outnumber them Raphael," the said man only shook his head. "They are no match for us, they are only children. And if they are a true danger, which I don't really believe, nothing serious has happened for seventeen years"
"But we must be prepared for everything Bane!" his voice showed that he's really serious about what he's saying. So Magnus only nodded.
"What are you suggesting, then, Prime Magister?"
"We're calling on a Council."
With that Magnus Bane understood that the matter is truly serious.
