"For Shadowhunters, you don't seem to do a lot of Shadowhunting" Raphael remarks as Clary, Izzy and I stride into the Hotel DuMort's top towers, the lavish decorations of Camille's fancy still littering the place.

"There is more to the job than killing demons" Izzy scoffs

"We need to talk to Camille" Clary requests, but there's an aura of demanding behind the words, "We know you have her here. We tracked her to the DuMort."

"It's true, but I'm afraid she's a bit tied up at the moment" Raphael admits, "Is there something I can help you with?"

"Just a second" Simon interjects before any of us can ask anything, whisking Raphael away to a corner of the room

It's not a long conversation.

"I'll bring you what's left of Camille's things, but speaking to her is out of the question" Raphael offers

"Her things?" Clary frowns, "This isn't the kind of book she would've left just sitting around."

"I'm sorry..." Raphael apologises, "But that's the best I can do."

"No it's not" I ridicule, "We're supposed to be allies, Raph."

"We are, but not for much longer if you continue to call me that name" Raphael glares

"It's Raph or Fang Boy, take it or leave it" I cock my head to the side, smirking, "Everyone I know gets a nickname."

"Shadowhunters have no business interfering with the Night Children's affairs." Raphael counters, deciding against protesting the nickname, "You may look to the Clave for justice, but the vampires look to me. Camille stays where she is."

"You're making a huge mistake" Clary threatens and I bit back my scolding her. She was going to make this worse, but we needed to show unity, now if ever.

It was the only thing that was going to get us through this alive.

***

Apparently, we'd decided to go the crazy route in our plan to wake Mom up.

The plan?

Izzy was going to distract Raphael and take him as far from us as possible while Clary and I, blissfully small and flexible, were going to cram ourselves into a kind of security coffin which Simon would then wheel to the dungeons, get us in and we could question Camille. A plan with no hiccups and no possible risks.

I'm sure it's gonna be fine!

"You sure this is going to work?" Simon questions us and I unwrap my legs from their uncomfortable position both wrapped over and pinned under Clary's body

"Izzy's a pro" Clary confirms, sliding out of the coffin and landing steadily, "By the time that vamp finds Raphael, we'll be long gone."

"Let's get this over with" I grunt, landing with a dull thud on the hard stone ground of the cell, "If anyone catches us, we're dead."

"Some of us already are" Simon laments and I roll my eyes

Clary scoffs softly, taking the bolt cutters from Simon's hands, another object stuffed into the tight coffin.

"Once we open this...there's no going back" Simon warns, standing hesitantly by Camille's steel, tightly chained coffin adorned with crosses and silver, "Everything we've done to unite the Downworld goes out the window."

"You already know how I feel about this" I surrender as Clary and Simon look to me and I cross my arms in front of my chest

When they'd first suggested the plan earlier, I'd mentioned all our work to unite the Downworld, to make progress and how all of that could be ruined if we did this. Not to mention it was dangerous, dumb and unnecessary. But, of course, all Clary could think about was Mom so she'd ignored my opinion and now...

Well, here we are.

"I wish there was another way" Clary sighs, "But if Valentine gets ahold of the Cup..."

I try not to scoff at her reasoning. The main reason she was doing this to get Mom back, not to rescue the Cup from Valentine's hands. Of course, she didn't want Valentine to get the Cup, build an army, kill hundreds of mundanes in the process but I knew, even though she didn't, that deep down, all she cared about was getting Mom back.

The crunching sound of snapping chains brings me back to the room and I watch hesitantly as Clary lifts the coffins opening, peering down at the seemingly unconscious Camille.

Deadly white-faced, covered in red cloth and sparkling jewellery...just as I remember her.

"She's dead!" Clary exclaims

"Well, yeah" Simon voices with a 'duh' tone, "What'd you expect? She's a vampire-"

Camille's horrendous, echoing shriek splits through the air and she sits up, but Clary's already prepared, her seraph blade resting neatly along Camille's throat.

"Not so fast" Clary growls

"What took you so long?" Camille inquires of Simon

"Excuse me?"

"I knew you'd come back for your sire, just like you did before" Camille hisses, "We're forever linked, you and I."

"How do you know I don't want to stake you?" Simon asks, his stake still raised, pointed at her chest if she decided to get too rowdy

"Do you?" she counters

"No." Simon confesses and Camille smiles sinsterly

"I do" Clary reveals, "But that's not why we're here. Where's the Book of the White?"

"The book of the what?"

"Aw, come on now, Camille" I hum, that same strange twinge of saying my own name aloud ringing in my brain, "The Book of the White. Big, massive fucking white book. Incredibly hard to miss."

"Never heard of it"

"And yet we tracked it to you" I gasp mockingly, "How in the world could that be?"

"My Darling name doppleganger...what could I possibly want with a spell book?"

"We don't have time for this" I scoff, "Put her back in."

"Okay, okay, okay!" Camille protests, sitting up straighter, "You said it was a warlock book?"

"Yeah" Clary nods, "We think our Mom gave it to you. She ran an antique store. Vampires sell that sort of stuff, right?"

"All the time. But if your mother was even half as charming as the two of you, I'm pretty sure I'd remember her."

"What about Dorothea Rollins?" I ask, the idea dawning on me, "She was her assistant"

"Dot? Oh, but of course. She was our favourite customer. So your entire lives has been paid for by my antiquities. I guess that means you owe me."

"The only thing we owe you" I snarl menacingly, pulling my own seraph blade from behind my back and pressing it to her chest, applying just enough pressure for it to hurt but not kill her, "Is a stake to the heart and if you don't tell us whether you have it or not, that's what you're gonna get."

"Ha ha ha" Camille laughs, amused, "Finally living up to our name. I'm semi-impressed...It's in my apartment on the Upper-East Side. My own pied-á-terre. I can take you there...but you'll have to get me our first."

We all hesitate, exchanging wary glances and Camille lowers herself back into the coffin, my seraph blade stabbing into open air.

"Or you can leave me in here and never get the book. Totally up to you."

Clary sighs, looking at me sheepishly and I didn't need to ask her what her decision was, I'd known since Camille had suggested our options.

"Fine. But mess us about and I will kill you, got it?"

***

"Simon, it's 6am, the sun's almost up" I warn him as we exit the dungeon carefully with an incredibly happy Camille trailing along behind us

"No problem. We'll go downstairs and take the tunnel's out. Come on" Simon urges, leading us further out but before we can even take 2 more steps, Raphael and a flock of vampires careen around the corner

"Going somewhere?"

"Raphael" Camille growls, stepping towards him, challenging him

"You should have stayed put" Raphael glares and Camille hisses, long and low, like a snake

"I'm disappointed in you" Raphael addresses Simon

"I-I guess it's to late to put her back in the box?" Simon stutters

"I'm afraid so" Raphael acknowledges, turning back to Clary and I, "Our alliance is finished. the Accords may prohibit killing mundanes, but they say nothing about sunburned vampires. Simon's betrayed us...just as Camille did. They deserve the same fate. Adios."

Surveying our situation cautiously, I push Clary behind me, edging myself closer to the front, even in front of Camille, smiling sinisterly

"Are you sure you want to do that, Raph?" I snarl his name sarcastically, "You know what happened the last time I fought a vampire, right?"

Raphael hesitates for a second, considering, but ultimately, makes the same decision, "Kill them!"

All the vampires in the room hiss and growl, the noises joining together to form one, massively agressive and menacing sound but before I can even process the oncoming attack and before my sleeper mode can come on, the rock wall beside us collapses, leaving a sliver of sunlight in it's wake with a small slit wide enough for Izzy to slip through, keeping a division between us and the other vampires

"Seriously, guys?" she scoffs, strutting towards us, bathed in sunlight and facing Raphael, "Typical vampire...always underestimating a Shadowhunter. Adios."

Izzy mimics Raphael's parting words, wiggling her fingers at him before tossing her hair over her shoulder and strutting towards the exit of the building, tall and confident.

***

"I think I'd have been better off just staying in the coffin" Camille sighs as we progress through the tunnels under the city

"By all means, go the fuck back then" I snark, not even bothering to look at her, "Just tell us where the book is."

"Patience, my dear-"

"Enough!" I snap, whirling on her, "Just because we got you out doesn't mean I won't kill you right here, right now."

"There's still one more thing I require of, um..." she trails off, pointing at Simon

"Simon" he offers, shaking his head

"A Writ of Transmutation" Camille continues

"What the hell is that?"

"A document stating you asked her to turn you into a vampire" Izzy explains

"Signed and sealed in your blood, of course" Camille adds

"Haven't you had enough of my blood?" Simon remarks

"Never." Camille smirks, "And I definitely don't want the Clave to falsely accuse me of killing mundanes."

"You want Simon to pardon you?" Clary gapes, slowly progressing towards Camille, seraph blade raised to her throat again "No way. You killed Simon. The least we could do is return the favour."

"And yet...the second I go up in smoke, so does any hope of you finding your precious book."

Clary raises the blade further up, preparing to stab her, but Simon grabs her arm quickly, stopping her.

"It's okay" he assures us

"So where do we get this document?" I sigh, "I can't imagine you have any friends left."

"I know a guy" Camille smiles, stalking off further down the pipe-lined corridor, leaving the four of us seething and glaring behind her.