Chapter Text
Pandemonium Club, London
The London air is bitingly cold.
Lily turns to look at Remus who is standing next to her, debating on whether it’s worth it to try and steal his jacket. She ultimately decides against it when she remembers that he had pestered her to bring a coat and she had outright refused, insisting that she would be fine.
In her defense, it typically didn’t take this long to get into the Pandemonium Club. But tonight it’s exceptionally busy. They had been standing outside the Pandemonium for what felt to Lily like hours but in reality, couldn't have been more than 30 minutes.
At the front of the line stands a young-looking boy, the reason for tonight's hold up. Lily can hear him desperately trying to convince the bouncer that his ID is, in fact, real and that he should be let into the club because he is definitely old enough to be there.
Lily rolls her eyes and turns to Remus. “You think they would have a better system for dealing with underaged kids trying to get in by now.”
He snorts. “The bouncer called for backup like ten minutes ago and no one has shown up to help deal with it, I mean what about if someone was actually starting a fight out here.”
Lily nods her head with a hum of agreement.
“I mean I know the Pandemonium isn’t the fanciest place but they should at least have basic security measures in place.” He continues.
Not the fanciest place is one way to describe the club. The building in question looks run down and dingy and is likely in violation of multiple health codes. It has neon lights above the entrance spelling out ‘Pandemonium’ that were more often than not broken. Tonight is one of the rare occasions that the sign is lit up, although they flicker off every few minutes seemingly at random before flashing brightly back on again. How the club was still up and running is a mystery. Lily thinks that the only reason they still get any business is the fact that it's extremely cheap and located near the university- the one that she and Remus attend.
“Right, remember the other month when they almost got shut down because that group of underage kids snuck in, started a fight, and the police had to get involved?”
“And that wasn’t the first time something like that has happened here.” Remus replies in an exasperated tone.
“I actually don’t know how they’re still in business” She giggles pushing back the stray hair that is falling into her eyes.
“Remind me why we bother coming here again”
Lily is about to reply to tell him they frequent this particular club because of how cheap it is when she sees something moving up ahead that catches her eye. Past where the underage boy is still arguing with the bouncer, stands perhaps the most stunning person Lily had ever seen.
“Lily?”
He has long dark curly hair that falls just past his shoulders, sharp cheekbones, and a defined jaw. Lily knew it wasn’t possible but she swore that the air around him was quite literally shimmering. Lily scanned him quickly trying to memorize his appearance so that she could attempt to draw him later- Lily loved the challenge of trying to draw strangers she had seen in passing relying only on her memory to get the features right.
“Lils?”
As Lily is watching him the boy glances around him and silently slips into the club without anyone around noticing.
“Hello? Lily Are yo-”
She grabs Remus’ arm, interrupting his attempts to get her attention. “Did you see that?”
“See what?” He asks.
“See-” She cut off as she watched two more figures follow in after the boy. They were both clothed in black with their hoods drawn up so she isn’t able to make out any of their features.
“See that.”
Remus looks at her in confusion.
“The people that just snuck into the club,” She clarifies.
“What?” He asked her even more confused, his eyebrows furrowed.
“Don't tell me you didn’t see it.” She rolls her eyes at him.
“Lily, see what? The only thing I see is that kid getting drug off by the bouncers.”
Lily focuses her attention back on the underage boy in front of them to see that he is in fact being drug off by security. Other people that had been held up in line by him are cheering as he is walked past. The boy is cursing colorfully in response as he goes.
“Lily, are you okay?” Remus says, shaking her arm.
“You're telling me you didn’t see that really fit guy sneak into the club followed by two people in dark clothing?”
“No, I didn’t. Again I ask, Lily, are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Are you okay? They were literally in-”
“IDs please.” The bouncer interrupts their conversation. Lily hadn’t registered that the line was moving again and she looks up surprised to find herself at the front of it.
“Oh right,” she says, digging in her bag for her ID. When she found it she handed it over to the bouncer noting that he looked quite annoyed with her.
He hands it back to her without so much as a word which Lily takes to mean that she is okay to go in.
She quickly shoves her wallet back into her bag. Hand in hand with Remus she walks under the glowing sign of the Pandemonium and into the dimly lit club.
*****
Regulus hates a lot of things. The Pandemonium club is one of them.
The clubs were always hot and sweaty with too many people and flashing lights. The horrible music they played was too loud and grated on his ears. The rooms were always overcrowded with people who had no concept of personal space. He would never understand what James and Sirius liked so much about the dark and overly crowded mundane clubs. What drove them to come to them even on nights when they weren’t out shadowhunting.
Another sweaty arm brushes against his own and he feels a wave of repulsion.
“Let's find the demon so we can get the hell out of here.” He mutters to the boy next to him.
James flashes him a grin, and Regulus fights down the feelings that rise at the sight of it. “Relax Reg we’ll be out of here soon enough. Give Sirius time to actually find the demon first.”
He clenches his jaw and looks away from James. He’s annoyed that Sirius is always the one to go off alone to locate the demon. He knows logically that the reason for this is because Sirius has the Black family heirloom, a ruby pendant, that allows him to actually locate the demon. This fact did nothing to stop his agitation over the matter. In fact, it made it worse. Technically that necklace should be Regulus’ as it was meant to go to the Black heir which Sirius no longer was after he had been disowned. The necklace was rightfully Regulus’ after he turned eighteen. At least that was the case until he had-
Regulus pushes the thought aside. He can’t afford to get distracted by thoughts of his family now, not when he has a job to do.
The reason that they are at the Pandemonium club tonight is because they had been alerted to demonic activity in the area. Their job is to take care of the problem before the demon can hurt or kill one of the mundanes.
At least they were at the Pandemonium and not some new place. The only thing Regulus hated more than the dark dingy club was having to hunt somewhere new. Where he didn’t already have every inch of the building meticulously mapped out in his mind.
James straightens beside him and Regulus follows his line of sight, expecting it to be Sirius. Instead, he catches sight of a girl. He feels another stab of annoyance and tells himself that it’s because he’s annoyed at James checking out a girl while they're supposed to be shadowhunting. He notes with growing annoyance that she’s, objectively, very pretty. She has dark red curls that spill down her back. Her outfit is slightly basic, a cropped top and jeans, but the fit is flattering on her figure. Regulus glances back at James and notices that he’s still watching her.
“Do you know her or something?” He bites out his voice coming out harsher than intended.
“No, I- I just swore she was looking right at us is all.”
“Impossible” Regulus mutters looking back over. He makes eye contact with the redhead. He jolts, shocked. There’s no way she should be able to see them as James and Regulus are both wearing heavy glamor runes which should make them invisible to mundanes.
He watches as the girl gets the attention of the tall man next to her, quickly speaking to him as she jesters over to where James and Regulus are currently standing. The man is visibly confused and obviously can’t see them which means that their glamor runes are working like they’re supposed to. He shakes his head at the redhead and speaks back. She responds and casts another glance over her shoulder at them as the man leads her further into the club.
“She shouldn’t have been able to see us. You did put the runes on correctly?” Regulus asks, lifting an eyebrow at the other boy. It had been James' responsibility to draw the glamor runes tonight.
James rolls his eyes, “Yes I put the bloody runes on right,” He shakes the glamor rune on his arm in Regulus’s face to prove his point. Regulus knew that he had, after all, James was the best at glamor runes which is why he has the responsibility of drawing them on.
“Yeah, I can bloody well see that,” He huffs, pushing James' arm out of his face. He turns his attention back out to the club.
“It just doesn’t….”
“Make any sense? Yeah I know.”
“Let's just hope Sirius finds the demon fast so we can get out of here.”
*****
Sirius loves a lot of things. The Pandemonium club is one of them.
He had fallen in love with the place the first time he had seen it. He and James had been out patrolling when they followed his pendant alerting him of demonic activity into the dark club. He had drug James back to the club the next night they weren’t scheduled to patrol and they had been coming back ever since. Sometimes just the two of them and sometimes with their other friend, Peter Pettigrew. Sirius had repeatedly pestered Regulus about coming but his younger brother had adamantly refused.
Sirius loved the flashing lights, the atmosphere of so many people meeting in one place, the pulse of the music as it weaves through the building. Sure the Pandemonium was run down- and admittedly a little dirty -and sure the club was a hotspot for demons and shady downworlders (he would never admit it out loud but that was one of the things he liked about it) but there is something about the club that he just adores. Plus, it’s within walking distance from the Institute.
The ruby pendant that Sirius wears around his neck pulses and he refocuses on his mission, Find the demon.
Sirius never feels more like himself than when he’s shadowhunting. He loves the thrill of the fight. Pure adrenaline coursing through him until he’s not even thinking, moving purely on instinct that comes from years upon years of training. His whole world narrowing down until it was just the swing of his Seraph blade in front of him.
Besides, the fact that Sirius was out in the mundane world doing actual shadowhunting? That would greatly piss off his parents, something he loved to do. (which was maybe another reason he loved this dirty dingy club but we don't need to talk about that.)
Following the pulsing of his necklace into the mass of dancing bodies he locks in on his target and starts the next part of his mission, Get the demon alone.
It was almost stupidly easy to lure demons away from crowds and isolate them. All Sirius had to do was pretend to be a gullible mundane and the demon would think that they had lucked out on finding someone to easily prey upon. Sirius, with flirty smiles and fluttering eyes, let the demon believe that it was their idea to go someplace to be alone, not knowing they were falling right into Sirius' trap.
And that’s exactly what Sirius does now. Sliding up next to the demon he tries not to react to the sulfur smell that accompanies them everywhere. Distantly he wondered if the glamor magic hiding demons from the mundane world also did anything to hide the smell, he hoped so for the mundane's sake.
Flipping his hair over his shoulder and flashing a bright smile at the demon Sirius gets to work.
*****
Lily glances around the club and frowns. Remus should have been back by now.
He had gone to get them drinks around ten minutes ago and she hasn’t been able to catch sight of him since. Still frowning she reaches for her phone to see if he texted her that he had to go to the bathroom or something. As she pulls her phone out of her jeans she drops it. Cursing under her breath she reaches down to grab it off of the grimy floor. Standing back-up movement catches her eye.
It’s the long-haired boy from outside the club. Lily watches as he slips through the club with another person trailing after him. Something about how the dense crowd seems to part for him bugs Lily. After a minute of watching them, she realizes it's because no one is glancing at the long-haired boy or even acknowledging his existence. She then realizes that it's what had been bugging her about the two boys dressed in black she’d seen earlier standing by the bar. People had not acknowledged their existence but had, seemingly instinctively, moved out of their way. Lily had thought that those had been the boys who had followed the long-haired boy into the club earlier but now watching how he moved through the dense crowd she was certain. All three of the boys had been objectively stunning so it was unnatural that people hadn’t been approaching them to hit on them or even throwing them second and third glances. And then there was the fact that when Lily had tried to point out the boy’s earlier to Remus he acted like he had no clue who she was talking about.
As Lily is still puzzling over this, the boy reaches the far wall of the club where there's a door that says ‘employees only.’ He reaches for the handle and pushes it open. Hair flipping over his shoulder he flashes a blinding smile at the person following and quickly pulls them into the room after him.
Of course. Lily rolls her eyes. At least they're not hooking up in the bathroom. Lily had seen and heard way too many things she never needed to while trying to use the bathroom at the Pandemonium.
She's about to go back to her phone and text Remus to figure out where he is but two familiar figures give her pause.
It’s the boys she had seen following the long-haired boy into the club, the ones she had seen again as they waited at the bar. They cut through the crowd with the same elegance the other boy had. Again she’s struck by how stunning they are. The shorter of the two has black curly hair, pale skin, and sharp aristocratic features. The taller one has messy dark hair, brown skin and is wearing glasses.
They duck into the employees-only room and the door swings shut behind them. But not before Lily catches sight of something that makes her stomach drop. They were carrying knives.
What the fuck?
She glances around her to confirm what she already suspects. No one saw them go in. What the hell is going on? Why can no one see them?
She has to do something. She thinks about going to get security but quickly rolls out that option when she remembers how long it took them to show up to escort the underaged boy away. She knows she should at least get Remus but she doesn’t know where he is or how long it would take to find him and the person they lured is in danger now.
Knowing what she has to do, Lily takes a deep breath. Pushing off of the wall she starts moving towards the door.
*****
James shuts the door behind him and the demon whips around to face him and Regulus. “Shadowhunters” It hisses its eyes finding the runes on their skin.
“Oh look at you! You finally figured it out!” Sirius’ mocking voice rings out.
The demon whips back around to see Sirius with his Seraph blade in hand but not yet lit up. “You tricked me.”
Sirius grins. “Like it was hard.”
The demon hisses again. “What do you Nephilim want?”
“We want to know the reason for the sudden uptick of demonic activity.” Regulus says from beside him his Separh blade also in hand. James pulls out his own but doesn’t name it yet.
The demon smiles. Even though it is still in its human form the smile still looks wrong and twisted on its face. “You’ll never figure it out before it’s too late.”
Sirius rolls his eyes. “Sure we won’t” He names his blade and steps forward quickly pressing it to the demon's throat. The light from his family's blade glows brighter than a typical Seraph blades do. The light casts a glow on Sirius' face in the darkened room making him look like an avenging angel. “Now you can either tell us what you know or I can cut your head off.”
The door flies open behind them and James spins to see a flurry of red hair. It’s the girl from earlier, the one who had been able to see him and Regulus. “Stop,” She shouts. The three shadowhunters freeze. Her eyes widen as she takes in how Sirius has his blade held to the demon’s throat but she doesn’t back down. “Let them go.”
“You can see us?!” Sirius blurts out audibly confused.
The demon takes advantage of Sirius’ split attention and shoves Sirius away, hard. He hits the wall hard, a groan escaping him.
The demon wastes no time and begins convulsing, shedding its human form.
“James get her the fuck out of here,” Regulus hisses as he moves forward lighting up his own Seraph blade.
James checks to make sure Sirius is moving before turning his attention to the redhead. “You need to leave. Now.”
“What's going on in here? I saw you walk in with knives and what's wrong with them.” She says gesturing to the demon.
“Look, it's not safe, you need to go.”
Her eyes narrow on him. “Not safe what-”
“James, we need you.”
“Shit. Stay behind us.” He says to the girl. Cursing under his breath he names his blade and it lights up. He turns to face the demon. He hears the girl's sharp intake of breath and knows that she is seeing exactly what he is.
The demon has shed its human form completely. Demons' true forms are always repulsive and this is no exception. The sulfur smell that accompanies all demons increases and James’ eyes water and he has to fight not to gag.
One of the demon's long legs sweeps out towards him and he has to dodge it. He swings out with his glowing blade as the limp sweeps by knicking it but just barely. It’s only enough to annoy the demon, not actually hurt it. He sees Sirius roll out of the way of another limb and pop back up laughing. Despite the situation James grins. He moves to swing for the demon again this time successfully making contact and the limb hits the floor with a sickening thump. James jumps back to avoid the spray of ichor pouring from the demon. He hears a sharp intake of breath behind him and hopes the girl has the common sense to stay behind them.
“James!”
James spins and sees that his Parabatai is tangled in one of the demon's many limbs. Cursing he starts forward to help Sirius. He grabs Sirius’ Seraph blade from where he had dropped it on the floor and swings towards the limb holding him, intending to dismember it like he had the other when the demon lets out a horrible sound and suddenly releases its hold on Sirius. James looks over to see Regulus panting heavily with his own Seraph blade driven through the center of the demon's body. Regulus stumbles back just as the demon shudders and collapses, dissolving into a puddle of ichor on the floor.
James sees that Regulus’ arm is bleeding. He moves forward, arms outstretched grabbing for the other boy's arm. “Shit Reg are you okay?
“Fine” Regulus hisses, pulling his arm out of James’s grasp and glares up at him. “We didn’t get any of the information we needed thanks to your little friend showing up.”
James blinks, startled by his harsh tone. “I don’t even know her?”
“Does anyone care to explain to me what the fuck just happened?” A voice cuts in. James whirls around to find the redhead still there looking shaken but she still has a stubborn set to her jaw, her arms are crossed over her body.
“Not really.” Regulus deadpans.
“James, I got this,” Sirius says, gesturing to Regulus. “You deal with her okay?” Sirius had already pulled out his Stele to draw the necessary healing runes.
“Right, okay.” He passes Sirius back his blade. Turning to the redhead who is still standing with the same air of stubborn determination she had when she came bursting into the room. He nods to the door “Come on let's go.”