Raphael Santiago

Elisa flinched. She hadn’t been expecting anyone to come up to her. “Oh my G-” The girl choked on the word. Still too new to this world, she hadn’t even gotten past being able to say the name of the Creator let alone the Saints. 

“I know who you are.” She said softly, getting a good look at the Clan Leader of the Brooklyn Vamps.

His expression softened ever so slightly, not that anyone who didn’t know him extremely well would notice. “You can work on that.” He said simply because he’d gotten there with it and it had been important to him. “Mhm... So you know me. Should I be concerned?” Not that he was.

“Well, I would expect you to treat me differently. I am, after all, your beloved father figure, aren’t I?” He smiled smugly. Raising a brow, Magnus narrowed his eyes as he studied Rafael. “I will remember this,” he warned.

“No, not in the slightest. I wouldn’t consider you that at all. In fact that is perhaps one of the creepier things you have ever said to me.” Raphael told him with a wrinkle of his nose. “As for remembering, I wouldn’t expect anything less. You know what they say about Elephants after all...”

“Don’t insult me, my dear,” he frowned, crossing his arms in front of his chest. “Luck, yes…” Magnus sighed, looking down as the image of Alec about to jump to his death flooded his mind. “It’s…” he gulped. “Still hard to think about it.” 

Approaching his friend, Magnus tilted his head lightly to the side. “You are still coming to my future parties, right?”

“And treat you differently to anyone else I know? I think I’ll stick to insulting you.” Raphael told his friend coolly, noting the concerned sigh that Magnus breathed out. “Then attempt to put it out of your mind for a little while.” He suggested.  “I may consider coming to one of your future parties, if it cheers you up a little.”

“No,” Magnus simply said, shrugging lightly. And he meant it. “My book was my responsibility. Granted, I wouldn’t have taken it out of its hiding place if she hadn’t poisoned Alexander’s brain, but…” he sighed. “It was all part of her trick,” Magnus added. Chuckling softly, he wiggles his eyebrows and smirked. “It’s something I have to think about, seeing that Alec and I can be very… comfortable when we are home alone,” he said playfully, teasing the other before his eyes went a little wide. “Wait, no! Don’t say that, Raphael!”

“Sometimes your stupidity can be astounding.” Because really, Magnus shouldn’t have taken this so personally. That being said, he suspected had Raphael been in the same situation, he would feel the same way. “From what I have heard, I believe it was lucky that the outcome wasn’t far more catastrophic.” Not that he was pals with Alec but he knew the effect that it would have had on Magnus had anything happened to him. A smirk drifted onto his lips as Magnus seemed to almost whine a moment later at him for his comments. “It would serve you right.”

“Raphael, in all honesty, if anyone should have noticed the warlock, it was me. She managed to infiltrate herself in my house days before the party, which is… kind of creepy. I wonder what she saw while she was around,” he made a face, thinking of what the other warlock might have seen specifically related to Alec, and then shrugged, not putting much thought into it. “Come on,” Magnus sighed, focusing on the vampire again, “you never show up for my parties anymore,” he pouted a little. “You can’t expect me not to say that.”

“You’re not going to stop this are you.” Raphael said matter-of-factly, because he felt like no matter what he said, Magnus was going to try and carry this burden on his own regardless. “Please though; do not make me consider what she might have seen. It’s an image I don’t want in my head of you or anyone else.” Raphael told him with a wrinkle of his nose. “If I was going to consider going to your parties, I’ll probably take it back now.”

“Thank you, Raphael,” he said softly with a nod as the other spoke, frowning a little when the vampire insisted the it wasn’t Magnus’ fault. He was about to open his mouth to argue about just that when Raphael spoke about Alec. Raising a brow, the warlock watched the other in silence for a moment. “Shadowhunters have no business taking care of my belongings in my house. That was my job, not theirs,” he reminded him. “Besides… maybe if you had shown up you could have helped me catch the thief before my book was gone,” he shrugged, looking away from him.

“My point wasn’t that they should be taking care of your belongings but that they failed to notice the rogue warlock too.” Raphael reiterated though a moment later he was raising an eyebrow at the comment. “Don’t you think that was a little bit of a low blow for you, Magnus?” Not that Raphael took it personally. It was something he heard fairly often where the others parties were concerned.

Frowning at the sound of footsteps heading his way, Raphael really wasn’t in the mood for company. “What do you want?” He immediately inquired. He had enough to deal with after the loss of some of his best vampires in the activation of the soul sword. The man really wasn’t in the mood for small talk.

“Thanks, I try,” he chuckled. His smile faded a little as Raphael offered his help. It was amazing how the two of them could communicate and know when to be there for the other. He smiled sadly and sighed. “Honestly? I’m not sure. I don’t even know what I can do right now. Alexander says that finding the book is top priority, and as much as I feel like I should be looking as well, I don’t feel like I will be useful enough. It’s… awful. Feeling this useless…” The warlock shook his head lightly, drinking the wine. “I just wish all my worries resumed to choosing between Thai and Italian takeout for tonight.”

“As you know I’ll make sure to have my clan keep an eye out for and look for it where I can space the man power. As worried as I am aware you are Magnus, I’m sure no one can interpret or make those spells work for them as you do. More over, no doubt this isn’t the first thing that has gone missing. It’s unfortunate but as we know, Valentine is extremely conniving. You aren’t to blame for it happening and that it did so in the presence of so many Shadowhunters... I think that tells of just how difficult it was to spot.” Because he knew that Magnus would be shouldering that guilt in a way he shouldn’t have been. “And if this is you useless, I can only imagine how the Nephilim feel... this was their mistake after all.” Raphael said with a smirk.

“where do you expect to see me?” Katya questioned the vampire, “then how about we change that?”

“And just exactly how do you want to change that?” Raphael asked, wondering what it was the woman had up her sleeve. He didn’t trust a Seelie, they were all flourish and twisted words. More difficult to decipher than even those who outright lied.

“Well, I’m not most people,” he beamed. But his smile faded as Raphael mentioned that there were more important things to discuss. Yes, there were. He knew that. But Magnus was not used to not having his book of spells, he wasn’t used to not feeling so helpless and useless. And so he was focusing on helping Raphael with what he could offer at the moment; a social event. Sighing softly, he looked down at his glass of wine, watching as the drink swayed along with his gentle hand movements. “Alright, then. I suppose my visit will be shorter than I expected,” he answered, pushing a small smile onto his face again. “Well, unlike you, I change a lot over 50 years,” the warlock chuckled as he looked up at Raphael again.

“No, you’re not.” Raphael wasn’t sure how to describe Magnus but your every day warlock was not one of them. He was the only one he would truly trust with his life. “What is it I can do to help?” He asked after a moment because he could tell that Magnus needed something but honestly, Raphael wasn’t sure if he was the person that could provide it. They were completely different after all but that didn’t mean he didn’t want to help.

“In hopes that you’ve changed,” he explained with a smug smile. “Ah… I miss your cooking,” the warlock commented, his smile relaxing into a nostalgic one. “We should have dinner sometime. I’ll bring the drinks, you cook…” He suggested with a grin. Chuckling softly at Raphael’s words as he nodded a little, Magnus sipped at the wine. “I know, I know… you are not a social butterfly. But I worry about you,” he explained. Magnus pouted a little as Raphael spoke about Alec not being available. “That’s not the whole truth,” he shook his head. “Yes, Alexander is busy right now, but I did warn him I was taking the day off to visit some friends,” the warlock shrugged before smirking. “Why? Do you feel jealous? Do you wish I made more time for you more often?”

“I haven’t changed in over 50 years. Most people would have given up by now.” Raphael answered, his lips quirking up when Magnus mentioned his cooking. There had been times now and again where as a way of gratitude, Raphael had cooked for the warlock given that he still needed to eat to survive. “You do not need to worry about me. I have everything I require right now Magnus and don’t you think there are more pressing matters at hand than my social calendar?” He pointed out, unable to stop himself from chuckling a little when Magnus more or less admitted he was here because Alec was otherwise engaged. “Not jealous, no. I just realize and accept that your priorities have changed.”