A/N: Just a warning as things get started off here: this is a pretty dark chapter. Like, kind of really dark. And a bit violent. But hang in there, it's only temporary. Cross my heart.

Chapter 1

CLARY POV

It's an odd sort of sentiment, upon being bitten by an enormous demon, to think-

Not again.

But then again, most things about Clary Fray's life were sort of odd. Including, but not limited to, the demon who was currently crushing her side. Haphazardly, she began to swing her glowing seraph blade in it's general direction, blinded by the pain of her wound. But the creature's head seemed to dart inches away from the arc of her blade, it's teeth sinking further into her with each passing second.

"Clary!" she heard from a distance, and winced. It was Jace, the distress ringing clear in his voice. The others, Jace, Alec, and Isabelle, had better things to do (or, rather, stab repeatedly) than constantly play knight in shining armor. In the handful of demon battles she'd fought in since beginning her Shadowhunter training, for the most part she'd held her own, only sustaining minor injuries and learning to keep her head in battle. But the demon she currently faced was particularly cunning- and really unlike any she'd ever seen.

Suppressing a scream, she hacked with finality at the demon's nearest extremity- it's acidic, powerful mouth, currently doing her the most damage. The jaws released her with a gurgling hiss, and she dropped several feet to the floor of the dusty warehouse where they were currently battling. She landed painfully on her bad side, surprised by how quickly she was becoming dizzy from the wound. The demon, on the other hand, which she had originally thought was a Ravener given it's insectile form and massive jaws, seemed relatively unaffected. Dislodging the steaming seraph blade with a forceful shake of head, the beast reared it's head back as if ready to finish her off. She'd never seen a demon so unaffected by the angelic metal before. It completely baffled her. The shock and pain from her injury coupled with this knowledge left her totally unsure of how to continue, and totally unable to defend herself, as the demon began to descend on her.

"Jace." she whispered, and she was aware in that moment of the silence of the room around her. The sounds of battle, clashing blades and panicked breaths and hissing demons, had halted or stopped completely. It was entirely possible that the other three had disposed of all the other demons while she had been caught up with this one. It was also possible, she thought grimly, that she was dying. Demon poison took no prisoners, and the constant burning and aching of the wound at her side told her that whatever the hell this thing was, it was definitely poisonous. Looming directly above her, it was nothing more than a blurry mass of gnashing teeth and dripping ichor. It's eyes, like many demons, were large and pure black, focusing in on her with uncharacteristic purpose. It was like something out of her nightmares.

This is how Shadowhunters are supposed to die, she thought. In battle. Defending people. Killing demons. But even if she could come to terms with that, she couldn't come to terms with the fact that the last thing she would see would be this hideous… thing. Curling up slightly, she allowed herself to shut her eyes, and find that face that always floated just inches behind her eyelids. Her beautiful golden boy. Her Jace. Even in her mind, he seemed to illuminate the impending darkness, with memories of him laughing, smile flashing with his adorable chipped tooth, him playing the piano as she sat next to him on the bench, leaning against him so she could feel the music leaving his fingers and flying out into the air, him holding her and for once everything feeling right in the world. A single tear tracing it's way along her cheek, she braced herself for the blow that would end her life.

And it didn't come.

Lifting a single eyelid, she saw him. As if her thoughts had brought him to life, he stood before her, blazing with the glow of an avenging angel, facing the demon which had taken her down. Seeing him face the demon, was like looking at a ying-yang symbol. On one side was Jace, alight with witchstone and seraph blade and the glinting gold of his hair, dark Marks standing out like stains against his skin where his gear ended. On the other side, the demon- a seething mass of blackness and shadow, the light from Jace bouncing off his unblinking eyes and blood-slicked jaws. For several moments, they seemed to size each other up. Then, they danced.

Biting back a whimper, Clary used what was left of her waning strength to prop herself up to a sitting position against a nearby wall, too afraid to formally assess her wounds. She was vaguely aware of two familiar dark-haired faces shifting around the edges of her vision, gesturing gravely and speaking loudly at her. But it was as if their voices were filtering down through a swimming pool. Waving away their concerns, she pointed over at Jace, who was currently driving a blade up through the underbelly of the massive demon, wincing at the resulting spray of viscous ichor.

"Jace," she murmured, aware of how pathetic she must sound to them. "Help him." To her dismay, they shook their heads. Isabelle crouched down, extending a hand towards the wound which dominated Clary's left side.

"Jesus, Clary." she said, hesitating several inches from actually touching it. Her eyes shone with concern as they met Clary's. "This is bad. Really bad."

Clary caught Isabelle's hand, entwining it weakly in her own. "Isabelle." she said. "Alec," she added, glancing up at his blue eyes. "Please."

Isabelle lowered her eyes for a moment, her long dark hair obscuring her face. Clary could tell she was torn. But slowly, she raised her eyes and nodded her head, turning to launch herself into battle with Jace. Now only Alec remained- lingering conflictedly, like a cat unsure whether it wanted to be indoors or out. Suddenly, he reached down to touch her face- an uncharacteristically warm gesture from a person who had once hated her. Then he, too, turned to join the fight.

Clary exhaled, painfully, knowing that the wall was the only thing keeping her upright. The trickling fire of the demon poison was spreading outward through her veins like acid, burning her alive from the inside out. Finally alone, she allowed her face to contort in it's true pain. It was unlike anything she'd ever felt before- even unlike the poison of other demon's. She knew, if left untreated, it would kill her quickly. And there was nothing she could really do to treat it, not properly, only slow it. Numbly reaching an arm into the pocket of her torn gear, she pulled out a stele. However, the iratze she sketched on with a faint sensation she had once described as burning disappeared almost as quickly as she had drawn it. And what's more, it further sapped her energy. Her arm fell to her lap uselessly, stele still clutched in her slender fingers. She focused her energy on keeping her eyes open and trained on the fight in front of her.

In the distance, the battle was seemingly drawing to a close. The combined force, cunning, and speed of the Lightwood family appeared to be too much for even this demon to overcome. They seemed to move together like clockwork, not just the parabatai Jace and Alec, but Isabelle too, with the familiarity and foresight of people who'd battled their whole lives together. As the demon launched itself at one of them, another drew it away, and the third sunk a dagger into it's back. Clary wondered vaguely if, given enough time, she could have ever reached this level of synchronicity and grace with them.

She supposed she would never really know.

The thought pierced the fuzziness of her mind like a shard of ice. Despite her best efforts to stay awake, despite Jace and Alec and Isabelle's best efforts to slay the demon, despite all her training and all her runes, she was dying. Not just dying, but dying alone, in a corner in an abandoned factory where the Clave had been anonymously informed demonic presences had been off the charts recently. They weren't wrong. She should call her mother, or, god forbid, Simon. But her phone was in the gear bag, which they had left outside. She would settle for just having Jace nearby. For the first time since being wounded, true despair colored her thoughts, making her shudder.

As if it could sense her emotion from across the room, the demon glanced up at her. And, disturbingly, it smiled. Or at least that was the closest way Clary could describe it, though there was nothing warm or friendly in this smile. This was the smile of a cat who finally had a rodent trapped beneath it's paws, on the mouth of a demon. It almost made her ill.

Then, it was gone. Not just the smile, but the entire demon seemed to dissolve into cloud of ashen black smoke. For several seconds, the three Shadowhunters stood dazed, blades suddenly slicing through smoke and nothingness. Then, as quickly as the demon had vanished, Jace spun to face Clary. And, not caring whether or not the demon would reappear, he ran to her, sliding on his knees down to reach her more quickly.

"Jace." she mumbled, hands pushing uselessly at the slick ground below her, seeking a way to move closer to him, to hold him. "Ah." she whispered, cursing the pain that shot through her body as she moved. A look of acute horror blossomed over Jace's face as he assessed her wound, which was still leaking blood, slowly soaking the tattered remains of her gear jacket, fusing it to her body. The demon's teeth had sunk deep into her side, leaving a several pairs of raw punctures. It was from there that the fire which now seemingly consumed her body stemmed, but it was spreading by the minute. Clary felt unbearably hot, and she could tell she was sweating, but she could feel her body shaking as well, as if she had a bad fever. To be fair, she probably did. Her breathing was becoming shallow and choppy, and she shook her head as Jace reached for the stele in her hand.

"It won't help." she said, her voice fading but urgent. "I've already tried." Jace's eyes burned into hers, gold and blurry and familiar. Gently, impossibly gently, he reached a hand to caress her face. Even with her body wracked with pain, his touch was comforting, and her heart seemed to flutter.

"Alec!" he called without taking his eyes off hers. "Call Magnus!" His voice tremored with an unfamiliar uncertainty. He was scared.

"I already have." came the reply from nearby. Another time, maybe she would have been able to lift her eyes from Jace's to acknowledge Alec. But she urgently needed to hold his gaze. A vague corner of her mind knew it was the only thing still tethering her to consciousness. Another wave of burning pain passed through her, however, and her hand flew to her side, an involuntary gasp of pain escaping her mouth.

"Jace." she whispered, her vision misting over. "It hurts." She sounded like a petulant child to herself, but Jace's face filled with an impossible pain, as if it was him who was wounded.

"Clary…" he breathed, pulling her closer to him, ignoring her shaking and burn of the ichor surrounding her wounds as it touched his skin. "I know. I'm sorry, I know it hurts. I'm so sorry."

For a moment, all she could sense was his warmth around her, his heartbeat against her ear. She breathed him in, all sweat and arcid ichor and dust and somehow distinctly Jace, like sunshine and citrus and soap. She had been unaware of her own tears until she saw them, caught on the front of his shirt. Then the fire reached her fingertips and she clutched balled her fists in his shirt, just to have something to hold onto. Her breaths shuddered in and out of her lungs, and it felt not like a natural rhythm, but something she had to struggle to do. She knew she didn't have long, and she should talk to him, but his voice was so sweet in her ears he was impossible to interrupt.

"Clary. Please stay with me. Magnus is on his way, he knows how to deal with these things. He's done it before. He's even done it to you before. You're going to be f-fine." His voice was husky with unseen tears. Shadowhunters don't cry, she thought. Distantly, she remembered a story of a boy and his falcon, but Jace's voice brought her back to reality. "Clary? Please just say something. Clary, I need you to be okay."

"Jace," she breathed against the darkness beginning to eat away at the corners of her vision. He turned her head up gently to face him, and even in her condition his name sounded like a song on her tongue. The sweetest thing she could say. Well, maybe the second-sweetest. "Jace, I love you." His gold eyes burned into hers, and he leaned down to plant a single kiss on her lips, soft and slow and burning.

"I love you too, Clary. More than anything." he spoke against her mouth, eyes still locked on hers. Then, he clenched them shut, and Clary felt a tear fall against her cheek. She made no motion to brush it away. In fact, she could make no motion to do anything. Just as his eyes opened once more, hers closed.

And the darkness and stillness finally consumed her.