Angels and Demons Book 2 : The Quest

Prologue

- Jace POV - some undetermined time in the future -

The fact that it had come to this was not really a surprise - not to me, or to anyone, really.

Someone once told me that, when one aspect of your life starts going well - wonderfully, promising, exciting, considering the new information I now held and the girl that I was in love with - that another part will go spectacularly wrong.

Well, they were right.

And now I was staring into the (crazed, wild) eyes of the man we had been searching for these last weeks. (Had it only been weeks?)

"Surely," Valentine drawled, flicking the dagger he held forward only to grab it back as it left his hand - making me flinch every time with the possibility of it slipping from his grasp and hitting me. "Surely you've realized by now that you have... well, that there's something special about you?"

I wanted to roll my eyes, but something tells me it would be a bad idea considering the unstable Shadowhunter before me. Speaking of Shadowhunter...

"Yeah, yeah," I said, and as I heard my own sarcastic voice I realized that not rolling my eyes wouldn't do me any favors if I sassed off to Valentine. "I realize I can receive the runes of the Shadowhunter, which means one of two things: I have Shadowhunter blood, or that the blood of the angel you gave to me somehow made it possible for me to train and fight as one of you."

Valentine looked briefly deflated that I had stolen his thunder - which made me smirk. But then he laughed, and I grew more confused than ever. I already knew, so what did he hold over me that made him so gleeful?

"You think you know everything! Teenagers," he scoffed. "To be fair, you have the right idea, but it sounds like someone has been giving you mixed information. The angel blood cannot possibly make you a Shadowhunter unless you're fed it directly from the mortal cup - which has proven... difficult to find. Damn my brother! True, the small amounts I gave to some of my subjects made it possible for them to receive runes, but they will never fight as one of us. Us, Jace! Us! You are one of us! Surely you've felt the power, the strength, that was awoken in you when you first set foot on my manor?"

I felt my eyes growing wide... what Magnus had said was true! The suspicions Luke had, about my family before they had been killed... could it be true? Could my parents have had Shadowhunter blood... could I have some (however distant) relation to a ruling family? (That would be indescribably cool!)

Valentine laughed coolly, his eyes burning with excitement as he walked closer to me. I struggled against the bonds holding my hands, but knew it was pointless. Couldn't he just kill me and get it over with? Death was better than listening to his riddles. I was more confused now than I had been before, and that was saying something, because Magnus and Luke were both fond of half-truths and hidden information (that was hidden for our own good, mind you - insert eye-roll here).

"Just kill me, I'm tired of listening to you gloat," I said offhandedly. Actually, I was hoping he would come close enough that I could do something to help myself out of this situation.

"Oh, Jace, I don't wan to kill you!" Valentine laughed again. "Why would I want to kill you?"

I shrugged.

Oh, maybe because he was a mad-man who was obsessed with purifying the Shadowhunter bloodline and creating more of his race? Now, why would that make me think he maybe wanted to kill me?

But despite all of the situations I had thought up - the reasons for my power, the possibility of my family having royal blood - despite all that, nothing could have prepared me for his next words. Ice ran in my veins, and as I tried in vain to process his words, he laughed again - this evil, cold, shiver-inducing laugh.

"After all, how could I kill my own son?"

Dun dun duuuuuuuun! Book 2 begins! Though it seems I may be using some of CC's plot devices, this will be so very different from the books, I don't even know how to express it. For example, think about Clary's parents... Jace may be Valentine's son, BUT he will not be related to Clary. So there. =P 4

The next chapter will begin some weeks earlier than this prologue and lead up to what is happening now.

I decided to split the story up because book one passed 60,000 words - which is over the average length of a young adult novel. My ideas are raging so out of control, there may even be a Book 3 and Book 4. Who knows! Please follow this story as well as Book 1. I hope to update every Sunday afternoon, but no promises! As a general rule, Saturdays are my least busy day so I can get a lot of writing done, edited, and out by Sunday.

Please review! A review gets you a sneak peak of Ch. 1!