"Jace come in here now!" I yelped from the back bedroom as Max threw another seraph blade at the teal wall. Jace and I have been married for 3 years and 2 years ago we were blessed with twins, whom we named Max William Herondale and Lilac Amatis Herondale.
"Clary what's going-" He broke off as he saw Max crouched on the floor with tears spilling down his chubby cheeks. Jace's golden eyes filled with worry as he scooped the small child into his arms. "Maxxy what's wrong?" The baby's strawberry curls bounced on his head as he continued to sob. Jace then turned to me and said, "Why are seraph blades all over the twins' room, and why is he so upset?"
"I don't know. I was just down stairs with Izzy and Alec and then I heard a bang from upstairs. I was so worried I thought Max had fallen out of the crib and hurt himself, but he was lying on the floor with your weapons belt chucking the seraph blades at the wall. God knows where he learned to do that!" Sighing, I pulled my ruby curls into a pony tail.
Jace let out a small chuckle; his laughter lighting up his angelic face. "Well on the plus side he's skilled with a seraph blade from the looks of the wall!"
"Reminds me of his father!" I said softly. Jace then walked over to the crib with 2 long strides and carefully laid Max down on the sky blue blanket. He had finally stopped crying, but his cheeks were still red and splotchy. Thankfully crying had tired the baby out, and he quickly fell asleep. I tiptoed over to Jace, and he engulfed me in a warm hug. "I wonder if they'll have special skills like us." I thought aloud.
"I bet! I mean what normal 2 year old can climb out of his 5 foot tall crib without hurting himself and then throw a seraph blade at the wall with perfect accuracy." He responded with a laugh.
"True." Jace then spun me around and kissed me lightly on the lips. I felt like it had been such a long time since we had had some peace and quiet. I kissed him back eagerly, and before long our kisses had turned into strong, passionate ones.
"Naughty, Naughty! Making out in the presence of a baby. I thought you two knew better!" Izzy chastised with mock seriousness.
"Lord Isabelle have you ever heard of knocking!" Jace muttered under his breath.
"I heard that young man!" Izzy said with a laugh. "Anyways, I came in here to tell you that the Simon just came back from Taki's with the food." Simon had ascended and had become a shadowhunter after a demon had stolen his memories. The majority of his memory had resurfaced thanks to a spell Magnus created, but there were still brief instances when a confused look would take over his face almost as if he forgot why he was there. Simon had also been doing pretty well in his shadowhunter training, nowhere near the skill level of any of us, but deffinetely getting there.
"Okay, thanks for telling us Iz." As the three of us made our way down stairs, I could hear the warm sound of Alec and Simon's laughter coming from the living room. Since his ascension, Alec had grown to like Simon much more either out of sympathy or simply because they had spent more time together and Alec had begun to like him. Regardless of the reasons, the two boys were draped on the leather couch, cheering and laughing as they watched a World Cup game. Jace strut over and gracefully lowered himself down next to them on the couch and said,
"Don't worry boys. I'm here, so now the real party can start." "
More like now the real party can end." Alec said with a laugh. While I watched them with Isabelle from the doorway, my heart filled with admiration and gratitude. Thinking about a life without her best friends was not even imaginable. A small smile on Izzy's face confirmed that she was thinking the same thing.
"So where's this food? I'm starving!" I asked Simon while walking over and plopping down on the floor in front of Jace. Simon pointed a slender finger towards the kitchen without tearing his coffee brown eyes away from the US v.s. Ghana game. In the kitchen, our wooden table was covered with styrofome boxes filled with various foods.
"The box with spaghetti and meatballs is on the counter just for you!" Simon shouted over the blaring TV.
"Thanks Si," I yelled back while pouring the pasta into a bowl and popping it in the microwave. A loud knock on the front door, interrupted my mouthwatering thoughts of how yummy the pasta would be. Without waiting for someone to answer, the door opened revealing Magnus. He was wearing shiny gold pants and a long black trench coat speckled with golden sparkles. Under his trench coat he had a rainbow tied dye dress shirt. The little body of Lilac squirmed in his arms.
"Clarissa," Magnus began, "You have one obnoxious baby."
"What'd you try to do put glitter in her hair?" I asked with an exasperated laugh. "
I tried to put glitter eyeliner on her actually! But she squirmed away and started crying for her Mommy," he said as if putting glitter eyeliner on a baby was a normal thing to do.
"Well thanks for taking her around the park. She's been begging to go outside and everyone, myself included, just wanted to watch the game."
"No problem Biscuit, that's what grandparents are for, right Alec!" Magnus replied with a glittery wink. Alec's response was drowned out by the loud boos as Ghana scored. Magnus left me to watch the game and deliver Lilac to Jace, which allowed me to go grab my food from the kitchen and return to my spot against Jace's legs. His worn jeans were soft against my back as I hungrily ate up my spaghetti.
"Woah Clary, who knew you could eat so much," Alec remarked, clearly impressed.
"That's why I married her," Jace said while leaning down to kiss the top of my head.
"That and you finally found someone prettier than yourself," I added. Jace let out a chuckle and then leaned down to whisper that the fact that I was outstanding in bed was another. reason that simply could not be overlooked. I turned around to smack his arm, but he easily caught my hand and kissed the back of it.
After finishing the game, which ended in the US beating Ghana 2-1, everyone parted their seperate ways, and Jace went up to put a sleeping Lilac in her crib next to Max's. When he returned, Jace stood in middle of the room allowing the light coming in from the window to shine down on his golden hair. The sun in his hair and the tan he had gotten from their day at the beach last week made him resemble an angel descending down from heaven.
"Why are you staring at me like that?" He asked with a nervous laugh. Instead of responding, I pulled him down on the couch and kissed him hard on the mouth. He kissed back eagerly and wound his hands in my hair. I yanked off his shirt allowing my hands to explore his body. My pale hands were a stark contrast agains honey brown skin. He released a low groan as my hands trailed down to his pant line. His lips found their way away from my mouth and onto my neck. Everywhere our bodies touched my skin burned and tingled. It amazed me that even after being together for so long, his touch still made it feel like it was our first time back in the cave. My mind danced at the memory, and I flipped him over so that I was above him. In doing that, Jace had easy access to tear my shirt and bra off. I leaned down to kiss his jaw when an ear piercing scream made me freeze.
"Seriously could that baby have worse timing!" Jace got out through labored breaths. I kissed him once on the cheek and forced myself to climb off of him. Removing myself from Jace was like ripping off a giant bandaid, and without the warmth from his hands on my body or my shirt, I shivered.
"It's okay. I'll go check on them." I said with a soft sigh. Nowadays, it seemed that Jace and I were always either too tired or interrupted from ever doing anything. But I had to remind myself that this was just a small cost for having the best thing in the world: the twins.
"Are you sure baby? I don't mind. I can-" I shushed him with a light kiss on the lips, and then pulled on my shirt that Jace had thrown across the room.
The wooden steps creaked under my feet as I made my way up to the twins room. As soon as I stepped in the room, I could sense that something was off. The window was open heating up the room with hot New York air. I made my way over to the two cribs and felt my heart drop to the floor. Both cribs were empty apart from a small note. The note was written in red ink that looked earily like blood. It read: "This is the beginning of our revenge. You knew it would come oneday. We have not forgotten what you did to our Lord Sebastian. And now you will pay." As if from very far away, I heard myself scream and felt the hard ground below me as a world of darkness swallowed me up.