"And I told him; Nathe, it's not appropriate! I swear my brother looks like a scolded puppy. And I really felt bad for hurting his feelings but I'm just not brave enough to do that kind of stuff with him when we're both stone sober. It's one thing when we've both been drinking. Then I can just blame the booze! But he wants it to be happening like all the time. I think he wants me to be his girlfriend. I'm pretty sure he's actually in love with me or something.
Are you in love with him?
"Who, Nathe? Nah, not necessarily. I mean,I know it's wrong, so whenever I start to feel that way, I pretend that I don't feel that way. So I guess if I'm honest, maybe I am. But I don't wanna be honest. I'm perfectly content with living in the state of denial.
Okay, so now that you're being a bit more honest with yourself, what do you love about your brother?
"Okay, well for it to make sense I guess I have to tell you a bit about who we are and bit about our family. Nathe and I have been on the run since I was eleven and he was thirteen. You see, our family's kinda fucked up. We're called Shadowhunters, the descendants of Angels, the Nephilim. And if that was where the weirdness ended, we'd be okay, I guess. But there's also the fact that our Dad is psycho crazy.
"He taught me these things called runes when I was young. Normally runes are just a part of being a Shadowhunter. You draw them like tattoos and they give you supernatural abilities. But my runes are the like of which no other Shadowhunter has ever seen. It's because my monster of a Dad stole the blood of an Angel and gave it to my mom when she was expecting me. He did the same thing to this little yellow-golden boy who grew up with us. His parents died and then our Mom and Dad raised him. He's not sweet and strong like my brother is though. Instead he's moody and brooding and sarcastic and snarky.
"Speaking of my brother, you know cuz we were briefly, like a moment ago. He was experimented on too but instead of having extra Angel blood like me and the yellow kid, he has extra demon blood. Most people say that makes him a monster. I say ppht! Whatever. If having demon blood makes someone a monster, then I guess all the warlocks and faeries in the world are monsters too huh? Although, if you listen to my psycho Dad, I suppose they are.
Can you explain to me what you mean by that?
"Oh, sure, sorry. My Dad believes in the extinction of all Downworlders, which includes warlocks, faeries, werewolves and vampires. Yep, dear old Dad wants them all wiped off the map. If you ask me, I say he sounds a little like that other psycho from mundane history, you know, Adolph Hitler, although Dad has better fashion sense at least. Anyway, when I was ten, he started getting me to draw the more powerful runes for him to aid in his cause. He even had me draw a rune on my Mom that made her support his cause instead of rebel against it. Using the runes was scary because they were so powerful, but I grew to appreciate the rush it gave me, and I was always well rewarded for my efforts.
"I remember one time he even bought me a pony! Like a real one that I got to ride and everything. It was really exciting at the time, of course he killed it when we ran away, so that wasn't cool, but I didn't find that out until later. Anyway, the reason we ran away, was because of what Dad did to me and Jace. I don't just mean the experiments, no this was something else. He said that because Jace and I both had extra Angel blood, that we were needed to breed a new race of Shadowhunters.
"So he took us to Saudi Arabia where there is no minimum age requirement for marriage. And with him and my Mom as witnesses, I was forced to marry Jace at the ripe old age of eleven. We stayed in Saudi for a month on our 'honeymoon' although we had a guard posted outside our door to make sure we didn't escape. Dad hoped Jace would get me pregnant before we went back to Idris, where we lived at the time, so that he could inject our child with even more Angel blood. Fortunately it didn't pan out for him. When we did finally come home and Nathe found out that our Dad had given me away to Jace, he flipped out about it and he helped me escape and we've been running from our family ever since.
"I love it that Nathe has always protected me and put my best interests first. Sometimes even at a great personal cost. He didn't hesitate before up and leaving his whole life behind to keep me safe when we went on the run and to me that means something. He's one in a million, Dr. Laitgood. Only problems are that he's my brother and I'm technically a married woman myself. Although that is, admittedly a very funny thing to have to be constantly reminding myself at the age of fourteen.
Well, Adysen, our hour is up. Why don't you go home to Nathan now and talk about your feelings with him? It might help matters.
"But, Dr. Laitgood, this hasn't really helped me with my problems at all! We just delved into my past a bunch, and trust me, it is better left buried!
As I say, speak to Nathan, Miss Hunter. You may find the things you want to say to him are right on the tip of your tongue anyway.
"Right, well, thanks." For absolutely nothing! I think to myself. As I exit her office, her phone starts ringing and I hear her yelling something at me about how her bill will be in the mail. What I don't hear however, is her phone conversation. In hindsight, I probably should have stayed to eavesdrop.
Hmm? What's that, Jocelyn? Oh yes, she bought the whole act. No, I'm absolutely sure she didn't recognise me. Yes, I'm positive it's them! She gave me an entire account of her life story. And if our priority wasn't returning them to the Circle, it would have been grounds for turning her over to the Clave since she thought I was a mundane while she was telling me all of this. At any rate, it isn't as if Adysen and Nathan Hunter are very clever pseudonyms, Jocie. I'm absolutely certain that we have successfully located both Jonathan Valentine Morgenstern and Adele Jocelyn Herondale. I am also certain that we will have no trouble at all bringing them in this time. Mmm hmm, yes take care, Jocie. Yes, you too!
"Hey Ads! Wanna get drunk tonight Baby Sis?" Nathe begs, turning those damn puppy dog eyes on me yet again.
"You just wanna get in my pants, Big Bro." I say, playfully shoving him accusatorily.
"Guilty as charged. But that isn't all I want, Sweety you know that. I want much more of you than just your body, Baby." He sighs, running his fingers through my hair, willing me to understand.
But I do, I do understand. He wants all of me. I sigh, looking at the back of my hand and tracing the ridiculous wedding rune that always remains, no matter how much I want it to go away. I'm sorry, Jonathan. All of me just isn't something I have to give anymore.
AN: (Okay, so did we figure out who Dr. Laitgood is? I'm also curious to see what ships are gonna roll in for this one.)