HI EVERYONE! Yay! I am finally back, just like I promised. Sorry this took forever to write... I didn't have much motivation about continuing this story, though there was a little part of me that desperately wanted to update this. But then, after reading through all of Cassandra Clare's Tumblr posts over the past couple weeks, each one of them poked me into starting up this story more and more. Until finally, I just sat down and redrew the entire plot. So I have a general idea of what is going to happen, and I am rewriting it. The first chapter is pretty similar, but there are some new additions. And from here on out, it will be entirely different from what I had originally written.
So without further adeiu, enjoy the first chapter!
Disclaimer: No, I am not Cassandra Clare. The Dark Artifices and everything else in the Shadow World belong to her!
BAM. The mound exploded, sending grains of sand and bits of ichor flying off in every direction. The Moloch demon lay sprawled out on the soft beach ground, as a seraph blade was driven straight through it in one complete fluid motion. Just like that, the demon was gone and disappeared back into its home dimension, not to return for a while, leaving not a trace of evidence behind.
Emma Carstairs deftly drew her blade back, wiping it clean on her black Shadowhunting gear. She lowered her witchlight stone to the ground to ensure that the demon was gone. Sure enough, there was not a trace of ichor where it once lay dying. A grin spread across Emma's face, as she pushed her long, blonde hair back away from her face.
Suddenly, another Moloch demon popped out of nowhere, dashing towards Emma, her lips fading from the grin to a thin line of concentration. Its claws seamlessly treaded across the sand, and its pace quickened as it approached closer to her. Its eyes were alight with a jet of fire burning straight at her. Emma spread her legs firmly apart and bent down, bracing herself. She held out her seraph blade and muttered Ambriel under her breath; her blade came to life and blazed white. When the demon was just an arm's length away, Emma struck out her blade and delivered it straight home. The demon squealed and writhed back in pain, shrinking away until once again there was nothing. Emma grinned again at her success. Two down in less than a minute. That had to be a new record.
"Guys, did you just see that?" Emma shouted out eagerly to her companions. "Fastest time for killing that! I bet none of you could beat that."
Unfortunately, no one replied to her. Emma squinted her eyes and scanned the vast beach in front of her, which did not help that much since it was nearing midnight and the usually crowded Santa Monica was completely deserted with not a soul in view for miles. Although, she did have her Glamours on, so it wasn't possible for mundanes to see her.
Emma frowned, disappointed that no one was there. Usually she hunted with the Blackthorns, Cristina, and Cristina's cousin, Jaime. They had made this a nightly routine, starting about a year ago. After the Dark War, Arthur Blackthorn forbade any residents of the Los Angeles Institute to leave the premises after eight in the evening. The only problem with this: that was when most demons emerged from their hiding places. Emma and her friends naturally hated this curfew and even more hated that they could not get the true Shadowhunting experience that others once had. So, they had decided to make these nightly rendezvouses instead. Practice makes perfect, Emma's parents would constantly remind her. That was when they were alive. Emma shook her head, clearing the memories of their passings out of her mind. It did not good for Emma to mourn for them all the time, especially since it had been six years since their gruesome deaths, at this very ocean.
Emma turned her attention away from her parents and back to her friends. "Guys?" Emma called out, panic slightly lacing her voice. At least her parabatai should have shown up. She then heard a rustling noise and felt some movement out of the corner of her eye.
"Jules?" Emma called out. No response.
She made her way towards where she thought she heard the noise, at the foot of the ocean. The water came creeping out and barely touched her feet when Emma screamed and leapt back. Emma's greatest fear was the ocean, especially the ocean in the darkness. Hunting at the beach during midnight was not the perfect idea for Emma, but then again, she had to learn how to conquer her fears.
The water rippled and then suddenly a great, scaled monster sprung up from the ocean. It had a multitude of tentacle legs, no eyes, and a large mouth lined with hundreds of razor sharp teeth. Emma let out a scream that she had been containing and stumbled backwards onto a mound of sand. The water demon propelled itself towards her, faster than she could even react. Emma reached in her weapons belt, searching for her favourite weapon, Cortana. The demon was coming closer and closer when it screeched in pain, letting out an earsplitting howl. Something – no someone – had attacked it from behind. The demon bled out ichor and seawater and like all other demons, disappeared into thin air.
Standing where the demon once lay was a tall, lanky figure. He thrust his blade into his weapons belt and made his way towards Emma. Even in the darkness, Emma could make out his blue-green eyes. He held out his hand, waiting for Emma to take it.
"You finally decided to show up Jules," Emma said stubbornly, refusing to take his hand. Julian Blackthorn, her closest friend and parabatai, gave her a small smile, his hand still outstretched.
"You're welcome for that," said Julian calmly.
"I was handling it perfectly fine," Emma protested. She was one of the fiercest Shadowhunters since Jace Herondale and to be brought down by a water demon, and a lesser one of that, would have been pathetic.
"Sure you were," Julian said lazily with an undercurrent of sarcasm.
"No one was coming. And you know how I am with water Jules." With that, he conceded, knowing that water was a territory he could never get into a fight about with Emma.
Julian shrugged his shoulders, his hand still out for her. "Let's get going. The others are probably worried where we both are, most likely where you are. We were able to kill all the Moloch demons in this area, so we best be on our way before Dad finds we're missing." Emma looked away from him stubbornly. "Come on Em. You can't be mad forever."
Emma looked up at his hand and then away. She got up by herself, struggling against the slippery sand, making it a point to do so without Julian's help. She stood next to Julian, about to leave without him when she realized she had no idea where the others were. Emma was a tall, especially for a girl of eighteen, almost five ten. In fact, she was taller than most boys she had dated. But next to Julian and his six two build, she felt a lot smaller.
Julian casually put his arm around her, and she flinched away from him. "What?" hurt flooded his eyes. Emma turned away from him. "You know that I would never leave you," he said truthfully.
"Yeah, of course," Emma said stubbornly, and Julian relaxed, "that is only because of the parabatai rules."
Julian stiffened and Emma immediately regretted saying that. She loved him fiercely, and she knew that he reciprocated those feelings for her. Not in a romantic way, but in a way that ran deeper than the rune that bound them together by oath. Even if they were not parabatai, Emma would sacrifice anything for him, since they were the closest of friends. She remembered that day she had agreed to become his parabatai, right after the Dark War had ended, and she had not regretted it ever since. It was the best decision ever, even if it was complicated.
"Please Em, don't do this to me. You know I would protect you no matter what, oath or no oath," Julian said, echoing her thoughts exactly.
Emma took a deep breath in and out, flushing out all of the negative energy from her. She looked up at him and smiled at him, a genuine smile, her brown eyes alight. He returned this by pulling her into a tight embrace, knowing with all his heart that she believed him.
"There you two are!" Emma and Julian immediately sprang apart and saw Cristina Mendoza Rosales racing towards them. Cristina was another one of Emma's closest friends. She was a Shadowhunter along with the rest of them, but came from the Mexico City Institute to live and train in the Los Angeles Institute, as a sort of training abroad thing most Shadowhunters did when older. Her gold medallion shone against her chest in the moonlight. She was wearing the same black gear as the rest of them, and her usual long, black hair was neatly tied back into a neat bun. Even amidst all the fighting, not even a strand of hair and come out loose across her face. "I see Jules finally found you."
"It's not like I was lost," Emma said exasperatedly, throwing her hands up in the air, "I was doing just fine when a demon came out of nowhere."
"More like she needed me to do the saving," Julian added. Emma friendly punched his arm. No hard feelings.
"Oh so you needed Jules to help you out. So much about handling yourself, Em," Cristina said jokingly as Julian winked at her.
"You too are unbearable," Emma said laughing and shaking her head. Although, Tina did have a point; Emma did insist she could fight on her own this one night.
Tina laughed and quickly hugged Emma, which Emma happily returned. "Let's go back to the car. The others are waiting for us," Tina said and led Emma and Julian towards where they were parked.
The car, as it turned out, was not as far as Emma anticipated, so there was no awkward silence that transpired between the three of them. Instead, they recounted what happened during their fights. Cristina, alongside Jaime, Olivia, and Julian, were able to get rid of the rest of the Moloch demons, which, as it turns out, was only three more. Cristina had sent Julian to go find Emma after they had waited a while. Apparently, Emma had strayed away further than the group had anticipated. Emma did not mind though.
Jaime Rosales was leaning casually against his family van. He was Cristina's cousin and the only one of the Shadowhunters who lived in Los Angeles but not in the Institute. Jaime was already at Shadowhunter past the adult age and found it only necessary to go to the Institute when needed. Because of this, he was their personal chaperone on their missions. He was still a constant presence there and it was almost as if he lived there. Not to mention that Julian's little sister, Drusilla, had a huge crush on him. Emma had to admit, but he was quite the looker. With his muscular build and tall height, alongside the striking black hair and caramel coloured skin, he was pretty hot. He smiled as Cristina, Emma, and Julian approached him. Like Cristina, he was also from Mexico, but had less of an accent since he had been living in the States for a longer time.
"See, I told you they would come," Tina told Jaime, returning his smile.
"You're finally here!" Livia said, appearing from the shotgun seat of the car. She, like Julian, had the same brown hair and blue-green eyes, but was two years younger than him. "Come on, we can't wait all day! We best be on their way," she said eagerly. Of course, Livvy had to always felt it was her job to protect the family and act as if she was their mother. Protecting as in rushing them home so they would not be caught Julian's uncle, Arthur Blackthorn, past curfew.
Tina climbed to the back of the van, and Julian and Emma followed after her. Julian went in first, Emma right before her, and as she reached to swing her leg in, someone grabbed her by her shoulder and whirled her around.
"You better have a good explanation for this, young lady," said a woman, standing before her. It was none other than Tessa Gray, and her husband, Jem Carstairs.
So there you have it! So what do you all think of the first chapter? Love it? Like it? Want more?
I'm glad I actually waited on this story because Cassie has been releasing a lot of new stuff. Like now TDA will be in 2013 instead of 2012. Even Emma's description changed slightly. Oh and she said that Tessa and Jem would be in the first chapter, so I had to add it in. And there's more, but that'll just be rambling.
So review! Favorite! Follow! Hope you all like this new rewritten fic!
~The Pale Red Queen