AHHHHH! FINALLY, it's the long-awaited companion fic to my story Begging for Mercy! Centers on Isabelle and Simon (mostly Isabelle). I don't think you have to read the first one to understand it, but I would be immensely pleased if you did. Please. For me?
I own a lot of things. The rights to the Mortal Instruments series just do not happen to be among those things.
Two Months Ago
"I'm sooo bored." I complained for what had to be the fiftieth time. Jace, Alec, and I were sitting on the curb outside of a new club waiting for the rest of our demon hunting crew to arrive. We had been waiting for what seemed like forever and I was beginning to get restless. "We should go inside. Now."
"Isabelle, we've only been waiting for five minutes," my older brother pointed out. Alec thought that he was as reasonable as I was irrational. It wasn't true, obviously.
We shared the same features, with a few minor differences. While Alec's hair fell across his forehead, mine ended near my waist. His eyes were a brilliant blue and mine a dark onyx. Though our looks marked us as siblings, our personalities definitely did not.
"I'm hungry too," I continued, ignoring my brother.
"I thought you were watching your figure." Jace reminded me. Jace's light coloring provided a contrast to our dark looks. His hair was curly and blonde and his eyes a syrupy, golden color. His tan face was often twisted into a knowing grin, and any straight girl would agree that he was sexy.
As he looked at me now, his eyes held a hint of teasing. I flipped my hair over her shoulder and frowned at him. "I don't need you to watch it for me." I retorted.
"Look Isabelle, you're attractive and all that, but I've always thought of you as more of a sister." Jace replied with a grin.
I scowled at him. "That is not what I meant and you know it."
I should correct my earlier statement: any straight girl would agree that Jace was sexy until he opened his mouth. After that, it was all touch and go. He had an annoying habit of spouting sexual innuendos at the worst times. Alec used to flush bright red every time he did it. Then again, Alec used to have a crush on Jace. A lot of things have changed in the year or so since we had defeated Valentine for the second time.
"Can we go now?" I asked again.
"No, Isabelle." Alec said again. "We have to wait until Magnus, Simon, and Clary get here." I pretended not to notice as he rolled his eyes.
"Simon's coming?" I asked, perking up suddenly. "How do you know?"
Alec gave Jace a pointed look, and the ever-sarcastic blonde informed me, "Apparently, my girlfriend has a thing for your boyfriend."
"I'm not sure either of them would appreciate your joke." I frowned at him. "And you should be really glad you have Clary, because any other girl would have to duct tape your mouth shut before she even touched you."
"Come on, Izzy." Jace smiled beguilingly. "Be nice."
"I'll be nice as soon as you stop treating my boyfriend like he's vermin." I snapped, beginning to lose patience with my crazy adopted brother.
"I can't exactly do that." Jace told me with mock-seriousness. "He used to be a rat."
"I have an idea." Alec interrupted, attempting to play the part of peacemaker. Jace and I had always bickered like real siblings while Alec was left to be the older, more mature one. The role had come to suit him well.
"You'd better hurry up and say it," Jace suggested with his usual sarcastic grin. "Or it won't be there very long. You know, ideas don't usually like solitary confinement."
"Haha, Jace." I retorted before Alec could respond. "You're so funny."
"Finally, something we agree on." His grin became a smirk. "Well, something besides the fact that I'm gorgeous."
"There are so many things I could say right now." I shook my head. "But my mom always told me not to argue with idiots."
"Good thing I'm not an idiot," was Jace's snappy comeback.
"If she agreed with you, you'd both be wrong." A new voice interrupted.
We all turned to see a scruffy, brown haired boy standing behind Jace's chair. His cheeks were turned up with a half-grin. It wasn't often he managed a comeback when it came to conversations with Jace. Jace just had that effect on most people.
"You're slow, Simon." I told him unnecessarily.
My boyfriend frowned at me for ruining his moment of fun. I let him pout. He had no idea that I was planning to more than make up for it before the night was over. "Yeah, well." He said. "The early bird might get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese."
I laughed. Jace pursed his lips and seemed to mull that over for a moment. "Did you just call yourself a mouse?"
Simon didn't deign to reply. "Well, are we going to get started?" He asked the rest of us.
"We're still waiting for Magnus and Clary." Alec, ever the responsible one, pointed out.
Simon did that one eyebrow thing that he had gotten much better at since becoming a vampire. He had gotten better at a lot of things since becoming a vampire. He had ditched his glasses, become a lot more confident, and even gotten better at, er, pursuits in the bedroom. "I take it none of you have talked to Clary recently." He looked pointedly at Jace who merely frowned in reply.
"Trouble in paradise?" I asked, raising an eyebrow of my own.
"She was still supposed to come." Our resident blonde muttered under his breath, confirming my suspicions.
"So that means we're only waiting for Magnus." I said. "And I'm sure Alec's warlock can handle himself." Exchanging a glance with Simon, I smirked. "So who's ready for a rave?"
Shooting one last glance up at the neon sign in front of the club, I made no attempt to hide my smile. The glow of the luminescent sign lit the street, throwing the world into a mix of bright avenues and shadowed boulevards. I tugged at Simon's hand and pulled him into the hazy, dimly lit room.
MAYHEM, club privé, the phosphorescent sign at the entrance announced. The title was fitting. The huge room was filled with a writhing mass of bodies, and music pumped through the speakers loud enough to deafen. The overall atmosphere was a mix of smoke and sex.
I loved clubs.
"Let's dance!" I called to Simon. In the chaos, I had lost hold of his hand, but he pressed close behind me.
"I don't think…" He tried to protest.
I ignored him. I had learned early with Simon that he could be persuaded to do almost anything if I was willing to try hard enough. He was a sucker for a simpering smile and pleading eyes. I had used that to my advantage on more than one occasion.
Such as persuading him to dance. Guys like Simon were uptight, uncomfortable in their own skin. They didn't know what they wanted until you showed them. He claimed that the smoky atmosphere and dimmed lights didn't attract him the way a computer screen did, but after a few shots and kisses, he always loosened up.
"Come on, Si." I pouted. The loud bass pumping through the speakers somewhere in the club called to me in a way that was unknown to Simon. I enjoyed the sound of the music, the press of the bodies, and the loose feeling that came from the place called Mayhem. "It's fun. You do know what fun is, right?"
Simon frowned and moved closer to me. "Forgive me if I don't get how a bunch of sweaty people dancing around getting drunk to music is fun."
Seeing that this wasn't helping, I decided to take a different approach. "Just relax, Simon." I coaxed. "Even you have to admit this is a lot better than homework." I started to sway instinctively to the rhythm of the music, pushing slightly into Simon.
"Studying isn't that bad." My nerdy boyfriend protested. Even though we had just gotten here, he already seemed to be trying to convince me to leave. "You know what they say." He added with a smile.
"What? Don't take drinks from strangers?"
"Nope. Knowledge is power and power corrupts. So study hard and be evil." Simon said. Only he could say something like that and not sound completely stupid. "Besides," he added, "I would need alcohol before I even tried to dance."
I humored him with a smile. "How about this?" I suggested, pressing seductively against him. "You go get a drink, and I'll be dancing." I traced the letters on his t-shirt with one finger as I spoke. Peeking up through my bangs, I was pleased to see him gulp nervously. "Whenever you're ready, you can come find me."
"Um, sure." Simon agreed quickly, but I had a feeling he wasn't quite sure what he was agreeing to.
"Good." I purred.
Simon turned back to the bar, probably ordering Vodka and blood (this was, after all, a more than mundane sort of place). I, on the other hand, pressed forward between bobbing dancers and let the crowd swallow me. I made it halfway across the big room before I stopped in the center of the crowd, letting the music wash over me. It didn't take long before I began to dance. Heedless of the world around me, I lost myself in the sounds.
I was brought abruptly back to the world as someone crashed into me from behind. I fell forward. "Sorry," a masculine voice mumbled, the person behind me catching me as I fell.
I felt strong arms wrap around me and I was pulled close to a male body. I sincerely hoped that this wasn't just another drunk man out for a night of fun. The arms that held me turned me to face their owner and I found myself staring into the eyes of a jaw-droppingly hot guy that looked around my own age. I suppressed a grin. Unsuspecting mundies were always a bit of fun.
"That's a nice dress." The cute mundie said, eyeing my legs. "Can I talk you out of it?"
"That depends," I said airily. Inside, I wanted to laugh. I may have been easy, but I wasn't that easy.
"On what?" Cute mundie asked.
"On whether you want to deal with my boyfriend." I purred. He still had his arms around my waist and his face was steadily nearing mine.
"Are you sure?" He questioned without letting me go, "because believe it or not, getting laid is still hard when you're this good-looking."
Um. Ew. I would have to be very drunk to even think about doing something of that nature with a boy as crude as this one, even if he was attractive. I decided that it was probably in my best interest to get far away from this sweaty, dark-haired boy. But I was nothing if not conniving, and I decided to play with him a little before letting him down.
I let out a low chuckle. "It must be hard with your sense of direction." I teased. "Never being able to find your way to a decent pick-up line."
I pulled slightly away from him in an attempt to extricate my body from his, but he didn't let go. I was beginning to think he was more than just sweaty. If the way he was clutching me was any indication, I figured he was a little drunk as well. Before I could really try to pull away, an angry voice cut into our conversation. "Get your hands off her!" Simon's voice rose above the pounding music.
The mundie boy pried his fingers off of me with a displeased look. "This your boyfriend?" He questioned. He looked as if he wanted to be intimidating, but was a little too tipsy to manage it. The previously attractive planes of his face were twisted into a narrow glare.
"Even if we weren't dating, I don't think she'd stoop so low as to pick up an uneducated idiot like you." Simon snapped.
"Simon, calm down." I slipped an arm around his body and leaned into him. "I was handling it."
"You looking for a fight?" The no-longer-cute mundane boy snarled, ignoring me. It was obvious who would win if the two got in a fight. Simon had a thin body, but quick and deadly vampire reflexes. The mundane, on the other hand, looked as if he spent most of his time playing video games. Or maybe that was being unfair. He looked as if he could survive a minute in a Shadowhunter practice fight. Maybe.
"No." Simon glared. "But that doesn't mean I won't fight you if you get out of hand."
I knew I should probably be protesting that I could protect myself. I thought about scolding Simon, but in reality, it was kind of hot to see him jealous. Simon wasn't the type to get into fights and only a year ago, he wouldn't have dared to confront a boy like this.
"Bring it on." The mundie boy was definitely drunk. Otherwise, he would know better than to fight a guy who looked as if he wanted to rip his head off.
Instead of throwing a punch or shoving the other guy, Simon only smirked. It was a smirk worthy of Jace, and the expression looked completely foreign on Simon's face. His lips were pulled away from his teeth, revealing his fangs. The mundie boy visibly paled, which only caused Simon's smirk to grow wider. "Are you sure you want to try me?" Simon asked testily.
The dark-haired mundane did exactly as any drunk person would do and threw a punch directly at Simon's face. Only it missed. His fist rushed past his vampire opponent's face, and he rocked forward into the stronger boy. Simon used his momentum against him and shoved him away into the crowd. The mundane crashed into a group of unsuspecting college girls who were probably just as drunk as he was.
He lay there for a minute before picking himself up from the ground. Surprisingly, he made no move to continue the fight. With one last glare, the mundie turned to walk away. He spit crudely on the ground in front of us before his shape receded into the press of people.
"Simon." I scolded, once he was gone. "You shouldn't pick on people who are stupider and less attractive than you. It isn't nice."
"Sorry, I got a sudden urge to hit him when I looked at his face." He shrugged, looking unapologetic. "Besides, I wouldn't have to pick on him if my girlfriend didn't have a thing for PDA with random people." This was punctuated with a scowl in my direction.
"I knew I should have gone to that concert with Maia instead of coming to this place." He muttered the last just loud enough for me to hear.
My jaw clenched. Now that was a low blow. I shoved past him with a scowl worthy of my elder brother.
"Isabelle, wait!" He grabbed my arm before I could get away. "I didn't mean…" He seemed to think better of whatever he was about to say, and said instead, "I only meant that this," he gestured around. The mix of radiant spotlights and dark patches threw the room into a shadow-filled light, illuminating couples here and there. "This isn't my thing. You know that, Isabelle. Please forgive me?"
I didn't deign to respond, but I could tell that my reluctance to leave was causing Simon to perk up. Instead of acknowledging his words, I decided to dance again. Dancing, fighting, and most other physical activities were easy ways to be distracted from the swarm of issues battling it out in my head. Dancing with Simon was so much easier than thinking about my feelings for him.
"I take it you haven't seen any demons?" Simon asked awkwardly after a moment. While he had gotten better at a lot of things since becoming a vampire, he still showed no improvement when it came to dancing. He rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet in time to the music as I slinked around him like a cat. Simon's habit of dancing by bouncing up and down was doing nothing for him but wearing out his shoes.
He also seemed to be lacking when it came to conversation skills. That was something about him that would never change. Lucky for him, I found it endearing rather than annoying. In fact, that was probably the reason I forgave him. My cute, incompetent vampire boyfriend had his quirks, but they were what made him Simon.
I rolled my eyes at him and leaned forward to whisper in his ear. "Follow me," I breathed before darting away into the thrashing movement and crazy noise of the crowd.
I slid through the crush of bodies easily, moving in tandem with the thrum of the never-ending, always changing beat. I weaved lithely through the crowd. I took only a few steps, and then I glanced behind me to find that Simon was having a little more difficulty. He was jostling dancers left and right, apologizing all the while. Taking pity on him, I captured his hand in mine and tugged him along behind me.
I pulled him past twirling girls and couples who looked like they were having dance floor sex, past the DJ, and the rest of the rustling mob, and up a hidden flight of stair. As we weaved up the dim, deserted stairway, the tension between us leaked out. By the time we made it up the stairs, it had bubbled over into laughter. We burst out of the door at the top of the stairs and onto the roof of the building.
Even out here, in the obscure shadows of the night, we could feel the loud base reverberating through our bodies. The sensations were never-ending, even this far away from the madness. Someone was growing a garden on this roof, and a small loveseat was obscured from the city by a large beach umbrella.
"Man, I hate that place." Simon shuddered. He lowered himself clumsily onto the loveseat. I quickly clambered down beside him and curled up against his side.
"It's not that bad." I defended. "There's something appealing about being able to shed expectations for just a few hours and become just another person in the crowd."
"I guess that's a matter of opinion." Simon conceded. "But I hate everything about it," a small smile turned his lips up at the corners, "except for maybe you."
"Very cheesy." I informed him. I was glad that he couldn't see the flush that spread over my cheeks, because it would totally ruin my persona. Isabelle Lightwood did not blush. Ever.
Except, apparently, when Simon Lewis attempted to be charming.
Almost as if he could read my thoughts, Simon's smile spread over his whole face. "What can I say?" He joked. "I'm a hopeless romantic."
I snorted unattractively "To me, you're just hopeless."
But my actions belied my words as I leaned into him, taking comfort in his thin but strong body. We curled together on the loveseat for a long time, both content to enjoy each other's company. I, of course, was the one to start fidgeting first.
"Si?" I asked cautiously. Our fingers were curled together once again, and my head was resting on his shoulder as we gazed out over the glow of the New York City skyline. It was a perfect moment, and I didn't want to ruin it. But I had to ask.
"What you said earlier… about being with Maia… is that how you really feel?"
I thought he would flinch away and shut down. Or begin to make excuses the way he usually did when I tried to ask where we stood. But to my surprise, Simon used his free hand to cup my face and pull my head up so that our eyes met. Liquid black and dark, dark brown. Our eyes were similar in color but our personalities so different. Sometimes I wondered if we had any chance at a future at all.
"Isabelle Lightwood, you're part dainty female in cute little dresses and part sexy, demon-slaying seductress." Simon told me, squeezing my hand gently. "You're a mess of contradictions, all of them insanely attractive. Sometimes you infuriate me, but the truth is that I think I could fall in love with you, if you let me. At the end of the day, there's no one in the world I'd rather be with."
Simon looked nervous, like he was bearing his soul by telling me those words. And in a way, he was. He said he could fall in love with me. Those words and the messy emotions that came with them were dangerous. I wasn't sure if I even wanted Simon to like me, much less love me. I liked it when we had a purely physical relationship, but I had to admit that the feeling of butterflies tingling in my stomach was definitely a pleasant one. And only Simon could bring it.
With a blinding smile, I moved to press my lips against his and all my worries faded. Our kisses grew heated quickly and we sprawled across the loveseat as our bodies tangled together. We had done this before, more than once, but the effects that his body had on mine were like a drug, a narcotic that kept pulling me back.
That night was when meaningless kisses morphed into caresses and lust began to turn into love. It definitely wasn't the beginning of our romance, but it was the beginning of something bigger. Something dangerous. That night was the night that changed everything.
When I first wrote this chapter, I couldn't shake the feeling that it wasn't any good. I edited it a few times, then got my friend to edit it, but I'm still not sure. Anyway, the next chapter should be up in a week and a half or two (sorry, but I'm going on a summer trip for a week so I can't update sooner).
