All Monsters Must Die
Jace-
Chapter 1: Worlds Collide
Clary rests her head against my chest, her mane of red hair fans out around her- strands of it tickle persistently at my nose. I gently brush them away, gazing down at her peaceful face- you'd never think that one so peaceful could be such a skilled fighter. She is definitely a natural- it had taken her a while to master the basics of balance. But at least she doesn't fall down the stairs as much. I brush my battered fingers against her cheek; she squirms a little, a big, warm smile spreads across her face; she murmurs,
"Jace, stop it." I grin. She's amazing. I too settle down to sleep- my eyes however are wide awake; I cannot prevent myself from mapping out the constellations. I remember all the ones Valentine taught me- back when I new him as Michael Wayland. I continue to scan the sky for quite some time before my eyelids finally grow weary. Now I cannot resist sleep; find myself being serenaded to sleep by the birds in the forest around me. It's so nice, having it just me and Clary. Normally, we're hunting with Alec and Izzy. But Izzy is with Simon this weekend; Alec is still working things out with Magnus (from what I know, it isn't going too well). But this weekend it's just me and Clary again; finally we're alone. Concealed away from the hubbub of the city- tucked up on the outskirts of a forest- who would have thought we'd find peace in New York of all places. I have never been to such a city where the mundanes are so openly disrespectful of each other. I'm so glad the New York institute let us handle this demon. I ponder these thoughts as I inevitably fall asleep. My eyes are closed for all of three seconds before I hear it. The trees groan as something huge shoves past them; the branches crack as they are trodden on by something big.
My eyes snap open again; I roll over- so I'm facing the forest's edge. Clary groans as I disturb her sleep, "Five more minutes Mom." she asks blatantly, still entangled by sleep. I shake her sharply, the thing is moving closer. She opens her beautiful, green eyes in alarm as I gesture towards the forest. It takes her a moment, but she soon hears the sounds of stampeding. She joins me as we rise to our feet; dig through our backpacks- looking for our seraph blades. She only recently went through Ascension; can handle her blade confidently- you'd have never guessed she spent most of her life a mundie. I whisper Adriel into mine; it lights up- illuminating the dark forest line. Clary's blade soon flickers on too; we slowly advance towards the tree line. It's getting far closer now; I can just about make out it's outline. How I wish I had time to put on a Nyx rune or at least a Farsighted rune. But my stele is tucked safely away in my backpack; it's too late to draw one now. It hurtles out of the forest and straight towards me. I slide under it as it leaps at me; slice it's leg with my seraph blade. It whinnies with pain; Clary goes in for another attack. She flings herself at the demon- stabbing at it's huge wings with her blade. But the blade bounces of it's bone and not much damage is done. It's wings are too tough for the blade. Plus, I cannot identify this demon- it doesn't look like any I've ever seen. So I rummage through my backpack; grab my nylon rope. I fashion it into a lasso; capture the beast in one swift movement. Clary raises her eyebrow at me, "Seriously, a lasso. What are you a cowboy?" I shrug, I pack just about everything in my backpack. We crouch down next to the thing; attempt to identify it. Clary suggests it as an Eidolon- but I don't think so, an Eidolon would have attacked us with more strategy and skill- plus the seraph blade would have done more damage on it. I pull out my Sensor: it doesn't register the beast.
"So it's not a demon. What are you?" It continues to thrash around on the ground, just as three more figure emerge from the tree line. Clary shines her witchlight at them: the first two appear to be mundanes (a boy and girl) but the third isn't. It has the upper half of a mundane; the lower of a goat, also- upon further inspection- tiny horns protrude through it's curly brown hair. Again, it doesn't appear to be a demon. So I look at the Sensor; still nothing. "They don't appear to be demons either. What are you little goat boy, a Fae?" The goat looks confused and says,
"What in the gods name is a Fae?" So, not a member of the Fae then. Clary suggests,
"A warlock?" again the goat looks confused and shakes it's head. Meanwhile the two mundanes scurry over to the horse. I listen to one as he says soothingly,
"It's alright Blackjack, it's only a cut. We can fix you up back at camp."
"Camp? What Camp?" Clary asks, rather bluntly too I might add. The girl looks up at us- her eyes sparkle with superior intelligence.
"How can you see us?" she asks; I think she might not be so clever after all. Clary doesn't know how to reply. Neither do I for once. The mundie girl asks us, "Do you know who both of your parents are?" I flinch, it's probably just a coincidence, how could a mere mundie know about my predicament? Clary answers slowly,
"Yes, we know both our parents." There's an eerie silence as the girl thinks; I watch the boy beside her. He's got a pen in his hand, curious. He clicks it as though he's going to write on the horse; instead a sword expands out of it; he slices through the bonds. Clary gasps. I however, am thoroughly annoyed now; announce to Clary,
"That's it, I'm calling the Clave."