So I've been thinking on this idea for about a month and I've finally started putting it into words. I've had the entire thing, chapter for chapter planned out in my head and I'm finally getting to it! So here we go. I hope you like the first chapter!
I'm starting a playlist to go along with my story and the song I thought fit for this chapter is In Fate's Hands by The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. You can find the playlist on my profile as it progresses and I'm also going to make a playlist on Playlist (dot) com.
[Disclaimer: I don't own it. The brilliant Cassandra Clare does.]
Chapter One
Clary jerked awake when she heard her alarm clock go off on her bedside table noisily at eight in the morning, making her groan with pure annoyance. She wished she didn't have to do training today. She was still sore from the day before; she had bruises all over her body and her muscles ached in protest as she swung her legs over the side of her bed, pushing the snooze button on her clock to silence the damn thing. She ran a hand through the mass of tangled red curls that hung around her face.
"Clary! You have twenty minutes to meet me in the training room!" A voice called through the barrier of the wooden door. She heard footsteps right after the sentence, fading down the hallway. Usually Jace's voice made her heart skip a beat and a chill to race down her spine, but not today. Today she was too damn tired to feel like that.
Clary dropped her head into her hands and a groan escaped her lips. "You suck," she muttered under her breath before she pushed herself to her feet, looking at herself in the mirror, she saw her eyes were bloodshot and the expression on her face was one of irritation and weariness.
Standing up, Clary went over to her closet and grabbed a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt that said "New Yorker" on it in black letters. She pulled her unruly mass of red hair up into a ponytail and examined herself in the mirror. She frowned at her reflection. She didn't know what Jace saw in her—just a short, pale girl with curly red hair and freckles. The one thing she hated about her appearance was her freckles. She thought that if she didn't have them, then she truly would be pretty. But they were an imperfection and she wanted them gone. She sighed softly. "This is as good as it's gonna get," she mumbled to herself before she walked into the bathroom attached to her bedroom. She washed her face and brushed her teeth before she walked out of her room, closing the door softly behind her.
A door opened down the hallway as she walked slowly to the torture room—as she called it—and Alec walked out and looked at her with a smile. "Going to training?"
Clary nodded. "Yeah, wouldn't want to disappoint King Jace," she said with a smile as she came to a stop several feet from Alec.
"Is he working you hard? Izzy said you were covered in bruises," Alec said and Clary caught the brief flash of concern in his eyes. She was glad they all cared about her. She just wished Jace would take training a bit easier. She didn't let him know about the bruises or else he would stop the training altogether and he'd stick her with Isabelle or Alec, and she needed him, the best Shadowhunter of their age group to teach her. In fact, she was convinced he was the best Shadowhunter in existence currently.
Clary sighed. "Isabelle was exaggerating. I'm fine. And don't let Jace hear you saying that okay? I don't want anything to interrupt training. The faster I can be out there with you guys the better. Maryse and my mom think it's best if I get trained properly first," she told him with a roll of her eyes.
Alec grimaced. "They just want to keep you safe. You're learning fast. You'll be coming along with us in no time," he said with a pat to her shoulder.
"Thanks, Alec," Clary said. She was about to ask him something when Jace walked around the corner.
"Clary," he said in that exaggeratedly impatient tone of his, blond hair messed up as if he hadn't even bothered to brush it after he woke up. "Your twenty minutes is up. Come on."
Clary heaved a sigh before she gave Alec a small smile. "See you later," she told him as she passed him to where Jace was standing, hands hanging loosely at his sides. He took hold of her hand when she got to him and he kissed her cheek. She liked the soft side of Jace. It was so unlike how he was with the others. She got special treatment and she took pride in that…well, special treatment until it was training time. Then the old Jace came out, but Clary didn't mind. She liked all sides of Jace's personality; cocky and sarcastic and sweet and tender. She didn't mind how he acted as long as he was near her.
"Trying to get out of training?" Jace asked with a smirk in her direction as
"As if I really could," Clary snorted with dry amusement. "You'd only just hunt me down and drag me there," she told him, but they both knew that wasn't true. He'd pick her up and take her there instead of dragging her.
Jace didn't reply and soon they were walking into the training room, sparring mats spread around, a punching bag nearby, some Styrofoam-like targets for knife throwing and such. It was a big room with a big window on the far wall, looking out over the street, buildings surrounding them.
"So what are we doing today?" Clary asked, fearing he would say hand-to-hand combat again. She thought that hand-to-hand combat could rot in hell for all she cared. She didn't want to be sore in the morning again.
Jace saw the look in her eyes and he smiled. "Just thirty minutes of combat training and then we're going to start you on knife throwing, alright?" he told her as he led her to the middle of the room where the mats were spread all around. He let go of her hand and walked five paces away before he turned around to face her once again.
Clary blew out a sigh, already able to feel her body screaming at her to not do it. "Alright," she agreed with a nod, taking up her defensive stance. Opposite her, Jace had an offensive stance and he slowly started moving forward.
In less than a second, he was grabbing her, trying to flip her onto her back. When she slammed her foot down on his instep, a barely audible breath hissed from his lips and she was able to get out of his hold on her. She turned and started throwing punches and kicks. He blocked every single one, anticipating each and every one of her moves.
Clary stumbled slightly over the mat and Jace took advantage of her momentary distraction to grab her and throw her down on the mat on her back. A gasp escaped Clary's lips as the breath was knocked out of her and Jace was straddling her waist in less than a second, pinning her hands on either side of her head.
Clary was breathing hard already but Jace didn't look out of breath in the least. His cocky grin was fixed back into place from where his serious "fighting expression" had been present.
"Pin," Jace said with a chuckle, leaning down to brush his lips against her neck. Clary sucked in a breath and it felt as if her heart faltered for a moment. How he could get that reaction out of her by such a simple action was beyond her.
Jace's grin widened as he noted her reaction and she narrowed her eyes, glaring up at him, but her heart wasn't in the angry look. The corners of her lips turned up in an almost smile. "Jace?" she said, making her voice soft as she looked up at him.
Jace looked back down at her, his beautiful eyes looking into hers. "Yes, Clary?" he asked, arching an eyebrow up in question.
His hands were gripping her arms a bit tighter than she would have liked but she didn't say anything. "I—"
But she didn't finish what she started to say because Isabelle walked in the training room in a pair of tight black jeans and a black halter top that fit her like it was painted on. She could pull off such looks but Clary knew that she would never be able to do that like Isabelle could.
"Jace," Isabelle said, her voice tight as she watched him hold Clary down on the mat. "Let her up—now."
When Isabelle had seen the light purple bruises on Clary's skin the day before she nearly went to Jace's room and gave him a taste of his own medicine, but Clary had begged her not to. She'd said that she just wasn't used to so much physical combat and she'd be fine in a few days. Isabelle didn't like it though.
Jace regarded Isabelle coolly. "Why?" he asked, a tone of challenge in his voice.
"Because you're hurting her! That's why," Isabelle said, walking forward, her black knee-high boots with a seven inch heel making a soft clicking noise as her shoes made contact with the floor.
Jace rolled his eyes. "Oh get real, Izzy. We're practicing," he said, letting go of Clary's hands and getting to his feet, helping her up too.
"Izzy, stop, please," Clary said, looking at the other girl, giving her a pointed look. She didn't want Jace freaking out over the bruises and he was sure to do that if Isabelle kept up talking.
"I wasn't hurting her," Jace said to Isabelle and something in his eyes made Clary unable to look away. She knew Valentine had hurt him while he had been growing up and it made him defensive to think that anyone was accusing him of hurting anyone he cared about, especially Clary.
Isabelle pursed her lips, looking from Jace to Clary, her hands on her hips while she tapped her boot against the floor.
Jace let out a frustrated sigh. "Clary," he said, voice strained. "Am I hurting you?"
"No," Clary said instantly, looking up at him. She didn't care about a few "battle scars" as she liked to call them. It just showed that she was trying hard and it gave her the motivation she needed to improve.
"See?" Jace said to Isabelle impatiently. "Now go away so we can continue."
Isabelle looked like she was about to protest but Clary gave her a pleading look that Jace couldn't see since she was standing in front of him with her back to him. The dark haired girl huffed. "Oh fine. I can see when I'm not wanted," she said before she turned on her heel and walked off, letting the door shut loudly behind her.
Clary let out a breath. Crisis adverted.
"Let's skip to target practice before Izzy comes back in and attacks me again," Jace told her as he led her over to where five knives were laying on a small table with a piece of fabric shielding the tabletop from the blades. "Now, watch and learn," he said before he flicked all five knives towards the Styrofoam target, almost faster than Clary's eyes could even comprehend. All five knives, Clary saw, were imbedded into the center, right on target.
Clary's eyes widened and she let out a breath before she looked up at him. "You're good."
Jace grinned and was about to say something but she gave him a look. "Don't be cocky," she told him.
"Suit yourself," Jace said as he went to retrieve the knives. He brought them back over to where Clary was and he handed them to her. "Give it a shot."
Clary took them and sighed, holding the five sharp objects in her hand. She picked one up with her right hand and aimed as well as she could before she let it fly through the air. It was stuck into the wall. Frowning, she threw all four others and they, too, were stuck into the walls.
"Good try," Jace said, but Clary knew he was just saying that. He went and plucked them from the Styrofoam before he returned. "Let me show you how to really—"
Alec burst into the room. "Jace, mom wants to see us in the library. She says it's urgent."
Before Jace could ask what it was about, Alec was already out the door again at a run. Jace put the knives down and grabbed Clary's small hand in his. "C'mon," he told her as he started walking swiftly out of the room, heading for the stairs.
Moments later, Clary was being dragged into the library where Maryse stood in the middle of the room. Alec and Isabelle were seated on the leather sofa.
"Jace, Clary, have a seat," Maryse told them, gesturing to the empty loveseat across from her children.
Clary felt nerves bubble in her stomach, wondering what on earth was so urgent. She saw a man dressed in the normal Shadowhunter black clothing, standing off to the side. He looked tough, she thought.
Jace tugged her over to the loveseat with him before he sat down with her. "What's this about?" he asked Maryse, casting a suspicious glance over at the Shadowhunter man who he obviously didn't know.
Maryse looked weary. "Someone who we thought to be dead…is very much alive and looking for revenge."
I'm so sorry I had to leave it there! I was shooting for a cliffhanger and I succeeded! I know there's not a lot of Jace/Clary mush yet, but there will be in the next chapter. I promise! I've been thinking about this idea for about a month now and I thought it was high time I put it into action.
So, if you want more, you have to review, review, review! Let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions!!