"It's over Annabel," Julien said. He didn't look triumphant; he looked weary. "It's done."
Annabel gave a growl low in her throat and lunged. Julien raised his blade. But Annabel whipped past him, her black hair seeming to soar around her. Her feet left the ground, and for a moment she was truly beautiful, a Shadowhunter in full flowering glory, just before she landed lightly on the wooden floor at the dais's edge and drove her jagged, broken half blade into Livvy's heart.
Livvy's eyes shot wide. Her mouth formed an O, as if she were astonished by discovering something small and surprising, like a mouse on the kitchen counter. An overturned vase of flowers, a broken wristwatch. Nothing huge. Nothing terrible.
Annabel stepped back, breathing hard. She no longer looked beautiful. Her dress, her arm, was soaking in red and black.
Livvy raised her hand and wonderingly touched the hilt protruding from her chest. Her cheeks flared red.
"Ty?" she whispered. "Ty, I-" Her knees went out from under her. She thudded hard to the ground on her back. The blade was an ugly massive insect fastened to her chest, a metal mosquito sucking the blood that ran from her wound, rex mixed with the black of the sword, spilling across the floor.
In the aisle of the Council Hall, Ty looked up, his facing turning the colour of asked. Emma had no idea if he could see them through the crowd- see his sister, see what had happened- but his hands flew to his chest, pressing over his heart. He pitched to his knees, soundlessly, just as Livvy had, and crumpled to the ground.
Julien made a noise. It was a noise Emma couldn't have described, not as human a sound as a howl or scream. It sounded like it was ripped out of the inside of him, like something brutal was tearing through his chest. He dropped the longsword Livvy had risked so much to bring him, fell to his knees, and crawled to her, pulling her into his lap.
"Livvy, Livvy, my Livvy," he whispered, cradling her, feverishly stroking her blood-wet hair away from her face. There was so much blood. He was covered in it in seconds; it had soaked through Livvy's clothes, even her shoes were drenched in it. "Livia." His hands shook, he fumbled out his stele, put it to her arm. The healing rune vanished as quickly as he drew it.
Emma felt as if someone had punched her in the stomach. There were wounds that were beyond a normal iratze's power. healing runes only vanished from skin when occult poison was involved- or when there person was already dead.
"Livia." Julien's voice rose, cracking and tumbling over itself like a wave breaking far out to sea. "Livvy, my baby, please, sweetheart, open your eyes, its Jules, I'm here for you, I'm always here for you, please, please-" Julien continued to fumble with the stele, becoming more and more frantic after iratze after iratze vanished on her ever paler skin.
Blackness exploded behind Emma's eyes. The pain in her arm was gone' she felt nothing at all but rage. Rage that bleached everything else out in the world expect the sight of Annabel cringing against the lectern, staring at Julien cradling his sister's dead body. At what she'd done.
Emma whirled and stalked toward Annabel. There was nowhere she could go. the guards had circled the dais. The rest of the room was a seething mass of confusion. Emma hoped Ty was unconscious. She hoped he was seeing none of this. He would wake up eventually, and the horror of what he would wake up to drove her forward.
Annabel staggered back. Her foot slipped, and she tumbled to the floor. She raised her head as Emma loomed up over her. Her face was a mask of fear. Emma heard Arthur's voice in her head. Mercy is better than revenge. But it was fainter than Julien's whispers and Dru's sobs. She brought Cortana down, scything the blade through the air- but as it sliced the air, inky smoke erupted from the window behind Annabel. It had the force of an explosion, the concussive wave knocking Emma backward. As she stumbled to her knees she caught sight of a moving shape inside the smoke- the gleam of gold, the flash of a symbol burned into her brain; a crown, broken in half. The smoke vanished, and Annabel vanished with it.
Emma's eyes flicked to where Julien still cradled his sister, shaking violently. She crawled towards him, the world around her going black and her only focus and purpose was to reach him, touch him. Emma seemed to have a moment of clarity as she surveyed the scene before her, surveyed Livvy's body. Julien's face portrayed nothing but utter despair. It destroyed him. Emma knew it, if he lost Livvy forever, it would utterly destroy him. There was no coming back from that. Resting her hand on his shoulder, as he frantically drew another iratze on Livvy's chest. He jumped at her touch, the stele jerking and a fresh line cutting down the iratze, making it something new, something else. Emma felt her soul tug towards her parabati and her energy flow, tearing and burning the power through her veins, throwing itself through Julien, down his arm and into the stele touching Livvy's chest. Julien felt it too. He cried out, head thrown back as he threw all his power and soul into the rune. The burning subsided for a second, but just as Emma reached to take a breath, something ripped from deep inside her, something tore itself out of her body and came crashing down in a wave of pure white into Livvy's chest. Black surrounded Emma, only her hand on Julien's shoulder keeping her tethered to the world as she went flying through infinite oblivions.
A murky shape of a young girl with long dark hair faded into focus through the black.
"Livyy!" Emma screamed, at the top of her lungs, grabbing out frantically at the girl. For a second, she thought she wouldn't reach her, as the girl began to fade out, but then a small, bony hand grabbed hers. Emma threw her body back, back back, through oblivion, following the call of her parabati and tugging the girl with her. Slamming back into her own body, Emma gasped, the air felt like it was being sucked from her lungs. Livvy's eyes flew open, sucking in loudly and air rushing into her lungs, her bloodied chest expanding, and in the distance, Emma swore she heard the faint thudding of Livyy's heart beating. She heard Julien's too, a frantic banging in his chest. And Ty's. And Mark's. And Dru's. And Helen's. But, where was hers?
Livvy sat bolt upright, clothing Julien's sobbing shoulders, but eyes flying straight to Emma, knowingly.
"No. NO!" Livvy whimpered and screamed, reaching for Emma. But the blackness claimed Emma's body and the last of the air Livvy breathed in, was pulled from Emma's lungs. She felt her body fall back, and as the shadows swirled closer, Julien's face above hers, screaming something. But Emma could feel his heart beating strongly in her head, in her soul.
She knew Death could not be tricked, not be fooled out of its clam. And for one life, in exchange for another. Livvy must live, but for that, payment was required. Emma felt nothing. Heard nothing, but the beating heart she clung to, rumbling from Julien's chest. But with a small smile, she silently bid farewell to her love, releasing the tether that had held her to him since the day they had met, and floated away into oblivion.
