Well…Here is the start of the Sequel for Let Laughter Cease. I had about half of it written and never posted it, but now I am re-inspired. One problem with it is that I wrote what I had before City of Heavenly Fire and there are a lot of things in this story that don't match with that book (for example: SPOILER: the way the Heavenly Fire is taken out of Jace.) I can't really change them because it won't fit with Let Laughter Cease if I do, but here it is anyway. Enjoy


Julia looked around her. Alicante was on fire. She had a distant memory of seeing this before, from a different view. She subconsciously looked up and to her left. She saw herself and Jake up on a distant hill. What was going on?

Someone grabbed her arm. Julia spun quickly, taking herself out of their grasp and slamming the palm of her hand down on the persons forearm.

"Ow," the person said. "What are you trying to do? Break my arm?"

Julia looked into gold eyes. For the briefest of seconds she thought she was looking at her father, but then she took in the whole appearance.

"Jake?" she asked, confused. "Jake why are your eyes gold?"

"What do you mean?" he asked rubbing his arm.

"I…I don't know," she replied. She looked into his eyes and saw they were a perfect brown. "They just looked gold for a minute," she said uncertainly. "It's odd. When I first met you I thought they were gold. But they're brown. Just like they are now."

"My eyes have never been gold," he replied looking confused. "Are you okay babe?" he asked.

"I think so," she replied. He grabbed her hand in his. "Come on," he said starting to drag her away. "We need to go."

She nodded numbly still trying to think about why his eyes were gold. It wasn't until a couple of minutes later that she realized he was leading her through the city.

"Jake?" she asked, pulling her arm out of his.

"What?" he asked, his expression turning to one of concern as he took her hand in his again.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"Just trust me," he said.

"Jake, you're leading me through burning streets. We have to get out of here."

"I would never hurt you, you know that."

Julia nodded, but still resisted him. This felt wrong. All wrong.

"Why is Alicante on fire?" she asked as he dragged her along again.

"You don't remember?" he asked.

"Remember what?" she asked.

This time it was Jake who paused. He turned to face her. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"I think so," she replied, once again uncertain. "What's going on?"

"Julia," he said slowly. "You started the fire."


Julia woke with a start. It took her a moment to get her bearings. She felt the comforting presence of Jake's arms around her. She was staying at the New York Institute with him, James, Annie, Macy. Emmett and Roy had been recalled to Alicante for more questioning. Julia thought it a bit odd since she had barely been questioned, but made no comment on it. Roy's new girlfriend, Cathy, and her tutor, had both stayed behind with the approval of the Consul. Julia tried to be sympathetic and kind to the girl, but was finding she did not like her very much. Her mother was still in Idris and spoke to her with as little contact as possible. Jake shifted behind her. Amongst the few talks she had with her mother was a warning to "be safe." She knew her mother wasn't happy she was staying so far away and living with her boyfriend, even if it was at the institute. But, she reasoned to herself, in her defense, what good would it be to live with her mother who would barely even speak to her and definitely would not help with her training. The truth was, now that she thought about it, she wasn't very close with her mother. It was her father that she had preferred to spend her time with. He trained her, and he seemed to always understand her, whereas her mother was constantly shaking her head and claiming she didn't understand anything Julia did. Truth be told, Julia did not really know her mother that well. Even if she could bear living with her, there was the city. Julia knew her parents had grown up here, and they had talked about it often, visiting on occasion, and Julia felt drawn to it. She used to recall images from the stories her parents would tell her. Now, every time she walked out the door of the Institute or looked out a window, she saw those sights.

After training, she and Jake would take long walks around the city. Sometimes they would jump into a cab and he would take her to see some of the sights on the other side of the city. One day they got up early and traveled across the bridge to New Jersey for over half the day. Julia was happy. She missed her father, and hoped her mother would come around; she missed the beauty and glory of Idris, and her life at the manor house. But for the time being, she was content. She would take what she had for now and enjoy it.

Jake moaned softly next to her. It wasn't a moan of pain but more of a moan that he had been comfortable and she moved. She looked at his handsome face and smiled. He still refused to talk to his dad. From what little he had told her, all she knew was his dad had been released after questioning, and was residing in their countryside manor and had very little contact with any other Shadowhunters. Julia knew his dad tried to contact him once a week, but as far as she knew Jake never responded. She didn't even know if he read the letters his dad sent. She spent most of her time with him and had never seen him read one. She knew they were all in the top drawer of his dresser but figured it was best to respect his privacy.

Julia shifted a little more so she could face Jake. He smiled slightly, but kept his eyes closed. She had no idea how he could sleep so much. She brushed his hair back away from his eyes. It was getting a little long, but she liked it. He still didn't open his eyes so she kissed him lightly, right on the corner of his mouth. She could see his eyes shifting underneath their lids, but he still refused to open them.

"I know you're awake," she said softly in his ear, nibbling at it a little, trying to get him to react. Suddenly he sprang into action. Taken off-guard, she found herself pinned underneath him, his now open eyes only a couple of inches from her. He was smiling widely. Julia started laughing. He loved playing this game, trying to catch her off-guard and gain the upper hand on her. It didn't happen often, but he was getting better at it. Before she could say anything, he lowered his face the couple of inches and kissed her, slowly at first and then more rapidly. Within a minute, she pulled against his hands restraining her, longing to run her fingers through his hair and over his body. He complied, releasing her and wrapping his arms around her. He gently pushed on her back, lifting her a little and bringing them closer together. Julia thought she could never get enough of this. They hadn't been intimate since that one night, but each time they had moments like this it became harder and harder for her to resist. He pulled one arm out from under her and ran his hand up and down her side, pausing right above her pant line. Julia heard herself moan. Jake pulled out of the kiss, looking down at her. He was no longer smiling, but rather searching her face, as if asking for permission.

Julia felt his thumb slowly circling just below her waist line, trying to find the resolve to stop him. She knew that if she gave in now, she wasn't sure she would be able to stop him in a minute. He kissed her again, giving her another minute to decide, but all she could focus on was the small circles he was making with his thumb. She knew she was driving him nuts as well, running her hands up and down his chest, pulling at his back to make them closer. It wasn't that she didn't want to be with him, she was just scared. Last time it had been done for all the wrong reasons and there had been some bad consequences. She wanted the next time to be perfect. She ran her hand from his shoulder down his arm and onto his hand that was still hooked on the edge of her pants. The circling stopped and he took her hand into his. Ever so slowly, she pushed his hand below the waist line, giving him the permission he so badly wanted. She heard his breath catch and he pulled out of the kiss again, looking at her to make sure she was certain. She nodded once, unable to say anything.

"I love you," he whispered as he kissed her again releasing his hand from hers. She drew her hand out and ran it over his abs as his began to slowly inch its way downwards. Julia laid her head back, lost in a whirl of emotion. Jake moved his head down to meet hers, continuing to kiss her as his fingers continued to make their way down. Both their breaths were quickening and Julia drew Jake's shirt off. He lowered himself a little bit, kissing her neck, while what he was doing further down was making her gasp.

Suddenly, the door to the room was thrown open. "Breakfast time!" a voice shouted.

Jake jerked back suddenly, quickly withdrawing his hand from Julia. She shied away from him, as though caught doing something she shouldn't. She silently reprimanded herself. What they were doing was fine. They were in love. "By the Angel, can't you knock?" Jake asked of his best friend and parabati who was standing in the doorway. James's eyes roamed over them, realizing what he had just walked in on.


Jake had never been so mad and James. He had been so lost in Julia, so lost in his love for her, and James barged right in on it. James looked extremely guilty. "I…ummmmm," he paused. "Sorry guys," he said, quickly rushing out of the door.

Jake climbed off Julia and grabbed a clean shirt from the laundry pile. "I don't want to go to breakfast," Julia said, shoving her face down in the pillow.

"And what do you want to do?" Jake asked sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Stay in bed," she said before pausing, "with you."

Jake's head snapped to look at her. It was incredible what just a couple words could do to him.

"Careful what you say," he said.

"Why's that?" she asked.

"Julia," Jake said. "We haven't talked about this yet. I love you," he paused. How was he supposed to word this? "But I don't want to rush into," he gestured to the bed, "this. Last time…"

Julia started laughing. "I know," she said. "To be honest, it makes me nervous. I blocked out my emotions last time. I used you. I want the next time to be special."

"Well if you don't want me to jump you here and now, you should probably not make statements like you 'want to spend all day in bed with me.' You have no idea of the effect you have on me."

"I think I have an idea," Julia replied flipping back over and smiling at him. "Because I'm pretty sure you have the same effect on me."

"Well perhaps we should stop this where it is right now, and go get some breakfast before we train today."

"I guess," Julia said, sitting up. Jake grabbed her hand and helped her out of bed and they headed to breakfast together.


"What the hell was with earlier?" Jake asked James after breakfast. Julia had gone off to her room to take a shower, even though they would be training and getting sweaty in an hour.

"I wasn't thinking," James said.

Jake shot James a glare. "Seriously Jake," James said, "I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. I've spent our whole life barging into your room whenever I want. I wasn't thinking. It will never happen again. I promise!"

"I guess it's understandable," Jake said. "But don't feel like you can burst in on me and my girlfriend just because things are going slow with yours."

"What makes you think things are going slowly?" James asked, suddenly put off, but then he saw Jake laughing.

"I'm kidding around James," Jake said. "Besides, Julia and I are taking things slow."

James looked at Jake. "Are you okay with that?" he asked.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Jake asked.

"Well we are guys. It's in our nature to, uh, want more," James replied.

"Not that it's anything to you, but it's a mutual decision," Jake said.

"Well good for you," James replied. "Let's going train."