Here's another chapter. Mind you, I did TRY to make it longer, so here you go.
Disclaimer: I've got as much ownership to the TID characters as much as Will loves ducks. So, in other words, none.
By the way, I forgot to clarify that the Lucille and Adele are half faerie and half Shadowhunter.
'Jem! Jem, you disloyal bastard, where are you?'
The boy in question landed gracefully from the tree above, a look of amused exasperation on his face. His hair was turning silver, though black patches could be seen under the mop of mercury hair. His eyes were bright and his cheeks flushed, although it was hard to tell whether it was from their wild demon chase or his recent ingestion of yin fen. Though Will could be quite a cold presence , demon hunting made Jem feel like an ordinary Shadowhunter, and Will treated him no different. And for that he was grateful.
Shaken out of his reverie, he interrupted Will, 'Let me guess, you managed to kill that hydra with a single blow again.'
'You don't make it sound so brilliant', Will whined, pouting in disappointment as the punchline of his story faded into insignificance.
Suddenly, Jem doubled up, coughing. Almost by instinct, Will glanced around for the box with Jem's drugs, only to remember they were out in the forest, not in the comforting warmth of the Institute.
'Jem! I thought you had taken your yin fen! Jem!'. Will was frantic.
The frantic feeling turned into fear as a hissing was heard from the clearing behind. Out emerged a monstrous beast, skin the colour of the blood which shed from all of its victims. Eyes which were nothing but dark voids, consumed by the darkness of the demon's soul.
It was Yanluo.
Hissing, Will pounced on the monster, only to find it cackling as it turned into nothing but dust and shadows.
It was gone. For now. But Will's fiery blazed like Greek fire. It could not be doused.
Jem's coughing was the only thing holding him back. For now, his friend needed him. And he would not fail Jem like he had failed his family.
And as the turned back into the shadowing depths of the forest towards the Institute, Will could only hope that Yanluo was really gone.
But then again, demons and their curses never really did disappear.
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If there was any hope of them escaping the forest, it had vanished with the light in the midst of the dark forest. Lucille squinted, trying to make out anything with the struggling rays of light which were filtered through the dense trees. Nothing. She felt restless and frustrated – it seemed that they were going in circles for hours. Her eyelids drooped. Wouldn't it be nice to fall asleep and never wake up under this cover of darkness. Slowly, her resolve to live weakened. She was tired, oh, so tired…..
A scream jolted her awake. Was this how life was always going to be? A moment of peace disturbed by screaming and death. No. Lucille had enough. She was not going to be played around with like pieces of a chess board.
What she heard next cooled her anger ,and replaced it with intense fear.
For that scream had not come from an animal in the forest, or a lost traveller in the woods.
It was Adele.
Adrenalin rushed into her veins as she frantically followed the shrieking. She had already lost enough family. This was the last straw – her final chance to redeem herself.
Stumbling into a clearing, Lucy stopped in her tracks and froze at the sight in front of her. It was not like anything she had ever seen before – not even the monsters she had nightmares of in her dreams. Its skin was the colour of Maman's blood, the colour of roses. But all roses had thorns. Adele stood in front of the beast, frozen in fear.
The demon whispered, its voice hoarse and laced with coldness, 'Hello, child.' His smile widened into that of a Cheshire cat, teeth razor sharp.
He raised his head to what little could be seen of the night sky and yelled, 'YOU DARE INTRUDE MY LAND, YOU FOOLISH IMBECILE. YOUR FOLLY ACTIONS WILL DESTROY THOSE YOU LOVE. FROM THIS DAY ON, YOU WILL NEVER FIND TRUE LOVE. YOU WILL BE LOVED BY ALL THOSE YOU MEET, BUT ONLY FOR YOUR BEAUTY. YOU WILL NEVER BE ACCEPTED FOR WHO YOU REALLY YEARS YOU LIVE WILL CONDEMN YOU TO A BITTER FATE, AND YOU WILL SOUR FROM YOUR CURSE. BEGONE FOOLISH MORTAL, AND NEVER LIVE AGAIN!'
At that moment, I did the only thing that I deemed reasonable. Threw myself at the monster, and took the curse upon myself.
For people do absurd things for those they love, do they not? At least now Adele could be happy. My life was always going to be worthless. Perhaps now it had a purpose.
I forced a smile at her. 'It's alright, Elle. I'll be fine.'
'Really?'
What else could I say? Did I have a cruel enough heart to look down on an eight year old child and tell them that no, with their foolish actions, I could never be happy again? Glancing at her eyes full of hope, I knew I could not destroy the sparkle within them.
'Really.'
From then on I covered my face with a Maman's old scarf she gave to me. Not only to cover my cursed face, but to smell her scent. From that moment on, my right eye was the only part of my face uncovered.
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Jem and I stumbled around the woods. At last, we had found the end of the seemingly vast woods.
'Unbelievable. You'd think we'd have some sort of idea where we were going before hunting there.'
Jem did not respond. Will cast him a worried look. Jem's curiosity was also something he could bounce back on, something that until now he took for granted.
'James. Are you alright?'
'Fine. Just tired.' There was definitely a sense of bitterness in Jem's tone, but Will wasn't going to push it. In the occasional moment that this happened, Will felt an odd sort of sympathy. Though they were polar opposites, both he and Jem hated being interrogated about their personal issues. After another worried glance, Will realised just how wan Jem was. Dark circles had begun to form around his eyes and his eyes were bloodshot. How many nights had he gone without sleep?
'Watch out!'
Will whipped around to find a small girl with a covered face dragging a smaller one. They both glanced behind him, and slowly turning around, he cursed. In the midst of his reverie, he had forgotten about the demon.
This time at least, it was a Shax. Before he was able to pull out his seraph blade, the Shax swiped at Jem.
It never reached its target.
The taller of the two girls materialised out of nowhere and shielded Jem from the attack. Upon the contact of the claw at her arm, she shrieked, but held her ground.
And promptly fainted.
So here you go! A little meeting of the golden four. Left a little cliff-hanger-but-not-really at the end?
Until next time,
Ella Griffith Penrose