Undercover Lovers Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own the Mortal Instruments series.

Clary POV

I had spent the last three days pouring over possible candidates for my father's new bodyguard position but I wasn't getting anywhere. I didn't care enough to ask Valentine what sort of disagreement he had had with his last bodyguard but I knew that it was probably caused by him neglecting some aspect of his job and more than likely ended with him losing his life. That was the sort of person that my father was, the littlest mistake had catastrophic consequences to it. I was putting all of my effort into trying to find the best possible person for my father because he wouldn't settle for anything less than the best.

It was Thursday night and I was sat in Renwick's, nursing the same glass of whiskey that I had had for the last hour. Renwick's was a small hole in the wall down a side street in Manhattan that doubled up as the headquarters for The Circle. Small, upturned Tiffany lamps were scattered around the place but it still managed to look dark and dingy. The oak bar was stained, chipped and worn from years of use and the shelves behind the bar were full of bottles that were different shapes sizes and colours, most of which were covered in thick layers of dust. The men that came here to drink weren't here for the appeal of the bar. They were here for business.

I was just sat thinking about my task when I saw Sebastian make his way over to me from across the bar. I could tell that he was already extremely drunk because in walking the couple of metres that was the length of the bar, he had fallen or stumbled at least twice. He came and flung himself into the stool at the side of me and ordered two more whiskey's from the bartender. The bartender gave him what he ordered and then gave me a small smile of sympathy. Sebastian looked at me and just from the way he was looking I was getting extremely uncomfortable. I hadn't seen him since the meeting on Monday and he obviously wanted to resume where we had left off.

"Come on Clare-bear, let's go have a little fun. You know you can't resist." He slurred whilst sliding his hands up and arms and waist.

"How come I've lasted this long the Seb? I'm not interested." I said moving out of his reach.

"You just need to give yourself over to absolute pleasure Clary. That's all you need." He leaned forward and began touching me again.

"I've told I don't want to so leave me alone!" I said and began to get up to move away. He wasn't having any of it and grabbed my arm tightly.

"And I've told you that you will be mine. Let's go." He began dragging me towards the basement door, towards the sleeping area. Just as we got to the door, a large hand clapped on Sebastian's shoulder and pulled him backwards violently. I turned around to look and came face to face with a tall man towering over me with a halo of golden curls. He had sparkling golden eyes and in the dull surroundings that were Renwick's, he stood out like an angel. My guardian angel. To the left of him stood another man that had dark hair that looked almost black in the dim lighting and piercing blue eyes. Jace was knelt, straddling Sebastian and still pummelling him to the point that he was unconscious. Jace got up and turned to look at me with his undivided attention.

"Are you alright?" He asked with great concern and I nodded. "Good. I'm Jace by the way and this here is Alec." Alec looked at me and gave me a small smile and a nod.

"I'm Clary, thank you so much for helping me out there but could you do me one more favour? I would appreciate if if you could help me carry him down to the sleeping quarters downstairs in the basement." They both nodded and each grabbed on end of Sebastian. I guided them down the narrow hallways and pointed out an unoccupied bed for them to put Seb's unresponsive body in. He was definitely still alive because I could see the slight rise and fall of his chest as he was breathing but he wouldn't wake up for a while. The three of us walked back upstairs and sat back down in the seats I had been sat in earlier.

"Now tell me Red, who is that guy and why does he think that he can be treating such a beautiful girl like you like that?" Jace said with a wink. Alec just rolled his eyes and scoffed.

"Flattery gets you nowhere pretty boy," I said frowning at him.

"It wasn't flattery! I genuinely think that you're beautiful." He said, feigning hurt. I could feel the heat flaring in my cheeks and even in the low lighting, he noticed the colour change and smirked.

"Well in that case thank you. That man was Sebastian Verlac and I work with him. He's been trying to grab my attention for quite some time now and thinks that that is the way to go about it. He's never been that violent before." I said looking down and fiddling with the ring on my hand. "But I guess he's never been that drunk around me before either."

After a thick silence settled around the three of us I decided to speak again. "How about you two? Why are you in here?" I looked them up and down and noted the casual but expensive clothing that they were wearing. "You don't really fit the type of people that come to a place like this."

"We recently moved to the city and we've been out job hunting today but to no prevail. We were just wandering around when we found this place and decided to come in." He said and glanced at Alec who was nodding along, confirming his story. Suddenly, the pieces of the puzzle clicked into place and I had the perfect solution to my problem.

"Alec, can you fight just as well as Jace?" He nodded, looking slightly confused.

"I can fight but I don't really like to very much." I looked from Jace to Alec and realised that they were the perfect partnership. Alec was quiet and cautious whilst Jace was loud and reckless. Alec was the Ying to Jace's Yang.

"Well, that's perfect," I said they both still looked very confused. "I'm looking for a bodyguard for my father and what's better than one bodyguard than two. The hours are quite long but the pay is good. Would you two be interested?"

They looked between themselves and seemed to have a conversation silently and in a split second. Jace spoke up. "Who is your father if he needs two bodyguards with him?"

I looked around the bar and moved closer to them both. Most of the people in here knew I was Valentine's daughter but I still didn't like shouting it from the rooftops. "My father is Valentine Morgenstern, the head of The Circle."

Jace POV

It took a couple of days to finalise the permission for us to go into Renwick's because we knew that it could possibly lead us into an undercover operation. Robert was not to keen on the idea but he knew that it was a pretty good lead. Alec and I thought the best cover story for us would be that we've just moved to the city together and were looking for jobs. We kept our names and the police just wiped the system for us so they couldn't investigate us too much. We knew that there wasn't anyone that could identify us because on most cases, we stayed behind the lines and didn't get very involved.

We had arrived at Renwick's at about 11 pm and thought that the first night would be a flop. I couldn't have been more wrong. When we first walked in, a small redhead at the bar caught my eye immediately and to say I'm a bit of a ladies man would be an understatement. She turned slightly and revealed the most stunning face I had ever seen. She had fiery red hair and extraordinary green eyes. I was known for being a player and had never thought that a girl was 'beautiful' until now. She had changed my whole perspective on the world and I wanted to get to know her immediately. Unfortunately, I saw a tall, platinum blonde man that was extremely drunk, walk up to her and sit down and assumed that it was her boyfriend. However, he started running his hands up and down her and she moved away from him, looking visibly scared. I glanced at Alec and motioned over to the girl. When he saw how uncomfortable she was he knew I wanted to intervene. He was going to tell me why it was a bad idea because we were on a job but I had already started to walk towards the girl to go and stop him. In the time it took us to walk across the bar, the man had grabbed the girl's hand and was dragging her towards a door at the side of the bar. I practically ran up to him, grabbed his shoulder and began hitting him. I didn't know what was wrong with me but I was filled with a blind rage that just caused me to keep going. When I was sure he wasn't conscious anymore, I got up and looked at the girl. She was even more beautiful close-up but there was fear in her eyes.

"Are you alright?" I asked her and she just gave me a small but strong nod. "Good. I'm Jace by the way and this here is Alec." Alec looked extremely uncomfortable but he smiled and nodded back anyway.

"I'm Clary, thank you so much for helping me out there but could you do me one more favour? I would appreciate if if you could help me carry him down to the sleeping quarters downstairs in the basement." She said and I couldn't help but want to do what she had asked. As we carried the man down the stairs I couldn't stop thinking about Clary and then I realised that I was being stupid. There was no way on earth that I could fall in love on a mission, even if the girl was unbelievably attractive.

We went back upstairs and sat back down at the Clary's seat at the bar. I was curious to find out who the man assaulting her was but I didn't want to upset her at all so I went with a lighthearted approach.

"Now tell me Red, who is that guy and why does he think that he can be treating such a beautiful girl like you like that?" I said and added a wink at the end for good measure. Alec didn't seem impressed...

"Flattery gets you nowhere pretty boy." She said and I couldn't help actually feeling hurt.

"It wasn't flattery! I genuinely think that you're beautiful." I said quietly not meaning for it to come out. However, it did have a good effect on her because I could see her begin to blush.

"Well in that case thank you. That man was Sebastian Verlac and I work with him. He's been trying to grab my attention for quite some time now and thinks that that is the way to go about it. He's never been that violent before." She said and I could tell that she was extremely uncomfortable. "But I guess he's never been that drunk around me before either." I was starting to get really angry towards this man even though I had just been brought into the situation. I felt like I wanted to protect her. What was happening to me?

"How about you two? Why are you here?" She looked at us and decided that we weren't the usual type. "You don't really fit the type of people that come to a place like this."

I relayed our cover story to her. "We recently moved to the city and we've been out job hunting today but to no prevail. We were just wandering around when we found this place and decided to come in." She looked at us both and then seemed to have a eureka moment.

She looked at Alec and said "Alec, can you fight just as well as Jace?"

He nodded but looked as confused as I was. "I can fight but I don't really like to very much."

"Well that's perfect." Clary said but we were still confused. "I'm looking for a bodyguard for my father and what's better than one bodyguard than two. The hours are quite long but the pay is good. Would you two be interested?" I looked at Alec and the look in his eyes said that this would be a good idea depending on who her father was.

I was beginning to understand but there was one thing I still didn't get. "Who is your father if he needs two bodyguards with him?"

Clary moved closer towards me and looked me in the eye. She was so close that I could smell the strawberry scent of her hair and my breath caught in my throat. "My father is Valentine Morgenstern, the head of The Circle."

I didn't know how to respond. I looked at her and stared for quite a while, not knowing what to do until I realised still holding my breath. I coughed and said, "that doesn't sound like a bad gig. When would we be starting?"

"Well, you could meet him now if you wanted to." She said, her face lighting up.

"Ok then, let's go." I grabbed my coat and Alec and I started towards the door. She cleared the throat and pointed to a set of stairs in the middle of the bar that lead up onto a second floor.

"We're going up here, Goldilocks." She said with a giggle and began walking up the stairs. I followed her up the stairs and felt like I was being led to my doom by the devil's daughter herself.