A.N. Hey guys! I got a lot of great feedback from the first chapter so here is the second one. Please enjoy and leave a review. Let me know what you thought of it.
Disclaimer: All publically recognized characters are not mine and belong to the genius that is Cassandra Clare.
Jace woke up the next morning with a mouthful of red hair. Sometime during the night Clary had rolled from her position of curled up into Jace's side to lying on his chest. Not that he could complain. Clary was adorable when she slept. Her brow would be furrowed and occasionally her nose would twitch. She would mumble, shift a little, then her hand, which was curled up next to his left peck, would tighten then loosen. It was the cutest thing that Jace had seen for the longest time. The only other person that Jace knew of that was this cute when asleep was Max. Jace felt a sharp stab of pain at his heart at the thought of the youngest lightwood. No matter how much time had passed, Jace would still and forever miss him. Jace wrapped his arm around Clary's waist and pulled her tighter to him. He buried his head back into her hair, and breathed deeply. He always loved the smell that Clary had. She smelt like a forest after it rained, or maybe a field of flowers. Jace thought that a year or so ago, he would have hated that smell. He would have hated to cuddle with someone. But ever since he had met Clary, she changed his whole world. She helped him realize that he was walking around with blinds over his eyes. Clary had taken Jace's hand and led him to the light, and helped him see the world anew. He would never be able to thank her enough for that. If it weren't for Clary, Jace would probably be lying in a pool of his own blood by now.
Jace was so lost in his own thoughts that he didn't notice that Clary was starting to wake up. "Jace?" She asked, while rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. "Are you ok? You look like you're a thousand miles away."
Jace just gazed down at her. Clary was started to get worried. She started to lift her hand to feel his forehead for a fever, but Jace caught it midway. He twined her fingers together with his, and kissed her knuckles. "Thank you."
He had said it so quietly that Clary barely caught it. "For what?" She asked, confused.
He smiled down at her. It was Clary's favorite smile, the one that showed what he was really like, beneath all that armor he had kept up for so long. "For being you." He answered.
Clary just smiled, rolled over and checked the time on her phone. She cringed when she was that it was eight. "We should probably be getting up by now. Don't want Izzy to send another search party for us."
Jace let out a chuckle as her remember the last time they had woken up late. Jace, who is usually up between 5:30 and 6, had slept in till 8:30 that day. Izzy had gotten up early that day, and when she didn't see her blonde and annoying brother, she had assumed the worse. She had come barreling into Jace and Clary's room, screaming "Are you Okay?!" over and over again. Jace and Clary had jumped up at the noise, causing the blanket to slide down to their waist. They were still naked from the previous night's activities, and Izzy got an eyeful of a shirtless Clary. For the next two days, the two females couldn't look each other in the eye without blushing like mad. Jace on the other hand, had found it hilarious. He didn't stop teasing Izzy and Clary for the next two weeks.
Jace chuckled one more time at the memory of Izzy's face as he rolled out of bed. He stretched his arms up to the ceiling, trying to get rid of all the cracks out of his back. He didn't miss the hooded look Clary gave him as she eyed his naked torso. He smirked, "Like what you see?" he teased. Clary just blushed bright red and ducked into the bathroom. Jace let out a breathy laugh and got dressed into a pair of black pants and a tight fitting black shirt. Clary had always picked on him for wearing nothing but black, and he always responded by saying black was what he looked best in. Jace cocked his head to the side to check if the shower was still running in the bathroom. Once he confirmed that it was, he pulled his phone and the set of books. He set up his favorite playlist on his phone, and plugged in some headphones. He checked out the back of the book for the summary. Jace laughed when he realized that it would be all about Clary. She would love that, he thought with sarcasm. He cracked open to the first page and started to read.
"You've got to be kidding me," the bouncer said, folding his arms across his massive chest. He stared down at the boy in the red zip-up jacket and shook his shaved head. "You can't bring that thing in here."
The fifty or so teenagers in line outside the Pandemonium Club leaned forward to eavesdrop. It was a long wait to get into the all-ages club, especially on a Sunday, and not much generally happened in line. The bouncers were fierce and would come down instantly on anyone who looked like they were going to start trouble. Fifteen-year-old Clary Fray, standing in line with her best friend, Simon, leaned forward along with everyone else, hoping for some excitement.
"Aw, come on." The kid hoisted the thing up over his head. It looked like a wooden beam, pointed at one end. "It's part of my costume."
The bouncer raised an eyebrow. "Which is what?"
The boy grinned. He was normal-enough-looking, Clary thought, for Pandemonium. He had electric blue dyed hair that stuck up around his head like the tendrils of a startled octopus, but no elaborate facial tattoos or big metal bars through his ears or lips. "I'm a vampire slayer." He pushed down on the wooden thing. It bent as easily as a blade of grass bending sideways. "It's fake. Foam rubber. See?"
The boy's wide eyes were way too bright a green, Clary noticed: the color of antifreeze, spring grass. Colored contact lenses, probably. The bouncer shrugged, abruptly bored.
"Whatever. Go on in."
The boy slid past him, quick as an eel. Clary liked the lilt to his shoulders, the way he tossed his hair as he went. There was a word for him that her mother would have used - insouciant.
"You thought he was cute," said Simon, sounding resigned. "Didn't you?"
Clary dug her elbow into his ribs, but didn't answer.
Inside, the club was full of dry-ice smoke. Colored lights played over the dance floor, turning it into a multicolored fairyland of blues and acid greens, hot pinks and golds.
The boy in the red jacket stroked the long razor-sharp blade in his hands, an idle smile playing over his lips. It had been so easy - a little bit of a glamour on the blade, to make it look harmless. Another glamour on his eyes, and the moment the bouncer had looked straight at him, he was in. Of course, he could probably have gotten by without all that trouble, but it was part of the fun - fooling the mundies, doing it all out in the open right in front of them, getting off on the blank looks on their sheeplike faces.
Not that the humans didn't have their uses. The boy's green eyes scanned the dance floor, where slender limbs clad in scraps of silk and black leather appeared and disappeared inside the revolving columns of smoke as the mundies danced.
Girls tossed their long hair, boys swung their leather-clad hips, and bare skin glittered with sweat. Vitality just poured off them, waves of energy that filled him with a drunken dizziness. His lip curled. They didn't know how lucky they were. They didn't know what it was like to eke out life in a dead world, where the sun hung limp in the sky like a burned cinder. Their lives burned as brightly as candle flames - and were as easy to snuff out.
His hand tightened on the blade he carried, and he had begun to step out onto the dance floor when a girl broke away from the mass of dancers and began walking toward him.
He stared at her. She was beautiful, for a human - long hair nearly the precise color of black ink, charcoaled eyes. Floor-length white gown, the kind women used to wear when this world was younger. Lace sleeves belled out around her slim arms. Around her neck was a thick silver chain, on which hung a dark red pendant the size of a baby's fist. He only had to narrow his eyes to know that it was real - real and precious. His mouth started to water as she neared him. Vital energy pulsed from her like blood from an open wound. She smiled, passing him, beckoning with her eyes. He turned to follow her, tasting the phantom sizzle of her death on his lips.
It was always easy. He could already feel the power of her evaporating life coursing through his veins like fire. Humans were so stupid. They had something so precious, and they barely safeguarded it at all. They threw away their lives for money, for packets of powder, for a stranger's charming smile. The girl was a pale ghost retreating through the colored smoke. She reached the wall and turned, bunching her skirt up in her hands, lifting it as she grinned at him. Under the skirt, she was wearing thigh-high boots.
He sauntered up to her, his skin prickling with her nearness. Up close she wasn't so perfect. He could see the mascara smudged under her eyes, the sweat sticking her hair to her neck.
He could smell her mortality, the sweet rot of corruption.
Got you, he thought.
A cool smile curled her lips. She moved to the side, and he could see that she was leaning against a closed door. NO ADMITTANCE - STORAGE was scrawled across it in red paint. She reached behind her for the knob, turned it, slid inside. He caught a glimpse of stacked boxes, tangled wiring. A storage room. He glanced behind him - no one was looking. So much the better if she wanted privacy.
He slipped into the room after her, unaware that he was being followed.
Jace was so engrossed in the book that he didn't notice Clary come out of the bathroom. She rubbed her hair with the towel while giving Jace a funny look. She rarely saw him read, and when she did, it was always that Tale of Two Cities book that came from his real father. She peeked at the cover of the books currently resting in his hands, and then rolled her eyes at the cover. Good to see him getting ahead of today's events. She tried calling his name but he didn't react. IT was then she noticed the headphones jammed into his ears. Clary rolled her eyes and then eyed her wet, dirty towel sitting on the floor. Jace wouldn't really wouldn't like it if she left it there, with his OCD and such. Clary smiled mischievously and picked it up. She was doing him a favor after all. She wasn't leaving his room a mess, and at the same time she was gaining his attention. It was a win-win situation. She lobbed the towel at Jace and then laughed as the towel made a wet sound as it smashed into his face.
Jace jerked and glared at the offending object that just smacked his face. He looked to the left and saw Clary bent at the waist, while laughing so hard, there were tears streaming down her face. He picked up one of the books in the pile beside him and chucked it back at her. It hit Clary's arm with a thud and fell to the floor, with its pages spread out like the book was trying to do the splits. Jace grinned when Clary stopped laughing to glare at him, then the book while rubbing her arm.
Clary walked over to him and sat beside him on the bed. She peered over his shoulder and asked, "So is it any good so far?"
Jace shrugged, "Yeah, I think so. It started off in Pandemonium, so I assume this is where you, ever so rudely, barge in on our hunt and meet us for the first time."
Clary rolled her eyes, looked at a passage and read out loud. "The fifty or so teenagers in line outside the Pandemonium Club leaned forward to eavesdrop. It was a long wait to get into the all-ages club, especially on a Sunday, and not much generally happened in line. The bouncers were fierce and would come down instantly on anyone who looked like they were going to start trouble. Fifteen-year-old Clary Fray, standing in line with her best friend, Simon, leaned forward along with everyone else, hoping for some excitement.
"Aw, come on." The kid hoisted the thing up over his head. It looked like a wooden beam, pointed at one end. "It's part of my costume."
The bouncer raised an eyebrow. "Which is what?"
The boy grinned. He was normal-enough-looking, Clary thought, for Pandemonium. He had electric blue dyed hair that stuck up around his head like the tendrils of a startled octopus, but no elaborate facial tattoos or big metal bars through his ears or lips. "I'm a vampire slayer." He pushed down on the wooden thing. It bent as easily as a blade of grass bending sideways. "It's fake. Foam rubber. See?"
The boy's wide eyes were way too bright a green, Clary noticed: the color of antifreeze, spring grass. Colored contact lenses, probably. The bouncer shrugged, abruptly bored.
"Whatever. Go on in."
The boy slid past him, quick as an eel. Clary liked the lilt to his shoulders, the way he tossed his hair as he went. There was a word for him that her mother would have used - insouciant.
"You thought he was cute," said Simon, sounding resigned. "Didn't you?"
Clary dug her elbow into his ribs, but didn't answer." She paused for a second and frowned. "It is unbelievably creepy to read about yourself in third person like that."
Jace laughed at her but then a thought triggered in his head. "Wait a second! You thought that a demon was cute!" He looked outraged. "How could you think that he looks cute?! He's a DEMON! A nasty crawling creature that doesn't even belong in this dimension! Not to mention the fact that he eats human souls to live!"
Clary rolled her eyes at his outburst. She grabbed his face between both of her hands, and kissed him. When she pulled away she spoke. "That was before I met you. You ruined every guy for me forever."
"Dam right I did! You shouldn't be even looking at other guys anymore! Not when you have this hot stuff right here!" To anyone who didn't know him, they would have thought that he was enrage, but Clary knew better. She could see the humor beneath all of the fake anger. She smiled peck him on the lips once more then hopped off the bed.
"Come on, let's go get some food. I have a weird craving for some coconut pancakes." Jace just smiled and followed her out of the room and down the hallway.
They found the rest of the gang in the kitchen, fighting over what to eat. From what Jace could understand, Izzy wanted to make breakfast, and everyone else was trying to convince her not to.
Clary laughed at it and waltzed right in. It took a couple of minutes, but eventually they were able to convince everyone that Taki's was the fix everyone need. Then after an hour of everyone yelling at Izzy that she looks fine to go out, the made it to the restaurant. They all piled into their regular booth and greeted Kaelie, who took all their orders with a friendly smile. It was good, Clary thought, that she didn't have any hostility left over from the war. That would have been awkward.
"So has anyone started the books yet?" Izzy asked while inspecting her perfectly painted nails.
"Jace has." Clary said, gesturing at said boy. He looked up from his phone where he was checking out his facebook and nodded. (Clary had finally updated him on all the electronic things from the mundane world, and Jace hasn't left it alone since.) He didn't elaborate though, just flung an arm over the back of booth behind Clary, and looked back at his phone. Clary peeked over his shoulder and watched him as he scrolled through his newsfeed.
"Don't tell us or anything?" Simon said with a scowl on his face. "Because we are obviously not interested." Clary didn't think that he could pack anymore sarcasm in the sentence if he tried.
Jace looked up from his phone one more time and glared at the annoying boy who was sitting next to his sister. "Shut up mundie." He snarled. He may have some respect for him; with all that he had done to help him in the past, but that doesn't mean he had to show it. The brunette boy is dogging after his sister and had, previously, been in love with his girlfriend. And in his book that means Jace was supposed to hate him, obviously.
Izzy gave him and glare and looked to be about to retort with some comeback in defense of her current boy toy, but Alec cut in. "Just tell us Jace."
Jace sighed overdramatically, and acted as if it was some great pain to let them know what he thought of it. "It was okay. It starts off shortly before we meet Clary at the Pandemonium. And my guess it's going to be all about Clary, with the side of us, so good luck with that Izzy." He said the last part in Izzy's direction. She scowled at the fact that she wasn't going to be the most important person in the story. She was used to being the center of attention, but appears that it wouldn't be the case this time. Oh well, she thought. Clary is the heroine in this story, that's easy to tell. Izzy looked at Clary to see that the red head is blushing. Izzy snickered at the poor girl's uncomfortable-ness. Magnus, who had snuck in earlier without anybody noticing, laughed straight out at her, his arm slipping form Alec's shoulders where it was resting.
"Either way, we all need to read those books as soon as we can, so that we can move on to the other things, like the websites," Alec said. "We need to get that report back to the Angels right away."
Every one nodded, agreeing with him. "We should get as much of the books as possible done today," Izzy said. "So that means doing nothing but reading today." Izzy added while sending pointed looks to Jace, Clary, and Magnus. The three of them were known to be either distracted or being the distracter. They all nodded in agreement.
Simon sat up and said, "I think that it would be easier to read the books separate, and all by ourselves. It should go much faster that way."
"Good idea, Simone." Magnus said, while nodding.
"It's Simon." Simon retorted with a glare, but Magnus continued on as if he said nothing at all.
"Me and Alec will go to my apartment to 'read'" Magnus added quotation marks with his fingers when he said read. "So no one disturb us." Alec blushed when Magnus threw his arm around his waist and planted a big kiss on his cheek.
"Oh no!" Jace said agitated. "If me and Clary can't have sex today neither can you guys!" Clary blushed and slouched even deeper in the seat.
"Oh no, we can," Magnus answered with a grin. "You see since we will be at my house we don't have to worry about anyone telling us not to!"
Jace sputtered in outrage, withdrew his arm form the back of the booth and leaned forward. "No you can't because it's not fair and because you guys need to read the books too!" Jace gestured at Alec. "Alec, tell Magnus that you guys can't have sex!"
Alec just blushed even more and mumbled something under his breath.
"Neither of you four are going to do anything but read those stupid books today!" Izzy nearly shouted, and threw her hands up in outrage. "We NEED to finish these books, so that means giving up all your extracurricular activities until we finish them! Do you understand me?!"
Jace and Magnus just glared at each other, until Izzy slammed her hands down on the table, gaining the attention of half the restaurant. "I said do. You. Understand?!" Both boys nodded hastily while Simon laughed in the background.
Kaelie came by at that time to give them their food and drinks and ask Magnus if he wants anything. He shook his head, too scared to say anything. Everyone dug in, distracted for the time being.
While they were eating, they would exchange some conversation, but nobody was really paying attention, they were all so focused on what they had to do today and the, very, delicious food in front of them.
When they were all done, they headed back to their respected places to read the dreaded books. Clary and Jace disappeared into their room while Izzy and Simon went to the entertainment room. Magnus and Alec went to Alec's room, they were going to Magnus's house, but Jace started to whine. Izzy, not wanting to deal with him, said that they had to stay at the institute so that she could make sure they read all day.
