Very little had changed in Pandemonium; the same sticky heat that made it hard for me to breathe, the confusing mix of fake fog and laser lights, the herd of mundane teenagers pretending to be more drunk than they actually were. The only difference was that they're seemed to be more of them, the dance floor was packed to the edges; making it almost impossible to move.
I couldn't help back smile as I watched Josh try to make his way to the other side of the club, edging his way past dancing mundanes. Why he didn't just go around, I don't know. I caught a glimpse of Cordelia; standing in the nearest corner to me, scanning the club with narrowed eyes. The flashing blue lights on her pale skin enhanced her cheekbones, making her look incredibly ill.
Adele stood on the left hand side of a large pillar; standing against it she looked small and defenceless. Her red hair standing out like a beacon in the foggy darkness, she is so small and innocent. And innocent isn't a commonly used word to describe a Shadowhunter.
Jamie stood on the other side of the pillar. He himself was a pillar, but one of gold. He leaned against it, his arms crossed over his chest. Even from the other side of the room I could see the muscles under his skin flex. When my eyes finally reached his, I wished I hadn't looked. His eyes were ignited, like there was a flame within them. And that flame staring straight at me.
I instantly dropped my gaze, feeling stupid and embarrassed. I shut my eyes and breathed in deeply, trying to clear my mind. When I opened them, darkness flashed across the dance floor. I blinked again and it was gone. Ignoring it, and blaming it on my 'bump on the head' from last night, I scanned the room for my new aquantainces. Everyone was still in position. Cordelia, Adele, Jamie, and Josh…Josh. By the Angel. I lept into action, searching the dance floor, searching for his face in the crowd. Nothing.
Shoving mundanes out of the way, I pushed through to where I had last seen him. I spun around frantically, but it was usless; I was literally just going in circles.
Suddenly I felt someone at my side; I whipped my dagger from my belt and spun around. Jamie caught my wrist; my blade inches from his throat. I lowered my blade and glowered at him.
A smiled tempted his lips. "I hope that's not what you do all the people that save your life."
"Actually, it's what I do when people go missing," I replied, snatching my wrist away from his grip. His expression suddenly changed. He was no longer dark and charming, but serious and tense.
"What do you-" he began, but was interrupted but Cordelia.
"Jamie!" She yelled over the music. "I can't find Josh." She was panting from pushing through the mundanes, and a worried crease had formed in her brow. Jamie turned back to me; searching for confirmation. I simply raised an eyebrow and gestured to Cordelia.
"Cordelia take Adele, keep an eye out for Josh. Signal me if you see him. Harley-"he began, but Cordelia cut him off yet again.
"How do you expect me to find me in all this?" Cordelia gestured to the crowd. He slipped something into her hand and told her to go. They began to bicker and so I slipped away, pushing my way through mundanes to get away from them. I had a terrible feeling. One that involved the darkness I saw before. At this moment, I need to find something, anything that could tell me why Josh went on a walk about.
I had reached the other side of the club when I saw the darkness again. It was a form of roiling black smoke, vaguely the same shape and size of a human figure. In the midst of the vapour was a pair of burning yellow eyes. Iblis demons, I thought. It exited the dance floor through a grey door with busted lock. The door read 'authorised personnel only' and something told me that the Iblis demon was not authorised personnel.
The rules told me that I should go back to Jamie and Cordelia and alert them. My instincts told me that Josh is probably behind that door and could possibly be injured. Personally, I've never been the type of girl to play by the rules.
I plastered myself to wall beside the door, and I pulled my seraph blade from my back. "Vaniah," I whispered; the sword instantly glowed. I took a deep breath in and moved to kick in the door. It burst open to reveal two Iblis demons stood either side of a struggling Josh, one demon with a hand on his throat, pinning him to the wall.
They dropped Josh to the floor with a thud in surprise, turning their attention to me. Josh crawled to his knees, coughing and gasping for air.
"Another shadowhunter," they hissed. I smirked.
The first demon came running at me. The other demon picked up Josh again and pushed him against the wall. Being given time to regain his strength, Josh began his fight the demon, kicking it in the stomach and trying to reach his weapons, that had been discarded across the other side of the room.
I spun out the way before my demon hit me and made a clean slice to where it's shoulder blade should be. It hissed as acidic black blood ran from its shoulder. It launched at me, producing thick long black claws. It swung it's claws visciously with every step it took. I dodged a couple of times but the last one caught me on my forehead.
It saw its opportunity and jumped on me. My blade fell to the ground beside me. I held its wrists, fighting to keep its claws away from my throat. I could feel the heat of my own blood trickling down the side of my face. I bit my lip to fight the pain, but with the blood starting to blind my eyes, I used all the strength I could muster and kicked up my legs, throwing it over the top of me, so it landed behind me.
I bounced back up and grabbed my blade. The demon picked itself up and we ran for each other. As I ran, I saw a large metal pipe running vertically along the wall. I jumped and launched myself off of it, leaping towards to demon. I landed with my legs around its shoulders and drove my sword straight through the side of its skull. It collapsed on the floor instantly, and I landed on my feet while it returned to its own dimension.
I looked up to find Josh in struggle with the demon on top of him. He was holding the demons claws back with one arm while he reached for his seraph blade with the other. His fingertips were just touching the handle. He couldnt reach it.
"Harley!" Josh yelled as the demon lunged forward again. But I was one step ahead. I had already plucked a dagger from my weapons belt and was on top of the demon, slitting it's throat with ease. I held its head up and kept the wound open. It struggled but soon the demon's yellow eyes dimmed. I decided not to take any chances and sliced the whole thing off. It's head rolled to ground before quickly vanishing.
I turned back to Josh, who was still on the ground. He only looked up at me like an injured puppy.
"Are you hurt?" I asked
"No, but I-" he began
"Then why are you still on the floor?" I teased.
"But I've just been attacked! I'm also just getting over the traumatic experience of seeing the new girl decapitate a demon on top of me," he replied, exasperated.
"I think you'll find that you were captured. And as the tradition goes, the hero always saves the damsel in distress. So, c'mon damsel, lets go collect the other knights and get the hell out of here." I turned my back to him, as he picked himself up along with his bow and arrow and seraph.
I marched towards the door and yanked it open. The crowd had thinned enough to see what was going on with the rest of the team. There were in fact three more Iblis demons in the club. Jamie was standing over one about to make the killer blow, Cordelia was chasing another one up a set of steps, and one was on top of Adele as she tried to stab it with a pathetic looking dagger.
I ran forward to where they were and threw my own dagger into the heart of Adele's demon. She sat up looking pleased with herself, but her face changed when she saw my knife. I pulled it out of the demons chest just before it vanished. I turned to check Adele, she still sat on the floor, taking deep breaths. Do these guys have the inability to stand up?
"You alright?" I asked, she nodded. "Good. Help Cordelia," I said, nodding my chin to where Cordelia stood on top of some tables still trying to kill the same demon. Adele scrambled to her feet, but before she ran, I placed my dagger into her hand and smiled. She sprinted up the steps where Cordelia had gone, Josh ran past me following her.
Pushing my way through more mundanes, I came to the steps that led up to the bar. Jamie stood with his back to me; his golden hair was messy and sticking out in odd directions.
I stepped up one step to see a boy, about the same age as me, maybe a little older standing on opposite Jamie. He was tall and slender, dressed in all black but not gear; just a black shirt and black jeans. His skin was abnormally white, almost the same colour as his hair, which was like freshly fallen snow. His runes stood out dramatically against his paleness. He was beautiful in an odd sort of way. his red lips were turned up at one side, in a devilish smirk.
"This is your last chance little brother," the boy said, sauntering towards Jamie, fiddling with an elegant looking sword
"No," Jamie said, clenching his fists.
"Don't misjudge my patience as weakness, brother; I will leave you to burn. Along with all your little friends." The boy's voice was hypotising and cold. Gossebumps appeared on my skin. He kept walking closer and closer to Jamie and I was on alert, crouching out of sight. Jamie stood motionless as the boy moved. They were very similar in height, the other boy slightly taller perhaps. He raised an eyebrow; waiting for Jamie's response
"No," Jamie growled again. The boy whipped around, sucking in air sharply through his teeth, his back to Jamie.
"Then you leave me no choice." As he took a step forward, I saw the glint of the sword that he was fiddling with before in front of him, but as he spun around his sword outward aiming for Jamie, I ran forward meeting his sword with my own. Our swords clashed together with a chime, a glimpse of shock ran over the boy's face as he saw me but it was quickly replaced by what looked like amusement.
I soon found out why. Jamie quickly pushed me out of the way and their battle began. I fell to floor and hit my side hard, causing the wind to be knocked out of me. I watched the blurred fight in awe. They were like dancers; beautiful and elegant but dangerous and deadly at the same time. The boy was too fast. Every move Jamie made the boy was two steps ahead.
They were on the steps now the boy at the top and Jamie in the middle, I looked around for Josh or Cordelia but all I saw were mundanes. A sudden cry snapped my attention back to the fight, the other boy had slashed a deep cut into Jamie's shoulder but as Jamie fell, the boy made another cut down his back. Jamie fell down the steps and collapsed on his back, he made several attempts to get up but he was too weak.
I scrambled to my feet and picked up my sword on the way, I jumped to the bottom of the steps in front of Jamie, protecting him and ready to fight, but the boy had put his sword in his belt.
"Si non ad caelum suscitabo inferos," he said simply. He winked at me and then vanished into thin air. I turned in a circle looking for his face but I saw nothing. I put my sword back between my shoulder blades and bent down to Jamie.
His eyes were closed and his hair was messy and stuck to his head with sweat, his breathing was slow but steady. And with a struggle he pushed himself onto his elbows and looked up at me
"What did he say?" he asked, wearily.
"Si non ad caelum suscitabo inferos. If I cannot reach heaven, I will raise hell."