Clary rubbed her arms and slumped down into the seat. Simon's van was old and drafty but at the moment she could care less, anything to get away from the situation was okay with her. She watched the scenery drifting by in the early morning shadows but all she saw was Jace. His golden eyes, his beautiful face. She knew she was crying but didn't care. Having him so close was killing her. Even knowing that he was in the same city she felt the draw pulling on every fiber of her being. She wished she could just disappear, pretend she didn't love him, pretend she didn't want him but it was such a part of her, the same way her art was, that she couldn't escape it. Maybe she had been fooling herself all along, that the distance made any difference. She put her face against the window and tried to hold back the chills but every mile between them was worse than the one before. Clary sighed, she knew she shouldn't but it was going against everything inside her to run away.
"Simon," She sighed softly "We have to go back."
Simon sighed and ran his hand through his curly black hair. He continued to drive, his silence unnerving. The song on the radio hummed along and Simon tapped his fingers along to the rhythm.
"Simon, did you hear me?" Clary asked softly touching his arm.
Simon pulled over to the side of the road and threw the van into park. He refused to look at her and the shadows skimmed his face in the semi darkness. "No, He said softly "I don't think so."
"Simon…" Clary started softly but stopped short when he turned to her with a snarl.
"I'm not done having fun with you." He said in a voice that slithered down her spine. His face morphed merging Simon's dear familiar face with that of a nightmare. She tried to scream but he clamped a hand down on her throat. Clary kicked out and connected with the thing's jaw popping it out of place. The thing in front of her screamed and crushed down on her throat with it's now massive hand and Clary tried to grab her steele but found darkness taking over as blood began to pour out of her nose and it all went dark.
Jace closed his eyes and ran his steele over the tracking rune on his arm. He held Clary's coat and cleared his mind of everything except for her. Her scent, her image swam infront of his face and he let it surround him. He felt the pull of the rune and let himself be taken over. He envisioned the way the wind blew her hair , the way she bit her lip when she focused and knew that now more than ever he needed her, couldn't lose her. The reason wasn't important, or at least he kept telling himself that hoping that someday he could see her as just a sister, no matter what his heart kept telling him.
The darkness rushed him so fast his breath was sucked away and Jace gasped as if he were underwater. The pain crept up then smashing into him so fast that he clawed the bedspread trying to escape it. He pushed it away when he realized with sick fear that the pain was hers. He stepped outside it and reached for her. The fingers of his mind reached out and found her. He smelled blood and felt her fear. This bothered him most of all because Clary had become one of the most fearless shadowhunters he'd ever known. He swung the eyes of his mind out and saw the blood everywhere, saw Simon's body on the floor. He couldn't tell if he was breathing but he caught an image in the mirror and wanted to come back. Clary was strapped in a chair with a dark mass hovering over her, one massive clawed fist griping her throat. Her nose splurted blood and he could see the thing sucking her body dry. The evil thing laughed in delight as if she were his favorite desert.
Jace wanted to scream but couldn't as he was tracking using the rune. He jerked and began to seize on the bed. Isabelle held his shoulders down as he writhed and tried to claw her. His eyes flickered open but rolled to white as Isabelle screamed for Alec. Alec rushed into the room and saw the fear in Isabelle's eyes. He felt it rush up his spine because Isabelle was hardly ever scared and she looked terrified.
"It's Jace, we have to help him." She said as she held out Jace's free hand to Alec. Alec scooted forward and grabbed it without thinking using Isabelle's strength and the Parabatai bond to funnel energy into him. The room began to shake as they began to be pulled in. Alec and Isabelle immediately were pulled into the track and could see what Jace saw. Isabelle gagged as she saw the blood. She saw Simon on the floor and tried to run to him but stopped when Jace and Alec grabbed her and kept her in place. Alec and Jace shared a look that Isabelle knew was a silent conversation and she knew that Alec had just lost. Jace was not coming back without Clary.
Isabelle felt her stomach roll and she tried to ignore the horrible screams and the coppery smell of blood because she knew if she had any chance of saving them he had to figure out where they were. because she knew Jace wasn't coming back until he knew he could find Clary. She knew that for Jace, despite the situation, that a world without Clary in it was not a world he wanted to live in. She ran her eyes over the grimy windows and wondered why bad guys always holed up in these places, was it in the villain rulebook or something. She wiped away the grime and looked outside searching frantically for any sign of where they might be. Her eyes swept over landmarks and hoped for something she could pinpoint. She smiled as she recognized a flashing sign and knew she had it. She turned to Jae and Alec and nodded before they all reversed the track and slammed back into their bodies. She rolled over quickly and helped Alec with Jace. She only hoped they weren't too late…