She was rinsing her cereal bowl the next morning when Jace came up behind her.
"Let's play hooky today" he whispered in her ear, her hair tickling her face as it moved with his breath. She shut her eyes a moment and drew a deep breath so her voice wouldn't waver.
"I thought you wanted me to go back to training."
He laughed and moved closer, pressing her between him and the counter. When his fingers slid beneath the waist of her jeans, her breath caught.
"What's one more day?" he breathed.
Her heart was racing, and she wasn't sure she could get the next sentence out without her voice breaking. She didn't.
"What do you want to do?" she croaked. She could feel his insolent smile behind her.
His grip tightened on her hip, but before he could reply with something smart, Isabelle saved her.
"Seriously, spare me the visuals." she sneered as she came up beside them.
His hand fell away, but the feel of his touch lingered.
"You're just pissed because for the first time in your life, you have competition. Downworlder competition, at that."
Isabelle flushed crimson as her eyes and mouth flew open wide in shock.
"Y-, you…" she stammered, swinging at him.
But he just laughed wickedly as he danced out of her reach.
"It's true, Simon has a harem now."
"Clary, really.. .get him away from me." she hissed.
Clary bit the inside of her lip and avoided eye contact, so she wouldn't laugh out loud. Pushing Jace backwards, and out of the kitchen, she could still hear plates crashing into the sink as Isabelle muttered something about Downworlders under her breath.
"Brilliant. Like that's not already a loaded situation, you really need to be stoking the fire?" she reprimanded him, but it was undermined as she laughed.
Snagging her around the waist, he pulled her close and kissed her. Deep within, his chest rumbled against her hand as she pushed him away.
"I doubt that's a possibility with a full house, pal. I hope you have a plan B."
"Fine." he said, eyes still closed as he savored the taste of her. "We'll go out then. I just want to have you near me today."
On the street, hurrying to keep pace with him, her phone chirped. Seeing Simon's name on caller ID, she answered it.
"Hey"
"Bad time?" he asked.
"Well, I'm on my way out. I'll call you when I get in?"
"Yeah, sure. Hey, is Isabelle still there?"
She had to laugh at the hope in his voice. "Yeah, but good luck. It's a little stormy there today."
She was still laughing when she slammed into Jace.
"Hey-" she started, but then she saw him.
He was standing stock still, at high alert. He looked like he'd run into a wall himself, he was so rigid. His face was completely void of color or expression. The little hairs on the back of her neck prickled.
"Simon, I'll call you back."
She followed his line of sight, and saw only an empty street corner two blocks away.
"What is it?" she asked, glancing back between his startled face and the empty corner.
"Nothing. I just thought I saw someone." his weak smile was a poor attempt to assure her, as he visibly shook himself.
"Someone?" she repeated.
"No, something. I thought I saw something." his smile was stronger this time, but she still wasn't convinced.
As he grabbed her hand and towed her along, she glanced back at the empty corner. She didn't see anything but the park that stretched beyond.
They walked a while in silence. She broke it when she couldn't stand it anymore.
"Do you have any idea where we're going?" she asked.
"Nope. And I really don't care, Clary. After this past year, I'm content just to wander this city in peace with you by my side." his hand tightened its grip on hers.
And they walked. They walked circles around the city. Sometimes they talked, sometimes they were silent for long stretches. They ate a cheap lunch off a street vendor and continued their wanderings. In the end she walked tucked into his arm, her head resting against his chest and her arm around his waist. Between breaks in the traffic, she could hear his heartbeat.
She sighed when they stopped at a bench, once more having arrived at the park.
"Tired?" he asked, pressing his lips to her cheek as he leaned back. She shook her head.
"No, happy. Today was perfect. Nowhere to rush off to. There's no demon blood on my clothes, and I don't smell like decay. This may have been my best day ever."
He laughed. "Well, you're easy to please, but I do have bad news."
She groaned as he checked his watch. "We have to go back."
"Sadly, yes. Isabelle has probably whipped up something truly frightening for dinner and we'll have to hurry if we want to pick up Chinese."
"Yum, Chinese." Clary got to her feet and let him pull her towards the take out shop.
After the surprise dinner, Jace and the Lightwoods dressed for their patrols, and she had the whole place to herself. It was about that time that she noticed how big the building was. She fired off a quick text to Simon, to see if he'd like company and jumped in the shower.
When she was finished dressing she saw his response, which told her to bring something to watch. He'd never understand these people, she mused. One TV in the "common area" and it was older than her. These were not sit around couch potatoes. At least Simon had cable. She grabbed her stele and tucked the dagger Jace had given her into the holster inside her jeans. She might actually get to see a whole movie if she hurried. She threw her jacket on and stepped into the cool night air.
As Clary rounded the corner, she saw him. Across the street, his hands folded in front of him, watching her.
Jonathon.
Her heart skipped a beat and her step faltered. She glanced around wildly, for other signs of threat, but there were none. Her hand fumbled at her waistband, reassuring her that the dagger was there. He could see her. Clearly he was watching her, appraising her situation. Her blood ran cold when she realized he'd know she was alone. Silently, she cursed the stubborn pride that had made her refuse Jace's offer to take her to Simon's.
Without consciously deciding, she was traveling across the street, headed straight for him. He backed into the shadows of the park as she came near. When she had reached his side of the street, he stopped his retreat and held his ground.
She eyed him warily. He held no weapons, and was dressed simply in a dark t-shirt and jeans. His stance was relaxed, and he held his hands at his sides. He'd changed, she realized. Gone was the black hair of the imitation Sebastian Verlac. He now had his own white blonde hair clipped in layers, her unruly waves echoed faintly there. Her fathers deep black eyes stared back at her as she closed the distance, her hand on the dagger.
"It was you. You're the someone Jace thought he saw." she said, her tone flat. Her entire body hummed with an electric current.
He nodded without breaking her gaze, and she realized his eyes, the ones that were so very like Valentine's, swam with tears.
"I wanted to see you." he answered, gesturing helplessly.
As the silence stretched out between them, he very deliberately turned his hands out at his sides, to show them as empty. And stepping forward, he dropped to his knees at her feet. When he sat back on his heels, he released her gaze finally, and faced the ground.
She stared at the top of his head, but it was the vision of others that floated before her eyes.
Hodge's death, and the damage done to Isabelle. Jace, broken and bleeding from Sebastian's attack. The crumpled form of Max Lightwood in his father's arms. Those faces he was directly responsible for, as well as the carnage that had been strewn across the streets of Alicante that night. She shook with her rage as her fingers clenched and unclenched on the hilt of Jace's dagger. It would be fitting, she thought. To sink Jace's dagger into Sebastian once more, finishing him once and for all.
Her rage coursed through her, swelling her strength. She could do this, she knew it. She was stronger than she'd been since that night. She could kill him. Yanking the dagger from its hidden sheath, she raised her arm to strike. She shook with vengeance for all the pain and suffering her father and brother had unleashed on her life. And as her arm fell a fraction of an inch, two things happened at once.
Jonathon raised his eyes to hers and the tears spilled down his face. The bottomless despair she read in his eyes slowed her swing.
"Go ahead, I know I deserve it. It should be you that does it." he whispered.
And behind her, Pandora started screaming.
