ALL OF THE CHARACTORS BELONG TO CASSANDRA CLARE - NOT ME 'KAY?

Heyoo! Thankyou to all of you who have made it this far, all of the favs and comments make me feel really special =^.^= so now I'm all motivated ( and exams/cosplay/other boring things ) are over I can get down to some really hard core writing!
Oh who am I kidding, I'm a wimp *smiles* I was practically having hysterics at the end of this chapter and the next. HA they're so tragic!
But I can't womble on in these introductions or I'll give too much away so now read on my dears. ^^

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Chapter 4 – When nightmares break their boundaries – CPOV

It was a long night. It seemed to Clary that there was a weight pressing heavily on her chest as she tossed and turned in her small bed. Though every time she tries to instinctively brush it away, her fingers found nothing. She rolled over, facing the glowing digits that proudly declared to the darkness it was 1:30am. 'Great'. Clary sat up, abandoning all hopes of sleep for now. The rain had made the artificially heated air sticky and the strange weight made breathing even more difficult. She was still wearing the sweater Jace had thrust at her earlier, Jocelyn always told her not to wear clothes to bed. Clary ignored her eyes pricking at the thought of her comatose mother and slid her hand under the sweater, tracing her chest. 'It's probably a cold' she told herself but then she felt something as her fingers lightly ran above her heart. A thin ridge in her skin. A scar? She didn't remember getting any recently and especially not there.

She stumbled into the narrow bathroom, fumbling the light switch. The bright fluorescent bulb blinked on momentarily blinding Clary. With her eyes tight shut she felt her way to the mirror, pulling up the over-sized jumper. She opened her eyes. The smooth, intricate black lines of a mark curled around her left breast. They looked strangely familiar until two words leapt out at her like a banner, causing her to gasp and jerk backwards, painfully hitting her head on the tiled wall. She muffled her cry knowing Jace was sleeping in the next room and slowly got up to look in the mirror again. It wasn't possible. She was dreaming. But the words shined in her vision again, though this time she felt so numb her limbs couldn't move. "Gradual Decline" Clary whispered feeling strangely calm. Jace's words echoed in her head, his angel voice coated with a gloating malice; "The closer to the heart, the more effective." Clary whimpered as the realisation started to sink in, accompanied by a stinging and dead feeling in the tips of her fingers. She picked up her phone slowly from the rim of the sink, carefully dialling the warlock's number and praying to the Gods that he would tell her it was all a nightmare.

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JPOV

"Oh Clary." Jace whispered into his pillow as, still wearing his jeans and shirt ensemble, he feigned sleep. 'What was it with that girl? She had the power to cause him – Jace – sleepless nights yet never gave herself a second thought.' But Jace was thinking. He couldn't ignore the incident at Magnus' like she had, and standing outside her room he'd been terrified of the small sobs filtering through the wood. What if she was hurting while he lay here, too cowardly to do anything about it. He'd thought after Taki's he'd go right off her, finally accepting their blood, but this strange, alien emotion he felt for Clary had never gone away. He rolled over and pressed his hands into his eye-sockets, watching as stars erupted out of the black. He shouldn't have lied to Clary. Fine. He was going to be a man. He could confess to his feelings whatever the consequences. He would at least have a slim hope that Clary would one day return his feelings if he showed her he was not the disgusting lustful monster he had let her witness before. This new resolve firmly in place he tiptoed quietly to the door, intending to accidentally on purpose wake Clary when he heard a noise. His perfect hearing, further clarified by the runes inked around his arms, picked up a scuffling sound from downstairs, near the entrance. An intruder? It had to be a Shadowhunter. Grabbing one of the Seraph blades at the foot of his bed, he edged quietly from the room.

Jace got downstairs in no time at all, the full moon and institutes wide windows making it too easy to hide in the shadows cast by the marble pillars. He could only see the silhouette of the intruder but they were smaller than he'd pictured, and with a lot more hair. He shrugged, creeping up behind whoever it was with his catlike grace, raising the blade in both hands and aiming for a blow that would crack any mundane's skull. The figure spun round and the moonlight reflected from the raised blade to the terrified face of Clary. Jace quickly diverted the blow and the seraph blade wedged into the thick metal umbrella stand, cutting it in two like butter.

"What the hell are you doing? I could have – " Jace didn't continue, they both know full well what could've happened. Clary looked at him, wide eyed, trying to regain herself. "Um" she replied dazedly "I just couldn't sleep so I – "

"So you what? You're halfway to the door Clary. Tell me where you're going."

Clary flinched. Jace knew he sounded furious but he was. An un-explainable, un-excusable rage poured through him at the thought Clary was going to leave without telling him.

"N-nowhere." Clary stuttered over the word, her face un-convincing. The unreal anger enveloped Jace and he gripped her small forearm, she winced but the red clouded his vision and he did not notice.

"Wait Ja-"Clary struggled against Jace's iron clench on her arm, and then suddenly went limp as the colour drained from her face. The rage coursing through Jace's veins suddenly lifted and he watched in horror as Clary doubled over coughing. Each breath racking her small frame. She finally came up to face her brother's shocked eyes. A small amount of blood trickled from the corners of her mouth. She touched the red staining her lips and with a small "Oh" crumpled forward into Jace's arms. He reacted immediately. "Clary? No, Clary!" the frenzy in his voice was now in stark contrast to his previous rage and hysteria bubbled in his chest as he saw the dark smudges under her eyes and the pallor of her cold cheeks. He cradled her head in his lap, now on his knees. "Clary what's wrong? Wake up!"

This time her eyelashes fluttered but her eyes remained unfocused as though she could see much further than Jace's stricken features. "Magnus . . ." She whispered, so quietly only the frantic Jace could ever have heard her. But once again she was choking, clinging to Jace's shirt like a small child.

Of course the warlock would know what's wrong but as usual it was he – Jace – who was clueless about his sister. But he had no time to be jealous. He lifted Clary in his arms as gently as possible, kicked open the door and ran into the night.

He didn't know exactly what was happening or why Clary's blood now stained his shirt, but if it had anything to do with earlier – his mind flickered back to her story – it wasn't good for anyone. Especially not Clary.

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GRIIIIIIIIN
Tragedy never fails to make me smile!
I have recieved a review speculating Clary's impending doom . . . I'm sorry but (if I ever get to the end of this ) you'll have to find out!
God I'm annoying when I want to be ". But onwards and upwards! Love it? Hate it? Want to massacre me? I WANNA KNOW!

PLEAAAAAAAAAASE R&R YOU CAN MAKE ME FEEL WEAL SPWECIAL ^.- not in a scary way, just happy 0_o

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