Clary stared down at her plate as if the thing was covered in maggots. That was about as appetizing as she found it anyway. Depression quieted the appetite, she'd read, and unfortunately had found it was indeed the case with her. She seemed to eat now, not because she was hungry, but because it was necessary to remain healthy.
Well, as healthy as she could manage these days.
She had forced herself to finish the majority of it when the commotion started. Shouts and crashes like a fight had broken out in the main hall, and Clary couldn't help but investigate. She hurried into the main room, still clutching her fork and nearly collapsed at what she saw.
"Hold her still, Jonathan, we wouldn't want her to damage herself." Valentine's smile was wholly evil as his son subdued the struggling girl. She was thinner than Clary remembered, and dirty as if she'd been living on the streets, but there was no mistaking that beautiful face.
"Isabelle?" Clary whispered. The fork slid from her fingers to clatter on the marble floor, drawing the attention of her father and the others.
No. Not Isabelle. She was supposed to stay safe! Had they found Alec too? Oh god, please let this be a dream!
"Good evening, Clarissa." Her father smiled even wider when Jonathan was forced to bend the girl's arm up behind her back until she yelped in pain. He motioned that Clary come closer, enjoying the no doubt horrified look on her face.
"We found her on the other side." Jonathan said, wrapping an arm around Isabelle's throat and tightening until she choked. "Not saying I'm surprised though. It was only a matter of time."
"Now, Jonathan," her father chided playfully, "We mustn't gloat."
"Where's Alec?" Clary asked, feeling the beginnings of tears as they blurred her vision.
Isabelle managed a faint smile, "Safe." she coughed harshly. Her voice was rough and far too broken for Clary's liking, and when she turned to glare acid at Valentine, there was a deep purple bruise on her jaw like she'd been punched.
"Well," Valentine titled his head, reaching out to turn the girl to face him, "I imagine he won't be for long."
"Sir." One of his many sycophants bowed and glanced around at all of them, beady eyes pausing on Clary. "She isn't the only one. We may have found a nest of them at the edge of the forest. If we hurry we may be able to catch them before they suspect anything."
Valentine's eyes closed in a look of pure bliss and he inhaled slowly. "Yes. I would like that very much." Then he turned to Jonathan. "You will tend to this while I am away. She knows where her perverse brother is hiding and I want his location by morning. I don't imagine he is far."
Valentine turned on his heel to follow the guard, but paused at the door to look back at his son with a cruel smile, "And Jonathan, exercise restraint. I want her alive when I bring back the heads of her comrades."
Clary's stomach rolled when the door shut behind him. She felt near collapsing. She couldn't help. Oh god, she was useless!
"Clary!" Isabelle cried fearfully, reaching out toward her as Jonathan hauled her into the next room. Clary wasted no time following, even if she couldn't stop him, she couldn't leave her friend alone. A part of her was furious at the girl. Why hadn't she remained hidden? Why had she let herself get caught this way?
She followed them down into the hall, then through the door to the caverns below where they kept the downworlders like Simon. It was a place of pain. Their screams often echoed up to Clary's room leaving her unable to sleep and sick to her stomach at the thought of what her father was doing to them. No doubt Jonathan played his part in this place as well.
When they'd reached an empty room, he tossed Isabelle hard against the wall, taking advantage of the time she took to shake it off to close the door behind Clary. The Lightwood girl was strong though. Clenching her small fists, she charged the demon, only to be struck down again with a laugh.
"You know, I didn't think I would ever see you again, Izzy." Jonathan said, reaching down to grab her by the hair and drag her over to the wall. When she tried to lash out again, he swung at her, connecting with her temple and leaving her dazed and sagging against him.
Clary watched, frozen in fear and sickness, as he secured Isabelle in the shackles connected to the wall and stood again with a wicked smile. He moved casually to the table beside her as Isabelle tried again to attack him, pulled sharply back by the short lengths of chain now holding her wrists.
"Don't get me wrong. I'm pleased." He continued, unconcerned by her tries to hurt him. "After I saw you last I figured you would have perished by now. I forgot how resilient you are."
With this he grabbed a corner of the large canvas cloth draped across the table and jerked it back. Beneath the material was an array of tools; knives and other instruments Clary couldn't process, that made her groan in fear. Clary fell back against the wall, holding herself tightly, unable to move to help her friend, or even speak.
Jonathan smiled as he lifted one particular instrument (a curved blade with a barb at its end) and glanced toward the now trembling Isabelle. "I don't suppose you'll make this easy and tell me where your freak of a brother is hiding?"
Face going cold with utter hatred, she spat at him, glaring for all she was worth. The demon wasn't impressed though. He chuckled, moving to grab her by the throat and force her to the end of her leash.
"I didn't think so." He murmured, turning her face to inspect it with an odd look. The heat in his eyes was unmistakable, but it seemed more likely to come from the idea of hurting her rather than the way he usually directed it at Clary.
Isabelle cried out when the barb caught in her shoulder, tearing into the flesh there with a wet sound that turned Clary's stomach so violently she feared she would vomit.
"No." she whispered as Jonathan ripped the thing out of Isabelle and tossed it back onto the table. Still holding her throat, he leaned forward and drew his tongue along the gash, gathering the blood like he was tasting her.
"I imagined what it would be like to do this." He said softly dropping her throat to move back to the table.
This time he found a pile of steel hooks and stuffed them into his pocket. Then he moved across the room to a large bar that hung across two steel beams. The thing was a good couple feet taller than him, equipped with wheels at its base so that he could move it just in front of her. Isabelle had drawn back against the wall to watch him as he moved once more to the table and retrieved what looked like thin cables.
"You know, I always liked you, Izzy." Jonathan said, leaning back against the table and pulling out one of the hooks. As he spoke he threaded one end with the cable, fastening it with small metal clasps so that it wouldn't come undone. He worked quickly, and did so with a casualness that added to Clary's terror.
"You were so strong, and beautiful. Most would see a young woman like you and disregard her as weak, but not me." He smiled up at her briefly before continuing with his hooks. "I saw how you fought. You gave your brother a run for his money and that I can respect. It isn't often that you find a girl such as yourself."
After he'd fitted six separate hooks with the cables he went to the beams and reached out to lower the bar by the rope and pulley attached to it. Isabelle had taken on a greenish tint now as she watched him, while Clary could hardly breathe. Jonathan lowered the bar to his shoulders, then began fitting the cables around the bar so that the hooks hung free a foot below.
"If not for your alliances, I might have courted you." He chuckled, glancing her way to take in her reaction. "Funny how things work out isn't it?"
Jonathan moved the beams up against the wall so that they framed Isabelle like a doorway, smiling at the way she shrank away from them. Then he stepped forward knotting his fist in her hair and forcing back her head until she groaned.
"It's a pity I won't be able to keep you when we've finished. Something tells me you would have made a wonderful plaything." Jonathan grinned, searching her face for something he didn't find. After a moment, he glanced up toward the hooks hanging around them, and titled his head.
"Where is your brother, Isabelle?"
She bared her teeth like an animal and hissed, "Fuck you."
To that the demon chuckled, "If you're lucky, you will. However," he stroked his thumb across the line of her jaw where's he'd bruised her, "business before pleasure."
Clary watched as Jonathan stepped back just enough to reach for one of the hooks, still holding Isabelle tightly in his fist. He gave her a momentary smile, then pushed the hook up into the skin below her collarbone, grinning when she cried out.
"No!" Clary screamed, and threw herself forward, finally able to move again. She'd meant to hit the bastard, but he spun too fast to follow and caught Clary before she could do anything. Arching a brow, he walked her back against the stone wall opposite her friend and slammed her against it.
"Clarissa, don't be difficult." He said slowly, slamming her back against the wall again when she struggled, "You followed us down here. Now be quiet or I'll gag you."
She narrowed her eyes and before she knew what she was doing, she'd punched him right across the jaw. The demon had the decency to look shocked at first, then he laughed and took her wrists, dragging her toward the table beside Isabelle. While Clary fought to get her hands free, he grabbed a length of rope and quickly wound it around her wrists. When he'd finished, he tied the loose end to the table's leg and shoved her onto the floor.
"Stop it." She begged, "Don't hurt her."
Jonathan however shook his head, moving back to Isabelle and grabbing another hook, "She knows how to make me stop, don't you, precious?"
Izzy only glared at him, breathing heavily. The hook he'd forced into her was already caught around the edge of her collarbone, peeking out the other side sickeningly. Blood had begun to trail in a lazy path down her shirt, but she didn't speak. Isabelle was too strong for that.
Clary was forced to watch, sobbing along with her friends agonized cries, as one after another Jonathan forced the hooks under her collarbones. Three on each side. When he'd finished, Isabelle was sobbing too, fighting to hold herself up and put as little pressure on the hooks as she could manage.
"There's really no need to be so stubborn, Isabelle." He stepped back a moment to admire his handiwork, trailing a finger along the line of hooks. "Won't you just tell me?"
In reply, though she had tears running down her face, Izzy glared at him and spat at the ground. Jonathan watched this dispassionately, then sighed reaching to grab the pulley connected to the cross bar above her. With little more than a smirk, he jerked it down and the bar rose, jerking the cables with it and lifting Isabelle off her feet.
She screamed so loud, Clary thought her ears might bleed then. The demon only watched, head titled as his victim dangled, the weight of her body held by only those bones. After a moment, her struggling grew too much, and with a sound like snapping carrots, her collarbones broke.
"Stop!" Clary screamed, fighting her urge to vomit. It was hard to hear her over Izzy's wailing, but Jonathan turned anyway.
"Please!" she continued, "I'll do anything, just stop."
He released the rope, letting Izzy slump back to the floor, and reached out to cover her mouth. She was too weak to pull away, and didn't bite him, so his attention stayed on Clary.
"Anything?" he asked, his smile quirking to one side. "You should be careful what you promise me, Clarissa, I will not hesitate to act on such a bargain."
"Then do it!" Clary cried, struggling to stand back up and speak to him levelly, "I don't care. Leave her alone and I will do anything you ask, I promise. Just…please," she felt sick saying it, "Let he go and you can have me."
He arched a brow at that, watching her a long moment, then glanced back at Isabelle. "Do you hear this, Izzy?" He reached out to lift her face roughly, "It's a charming offer, you must agree."
Jonathan released Izzy and moved forward, taking Clary by the throat and pulling her toward him as far as her restraints would allow.
"The truth is, Clarissa, your body isn't worth the repercussions of defying our father. He might lock me up for letting this one slip away, and I can't have that." When her head fell forward in despair, he lifted her up onto her toes by her throat and smiled like the Devil himself.
"Make no mistake, I'll have you, but not for this. No," he chuckled and released her to fall to her knees coughing, "I would love it if you watched though."
And that's what she did. After he'd gagged her to stop the distraction of her cursing him, of course. Jonathan even spoke to her as he tortured Izzy. It lasted for three hours, and when Valentine finally returned it was to a pale half dead girl and his nearly comatose daughter.
Isabelle never told them where Alec was hiding though. Not even when Valentine got angry and started in on her himself. No.
She was much too strong for that.
Oh shit, son! Poor Izzy. What's going to happen?
And for those who have messaged me about it; Why such focus on sex, you ask? Well, other than the obvious EWW factor, there really is a reason.
I believe, because it is so very terrible to Clary (and most people for that matter) Jonathan would use it. He wants to hurt her and submit her and it really is the easiest and most effective way to do so at this point.
Then there is the notion that he wants what Jace had. While Jace and Clary never got to it before he…died (cough)…I think Jonathan would see it as a victory over his hated brother that he claimed that territory first.
And frankly, while I would never wish this sort of thing on anyone, Clary annoyed the piss out of me throughout the series. She made terrible mistakes and made things so hard for herself and I amuse myself by torturing her.
Anyway, that's my explanation, take it or don't. I mean, you're he one reading this story.
PS, forgive any grammar/spelling, guys. I've rushed to get these out while I'm still in the zone, but I'm going back and editing them when I can.