three chapters in one day! I guess you could say i was feeling inspired. Its 12am here and i did my very best at editing this chapter. If there are any grammatical mistakes, I apologize. Im tired but I also needed to post this today! Thank you for all of your support.
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THESE FICTIONAL CHARACTERS. THEY BELONG TO THE TALENTED CASSANDRA CLARE.
Chapter 7
Jace, Alec and Isabelle made their way back to the institute soon after their eventful night at Pandemonium. The trip back home was quiet. They never lost a lead before, that feeling of utter disappointment was mutual between the three of them.
"What the hell happened back there Jace?" Alec finally spoke after exiting the train.
Jace kept his eyes ahead of him. He, himself, didn't know the answer to that question.
"Hey! I'm talking to you. What the hell happened back there" Alec stopped in front of Jace and pushed him back slightly causing Jace to stumble on his feet.
"Hey! Stop. It's not his fault Alec, it was just a bad night okay? Let it go." Isabelle stepped in between her brothers.
"Let's just go home and figure all of this out. We can call Alaric and see if he has any leads" she added before walking ahead.
Alec grimaced at Jace before turning around. Jace took a deep breath following after them.
He wouldn't have mind if Alec had punched him; he knew he deserved it.
Jace took his job seriously. He was a Shadowhunter, just like Alec and Izzy; his job was to protect the mundane world from the down world: demons and other down world threats. Today, he didn't do his job, he allowed himself to get distracted. He swore to never let that happen again.
When they finally reached the institute, they headed over to the information room and started their research. Taking Isabelle's suggestion, Jace phoned Alaric to see if he had any news.
"Alaric, any leads on the vampire attack?"
"My right-hand man, well woman, Maia, traced down the suspects to an abandoned hotel of some sort. South of the murder scene"
"Hotel Dumort?"
"Yeah that's the one, I was actually about to call you when I found that out. My pack can't go beyond that point"
"Thanks Alaric, we'll handle it from here"
"Wait, Jace. There's more. She said she saw some kid walk in to the hotel by himself"
"a mundane? That's against Clave rules." Jace said, irritation weighing heavy in his voice.
"If I get news of anything else I'll let you know"
Jace hung up the phone and went to go share the information with his siblings.
He wouldn't let those bloodsuckers get away this time.
"We should go now Alec, if we give them any more time they'll murder more mundanes" Isabelle said.
"It's 4am Izzy, I think we've had enough for one night. We can deal with them in the morning"
Alec usually wasn't the type to miss out on a mission, but he was still upset about the night. He worried his clouded judgement would be dangerous.
"Izzy is right, we need to go now. If we go tomorrow , the mundane will die" Jace spoke now.
"He might be dead already" Alec answered back, ice in his tone.
"But he might not be, Alec," Izzy grabbed her big brother's arm, "come on, this is our job".
He knew his sister was right. He nodded his head after giving it some thought and gave a her a small smile.
"Alec.." Jace reached for him but Alec had already begun to walk away.
"He'll come around. You know he doesn't like failing missions" Izzy tried comforting Jace.
Jace clenched his jaw then walked with Izzy to the weapons room where Alec was already gearing up.
Jace grabbed his sword, Izzy her whip and Alec his bow and arrow. They walked out into the night, heading south towards Hotel Dumort.
When they got there, the sun began penetrating the darkness, turning the black skies a deep pink/blue tone. The doors were bolted shut so they decided to search for some type of opening. Alec was the one to find the back entrance, with Jace and Izzy following his lead.
"Where do you think they're keeping the mundane?" Izzy asked.
"He'll be in the most guarded room. I'm assuming it'll be the last floor" Jace answered.
"What the hell do they want from a mundane anyway?" Izzy asked
"Other than his blood…" Alec said.
The hotel seemed abandoned, there was no sign of anyone present.
"I don't have a good feeling about this, it shouldn't be this easy" Izzy said in a soft voice.
"How right you are" a male voice echoed through the hall.
They turned around, their backs facing each other.
"Show yourself!" Alec challenged the voice.
"My pleasure" the voice hissed before it came out of hiding and pounced onto Jace, knocking him off his feet.
The man growled.
Clary was sitting on the couch next to Simon, who was now untied thanks to Clary's Girl Scouting skills.
She put her head on his shoulder, "I don't understand any of this Simon, what could vampires possibly want with me? I'm just Clary Fray"
Simon, who was now fully conscious, placed his hand in hers.
"No, you're not just Clary Fray. You're so much more than that. I guess that isn't the best thing to say in a situation like this. Point is, we're going to get through this. We'll wake up tomorrow and this will just be another nightmare" Simon said in an attempt to soothe Clary's racing thoughts.
This made Clary think about the nightmare she had the night before. Almost condescending, she felt like somehow all of this was related. But how?
Her thought was interrupted by the sounds of shattering glass and thuds downstairs. Simon and Clary stood up, terrified.
"What's going on?" Clary asked aloud.
Right then Raphael stormed in, "We have to go. NOW. MOVE!"
Jace was knocked into a wall a few feet away from him with the blow knocking the wind out of him. He crouched on the floor, coughing trying to fill his lungs with air.
Izzy's whip coiled around the man's neck and flung him into a wall, knocking him out cold. Another man charged at Alec this time, but he was already one step ahead. An arrow pierced in dead-center of the man's head. He collapsed.
Jace got up and made his way to his siblings
"You alright?" Alec asked.
"Yeah" Jace replied, steadying his breathing.
They looked around them and saw that they were outnumbered.
Izzy smiled, "I knew this was going to be fun". She snapped her whip around another vampire's neck and used his body to take out several more.
Jace took many of them at once, plowing his sword deep into their chests.
Alec was behind his two siblings taking out the vampires his siblings couldn't see.
They worked well together. They were the perfect team. It wasn't too long until the vampires stopped coming. Guess they thought better of the situation and fled. This wasn't their fight anyway.
They were breathing heavily, winded.
They looked at one another as a scream came from above them.
"Jace, go check that out. Izzy and I will stay here and stand guard"
Jace nodded and headed up the stairs. He stopped at the second to last flight of stairs where he saw the mundane that Alaric had mentioned. He was alive. He also wasn't alone.
Raphael directed them towards a back passageway that led to a different staircase.
Clary was holding Simon's hand when she said this "Don't let me go"
Simon just nodded.
"LET'S GO" raphael said through gritted teeth.
Clary, quick on her feet, kicked Raphael with such force that caused him to fall to the floor. She ran to the front door towards the staircase she originally came up from, Simon right beside her.
Raphael omitted a noise that sounded like a low growl, but Clary didn't stop. They made it down two flights of stairs before a woman stood before them. Clary screamed at the sight of her.
She was snarling at them, her fangs gleaming in the dull lighting. Clary and Simon took a cautious step back, but she didn't waste a second. She sprang in the air, knocking Simon out of the way. She headed for Clary.
Just as she was about the grab hold of Clary, the end of a sword shown in the front of the woman's chest. Clary gasped.
The sword retracted and the woman collapsed in front of Clary's feet.
"Clary!" Simon shouted trying to reach for her.
Clary was staring at the corpse in front of her, her body felt paralyzed. She was breathing heavily. She was sure this wasn't a nightmare. None of her nightmares would let her come that close to death.
She was breathing fast, her head throbbed as the adrenaline was trying to leave her body. She broke her gaze from the body and looked up at the owner of the sword that saved her mundane life.
It was him. Dressed in all black, ravishingly handsome, and looking at her with curious eyes. She noticed something else in his eyes, but she couldn't figure out what it was
Her heart pounded so rapidly in the hollow of her chest, she was certain that it was visible to the boy standing in front of her
Clary collapsed, her fragile frame unable to register what was happening.
She felt Simon under her, trying to hold her up
"Clary! Clary, stay with me! Clary!"
She felt her eyelids start to fail her. As she drifted, she heard another voice, a female, calling out for someone.
Jace
I sense clace in the next chapter... what about you?
until next time loves
xoxo DJ
