Continuing on along…
Hundreds of demons surrounded Jace. Oh, he had found the right place alright. Their number told him that much. Wherever Jonathan was, a horde of demons was always nearby. His twisted satisfaction at the knowledge that he was closing in on his enemy drove him on. He hacked off limbs, drove his twin swords through vulnerable necks, spewing black blood all over the ground. Some of it hit him, burning his skin where his leathers didn't cover him. But he didn't care; he didn't feel it. All he could think about was Clary, trapped in the clutches of that maniacal bastard. He had to get her free from him. Or die trying.
No. Dying wasn't an option. He would take her back from the demon, would get her to safety. Then he didn't care what happened to him.
He cut a path through the seething black mass, easily striking them down as his swords moved almost faster than the eye could see.
Then he heard it, the sound making his heart skip a beat: her scream. He had never heard anything as terrifying as that agonized sound. In his moment of fear, he paused. And he paid dearly for his hesitation. He barely moved quickly enough to avoid a clawed demon's slash from rending his chest wide open. As it was, its claws raked across his skin, grating across his ribcage.
He tried to compartmentalize the searing pain, and he raised his sword to run the demon through. But his arm was stopped short; something had him in its grip. He moved to slash at it with his free hand, but his other arm was caught, preventing his retaliation. His swords were being pried from his fingers, disappearing into the shadowy mass of demons as they were ripped away from him.
No. This couldn't happen. He couldn't die. Not now. Not when he could still hear Clary screaming, over and over again. He struggled against the demons holding him, desperate to get to her. But it seemed that they had to same idea. Rather than killing him, they jerked him forward, pulling him along towards the sound of Clary's terrified shrieks. He stopped fighting instantly. If they were taking him to her, then he wouldn't resist them.
Clary's screams were unrelenting, and they only grew impossibly louder as he was dragged towards her. Each one tore at Jace's heart like a twisted blade. But he had to hold it together, had to keep his wits about him if he was going to save her.
He was pulled into one of the abandoned warehouses, and he let out a bellow of rage at what he saw inside.
Clary was restrained to an old hospital bed, her body convulsing in pain as she jerked against the leather cuffs that held her down. There were two half-full medical drip bags on either side of her, each filled with something dark and reddish that Jace didn't want to contemplate. Her veins stood out starkly, black lines on her naked white flesh.
Naked. And Jonathan was bent over her, touching her, as he intently drew a series of iratzes into her skin.
"Get away from her!" He bellowed, white-hot rage engulfing him. He jerked against the demons who gripped him, but they held him fast.
Clary's eyes, clouded over by pain, cleared for a moment at the sound of his voice. "Jace," she said his name in a strangled whisper. Her body shuddered, wracked by a fresh wave of pain as he watched helplessly.
Jonathan looked up at him, his face twisted into a leer. "So glad you could join us, angel boy," he said mockingly. "You're a bit earlier than I expected. She's not ready yet. You'll have to wait."
Jace ignored his cryptic words, refusing to let Jonathan side-track him when every second was clearly precious if he was going to save Clary from whatever torment he was putting her through. "Let her go, you sick fuck," he ground out, jerking fruitlessly against the demons that held him.
Jonathan looked at him levelly. "No," he said simply. Then his black eyes filled with some twisted, maniacal light. "She's mine now. We belong together. Our Morgenstern blood calls to one another. But her angel blood, and her love for yours, keeps us apart." He reached down a pale hand to tenderly stroke Clary's cheek. "But not for much longer," he finished softly.
Clary looked up at the demon, her eyes pleading. "Please," she choked out through the pain. "Please. Don't-"
Her body convulsed again, and her eyes rolled back in her head as she was overwhelmed by pain.
"JACE!" His name was an agonized cry.
"Clary!" He surged forward, desperate to reach her. But the demons held him fast. "Stop!" He demanded. "Stop hurting her!" A note of desperation made his voice ragged, making it sound almost as though he was begging.
"It will stop," Jonathan said coolly, unconcerned for her suffering. "Eventually. Once the conversion is complete."
Conversion? "What are you talking about?" Jace snapped to cover his terror.
His grin was twisted, his eyes filled with a sick, feverish light. "Soon, she'll have my blood. She'll be like me. Then nothing will ever be able to hurt her again." His gaze was riveted back on Jace. "And you're going to live just long enough to see it, angel boy. You are going to live to see her choose me, love me. She'll be under my power for ever; she'll be mine forever. And then I will have the great pleasure of watching her kill you." He paused, cocking his head to one side. "Although," he said, touching his fingers to the hollow at the base of her throat, "I may let you live long enough to watch me fuck her. I am so sorry that you missed it the first time." His grin widened as he traced his fingers down her sternum, drawing them under her small breast, tracing the outline of it. "She has a hot little cunt."
Jace roared in rage. "Don't you fucking touch her! I'll swear I'll kill you if you touch her again!" He twisted in the demons' grip, but long claws dug into his arms, ripping at his flesh and pinning him in place.
Jonathan seemed unfazed by his show of anger. Instead, he bent to touch a stele to Clary's skin, beginning to draw another iratze. "Oh, I don't think you'd like it if I stopped touching her," he said smoothly. "If I stop healing her, my blood will burn through her veins and destroy her." He looked down at her almost tenderly, gently pushing her coppery locks back from her sweat-dampened brow. "And we wouldn't want that."
Clary wasn't screaming any longer. Instead, she was letting out high, keening cries, like a wounded animal. The sound cut at Jace to the core, filling him with fear like nothing he had ever known before.
"Please," he said in a broken whisper, truly begging now. "Please, stop this. Let her go."
"No," Jonathan said simply. "I don't think-"
But he was cut off by a clamor just outside the warehouse, his voice drowned out by the sound of shrieking demons. Jace twisted around as best he could, and his heart lifted at the sight of Izzy, Alec, and Magnus fighting their way towards him.
"Alec!" He shouted. "Here!"
His best friend nodded and began making his way towards him, chopping through demons as he progressed. He was at Jace's side in the space of a minute, dispatching the demons who held him in a matter of seconds. Without Jace having to ask, Alec pulled a long sword from scabbard across his back and tossed it to him. Then he instantly pivoted, slashing at a demon behind him just before it could rake its claws across his back.
Jace turned, his eyes instantly finding Jonathan. His mind honed only on killing the bastard, he sliced away any demons that dared stand in his path as though brushing away flies. Jonathan's mouth narrowed into a grim line as he drew out Maellartach. The Soul Sword glinted darkly in the dim light of the warehouse. If he had that, then he had control of an entire demon army. He could wipe out the whole human race with that kind of power. But in that moment, Jace didn't care about the human race; all he cared about was getting to Clary. He could no longer hear her cries over the din of battle, but he didn't allow his mind to contemplate what that might mean. Instead, he advanced on Jonathan, determined to kill him properly this time.
XXX Clary POV XXX
Agony. Every cell in Clary's body was on fire, burning her from the inside out. She hadn't thought that it could get any worse, but suddenly, the scorching pain had impossibly escalated. She could no longer feel the kiss of the stele on her skin; the torment no longer ebbed and flowed as Jonathan traced iratzes. She didn't know what was happening around her; she couldn't hear, she couldn't see. All she knew was the pain.
But no. There was something else. Jace. Jace was here. And Jonathan was going to force her to kill him. Clary had thought that there wasn't any room inside her for anything other than the pain, but now dread flooded through her, rivaling her agony in its intensity.
Jace couldn't die. No matter what happened, Jace had to live. Determined, she forced her eyes to open to see what was happening around her.
Jace and Jonathan were locked together in deadly combat, Jace's sword clashing against Maellartach. Jonathan slipped past his guard, and Jace barely jumped back in time to avoid being split in two. As it was, the Soul Sword bit into his leathers, tearing the skin beneath.
As Clary stared at the dark light thrown off by Jonathan's blade, something odd stirred inside her, something dark and insidious. Her mind wanted to shy away from it, instinctively knowing that it was what she had been fighting so desperately; the darkness was everything that was not Clary. It was what was infecting her soul, changing her. She couldn't give in to it, she couldn't…
But as she touched that darkness, she felt a power there, a power that Clary Frey didn't possess. But it was one that Jonathan Morgenstern did. It was the Soul Sword, the sway that it held over the demon horde. She could feel the headiness of the ability to wield such control over thousands of beings, to hold power over life and death.
A mad idea came to Clary, and she grasped at it desperately. She threw herself into the darkness, feeling herself slipping away from who she was. The pain was intense, the flames searing her soul as she gave herself over to the power in Jonathan's blood.
And there is was, within her grasp: Maellertach's power. Hers for the taking.
Her new, malevolent impulses were whispering that she should summon more demons, should subjugate everyone on earth until only she ruled all.
But her eyes fell on Jace, and the small part of her that still survived struggled back into her consciousness.
He has to live. He has to live.
Clary grasped at the power, pulling it away from Jonathan and into herself. She saw him hesitate, frowning. "What are you doing, Clarissa?" He demanded. But he paid dearly for his moment of distraction. Jace's sword snaked past his defenses, slicing at his thigh. Jonathan cried out and limped back, his face twisted into a snarl.
Clary could feel the demons now. Every one of them was a shadow that was hers to command.
Kill Jonathan, she whispered to them. Kill Jonathan Morgenstern.
The demons all stilled around them, turning to stare at Clary. "Clarissa!" Jonathan shouted, a hint of fear in his voice. She could feel him grasping for the power, trying to take it back from her. But Jace was relentless in pressing his advantage. Jonathan only barely got the great sword up in time to block a blow that would have severed his head from his shoulders.
Kill him! She threw her newfound hatred behind the words, drawing on the power of Jonathan's blood to manipulate the demons that he held under his sway. But they weren't his any longer; they were hers now.
The mass of shadows converged on him, shoving Jace back as they went for their former master. There was a horrible, high scream. Then the strangled cry was cut off abruptly, and there was nothing but wet, tearing sounds.
When the demons finished, they turned silently back to Clary. Only, the pain was overwhelming her once again now that her task was complete. There were no longer any runes healing the damage that was being done to her body, and it was beginning to give out. She could see that the demons could sense her growing weakness, could see it in their malevolent red eyes.
They might have just destroyed their master on her orders, but they were just as eager to destroy their new mistress. Slowly, they began to advance towards her, moving one hesitant step at a time, as though fighting against a gale-force wind.
Jace threw himself against them with a shout, stepping in front of her, defending her from their onslaught.
At the sight of him, she was filled with love. She was reminded of the person who she had once been, the person who had been almost completely burned away. Gathering up all of her remaining strength, she exerted her will on the demons once more.
Leave, she ordered, gritting her teeth. Leave and go back to your own dimension. She held the command, willing them to obey.
Suddenly, the tide turned. The demons were folding in on themselves, leaving her world. It wasn't until the last shred of shadow had sunken into the floor that she let herself go.
She gave in, finally succumbing to the agony that she had been holding at bay for so long. Her body was burning, consumed by the poison in Jonathan's blood. She tried to force her eyes to stay open, to keep looking up into Jace's glorious face. But she couldn't withstand it any longer. Her eyes fluttered closed, and he winked out of existence.
Sooooo…. Whew! Intense, huh? Final chapter, coming right up! …Tomorrow xxx
