Note that this chapter doesn't pick up where the last chapter left off.
"Well, you're a horrible assistant."
"That's because I'm not an assistant."
"Exactly."
"You make no sense."
"I'm not supposed to. You don't pay me any cash."
"Oh shut it."
"Shut what?"
"It's not too late to fire you, you know."
"But you love me too much to do that."
"Maybe."
"Just maybe? Not, 'oh, Clarissa, I love you so much my heart is going to explode and bleed out all over my chest'?"
"No. Now shut up and pass me my stele."
Clarissa scowled but complied. "Fine. Here." Her companion crouched down, hunching over his work. With a few swift flicks of the wrist, he'd drawn a perfect rune on the ground, in front of a door. Standing, he placed a few other runes along the entryway's frame.
"There," he said, evaluating his work. In the dim of the alley, a few beams of moonlight fell upon his hair and turned it to liquid silver.
"'There'?" She leaned over his shoulder. "What do you mean, 'there'? You never told me what we're doing."
The response was a grin, feral and tempting and seductive. He opened the door silently and took one step inside, looking around, before turning back to the other. His eyes glinted mischievously as he grabbed her hands and pulled her after him into the dark building. "I put silence runes on the doorway. No one outside can hear us." He dropped her hands and closed the door. "And an alarm should go off, should we be interrupted."
It was Clarissa's turn to grin, the smile not nearly as wolf-like as the other's, but not innocent in the least. "Oh? And what exactly are we doing?"
Instead of responding, her companion slipped through the hallways and corridors of the building, his feet making no sound on the floor. The only reason Clarissa could see him was because of the night-vision rune she'd applied earlier; the building would have been pitch black without it.
The place was confusing, but she trusted his sense of direction. He led her forward, drawing her deep into the darkness. One they reached a large room, he turned back to her with that same grin on his face. He withdrew his stele from his pocket. "You asked what we were doing."
Clarissa nodded.
"Well, we're going to have some fun."
A small smirk turned the corners of her mouth upwards. "Wonderful."
Suddenly, her companion whirled. "You can come out now. We know you're here."
There was a sound akin to a whimper from somewhere in the darkness.
"Come out," he growled, and a young girl stepped out from behind some discarded crates in the corner of the room.
With the night-vision rune, Clarissa thought she saw runes winding their way up and down the girl's arms. "What's your name?" she inquired.
"Mellony," the girl said softly. She appeared to be trembling, but her voice was strong. She's trying not to show weakness, Clarissa thought. All shadowhunters are taught not to know fear.
"How old are you?" Clarissa's partner asked.
"Fourteen," came the reply.
He glanced over his shoulder at Clarissa and she caught his gaze, holding it, green eyes meeting his dark irises that looked black in the darkness. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" he asked.
With another grin, Clarissa said, "Let's have some fun."
Two days too late. I'm sorry. I've been so exhausted this past week that I totally forgot to update when I promised. I told you this chapter had some fun. Go ahead, speculate. Speculate away. Leave your ideas in a review?