Fallen Angels Rise
A/N: I'm getting better! It's only been eleven days since the last chapter! I'm getting into a routine now and writing is becoming part of it. I know exactly where I want the story to go and what I want in each chapter, so now it's just a matter of writing it out completely. My goal is to get another chapter up within a week. Let's see if I can make that goal. One last thing: this chapter gets a little bit more racy with some intimate scenes between a few of our favorite couples. Be warned, those of you who do not like such scenes. They are very easy to identify, so skip them if you would prefer to not read such things.
Chapter 10: Love is in the Air
Clary awoke several hours later, experiencing a temporary moment of panic, as she did not immediately recognize where she was. Upon determining that she had woken up in Jace's room, a first for her, the memories from the night came rushing back. The flood of thoughts overwhelmed her, causing her head to spin. She sat up in the bed and shook her head slightly, trying to shake the bad memories away. It was then that she realized that Jace was not next to her, and also that the shower was running.
With a devious smile on her face, Clary got out of bed and quietly opened the bathroom door. Apparently she was not quiet enough though, because upon closing the door, Jace called out to her, "I'm almost done, you can jump in after me." Her devilish smiling growing, Clary said nothing in reply. Instead, she stripped off her pajamas and exhaled a shaky breath before climbing into the shower. She was met with a very surprised look from Jace. "What are you doing?" He asked, not in anger, but nervousness.
"Saving water," Clary replied, mentally applauding herself for being so smooth. She took a step towards him. His hands eagerly reached out for her body, drawing her in closer to him, but his face still showed his nervousness.
"Are you sure about this?" Was all Jace asked. Clary nodded, blinking as the small drops of water hit as she looked up at him.
Putting her hands on his chest, Clary could feel a slight tremble in Jace's muscles. She stood up and tried to kiss him, but he had to lean down and meet her half way. What she got was not one of the soft kisses she had grown used to, but one with clear desire behind it, a forceful kiss that Clary eagerly reciprocated.
Without any warning, Jace picked Clary up and held her against the wall. She wrapped her legs around him, bringing them even closer together. He broke off the kiss to Clary's dismay, but her mourning was quickly erased. Jace flashed her his own devilish grin for half a second before taking one of her beaded nipples into his mouth. Clary let out a gasp of surprise and pleasure, her head tipping back slightly. Grinning at her reaction, Jace playfully nipped at the bud while sliding one finger into her wetness. Surprising her again, Clary let out a low, throaty moan.
Unwrapping her feet from Jace's waist, Clary slide to them back down to the floor as he moved his mouth back to hers to silence her moaning. Just as she wrapped one hand around his fully erect length though there was a loud pounding on the bathroom door. Clary jumped away from her boyfriend, and Jace pounded a fist against the shower wall before resting his forehead on it.
"Jace, have you seen Clary?" Alec's voice came, muffled slightly by the door. Clary shook her head violently at Jace.
He got out o the shower and wrapped a towel around his waist before opening the door slightly to talk to Alec. "No I haven't, why?"
"Why are you all wet?" Alec asked.
Jace gave him an odd look before replying, "Because I was in the shower?"
"Well then why is the water still running?" Alec tried to peek around Jae, but the blonde boy moved to block his view.
"Because I'm not done in the shower. Why are you looking for Clary?" Jace questioned again. "Is she missing?!" He added on the last part, realizing that it would be expected of him to be concerned.
"Oh, no, no we don't think so. Mom wants her to tell the story to the Conclave this morning, but we can't find her anywhere. I thought maybe she slept in here with you," Alec answered.
"Well, we talked for a while last night. I don't think she slept. She's probably showering in her room, I'm sure she'll show up at breakfast," Jace replied, wincing slightly at how casual he sounded.
"Yeah, that's true. I'm sure she's fine, I'll tell mom to just wait to talk to Clary at breakfast," Alec added as he walked away. Jace closed the door and let out a breath.
"That was entirely too close," He muttered, turning around to find Clary wrapped in her own towel.
"We're lucky it was Alec, anyone else would have probably been more suspicious of you," Clary commented.
"I can't even imagine what would have happened if that was Isabelle, let along someone like Luke or Maryse," Jace replied.
"I guess I better go and get dressed. We can't show up to breakfast together today," Clary said. Jace only nodded and watched as Clary put her pajamas back on to make the run back to her own room. When she left, Jace got back into the shower to finishing washing himself, but not before expressing his frustration with another fist to the wall.
At breakfast, Maryse came in and announced that Clary would be coming with her to talk to the Conclave and tell them the events o the preceding night. She would come to training after she was finished. Jace was glad for the change in schedule, it gave him a chance to work out some of his frustration without have to worry about hurting Clary. When she showed up a while later, Jace was significantly less high strung.
"Sorry about this morning," Clary said softly as she approached Jace. He looked at her before putting down the seraph blade with which he had just been practicing.
Putting one finger under her chin, he tilted her head back until they were looking into each other's eyes. "Don't ever apologize for that!" Jace replied with a smile and a small kiss.
"Oh, I'm not apologizing for what I did," Clary remarked, a sly grin spreading across her lips. Jace cocked an eyebrow at her, encouraging her to finish her sentence. "I'm apologizing because I didn't get to finish what I started!" Jace rewarded her cleverness with a bigger kiss than before with hints of residual passion from the shower.
"Gross! What have I said about getting a room?" Isabelle shrieked. Jace and Clary broke apart and Jace mumbled something that Clary could not quite discern. All she heard was "Have one… Alec… barging in," but it was enough for Clary to get the jist. She turned around and gave him a pretend glare and shushed him.
"Sorry Iz! We're just gonna start training now!" Clary called back to the other girl.
"Whatever, just make sure to use protection," Isabelle yelled back, smiling a bit at her retort. Clary didn't get a chance to reply though, because a loud crash interrupted the conversation. Alec had apparently been shocked by his sister's last comment and managed to knock over the entire rack of arrows that had been near him.
Clary looked concerned, but Jace only laughed. Alec waved them off embarrassedly, but they came over to help him replace the arrows. While they were distracted, Isabelle slipped out the door. She'd done enough training, "More than Clary and Jace ever did, anyways," she though. She figured that she deserved to cut out early for once. Besides, the loner it took for anyone to realize she was gone, the better it would be for her.
Isabelle was sick of being locked up in the Institute and had made plans to see Simon today. Sneaking out at lunch would be her best bet, but this extra time was even better. She could easily get there and back without her absence being noticed. She grabbed her coat on her way out, carefully avoiding the meeting hall to ensure that no Conclave members would see her as she left. They all knew that she was not supposed to leave, so she would be caught immediately if they saw her. She would be having none of that.
Getting out the door without any issue, Isabelle quickly made her way to the subway station. A short train ride and walk later, she found herself pressing the buzzer to be let up to Simon's apartment. The door was unlocked when she reached it, so she let herself in. Jordan waved to her from the couch; he had an Xbox controller in his hands and a headset on, explaining why he didn't say anything in greeting.
Not seeing Simon anywhere, she walked back to his room and opened the door. His room had become far more personalized than it was when he first moved in to the apartment. There were band posters all over the walls and clothes everywhere. He had a desk now with his computer on it, the screen frozen on the World of Warcraft menu. His bed was still just a mattress on the floor, and on it was where Isabelle found her boyfriend playing his GameBoy.
"Well aren't you a sight for sore eyes," Simon greeted her, looking up at Isabelle with a smile.
"Oh please, you know that stuff doesn't work on me," Isabelle said, rolling her eyes but not really meaning it. She laid down on the mattress next to Simon and he put the GameBoy down.
Wrapping his arms around her, Simon only murmured, "it is very good to see you again." Then he kissed her on the top of he head as she nestled into his embrace.
"Did you miss me?" Isabelle asked slyly.
"Of course I did," Simon replied, not taking on any of her playfulness. Not seeing her had been awful. They had talked on the phone every day, but being only a short ways away and not being able to see her in person was almost torturous.
Isabelle propped herself up on her elbows to look at Simon. Her hair fell behind her like a straight black curtain, shimmering in the winter sunlight that came pouring through the window. She pursed her lips in a quizzical look for a moment before speaking. "I don't understand you, Simon Lewis."
"I'm confused," Simon replied, not wanting to say anything wrong. Despite the apparent willingness of women to throw themselves at him, Simon still had no idea what to do when talking to a girl.
"Most boys are so easy to read, to figure out what they want. But you, I don't understand you. What do you want?" Isabelle explained.
"I want you," Simon answered simply.
"If it was me you wanted, I'd be on top of you. Naked. And moaning," Isabelle said, somehow purring as she spoke.
Enjoying the imagery that Isabelle had described, Simon closed his eyes and swallowed hard before replying. "Technically that would be the result if I wanted your body."
Isabelle gave Simon a look that let him know that he wasn't going to get out of answering her question. "What do you really want?"
"I want you to be happy," he said immediately.
Smiling brightly at him, as if he had muttered the secret password, Isabelle climbed on top of him, straddling his hips. "Then go ahead, make me happy," her voice was sultry. She put his hands on her hips.
"Iz, are you sure?" Simon asked. To demonstrated how sure she was, Isabelle removed her top, revealing a lacy blue bra underneath. Simon sucked in a breath, despite the fact that he no longer needed to breath. He slowly flipped her so that he was now leaning over her.
Bending down to kiss her, Simon took one more look at his girlfriend, "You're beautiful, Isabelle Lightwood." She smiled at him sweetly, but the smile soon changed into a devious one as she pulled him down on top of her. What started as kissing quickly turning into much more and soon they were both losing clothing at a rapid rate, leaving them each in their underwear.
Simon cupped Isabelle's now bare breast in his hand, rubbing his thumb over her nipple. She let out a low, sot moan as the sensation shivered down her body. Taking her other nipple in his mouth, she began to squirm in pleasure, her back arching slightly.
Isabelle was not the kind of girl to just let things happen to her though. Overcoming the paralysis brought on by her pleasure, she once again found herself on top of Simon. "I will never get tired of this view," Simon said, running his hands up and down her legs.
"Well good, you don't have to," Isabelle replied, wiggling her hips, grinding into his.
"Ohhhhh, I love you!" Simon gasped. Isabelle froze on top of him.
"What did you say?" She asked, shock edging her voice.
"I said I love you, Isabelle. I could never love anyone the way I love you, and I never will," Simon declared.
Isabelle climbed off of him, covering herself with the nearest article of clothing she could reach as she searched for the rest of them. "No, no, oh God no. Please, just take it back!"
"What's wrong?" Simon asked, sitting up, bewildered by her reaction.
"You just had to say it, just had to say you loved me," Isabelle replied softly, trying not to cry as she pulled on her shirt.
"Why is that a problem?" Simon asked, still very confused.
"It just is Simon. I can't explain it to you. I have to go though," Isabelle answered. With that, she got up to leave.
"Isabelle, just wait! Come back, we can talk about this," Simon called after her, but to no avail. By the time he pulled on a pair of pants, he saw her slipping out the front door. He rushed over to it, but even his vampire speed wasn't enough to catch up with the fleeing Isabelle. He stood there in the hallway, more confused than he had ever been in his life.
After lunch, Jace walked Clary to the spiral steps that lead up to the greenhouse. She would be continuing her lesson from the previous day as Jonathan has promised. "Well, at least I know where you are today," Jace said with a smile.
"Oh stop it," Clary said, rolling her eyes but also smiling. "You promised you'd be civil when you talked to him."
"Actually, I only recall that I promised to talk to him. I don't recall anything about being civil," Jace replied, smirking devilishly. Clary took one step up the staircase and leaned in to kiss Jace.
"Thank you," she said, knowing that his humor was his way of agreeing without having to actually say it. He kissed her back and then ushered her up the rest of the stairs so she wouldn't be late. Jonathan was waiting at the top of the staircase.
"Oh! There you are! I was beginning to think you'd forgotten that we were up here again today," Jonathan said cheerily.
"Sorry to worry you! I just got carried away talking to Jace is all," Clary replied. Jonathan's smile fell at that.
"Is everything alright between you two?" He asked.
"Yeah, everything is fine, why wouldn't it be?" Clary asked back.
"It's just that… I saw the exchange between you two in the library earlier. You didn't seem to want to have anything to do with him, so I wasn't exactly sure what you meant when you said you got carried away talking to him," Jonathan explained, sounding to Clary like an older brother for the first time.
"Well, we weren't fighting just now, if that's what you're asking," Clary answered. She didn't mean to sound so harsh, but her defensiveness was beginning to be a natural reaction to people who seemed to disapprove of her relationship.
"That's good to hear, but if you don't mind my asking, what caused you to act the way you did in the library?" Jonathan inquired, pressing the issue more.
Feeling bad for snapping at him, Clary chose to answer his question, despite the urge she felt to tell him that it was none of his business. "We had had a fight yesterday afternoon, but it's all better now. We talked after everyone else went back to bed." Clary chose to limit the details in her explanation. She didn't fully trust Jonathan to not report this back to their mother. They didn't grow up together and build that mutual understanding of information that should be kept between siblings.
"Why do you keep doing that?" Jonathan asked. This was not one of the responses that Clary had been anticipating, and as such it took her a second to comprehend the question.
"Keep doing what?" She replied.
"Keep taking Jace back after he hurts you," Jonathan exclaimed. Clary gave him a hard stare, as if looking at him would help her determine if he really did just ask her that. She expected him to look apologetic, as was the norm, but he didn't. Instead, the look on his face conveyed his expectation of an answer.
"Why do you care?" Clary retorted, both curious and frustrated. She hated when she was asked this, but she didn't expect Jonathan to be one of the people to ask it.
"Because I'm your older brother, and even though you may not have any familial love for me, I have it for you. Mom has told me so much about you that I almost feel as if it is an adequate enough substitute for growing up together. I watch you come into your lessons, and I can tell when you and Jace are having a bad day. I just don't want you to keep letting yourself get hurt and used like this," Jonathan answered. Clary's eyes hardened, but the rest of her features relaxed. Her brother's comments catalyzed a slew of emotional responses.
"Jace isn't using me. It's true that he says some very hurtful things, but that doesn't make me stop loving him. It just lets me know that he's hurting inside. But that is what we talked about last night. That he can't keep behaving this way," Clary replied. She didn't understand why she told him all of this, but she did know that it was probably best that she do what she could to keep her temper even.
"Okay, I'm sorry. I know you love him, I just don't want you to think that that is a good enough reason to allow him to treat you that way," Jonathan replied softly.
"Well, thank you for your concern," Clary said awkwardly. She had been preparing for a fight. "I promise that it'll be okay though," she assured her brother.
"That's good to hear, I wouldn't want to have to kick his ass for mistreating my sister," Jonathan replied with a wink and a smile.
With that, the conflict had been sufficiently smoothed over and the two were able to begin with the lesson. Most of the two hours was spent retrieving the information from the day before, but Jonathan managed to get through all of that and leave plenty of time to show Clary how to make the tea that Hodge used to make. It was his best guess at least, based on what Clary had told him about its uses and effects.
"This is definitely the right stuff!" Clary exclaimed after trying a sip.
"Oh good, I was hoping I figured out the tea you had been talking about," Jonathan replied with a smile, their argument long forgotten.
"Yes, this is for sure the tea I had when I first woke up in the Institute," Clary said, taking a long sip of it from her cup.
"I thought you were more of a coffee drinker," Jonathan commented.
"I am but tea is nice too. It's really this specific one that I was interested in," Clary replied.
Knowing full well the reason why, Jonathan only said, "I'm sure Jace is going to be ecstatic when you make it for him."
Clary paused for a second and bit her lip nervously, "Speaking of Jace… uhh… He was hoping to have a chance to talk to you when we were finished with my lesson." Jonathan gave his sister a knowing look.
"Did you put him up to this?" He asked.
"Maybe a little," Clary lied. "He is doing it as a favor for me." Jonathan looked slightly hurt, so Clary rushed to clarify what she meant. "It's just that I Told him that it was important to me that he give you a chance. I guess you'd rather have him come around to this on his own, but Jace isn't like that. I hope you're not mad and that you'll talk to him."
Feeling touched by her kindness, Jonathan smiled warmly at her. "Of course I will." He then received one of the biggest shocks of his recent life, as Clary hugged him, murmuring a thank you. His smile only grew bigger as he returned the hug. "Well come on then, we're out of time and I don't want to be late for my date." Clary nodded in agreement before racing down the spiral staircase. Jonathan had followed her, but then doubled back, deciding that bringing some of the tea as a peace offering would not be a bad idea.
Having washed most of the dirt out of his clothes, Jonathan entered the library with two steaming mugs of tea in his hands. Seeing Jace stretched out on one of the couches, Jonathan made his way over to where the other boy was and set the mug down. "What's this?" Jace asked suspiciously.
"A peace offering," Jonathan replied. Jace only eyed the mug, sitting up now. "Don't worry, Clary made it. I only heated it up again." At that, Jace took the mug in his hands and sipped from it.
"Clary made this?" Jace asked in disbelief.
"She did. She told me that she wanted to learn how to make it, because she knew you were having difficulty doing so. Fortunately, I have a lot of time on my hands and I was able to scour through the library and find a few recipes that I thought might do what she described," Jonathan answered, and then winced internally at having gone into such a lengthy explanation.
"You really are teaching her some good stuff," Jace replied, his efforts in being civil still rather apparent, despite the visible relaxation Jonathan saw in him.
"Thanks, that means a lot," Jonathan replied. The room fell silent. Neither boy wanted to engage in small talk with the other, knowing the futility of it all. "So Clary said you wanted to talk to me?"
"We both know that's not exactly true. Clary wants me to try to get to know you. Well, this different you, not the one I knew before the – er – stabbing," Jace said. The room fell silent again, this time though, Jace felt obligated to break the silence, because Jonathan had the last time. "So, do we have anything in common?"
"We were both brought up by Valentine," Jonathan blurted out, then immediately regretted having done so.
"I'd rather not talk about our upbringings," Jace replied.
"Yeah, me neither…" Jonathan said, relieve at the pass Jace gave him. "We both care about Clary, we could talk about that."
"While that is true, I don't think she would consider us talking about her to be getting to know each other," Jace said with a small, forced laugh. "By the way, what do you want to be called?"
"What do you mean?" Jonathan asked.
"Well, I'm assuming you don't want to be called Sebastian anymore. So what do you want to be called?" Jace explained.
"Clary and my mom and Luke call me Jonathan, but Jon is fine. I wanted to be called Jon when I was younger, but father always insisted on my full name," Jon replied.
"He always called me Jonathan as well, it never felt right to me though. Obviously I now know why. Maryse has been calling me Jace basically since I showed up here and I find it more suiting," Jace said, trying to keep the conversation going.
"So what kinds of things do you like? Outside of being a shadowhunter that is," Jon asked.
Jace had to think on that for a moment, he'd spent all of his time for the past several weeks doing nothing but focusing on getting Clary up to speed and continuing his own training, "I like music, a lot really. I play the piano," Jace answered. "What about you?"
"I guess I like reading. I don't know much about my 'new' self yet and all I do anymore is read," Jonathan said. Jace nodded to acknowledge that he heard what the other boy said.
"Listen, I'm not thinking this small talk is really going to get us anywhere. Can we talk about the attack on Clary last night?" Jace asked.
With a look of relief, Jonathan nodded his head. "Of course, I've been thinking about it all day." Though he now grew slightly nervous, remembering Jace's accusations in the middle of the night.
"Can you tell me exactly what you saw when you came into her room after hearing Clary scream?" Jace asked.
Jonathan let out a small breath, relieve to not be facing another accusation. Whatever Clary had said to him this morning had caused a complete flip in Jace's behavior. Jonathan almost felt bad about what he had said to Clary earlier. "The room was very dark, so I didn't really see a whole lot. I heard the intruder trying to break down the bathroom door. When I opened the door, some light from the hallway came into the room. It was enough for me to see that the person was all in black and that they were fleeing towards the window."
"That's pretty much what you told everyone else, is there some other tiny detail that you can remember?" Jace pressed.
Closing his eyes, Jon leaned back and tried to recreate the scene that he saw. "You know what," he started, his eyes flying open excitedly. "I do remember seeing a hand. I couldn't tell if it was a man's or a woman's hand because it looked really disfigured or mangled."
"Do you remember anything else about the hand?" Jace questioned fervently, leaning forward. He was not expecting to get this detail, though he was not entirely sure of its usefulness yet.
"Well, I'm not so sure because of the darkness, but it looked a bit gray, as if the skin was dying," Jon replied.
Jace paused for a second to consider this fact. "Do you think it may have been a vampire's subjugate?" Jace inquired, throwing out the first idea that came to mind.
"No, they moved way too fast to be human. I've never seen anything move as fast as that person did," Jon said.
"Did you see anything when you looked out the window?" Jace asked. Jon gave him a sheepish look that immediately aroused Jace's suspicions.
"I didn't look out the window right away. Everything happened so fast that I didn't have time to process what was happening. I rushed over to make sure that Clary was okay first," Jon replied.
"I don't think I can fault you for that, she tends to take top priority with me," Jace sympathized.
"She's a tough one though, she was halfway through carving an opening rune into the door when I got to her," Jonathan explained. "Though why she would want to open the door, I don't know."
Jonathan was shocked by the other boy's response to what he had just said. Jace burst out laughing, fingers curled into his hair. Jonathan could not figure out what he had said wrong and was about to ask when Jace finally spoke. "She was trying to destroy the Institute and take us all down with her."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Jon asked, looking at Jace as if the boy across from him had really lost it.
"You know how Valentine's ship just disintegrated?" Jace asked. Jon nodded his head. "Well, that was Clary. She'd carved an opening rune into the ship and because of her special talent with runes, she tore the whole ship apart. She was probably only trying to blast the door apart to knock that guy out, but knowing her, it would still have been too strong." Now Jon joined in on the laughter.
"Looks like I saved Clary from this intruder and the Institute from Clary!" Jonathan exclaimed gleefully. Jace could only nod his head in agreement. When both boys sobered up from their laughing fits, the conversation turned more serious. "I would do it a million times over though, if I had to. Saving Clary that is."
"I'm beginning to realize that," Jace replied. The room fell silent once more, but it was not as awkward as before. "Why do you trust her so much? I know she's your sister and all, but you didn't grow up together and you hardly know each other."
"She saved me from the biggest threat of all. I know she was trying to kill me when she stabbed me with Glorious, but in doing so, she freed me, literally, from the demon inside me. The memories I have, they make me want to curl up and die in shame if I dwell on them too much, so I understand why I needed to die. Clary killed off a version of myself that I hated immediately upon remembering him, and for that I am eternally thankful," Jonathan explained. "Plus, my mother has told me so much about Clary that I feel like we did grow up together."
Jace took a long moment to reply, but he did finally answer. "It seems like we have very similar goals when it comes to Clary, and it might be nice having help in protecting her form herself."
Jonathan nodded, smiling slightly, knowing that it probably took a lot for Jace to say that. "I think we are reluctant partners on this quest. Though there is one thing that we differ on."
"What's that?" Jace asked, curious.
"I'm not trying to sleep with her," Jonathan commented, half joking, half threatening Jace's manhood if Clary was ever mistreated or if Jace ever took advantage of her.
The message was very clear, and Jace accepted his warning graciously, despite thinking that Jon held no real threat to him anymore. The two boys continued to talk through the rest of the afternoon. When Clary acme into the library, beaming, to let them know that dinner was ready, Jace wasn't sure if he would consider Jon a friend exactly, but his sentiments had definitely changed since that morning. For the first time, Jonathan joined the others for dinner that night.
Upon entering the dining room, Isabelle and Alec looked up from their plates, immediately on high alert. When they saw Clary's smile and Jace's relaxed posture though, the two Lightwoods relaxed as well. However, they continued to follow Jonathan's every move with their eyes. This was a wasted effort on their part, because the most eventful thing to happen during dinner was Isabelle's phone call from Simon, which she ignored. Clary's interest was piqued, but she was not about to ask the visibly unsettled Isabelle about it. She would let her friend calm down first before talking to her.
That night, Clary returned to Jace's room, not wanting to be alone or even in her own room just yet. The next morning was significantly less exciting, as Clary had slept through Jace's entire shower, despite his efforts to elongate the process as much as possible.
A/N: And another chapter is finished! And I just barely beat the previous chapter in length. This chapter was mainly fluff, but we know what that means in terms of plot progression. Also, to my persistent, anonymous reviewer, your enthusiasm is incredibly flattering, but I beg of you to have a little more faith in me please! Something would have to seriously blow up in my life for this story to go another month between updates, so there's no need to lose hope so quickly! :)