Disclaimer: I do not own The Mortal Instruments series
Also, if you have not finished the TMI series then;
1. What are you waiting for?
2. My story contains spoilers from the series: you were warned.
Chapter Ten
Sebastian's reaction puzzled Clary. She expected him to cry, or curse, or yell, or even run away, but he didn't.
He smiled.
"Wh… Why are you smiling?" Clary stuttered, bewildered by the upward curve his mouth had formed.
"Um, could something explain what's going on? Did you guys suddenly get sibling-telepathy?" Isabelle looked at the two siblings and waited for an answer.
"If you've always had sibling telepathy and never told me I'm gonna kick your ass, Fray." Simon waved his finger mock-threateningly at his friend, but the humour was lost on her.
"Technically, that'd be Herondale now. She is my wife, Simon." Jace quipped up, avoiding the serious topic.
"HELLO! WHAT IS GOING ON?" Isabelle waved her arms and shouted, annoyed by the small talk. Sebastian's smile never faltered as he answered.
"Clary mention that I could become a vampire." He said it so lightly, tossing the words out like they meant nothing to him. He just as easily could have said, 'Clary mentioned her hair is red.' with the tone he used.
Isabelle gasped, Jace cocked his head, and Simon squeezed his eyes shut, memories of his vampire life flickering against his eyelids.
"Of course I already realized this was a possibility, but I had hoped–" Sebastian was still speaking casually when Clary stopped him, hands up in fake surrender.
"Wait. Stop. Hold the phone." She met his eyes, green at the moment, and kept talking. "You had planned on doing it, didn't you? That's why you came to Brocelind Forest; most plentiful home to Downworlders in Idris." Clary expected him to deny it, but he nodded his head.
"Yes. I knew that when you thought I was evil, I would have to do it sooner rather than later, so I ran here. I've been planning my Turning for some time, though this wasn't the way I envisioned it." No one had spoken besides Clary and Sebastian yet, too confused to say anything, and too intrigued to interrupt. Clary's face had shattered as he spoke, slowly deteriorating into a devastated mess.
"What about my children?" Clary didn't look at him now, her tone quiet but deadly. Her hands had formed themselves into loose fists, ready to clench if she didn't like his answer.
"Ah, that's was unintended effect of the demon blood. I had gotten a paper cut earlier yesterday; minor, no need for a healing rune of course. Later when I was with Jonathan and Jocelyn, that's when the demon blood starting taking dominance. The timing was a coincidence, and I felt no different so I didn't realize what was about to happen until it was too late. I have little 'spells' every now and then and as long as I avoid people, it isn't an issue. My paper cut somehow opened and I bled, demon blood. A small amount must have touched Jocelyn and was enough to paralyze her; she's only a young child. I set her down; perhaps she was uncomfortable with me. But a moment later, Jonathan too was accidentally touch with the blood and I realized what was happening only then. When you, Clary, saw me, I was trying to reverse the effects. I knew by then that my eyes must have been black and decided that if I couldn't convince you I was innocent I would run to Brocelind Forest." It was a long explanation, but one that made sense. Silence followed it.
"Okay, um, I still don't see how becoming a vampire solves all of our problems." Simon awkwardly brought up a flaw in their 'plan'.
"I'm not sure what Clary had in mind, but I was thinking that if I became a vampire, I can essentially get 'new' blood whenever I need to. Only thing left to do would be get rid of the demon blood; and to do that it would be an easy process. Slitting my wrists might be the most efficient. I'd say neck but I know that one wrong move will seriously kill me, whereas making a mistake on my wrists will, assuming the worst, lead to losing a hand or two. And I've lost a hand before; I'll cope." He winked at Isabelle, who was trying not to look at Sebastian. Jace chuckled but Isabelle seemed unamused.
"Clary, what were you thinking." Isabelle coldly avoided Sebastian's persistent gaze and turned towards the only other female.
"I was thinking I might be able to create a rune that would get rid of the demon blood – I've created various runes before – but Sebastian's idea sounds more foolproof. Though perhaps slightly messier." Clary shrugged while Jace smiled at the mess comment.
"Shadowhunter-style; spilling blood and guts." Jace couldn't contain his smirk. Clary had noticed that ever since they put on the gear, Jace had reverted to his cocky teenage state, not quite the caring father she'd come to know. Clary couldn't decide which she liked more; sometimes it felt good to slip back into teenage romance.
Sebastian frowned at Jace's quip, commenting, "No guts, please. I happen to like my guts inside my body." Everyone laughed, if slightly uneasily.
"When are we, err, you, when are you, going to…" Clary mumbled her words, forming a barely understandable sentence. Sebastian calmly smiled.
"First I'll need to be Turned. Then we'll have to do some weird ceremonious thing involving lots of blood for me to drink and a space that we don't mind getting blood on." His blasé attitude was started to anger Clary, but she kept her temper in check before speaking.
"What exactly will be involved for this 'ceremonious thing'?" Somewhat impatiently, Clary asked her brother. He frowned in thought.
"Well, like I said, we'll require a large amount of blood and a space preferably outdoors that I can bleed upon. If it's outdoors, my new sunlight-sensitivity will have to be taken into account and this will have to be at night. I'm also fairly certain that in order to drink so much blood I must hold off several days prior." Clary stiffly nodded as Sebastian spoke, him saying whatever came to his head as it came.
"So we'll need: a vampire to Turn you, the regular stuff needed for the Turning, something to cut your wrists with, a space to bleed, and time. We'll definitely need time on our side if this is going to happen." Jace counted on her fingers as he listed everything they'd need. The general lack of interest that was in his voice was unnerving. For a moment, just a flash, Clary thought back to when she, Jace and Sebastian lived in the interdimensional apartment. There, just like now, Jace and Sebastian spoke so carelessly and similarly.
Isabelle, who'd stayed silent for most of the conversation, tilted her head back. The sun indicated that it was the strange time between afternoon and evening, with a few hours to sunset. She contemplated how long it might take to get back to Alicante and shrugged to herself.
Simon saw the gesture and raised his eyebrows at her. Jace, Clary and Sebastian were too caught up in their conversation to notice. Isabelle leaned over to Simon and whispered.
"If we leave now we can make it back to Alicante around sunset." Simon glanced at the sky and nodded.
"I knew that there were vampires here, in Brocelind, but I didn't wish to speak with them weaponless." Sebastian looked into the foreboding woods, as if one of these said vampires should suddenly appear.
"We came across a group of bloodsuckers on our way here. Not friendly." Jace was arranging his few weapons in his weapon's belt, trying to pass time as the conversation dragged on.
Clary had enough. She was beyond aggravated; how could her brother and husband speak so lightly of Sebastian becoming a vampire? How could Isabelle and Simon just sit there and not say anything?
"Stop! Okay? How–" Her voice cracked and she took a breath before continuing, slightly less dramatic this time.
"How can you talk about this so flippantly? This is a serious choice, Sebastian. And it isn't a matter of just becoming a vampire to do the blood switch, you'll be a vampire forever. Actually forever, because you'll be immortal. You can't go into sunlight otherwise you'll spontaneously combust, you don't have to eat food anymore, breathing – breathing for Raziel's sake – will be an unnecessary option, and you won't, well, Sebastian…" Clary looked at her brother. After a moment of pure silence Clary finished, voice still strong.
"You won't be a Shadowhunter anymore. You won't be allowed to go in Institutes unless you enter in the Sanctuary, and I don't think you're even allowed to live in Alicante." Her words had the intended affect and her brother's face slightly fell. He hadn't been thinking about the big picture; for him, becoming a vampire had seemed like the only option, the only way to survive. He nodded, understanding her words.
"Is there any other way to do it? Can't we get a Shadowhunter-blood transfusion or something?" Simon kept trying to help.
"For all of his blood? Unlikely. Besides, I don't know who we would get to try that." Isabelle sighed and shook her head.
"Catarina Loss. She works a hospital besides from being a warlock. We could talk to her, or get Magnus to talk to her." Simon was right; Catarina Loss also worked at a hospital.
"I don't think we'd be able to medically remove and replace all of my blood." Sebastian glumly interjected. After Clary's reality check, he realized how serious their situation was.
"How often to the switches happen, Sebastian? How long do they last?" Jace asked him as he traced the Voyance rune on the back of his left hand.
"They've been getting more frequent. The first switch was about six months after Luke and Jocelyn's wedding. The next one was five months later, then four months, three, two, and then it was happening every month. A little while after the twins were born it started happening twice a month. Then it was happening once a week and now it's every other day. The first one only lasted a couple minutes but now its lasting a few hours." Sebastian ran his hand through his white-blonde hair and frowned.
"So it's becoming way more frequent. Bad." Jace summed up and Sebastian nodded. Isabelle was still quiet and Clary was starting to notice.
"We should go. Head back to Alicante, talk to Magnus, Alec, your parents, Clary, and see what we can do. There's no point sitting on the ground when we could be sitting on nice furniture." Isabelle tiredly supplied an idea, Simon instantly nodding.
There were no arguments, so the Shadowhunters stood up and quickly brushed themselves off before walking. As they reached the path that went through the forest, as pale figure stepped out of the trees.
Her blonde hair was knotted and dirty, greasily matted to her head. Her pale vampire skin glowed and her incisors were visible in her malicious grin. Her clothes may have once been nice, but now they were faded and filthy.
"Leaving so soon, little Nephilim?"
Yay for arguing! Not really but we need to be happy about something...
Oh! I know what we could celebrate! GETTING 2000 VIEWS! Thank you to everyone who read/reads HBwtB; 2000+ views is incredible :O
Alright, so to be honest... I do not like this chapter. I feel like there's too much talking and it's choppy and weird. I wrote it over several days because of writers block and now I think it still sounds bad... Please feel free to tell me what you think (good or bad) in a review.
News on the status of Chapter Twelve; still in progress. I don't have very much time to whip this baby up, so I'm just warning everyone that it may come a little later than this Friday as planned... On Saturday I have a b-day party to go to so you might not get it until Friday night or Sunday morning/afternoon.
Be sure to check out my other TMI fanfic; Afire Love. It's super-duper awesome and I think you guys would love it; romance&tragedy ;)
Clarify; HBwtB = His Blood was the Battleground (this story)
Make sure to follow/favourite moi as an author (aftertales) for updates about my fics, follow/favourite HBwtB becuase you know you're addicted to it, and leave if a review if you have a heart :) (if not you might want to visit the Wizard of Oz :D )