Chapter Nine
Max stood between Isabelle and the Greater Demon, giving them enough time to race towards Isabelle.
"No!" she shrieked, "Get Max! Protect Max!"
It was too late. The black cloud receded from the boy and he fell. Isabelle's scream of grief and rage filled the entire cavern, and she advanced on the demon. Alec raced after her, drawing his seraph blade, too. Jace followed with Clary.
The demon descended on Isabelle first, as if determined to finish what it started. She quickly slashed the air with her seraph blade, but it seemed to have no effect. Jace leaped in, and somehow the haze retreated.
"Clary, give Isabelle a Fearless rune!" Alec shouted over his shoulder. Clary obeyed, drawing with steady hands despite the situation. Isabelle was pale, but her mouth was set in determination. They rounded the demon on all sides, and when they closed in, the haze suddenly disappeared.
"Where is it?" Isabelle asked indignantly, as if though Alec had the answer.
"I don't know," Alec's face was grim, "Greater Demons can travel through the realms."
"We have to go after it!" Isabelle demanded.
"Isabelle, be reasonable. We can't find it and it won't be safe for us to try," Alec's voice was soft and persuasive, but Isabelle rounded on him.
"Max died.I always knew you were an unfeeling hypocrite, but can you at least try to show some grief over the death of your own brother?" Isabelle's eyes were bright and there was a tinge of pink in her cheeks as she stormed away. Alec, however, looked like his long lost grandmother told him that he was actually a girl…in other words, shocked.
"She didn't mean it," Jace said, "She's just angry at the world right now."
Maryse walked up to where the demon once was and gently picked up Max's body. Silent tears flowed down her cheeks.
"We have to alert the Clave about Abbadon," her voice shook, but there was a light in her eyes that was akin to fire. Alec opened his mouth to say something, but a scream pierced the air.
"Isabelle!" Alec shot off and the rest of the group followed. The sight was gruesome, and very unexpected. Isabelle was staring in horror at the body of a bulky man with a sword through his chest. Clary felt a sick feeling somewhere in her stomach as she flipped the man over. The face of Valentine Morgernstern stared at the ceiling blankly, his dark eyes glassy, as if though replaced by marbles during his death.
Jace cautiously approached Clary.
"I'm sorry," he said. He would have said more, except Alec interrupted.
"Look," he pointed at the wall where the Mortal Sword was mounted…if it was actually there. The case that once proudly held the sword was empty, and the sword was nowhere to be seen. Clary didn't look though. Something horribly familiar caught her eye.
"Jace, help me pull this sword out," Clary said, standing up. Jace gaped at her.
"Excuse me?" he asked, "That sword is the only thing keeping the blood vessels in Valentine's body clogged. As soon as it is removed—"
"Just help me do it," Clary said, as she gritted her teeth and started pulling on the hilt. Jace muttered something that sounded distinctly like "crazy as one of the Endarkened," but helped Clary anyway. The sword came free with a squelching noise that sounded oddly satisfying. Clary laid the sword down next to the sword in Valentines hand.
"Jonathan," she breathed.
Um, so yeah, Max died. I'm sorry, but I'm trying to stick to the series as closely as possible, so Max kinda had to die.