"Why the hell are they here in the first place?" Luke yelled.
We were slowly backing up towards the gazebo, because the demons were closing in on us.
"Maybe all of them were in the neighborhood and wanted to congratulate Jace and Clary?" Isabelle tried.
"No," I said, "There are too many in numbers and kinds here to have been a random congratulating party. They have to have been summoned."
"Who the hell would want us now?" Jace demanded.
"We'll discuss this later, right now we need to do something," Jocelyn shouted.
"Under the gazebo," I ordered, "The children in the middle. Stand in a circle. Jace, stay with me. Anybody have steles? I don't want to use the ones from the wedding unless we have to."
Amatis tossed me a stele and Aline tossed hers to Jace. I turned to Jace.
"Circle of Protection," I said, "You remember how to raise it up, right?"
"Not quite," Jace said.
"I'll take care of the runes, draw three circles around the gazebo, each one smaller than the one before it," I instructed, "The last and smallest circle should be drawn around the circumference of the gazebo. After you're done, I need you to cover me."
"I can do it," Jace promised.
"Be safe," I warned, "I don't want to be widowed five minutes after my wedding."
"My wife," Jace said, "I couldn't do that to you."
I smiled at him but then he went on, "Do you know how bad that would make me look? People will say, 'Jace Lightwood couldn't handle being married since he ended up dying five minutes after.'"
I shook my head, slapped his arm, and then kissed him quickly but with all the passion I could muster.
"Let's get to work," I said grimly.
Everyone began moving, then. The others crowded onto the gazebo, as Jace ran around it in a large circle then a smaller circle, and then around the circumference of the gazebo, marking the grass with his stele.
As soon as Jace finished with the first circle, I immediately dropped to my knees to inscribe the basic runes on the circle Jace drew. I worked as fast as I could. I was halfway done with the first circle when Jace finished drawing the second circle.
I finished the first circle when Jace finished drawing the third circle. This was where it got a little harder. You see, if the runes got more complex and harder to draw as the circles close in, the stronger the circle was. I had to really focus so I wouldn't mess up.
I forgot about everything else as I worked on the second circle. Suddenly, I felt a long sting on my back and I looked up to see a winged demon above me. I froze but then another demon used its tail to grab the flying demon and whip it back inside the crowd of demons. The demons around it then killed it. I pushed it into the back of my mind as I went back to work.
After I finished the second circle, I sighed because the third circle was the hardest of all. All the angles had to be exactly right. I shook off my self-doubt and kept working. Before I finished drawing the runes, I called Jace inside the gazebo. I stepped on the gazebo too and then finished the innermost circle.
My wrist hurt so I dropped the stele and then rubbed my aching wrist. I felt gentle fingers at my back, checking the wound for any poison or anything.
"Are you okay?" Jace asked.
"Perfectly fine," I said, "How about you?"
"Nothing too serious," he said and as I looked him over, I saw he was telling the truth.
"You did pretty well, stud," I complimented.
"You, too," Jace said, "So, they can't get in now?"
"I don't think so," I said, "I mean, they shouldn't be able to."
"Why not?" Jocelyn asked.
"I changed the runes for the circle up a little bit," I explained, "I made the protection runes stronger as the circles close in on us, so it's stronger than a basic protection circle."
"So, what do we do now?" Aline asked.
"We wait for them to see that it's pointless," I said.
"What could they want?" Luke asked, sounding baffled, "What would someone want on Clary and Jace's wedding day?"
"Could it have something to do with Clary and Jace's wedding?" Isabelle asked.
"No," Alec said, "The demons could have attacked before that. They attacked after."
"What if they're not after Jace and me?" I asked, "What if they were after Alec and Magnus or something? Or Simon?"
"It has to be you two," Simon said, "The hype of my being able to walk in sunlight died down a few years ago. But people still talk about you and Jace being the only two people in the world with angel blood directly running through your veins, not diluted throughout your ancestry. Besides, Alec and Magnus are old news too."
"It's true," Magnus said, "The only thing someone powerful enough to conjure all of these demons would be interested in is you and Jace."
"They didn't hesitate in trying to kill us," I pointed out.
"Correction," Jace pointed out, "They didn't hesitate to kill me. They killed the demon that stung your back."
"So, does that mean they're just after Clary?" Amatis asked.
"Why just me?" I wondered aloud, "Why not Jace and me?"
"Well," Isabelle said, "What does Clary have that Jace doesn't?"
"Well, she has-" Magnus started but I cut him off.
"Besides the obvious body parts," I said as I glared at him.
Jace and I simultaneously froze. I froze because I remembered my visit to the seer yesterday.
"Does it involve my babies?" I questioned.
"Yes," she replied.
I looked at Jace and saw his expression. I guessed that his visit to the seer was somewhat similar to mine because his expression of horror and realization probably mirrored mine.
"The babies," we said at the same time.
"Crap," Alec cursed.
"It's the most plausible explanation," Luke agreed.
"It somehow involves Valentine," Jace said suddenly, "The seer told me that yesterday."
"Valentine is dead," I said, "It's been six years. There's no way he can be doing this. You went to his funeral, didn't you?"
"Valentine may be dead," Jocelyn said, "But his influence definitely isn't."
"So," I said, "Someone who has been influenced by Valentine's work is the one who summoned all of these demons?"
"It's possible," Robert said, "It's also likely, but there's also the possibility that it's something else entirely."
"But the most likely possibility so far is that this is caused by someone who is after our babies," I said slowly.
"Think about it, Clary," Simon said, "You and Jace are the only ones with pure angel blood, angel blood that was directly put into your bodies, not the weakened angel blood that other shadowhunters have in their veins because of their ancestors. The babies must have inherited some of that from you. People are going to want to know what the babies are like, if they have your abilities, or if they have any special abilities at all. It's another experimental study waiting to happen."
"This is crazy," I said breathlessly, "Valentine is freakin' dead, yet he's still ruining our lives."
"It's going to be okay, Clary," Jace said.
"Are our babies going to be okay, Jace?" I asked.
He hesitated before answering, "I don't know, Clary. I just don't know."
I placed a hand over my small bump, where our babies were growing. I silently prayed to whatever god was out there to keep my babies safe.
"I don't know either, Jace," I said softly.
He took hold of both of my hands and squeezed them. I intertwined them and we watched as the large mass of demons tried to break through the protection circle. This was going to be a long night.
"Oh my god," Isabelle complained about three hours later, "Why won't they just give it up and go home?"
"Damn, these things are persistent," Jace commented.
"Why won't they go away?" I whined.
"I'm tempted to throw my bouquet at them," Isabelle said.
"I'm tempted to throw my freakin' high heels at them," I said through gritted teeth.
"Clary," Jace said, "Relax. That's just your hormones talking."
"Well, Jace," I retorted, "My hormones want to kick ass at the moment so I suggest that you shut up before my hormones make me hurt you."
"Yes, Clary," Jace said obediently.
"That's what I thought," I said with a nod.
I heard Magnus, Alec, and Simon whispering, "Whipped!" behind us, so I turned to glare at them.
"Do you guys want an ass-kicking from a pregnant woman, too?" I asked.
"No," they all said quickly.
I sighed in frustration because the demons were not giving up at all. It was quiet for a minute.
"Will someone just go out there and kick their asses so we can go inside?" Maryse asked.
"We need a distraction," I pointed out.
"I'll do it," Simon offered eagerly and then tried to run out from underneath the gazebo.
I opened my mouth to warn him but it was too late. He had tried to run out from under the gazebo but he was thrown back because of the runes.
"Did I forget to mention that the circle not only just keeps things out, but also keeps things in?" I asked.
"No," Simon said with a hint of sarcasm, "You did mention it but I decided to ignore what you said and basically gave myself a concussion just for the fun of it."
"Aw, come on, Simon," I said, "You didn't hit the barrier with your head. You hit it with, more like, your whole body."
"You're so lucky you're pregnant," Simon muttered.
"No, Simon," Jace said, "You're lucky that Clary is pregnant."
He grumbled something inaudible and I smirked at my husband.
"Okay," I said, "Simon can be a distraction, but the rest of us shadowhunters have to fend off the remaining demons. As soon as the coast is clear, we'll make a dash for the Institute. Are we okay?"
"Yeah," they all said.
"Jocelyn can hold onto Chris and Max," I said, "We'll have to cover them."
"We can do it," Luke said.
"All right," I said, "Let's do this."
Simon followed closely behind me as I undid the runes on the innermost circle. Everyone else crowded behind him. I quickly undid the second circle. Before I undid the last circle, I turned to the others.
"Get ready," I warned.
I knelt down to undo the circle. With one swipe through the runes, the circle was undone.
"Go!" I yelled.
Simon ran into the crowd and led most of the demons away. There were about a hundred left. I took a deep breath and drew a very large paralyze rune in the air in front of me. The demons in the line of the rune immediately stopped moving.
"Let's go!" I yelled and we began running towards the Institute.
We ran through the backyard, paralyzing demons as we went. We were halfway through when Jace yelled out in frustration.
"Are you okay?" I asked worriedly.
"Yeah," he said, "I just wished you'd made a rune that was something like 'kill' or 'obliterate'."
"I'll get on it later," I said dryly.
We fought our way back to the Institute. When we were finally inside the doors, Jace and I pushed them closed. We waited for Simon. Finally, there was frantic knocking at the door.
"It's me!" Simon said, "Open up."
Jace and I opened the door and Simon slipped in.
"Those things are freakin' persistent," Simon said.
"That means whoever is after the babies really, really wants the babies," I said.
"It's okay," Jace said again while putting his arms around me, "We're going to get through this."
"I hope you're right," I said and sighed in my husband's arms.
I hope I didn't move the story too far along in just one chapter.
Any questions and comments?
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Thanks for reading!
Love you guys!
-Jules