**Yay my tenth chapter! As a treat I made it long. Enjoy =) **

Jonathan leaned back in his father's arm chair, while flipping the butterfly knife in his hand open and closed so fast it appeared a metallic blur. He settled his cold gaze on the stable boy standing in front of the desk, and felt a muscle in his jaw twitch.

"So you're saying…" Jonathan said in a slow, arrogant drawl. "That you have no idea what happened to my horse?" The stable boy, who was around fourteen and also fae, stared down at his bare feet.

"No, sir. I don't know what happened to your horse." Jonathan flipped the knife open and pointed at the fairy boy with it.

"Could you, remind me again, what my father pays you for? What your job is?"

The boy looked up, his beautiful face emotionless. He stared at Jonathan with shockingly light green eyes before responding.

"Your father does not pay me, young Master Morgenstern." Jonathan laughed, his handsome face lighting up as he did so.

"Oh that's right. How could I forget? You're indebted to my family so you work for us. That's right. But you didn't answer my question, little Jasper. What's your job here?" Jasper gazed at him.

"I'm the stable boy."

"Yes you are." Jonathan stood up and walked around the desk, flipping the knife open and closed again. Jasper tensed. "And what does being the stable boy require you to do?" he stopped in front of the boy and looked down at him, feeling delight at his fear of him.

"I'm supposed to clean out the horse's stables, and make sure the barn is always spotless." Jonathan smiled at him pleasantly.

"And what else are you supposed to do? Think about it." Jasper thought about it.

"Well, there's the horses themselves. I look after them and make sure-" Jonathan held the knife up to silence him.

"Ah, ah! What was that last part?" Jasper licked his lips and twisted his fingers behind his back.

"I look after the horses." he said quietly. Jonathan smiled and looked up at the ceiling.

"You look after the horses! See that's what I thought you did." Jonathan walked around Jasper slowly, trailing the knife under his silky green hair along the back of his neck. "What I wanna know is," Jonathan murmured. "If it's your job to 'look after the horses'…how is it that you have no idea…what happened to my horse? I suppose you weren't looking when she just vanished?" Jasper swallowed.

"She was fine when I left that night and when I came back she was gone and the air stank of her death."

Jonathan circled around him lazily, dragging the knife gently over his collar bone. His eyes when they met the boy's ultra light green ones seemed almost entirely black. Jasper gasped lightly when he saw them, glinting dangerously inches away from his own. Jonathan was no longer smiling.

"What did you do to my horse, Jasper?" Jasper's eyes widened.

"I didn't do anything to your horse sir, I swear-" Jonathan laughed and Jasper fell silent.

"You swear? That means nothing to me coming from you. You're not even human." Jonathan raised the knife up to Jasper's face and grabbed a fistful of his hair so fast the fairy child barely saw it. Jonathan pressed the blade against his smooth cheek as Jasper grabbed his left arm, meaning to push him away but stopping when he saw the expression on Jonathan's face.

"Sir, please-"

"I bet if I cut you right now…your blood wouldn't even be red." Jonathan murmured to him. Jasper tightened his grip on Jonathan's arm and gasped as he felt the edge of the blade cut his face. Warmth trickled down his cheek and the boy closed his eyes, knowing what Jonathan was seeing and not wanting to look at his face anymore.

"Your blood is fucking green." he said. "Did you hear me? It's green. Open your eyes, look at me when I'm talking to you." His fingers tightened in Jasper's hair and the boy whimpered as he felt hair being ripped from the roots. He opened his eyes. Jonathan grinned. "That's a good boy. Now I want you to keep your eyes open and watch as I kill you. Okay?" Jasper struggled in his grip, trying to push away from him.

"No, no, no, I didn't do anything!" Jonathan lowered the knife to his throat.

"Yes, yes, yes, you did!" he mocked, loving the panicked look in his eyes. "You killed my horse. And for lying to me about it-" Jonathan stopped as Jasper shoved against him, trying in vain to get away. Jonathan clenched his teeth before yanking Jasper's head back angrily, making the boy cry out. "I'm gunna make sure it hurts."

He held the blade to one side of Jasper's throat, and felt the darkness inside of him thrash around excitedly, making his vision blurry and the muscles in his arm flex. Just as he was about to bring the blade across the boy's throat, just after the dark voice whispered Do it! What are you waiting for…Jonathan heard a louder voice, coming from behind him.

"Let him go, Jonathan."

The darkness inside of him seemed to scratch down the length of his soul in mindless rage. Jonathan exhaled angrily and smiled with out humor.

"Oh, Angel Boy…you always show up at the worst times."

Jace smiled, his eyes blazing as he walked around to face his brother.

"What can I say? I live to torment you." he said quietly. Jonathan turned his black gaze on him.

"That's really too bad for little Jasper. Because now I'm gunna imagine that you're in his place." Jace just stared at him.

"He didn't kill your horse, Jonathan. I did." Jonathan narrowed his eyes at him.

"You're just saying that to protect him."

"I'm not. You can even ask Father. So if you're going to blame someone, blame the person who was actually responsible." Jonathan's face remained etched with fury. Jace spoke in a low, slightly mocking voice; his most persuasive when it came to his brother.

"Come on, Jonathan. Let him go; he's just a fae stable boy anyways. It's me you really wanna hurt."

"I bet slitting his throat would hurt you." Jasper whimpered quietly and Jace hardened his heart against it; he couldn't afford to show him any sympathy because Jonathan was waiting for him to make a stupid mistake like that.

"It wouldn't." Jasper's eyes slipped closed and Jace felt his heart pang. "I wouldn't feel a single thing. Father, however, might not be too happy that you gave our help a Columbian Necktie. Fae with affinities for animals are hard to come by and we don't even have to pay him…Father definitely wouldn't be pleased with you if you seriously hurt him and he'd be livid if you killed him on the good carpet. I hear fairy blood is a bitch to get out." Jace smiled.

With a furious glare, Jonathan shoved Jasper away from him onto the floor in disgust just as Valentine walked in. He raised his eyebrows as he saw Jasper on the floor, between his two sons and holding his bleeding face. With a sigh he turned to Jonathan.

"What have I told you about picking up your toys?" Jace shook his head in disbelief as Jonathan grinned arrogantly.

"Sorry Father, I'll remember next time."

Jace looked down at Jasper, who was staring up at Valentine and Jonathan with undisguised fear. He wanted to go to him and take him out of there, but he knew his father would make him regret it.

Valentine looked down at Jasper with his eyebrow raised. He walked over to him slowly before stopping in front of him.

"Look at me child." Jasper peered up at him, his shocking light green eyes wide. Valentine reached down and lightly took Jasper's chin and turned his injured cheek to the light. He tsked before releasing him. "You may go now, Jasper."

When he was gone, Valentine turned to Jonathan. He plucked the butterfly knife out of his hand and took a handkerchief out of his sleeve. He wiped the blade clean onto the cloth before tossing it into a chair. Then he whipped it across Jonathan's face so quickly Jace barely saw his wrist move. Jonathan flinched but didn't move to hold his face. "What lesson did you learn?" Jonathan lowered his eyes, blood trickling down his cheek the same way it had trickled down Jasper's. Finally, he looked back up.

"Be nice to your toys. They'll last longer."

Valentine's face cracked into a cold grin and he chuckled before flipping the knife closed and handing it back to Jonathan, who was also smiling.

Jace felt sick to his stomach. He took a small breath to fight back the nausea. Valentine heard him.

"I think your brother would do well to learn that lesson. Do you agree Jonathan?" Jonathan looked at him with an arrogant superiority that made Jace want to puke in his face.

"Yes, Father I do."

"Oh there's a surprise: Big brother has his head so far up Daddy's ass he can't tell where his black soul ends and Daddy's begins. I'm just shocked…who could've seen this coming? Oh wait a minute…little Angel Boy did."

Jonathan's jaw dropped as he slowly looked from Jace to his father. Valentine seemed too stunned to speak. Jace realized a little too late that he should have left the room when Jasper had.

Jace blinked and Valentine had him by the throat up against the wall.

"You know, I was beginning to think that you were starting to get some sense into that blonde head of yours but now I realize that you just won't listen to anything but force." he tightened his grip and Jace choked. Valentine leaned close to his face and spoke to him through clenched teeth. "You should get on your knees and thank the Angel that your brother and I are already late for his session, otherwise I'd cut that smart tongue right out of your head. I bet you wouldn't think that was very funny, now would you?" he shoved Jace back against the wall as he released him and the air that he breathed in now felt like shards of glass scratching down his windpipe. "Go, Jonathan." Valentine snapped before leaving the room to the portal. Jace watched them leave with his head leaned back against the wall, wondering idly how long it would take for the bruises on his throat to show up.

Outside in one of their training fields, Jace fit an arrow into his bow, his mind on what his father and brother were doing during Jonathan's training session.

He normally didn't practice with this weapon which was why he chose to bring it out now…since he had nothing better to do. The binding rune his father had placed on him had seen to that. He wanted to wander away from the property, maybe take his horse out, but he wasn't sure he'd be able to.

As Jace stared down at the feathered end of the arrow, he felt eyes on him from the other end of the field, near the targets. Jace pulled the arrow tight and spun around to aim at…Alec Lightwood, who was unwisely standing beside the target Jace was going to shoot at. Alec looked surprised.

"Wow, there's really no sneaking up on you is there? I don't think I've ever been that quiet in my life." Jace did not lower the strung bow but kept it aimed at him.

"There's more to it then just being quiet." Alec looked at him questioningly.

"Well how did you know I was there?" Jace looked back at him.

"I could sense you looking at me." Alec frowned.

"Huh. I wasn't even looking at you that much. You're just really good at this sneakiness thing."

Jace raised an eyebrow. He had forgotten how easy it was to talk to Alec Lightwood. Before the conversation developed any further, Jace hooded his eyes as he looked at him.

"Can I ask you something?" Alec slipped his thumbs into the front pockets of his jeans and nodded his head, making his hair fall forward into his blue eyes that were a few shades lighter in the afternoon sun. "Do you not understand English or are you just stupid?" Alec looked offended.

"Well I definitely understood that." Jace focused on the target next to Alec.

"Oh so you're just stupid. Yeah that's what I thought." Alec crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"I'm stupid because I came back right?" Jace looked at him and shot his arrow. It flew through the air and struck the target in the very center. Alec looked down at it, then back up at Jace.

"Are you done showing off?" Jace grinned and strode up to pull out the arrow.

"I'm never done showing off."

He stopped in front of the target and yanked the arrow out of the board, feeling Alec's eyes on him. "So lemme guess. This time you're looking for your great aunt Matilda. She wandered off when she was supposed to be having naptime and just happened to stumble into my wine cellar. Does that sound about right?" Alec scoffed.

"You know, you're pretty hilarious for someone living with a couple of murderers. How did that happen?" Jace slid the arrow through the space between his fingers while looking at him.

"Dunno. Must be a gift from the Angel or something." Alec looked back at him blankly.

"Are you always this sarcastic?" Without meaning to Jace looked down at his left wrist, where the binding rune was visible.

"Yeah, unfortunately." he murmured. Alec glanced down at it.

"What's that?" he asked. Jace looked at him through hooded eyes, the sunlight making their color a liquid gold.

"It's nothing. So why are you back here? Couldn't get enough of me could you?" he said with a cocky grin. Alec looked back up at his face, a light blush coloring his cheek bones.

"Isabelle said I should forget we ever met you but I can't." Jace turned away, the bow thrown over his shoulder and a grin tugging up his lips.

"Yeah, that's what they all say." he started walking across the field and Alec quickly caught up with him.

"I couldn't forget about you without telling you what happened first." he said. The grin slipped from Jace's mouth.

"You mean with my father trying to kill you."

"Well I wouldn't say he really tried to kill me. The threat was there of course. He just wanted me to tell him things that I didn't know." Jace frowned and walked slower.

"Oh yeah? Like what kind of things? Alec stepped in front of him, forcing Jace to stop.

"If I tell you, will you tell me what that rune on your wrist means?"

Jace considered him. Then very slowly, ran his eyes up and down Alec's slender body, making the other boy blush again. Jace took a step closer and spoke with a low, confident tone.

"I won't need to. You'll tell me anyways," Jace let his eyes linger on Alec's mouth, feeling a strong pang of guilt but ignoring it, before he let them slip back up to his eyes. "Won't you?"

Alec's lips parted as he stared back at him, and Jace felt a mixture of pride and self hate. He grinned at Alec and saw a brief flash of desire in the other boy's eyes before he blinked it away. "Wow…that was almost too easy." Jace said before he brushed past Alec and continued walking, now feeling an even stronger sense of guilt.

Alec shook his head a little, as if clearing away cobwebs, before jogging to catch up with Jace's long strides.

"Look I'm only trying to help you and if you're too stubborn to see that-" Jace spun around to face him, his eyes alight with his sudden anger.

"Yeah? And how could you possibly help me? Huh Lightwood?" Alec looked at him, his face serious.

"By telling you things about your family that you might not know."

"What could you tell me that I don't already know? That my brother is twisted and my father doesn't have a soul? Thanks but I figured that out for myself years ago."

Jace turned away but Alec grabbed his forearm. Jace turned and looked down at his hand before raising his eyes up to Alec's. Alec's fingers loosened on his arm seemingly on their own, but he didn't let go.

"Have you ever heard of the Mortal Cup?" Jace looked at him like he was crazy.

"Of course I have. It's what the Angel Raziel gave Jonathan Shadowhunter to drink out of when he created us. Everybody knows the story." Alec looked at him steadily.

"Did you know that your father is looking for it? Along with the Mortal Sword?" Jace thought for a moment.

"How do you know all this?"

Alec looked away; he appeared to be deliberating something in his mind. When he looked back at Jace, his eyes seemed somehow bluer than before.

"Tell me about the rune on your wrist." Jace exhaled quietly in exasperation.

"Why are you so curious about it?" he asked. Alec, still holding him, extended Jace's arm and looked down at it, biting his lip.

Jace made no move to hide the rune but kept it in plain sight; the way he did with all of his scars and imperfections. When Alec spoke again, his voice was quieter.

"I guess because I've never seen it before. I am curious. And I can't shake this feeling that…it could be really bad." Jace crossed his arms in front of his chest, pulling out of Alec's grasp as he cocked an eyebrow.

"Well there you go; you're wrong. It's just a binding rune. Nothing malignant about it." Alec frowned and stared at him intently.

"Your own father put a binding rune on you? Why?" Jace smiled bitterly and leaned back against the wall of the barn.

"I pissed him off I suppose. Why what does your dad do when you talk back?"

"I don't talk back." Alec said quietly. Jace pushed up off the barn with his shoulders as his eyes brightened.

"Well aren't you just a little angel? I can't imagine why Jonathan would wanna kill you. Oh wait," he laughed, "That's exactly why he'd wanna kill you. Makes a lot of sense doesn't it?"

Jace turned and started walking again but Alec was suddenly in front of him. Jace gave him the same glare that had made demons hiss and flex their claws at him. Alec however, just looked back at him with those azure eyes, which now seemed a shade or two darker, like he was angry.

"What all does the rune do, Jace? Tell me."

Jace tilted his head thoughtfully. With a little practice, Alec could become quite the little weapon of persuasion. Jace twisted the Morgenstern ring around his finger with his thumb, his eyes sparkling and a very small grin lifting the corner of his mouth. He certainly had the looks for it anyways.

Alec blinked. Jace suddenly looked so much like Valentine that he wanted to take a step back. But there was something so appealing about him that kept Alec where he was.

He thought it was probably because Jace was looking at him the way Alec imagined a bad angel might look at a city of sinners that he himself had corrupted, seconds before he burned them all with a single word from his gorgeous mouth.

Jace looked down at the rune, his eyebrows coming together in a small frown.

"I don't really know. He hasn't needed to use it yet. He's basically just threatened me with it." Alec crossed his arms and looked at it thoughtfully.

"So if he never actually gave you an order…" his eyes flicked back up to Jace's. "Nothing would happen to you right?" Jace shrugged and slipped his thumb nail between his teeth. "I'll tell you what," Alec said as he uncrossed his arms and shifted his weight onto his left foot, "Come with me back to the city. There's someone there who knows a lot about runes and I bet they'll be able to tell you all about this one." Jace bit his nail meditatively.

"I've never been to the city before." Alec raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"And you've lived here your whole life? Why haven't you gone?" Jace repositioned the bow on his shoulder.

"My father forbid me to go." Alec shook his head in disbelief.

"Nice. And I bet he wonders why you rebel…" Jace lowered his eyes, fighting the smile at Alec's sardonic words. "So when he forbid you to go to the city…was that before or after he put the rune on you?" Jace narrowed his eyes at him, seeing where he was going with this.

"Before." Alec grinned.

"So really…nothing's stopping you from going. As long as he didn't use the binding rune to keep you here. Right?"

"I don't know. But are you saying that I should go to the city, regardless of what my father said?" Alec shrugged and glanced down at the rune.

"I can understand completely if you think it's too risky. I can only imagine how he'd react if he found out-" Jace stopped him.

"If he found out? " he laughed. "He always finds out. I really don't know how he does it." Alec watched him for a few seconds.

"I think this is really important. But if you think it's not worth the risk I understand." Jace bit his lip.

"So lemme get this straight. You're suggesting that I deliberately disobey my father, Valentine Morgenstern, and go with you to the city that I've been forbidden to go to, to meet some person who can help me disobey my father even more? And keeping in mind this whole time that there's a very high chance that he'll figure it out, no matter how careful we are about it, because that's just how the man is. That's what you're suggesting?" Alec took a breath.

"Yeah. That's what I'm suggesting."

Jace stared at him for a long time. The crisp, country breeze ruffled their hair and kissed their faces as they stood their, looking at each other.

Then a slow smile teased Jace's mouth up and Alec felt his breathing quicken as a light shiver of heat spread across his skin.

Jace's eyes brightened and he once again looked like a wayward angel that existed for the sole purpose of giving the world a little taste of the destructive sin that only he himself could bring.

He settled those burning eyes on Alec and his smirk became dangerously arrogant as he said,

"Sounds pretty reckless. I'm in."