AN

My apologies for updating so late... I just couldn't get the chapter right... first time around Jace not bad ass enough... second time around too bad ass and then the story line isn't going to go right... So third time...

JPOV

After the realization set in, Valentine struck out at me. I had just enough time to duck out of the way, his fist just barely missing my face. I planted my feet and was ready for him to strike again. I would kill this man if he touched my girlfriend. I would keep her safe. Valentine's fist came at me again, I blocked and kicked him. Seeing him gasp for air was very satisfying.

His eyes shot up and he looked at me with full on rage. His eyes flicked past me and I couldn't chance looking where he was looking, so I circled slowly around him. I made sure that he was in my line of sight the entire time as I came to see what his eyes flickered too. Two men came at us, and they had manic smiles on their faces. Both stocky and broad men, looked like they were easily twice my size. The fact that they were cracking their knuckles told me that they weren't going to help me.

I wasn't liking my chances against three men. Valentine was getting up slowly and tried to punch me again. I blocked both his fists as the men had now come within range. The one with black hair struck out at me and I grabbed his arm, noticing that he wasn't very balanced on his feet, I pulled him forward, bringing him to his knees. The man with brown hair struck me though. My jaw felt like it was on fire. He pulled back again, and I jumped out of the way, landing on the back of the leg of the man with black hair.

I heard the snap of the bone beneath my weight. At least one of them was now more or less out. He growled beneath me. I made sure to get out of reach of him quickly, ducking under Valentine's fist that was coming towards me. I didn't see the brown haired man pull out a knife until it connected with my arm. When he pulled it back out blood started flowing down the arm, and dripping onto the floor of the mall.

I gritted my teeth against the pain. I ducked out of the way of a couple more swings of Valentine. After trying to dodge the attacks coming toward me, Valentine had managed to grab onto my wounded arm, and squeezed on it. Making me bite my tongue to keep from screaming out in pain.

Jace Wayland does not scream out in pain. The brown haired man stabbed me in the other arm too. The black haired man was limping towards me. I saw the pure rage in his eyes, felt something hit me over the head from behind and felt a bone snap before I blacked out.

CPOV

I was quite happy with the shopping trip, despite the amount of hours it had taken Aline and Isabelle to put together outfits and try them all on. I just had gotten two outfits in the first store, while Isabelle had shopped for like 12 bags of stuff and Aline for 6. Those two really know how to spend money.

Then we had gone to Victoria's Secret, Isabelle wanted a corset and bunch of other stuff. I was browsing the lingerie and found a couple things I thought Jace would love me in, so I bought those. Not without getting a bunch of teasing from Aline and Isabelle though. I had dumped all my clothes at the apartment and tagged along with Izzy to the Institute.

I went looking for Jace, I couldn't find him anywhere though. Must be out... My face fell, I had looked forward to seeing Jace after the shopping trip. I went back home, he'd come find me when he wanted to see me. I hope it's soon. Several days went by and still no sign of Jace, I just figured he was spending some quality time with Alec. I had been hogging him a lot...

After two days I was getting quite concerned and called Izzy. "Hey Izzy, you seen Jace in past couple of days?" "Umm I thought he was with you? He hasn't been home in days!" She sounded surprised. "He hasn't been here, where could he be?" "I'm coming over, now!" Izzy hung up on me. I walked towards the front door, as I passed the mail. The top envelop was addressed to me.

I grabbed it as I went to open the door for Isabelle. She waltzed into the apartment, I shut the door behind her and followed her to the living room. She started ranting about how it wasn't weird for Jace to disappear days on end, but that it was weird he'd leave me alone for so long. I wasn't really paying attention. I stared at the envelop, somehow I thought it was important to read it. I opened it up.

"Why are you reading your mail right now? Jace is missing! We gotta go find him!" I signaled for Izzy to quiet down. "I don't know why, but I have this gut feeling about this letter." I sat down on a chair. "Fine, we'll read the damn letter!" Izzy moved to hover over my shoulder to read along.

Dear Clarissa,

I'm sure by now you've noticed that you're missing your boyfriend.

If you want to see him again, you'll follow the instructions I'll give you in this letter. Don't tell anyone about the contents of this letter. I've got ways of finding this out. Don't bother getting yourself bugged, or chipped so someone can follow you, where you'll end up they won't work anyway. Don't bother contacting the police. Just like those futile attempts your mother and Luke have made at getting me arrested, I won't be caught.

Tell your friends you're meeting Jace for a date on new years eve, which explains why he has been missing for the past several days. He was setting up for a date.

Wear some pretty clothes, you want to be convincing that you're in fact going on a date. Then go down to the East river. Sit down on the bench near the abandoned factory. I will meet you there at midnight.

If you fail to follow these simple instructions, that pretty boy of yours will pay the price. I will get what I want even if I have to kill everyone you love.

Looking forward to seeing you soon,

Valentine Morgenstern

New years' eve... that's only two days away. We need to work out a plan. I signaled for Izzy to be quiet. "Looks like I'm going on a date on New Years' eve! We need to go shop for a new outfit!" I signaled for Izzy to go out of her mind. "Totally! Let's go shopping!" For someone who didn't know Izzy so well, it would seem that she was totally hyped about going shopping. I however could tell the concern that showed in her voice and in her eyes.

Everything was set, Izzy knew what to do when I went out on my 'date with Jace'. I did as I was told, I was all dolled up. Izzy had helped me with my make up and picking out an outfit so it wouldn't be obvious that I clearly was not going on a date. I went to East River and sat on the bench near the abandoned factory.

I looked at my watch, a couple minutes to midnight. Someone sat down next to me. I looked over. The man was wearing a long dark brown trench coat with one of those weird detective hats on his head. I could see the nearly white hair underneath. I tensed up. His hands were gloved as he put one of them on my knee. "Glad you could come." From what I had heard from Jonathan it was best to not contradict Valentine or speak up for yourself.

Jonathan had arrived home with bruises more than once because he hadn't done what Valentine asked of him. So I stayed silent. "Aren't you going to acknowledge my presence?" I heard the slight annoyance in his voice. "Good evening." I was short and I hoped the microphone that was taped to my body could pick everything up. They had also made sure a tracker was stuffed in the sole of my shoe, and I had one in my pocket, just in case. "Clarissa." He sounded angry. So I turned towards him. "Good evening, Father."

Jonathan had also mentioned that calling him Dad, Daddy, or anything but Father was out of the question. I missed my brother, and his murderer, our father, was sitting here, right in front of me. There was nothing I could do, I had to go along with it, because he had Jace. Valentine's eyes softened a little. "Better. Now join me for a walk."

I stood up as he did and walked with him. He opened a car door for me and I got in. He handed me clothes. "Change into these. Now." He closed the door on me and turned his back so he wouldn't see me change. I changed into the clothes. I was still pulling the new shirt down, when he turned and caught the wires.

He dragged me out of the car and pulled the shirt back over my head. He ripped the wires from my body. Where the tape was ripped away my skin stung. He patted down the pants he had given me and ordered me to dump my shoes on the ground. He gave me back the shirt he had brought so I could put it on again. As he opened the door again for me, and I turned to get in, something struck me hard on the head. I fell forward and hit my head on the doorframe right before passing out.

I awoke when the sun began to rise and groaned. Why didn't someone shut the damn curtains? I sat up and noticed that I was in pajamas. Who put me into these? I got out of bed, and savagely janked the curtains closed. As I was about to crawl back into bed, the door opened. I saw nearly white hair and turned my head away from the door. "Good morning, Clarissa."

My head was pounding and I reached up to touch the sore spot. "Yes, you hit your head quite hard. There's some aspirin in your bathroom." I glared at him. "Where's Jace?" He looked enraged. "You shall be obedient. You don't want to end up like Jonathan, do you?" His look softened, probably because of the shock on me face. "Why did you kill Jonathan?" I must be too straightforward.

"It will do you well to refrain yourself, Clarissa. Your mother seems to have had the same effect on you. You have to learn to be obedient to your parents." I glared at him, but kept my mouth shut. "Good, you're learning. Jace is the room next to yours. Through that door." He pointed at a door. I looked at him with a question clearly on my face, figuring it would be better for Jace and myself that he approved.

Valentine nodded. I hated asking for permission to see my boyfriend, but I didn't want to push Valentine. I slowly got up and opened the door. The room beyond was dark, there was an outline of a small twin bed, a dresser, and two other doors. One was marked BATHROOM, identical to the one in my room. I heard the footsteps behind me, indicating Valentine was coming too, to see how I would respond. I saw the shape on the bed as I came nearer. First thing I noticed was a cast on his right leg and I gasped.

My eyes travelled upwards, seeing bandages on his arms. My hand came up to cover my mouth as I looked at my boyfriend in horror. What had been done to him? I slowly walked over to him. He wasn't moving, was he still breathing? I sat down next to him and pressed fingers to his neck, hoping to feel a pulse.

Relief washed through me as I felt the pulse beneath my fingers. I gently moved the hair from his face, stroking it away from his eyes. I craddled his face in my hands, I leaned forward. "Wake up, Baby. Wake up. I need you." I placed a gentle kiss on his forehead. He stirred slightly, but didn't wake. I kept murmuring to him. Someone placed a hand on my shoulder. I looked up.

"He's been out for a couple of days. He put up a fight... It didn't turn out very well for him." "Please, leave us alone for a while." The hand disappeared and footsteps went towards the door. "Oh Clarissa?" I turned towards him. "I don't want you to be miserable, so your boyfriend serves a double purpose here. Neither of you are to leave the house." He disappeared through the door.

I lay down on the bed next to Jace and turned towards him. I trailed my hand over his face, gently tracing his lips, his cheekbones. "Please Baby, please wake up." Tears rolled freely over my face. I covered us both with the sheets and kept my hands on him afterwards. "Please I need you, wake up." I fell asleep begging him to wake up.

AN

As always, please do review. Hope you enjoyed the chapter.

I will try to update as soon as possible with the next chapter. Almost done moving so I will have a little more time to write.