It was just behind him. Big ugly demon with six legs and a tail which looked like a club.
It flew around, trying to knock down and smash every Shadowhunter in its way.
But, Jonathan didn't see it. I couldn't blame him for being distracted because he was fighting another demon which was spitting fire towards him. I also waged a battle of my own against a demon with claws sharp as knives.
But, in seven months I had spent in London, I had learned to always look after my parabatai with corner of an eye. I had learned to care about him more than for any other person in my life. I was always there for him, as he was there for me.
The tail-club flew towards Jonathan's back. I threw the Seraph blade with my right hand while stabbing the demon with claws with the blade in my left. The demon in front of me vanished and I followed the path of the thrown Seraph blade. It collided with the tail and cut it in half.
The demon vanished and I ran towards the blade, picking it up and continuing to fight.
The second there was no demon in front of me, I caught Jonathan's gaze. He was smiling.
"Thanks!" he formed the word with his lips.
I have to warn him he's becoming reckless. I laughed to myself and at him at once.
I nodded, wanting him to realise I had got the message. We rarely needed words to express our thoughts during the fight. We got to know each other better with every fight that passed. I guessed we were both such characters, open to each other when i it mattered the most.
In few minutes the battle was over. This hadn't been big group of demons, so we had defeated them without too much trouble. Alongside us, there were four other Shadowhunters from the London Institute. We had come to the location of the battle, in the middle of Trafalgar square, around 3 a. m., so we had just enough time to clean everything before thousands of London's mundanes woke up. I looked up towards the sky like I could find out there how much time had really passed since the beginning of the battle. But, there was only black sky. Because of street lamps I could see no stars above us and that was one of few rare things I missed from Idris. I got used to everything in London, the noise, the frequent rain, the traffic jams, but I still became homesick sometimes. But, we were often called into a fight and the second the fight started, it made me feel I was home again, with Seraph blades in my hand, doing what I loved the most.
While putting one of the remaining fires off, I felt a hand on my shoulder. It had become so familiar in the last few months that I didn't even have to turn around to know who it was.
"Thanks for saving me from that tail-club." Jonathan said, accompanying me to the next fire.
"You thought it looked like a club too?" I laughed, turning eventually towards him. "You're becoming reckless, you know. I saved you in the last battle too."
Jonathan sighed theatrically.
"I'm just making sure you'll do your parabatai duty, that's all."
"Knowing that now, I won't save you next time." I crossed my hands over my chest, pretending serious and offended. "Then we'll see how you'll get out without my help."
He seemed surprised by my attitude.
"That's cruel, Sam." he said. "You wouldn't really leave me unprotected if it was matter of life and death, would you?"
"Without a moment of hesitation." I stood emotionless for a moment, but then I saw his face. He really believed I was serious. I could see disappointment in his features, like I had betrayed him. But, there was something else in his eyes I couldn't read, something I had never seen on his face before. It made me feel uncomfortable and I had to stop looking at that emotion in his gaze, so I laughed.
"C'mon, Jonathan, you know I wouldn't do that to you. You're my parabatai and I'll protect you with my life."
The moment I said that, I shivered.
Will I do that? Am I ready to die for him? And will he do the same for me? I asked myself. Have I said it just because it's expected to be said to your parabatai? Most of the Shadowhunters choose someone they care for as parabatai, their friends, their family. But, Jonathan wasn't my family or my friend when he became my parabatai.
Suddenly, I couldn't look him in the eyes. I feared that he would know my thoughts and find himself insulted or, even worse, expected to do something he wasn't prepared to. I didn't know if our relationship was still an agreement made for both of us to remain Shadowhunters or it had developed into friendship, so in the case of the first I had no right to expect of him to sacrifice himself for me.
After few moments of silence, I felt his hand touching my upper arm. I didn't like to be touched, not even by people. I looked at his face, ready to protest, but I froze when I saw his expression.
"I certainly hope you'll never have to do that." there was some strange emotion in his voice, something similar to sorrow.
I was confused by his behaviour. He had never expressed his feelings and worries so openly and I couldn't believe he cared for me so much. I still remembered the battle in Idris and which side he had been on. Because of that, I still doubted him.
But, in these seven months we had spent in London, he gave me no reason to doubt his intentions. He was a parabatai I could only wish for. We had fought alongside each other like we had done it all our lives. During the battles, we performed all sorts of tactics we hadn't even set up before the fight. Just in a second, I was attacking and he was covering me or the other way around. He was hiding me with his body from gazes of demons and I was jumping out from behind him, giving the demons an unpleasant surprise. We understood each other even without words. We protected each other. In a fight, the two of us were invincible combination and everyone in the Institute admired us.
But, I couldn't say we talked much in our free time. My favourite hobby, besides sleeping, was reading and we couldn't exactly read the same book at the same time. I had been surprised indeed when I had found out he loved books too. We sat in the Institute's library for hours, our noses stuck between book covers. We almost pretended like the other one didn't exist at the time of reading. To all other Shadowhunters we were the weirdest pair of parabatai they had ever seen, but nobody said anything. Jonathan and I were both satisfied with that.
"Would you do it for me?" I asked, feeling uncomfortable because of his words and finally having the chance to find out his opinion about our maybe-friendship.
For few moments, he was speechless.
"I don't know." he said at last.
I felt insulted, thankful and ashamed at the same time. Insulted because he still put himself before me, thankful because he was honest with me and didn't claim that he would sacrifice himself for me without a second thought if he wouldn't , and ashamed because I wasn't sure that I would die for my parabatai either.
"Honestly, I don't know if I would die for you either." I said with an apology in my voice, but feeling I had to be honest as well.
Jonathan's features relaxed and he smiled, taking me by surprise.
"No promises, Sam. At the moment, we'll see. Until then, we'll just look after each other."
I relaxed too, happy that he shared my opinion.
"Good enough for me."
"Jonathan! Sam!" I heard someone calling for us.
I turned around and saw Amelia Wayland, one of the four other Shadowhunters who had fought alongside us and the leader of the London Institute, coming towards us.
She was fifteen years older than us, already married and mother of two year-old twins, Caroline and Elizabeth. She had long brown hair and green eyes that could become stricter than my mother's. She obeyed the Law and didn't like to break the rules. I didn't like her very much because she didn't give us much freedom. Every attack had to be planned to the last detail and nobody was allowed to leave their post, so others would always know where to look for help. Luckily, Jonathan was just as bad in obeying her rules as me, so we often ended up in completely other place. The only thing that saved us from being grounded every time was that we fought so well she couldn't imagine sending a group without us. Also, our improvisation often turned out to be better than her carefully designed plans, so she had no reasons to be too unhappy.
"Are you okay?" Amelia asked, her gaze quickly scanning us.
We both nodded, but we didn't move until was done with her checking of our possible injuries. We had long since got used to that.
When she was convinced we were alright, she sighed.
"This isn't normal. Five demon attacks in a week. I don't know where all that creatures come from. We've never had so many battles in such a short time."
I couldn't agree with her complaints because I enjoyed adrenaline that would stream through my blood when I fought, but it was strange that so many demons ran through London. We hadn't fought that often when we had arrived; it had been like this only for the last few weeks.
"Maybe we should track the person who is summoning all these demons." I suggested. "It would be easier to get rid of him or her and spare ourselves needless fights."
Amelia looked at me with surprise in her eyes, like she hadn't expected such logical, but also fight-avoiding suggestion from me.
To be honest, I didn't expect it myself. I laughed in my mind.
"Sam's right." Jonathan supported me. "There is more risk that someone might get injured or killed in fight against demons. It would be much easier and safer to find the person responsible for this mess."
"We can do it if you want." I added.
We can play Sherlock Holmes. At last, we're in London. I thought, amused. I'd like to be a detective.
Amelia stared at us for few more seconds and then shrugged her shoulders.
"You can do it, but wait for few more days. I've asked for the reinforcements from the Clave because of all this demons, so some newcomers will be arriving soon. Wait for them. They are about the same age as you, they could help with the investigation."
I didn't like her opinion that we needed someone's help, so I frowned. Amelia ignored my dissatisfaction and continued to talk like I had shown no reaction at all.
"They'll arrive from New York by the end of the week. I just hope there will be no more demon attacks until then."
I thought that conversation was over, so I turned around. I wanted to move away from Amelia, so I could find something else to take my dissatisfaction out on. But, Jonathan didn't move. His face suddenly became paler that it usually was.
"They are from New York? What are their names?"
Amelia smiled at his nervousness.
"I know what you two will say." her gaze met mine as well. "Don't worry, I've heard that they are great Shadowhunters. They won't hold you back."
It's better for them that they don't. I thought.
But, her words didn't calm Jonathan.
"What are their names?" he repeated.
Amelia seemed surprised by his curiosity, but didn't comment.
"Two Lightwood siblings and their adopted brother. Their names are Alexander, Isabelle and Jace." she said. "Then it's Morgenstern girl, I think it's Clarissa. There was talking about some vampire too, but I don't know what's been agreed about him."
Their names were familiar from somewhere.
Jace Lightwood. I remembered. My once ought-to-be parabatai. Of course. And I even remember Isabelle Lightwood.
I thought about the other names. Alexander didn't sound familiar, neither did Clarissa, but Morgenstern did.
Jonathan's relative. I realized. And since he is so pale right now, she must be a close relative too. And a problematic one.
I wanted to know why Jonathan was so nervous about her coming, but I didn't want to ask questions in front of Amelia. I knew Jonathan also wouldn't say a word in front of her. We had to get away in order to talk about this news.
"Okay, we'll wait." I said, looking at Amelia. "Can we have some free time now?"
Amelia was surprised again, but nodded.
"Sure you can. But, won't you come back to the Institute?"
I shook my head.
"Later. My parabatai and I have something important to talk about."
She raised her eyebrows, suspicious. I had no time or will to tolerate her interfering.
"It's about the person who summons the demons. But, you would laugh to my theory, Amelia. I'll tell Jonathan first. If he laughs too, then I'll know it's rubbish."
A shade of colour came back to Jonathan's cheeks. He was holding back a laugh, I could see it. My joke also erased doubts from Amelia's eyes, as they had been meant to.
"Very well." she said. "But, please, come back soon. As it seems, I won't be surprised if there will be more than one demon attack a day."
I smiled and pulled Jonathan's hand, gesturing to him to follow me.
"If we see some demons on our way, we'll let you know."
I heard her sigh behind our back, like she was tired of my ironical jokes. But, I didn't care too much. It was the safest way to get rid of her. And I didn't want to have Amelia around while interrogating Jonathan.
It will be hard to get answers from him, no matter if she's here or not. I knew. But, I can always count on me being his parabatai, and if that doesn't work, on the law of my fists.
I grinned, walking through quiet streets of London, pulling my parabatai behind me as if he were a child. He was so quiet I would have thought I had lost him if I didn't hold his hand tight. My mind tried to focus on the problem of the person who was summoning the demons, but I couldn't stop thinking about the thing that troubled Jonathan. It was almost strange to put his feelings before the crucial problem. I had never needed to choose between such things, because Jonathan never seemed nervous or hurt. He was just Jonathan, sarcastic, indifferent, calm, the best fighter I knew, my parabatai.
How does he see me? I suddenly wondered and then shook my head slightly, to literally kick the thought out of my head. The thing with the Morgenstern girl first. Then demons. Then shadowhunting. Then ... we'll see.