So, a new years resolution for me is to be more active on here, because I left you hanging from August to January, which I am EXTREMELY sorry about, but the traffic stats were going down, there weren't many reviews and, idk, just wasn't feeling it.
This chapter is a little shorter, but it's setting up for Sebastian to be reintroduced and (I'll be honest) I missed him in this story and his psychopathic behaviour so I'll hopefully be feeling the story a bit more.
Please don't forget to follow and review! It really means a lot that people appreciate what I write :)
In his anger, Jace slashed furiously at the demon that had emerged from the sand.
With his newfound fury, he managed to impale it with the seraph blade in a matter of seconds after Clary had been taken. The demon made a loud screeching, like nails being dragged across a chalkboard before exploding into a puff of black smoke then disappearing back to its realm.
They all looked up to the night sky, shocked to see Clary being lifted into the air so quickly, that you could barely see her, or where she went. The faint black lines of her arms and legs were visible from the ground, flailing in the air until suddenly she went still, like a carcas hanging from a vulture's grip. Alec wondered if she'd been killed… but that would be impossible. Every demon here worked for Sebastian- after all, he was the son of Lilith- their ruler. No, she wouldn't be killed, Sebastian desired her too much for that.
Alec sighed, it was only a matter of time before they were found. They all knew that Clary's brother would stop at nothing to get her back after they'd escaped the stronghold. His lust for her really was unsettling, Alec felt a shiver run down his spine as he thought of what Clary would likely face as soon as she fell into his hands. He just imagined Isabelle undergoing that torment… no. he would've stopped at nothing if his sister was taken. I suppose I owe Clary the same courtesy. He thought.
As much as he'd disliked Clary not too long ago, she was family now. He knew Jace would go after her, and it was his duty to go with his parabatai and save her. Hopefully it wasn't too late.
When there was nothing left of the demon, it's body transported to another world, a deathly silence took hold in which the only sound was Jace's angered breathing as he watched a now still Clary be carried off until they were little more than a black speck in the night sky.
"Jace…" Alec started.
"Don't." Jace cut him off abruptly, lowering his head slightly to look down, his golden locks falling down in front of his eyes. They'd grown considerably in the recent few weeks- Alec thought. He looked like a ragged shadowhunter, and the furious anger his eyes had held only moments ago made him seem wild, like a rabid animal.
Jace broke the silence by turning on his heel and trekking back in the direction that the demon had taken Clary, east of where they were heading. He hadn't sheathed his blade yet- probably because night was upon them, and the screeching calls of demon monsters could be heard faintly on the wind.
"Jace," Alec continued, "this isn't a good idea and you know it!" he spoke calmly, knowing from years of friendship with his parabatai, that no amount of shouting would ever get through to him if he were on a mission. And he was now- a mission to find Clary.
Alec heard a faint mumble that could've been "I don't care" but he couldn't quite make it out as Jace moved farther and farther away. No one else made a move after Jace to follow him- most likely to certain death at Sebastian's hands- as he continued on away.
With a sigh, Alec turned to look at the rest of the group. Isabelle, with her usual perfect hair, looked scruffy- they all needed a break from the endless torment and fear of death. But Simon still looked at her with such awe, as if she was an angel who had just fallen from heaven for him. Magnus looked like he could barely stand any longer with the walking and trudging through Edom. Blair just stared at him, her wide eyes revealing no emotion as she seemed to study him. Alec couldn't help but feel hostile every time she looked at him. All shadowhunters were trained to be distrustful of anyone who wasn't their kind but he felt overly-sceptical about her.
"I…" Alec started. He was torn- Jace was in imminent danger and needed his parabatai to help protect him, fight with him. Talk sense into him he thought silently. Izzy could take care of the group, she was always capable of anything she did, but he didn't want to abandon her and the others. What is something happened to them? His sister, and then Magnus, his… ex? He didn't even know what the warlock was to him anymore. But he loved them both so deeply, so passionately. If they died… if either one of them died… his life would be taken from him, everything he stood for, everything he fought for would exist no longer and Alec knew he would deteriorate into a lifeless skeleton of a shadowhunter.
When you are a shadowhunter, you live by the sword to protect those you love. If there was nothing on the other side of that violence, no reason to step away from fighting and put down the seraph blade then Alec would be no better than Sebastian- killing because he could, killing because it gave him power. That sanity that trickled through his subconscious every time he killed a demon that kept him threaded to the real world would just stop affecting him. And he needed that sanity to be a person, to stay detached when need be, but still feel, have emotion. Instead of turning into a murderous psychopath.
"You can go, if you want ." Izzy seemed to read his mind, see the decision he was trying to make.
"Really? Are you sure that you can get everyone into the village and then clear it out if anyone's there?" He asked, a worried expression on his face.
Izzy's eyebrows furrowed, "Of course, you think me so irresponsible," she said, rolling her eyes for exaggeration and glancing round at the others, taking on a mothering role almost immediately.
"Thanks, you really are the best," Alec admitted, to which Izzy replied with an almost mocking grin.
"Okay, just tell me that next time we're in Idris and training… and I'm kicking your arse." She said seriously… because she probably could.
"Don't build up your ego too much." Alec replied, smiling before pulling his sister into a loving embrace. Be careful. He thought.
"I'll be careful," she responded, seemingly reading his mind. "We'll get in there, find a building then lie low until one of you comes back, or if I see any sign of danger, we will come running." Izzy finished.
"I know. I'll bring him back, and Clary if we can find her." Alec knew there was no point arguing with her. Family was the most important thing to the Lightwood's, they stood together.
With that, he smiled at the others, even Blair. But he gave her a final warning glance. Don't try anything. If she picked up what his eyes were conveying, she didn't show it.
Alec turned and ran off to the east, catching up with Jace fairly quickly.
They didn't exchange words, a quick glance at his brother and they both knew what had happened, and how Alec was there to help him get Clary back.
Shall we, brother? Alec questioned with his eyes.
Jace gave a faint smile, as if he wasn't complete without Clary, before nodding and grasping Alec's hand in his. He held the gesture for a couple of seconds until he dropped his hand to grip his belt; his fingers twitching to hold the seraph blade.
Alec felt like sighing. Jace did get into a painfully violent mood when something he wanted was taken from him.
"Onwards we go." Whispered Jace, barely loud enough for Alec to hear, but nonetheless the parabatai pair walked away from the remainder of their group to the east, about to pull of what would undoubtedly be, the most ridiculous heist on Sebastian's forces that anyone would live to tell the tale of. That was, if they survived to tell it.
