The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices Crossover

Chapter 12: Sandalphon

Author's Note:

If you haven't read The Mortal Instruments (City of Bones, City of Ashes, City of Glass, City of Fallen Angels and City of Lost Souls) as well as The Infernal Devices Trilogy (Clockwork Angel, Clockwork Prince and Clockwork Princess), all by Cassandra Clare, I advice you not to read this. Be spoilt at your own risk.

So, this is also one of those chapters that makes me sort of proud. Again, sort of.

This is the longest one yet, and the next may be even longer.

Do leave a review. I am blessed with one drop of creativity every time you do so.

Keep reading, loves!

Magnus walked with Clary down the weapons room, where she usually creates a new portal. The rest of the Shadowhunters were there, even Maryse, who looked tired and worried at the same time. He saw Clary draw out her stele, walked towards to corner of the weapons room and started embedding the runes on the solid wall.

He decided to set his focus on someone else.

Isabelle was double-checking her Angel blades, securing them on the belt that safely hugged her thin waist, her whip was securely wrapped around her wrists. It surprises Magnus how such cunning young woman could manage to look extremely gorgeous at anytime of the day. Alec was the opposite of his sister. His hair was unruly and it looked like how it would have been when he just walked out of the shower and left them to dry. He was stiff though he wasn't nervously fidgeting. Magnus suddenly remembered how Alec had seemed to be restless at the sight of him, even after he said he was calling the relationship off. He almost thought that he didn't deserve the sudden adrenaline this beautiful Shadowhunter feels for him.

Magnus pushed the thought away—this wasn't the time.

"You go first," He heard Clary call out to him, suddenly interrupting his flow of deep thoughts.

"You do know I'm not getting paid to do this," He muttered as he walked towards the portal.

"Oh?" Jace answered, "we're buying your conscience, you know."

Magnus said nothing.

The warlock just sighed and stepped in front of the portal. It had been hard to recollect the actual picture of the place. It had been long since he set foot anywhere near it, let alone the exact location of the mountain in the first place. He pictured the fresh and lush grass in Wales, its unending horizon that rose from Cadair Idris. He tried to imagine the beauty of it despite the horrific strong smell of fire and oil that was there when he last made his not-so-exciting visit. He even remembers the crystal clear Tal-y-llyn Lake near the mountain itself, where the entrance would be.

Just as Magnus was about to walk in the portal, the door to the weapons room swung open. He stepped back slowly, not showing any sign of alarm or surprise.

Every single one of them except Magnus had been surprised to see three Silent Brothers at the door. Each of them held what looked like Seraph blades.

Simon raised his eyebrows at this rare sight of the Brothers, but said nothing.

"Brother Zachariah," Clary recognized one of them.

This is Brother Cimon and Brother Enoch, the Silent Brother introduced his companions without moving or swaying his hands. We came to aid you in your quest.

"I do not think it was entirely necessary, yet we appreciate your presence," Maryse spoke, "we would have not wanted to bother you."

The number of the Clave is depleting and you can never possibly have enough army to face Jonathan, Brother Zachariah replied, We were Shadowhunters then and we will always be.

Tessa was cradling James on her lap. She absently caressed his wounds, one ran from his right temple and disappeared behind his hairline. On his right chest was a wet patch of read that spread against his stark white shirt. The Marks on his arm were barely visible from the dark bruises that covered his body. What had Sebastian done to him? Fury burned inside Tessa's chest. There had been no indication how much blood James had lost from the injuries. She searched his pockets for a stele, but she couldn't find one. James twitched and groaned in her arms, his tawny eyes opening slowly.

"Are you hurt, son?" She asked with thoughtfulness in her eyes.

James croaked and moved a little, his face pulling into a soft smile. "Nothing I cannot handle, mum."

Tessa stifled a soft sob and hugged him close to her, the last thing he'd like to see was his mother mourning over his pain. This was James, she had never known her children had been alive until Sebastian took hold of them—and killed Lucie.

"I thought you might need this," Margaret walked in, throwing something at Tessa.

She saw it clatter on the floor. Her eyes adjusted in the dimness of the room. She saw that it was an old stele, with scratches here and there. Tessa quickly picked it up, gently moving out under James' cradled head and laid him flat on the floor.

"I'm taking that away when I come back, though," The warlock turned around and started walking towards the door, "so Mark him up as much as he needs."

Tessa took hold of his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. She then drew an iratze over his wounded chest. The familiar crackling sound and scent of something burning had almost scared Tessa, but she went on.

She waited for a few minutes when James started to regain his strength. His breath came evenly and his eyes were now wide open. Soon he was able to sit up a little and gave his mother a quick and calculated hug.

"Mum," he said. His voice was still weak, but he looked better. "We need to leave."

"I think I can get us out of the barrier." Tessa stood up, wiping the dampness of her cheek away. "Hold this for me."

She gave James his stele, then she took a deep breath. She clutched the hem of Clary's bloodied sweater and closed her eyes.

The change didn't came as quickly as she had wanted it, though it may have been the effects of the reduced demon blood.

Soon, she felt her jeans and shoes loosen as her curls changed color. When she opened her eyes, her hair was the color of fire, making a deep contrast against the stark white walls.

"Can I borrow the stele?" She heard Clary's feisty voice as she addressed James.

He handed her his stele. Tessa had known how powerful Clary's runes were, she felt relieved that she decided to borrow one of her sweaters earlier. Though it had been big, as if it was bought for someone like Jace rather than a petite girl like its owner. Moving forward with one hand held out, she started feeling for the surface of the invisible wall. Touching something hard and solid in the air, she let Clary's mind works its way into inscribing an Opening rune.

James had not been used to Tessa's changes, let alone knowing who the girl was. The astonishment in his eyes explained his sudden curiosity. "Who are you?" It wasn't demanding nor harsh, it was a simple question he had addressed the form his mother took.

"I'm Clary," The red-haired girl crouched and reached out her hand and shook his. "Maybe you'll meet, you know, the real me soon." Tessa suddenly was fueled with a flicker of hope when Clary's mind told her that they have found where she was—and they were coming.

"Can you stand?" The image of Clary crouched beside him.

"I'll try," James whispered. He tried and was able to stand upright, not as graciously as usual, but he was now strong enough to stand. His broken arm looked better, but he was still clutching it, as if in pain. "I know where he keeps the weapons. Heaps of seraph blades we could use."

Tessa considered, she hesitated for a fact that it could be risky to the both of them. Though Sebastian could be anywhere and they couldn't just plow into him without real weapons. She asked in Clary's voice. "Is it far?"

James shrugged and answered with a tinge of doubt, "I heard him say it's in the next room."

"Very well, then." She started to move with him. The barrier was gone now, they have walked halfway through the room now.

James struggled for a moment and tripped, barely caught by Tessa with Clary's small figure.

She stifled a small and nervous laugh. "I'll change back then."

Tessa quickly changed from Clary's small figure into a towering body of a woman. Her hair had now darkened and her shoes fit. "Let's go."

James leaned unto her and started to move from one room to the next.

"Mum?" James asked.

"Yes?" Tessa was focused on trying to get to the next room, "is this it?" She paused in front of it.

"Yes," James said as they quickly moved forwards and slowly opened the door. "You don't seem to be very fond of tight jeans aren't you?" He asked.

Tessa could have laughed.

"Actually," She opened the door to the weapons room, dank and dark as if it were a basement. "Sebastian just didn't want his father to choke his—delicate area—in skinny jeans."

It sounded as if James let a small laugh come out of his lips. "I wish he'd forgotten about that. Would have been quite a sight."

He gestured for her to let go of him for a moment and he reached for something in the darkness. The next thing, he was holding a witchlight and willed it to burn bright enough to fill the room.

It looked like a cellar. The smell of age and dust reached her nose and made her feel queasy. She searched the place, it was filled with mostly silver weaponry. There were axes, kindjals, bows and stacks of arrows, feather staffs, chakrams and on the walls hung numerous seraph blades.

James took two seraph blades and a kindjal, sliding it on his sides. He looked and moved as if the iratze had been working.

Tessa took two seraph blades too, she didn't know why, but she had to be at least armed. She also took a dagger, weighing the electrum material in her hands.

They were about to leave the weapons room when Margaret, face white as paper, stood in the doorway. "I gave you the chance to heal him, didn't I? That's kind of—"

Margaret was cut off with a blade to her chest, it flew from James' hand the moment she had attempted to work a spell on them. Guiltily, Tessa was thankful that the warlock's cry never came, she just crumpled to floor noiselessly. It may have been cruel for her to think so, but her scream alone could have sent them to their deaths right away.

"Mum," James urged, "We need to go."

Tessa tried avoiding Margaret's body, which was now surrounded by a pool of dark-colored blood.

She knew how to navigate through the place. This was Cadair Idris, or according to what Clary had thought. Though the memories that clung to this place was horrifying, but she had to move and escape. For James, and maybe find Lucie after that.

She had almost tripped when James' arm shot in front of her.

"There," He pointed at a particular area in the dark alley. His witchlight grew slightly brighter to illuminate the figure. A demon, its body half insect, attached to them was horrendous pair of pincers with much eagerness to cut someone's heart out. "A Shax. Father's favorite."

James grinned and moved forwards, he whispered the Angel blade's name. "Malik."

The weapon blazed, brighter than the witchlight. Illuminating the demon's insect-like carapaces.

Though limping, he was able move at precise moments that enabled him to decapitate the demon. Ichor had poured everywhere, but he didn't seem to mind as he looked back and faced his mother. His shirt was now tainted with a mixture of red and black blood. Tessa moved forward and went after him.

It hadn't taken them a few steps when another set of demons crossed their path. Two paper white and scaled faces, black pits for the mouths and no eyes.

"Are those eels?" Tessa asked her son in terror, seeing the creature's replacement for hands.

"Raums," He whispered. "They're kind of deadly."

Tessa raised her eyebrows. "Kind of?" She had been nervous. James' limping had been a disadvantage from the start. Not forgetting his shoulder and previously broken arm that had been pounding with pain, he held the Malik on his less dominant hand, even another deadly disadvantage. His position now looked like he was about to pounce, similar to how Will would have looked like when he was faced with something dangerous.

Before she could think of anything else to get away without facing the horrific thing, James surged forward. Tessa had to remind herself that this was Will Herondale's son. He'd fight a demon with a sword using his foot if it were the only way. He was slashing with the swift grace Will used to have—If only he had not been handicapped by a weaker leg. Tessa was looking helplessly as James worked his way with the demons. He wobbled and tripped quite a few times, but he tried to keep his footing steady. He had been slashing at the animal-like flesh, ichor sputtering everywhere. The demons kept coming. More of the Shax, and even Raveners. They surrounded James.

She reached for her electrum dagger as well, all the years of training enabled her to throw splendidly from a distance, but she only had one knife.

James was doing fairly well when she felt something strong and slick wrap around her neck, it tightened, cutting the air off of her lungs. She felt herself being slammed on the solid wall. Her skull connected hard against the concrete. It was a Raum, with no eyes and a black empty hole for a mouth.

"Mum!" James turned so he could call out to her. That single moment of distraction was enough to give the other demons time to wrap their eel-like hands around his ankles and send him crashing on the floor.

Tessa couldn't shout out of say anything, she felt as if her lungs had gone rigid and desperate for air. The demon was crushing James, as much as this one was crushing her neck. She had to do something. Else her wish to get away would be rendered useless.

She focused her attention on the bracelet on her arm. Was this the end of her? Closing her eyes, she found a sudden surge of strength. No, Will would never do that. The thought almost made the tears come but she stayed focus. Will would die for me and his children more than he would die for anything else. As if the full years of Shadowhunter training had been blessed upon her in a matter of seconds. She became strong enough to kick hard on the demon and automatically pulled out a seraph blade.

"Sandalphon," Will's voice rang out of her lips, seraph blade blazing in her hand—or Will's hand, for that matter.

I may not have brought back Will and Jessamine and many others as much as you guys want, but I'm trying.

I couldn't stray away from the plot I wrote just like that, you know. Bringing back the dead can be a little crucial and hard, especially when I wrote and set it up into something like this, where magic is there but death was irreversible.

But I am having the time of my life writing this. It gives me something to do and exercises my writing. :)

See you next in the chapter!