Thank you so much to the readers who took time to review. Finally someone has caught onto the issue building with Clary! She hasn't taken time to grieve; what she is writing off as compartmentalization is really more like denial. In this chapter we get a small look at the struggle she is hiding.

As always, The Mortal Instruments belongs to the wonderful Cassandra Clare.

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Chapter 14 – Consensual Enchantments

Clary stepped into the circle drawn of salt, joining Tessa face to face. Around them flickered hundreds of candles summoned by Magnus. Despite the walls that surrounded them, Clary felt a breeze stir.. Other than the ceremony preformed by the Silent Brothers, Clary had little experience with magic, yet somehow the electric pulse the surrounded her now felt familiar.

Jace had been extremely fidgety as the two warlocks prepared the room, which made her all the more nervous. His stance had changed completely as she stepped into the circle, snapping to a board as the flames surged around the two women. She watched his shadow dance on the wall behind him, allowing her mind to relax as heat flooded the room.

Tessa's voice was strong and commanding as she began chanting in a language that Clary did not recognize. She reached up and pulled the pin from her brown curly hair letting it fall to the floor, before grasping the clip in Clary's own hair. Clary felt the breeze again, causing her red locks to tumble around her shoulders. She could feel the heat building in her skin as the enchantments Tessa called to lock their minds as one began to work.

It was like being in a bubble, watching a storm rage outside. Clary was startled out of her amazement by Tessa.

"Clary, are you ready?" Tessa stood in the same spot holding Clary's clip in her hand. "I am going to transform into you, and then we can start."

Clary nodded and attempted to clear her mind, which proved surprisingly difficult when you were starting at yourself.

"Let's go back to yesterday morning." Tessa began in Clary's own voice. Clary felt her head spin as she brought forth the memories.

Clary woke early, still half asleep but shaken from the dark dreams that plagued her for nearly two weeks. She pulled the curtains back letting the New York sunrise spill through the glass panes; wanting to drown out the darkness. She had been avoiding Sebastian in an effort to hide this reoccurring weakness that filled her after losing her mother. She was desperate to appear strong, desperate to hide her sorrow, and furious at herself for causing Jace to run off for so long. She let out her frustrations on the canvas before forcing herself to shower and dress for training.

She felt Tessa squeeze her hand, and the memory flashed forward.

Clary was stretching the training room, waiting on Alec to arrive. Does my hair really look like that from the back? Clary though to herself.

"Focus Clary." Tessa instructed pulling her back into the memory.

The door to the training room opened and Sebastian strode in.

"Let's get started." He said grabbing her arms to bring her deeper into the stretch.

"Where is Alec? …Did Jace send you?" she asked.

"Not even a hello… not that I'm surprised." Sebastian responded bitterly. Clary sighed and pulled herself to her feet. She had been avoiding Sebastian for days….it seemed that her luck had finally run out. She started to walk towards the archery stand, to retrieve the bow and arrows she had been practicing with the day before, when she felt his hand on her arm.

"Were going to be practicing hand to hand combat today…." His grip was tight…too tight, but Clary said nothing as she snatched her arm free and placed herself on the opposing corner of the mat. They circled each other, crouched low, each waiting for the other to move.

"Let me ask you something babe…" Sebastian said his voice was salty and sarcastic.

"Sebastian, I hardly think this is the time…" he lunged to her left and she dodged him.

"When exactly is the time? You have been avoiding me for days…. I think you should at least give me a reason."

He lunged again, this time he faked right and caught her on the shoulder. The impact spun her but she managed to stay on her feet.

"I haven't been avoiding you Seb… I'm just dealing with things."

This time it was her who lunged; she went for the knees like Jace had taught her to do when she was unevenly matched. She caught him behind his left knee and brought him to the mat, she moved to pin him but he was too fast. Rolling them both, Sebastian pushed Clary into the mat. Her arm was pulled behind her and his knee rested in the center of her back.

She was pinned.

"Somehow...I am starting to think that there is more going on…." he snarled into her ear, as the side of her face pressed harder against the mat. Clary found herself suddenly wishing that they were not alone in the room today.

"You see Clary...I am a very patient man. I see something I want, and I work for it. It didn't bother me to wait…you needed time to get to know me…"

"Sebastian." Clary said squirming under him. He should have released her by now.

"Sebastian, stop! You're hurting me!"

"Relax Clary, we're just training…" his voice was light but he did not move to let her up. "You need to learn how to get out of these types of...situations." His knee pressed into her back harder. Fury was building in her veins.

"You see… what I think;" Sebastian continued speaking "is that it isn't about me at all."

He pulled her arm back forcing her body to roll under him. He pressed his weight against her and pulled her arms above her head. Oh God… is this really happening…

Clary screamed.

"Go ahead….scream as loud as you like. No one will hear you…they're not here." He said with a sick grin on his face.

"You know the one thing that does bother me though?" he asked waiting for her reply. She struggled against him fruitlessly, refusing to answer him.

"I hate when I do all the waiting…all the sweet boyfriend shit…just to be left high and dry….I won't let you just screw me over." He brought his mouth down on hers with force. Clary bit down on his lip as hard as she could.

"You bitch!" he exclaimed. Clary felt a sharp sting as his hand connected with her face; tears rose in her eyes.

"Sebastian, please… I'm sorry…please don't…" her words were cut off as his mouth continued its assault. Making a path down her neck, he bit down hard, leaving behind an angry red mark.

"I'm going to make you mine Clarissa…." His voice was low and gruff, his excitement was evident.

And that's when she felt it, like the sting of a blade. A darkness curled around Sebastian, as if it's tendrils could squeeze the very life out of him. His eyes were dark and glazed over. How had she not seen it before.

"Jace will kill you…" she seethed back at him.

"Jace, Jace, Jace…." He mocked, "God you sound so fucking pathetic. Where is your precious Jace now?"

He was taunting her….clearly he knew something about what had transpired between her and Jace. He pushed his knee between her thighs as one of his hands found its way up her shirt.

"I'm right fucking behind you." Venom dripped from every word and Clary's heart soared at the sound of the familiar male voice.

Jace stood in the doorway to the training room in his gear. His hair was wet from the snow outside, as if he had just made it back to the Institute.

"Fuck. Off." Sebastian growled but he didn't move from his position above her. "Can't you see we're having a private moment…"

"Actually it looks a bit more like you are trying to force yourself on her." Jace's voice sounded lethal.

"Get the fuck off of her…I will not ask you again."

But Sebastian did not move. Clary did not actually see him move, but she felt the impact as Jace ripped Sebastian from her and flung him against the wall. Sebastian did not hesitate to return the attack. Before Clary could pull herself upright Jace had Sebastian pinned on the mat below him, the Herondale dagger at his throat. He was breathing heavily as he turned towards Clary. "You're no match for me Sebastian…you never have been."

"Are you ok?" He asked gently turning to her, Clary could only nod.

"You…" he fumed, looking back down at Sebastian "are lucky she said yes…"

"Clary, I need you to put a binding rune on his hands for me. Can you do that?" Sebastian struggled under him as he spoke and Jace pressed the tip of the blade deeper into his neck, bringing forth droplets of bright red blood.

The smell wasn't right…neither was the was the way his blood sizzled as it touched the mat. Yet another thing she had missed.

"She is right Sebastian…I will not hesitate to end you."

Clary pressed the tip of her stele against his wrist. Her hands shook violently but she willed the rune to take shape.

"Good" Jace said lifting himself off of Sebastian pulling him to his knees. "Ok, now stand back." Clary moved back against the wall as Jace reached for a seraph blade.

"Ansiel" he named the first blade and it responded with a bright burst of light. Jace drove the blade into the floor in front of where Sebastian kneeled, three more times he repeated the motions each blade placed on a cardinal point.

"It's called the Malachi Configuration." Jace said turning back to Clary. "Are you sure you're ok?" he asked again looking at her still trembling hands. She nodded her head but the tears were building in her eyes again. She tried to take a deep breath but the only thing that came out was a sob. Jace moved to her without a second thought and pulled her against him.

"Shhh…Shhh…Shhh… it's ok Clary, you're safe now. I won't let anything happened to you." He held her tightly tracing soothing circles on her back until she could breathe again. Jace reluctantly released her.

"Let's go… he won't be going anywhere." He led her from the room, but paused when they entered the hallway.

"Wait...Clary." She turned to face him. Seeing her like that tore at him; tears traced her cheeks, her hair pulled loose from its hold. He stepped closer to her lifting his hand to trace the red handprint on her face, pushing her hair behind her ear he caught sight of the ugly, bruising bite mark on her neck. His breath caught in his throat at the sight of Sebastian's destruction. Clary recoiled, trying to hide behind her hair.

Oh no...This had to stop, she did not want Tessa to see this. This was private, she knew that Tessa could feel the way her heart raced when Jace touched her. She was embarrassed to have these thoughts after what had just transpired.

"It's not as bad as it looks" she heard herself say weakly before forcing her mind to go blank. Clary felt a gust of wind and the candles around them extinguished. She did not remember falling to her knees and her vision was still blurry. Tessa, who was now herself again pulled Clary into her arms.

"Shhh, shhh, shhh sweet angel. It is over now…." It was then that Clary realized that her vision was blurry because she was sobbing. "Do not be ashamed of your grief…" she whispered softly into Clary's ear as she attempted to soothe her.

"What happened to her?! Magnus, let me through NOW!" Jace bellowed at the other warlock. Clary wanted to tell him that she was fine but all that she could manage was another sob.

"She is fine Jace…as fine as she can be with what she has endured" Magus answered him as he broke the salty barrier with a flick of his hand which allowed Jace to rush to her side.

Clary watched through hooded eyes as Tessa moved back and brushed off red dress, the feeling of Jace's hand behind her back holding her up. "She needs rest," Tessa told Jace handing him a vile of green liquid.

"I have learned a great deal tonight, and I will share with you both tomorrow." Jace pocketed the vile and exchanged more quite words with Tessa and Magnus; words that Clary could no longer understand, it was taking every bit of her strength to remain upright.

~o.0.o~

Clary's body felt stiff as she kicked the heavy blankets off of herself. She stumbled slightly on her way to the bathroom, overwhelmed by the urge to pee. Returning to her dark room, she was in the process of looking for her phone to figure out what time it was when her door opened. Izzy balanced a small silver tray in one hand and her phone was press to her ear with the other.

"Yes, for the tenth time… I will tell you if we need anything." She punched the end button, ignoring the person still talking on the other line.

"Sleeping beauty has awakened," Izzy proclaimed with a smile. You must be hungry." She placed the tray on the bed and tossed Clary an object, that turned out to be her phone.

Clary' stomach rumble at the though of food but Izzy's cooking was not something to eat no matter how hungry you were.

"Relax! It's just fruit," Izzy said feigning hurt. Clary had no idea why she was so hungry or how she had ended up in bed.

"How long have I been out?" Clary asked through bites of delicious pineapple. Figuring by the darkness outside that it was early morning.

"Two days….we were starting to worry. Even had Magnus come check on you. He told us you were dreaming…apparently you needed some sleep."

"Two days?" Clary said shocked. Holy shit, she thought to herself. "Where is Jace?" She asked wondering what Tessa had discovered while inside her head. She certainly felt better after getting some rest.

"He is downstairs, we've had…a break in the case…." Izzy said carefully.

"What did you find?" Clary asked curiously; "you should have started with that!"

"Calm down Clary...why don't you get dressed and we can join everyone down stairs." Clary did as her friend suggested, taking a moment to stretch before making their way downstairs.

Clary's eyes found Jace immediately, he stood between Simon and Alec. His fingers gliding over a large touch screen board. It was covered in documents, with photos and files containing names and complex case numbers. It reminded Clary of the wall in Jace's bedroom. Sebastian's photo was in the center.

"I just don't think it is a smart approach right now, we don't have our full strength at the moment." Alec was saying but broke off as Clary and Isabelle came into sight.

"They killed him Alec! We cannot allow them to go unpunished." Jace argued back.

"What's going on?!" Clary butted in overwhelmed by curiously. "Who's dead now?"

"Clary…I apologize I didn't mean for you to hear that." Jace said clearing the board with another wide swipe. "How are you feeling?" he seemed genuinely concerned, but she would not be distracted. Her mind had begun to race the moment she heard his words.

"Who is dead?" She repeated firmly.

"Sit down" he responded.

"Jace…" She warned, her resolve was beginning to break. She looked to Izzy for answers but her gaze was not returned. "It's Sebastian….isn't it?"

*sniffles*

Don't hate me...

I would love to hear your thoughts on the story so far! Until next time...

skyy~~