Jace fell asleep on the floor of the bathroom. When he woke up at just gone midnight, he didn't even bother getting up. He merely rolled over, grabbed a clean towel from the bath and stuffed it beneath his head and drifted back off to sleep.
When the sun rose high above the smog of New York, Jace finally made himself get up. His head pounded like a drum and his steps were unsteady and slow, but he made it into the kitchen and slammed the percolator on.
"Clary?" Jace grunted loudly. His neck ached from the awkward angle he'd slept in, his back stiff and sore. Everything hurt and especially his hip.
After his cup of coffee, Jace heaved himself to his feet and trudged through the house, calling for Clary. There was no reply. He tried her phone but it was turned off. Mystified, Jace plonked down onto the sofa and tried again. Still nothing.
Unease began to trickle through Jace's veins. The worst of scenarios began to enter his head. What if last night had been the last straw? What if she had walked out, unable to put up with he and his messed up, stupid mind?
Jace took a deep breath, forcing himself to listen to reason. Clary would never just walk out. You know that. She's probably just at the hospital with mom. Jace felt bad that he wasn't there for his mother. Of all times, this was when she needed her family the most.
Clary later, if she's not there, Jace promised himself. For now, family.
xoxoxo
It was dark and the smell of rot filled Clary's nose. She wanted to look around, but when she had woken up an hour ago she had discovered that a length of fabric covered her eyes and bound her mouth. Her hands were tied tight behind her back and she couldn't move an inch from her seat. All she could do was breathe and listen. Listen for the returning sound of footsteps. Listen for anything or anyone that might help her. But there was nothing but silence.
When the footsteps came and blindfold removed, Clary just stared at the woman. For one thing, she was vaguely familiar. Another, there was a knife in one of her hands.
"We need to talk," she said, raising the blade higher.
xoxoxo
Babies were at their ugliest just after birth, Jace had decided. Abigail was like a squashed and ruddy potato, her hands so tiny and fragile. When he'd been offered her, he turned down the offer at once, afraid that he might break her by accident. Soldier hands were rarely gentle.
It was ironic, Jace realised. His mother had given birth just a minute before midnight. Abigail was a Valentine's Day baby. The nightmare day. He had made a pact there and then with his messed up mind that this Valentine's Day was the exception. The next, on Abby's first birthday, this year's would be nothing but a bad dream. Even now he felt terrible for denying Clary such a romantic day. Next year he swore he'd make up for it sevenfold.
"No," Celine frowned when Jace asked if Clary had been there. "I haven't seen her. Stephen?" He shook his head too.
Jace felt numb. She had left him, hadn't she? There was no other explanation. He groaned and put his head in his hands. Stephen sighed sympathetically and reached out a hand, clapping his son on the back twice. "It will be fine, Jace. You'll see. Clary is not one of those girls that would just walk out on you."
"Then where is she?"
Jonathan hadn't seen her, nor had Izzy or even Alec. Jace even had Jonathan call his father. But still the answer was the same: I haven't seen her.
At five in the afternoon, Jace had Jonathan call the cops as he was immediate family and Jace was not. When asked if there was any reason why she might have ran away, the phone was passed over to Jace and he admitted to everything that had transpired the previous night.
"She probably just needed to cool down," the woman on the end of the line told him, infuriating Jace. "There is no evidence of suspicious activity, correct?"
"No," Jace growled, "but she isn't like this."
"She will be put on record and an officer will be with you within forty-eight hours to take further details."
When the call ended, Jace had to stuff the phone away before he threw it in rage. "Clary would not run away," he said angrily. "Because she doesn't have anywhere else to go! Within forty-eight hours... Yeah. Sure. This is New York."
"Think," Jonathan pressed. He kept his hands balled up into fists so that he kept hold of his temper. Though he could feel it slipping. "What was the last thing she said?"
Jace could barely remember. His alcohol-addled brain had not absorbed her words. But Jace did remember her wrinkled up nose, her words that it stunk in the bathroom.
It hit him. "She said she was going outside for some air," he said dully. "And I fell asleep on the floor of the bathroom. I don't know if she came back in. The front door automatically locks when closed, so I've no idea."
Jonathan paled. "Shit," he breathed. "Why would anyone kidnap Clary?"
Inside his pocket, Jace's phone buzzed. He pulled it out and felt faintly sick at the name of the caller. "Let's find out, shall we?" Jace said quietly, pressing the green button.
"Clary?"
"Afraid not," a muffled voice on the end said. It wasn't Clary at any rate. "Though she's right here next to me."
"If you've hurt her-"
"I haven't. At least, not yet. I'm not you, Jace Herondale. Destroyer of homes and families."
"Just tell me how much you want and be done."
The voice was female, Jace realised. It scoffed. "I don't want your money. I want you to come here and meet me. Face to face. And no police. Bring the cops and I'll put a bullet through your pretty little girlfriend's head."
"Where? What time?"
"An hour from now." She then named a military cemetery situated in Brooklyn. When Jace asked how he'd recognise her, she put the phone down on him. And now Jace threw the phone and smashed it against the wall.
"This is all my fault," he growled to himself. "If I hadn't been such an arse last night, she still would be here, not with this bitchnapper."
Jonathan's eyes narrowed. "Stop wallowing when things get tough and man up. What does Clary see in you? Come on - we're going to get my sister back."
xoxoxo
It had just stopped raining when the car pulled up in the cemetery parking lot. "Stay here," Jace told Jonathan quietly, undoing his belt and reaching for the door handle. "Keep low. You can't see anything from where we're parked, but they won't be able to see in. Just... Don't interfere. Don't put Clary at risk. Me, sure, but not her. Do you understand?"
"If you think that I'm going to just sit here-!"
"You must," Jace said quietly. "For Clary. This feels personal, Jonathan. The woman doesn't want money, she just wants me." He had many enemies, though none were native to this country.
Jonathan said nothing and Jace didn't bother saying anything else, getting out of the car and slamming it shut.
Where did he have to go? The place seemed deserted. He limped forward into the rows of marble headstones, each name killed belonging to a soldier killed during battle. Jace wished that he had his walking stick. His leg ached and burned wildly, but still he went on.
A flash of orange caught Jace's eye. His heart pounded wildly in his chest as he increased his pace, hurrying down the tarmac pathway and towards the very edge of the cemetery where the headstones were new and glistening white, not grey from age and weather.
"Stay away!" Clary called when Jace drew near enough to hear. Her eyes were fixed on the woman crouched before a pale headstone.
It was like something out of a bad dream when the woman straightened up and turned to him, her eyes cold and hard as they usually were. "Maia?" Jace said in disbelief, but then his eyes fell on the name etched into the marble. He groaned and closed his eyes briefly. Oh hell... "Maia," he said quietly, "let Clary go. This has nothing to do with her."
Jordan Kyle, the headstone read. Jace had known that the young man had been married, but had never heard the woman's name. He realised with a jolt that there was a child involved as well. What was she doing? Endangering herself and her child's future?
"Innocents are always hurt during warfare," Maia snapped. Something glinted in her hand - a gun. "Like my Jordan. You murderer."
Murderer. "You threw that rock through my window." It wasn't a question.
Maia raised the gun. Tears sparkled in her eyes and she hurriedly rubbed them away on her sleeve. "You didn't try hard enough," she told him through clenched teeth. "You weren't fast enough. He would have lived if you'd cared enough!"
Jace shook his head sadly. Get the gun, he thought. He had to neutralise her before someone got hurt. Wasn't this what he was trained for? "Jordan was past my help before I even found him. We sustained heavy gunfire beforehand and Jordan got hit. I've read the reports, love. So many times. I thought I had killed him, that I wasn't fast enough. That I was a murderer. But I'm not."
"Well you could have done more!" She yelled, tears rolling down her cheeks. Jace wasn't afraid now, just sad.
"Was that why you took up the job of driving me around?" Jace asked now. "So you could confront me? Were you expecting to see me acting like some emotionless killer, maybe?"
"Just shut up."
"Oh? How many times did you almost shoot me in the car? Couldn't work up the courage?"
"Shut. Up."
Jace took a step forward and Clary squeaked in fear as the tip of the gun pressed against his chest. "Well I know something you don't." Jace said, looking down at Maia. War, he thought sadly. The victims aren't limited to the actual battlefield.
"And what's that?" Maia sneered.
Jace struck out before she even knew he'd moved. Maia cried out in pain as Jace's hand collided with her wrist and immediately breaking something within it. The gun clattered onto the floor. Jace reached down with a pained groan and picked it up, turning it over within his hand. "It's fake," he simply said. "Because you know the truth, deep down, that I didn't kill him. You just wanted to scare me." Jace's temper frayed and he swiftly cracked the woman across the face, sending her spiraling away and into the floor. "And that's for taking Clary. If you ever even breathe out her name, I'll know. Go home to your child, Maia. Take some sessions with a councillor. Sort yourself out."
Jace helped Clary to her feet and untied her bonds. "Are you okay?" He asked, holding her away at arm's length. "Nothing broken?"
"No." Clary threw her arms around Jace in a tight hug. Jace sighed in relief, hugging her back. "What about her?" She threw a distasteful look at Maia. "What do we do about her? Do we report her?"
"I personally don't want to, but that's up to you."
They left her alone, weeping next to the grave of her husband. It was a very sad scene, Clary thought when she left with Jace.
"Clary-!" Jonathan dove out of the car the moment she appeared around the corner with Jace. "Don't scare me like that!" He pulled her in for a spine-cracking hug.
"I'm impressed," Jace said, raising an eyebrow appreciatively. "I was honestly expecting you to burst in all screaming like a banshee. Y'know... And making everything worse."
Jonathan raised his middle finger but didn't reply.
xoxoxo
They didn't call the police, but Clary remained shaken up over the whole experience for a week. She refused to leave the apartment alone and often just didn't bother going out at all.
The nightmare was made worse when Valentine returned home, discovered what had transpired, then called the police on Maia himself. Clary had no idea until a cop appeared at the apartment's door to discuss everything. Clary refused point blank to prosecute her. She would not be responsible for tearing apart a family, though it was obvious that Maia was still heavily grieving.
Jace couldn't find it in him to be angry with Maia and her actions, but he did ring up his grandmother and demand that she terminate Maia's contract as his his driver. One day, if she didn't sort herself out, that gun would be real and he would be dead.
xoxoxo
"Can we relax now?" Clary laughed two months later, sat in a quaint little café with Jace next to her. Beside them, Izzy and Jonathan squabbled over who was paying.
Jace grimaced and nodded to the pair. "With them here? Definitely not. I can't hear myself think."
Clary reached down and squeezed Jace's good knee. "So, what's the surprise then? I'm waiting."
He was nervous. So nervous. Clary was either going to freak or... "My grandmother is sending me international," Jace smiled, though it was faint. "To Europe. The presentations went down a storm and... Well, other schools have been making offers for me to come over."
Clary just stared. "You're... Leaving? For how long?"
"Couple of months." His voice was quiet.
Two months without Jace. Two months of Jace being without her. Clary felt sick. "That's an amazing opportunity," Clary said sincerely. "But two months... Without you." Another wave of sickness washed over her. "I feel ill at the thought. Oh my God."
"Hey..." Jace raised a hand and cupped Clary's cheek gently. "We'll still talk every single day. And you're getting ready for college applications, little lady."
"But still."
"I know." Jace pressed a kiss to her forehead, hugging her briefly. "I know, sweetheart."
"So," Clary smiled when Jace pulled away. "Europe! How exciting is that?"
But underneath it all, she just felt miserable.
xoxoxo
Sorry it's a little on the shorter side. Writing with a tablet instead of laptop is a killer. Ack. So ummmmmmm... Next chapter just might be the epilogue. How?! Eeek! But with the end of one novel comes the start of a new one. Nocturne is coming, and it's full of gang wars, murder, sexytimes and monsters roaming the streets of old New York. Based on a partial novel I've wrote of the same name. It's a Jace darker than any I've ever done before. (How exciting?!) Read on for the summary:
"Jace has just come out of prison after doing time for assault and monsters roam the dirty streets of New York and speakeasies, and not all are human. Clary, back from Chicago, finds herself thrown into the deep end upon her return home. Her mission: Infiltrate the Herondale Club and seduce the dark secrets out of the owner's mysterious son. But it's easier said than done when the boy is a monster."
Very excited for Nocturne! And I hope you all are as well. I'll announce when it's up when the epilogue of CTS is up. The summary may change.
Thank you sooo much for the reviews! You guys are the absolute loveliest. Thanks for sticking by me through all of these years.
x Nicola