Author's Note: Thank you to everyone who has been reading this story. It has been so fun to write. Thank you to Onesmartcookie78 for editing. Check out her Harry Potter stories. I also wanted to take a moment to comment on the Veronica Mars kickstarter campaign. I am a big Veronica Mars fan and am so excited about the possibility of a movie and I was so happy to have the opportunity to donate to this cause. If any of my readers are also fans I suggest you check out their campaign on kickstarter.

Chapter 20: Clarissa's Choice

The cage creaked as it descended unsteadily from the chamber's ceiling. Clarissa, whose eyes were trained on Jace, ran towards the cage in hopes of reaching him. But just as she got close, Lord Loss flicked his hand, causing a tentacle to slither off of the wall and wrap itself around her feet, preventing her from reaching the cage as it jolted to the ground. She struggled, but she couldn't free herself. She was so close to him now she could nearly reach him.

He stretched a hand through the bars, and their fingertips nearly touched.

Lord Loss floated towards Jace, and tapped his fingers on Jace's chest. Clarissa feared he was going to rip Jace's soul from his body. That was the sort of thing demons enjoyed- at least that was what the books said. She didn't want to lose him. They had just found each other. It wasn't fair.

"Wait! Can't I use my favor to free him?" Clarissa cried. The favor was her only card on the table, and she only hoped it would be enough.

Lord Loss stilled his hand before it could enter Jace's chest.

"You would barter your life, for his? Interesting."

"Don't Clarissa. I..." A plate of metal ripped off of the cage and bound Jace's mouth, so that he could no longer speak.

Lord Loss turned to Clarissa, a glint in his eye. "With your father dead, I need a Shadowhunter. I will free the boy, if it will buy me your loyalty."

Clarissa paused. It wasn't really a choice. She couldn't let Jace die, especially not like this.

"You don't need the girl," a woman's voice interrupted in a high-pitched whine.

Lord Loss and Clarissa turned their faces up to look up at a woman with red flowing hair and dressed in a red tight fitted gown hovering in the air. Her hand was firmly grasping the arm of a young man, whose eyes were blurred in confusion. The two floated down from the sky and the woman settled into position in front of Lord Loss. After his feet touched the ground, the boy shrugged away from her as if burned by her touch.

"What are you doing here Lilith?" Lord Loss hissed. "You are not welcome in my domain."

"I don't need an invitation anymore. My son is the key to all doors. His blood holds powers you can't fathom. With him at our disposal, you won't need your quorum to gain entry to Idris. His blood is the key. He holds the spirit of mortal, angel and demon in one. He is the one we have been waiting for."
"You go too far. You and I are not allies. I thought I made that perfectly clear the last time we sparred. I don't care what you think you have in the boy."

"But..."

"Nothing you possess would be enough to entice me into joining forces with you." He floated toward her and took her neck in his hands.

"You can't do this..."

"You are wrong Lilith. I can do anything here. I will not let you try to rule me again." He squeezed her neck until her sight went black and she went limp in his arms.

Jonathan took another step away, horror in his eyes as he watched the demoness who claimed to be his mother fall to the ground and melt into a cloud of dark smoke. Was she really gone? He thought he should be sad, but he just felt empty.

"Oh, God," Clarissa cried.

Jonathan turned, and noticed his sister for the first time, tied to the ground by a thick throbbing tentacle.

He took a step towards her. "Oh, Clary."

"You came for me," she whispered. "You should have stayed away. It's not safe here."

"I couldn't let the demons have you. You're my sister. I had to at least try..."

Lord Loss's eyes turned to the two of them. "Well now, Clarissa, it seems you have ties to both of these boys. I think we should make this situation interesting. You may use your favor to save one of them. Your choice. I will keep the other."

She stared at the two young men. One represented the hope of love, and a future both shiny and bright. The second was her past, her only family, the roots of her existence. And even though Jonathan was often cruel, she knew he loved her.

She wished they had both stayed away. She could have protected herself. She could have saved herself. She would have been fine without them. But they had to try to rescue her. Why were boys so stupid?

"I choose ..." Her heart felt impossibly heavy in her chest as she made the impossible decision.

Jonathan looked at her, and she could see the boy who at rare times was so sweet, and she knew she couldn't just give up on him as their father always did, as their mother had.

"I choose my brother."

The words were barely past her lips when Lord Loss plunged his hand deep into Jace's chest and ripped out his heart and ate it. His long sharp teeth were covered in dripping blood as he chewed. After Jace's lifeless body slumped to the floor, Lord Loss reached into the empty cavity that had housed Jace's heart and yanked out a thin wispy slip of smoke and inhaled it.

Jonathan held Clarissa as she screamed into his chest. It was a terrible thing to watch a demon destroy a man and steal his soul - a mind numbing, impossible, heartbreaking thing.

Lord's Loss's eyes glowed red and he floated towards Jonathan and Clarissa.

"And now, my boy. I'd like to take a taste of this blood of yours. Let's see if Lilith was right."

Lord Loss ripped Jonathan away from Clarissa and as he clawed through Jonathan's flesh, Jonathan's blood sprayed all over her.

"But you promised..." Clarissa choked.

"I'm a demon. Demon's lie. You should know that by now, sweet girl."

"They why, why did you make me choose?"

"Because I wanted to see you squirm. I thought the choice would be harder for you."

She watched as his nails cut through her brother's throat and he tasted Jonathan's blood on his fingertips.

"Perhaps the witch was right. There is something about his blood. Perhaps I don't need you anymore, my little Shadowhunter girl. I imagine your soul is very tasty."
Before Lord Loss could take hold of her, she turned the fairy ring on her finger, and she disappeared.