Yes I am terrible human being. Yes this is short and took a while to update. But I have been busy! I apologise!
"Move." The young man holding the gun orders, pointing to inside the house. I do as he says. The gun holder is accompanied by a group of men, dressed in similar dark hoodies, all menacing.
"What do you want?" I ask, conscious of the gun at my head.
"I want money, but Mr. Morgenstern wants your lives." Another young lad answers; he was the clear leader of the gang.
Clary…
"Jace who was-" Maryse asks, coming into the hallway, before stopping short when she sees the situation.
"Move and he'll shoot." The ring leader says, pointing to my predicament.
She freezes immediately.
"Round everyone up." He orders to the rest of his cronies, who leave to search for the others. Fear courses through my veins, as the gun is not released from my head. I pull of a trigger and bang, gone. Or worse, Maryse, Max, Alec, Izzy…gone. Clary was right to be worried. The men return, one hauling Alec, one dragging Izzy and one carrying Max.
"Right. Who wants to go first?"
We all look at each other with the same scared eyes.
"Just kidding, we'll kill you later." He studies the group before him. "I know what we'll do, Mr. Morgenstern has ordered for us to take lover boy," he smirks at me. "but, I think the girl can come along for the ride." He smirks at Izzy, eyeing her up and down.
"No! You won't take any of us!" Izzy protests, struggling against the thug holding her.
He casually stalks up to her, stopping right in front of her face.
"And what are you going to do to stop me?" He asks, leaning forward so much so that there is only about an inch in between them.
She spits at him, but he merely laughs and swiftly grabs a gun from his waistband and points it at Max. Raising an eyebrow at Izzy.
"How about now?"
"You can't just-"
"Oh, but I can." He says, clicking off the safety mechanism, gun still trained on Max. Her eyes widen, betraying her fear and he smirks, kissing her on the cheek before moving back.
"Right. Tie them up, I'll kill them when I return. Ray, Ed, with me." He commands and suddenly my hands are being tied behind my back and I'm pulled back out of the door. We both struggle against them, but we are merely dragged towards a van, no fuss. The two other thugs jump into the front and the ringleader opens the back door, shoving us both in, before jumping in opposite us on the opposing wooden bench. The truck rumbles to a start and the ringleader assesses me, taking in my looks.
"Jace Herondale, I've heard you're Clarissa's new lover boy."
I grit my teeth at the mention of Clary.
"How do you know her?"
He sniggers.
"Oh I certainly know her. You know, you're a lucky man, she's great in bed." He goads. I grind my teeth together; he must be one of those men she met.
"She puts up a good fight, very…feisty. Very pretty too. And the way she gasps just before you kiss-"
"Shut up! SHUT UP!" I yell. He smirks.
"What? Annoyed that I got to see your girlfriend in bed first?"
"You raped her,"
"Oh she was perfectly willing,"
"To get away from you. How much did you pay?"
"Oh I don't know, she was pretty cheap. Valentine gave me a good bargain, said she wasn't worth much at all. I didn't agree, but a bargain is a bargain."
"She's not an object to be-"
"Her father doesn't seem to have a problem with it."
"Clarissa, we're going out." Valentine orders, interrupting the dinner I was trying to eat with Phin. She immediately gets up to leave, but Valentine grabs her by the arm. I stand up defiantly, my chair scraping against the floor behind me. "We're all going out." He rectifies, giving me a challenging glare.
"No. Why does Phin have to come?"
"Don't ask questions."
"Don't take my little sister to a dangerous family gathering."
"How did you know we were going to a family gathering?"
"I…uh…Jon told me."
"Mm."
"It doesn't change the fact that she is not going."
He slaps me candidly around the face.
"It doesn't matter what you want, I want you both of you to come with me. I'm sure you don't want anyone getting hurt?"
He shakes Phin roughly, illustrating his point.
"Why? Why her? Why now?"
"Lets just say I have a surprise for you."
"A surprise?"
He smirks.
"Well it wouldn't be a very good surprise if I told you, but I'll give you a little spoiler. Tonight you will do as I say, or your sister gets it. Understand?"
Phin's eyes widen.
"Yes, yes! I understand,"
"Good, now move."
"Alec, Max I don't say this often enough but I love you." I tell my children, both frightful, and tied to similar chairs in our dining room. Our captors pace the room clearly bored and shoot me a reprimanding looks for having spoken.
"Mum, I'm really scared." Max whispers, eyes watering.
"It'll be alright."
One of the captors scoff.
"Go ahead, tell him that the Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy a real, doesn't make it true."
I scowl at him, but he merely turns away.
"I never told Magnus I loved him." Alec mutters, eyes cast to the ground.
"M-magnus?"
My son looks up and smiles sheepishly.
"Yeah. I may as well say it now. Mum, I'm gay."
"Alright, everybody out." The rapist orders, before dragging me and Izzy out of the back of the van. I look up, neck stretching to see the top of the building we stopped in front of. It looked like a gothic style version of a hospital, bits of old building propped up with newer material to make it habitable. The ringleader presses a gun to my back.
"Walk."
He leads us over to a back entrance, the door creaks as we push through it. He pushes me down a series of corridors, taking me closer to the noise erupting from what I assume is a great big hall.
"Leave the girl in there." He orders, leaving Izzy locked in one of the adjoining rooms. She flashes me a frightened look and I tense, realising how hopeless this is.
"Keep Walking."
I clutch Phin's hand tightly as I navigate my way through the crowds of people doing whatever they fancy, really. There is some dancing on a makeshift dance floor, surrounded by massive loud speakers. There is a full out Casino for the gamblers, a fighting arena, a bar…All the things they'd want. Valentine looks back to check I'm following and then walks further off to go towards the Casino area. I roll my eyes at his back and push through the crowds until I smack into his back. He grunts at me.
"Ah, brother!" Malachi exclaims, clasping him on the back. His eyes roam over me and Phin, who is trying to hide behind me. "What have we got here?"
Valentine leans in to whisper to Malachi, who smiles slowly as he listens. He nods.
"I'm busy. Go do something else, but don't think about leaving." Valentine orders, before turning away to join in with a game.
I sigh and drag Phin along to the little nook in the corner of the great hall, where there are some battered sofas and not many people. I sit down on one and Phin clambers on top of me, terrified.
"You know, why don't we just kill them now." One capturer complains.
"No we can't, we have orders from the Boss."
"To hell with his orders-"
"GET DOWN OR WE'LL SHOOT!" Another voice yells and I look up to see a man, holding a big gun, pointing it at the thugs. More men come to his side and train their guns on them and a few women I might add. I squint, recognising a few of them that I remember passing in the street… The thugs drop their guns and our saviours rush to handcuff them. One of the woman, only about 20 years old, looks towards me. I think I met her when she was walking her dog.
"We're sorry we didn't arrive sooner." She states, untying my hands. I stare at her dumbfounded.
"W-who are you?"
"Oh my apologies. We are the CIA."
Colby
I catch a glimpse of red and swear, eyes focusing on the redhead in the corner. I need to tell her how badly the plan has been mucked up. I locate Valentine, finding him playing some drinking game in the corner. He looks up when I approach.
"Want a shot before the fight? You might want to give yourself a kick."
"I know something else that might give me a kick." I say and lower my voice. He chuckles when he hears what I have to say.
"Go ahead, but don't take too long and because you're a good lad, I'll let you pay up later."
I nod and turn away. Feeling sick that he could just give her up like that, he really had no soul. I could feel his eyes on me as I made my way towards Clary, I look back and he winks, I smirk back, uncharacteristically. I cannot afford to lose my alias. Her eyes find me walking towards her and she looks relieved and almost smiles, but I shoot her a warning look. It quickly turns into a frown. I approach her and shove Phin off of her, roughly picking her up by the arm. She gives me a look of betrayal.
"Hey! Isaa-"
I bring her closer, my body language screaming violence, she looks scared.
"Clary, I need you to keep struggling until we get into a spare room. Then I will tell you what is going on, but your father is watching and he thinks this is something else."
"Phin-"
I shake my head. Why would I take her little sister with me? That would be plain creepy. I drag her and she struggles as I asked, easily overpowered by me. When I find a door, I pull her through it and then let go of her as soon as we are alone. I go into one of the first rooms I see; it's empty bar the sparse bits of white sheet covered furniture.
"What is going on!? Why did you take me away from Phin!? Are you crazy!? She's just out there-"
"Okay, Clary. I know that you don't want to leave her and neither do I, but this is important and I needed to get you alone."
"What's so important!?"
"The Lightwoods were kidnapped, Maryse, Max and Alec are fine. The CIA came just in time, but half our men are delayed and caught up. There was a big blow up in the white house, so half our people are transferring over to the presidential priority mission. I don't have enough men to pull this off safely. There is going to be havoc and you need to know how to get out and look after yourself."
She nods.
"You said, Maryse, Max and Alec are fine. What about Jace and Izzy?"
"T-they were taken."
"WHAT!?" She screams, her eyes brimming with tears.
"We think they're here."
"But they could get hurt and Izzy is pretty so, oh god, she should not be here."
"I know. I KNOW. I'm on it, but there's nothing more I can do for you right now then give you this." I say and press the pistol into her shaking hands.
"W-what am I supposed to do?"
I show her how to use the gun, trying not to get distracted by the close vicinity required to teach her. She has a boyfriend, Isaac. Shut up. Afterwards, she stares at the gun in her hand, looking at me scared and helpless.
"Y-you don't think I'll use it?"
"I don't know, but right now I'm working on the assumption that all those guys have guns and it'll be a free for all."
"Phin-"
"Is your first priority, the moment shots are fired you get her out of there."
She nods. I let my eyes roam over her face, wiping a way a few tears. She frowns at me.
"I'm sorry for this, but I'm not going to die before I get to kiss the bravest girl I've ever known."
Clary
When Isaac kisses me it is a big shock and I remain stiff until he pulls away.
"Boyfriend I know, but I'm going to die anyway."
I just stare at him in shock, but he gives me a shy smile and opens the door to the room. When we renter the hall, Valentine immediately pounces on him.
"Get ready, it's in five minutes."
Isaac runs off and I'm left standing there, conscious of the gun tucked in the waistband of my jeans.
"I found your piece of trash lying around, you should take better care of it" He sneers and thrusts Phin into my arms.
"Now, come with me, I have some entertainment to show you."
He leaves and I follow, approaching the fighting ring. Which was really only a circle on the ground. He grabs me and pushes me right to the front of the growing crowd. I don't understand what is going on until I see a tangle of blonde hair and muscles being thrust into the fighter's ring.
"JACE!" I yell and try to rush towards him, but Valentine pulls me back, squashing me hard against him. One arm around my neck and the other across my waist, holding me in place. Jace looks up, eyes finding mine. Hurt, Anger and Helplessness flash across his face. I struggle to reach him.
"Now you're going to watch what happens when you get too friendly with the locals." Valentine says.
He chuckles as the opponent walks out calmly.
"I think you are already familiar with who he's going to fight."
And I was. It was Isaac.