Chapter 24: We R Monsters

"You sick bastard!" Isabelle screamed, fingers curling into her palm. She pointed a finger straight at Jonathan Morgenstern, whose own knuckles were bloodied. "How could you!"

Isabelle was never the type to really blow a fuse. And when she did, well, it was always going to be the end of the world. And she never lost her cool a lot of times in her life. She might get pissed, but never seriously pissed where she just wants to wring your neck and throw you off a bridge. No, never that kind of pissed. This anger that ran through her now, it was different from the everyday anger that Jace gave her.

Jace pissed her off sometimes, but beneath those squabbles, there was sibling love. This didn't have sibling love to back it up. This was pure anger. Her vision was tinted a bloody red.

Her bag slung in her other hand as she headed for Jonathan, who didn't look very affected by what was happening.

"You do not beat my brother up!" Isabelle screamed, finally getting to him. She threw her hand across his face for a slap but he grabbed her wrist and then yanked her to the side. Isabelle gasped, the pain shooting up her arm. "You goddamn asshole," She hissed, the jolt of pain making her head ache.

"How could you!" Her voice cracked and Jonathan unwrapped his fingers around her wrist and pushed her harshly to the ground.

"I did what was needed of an older brother," Jonathan said with a distasteful look. "I'm sorry I'm late for our date. Would you still want to have dinner?" His lips curled into the sickest of smiles and Isabelle's eyes widened.

He was crazy.

Jonathan Morgenstern was a psychopath.

And Jace might call her a psychopath in the kitchen, but this was different. Jonathan beat Jace up! What the hell. Who did that?

She felt blood well around the fingers that she dug into her skin and then closed her eyes.

"You're sick. You're sick and disgusting. You're…All kinds of wrong," Isabelle sounded calmer now, not a screaming mess as she had been earlier. The pain in her arm was a total bitch. And somewhere inside the house, Jace was knocked out.

Isabelle suddenly felt like a child. And she was vaguely relieved of Max and Hodge being out for their usual 'plant study' with Madeleine. She didn't want them around when Jonathan sought Jace out. When he beat her brother up. And she didn't want anyone to see her now – broken and defeated.

She was supposed to be strong! Never breaking! Never bending. She was supposed to protect her brothers, her family. Even when they didn't want it. She was supposed to be a bitch to other people just to make her family feel good. But now here she was with a twisted arm, her tears ruining her makeup.

Hatred boiled within her at the sight of Jonathan.

"You're disgusting!" Isabelle's voice rose again and something dangerous and scary flashed in Jonathan's eyes.

"I am not." He said very slowly, but his breathing came out ragged. As if he was holding himself back.

She wanted to throw him down the damn road and then run her over again and again until every damned bone in his body was turned to ash. Pulverized.

"You don't understand. You've never loved a sibling," Jonathan turned around then, and he looked back down at her as he reached the door. Was he thinking of offering her his hand? Because if he so much as came to her then she would stab him with the nearest sharp object. Whatever it was going to be. Or bite his hand off. But he didn't. He just walked off, leaving Isabelle with a new kind of hate in her.

How dare he.

How dare he even assume that she never loved a sibling! What the hell was she doing for Jace and Alec? For Max? She loved her little brother and those two other idiots. She loved them!

He had a sick definition of love. What he was doing to Clary…It was wrong. It was all kinds of wrong. But when the hate for Jonathan blossomed, there was a distrust that inhabited her – distrust for Clary. She was related to that monster.

And that monster had beaten her brother up. Nothing…Nothing would ever let her forget. Nothing would ever help.

She tried to stand up and leaned against the wall, her head still throbbing.

She needed her big brother. She needed Alec. Biting on her lip and finding the strength to grip her phone and dial Alec's number, Isabelle breathed in.

Jonathan was wrong about her not loving her brothers. He probably even thought that her siblings had no love for her, that they were all just in this for the hell of it. But they were a family. The Lightwoods were a family.

And she only needed to say those four words and Alec would come running, would probably slam Jonathan against the nearest wall and throw him into the deepest pit he could find. Make sure he never came back. Never showed his ugly face again.

"Alec, I need you."

Short chapter is short. But I have like a lot of Malec/Alec up ahead! So just give me my cookie and review.

No, I am not gonna play 'next-chapter-hostage' because, as you all know, I update really fast. So yeahhh.