-Simon

We have been walking for a while now after leaving the cellar. None of us have said much of anything except 'watch out for that rock' or 'we turn this way'. Izzy hasn't said anything to me, much less even looked at me for longer than a fleeting glance. I can't read her so I have no idea what is going on in her head.

"So...how did you two find me?" I had to say something. The silence was too much. "I just now realized that I hadn't asked you. I was too busy thinking about..." Crap. What do I say?

"I bet I know what you were thinking about." Maia says while she glances at Isabelle. The look Izzy gives Maia is one that would turn a normal person to stone. Maia clears her throat uncomfortably before continuing. "I uh...sniffed you out." Maia says sheepishly. "I followed your scent."

"You smelled for me?" I ask while my voice drifts up an octave in surprise.

"Well," Izzy says, "Maia, Alec, and myself were outside of the Accords Hall earlier when we ran into Clary's mom. She said that you had left with Raphael and had walked out of the city with him." Izzy stops in her tracks and faces me full on. "Why would you go with him, Simon? Do you really have that big of a death wish?" She stops for a second and puts one hand on her hip and the other rubs her brow while looking at the ground. "I have already lost too much in the past few days. I can't..."

I turn and see that Maia has graciously walked a little ways away trying to give us our space. I step closer to Izzy and put one hand on her face. "I'm sorry, Iz. I didn't think he was going to try and kill me just like that. I just thought he wanted something from me, that's all."

Her face is still down and I bend down quickly to lock her eyes with mine and bring her face up to me. "Simon, why do you have to be so stupid!" she groans at me.

"I know, I know. I am the stupidest vampire that ever lived." I give her a tiny smile.

"Why was he about to kill you anyway?" Izzy asks. "Do you just naturally inspire that much hatred?"

I can't help but laugh a little at that. I look back down at my hand on her face and rub my thumb along her cheekbone. Her eyes travel from mine to my lips and mine do the same. I close the distance between us and kiss her. This kiss is soft and sweet and doesn't last very long as she pulls away. "You never did tell me why he was going to kill you."

I step back and drop my hand from her face. "It was actually Valentine who wanted me dead so badly." Izzy's eyebrows shoot up to her hairline when she hears this. "Well, Raphael wanted me dead but Valentine sort of sealed the deal. He told Raphael if he killed me, he would turn him into a daylighter."

"But why would Valentine make a deal with a vampire? And why would Raphael even take the deal knowing that Valentine has vowed to kill all downworlders?"

"Because, Izzy, Valentine told him that he would let him live if he killed me." I chuckle without humor at this. "Maybe I do inspire insane amounts of hatred. He was willing to let a vampire live, who he has sworn to kill, all in exchange for my death." Hearing myself say it out loud makes it sound really, really bad and I suddenly get a knot in my stomach.

I look back up to Izzy to try and gauge her reaction and it isn't what I expected. She looks like she is thinking really hard about something. "Or..." she starts to say, "he was using killing you to get Clary to cooperate with him; whatever he wants her to do." She looks pointedly at me. "Clary would do anything if she thought you were in danger. All he would have to do was use the Spy rune to show you locked up in a cellar and she would do anything to save you."

'That has to be it. Why didn't I think of that.' I say to myself. "That actually makes a lot of sense, Izzy." I lock my eyes to hers. "Not only is she drop dead gorgeous folks, she is a genius too." I say in my mock announcer voice. Izzy looks at me and rolls her eyes like she is annoyed but I see the hint of a smile playing at her lips. 'Score for Lewis' I think to myself. I made the Isabelle Lightwood smile. I move towards her, fully planning on wrapping her in my arms and kissing her senseless, when I hear Maia. "Come on you guys. You can make out later."

Izzy rolls her eyes again but I, the smooth and suave Simon Lewis, blush furiously and drop my head in embarrassment.

We walk in a much less uncomfortable silence and it takes about another 45 minutes to reach the gates of the city. When we do, I can see that the sun is just starting to peak over the horizon and the few people walking about are wearing their white mourning clothes. By the time we reach the steps of the Accords Hall, it is early morning. I follow Izzy up the steps and into to Hall and see Clary angrily climbing the steps of the dais. "What the hell is going on?" I mutter to myself. I want to run and grab her and hug her till my arms fall off because I haven't seen her since Valentine's ship. When she turns around and faces the crowd, I see how awful she looks. She is pale, with dark circles around her red eyes. If it is even possible, she looks like she has lost a few pounds. And she looks angry.

"Shut up!" She shouts with her fists clenched at her sides. "I am so tired of the fighting!" Someone shouts from the crowd 'Traitor!' while another one shouts 'Liar'.

Clary huffs out a big breath before she continues. "Although most of you already seem to know who I am," she looks in the direction the shouts came from, "I am going to tell the rest of you. I am Valentine's daughter and I have just escaped from him for the second time this week." A low murmur rushes through the crowd. One man I think is Consul Dieudonne, climbs the step and places a hand on her arm to drag her down the steps. I see Jace moving through the crowd and he pushes his way to the stairs as he makes his way to the man holding Clary's arm. Thankfully, before Jace can reach the Consul, Clary jerks her arm out of his hand and says something low and menacing that I can't make out over the crowd, but the look on her face says it all. It is pure fury and determination. The Consul pauses for a second and then he takes a few steps back while Jace pauses halfway up the steps.

"You must work with the downworlders." She says matter of factly. "If I have learned anything over the past few weeks, it is that my father will stop at nothing to get what he wants. And whether all of you want to admit it or not, most of you are scared of a war with him." Another rumble of dissent runs through the crowd. "But there is a way I can help. While I was being held captive, I created a Binding rune that will allow you to pair yourselves with a downworlder and share their powers."

Someone from the crowd speaks up and shouts, "Liar! How can we trust you, Valentine's daughter?"

"Because," the life seems to drain out of her a little as she says this, "Because the last time I saw him, he was trying to kill me." Because I have known her so long, I can see in her eyes that there is more to the story than what she has just said. "Listen, you can either believe me or not," Clary continues, "but if you don't fight with the downworlders and allow yourselves to be paired with them, then you doom our race to death." The crowd is quiet, so she keeps going.

"I can see that a few of you are still skeptical about my abilities, so I would like to ask for volunteers. I see a few downworlders in here. If any of you..." Clary breaks off and looks to a corner of the room. I look up over the heads of the crowd and see a familiar spiky haired man covered in glitter making his way through the crowd up towards the dais. Clary smiles when she sees that it is Magnus and he gives her a smile back. "I also need a shadowhunter for him to be paired with." Her eyes scan the crowd and then I hear people start to murmur again. Just as Magnus climbs the stairs, I see Alec hurriedly pushing his way to the dais. I glance back up at Magnus and he is practically beaming from ear to ear as he watches Alec make his way to him.

Alec takes the steps two at a time and then does something I never expected to see in a million years. He gives Magnus a kiss on the lips. Albeit a quick one, but it was enough to set the crowd in another roar of murmurs. I glance over at Izzy for the first time since we entered through the doors and she is smiling from ear to ear watching her brother. I reach out and grab her hand, fully expecting her to pull it back; but she lets me. She looks over at me and gives me a shy smile before returning her attention back to the dais.

Clary faces the crowd again with a smile on her face after watching Alec and Magnus' exchange, and continues. "This rune here," she draws a rune of one of the pillars on the dais, "is the Binding rune. This is one of a pair. One will go on you and the other will go on the downworlders whose powers you want to share."

A woman's voice can be heard over the crowd, "Are you expecting us to believe that a downworlder will be able to bear that Mark?" The lady's loud scoff can be heard. "Only the angel's children can bear the Marks of heaven." I look up to Clary and see her eyes roll before she continues. "No, I don't expect you to believe me; that's why I brought up these volunteers. To show you." Clary walks over to Alec and he pulls out his stele. She says something to him and he draws the new rune on himself. He steps up to Magnus who gives a wary look at Clary. She then nods her head and Magnus seems to steel himself and nods to Alec. The whole Hall is quiet. Everyone's eyes are on what is happening on the dais. Izzy's hand squeezes mine and then Alec pulls away from Magnus who looks down at his arm where a perfect black Mark now is. The whole room erupts into quiet whispers. Alec turns around and brings his hands together while Magnus whispers in his ear and then there are blue sparks shooting out of Alec's hands. When everyone sees this, the room explodes into noise.

Clary stands there and waits a few moments while everyone shouts numerous things at her. Some are nice and some are not so nice. She looks tired and drained and annoyed. She looks like she just wants to be done with all of this. She gives them about a minute before bringing the attention back to her. "Now it's your choice. You can either accept the help of downworlders, or allow my father to kill you off one by one. It's your choice." She looks down at Jace waiting at the bottom of the steps for her and walks into his arms. Now that she is done with her little speech and off of the dais, I start pushing my was through the crowd to her. I get a lot of sideways glances, but I don't care. My best friend looks like she could really use a hug right now. I see her and Jace making their way to the side of the room and I say loudly, "Clary!" Her head jerks up and I can see that she recognized my voice. "Clary!" I say again and she zeroes in on me. "Simon!" she yells as her face lights up.

We both close the distance in no time and she jumps her tiny self into my arms and I pick her up and we giggle like little girls. "I missed you so much, Clary." I say lowly into her hair. I set her down and she steps back and takes my hands into hers. Her smile is mirrored in my face and our eyes are almost forced shut with the size of our smiles. "I missed you too, Simon." she says and then her smile drops. She brings her hand up to my face and then whacks me across the back of my head. "What the hell were you thinking, Lewis?!" she shouts at me. "Going off with Raphael! Do you actually have a death wish?" Clary asks me. I rub the back of my head in mock hurt when I hear Izzy say, "That's exactly what I said to him." I look at her and she smiles at me before Clary surprises her with a hug.

"Thanks for bringing my best friend back." Clary says to Izzy. Izzy pulls back and then gestures towards Jace as she walks to him and gives him a hug. "Thanks for bringing my brother back." she says to Clary.

Clary brings her hand up to her chin thoughtfully. "You know Izzy," Clary begins, "do you think that they feel emasculated having to be rescued by women all of the time?"

Izzy lets out a laugh before she brings her hand to her chin in mock thought. "I don't know. What do you say, Jace? How does it feel?"

"Hey," Jace says holding his hands up. "I can rescue myself perfectly fine, thank you very much." Clary smiles up at him and reaches up and gives him a quick kiss. I am surprised when I don't gag or recoil at the sight and I can feel Izzy's eyes boring into me from the side. After the quick kiss, Clary's smile falls, again, and she glances shyly at me. It's then that I realize we never had 'the talk'.

Clary pulls her hands together in front of her and starts twisting them together nervously. "Um, Simon. Can we talk for a second."

I smile down at her as I can feel both Jace and Izzy's eyes on us and I say, "There is no need to talk, Clary. I can finally see how good you two," I gesture at Jace, "are together. Although it pains me to admit it because it's Jace we're talking about." Her eyes light up and a smile pulls her face up. "I just wish he wasn't so damn irritating." Clary lets out a hearty laugh, and for a second there, I think I see Jace laugh a little. She brings her arms up to my neck and gives me another hug that I return. "And anyway," I say in her ear, "I think there is a little something going on with me and Izzy." She pulls back quickly and glances at Izzy and then back to me. She pulls her arm back and gives me a punch on the arm as to say 'you go Simon Lewis!'.

Jace steps forward then and wraps his arms around his girlfriend and she leans heavily into him. "I need to get Clary to a bed soon. I think she might collapse if I don't." Jace's tone is halfway joking but I can hear the undercurrent of concern in his voice.

"How did you two escape anyway?" Izzy asks Jace.

I watch as Clary's face completely drains of color and Jace just shakes his head 'no' at her question. "We will explain everything later Iz." Jace says and then he drags her slumping body off.

-Luke

"You didn't have to make cookies, Amatis." I tell my sister.

"I know. But I remember that they were you favorite." Amatis says and smiles shyly at me.

Things are still fairly awkward between us. The last time I saw her almost seventeen years ago, she slammed the door in my face and told me that I should kill myself for becoming a werewolf. The hurt that she caused from her actions and words still rub raw to this day. Even now, when she smiles at me, her words still echo in my mind. "Yes. You still make them just like mom did." I say to her. She apologized and I accepted it and I am trying to move on. I can see the regret in her eyes; the same color eyes that I have. I reach down and pick up a cookie at her promptings and take a bite as she watches me. I almost feel like an animal in a zoo with just how much she has watched me.

"You look older, Lucian." Amatis says wistfully.

I swallow my bite of cookie and take a swig of the milk she set out for me. "That tends to happen when almost seventeen years pass between seeing each other." I say not able to keep all of the bitterness out of my voice. She dips her head and reaches up to tuck a piece of her hair behind her ears. She begins to speak while looking at her hands in her lap. "There is not one day that goes by that I do not regret saying what I said to you." She looks up and meets my eyes with hers. "I..I didn't mean it." she says more softly.

I sigh and reach my hand across the table and take hers in mine. "I know, Amatis." I say to her. I am about to stand and pull her into a hug when we hear a knock at the door. Amatis looks up to me in question and I tell her that it is probably Jocelyn.

"Oh." she says. "I haven't seen her in sixteen years."

"Stay here." I say to her. "I will get it." I get up and walk through to the kitchen door and cross the living room and reach the door. I can't help but let a smile tug the corners of my mouth up. I still can't believe she told me she loved me. With a smile on my face, I open the door to find Jocelyn except she isn't smiling back at me. She looks furious. The smile slips from my face and just as I am about to ask her what is wrong, she pulls her hand back and swings it forward, effectively slapping me across the face with incredible force. My eyes widen in shock and I look to her in confusion. I bring one of my hands to cup my face and begin to speak, "What was that for?" I ask her in my affronted voice.

She pushed past me and into the house. "You," Jocelyn jabs her finger at me, "abandoned Clary?" The way she said it, it was more of a statement than an accusation.

"What are you talking about?" I ask her.

"I just ran into Clary and she told me that you abandoned her after Valentine took me. She said that you told her not to bother you with her problems." Jocelyn says angrily, but all I can focus on is that she said she saw Clary.

"Clary?!" I shout out. "You saw Clary? Is she back? Is she okay?" I get all of the questions out in rapid fire style and the concern in my voice softens her expression ever so slightly.

"I saw her." Jocelyn says with a dejected look. "I think she is okay. She wouldn't let me anywhere near her so I can't know for sure." I can see the pain in her eyes as she says this and I take a step to move closer to her and she backs away; the anger returning to her eyes.

"So, is it true?" she asks me sternly, daring me to say no.

"Well, yes. I did tell her that." Jocelyn's face starts to turn red and I can see the fire building in her. I quickly raise my hands up in an apologetic motion. "Valentine was watching me. I was trying to keep her safe and away from him." I say hurriedly.

Jocelyn doesn't look impressed by my reason. "So you thought leaving her completely by herself was the better option? She was attacked by a demon, Luke, and you weren't there to protect her like you swore to me that you would be!" She yells the last part at me. "She had to depend on complete strangers to help her and protect her! She was led straight to Valentine by Hodge at the institute. If you had been with her, that never would have happened! You left her to herself, you bastard! She had no one!" Jocelyn collapses onto the couch and starts to cry softly into her hands.

I move to sit next to her, and then think better of it, so I just settle for sitting on my knees in front of her. "Jocelyn...I thought I was doing the right thing." My voice is soft and pleading. I don't think I can bear to lose her after I finally just got her. I swallow past the lump in my throat and continue. "I took over the New York pack and sent my men to watch over her. They watched her and reported her whereabouts to me constantly. She was with the Lightwood children and Jace; who I thought way Michael Wayland's child."

"But she didn't know that, did she?" Jocelyn asks. I shake my head no. "You left her completely by herself. You shunned her and made her believe that you didn't love her. I trusted you to protect her, to take her in if something were to happen to me. I trusted you, Luke. And you ran that trust into the ground the moment you abandoned Clary."

There is nothing I can say because Jocelyn is right. I did abandon her. I lead her to believe that she didn't mean anything to me. I told her not to bother me with her problems. I made her think that I didn't love her like she is my daughter. That she couldn't trust me. Shame washes over me as I realize all of the mistakes I made.

"You're right." I almost whisper. "I did do all of those things." I place my face in my hands. "I did what I thought was the best thing in that moment. Looking back, I can see all of my mistakes plainly like they are written in bold." I sit back onto the floor and rest my arms on my bent knees. "I should have taken her in immediately. Let the pack protect her. But in the moment, I thought that keeping her away from me and Valentine's eyes, was the right thing to do." I start to feel the desperation of my situation seep into my body. I am losing everything that I love and it is all my fault. Jocelyn hates me for what I did to Clary. I hate myself for what I did to Clary. I wouldn't blame her if she never wanted to see me again. "I am so sorry." I whisper to her as my head hangs in between my legs. "I was so stupid. I'm sorry."

I look up as I see Jocelyn stand and I look after her questioningly. "I need some time to think, Luke." she says and then she walks out of the door. The sound of the door slamming shut reverberates in my mind and I can't help but think she just shut the door between us in more ways than just one as my heart clenches in pain.

-Jace

We get to the house we have moved to after about ten minutes of walking. It's not as big as the Penhallows, but not many houses are. I look down at Clary who looks utterly exhausted and then back up at Maryse who is leading the way. "You can put her in this room." Maryse says gesturing to the first bedroom on the right. "You and Alec are going to sleep in the room upstairs."

Before she is even done with the last sentence, I am shaking my head no. "I am going to stay with Clary." I tell her as Clary tightens her hold on our intertwined hands.

Maryse looks at me with her motherly look of disapproval and opens her mouth to protest. "I don't.."

I cut her off. "I am going to stay with Clary." I say with a bitter finality that earns me a shocked look from Maryse. She seems to think about it for a few moments before she gives in and just nods before walking back down the wallpapered hallway. I open the door and motion for Clary to go in. There is a bed on the far wall in between two windows that are flanked by the same flower pattern that is on the wallpaper. The comforter on the bed is thankfully just a plain white and I can see a small bathroom to the left of the bed. She walks in and stands at the foot of the bed for a moment until she looks up at me. "I don't have any pajamas." Clary says to me.

"I will run upstairs to where Maryse said Alec and I were going to stay and grab you one of my t-shirts. I am assuming they brought all of my stuff with them here." I look down at her as I say this to look into her tired eyes. I put my hands on either side of her face to hold her gaze. "I will be right back. Okay?" I say to her. She leans up and gives me a quick peck before she responds. "I know you will, Jace."

I painfully pull myself away from her and walk backwards to the door while holding her gaze. I reach the door and pull it open and then run up the stairs to another, smaller hallway. There are only two doors; one on either side of the hall. I swing open the first door, the one on the left, and find another small bathroom. I quickly shut that door and open the other one to find a tiny bedroom with bunk beds and I see my bag on the top one. I take a few steps into the room and reach my bag quickly. I start digging through it before just deciding that I should just take it down to our room.

I open the door to mine and Clary's room expecting to find her where I left her and instead, I hear running water coming from the bathroom. I walk tentatively towards the cracked door and slowly push it open. Clary is standing with her back facing me in nothing but her panties, obviously about to step into the shower. I set the bag down just outside of the bathroom and step inside. She hears me and turns around to give me a warm smile. I can't help but look her up and down, lingering on certain spots. 'I can't help it', I say to myself, 'I am a teenage boy and Clary is hot as fuck and practically naked'.

She sees me struggling to maintain my cool and mercifully speaks. "I just needed to wash off...everthing that has happened." She tilts her head to towards the shower. "Would you like to join me? I don't want to be alone."

Before she can get halfway done with the last two sentences, I am stripping quickly and tossing all of my clothing on the floor with hers. She smiles and lets out an honest laugh before she walks over to me and presses her bare chest against mine while wrapping her arms around my waist. "I can't seem to get my panties off, though." Clary says thoughtfully. "Would you be willing to help me?" Once again, before she can get through with the last sentence, I dip down at lightning speed and pull down her underwear along with mine. She lets out another laugh, a little bigger this time. When I come back up and meet her eyes, she leans in and kisses me senseless and then pulls me into the shower with her.

The water is hot and the bathroom is quickly filling with steam. She steps into the stream of the water and tilts her head back with her eyes closed, wetting her hair and dragging her fingers through it while the steam rises from her body. I can feel myself responding to the sight in front of me. After thoroughly wetting her hair, she leans her head back to me and looks at me with her beautiful bright green eyes and then notices my 'problem'.

Her eyes travel slowly back up to mine and then she says, "Make me forget everything. Make me forget who I am." Clary says this with desire, turning her eyes a dark green.

I swiftly wrap my arm around her waist and pull her to me. Our bodies crash together with a loud smack and my hands greedily slide over her slick body. Her hands tangle in my hair as our kisses become passionate and deep. My lips then move down her neck and onto the rest of her as she sighs my name. "Jace.." Her breath comes out as a seductive whisper, caressing my name. "Make me forget." and that is exactly what I did for the next hour until the water turned cold.