Author's Note: Short chapter, but another one coming in a few minutes! Enjoy!(:
Chapter Thirty-Six
Max and another man are grabbing at Jordan immediately, each taking one of his arms and holding him back.
But Jordan's barely fazed as he looks at Jace and I with large, panicked eyes. "You can't kill her!"
"Why not?" Jace drawls calmly, but despite the returned pressure of his blade against my chest, I feel the slight tremble in his hand.
"Because you were in love with her!" Jordan explodes, struggling against his captors.
"Don't be ridiculous," Jace dismisses, turning away from Jordan, back to me, and putting more pressure on the sword. It's starting to pierce past my skin now.
It's agonizing.
"You did! You both loved each other! You were getting married!" Jordan kicks out but gets nowhere. "Cassia picked the spell—she picked the loophole to be her death. She trusted you, Jace. She thought that you'd never kill her, so therefore, the door would never be unlocked! Why would she do that unless she was sure of your love?"
"She was obviously wrong!" Jace snarls, and his head snaps like a wolf's back to Jordan, fire in his eyes.
"They wanted you to forget!" Jordan cries, desperate. "Your siblings wanted you to forget, and you wanted to forget because it hurt too much—so you forgot! They tricked you, Jace! You don't remember it anymore, but you have the memories inside you!"
"Kill him," Jocelyn snaps, his hair beginning to rise in the wind. Yet her hair is moving against the wind, starting to billow upwards, not side-to-side. Her eyes are turning black. "He's lying to save her life!"
"You both have forgotten," Jordan's screaming. Max and the other man are pulling him back, towards the cliff. They'll kill him. "You've forgotten because it would cause too much trouble for others! You have to listen! Listen to me!" His voice is getting distant now, quiet amongst the howling wind.
Jace's eyes flash back to mine, angry and swirling. The blade slips deeper, dangerously close to my heart, and I cry out in sickening pain.
"Kill her!" Jocelyn's chanting, but her voice is no longer her own. It's garbled and evil and dark. Her eyes are as black as the devil's, and her hair is floating higher and higher.
Something's wrong.
Something's wrong, the voices second.
"Something's wrong, Jace!" I scream.
He must sense it, too, because he glances back to Jocelyn, just as she adds the last ingredient to the fire, and throws herself into the flames. Instead of burning and screaming, her shape changes, twisting and morphing until she is huge and hulking, until she is bigger than the fire, and darker than the night.
Demon.
It's a demon.
The demon.
The one that I've seen before, that I've seen in an old barn, trying to break free from hell, with Jace's father in front of me, with me stabbing him.
It's free now.
Kill it! the voices screech in unison.
And I feel heat in my palms, and I feel the chains melting away from my grasp, and I'm dodging out of Jace's way, the sword pulling free of my flesh. I hit the ground with a gasp before pushing myself back up, ignoring the sting in my chest, only focusing on the urge I have to kill the monster stepping free of the flames, ready to reek havoc on the world.
I run over the symbol on the ground, and the black lines charred into the earth light up underneath me, swirling and opening until there's a door there.
The door.
They are behind it, pounding at it, screaming in agony and anger, their cries mixing with the howling of the wind, until the air is filled with the ghastly chorus of the damned.
I reach for a small dagger on the ingredient table, my fingers closing around it desperately as I keep running for the monster.
The demon that ruined everything.
A flash of a face stabs at my memory, forcing its way through the wall in my mind that the voices have let crumble slightly.
A boy.
A sweet, boyish, cute and handsome face. Big pretty caramel eyes and a kind but slightly mischievous grin. Blond, shaggy curls.
He's perfect.
He's human.
Fully. Entirely.
Jace.
My steps falter.
The memories come faster.
Him laughing with me.
Stealing chaste kisses.
Dancing with me in a field.
Giving me flowers.
Sneaking visits with me in the night.
Us meeting in the gardens.
Talking. For hours on end. About everything. About nothing.
He's proposing.
I fall this time, unable to stay upright on my feet. I find myself searching for him now, ignoring the demon that is growling to life in front of me, and I find him, standing with his blade held loosely in his grip, his mouth hanging open wide as his eyes stare at the monster.
The demon is fully here now, in this world, and he's charging, running right past me. To Jace.
He's picking him up, his dripping-flesh hands, scorched by years of fire, closing around Jace's throat.
Jace is not the same now. He's part monster, too.
But he has to be that boy somewhere, doesn't he? Isabelle said there was still a small part of humanity inside.
And however small that part is, I have to save it. I can't live without it.
I pick myself up and run as hard and fast as I can. I realize the small dagger will do nothing against the monster, and just as I make this connection, I heard Isabelle crying my name.
I turn towards her slightly as I run, and I catch the graceful blade she tosses at me without breaking my stride.
And then, like something else has taken over me, I climb up the back of the demon and stab the sword into its back with all of my might.
And I pray it's enough.
I know, I know. Crazy, and y'all probably don't have a clue how the demon is there. I know it's really confusing the way I'm writing it, but I PROMISE. When this is all over, no question will be unanswered! (;