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here it is, chapter 36. Hope you like it!

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Chapter 36.

Clary took a deep breath and swung open the doors of the meeting room. The noise filled room went silent and all eyes landed on Clary. Some were filled with worry, panic, anger and some had tinges of hate in them but Clary wasn't surprised. She held authority and power in her expression.

Her voice came out hard and strong "Everyone take a seat." No one moved from where they were, Clary's eyes filled with impatience, "Sit down!"

Everyone jolted to their seats except for Clary she moved to stand at the head of the table.

Her gaze looked over the table of distraught faces and then started, "To some this may be a step back and in some ways it is… as we know Sebastian has been injured and is lying unconscious in an infirmary bed but we must move forward. The attack will go as planned and we will confirm the details next week as we planned."

"If I may speak." Asked one of the members, Clary had forgotten his name.

Clary nodded, agreeing to his request, "What are we to do with the captive?"
Clary looked at him confused, "What captive?"

"One of the wolfs that were injured and left behind was locked up in the cell. We thought it might be a source of information so we haven't killed it yet."

Clary thought for a moment about what to do and then, "Take me to the captive."

"She's in here." Five of the members took Clary down to the basement. Jacob opened the door to the cell. The cell was dimly lit, cold and damp. There were old blood stains on the wall and in the corner sat a girl with brown hair tumbling across her face, dried blood crisped the edges. Her knees were as close to her body as possible, her hands bound above her head by chains and feet bound by chains as well; silver most likely- her wrists and ankles were scorched, blistered and bleeding. She wore a brown singlet, blood splashed across it, she was wearing brown shorts that were also stained with blood. Clary couldn't determine if all the blood was hers or not. The girl slowly lifted her head, exposing her big brown eyes and bruised face; dried blood ran from her nose to her collarbone.

Her voice was horse with pain, "Clary?"

Clary's heart raced as she realised whom the girl was. Maia. One of the wolves from Luke's pack, 'Oh god! Luke!' Clary swallowed awkwardly and tried to keep her voice as steady as possible, "Leave us."

"Clary?" Becka questioned.

"I need to speak to the wolf alone… I will call if I need you." With that they left, leaving Clary and Maia alone in the cell.

"Clary please… help me." Maia begged, pulling at the chains around her wrists and ankles.

Clary didn't move she just looked at the poor werewolf with pain filled eyes.

Clary knelt down next to Maia, "Why are you here?"

Maia was so confused at how calm she was being, "Clary what do you mean why am I here? Luke's pack came to rescue you but obviously we failed. Please Clary unchain me and we can escape together."

Clary looked down in shame, "I-I-I can't."

"What?! Why not?"

Everything went quiet, Clary's heart raced as she watched realisation spread across Maia's face, "No… No! Clary how could you!?"

Clary stood up and walked across to the wall opposite Maia and sat down, "I'm surprised you didn't already know." Clary's voice came out calm, to calm for her own liking.

"Of course we didn't know! How would we know that you're evil, that you betrayed us?!" Maia's voice full of anger, pain and hate.

Clary was still calm as ever, "I thought Jace," 'Jace…' it's been the first time she'd said his name in months, she hadn't even thought about him until now, "I thought Jace or Magnus would have told you."

"The only thing Jace has said since you left was 'She's gone.' He literally hasn't said any other word and Magnus went over seas the night you disappeared. He hasn't had any contact with the Clave or us since that night except for a letter that he left when he went away."

Clary's walls started to come down, her heart slightly shattering and eyes watering.

"Clary please, let me go and I wont tell anyone. I promise. Please if you still care about us please, let me go."

Clary thought for a moment and before she could answer Becka bolted into the cell. Clary jolted to her feet, "What is it? What's wrong?"

Becka shook her head, "Nothing's wrong, it's Sebastian, he's awake!"

Clary didn't think, she just started running out of the basement and up the stairs to the infirmary, Becka trailing behind her along with Maia's screams of pleading disappearing behind her, "CLARY! PLEASE! CLARY!"
Clary darted into the Infirmary. Her heart skipped a beat as she stopped at the entrance and saw he Sebastian sitting up in his bed arguing with Jacob, "I'm fine, let me out of here Jacob."

"No, you're not fine. You were hit over the head and you were unconscious for nearly a day. I'm not letting you go until we're certain that you're better."

Clary slightly smiled, the two boys bickering like that reminded her of when Jace would argue with Alec when he was injured. Ever since she was introduced to the Circle she could see the 'brotherly' bond between them but didn't say anything about it.

"You two sound like an old married couple. Did you know that?" Clary said as she made them aware of her presence.

Sebastian smiled and went to stand up but Jacob put a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

"Give it a rest would you?" Sebastian complained.

Jacob hesitated for a second and then let go of him. Before Sebastian could even take one step Clary had flung her arms around him, pulling him into a desperate hug. Sebastian wrapped his arms around his girl and held her close, inhaling her familiar scent. Clary slowly pulled out of the embrace, looking up at him with watery eyes. Suddenly she raised her hand and SMACK!

Sebastian rubbed his red cheek, "You do realise I have a head injury don't you?"

"Don't ever scare me like that again!" Clary ordered her voice slightly shaky.

Sebastian smiled and kissed her softly, "Never again." He whispered before kissing her lovingly once more.

Clary wrapped her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss. They broke apart as Jacob coughed awkwardly. Clary slightly blushed but didn't move away from Sebastian.

Jacob pointed out, "If it was just me in here I would leave to give you guys privacy but there are other injured Shadowhunters in here and I'm sure they wouldn't like to see… that."

"You may have a point there." Sebastian joked as he sat back down on the bed; before Clary knew it Sebastian had gripped her waist and pulled her down so she was sitting on his lap. She wrapped her arms around his neck as he wrapped his around her waist, locking his hands together, kissing her cheek in the process.

"Ok, I need someone to fill in the blanks while I was unconscious." He looked at Clary and saw that she was a bit uneasy and then turned to Jacob who filled in the details for her.

He told Sebastian about who was injured, what went down at the emergency meeting. He grinned as Jacob told him about how strong Clary was with leading them, even if it was for less than an hour. He then told him about the captive, Maia. "You'll have to ask Clary about those details she was the one who questioned it."

Clary felt a little uneasy and hesitated for a moment, "It's Maia, one of the wolves form Luke's pack… she told me Luke lead the attack… they were- they were trying to." Clary dropped her hands form around his neck, looked down and fiddled with her hands, "They were here to rescue me."

"What?" It wasn't Sebastian who asked it was Jacob. Sebastian was just looking at Clary with eyes full of thought.

"Aparently J…" She had to force herself to say his name, she had no idea how Sebastian would react but he had to know, "Jace hasn't said anything about it and Magnus ran away the night I left them and they haven't heard any word form him."

She watched Sebastian cautiously, his eyes went hard and he locked his gaze on Clary's, "Did you tell her that they were wrong, that you didn't need to be rescued? That you're on my side?"

'my side? He's never called it his side it's always been our side.' She was cut out of her worried thoughts by his strong tone, "Clary, did you tell her."

Fear flicked in Clary, "I-I was going to but she figured it out before I could actually tell her. So in a way I did."

"But you hesitated telling her?!" his voice was growing with anger. Clary flinched, Sebastian unlocked his hands and slightly pushed her so that she was standing up instead of sitting on his lap, "You hesitated! Do you still care about them?!" Clary took a step back in fear. "Answer me! Do you still CARE!?"

Clary felt anger bubble inside her, "Of course I still care! They're my family! My friends! I loved them and always will! But I'm with you! I left them for you! I LEFT EVERYTHING FOR YOU! I love you but I love them! I'll never stop loving them!" Clary let out a gasp of pain as the back of Sebastian's hand slapped across Clary's cheek. She clutched her stinging cheek and her eyes started to water. She looked at Sebastian with pain, anger and horror filled eyes. She watched his angered face slowly start to fade into worry and pain at his realisation at what he just did.

Before he could stop her Clary darted out of the Infirmary and down the hall to her room. Slamming the door behind her and locking it along with drawing a locking rune on it for good measure. Her stomach churned and tears fell as she re-played the events through her mind. She felt like she was going to be sick, no, she was going to be sick. She ran into her bathroom and let it go.

She wiped her mouth and lay down on the cold tile floor on her side. Tears streaming down her now slightly bruised cheek creating a little pool of salty water next to her as she listened to Sebastian banging on the bedroom door, yelling out for her to let him in and that he was sorry. She could hear the desperation and shakiness in his voice, maybe he was sorry and didn't mean it but that meant nothing. He hit her, he would have never hurt her not initially is what she thought but she guessed maybe she was wrong. She was wrong when she thought Jace would never hurt her but yet he almost did and then she thought Sebastian wouldn't hurt her yet he did.

She asked herself that burning question she still hadn't gotten an answer to, 'What's wrong with me?'

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