Chapter 10:
City of Demons
I do not own anything of Cassandra Clare or any of the characters mentioned in this fan-fiction from the Mortal Instruments. The only thing I own are their actions and speech.
This is set after city of heavenly fire Jocelyn and Luke are on their honeymoon and Clary has the house to herself... What will happen?...
Chapter 10: Plans in Motion
City of Demons
I do not own anything of Cassandra Clare or any of the characters mentioned in this fan-fiction from the Mortal Instruments. The only thing I own are their actions and speech.
This is set after city of heavenly fire Jocelyn and Luke are on their honeymoon and Clary has the house to herself... What will happen?...
Chapter 10 - Plans in Motion
Cary's Point of View
After this revelation the institute went into overdrive. The pregnancy gave us this whole new deadline to end the danger as soon as possible to keep the baby safe. I was still feeling drained from the rune I had drawn on Jace. However, it seemed to have worked exceptionally well because Jace was working at full speed. Everyone had rushed into the library and currently were scattered trying to combine every piece of information we could on Sebastian, bringing people back from the dead, and the demon attacks.
Currently our information was very limited. It was clear that Sebastian was getting help from someone very powerful. Whoever this person was, they certainly should be feared. One question was why would this person be helping Sebastian? To gain power? Overthrow the shadow hunters? My mind kept spinning over these questions over and over trying to make sense of what could possibly be happening. One thing that was clear was that we would have to be ready.
The research went on for several hours, we were still no closer to finding ant answers that would help us. By now it was well past lunch time, it wasn't until I heard Jace's stomach growl from the chair next to me that I suggested we all take a much needed break.
Everyone headed to the kitchen and began pulling out an assorted array of their chosen foods. I selected some plain toast, after realising for the first time today just how much my stomach was tossing.
"Is that all you want? You need to keep your strength up" Jace said, acknowledging my pretty empty plate.
"Believe me when I tell you this is probably going to be all I can manage" at this he gave me a sympathetic look and continued to grab food for himself.
Lunch was pretty quiet, everyone was deep in thought. Not to mention in shock, so much has happened in such a short space of time, it feels as though just for this moment the world had stopped rushing by. I barely picked at my piece of toast before my stomach decided it was too much, so I pushed the plate away from me not wanting the spend the rest of the afternoon clutching the toilet bowl. Jace noticed and frowned at this but didn't object, though I know he will try to get me to eat something later.
After a while everyone had finished eating. Simon and Izzy excused themselves, and Magnus left stating he had business to attend. This left Jace, Alec and myself, sensing the vibe in the room I excused myself under the excuse that I was tired. Jace kissed me on me head and I made my way to my room to relax.
Jace's Point of View
After everyone had left Alec and I sat quietly at the table for a few moments.
"Are you okay Jace?" Alec broke the silence, looking at me from across the table. Honestly I didn't even know how to begin to answer that. My mind had been spinning since I found out Clary was pregnant, now knowing that I may not be able to protect her or the baby from what's coming terrified me. Clary had already been attacked once, I may not be so lucky next time.
"I don't know" I said looking up and into my paribati's eyes. I could see that he felt for me and my situation. Even without all of the danger that loomed over us I have no idea how I could be a father. I have no good example to measure myself by. Raised by a psychotic father hellbent on destroying life as we know it. My biological father killed along with my mother in order for me to be raised as a weapon. Even my adoptive father Robert had an affair and abandoned us all for his new love.
"Alec. How can I be a father? I can't do this, I'm not cut out for it". I put my head in my hands, my fingers in my hair, trying to figure out how this could possibly end well. I'm going to mess up this kid, and that just isn't an option.
"You do have what it takes Jace. You are nothing like Valentine or Robert. You're kind, loving and loyal to a fault. If you just give this child love the rest will come". This still didn't really convince me. I'm not sure anything could help me get my head around this.
"I've already messed up majorly, Clary was attacked, I left her after I found out she was pregnant, she could've died trying to save me. I can't keep putting her in danger like this. But I don't know how to protect them." Alec remained quiet and I continued to explain.
"My first thought when Clary told me was that I am not the right person for this. I'm too impulsive, everyone around me is always getting hurt or in danger." The past few years have been crazy, it's felt like there has been one major disaster after another. We've lost so many people, Clary was almost among them on many occasions. I can't afford to make any more mistakes, yet I have no idea how to protect her from a threat that I have no idea what it is.
"Jace you think you're the one putting Clary in danger, that is not what's happening here. It's none of our faults that Clary has been targeted, no one can change that she's Valentines daughter. That's the thing that has put a target on her back all of these years. We've all been in danger, that's the life of a shadow hunter we can't change that." I knew Alec was right in our lives always being dangerous but my outlook has changed dramatically the last few days. Where I once would have run into dangerous situations without thinking, I now find myself over thinking about all the bad things that could happen.
Alec continued talking interrupting my train of thought. "Not to mention, Clary can take care of herself, you know that. She saved your ass only yesterday. I'd wager she more powerful than any of us." He has a point we all trained most of our lives to be shadowhunters yet Clary shows up years behind and still gives us a run for our money. Not to mention her capacity to make runes and the sheer power of them.
"But you need to talk to Clary Jace, because right now she's the only person in the world who has any idea what you're going through. I also think there's a good chance she's even more scared than you are." I've not been able to really talk to Clary much about anything, we've been in overdrive since finding out. Not to mention I still feel so guilty for walking out on her. I just don't know what to say to her, I don't know where we go from here. It feels like we can't plan ahead because we don't know what will happen tomorrow, never mind months from now.
"I need to think for a little before doing that, I don't want to hurt her again by not thinking through what I want to say first. I think I need to go and train now, blow of some steam. Wanna join?" Alec nodded and stood up from the table, I followed suit and we headed to the training room for some much needed training therapy.
Clary's Point of View
I had been laid on the bed for a little while now, I had planned to take a nap however I found myself much too restless. I found myself heading out of my bedroom and down the hall. Without thinking I found myself outside of the training room, it appeared empty so I set myself up in the corner with some throwing knives and a target. I was a little rusty, I really need to pick up on my training a bit I can't let myself get out of practice especially with the danger looming over us. After a few rounds I was nailing the target each throw, I decided to move over to some sword work and a dummy. I selected a seraph blade from the armoury and began to take out my stress on an underserving practice dummy. Not long after I had started I was covered in sweat and panting, I grabbed a sip of water and continued to practice.
Suddenly I felt the seraph blade yanked from my grasp. I spun around on the spot to see Jace standing over me holding the blade, angrily looking down at me.
"Clary, what do you think you're doing?" Great the first time in weeks where I actually begin to feel like myself and its cut short.
"What does it look like I'm doing Jace? I'm training." Jace walked over to the armoury and placed my seraph blade back into its place. Jace walked back over to me stopping in front of me. I could see Alec standing awkwardly in the corner of the room trying not to draw too much attention during the altercation.
"You need to rest Clary, this-this can't be good for the baby." Jace said his not being able to meet my eyes as he said the word baby, that hurt a little.
"Do you know what's not good for the baby? If I can't protect myself. It's no good me to depend on everyone else to keep me safe. I'm the one the baby is dependent on Jace. I'm the one who has to keep it safe." I felt myself spilling out my deepest fears, rushing my words out. What if I couldn't keep the baby safe, we don't have long before I'm going to start showing. When that happens the danger is most definitely spread to that of the baby. A weapon that can be used to simultaneously hurt both Jace and I. A weapon Sebastian will certainly utilise given the opportunity. Jace didn't respond after this outburst he wrapped his arms around me and rested his head on mine, holding me tight for a moment. I could feel his strong deep breaths as I rest my head on his chest, his thudding heart calming me.
"Okay, you wanna train, fine, I get it. But you can't just come in here and push yourself beyond your limits. You're going to get hurt Clary and I can't bear that." He kissed my head and stroked my hair. I pulled back just enough to look into his eyes.
"I can't bear this Clary. I feel like I don't know where to go next. Like I keep doing the wrong thing. I don't want to mess this up." I didn't know what to say. This whole time I thought he wanted to pretend like none of this was happening. I hadn't realised he was feeling just as scared as I was.
All I could manage to say was "Neither do I". There was silence for a while which Alec broke.
"Sorry to interrupt guys but Magnus just text to say he found something." Jace looked at me to check I was okay, place his hand on the small of my back, and we followed Alec out of the training room to the library. When we got there everyone else was still there and gathered around a table in the corner. The table was next to a large window, rays of sunlight gleamed through the stained glass, creating rainbows across the bookshelves. The artist in me marvelled at the colours bouncing across the walls the dust from the old books dancing on the streaks of golden light.
It was Izzy who saw us come in first. "Why are you all sweaty? Wait don't answer that." She said with a smirk.
"I was training." I replied rolling my eyes at the implications.
"You really should be taking it easy you know?" Magnus noted not looking up from the papers strewn across the wooden table.
"Yes I've heard." I said rolling my eyes, I heard a stifled chuckle come from Jace next to me. We walked over to the table and joined everyone else.
"So what did you find?" Jace asked as he pulled out a chair and gestured for me to sit. As I did Jace stood behind me and played with my hair, and Magnus began to explain.
"Well all magic leaves traces, I've been mapping areas of the large demon attacks" he motioned to a map on the table with coloured dots making demon attacks. "With the exception of the attack on Clary, which I have to assume was random as she is a target, all of the other attacks have been located at intersections of lay lines. Where these cross, more power can be accessed. We can use this the predict areas of future attacks, maybe set up teams to monitor areas we think are prime targets, start surveillance. If I had to guess Sebastian is working with a powerful warlock to summon this amount of demons this frequently. This is the closest thing we have to finding out some information on whose helping, or what the plan is."
We all looked over the maps covering the table trying to take in this information. "There are loads of lay line intersections all over New York, not to mention in other areas, how are we supposed to surveillance them all, and be prepared?" Jace spoke at he looked at the map with a yellow dot marking my house where I was attacked.
"It may take time, but its the only information we have, and its better than nothing." Jace started pacing, running his hands through his golden hair. "We don't have time" Jace said quietly as he stopped pacing and looked at me.
"I know Jace but right now this is all we have." Alec spoke from Magnus' side. "We need to go with this until we get something getter." After this everyone agreed this was as good as it was going to get, and we set to work marking all of the lay line intersections. Planning a schedule as to when we would cover them in a systematic way in the hopes of getting lucky and finding something to help us." We knew all of the attacks had happened at night so that already dramatically lowered time we would need to spend on the watch.
Noticing I had been left out of any planning, somewhat understandably, I was getting a little annoyed. This surveillance could go on for weeks if not months, what was I supposed to do in the meantime? Just sit and wait for someone to get hurt, and do nothing about it.
"What I am doing?" Everyone went quiet and awkwardly looked at Jace. This made me more angry, I can make my own decisions I did not need Jace to make them for me. "Hello? I'm over here. Jace didn't ask I did. What am I doing?"
"Muffin there's so little to go on right now, there's not much we can do. But I think the last thing we should do right now is serve you up on a silver platter to Sebastian. We don't know why he wants you yet. In the wrong hands your gifts can be quiet the weapon, you're too valuable to lose. Not to mention I think it's obvious that in your condition you shouldn't put yourself in needless danger." The rational part of my brain knew Magnus was right the less rational and at this moment bigger part of my brain absolutely did not agree.
"You know it would be way quicker and easier to just drop me in the street and see what happens."
"Not funny Clary." I was chastised by Jace. "I get you're frustrated about this Clare but we will try and sort this as quickly as possible, we'll on be on this making as much progress as we can."
"Yeah, speaking of everyone being on this, do you think it would be a good idea to call Jocelyn and Luke. We really could use all hands on deck" Izzy said looking over to me for confirmation. "Luke could get help from the pack and we could cover double of the ground than if it was just us."
"Yeah, I guess should call them. I'll do it tonight." I took a deep breath, and let it out in an attempt to calm myself. One of the things I was putting off, it'll only get more real and more complicated once my parents find out everything that has been going on. I don't know how they are going to react knowing that we've been keeping something this big from them.
The plans continued to progress around the table, while I sat thinking about how I was going to tell my parents everything. I don't even know how to begin to explain. After a while everyone settled more and scattered across the library going over their assignments.
"Are you okay?" Jace come over from where he was looking over a map with Alec. I was the only one still at the table where we started. Jace sat in the chair next to me and started rubbing circles on the small of my back.
"Yeah, I'm just trying to build up to calling my mom, I have no idea what to say."
"I can do it with you if you want. It might make it easier." I'm not sure if it would make it easier, but it can't hurt to have some support there with me.
"Okay. Lets do it now and get it out of the way." It's better to just rip the bandage off. During my time thinking I had decided not to tell them too much over the phone, just enough to get them back so that I could talk to them properly. Jace and I walked out of the library hand in hand and to my room where I sat on the bed and dialled the phone number to call my mom.
"Hi honey, how are you?" I haven't heard from you in ages." my mothers voice sang through the phone. She sounded so happy, so carefree. I so didn't want to end that for her, but she needed to know the danger so that she could be prepared.
"Mom." My voice cracked as I spoke down the phone. I still didn't know what I was going to say. I was going with my instincts, with no plan.
"Clary, are you okay? What's wrong?" My mom spoke quickly down the phone, panicked by my emotional state.
"Mom.. You need to come home, somethings happened."
"What is it? Are you hurt?" I could hear the concern growing in my mom's voice as I continued to explain.
"Sebastian is back. You need to come home. Don't go to the house it's not safe there, come straight to the institute." My mom didn't speak for a moment clearly shocked by the news. Then I heard talking in the background of what I assume must have been my mom telling Luke. Then she came back to the phone.
"Okay Clary, we'll be back tomorrow. We just need time to make some arrangements, we'll be there in the morning. Stay safe, I love you."
"I love you too mom." Then my mother hung up in her hurried state to get ready arriving back at the institute tomorrow. Great at least that gives me until then to figure out how I'm going to explain everything.
I put the phone down and looked over to Jace.
"You didn't tell her about the baby." Jace noted.
"I know. I couldn't tell her over the phone I didn't know how. I still don't know how." Jace nodded and came over to sit beside me. Today had been such a chaotic day, I couldn't describe the emotional roller-coaster that it has been. My only hope is that something becomes of these new developments and we can get moving again sooner rather than later.
Starting tomorrow there will be surveillance across the city, we need to find something fast otherwise Sebastian is only going to get more powerful the longer we wait to get onto his trail. We need to get out plan into motion.
Thanks for reading my new chapter. I love you all out there. Hopefully I can get another chapter to you as soon as possible. Remember to keep commenting and send me PMs I love to have your input into where you want this story to go. Love Louiseee1499.