Hi everyone, it's been a long time since I updated this story but I seem to have had a lot of new followers lately so decided to write this chapter. If anyone is interested and wants me to carry on writing leave me a review or PM.
If you haven't already since I have actually started to re-write the prequel to this which less errors and extra chapters.
With a cry of hunger George woke his sleeping family members. Exhaustion from the night before's events left the shadowhunters sleeping where they had been sat, with a pile of discarded weapons and bottles of poison safely put out of George's reach. Clary was the first to wake as if sensing that her son was about to cry before he knew himself. Laid beside her was Jace. She noticed the letter she had written for George the night before tucked inside Jace's jacket. She slowly reached out and took the letter. Clary couldn't bare to look at it, she crumpled the letter in her hand and tossed it into the crackling fire behind her sleeping husband, burning away her fear.
Knowing that her family desperately needed to rest clary pulled her crying baby into her arms and walked into the kitchen pulling the door closed behind them. Clary sat George on the counter and gently brushed away his tears. "Hey, Good Morning sunshine. What shall we have for breakfast?" clary asked softly. George smiled up at his mother, but as he looked at her shirt his smile quickly faded. Clary's shirt was stained with blood, she knew it wasn't her own but she wasn't entirely sure who's it was either. "Mama got BooBoo... Mama sad?" George asked. He was an intelligent child to say he was only a year old. Shadowhunter children developed physically and mentally faster than a regular mundane child would and alongside his enhanced angelic abilities George had high potential. Clary shook her head in response to his question, "No sweetie I'm alright."
"Are you sure about that?" A voice asked from the door way. Clary spun round to see Issabelle leaning against the wall. "Immy!" George shouted outstretching his arms towards his aunt. Issabelle moved closer and kissed her nephew softly. "You don't look alright Clary." Issabelle whispered. "Neither do you." Clary added.
The two shadowhunter girls had been friends for a long time, they entrusted their lives in each other and had no reason to hide their true opinions or emotions. "I thought we were going to die in there. They tortured us, broke our bones and placed agony runes on every part of our bodies... I heard the others screaming until eventually everything fell silent. At first I feared that they were dead and I would be next. All I could do was wait, at one point I wished the guards would come back because if they tortured them I knew they were alive." There was a great amount of pain in Isabelle's eyes alongside fear, which wasn't an emotion Isabelle usually showed. Clary moved towards her sister in law and placed a soft hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry Issabelle about all of it. And I'm sorry about Robert too despite everything." Issabelle shook her head. "There's nothing to be sorry about in regards to him. He stopped being my farther the second he put George in danger."
The girls fed George and Issabelle watched over him so Clary could go for a bath before anyone else woke up. Clary stripped off her bloody clothes and dropped them to the floor. As clary climbed into the bath she felt as if she was being watched. She glanced around the room but saw nobody there. Shaking off what clary presumed was just paranoia she tipped her head back under the water and let it consume her.
Clary had always liked the water, the feeling of weightlessness it gave her always helped to clear her mind. As Clary forced herself to relax by counting her own heart beats a image seemed to flash across her mind. She saw the photo of Oliver she had found in the living room. There was a smile on his face beaming from ear to ear as he played with his toys. The sight made Clary's heart break such a innocent child with only love for his family in his heart. After a few seconds Clary realised something she had never seen in the picture before. Curling out of the cuff of Oliver's shirt, was a rune. Clary wanted to stay and stare at the image, to try understand all of its properties but her need for oxygen got the better of her. When she resurfaced Clary realised that it wasn't just paranoia after all, she was not alone in the bathroom. Quickly pulling her towel into the bathtub clary covered herself up.
Stood gazing into the bathroom mirror was they woman who practically saved all of Jace and Clary's family. The woman who was trapped in this very cottage for the whole of eternity. "Runes. Oliver had runes, but how?" clary asked. Cassandra remained silent for a moment, she turned away from the mirror and looked at clary. "My son and yours have a lot in common Clary. George has lots of abilities you have yet to discover." Cassandra said quietly. Her face was calm unlike clarys which was twisted with confusion. "How though shadowhunters dont usual get runes until their tenth birthday. They say it can send you mad if you get them too young?" Clary asked. Cassandra simply smiled at her "As I said George and Oliver are very alike, their abilities will never fail to amaze you."
Clary thought for a moment . "Why don't you show yourself to the others?" she asked. "I do not need too Clarissa when I can speak freely with you." the spirit replayed.
"But Maryce, she told me she used to see you, when she was little?" Clary added. Cassandra perched on the edge of the bathtub, "I can see a lot of things from the position I am in. when Maryce was girl she talked about the importance of family and how its presence was gift. I liked that about her. She and her family came here multiple times through the year ever since she was a tiny baby. I loved her as if she was my own. It took me a while but eventually I managed to look into her future, I only wanted to know whether or not she would be lucky enough to have a family to call her own but I realised something much more sinister. Maryce, through no fault of her own was destined to have bloodshed upon the ones she loved. I knew I had to do something to protect her but being trapped within this estate made it impossible for me to do anything when she left. So I convinced her to never let this house go so that 1 day she could return with her family and I would be waiting here for her."
"What happens now?" Clary asked. "This battle is far from over..."
"You are right there Clarissa." Cassandra interrupted. "But for now you must enjoy the time you have together these times are priceless." Before Clary had the chance to respond Cassandra had already began to fade away.
Downstairs in the cottage the other shadowhunters and Simon were now all awake. George had eaten some breakfast and was now sat happily playing in his father's lap. "What do we do Now?" Jocelyn asked. After last nights battle they escaped the New York institute with only the clothes they had on their backs and nothing else. "I'm sure Clary has something Isabelle could wear. Once she is ready I will head into the nearest town with her and buy us all some clothes as well as more food." Jace replied. "Is that really safe?" Jocelyn questioned. "Just walking into the nearest town, were supposed to be in hiding" Maryce had a equally concerned expression on her face but remained silent.
"We need to eat, and we can't just stay in these filthy clothes. " Isabelle added "I'll go change. "
Simon sat slightly apart from the other shadowhunters, despite everything they had been through with them over the past few years he still felt like an outsider. He hadn't been captured on the same day as the others. He never even knew what had happened until the cave hunted him down and tortured him in to giving them answers even though he didn't actually have any. In spite of everything Simon felt strongly, lucky, when the cave realised that he truly didn't have any information they could have killed him. They had no obligation to keep him alive, but for some unknown reason they did.
When Isabelle returned wearing clean clothes she rested her hand on Simon's shoulder. The two of them had been dating for a long time and he knew that Isabelle wasn't exactly open about her feelings but she had hardly said two words to him since Clary had saved them. Was it because he killed a member of the clave? Simon knew it wasn't a pretty thing to witness but what other choice did he have? he couldn't risk the man hurting any of the others. It was kill or be killed.
"I'm ready when you are Jace." Isabelle shouted before stuffing an apple in her mouth. Jace passed his son to Alec and kissed him goodbye. Clary quickly came down the stairs and Jace wrapped his arms around her. "I'm still cross with you. " he whispered. Clary stretched up on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. "I know but I didn't have a choice. I love you. " Clary replied.
Jace and Isabelle headed out of the door and down the overgrown pathway Jace had walked on only a few days earlier. "Your quiet." Isabelle observed. Jace continued to walk. "Jace... " Isabelle called but her adoptive brother didn't answer. She reached out her hand and held on to his shoulder. "what is it?" she asked. Jace finally turned around to face her. "I can feel Alec's pain." Jace replied. "I knew you all must have been tortured at the institute, my parabatia bond with Alec made me feel everything. I had to grit my teeth and bare it... I didn't want Clary to know she had hope that you all could have escaped and found help from other shadowhunters. I didn't want to destroy her hope, even if it was false." Isabelle shook her head, "That's understandable Jace, you were protecting her." she paused looking down at the bruises on her wrists that hadn't fully healed despite her itrazes. "we were all in separate cells, I had know idea what they did to the others, Did Alec suffer badly?" Jace finally met his sisters gaze. "he still is Issy."
"why?" Isabelle asked sharply. Jace twisted the herondale ring on his finger. "he killed his own farther, despite the reasoning and however justified his actions were he's still hurting."
Alec, Maryce, Jocelyn and Simon all cleaned up the best they could despite still having to wear bloody clothes. It had been hours since Jace and Isabelle had left but considering how far they had to walk and how much shopping they needed to do it was understandable. Jocelyn stepped outside the cottage and sat down on the decking outside. The air smelt different here in England, there was no exhaust fumes of tobacco smells to fill the air. Instead there was only open fields and hills to see in every direction. Clary joined her mother outside, handing her a plate of sandwiches. "sorry I know you prefer brown bread to white. " Jocelyn let out a sigh, "there's worse things to worry about than bread Clary. " she took the plate from her daughter and the growling of her stomach remind her of how long it had actually been since she had eaten. Within minutes the plate was empty. "have you any idea of what might have happened to Luke? " Clary asked quietly. Jocelyn shook her head. I have not seen him since after you went to speak with the clave. He came by the institute but didn't stay long he had a meeting of the downworlders council to attend to. At first I thought they would bring him to the institute like they did with Simon but I never heard him, or hear anyone mention his name... "
"I'm sorry mum." Clary whimpered. Jocelyn put an arm around her daughter. "don't be Clary, you did the right thing. If the cave had kept George he might have ended up like... "
"Sebastian." Clary interrupted. Jocelyn hung her head low, "Johnathan. " Clary shook her head stubbornly "No mum. Johnathan was the name of the innocent baby you gave birth to. Sebastian is the name of the monster he became." a tear lingered in Jocelyn's eye as she considered the horrors of her past. "Can you ever forgive me Clary, for everything I've done?" she asked. Clary leaned towards her mother and rested her head on her shoulder. "there's nothing to forgive. Without those decisions I wouldn't be here. Neither would George, those decisions allowed me to have him, that's the greatest gift I could ever ask for."
A noise behind them made both the female shadowhunters jump. Alec was stood behind them in the door way. Clary noticed a fresh patch of blood on his arm. "your bleeding." she said pulling her stele out of her pocket. Before Alec could speak Clary took hold of his arm and was drawing a healing rune. "how are you feeling? " Clary asked quietly. Alec flickered his gaze towards Jocelyn and she quickly took the silent hint and stepped back inside the house.
"I keep replaying it in my mind, firing that arrow..." he said quietly. Clary thought about the night before, so much pain and blood all within just two hours. "honestly Alec if you hadn't of killed him, I think I probably would have. " Clary added feeling slightly guilty. "that's why I did it... I knew he had to die. He would have never of let us leave, every time they tortured one of us he would be in the room drilling us with questions. I didn't want to put the burden of his death on you, you don't deserve to live with that. "
"neither do you though Alec. He was your farther. " Clary whispered. Alec shook his head "The humanity that was once my farther was already gone. I owe it to my family to protect them and I'd rather they hate me for killing him rather than hating you. " Clary stared for a moment feeling slightly confused. "Why? " she asked. Alec smiled at her softly, "through our parabatai bond part on me lives within Jace, you are his wife and the mother of his child, I will protect you both in the same was I will always protect Jace. With my life. "
Clary didn't respond vocally, in all honesty she didn't know how to. Instead she stepped forwards and hugged Alec. He head her tightly as if he was scared to let her go. Alec had been very down for a long time. A year ago Magnus left him and Alec changed, he spent months trying to find the warlock he once called his boyfriend. He even slept at Magnus apartment for two weeks after he recovered from his injuries but Magnus never came home. For a moment there was an awkward silence, here they all were putting themselves at risk for their loved ones but the person Alec loved abandoned him at a time when Alec needed him the most.
As Clary stepped back into the cottage Maryce quickly caught her arm. "Simon has locked himself in the bathroom upstairs. I think he is in withdrawal, from the lack of blood." before Maryce had the chance to say anything else Clary was quickly moving up the stairs with Alec following closely behind her. As she reached the bathroom door she heard a low growl from inside. "Simon?" Clary asked. There was movement at the back of the door, the lock unbuckled but the door didn't open. Without Clary realising Alec had grabbed his bow from downstairs and was aiming it ready to fire. Clary glanced over her shoulder "what's that for?" she asked rather accusingly. Alec maintained his focus "sorry Clary but blood withdrawal can make you do strange things. It's just incase he loses control. "
Although Clary wasn't too pleased at having an arrow aimed at her best friends head she didn't bother arguing, as she knew Simon would never hurt her anyway. Clary opened the door an locked eyes on Simon. Who was slumped down in the corner of the room. She stepped closer towards him and crouched by his side. "Simon, I'm here. What can I do? " she asked quietly. Simon shook his head, "it's the blood, I've been drinking out of blood bags for so long that when I drunk from that shadowhunters neck... It was like kick starting a firework. The temptation is killing me." Clary gave him a soft smile "it can't kill you. Your already dead." she thought she heard him laugh but his speech was muffled by the palms of his hands hiding his face. "We don't have any blood bags Clary..." Simon whispered.
Without speaking Clary rolled up her sleeve and held her wrist out towards him. "Drink from me." Simon moved away. "I can't Clary it's too much." he protested but Clary wasn't going to give up that easily. She pulled a pen knife out of her pocket and flipped it open. "Simon just take my hand and drink. You won't hurt me. " Simon didn't budge. Without any second thoughts Clary took the knife and made a long slash across her wrist, it only took me second for the blood to come oozing to the surface. Simon's head shot up and his eyes locked on to Clary's blood. "I don't want to hurt you... " he whispered. Clary outstretched her other arm and took hold of his hand. "you won't. " slowly Simon moved closed to Clary, he took hold of her injured wrist and pulled it closer to his mouth. Before Clary had the time to prepare herself his teeth latched onto her flesh and had begun sucking the blood from her veins.
Clary's eyes opened wide, she stared at her friends face. The veins in his neck were visibly pulsing against his skin. Dark circles hung under Simon's eyes and his pale skin seemed whiter than fresh snow. An explosion of fogginess swept over Clary's mind disarming her natural defences. She felt her body loosen and her eyes began to droop closed...
"that enough!" Alec shouted. But Simon didn't budge. "I said enough!" he shouted again. He jumped over the top of Clary and landed behind Simon. In one swift movement he took hold of one of his shoulders and threw him backwards away from Clary. Alec drew out his stele and began to draw blood replacement runes on Clary's skin. Withing a few minutes she was much more alert despite her pounding headache. "you need to be more careful Simon. " Alec snapped. Simon raised his arm whipping Clary's blood that was smeared across his face on to his shirt. "I know I drank too much. I'm sorry... "
"it's not just how much you drank Simon, vampire venom can be like a drug to those who consume it. It's used to make something called Yinfen and despite its healing properties it's deadly if your not careful." Alec shouted, glaring at the other boy. "Alec I'm alright. " Clary whispered "it was an accident. " Clary stated in Simon's defence. Alec helped Clary too her feet before turning back towards Simon. "clean yourself up. Seeing blood like that won't be good for George, especially since its his mother's. "
Clary gave Simon a sympathetic smile. She knew he had drank too much but he was certain that he wouldn't have actually killed her. She watched as Alec closed the bathroom door on Simon and set off back downstairs.
After a long day of walking and listening to Isabelle's constant babbling about colour coordination Jace was Glad to finally be back at the little cottage they now called home. Between them the two shadowhunters had managed to buy two sets of clothes for everyone. However the clothing was typically mundane so Isabelle bought a role of thick fabric they could use to sew extra pockets for their weapons with. Together they walked through the cottage door and piled their bags up in the hall. At the sound of his farther George came quickly toddling into the room and threw himself towards his farther. Jace scooped him up into his arms and kissed his songs cheek. "Dada got food?" George asked. "Like farther like son." Maryce added. As she began to unpack the shopping. One by one they all changed into the new clothes and cleaned themselves up. It had been a long Day for everyone and they were all looking forward to getting some proper food.
"shall I start to make din-" Isabelle started to ask. "NO!" the other shadowhunters shouted like a broken record. Despite her attempts to become better at cooking Isabelle's food was far from edible, even George knew not to eat anything she had cooked. As Maryce and Jocelyn began to prepare dinner Isabelle hovered in the door way, pretending to be helping. Simon had finally come downstairs, Clary was happy to see him looking much cleaner and not wearing clothes stained with her blood. Clary crossed the room and rested her hand on his shoulder. "what's up?" she asked. "nothing. Just tired that's all." Simon replied. Having been best friends with Simon since they were young children Clary knew he was lying but given the stress they had all been under she decided not to pry.
The Family all sat down for dinner together with George sat on Clary's lap. Maryce and Jocelyn had made a beef stew for dinner. Everyone quickly tucked into their food, other than Simon. Instead he sat twirling his spoon around his bowl. Despite being a vampire and not physically having to eat mundane food Simon had built up a tolerance to it after he had gotten used to his bottled blood diet. It was rare Simon had ever drunk blood directly from a living person but he had done it twice in the past two days and his body was yearning for more.
Once everyone's bowls wear empty they all began to clear away the dishes. Clary took George around everyone to say goodnight since it was already way past his usual bedtime and took him upstairs with Jace. Simon slipped out of the front door of the cottage and in to the nights sky. Isabelle quickly followed but couldn't see him when she stepped outside. "Simon? " she asked. "up here." he replied. Isabelle walked of the front porch and looked up at the roof of the cottage and found Simon sat beside the chimney. Isabelle took a few steps backwards and jumped up into the air. She caught hold of the porch roof and hoisted herself up. She sat beside Simon and studied him carefully. "are you alright? " Simon nodded. "are you sure? " he nodded again.
Knowing Simon clearly wasn't up for having a discussion Isabelle shuffled closer to him and hugged him tightly. After a few seconds Simon returned her gesture. He wrapped his arms around her waist and burrowed his face into her neck.
Isabelle's hair was tied back leaving the space around her neck completely open. As Simon held her he heard the sound of her heat beat echoing around her body. The sound was like how he imagined music was to the fair folk, it locked him in to a trance forcing the rest of the world to fade away. He began to softly kiss his girlfriends neck. She tilted her head the opposite way baring more skin for him to touch. He slipped his hands underneath her loose tank top and cupped her shoulder blades. Simon kissed her again but this time he let the tip of his tongue touch lightly against her skin.
A low moan escaped Isabelle's throat which only aroused him more. He inhaled a deep breath. For an unknown reason to him Simon's vampire senses seemed heightened, he could smell the sweet angel blood running through Isabelle's body. He kissed her again and the temptation became too great. He pulled just a few millimetres away from her so his eyes could watch the pulse in her neck.
Before he could stop himself Simon's fangs were at their sharpest point and he sank them into Isabelle's neck...
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