The arcs of light produced by Jace and Alec's seraph blades provided much needed illumination and the crack of Izzy's whip counterbalanced the whistle of Eva's chakrams. The demon seemed less than interested in Raphael, so he stood back and watched as the four Shadowhunters did the job they were born to do.
Her stinger was enormous and quick; Eva was sure even Raphael was having trouble keeping an eye on it. It seemed to be covered in some sort of impenetrable carapace that would only be scratched by their weapons. Not even Izzy's whip could get a good grip on it.
"I say we go for the head," Jace groaned in frustration. His arms and elbows were scraped from a hard landing a few minutes ago and his golden hair was sweat plastered on his face. Izzy and Alec were in a similar state, and Eva was just grateful she decided to wear jeans and boots and not a dress and heels.
"I'm open to any option," Raphael grumbled, absentmindedly touching Eva's back in silent affection. She appreciated the gesture, and it gave her a jolt of energy.
The demon taunted them with her smooth voice, "How unfortunate the Nephilim aren't as strong as I'd hoped. This has become a rather boring—"
The creature screeched when a knife sliced the side of her face; Jace didn't even let her finish before hurling that knife her way. Her red eyes seemed to glow brighter as she hissed and lunged for them again. They all jumped out of the way but she spun around and the length of her stinger swept her entire left side. Alec was flung into the air and landed on his side on a nearby bench, the wind knocked out of his lungs so hard, he coughed a bit of blood. Jace was also caught in the blow and was tossed like a ragdoll against the walkway, rolling like a log in a river's current. Now his other arm was equally scraped.
Izzy swung her whip and caught one of the demon's legs in it. The creature screeched in protest and if it wasn't for Eva hurling one of her chakrams and slicing the leg clean off, Izzy would've been tossed into the air higher than her brother.
"Go check on them!" Eva screamed. Thankfully, Raphael knew she was talking to him. Eva saw him get to Alec's side just as she ducked under the demon's stinger and pulled out the chakram lodged into the sidewalk. The floor was slippery with ichor from the demon's missing leg; Eva nearly slipped on it.
Izzy's whip cracked again, but the demon caught it in one of her clawed hands. The skin of her palm sizzled from the contact, making them all gag with the putrid smell. It visibly hurt the demon, but she laughed loudly when she managed to fling Izzy aside, whip and all. Jace found an opening and jumped onto her shoulders, his glowing seraph blade held high in the air. The demon flailed and shrieked so high, it could shatter glass. Her harsh movements prevented Jace from sinking his blade into her skull and instead, had him holding on for dear life. Knowing Jace, he wasn't going to let go and miss the opportunity to kill it. But with his determination came a blindspot, and Eva's stomach dropped when she saw the demon's stinger lining up and pulling back to dig into his back.
"Jace!" Eva cried and hurled her chakram towards the stinger. Alongside her chakram flew two of Alec's silver arrows and, while they did nothing to slice off the stinger, it deterred its path. The demon angrily slammed herself into the ground, crushing Jace into the walkway and cracking the pavement. He groaned in pain and rolled onto his side as the demon jumped away and screamed, black drool dripping from her forked tongue.
"Jace!" Alec called out. He was in a crouch, holding onto Izzy's arm for support while Raphael stood nearby. His bow was in his free hand. "Are you alright?"
"I'm just fine! A couple of broken ribs, a ruptured lung maybe!" Jace cried back, forcing himself onto his hands and knees, trying to stand, but grunting in pain. He must've really broken something.
A sudden feeling of breathlessness overwhelmed Eva, almost as if she was being possessed by a higher being. Everything around her began to move slowly like those cheesy scenes in thriller action films. Alec's mouth moving as he shouted at Jace while the golden-haired boy was still hunched over on the pavement, clutching his side with his left hand. Izzy's mouth was moving too, but she was looking straight at Eva, as was Raphael, only his eyes were wide and his lips parted and unmoving. She could see the flash of his fangs just under his upper lip.
Even Eva's head turning to look around was agonizingly slow. The demon was ahead of them on the walkway, her forked tongue licking her lips as if she was savoring a delicious meal, her eyes glowing like bright red car headlights, her stinger wagging behind her like a dog's happy tail. Eva's head turned one final time to look at Jace, now on one knee, still holding his side. Her eyes moved just a bit lower onto the cracked pavement outlining where his body had just been slammed into. His seraph blade.
Now, things moved too quickly. Eva dropped her chakram and dashed for Jace, swept up the seraph blade in her hand and ran straight for the demon. She faintly heard someone crying out her name—it might've been Izzy, or Raphael, or Alec, or Jace—but she heard none of it; the air rushing through her ears made her deaf to any outside noise. The momentum of her running and the Agility rune carved into her arm allowed for an arched long jump straight for the demon's face.
The path of her jump was halted abruptly. The demon's stinger had drawn itself back and dug into her abdomen, suspending her in the air like a jacket on a coat rack. The pain was immediate, and the burning sensation seeping into her skin made her cry out. The demon looked pleased she caused her so much agony and laughed.
"Little Nephilim, trying to be the hero in her fairytale," she taunted. "You should know the real ones seldom end happily."
With her free hand, Eva gripped the carapace of the stinger. The palm of her hand stung and bled from the contact; the shell protecting it was covered with millions of stiff needles. Her other hand, tightly holding onto the seraph blade, raised up over her head. It was trembling from the excruciating pain coursing through her body and Eva thought her voice would fail, that it would die on her lips. Thankfully, it left her nice and clear.
"Raziel!"
Raphael heard a simultaneous gasp between Alec and Izzy and then a burst of white light exploded from the blade in Eva's trembling hand. The light seemed to consume him, his eyes squeezing shut and his body curling away from it. To his shock and horror, his skin began to erupt with blisters and sizzle as if he was standing in front of a beam of light. For all he knew, Eva had brought down the sun like a meteor crashing into earth.
As quickly as the light erupted, it extinguished. Raphael hissed at the blisters on his hands and neck as his sun-dazzled eyes adjusted quickly. In the dimness, he could see Eva's form on the pavement.
Despite the injuries, the possible broken bones and concussions and burn blisters, they all rushed to her. She was breathing heavily, her eyes unfocused and half-lidded. With every rapid rise and fall of her chest, a fountain of blood gushed from the gaping hole in her abdomen.
"Eva! Oh my god—Eva!" Izzy's face was streaked with tears, her fingers digging into her matted hair and tugging fiercely. Raphael hastily shrugged off his jacket and pressed it onto her abdomen. Her blood immediately soaked through; he could feel its warmth on his palms as he held the thick fabric down firmly. For once, the smell of her blood was revolting.
"My motorcycle is on Madison and 72nd—get it!" Raphael barked. Jace sprung up and dashed down the walkway, kicking up the ashes the demon left behind when it burned out of this world.
"Mírame, mi ángel," Raphael couldn't help the Spanish leaving his lips breathlessly. He touched her face with his free hand, patting her cheek firmly. "Despierta, mi cielo. No te duermas."
Izzy was sobbing, her hands trembling as they carved iratzes on her skin. They did nothing and the blood kept gushing. Eva coughed and blood stained her pink lips. Izzy choked and kept drawing iratzes, even though they didn't work.
"She's losing too much blood," Alec said, his voice wavering. Raphael met his brilliant blue eyes, wide with fear and dread. "You have to bite her."
"No!" Raphael cried. "I won't—"
"You have to!" Alec insisted. "Vampire saliva can increase her red blood cell count—"
"It'll just make her bleed faster!" Izzy screamed hysterically.
"It can make her stronger for a short amount of time," Alec continued, ignoring his sister's outburst. His eyes were on Raphael. "You know that's true!"
Raphael was torn. He looked down at Eva, half-conscious, trembling in pain, coughing up droplets of blood, the wound gushing underneath his ruined jacket. He feared his fangs would refuse to emerge, but they slid out of their sockets quickly like fine needles. He turned Eva's head slightly and, squeezing his eyes shut, he leaned down into the crook of her neck and sank his fangs into her.
Her blood exploded into his mouth and it was the sweetest thing he's ever tasted in his life. A groan rumbled in his chest as his taste buds burst like fireworks, leaving him dizzy like no blood has ever made him feel. It tasted divine, like the mythological nectar of the Olympian gods. He couldn't resist the animalistic urge in him and drank two additional gulps of her blood before pulling himself away. He licked his lips, refusing to let even the smallest droplet of her blood go to waste. His skin was humming and for a brief minute, Raphael felt as if he had the warmth of a normal body temperature.
Eva's eyes were open wide and her chest was rising and falling at a normal pace. Her eyes landed on her parabatai and her lips moved to form a whisper, "Izzy..."
"I'm here!" she called out, sobbing through her words. "You're going to be okay! I promise!"
She mumbled something else, but it was drowned out by the loud screeching of rubber wheels on the pavement. Jace jumped off the motorcycle as Raphael carried Eva easily in his arms, took a seat on the fine leather seat, and revved the engine.
There was no need for words. Raphael took off into Manhattan's night sky, one hand steering the motorcycle while the other was wrapped around Eva's shoulders. Her blood was seeping into his white shirt and his jacket flew away into the air.
He landed on the street in front of the New York Institute and was sweeping Eva into his arms just as the rapid footfalls of Izzy, Jace, and Alec were audible from further down the sidewalk. The doors of the Institute flung open and their mentor, whom Raphael knew by name but had never personally met, was standing just behind the doorframe. Raphael found it strange Hodge Starkweather made no move to go into the courtyard and take Eva from him.
"I've sent for the Silent Brothers," Hodge said in a voice that was surely at least three octaves higher than it normally was. He looked on the verge of losing his mind. Raphael passed Eva into Jace's arms and the boy dashed into the Institute, Hodge close behind. Izzy ran in after them.
"I'll take you to the Sanctuary," Alec offered quickly. Despite his body language appearing calm, his eyes were frenzied.
"She just ran up to the demon!"
"Why would she do that?"
"I don't know, but she was stabbed by the stinger!"
Jace was hurrying down the hallways with Eva in his arms as Hodge and Izzy kept up behind him. Izzy was retelling the events of the night as quickly as possible through her sniffles.
"She took Jace's seraph blade and..." Izzy choked. "She named it Raziel."
Hodge's outburst of surprise was drowned out by the sound of Jace kicking open the infirmary door. He set Eva down on the closest empty bed and began rummaging through the medicine cabinet for bandages and tape. Izzy took Eva's hand and squeezed as Hodge and Jace worked together to bandage her up as best they could to halt the bleeding. Eva had begun to breathe heavily again and her forehead was beaded with sweat, her cheeks flushing and skin burning up with a vicious fever.
Alec burst into the room followed by the ghostly presence of two Silent Brothers in their parchment robes.
As her parabatai, Isabelle Lightwood may stay, one of them said, his neutral yet firm voice resonating in all of their minds. Everyone else must leave the room immediately.
