Jace was caught in a macabre staring contest with a dead Silent Brother.

He guessed that he must be winning, since the eyes of the dead man were, in fact, sewn shut. Noises from far above him made him tear his gaze away from the mutilated face.

"Dammit! They're here," Jonathan swore as he ran to retrieve his sword from where it had fallen. "Let's go. Stay with me, we have to get to the Portal,"

And then he was running, and it was all Jace could do to keep up with him.

They immerged above ground to find a group of geared up Shadowhunters running with blades drawn between crumbing headstones.

"There they are, stop them!" a man yelled.

Mere seconds later a dagger flew end over end at Jace who deftly dodged it before it chinked off the statue of the screaming angel.

Jace threw himself after his brother, weaving around trees and graves as he tried to convince himself that the man with the dark hair and blue eyes who had just tried to kill him couldn't possibly be related to Alec...

"Quickly! They're getting away! Lightwood, stop him!"

Jonathan suddenly skidded to a stop and turned back, his left hand yanking out a dagger from his belt. He shoved Jace aside as he flipped the dagger in his fingers and raised his arm back to throw it, a look of fierce coldness masking his face.

"No!"

Jace wrenched the blade away from his brother, not knowing that the Lightwood behind him had loosed his own blade.

A startled yell escaped Jace as he felt the knife sink deep into his leg muscle, the steel of it burried all the way to the hilt. He sagged sideways into Jonathan who caught him, his face now lined with fury.

"What was that? Why did you stop me?" Jonathan yelled at him as he pulled them behind the cover of a crumbling stone crypt. Jace limped his weight onto his other leg, one arm still slung around Jonathan's shoulders and stubbornly keeping the dagger from him.

"No more killing," Jace managed to say through gritted teeth. Jonathan shook his head as he pushed Jace back against the marble.

"Well it's them or us," and with that he wrapped his hand around the handle of the dagger and yanked it from Jace's leg with no warning at all.

"By the Angel!" Jace swore as they began running again, "You should've just left it there you son of a-"

"There! There's the Portal come on!" Jonathan yelled.

Jace ran for the shimmering light in front of them, ignoring the piercing pain in his leg.

Just a few more yards and it was over. A few more yards and it was over. A few more yards and he could hide away in his room to lick his wounds for however long his father allowed it...

The ground was suddenly flying up to Jace's face as he felt arms lock around his abdomen from behind. His training kicked in and he hit the ground and rolled, managing to wedge his knee between his body and his attacker.

The blue eyes above him were indeed the same blue as Alec's, but older, with faint lines fanning out at the corners. There were differences though. Alec had never looked at him like this, like he would an enemy. And Alec had never tried to sink a wickedly sharp dagger into his chest, as this man was attempting to do.

Jace shoved the man's arms to the side with a giant burst of strength, heard the blade scrape against against the dirt and rocks by his shoulder before Jace kneed him in the side, effectively removing the man from atop him.

Jace turned and and rolled to his feet-to find no Portal waiting for him. He skidded to a stop as shock blasted through him.

Jonathan had left without him.

Jace took off through the dark cemetary, wounded and covered in blood with his pulse pounding like a triphammer in his ears.

The Shadowhunters were gaining on him and he had no idea where he was going or how long he could keep running from them.

He was a murderer, a traitor. He had slain his own kind. And for what?

Jace slammed his blade into his belt before vaulting up and over the cemetary fence.

He didn't slow down now that he was in the city, instead just continuing to run until he could barely breathe and an iron-like taste filled his mouth. He kept to alleys and side streets, constantly looking over his shoulder and trying to hear for sounds of persuit over his heavy breathing.

If they caught him he was dead. Either they would kill him on the spot or they would arrest him where he would then face imprisonment or death.

Or worse...they would strip him of his Marks...

Jace's boots skidded on the ground and he fell to his knees as the awful thought finally stopped him.

Jace couldn't stop the groan that escaped from between his clenched teeth as a bolt of agony shot through his leg from the knife wound. He place his fingers to the gash in his jeans, wincing when they came away near black in the darkness of the alley he was crouched in.

"Smells like you've had a little accident, Blondie."

Jace spun to his feet so fast his vision doubled. Surely he wasn't looking at four copies of the same person right now?

Wait, not person...vampire. And there were only two, not four. Jace blinked hard, trying to keep his vision in check.

Yes, they were definitely Children of the Night...he could tell by the predatory way they were standing...and looking at him like he were a delicious meal.

"You don't look so hot, Blondie. You lost?"

The boy asked as he moved in a slow circle around Jace. He looked very much like his companion; both had night dark hair and shiny eyes paired with red smiling lips that Jace knew hid sharp fangs.

"Yeah the name's not Blondie. And on my worst day I wager I'm ten times better looking than you, leech." Jace said as he drew his seraph blade with a lazy arrogance he did not feel.

He so did not need this right now. Not when he had an Institute and most likely the Clave out on his tail, searching the city for him. The boy and girl looked at eachother and made similiar expressions of exaggerated fear.

"Ooooh, a Shadowhunter!" the girl giggled, purposely showing her teeth to distract Jace. "We're terrified!"

The boy laughed before dipping a finger down to the wound in Jace's thigh.

Before he could raise his blood soaked finger to his smiling mouth, Jace reached out and broke his wrist.

The vampire hissed and showed him his teeth before backing away, his left hand clutching his damaged wrist.

"Am I wearing a shirt that says 'Free Samples'? Touch me again, bloodsucker, and you'll get a mouthful of angel blade." Jace said.

Suddenly there were quiet footsteps from the rooftops above him. Jace looked up.

All along the edges of the building were shiny eyes and gleaming fangs. Jace counted seven newcomers.

He dropped his eyes to the male in front of him, who was smiling like a python, despite his broken wrist.

Then, with his eyes meeting Jace's, who had murmured his seraph blade to life, he stuck his finger in his mouth and sucked Jace's blood off; slowly and purposely.

"Friends," he said in a low voice, speaking to the vampires around them. "We're having Angel tonight."

The crowd hissed their anticipation but Jace barely heard it. He only had eyes for the vampire boy in front of him.

Jace had only enough time to see his pupils dilate in the light of his seraph blade before the boy struck for his throat, jaws wide and fangs thirsty for his angel blood.