Her legs trembled and Clary could feel all of her nerves slipping away. It was the most grotesque thing she'd ever seen, with horns jutting from its bald rotten scalp, its teeth snapping and clacking as it got closer to her. She held the seraph blade tightly in her right hand and let its energy guide her hand into an upward swing and watched as the creatures skin tore away revealing more rotten flesh and a stench that made her eyes water. Clary could hear Jace somewhere behind her, his own blade slicing through flesh and bone as he faced his own attacker. Turning on her heels she barreled towards the next thing that emerged from the shadows. This one was bigger than the last and had 8 eyes bugging out of the front of its face with fanged teeth that hung over its lips and a dark black tongue that was dripping something that looked like it would burn through Clary's skin. Her heart was beating fast against her rib cage, slamming an uneven rhythm against her chest. Thinking back to her training Clary decided to lunge for the monster, one hand raised to protect her eyes from the toxic blood it would spew out when she tore through it's leathery skin. Clary lunged and braced for the impact but the monster was more agile than it looked and slipped to the side before ramming into her left side and sending her falling onto the asphalt. Jace yelled something to her but she couldn't hear him, he was too far away and she was too focused on the snarling thing in front of her. Her seraph blade was off to the side just out of reach. The monster snapped its jaws once then lunged at her. Clary could feel the skin of her calf being torn to pieces, she watched the blood, her blood start to bubble out of the monsters teeth and pool underneath her leg. She felt the toxins seep into her bloodstream and everything started to slow down. She reached into her belt and grasped the hilt of her knife, she pulled it up and over her head and plunged it into the base of the things neck and twisted.
The monster made a noise and its jaw went slack. Clary looked down, her thoughts becoming foggy and hard to grasp, she needed to get the teeth out but her arms felt like lead and a horrible pounding had started in her head. Her vision began to blur when she saw a figure running up to her, he was too lanky to be Jace and his hair didn't glow the way Jace's did. She felt thin fingers grasp her calve and watched his other hand grasp the monsters snout and yank upwards. The entire top of its head tore free releasing the teeth from her leg but leaving the skin a chewed up mess. She heard people talking to her and felt hands stroke her hair and felt the burn of a stele but she couldn't see, it felt like she was floating underwater, like the weight of the waves were pushing her down down down until she gently sunk to the bottom and let her mind drift off into darkness.
It was hours later when she finally woke up, the poison must have been drained from her system because she her head felt clear aside from a numb pain at the base of her neck. She opened her eyes and she was alone aside from Simon who was fast asleep on one of the infirmary beds across from her. Clary tossed her legs over the side of the bed, and let the coolness of the tiled floor seep into her bones to chase the last of her fever away. She was still wearing her torn up jeans and grimy tshirt from earlier, they were destroyed and she contemplated tearing them off then and there. She looked over at Simon's sleeping face and decided that for his sake she should keep her pants on… at least for now. Her leg was sore but there was hardly a scratch on it, Magnus must have stopped by, she thought to herself. She slipped through the hallways and listened for voices but heard no one. Clary practically walked through the entire institute before finding Maryse in the library pouring over ancient looking maps. Her hair was pulled back into a tight black bun; she had a few silver hairs that always seemed to fall out of the hair tie and framed her face, reminding Clary of her third grade teacher. Maryse didn't even look up from the desk and said, "They're out. Isabelle said they should return soon after dark." Clary pulled at the bottom of her shirt awkwardly and said a quick thank you before rushing out of the library being sure to close the heavy door softly behind her.
What was she going to spend the rest of her night doing if everyone was out?
Clary went to Jace's room and flipped through the book he kept on his nightstand. It was full of Latin phrases and portraits of angels and swords, not a lot that interested her. She stripped out of her clothes from earlier and stood naked in the middle of his room. She looked down at her body and shuddered. There was mud caked onto her shins and knees and bruises along her ribs and arms. She was a mess. Clary stepped into Jace's bathroom and turned the shower on, letting the water run until the room was filled with steam and clary could barely make out her reflection in the bathroom mirror. She stepped into the shower and let the water fall down her shoulders and already felt better, like layers of grime and filth were washing away.
There was a light knock at the door and Clary let her eyes open slowly. She'd been in the shower for a half an hour at least and the water was hardly warm anymore. She wrapped a towel around herself and stepped out. The room was warm and Clary pictured herself curling up into a ball on the fuzzy bath mat beneath her feet and going to sleep right there. But, she forced herself to dry off and toss on her pj shorts and top, her eyelids felt incredibly heavy and she just hoped it was Jace that had knocked. Opening the bathroom door, Clary's eyes met Jace's from across the room. His golden blond hair was swept lazily to the side like he'd ran his hands through it and he tossed her a little smirk. "Good evening angel, how are you feeling?" Clary dragged herself to the bed and flopped onto it and groaned loud and long into the pillow earning a sharp laugh from Jace. "That bad huh?" She felt him sit next to her on the bed and he gently ran his hand up and down her back. Goose bumps spread across her skin but she felt her entire body relax into him and let him tell her about his day with Isabelle while his hand moved across her skin. It may have been a few minutes or a few seconds, Clary didn't know and she didn't care. That's all it took for her eyes to close to the sound of Jace talking and the feel of his skin against hers and she let herself drift off to sleep knowing she had Jace next to her.
I know it's a lame update but I'm trying to get back in the swing of writing. Next update is gonna be all smut if that's okay then we can throw in some drama. If anyone wants to write a Malec lemons and wants me to feature it as a chapter or even just help me write one I would eternally grateful because I have no idea how to do it. DM if you're interested because I need help!