Sorry for how late this is! Hope you all enjoy the read!
Chapter Five
"Clary?" She crept into the apartment, her hands shaking at her sides. "Jocelyn? Luke?"
Scuttling. Like multiple sticks being moved up and down the floorboards. Yu's stomach practically dropped onto the floor.
Okay. No Luke or Jocelyn or Clary. Just something else.
She wasn't sure how, but in the mere hour it took to get her things and come back to the apartment everything was destroyed. Paintings slashed, cushions torn open and left for unwitting witnesses. Lamps were turned on, as were all of the lights along the ceiling, and Yu almost felt like she was being blinded as the sound of electricity buzzed through the air. The scuttling had disappeared somewhere further into the apartment.
Jocelyn's bedroom was right to her left, just beyond the slashed scenery of Central Park. Yu held her breath as she snuck into the room, the silence almost suffocating.
The bedroom was in a worse state than the living room was. The door wasn't just open, but torn clean off of its hinges and splintered violently; Jocelyn's bedframe had split at the middle, concaving into the floor with goose feathers scattered around the duvet. Even her jewellery and clothing had been torn out from her drawers, scattered about like someone had gone through her things in search of something of value.
The window the demon had fallen through was covered in rotting goo and a foul odour. Yu gagged and threw her hand over her nose and mouth, unaware of what she was about to step on as she ventured further into the bedroom. Her foot rolled forwards as it landed on something cylindrical, but thankfully Yu didn't topple to the floor like she expected to. The small cylinder rolled towards the window, the paper wrapped around it slowly unraveling like a scroll.
Was this Jocelyn's, she thought? Did whoever come in here leave it behind? Yu held her breath as she moved closer to the window in order to pick it up. One hand grasped the cylinder loosely, the light weight of it feeling almost natural in her palm. The other hand scooped up the paper and held it open awkwardly with her fingers.
Yu blinked down at the contents, confused and intrigued. One end of the paper had a drawing similar to the tattoos on Jace's arms, while the other end had a name. Yu tried to read it over in her head, hoping to find a proper pronunciation, but the vowels just weren't sinking in.
"Rid…" she muttered, squinting at the paper. "Ridwan?"
A sharp glow came from the cylinder in her hand. Yu flinched, dropping it as she jumped in surprise, and watched as a long, sharpened blade extended from the cylinder's base. Once the glow dulled to a dim light, she could finally see the magnificent sword at her feet.
That was definitely unexpected.
"I knew it!"
Yu jumped again, this time dropping the paper in her hand. It fell to the floor as she whirled on her feet, ready to give Jace a sneer as he crept silently into the room. The blond merely strode past her and bent down to pick up the sword, grinning lopsidedly at the sight of it.
"This is a seraph blade," he whispered. "Only Shadowhunters can use them—activate them. You invoke its name and the blade manifests."
"So its name," Yu muttered, still struggling to process the information, "is Ridwan?"
Jace nodded. He looked over to her with wide, excited eyes. "I knew there was angel blood in there somewhere," he said, pointing to her lazily with the blade.
As exciting at such a thing would be to hear—or, in Yu's case, dreadful—there was still the mystery of how the seraph blade got in Jocelyn's room. Did someone leave it there? Did they drop it? Was it what killed the demon that got thrown outside? Who the hell did it belong to?
She didn't acknowledge Jace's statement, instead moving further through Jocelyn's room. She started for the woman's bedside table, where a broken picture of herself and a smaller, younger Clary were posed in front of the Statue of Liberty. Yu picked it up and furrowed her brows. Where were they? If Luke's truck was gone, where did the trio disappear to?
Yu pulled her phone from her pocket while Jace began to sift through the closet on the other side of the room. He seemed to have found something of interest, but until Yu made absolutely certain that they were okay she wasn't going to abandon her search for the Frays and Luke. She scrolled through her address book for Jocelyn's number. It rang once, twice, before it suddenly stopped—as though Jocelyn had hit the decline button for the call.
"The hell?" Yu growled. Why would she do that? Jace pulled a piece of the closet out with a grunt, and then he let out a low whistle.
"This is a surprise," he said.
"What is?" She glanced over her shoulder at him, peeking into the closet as he reached inside again. When his hand came back out, another cylinder was in it—just like "Ridwan" looked like before Yu manifested the blade. "You're joking."
"Who did you say your friend was?" Jace unravelled the scroll around the blade, finding the name Haniel scribbled on it.
Yu knelt beside him and compared the papers both blades had come with. "I didn't."
"Whoever she is," Jace told Yu, "she's definitely anything but mundane."
Without thinking, Yu blurted out, "This is her mom's room."
Jace let out a thoughtful hum. "Unless she was adopted, your friend would be the same," he pointed out. "Shadowhunter blood is dominant."
Now that was a phrase that chilled her to the core. Dominant? As in, no matter what was mixed with it won't overpower it? What did that mean for Yu, who had Clary's blood pumped into her months ago? Her mind whirled as she felt the colour drain from her face. Jace caught the expression, suddenly interested in the reaction Yu had shown, but he didn't get a chance to say anything.
A thump had sounded out through the apartment. Like something had been knocked over and landed flat on the floor. Yu's stomach dropped lower than the floorboards this time—at least three feet underground, with how heavy she felt. She looked to Jace with distaste, already anticipating the fight that was about to go down.
Quick as ever, Jace jumped to his feet and ran to the door. He called out the name of the other seraph blade, brilliant light filling the room as the dagger manifested. A screech sounded out through the apartment. Ever so faintly, Yu swore she heard an almost otherworldly voice complain, "Valentine said there were no others!"
She scrambled for Ridwan, uncertain of what she would even do with it. If what Jace had said was true—and if what had happened when she'd called its name really happened—then Yu wasn't completely helpless if something happened. She just regretted having never used something similar to it in the past. Baseball was never a thing she enjoyed, and she was never trusted with the larger knives in the Burakgazi house thanks to her bad habit of cutting up her fingers by accident.
The creature screeched in agony, and then a body fell to the floor with a frantic, "Sh-it!"
She looked up to see Jace toppled over on the floor, lying in a pile of green goo. The way he flicked his arm and splattered it over the wall—Yu couldn't help comparing it to the drool from Alien. She scrunched up her face, disgusted, just as another figure entered her sight and began to frantically advance on her.
It was vastly different from the hellhound and the Eidolon. She supposed all demons weren't going to look exactly the same, but if they all looked as disgusting and freaky as this one then she figured she wouldn't have trouble picking one out in a crowd. It probably reached her knees in full height, but its large scorpion legs didn't keep that fact at the forefront of her mind. Neither did the cluster of eyes focused on her, or the serrated mouth screeching, "Feast!"
Jace was still struggling to get to his feet, slipping on the goo along the floor like a newborn deer trying to find its bearings. If she weren't about to have a demon take a bite out of her, she'd laugh.
"What do I do?" she cried as she held Ridwan between two shaking hands.
"Hold on!" Jace called back. "Swipe at its eyes—it can't sting you!"
The demon waved about its stumped tail, black blood dripping from it and burning the floorboards. Yu gagged at the sight of it. Every piece of it was covered in something slimy, its long tongue darting in and out of its mouth almost hungrily. Yu held her breath and sent a silent prayer up to anyone listening. She lifted the blade, making the demon rear its legs back in defense, and swung down as hard as she could. It jumped back, out of the path of danger and out of Jocelyn's room entirely.
Yu's heart sank. Right in front of her and injured, and she'd missed it. Even with a long seraph blade sword, she'd missed it. She really hoped Jace was ready to lend a hand any second now.
Thankfully he was. The demon didn't even notice him sliding along the floor with Haniel, nor did it anticipate the dagger going straight into its back and being dragged along its spine like it was being gutted on the wrong side. It shrieked and writhed, and then like a spider assaulted with spray it curled in on itself and flopped onto its back.
Jace flicked his arms outwards again, ridding himself of more of the goo. "Ravener," he huffed. He looked over at Yu, twirling his dagger almost absentmindedly. "Those aren't demons that attack people randomly. Someone sent it here."
Yu dropped the seraph blade and sank to the floor once again. She really hoped this was the last surprise that would be sprung on her today. It was barely even lunchtime.
"It—" She swallowed the lump in her throat that threatened to suffocate her. "It said a 'Valentine' didn't say we'd be here." At the mention of the name, Jace stiffened. He glared down at the Ravener as Yu added, "Who's Valentine?"
"A very bad person," Jace offered. "The Eidolon we caught said the same thing, but I thought it was just messing with us."
"Was it?"
He pursed his lips, an uncharacteristic look of uncertainty on his face. At least Yu knew he was human under all that sarcasm and arrogance. "I can't say for sure," he muttered. "All I know is that this thing was after your friend—or her mother, whichever. We need to find them."
No arguments on her end. Yu nodded and reached for Jocelyn's bed, pulling herself back to her feet as best she could. Jace wandered through the apartment some more, telling her he wanted to make sure nothing else was in the brownstone. Yu was fine with that. As long as he killed anything else dangerous in there, she was perfectly fine with him doing his own thing. Once she finally stood safely again, Yu made a beeline for Jocelyn's bedside table and snatched the photo of the two redheads. It wasn't a recent photo of Clary, but she looked so much like her mother now that it'd be easy to find them both with just this. She popped open the back of the frame and pulled the photo out, then folded it in half and tucked it in the pocket of her jeans.
Jace confirmed there was nothing left in the apartment, eliciting a relieved sigh from Yu. He was back to his old self then, teasing her about this not being the first demon she'd faced. Yu glared at him as she stalked past to get to Clary's room; she wouldn't deign him with a response at a time like this.
She grabbed a few more of her things, packing them into a second bag for Jace to carry, and then searched around for Clary's sketchbook. It was hidden safely under the bed, right next to Yu's laptop; with any luck, that photo from St. Francis Xavier's would still be tucked between the pages. Clary had to have been drawing her own class, right? Maybe that would be useful alongside the Lady Liberty picture?
Sure enough, it was still loosely in between the pages of the sketch book. Yu let out a relieved breath as she tucked it under her arm and hurried out of the room. Jace was waiting for her by the couch, still on high alert despite knowing the danger had passed. He still had Heniel in one hand, and the now dulled Ridwan was in his other. She almost walked right over to his side, but a thought struck her midway.
She hadn't tried calling Clary yet.
Yu pulled her phone out of her pocket again as best she could, and for once thanked Clary's insistence of putting her on speed dial after the accident. Yu put the phone on speaker as it rang out, holding it between herself and Jace. The blond leaned forward, interested in her plan, but was quick to jump in surprise when a shrill beeping rang out through the apartment.
Yu's heart sank. She watched in dismay as Jace circled the couch and crouched onto the ground, and then finally she hung up and let her arm go limp when she saw him pull Clary's cracked phone out from under the couch.
That wasn't good.
She hadn't even realised that the sight of the phone had sent her into a panic until Jace was suddenly in front of her again. Her heart was hammering in her chest, the scenarios of what just happened in this apartment playing on a loop in her mind. Even as Jace got closer, Yu's breaths were hard to fully take in. He was right in her face, forcing her to focus on him as a burning sensation hit her neck. At first Yu flinched, but it didn't take long for the burning to become almost comforting. She tried to recreate what he was drawing in her mind, but the loops and lines threw her off every time.
Yu's hand practically flew up and smacked her neck once Jace pulled back. He stared at her with one brow raised, seemingly waiting for her breathing to steady. She wasn't sure how, but the panic was almost fading. Like she wasn't as focused on the negative anymore, like she couldn't focus on her panic. Her heart steadied and her breathing came easier, until finally her hand dropped from her neck and she furrowed her eyes at Jace. All the fear for Clary and Jocelyn felt… different now. Yu was more concerned with making a plan to find them rather than stand in the apartment and panic. She wanted to turn her concern into something proactive.
She sneered at Jace. This had to be his doing. He just leaned his head forward, almost daring her to say something; instead, Yu bolted for the bathroom and slammed open the door.
"Oh," she yelled upon seeing the tattoo on her jugular. "My. GOD!"
"You're welcome." Jace was already leaning against the doorway, arms crossed over his chest. Yu whirled back towards him, pointing at him angrily. Every threat she ever knew was right on the tip of her tongue, her glare scathing, but she just couldn't settle for one.
Without thinking, she yelled, "Shut the hell your mouth!" and pushed past him.
Screw this supernatural bull, she decided as she stormed out of the apartment. Even with all the demons and the werewolves and whatever else, Yu was not dealing with it anymore. She was still going to look for Clary and Jocelyn—but she'd be damned if she didn't let the cops take it from here. Jace was following closely at her heels, annoyingly silent even as Yu tried to slam the front door behind her. He simply caught it—stupid, stupid, stupid—and walked down the stairs after her.
Elmo was waiting dutifully by the gate, his lead tied loosely around a picket. He barked happily when Yu approached him.
"Where are you going?" Jace finally asked. It was so lazily spoken, like he didn't really care to know the answer. It made Yu's blood boil. Why ask if he didn't want to know?
"I'm taking my dog," she growled, pulling Elmo's lead from the gate, "and I'm going home to call the cops."
"Cops can't do anything."
"You don't know that!" She stamped her foot on the ground childishly, refusing to look back at him as she picked up her duffel bag. "You keep shooting down my suggestions and ideas because you think normal people aren't as good at the supernatural stuff! You don't even know what Goddamn MySpace is!"
When she turned back around to glare at him, Elmo dutifully by her side, he was sneering down his nose at her. So he didn't like it when she argued with him over what Shadowhunters didn't know. At least that was another button she could press if he continued to bother her.
"What will you tell them?" he said slowly. Yu flinched at the question. She hadn't thought that far ahead with her plan or her rebellion. "They'll send you to a hospital for a mental evaluation if you tell the truth. Worse yet, you'll become a suspect if you lie and get them suspicious. Cops can't do anything."
"Then what other option do I have?" Yu threw her hands up, feeling helpless all over again. Like the panic, it soon morphed into determination—a need to find a way out of her rut.
Jace hopped down the front step and moved over to Yu's side. He bent down to pick up her camera box again, and when he stood back up he had a dazzling smirk on his face. Both smug and reassuring, to the point where Yu couldn't tell which was the true meaning behind his suggestion.
"Come to the Institute. We have runes that can help, and if those don't work then we can track down a warlock or ask other Institutes for help." He nodded down to Elmo then. "The dog is more than welcome to come as well."
She stared at him. She really wanted to suddenly come up with another idea, to avoid seeing the people who'd demanded Jace bring her to them. No matter how hard she raked her mind, though, nothing would jump out at her. This really was her only other option.
"Fine," she sighed in defeat. "Just let me stop at the post office on the way. I need to write a letter."