Chapter 11: Jace

I still can't believe it.

I'm married to Clarissa Morgenstern.

All my life, I have dreamt of this moment. She's been my crush for so long and now she's my wife, my love. There is no way I could be any happier than I am now.

I look down. Clary's bright red hair is spread across my chest, softy and comforting. I've watched it grow for so long, its lengths and cuts. It's always looked so silky, so tantalizing, and the mere thought of running my hands through it seemed unfathomable. But here I am, doing just that.

A small, contented sigh escapes Clary's lungs. Her dark eyelashes flutter open, revealing emerald green eyes. She adjusts her head so she's looking up at me, her mouth arranged into a small smile.

"Good morning," I greet quietly, rubbing my hand along her back. Her skin is smooth and soft under my own fingers.

Clary traces a small pattern on my chest. Her eyes watch her fingers as they leave trails of fire behind. I almost hate how much she affects me but I can't hate anything about her. My heart simply can't do such a thing.

"Hi," Clary replies. She finally meets my eyes and my breath catches. She's just so beautiful.

"How are you feeling?" I ask, moving my hand from her back to her arm, pulling her closer. Her body curves to meet mine and I can't help the smile tearing across my face. I'm too happy to contain my emotions.

"Happy." Clary laughs. "And a little bit shocked. I never expect this day to come so soon. Or at all." She stops her drawings on my skin and tucks her hands under her chin, resting it so her lips are inches away from mine.

"Did you not think you would get married?" I'm confused. Clary left out quite the amount of details there.

"I-I didn't think I would ever get married to…you. I mean, all my life I've seen you as Jace Herondale, my older brothers' cocky best friend. And, yeah, I did care for you then but I still didn't ever think it would be you I'd end up with." Clary bites her lip, worried about my reaction. "I'm sorry."

I shake my head. "Don't be sorry. I understand. I knew how you felt about me before this whole thing happened. Quite frankly, I thought you completely loathed me. But that's changed, right? And it's not like the past is going to change how we feel now, anyways."

My wife (I'm never going to get used to that) relaxes against me. Her fingers reach up and brush my cheekbone, slow and reverent. Almost as if she can't believe I'm here.

But I am and I always will be.

I take her palm and turn it, kissing the soft skin gently. Clary smiles and rests her head, looking out the windows into the jungle beyond. The Rio Institute had rented out a little bungalow for us to use as our honeymoon location on the request of General Morgenstern. I'm very thankful.

A rumble rips through the silence. At first, I think there's a demon. My arm shoots out for the stele on the bedside table, my only weapon. Wow, how my life has sunk. Then, I look down to find Clary grinning at me.

I raise an eyebrow. Why is she laughing about a demon? Oh…oh.

"Are you hungry?" I ask, a little skeptically, if I might add. I'm still not totally sure there's not a demon ready to devour us.

Clary giggles. "Extremely. And no, there's no demon prowling outside the bedroom door."

"Yeah, but there's a demon on the inside," I mutter. Clary hears me and slaps my chest.

"Asshole," she replies.

I raise my hand in protest. "I'm really more of a—"

Clary covers my mouth with her hand. "Don't finish that sentence."

It's too good of a chance. I can't help myself. I really shouldn't do it. But, come on, it's perfect!

I lick her hand.

Clary rears back, squealing. She wipes her hand desperately on the sheets in an effort to get it off. When her fit's over, she scowls. "Jerk."

"Most people would actually call me—"

"Jace," Clary purrs, leaning over me. Her red hair creates a fiery curtain around us. She places her hands on my chest, where my heart is pounding away. She leans in slowly, hovering her lips right above mine.

"Hm?" I ask, too dazed to really care about forming words.

"Shut up." With that, Clary picks my shirt up off the floor and prances out of the room.

I growl at her. Clary's going to pay for that. Oh, time to plan my revenge.

My head peeks around the corner. Clary's in the kitchen, her back to me. Perfect position, I think victoriously.

Clary left the bedroom about half-an-hour ago and I've been in there up until two minutes previous, devising a plan of revenge. What Clary did to me was neither nice nor innocent. She knew what she was doing and she's going to pay.

The stele burns as the tip traces a Soundless rune onto my arm. This will probably be one of my only chances to initiate an attack like this and I will not mess it up.

Clary turns, for a moment, and I duck back, praying to the angels above that she didn't see me. I may be quick but Clary is very perceptive.

Another rune on the wall gives me a view of Clary in the kitchen. Instead of at the stove, where she was turned away, she's now at the sink, sideways. I'll have to wait until she's at the stove again.

Clary sighs and sends an exasperated look toward the hallway that leads to the bedroom. "Jace, come on, get your lazy behind out of bed!"

I grin. If only she knew.

Clary turns back to the pans sizzling away. This is my chance.

I creep forward, low and quick. No noise escapes the floor boards under my feet. Silence is key.

Clary turns, ever so slightly, and I roll, so that I'm crouched behind the peninsula extending from a wall to my right. I hear another sizzle and I take that as a cue of safety.

My trek is short from there on. About three inches from Clary's body, I stand up, resting my head on her shoulder and wrapping my arms around her torso.

Clary shrieks and hits my arm. "Jace, you scared me!"

I shrug. "Eh, well, too bad." I shift my head so that my lips are gently brushing over the tender skin of her neck. Clary shivers.

One of my hands drifts down, skimming over her bare thighs. Clary exhales sharply, leaning against me. That's the exact response I want.

I bite down on Clary's collarbone, sucking to soothe the ache. My hand below trails up, causing Clary's breath to come out in hard pants.

"Jace," she moans. "Please."

It takes all of my willpower, literally all of it, to drop a chaste kiss on Clary's cheek before removing myself.

I do exactly that. Clary growls as I walk away.

My stroll is leisurely as I stroll to the hallway, whistling on my way.

Suddenly, I'm on the ground. A weight is pressed on my butt, straddling my body.

"That was mean," Clary says lowly, leaning to whisper in my ear.

"That was revenge," I correct. "There's a difference." There's more to my sentence but it never escapes as Clary licks under my ear. I groan instead.

In an instant, my back is on the floor, not my stomach. Clary's now on my abs, her hands on my shoulders. Once more, her hair is a curtain around us, though this time I know she won't pull away. She can't pull away.

"How does the floor sound?" I ask, wiggling my eyebrows suggestively.

Clary rolls her bottom lip into her mouth out of apprehension. "Won't it be uncomfortable? I mean, the floor's pretty hard."

I smirk. "You know what else is hard? My—"

Clary cuts me off by pressing her lips to mine. "Jace," she murmurs against my mouth. "Just stop talking."

"Mm, sure," I whisper back, not really caring. My attention is on kissing and not much else.

I roll us over so Clary's on the bottom and I'm on the top. In this position, I have at great vantage point of how beautiful she really is. Clary has a secretive beauty, one you don't realize is there unless you are really looking. Most comment on her brothers' handsomeness or her mother's own beauty, never really looking past the surface to Clary's. And I think that's completely outrageous.

"Are you ready?" I ask, staring into Clary's eyes. It seems impossible that there are eyes as exquisite as her own.

"Always," she replies, sending us once more burning into a storm of love and passion.

Something wet hits me in the face.

My head shoots up, eyes narrowing on the redhead across the table who's eating her food with an innocent smile. She quirks her head to the side as I continue to glare at her.

"What's wrong?" she asks, batting her eyes sweetly. "Did something fall from the trees and hit you?"

Clary and I are on the back porch of the little bungalow right outside Rio de Janeiro. Jungle foliage surrounds us from all sides, creating a warm, humid little getaway. It is late evening, around the time for dinner, which I made. Yet it looks like someone is throwing it rather than eating it.

"Why, yes. A coconut just happened to bonk me on the head a few seconds ago," I reply, sitting back. "What did you hit me with?" I wipe the spot where the projectile hit me. Blue stained my fingers. "Where the hell did you get a blueberry?"

Clary giggles. "I went to the market yesterday, remember? After we finished that little…session in the bathroom? Well, there was a lady there with produce and I bought some."

"And you've been keeping it where?" There is literally no space for her to put the excess food. The little bungalow is cute, yeah, but it's also microscopic. It has just enough room to last us a week before one of us accidentally steps on another person's toe for the millionth time and we both just explode.

"I didn't keep it all. There were some kids playing on the street and they looked so hungry, I just —I just gave it to them. They need it more than we do. I stuffed a few berries in my pocket and handed the rest over." Clary looks down at her plate, almost like she's ashamed of what she did.

I'm starstruck. It wouldn't seem like it at first but Clary has a heart of gold. She puts everyone else before herself without a second thought. For the zillionth time since we came here, I wonder how someone could be so perfect, inside and out.

I take her hand and tilt her chin up. Clary meets my eyes dead-on. "That's amazing. Why didn't you tell me, though?"

"I—I thought you would've been mad that I gave the fruit up like that. At home, my dad hates wasting supplies, even if it's for a good cause—"

I raise an eyebrow, grinning. "News flash, honey. I'm not your dad. I think that's great. Though why you need my approval is beyond me."

Clary shrugs. "Eh. I wanted to see if you'd actually be able to compliment someone else."

"It's rare but possible."

There is a flash and no sooner does it go away than it how it had appeared. Clary and I are out our seats within seconds. A seraph blade awaits in Clary's hand while a dagger rests in mine.

"Wait, wait, Jace, hold on," Clary says. Her hand with the blade drops, the weapon clattering to the table. There's a piece of paper in her hand. "It's—it's a fire message. From…from Magnus." Her voice is incredulous. "What in the world?" Her eyes skim the message. The color slowly drains from her face and my heart speeds up.

I approach her slowly. Clary seems to be losing herself by the seconds. "Clary? What's wrong?"

"It's Seb." I can barely hear her whisper. She stumbles back, her eyes glassy with shock, and falls. My arms catch her just as she's about to hit the floor.

Clary grabs my neck and hides her face. Wet tears dampen the collar of my shirt. What could be so bad that Clary's crying?

The answer is in the message.

Dear Newlyweds,

I wish I could write to you on congratulations, but I can't. Earlier today, I was in my apartment in Brooklyn when a knock came to my door. It was Jonathan, holding a bloody Sebastian, with Alec and Isabelle right behind them. They had a run in with a band of rogue werewolves and Sebastian was mauled.

I tried my hardest, you know I did, but I could not save him. Sebastian's now in the care of the Silent Brothers. He's not dead but he might as well be. In an effort to save his life, the runes of a new Brother were placed upon him. He's now on his way to becoming a full-fledged one.

I'm so sorry, Clary, Jace. I know how much Sebastian meant to you.

General Morgenstern wishes for you to return home immediately. There's a discussion to be had on how to move forward. He'll be waiting for your arrival.

—Magnus Bane

In my haze of shock, I don't notice what's wrong with this note. I don't notice all of the things that Magnus would've said if it had actually been him. But it wasn't him who wrote it.

"Jace, we need to go back," Clary sobs into my shoulder, shaky and broken. I can feel her pain, the agony stabbing my heart. "Jon can't go through this alone."

"Of course." I hug her hard before helping her up. "Do you think you can make a Portal?"

She nods weakly. "I think so."

"Come on." Even though I'm shocked, I still manage to stand, compared to the paralyzed Clay beside me. Not that I can blame her, of course.

The blue swirling mass pulses as Clary swirls the stele over the wall inside. We're just about to walk through when there's another sharp tug at my heart. Dombra, I realize. Jace, you idiot. How could I leave that here?

"Clary, stay here. I'll be right back," I say before dashing into our bedroom. Inside is more of a mess than anything else. My OCD ticks painfully but I ignore it, slipping on a gear jacket and Dombra's sheath. The sword is safely nestled inside. My fingers enclose around Calohaya and I'm right back where I was with Clary.

Clary is considerably more energized when Calohaya's set on her back. Her muscles are stronger now and she's standing by herself. Wow, that sword has some serious effects.

Her fingers slip into mine and then we are falling into the swirling abyss.

What we are met with is not the mourning silence of Morgenstern manor.

Smoke is the first thing I notice. And there's lots of it. It's suffocating, pushing in from all sides. It fogs my vision, messes up my hearing. The smell is poisonous.

"Clary, where did you send us?" I cough, pulling her close. Our hands hadn't been separated throughout the entire trip and I'm not about to lose her now.

"Morgenstern Manor!" she yells back. "But—"

"Clary! Jace!" There's a voice behind us. Simon. We both spin to find that lanky boy running up. "What are you doing here?"

"We got a note from Magnus!" Clary calls back. "He said that Sebastian's becoming a Silent Brother!"

Simon reaches us. His face is streaked with soot, blood trailing dark lines through it. "What? A note from Magnus? We haven't talked to Magnus in days!"

"What?" Clary's lost her adrenaline rush. It takes most of my strength to keep her up. "What about Seb?"

"Yeah, Sebastian's becoming a Silent Brother. Whoever wrote the note got that part right." Simon notices Clary's weak posture and supports her from the other side. "There was an ambush. A horde of demons pounced on the General and his aides while they were Portaling to Alicante. They set fire to everything."

"Even the manor?" I shout back. The din I couldn't recognize is suddenly familiar—fighting. There's the clash of swords, the roars of the demons.

"No, the manor's fine. But the landscape around it is one big bushfire. The demons are still here." Simon starts moving in the direction he came from. "We need to get Clary to safety. She doesn't look well."

A dark figure moves through the smoke towards us. A Ravener. Disgusting.

"Hold her up! I got this one!" I hand Clary off to Simon and unsheathe Dombra, sprinting forward. The Ravener scurries toward us, opening it's wide mouth. The sharp fingers are prominent, even through the haze.

I shove the sword through the tender tissue of it's upper mouth. The Ravener screams in pain but tries to pounce again. I slash my sword down on what should be its neck and suddenly there's no more demon to behold.

"I'll be on guard!" I yell back, reaching toward my jacket for a stele. I draw the arch of the Clarity rune on my collarbone before zipping the tool into my gear pocket.

The smoke clears somewhat. I can see the outline of the manor to our right and bits of Brocelind forest to our left. In the distance, there are figures that I can't really make out.

"Go towards the front door!" Simon replies.

There's a corner—then a garden. We're on the northwest side of the estate, which means the front door should be right around the bend…

I can see the large mass from my point. There are several Shadowhunters defending the doorway, including General Morgenstern. I spot a staff among the many offensive weapons pushing the demons back. Simon was right. Seb really is becoming a Silent Brother. Why?

"Jace!" Alec runs up from the smoke. He's breathing hard, sweat and blood mixing to become a grotesque mess on his face. "What—"

"I'll explain later. We need to get Clary to the manor. She's in shock."

There's more to be said but Alec doesn't push. Instead, he guards my back.

More demons come after us. Dombra kills in 1-2 correctly placed slashes, like a large seraph blade. I'm starting to love this sword more than I already did, and that's saying something.

The circle defending the door separates wordlessly as we proceed through. The smoke had wafted through the open doorway, so it's still polluted, though the concentration decreases as we move toward the infirmary. Jocelyn, who'd been with the others, follows us silently.

The infirmary is quiet. I guess no one has been hurt enough to need this kind of help.

Simon lays Clary gently on a bed. His parabatai has her eyes closed and she's breathing heavily. But she's alive.

Jocelyn leans over her. "What happened?"

"It's a long story but we got a note saying Sebastian became a Silent Brother and Clary slipped into shock. She's been like this since we came through the Portal," I say, moving to get closer to my wife.

Jocelyn nods, moving towards the medicine shelf. "You should go back. We need every hand we can get until backup arrives. I'll take care of her—"

Both Simon and I start to argue but we stop when Jocelyn turns, settling an icy glare on us. "I said go."

We exchange a glance before dashing out with Alec. The smoke has receded slightly, dissipating. But the abrupt change from clarity to pollution takes a few moments to get used to.

Fighting isn't the same as it was before. I'm distracted, worried about Clary. Shadowhunters don't usually go into shock, especially Clary of all people. Something else is off.

The demons take a while to fend off because, damn, there were a lot of them. I'm weary and stressed by the time they're exterminated, leaning heavily on Alec for support as he draws iratzes and such on my arm.

Sebastian really is becoming a Silent Brother. I've yet to find out why but he certainly has the wear—he already has the cloak and staff. That must be starter kit or something. But I don't really feel surprised. There's always been a Brother-ish sort of feel to Seb, that removed calm. I guess it was just something waiting to happen.

The others don't know who sent the fire-message, besides the fact that it certainly wasn't Magnus. General Morgenstern offered to let me and Clary go back but I know for a fact that she wouldn't want to, especially not with Seb becoming a Brother. There's too much going on.

I'm in the infirmary now, waiting with Simon at Clary's bed. She's still asleep but her breathing's less labored and there's more color to her skin. That's good.

"Jace, I need to speak with you." Jocelyn appears at my side. She beckons and I silently follow her to the other side of the infirmary. Simon watches us leave.

"Yeah?" I ask once we're a safe distance away. What could Jocelyn want to tell me that's so important she removes us?

"Clary—the reason why she's unconscious is not entirely shock. There's something else," Jocelyn says, gauging my reaction.

My heart speeds up. Is she sick? Did she get poisoned by a demon?

"What's wrong?" My voice is tight with anxiety.

Jocelyn lowers her voice to tell me a news I'm sure will tear my life apart. "Clary—she's…Jace…Clary's…"

"What? What's going on with her?" My voice is ragged. Is Clary in danger?

Then she says the last thing I expect.

"Clary's pregnant."

Hey y'all! I hope you guys are safe and healthy! I just wanted to thank you for your support! From every read to every favorite to every follow to every review, you guys give me the biggest push to keep writing! I just wanted to say that this fanfiction will be finished, even if I don't update for a while.

Love ya!