"LIZ!" She heard Jace shout.
A wolf was about to land on top of her. She slid out from under it just in time. She scrambled towards Jace, running into him like a brick wall. His hand was on her neck, coming back slicked with blood.
"He bit you." He growled.
She tore away from him. "I don't think he liked the way I tasted, either." She told him. His expression didn't change. "Don't worry about it. We've got to get out of here. This has turned into your definition of a situation." She told Jace. She looked at Clary. "You've got Simon?" Clary said yes. "Great. We're getting out of here."
Jace agreed immediately. "They're going to tear each other apart."
Behind them, the wolves were growling at the vampires. The vampires backed away, only Raphael standing his ground as the leader of the vampires.
"YOU CANNOT BE HERE." Raphael shouted at the wolves.
The largest of the wolves shifted into his man form, walking towards Raphael. He was tall and muscular. His hair was long, as the wolves tended to wear it. "We came here for the girl. The human girl." He was pointing towards Eliza. But not at her. At Clary.
Eliza frowned down at Clary. "You know wolves?" Clary, in a quiet voice, said no.
She looked back at the mess. The wolves and the vampires were all looking at them. Raphael laughed at the wolf. "She trespassed into our lair. She is ours."
The wolf-man lunged at him, shifting into his wolf form before he landed on Raphael. That contact, two Downworlders entangled in a mess of fighting, launched the battle. The wolves and the vampires charged on each other.
"This is where we get the hell out of here." Eliza said quietly. But how?
They were surrounded by the fight. They weren't getting out unnoticed.
"Simon!" Clary shouted.
The rat had jumped from her grasp and darted across the floor. He ran towards the pile of drapes. Jace grabbed Clary by the arm to keep her from running after Simon. "He's fleeing like rats are prone to do."
Clary jerked away from Jace. "He's not a rat, you jackass!" She ran after Simon.
Eliza looked at Jace with an amused expression. "You're losing your touch on the female species." He gave her an ungrateful look.
"You're losing a lot of blood."
She shrugged, saying it wasn't a worry. She grabbed him by the wrist, her fingers slipping down into his hand. He held onto her tightly as they dashed to Clary. Behind the drapes was a door. Jace dropped Eliza's hand and shoved his shoulder at the door. It didn't even budge.
"A waste of ruining my shoulder." Jace muttered. His eyes widened as something behind them caught his eye.
Eliza whirled around. One of the wolves was running straight for them. Clary screamed, the sound piercing Eliza's ears.
Clary's hands scrambled, snatching Jace's knife from his belt. She threw it. Eliza watched with wide eyes as the knife flew through the air and sank into the wolf's side.
"Shit." Eliza whistled.
The wolf howled in pain. Three other wolves were running towards them. Behind them, the door exploded open as Jace threw himself at it again. He was holding his shoulder.
Eliza grabbed Clary and yanked her through the doorway. She slammed the door shut just as two of the wolves slammed against it. "Move." Jace's voice was rough. He moved past them, his stele working against the door. He carved a holding rune into the door. "We need to move fast." He put his stele away as the wolves slammed against the door again.
Eliza peered at the dark set of wooden stairs in front of them. If they were like the rest of the hotel, they'd be old and rickety. Possibly rotted. She swayed, her hand covering the wound on her neck.
She could feel the original bite mark on her neck. But then she felt where the skin had been viciously torn apart as she had stabbed Raphael.
"Come on then. Up we go." Eliza muttered.
She stepped onto the staircase first, her hand tight on the railing. She could feel the thin rot of the wood and loosened her grip. Jace was behind her and Clary behind him.
"Are you okay? You're wobbling." Jace whispered, his voice almost muffled by the creaks of the stairs.
She nodded, continuing up the stairs. "I'm tired." She half-lied. She was tired. But she knew she was losing blood. Maybe too much.
The staircase wound up and up. They reached four turns before an explosion happened below them. The wolves had gotten in.
"This is where we run?" Clary asked Jace.
He laughed quietly under his breath. "Yes. This is where we run."
Their feet thundered on the stairs as they ran. The rotted wood moaned under them and nails blew out of the splintered wood. Eliza could faintly hear the wolves below them, coming up for them. When the reached the sixth turn, Jace kicked open the door and shoved them inside. He slammed the door shut, locking it.
Eliza fell against the wall, breathing heavy. Fresh air hit her in the face.
Fresh air?
She opened her eyes. The sky was painted out before her, the hazy blue of oncoming dawn. They were on the roof. She could see the slight lights of those up before the rise of the sun.
"This is how they move from the hotel." Jace said.
Eliza peeled herself off the door and walked carefully to the edge of the roof. No way down. No way up. Of course not, she told herself, the vampires can fly. The street was a dangerous ten floors below them. The fire escape on the side of the building had been mangled by the vampires.
Jace groaned and she looked over at him. He had his palms against his eyes, mumbled to himself to think harder.
Behind him, the door rattled. Eliza's eyes moved around the roof, settling on dark shapes on the far side. Motorcycles.
"Jace. Look." She tore his hands from his eyes. She pointed to the far side of the roof. "Bikes." She whispered.
His face lit up. "By the Angel, I could kiss you right now!" They stared at each other for a quick minute before she turned around and started across the roof.
Once she got to the motorcycles, she pulled the tarp away from them, revealing several glittering bikes. "Beautiful." She murmured, running her cleaner hand across a sleek black roadster.
Jace and Clary caught up and Jace immediately laid claim to the dark red Harley with the flamed design. "Are we stealing motorcycles from the vampires?" Clary asked them.
"Well, it's that or die and I'm not too keen on the dying thing." Eliza told her, swinging her leg over the black roadster bike.
Jace got on the Harley. "Clary, get on. We don't have all day." His voice was high with impatience. Clary said nothing else, getting behind Jace on the Harley.
Eliza's eyes turned to annoyed slits as she watched Clary begin to slide her arms around Jace's waist. She turned, cursing herself for feeling the tinge of jealousy. She took out her stele and shoved the tip of it into the ignition of the bike. It came to life, the sound like music to her ears.
The door to the roof slammed open. Eliza whipped her head back. The wolves. Above them flew the vampires.
"GO!" Jace shouted at her.
She went. The bike lurched forward. In front of her, the wolves leapt out of the way as she drove toward them. Her bike sailed off the roof and went up toward the sky.
It was quite literally smooth sailing. It reminded her of flying a kite on a perfect day, except she was the kite. She quickly glanced behind her, making sure Jace and Clary were there. A flutter of relief filled her as she saw them.
Clary was clutching to Jace as if her life depended on it. Jace had a giddy look on his face as the wind hit him, his mouth open with delighted shouts.
They flew over the city and Eliza made herself content with the sound of the traffic below them. She let herself take it all in. The beauty of the city under her feet. She could see the East River, a shimmer of grey that divided Manhattan from the boroughs of New York City. The rising sun in the distance.
Shit, she thought. The rising sun. The bikes ran on demon energy. Which, had no power once the sun was up. She turned the bike once she saw Queensboro Bridge to head to the foot of the island. Another quick glance back to make sure they were still behind her.
All of a sudden, her bike shook. It sputtered with life. "No, no, no." She groaned. She looked to see the sun, a golden sliver above the waterfront. The bike choked. "Come on." She whispered, her hands tight around the handlebars. "Go for just a few minutes longer." She told the bike.
Jace flew past her, his hand pointed towards a desolate parking lot. She nodded in response, though he didn't see it.
The wheels of his bike skimmed the top of a truck on the highway and she just barely missed it herself. Her hands were holding on so tightly, her fingers were white. Jace's bike hit the asphalt hard. Eliza turned away, not wanting to see the end of that contact.
As the tires of her bike got closer to the ground, she had the unsettling feeling that her bike was not going to end well. Just as the front tire graced the parking lot, she stood up and jerked her stele from the ignition. And then she let go. By some miraculous act of God or the Angel himself, she landed a backflip, her feet steady on the ground.
Across the parking lot, Jace and Clary were on the ground, their bike flipped over. Clary was lying in a puddle. The sun had lit the parking lot up. The bikes were gone, turned to ash. Jace wobbled as he stood. The sleeve on his shirt was torn away, a long abrasion on his left arm. His beautiful face was covered in dust and blood, wet with sweat.
And then there was Simon. No longer a rat. Hugging Clary.
"Liz." Jace's voice. He was looking at her, his face scrunched. She stumbled towards him and as she fell forward, he caught her. "Damn it, Liz." He murmured.
Black tinged her sight, her entire body feeling heavy. "I'm just tired." She tried to stand but her legs wobbled beneath her, sending her back into Jace's arms.
"Is she okay?" Clary called. She and Simon were walking towards them.
Jace didn't tear his gaze from her to answer. "No. Raphael bit her."
She heard Clary suck in a breath. "Is she going to…?"
Jace shook his head, saying no quietly. "She would have had to ingest his blood to Turn." He moved her hair away from her neck. She saw where the pale blond of her hair was caked in dried blood. Jace sucked in a deep breath. "Shit." He whispered. His fingers were careful as they danced along the edges of her wound. "He could have killed you."
Eliza smiled weakly. "I think that was the point." Her laugh was hollow. "I really don't know why you're worrying. I can make it back."
But her head was resting on his shoulder and the darkness around her sight was getting thicker and closing her eyes sounded like the best idea.
"Liz?" Jace's voice was soft in her ear. She could feel his breath, warm, on her neck. "Liz, you can't close your eyes. You have to stay awake." She tried to respond but the darkness was too much, too inviting. "Lizzie…"
Lizzie. He'd never called her that before. The most affectionate he ever got was calling her Liz, and that didn't count because others called her Liz. Her name on his lips was the last thing she ever before the darkness consumed her.
She woke up in the infirmary room. There was a thick bandage on her neck, the pain dull but evident. Jace was at her bedside, his hand clasping her own. His other arm was in a sling.
"Hey." Her voice was dry and raspy.
His smile lit up the world. She had never noticed before, but one of his incisors was chipped. How had that happened? "Well, it's about time. You've been out for over three hours. You missed Hodge's lecture."
She grimaced, sitting up. He watched her carefully as she got comfortable. "A lecture that was, I bet. What did he say?"
Jace's smile faltered and he half-shrugged. He leaned forward. "Oh, you know. He's mad we- and by we, I mean myself- lied to him about the party last night. He said he couldn't ever trust me again. There was some stuff about breaking the Covenant and possibly getting kicked out of the Clave, bringing shame on the house of Wayland. What else is new?"
She laughed quietly, shaking her head at him. "Your shoulder?" He told her it had been dislocated and was healing up quickly. She took the time to look around the room. Simon was occupying another bed, Clary and Isabelle fussing over him. Alec was sitting on the windowsill, a sour expression on your face.
"Alexander, you look positively nasty." She called to him.
He looked over at her, his blue eyes bright. He left his seat and walked over to her bed. "Not nasty, I'm amused."
She wrinkled her nose and shook her head once. "It isn't a good look on you."
He grinned down at her. "You know, I always knew you'd get your ass handed to you by a bloodsucker, but damn, Liz." His grin fell, turning to a disapproving frown. "He could have killed you."
She rolled her eyes. "Okay, but he didn't."
"That's not the point, Lizzie." Jace muttered. So, it hadn't been part of a dream. He had called her Lizzie. "He bit you. Imagine what would have happened if you hadn't been able to get him off you."
"I guess I would have bitten him back."
A sick feeling rose in her stomach. No, she would have rather died than done that. Biting a vampire and ingesting the blood meant being Turned. Granted, if she would have gotten back to the Institute in time, she could have drowned her system in holy water to purge herself. But that didn't sound like a fun time either.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Clary leave the room, a red tint to her cheeks. Alec followed her out, a determined look on his face.
"You absolutely would not have." Jace said, his voice stern. His golden eyes were dark.
Eliza cracked a smile. "No. I wouldn't have." She mumbled. "Imagine how awful a vampire I'd be." Her laughter cracked. "I'm already pale enough."
Jace didn't smile back. "You'd have to deal with Raphael too. And I got the hint that you don't particularly like Camille Belcourt?"
Involuntarily, her nose wrinkled. "I've never really met her. But she and Magnus aren't on good terms. You know how they say a woman scorned? Well, imagine a warlock scorned. It's much worse."
The door to the infirmary slammed back open and Alec walked in, his walk dazed. "Everything okay in here?" He asked, his voice tight.
Her favorite place in the Institute was the greenhouse. It was quiet, the only person ever really inhabiting it being Hodge when he came to check the plants.
Her neck itched, the wound healing slower than other wounds normally did. She found a nice spot among the violet anemones. She settled in, throwing the blanket over her legs. She placed the tisane Hodge had made her on the floor and adjusted until she was comfortable. She opened her book and began sinking into a different world.
Condon's Manchurian Candidate was one of her favorite books.
Magnus, I'm home, by the way.
It's about damned time, Eliza! Are you alright?
Nice vampire bite on my neck, but I'm otherwise in decent condition.
She was well into the book when she heard voices. She had just reached the part where Shaw realized he was a sleeper agent for the Communists, one of her favorite parts.
Her tea was gone, the leftover droplets were cold. She closed the book, noting what page she was on. She stood, gathering her things up and tossed the blanket over her arm.
The clock chimed. Midnight. "The witching hour." She murmured. She followed the sound of the voices to the back of the greenhouse. The morning glories had bloomed, beautiful in the light of the moon.
And there, in the middle of the room, were Jace and Clary. Kissing. His arms were around her, her hands in his hair.
Eliza muffled whatever noise was about to escape her mouth. A flap of wings distracted her. She looked up. Hugo was perched on a branch above her. Her mouth curled in distaste.
"Eliza?" Jace's voice resonated within her.
She jerked her head up, mouth open in surprise. "Oh, dear." She murmured.
His eyes flashed. Clary's face was a dark red. "How long have you been here?" Jace asked her.
Her mouth worked in awkward fashion as she tried to form words. She clamped her mouth shut and then found her words. "As in the greenhouse? Or as in the world? I have an answer for both." His shoulders slumped and he let his arms fall from around Clary. Eliza licked her bottom lip anxiously. "I've been in the greenhouse for a few hours. I've been reading." She held up her book, waving it at them slightly.
Jace nodded thoughtfully. "Right. I forgot you come up here to read. We wouldn't have come up here if we'd known you were here. I thought you were asleep in your room."
She clutched her book back to her chest. "I didn't mean to interrupt." Surprisingly, her voice was neutral. Like she didn't care that she'd just walked in on them making out. "I heard voices and I thought I was alone." Neither of them said anything. "I'll be going, then." She spun on her heel and walked away, a heavy feeling in her chest.
She let her feet lead her down the stairs and down the winding halls. She wasn't exactly sure where she was going.
She wound up outside Alec's door. She knocked once and waited for him to answer. The door opened slowly but he was no where in sight. She walked inside and the door shut.
"You're crying." Alec's dry voice noted.
Was she? She hadn't noticed. She dropped her things on his desk and sat down on his bed.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
She said no but the words came out anyways. She told him how she had been reading The Manchurian Candidate in the greenhouse to clear her head and just get away from everything and how she'd heard the voices. Voices that had belonged to Jace and Clary and then she had seen them kissing.
Alec sat down beside her and put his arm over her shoulders. Neither of them said anything, the silence of it comforting.
"Your favorite book is The Manchurian Candidate?" Alec asked, laughter flowing from him.
She raised an eyebrow. "Yes? Is there something amusing about that?"
Alec said no, still laughing. What was his deal? "It's just an odd book to consider a favorite."
They were asleep when the banging on Alec's door commenced. Eliza had a dark look in her eyes as she got out of the bed and opened the door.
Jace was standing there, with Clary. Clary had her sketchpad and a coffee mug in her hands. "Liz." Jace noted her. And the fact that she was still fully dressed in her black silk pajama set.
"It's late. What on earth are you all doing awake?" She asked.
Jace raised an eyebrow at her. "I could ask you the same thing."
She heard the imprint of Alec's feet on the floorboards as he walked to the door. He had fallen asleep in his sweater and pajama pants. "We were asleep." He yawned.
Jace's eyebrow twitched. "Before all of your infernal knocking, anyways." Eliza murmured. "What's the deal?"
Clary showed her the coffee mug. "I pulled this out of my sketchbook."
Eliza stared back at her. And then the mug. Then the sketchbook. And then back at Clary. "I'm sorry?" They were the only words she could conjure.
Clary nodded. "I drew some runes and then…I just pulled it out. But that's not the point. The point is that I know where the Mortal Cup is. My mom hid it in a deck of tarot cards she gave to Madame Dorothea."
"The hedge witch?" Eliza asked Jace. He said yes. "Well then, why are we still standing here? We have to tell Hodge."
The four of them went to wake Izzy, who was roused from her slumber wearing a pink sleep dress. They dragged themselves to the library to talk to Hodge.
It had taken mere minutes for them to decide that the capture of the Angel's Cup would be left to them.
"I'm so in." Isabelle said.
"No. There are skilled Shadowhunters in the city right now looking for the Cup." Alec told them. "Let's just give the information to them and they can do the rest." Jace frowned at him, saying that was a dumb idea. He said it wasn't that simple. "Jace, it is. This is all about you and your deadly addiction to dangerous things."
Jace said nothing of Alec's remark. "Well, Dorothea trusts us. She won't trust anyone the Clave sends." Jace said. "Besides, imagine the glory! We'll be remembered in Nephilim history forever once we return the Mortal Cup!"
Hodge quietened Jace with shushing noises. "Jocelyn only ever intended for Clary to be able to find the Cup. No one else."
Alec nodded. "She should go alone."
Eliza looked at him, bewildered. She knew he didn't like Clary, but suggesting she go alone was dumb on his part. "She can't." Eliza told him in a quiet voice.
Jace set his jaw as he stared his parabatai down. He had a cool look on his face. "Well, Alec, if you're afraid of fighting off a couple Forsaken, you should just stay home." Eliza narrowed her eyes at Jace. What was their issue lately?
They weren't acting like the brothers she knew they were.
"I'm not afraid of anything." Alec said, his voice tight.
Jace smiled. "Liz? What do you say? You up for some fun?"
The Cup…What was it about the Mortal Cup? Something prickled in her mind. It was important. Too important. It had to be recovered and given to the Clave. No matter what.
Her gaze met Jace's. Green eyes against golden ones. "Always. Someone has to keep you from doing something stupid."
Jace cracked a half-smile. "Good. It's settled. We're going." Jace licked his lips. "We're going to need a car if we're transporting the Cup around the city."
"Simon can drive. And he may have a ride." Clary piped up.
Simon. The mundane? Where the hell was he, Eliza wondered. Jace took the phone on Hodge's desk and handed it to Clary. "Call him. We need him, in an odd and unsettling turn of events."
Clary dialed and made the call. Eliza's fingers fiddled as the conversation occurred. "I don't want the Cup, Simon! I'm gonna use it to get my mom back!"
Eliza stood straighter. She wanted to trade Valentine the Cup for her mother. She couldn't. He couldn't have the Cup.
A few minutes later, Clary had hung up. "We have a ride." She mumbled.
Eliza smiled cheerfully. She adjusted her pajama top. "I'm going to make breakfast. We'll need full stomachs if we're going to be killing some Forsaken and rescuing the Mortal Cup."
No one said anything.
She yanked on her pants, fastening them around her waist. She put her belt on, making sure it was tight enough to not fall off. She adjusted the sleeves of the black tank top. She laced her boots tight.
Her fingers worked deftly through thick hair, knotting it into the two braids. She winced as she ripped the bandage off her neck. The wound had healed, leaving a ragged scar on her neck, the red contrasting against the porcelain skin. She took her Starkweather sword from the desk and sheathed it on her back.
Jace, Isabelle and Alec were in the weapons room. Alec handed her two seraph blades and she put them in her belt. He handed her a Sensor, which she also pocketed. From the drawer, she took her knife braces and cuffed them on her wrists.
She grabbed two throwing knives off the knife table and etched runes on them. She slid them into her braces.
Alec and Jace resorted to the corner, beginning to Mark each other. Eliza took her stele, drawing every sort of rune imaginable on her skin. Anything would help.
This task was too important to mess up, to go into weak. Soon enough, her pale skin was covered in dark ink.
"Let's go." Jace said once they were finished. He threw a duffle bag over his shoulder and gave Alec the other.
The four of them were met in the library by Clary and Hodge. "Good. Simon should be here at any minute. We should go wait." Clary said after Jace asked if she was ready.
Simon was, in fact, outside when they got there. The rain had become a soft drizzle falling from the sky. Simon got out and opened the back doors of the van, letting them in. Jace and Alec tossed the duffle bags inside. Clary climbed in the front seat, leaving the others to take the seats in the back. Alec sat himself beside Eliza, leaving Jace and Izzy to sit next to each other.
"Hi, Simon." Eliza greeted him kindly.
He glanced back at her from the driver's seat. "Hey. Your neck looks better."
She touched the wound carefully. "Lots and lots of runes and special drinks." She told him.
Jace made an unappreciative noise. "We've more important things to discuss than the condition of Eliza's neck, though it is a very lovely neck."
She shot him a withering look. Simon looked at Alec through the rearview mirror. Alec had his quiver of arrows and his bow across his back. "You've got a really good bow." Simon told Alec.
Alec looked taken aback by Simon's acknowledgement of him, let alone his bow and arrows. "You know anything about archery?"
"Archery camp for six years and on." Simon replied pleasantly.
Simon started the van and began driving through the slight rain. Eliza got comfortable, crossing her arms over her chest.
"I don't feel well." Eliza told Alec. He asked what she meant. "I mean, I feel the way I did the night we went to Pandemonium. Like something awful is going to happen. Like everything is going to change."
Alec put a comforting hand on her knee. "Don't worry, Liz. We know what we're doing."
She tried to smile but it didn't happen. There was a throbbing deep in her mind. A hammering sort. Like there was a wall inside her head and something was beating against it, trying to tear it down.
She wasn't sure if she wanted whatever it was to happen.