The rain had stopped once they pulled up to the street Clary's brownstone was on. Jace pushed open the doors and they clambered out of the back.
"Stay while we check for any demonic activity." Jace told Clary and Simon.
Eliza and Isabelle partnered up. Eliza took out her Sensor and they went around the back of the house for the demonic levels. The levels were low, low enough to be dismissed as the Forsaken upstairs. Eliza and Izzy returned to the front of the house, meeting Jace and Alec there.
Clary and Simon were leaned against the van waiting on them.
"The levels are low. We can head inside." Jace reported.
Alec pulled the duffle bag from the back of the van, dropping it on the ground. He sorted through it and pulled out a featherstaff, tipped with two shining blades. He took his bow and arrow quiver from his back and put them away.
"What are you doing?" Jace asked him.
He shrugged, standing up. "The featherstaff is better."
Izzy had the same concerned look on her face that Eliza did. "Alec, the bow-." He cut his sister off.
"Don't worry about it, Isabelle." He told her sharply. "Let's go inside."
"Simon, stay here. We need a getaway car." Jace told the mundane.
Simon had a protesting look on his face. Eliza put a hand on his arm. "We need you. Ready to drive away. Please." He relented, getting back in the van. Eliza looked back at the others. "Let's go thwart a plan for revenge."
The five of them walked up the walkway and Jace pressed open the front door. The smell of death and demon flowed from the entryway.
Eliza's nose burned at the overwhelming smell of demons. She saw that Isabelle's nose was wrinkled up and Alec had a greenish hue to his face. But Jace…Of course he looking as if he were smelling roses.
"This is recent." Jace bemused. "We may have just missed them."
To the side of them was the door leading the Madame Dorothea's apartment. Eliza's skin prickled as Clary walked over to the door. Clary's hand knocked softly on the door.
The door swung open. Eliza's head rang as she took in the woman in front of them. The woman had badger striped hair. She wore robes of bright green and orange. Her turban was an illuminating yellow.
Their eyes met. Eliza's head thrummed. A memory sparked of standing in front of the brownstone and briefly encountering the woman. No, that had never happened. Had it been a dream?
The woman engulfed Clary in a bone-crushing hug. "Thank God!" After she let Clary go, she opened the door wider and let them all in.
Eliza fought to roll her eyes at the look of the apartment. It was fashioned just as any mundane woman posing as a psychic would decorate her dwelling. Tackily.
The woman sat down in her armchair, her arms resting on the sides. The stench of the apartment threatened to burn holes in Eliza's nose. She felt like vomiting, the stench was so overwhelming. "Have you found your mother?"
Clary said no. "Valentine took her, though."
Dorothea nodded thoughtfully. Eliza looked back at Jace, a dangerously bored look on his face.
"You're upset with me." He told her quietly.
"Am I?" She replied. "I can't imagine why."
He didn't laugh. "It's because of the kiss, isn't it? You saw me kissing Clary."
She fought off a snicker. "As if I have concerned my thoughts with who you share your midnight kisses. Though, I do remember a time where it was me you were sneaking up the greenhouse with to kiss in the midst of the moonflowers." She actually wasn't sure if it was a memory or a dream, but it didn't matter.
Jace's mouth parted slightly. "You remember that?" He asked quietly. "I didn't…what else do you remember?"
She frowned. Was there something else she should have been recalling? The wall in her mind hammered again and she squinted her eyes shut. "No. No." She whispered, pushing everything back.
"Liz?"
She opened her eyes. "Stop asking me to remember. I can't…I don't even understand what I'm supposed to be remembering or if I've even forgotten anything. And my brain…my brain hurts." She snapped at him.
She pressed her hands against her temples, a vain effort to try and stop the hammering on the wall.
She turned her attention back to the conversation. Clary was telling Dorothea that she knew where the Cup was and that it was in the apartment. Dorothea's apartment.
"You have it." Jace said, the tone of his voice different from moments ago.
Dorothea rose from her chair, her robes flowing. "I do not. And that is a terrible accusation for you to make."
Alec whistled under his breath and Eliza tightened her hands. "You didn't know." Clary reasoned. "My mother hid it all those years ago and she never told you. In the tarot cards." Clary moved to the table and picked up the deck of tarot cards. She sifted through it, pulling out the Ace of Cups.
"Jace, your stele." Clary said evenly.
He handed it to her. She went to work quickly, tracing something on the back of the card. She turned it over and reached for it. Her hand slid through the card- and did not come out the other side- and she pulled it back out. In her grasp was the Cup of Raziel. A golden chalice, plain but beautiful.
Eliza sucked in a breath. The back of her mind prickled with memory.
"You must go to New York and locate the Angel's Cup, girl. And once you have it, call me there and together, we will finish what I started all those years ago." He was tall, tall and intimidating. He was mere inches taller than her, but he seemed to tower over her. His black eyes looked as if they went directly through her, right into her soul. And not in a good way.
"Yes, Father." It was her own voice, but it was small. Weak. "I will find the Cup and return it to you."
The smile he gave her was deadly. It was cold and monstrous.
"That's my girl. Make me proud, Eliza."
Eliza stumbled, her head swimming. Her body knocked against Jace's and he steadied her. "Are you okay?"
She nodded, not wanting to discuss whatever the hell had just happened. She had called the man her father, but he did not look like Oskar Starkweather. She felt like vomiting.
"It's small." Jace noted on the chalice as he adjusted Eliza, making sure she was standing properly.
"And damaged!" Dorothea exclaimed. Clary looked down at the Cup. Eliza peered over her shoulder. It looked perfectly fine… "Here, let me show you." Dorothea said. She reached forward for the Cup and Clary moved backwards. Jace stepped in front of Clary, blocking her from Dorothea.
"No one lays a finger on the Cup except for the Shadowhunters in this room." He told her, his voice unwaveringly hostile.
Dorothea smiled at him. "Valentine would not be pleased if he was returned the Cup and it was damaged."
Valentine. Valentine. Valentine.
Magnus, what's wrong? My head…It hurts.
He was there instantly. Stop poking around in there. There's nothing for you to remember, little dove.
Nothing to remember. Magnus wouldn't lie.
Jace had his sword out, pointing it at Dorothea's chin. "We'll be leaving now." He told the hedge witch.
Her eyes seemed to gleam, beady under the folds of skin on her face. Nausea waved over her. Nothing here was right. "You can use my Portal." She took several steps back to the curtain that covered the Portal.
"Don't." Jace warned her.
The curtain fell. The Portal behind them was open.
"What the hell?" Alec whispered from behind Eliza.
Eliza trained her eyes on the Portal. There were rolls of thunderous red clouds, shooting black lightning. And there was something…something running, no, rolling towards them.
Everything, every part of her body burned. Demon. "GET DOWN!" Eliza shouted. Jace yanked Clary to the floor. Eliza could barely get her legs to move backwards as the thing, the demon came hurtling through the Portal and right into Dorothea. Her scream shook the room.
The demon encased her body, wrapping around her in a thick haze of smoke. It ruined her body, breaking her apart. Her bracelets popped off, her teeth shooting from her mouth.
"The levels were low!" Jace hissed.
"Because it was still in the Portal." Eliza told him.
He looked back at her, shocked to see her standing. "Get down, Lizzie!"
The demon shrieked before she could tell him that she couldn't move. She had never understood the saying 'frozen with fear' until then. She couldn't move her eyes as what had been Dorothea warped and twisted as the demon overtook her body.
And then Jace was pushing her. "Move! Get out!" He was shouting.
They made it to the foyer of the building. Isabelle slammed against the door, but it didn't budge. "It's…It's spelled or something." She struggled with it.
The room exploded. Not literally, but well enough. Pieces of wood and dry wall debris rained over them. Eliza shielded her eyes.
There was a hole in the wall, opening to Dorothea's apartment. The demon was oozing from the hole, coming towards them.
Jace shouted Alec's name. He reached forward and yanked Alec out of the way of the demon.
Eliza wanted to vomit. The demon was massive, bigger than anything she had ever seen before. The skin of it looked like it had been bruised over and over again. Bones poked through the flesh, thin fingers and thinner arms that were covered in sores. The demon had a skull for a face, no eyes.
She moved back slowly.
"The Cup. Give me the Mortal Cup." The voice of the demon was hoarse and cold. "Give me the Cup and you will be granted the gift to continue your existence."
Eliza felt the need to step forward, to protect her friends. And that was exactly what she did. "I know who you are." Her voice was clear as a summer day, even.
The demon seemed to stare down at her. "And I know who you are, little Nephilim."
Her breath caught.
The Greater Demon Abbadon. Magnus' voice was in her mind. It was like being wrapped in a warm blanket after standing the cold of a storm. Sitting near the fire on a cold winter night. She could have cried. Demon of the Abyss.
"You are Abbadon, the Greater Demon. You're known as the Demon of the Abyss." Eliza told the demon.
She swore it smiled down at her, malicious and cruel. "And you are the daughter of-."
"Enough." Jace was in front of her, pushing her backwards with his arm. "You don't get the Cup." He told Abbadon.
"Then you will all die. And yours will not be as quick as the mortal woman's."
The demon moved towards them. Jace had his sword in one hand and a seraph blade in the other. "I always knew that you Greater Demons were ugly, but I didn't know you'd smell awful too."
Eliza's mouth fell open. It wasn't the time for smart-ass remarks! The demon hissed at him, revealing rows of sharp and crooked teeth.
Abbadon leapt at Jace and he moved out of the way. Both of his blades went into the demon's abdomen. Abaddon swatted him aside with one of its skinny arms.
"Jace!" Eliza shouted. He got to his feet, but his arm was hurt.
Isabelle's glittering electrum whip struck the demon, creating a bloody red welt on its side. Abbadon paid her no mind, continuing towards Jace.
She held her short-sword in her hands, looking down at it. Eosphoros. Morning-Bringer. Hers. Made of white gold and adamas. Three rubies on the hilt and a black star etched on the blade, falling down towards the tip.
"The blood belongs to a Prince of Hell. Lucifer, in fact."
She snapped back to reality, pushing the memory away. Her hand reached behind her and took out the sword.
Jace held his second seraph blade in his hand, the blade bright. Abbadon loomed over him. Jace grinned. Isabelle screamed, her whip flicking all over the demon, ichor splaying.
Abbadon struck. Jace fell back. Eliza held her breath. Alec stood in between his parabatai and the Greater Demon. He shoved his featherstaff into the demon.
Abbadon howled and then struck Alec. Alec flew back into the far wall. Eliza's body went cold at the sound he made when he hit the wall and slid down to the floor.
Isabelle made an inhuman noise as she ran towards her brother. Abbadon hit her, sending her reeling back. She made a move to go towards Alec again and Abbadon hit her and she didn't get back up.
Abbadon was looking at Clary.
"Hey, ugly." Eliza heard her own voice amidst Isabelle's screams.
Abbadon turned to her. "Little Nephilim girl. You are not to be harmed. I suggest you stay out of this."
She twirled the hilt of her sword in her hands. "I learned something interesting about my sword." She told him. "It's cursed with the blood of a demon. A Prince of Hell, in fact. Demons don't like it."
With that, she hurled the sword at Abbadon. It stuck inside one of the black sores and the demon howled.
One of his razored hands reached for her and she slid under. She got to her feet quickly and yanked the sword out of the sore. The demon howled out again. She shoved it inside another sore. She was close enough to see that there were things crawling around inside the sores. She fought a gag and grabbed her sword again, tearing at the demon's flesh.
And then something smacked into her, sending her flying into the staircase. Her sword clattered against the stairs, sliding down. Her forehead smashed into the edge of a stair, pain shooting through her. The wind was knocked out of her, her chest burning.
She struggled to lift herself, but got herself to her feet. She looked down and felt blood drip onto her eyelashes and dribble down her face. Jace's seraph blades and sword were stuck inside Abbadon's chest.
"I'll kill you!" Abbadon shouted down at Jace. "Just like I've killed your friend!" He pointed at Alec.
Jace sprung himself onto the banister and onto Abbadon. He clung to the demon's back and yanked his seraph blade from its chest. Repeatedly, he stabbed Abbadon in the back with his seraph blade.
Eliza made quick work of going down the stairs. She grabbed her sword and ran past the demon's legs, slicing the sword against the backs of its legs.
Jace landed lightly on his feet beside her. "You're bleeding." He told her, breathing heavily.
She smiled, breathless. "So are you."
The door flew open. Eliza whirled around. Sunlight streamed in.
Simon?
He had Alec's bow in his hands and the quiver on his back. He loosed an arrow. Eliza watched as it shot over Abbadon's head and went straight through the skylight overhead. Glass poured down and sunlight with it.
Abbadon shrieked. The demon crumpled in the rays of the sun, folding in on itself. Within seconds, the only thing left of the Greater Demon was a scorch mark on the floor.
Eliza let go of a breath she hadn't known she was holding. Her shoulders slumped. Jace grabbed onto her to steady himself, like he had so many times before.
"Are you okay?" She whispered to him.
"I'm fine. You?" She nodded, saying she had been better, but she was okay. He turned around. "Alec. Alec."
Jace let go of Eliza and moved, quickly. He staggered to Alec and dropped down beside him. Eliza looked at Clary, who was still holding the Cup.
The Cup.
"Put that away." Eliza told her sharply. Clary fumbled but zipped the Cup into her jacket.
Isabelle was at Alec's side. Clary moved past Eliza to go to Simon. Jace called for Clary to bring his stele and she did.
Eliza moved gracefully, kneeling next to Alec. His face was spattered with blood, his blue eyes unnervingly bright. "Alexander…" She murmured.
"Is it dead? Did I kill it?" He gurgled.
Eliza looked at Jace. His mouth twitched. None of them spoke.
"Yeah. You did." Clary, surprisingly, said.
Alec smiled and then he laughed. Blood bubbled around his teeth. "Keep him still." Jace told Eliza.
"Izzy, help." Eliza told the other girl. Izzy held Alec's legs and Eliza put her hands on Alec's face. "Hey, eyes on me, Lightwood." Her voice flowed softly, but it was demanding as ever. "You did good." She told him with a slight smile.
She let her eyes leave his for only a half a moment to watch Jace's stele move across the skin of Alec's chest. His pale chest was marred open by several gashes. Every rune Jace made disappeared.
"What's wrong?" Izzy asked.
Alec twitched, trying to move his head, but Eliza held him still. "Don't move, Alexander." She warned him. "Jace?"
"The talons…there was demon poison in them." Jace said quietly.
Eliza looked at Alec. "We're going to make sure you're okay, Alexander. I promise." She brushed the pads of her thumbs over his cheekbones. "You can't die on me."
Blood came from his mouth in a thin stream. "You're good, Liz." He mumbled. "I know you think you're like him because you lied but you aren't. You're not V…" His words trailed off. His eyes fluttered shut. The circles under his eyes were a dark blue.
Eliza looked at Jace. "He has to get to the Institute. We have to go now."
Simon and Jace lifted Alec and carried him to the van. Izzy threw a blanket over the backseat and they laid Alec on it. His head was resting on his sister's lap. Simon got in the driver's seat and Clary beside him up front. Jace knelt on the floor of the van beside Alec.
Eliza put her sword back in its sheath and sat down beside Jace. "Drive like hell." Jace told Simon. As Simon started the van, Eliza grabbed Jace's hand.
He glanced over at her. She squeezed his hand gently and said nothing. He put his head on her shoulder as the van lurched forward.
Magnus. Alec's hurt. He's…Everything is wrong, and Alec might die. I need you, Magnus. Please.
Even in her head, she could hear the urgency of her voice.
Little dove-.
Magnus! It's Alec! He needs help! He needs you. And my head is all fuzzy, I can't think straight. Nothing adds up anymore. Hodge doesn't even seem to know anything about my parents, his cousins.
He didn't respond to her.
She glanced in the infirmary. Hodge was leaned over Alec's bed, Izzy dutifully beside him. And she was stuck outside, with Jace.
Clary was sitting with them. Church had placed himself in Eliza's lap, resigned to the motion of her stroking his back absentmindedly.
She stood as Hodge walked out of the infirmary, Church hissing as he dropped from her arms. "I have done all I can for Alec. I've sedated him. This…I must call the Silent Brothers for this. I will send Hugo immediately. Though if they come…That is not for me to call."
"They have to come." Jace said coolly.
Hodge began walking down the hall. Eliza followed him. She heard Jace scramble to his feet behind her but didn't bother to look back.
"He could die, Hodge." Eliza whispered. "They wouldn't let him die, would they?"
He didn't answer her, and she knew it was because she wouldn't like the answer. He led them to the library.
One of the far windows was open, a puddle of water under it. Hodge sat at his desk and took out a piece of paper and a pen. "All of that pain…for nothing…" He mumbled. "A shame you did not retrieve the Cup."
"We did, though. We got it." Clary said.
Hodge didn't look up. Instead, he had remained still, as if frozen. "I forgot." Jace said quietly. "Alec was…I meant…"
"So, you have it, then? The Cup?" Hodge asked slowly.
Eliza watched as Clary withdrew the Cup from her pocket. Hodge dropped his fountain pen, it clattered against the floor softly.
"Oh, that's it." He whispered. He was from behind his desk instantly. He grabbed Jace by the shoulders. "You have no idea what you've done. Any of you. Especially," Hodge turned to Eliza. "You."
"Me?"
"Don't. You can't. It could kill her." Jace warned their tutor.
What the hell were they talking about? Hodge turned back to Jace. "Never mind that. Look at you, Jace Wayland. You look so like him. So, like your father." Hodge's voice was not reminiscent. It was a hiss of his breath. "Hugin." Hodge called.
Hugo flew down from his perch and straight for Clary. She screamed as the bird clawed at her and yanked the Cup from her hand.
"Eliza, Jonathan, these are Hugin and Munin." The man had two birds. Beautiful and black ravens, their feathers sleek.
The memory shifted, forming a new one.
The birds were cruel, just as he had trained them to be. "Watch me, sister." His dark eyes gleamed with delight. "Hugin, Munin, attack."
The birds flew in a frenzy as they attacked the training dummy in the basement. Within seconds, it was torn to shreds.
"Hugin." Her voice cut through the screams. The bird stopped, looking at her.
"That will be enough of that." Hodge said to the bird. He held the Cup in his hands, Hugo circling over him.
Clary was on the floor, her face raked with blood. And Jace…Jace was at Hodge's feet, sound asleep.
"What have you done?" Clary asked Hodge.
"Jace is fine. Do not worry." Clary moved to get to Jace but was held back by an invisible wall. A wall that separated her from Hodge, Jace and Eliza. Eliza could no longer see Clary. Hodge turned to Eliza. "You proved useful after all. Even after that stunt you pulled with the warlock, you still knew where your loyalties truly were."
What was he talking about? What loyalties? "I don't know what you're talking about." She told him truthfully.
"No." Hodge sighed. He leaned down and took off Jace's family ring. He slid it onto his own finger.
Hodge was paying her no mind, only looking at Eliza. "You'll know soon enough. Your father is coming."
"My father is dead." She spat at him. "You know that. You were at the funeral. He was your cousin. Oskar Starkweather-."
He turned the family ring three times. "Oskar Starkweather is a figment of your imagination, just like everything else you think you know about your family. None of it is real."
He appeared in an instant. The man from her dreams. Her hands shook at her sides. He was tall and muscular, with broad shoulders. The man you didn't want to pick a fight with. His eyes were dark, almost black. Maybe black. And his hair, the same pale blond as her own.
"Is that the Cup in your hand, Starkweather?" His voice sparked fear inside of her.
"Yes, Valentine, my Lord." Hodge replied.
Valentine.
This was him. The defamed Valentine Morgenstern.
Valentine reached for the Cup, but Hodge backed away. "What you promised me. Give it to me." Hodge said, an edge in his voice.
Valentine smiled down at his lackey. "Oh, yes. A bargain is a bargain, I suppose."
"I want out of here." Hodge told him. "Before…"
Valentine raised an eyebrow. "Before what?"
Eliza steadied her hands. "Before Jace-."
Valentine held up a large hand, cutting Hodge's sentence off. "You don't speak of him." His voice was coated in anger. He looked down at the boy on the floor. "Is he bleeding? I asked for him unharmed."
"It isn't his." Hodge replied quietly. "The Lightwood boy…You said you wouldn't hurt him." He looked down at Jace. "You promised."
Valentine laughed, the cold sound filling the room. "Ah, no, I didn't do that." He told Hodge. "Tell me, Starkweather, what would you do to me if I said I was going to hurt him? Would you kill me? Possibly. But you'd never be able to leave this place."
"Say you won't hurt him and I'll give you the Cup." Hodge's voice was small. He looked so tiny compared to Valentine.
The larger man smiled down at him. He looked like a predator about to kill his prey. "You're going to give the Cup to me anyways." He told Hodge.
After a quiet moment, Hodge handed Valentine the Cup. Valentine eyed the Cup with adoration. Valentine leaned over and picked Jace up, cradling him.
"He may not kill you, but I will." Eliza's voice was surprisingly even.
Valentine turned to look at her. Another smiled played his lips. Cool and amused. "My dear Eliza, how you've matured these past few months." His tongue clucked as he looked her over, taking in the blood. "You're awful dirty."
"Put him down." She took out her sword, pointing it at him. "Put him down or I shove this through your heart."
Valentine laughed quietly. "You'd kill me with the sword I gave you? How cliché and impolite of you, Eliza. I thought I raised you better than that."
She raised an eyebrow. "You didn't raise me." She bit. "I was raised by my parents, Oskar and Seraphina Starkweather."
He looked more amused than ever. He turned his gaze to Hodge. "What is this? Why does my daughter believe she's one of your family?"
Hodge trembled. "I told you…I told you of the spell on her mind. The warlock…He altered her mind to keep her from you…She knew about the Cup and Jocelyn…"
It came crashing through her like a sea of memory.
Valentine. The cottage. Marisol. Jonathan. The ravens. The Cup. Jocelyn. Clary. All of it flooded her, overwhelming.
It mixed with the false memories. The Starkweathers. No, they weren't real. She could see it. Seraphina Starkweather was Jocelyn Fairchild.
"Father." The word was a murmur on her lips, quiet and unsteady.
Valentine beamed down at her. "There's my daughter. My beautiful Eliza. Come with me."
"No." Her voice was loud and steady that time. Powerful. Defiant.
His dark eyes flashed. He looked down at Jace's limp body. "Come with me and I swear I won't hurt him. I swear on the Angel Raziel."
A swear. An oath he couldn't go back on.
She sheathed her sword on her back and stepped to be beside him. He looked over at Hodge, who fell backwards, clutching his chest. And then he turned back to Eliza.
Her head swam. "Come along, child. We have work to do."
Valentine stepped through the Portal and she stepped through with him.