Dusk had not lasted very long. The sky, brilliantly and vibrantly pink had quickly turned dark. With the night came the chill of the air. It didn't bother her as much as it should have. Goosebumps covered her arms, but years of training and adrenaline were keeping her warm.
Clary, poor untrained Clary, sat next to her shivering. Even with a jacket. "Cold?" Jace asked Clary. He moved from the front of the bed to sit in between them. Clary asked if he was cold and he said no. Eliza watched from the corner of her eye as Jace took of his jacket and gave it to Clary. "Are you going to stay in the truck with Magnus?" He asked.
"Was I really given a choice?" Clary asked wryly.
"No." Eliza told her sharply. "The truck is the safest place. For you and Magnus." She glanced back into the cab of the truck. Valentine hated Downworlders and he especially hated Magnus.
Clary nodded solemnly. "You guys are going to find Simon. And you'll bring him back." She said quietly.
Jace and Eliza looked over at each other. They both wore the same expression on their faces and they were both thinking the same thing. Simon could be dead.
"Clary," Eliza said slowly, "it may be too late for Simon. And Maia." She spoke carefully, unsure of how Clary would react. Based on how she reacted when Simon was turned into a vampire, it probably wouldn't go well.
Clary shook her head furiously at her words. "He's okay. I know he is." She sounded more sure of that than of anything else she had ever said.
Eliza hoped that, for Clary's sake, he was. Jace nudged her, looking at her with deep golden eyes. "Liz, there's something I want to tell you before we get to the ship." His voice was quiet, words urgent. She glanced behind him. Clary had turned, her eyes on the water. "I was afraid before, but I'm not anymore."
She fought back a groan. Jace really did have the worst timing in trying to tell her important things. Which, she supposed it wasn't really him but rather the Fearless rune burning on his shoulder blade.
"Maybe now isn't the time, Jace." She murmured.
His eyes softened and she was reminded of a time they had gone through the same conversation it seemed. Was he trying to tell her the same thing?
"Now is the perfect time." He responded. "Who knows what's going to happen once we get on that ship…" His voice trailed off. His tongue darted from his mouth, swiping over his bottom lip. "Liz, I l-." His eyes widened and she realized that he wasn't staring at her anymore. His gaze had drifted past her to the river. Or rather, what was on the river. She saw it in his eyes, the ginormous shadow.
She turned back to see what he was looking at. Her father's ship towered over the truck, casting a ghastly shadow over the East River. Jace stood, pulling her to her feet. She craned her neck to look up at the ship. She could make out the ladder that ran up the side of the ship. There were gigantic birdlike creatures atop the ship, heads swiveling this way and that, taking in everything. They reminded her of Hugin and Munin, watching and reporting. Spies.
She could hear Jace saying something, but the words were lost in the sound of the ship's engine burst.
"I can't hear you." She shouted.
Jace whipped around to Clary in a blur. He moved swiftly, pulling her seraph blade from under his jacket and thrusting it into her hand. "They're coming." His voice was rough. Clary asked who he was talking about. He pointed up. "Demons."
The birdlike creatures that had once been perched atop the ship were flying from the ship. Dropping down into the air like stones and then spreading their wings to even themselves. Heading right to the truck.
Eliza took out a seraph blade, tightening her grip on it. What the hell were those things? As they got closer, she saw that they weren't actually large birds, but rather leathery creatures with sharply made heads. When they opened their mouths, she saw their numerous rows of shark-like teeth.
"Ugly little bastards, aren't they?" Eliza quipped.
Jace hopped onto the side of the truck and onto the top of the cab from there. Telantes was glowing brightly in his hand. One of the creatures got close enough to the truck that if Eliza wanted to, she could have jumped up and grabbed it. Jace threw his seraph blade into the air. It whizzed, slicing through the demon's head. The demon sent out a high-pitched noise and fell into the water. Where it had landed, the water sizzled.
They were bombarded with them. One landed on the windshield and Eliza heard Clary scream for Luke. Another dived towards Clary. Eliza was moving to throw Clary out of the way when she felt one near her.
Her eyes shot upwards to see it coming right for her. She waited, her breath in her throat. She held the seraph blade behind her back. It was getting closer. She exhaled just as it opened its mouth, more than ready to tear her head off. Her arm moved impossibly fast, jutting out with the blade just as the demon was about to hit her. She shoved the blade into its mouth, cutting off the screech. She yanked the blade out as the demon combusted into a cloud of smoke.
She grimaced, turning around to Jace and Clary. Both of them were staring, though Jace's was more of an infuriated glare. Jace hopped off of the top of the truck, killing another demon with his dagger.
Another demon flew down towards Clary as she asked what they were. The sharpened bone at the end of its wing slashed into Jace's jacket, tearing a large gash in it. Jace stabbed the dagger into the creature, his golden eyes burning. "I loved that jacket, damn it."
Two demons landed on the cab of the truck, using their razor-sharp claws to tear away at the metal, trying to get inside. She peered around the side of the truck. Luke was standing on the hood, fighting the demons off with his kindjal. He managed to kill one of them. It seemed to scare the other off and the demon bird took off into the air, the top of the cab in its claws. It headed back for the ship.
She saw Magnus' form slumped over in the truck, looking unusually grey. She shoved past Jace, running to Magnus. She put her hands on his face. "Are you alright?" She asked urgently.
He tried to sit, but fell over again. "I'm fine." He managed to breath out. "Just drained. I'm very drained." She sunk down to her knees, letting her hands fall. "Your father has placed a great deal of protection on his ship. Stripping the wards and keeping them down is more difficult than I imagined it would be. But if I don't keep them down, anyone who steps foot on that ship that isn't Valentine will perish." Luke suggested he come with them. Eliza said that sounded like a good idea, then they could protect him. "No. It won't work like that." Magnus informed them. "You wouldn't want me in a fight anyways. I'd do more harm than good, I'm afraid." He grinned tightly, the smile not quite reaching his eyes.
His cat-like eyes widened as he stared past her. "Liz!" She heard Jace shout.
She felt it before she knew what was happening. Immense pain in her shoulders, like they were being torn off. And then she was in the air. Her legs kicked and she felt blood flowing onto her arms. She looked up. One of the bird demons had grabbed onto her and was flapping into the air. Jace jumped, grabbing onto her leg. He tried to pull her down but the demon was stronger. Its claws dug into her skin and she couldn't help but scream at the pain. Jace fell down onto the truck, staring wide-mouthed up at her.
Another of the birds swooped down from the other side, grabbing onto Clary while Jace and Luke were distracted. It took off, going quickly back to the ship, howling out triumphantly into the night.
Eliza clamped her mouth shut, holding onto her seraph blade with an iron grip. She knew exactly where she was going. The creatures were taking them back to the ship, no doubt as bait for Valentine. Well, Clary would probably be the bait. Valentine wouldn't leave the death of his eldest daughter to a demon or the Inquisitor. He would want to do it himself.
Clary's screams had echoed through the air as the demons carried them away from the truck. The truck, Jace, Luke, and Magnus had dissolved into the water as they went hundreds of feet into the air. The demon dove down, barreling towards the ship. She winced, bracing for an impact that never came.
They were inside the ship, below the deck. The demon continued its descent, going deeper and further than she had imagined the ship went. She tried to take in the surroundings as they flew by, but everything blurred at the speed the demon was going and she could hardly make any of it out except for the machinery of the ship.
It was colder inside the ship than it had been outside. Her shoulders had numbed from the pain, but she could feel the slickness of blood running down her arms, chest, and back. The demon turned sharply, flying down a dimly lit corridor. Behind her, she heard Clary shout out wordlessly.
All of a sudden, the demon dropped Eliza. She braced herself, getting into crouching position so if she landed on her feet, her legs wouldn't break. It worked, surprisingly in the dark. Her feet hit hard metal surface. She heard the demon fly off and looked back. The other had dropped Clary and she had landed on her side.
Eliza ran over to her, helping her to her feet. "Are you okay?" She asked, inspecting Clary for any injuries. Her eyes raked over her sister's face for damage but she saw nothing.
Clary brushed off her clothes. "No." She shook her head. "You worry like Mom does." She told Eliza, half-smiling.
Eliza grinned back at her. "That's my job, as your big sister."
"You're bleeding." Clary whispered. Clary was looking at her shoulders. Eliza glanced at both of them. Each shoulder had three deep gashes from the demon's claws. The blood had oozed from the wounds, running down her chest, arms, and probably her back as well.
"Clary? Eliza?" A hushed voice called out. Both of them whipped back. Maia was huddled in the corner, blood matted on the side of her head.
Clary ran to the werewolf's side, looking at her wound. "Oh my God, you're alive." Eliza heard Clary whisper. Clary was looking fervently around the room. For Simon, Eliza realized.
But the room was empty, save for the two Shadowhunters and the werewolf girl. Eliza swallowed, a sick feeling filling her gut. If Simon wasn't there, that meant-.
"Clary, I'm sorry." Maia murmured. "Simon is dead."
The noise Clary made hurt her heart. Simon had been her best friend, her anchor through all of the madness of the Shadow World. Because of Clary, Simon had died once and been turned into a vampire. And now, because of her again, Simon was dead. Really dead.
Eliza sat down. She looked up at the square opening above them. The moonlight filtered dimly into the room, providing a small amount of light. She leaned her head against the wall.
Soon enough, one of them would come. Jace or Valentine. Salvation or doom.
She took her sword from her back. The ruby glittered in the moonlight. Whichever came first, she would be ready.
"There's no way he's dead." Clary finally spoke.
Eliza looked up from her sword. She gave her sister a sympathetic look. "Clary, I'm sorry." She sighed.
She shook her head, saying there was nothing to be sorry about. "He isn't dead." She insisted. "I would know. I'd feel it in my heart." She put her hand on her chest.
Maia's brown eyes had the same sad, sympathetic look in them that Eliza's did. "You would think." She whispered softly.
Clary got to her feet. Jace's jacket hung off her body limply. It had taken the majority of the damage from the demons. She shrugged it off, letting it fall to the floor. "How?" She managed, words ragged. "How did it happen?" She asked Maia.
Eliza looked at Maia. She had a feeling that she already knew what happened. "Valentine brought us both here. He came in with a sword. It was big and it glowed." Maia told them.
"Maellartach." Eliza grimaced. "The Angel's Sword." Phaesphoros didn't glow.
Maia nodded wordlessly. "He threw silver powder in my face. And…and then he shoved the sword through Simon's throat." Eliza pushed the image of poor Simon being slaughtered by her father far from her mind. "He slit his wrists and put the blood in bowls. Some demons came in and took the bowls. And then he left." Maia sounded defeated, like she had fought for days in a never-ending battle. "He just left Simon's body there. I screamed so much he moved me to this room."
Clary put her hand to her mouth, her green eyes shaded. Was she…biting herself? "We need to get out of here." She took her hand from her mouth. Eliza spied dots of blood on the back of her hand.
"No kidding." Maia said dully. They all three looked up at the square opening above them. "That's high, even for a Shadowhunter. Maybe J-."
"Maybe Jace could do it?" Clary asked darkly. "Well, he isn't here." She rammed her foot against the wall.
Eliza stood up. She sheathed her sword and checked her weapons. She still had four throwing knives. Both Atheed and Jahoel were on her belt still. "He isn't, but I am." She muttered. The jump had to be smaller than the Malachi Configuration.
Clary looked back at her. "You can't." She was insistent. "I need you here. With me." There was a plead in her eyes.
Eliza glanced up once more at the square hole. It would have been an easy jump. But Clary, her sister, the girl she had sworn to protect, was begging her to stay. Clary wasn't properly trained and Maia was injured.
Her shoulders ached once more, pain throbbing like her heartbeat. Blood still pulsed slowly through the wounds. Her head felt light and airy. She recognized the feeling all too well. She was losing too much blood. It didn't scare her, not like it had the night they escaped from the Hotel Dumont. But she knew that she couldn't go much longer losing blood the way she was.
"Can you do an iratze?" Eliza asked her sister. "I won't be much help without it." Clary moved over to her. "Besides, yours will be much more powerful than mine." Eliza reminded her. Clary took out her stele and Eliza showed her the spot on her arm where several past healing runes had been made. She watched Clary draw over the spot, replacing the silvery scar with fresh black. Clary's eyes met hers. "Perfect, thank you."
Eliza took out her own stele and found a black spot under her collarbone. She began her own work. "What are you doing?" Clary asked her. "Extra strength?"
She shook her head. "Amissio." She stated. "It'll slow the blood loss while the wounds heal up and speed up the blood replacement. So, hopefully, I won't pass out." She finished the Mark and put her stele back in the brace on her arm. She flexed out her fingers, already feeling better. She could feel the skin tightening on her shoulders. "Now, how the hell are we getting out of here?" She put her hands on her hips.
Clary showcased her stele, holding it up for Maia and Eliza to see in the light. "You and Jace have your talents. I have mine." She put the tip of her stele against the wall and began carving furiously. Eliza saw the smoke and heard the sizzle of the metal wall and Clary drew something out.
Eliza stood, breath in her throat, as Clary continuously slammed her stele against the metal wall. She saw intricate black lines indicating Marks but had no idea what they were. Clary drew back, out of breath.
Eliza stepped forward, staring at the newly made rune on the wall. She had never seen it before. "What is that one?" Maia asked quietly. Eliza said she wasn't sure. Around the Mark, the wall melted. Literally. It burned and dripped down. Eliza's eyes slid over to Clary, who looked just as amazed.
A large hole formed in the middle of the wall. She could see metal beams that held the ship up that had been behind the wall. The hole sizzled but had stopped melting.
Maia stood up, walking towards the wall. Clary grabbed her to stop her from getting closer. "It could be made of something bad. Like toxic sludge or something." She told her.
Maia smiled wryly. "I grew up in Jersey. I can handle it." She tore away from Clary. She stared through the hole, investigating whatever was on the other side. "I see a metal catwalk over there. I'm going to get myself through." Maia turned and stuck her feet through the hole. She moved awkwardly and then stopped suddenly. "My shoulders are stuck. I need a push." She wiggled her hands.
Clary stepped towards her and pushed on Maia's hands violently. The push was enough. Maia's face went bright red and she fell back through the hole, yelping. Eliza heard something crash. Clary asked if Maia was okay on the other side, peeping through the hole.
Eliza heard Maia say something about her ankle, but she was otherwise all right. Clary looked back at Eliza. "I'm going to go through." She said. She told her to be careful.
Clary began to slide through the hole. Someone grabbed Eliza by the back of the shirt, shoving her to the ground. She landed on her elbow, pain shooting up her arm. She looked up.
Tall, intimidating, broad-shouldered. A crown of white-blonde hair. Valentine. He held a seraph blade in his other hand, named and ready to use.
He spared her only an annoyed look before seizing Clary by her shirt and yanking her from the hole. He held her in the air for a moment and she heard her gasp for air. Valentine dropped her to the floor. Clary turned on her back, staring up at their father.
"I have such insolent children." He sneered. "You both take after your mother."
Clary swallowed. Eliza stood up. He glowered down at her, disdain written on his face. "It's past sundown." She noted. He said that was correct. "I knew you wouldn't take the deal." She told him. "I told the Inquisitor she was being foolish, assuming that you loved us the way she loved Stephen."
For once, he looked surprised by her words. She had never been able to surprise him, not really. "What do you know about Stephen Herondale?"
She took out her seraph blades, spinning them in her hands. "Your book of the Circle. He was your lieutenant after Luke was turned. And you sent him in to raid a vampire nest where he was killed." She repeated what Luke had told them earlier. "Clary, back up." She told her sister, not tearing her eyes away from her father.
Clary pulled herself onto her knees, her lip bleeding. Her face was dark with rage. "Where is the werewolf?" He looked around the room. "Where did she go?" Clary spit on his shoes, more blood than saliva it appeared. Valentine took a harsh step backward away from her. His arm raised, the seraph blade glowing over top Clary.
Eliza rolled onto the floor, standing to put herself between her sister and her father. "You won't touch her." She hissed.
His dark eyes darkened as he stared down at her. He said nothing, lowering the angel blade. He walked right past them. He looked through the hole and she heard the heavy breath through his nose. She knew that breath. Anger.
She kept her arm out, shielding Clary from him. All of a sudden, Valentine pushed her aside and kicked something away with his foot. Clary's stele, Eliza saw. She heard it clink as it fell through the hole.
Valentine stood straight. "My demons will find the werewolf girl." He assured them, his voice colder than the air. He put his seraph blade away. "You will realize that there is nowhere to go." He ordered Clary to get to her feet and she did. "Eliza, put those away." He pointed his finger at her seraph blades. "Before you hurt yourself."
She glared at him. She didn't feel it, the unsettledness that always found itself in her stomach whenever she looked at her father. Fear, she realized, it was gone. Clary's rune had worked. "I won't hurt myself. But I can't say the same for you." She told him.
He looked amused with her, like she was a toy. "My dear," he sighed heavily, "it will do you no good to fight me. You know I am superior."
She smirked at him. "I've learned a thing or two since our last fight, Father. I think that, for once, you would be impressed." She informed him.
His eyebrows raised high. "I was never disappointed in your fighting skills, Eliza. Only your complete disregard for authority. Specifically, my authority." She told him that that aspect of her hadn't changed at all. The Inquisitor liked to call her insolent and defiant. "Imogen always did have a way with words." He murmured. "Now, put your weapons away before I make you sorry."
She lunged, one seraph blade pointed towards his chest and the other curved towards his back. He side-stepped and she stumbled, but quickly regained her footing. She turned and jumped into the air. Just as she was over him, she pushed her weight down, landing on his shoulders. She tightened her thighs, wrapping her legs around his arms like a python. She flipped the seraph blade in her hand, ready to plunge it down into his chest.
He reached up and grabbed her by the elbows. With brute force, he flipped her over his head and slammed her on the ground. Her head banged against the hard metal. She winced, looking up at him.
"I warned you." He growled. "Now get up."
She looked over at Clary. She had the same look on her face as earlier: Please. Don't make it worse.
Eliza got to her feet, sheathing both her seraph blades back in her belt. Valentine reached out, grasping both his daughters by their shoulders and yanking them close to him. He turned them, their backs to his chest. A low whistle escaped his lips. It was the same whistle he had once used to call Hugin and Munin to him.
She looked up. One of the demon birds was flapping down towards them. Its leathery wings closed around them and she felt her feet lift from the ground.
Bitterly, she realized that it was the first time her father had ever hugged her.
The bird demon flew through the air at startling speed, considering that it was carrying three Shadowhunters, one of which was a large man. She tried to struggle against Valentine, but he had a death grip on her. The demon once again wrapped its arms around them and spiraled through a narrow tunnel. When they entered the large room on the other side, the demon sat them down gentle and flew away.
Valentine let them go. Clary stumbled back and Eliza steadied her. She glanced around the room. It was large, much larger than the one they had been in before. There was machinery around the walls that had been lined to create an empty square space in the middle of the room, which they stood in.
Around them were four basins, large enough to sit in. Two of them were stained a rusty brown color, the third filled with a dark liquid, the fourth empty and clean. Eliza clutched Clary's hand tightly. She knew what was in the third basin.
On top of the footlocker was Maellartach. Her father had laid a large cloth between the Soul Sword and the metal footlocker. The Angel's Sword glowed, not the way that seraph blades did. It was dark, an ominous glow.
She could pick it up, use it to control the demons on the ship. Use it to kill Valentine. Have the demons destroy themselves. And then everything would be over.
"And dusk will come." She murmured.
She took a slow step forward. She was ready to dart, to go for the Sword before Valentine would be able to grab her and throw her back down to the floor. Clary's voice startled her into stopping. "How could you!" She shouted. "Simon was just a boy! Just an ordinary, human boy!"
Valentine wore an unusually passive look on his face. "He wasn't." He replied evenly, velvet voice over calm words. "He had turned into a monster. A monster with the face of the friend is the worst kind. They trick you into trusting them."
"He was still Simon." She hissed at him.
Eliza's eyes darted to the Sword. It wasn't that far. She could move while Clary distracted him, distraught and mourning for her friend.
"I understand more than anymore." Valentine told Clary. The light from above poured down on him. The light of the moon.
Her heart sped up. The moon. Her.
She looked to the Sword again.
"I felt the same as you do now, when Lucian was first bitten. It changes, you will recognize the monster within and forget the disguise of the friend." Valentine continued, eyes fixed on Clary. Clary reminded him that he put a dagger in Luke's hand and told him to end his own life. "A mistake, I admit." Valentine sighed. "I should have killed him myself. Then he would have known I cared."
Clary's green eyes flamed with fury. "You haven't ever cared about anyone." She spat at him. "Not my mom. Not even Jace or Eliza. They're your toys, your belongings. That's all they are to you."
Valentine laughed lowly. "That's what love is, Clarissa. It's ownership. The Song of Songs said it best: 'I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine,'." Clary told him that she didn't think he understood the Bible very well.
Eliza looked at Clary. She as well was inching towards the footlocker. Smart sister, Eliza thought. He couldn't take both of them. One of them would get it and one of them would kill him.
"That isn't love." Eliza spoke, drawing his attention. "Love is…It isn't that." She said, the words jumbling in her brain. The Fearless rune burned harshly on her neck. "Love is giving yourself to someone completely, wholly. You have never given anyone anything but ruin and destruction. And that isn't love. Love isn't destructive or 'belonging' to someone. Love isn't whipping someone or locking them in a Malachi Configuration for three days, starving them. You don't know what love is." Her words were cruel, biting, cold. She spit them out like fire. Her eyes had faded from a brilliant green to a dangerous black.
He wore a thin smile as he stared at her. "And you? You know what love is?" He asked. She opened her mouth but had no words to speak. She hadn't expected him to answer like that. "Ah, yes, I forgot. You've given yourself to someone. Or two, so my sources say." Surely he didn't mean… "The vampire, correct? The head of the London clan, Declan Kensley." He said the words like they were poison. She hated Declan's name coming from his mouth. "Vampire filth. The moment I see him, I'm going to drive my sword through him. But, while he has lasted, he has made a great decoy for your true feelings." She wished she were afraid. Fear would have been better. The rune had brought a dangerous recklessness to her. "For Jonathan."
Not Jonathan. Jace. Her sun. She stopped mid-step. "I don't know what you mean." She said, her words a little more unsteady than she had hoped. She was so close to the Sword. She could have grabbed it if she wished.
"I am no fool, Eliza." He snapped. "I've noticed the way he looks at you, the way he says your name. The way you look at him. I know how you feel and I know how he feels." She let her eyes wander to Clary. She felt like she was going to throw up. No one could know. No one was supposed to know. "It's my fault." He told her. "I will take the blame. I should have raised the two of you together, but I was only trying to keep both of you safe. If I would have raised you together, the way you came into the world, you would have both developed that natural revulsion towards each other that siblings have." His eyes were cold, his words colder. She knew the chill she felt was from the air and not from him. As long as the rune was on her, she wouldn't be afraid. "Though, I shouldn't really be surprised. There is that unusual closeness that twins have to each other…"
Siblings. Twins. Lies.
He knew that Jace wasn't her brother, that he wasn't Jonathan. They both knew that. But no one else did. Only the two of them and the real Jonathan. Clary thought that they were twins. Jace thought they were twins.
The lie felt heavy on her heart. She had done it again, spoken the words so carefully, so sure of herself. With confidence, she had spilled the lie through her lips. And for good measure, she had told Jace that he was the older twin. All to protect him.
"It's a lie." She managed to speak. "We're brother and sister. Twins. There's only the love of siblings, nothing more." She told him.
Valentine stepped out of the light of the opening in the ceiling. Shadows played across his face. "You forget that I spoke with Jonathan before you woke up last night. After you encountered the fear demon. I saw his face. I saw your face." He was going to do it. He was going to say the words and ruin everything. Like he always did. Poisonous and vile. "Agramon came to you in the form of Jonathan, did it not? Lifeless." She closed her eyes, the image shocking into her mind. Dead eyes. Bloody. Dying. Dead. "Your greatest fear is losing him, isn't it?" Her hand was on the hilt of Maellartach, just barely. Just enough to be touching the thick metal. She didn't want to but she said yes. "And Agramon came to Jonathan looking like you. Do you know what that means?" She didn't answer. She didn't want to. "His greatest fear, the one thing that Jonathan fears more than anything, is his love for you."