"So you're going to stay inside that bubble like a coward are you?" Jace said. "What's wrong, are you scared of us? Know that you'll die if you come out of there?"
Sebastian scoffed. "That'll never happen. You can't kill me. You, with all of the heavenly fire inside of you, and for what? What good will it do you? You can hurt me with it but you can't kill me."
"Why don't you come over and we'll find out."
Isabelle moved forward a little bit. "Come on, come out and play. What's the matter? Do you only attack little defenseless boys?" she said through gritted teeth, with anger and bitterness in her voice.
Sebastian turned and faced her. He looked her up and down, slowly, sending a shiver down her spine. He fixed his black eyes on her face, and smirked. "Your little brother, you mean? Max, wasn't it? It doesn't matter how old he was, really. I don't care much for age."
"You son of a bitch." Isabelle started to run towards him, but Simon got to her first.
"Now, now. There's no need to call Jocelyn that, not that I disagree."
Amatis snorted. Sebastian seemed pretty pleased with himself, like it was some amazing comeback everyone should have laughed at. Instead, silence. "Wouldn't you agree, Clary?"
"Go to hell." she replied.
"We're already here, my dear sister."
Isabelle was trying to break free from Simon's grip. "Let. Me. Go." she growled at him.
"Izzy, there's no point," he said to her quietly, "you can't get to him. He's protected. Save your energy. Wait until he comes out and then you can attack him all you want." His comments must have made sense to her, because she stopped trying to break away.
"Fine." He let her go.
"So, mother, " he spat, "what do you think of my new world? Are you proud of me, mommy? Are you proud of all that I have achieved in such a short time?"
Jocelyn stared at him blankly.
"Tough crowd," he mused.
"Why don't you just come out and fight us?" Clary said impatiently. "You want me to be impressed by you? I'll be impressed if you actually fight, instead of hiding behind these Endarkened warriors."
He seemed to contemplate this. "Fine," he said. "You want to play it this way, doesn't matter much to me. There are 8 of you, one too weak to even stand on his own, but there are almost double that of my Endarkened warriors, plus me. You can't win this." And to Clary's surprise, he stepped free of the burning circle that held him.
"We'll see about that," Luke said. His hand went to his belt; Isabelle unleashed her whip, but it was Alec who moved fastest: one hand to his bow and the other to the quiver at his back, the arrow was nocked and flying before Clary could shape the cry for him to stop. The arrow flew straight toward Sebastian and buried itself in his chest. He staggered back from the force of it, and Clary heard a gasp ripple down the line of Dark Shadowhunters. A moment later Sebastian regained his balance and, with a look of annoyance, pulled the arrow from his chest. It was stained with blood.
"Fool," he said. "You can't hurt me; nothing under Heaven can." He flung the arrow at Alec's feet. "Did you think you were an exception?"
Alec's eyes flicked toward Jace; it was minute, but Sebastian caught the glance, and grinned.
"Ah, yes," he said. "Your hero with the heavenly fire. But it's gone, isn't it? Spent on rage in the desert at a demon of my sending. He can't hurt me now, all your hopes have gone."
"Want to bet on that?" Jace said, and moved so fast even Sebastian was startled.
The Endarkened warriors sprang to life, and within seconds they were at war. Magnus flung himself out of the way, and rested against the wall. Alec backed up so that he was infront of Magnus, ready to kill any Dark Shadowhunters that tried to hurt him. Jocelyn and Luke followed suit, and soon all 3 of them were stood around Magnus, ready to defend him until death. Isabelle's whip was at full length, as she twisted and turned and swirled around the Endarkened ones, cutting down atleast 3 of them.
Simon ran for one of the Endarkened, a large, bulky male, who was headed towards him, with his fangs bared. The Endarkened warrior had just about raised his arm to slash at Simon when Simon leaped. His arms flung around the Endarkened and his fangs sunk in to its neck. The Dark Shadowhunter dropped his blade and stumbled backwards. Simon let go and jumped to the floor, grabbing the blade as quickly as he could. He charged towards the Endarkened, blade in hand, and swiped it in a horizontal movement. The Endarkened warrior's head came cleanly off his neck. "Ew, gross," Simon managed to say. He ran back towards Clary, who was trying to fend off another Endarkened warrior with just a dagger. Why wasn't she using Heosphoros?
The Endarkened warrior was towering over her, and out of the corner of her eye she could just make out the fight between Jace and Sebastian. Jace had managed to cut Sebastian's face, but it didn't make any difference at all. Sebastian retaliated with a slash back, and when Jace raised his arms to defend himself, Sebastian kicked him in the stomach and he fell backwards. Sebastian was too fast, even for Jace.
She finally snapped back in to focus when she heard the Endarkened warrior's war cry, and looked back up to see him bringing his blade down towards her. She was just about to twist out of the way when he froze. Clary noticed a blade sticking out of the Dark Shadowhunter's chest. The blade was pulled out and the Endarkened fell to the floor, dead. She looked back up to see Simon, bloody blade in hand and a grin on his face. "Now I understand why Jace finds this relaxing," he joked. Clary smiled and shook her head. Trust Simon to joke about in a situation like this.
Clary tossed her dagger aside and picked up the dead Endarkened warrior's blade. It was a lot bigger than the dagger, and felt a lot more comfortable in her hands. Simon had moved beside her, and they stood back-to-back while more Endarkened warriors surrounded them. "Why aren't you with Izzy?" she said.
"I'd be more of a burden to her. Trust me, she does not need my help."
"Right. And why are you using a blade? I thought vampires used themselves and their fangs in fights?"
"They do, usually, but this feels right. It feels more human. And it's fun!" he said, as his blade clashed with an Endarkened warrior's blade. Despite them having drank from the Infernal Cup, and thanks to his vampire blood, he was a little faster than the Endarkened warriors, and in no time he had side-stepped around the warrior and driven his blade right through the center of the Endarkened's shoulder blades.
Clary wasn't as fast as Simon or the Endarkened soldiers, but she was smaller and managed to duck quickly when the other Endarkened swung her sword. The female Endarkened one wasn't someone that Clary had ever known, but she had seen her in Alicante once, back during the war with Valentine. Clary dropped to a crouching position, but with one leg out straight, she swung round and knocked the female warrior off her feet. Within seconds Clary's blade had gone straight through the warrior's heart.
She glanced over towards her parents, Alec and Magnus, who seemed to have everything under control there. Four Endarkened soldier's lay dead on the ground infront of them as they battled 3 more. Izzy was fighting one-on-one with a female warrior, her whip back around her wrist but seraph blade at full swing. Watching Izzy fight was somewhat mesmerizing, and it was only Sebastian's voice that brought her focus back.
"STOP THIS." he shouted. Everyone, including the remaining Endarkened warriors, stopped what they were doing and turned to look at him. Clary looked up at him. She felt the colour drain from her face and her stomach twist itself into a knot. Sebastian was holding Jace up with his arm wrapped around Jace's neck. He didn't appear to be conscious. Clary's gaze dropped to the knife Sebastian was holding up to Jace's throat.
"If you hurt Jace," Clary said, her voice as steady as she could possibly make it, "I will never forgive you, and I will never stop until I see you dead."
"Well, my sweet sister, that's good to know, because now you have a choice."
"A choice? What do you mean?"
"You see that window over there, above the eastern throne?" he said, eyes not leaving her face. Everyone looked at it. The scene in the window changed, and what she saw made her heart break. She heard the gasps of the others behind her.
She was looking at the inside of the Accords Hall. It was full of children. Shadowhunter children sat and stood and clung together. There were the Blackthorns, the children huddled tightly in a group, Julian sitting with the baby on his lap, his free arm stretched out as if he could encompass the rest of his siblings, could pull them all in and protect them. Emma sat close by him, her expression stony, her golden sword gleaming behind her shoulder-
The scene resolved in to Angel Square. All around the Hall of Accords was a boiling mass of Nephilim, and ranged against them were the Endarkened in their scarlet gear, bristling with weapons- and not just the Endarkened but figures that Clary recognized with a sinking heart as faerie warriors. Helen Blackthorn was trying to fight her way through the crowd to get to Aline, but the crush was too great. The fighting penned her back, but so did the bodies- bodies of Nephilim warriors, fallen and dying, so many more in black gear than read. They were losing the battle.
Jocelyn cried out as she saw how many of her friends were on the floor, lifeless. Luke held on to her as her legs gave way. Izzy fought back tears as she looked at all of the dead Shadowhunters. Alec stood staring, shell-shocked. Simon felt anger building up inside of him, though he wasn't too sure why, considering nearly all of those people hated him on the count of him being a vampire.
The sounds of Jocelyn's cries gave Sebastian immense pleasure.
"That window there, that is your only way out of here. That is your only connection to your world. All of the other pathways have been sealed."
One way out of here. Clary let that sink in for a moment. She looked back at Sebastian. "So what's my choice?"
"Well, dear sister, your choice is simple. All of you can return to your world through that window, but the border will not be closed. My Endarkened warriors and all of those Fair Folk wait on my orders. They will continue to come and destroy all of the Nephilim, including all of you, and, well, you've seen what happens to a world without protectors," he gloated. "Your world will die. Death on death, and blood in the streets."
Clary thought about the dream Magnus had had. I saw a city all of blood, with towers made of bones, and blood ran in the streets like water.
"And my other option?" she said, although she was fairly sure of what he was about to say.
"Your other option..." His grip around Jace's neck tightened. "If I give the signal, all of those Endarkened warriors and Fair Folk will stand down. I will close the borders and your world will be safe. Never again will anyone, demon or human, travel between these worlds."
"But what do you want in return?"
"I think you know the answer to that. I want you to rule this world with me."