A/N: Sorry for taking like two months to update. You know the usual, with school and all. I'm probably failing two of my classes. But you know you guys seem more important. haha. Well there's chapter 8. It's ALL Jace/Clary time. Yaaay. So please Review. I love getting them. Bye!
DISCLAIMER: I own nothing but the characters of my own imagination. Sadly.
Clary looked around them. They somehow ended up near the river where she had had her breakdown. She frowned slightly. "What are we doing here?"
"I want to show you something." He smiled taking her hand and leading her to the forest on the other side of the small river.
Clary looked around them as Jace lead her to someplace he wanted to show her. She didn't see anything unusual except for not even see any people. People were always at the river. But not today.
Jace stopped turning to her. Clary breathed in a gulp of air. She didn't have the best lung capacity in the world.
"Close your eyes" he said.
"What? Why?" She asked. "Are you going to take me to some place where you sell people into prostitution or slavery for money?"
Jace laughed. "No, just trust me. Don't you?"
She looked at him. It was dark around them, so she couldn't quite see his golden eyes. His hand was still holding her wrist, but gently. She nodded. "Yeah"
"Okay then, close your eyes."
Clary did as he said, hoping she wasn't going to trip over a branch on the ground. "If I look like I'm going to trip or fall, warn me?"
"I will" Jace said, watching her. He stared at her for a couple of seconds as they walked. She was biting her bottom lip, anxiously. It took everything for him not to just kiss her then.
The Before Jace would have and not cared. But This Jace does care. He didn't want to loose her as a friend if he were to make that mistake. If she didn't feel the same way, well, let's say rejection is a bitch.
He walked slowly now, making sure Clary didn't fall. He held her arm, firmly yet with no force either. Walking, he lifted a low branch and did the same for Clary, and that's when he saw it. He hadn't been here since two years ago. It still looked the same though. He smiled to himself.
It was a little cave near the bank of the river. He used to sit there and just think. There were two big boulders opposite each other inside. He led himself and Clary to the little cave, cautiously. There were thousands of vines with white flowers inside the cave. It looked beautiful. As it did before too.
"Open your eyes" Jace whispered behind her.
Clary opened them as he said and inhaled shocked. "Oh my god…" She took a step closer. "It's beautiful, Jace!" She said turning back around to face him.
He walked to where she was. "Yeah I know. I used to come here all the time."
"And do what exactly? I don't see any girls here?" She smiled.
He rolled his eyes, smiling. "To think."
She nodded and looked back to the flowers. "They're so pretty."
Not as pretty as you.
He sat down on one boulder watching her with the flowers. He knew this would be a good idea to bring her here.
After a couple of minutes, she sat down next to him on the boulder. From their view, they could see the school on the other side of the river. There is where everyone was. Clary could see the faint shadows of people walking. They looked so small from here.
"So what's new?" he asked. He couldn't think of anything else. Demon got your tongue?
She shrugged. "A lot, I guess." She glanced at him. She wondered if he knew. "This might sound a little weird but have you ever heard of Shadowhunters before?"
He looked at her then. He knew she knew. But she probably didn't know he was one as well. "Yeah, why?"
"Well, it's sort of weird. Apparently, I'm one and just never knew it."
"How'd you find that out?"
"This test Alec's girlfriend did. She's a warlock? Wizard? I don't remember. You probably think I sound crazy or maybe deranged."
Jace shook his head. "No, I don't. Considering the fact, I'm a shadowhunter too. If I wasn't, I'd be running through the woods by now screaming about how crazy you were." He glanced at her and then towards the school. "It would have made first page on the school newspaper. Finally a good story." He looked at her. She looked shocked.
"Wait," She said, slowly. "You said you're one too?"
He nodded. "Since birth, I guess."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
He shrugged. "I didn't think it was that important. Plus, we aren't supposed to tell other mundanes."
"Mundanes?" She asked, confused.
"Do you not read the dictionary?"
"I missed today's definition."
"Well the dictionary's definition is pertaining to everyday life. Our definition just means humans. Pure humans, no cross breeds."
"Oh," She said quietly. "So like Simon? Unless he's one too."
"No, Simon isn't a Shadowhunter and he doesn't know anything. We plan to keep it that way too."
"Isn't that dangerous for him?"
Jace shrugged. "It can be."
"Do you know any of the history of "our kind"?" She asked. "I'm supposed to learn it or whatever."
"Yeah, every Shadowhunter knows. Well aside from you, of course." He smiled a little as Clary rolled her eyes.
"Well I'm not the greatest story teller in the world, so don't grade me on it." He grinned. "Okay well, it was thousands of years ago. There was an angel named Raziel. He mixed his own blood with the blood of humans, for some reason. I guess he wanted to create a new race. And he did, called Nephilim. Sort of like a human-angel hybrid. We are supposed to be invisible so mundanes don't see us, but there are these things called runes."
Clary placed her elbow on her knee, chin in palm, listening intently to Jace as he spoke. As he did, he kept looking out onto the water, unable to look at her for some reason. Her eyebrow furrowed together for a couple of moments.
"Runes are sort of like tattoos. But each rune has a special power and when that rune is somewhere on your skin, the power effects you."
Clary thought of the first day she saw Jace and noticed the tattoo on his upper back. She wondered what that rune did.
"Just like everyone else, Shadowhunters are to obey a set of laws. Ours is found in the Gray Book. The book was given to us by the Angel. It basically tells us our calling and what us, as Shadowhunters, must do. We are supposed to protect people, humans and others alike, from demons that travel everywhere, destroying everything in their paths most of the time.
But there are other people in our world called Downworlders. They are human-demon crossbreeds. But most aren't so bad. Humans know them as vampires, faeries, werewolves, and like Alec's girlfriend, warlocks."
"Wait, wait, wait a second. Did you say vampires? And werewolves? So they're real?" She interrupted shocked.
"Yeah, except don't go telling the media that. They'd have a ball with that."
Clary smiled, urging him to keep going.
"The Silent Brothers are a mysterious group of men in our world that keep a record of every Shadowhunter ever born. They also hold the three objects the Angel Raziel gave to us, his children. The three objects are a sword, a cup, and a mirror. They are called the Mortal Instruments. Us as Nephilim must also protect the Mortal Instruments."
Jace looked at her finally. "And I think that's about it. I summarized it."
She blinked. "Wow"
He nodded slightly. "You know we better go…"
"But why? It's so quiet. I can actually think here."
"That's why I loved coming here."
"Loved? Past tense?" She asked.
"You must be acing English" He commented. "Yeah, past tense. This is the first time in about two years that I've been here."
"And why is that?"
"I don't know. Just haven't had the time I guess" He looked back unto the water.
Clary opened her mouth to say something.
"Don't say it." Jace said quickly.
"Say what?" She asked.
"What you were going to say."
"How the hell did you know what I was going to say?" Clary looked at him, weirdly. "Oh my god, are you psychic too?"
He turned and laughed at her. "No, that I am not, surprisingly."
She smiled. "Well I wouldn't doubt it."
"What are you saying?"
"Well obviously anything is possible. Vampires and werewolves are real. So are faeries, which are my favorite by the way." She shrugged. "Maybe miracles do happen and things happen for a reason unlike what most people think. You know what I'm saying?"
He nodded. "I guess you're right. It's possible. But I know for a fact I'm not psychic. And faeries aren't that great either. Believe me."
"Why do you say that? Are they bad or something?" She asked confused. She studied Jace for a minute. The sun was setting so it was getting darker by the minute, but she could still see his face clearly. His golden eyes looked away from her unto the water. His skin complexion looked perfect still, a light golden color. His blond hair was slightly wavy and maybe a little longer than Sebastian's, she noticed.
"Not necessarily bad. It's just if you're not careful, they can trick you very easily." He explained. "I think Isabelle dated one once. Ask her about it."
It was quiet for a couple of minutes. It was half awkward, half comfortable. It couldn't be explained.
"I haven't sleep with every girl here, you know." Jace suddenly said. Clary looked at him, a little confused. "Huh?"
He looked at her, serious. "I haven't slept with every girl in our school. Not even half. Actually not even a fourth of the girls."
She tried to find maybe a hint of amusement or maybe anything else in his eyes, but all she saw was that he was serious. She didn't say anything.
"I've only had sex with… three girls here? That's it. I don't know why people blow it out of proportion like that. I'm not a guy that sleeps around. I just… I don't know…"
"Flirt a lot?" She finished for him.
He nodded. "You can say that." He looked at her again. "You believe me?"
"Sure," She said. "I'm just trying to figure out why you bothered telling me."
Jace shrugged. His shoulders looked muscular, Clary noticed. His shirt was tightening around his shoulders as he sat with his elbows on his knees. His fists were holding each other, in a ball.
She grinned. "Jace Wayland, do you actually care about what I think?" Her heart started racing.
He gave her this look and laughed. "Of course not. I was just clarifying things is all."
"Liar." She said simply. She looked out unto the water. It was much darker now. She could barely see the other side of the river. Even then there wasn't much to see. There was only two…maybe four people there.
He moved closer to her, their knees barely touching. "What if I do?" It was slightly above a whisper.
She smiled slightly. "I don't know. What if you do? What would that mean?" It had a hint of sarcasm in it, but most of it was serious. He must have realized it because he grinned.
They faces moved closer to each other.
"You tell me Clarissa Morgenstern," He said quietly. They're inches apart, maybe less. And then when their lips barely brushed, Clary's cellphone went off.
Jace groaned and Clary sighed as she took out her phone from her pocket. It was Sebastian. Of course.
She touched the screen to connect the call and put it to her ear. "Hello?"
"Clary? Hey, where are you?" She heard Sebastian's voice on the other line. He sounded concerned. He always seemed to be now a days. About the whole Shadowhunter thing, no doubt.
"Walking around. Why?" She asked. He was always so worried about her. He needs to take a chill pill and relax. Maybe find something to occupy him.
"I was just wondering. You left about four hours ago."
Has it really been that long? Was she was Jace that long?
"Oh well, I'm going back to my room now." She announced both to Sebastian and Jace. Jace looked at her and nodded. She watched as he stood up and stretched his arms. As he lifted his arms the shirt went along with it. Clary saw the hem of his boxers. They were red and green.
My God, he is hot. She thought, blocking out Sebastian's voice.
"Clary? Hello, Clary?" She heard him.
"Oh, what?" She said back to him.
Jace turned around, grinning. He had a feeling she was watching him.
Sebastian sighed. "I said, okay."
That's it? What the fuck.
"Okay, see you then" And with that she hung up the call.
"Why are you smiling like that?" She asked him, standing up and stretching as well. She made sure to stretch her arms high enough so her shirt went up like his did. She saw his eyes went to stomach, the piece of skin that was showing. She grinned this time now. He stared there for what seemed like forever and then looked up at her.
"No reason." He smiled wider this time.
"Okay, so let's go then" She said, walking past him and almost falling into the water. Jace grabbed her arm to steady her.
"You should really watch where you're going instead of trying so hard to make a good exit." He said. Clary could hear the smile in his voice.
"Oh whatever Wayland" She said and continued walking, watching to make sure she didn't try killing herself again in front of Jace.
