Chapter 2- The Other Side of the Portal
When the portal spewed me out, my body was in shock. The only thing I could see was white. Ice pounded into me harshly, carried by the wind. I wished I had put on a coat. There were sounds of battling in the distance, but I had been dropped away from the heat of it. Portals worked that way, they took you were you wanted to go. I guess I wasn't as brave as I'd thought.
"Damn, it's cold," I said to myself as I tried to follow the sound of the noise.
My feet sunk into the snow but it wasn't yet as high as the top of my boots. I had no idea where the hell I was, and with the visibility my best guess would be Alaska. The heavy black pants that I had cursed in the hot Australian sun were now my lifesaver. As long as I kept moving my arms, maybe they wouldn't fall off. I put my stele in the sheath on my pants and crossed my arms, using my palms to rub up and down.
My eyes were slits as I squinted, trying to keep the snow from going in my eyes. Each time the wind blew, it pelted more frozen ice into my arms. "Okay, Clary, this was dumb, like really, really dumb."
Then I heard it. A crunching, rustling sound in the snow. And it was close.
I grabbed my stele out of my pants and realized that I was pretty stupid not to bring a better weapon. The stele was important, but a sword or an Uzi would have been better. I held out my arm and I started drawing the marks I had learned. My hand was shaking from the cold and the fear of what was to come. I drew a mark for courage and for strength; I was going to need both in a matter of seconds.
The sound came closer and I slid my stele back into its sheath and grabbed my knife from my boot, holding it up by my head ready to strike. At first it was just a shadow in the blizzard and then details made themselves known, the cluster of eyes, the long fat body, the fangs. Just fucking perfect, a Ravener demon.
Letting instinct take over, I lunged at it, striking out with my blade. The tip bounced off the thick skin of the demon and my hand sprung back. It opened its mouth and made a loud growl/scream type noise and my eyes widened. My training kicked it, and I spread my feet, increasing my stance and then I lunged again. This time I sunk my knife into the hilt, taking out at least one of its eyes. The ravener swung its head and once it connected with my body I went flying. I landed hard with a thump in the snow. I leapt to my feet and that was when I heard something else behind me.
The cry had alerted another demon, possibly several. I was going to die.
I crouched. I couldn't see either demon but I could hear them, and I moved as quietly and quickly as I could away from the sound. Unfortunately, no matter which way I headed another was coming. I looked down at the courage rune on my arm and I wondered when it was going to kick in.
Suddenly I was picked up off my feet and I screamed. I thrashed as the demon held me with its four arms. I could feel its hot breath on my neck and the stench traveled to my nose. My legs kicked wildly as I fought to get away from the demon and then just as quick as I was snatch, I was dropped. I spun around to see what had had me, but I couldn't see through the snow again. I heard a thud and a grunt. Human. Maybe I had landed closer to the battle site than I originally thought.
There was a sound of a blade tearing through flesh and then silence. I waited and listened. I didn't want to call out just yet. Perhaps it was another demon, one that just wanted to get rid of the first one so he could eat me.
Then through the snow I could see the outline of someone. Slowly he appeared like an apparition through the snow. His curly blonde hair bounced as he strutted forward, like he wasn't in the middle of a great battle. When he noticed me, he frowned, giving me a quick once over. I would have been offended but I was still taking inventory. He had golden eyes, not hazel but actually golden. They were remarkable. He was absolutely stunning…until he opened his mouth.
"What are you doing out here by yourself? Are you trying to get killed?" he snarled.
"You're alone," I countered, knowing that he was right but his arrogance made me angry.
"I'm good enough to be."
"I was always told there was no room for egos in the field."
"And I was always told to bring a jacket to a winter battle. I guess we had different teachers." He took a couple more steps toward me and as I opened my mouth he covered it with his hand.
I stopped and listened. The other demons were still coming. "There are too many," I whispered when he dropped his hand.
He smirked at me and pulled out his sword, wielding it expertly. "Just try to not get killed…" he trailed off, mumbling something about mundane as he leapt through the blizzard.
I held my knife and tried to follow. I didn't want to be left alone, no matter how infuriating the company was but before I found the blonde Shadowhunter, something else found me. I heard it to my right before I saw it. I pivoted and swung my leg around in a high kick, connecting with the demon. I heard it hiss as my other foot rose in the air and dropped down on it, knocking it to the ground. I couldn't think; I had to act. My hand flew out swiping my knife left to right and I felt it connect before I felt the fluid from inside the beast splash out at me. It was warm against my chilled skin and it felt good. I slashed again but it slide out of the way, using a long tentacle like appendage to strike out at me. I took the blow with my shoulder, but the force of it knocked me to the ground again.
"Red are you dead yet?" the boy's voice called out at me from somewhere in the storm.
"I'm still working on it," I yelled back as I kicked my leg out and knocked the demon to the ground with me.
I could see just what kind of demon it was now. It had a human like form but it appeared to be coiling black smoke. The eyes were bright yellow. It was an Iblis demon and lucky for me they weren't very smart.
I stabbed with my knife again and it dug into its leg. The creature cried out and I pulled the blade out and struck again. It flailed at me but I had the advantage and when I finally sunk the death blow the demon burst into ashes.
Before I had a moment to feel excited about my first demon kill another was on me, pushing me flat into the pile of ashes I had just made. I coughed as I inhaled the dust of the other demon. I felt the claws dig into my back as it ripped at me, I cried out in pain.
"I was joking, Red," the boy said as he pulled the creature off me. A quick neck snap and it too was gone. He bent down beside me and then noticed my injury. "Hold still, let me."
Grabbing his stele, he placed his hands on my hips and turned me. I leaned forward, resting my hands on my knees as he pulled the bottom of my tank up. Then started carving the Iratze rune on my lower back. I hissed, feeling the added pain of the healing mark on top of my injury.
"Are you sure that will be enough, what if it was poison?" I asked, my body feeling like it was weakening fast.
My heart rate picked up and so did my panic, I knew that the faster my heart beat, the quicker my blood would spread the poison but I couldn't will it to slow. I felt dizzy, drowsy. I looked up at the blonde boy and a halo of light surrounded him.
"Are you an angel?" I said right before everything went black.
