Little Bit Of Crazy

There was a girl waiting for them, outside Raphael's door. She had a bag thrown over one shoulder, and her slightly ratty clothes were stained with drops of blood. It was her hair that caught Clary's attention though – thick, soft blond hair that reached the back of her knees. She had the face of an angel; it was only her smile that was deadly.

"Josie," Raphael said, wordlessly putting himself in front of Clary. "What are you doing here?"

"Checking on the patient!" She said, and her bubbly, cheery voice grated on Clary's nerves. It was the voice of someone talking to a puppy, not to their leader. "It's so lovely to meet you Clary!"

A sound rumbled from the back of Raphael's throat – a deadly growl, low and possessive. "She's not a toy, Josie. Leave her well alone."

If Josie was disturbed she didn't show it, instead her smile got impossibly wider. "Aww, Raphael, you know I have to check on her! She has wounds that need attending. Unless you want to?" She held out the bag, sweet as sugar, but Raphael made no move to take it. His hand wound behind him to take hers, sending electricity up her arm and into her heart. She was not supposed to be feeling giddy because a vampire took her hand.

There was a pause as Josie held out the bag, smiling deliciously, and Raphael glared at her. Finally he straightened out of a crouch he was probably unaware of and stepped to the side, leaving Clary exposed but not letting go of his tender hold on her. "Five minutes Josie, and I watch."

Josie pretended to gasp, her hand flying to her frozen heart. "But Raphael! She's a lady! You can't watch a lady be treated by her doctor."

"Um, since when were you my doctor?" Clary asked, glancing at Raphael. His expression didn't change, but with him that seemed like a good sign. "And I really don't care if Raphael is there."

Josie's smile dropped. Her wide eyes blinked and her lips raised in a snarl, tense and dangerous – before it all melted away again and she went back to being a sweet girlie girl. "But dearie, it's not very polite! Raphael doesn't understand any medicine so there's no point in him being there."

Raphael's polite smile twisted into something between a snarl and a smirk, letting go of Clary's hand and wrapping his arm around her waist. It was wrong, completely wrong to have him there but it felt, inexplicably, right. "The lady has spoken, Josie. Stand aside."

She hissed but backed away from the door, allowing Raphael to drag Clary forwards and twist the key. Clary had never felt anything like it; Jace had never been anything like this. Even without touching her skin Raphael made her feel heat, made her a little bit crazy for him. She knew the risk, she knew this was to his advantage so she would never act upon it – but by the Angel was he attractive.

Her mind jumped back to something she'd read, a woman who slept with Picasso, who had this mad thing with him that had never made sense. She said she'd known it would be a catastrophe – but it was a catastrophe she couldn't miss. And that was what Raphael was like, he was the runaway train that she couldn't stop, she could only cling on to for the ride of her life. With Jace it was all addiction, all bravery, all enduring the bad to get to the good. But with Raphael there was no good, there was no happy ending. Just a choice she could make once or never at all, a choice she couldn't go back from.

He was insanity, delirium. Instinctually she knew he would be the best thing she would ever experience and the worst fall she would ever ride out. He wasn't a romance, he was a mistake. But perhaps, he could be, he might be, the best mistake of her life.

"Clary?" His hand waved in front of her face, confusion echoing in his eyes. "You there?"

She forced herself to laugh slightly. "Sorry, I was sort-of out of it. Just tired, I guess." She had never felt so awake in her life. That she wanted Raphael, that he was her guy so much more than Jace was, that he was standing well into her personal space and close enough to touch was intoxicating her. There was no way she could sleep now.

He gave her a long, measured look that said both I don't believe you and you're going to tell me later, and she shivered slightly. She wasn't quite sure how to act – but she knew he would see right through her lies.

"Oh Clary, has Raphael been keeping you awake? That's so bad of him!" Josie gave her a twisted, forced, territorial smile that made Clary feel sick to her stomach before Raphael wrapped his arm around her again. His proximity was giving her butterflies, so close and yet so far.

"You're wasting your five minutes, Josie," he said, smooth and silky, right by her ear. Whether he realised it or not, his arms tightened around her. "I suggest you hurry up."

The vampire healer gave an over exaggerated sigh before dropping her bag on the sofa. "Okay, Clary dear, sit down and take your top off so I can change the bandage."

Clary's breathing stopped; she was suddenly very aware of Raphael's arm around her waist. She would never have thought cool and unrelenting would be hotter than normal temperature and loose, but it bloody well was. He wasn't just attractive, he was irresistible. And apparently she was about to take off her top in front of him.

The Barbie of a vampire lifted a delicate eyebrow and played with a strand of ridiculously long hair. "I did warn you, dearie. He can still leave."

She squared her shoulders, slipping out of his embrace to sit on the sofa. Gathering up all the courage she had and glancing back to watch Raphael she grabbed the hem of her shirt and pulled it off, revealing a simple bra underneath.

Maddeningly, he had no reaction at all. Did she really have that little to offer? She was particularly flat chested, but she still had no top on. He was a guy. Surely he was at least supposed to stare!

"Ah, you poor thing! Lily told me you had wounds, but I didn't realise there was that many bandages!" Past the false sympathy Josie's smile was victorious.

"It doesn't hurt," she said, more for Raphael's benefit than her self-appointed doctor's. "I can hardly even feel it."

"The cuts are shallow," Raphael said, still not looking at her chest. "Lily cleaned them and the other injuries, and gave her heavy duty painkillers so she slept for a while."

Josie nodded, and then handed her a pair of scissors. "Cut the bandage off and unwind it. I'll get a fresh one out."

It stung a little as she pressed the cold metal close to her skin, but quickly got better. The cuts were indeed shallow, but long and raking all across her stomach. Already they were starting to heal over. Damn – if only she had a stele, she could draw an iratze.

She tried to focus on Josie as the girl applied a stinging cream to the wounds – pressing far more than was strictly needed – but it was hard. Constantly she felt his presence, close enough that it was awkward to ignore him but too far away to touch. She sneaked a few glances, but every time he just looked bored with the whole thing – compared to earlier, it was a shock to the system.

His mask was back in place, and Clary couldn't help but wish to rip it off.

"There, all done," Josie said as she wound the bandage tightly around her wounds. She handed Clary some a collection of little pills. "Take this white one now, and in twelve hours start taking these red and yellow ones two at a time every four hours. I'll come check again tomorrow! Till then…" She smiled, sort of, and flounced out the room. The moment she was gone Raphael was up, locking the door behind her and giving Clary time to shrug on her shirt, almost tearing it in her haste. She tugged at the bandage, which was suspiciously tight, and arranged her top to fall naturally.

"I apologise, Josie is incredibly difficult to live with sometimes," he said, with a strange stilted sound to his voice. Uncharacteristically, he chose the chair near her instead of sharing the sofa. "She was reborn just eleven years ago and is one of the most intelligent, dangerous vampires I know. Lily can fix basic wounds but Josie is – well, I guess you could say a world leader in the field of vampire medicine."

He laughed, as though still surprised at the absurdity of the situation. "Why do you let her stay?" Clary asked, then cursed herself for sounding so young and naïve.

He looked her full in the eye and smiled, soft and tender, the devil's smile she was sure. "Because even if she is rude and hard to control and unreliable, at least she's here. Every major coven is against each at some point, and girls like Josie are incredibly valuable. Wouldn't you rather she be your weapon than someone else's?"

Clary nodded slowly. She could understand that. "But why is she so… bitchy? I mean, she acts like a child, well, a very messed up child."

Raphael shrugged, apparently unworried by her cussing. He stood up lazily and headed towards the kitchen, pouring a glass of water from the sink as he talked over his shoulder. "She lost everyone and everything when she became a vampire. Before she was top of her school, beautiful and heading to the best university in the country – then suddenly that was all over, and she was damned for all eternity."

He came back and handed her the water as though nothing had happened, and he'd just made an idle comment about the weather. He nodded towards the pills in her hand. "I suggest you do as the doctor says, she ripped one of the newborns to pieces earlier for going hunting before she said he could. Refused to put him back together too."

The worrying thing was how casually he said it, and for the first time Clary truly doubted her decision to stay with a vampire coven. She took a big sip of water and then downed the little white cylinder, wincing at the taste and throwing one last glance at Raphael.

For a moment she thought she saw something, some strong, ravaging emotion that lit him up with an angry, brazen fire. Then it was gone and he smiled politely back with his courteous indifference to her that she so despised.

Raphael, Raphael, she thought with a sigh. What am I to do about you?

A/N: Well that moved the plot on a bit! Sexy vampires dance badly in kitchens shouting writing encouragement with every review, so keep 'um coming!

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