I've had exams, and they've been so crazy. But I've done really well, so yay! And to celebrate here is a (long-awaited) update! PENULTIMATE CHAPTER EVERYONE.
liveandbreathediangelo: I missed you! Thank you for all your reviews!
FluffyFluffLover: I can tell you right now, this is a story with a mostly happy ending!
: Good guess!
cfire27: You can read the A/N at the bottom or... I could just tell you. I decided to finish in Jace's P.O.V!
Bob The Dam Burrito: Thank you!
Guest: Thanks, that's what I've decided to go with!
Simon groaned, rolling onto his side. The surface beneath was cold and hard, and his head was throbbing from the lack of blood. He blinked blearily. The room resolved itself into a prison of sorts- four walls and a floor. No windows, no visible door. He pushed himself up with his hands, noticing the dark veins spiraling across the insides of his arms. He needed blood badly.
Simon looked around again, but there wasn't much to see- all grey and featureless walls. He wasn't even in the same room as the others.
Walking around dizzily, he felt for a slight gap in any of the walls, trying to locate a door.
Once, twice, three times he went around the room.
And then once more, just to make sure.
Dismayed, Simon sank against the wall. With his mind now unfocused on escape, it was free to run the events of the last few hours through his mind. They'd been ambushed. It was a carefully set trap; no doubt- demons were unorganized and sometimes pretty stupid. There was no way they could have set up something cunning.
And as much he hated to admit it, the setup was smart. Tire them out with a decoy, and then send the real thing in. He and Eric used it all the time in D&D campaigns. But who would have set it up? Surely, not Jace. They were connected in some way- if not friends, allies at least. Neither Simon nor Jace would even consider creating an unnecessary situation that would endanger Clary or Isabelle, or even Alec.
A section of the wall slid back smoothly, startling him. An Endarkened marched in, their face obscured by the scarlet hood of the gear. "What- What's-" Simon coughed, his voice rasping from disuse.
The figure stepped forward, taking his arm. He could feel the fingers pressing into muscle.
A small bruise would heal quickly, but he hated feeling so powerless. He wrenched his arm from the stranger's grip. He cleared his throat. "Tell me where we are."
"My master can tell you that. My instructions are to take you to him, and you will obey." The voice hissed out from underneath the hood, tracing a shiver up his spine.
If Simon still had a heart that beat, it would be pounding. "Where are my friends?" He demanded, secure in the knowledge that he was far stronger and faster than the other figure could ever hope to be.
"They'll be where you're going, because they're not so foolish as to disobey the master of this realm, whether the message comes directly or not."
Simon didn't believe that for a second. None of the others would go anywhere without a fight.
The foreigner took his arm forcefully, again. He twisted out of the grip, again.
"Fine." He said, his voice sounding strange to his own ears. "I'll go with you, but I'm pretty sure I can manage the walk on my own." They moved to grab his arm again. "As in, without an escort. This isn't a crappy school dance." He turned and followed the Endarkened, muttering. "Never thought that I'd say it: I would gladly be there now."
Clary and Alec waited for him in a massive… throne room.
The only word you could use describe the space. Two picture windows showed opposing views- the bleached, dead landscape of wherever they were and the soft one of Idris. He took a sharp breath. Jace had some weird fantasies.
"Simon." Clary's voice sounded as exhausted as she looked, pale and drawn. Her green eyes were huge in her pale face, and she looked as though it was an effort to stand upright. He and Alec looked much the same, Simon supposed.
"How are you?" Simon stepped closer, ignoring the guards watching their every move. "Where's Izzy?"
"We don't know. Alec got here just after me, and we've been waiting for about twenty minutes." Simon chewed his lip worriedly. She could be anywhere, but the desire to keep everyone together in this strange place gnawed at him. An uneasy silence had settled over them, and he couldn't quench the need to find Jace and get the hell out of here. Something didn't feel quite right.
"Get your filthy hands off me." A familiar voice snarled as the door burst open. Isabelle stalked into the room, looking murderous. Relief flooded Simon, and he barely suppressed a grin. She glared at him, the menace hardly masking the plain solace on her face. The Endarkened trailing her looked put out with the refusal to go along with them. Now all they needed was too find-
"Jace," Isabelle, standing closest to the door, spotted him first. She walked a few eager steps towards him.
"Isabelle." He said coolly, cutting off her approach with the single word.
Simon joined her, quickly followed by Clary and Alec.
"Jace…" Clary said slowly, as if trying not to scare an injured bird. "We need to go."
A look of confusion flashed across his face. "We…? No," he shook his head. "You're not going anywhere."
The door opened once again, admitting the last person Simon thought he'd ever see in Jace's dream world. This was alternate reality meant to take the shape of his deepest wishes, not some kind of perverted nightmare.
All the colour drained from Isabelle's already pale face. His white-blond hair shone in the light refracting through the windows, and his eyes looked like black holes, sucking in all good and hiding it so deep inside that it could never be recovered. His pitiless gaze flicked carelessly past Isabelle and landed on Clary. She visibly steeled herself. "How good of you to rejoin us." Sebastian murmured, a sharp edge to his voice. He turned to Jace, although his eyes never left their bedraggled group. "What are we going to do with them, brother?" Simon looked at Izzy, Alec and Clary, all looking as though the world had dropped out from underneath them. He felt the betrayal as a skinned knee, too fresh to have sparked pain.
Jace's innermost desires were to be in league with Sebastian… holding them all prisoners?
"Throw them in the cage." Sebastian ordered the nearby Endarkened with an impatient gesture. More appeared out of dark corners, flooding the room in a sea of red cloaks and dead faces. Simon watched the others draw their weapons grimly, the glow of seraph blades blazing in the dusky light. The cool fire jerked him out of his haze. He had weapons, but they would only slow him down at this point. His fangs snapped out, causing a ripple of disgust through the red swarm. The first rushed at him, predictably slow. He disarmed them easily, and then hesitated for a fraction of a second. They would surely kill him if they had the chance… but he wasn't a murderer.
Simon winced. He could smell them- the salty tang of blood under the sweat, carrying with it a bitter trace. His need for blood intensified, but the angel ichor singing in his veins warned him against the demonic influence.
His attacker saw him falter and took advantage of his distraction, but Simon barely felt the pain of the punch before it began to drain away, healing.
He growled in frustration, lashing out. Endarkened after Endarkened rushed at him, and he dealt with them as easily as if they were annoying bugs.
Distantly, he heard a cry. His attention was ripped from the faceless attacker in front of him and to Clary, who had a blade pressed up against her throat. Her face was white, and a thin trickle of blood was rolling down her neck from where it had broken skin. Simon's jaw ached.
"Give her to me." Jace gestured to the Endarkened. Clary went still as the knife was passed from hand to hand and Jace's fingers gripped her shoulders.
The room was quiet. Alec and Izzy were watching Jace carefully, as you might observe a predator in the wild. Simon could hear the quick gasps as they tried to regain their breath, and he watched Isabelle's fingers curl more tightly around her whip.
"Don't bother, Iz. There are still enough left to outnumber you." Jace could be addressing her as his sister, Simon thought, but the casual threat was clear.
"Don't do this." Alec's voice was strained, and he had driven the blood from his hands from clenching them so tightly. "Jace, this isn't you."
"Would you all stop saying my name?" His pupils were huge. Simon had never seen him lose control like this. He took a deep breath, and some of the angry puce that had flushed his skin drained away.
Simon realized he'd shifted a step back. Everything that Jace did was so deliberate, and the only time he'd ever really seen him let it go was when he wasn't on guard with his siblings or Clary. Maybe it came from being a Shadowhunter. Uncalculated moves in a fight- well, it was life or death.
"Now," Sebastian's voice sliced through the film that seemed to have wrapped themselves around them, dulling everything else. "I think the deal is this: go to your cage without assistance, and Clary will come to you unhurt." His voice took on a patronizing tone. "Just over there."
Simon looked in horror at the 'cage.' A large cell in the center of a room he hadn't taken much notice of before. Slowly, he started to walk towards it. With Clary's safety in question, there wasn't a doubt that he'd do whatever he could to get her out of the situation. Isabelle and Alec reluctantly followed him.
"Jace," Clary was whispering to him, only Simon's sensitive ears picking it up. "You can't do this to us. You can't do this to yourself. I don't know if the demon has influenced you, but I know you, and this is not how you act. We all trust you to do the right thing."
Simon didn't dare to look back to see Jace's face, but if anyone get through to him, it would be Clary. His hopes lifted just a little.
"Just lift the knife up."
Two meters from the door of the cell.
"Jace, take the knife away from my throat."
One and a half.
"Jace."
One.
Silence.
Half a meter.
"She's coming with me."
Simon couldn't stop his head from whipping around. Jace had eased the knife off a little, and was looking at Sebastian for permission. There was no way that wasn't not the demon. "Do whatever you want, brother. The rest stay though." He shrugged, and then looked at them. "In you go." He prompted, with dark amusement dancing across his face.
Isabelle's voice bounced off the walls. "Are you insane?" She was furious. Alec reached for her. "Iz-"
She shook him off, shaking her head. "How could you do this, Jace? How long have you been here to have relinquished all of your free will to this disgusting animal?"
Luckily, the demon didn't blink, just surveyed Izzy calmly. "If you won't go willingly, there are other measures I can take to force you. And I promise you," he smiled, and even though he wasn't a vampire, Simon half-expected fangs to slide out of his teeth. The razor grin sent a shock of fear through him. "They won't be pleasant."
Isabelle took a few reluctant steps back. Simon blinked in surprise. "Fine." She spat at Sebastian.
The metal door clanged behind him with a jarring rattle. Clary gave him a sad smile as Jace pulled her out of the room and to some unknown destination. Who knew how long they'd be stuck here.
Simon let his head sink down into his hands as he sat on the hard concrete floor. This was a whole lot more complicated than he ever could have imagined, and now Clary was quite possibly in danger. As well as the fact that the only sources of blood needed their strength. He half-sighed, half-groaned. Feeling a light hand set on his back, he looked up. Izzy kneeled beside him, her dark eyes tired.
Simon pulled her into an embrace and she settled against him. He let warmth emanating from her flow into his body and listened to the pumping off her heart. "Jace'll come around." He whispered, not really believing it.
How on earth are they going to get out of there if Jace is on the opposite side. What if they have to leave him behind. What if they have to force him to come? What if NO ONE gets away from the demon?
THE PENULTIMATE CHAPTER. I loved writing this story. The final chapter is in the works as you read! Thank you for the reviews, follows and favourites. They inspired me to write a little faster, so keep them coming!
Jace's P.O.V. for the FINAL CHAPTER!