Jon had prepared himself just in time to defend against Raphael's first attack. Some of the others weren't so lucky, having to enduring the stinging scratches of the vampires whilst fumbling with weapons. Will had dispatched two of the pawns in seconds, Helen two more, but their leader was focused entirely on Jon.
"I'm claiming you as my own kill, Shadowhunter. I can sense the demon in you; it's hidden under many layers but it's never left; something about that makes you all the more bite-worthy". He lunged a second time, thrusting Jon's arms behind his back and exposing his neck, but Jon swung him around and threw him into two female vampires attempting to charge at Jocasta and Horace. It was necessary, as they were already preoccupied with at least six vampires of their own to deal with; standing back to back they shielding themselves with swords and attacked simultaneously.
Sebastian was moving like lightning, gliding across the ground like a snake and slashing at Downworlder limbs whilst using some form of throwing stars to kill those at a distance almost instantly. He was taking down more than five opponents every ten seconds, but survived only because Jon took care of the creatures attempting to attack him from behind. Will's knives flew through the air even faster than Sebastian; taking out the vampires unawares and pinning others to nearby tree trunks. His fantastic aim took up a lot of his concentration, so Helen was stood inches from him, sword in hand, and was killing any vampire who came anywhere near them.
"Horace!" Jon shouted across the clearing, "help Will and Sebastian climb into the trees. Station them at opposite ends; both of you use ranged weapons to take out anyone who sneaks up on the others". The three boys were in motion immediately, following Jon's orders like they were soldiers and he a commander. "Helen, Jocasta, stick together and run for the perimeter. Work your way through the ones closing us in; go clockwise but change direction if too many come up from behind for the others to take out"
"Got it" they both said before running out to the vampires standing sentry. Horace was back at Jon's side, awaiting orders now that Will and Sebastian were safely in position. "We'll take on the leader, Raphael. He's wants to kill me personally but when he emerges he'll bring backup to take care of you. If we combine forces we can take them head-on but it'll be tricky"
"Has anyone ever told you you're actually badass?"
"That's the spirit". Just then, as if on cue, Raphael emerged from out of nowhere with four clearly powerful vampires; two men, two women; who all had murder and hatred in their demonic eyes.
"Leave that one to me" he hissed whilst pointing at Jon, "the rest of you can have the other one". They sprinted towards them but were soon one member short as he ran straight into Horace's sword.
"Yeah bitch! Maybe next time you'll-" but he couldn't finish his victory speech, as two more lunged over their comrade's body and pinned him to the floor.
"One moment" Jon said politely in Raphael's direction, and was met with an eye-roll. He jumped on the back of the biggest vampire and rode him round in circles until he collapsed to the floor. Horace's response, whilst wrestling with the other, was "I don't remember them teaching us the piggy-back manoeuvre in training"
"It learnt it the hard way from Clary was I was eight and she was seven, Raziel knows where she learnt it from". Jon stabbed the collapsed vampire while Horace wrestled the other to the ground and savagely beheaded with his sword. Now it was just Raphael and the other female vampire to take care of.
Jocasta had been hit several times, but was still standing thanks to Helen's support as a fighting partner. Some of the vampires had located Will and Sebastian's positions in the trees and had started to climb them. Sebastian had been dragged down to ground level but was unharmed, fighting off the vampires like he had done before, whereas Will had defended his position and was able to continue throwing knives from a distance.
Raphael's companion had foolishly tried to charge Jon and Horace head-on, when they had their weapons raised and were fully prepared to retaliate. She had managed to get painful hits on both of them but was dispatched much easier than expected.
"Close in!" Raphael ordered at the top of his voice. The vampires forming the perimeter of the battle responded by moving forward, slowly pushing the Shadowhunters into the centre. Sebastian and the girls were now back-to-back with Jon and Horace; weapons held high but with the hope draining quickly from their faces.
"There's too many of them" Jocasta said, looking more dismayed and worse off than any of them. Raphael was preparing to signal the final attack, when a voice was reverberating out of the tallest tree "Have a little faith!"
Will suddenly slid down a nearby branch and dove straight onto the army of vampires; simultaneously startling them all and bringing a good number of them to the ground. The others used the distraction to their advantage and began thrusting swords and knives and throwing stars into their opponents, lowering their numbers more swiftly than ever. Jocasta was beheading two in a second, Helen and Sebastian were piercing hearts in unison, Horace was impaling stomachs and Jon was slicing at the more stronger vampires (Raphael included) whilst Will jumped from body to body cutting throats and stabbing at necks.
"Who are you?!" one of the vampires asked indignantly.
"We're the new Avengers" said Horace
"the Shadowhunter Elite" suggested Helen
"Team Good" offered Jon. They all looked at their leader with wicked knowing smiles before turning back to Raphael, "yeah" they all said, "Team Good".
The survived vampires surrendered and ran off into the trees, even Raphael, and eventually disappeared from sight.
"Woo!" screamed Horace, Sebastian and Jocasta together.
"Don't woo; this is bad"
"What's wrong, Helen?"
"Haven't you noticed?" Helen pointed at the sky, where the sun had risen at some point during their epic battle with the vampires, "how were they able to survive the sunlight? They mustn't have been any ordinary vampires".
"What are you suggesting?" asked Jon.
"I'm suggesting that they were very powerful vampires, and therefore must work for someone even more powerful. Perhaps they even work for whoever's behind this whole thing".
The clearing was empty by the time Alexander and Isabelle reached it. They had needed to stop halfway through the night to rest, knowing full well that the others would probably wait to rest until morning and get a head start, but they had needed it.
"What will we do when we catch up to them?" Isabelle asked her brother.
"We'll kill them" he answered; face expressionless.
"We can't do that, Alec. They're innocent-"
"If we don't obey the contact then it'll be him they punish. What would our parents say if we had to go back and tell them he was dead because of us? What we're doing isn't good, I'll give you that, but I'd kill those Shadowhunters in a heartbeat if it meant his safe return".
They walked through the forest in silence.
"What do you mean you ran off? Have you any idea what this does to our plans, Santiago? You have just jeopardised everything we have been working for!"
"Everything you've been working for, you mean. We're just your prisoners who you use as pawns in your stupid games!"
"Silence! Take him back to the dungeons where he belongs! And come back with Bane, I need to take my anger out on someone. Oh, and bring Maxwell too, we can't have his dear brother and sister thinking he's safe, can we? Otherwise they might stop trying so hard to get him back".