Chapter 20: Death's Doorstop

CLARY POV

The first thing that probably shocks me awake is the lack of noise. No heart monitors, no doctors talking in quiet voices, just silence.

The second thing was the lack of the overpowering scent of alcohol and the absence of Valentine's yelling voice.

Oh shit.

Valentine.

I shoot up (probably a little to fast) from the ground Jace and I are laying on and take in my surroundings. Jace is still sleeping soundly next to me, he looks so peaceful that I try extra hard not to make a sound. I press the home button almost blinding myself from the screen brightness to see that it's 4 o'clock in the morning.

The longer I stay here the more panic I feel welling up inside of me.

I get up as slowly as I can trying my best not to stir Jace and go upstairs taking his phone with me.

When I successfully make it up to Jace's room, I let out the breath I've been holding in for who knows how long. I look through Jace's contacts until I find Simon's name, which is put in as 'ratface' in his phone.

Both of my hands are shaking as I'm waiting for him to answer his phone.

"Hello." I hear him mumbling groggily on the other side of the line.

"Oh Simon thank god." I whisper back to him.

"Clary? Where the hell are you?" he asks sounding equally concerned and pissed off.

"I know Simon, I'm sorry. Jace took me home with him after lunch and then there was a fight and then he didn't want me to go back home so I stayed until I woke up a couple of minutes ago. I don't know what I would do if either of you guys got hurt because I didn't listen to Valentine."

The line is silent for a second and I think he hangs up.

"I'll be there in 5 minutes." He says

I let out a sigh of relief "Simon your amazing."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Tell me something I don't know." He says before hanging up.

I hastily get dressed in my clothes from yesterday and get my backpack. Before silently leaving Jace's room as quietly as I came in I take out the picture I drew of us so many weeks ago and gently place it on his bed.

I walk down the stairs silently before making a dash to the front door. I almost jump out of my skin when I see Church the cat sleeping in front of it.

"Sorry Church." I whisper as I pick him up and place him out of the way of the door.

I spare one last look at Jace before silently opening the door and leaving.

I'm sorry Jace, I just can't take to see you get hurt because of me.

Just as Simon promised his car is outside of the Lightwoods' house waiting for me.

"Simon I seriously cannot thank you enough." I say as I get into the car and we start to drive away.

"Yeah, Yeah." He says, he's still in his pajamas and his hair is tousled from bed head.

"I think you probably would've been better off staying at Jace's house." He admits through gritted teeth.

"What? Simon you know that wouldn't have worked, Valentine, I don't know how, has his ways of finding people. I don't even know why you're still my friend, You're in this mess because you saw something in my and I have no idea what it is to this day." I say as we near Valentine's house.

"I've know you since we were little I wouldn't just throw all of that away." He says as he parks the car.

I take off my seatbelt and suck in a breath as I see the lights are still on in the house. As I get out I brace myself for what's about to come. Simon grabs my arm as my foot's about to touch the pavement.

"Promise me you'll be careful. Call me, text me send a messenger pigeon…anything, if he lays a finger on you." He says in total seriousness looking me dead in the eyes. I look down at where his arm is grabbing mine and then back at his eyes and give him a small nod.

I get out of the car and wait for him to drive off before I open the front door.

"Where have you been missy?"

JACE POV

I wake up the next morning feeling perfectly content.

That is. Until I feel something's off.

I'm still on the ground where Clary and I were sleeping yesterday…

But there's no Clary.

My tired, 5:00am brain takes a second to register it. She's probably taking a shower. I go upstairs to get dressed to find my room empty except for a drawing that was no doubt drawn by Clary laying on my bed. Panic is starting to well up inside of me as I search through every room in my house until they all turn out empty aside from a screaming Isabelle wanting to sleep.

My first thought is Valentine came and took her but that's pretty unlikely based on how much of an asshole he is.

I immediately go to downstairs to find my phone lying where I left it last night.

"Dammit." I mutter to myself as I look through my phone to see the recent calls.

Of course. Simon.

I press the call icon on my phone and pace the room waiting for him to answer.

"Hello?" I hear him say tentatively on the other side of the line.

" You have some explaining to do Lewis. Where is she?" I say, getting straight to the point.

" What do you…"

"Oh you know exactly what I mean. Clary. Where the hell is she?"

There's silence until I hear him sigh.

" I took her back to Valentines house." He says quietly.

I let my shock fill the dead silent phone line before I explode.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU BROUGHT HER BACK THE VALENTINE'S HOUSE!?"

" Jace, I don't think you understand."

"No I understand, I thought you actually cared about Clary that is why I've been tolerating you, but I guess I was wrong."

" Jace…"

"You better bring your sorry ass here in ten minutes or I can promise you your football career will be over."

He's silent for a second before grunting and hanging up.

I quickly run up to my room and get dressed. When I turn around I see Isabelle standing there fully clothed in the threshold of my room.

"Get out of my way Iz." I say walking past her.

" I know what you're doing. Don't." She says

I look back at her incredulously.

"I know." She starts "but think about this, Valentine is probably waiting for you. Waiting for a reason to make Clary's life worse. You'll be basically walking into his trap."

I think over her words for a second before shaking my head.

"No. It's been weeks Izzy; weeks." I can't let him have her back that easily. What kind of boyfriend, no. What kind of person would I be if I let him have her back that easily.

I walk past her as fast as I can to the front door where I see Simon waiting outside in his car.

"Fine." I hear Izzy say as she walks past me into the front seat of the car crossing her arms. "I'm coming with you guys.

I look at Simon for help, but he just shrugs.

I sigh deeply, running a hand through my hair and get into the backseat.

"Guys I don't think this is such a good idea…" Simon says, looking reluctant to start the car.

"Why do you say that?" Isabelle asks a little sharply.

"Well… I've been told not to tell anyone where Valentine lives or I-"

"Jesus Simon." Izzy sighs "Is this seriously about you getting in trouble with Valentine, are you that scared of him losing his trust for you? If that's the case you're a selfish little bitch who can just leave right now and go back to your mundane life playing videogames and eating ramen and we'll find Clary on our own."

Under different circumstances I would've been rolling on sidewalk laughing at how Izzy told off Simon like that, but with the underlying fear of what could be happening to Clary right now I can't find it in myself to laugh.

Simon I wide- eyed string at Izzy until he looks down at the car keys in his hand, lets out a loud sigh and starts the car.

"I knew you'd come to your senses." Izzy say cheerfully, kissing him on the cheek.

10 minutes later and a plan we're not even sure will work is when we arrive at a house that looks normal enough for a suburban neighborhood; nothing special about it, just a plain old house.

My first instinct is to jump out of the car and ram the door but even I know that would be a stupid idea.

There's a tense silence as Simon unbuckles his seatbelt and gets out of the car to ring the doorbell. Before the door opens Izzy and I both slouch down into our seats so we cant be seen. We can still make out the conversation however.

"While hello there Simon." I recognize Valentines voice, I feel my hands clench into tight fists.

"Hello Mr. Morgenstern, I'm here to pick up Clary for school today if that's alright?"

I sneak a look to see the expression on Valentine's face; he looks stone-faced, almost like he's hiding something.

"I'm not sure if that'll be possible today son, Clary's feeling a bit… under the weather today. With her stem cell transplant approaching we need to make sure she stays in top shape."

As if right on cue there's a large thump from inside that's followed by a series of shorter thumps and then a tiny whimper.

Clary.

I see Izzy shake her head at me but I barely register it as I bolt out of the car. Valentine's eyes go wide as he see me shove past him into his house.

The first thing that hit's me is the smell of rancid alcohol. I take in the disgusting house littered with trash and broken beer bottles. I turn toward the kitchen to see a pile of dirty dishes that have collected by the sink and the lingering small of old food coming from that direction.

"Jace?" I hear a small voice say from behind me.

I spin around to see Clary lying on the floor by a staircase. She probably tripped and fell causing the noise I heard from outside.

She look completely different from when I last saw her only hours ago. There are bags under her eyes and a large purple bruise on her neck. As I further scan her body her arms and legs are littered with deep purple bruises and the occasional cut. I rush over to her, gingerly touching her cheek.

"Clary. Oh Clary." I whisper without thinking.

I look her in the eyes, green meeting gold. The moment in time pauses before tears well up glossing over her eyes and silently fall down her cheeks. There's a certain sadness in the way her lip quivers and her chest racks with the silent sobs that I've never seen in my life. I feel my heart break into a million pieces as I watch the girl I love remorsefully cries in front of me and there's nothing I can do about it. Never in my life have I ever felt so useless.

So angry. Angry at Valentine.

" Put one finger on her and I call the police." I hear Valentine say from behind me.

Before I can say anything, Izzy's there.

"I'm not sure if that's such a good idea Valentine. I mean look at this dump, before you could even say a word they'd be calling CPS on your ass."

" Trust me you little two faced bitch." He spits angrily at my sister. " I have connections you've never heard of before I can-"

"Hey!" Clary croaks through her eminent pain, "That's my best friend you're talking to you bastard!"

Valentine looks taken aback by her words and I cant help but smirk.

That's my girl.

"So you can talk you little whore." I smirks back.

I feel my face get hot with red hot anger, but I try my best to hold back for Clary's sake.

"Those are more words you said in 5 minutes than you did all last night when we were playing our little games. You know 'Throw the bottle at the redhead'. I can't believe you thought those weren't fun, I personally thought it was quite amusing."

By then I had heard enough.

Nothing could stop me from putting my hands around his fat neck and strangling him. When I shoved him into the wall, making a dent where his head hit, I immediately begin pummeling. One for every mark he left on Clary.

This time there's no one to stop me.

No nurses. No doctors. No dad.

The only thing that stops me is when I see his eyes roll back in his head. I let him fall to the ground and with a last cough he's out like a light. Still breathing, just unconscious.

I turn my attention back to Clary whose breathing has become more labored.

"Hey." I say, having her look in my eyes "You're going to be fine now, promise."

She tries her best to give me a reassuring smile, which turns into a wince.

I try my best to lift her up as gently as possible until I here a cry escape her lips followed by Clary burying her face into my t shirt.

"Oh Jace." I hear Izzy gasp, looking close to tears.

I look to the part of Clary's body in which Izzy is pointing to see a jagged piece of a beer bottle protruding from her side.

" Should we take it out?!" I ask, starting to feel frantic.

"How the hell am I supposed to know!?" Izzy yells back at me.

"You've listened to Dad talk about his doctor stuff more than I have! Make a decision Iz, you know more about this than I do!"

She closes her eyes for a second and takes a deep breath before giving a short nod to me. Clary holds onto me tighter as if she knows what's about to happen.

"Shhh." I whisper into her ear "I love you Clary, I love you more than anything in the world, Love doesn't even begin to describe how I feel to you. You've always had my heart Clary."

I keep whispering these thing to Clary as Izzy takes the piece of broken glass and yanks it out in one swift movement.

Clary takes in a sharp intake of air and then I feel all of her deadweight fall into my arms as she passes out from the pain.

She looks distressed in even her unconscious state, as if while she's sleeping she still doesn't feel safe.

"Jace we need to go. Like now." She says frantically, breaking me out of my reverie.

I start to feel blood spill out of her freshly opened wound and know I can't keep pressure on it forever.

We both dash to Simon's car not even sparring a look in in Valentine's direction and speed off once Simon notices our predicament.

"Drive like hell's following you Lewis." I say to him.

A rush of adrenaline flows through my body as I feel the car jerk into it's fastest speed, almost 40 miles over the speed limit.

But it still doesn't feel fast enough to me.

AN: OH MY GOD GUYS IT'S BEEN LIKE 4 MONTHS. Words can't describe how sorry I am, writing is one of my favorite things to do but my first high school year has been hectic.

RECAP OF MY LIFE:

got a job (yay!)

homework (ew)

projects every week (nasty)

boyfriend trouble, yippee (sarcasm)

not being able to write this story (cue tears)

karate competitions (yay!)

Kickboxing (yay!)

theatre (yay!)

All in all I've been EXTREMELY busy but I hope you all know I haven't forgotten about my fandom! I could never forget about you guys, because you're all awesome, amazing people who probably have great hair and look amazing in sweaters!

ANYHOW!, no promises on when the next chapter will come out but lets just say soon hopefully(:

Please review your opinion on this story I love hearing your feedback it helps me so much and you all are so sweet!

As usual I want to know who my readers are so follow me on Instagram at erin_g_ and comment "Terrible Things" on one of my pictures!

Just remember that I love writing this story I feel so lucky to have all of you amazing readers having my back and making my day with every review you give!

That was a long Authors Note omg.

R & R

XOXO

Erin