Chapter 5
Clary's POV
I woke with a sickly feeling. Not that I expected differently. My insides ached badly. It felt like my intestines were squirming inside of me, wanting to leave my body just as much as I wanted to. There was food next to me. I cursed myself for not waking up in time to see who put it there. I wasn't hungry for it, though. I flopped back down on my back, wanting to throw up. My hands pressed to my stomach to put pressure, the way you do sometimes to a bleeding cut, but it made it worse. I kept my hands at my sides, giving up on feeling good.
I felt something twitch. But it wasn't me. It was something inside me. I pull my shirt up to see a huge black spot cover the skin in the middle of my stomach. It pulsed. Once. Twice. Three times. My breathing got heavier, and the pulse spread over my body in waves. Harder, faster, heavier, until I was screaming from pain. It continued to beat, like a heart, and with each beat sent cold shock of pain everywhere. A headache bloomed in my head and my hands went up to my head and pressed savagely onto my temples.
And then it stopped. All at once. The lightening in my veins ceased to exist, the headache pounded itself away. My body went cold, like I was dipped into an ice bath. My limbs froze. I couldn't move them.
What's happening? I had meant to say that out loud, but I couldn't. It just wouldn't work. Nothing would.
If you had used the lotion, it would have made things less painful. But I knew you wouldn't. The voice took shape now, I could easily point out who would be saying it. Not like I knew the person, but it was the tone of voice that was used by both my father and my brother.
Why are you doing this to me? What are you doing?! I struggled against the mental barriers that held me down, but nothing happened. I wasn't in control of my body anymore. I didn't know who was.
Johnathan Morgenstern was a smart man. So was valentine. But his warriors had one thing in common, and that was location and time. Valentine had to wait until the wards were down to bring his army in. And Johnathan hadn't had an attack on Alicante like Valentine did, but again, Valentine had to wait. I don't have to. Not only are you ten times stronger, but you will be able to enter any place you would like. And the transformation took a matter of hours.
I let the words sink in. Hours. It's only been a matter of hours since I saw Jace. Then blurted in my head: But what is inside of me?
A demon soul is taking over your own. The more it occupies you, the more it begins to conform to you. It will ratify your body, and your free will. We have done something this a long time ago, except they weren't humans. They fell easily because they were tied to one person. But these are not tied to anyone, but they all have the same purpose.
And what is that? I ask, still struggling against it.
To kill shadowhunters. There was a time before them, and there will be a time after them. They may resurface again, and it will always be a never ending battle between us, but for now, we will show them what we can do. There is someone we have to pay a visit to.
I stood just before Idris, on the border of France, in shadowhunter gear, ironically. I could see the ripple in the portal that transported most humans across Alicante and into Germany. I wanted to reach out and touch it, but I couldn't. I wasn't controlling my body anymore. A demon was. It was a shattering thought, and it seems like the only thing that was mine was my thoughts.
The demon walked into Idris without even a sting.
The world flashed before my eyes. Green rolling hills slid in waves around me. I could just barely make out the houses. I had come in between Lake Lyn and Alicante, and ahead of me was a trail that Luke and I walked on, leading us left into the town. The demon took the trail, and started walking. I couldn't look anywhere else, because I couldn't turn my head or blink my own eyes, but as Alicante loomed near I began to feel nervous. More that nervous, I began to feel horribly sick. I can tell that the demon wasn't here just to talk. And from what the man said about visiting someone, I was guessing that Robert Lightwood was that someone.
Stop! Please! Now! I yell, but the only place it echoes is in my head.
Jace's POV
Magnus left.
"Where are you going?" Alec asked.
"To see Caterina. She might be able to help with a tracking spell." The door closes behind him.
"I've seen it before." Robert Lightwood declares as we step into the house. It's the same looking, hardly any decoration except for some pictures of Isabelle, Alec, and even little Max. The robes seemed to weigh him down even though his broad shoulders can still be seen under them. "They've been reappearing over and over again. They've been imprinted on the sites that have been attacked."
"Wait, other places have been attacked like this?" Isabelle asks.
"Yes. There has been a couple shadowhunters missing, but I suspected it was some trick of a demon, a greater demon. Until I found this." He reaches atop his desk and pulls out a lotion bottle.
"Hand moisturizer?" Simon remarks.
"No. It has demon powder mixed into it. We don't know what it's used for." He sets it back down. "The mark seems to be a Sigil of some sort, not a rune at all. It's obviously a demon, but we can't figure out why they are using a mundane symbol. I mean, why not demonic runes?"
"Maybe because there isn't supposed to be a purpose other than to show their power." I throw in. Why waist a rune on a building?
"That is true." Robert nodded. "But it just isn't normal. This whole thing isn't."
"That's what the Council meeting was about? The disappearances?" Izzy starts. "And you knew about Clary being missing, and you didn't invite us to the meeting?" Isabelle demands, her voice raising an octave. "You told us that people go missing all the time, you dismissed as if she weren't family! As if she wasn't engaged to your son! AS IF SHE NEVER STOPPED TWO WARS IN A ROW." Alec placed a hand in Isabelle's shoulder, but she shook it off irritably. "She is not some shadowhunter that went missing. She was a hero and a family member that got stolen from us, and you aren't doing anything about it-"
Suddenly, the door burst down. Two feet clad in demon hunting boots stamped onto it, holding it in place as if it were a wild surfboard. Hands were curled to the side and the thick jacket fit tight around her. Red curls flamed from her face. Clary. But it wasn't Clary. It couldn't be. She didn't own black eyes, and she certainly didn't own the sickly look that came with the grin she wore proudly.
Clary's POV
I stood before them. Every single one of them looked at me with such revelation that you would think I had slapped them all. I was the last thing they expected, and yet the first thing they wanted. I could feel the tight seal of my lips that formed a grin, but I wanted to yell. I wanted to scream and thrash myself out of this body. I wanted to run up and be enveloped in Jace's arms, but neither of that was going to happen.
My body advanced into them, a hard stare fixed on Robert Lightwood. The shocked faces continued to render speechless until Isabelle ran up to me.
"Clary!" So much relief was thrown into that word in a matter of seconds, it startled me. Her arms reached for me, spreading wide to encompass my body, but the demon hands were quicker. I wanted to hug her, but instead I grabbed at her waist and shoulder and threw her hard against the wall.
Stop it! Not Isabelle! Stop, please! I plead but it doesn't listen. Her body hits the wall and comes crashing down in a non-graceful way, I could hear bones crack. She twitches a little as Simon reaches her, so I know that she isn't dead. Her arm is in an unnatural position, blood seeps from her hair.
The others look at me with dismay, and confusion. Lots of confusion. Jace looks like he was ready to kill something, to kill me, but he doesn't. I couldn't either, if I were him and he were me. I would die first.
No. No, this can't be happening.
Luke and my mother attempt to come near me, but with a look I silence them and pin them to the wall. Their limbs wriggle like a bug under a thumb. They silently choke from lack of air.
I walk towards Robert once again. The grin spreads even more. Robert Lightwood backs up slowly. Alec starts forward, the same time Jace does. Alec gets there first, though. I crouch low at the last moment and seize his legs. I throw him up and over myself. He lands on his side, and with a crunch his shoulder is shattered. He sucks in a breath, hands clawing for a stele. Jace was next.
He stutters for a moment, something I've never seen him do in battle, but continues towards me.
Please, no. Not Jace. Please, I'm begging you! NOT Jace.
"PLEASE!" I scream before the demon grabs ahold of Jace. It lifts him up in the air, but stops. It twitches, I twitch, like a robot that malfunctioned. All of us, the demon, Jace, and myself seemed frozen in time.
Please. I continue to beg.
The demon sets him down gently, I let out a breath and release a small amount of tension, but that was a big mistake. Just as his feet hit the floor it knocks him over the back of the couch, unconscious or maybe really dazed. Nothing seems to be broken, but he lays limp. If I hadn't known better, I would have thought that he was sleeping from the position of him. It lastly turns to Robert for the final time and huffs out a breath of frustration. Robert seemed to be stilled into place, his feet not responding to anything.
The voice that spoke was nothing of a human or shadowhunter. It was purely and simply evil. "This is your warning, Robert Lightwood, head Concil. We are growing stronger. We are growing smarter. We are growing bigger. We are growing." The voice growled, and unaware of what it was doing, I look down to see that the sigil was scraped into Robert's hand, blood welled around the edges and spilt down his wrist.
It backed away from him and ran out the door.
Jace's POV
I heard her voice over and over again in my mind. The word please tore through me as I fell backwards onto the couch. I felt dazed for a second, then I heard her talk and it shocked me back to life. I was on my feet in seconds, but she was already out the door. Robert looked like he had just given birth to kittens, but I wasn't paying attention to him much. I chased after Clary.
I could see in the way that she ran that she could reach speeds that wasn't even shadowhunterly possible, but she was taking it slow. She didn't know I was behind her. She puts up her hood and walks around buildings, heading toward Lake Lyn. I follow as silently as possible.
I turn right when she goes straight, and sprint around buildings until I know I'm in front of her. I come out of the building to her right, and grab ahold her shoulders.
A surprise look on her face flashes before me, and then she screeches. It wasn't a human scream but rather an animal yell. Her black eyes widen and her hands claw at me.
"I may not be able to kill you, shadowhunter. But don't think I can't crush your bones into pieces and have you live." Her voice had two tones to it, the undertone was metallic, sharp, and an octave higher.
"Clary." I tighten my grip on her shoulders. She has me by the shoulders too, her small frame taught with unnatural strength.
"Clary isn't here-" It choked savagely, like it had swallowed black tar. Its grip loosened, and then it dug its hands into me and sent me flying against the wall. I blink, and she's gone.
Isabelle's POV
I reach for a stele, but Simon is already there and drawing an iratze on me. I puke, I couldn't help myself, all over the wall. I get into a sitting position, but Clary is already gone. As is Jace. I panic, but Simon holds me down to the ground.
"Isabelle, stop."
"Jace. Where is he? Did she take him?"
"He ran after her," He informed.
"We have to find him. He can't be taken by her-"
"Isabelle, your head is bleeding. Badly."
"Head wounds always bleed a lot, I'm fine." I attempt to stand, but I sway, and Simon catches me under the elbows.
"Please, Izzy. Stop moving." My arms ache at where he clutches it. I see my brother on the ground drawing an iratze on himself. With the help of Simon, I go over to him.
"What did she do to you?"
"Shattered my shoulder." He spoke between clenched teeth. He finished the rune. Simon busied himself with drawing a blood loss rune on the back of my neck. Luke and Jocelyn were still catching their breath, tears flowing from Jocelyn's eyes. A startled sound interrupted the eerie silence and we looked over at my father with blood on his hands like he had put on a fresh scarlet glove. The sigil was carved into his skin.
At that moment Jace burst into the room and looked at us.
"Jace?" I ask. His lips are parted a little in disbelief and he barely shook his head.
"No." He answers the questions that were never asked, his voice hollow. Is Clary here? No. Can Clary be saved? No.
"What do we do now?" Jocelyn asks, her voice is hoarse. Everyone had a defeated aura hanging around them. Arms were limp at their sides. Lips pulled into a grim expression.
"What did she say to you, Robert?" Luke asks. We turn to my dad once again.
"She, it, said we are growing. In numbers, strength, capabilities. Something along those lines."
"It was a warning. Like the attacks on the institute's with Sabastian. They are getting more and more people."
"Are we going to do what we did last time? Hole up in Idris while the world burns?" I said, not kindly.
"Last time we knew what he wanted. I mean, it's obvious that they want shadowhunters dead, they always want that. But we don't know who is behind it. We don't know their weakness."
"They picked Clary for a reason, right? They know the relationships between her and us. Maybe they are using that. Relationships to brake us down." Simon made a point.
"That happened last time, when others couldn't kill them because they wore the faces of their family members. But the difference is that they were already dead. Clary isn't. She is still alive." Jace said it like it was a fact, like nothing could me more true.
"How can you say that?" Robert looked at Jace. "She almost killed all of us, she broke your brother's and sister's bones, and you still think she's coming back? Why?"
"Because she put me down. I saw a look flash before her eyes as she faced me, and she couldn't hurt me. Clary is inside of it somewhere, and she had enough strength to stop. It doesn't necessarily mean she favors me over Isabelle, or her mother, but it means that she had some control." Jace's jaw was tight.
"Well, we need to report this. As procedure, you all have to come with me."
The door opens and Magnus steps through. He takes one look at us.
"What did I miss?"
NOTE: Review please! Tell me what you think will happen next? Thanks :)