It was Simon's idea, so Clary should have, perhaps, taken a moment more to think about the subject. However, it was Simon's idea - why would Clary think it wasn't a good idea to begin with? -, and that was how Clary found herself talking with her actual sire, not Raphael.
It had all started a few hours earlier, when Simon appeared in her doorstep, dressed up like he was going to a party, and Clary, wearing her worst pajamas, the ones with some vague blood stains, stared at him.
"I thought we were going to watch Vampire Knight?", Clary tried, but Simon shook his head.
"We were, but I had a great idea. What if we tried to find your sire? I mean, I know what he looks like, so if we go to Pandemonium, we can maybe find him,", Simon chirped. That sounded surprisingly reasonable. "Besides, if we can compare an actual vampire to our research, it'll make things easier on us."
Clary laughed, letting him in. Their research consisted solely of cheesy vampire animes and Clary comparing her experience to it.
"Am I not a real vampire, now?", Clary asked, mind wondering if she had anything clean. She really should do some laundry…
"You are, but you're also the worst vampire ever, so,", Simon shrugged, plopping down on her couch. Clary laughed once more, and left him to his own devices, deciding to head first in Jonathan's room. She knocked before entering, finding her brother reading, and he looked up to her.
Maybe he should go, as well. It was fair.
"Hey, me and Simon are going to Pandemonium, see if we can find my sire. Do you want to come?", she hummed, closing the door behind her. She had fed on him earlier, but his blood still sang its siren song to her.
Jonathan rose up, passing a hand through his hair, approaching carefully and putting his hands on her hips, one finger playing with the shitty elastic band of her shorts.
"Sure, but I take you're going to wear that?", he grinned, and Clary blushed. "I wouldn't mind."
"Perhaps later, but I think I may have to get dressed,", Clary replied, kissing him once before leaving his room, leaving Jonathan smiling.
Clary went to her room and threw on the first clothes she saw - a black t-shirt, the nicest pair of jeans she had, her red converse -, putting her hair in a ponytail for one mere second before deciding to leave it down. She looked better with it down.
As she dressed, Clary couldn't help but think of how her sire was. Raphael was his sire, so he probably would be a bit like Raphael, right? But then, again, Izzy also Raphael's charge, and they seemed nothing alike. Well, with any luck, Clary would discover it for herself tonight.
Getting into Pandemonium was, once more, easy - she smiled to the bodyguard, Simon and Jonathan behind her, and he let them enter. Simon was impressed.
"Maybe I should be a vampire too, if it makes so easy to enter places,", Simon mused, but Clary knew, by the look he offered her, that Jonathan didn't think it was that easy.
It had been, however, and as Clary sauntered up to the bar, she waved to Izzy, who seemed to have company - in the form of a blonde, familiar boy. Clary frowned, trying to place him, offering a step forward, as if hypnotized by that mysterious bartender. Simon pulled her, and she blinked, confused.
"That's him!", Simon hissed, and Clary looked to her best friend, her brother looking darkly at who was possibly her sire. "That's your dude!"
"Nice way to put it, Simon,", Jonathan said, as dry as a desert. "Her dude."
"But I'm right, aren't?", he insists, and Clary giggles. "Alright, go meet him, and don't forget to ask him if vampires have to count rice."
"What is he, a Sesame Street character?", Clary snorted, approaching the bar slowly, Jonathan's hand quietly on her wrist. Simon didn't seem to notice, at least, so Clary kept her pace.
Izzy noticed her almost immediately, turning to her and smiling brightly, approaching the place where they were.
"Clary, there you are! I've got someone to show you, he just returned from his… Ah, trip.", Clary had the decency to know it wasn't a trip. Izzy waved to her sire, and the boy, nodding, smiled politely to the ladies before coming to where the group us. "Jace, be a dear and take Clary to the backroom, hm?"
Clary didn't need to see the glare Jonathan was offering her sire to feel it, and turned back to face him, smiling softly.
"Oh, come on, Sebastian, what's the problem? It's not like he can turn me again. I'd be like, a twice dead girl walking,", Clary joked, and Jonathan rolled his eyes.
"Yes, and besides, we can use this time to chat! I can tell all about my time on the circus!", Izzy chirped, making her sire groan, and Izzy mock-slapped her. "Aw, come on, it's not that bad! You like it!"
"She was in a circus? How old is she?", Simon whispered to Clary, who did her best not to snort, Jonathan clearly doing the same.
"Maybe if it's the first time you hear it, not the seventy-one.", he scrunched his nose up. "Anyway, you two have fun. Clary, we have to go."
"Alright,", Clary said, moving before she noticed what she was doing. Jace jumped the bar, touching Clary's arm quietly and pulling her towards the door Alec guarded, his hand resting in the small of her back. Clary couldn't help but look back to where Jonathan and Simon were, her brother looking at her while Simon chatted animatedly with Izzy.
He seemed worried, and Clary could understand, really - after all, the last time she had been alone with Jace, she had come home a vampire.
Jace nodded to Alec, who glared quite blatantly at Clary, for some unknown reason. She couldn't understand how he and Izzy were siblings - they seemed as different as night and day.
Jace led her through the stairs, and then through the room, the smell of copper permeating the air around them. Clary was very regretful that she didn't drink any before coming.
And that was how she landed there, talking with her sire. He sat her in a more a couch that seemed a bit far from the others, and stared at her.
"So, I'm your sire. I'll be honest and tell you I have no idea how to be a sire. Raphael would be better off, but...", Jace started, and Clary nodded.
"But I guess we're stuck with each other, huh?", Clary joked, making him skulk for a second. "Hey, I'm not that bad. You turned me for a reason."
"Yeah, because…", Jace stopped, quiet for a second. "You reminded me of someone, I guess."
Jace paused, and Clary let him regain his thoughts. However it was that she looked alike, it had been someone important to him. Maybe a girlfriend or something, or a sister.
"And, since we're stuck together on this, I've agreed with Raphael that I'll pay up your blood supplies for a decade. You know, give you some time to adapt to being dead.", he said, shrugging. Clary opened her mouth, but he shook his head. "No, don't think about paying me. See this as… Me, paying you for taking your life."
"You gave me it.", Clary pointed out, and Jace pursed his lips. "Eternal life. I'm going to live forever."
"I did, but have you ever considered you're going to watch everyone you love die? And it's more than a possibility you won't be able to be with them, because you don't age, but they do. It was reckless of me to turn you.", he said, in one breath, and it was Clary's turn to pause. She hadn't considered that, and seeing Jonathan grow old and die - leaving her alone forever - would break her. "Listen, you better quit your life now and join us. It's going to hurt if you stay more. Cut your ties."
"I think I have a choice, don't I?", Clary retorted, and Jace scrunched up his nose once more. "Have a good night, Jace."
"You too,", he said, waving her off and starting to sulk in his corner. Clary avoided a deep breath, and made her way to her brother, Jace's words heavy on her mind.
He was right. Jonathan would wither and die, unless turned, and she wouldn't be able to stay by his side forever - people would ask questions, wouldn't they? And what about school? Clary still had two years of it; how was she supposed to finish it? She bit her lower lip, fangs pressing against the skin, and shook her head.
She would have to convince Jonathan - to turn and flee to the vampires with her, or for herself to flee, alone, to her now peers.
There will be two final chapters - one where Jonathan turns, one where he doesn't. I'll update again when both are written. Thank you for your understanding.