And we're back with a second chapter! ...sorta. If you ignore the fact that this is just a one-shot on my harddrive. Heh heh.

Oh! And to Noverael Parabati (love the name, by the way): You're not the only one. X3 The main thing with this was trying to figure out how to put someone like Jace in that position. ...hm. I think that could've been phrased better. X3

Now, now. Enjoy after the disclaimer!

Disclaimer: Could you IMAGINE if I owned the Mortal Instruments? First off, I'd be immortal... Kekeke. But, on a serious note, I don't.

2.

Enlightenment

Isabelle cursed when her hand slipped and a dark purple streak of nail polish was now running across her foot. She grabbed the tissue that sat next to her and started to wipe it off, making sure not to ruin the pattern already on the nail. Once it was cleared off, she released an aggravated sigh and pulled her head up to watch her brother pace around the room as he bit the nail on his index finger. She frowned when he walked over to the far window on the other side of the mahogany desk and peered outside, down into the streets. Moonlight flooded in from the windows, dousing her brother in silver and casting a shadow behind him. Had it not have been for the fact she was sitting by an Oriental lamp that was sitting on a table next to the chair, she doubted she would have been able to work at all.

She went back to finishing the cross pattern on that nail when a loud thump interrupted her, causing her to create another line of nail polish running down her skin.

"Alec!" she shouted at him as she grabbed the tissue, yet again, to clean it off. "Would you stop for five seconds?" She muttered a name directed towards him as she wiped off the excess liquid. She heard her brother mumble something or other, but could not make out what. She finished the cross quickly and capped the bottle, then looked up to see Alec with one hand resting on the window and his right forearm pressed against the window's frame; his eyes continued to search the area outside. She set the bottle of nail polish on the table and stretched out her legs, allowing the liquid to dry. "If you're still that concerned, then go look for him." The response she received was silence. "Or you can just stand there staring out of the window like a dog waiting for its master to come home," she said with a shrug; he sent a glare to her from over his shoulder. "Well."

Alec pushed back from the window, shoving his hands in his pockets as he turned around the face his sister and leaned his back against the wall, now standing in between the streams of moonlight flooding the room. "I've already been out twice." He watched as Isabelle leaned back in the chair, grabbing both of the chair's arms with each hand. "And it's not like we can just sit here and act like nothing's our fault."

She flipped her hair behind her, it having fallen over her shoulders from her earlier position. "His attitude isn't our fault."

"No, but him leaving was in part."

Isabelle shrugged again, this time taking to her feet and meeting her brother's eyes. "Maybe it's your fault," she muttered under her breath. "Besides, it's not like he's just going to run off and not come back." Alec bit his bottom lip, contemplating Jace's actions. Isabelle could see his questioning face as his eyes traced the floor and she shook her head. "You can stay here and worry all you want, but I'll be laughing when he shows up at three in the morning and you were fretting over nothing."

With that said, she turned on her heel to the large wooden doors and grabbed the handle, pulling the left one open and leaving through it. The door shut with a loud clang behind her. Alec pushed off of the wall and went to gaze back out of the window, once again stepping into the silver light.

Voices had been raised, crude words were exchanged and then Jace had just left; without as much as a jacket, he had just left. Alec questioned whether or not Jace had even had a weapon when he left; and that was one of the main things that concerned him. That and the fact that the temperature had been dropping since early that evening and, even with long-sleeves, the cold was obvious. Earlier, Isabelle had suggested that Alec just get Magnus to search for him; but, not wanting to make the air feel any more awkward, he decided against it. He would give it another hour before going back out to look for him.

o-o-o-o-o-o

Jace released a shout and jerked his hand back; his hand turned red from touching the door and blisters instantly formed on his palm. He stepped back, staring at the door and trying to decipher the runes. Few were ones he did know: Barrier, Fire and Angel. He turned to look back around the room while still coddling his burned hand. His eyes were continually drawn to the dirtied mattress that was lying on the floor close to the far wall and the dried blood that covered it – though he was curious, he did not care to know who (or what) the blood had come from. He brought his attention to the small table and chair at the far end of the room; the book lay upon it, still closed. Shaking his hand, he walked to it. There were no barriers protecting it to keep him away from it. With his uninjured hand, he reached out and touched it, making sure. No markings were on the cover: It was just a blank, maroon, leather cover. It looked tattered and worn and it felt as though it was going to fall apart as he opened it. The parchment pages in it were also blank and he furrowed his eyebrows.

What use was an empty book?

There had to have been a trick to make the words reveal themselves; out of reflex, he made a grab for his seraph blade, but it was already gone. He had found that out earlier when Jonathan was still in the room. The only thing that fighting him got him was a cut across his face from his own blade and several bruises – including a cracked rib. He did his best to ignore the pain, even though every step, every movement and every breath he made was a constant reminder. Each time his lungs expanded against his ribcage, a stabbing pain from the injured rib intensified. Yet, if the injuries were all he had to deal with, he could manage; what he wanted to know was why Valentine's son was keeping him alive at all when he had more than enough chances to kill him.

He stepped back, holding his side as he tried to see if pressing lightly on his ribs would keep them from hurting so much; he was met with the same sharp, stabbing pain. He felt the need to lie down; with the pain he was experiencing, his body did not want to keep standing and wanted – needed – rest. He turned, his eyes landing on the mattress. The two sides of his mind were torn: Half wanting to lie down and rest; the other half filled with disgust and retreat. A sudden stab to his stomach was enough to have him approach it and sit down.

Once he was sitting down, he tried to lie back, cringing as he set his back on the semi-soft surface. Some of the pain let up and he stared at the cement ceiling above, evening his breathing. Shutting his eyes, he tried to form an idea in his head on how he was going to manage to get himself out of his predicament. With the foreign runes blocking the only exit, the only thing he could think of was to wait for Sebastian – Jonathan – to return and take his chances when the door was opened. Or at least he hoped it would fare better than his earlier try. Either way, he still had naught a single idea where he was. Wherever he was, he was sure it was someplace that he would be familiar with once he was able to get out of the room and look around.

As he lay there, he felt his body begin to sink into the mattress; fatigue wracked his body and, even though the conditions were clearly less than suitable, he found himself drifting off.

o-o-o-o-o-o

"You don't have to act so childish about it!"

"I'm being childish? What about you? Still acting like some lovesick mutt!"

Jace's narrowed eyes met Alec's eyes, which were sending the same message. Hostility rose between them as their faces were mere centimeters apart, after a physical spat that happened moments earlier that Isabelle had broken up by calling them both children. It had seemed like something that would happen in a comic strip. Alec had Jace by the throat and the younger Shadowhunter was pushing Alec's chin up while elbowing him in the ribs. That was when Isabelle had come walking into the room. She did not even glance at them – her face buried in a book as she walked through – as she said, "Calm down, kids." She was gone from the room as quickly as she had been in it, but the comment was enough to break the two apart.

"What does it matter to you what I do?" Jace yelled at him, his fists clenched tightly at his sides.

Alec scoffed. "Because I'm not going to be held responsible when you decide to be an idiot and get yourself killed!"

The entire argument spawned when Jace had returned with fresh cuts and bruises, obviously from taunting some Downworlders and getting into a brawl; either that or he had been on the losing end of a fight with a brick. He would not say how, but the blade (or blades) he had carried with him ended up losing themselves in one way or another. After he was healed up, he had gone to clean up himself – to wash away the sweat and dried blood that he wreaked of. He had only been out of the shower five minutes when Alec had confronted him about his nightly scraps and lack of caring about what happened to him.

"No one's holding you responsible," Jace said in a low voice.

Their eyes locked together. Even through the fury, the concern in Alec's eyes shined through; for some reason, seeing the emotion irritated the blond, making him want to break eye contact.

Alec growled. "Why do you have to act so foolish?" he asked, shoving Jace's shoulders harshly.

"Why can't you just leave me alone?" His eyes flashed, which, in turn, caused even further aggravation in Alec's face.

His eyes formed to slits. "Maybe I will! You're inconsiderate, you don't give a damn what happens to you! I don't even know why I care so much! No one else does!" Hurt flashed through Jace's eyes, but it was gone in a split-second. Despite having caught it, rage continued to course through Alec's veins. Here Jace was, acting like he did not care about his own well-being or anyone around him, and yet, at the same time, a pang hit his chest hearing the same words he had wanted to hear. "And you wonder why Clary ditched you?" There the hurt was blatant. His eyes glazed over and his shoulders dropped, as though he was in disbelief of what was just said. "So go ahead! Go get yourself killed! But don't expect anyone to care anymore!"

They stood with eyes locked for what seemed to be ages, though it could not have been more than a few seconds. Alec released some of his tension when he saw Jace try to stop his eyebrows from furrowing upwards, creasing his forehead. Realizing that he would not be able to stop himself, Jace shoved past Alec and left the foyer, slamming the door behind him as he walked out into the cool night air, so as not to let anyone see the emotion he always tried so well to hide.

o-o-o-o-o-o

Jace awoke to a tapping noise echoing in the room. He groaned and sat up, holding his swimming head before his hand went to wrap back around his busted ribcage. He shook his head and pulled his knee up, resting his elbow on it as he looked to his side, staring at what – or who – was causing the noise. His eyes landed on Jonathan, who was sitting in a chair next to the mattress with his legs crossed, palm holding his chin and tapping his foot on the floor. A sly smirk was on his face as he watched the blond.

"I was wondering when you'd wake up." Jace looked away as Jonathan sat straight, uncrossing his legs. He pushed the chair back and walked towards Jace, but stopped outside fresh runes written on the ground. Jace looked around him – looked at the runes written in an upside down pentacle around him. His eyes darted around, landing on the book that had earlier been sitting on the table and was not in his rival's hand. Jonathan crouched down, having Jace bring his eyes to meet his own. "Now, Jace," he said in a light voice that was oddly disturbing. "I want you to do me a favour."

The smile he was giving him made chills run up and down Jace's spine. He was half-tempted to ask what it was he wanted him to do. Instead, his sarcasm chose to present itself, and he responded with;

"Screw you."

Jonathan only laughed – he just laughed; much like a parental figure would when a child said they could do something the parent very well knew they could not. He shook his head and looked back to Jace. His eyes went dark and his hand whipped towards him, grabbing and pushing down on Jace's broken rib. Jace released a shout, arms wrapping around his ribcage as he curled and Jonathan retracted his hand; but not before violently grabbing Jace's arm and pulling him.

"I'm not giving you an option," he spoke, voice dark as he reached to his belt and unsheathed a blade – the same blade he had taken from the younger male earlier that evening. At least Jace figured it was still night. With no windows, he was not sure how long he had been unconscious.

Jonathan turned Jace's wrist where his palm was facing up and dug the tip of the blade into Jace's upper forearm, slicing from next to the median cubital vein down to the cephalic vein in one harsh, rough movement. Jace released a shout as blood poured from his arm. He tried to pull his arm back, but Jonathan just kept his inhuman grip on his wrist, not seeming to release it any time soon. He had taken the blank book and turned Jace's arm upside down, allowing his blood to drop onto it. Jace could only watch: As his blood touched the binding of the book and seeped onto its pages, words began to form on the cover - βιβλίο του αίματος.

Jonathan released Jace's wrist. Jace immediately jerked his hand back, holding his arm close to his chest, pressing it against his shirt to try to stop the bleeding as he watched the other begin opening the book, shear amusement on his face as he stood, flipping through the now blood-soaked pages. "Simply amazing," he heard him mutter to himself. He looked up from the book to stare at Jace. "To think that you – you…." He trailed off, gazing at Jace. His eyes seemed distant, however; not that he was looking at Jace, but rather into him. "You are," he practically whispered, eyes still spaced.

A strange smirk covered his face, which made Jace want to shrink back and run. A look like that never boded well. Trying his best to ignore the pain, Jace staggered to a stand, grabbing at his ribs as he did; blood from his arm dripped onto the mattress. He went to step backwards, but received a painful shock when his foot tried to cross over the inner-boundary of the rune-drawn pentacle. All he could do was watch as Jonathan went back to flipping through the book, eyes darting through the pages like a predator.

"Πτώση άγγελος," he spoke.

The moment the words were uttered, the runes surrounding Jace lit a deep red and Jace felt a force pulling him down, forcing him to drop to his knees as he continued to feel as though hands were grabbing him, forcing him down. Eyes shining in fascination, Jonathan spoke again: "Oταμάτα." The feeling of being pulled stopped and Jace tried to regain his stance, having to use most of his strength just to stand back up.

"Wh-What are you doing to me?" Jace asked, voice overflowing with pain, despite trying to hide it and sound strong.

Jonathan stepped back to where he was no longer standing inside the pentacle at all, but rather, right outside of it. "You're special, Jace," he said, eyes glowing. "More special than even you know."

And that's all she wrote...for this chapter. Actually, this chapter's supposed to be twice as long; so consider this part one. This chapter's actually broken up into a lot of "scenes" (like the flashback). I think there's three of them. -reads though computer- Roughly.

Lemme know what you think!