It took me like 2 weeks to write this chapter, and I apologize.I just don't have enough nearly time anymore to write as much as I want to, but I do my best. But don't worry, it might take me longer to update but you are not getting rid of me lol I will keep writing and if I have to stop sleeping to do so, I will xD

Whip and Fangs - Oh yes they are. Glad you'll keep reading :)
PatriciaWayland - Aw thank you. I can't tell you what's going to happen but things will get clearer SOON. Promise!
RonaldGarcia91 - Thank you! Well, the question really isn't how but if, is it? ;)
ICraveYou - I knew you'd love the Jace part lol

CITY OF CRYING ANGELS
chapter eight: Blood can't lie

"And you're sure Mommy's not home?" Magnus teased him.

"No. That's why you're here." Simon admitted. He had had the idea of taking Isabelle to the only other place he had the keys to (or at least he used to, maybe his mother had changed the locks after throwing him out because he had died – come to think of it, that was kind of insensitive).

"And I thought I was here to guard the house."

"Yes" Simon said. "that, too."

"How do you know she's not home again?" Isabelle, who apparently hadn't payed attention before, asked. The rune – or mark, Magnus didn't seem to think it was a rune at all – had vanished completely by now and she started to act more like herself again. Of course that was now a self which had been through a lot of pain and indignity so she wasn't as feisty as usual. But still, he could see his Izzy again – who of course wasn't his at all but he liked to think that way.

He approached the door and rang the bell as he said: "I called Rebecca and asked her." It had been out of question that whereever Isabelle would go, he would go as well. "She said Mom's on some sort of self-discovery-trip." Becca hadn't said more but he knew it was because she needed to process the loss of her son.

No one answered the door so he got his keys out – they didn't work. He had half expected this but that didn't keep it from hurting. He took a deep breath and said: "Well, it was worth a shot. I really don't want to break into my own house, or... my mother's house. Magnus?"

"Oh so, I am supposed to break in?"

"If you use magic no one will notice."

"Really? Thanks for the tip."

Simon went back and let Magnus do this thing, when blue sparks came out of his fingers. It didn't take long for the door to jump open. "E viola", Magnus said and made an inviting gesture with his hands.

As they entered Isabelle took a look around but Simon didn't dare to do so. This didn't feel like his home anymore and he didn't want to see all the changes his mother had made after she had thrown him out.

"Okay, Magnus, do your... you know" he brandished around with his hands, trying to imitate Magnus' movements when he did magic. Of course he failed greatly. "thing."

"I didn't know it was my thing to look like a dying octopus." Magnus commented but then turned around and started securing the house.

While Izzy started to take a walk around the house – which Simon considered to be a good thing, her exploring things on her own again, he took it as a sign of her getting better – Simon stayed where he was, watching Magnus. (And for the record: At times it did look like a dying octopus.)

"What did you tell Alec?" he asked.

"That you were taking care of Isabelle. He didn't like it very much but I don't think it's against you personally. He would have just liked to be there for her himself. In fact I think he likes you. He can see, and I agree, that you're good for her."

Simon sadly smiled. "Yeah, very good... while I stood outside the burning institute, doing nothing but silently cheering on firemen, Sebastian-"

"You can't think that way." Magnus said. "We were all at the institute. We all left Isabelle behind. There was no way we could have known he'd find a way through the wards. Which reminds me..." he stopped what he was doing and turned around. "I have made them stronger this time, and I don't think Sebastian would look for her here. But I have included an alarm. It will be set off when anyone enters or leaves the house, not just Sebastian or Jace. In order not to draw any attention to the house I have made alarm to be heard by you only."

Simon nodded. That was actually very smart. "Okay. Anything else?"

"Yes. Alec and I will continue working on the Jace-Problem and I will try working on the mark from Isabelle without him finding out what I'm doing. As soon as we find out anything about either I will call you. The first thing you will hear from me is: Wake me up before you go go. Do not talk to me unless I say these words. With Sebastian being able to change his appearance we can't trust anyone."

Simon felt like he had been sucked into a James Bond movie, but nodded. "Question." he said, while raising his hand.

"What?"

"Will you say these words... or will you sing them?"

Magnus looked at him for a moment without any expression in his face, but then smiled. "And people say I have a weird kind of humor."

After Magnus had finished the wards and left Simon went looking for Isabelle. He found her in his old bedroom, which he hesitated to enter. He didn't even want to know what she had turned his room into...

Surprised didn't even start to cover how he felt when he saw that everything in his room was still the way he remembered it. The only explanation he could think of was that his mom hadn't dared to even set a foot in this room again, scared that this would turn her into a Vampire as well. Like it was a contagious disease or something.

"This is a nice room." Isabelle sat on Simon's bed.

Simon shrugged his shoulders. "I guess. I don't know. Everything in here reminds me that... I'm dead. I don't usually think about it, realize it even... but seeing all this..." He stood in the room – his own room – like he would stand in the room a stranger. When he had suggested to come here all he thought about was Izzy. Now that they were here he wished he had thought of some place else.

"You barely knew me when I was still a mundane, Izzy. I was a very different person. One that would have never used the word mundane, for instance."

Isabelle shook her head. "I don't think you've changed all too much. You're still crazy about all... this" Suddenly she held a Darth Vader Action Figure in her hands, which he found very embarrassing.

There was a reason why he hadn't had a real girlfriend before – girls weren't too crazy about this stuff. But Izzy just looked at the figure and smiled at Simon. "And my guess is you'll always hold on to it. No matter what happens. You are going to tell the tale of a galaxy far far away in 100, as well as in 200 and 300 years. Because this will always be you."

"And is that a good thing?"

"It's a very good thing. Because as long as you are you, and you are with me - I can be me." she lowered her had and played with the light sword of the action figure. "And also, if after everything that's happened, you still keep everything that once mattered with you... I can keep what matters to me. No matter what happened."

"Are you kidding me? You need proof for that?" Simon hesitated but finally went over to her and sat next to her. "Izzy... you are so amazing, strong and most of all stubborn, I bet if you died and became a Vampire you would somehow manage to keep your heart beating."

Of course this was the most ridiculous thing ever but it made Isabelle took a short laughter.

"There is not a single thing in this world you can't do. And you don't need me or anyone else for that. You may need a little help to get started again, but after that you'll be fine. Not that that changes anything, I still won't ever leave you alone, but not because you need me. It's because I can't imagine a single day passing by where I don't see you, or speak to you, or be near to you."

As Isabelle looked up again she had tears in her eyes. He could tell that it wasn't because she was desperate but because she was moved by what he had said. "Maybe you're right. But I'm still glad you're with me."

"You say that now but imagine yourself in 5 years, desperately trying to get rid of me but I just won't go." he quipped. "Not ever. Not even when you beg me to leave and threaten to kill me... I'll never let go of you. You've got yourself a stalker for life."

Isabelle laughed, which had been the whole point of him saying any of this nonsense, therefore he was happy that it had worked. Of course it wasn't all nonsense. The bottom line was that he was never going to let go of her. And never for a Vampire was a very long time.

"I can't imagine I'll ever do any of that." she finally said, shaking her head but still grinning.

Simon shrugged his shoulders. "Give it time." He grinned as well. He couldn't help it. Usually he could go through a joke and keep a straight face but looking at the beautiful smile on her face, he couldn't. It was physically impossible.

"So." he said after a while of silence. "What do you want to do with the rest of the day?"

Isabelle thought about it for a moment before she said: "Honestly... sleep. I'm exhausted. But... I'm scared of what my dreams might be."

"Don't worry... I'm here. I will make sure you will have the nicest dreams ever."

"And how are you going to do that?" her voice was almost playful.

"You didn't really think telling stories and looking pale and skinny are the only things I can do?" he asked in a fake-hurt tone. And it served its purpose because Isabelle smiled at him. "I am Simon Lewis – Nightmarebuster. I'm afraid of no nightmare." He was pretty sure Izzy didn't get the Ghostbuster-Reference. She didn't have to, though, she was already smiling at him with that sparkle in her eyes he loved so much.

He liked to think that she only had that sparkle, when she looked at him but he didn't know if that was true. He had never seen her with any of the other boyfriends. Or: Any of her boyfriends. No other. They still weren't dating anymore, a small but very important detail, he kept forgetting about. Maybe because she acted so much like they were – and therefore, so did he.

"As long as I'm around, no nightmare will dare to even come near you."

"Well... Let's test that theory, shall we?" she said and laid down on the bed, pulling Simon down with her. This time, she didn't rest her head on his chest, but she was faced toward Simon and kept looking at him. In this moment she seemed to be perfectly fine and maybe she even was – but that didn't change the fact that what had happened was still hovering over them.

Like an upcoming storm.

: : : : : : :

Isabelle had been awake for a while now but didn't open her eyes. She felt Simon was still lying next to her, even though he didn't give warmth off, and she took comfort in that. Just being close to Simon somehow seemed to help her heal.

When she finally opened her eyes, Simon was already awake as well (she didn't know if he had slept at all) and looking at her. And the way he did, it made her feel so... loved. "Hey" she said after a while of just looking at him.

He softly smiled at her. "Finally. I thought you were going to sleep forever... of course that way I would have gotten to see if a kiss truly wakes up a Sleeping Beauty."

This time she actually knew was he was talking about – Fairytales she knew. "It would have." she said, well knowing, that it took a True Loves Kiss to wake up the Sleeping Beauty.

He seemed surprised but then cleared this throat. "So. What did you dream about?"

"Absolutely... nothing." It was true. Up until now Izzy hadn't realized it but her sleep had been completely dreamless.

"And that's a bad thing, because...?" Why was he always able to see right through her?

She shrugged her shoulders. "It's just weird. I mean, I must have dreamt something, it's impossible to dream nothing... and I always remember. I have a rune for that."

Simon frowned. "Why do you have a rune for remembering your dreams?"

"Most Shadowhunters do. Dreams are a direct window to your subconsciousness and when you remember you learn a lot about yourself. Things you would have never noticed when you're awake." This really worried her.

For a moment Simon looked worried as well, but then he said: "To be honest I'm rather glad I don't remember every dream. For me, this would just mean more standing naked in front of the entire school."

Despite her worries Isabelle smiled and added playfully: "Maybe I should find a way to see that dream. Sounds very entertaining."

"As much fun as sharing my most embarrassing dream with you sounds, I-" he broke off and startled. His fangs had come out and hurt cut his lip. "Damn it."

Isabelle frowned. "You're hungry."

"Yeah, well... I don't really have any blood here. I should have thought of bringing something with me from Jordan's place."

She bit her lip and hesitated. Usually she would have offered him to drink her blood again, but as much as Isabelle wanted things to be normal, they weren't. She managed to be close to Simon and having him touch her without panicking. But that was it. The reason why she had enjoyed him biting her before wasn't because she was weird, like she had told him. Never had she had let a Vampire bite her before and she had had Vampire-Boyfriends before. To her a bite was almost as intimate as sex – maybe even more. And she was scared to let someone, even Simon, get this close to her again just now.

Nevertheless, she needed to get over this at some point, right? She decided to start now. "You could drink my blood again."

She must have sounded as uncertain as she was, because Simon said: "Izzy... no." Which were also the only words he was able to speak, because he didn't seem to be able to get his fangs under control.

"Your fangs say otherwise." She sat up. "Come on now. Do it. I'll be fine." She wasn't sure if she was going to be fine, but she refused to not-be-fine. Therefore she had to be.

He sat up as well. "You really have problems with the word no, don't you?"

This time he was dead serious. He wasn't going to bite her, because he knew it would be too much for her. Well, that was too bad, because as scared as she was, her stubbornness was much greater. Without saying another word she got up from the bed and walked out of his room. When she returned she had a knife in her hands.

Simon's eyes widened and he stood up but was walking away from her. He obviously had an idea of what she was going to do. "Isabelle... don't..."

"Oh, yes." she simply said, put the knife to her neck and cut herself just a little bit. It didn't hurt much but it was enough for some blood to drip out of it. She then threw the knife away and walked toward Simon.

"You're crazy!" he said, still trying to resist and staying away from her.

She shrugged her shoulders. "I prefer determined." When she reached him she placed one hand on his chest (it was almost as if she needed to check that he was the real Simon, every five minutes). She then touched the blood on her neck and placed her fingers on his lips. It didn't even take a second for Simon to break down after tasting her blood. He took her by her shoulders, swirled her around and pressed her against the wall, sinking is teeth into her neck. At first Isabelle felt the urge to push him away and even yell at him to stop, that she'd been wrong and it was too much... but the urge faded quickly and after that she even found the strength to enjoy it.

To her surprise Simon backed away again very quickly. He couldn't have possibly drunken nearly enough. When she saw that it was Simon who looked scared now she frowned. "What's wrong?" she asked.

At first Simon didn't answer. He simply stared at her in horror.

"Simon! We've been over this! No more protecting me, remember? Tell me what's wrong!"

"It's... you... you taste different."

"Wait, that's it?" She calmed down a little bit. "I guess that's possible, I mean I didn't eat or drink much since yesterday."

Simon, however, was nowhere even near calm. "No, you don't get it. I know that taste. It's... Isabelle, your blood tastes like his. Like Sebastian's blood."

I am so sorry... I simply can't resist a good cliffhanger, when I see one lol
I will update as soon as I can, I promise :) In the meantime please remember to leave a Review^^