ICraveYou - I know, right? Poor Jo-Jo... well at least in a way. I'm glad I was able to surprise you, though :D After all you do know my way of thinking pretty well lol
RonaldGarcia91 - Every Story has to end some time... whether they're great or not lol I always like how much you're getting into the story that's so great :) And FYI your questions will be answered in this chapter!
ilyreid - Life isn't always fair :(
musicrules1923 - Oh you're welcome! Sadly it took me longer to update this time, sorry for that. As for the two chapters, have a little faith in me lol It will. Or at least I hope so lol I haven't written it yet so I can't know for sure but I have it all planned out.
Guest - Thanks
Blue Eyed Shadowhunter - Yes, there is ^^
sno-story - Me too, me too...
axes tridents and snares - Cassie scares me too. I really just need Simon, Izzy, Magnus and Alec to survive... I could handle the rest to die. But I have a feeling Cassie is not going to let Sizzy AND Malec survive. Maybe even none. Arghs, please no!
mina - Thank you! I made me very sad, too.
Dragonclaw11 - Wow thank you so much! So glad you like the story! Hope you'll enjoy the rest as well :)

Alrighty, let's get to the next chapter, shall we? Questions will be answered and lifes will be in danger...

CITY OF CRYING ANGELS
chapter fifteen - What to expect from a Lightwood (Part 2)

Unable to think or do something useful, everything Simon could say was: "You… do?"

Alec simply nodded.

A moment of silence later, Simon pulled himself together. "Okay… please don't take this as a way of somehow underestimating you, but… where the hell did you get a Tear of an Angel? I mean, did it suddenly occur to you that there was one lying under your bed all along?"

"Of course not. I got it after Magnus…" he broke off. "Didn't you wonder what I've been doing almost the entire day in that house?"

Simon didn't have a hard time remembering. He'd sat in the car, waiting for Alec to finally come out of Luke's house but it had taken him all day. "I… figured you were saying goodbye."

"I was. At first. Then I remembered the portal, Magnus had used to get to his father. It was still open."

"Yeah, I know, you said you'd take care of-" Simon's jaw dropped open a bit. "You didn't." But when Alec didn't reply Simon knew that he had. "Magnus said it was dangerous for us to go there. You could have died!"

"It was the only way! I admit, I wasn't thinking all too clear… I'm still not sure I am right now, either. But it was the only way I could think of to get us out of this mess and it worked. I got the Tear."

"No offense to Magnus' father but he saw his dead son and started crying like a baby? Son or no son, he is still a Greater Demon."

"It wasn't like that. He said he could give me what I wanted but not without a service in return."

Simon stared at him out of big eyes. "Please tell me you sold him your secret stamp collection, no one knew you had." Admittingly he didn't know much about a Deal with the Devil (in this case in the most literal sense ever) but he couldn't imagine all he had wanted in return was a couple of gummy bears.

"It doesn't matter what I gave him."

"Uh, yeah, it kind of does…"

"Why?"

"Because I'd like to know if I am going into the fight against Sebastian with someone who has sold his soul to a Prince of Hell."

Alec sighed. "You really watch too much movies. One can't sell their soul, it's not possible."

"Well then, what did you do?"

After a long look from Alec, Simon had already started to believe he'd finally managed to piss him off to a point, where he'd have a heart attack, he answered: "You of all people should know." When Simon frowned Alec added: "It's all about blood, isn't it?"

Simon blinked. "He wanted your blood?"

"Yes."

"But why? Greater Demons don't drink blood… do they?"

"He wasn't going to mix himself a cocktail, Simon. He… simply needed it. Look, it doesn't matter. All that matters is that we have this" he pulled a little bottle out of his jacket and put it on the table. "This is going to help us save Izzy and… Jace."

Simon didn't point out the bitterness in Alec's voice as he spoke about Jace. It was obvious why he felt that way. He couldn't begin to imagine what Alec was going through. If it had been Clary to kill Isabelle, while being under Sebastian's influence… of course he'd still want to save Clary as well. After all they had only Sebastian to blame for this. Still, a part of him, he was sure of it, would also hate Clary. Probably for the rest of his life.

With a closer look at the bottle Simon saw that it held a shiny white fluid inside. But… "Is that all? That's going to be enough for the both of them?"

"Of course not."

"… Okay, I'm confused."

"Like I said: I have a plan. And with the Tear and the information Izzy gave to you we can actually make it work."

"So you believe me it's the real Isabelle?"

"Irrelevant. Whether it's a trap or not, we have a starting point now… the Institute."

: : : : :

"Has anyone ever told you that your plans are at least half as suicidal as Clary's?" Simon asked after he had parked the car around the corner of the Institute.

"Unusual circumstances call for unusual solutions."

"You call getting killed a solution?"

Alec sighed. "Look, I'd do it alone but I can't. I need you in on this."

"I am in. I'm not so much worried about me as I am about you. I mean, you're the one to put your head in the lion's mouth…"

"Well", Alec said and got out of the car. "If things don't work out I'll have no use for my head anymore anyway. And neither will you."

Simon got out of the car himself and followed Alec toward the Institute while muttering: "Great, thanks. That helped…"

Alec ignored him. He had far more important things to worry about than Simon being scared. Besides, he wasn't completely out of line… his plan was a bit dangerous. But it was all they had left to do. And if Simon had been talking to the real Isabelle, chances were good that Lilith, Sebastian and Jace had no idea they were coming to the Institute. Of course Alec would feel better if he had another Shadowhunter beside him. As much as he needed Simon to execute this plan, as a Vampire he couldn't enter the Institute and it would really help if Alec didn't have to go in there alone. He wasn't used to fighting by himself but was hoping that the element of surprise would work to his advantage. Of course he had considered about talking to the Clave or his parents. Either of them could have supported him but Alec had figured it would take too much time to convince them to go along with the plan. They'd lost enough time already because they hat plottet almost the entire night. In about an hour the sun would come up again.

His parents and the Clave would allow for a Vampire to take such an important role in a fight against Sebastian just as little as they would allow the use of the Tear, something, they haven't been aware of before. A couple of month ago Alec would have agreed with them. He used to always play by the rules, never step a toe out of line. That had changed when he'd met Magnus. Magnus had turned his whole life upside down and Alec was going to honor him by using basically his plan to bring Sebastian down. Of course Magnus had only suggested the Tear. The suicide-part (which it was, Alec actually silently agreed with Simon on this point) had been all Alec's doing.

"Alright. I'm going in." Alec said. "I know my way through the halls but with the company you're about to expect..."

"Damn that's right... and I forgot to bake a cake…"

At this joke Alec smirked a bit. He'd actually come to find two out of ten jokes from Simon to be funny by now. "But you have your friend." He was referring to the axe, Simon had brought with him from Luke's place.

"That's not the only friend I brought." Simon said and looked steadily into Alec's eyes as he held out his hand. "Watch your back in there."

With a light smile on his lips, Alec nodded and grabbed his hand. "You, too."

He then pulled out his Seraph Blade and went inside.

It all seemed so familiar and yet so different. Bad different. One thing though, was sure… Isabelle had not been lying about the fire. It had been an illusion… everything was still intact. Alec couldn't believe how stupid he and everyone else had been… all of them had let Sebastian fool them.

Alec made his way through the halls of the Institute without seeing anyone. The longer he didn't encounter anyone the more he tensed up. He felt like he was being watched, even though he didn't really have any evidence for that… maybe he was just being paranoid. Then he heard someone talking.

"How do you feel?" It was Sebastian's voice. Filtered by a door but it was. Alec neared the door he was behind and listened.

Clary replied: "I feel... like I threw up... ate it... and then did the whole thing over and over again." She sounded weak and beaten – but not defeated. Alec silently admired that about her. No matter how rough situations got she never gave up or tried to hide how she felt just because things might get uncomfortable. She was a true Shadowhunter without having been raised as one.

"The Cup wasn't ready. It messed up your system a little bit, but not to worry… we'll try again when my mother is back for good. And then, my dear sister… you will finally be mine."

"I'd rather keep feeling like this for the rest of my life than be your slave."

Sebastian took a deep breath. "You'll change your mind. Until then … I hope you'll feel better soon. I hate to see you suffering."

As he heard Sebastian approaching the door Alec quickly moved away from it and hid around the next corner. He waited until Sebastian's footsteps completely vanished before he walked to the room again – it was locked. Alec took another look around himself. No one was here but taking down the door wouldn't work quietly… and this wasn't a rescue mission.

He didn't come to get Clary out of there, she'd only slow him down and he'd probably get caught. But maybe she knew were the Sword was… Alec had no idea where to look for it. He'd have to search every room (only one of many flaws in his genius plan). And if he didn't get the Sword they could send the entire plan to hell. He had to make a quick decision.

Not even a second later a loud crack echoed through the hall of the Institutes – and Clary looked at him as if she'd almost just had a heart attack.

"Alec?!" she asked in a whisper.

"There's no need to whisper. I'm pretty sure I made enough sound for Simon to hear it and he's outside."

Clary got up from the bed she'd been lying on. Her skin was pale and she had dark circles around her eyes – basically, she looked like hell, but she wasn't tied up. Not that she needed to be. Alec didn't think she'd be able to walk five steps without collapsing.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I'm looking for the Sword of the Angel and found you instead." That about summed it up. "Do you know where it is?"

Clary shook her head. "No, I barely know how to keep myself from blacking out all the-" suddenly she stopped and stared past Alec, her eyes wide open. "Or... yes... I do."

Alec frowned and turned around – Sebastian had come back and he had, also, brought not only one friend, but two... one was Jace and the other was the Sword.

"Hello, Alec." Sebastian said.

Alec could see just how much Sebastian was holding back a grin right now. He didn't know why he bothered, though... except for Jace everyone in this room knew what a monster he was. And the real Jace knew it as well. Except that... ever since Jace killed Magnus Alec had had problems to believe that the Jace he knew, his Parabatai, was still in there. But he had to be.

"It's nice to see you out and about. You know, after the tragedy..."

"What-?" Clary began to ask but didn't need to finish the question to get an answer.

Unfortunately the answer came from Sebastian. His voice was cold and yet he still managed to sound cheerful. "Jace had to eliminate Magnus."

Clary sobbed. "No... Jace?"

"It's true." Alec said before Jace got a chance to answer.

"Na na... no defend of your Parabatai? I was expecting a speech, about how I was the bad guy, keeping Jace under my control. You always talk about it that way."

Alec shrugged his shoulders and tried not to let Sebastian's words get to him. "I don't do speeches. If you wanted to hear that you shouldn't have killed Magnus. What I do, however, is that" with that he jumped behind Clary, pulled out a knife, it's sharp side pressed against her throat.

While Jace jerked up Sebastian didn't move a muscle. "You are being ridiculous. You wouldn't hurt her."

Alec clenched his teeth. "You killed Magnus. You... have turned my sister into a greater demon, you got the Sword and all I have left to fight you with is a Vampire who probably doesn't even know how this is spelled. I suggest you think again about the things I would or would not do."

Sebastian shot him a disgusting smile.

"Do it then. Kill her."

: : : : :

Nervous.

Yeah, you could say Simon was a little (okay, a lot) nervous as he stood outside the Institute, simply waiting for something to happen. Lately that seemed to be everything he was doing... waiting. And he was sick of it. This mess was going to end tonight – one way or another.

Not knowing how Alec was doing inside the Institute made the waiting part even worse. Even if he managed not to get caught, how would he find the Sword? Every time Simon had asked about this Alec had just waved the question away, mumbling something about he would find a way. And then he would change the topic. So, at the end of the day (or almost at the end of the night, in this case) Simon had no idea exactly how Alec was going to get the Sword. But they needed it. Without the Sword their plan was screwed, or at least a very big part of it.

As for the other part, they were depending on something very primal to take over Lilith – the need to destroy what threatened to get in her way. In this case Simon. Alone. Armed with only an axe. Of course, for that instinct to come over Lilith, Simon needed to get her attention... and there way absolutely no way to make sure it was actually her who would come to him.

It was save to say their plan had it's flaws.

Simon got something out of his pocket; his phone. He had no idea whether or not Lilith was carrying Isabelle's phone with her but it was the only way he could think of in making contact with her. But he didn't call her, he wrote a text (hoping, that Lilith would be able to open it – after all, old people usually weren't good with this stuff and she was really old).

So he typed.

I am outside the Institute. Alone. I want to talk.

Sent.

And then he waited... he didn't get a text back. Not that he had expected that. To be honest he had no idea what to expect. Maybe she'd ignore him or didn't have Izzy's phone with her and then Simon would have to come up with some other genius plan to get her out of here.

About ten minutes later, the doors of the Institute opened and Simon couldn't help but get exited for a second, when he saw Isabelle – just before he painfully reminded himself that it wasn't her. He knew that, of course he knew that, but seeing her... it still got to him.

"Good, you got my text. I was worried you wouldn't be familiar with the concept. But I really didn't know how to get a message, carved in stone, to you..."

Lilith smiled deprecatory and ignored him completely. "You said you wanted to talk. I was curious what might have turned you suicidal enough to want to talk to me. I might not be able to kill you but that doesn't mean I can't torture you."

"I believe you. But I think you misunderstood me... See, I never said I wanted to talk to you."

She frowned.

It was hard to Simon to stay on track, but he needed to keep his eyes on the goal here. "I want to talk to Isabelle."

For a moment there was nothing but silence but Lilith broke it with a cruel laughter. "Isabelle? Oh dear... you really haven't learned anything. Isabelle can't hear you. She's as good as dead. Has no one told you a single thing about possessions?"

"Yes. In fact I'm pretty sure I could get my bachelor in possessions, but that really doesn't matter, because you... haven't possessed her. Your growing your own new body inside of her, which, by the way, is very gross."

It was just a little twitch in her face, barely even a second long before she contained herself again... but Simon had seen it.

"We know more than you think you do. Haven't you asked yourself why I'm here? At the Institute? Which burned a couple of days ago?"

Lilith didn't say anything but he could tell he was pissing her off and yet she was still reluctant to try and kill him. Thank the big guy up there (since he couldn't even think of the name of g-), she didn't know about the mark yet.

"You underestimated us. Just as much as you underestimated Isabelle... it's funny, really, when you think about it. Sebastian chose her, because Jace went on and on about how strong she was... and she is. She's stronger than you expected her to be and I think she's also stronger than she gives herself credit for. Which, FYI, is a lot already. Her self-confidence is almost as big as the one Jace has. I talked to her, did you know that? To Izzy. While you thought you had everything under control, she managed to contact me and that is why I know that she is still inside this body and that she can hear me."

He smiled. It was gentle now, because this smile was meant for Isabelle.

"And Izzy, I need you to listen very carefully. It's like Magnus always said... you're just what to expect from a Lightwood. You're a family of fighters, you're strong, smart... and most of all stubborn. But Izzy, I need you to be even stronger, even more stubborn right now. You need to come back to me. Just for a moment and I promise you it will all be fine... You tapped into her powers before, you can do it again... use it against her. There are only a couple of things in this world I still believe in. I believe that Clary will always have at least one suicidal idea per day. I believe that Jace will always continue to annoy me. And I kind of want to believe in Santa Clause, because, well, I like the idea of a fat man climbing down the chimney without getting stuck. That keeps the whole You-can-do-anything-you-want-no-matter-what-the-ob stacles-are Spirit-Thing alive. But most of all I believe in you. If anyone can kick Lilith's ass in there it's you. Show them what they get for messing with Isabelle Lightwood."

As he'd spoken her expression had gotten darker and darker and by now Simon felt the need to drop dead just from the look she gave him.

Come on, Izzy. He thought. You can do it... show her what you're made of.

She took a deep breath, not taking her eyes off of him for just a second.

"You stupid Vampire."

... Don't hit me lol I know this is (AGAIN) a very mean Cliffhanger. In my defense: I wasn't going to let this Chapter end with one in the first place. But as usual, as I came across it, I simply couldn't resist. And technically there are even two Cliffys... oh boy. I'm sorry guys lol You have to put up with a lot reading this xD

Anyway. There are going to be one or two surprises in the next Chapter... So stay tuned! And review in the mean time please :)