Chapter 16

Clary caught her breath at the venom in Chloe's voice, and Drakiel visibly shrank under her glare.

"We…well, it's complicated." Drakiel murmured, looking away, his eyes taking on a faraway glint. "Lerial met me when she had to train in Hell for a while; I was commanding the armies of Leviathan, the High Demon of the Sixth Circle of Hell. She told me a lot about earth and we became friends-"

"Cut the sappy meeting, what did she tell you, what was your arrangement, and what was her secret? Now, spill." Roxy said, her eyes narrowed, Drakiel paused, and he might as well have been interrogated by the Spanish Inquisition for the look he wore.

"Fine, Lerial told me about the force field, how she was planning to use the Doors to build an army to guard the island-" Drakiel was interrupted a second time by Clary.

"What are the Doors?" Clary asked, looking around.

"I second that question." Jace growled. Uneasy looks were passed between Chloe, Roxy, Jacob and Drakiel. Chloe was making hand signals, and Jacob shook his head, Drakiel held his hands up in surrender and Roxy gave the three of them the middle finger.

"A long time ago in a council room far, far away, it was decided that there should be a way to… well, contact and manage the dead. Don't give me those looks, it isn't all Hell and Heaven and that shit, Hell is a dimension of demons, Heaven is a dimension of angels, there's a separate dimension for the spirits of the dead, well, several pocket dimensions. The entrances to these pocket dimensions are known as Doors." Roxy explained, leaning back against the table where everyone had been previously sitting.

"So let me get this straight, there is a bunch of dimensions where dead people live, and the entrances to those dimensions are named after a band?" Simon asked, Clary resisted the urge to face-palm. Chloe rolled her eyes and Drakiel failed at hiding a smile.

"No, and I personally don't give a crap about a random band who shares the name, anyway, there are seven locations all around earth in isolated places where Doors are located, this island, Nightshade's island, is one of them, that's why we have to stay here and guard it." Roxy said and then ran a hand through her long black-brown hair.

"What are the other locations?" Alec asked, curiosity burning in his bright blue eyes. Chloe snorted, Drakiel looked away, and Jacob shrugged.

"We don't know, the only ones who know are those on the Council of Species, and they would never tell us in any case." Roxy deadpanned,

"So you're guarding inter-dimensional portals on a secret island that no one knows about, and you don't even know the other locations of the rest of the portals?" Magnus said doubtfully.

"Well, when you put it like that…" Jacob started.

"How come the Clave doesn't know about this?" Jace interrupted.

"Oh for the love of…. Screw the Clave; they don't know a lot of things, which in the end will be their downfall, unless they can evolve to match the arising issues." Roxy muttered, shooting a dark look at Jace.

"I think we're off topic, Drakiel, you're not home-free yet, what was your agreement with Lerial?" Chloe changed the subject and watched Drakiel, who was leaning against a window, having not moved from his earlier spot.

"And I thought I could leave long enough to get a sandwich." Drakiel said mildly, Chloe glared, "fine, I kept her up with the latest in Hell and she kept me up with what happened up here, nothing too big, except…" Drakiel trailed off and was silent.

"We're waiting." Chloe growled, tapping her foot and folding her arms.

"Sometimes I wonder if you're all bipolar." Jordan muttered to no one in particular. Drakiel laughed, then turned to Chloe.

"Friends with benefits, that answer your question?" he chuckled, humour in his eyes.

"Damn." Jacob said, seeming surprised.

"Ugh, TMI." Roxy murmured.

"With Lerial?" Chloe said in disbelief. Jace laughed at the turn of events, and Clary rolled her eyes at him.

All of the sudden there was a bang outside, and everything went quiet.

"That can't be good." Isabelle said, narrowing her eyes and whipping out a seraph blade. Clary darted over to a balcony just in time to see a swarm of black shapes flow out of the surrounding forest and gather around the bottom of the Raven tree.

"Understatement of the century." Maia said to Isabelle, as everyone else gathered out on the balcony, Clary felt Jace's hand on her shoulder as they looked down.

"ROUS's, but what are they doing here? During daylight?" Roxy asked, crouching on the edge of the balcony while looking down.

"What's an ROUS?" Simon asked, glancing at Roxy.

"Rodents Of Unusual Size." Jacob answered. It was true, now that she concentrated, Clary could see that the shapes were large rats, ranging from the size of a golden retriever to a small pony. They all had glowing red eyes and slick dark brown fur as well as lethal looking fangs.

One of the rats, a larger one, stepped forward and Clary heard its voice echo inside her mind.

'We are here to negotiate, a warrior by the name of Sebastian had offered us sanctuary in his army, what does the warriors of Nightshade have to say about this?' the voice was deep, but had no inflection and spoke in a monotone. In response, Chloe, Roxy, and Jacob leaped down from the balcony, their immortality protecting them from any injuries as they fell. The rats cleared away like a large wave receding from a beach to allow landing space for the three who had jumped down.

"What are your conditions for not joining his army?" Roxy asked, looking down at the large rat with a carefully unreadable face.

'Us, as well as the other Night Crawlers, are to have free reign of the island, and not just the small areas the she-demon restricted, where is she?' the rat's voice asked.

"Lerial is indisposed, the field is up, so she is safe, but she is unable to be here at this time." Chloe said, her voice strong and all traces of anger/craziness gone from her face.

'Very well, as I asked, all Night Crawlers wish to have access to the island, we, the Rodent Clan, wish for underground passages to be made, as the Draco Clan has driven us from our home. On behalf of the other clans, there is a wish for caves, mountains, meadows, and beaches.'

"The Draco Clan drove you out?" Jacob's voice was laced with disbelief, and even though the terms were foreign to Clary or any of the others, the way they were spoken showed quite a lot.

'Yes.'

"Then it will be done, Sebastian is not allied with the general of Hell or Heaven, but rather a small percentage of those in Hell who are unsatisfied, his army will be taken down, and I don't think it would be wise to join a failed quest." Drakiel called out from the balcony.

Well, here's 16, for any of you who give a crap, the next chapter will be more bloopers, Thank you to all of you who reviewed, It makes me happy, :)