***************** Chapter 10 *******************

"What do you mean she escaped?"

She jumped at the sound of her father's voice. He was shouting at someone in the hallway and he wasn't being quiet about it either. He heard him slam his fist into the wall as a guard desperately tried to relay information.

"Father." She heard her brother's voice.

"Go back to bed Jonathan. This doesn't concern you." Holding his grip on the guard's collar.

"Valentine. What is going on?" Jocelyn spoke coming out of the bedroom wrapped in a robe.

Valentine hesitated looking at his wife and son. He let go of the guard he was holding in his hand. The guard fell to the floor and scurried away.

"I need to go attend to something with the circle. I will be back in a few hours. Until then no one leaves this house!" He commanded. He looked at his wife first.

"As you wish my love." Their mother whispered obediently.

"May I go with you father? Maybe I can help?" Jonathan pleaded. Valentine calmed himself.

"No my son. Not this time." He replied with attempted tenderness.

"I will explain everything when I return tonight." He spoke before turning around and walking down the hall.

After a few moments Jonathan stood silent looking out after his father. His mother approached him and did something that surprised him. She threw her arms around him. He stayed still for a moment in shock before confusedly returning her embrace.

"You are not like him Jonathan. You are smarter, faster, stronger and better than he will ever be. Don't let him get to you my son." She whispered.

Jonathan didn't know what to say so he just nodded. She let go of him and smiled.

"Get your brother and sister and meet me in the library in an hour. There is something we all need to discuss."

Jocelyn returned to her room as Jonathan ran back down the hall towards his sister's bedroom. He unlocked the door and opened it quickly. Clary was standing in front of him obviously wide awake from their fathers yelling. His sister looked up at him as he closed the door. Something was wrong.

Clary rushed into her brothers arms and hid her face in his chest. Everything at that moment seemed to hit her and her brother seemed like the only solid thing around her. He wrapped his arms around her.

"Clary what is wrong?" he whispered. Clary sighed.

"Right now. Everything."

He pulled her closer.

"What did mom say? I couldn't hear her." She whispered.

"She wants to meet us in the library. Probably to talk about why father was so mad." He replied. She signed and pulled away.

"I know why he is mad."

"You do?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Yes and you're not going to be happy about it." She frowned.

"Out with it." Jonathan commanded. He hated when she kept things from him.

"Okay, don't be mad, which I know is asking the impossible. Jace saw father torturing Madame Dorothea in the Black's cellar. We portaled there last night and took her to Magnus's."

Jonathan looked at her dumbfounded. After a few seconds she could see the silver iris vanish in his dark eyes. He was mad, really mad.

"Are you crazy? You could have been killed or worse! Are you sure no one saw either of you?" he yelled.

"I'm fine. Nothing happened. We were in and out before anyone saw us. We even wore hoods just in case." She argued.

"Still something could have happened to you! I can't believe you didn't tell me! Or have me come with you! I'm just as capable as Jace Clary!" he growled.

"This had nothing to do with not trusting you or thinking you're not capable. I'm not Valentine Jonathan. I didn't tell you because I knew you would never let me do it!" she replied trying to put her hand on his shoulder. He grabbed her and pulled her into him.

"Damn right I would never let you go and Jace shouldn't have either. Just wait till I get my hands on him!"

"Please don't! It is not his fault! I blackmailed him into letting me go." She argued.

"You…blackmailed him? With what?" he wrapped his arms around her possessively.

"I can't tell you. That was part of the deal." She whispered locking her arms around his neck. She could feel him trying to control his breathing.

"Please don't be mad. Nothing happened to us. I swear on the angel that next time I will tell you right away before I do anything dangerous."

She could feel his body relax.

"You are my everything Clary," he whispered into her ear. "You keep me human. I would be lost without you."

She sighed.

"I know….and for what it is worth, I'm sorry."

He nodded not saying a word. After a few minutes he finally let go of her and started walking out the bedroom door.

"Hurry up and get dressed. We need to meet mom in the library in 40 minutes." He called about behind him as he closed the door.

Clary took a deep breath and headed into the bathroom to take a shower.

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Jonathan walked down the hall and stopped at Jace's room. He quickly unlocked the door and opened it. Jace was fast asleep in his bed. Go figure! His brother could sleep through almost anything. Jonathan slammed the door shut behind him. Jace jumped out of bed and landed in attack position. He looked up disorientated until he saw Jonathan. Something was off and it wasn't until last night's events came back to him that he realized that he should probably run. By then of course it was too late.

Jonathan jumped on him and tackled him to the floor. Jace looked up and saw his brother's eyes straight black again. He needed to get away. This was life or death. Jace kicked his brother in the stomach and tried to flee. It was no use. Jonathan punched him in the face with such force that Jace fell backwards against his bed.

He was going to be sore for the rest of the day now. Jonathan wasn't holding back. He was obviously out for blood.

"What the hell Jonathan?" Jace shouted.

"What the hell? What the hell were you thinking indulging Clary's reckless behavior like that?" he grunted. Jace would probably have a black eye now and that seemed to please Jonathan.

"I didn't have a choice. You know how convincing she can be when she wants something!" he argued.

"I don't care if she promised you her first born child! I trusted you to protect her!" Jonathan snapped.

Jace bowed his head.

"I'm sorry Jonathan but I promise you that I would have protected her with my life if it came to that."

"You should have never put her in that situation to begin with! I thought you loved her?" Jonathan growled.

"Oh course I love her!" Jace shot back.

"What kind of man puts the woman he loves in danger Jace? The only reason I agreed to give her to you was because I thought if anyone would be able to protect her it would be you!"

Jace looked at him dumbfounded.

"And even after I gave you my permission you still find a way to mess it up! You're supposed to make her happy. Not make her cry and let her go off to break prisoners out under our father's nose." Jonathan finished.

Jace wanted to argue that Clary wasn't a possession. That Jonathan couldn't just give her away. Clary was her own person and not even Jonathan could control her. He looked up at his brother and swallowed the words. Now was not the time to fuel the fire.

"I'm sorry." Jace whispered looking down. This seemed to appease his brother. Jonathan was silent obviously trying to calm himself down.

"Next time tell me what is going on. If we all went… there would be less chance of her getting hurt." Jonathan replied taking a seat next to his brother on the bed.

"I swear on the angel that next time I will give you the heads up." Jace frowned.

"What did she blackmail you with anyway?" Jonathan asked. He obviously had calmed down now. Sometimes Jace hated his extreme mood swings. He didn't know if they were because of his demon blood or because he was related to Valentine.

"Clary didn't tell you?" Jace asked nervously.

"No. She said that was one of the conditions of the blackmail." He replied. "You didn't steal my sister's virtue or something that night you slept in her room did you?"

Jace turned bright red.

"Oh course not!" Jace said too loudly. Jonathan paused and examined his face.

"I don't know why you are fighting this. You both want each other. It's painfully obvious." Jonathan said getting up off of the bed.

"It's …complicated." Jace replied meekly.

"Whatever you say little brother. Anti-Valentine family meeting in the library in 20 minutes." He called over his shoulder before leaving the room.

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Jace was the last to enter the library. He closed the doors and took a seat next to her brother and as far away from Clary as possible. Jocelyn stood up and looked at her children.

"You all know I left your father sixteen years ago when I found out I was pregnant with Clary. During that time I took and hid the Mortal cup. I gave it to an old witch named Madame Dorothea and it seems now, despite my best efforts, your father has finally found her. He will take the cup from her and use it to build a shadowhunter army loyal to him and him alone." Their mother spoke sadly.

"But Madame Dorothea doesn't have the cup mom. I asked her myself last night." Clary spoke.

"What do you mean last night?" her mother asked her sharply.

"Jace and I portaled to the Blacks last night and then back to Magnus with Dorothea." Clary responded.

Jocelyn looked at her daughter and her sons.

"I get the feeling that there is a lot of things you are not telling me." She spoke.

"Yeah the feeling is mutual." Jonathan replied sarcastically.

The kids spent the next twenty minutes explaining everything that had happened so far. They told her about the Lightwoods, what Jace saw, and recusing Dorothea. It turned out Alec had texted Jonathan before the meeting that Magnus had Dorothea leave this dimension though the three dimensional door in her apartment. Their mother breathed a sigh of relief.

"That is good. That means that the cup will be safe." She smiled.

"I don't understand mom. She said she didn't have it. Was she lying?" Clary asked.

"No," Jocelyn shook her head. "She doesn't know she has it. I hid it in painting in a tarot card that I had given her a set of years ago. She always carries them with her but she doesn't know that the cup is hidden in one of them."

Clary dropped the cup of coffee she had been holding. The cup hit the tile and shattered spilling the hot liquid all over the floor. Clary stood still looking into space for a moment before jumping to her feet and running full force to her room.