**************** Chapter 22 *******************

Jonathan got into his bed and closed his eyes. He couldn't believe he just did that. Valentine was going to have his head but part of him didn't care. He couldn't help but feel a sense of satisfaction for landing the blow. His father couldn't argue that he didn't deserve it.

Jonathan remembered his mother whispering to him trying to call him down but the thing was that Jonathan was for the most part was calm. He wasn't yelling or thrashing about. No he just silently looked at his father who was holding his bleeding and most likely broken nose. He thought his father would be furious and hit him back. Valentine instead shocked him by looking away and walking towards the kitchen. Jonathan saw Clary and Jace's heads poke out from down the hall. It looks like everyone had seen mother told him to go to his room and lay down. Jonathan nodded before leaving down the hallway. It had been a few minutes and he could feel the anger draining from his body; replacing itself with exhaustion for the night before.

"May I come in?" his mother asked popping her head through the door.

Jonathan nodded without looking at her. She quietly closed the door and took a seat at the end of the bed.

"Do you want to talk about what happened?" she asked.

"Not really." He replied.

"What about last night? Please tell me what happened with Lilith." She begged putting her hand lovingly on top of his. Jonathan sighed.

"Long story short. She asked me to join her. I told her to fuck off and left."

He listened for a reply but didn't receive one. He opened his eyes and looked up to see his mother's smiling face. Why was she smiling?

His mother got up and kissed his forehead.

"I'm proud of you for leaving Jonathan. I couldn't be prouder of the man you've become." She said.

"But-"

"But nothing. You are my son not that ….creatures." she spat.

Jonathan smiled.

"I'm sorry I hit dad." He sighed closing his eyes again. He felt so tired.

"Oh your father deserved that and much more. There is no need to be sorry. I would have done it myself if I could pack a punch like you." She giggled kissing him once more on the forehead. "Get some sleep darling. I'll hold off the love birds as long as I can."

Jonathan chuckled at that.

"Thanks mom." He whispered tiredly.

Jocelyn smiled and left closing the door behind her. Jonathan was asleep before he heard the door click.

********************** Line Break **************************

Jace and Clary pulled away and ran back to the kitchen before they could be caught spying. Valentine quickly emerged into the kitchen grabbing a stack of paper towels from the counter and turning on the water in the sink.

"What happened father? Did you get hit by the punching bag training?" Clary asked providing her father a potential alibi.

"I don't want to talk about it." He growled patting his face.

Clary smiled. She couldn't have been more proud of her brother but she didn't want him to suffer their father's backlash. She didn't think she could hold herself back if their father wiped him again. Clary reluctantly grabbed her stele and walked beside her father. Valentine looked up at her and nodded begrudgedly. Clary took her stele and drew a healing ruin on her father's neck. After a few minutes she could see her father start breathing through his nose again as his nose cracked back into place.

"Thank you Clarissa." Her father said throwing the bloody paper towels into the trash.

"You're welcome father. Why don't you come down and have some pancakes with us. You work much too hard and should really eat more."

Valentine looked up at her surprised. Okay maybe Clarisse was laying it on a little thick but if it meant getting Jonathan out of a beating than she didn't care.

"Clary's right father. It is my birthday and it would be nice to be able to have breakfast with you." Jace added.

Valentine looked up at them both suspiciously.

"I'm not going to beat Jonathan so you can stop with the act you two." Valentine said sternly.

The smiles on Jace and Clary's faces faded for a moment before returning.

"We have no idea what you are talking about father. Can't your children just desire to eat breakfast with their father without having an ulterior motive?" Clary asked.

"No." Valentine answered flatly.

Valentine grabbed an apple from the counter and some bacon wrapping it in a paper towel.

"I know you saw what happened and although it might be hard to believe I am not going to punish your brother. I regrettably deserved that punch and as long as it doesn't happen again I am willing to let it slide."

"Does that mean I can punch you too?" Jace asked.

Valentine turned his cold eyes onto Jace giving him the death stare.

"I'm just kidding father. Thought some humor might be needed to lighten the mood." Jace added quickly.

Valentine sighed and turned to leave the kitchen.

"I'll be in my office. You have my permission to use the apartment. Be back before dinner and stay safe!" Valentine called out over his shoulder before leaving.

"Well this is turning out to be a fun birthday. That might be the best present Jonathan has ever given me." He smiled.

"Oh Jace!" Clary replied taking her seat next to him.

********************** Line Break **************************

Jace and Clary decided to give Jonathan a few hours of sleep before they used the apartment to go to China. Jace was curious to see the Great Wall.

"What do you want to do while we wait?" Clary asked.

Clary was laying on Jace's bed relaxing with Jace paced back and forth. She kept catching him stealing looks at the portrait of his parents that she gave him this morning.

"Well…" he grinned pulling her into his chest.

"Jace!" she giggled. "Not with everyone awake!"

"hmmm you're right. Well we can't go too far if we want to be back to get Jonathan." He spoke.

Clary laughed.

"Did you forget that I can create portals?" she said.

"I'm not letting you create anything. You are still recovering from last time." Jace said sternly.

He was right Clary did still feel a little tired but she had a feeling that had more to do with lack of sleep from last night than creating ruins.

"We could go and visit New York?" she suggested.

"That reminds me! How is that mundane doing anyway? Did he make it?" Jace asked.

"Alec said he is still sleeping and that it was much too early to tell. This was the first time he had ever seen a Forsaken turned and it has not been attempted in a very long time so we have to be patient." She replied.

"I see. Well we will be there at the end of the week so…" Jace left the sentence hanging muttering something French under his breath.

"You and your French." She teased.

"It's not my fault that mother never taught you when you were little."

"Well not every parent is as domineering as Valentine." She protested.

"Actually I learned from a book."

"A book?" she said sarcastically.

"You don't believe me?" he asked.

"No one just learns an entire language from a book Jace."

"Fine I'll prove it to you. Let's go horseback riding up to Wayland manor and I'll show you." He replied.

Clary looked at him with an eyebrow raised.

"Taking horses will take much too long. Let's just portal there." She suggested.

Jace gave her a stern look.

"Jace I'm fine. Really."

She didn't give him time to reply. She got up, grabbed her stele and created a portal. Jace sighed and reluctantly stepped beside her.

"Fine but you better let me know if you get tired. I'm not going to let you collapse like last time."

"I promise!" she said taking his hand.

Jace closed his eyes picturing the old library where he had spent many hours alone reading. He squeezed Clary's hand and stepped through the portal.

********************** Line Break **************************

"Do you think he is going to make it?"

"I want to say yes but honestly I don't know Isabelle."

"Wait! Did you see that Alec?"

"Yeah, looks like he is waking up." The boy replied.

"Go get mom. I'll stand watch."

Simon felt dizzy and had been struggling to wake up for what felt like days now. Each time that he would try to wake up consciousness seemed to slip away like water through his hand. After two days he had enough. He was going to wake up. After much struggling he finally managed to wield his eyes to open. Everything was a bright blur of light for a few moments. Finally, his eyes seemed to focus landing on the girl staring down at him.

She was absolutely gorgeous. She had sun kissed skin and beautiful brown eyes. Her long luscious black hair swept over her shoulders where a red pendant necklace glistened in the sunlight. Black tattoos, or what Clary called ruins littered the girls arms and her black clothing reminded him of a bad ass Alice from Resident Evil.

"Good morning Simon. It is nice of you to finally wake up." She smiled.

"Where am I?" he asked.

"You are in the New York institute. It is the headquarters of shadow hunters who travel to New York. A safe house if you will." She replied.

"Am I a shadowhunter?" he asked remembering what Clary had told him in the cave.

"Yes. Alec already tried out a ruin on your skin."

Simon shivered unconsciously. He couldn't help but remember the last time a ruin was put on him. After a moment he finally sat up. His body was stiff and sore but it responded. Simon reached for his glasses and found them on the side table. The beautiful girl watched him suspiciously giggling when his hand took the glasses. He looked at her puzzled.

"Go ahead, put them on." She said.

Simon looked at her once more before shrugging. He placed the glasses on his face and was met with instant dizziness. Everything looked blurry and weird. He quickly took of the glasses and looked around. He could see perfectly.

"I don't need to wear glasses anymore?" he asked.

"I have yet to meet a shadowhunter who has had to wear glasses. I think it has something to do with Raziels blood giving us enhanced abilities, sharpened senses and powers." She replied.

Simon put his glasses back on the nightstand. He looked up at the beautiful girl meeting her eyes.

"I feel terrible not knowing your name." Simon said.

"Oh! Yes I forgot you wouldn't know any of our names would you seeing that you only spoke to Clary. My name is Isabelle, Isabelle Lightwood. My parents run this institute and I live here with my two brothers Alec and Max." she said holding out her hand.

Simon grabbed her hand and shock it. Her skin was soft and her handshake was firm.

"It's nice to meet you Isabelle."

"Likewise Simon." She smiled.

At that moment the doors opened as a large crowd entered the room. Simon recognized the tall boy and two girls beside him from the cave. He made eye contact with the tall boy who he guessed had to be Alec; the one talking to Isabelle before he woke up. Alec looked at him shaking his head back and forth with a finger to his lips. He didn't want Simon to talk. He probably didn't want his parents to know they broke him out of a cave where he was being tortured. He didn't blame him. They had obviously taken a dangerous risk going there. He had heard the fighting outside his door.

"It is wonderful that you are finally awake. We were worried that you wouldn't make it given that you were attacked by a demon." The adult man spoke.

Simon nodded his head not saying a word.

"Yeah when we found your body unconscious on the floor under that dead demon we thought we lost you. We took a chance that you might not be a mundane given that you were still breathing. Apparently shadowhunter blood must run in your family somewhere." Alec spoke eyeing Simon coldly.

"Yes and it was lucky that he did!" The adult man who Simon assumed was Alec's father scolded. "Or else he would be a Forsaken now. I can't believe you took that chance Alec!"

"Enough Robert!" the women scolded before turning to smile at Simon. "My name is Maryse Lightwood and this is my husband Robert. These are our children Alec, Max and I see you already met Isabelle. Next to Alec is Aline and Helen they are staying with us for a few weeks."

"Thank you. My name is Simon Lewis. It is nice to meet all of you and I can't thank you enough for saving me…from the demon…that was dead on top of me." He was hoping that his reply didn't set off any alarms.

"So you are Nephilim." Robert spoke. "Do you know what Shadowhunters are?"

Simon looked at Alec for a Que. He discreetly shook his head once more.

"No, not really. Isabelle told me something about some angel named Raziel but I don't really understand." He smiled.

Robert Lightwood sighed.

"Well," he said looking at Alec. "Are you up for a challenge son?"

Alec smiled.

"I'll show him the ropes father. I am always up for another challenge. He looks more studious than Isabelle already. Should be a relief really!" Alec replied teasingly.

"Hey! I get by!" Isabelle countered.

********************** Line Break **************************

The house was cold and dusty. It seemed deserted and felt very lonely. Jace couldn't help but take in the icy darkness with distain. He had good memories living here however most good memories were shadowed by bad memories. Truth be told there were probably more bad memories than good ones but it didn't feel that way to him. It never felt that way. It seemed like his mind subconsciously blocked out many of the bad memories. Maybe it was a defense mechanism that his brain did in order to survive.

"This place looks cozy." Clary said.

"Yeah, just like a deserted house looks cozy in a horror movie before the killing begins." he replied.

Jace walked down the dark and cold narrow hallway. They reached the door at the end of the hallway and he pushed it open taking a step into the softly lit but very dusty library. The room was littered with shelves and shelves of books. There was even a small ladder used to reach the books on the upper shelves. All of which Jace had been forbidden to even touch.

"I use to spend a lot of time in this room. Valentine assigned me different books to read every day." He spoke quietly as if in a daze.

He remembered reading countless history books in different languages. There was a schedule that Valentine had given him. He remembered French was on Saturday, English on Sunday but couldn't seem to remember which day Latin was. He guessed it didn't matter now.

Jace looked at Clarissa's small frame as she paced the room touching the books sending dust into the air as her fingers touched them. Seeing her here in his childhood home was unnerving. It was like letting her in on a deep dark secret. He should feel scared but something just felt right. This house and these memories were all a part of him. Her giggling suddenly brought him back from his daze.

"What is so funny?" he smiled walking towards her.

"This book, Simple Recipes for Housewives." She said removing the book from the shelf. "I mean how sexist can you get? Maybe I should bring this back and give it to mom. I think she would get a laugh out of it."

Clarissa curiously opened the book and gasped.

"What?" Jace said looking over her shoulder.

"This book…it has another book in it. It's the book of White. Isn't this supposed to be a rare and powerful spell book?" she asked.

"Yes." Jace said removing the small leather bound book from its hiding place. "It's written in ancient Greek."

"Can you read it?" she asked.

"No, but I bet your warlock friend Magnus could." He replied.

"Isn't he your friend too?" she asked.

"Well I only met him once so I wouldn't really call him a friend." He said handing the spell book back to Clary.

"It's the sparkles isn't it? You feel intimidated that he is shinier than you; am I right?" Clary teased.

"Oh yes…that's it alright." Jace rolled his eyes. Clary took the book and placed it into her front jacket pocket.

This book could be useful later especially if they needed to bribe Magnus. He was a great warlock but an expensive one. Though Alec's charms did seem to be working given that the warlock hadn't charged them a fee.

"What are these books on top?" Clary asked jumping and accidently pulling down a handful of books from the top shelf. The books clashed to the ground with a bang and sending dust flying everywhere. Jace covered his mouth to breath.

"Sorry!" Clary coughed.

"It's okay it was an acid-"he stopped midsentence.

Jace put his hand up to silence her. He could hear a flapping nose and grinding gears coming from the other side of the wall. Clary hearing the sound too looked at the wall. Suddenly the book case swung open to the side revealing a long dark corridor with narrow steps. Clary gasped looking at the stone stairway that lead into an eerie unearthing darkness.

"What is down there?" she asked shivering.

"I don't know." He stammered. "I've never seen or knew there was a cellar here."

Jace took out the witch light as Clary did the same.

"I feel like we are in some horror movie where the audience is screaming at us, 'No don't go down there'." Clary said flatly.

"Probably but something is telling me to go down there. You can stay up here and wait if you like." He shrugged taking the first step forward.

Clary shivered but followed him reluctantly.

"If some guy pops out in a ski mask or some psycho with long nails starts chasing us… I'm blaming you." She said sarcastically trying to hide the fear in her voice.

Jace led the way in silence paying close attention to his lover behind him. He would be lying if he said he wasn't scared but his curiosity was getting the better of him. He had always been a rather curious child but this felt like something different. It felt as if something was calling to him. Although Clary didn't admit it he could tell she felt the same way. She didn't actually resist coming down here. They reached the bottom of the stairs with a crunch. Something crunched beneath their feet.

"Are these bones?" she gasped.

"It looks like it." he said looking around.

"Jace!" she yelped. "These aren't animal bones. Some of these are…"

"Downworlders. I know. You know how our father loves his experiments." He shivered reaching out to take her hand.

Their witch lights suddenly blazed up dousing the room in bright light. Two cells were empty but a third wasn't. Jace's breath caught in his throat as his eyes fell on the limp figure. The creature was humped over with manacles fastened tightly around its wrists and ankles. The creature's body was moving up and down breathing. He wondered how the thing could still be alive. The creature raised its head at their approach.

Clary and Jace looked in horror at the creatures face. Where both eyes should have been lay only black eye sockets. Its wings were blood stained and wrapped around its body. Clary was right; this was a scene out of a horror movie.

"Jace…it's…it's-"Clary stuttered.

"It's an angel." He finished.