A/N: get ready, y'all! that is all...
disclaimer: cassandra clare owns the shadowhunter universe and it's people
The second we step outside, the air feels different, despite the sun climbing the sky, the mood feels dark. The wards are down, and that means anything can get into the city of glass. I sigh in relief at the clear sky. Demons can't be in direct daylight, so we won't have a problem with that.
But why would someone bother taking down the wards when they couldn't bring demons in?
I look up at the sky and remember how late the four of us slept. The sun is already towards the west and people are already panicking.
I start stalking down the streets, watching with horror as parents rush their children out of their homes. The kids don't know they'll be dropped off somewhere safe and have their parents ripped away from them. Maybe forever.
I remember the screaming I did that night, yelling after my parents, watching them getting dragged away. Jonathan held me back even though he had no idea what was going on, either. That's really all I remember about that night, the rest is all a blur. I can't help but feel sorry for these kids, the fact that they may never see their parents again. But that's what shadowhunters are supposed to be used to; dying in battle and protecting human-kind from the shadow world is the most respected way to die.
Maybe that's why I don't want to see my parents go. They wouldn't die as heroes, but criminals. They are criminals, but they're my parents. They made my life hell, maybe without them it would get better.
I still go straight for the Gard with Iz, Jace, and Alec right behind me.
Chaos fills the halls at the Gard. Everyone trying to figure out how the wards got down and how to get them back up before clouds cover the sun, before night falls. We squeeze through the people towards the cell they're holding our parents in. But when we get there, the door is wide open, the place a mess, and no one inside.
By the chaos around the Gard, I realize they didn't get moved… they broke out and they must be why the wards are down. The four of us look back at each other, each coming to the same conclusion.
"By the Angel," Alec whispers. "What are we going to do?"
"Fight," I whisper.
"Even if it's against them?" Jace asks,
"Yes."
Iz is quiet, and I know what she's thinking, but I know I can't persuade her. She just has to come to it on her own.
"Hey!" we hear from down the hall. It's Penhallow and a number of other Clave members; Karen Dovewell, Andrew Foxalder, and others.
Alec steps forward. "Consul Penhallow, we had no idea-"
"I know," she cuts him off. "It doesn't matter right now. If you're with us we need you out there."
"They're not all Clave members," says Andrew. "They should be-"
"They've got amazing skill," Penhallow says. "Clary and Isabelle, you want to help, you've got my permission."
If the situation were different I might've turned a mocked Jace and Alec for almost making Iz and I stay home.
"If you need anything, you're welcome to help yourselves upstairs," Karen tells us.
"No," Jace answers. "We're good."
"Alright, get out there."
When we make it back outside, we run forward towards the border, where the demons will attack first. Jace stops me suddenly, pulling me against him, our lips press together. "Be careful. Please be careful."
"Back at you," I reply quietly, resting my forehead against his. I kiss him again and we break apart, turning towards the border and sprint in full to catch up to Isabelle and Alec. When we get closer, more shadowhunters turn up around us, a herd ready to defend themselves. When everyone starts to slow down Alec and Jace start putting runes on each other filled with parabatai strength.
We turn back towards the sea of shadowhunters. Each of us stand in neat lines, protecting our home. As the sun slowly descends behind us and a shadow begins to cast on Idris. Slowly on the hill that Alicante rests on the shadowhunters among me watch night fall over the meadows beyond Broclind Forest and towards the city. It's a long process, but Jace's grip on my hand never wavers. I glance at the shadowhunters around me, their faces never fall, their eyes only move to blink. I turn my eyes back to the slow night fall just as it extends beyond Broclind Forest. A few sharp intakes of breath ring out around us as a cloud of demons step out from the forest, pursuing night as it falls around the country towards our city.
As they advance closer, faster, I feel the mood around me shift. The front of our defense moves to fighting stances, ready for the demons to meet them.
The demons break through the non-existent wards into city and chaos erupts at the front of our defense. Shouts and screams and the awful sound of demons sinking their teeth into skin. But what I hear the most is seraph blades sinking into demon skin.
Jace squeeze my hand once before letting go. The demons are getting closer to our line now. With my eyes forward, I feel his body press into my side. I keep my eyes ahead, waiting.
"If we get separated…" Jace says. "Just promise me…"
"Jace, please."
"No, I just… I don't know. Don't leave me."
"I won't. I promise as much as a promise can go."
"Not very far, huh?"
"We can't control everything."
"I know…" his lips press up against my temple. The demons draw closer, the shadowhunters in front of us surge forward. "I love you."
He releases my hand. And as shocked my heart is, I have to hold my blade tightly in my hand and fight for not just myself but everyone else in Alicante. I think of who could've brought this on the city, only one name comes to my mind.
Valentine Morgenstern.
Anger spreads through me, and I start hacking with my seraph blade, throwing the daggers when I can. But they keep driving us backwards, towards the bulk of the city, where shadowhunters live and serve.
I watch as Jace and I grow farther apart. I fight off demon after demon, as they hiss and spit and burn and puncture my skin. I never lose my grip on my blade and stay as focused as possible. It's not until my back hits a wall and Jace and the others are completely out of sight that I realize what's going on.
"Clary," one hisses. "Clarissa Morgenstern."
It startles me and I earn a wicked burn from their spit on my neck.
"Don't kill her," another says.
It startles me again and one wraps it's claws around me, burying them deep into my skin. I struggle, trying to gain control of my arm back, my seraph blade slips from my hand. Reaching into my back pocket I grab a dagger, but I have no chance to throw it because the demon sinks its claws deeper into my arm and throws me against the wall in an alley nearby.
I scream. The pain of it's claws leaving my arm is even greater than it puncturing me in the first place. I scream as gravity takes over, begging for someone to hear, so I'm not left to die. I scream until my dead hits the brick wall and the pain makes my body go limp to the ground.
"Oh, Clarissa," I hear a familiar voice through the thick darkness. A hand is clutched in mine, a rough thumb rubbing against my knuckles. "They weren't supposed to-"
A pounding breaks through against my skulls and I gasp, my eyes breaking through the mud.
"Clarissa!" My father sighs in relief and grips my hand tighter.
"Dad?"
"I'm so glad you're okay!"
I sit up and take in my surroundings. I'm exactly where I passed out, just farther down the alley. I have no idea how to react to my father being here. Not knowing, I pull my stele from my pocket and draw an iratze on my shoulder of the arm with multiple puncture wounds. Immediately, all the pain retreats.
My father releases his grip on my hand as I do so, watching me oddly.
"You're okay, yes?"
I just nod. My eyebrows furrow when I look at him.
"Clarissa-"
"Where's Mom?"
"She's-"
"How did you break out? Why did you do this?" There's panic and longing in my voice, and I want so badly for him to answer that he had nothing to do with anything.
He doesn't answer my questions, instead he pulls something out of his pocket and tucks it inside my palm. A ring.
"I know I can't bring you," he mutters under his breath, as though I'm not supposed to hear. "Clarissa," he puts his hands against my face, I fight the urge to cringe away. "I know- I know I haven't been the best father. I couldn't tell you before, but what I'm doing is only going to help you, it's only going to help shadowhunters."
Now, I push his hands away. All my longing for my father to be the good guy fades. Angry tears fall down my face. "How does this," I point to the chaos outside the alley, "help anyone?"
"No one truly realizes what these monsters can do, Clary. If we can control them, if we can control their blood, we can stop all of this. Demons and Downworlders. We're the superiors, not the equals."
"Don't even talk to me about blood," I spit at him. "You're the one who experimented with all of us. Me, Jace, we're screwed because of you. Were you even at the trial? They want to kill us because you tried to make us superior. You can go to hell."
I push my sore body off the ground, my head throbbing with the movement. I turn to leave the alley. The ring still sitting in my palm burns. I know it's a Morgenstern ring.
I'm not betraying my family. I'm doing what is right.
"Clarissa!" My father yells after me. "Please."
I turn to face him, furious. "You did this! You ruined this family!"
"You'll ruin everything if you walk away, Clarissa," he says sternly.
"Fuck you," I spit at him before whirling around and smacking right into a greater demon blocking my exit.
"You'll want to come with me," my father says calmly from behind me.
He takes the ring in my hand and shoves it onto my finger, then twists his own. A white light blinds me, then disappears altogether. In front of me is a large glass window, looking out over the city. Behind me is the demon that stopped me from leaving the alley, and Consul Penhallow's desk.
On top of her desk sits the Mortal Cup.
"Where is everyone?" I ask, pretending not to be phased by the fact that the Mortal Cup is there, or that my own father holds me hostage. "Where's the Clave?"
He laughs and points to the window, gesturing to the chaos outside. "No one could stay."
"What do you want, anyways?"
This time, he gestures to the cup. "I ran into something I wasn't expecting… my blood doesn't work in the cup. I need yours. You have more angel blood than the rest of us. There was Jace, too, but I just thought…"
"What? That I'd want to be here? To help you do this?"
My father looks at me sadly. I remember how much I'd once loved him, but something wicked has replaced my dad. I tried to still love him after I discovered what he did to Jace and I, I knew I couldn't forgive him for it, but I had hope in my family. But the small sliver of hope I thought I had is gone now.
"Clary, please. I don't want to have to do this another way."
I freeze. "I don't understand."
"There are other ways of doing this."
"I thought you wanted me to stick with Jace cause we were safer that way-"
"You are."
"Because you wanted us safer… what, did you guess he'd pull me away from my dying brother? I would've died too, if Jace hadn't stopped me. Or did you plan, that too? The death of your own son?"
"I never meant for Jonathan to get hurt. He was supposed to be here for this, you were both supposed to be here. And Jocelyn."
"He didn't 'get hurt,' Jonathan died. Where is mom?"
My father flicks his wrist and I catch the blade by the handle.
"I need your blood in the cup, Clarissa," he says, not answering my question.
Tears well up in my eyes, making my father look blurry. "Where is she?"
His jaw clenches along with his fist. While one hand holds the dagger meant to cut my hand, I slowly inch my hand to my stele.
"Where is she?!"
He stalks closer to me, his face right in front of mine, then grabs my shoulder roughly and pushes me to the desk until my hip hits against it. The cup sits in front of me, unaware.
I take advantage of my father's closeness and press my stele against the side of the desk.
"Jocelyn didn't want to be here."
I almost breathe a sigh of a relief, but think better of it. Instead I concentrate on drawing the rune.
"The Lightwoods didn't either. So I took care of the problem."
Somehow, it was the perfect moment to finish drawing the rune, a small flame started on the desk, then it roared up high. A signal.
My father grabs the hand I used to draw the rune, so hard my stele falls to the floor. He controls both my hands for a moment, while I feel nothing. He's about to make me cut my own palm. My body wants to shut down. My brother is gone, my father more than gone, now my mother.
Footsteps, banging footsteps, up the stairs of the building. Shouting, banging on the door.
My father releases me and shouts at the greater demon he's somehow gotten to help him. I don't hear what he says.
As people burst through the door my father freezes to look at them, but I don't turn and instead take advantage of him being distracted. I plunge the dagger he gave me into his heart. I hold it there as he meets my eyes. I hold it there as his grip on me goes limp and I watch the life in his eyes flicker away. Not just the life but the surprise of my betrayal. As his body goes limp, it falls backwards, but I can't get my hand to release the dagger until the other people in the room pull me off of him. They pull me out of the room, the greater demon somehow gone.
More shouting. The wards are back up. I remember relief flowing through everyone as the city becomes free of demons again.
I feel no relief. I am the last of the Morgensterns because I killed my own father.
There are no more Morgensterns because my own father killed me first.
A/N: hope you enjoyed, send me a review to let me know what you thought and follow the story to know when I update next! Thanks!