Hello there! It's that time again – update!
First question comes from Pizzalover0246 (thank you for your review!): "What was your favourite book in the series?" – It's really hard for me to pick a favourite but I've always had a certain love for City of Bones. I think it's the initial Jace/Clary that gets me.
Second question comes from LeslieBelia (If I was Seb, I'd be seriously re-evaluating my life choices right about now.) "Do you plan on being an author?" – I have actually been writing my own material in between keeping up with my Fanfictions. It's just a matter of finding the confidence!
And the last question this chapter from Bubblegum234: "If you were a food item, what would you be?" – This question had me stumped for a little while but I think I'd go with a spicy rice. Something light and fluffy, with a little bit of kick.
I'd just like to say thank you to everyone for your wonderful reviews, you really do speed up the updates of the story. I have also read everyone's suggestions and I'll be trying to employ a few of them within the upcoming chapters – here's looking at Magnus' parties! Feel free to answer the questions above and feel free to ask anything you like in the reviews (:
Here we go again!
I didn't answer him. I couldn't form the words to answer him. He walked around me, watching me, checking for further injuries. Once he was satisfied that it was just my arms, he moved back in front of me, sitting himself on the bed, bringing me down to sit on his lap. His golden eyes searched my own, looking for an answer.
"When did this happen, Clary?" Jace asked instead, rubbing my back gently. How this date had changed. If you'd asked me an hour ago, I would have wanted to stay here forever. Now, I couldn't think of anything worse.
"Yesterday." I mumbled, trying not to look him in the eye. I could see Jace trying to fight the anger in his face, trying to keep his stance neutral.
"Where did this happen?" He asked, reaching a hand down to hold my own.
"School."
"Who did this?" Jace asked again, but I knew for a fact that he already knew. I wrapped my arms around his neck, burying my face in his shoulder so that I didn't have to look at him. He held my back tightly, holding me against him. Jace picked me up, walking to the top half of his bed, placing me down before sitting down next to me. He pulled me against his chest, so that I was using it like a pillow. I intertwined my legs with his as he stroked my hair lightly. "Was it Sebastian?" He asked and I nodded against his chest. I felt his body turn solid immediately, the confirmation making my own body rock as the tears fell down my cheeks. Jace raised me up the bed, so that my eyes were level with his.
"I need you to listen to me right now Clary. This is not your fault. Whatever possessed him to do this, it wasn't your fault. What will be your fault though is if you let him get away with this. Something has to be done Clary. He can't get away with this, he's gotten away with enough in the past. So we need to have a discussion about this. We need to talk about what we're going to do about it."
"What can we do about it?" I cried. "I just want him to go away."
"I could think of a few things we could do about it, none of which you would agree with." Jace muttered. "I don't think the answer is me caving his head in though, as much as I would like too. I think the answer is minimizing his contact with you. I don't want him near you. I understand you guys have art together but you can get someone to meet you after the class, and you can stay away from him inside the class itself." Jace suggested. I nodded.
"Maybe I got cocky. I thought I could stand up to him." I went to rest my head against Jace's chest but he held me so that I had to keep looking him in the eye.
"Clary. Don't blame yourself for this. This is all on him." I could tell by looking at him that he was trying his best to contain his anger. "Do you want to talk to Jon about this?" He asked and I suddenly sat up, my heart full of fright.
"No. Jon can't know about this. He'd kill him. I want to try and deal with this myself. Please let me try." The tears were falling fast and heavy, Jace embraced me.
"Calm down. Breathe." He reiterated as my chest heaved. The thought of telling Jon was making me nauseous, the feeling growing in my stomach, rising up to my chest until it was a very real threat in my throat. I threw myself from the bed, making a dash for the bathroom. Jace was hot on my tail as I just say made it.
"You don't want to see this." I groaned through heaving. Jace hunched down beside me, rubbing my back and pulling my hair back from my face.
"Calm down. I'm here. You're alright." Jace kept repeating, stroking my back. "You can't let him keep doing his to you. How about this? Let me have a word with him. I promise you, I'll keep my hands to myself. I just want to talk to him. Okay?" I looked up at him, staring straight into those golden eyes. I nodded, reluctantly. "Thank you. Let's get you back home shall we? I think you could do with a hot bath and some rest." He was right, I couldn't think of anything better right now.
Jace's POV
My blood was boiling on the drive over to Clary's. It took every ounce of patience I had not to go and hunt Sebastian down and put him six feet under. Even though Clary and I weren't in a relationship yet, just seeing her like that made me feel nigh on murderous. The pain behind those emerald eyes of hers, the fear that drove her so far to actually vomiting. I made it back to my house in what seemed like record time, probably driving a little too fast. When I went to pull into my usual space on the driveway, I was surprised to see another car there, one that I didn't recognise. I pulled my car in beside it, before walking up to the house. As soon as I opened the door, I could hear laughter coming from the kitchen. Kicking my shoes off, I headed along to the kitchen slowly. Pushing the door open, I was shocked by the scene before me. Isabelle was sat at the breakfast bar, Sebastian by her side. I was a mixture of emotions. What was he doing in my house? What was he doing with Isabelle? What did he think he was playing at? All I could be thankful of right now was that I had taken Clary home when I did.
"Oh Jace! I didn't expect you to be here." Isabelle was laughing, tucking her hair behind her ears nervously. I raised an eyebrow, trying to keep my temper under wraps. Sebastian was looking between Isabelle and myself, a look of amusement in his eyes.
"I didn't realise you were bringing someone home." I managed to say. Isabelle looked at Sebastian, laughing.
"It was kind of a spur of the moment thing." She giggled, Sebastian touched her shoulder lightly and I could feel my blood boiling all over again. It took all I had not to launch across the room and beat the crap out of him.
"I really should be leaving though, I have some work I need to get done for tomorrow." Sebastian said, rising from the table. He kissed the top of Isabelle's head lightly, looking directly at me. My fists hardened at my side, as Isabelle flushed with colour. Sebastian made his way out of the door past me and I followed him.
"I'm just going to move my car." I said plainly to Isabelle as I kept pace with him. As soon as we were out of the door, I grabbed Sebastian's shirt holding him against the wall, my arm across his throat. He just laughed, making me want to punch him all the more.
"What would Clary say about this behaviour Jace? Tsk tsk tsk." Sebastian mocked, looking me dead in the eye.
"What do you think you're playing at?" I growled at him, pressing my arm further into his throat. Once his face started to swell red, he pushed me back.
"You take something of mine. I take something of yours." He grunted, rearranging his shirt. I launched at him again, pushing him back against the wall.
"You're going to leave both of them alone. If you touch either of them again, I swear-"
"Oh empty threats." Sebastian mocked. "Let's be honest here, you've only got one pair of eyes and from what I've learnt today Isabelle is pretty keen and eager to please-" Sebastian cut off as I slammed him into the wall. I was just about to bury my fist into his smarmy face, when I was pulled back by the back of my shirt. I span around ready to push back whoever it was behind me, to be met with Alec's icy stare. Sebastian slipped out from beneath my grasp, hopping into his car and driving off without so much as another word.
"Do I need to ask what that was about?" Alec asked, confusion rife on his face. I shook my head, trying to shrug him off. I needed to walk this off. "This isn't going away Jace. We're talking about it."
"I'm not talking about it in front of Isabelle." I said simply.
"Fine. We'll walk it out then." Alec said, easily keeping pace with me. "Who was that then?"
I filled Alec in on all the important bits, knowing that I could trust him with my life. We talked about Sebastian's relationship with Clary, minus the sensitive detail she had discussed with me the other day. We talked about the bruises and about Isabelle. Alec's face hardened by the end of my story, one question bothering him.
"So, do we tell Isabelle?" Alec asked.
"I don't know. It's not really my place to tell her, but I don't want her getting hurt. If I'm completely honest though, I think this whole thing is just Sebastian trying to get me to drop Clary and stop him going after Isabelle." I sighed, shoving my hands into my pockets.
"Drop Clary?" Alec asked, his eyes dancing.
"We're kind of – uh – seeing each other, sort of?" I rambled, feeling slightly embarrassed.
"My kind of seeing someone? Or your kind of seeing someone?" Alec questioned, his eyebrows raised.
"More so your kind." Alec looked at me taken aback.
"Can you repeat that? I don't think my brain was ready to process that the first time?" Alec teased and I shoved his shoulder. "Sorry, I'm just shocked. Isabelle isn't stupid though Jace, she'll figure this out by herself and if what you're saying about that Sebastian is right, then he won't try and hurt her. If he does though, hell hath no fury. Unless you can convince Clary to talk to her?"
"I'll try but I can't promise that she will. It took enough to get her to open up to her own brother."
Clary's POV
After my hot bath, I put on a warm pair of pj's before heading downstairs. I didn't want to sit by myself, I wanted company. My Dad was sitting by himself in the living room, so I squeezed in next to him on the sofa. He wrapped his arm around me, still focussing on the paperwork in front of him.
"You alright honey?" He asked, stroking my shoulder lightly. I nodded, pressing my cheek against his arm. The comfort was all I needed right now, and my Dad seemed to understand that, not bothering me with chitchat. We sat like that for about half an hour before I decided it was time to go to bed.
"Clary." My Dad said as I was leaving the room. I turned to look at him, and he was looking up at me smiling. "I love you."
"Love you too Dad. Goodnight." I smiled, closing the living room door.
"Sleep well." His voice called as I climbed the stairs, feeling somewhat happier. Lying down on my bed, I pulled out my phone to ask Simon if we were still game for tomorrow but he'd beat me to the punch.
Simon: Tomorrow, we still on?
Clary: Of course we are. Think we should come to my house.
Simon: Good plan, batman.
Clary: How are you feeling anyway?
Simon: You know me, always perky. You?
Clary: I'm alright. Just tired.
Simon: Don't let me keep you up then! We'll catch up tomorrow, get some zzz's.
I opened up my conversation with Jace next.
Jace: I really need to talk to you about something, not sure how you'll take it though.
Had the way I acted earlier put him off me? Had I done something wrong?
Clary: Uh – what is it?
Jace: Isabelle went on a date with Sebastian. Would you be willing to tell her about him, I just don't want her getting hurt?
Of all the things I thought he was going to say, this wasn't what I imagined at all. I didn't feel comfortable discussing it with Isabelle – what if she thought I was jealous, or making something up? But then what if Sebastian hurt her, would I ever be able to forgive myself?
Clary: I'll think about it. I promise.
Jace: I really appreciate it. Sleep tight, Red. Feel free to call me if you need me.
I had a few more messages and quickly went through them.
Jon: Just heard you go into your room, do you need me tonight? x
Clary: Thanks for the offer Jon, I think I'm alright tonight but I'll let you know x
The last ones I opened were from Sebastian and I wished I'd opened them first.
Sebastian: Just had another run in with your Rottweiler. You really need to keep that thing on a leash before it hurts someone.
Clary: What, like you hurt people?
Sebastian: I only hurt you out of love Clary. I forget how delicate of a flower you are. I'll handle you better in the future, I promise.
Clary: You won't be handling me at all. Stay away from me.
Sebastian: You say that as though it's an easy thing to do. Love brings us together. It always will. See you soon.
Thank you so much for every follow, favourite, read and review! You guys really know how to make my day. Feel free to leave a review with suggestions/criticisms/feedback and questions! I love reading them. All of my love, until the next time. ~Sapph