Hey everyone! Sorry for the wait on this chapter. Midterms are this coming week, so between getting ready for them and Writer's Block, I had some trouble getting this update together. But it's here now, so hope you enjoy!
Thank you for all the follows, favorites, and reviews! You guys are awesome!
It was so easy for Clary to lose herself in Jace- in his eyes; when he smiled at her; when she watched him moving with the grace and finesse only he could, muscles contracting as he did; when he kissed her-especially when he kissed her, which was what he was doing now.
They were in one of the Institute's many hallways, in the residential wing, the majority of which was perpetually uninhabited. They were probably the first Shadowhunters to walk this particular corridor in quite a while. Which was probably exactly why Jace had led her there.
His body was against hers, close enough that she could feel every contour of him against her. Her hands were hopelessly tangled in his hair-which needed cutting again, and she stood as high as her tiptoes would allow to reach him, though Jace was supporting the majority of her weight. He'd pressed her up against the ancient wallpaper from the start, and seemed inclined to be as close to her as he possibly could, giving their current clothed state and the fact that they were in a random hallway and, though incredibly unlikely, could be walked in on at any time. Still, neither of them had let that fact stop them much.
After a while of intensely making out-there was no denying that was what they were doing, Clary broke away slightly to catch her breath, or risk passing out from oxygen deprivation. Jace simply switched to kissing hungrily along her jaw and down her neck, unabated. "We're supposed to be training, you know," she pointed out weakly.
Jace, after trailing a line of kisses back up to her mouth, pressed his lips to hers once more before replying. "And?" His voice was soft and husky, full of longing. He kissed her again, and then began exploring the rest of her exposed skin with his lips as well, very clearly uninterested in stopping. And understandably so. It was taking all of Clary's willpower not to crumble right there and give in completely to his obvious wishes.
"And someone is bound to come searching for us soon," she countered, untangling her fingers from his golden locks and clasping them behind his neck instead, wrapping her legs behind his thighs, which probably wasn't really helping her case, allowing him and the wall to support her weight completely. She stared at him, content to simply watch as he dotted her collarbone with kisses. After another few seconds, he conceded slightly, bringing his forehead to rest against hers, staring into her eyes, his own still darker than usual with desire.
"Let them," was his whispered response. He kissed her again, gentler this time. He pulled away then and set to looking at her again as what was left of his ever-present mask fell away, allowing her to see the side of him that he reserved for her and only her; the side of him Clary loved most.
He was stressed and worried, as they all were, about the events that had surrounded them the past few days. But no one else on the planet would he ever allow to see that, and she took from that what little comfort she could.
It had been almost a week since Magnus had become ill, for lack of a better term, and things had not improved much since then, for anyone. Per Alec's demand, and because Magnus was too weak to do anything else anyway, the warlock had taken up temporary residence in one of the Institute's many spare rooms, having refused, as vehemently as he could manage, the infirmary at all costs. Not exactly Nephilim protocol, but no one was stupid enough to bring that up to Alec right now. There hadn't been much change in Magnus one way or the other, though Alec was not handling it all that well. At all. He didn't eat unless Jace threatened to force food down his throat, he didn't sleep. He just sat by Magnus' bedside day and night, though the warlock slept most of the time.
They had informed the Clave of what was going on after Magnus had showed up that morning, and since, it had been a mess of meetings and votes. No decision had been made about whether the New York Institute would be offered much help with this. Maryse was in Idris for the day, for the sole purpose of trying to find out what to do about Asmodeus and how to do it.
And Magnus, unfortunately, had not been the end of their recent troubles either. Aside from the warlock's state and the affect it was having on Alec, the rest of the gang had had their hands pretty full with other matters. Demon activity was, by far, at the highest Clary had seen it. They had been out hunting almost every day that week, and not because they'd had to go looking for them. Sent from Asmodeus himself, no doubt. The bunch of them weren't sleeping much either. The Nephilim protection spells prevented demons from influencing their dreams, but that didn't mean the greater demon wasn't trying his hardest to anyway. The result was sleep that was fitful at best, and was interrupted violently every half hour, like clockwork. Clary would jolt awake suddenly with no memory of what had happened to wake her, but with a feeling of lingering fear in the back of her mind. She'd found herself thinking, on more than one occasion, that it was like her mind knew what was happening and would force her awake before any damage could be done. Not a particularly happy thought.
All of this had resulted in a pretty stressed out group of Shadowhunters the last few days. Sneaking off with Jace had been the first spontaneous, fun thing Clary had done since, and even it had a sort of heaviness to it, like the two of them needed each other so overwhelmingly for the sake of their sanity, it was more a necessity than anything else.
Jace, having ignored her latest statement, had gone back to kissing her lips, though not as greedily this time. His actions had grown sweeter and gentler, less desperate than they had been only moments before, and Clary responded to the change in demeanor, glad that she could distract him from the pressure of the situation, even if only temporarily.
After another minute, Jace pulled away, though they remained close enough together for their foreheads to touch. His eyes were closed and his breathing still slightly uneven when he spoke, bringing his hands up from where they had been on her torso, to cup her face. "I love you," he said softly, affectionately, "God, Clary, I love you so much."
"I know," she answered, smiling, "I love you too."
"I don't tell you enough," he persisted, opening his golden eyes to meet her green ones, "I don't know where I'd be without you."
"Dead, for one," she responded jokingly, but even as she said it, her heart felt weighted down for just a second. Jace dying just wasn't an option, even if it had actually happened. She couldn't imagine a world without Jace Herondale in it. She didn't want to live there.
"Exactly," Jace replied, voice still tender. He let her go then, stepping back and taking only her hand in his. His tone was once again sarcastic when he said, "I suppose we should go though. As completely comfortable as I am with our relationship and the things it entails, it could potentially be scarring to whoever had the misfortune of finding us going at it like that. I'd hate to see Simon's poor, innocent mind corrupted." He paused a second as they walked. "No, actually I wouldn't, he corrected."
"Doesn't matter either way. Simon's mind is definitely not innocent."
"Well then I see no reason for us having had to stop, because I know for a fact that Izzy's and Alec's aren't either."
Simon and Isabelle sat on the training room floor, their backs against the wall, a window above their head, facing the door, across the room. They had been there together for a while, after Jace and Clary had snuck of to do God knows what. They had tried training for all of five minutes before they'd both decided that it wasn't going to happen. They'd been sitting there together since, her head on his shoulder, their fingers intertwined on his knee while he rubbed soothing circles into the side of her hand with his thumb ; the both of them quiet for the most part. That was one of the things Izzy liked best about Simon. He knew when words were needed and he knew when they weren't. This was one of those latter times.
The stress everyone clearly felt was practically tangible. It had lingered over all of them like a cloud the past few days and between it and the lack of sleep, everyone's patience had grown pretty frayed.
Izzy still couldn't believe it. She didn't want to. She had been so happy for those two or so weeks after Simon had Ascended. Everything seemed to have fallen into place for them, finally. It was as close to perfect as she could ever have expected.
And now, here they were, facing yet another war, with another set of horrible odds. After two consecutive ones in the past year alone, they were at it again. More fighting, more pain… More loss. After all she had lost already, Isabelle wasn't sure she could handle any more. She still missed Max every day; little Max, young, innocent, too young to die. And yet he had. He had died and it still haunted her. She couldn't lose another brother. Or another friend. She couldn't lose anyone else. And the fear that she would paralyzed her.
She didn't know how much of this Simon knew, how much he had guessed from what she'd told him, how much he'd figured out on his own, but she was grateful for the silent comfort he offered her, the softly whispered I love you's in her ear.
She had never been in love before. Not like this. Not anywhere close. And she'd never imagined she'd fall in love with someone like Simon, someone who, at the time at least, wasn't even a Shadowhunter; who, even worse, was a Downworlder. And yet, she had, and she loved him more now, after everything, than she had even fathomed then. She was only faring as well as she was right now because of Simon, and even though she knew he wasn't doing great either, she was immensely grateful for him.
After a while, Izzy wasn't sure how long exactly, Jace and Clary wandered in, hands locked together. Neither she, nor Simon, made any effort to move at their presence, simply watching them from their place on the floor.
"Come on," Jace called over to them, having stopped with Clary in the doorway.
Simon hesitated for a second, obviously confused, "Where are we going?" he asked.
Jace shrugged. "Taki's. Central Park. The moon. I don't know, somewhere. I see no point in us moping around here, waiting for bad stuff to happen. The two of you are a pitiful sight. You should see yourselves. We're all in need of a distraction-and maybe a stiff drink or two. So come on."
Izzy had lifted her head from Simon's shoulder while Jace was talking. Beside her, Simon raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Jace Herondale, against moping? I never thought I'd live to see the day." Despite herself, Isabelle couldn't help allowing a small smile to grace her features. He made a valid point.
Jace was unimpressed, staring blandly at Simon. "Frankly," he said dully, "I'm surprised you did," and then, with Clary's hand still in his, began leading her back into the hallway, calling over his shoulder, "If you'd rather sit and sulk together, by all means, feel free. Otherwise, we're leaving." They disappeared from sight.
Simon and Isabelle looked at each other for a second, before shrugging and resignedly getting to their feet. Jace was right. There was no point in sitting around, waiting on something they had no control over. Izzy had no idea what he had in mind, but she didn't want to hang around like this anymore either. "Why not?" she allowed, shrugging. Simon gave a small smile in response and proceeded to help her to her feet, like the gentleman he was only about half the time, though Isabelle didn't mind.
Clary and Jace were waiting for them in the nave; the latter sprawled out lazily in one of the pews, smiling cockily, like he knew that Simon and Izzy would have followed. Isabelle was almost disappointed to have proven him right.
"What about Alec?" Simon asked as he and Isabelle approached Jace and Clary, "I'm guessing he's not coming…?"
"Believe it or not, I actually did ask," Jace answered, standing up, "Nearly bit my head off when I suggested he come too. He's slightly volatile at the moment, fair warning. I'd suggest only talking to him if you intend to die in some painful way at his skilled hand. However, no, he is not coming. And he very well may end up with a coronary by the end of this if he's not careful." Isabelle had known Alec was like that already, which was why she hadn't bothered asking. She knew her brother would never willingly leave Magnus' side when the warlock was like this. She also could see the effect Alec's state was inadvertently having on Jace, his parabatai. At this point, she was praying for a miracle, for Magnus' sake, as well as her brothers'. "Anyway," Jace said, offering his hand to Clary, "Shall we?" The redhead gave a smile, took his hand in hers, and the four of them made their way out of the Institute.
That night, Clary walked beside Simon on the sidewalk on their way home, as per usual. The Shadowhunters had spent the better part of the afternoon at Taki's, talking and eating, and then, had stopped by Pandemonium for a couple of hours, after they'd mutually decided they all needed a little fun. Clary had been particularly happy about the latter part, as she hadn't been to Pandemonium since that fateful night, what seemed so long ago now, when she'd first encountered Jace, Izzy, and Alec, and her life had changed forever. It had been fun to be there with them and Simon. Not to mention, their dark clothes and tattoos made them look a lot cooler in that club. It had been the distraction they had all needed, and for the moment anyway, Clary was pretty happy.
"Rebecca's coming home tomorrow," Simon was saying, "Spending a little time with us before school starts again. I was thinking of taking a day or two off training to see her before she has to leave."
Clary shrugged, "Go for it. Honestly, I'm not sure how much training is actually going to get done while this whole Prince of Hell situation is going on anyway. It'd probably be smart to do that sooner than later though."
Simon shrugged tiredly, "Yeah. Hopefully it blows over soon, and with Becca and my mom safely out of harm's way. I don't know how much more any of us can take."
Clary nodded understandingly and then changed the subject, not wanting to ruin her good mood yet. "So what does Rebecca think of the whole Shadowhunter thing?" Simon had told her about how his sister had found out about the Ascension and everything that had led up to it back when he'd first told her, but the subject hadn't been touched since.
Simon smiled weakly. "She thinks it's pretty cool. She'd never admit it, but she likes it way better than the vampire thing."
"Can't blame her. I do too."
"So do I-" Simon didn't get the chance to complete his sentence before, out of nowhere, something long, black, and huge collided violently with his body, lifted him off his feet, and sent him flying through the air and into the side of the nearest building, knocking him clean out and eliciting a sharp cry of surprise from Clary. Simon wouldn't know what hit him.
Neither did Clary. She turned to face her opponent in time to see the huge black mass flying toward her next.
So I got a review last chapter for some more suspenseful stuff to happen to keep you all coming back each update. So I tried it. What'd ya think?
Also, quick question: Obviously something is going to have to happen with Asmodeus at the end. Any ideas? Maybe something with Magnus, being his son and all? Any ideas? I'd love to hear them. And any others you may have. Your requests help a lot!
Anyway, thanks for reading. Hope you liked it. I will update as soon as I can. :)