Hey guys. So I'm really sorry. The amount of time it took me to post this chapter is despicable. It was a tough chapter to write though. I tried to explore a little of Jace's softer side, the one used almost exclusively for Clary. Hopefully it's alright. Tell me what you think!

The first thing Clary was aware of was the familiar pressure of a hand in hers. That, and the pain, which seemed pretty residual at this point, but was very much still there. She opened her eyes, which took more effort than it should have. They felt practically glued shut, and she knew she must have been asleep for a while. Her vision slowly came into focus, and she could make out the familiar blue and white pattern of angels on the ceiling of the Institute's infirmary. The light coming in from the windows lining the wall was dim, coating the room in a pinkish-orange hue. The sun was either setting or rising, she couldn't tell which.

The last thing she remembered was the demon, or at least, she assumed it had been a demon. What else could it have been? And even then, she didn't know what kind it had been, there hadn't been time for that, and even if there had, she knew she'd never seen it before. All she knew was that it had been huge.

After Simon had been incapacitated, Clary'd had enough time to turn toward the looming threat and could do nothing more before the black mass collided hard with where she'd stood. Her reflexes saved her life in that millisecond, and for one of the few times in her life, she was thankful for being small and quick.

Even that advantage though hadn't been enough. She'd jumped to the side and out of the way just in time and rolled to her feet to face the demon again, her only weapon, a measly seraph blade, drawn and ready-nowhere near the defense she'd needed in a fight like that, but the things was already going in for another blow. Clary had retreated back a few steps, bracing herself for another attack. The black mass had shot toward her again and she had readied herself to defend.

After that, a flare of intense pain throughout her entire body, then nothing. Everything went black.

She turned her head now toward the person holding her hand, and was unsurprised to find it was Jace, sitting in a chair beside her bed. He looked pretty haggard; his hair a mess, his clothes wrinkled, his posture tired. His eyes were closed, though he clearly wasn't asleep. A book lay forgotten in his lap.

As Clary watched him, he opened his eyes and met her gaze, only to jolt slightly in surprise at seeing her awake. "Hey," he breathed, squeezing her hand and standing up to get closer to her. He placed a hand on her cheek, relief clear in his features like she'd never seen it before.

Just how bad had it been, exactly? And what was it?

"Is Simon okay?" was the first thing she asked. Her voice sounded abnormally scratchy, reinforcing the idea that she'd been out for a long time.

"He's fine," Jace told her, "He woke up after you two got here. He was a little banged up, but the iratzes we gave him did their work pretty quickly. You were in worse shape." His voice cracked on the last part. It was probably the most emotional Clary had ever seen Jace and again she wondered what on earth could have been bad enough to do that to him.

"What happened?" she asked.

He looked like he didn't quite know the answer himself. "What do you remember?" he asked.

Clary shook her head slowly, thinking back again. Her thoughts were still sluggish, coming to her too slowly. "We were walking home," she began, "Talking about… something… And then, out of nowhere, this-this thing, I don't know what it was, but it was really huge, it came out of nowhere and sent Simon flying into a building. Knocked him out cold. Then it came at me and I got out of the way at first and stood to fight it. And then something hit me from behind, I think, because it really hurt, but that's all I remember."

Jace nodded, looking pretty far away. Slowly, he brought his eyes back to meet hers again, holding her hand gently in both of his. "We knew something was going on pretty quickly after you and Simon left," he explained, his voice steady and completely earnest. "The Sensors went berserk, buzzing and heating up like crazy. Even with that, we wouldn't have known as quickly as we did, had Izzy not had one in her pocket…" He allowed a small smile to grace his lips as he told her about how Isabelle had jumped straight up in the air and let out a sharp cry of surprised pain before quickly yanking the black Sensor out of her back pocket before it could burn a hole through it. As it was, it had turned the denim black, effectively ruining her jeans, which she was none too pleased about. Normally, Jace would have had a field day with something like that.

"Anyway," He said, schooling his expression again as he continued his explanation, "We took off immediately, but I… I just knew it was bad." He looked at her again, still gripping her hand firmly in his own. "The demon had to be seriously powerful and would had to have gotten very close, very fast." He shook his head. "I just had a bad feeling… I knew you were in trouble. Even if you hadn't just left…"

Clary sighed and attempted to lean toward him before quickly abandoning the idea, wincing in pain as she did so. "Hey, I'm okay."

Jace just shook his head and leveled his eyes with hers again. "You were on the ground when we got there," he continued, clearly struggling to keep his voice flat, emotionless. He would fight his feelings until the end, it seemed. "Broken. Lying in a pool of your own blood." His voice cracked slightly, but he continued, speaking through his teeth as anger flared up in place of the other emotions. "And that thing," he spit the word, "It was there too, looming over you, toying with you, when it easily could have just killed you right away, and that's when I knew. That thing came from him." His eyes, which had drifted away as he had spoken, came to meet hers again. She didn't need clarification on who "he" was. "He ordered it to find you and torture you. And Clary, that's it. I'm going to kill him. Myself. I don't care if it can't be done. I'll find a way. I swear on the Angel I will kill that-"

"Jace," she interrupted, squeezing his hand as tightly as she could manage. He stopped talking and met her eyes, and for just a second, she swore she could see the angry flames in his eyes again. "Come here." He just stood there, looking at her until she repeated, slightly harsher, "Come here." He stepped toward her and then obliged her further, sitting down at the edge of the bed. She leaned toward him, ignoring the pain, and kissed him, fiercely at first, and then more tenderly. "Better?" she asked after pulling away to look at him.

"Slightly."

"Good."

"I am still going to kill him."

"And I'm going to help you."

"Not if I have any say in the matter."

"You don't." He allowed a smile then, small but real, and that made Clary feel better. She could understand Jace's bloodlust. She shared it. She just didn't like seeing him that way, torn so violently between rage, fear, and protective love that it seemed physically painful for him.

"I know," he said, "I'd have kept you locked inside and safe a long time ago if I did."

"I'm not fragile," she chided.

He gave her a once-over and cocked an eyebrow. She smacked his arm weakly, finding it easier to ignore the throbbing in her limbs. "Not normally."

"I know. You're the strongest person I know. It's one of the many reasons I love you."

Clary smiled and hesitated a moment before broaching the subject of the attack again. "What… what kind of demon was it? I only saw it for a second, but I know it's not one I've ever seen before."

Jace sighed. "It was a Morrow demon. It was so focused on you, we were able to take it out pretty quickly."

"A Morrow demon?" Clary was almost certain she'd never heard of it.

Jace nodded. "They've been extinct for almost five hundred years. Supposedly. Though, clearly, that assumption is out the window now. Don't tell Alec. He really doesn't like it when things that are supposed to be extinct, aren't." He grinned at that last part, the familiar Jace she knew and loved making an appearance for the first time. Clary couldn't help but smile back in response.

"He doesn't know? Wasn't he with you?" she asked.

Jace shrugged half-heartedly. "He knows you and Simon were attacked, that Izzy and I took care of it, and that you were hurt-he did ask about you a few times, by the way. But no, he didn't come with us. As bad as it was, it would have been worse if he had. With where his head's been lately, he wouldn't have been much help." That's why I'm worried about what will happen if and when Asmodeus shows up. He didn't have to say it for Clary to know it was true. The thought was a sobering one, though it certainly wasn't the first time it had crossed her mind.

She gave his hand, which still held hers across their laps, a squeeze and leaned back, resting her head on his shoulder. They were quiet for a minute before Jace spoke again, his voice as quiet and serious as she'd ever heard it. "It was really bad, Clary. I really thought you weren't going to make it for a while there." He wrapped his arm around her and gently pulled her close to him, which nicely emphasized his words. "It was the worst three days of my life." His words were so tender and emotion-filled, she could almost feel her heart shatter, hearing them. Jace; strong, solid, ever-sarcastic Jace had almost lost it completely, worrying about her. The thought made her heart both swell and break at the same time, though two words brought her up short.

"Three days?"

He looked at her and nodded earnestly. "It was bad, Clary," he repeated. "Your parents have been camped out in one of the spare bedrooms, staying by your side ever since. The only reason they aren't now is because Maryse literally forced them to come eat dinner. It's really the first time they've left you for more than five minutes." He smirked, "Figures, you would wake up now. It's my god-like looks and charming personality; I knew it. Nothing and no one can stay asleep for long in my presence."

"Yeah," Clary said, wincing as another stab of pain shot across her torso, "That's it, I'm sure."

In response, Jace removed his stele from his pocket, took her arm in his hands, and proceeded to trace the lines of the familiar pain-relieving rune into the skin of her forearm. She could feel it working immediately and was grateful. "Demon venom," he said, placing the stele on the side table next to him and wrapping her in his arms again, "Fun, isn't it?"

"No," Clary muttered, closing her eyes against him, "Shut up." She could almost feel him smiling in response.

Simon couldn't remember ever feeling as relieved as he did when he found out Clary was awake. He'd gotten next to no sleep the last three nights, replaying and dreading the possibility of her not making it every moment since he had woken up in the infirmary and had seen the shape she was in. The extreme headache he'd had from the attack didn't even register with him until long after.

She had just been sprawled there in the bed beside his, bruised and bloodied almost beyond recognition-a sight that would haunt him for a long, long time. He'd just stood there watching, helpless, as Maryse, Izzy, and Jace had worked frantically over her, cleaning, and stitching, and drawing iratzes; the latter distraught to the point of complete silence as he worked, speaking only to yell orders to the others to hurry up or hand him a bandage, or get out of the way, all of which had included more than a few obscenities before the stoic silence returned.

Never had Clary seemed smaller and weaker than she had in those long, painful moments.

She still looked pretty bad, her skin still lightly bruised and red from the burns of the venom, despite the many healing runes, and she was still in some obvious pain, but Simon didn't care. She was alive, and awake, and she was going to be okay. That was all he cared about.

It was obvious, even to him, what Asmodeus was doing, weeding them out one by one, hitting them each where they would be hurt the most. And in a sick way, it made sense. Returning his mother's memories had been meant to make Simon feel alone and hated. Making Magnus sick not only affected him, but also Alec. Sending that thing after Clary had not only hurt her physically, impeding her ability to fight and defend herself, but Jace, because she was his one weak point. Stealing their sleep and their peace of mind wasn't enough; he had to keep going further and further until they couldn't function properly at all. That was how he planned to win. Simon knew it was true, and the others probably did too.

But they were better than that. Asmodeus wasn't winning this war, not after everything they had all been through and fought for. They had come too far to let a demon, no matter how powerful it may be, get the best of them in the end. They could fight back too. Because they were Shadowhunters and that was what they did; they were stronger than that. Way stronger.

And Asmodeus would pay for everything. If no one else did, Simon would make sure of that.

Alec sat, leaning forward with his head in his hands, in his chair, the one he had pulled up to Magnus' bedside two weeks earlier, when he had first gotten sick. And Alec had been in it so much since then, he was sure there would be a permanent impression of his body imprinted into it when this was all over; when Magnus got better.

If Magnus got better-

No. No. He wasn't allowing himself to think like that. Only hopeless people thought like that and he was not going to let himself lose hope. He couldn't. Things had never been as good between the two of them as they had been before he'd gotten sick. Alec had never been so happy. And he wouldn't allow himself to dwell on the unknowns of the situation or its potential to leave him unhappy once more. He couldn't.

"Please," he found himself whispering. He wasn't sure exactly who he was talking to; Magnus, or Raziel, or himself, or maybe no one at all. He just repeated it again. And then again. "Please. Please." Eventually the word would lose its meaning, maybe it already had, but it was more of a mantra anyway. I'm losing my mind... Maybe he already had.

It wasn't that Alec wanted to stay and watch Magnus suffering, torturing himself in the process. But he wanted to be the first person the warlock would see if-when-he woke up.

Magnus shifted, entombed in the same restless sleep he'd been in pretty much since he'd taken up residence in the room. And when he did break free from it, he was so groggy and disoriented, Alec wondered if he knew where he was or who he was with at all. It was all the Shadowhunter could do to get food and water into him at uneven intervals. Things weren't looking very good.

With a heavy sigh, Alec sat up and leaned back, this thoughts shifting to other things. Jace had been in to check on Alec at least once a day, making sure he was eating and sleeping regularly. He wasn't. He'd barely left the small, dark room for the last two weeks. It was taking its toll on him, but it was worse to be away. So he stayed.

He'd been up to the infirmary the day before, both out of concern for Clary and because he owed Jace that much, with everything he'd done for him the past two weeks, to check in on her. The attack had been bad and Alec felt guilty that he hadn't been around to help, and even worse because he knew why they hadn't asked for it. And he knew they were right.

He was losing his mind.

But he wasn't giving up; not on Magnus, or the others, or even himself. He knew there was only one way out of this mess, and every day brought him closer and closer to taking care of that worthless demon himself. For good.

He knew how badly Jace wanted Asmodeus for himself after what had happened with Clary. But what Jace didn't know was that he wasn't the only one with the greater demon in his sights. Alec did too.

And if it came down to rock-paper-scissors, so be it.

Okay, so hopefully Jace wasn't too OOC. I know normally he would never be like that, but he did always have a more sensitive side that only Clary was ever allowed to see. I was kind of banking on that for this chapter.

So, thoughts, concerns, suggestions? IDEAS would be great. I want something to happen that focuses on Izzy before the end of all this. Anything you have would be great. I would love to hear it!

Anyway, thanks for reading and I promise to have the next update up sooner than this one. Until next time... :)