Chapter One: The Pain of the End

Time stands still

Beauty in all she is

I will be brave

I will not let anything take away

What's standing in front of me

Every breath

Every hour has come to this

One step closer

Clary felt a sharp pain lance through her shoulders as she was shoved backwards into the brick wall, her fiery red curls falling loose into her face. Two strong hands holding her wrists above her head, showing her that struggling would be futile. She was quivering, shaking all over from fear, if not for the hand she would probably have fallen over by now, how did she get here? What had gone so horribly wrong for her that she had ended up shoved up against a wall in an alley in the middle of the night, in a neighborhood where no one would notice her screams. Yes, she was petrified.

"I wonder what such a pretty thing like you is doing down here in the middle of the night? You just looking for a little fun, hmmm girlie?" The man's acrid breath washed over Clary's face almost causing her to choke. "Well I think I should punish you for being such a bad girl and having such dirty thoughts. Who knows maybe the whore inside you will enjoy this, yes?" Clary shuddered, shaking her head violently. She knew exactly what he meant and his words made her shake all the harder, her brain racing to think of a way to get out of this impossible situation.

Clary closed her eyes to hold back the wave of tears that threatened to appear, when the man suddenly leaned forward and licked her face, with his wet slimy tongue, flicking the tip like a snake's. He then took one hand from where it had been holding her wrists and began to savagely grope at her small chest. It was savage and disgusting and it hurt. Clary couldn't imagine what would happen to her mind, her body, if the man got what he wanted.

Sliding his hand down her stomach, he thrust it between her legs, pushing against her jeans with his grimy fingers. With this action Clary lost it, she began to scream.

Loud, petrified screams full of fear, screams that can only be made by someone in the most desperate of situations. She knew that no one could hear her, but she screamed anyway. She would have screamed until her voice broke and she had shredded her throat if it would get this awful man away from her.

She would have screamed forever, planned on it until suddenly there was a hot pressure against her lips and the same slimy tongue that had been licking her earlier was shoved down her throat, effectively choking her and silencing her panicked cries.

Clary wanted to die. She just wanted to die. Throughout this whole ordeal Clary had not cried, not a single tear had parted from her jade green eyes. She planned to keep it that way. She would not cry, she promised herself; she would not give that man the satisfaction. So she remained still, groped by his hand and choked by his tongue, awaiting an end to the suffering that wasn't going to end.

When he ripped into her, Clary thought she could feel something breaking inside her, something was ripping and tearing itself apart inside her, painfully scorching her insides with a fierce pain as she felt her spirit break. Claws of pain grated through her as her spirit was effectively shattered. She thought really, truly that she wanted to be dead. She wanted to die, she thought, please, please just let me die.

She could feel the warmth of blood dripping down the insides of her thighs. She didn't know how much time had passed, maybe seconds, maybe minutes, maybe hours.

When she heard a noise, a blessed noise through all the pain and suffering that was coursing through her and she gently turned her head just lightly to the side, forcing her eyelids to snap almost painfully open.

She thought for a moment that she had died, when she saw the man who was running quickly towards her, for he was a man made all of golden fire, heated amber eyes like those of a proud lion, and hair the colour of golden sunlight, with perfect features that could only belong to someone not from this earth. She could have sworn that in that moment, she saw wings, delicate wings that looked to be carved from the purest alabaster stone, yet as gentle and light as a feather, were curving elegantly from his back.

His face was set in a look of pure fury, scary and powerful. The look of a lion coming in for the kill.

Clary's tired eyes fluttered closed against her will, she wanted to keep watching but she couldn't, she just couldn't. She was just so tired and in so much pain it felt numb.

All of a sudden the heavy weight that had been holding her up, pushing grinding against her was gone, left to stand on her own shaky legs that could not hold her weight, Clary fell.

Her whole body slumping to the ground so fast and so hard that her head met the cold hard, concrete with a loud crack. Her green eyes snapping open again. But to Clary this pain was almost nothing compared to the other broken pain. The only thing to show that it had affected her at all was the warm sticky substance seeping into her hair.

Slowly Clary lifted a shaky hand to the back of her head, only to feel the warmth of blood coating her fingers. She brought her hand back to her side, trying not to see the scarlet coating her pale skin.

With the sight of her blood the events of the past hour rushed back to her and she finally realized that she could feel the pounding ache growing in her skull, accompanying the pain between her legs and in her soul, so that it was all just one big red fog of pain. It all came rushing into her in a dizzying rush and she could see blackness creeping into the sides of her vision.

"Clary, Clary, are you alright? Clary, answer me, please!" said a soft anxious voice.

With those words his eyes came into Clary's sight and Clary felt like she was sinking into the gold liquid of his irises. She had forgotten about the beautiful, avenging angel. As Clary's eyes began to close, the black almost completely across her vision, the final thing she saw was gold, and the last thing she felt was a warm comforting hand holding hers. Seeming to push the pain and the fear away, so that when Clary finally shifted into the blackness of unconsciousness she felt safe for the fist time all night.

Freed from the heavy pain by an angel straight from heaven.

A/N: Hey Guys, another random thought of a story popped into my head and I went with it! I hope you guys like it, and don't find it too mature for your liking. Thanks to my beta and cheerleader she keeps me going! Please review!

-readlivlaflove 3