SuShadowhunter from Ravenclaw: yeah, I love the sibling love. Don't kill me but in some warped way I feel sorry for Valentine. I mean, I feel sorry for him but I think he went a bit OTT.

Guest: I'm not giving up (I THINK THIS IS FOR EVERYONE) but I am so busy with school this year, my writing plans are going to shit so updates will be quite infrequent. Yes, I believe Jocelyn could have been there in the last few years at least.

Riley207: Me toooooo

Crazypoptartdude: Yeah, the reason why I separated Sebastian and Jonathan is because I love the idea of good Jonathan. I love the idea of Jonathan being like "you'RE NOT DATING JACE FUCKING HERONDALE, CLARISSA." and just going all protective older brother. I actually cried at the end of CoHF when we saw a glimpse of the real Jonathan. Js, you need to be less good at guessing.

Toffeeandfudge: Ah, I'm glad to hear it! It's dark. Like really really dark. I dont know whether to put the summary up to give everyone a taster. She's always loved them. And yes, haha, Valentine needs to tone it down.

TwilightMortal: thank you

Something was wrong. Something was definitely wrong. Jonathan had called Clary at 4am sounding like he was about to burst, saying "I can't keep this from you any longer". Jace tried to reassure her joking that if Jon turned out to be gay then she owed him $20 because of their bet on it last week. After 10 minutes of trying to calm her, Jace insisted on calling Meliorn to drive her to the Thorns base after she refused to let Jace go with her. She had a funny feeling it was to do with her mother again.

As she settled into the back of the car, Meliorn looked at her in the rearview mirror.

"Are you..." He sighed, seeming to have an inner conflict. "Are you quite alright, Clary?"

Clary tried to smile and nodded. "Yes... sort of, Meliorn."

Jordan jumped in more confidently. "You sure?"

Clary nodded. "I don't know anything yet but someone wanting to be speak to you at this time in the morning doesn't sound too good. Thank you both for asking though."

Jordan smiled with half of his mouth and Meliorn tilted his head forward a little in a 'you're welcome' gesture then started to drive.

A few minutes into the drive Clary began to study Jordan. He'd been glancing at the wing mirror- through the tinted black windows- every few seconds for a minute or so. Tensing up slightly, he pulled a walkie-talkie out of the glove box. Clary saw another one in there but that was yellow whereas the one he took out was black.

"Bat, it's Jordan. You hear me loud and clear?"

There was the loud crackling of static and then Bat's unmistakable voice. "I hear you. What's happening?" Bat's voice took on a formal, business accent that Clary had heard a thousand times and laughed at a million times. She would've laughed then if she wasn't so concentrated on finding out what was happening.

"Do you have Eric with you?"

More static, then a reply. "Yeah, why? Jordan." His voice was hard.

Jordan glanced at Clary, seeming reluctant to speak in front of her. He sighed before speaking into the walkie-talkie. "Shit, dude. We're being tailed."

Clary was stunned. She'd been so caught up in her own thoughts about what Jon had to say that she hadn't even noticed the black SUV- similar to the own she was travelling in- following them. Bat's sharp tone from Jordan's walkie-talkie brought her back to the present.

"Meliorn, you know the drill, try to lose them."

"Fuck." Clary was surprised at the mumbled profanity from the usually polite and quiet driver but she knew how stressful it was to lose a car without making it obvious.

Meliorn didn't slow nor did he speed up as he weaved through back streets and took the long way through the city still seeming to head for their planned destination looking like he'd done this plenty of times before.

After a few tense and silent minutes, Bat spoke again. "Jordan, can you get the reg plate so I can give it to Eric to search up?"

Jordan relayed the registration plate effortlessly without hesitation. "You got anything?"

Bat sighed. "Nothing. According to the system, it doesn't even fucking exist."

"I don't like the sound of that."

"Me neither."

Clary finally spoke up. "That means it's almost certainly a professional, right?"

Jordan's head snapped back to look at her like he was just remembering she was there. "Well... yeah. Pretty much."

"Jord?" Meliorn spoke and Clary sensed slight panic in his tone.

"Yes?"

"I think... Fuck, I think there's another car."

Jordan's eyes sharply glanced at the wing mirror only to see a navy car with tinted windows behind the black one.

"Fucking shit fuck fuck fuck-"

Bat interrupted him. "Jordan, what in God's name is going on there?!"

"There's another car."

Clary could almost see Bat closing his eyes and rubbing his temples. "Christ. Okay, Meliorn, you can do this."

Meliorn took a deep breath. "Do you think we should do a switch over?"

"Not yet. That's one of out last resorts."

Meliorn gave a nod of agreement whilst Clary had never felt so useless.

The turns Meliorn was taking were becoming more frequent in a greater attempt to lost their followers. As they stopped at red light, Meliorn's head fell back against the headrest.

Jordan put a surprisingly gentle hand on Meliorn's shoulder. "You're doing great, keep it up."

Meliorn's head came up and his eyes reopened as the light turned to amber. He gave an appreciative nod to Jordan and began driving again.

Taking a sharp turn further away from their intended destination, Meliorn kept up the same speed as to not raise suspicion.

"Jordan. Any development?" Bat spoke, no emotion showing.

"Nothing. Meliorn's keeping up the good work."

"Nice one, kid."

Meliorn nodded even though Bat couldn't see him and stopped at an intercept.

All of a sudden, a long lorry horn's deep beep resounded through the street. Meliorn's head whipped to the right to see the lorry approaching and an uncharacteristic look of deep determination Clary was set in his eyes.

He slammed his foot on the gas and the wind was knocked out of Clary as she hit the seat with the force of the sudden acceleration. The lorry's horn beeped more frantically this time as it seemed that a crash was inevitable.

"JORDAN. WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?!" Bat bellowed through the speaker of the walkie-talkie.

"BAT! WE'RE- MELIORN!"

Meliorn let out something that sounded like a battle cry as the lorry barely missed the back of their car.

"Jordan." Bat said through gritted teeth. "What. Was. That."

"We almost fucking crashed. We almost fucking... Meliorn. What the fuck is wrong with you?!"

Meliorn let out a long, shaky breath. "We lost them."

Jordan frowned then checked the wing mirror. "Shit."

Bat's crackly voice came again. "What is it?!"

"He's right," Jordan let out a single laugh and ran his hand through his hair. "We nearly fucking died but, Christ, he lost them."

SHITSHITSHITSHITSHIT guys. School has been busy as fuck, year 11 is a massive dick. Updates will be infrequent now, I'm trying I swear. Thanks for the patience, just hang in there. PS- I've got a summary for a future fanfic (after this, ofc). Would you like to see it?