Chapter 8: So we get to find out what happened to Clary. I have to say, I love Simon Lewis so damned much. I wanted to let him get a bit of glory in this chapter. Maybe he and Jace may come to a bro-understanding. I think Clary is definitely in need of a break, huh? Maybe she needs a little romance…hmm.
POSSIBLE TRIGGER WARNING: contains violence, elements non-con, drug use, and trauma (Rated M).
I do not own any of the characters, only the illustrious Cassandra Clare owns them. I do, however, own this particular story, so please don't be lame and copy/paste it elsewhere.
Previously: "They danced slowly, very close to one another, to a song no one else could hear. I want a love like that, she thought."
"Stop…Seb– Sebastian. No." Clary pushed weakly at his shoulders and he sighed, annoyed. She was dizzy and her ears were ringing. He grasped her wrists painfully in one of his large hands and forced them over her head while the other one tried to work the clasp of her bra behind her back as she tried to squirm out from beneath him. She turned her head away from him to scream, but his mouth recaptured hers. She could hear the thrum of music through the curtains.
"Mine. Say my name again." He moaned against her mouth. I can't move. He's going to rape me. Clary bit down hard on his lip and tasted blood. He grunted and pulled back, releasing her arms. "Help!" She tried to scream, but it came out more as a loud whine. She turned on her side and attempted to get off the table. "Don't fucking touch me you psycho." She growled. He laughed and grasped her face, turning it back to him, squeezing her jaw painfully.
"Bad girl, Clarissa. Although I rather liked it. I guess we'll have to take this party elsewhere. Our first time should be in my bed anyway, not at a bar." He pulled her off the table and gently sat her back on the plush seat. Sighing heavily he pulled the top of her bodysuit up and pulled her arms through the sleeves, despite her weak struggles. Smirking and locking eyes with her in the dim lounge, he slid the zipper of her costume painfully slow up to her cleavage as she weakly slapped at his hands. Fucking psychotic pervert. I can't let him take me out of the club. Where is Simon? Izzy? Jace? She reached her hand forward and touched his right cheek, running her fingers across his fake claw marks. He paused his movements and watched her face, smiling affectionately. In your dreams asshole. His eyes glittered in the darkness. The scar mask was rubbery and covered almost the entire side of his face. Clary grasped the top corner, where the prosthetic mask started at his hairline and ripped it from his face. He hissed in pain and pulled back from her. "Help…someone help. Please…" Clary cried, tears dripping down her face, she struggled to stand up. Sebastian grasped her shoulders and shoved her backwards onto the seat.
"That wasn't nice, Clarissa." He spat and grabbed her neck, squeezing hard then letting go. Clary gasped in pain and coughed. "I'm going to have to punish you for that later. Now come on, love. Up we go now…" He lowered his head and licked her tears from her bruising neck, as he snaked his arms under hers. He lifted her from the seat and Clary shoved at him with her remaining strength. I'm going to pass out. Flashing club lights suddenly filled the booth as the curtain was torn open and Sebastian was violently pulled off of Clary. She caught a flash of blonde hair. Jace?
Jace clutched the front of Sebastian's thick costume and flung him out of the booth. "Get the fuck off of her, you piece of shit!" Clary heard Jace yell furiously. She could hear muffled grunts as fists landed against flesh, and furniture getting knocked around, but couldn't get up to leave. Her legs wouldn't cooperate. She laid back on the comfortable cushions and opened a bottle of water that was laying on the seat. She drank the whole bottle and closed her eyes, panting as her head spun. Clary jumped when a loud bell started to ring. It sounded like a school bell but didn't stop. The flashing lights and music stopped as the club flooded with bright house lights. Fire alarm?
"Is Pandemonium on fire? Simon, Izzy…Jace, where–" She said out loud. Strong arms suddenly scooped her up and cradled her close and Clary screamed, prepared to fight again. She looked up to concerned golden eyes and relaxed. Jace. "I've got you, Clary. You're safe, sweetheart. Simon's okay. Everyone's fine. There's no fire. Someone pulled the alarm. I've got you, baby." He kissed her forehead before she closed her eyes and dropped her head against his chest, sobbing. She heard loud voices and could hear the shuffling feet of people walking quickly to the exits. She pulled her arms tightly across her chest, the torn rubber scar mask still clutched in her hand. Clary finally passed out.
Clary cracked her eyes open and tried to focus on the fleshy blur in front of her face. She blinked a few times and tried to lift her head. Ow! That was a mistake. It's light out, but what time is it? She dropped her head back down on something firm, but also soft, and very warm…a man's chest? She was draped atop a man's body, straddling him. Clary inhaled deeply. He smelled familiar, like citrus…and sweat. Her arms were wrapped around him and trapped under his back. She could feel his firm morning problem pressed against her stomach. Oh shit. Did I go home with someone last night? I don't remember. What happened? Head hurts. Bad. She was so thirsty. Hangover. Worst fucking hangover ever. Where am I and who am I laying on? Strong arms were wrapped around her back, holding her in a relaxed embrace. How much did I drink? I need water and something for this headache. Groaning, she pulled her arms from beneath the sleeping man and pushed herself up. She gasped when the person she was laying on top of jolted awake beneath her. His arms tightened around her, holding her in place. She squealed and tipped her face down and looked into the golden eyes of Jace Herondale. Clary's eyes widened in shock.
"Hey, hey. You're safe, sweetheart." Jace crooned, still holding her tightly against him. "How are you feeling, Clary? Are you in any pain?" He spoke gently and looked at her face, then her neck and chest. He frowned. He relaxed his arms. "Clary?"
Safe? What the fuck is he talking about? Clary gasped, scrambled off of him and flopped on her back onto the mattress, clutching her head. She grunted in pain. Ouch! I slept with him again? I don't remember…
Clary slowly sat up and groaned. She gingerly held the front of her neck, then slid her hand up to her jaw, rubbing it. Why does my neck hurt, and my face? She was in her own bed, her own room. With Jace. She looked down at herself and dropped her hands to her lap. She was wearing one of her own tank tops and sleep shorts. She gasped and tears sprung to her eyes as she raised her hands in front of her face. Her wrists had dark bruises that looked like hand prints circling them. There was a hospital ID bracelet on her left wrist. Eyes wide, she snapped her head to the side and looked at Jace. She began to tremble. He shook his head, wide eyed, put his hands up, palms out towards her and got up on his knees, slowly moving towards her, across the bed. Her heart started pounding as she looked at him. His chest was bare and he was wearing blue boxer briefs. He had a large bruise on his left cheek bone and one on the edge of his mouth. Did he do this to me? "Clary, sweetheart. It's okay. You–"
"What the fuck happened, Jace? Did you– Did we– oh my god! Help!" She screamed and slapped his hands away. Jumping off of her bed she ran to her bathroom and slammed the door behind her, locking it. Clary fumbled for the light switch and bright light flooded the bathroom, hurting her eyes. She turned to the mirror and gasped at her reflection. All of her makeup had been washed off and her hair was braided back. She had bruises on her neck and jaw…hand prints. Who did this? She clutched her tank top and pulled it over her head, sobbing loudly. She had multiple small purple bruises, hickeys, and bite marks on her chest, across the top of her breasts.Shaking, she ran her hands down between her legs. I don't think I had sex. She heard her bedroom door slam open, footsteps hurrying in, multiple people were talking in hushed voices. She heard more footsteps and her bedroom door closed. There was a light knock on her door.
"Clary, sweetie. It's me. Can I come in?" Izzy. Clary quickly spun around and unlocked the door. Izzy rushed to her and wrapped her arms around Clary, crushing her to her chest. "I'm here, Clary. I love you so much. I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have left you alone…" Izzy's voice shook. She grabbed a white fluffy robe from the hook by the shower and pulled it around Clary, gently helping her put it on, and led her back to her bed. Jace was gone. They sat down together, Clary looked at Izzy and took a deep breath before she spoke.
"Tell me fucking everything, Izzy. Why do I have a hospital bracelet on? Why can't I remember anything from last night after…that guy and I danced and…after. I don't know. Why is Jace here, in bed with me…did we…" Clary started to cry again and Izzy gently took her face in her hands and shook her head.
Smiling tightly at Clary, she said, "No! No, sweetie. Jace didn't do any of this at all. He was protecting you. About last night, Simon and I, saw you dancing with that Darkling guy and then lost track of you. Okay? Do you remember that?" Clary nodded her head rapidly. She remembered flirting and dancing with the cute guy in the Darkling costume. He had a French accent and a scar makeup mask over half of his face. But, she couldn't remember anything else after that.
Izzy continued, "Okay, good. So about twenty minutes or so after that, Jace found us and asked where you were. I kind of told him to piss off…But he seemed genuinely concerned and insistent so we all decided to look for you. Girl, we scoured the entire club, every floor and couldn't find you or that guy. You hadn't texted or anything like you would have. You know, like, if you decided to hook up with someone or something." Clary began to tremble. She suspected she knew where Izzy's story was probably going.
There was a knock at her bedroom door, before it opened and Simon stuck his head in. He looked exhausted, with dark circles under his eyes and a bruise on the right side of his face. His glasses were taped together. How did they break?
"Hey Clare-Bear. I'm sorry to interrupt. I was listening at the door… I brought some ibuprofen and water. Would you like it now?" Simon walked over to the bed and looked at Clary and his eyes roamed over her bruised face and neck. Clary nodded and took the cup of water and pills from him, downing them. "I just talked to my Mom and she said the activated charcoal has had time to metabolize, so shouldn't interfere with the ibuprofen's absorption." Clary looked at Simon and Izzy and frowned. Charcoal? That's for poison control. Did I get poi– oh shit. I must have been drugged...
"Someone drugged me last night? Right? I don't remember a goddamned thing after I saw you both on the dance floor. What fucking happened?" Clary screamed. Simon and Izzy looked at each other wide eyed and nodded back to Clary.
Simon began to speak quickly, "Okay, okay Clary. We couldn't find you anywhere. We looked for almost a half hour. Izzy went with Alec and I was with Herondale. Magnus had security looking as well. Finally Jace and I saw a lounge with the curtains closed. Jace didn't like the looks of this suspicious Neanderthal-looking guy standing by the fire exit. So we went over to the booth. The big guy, bodyguard or whatever, stepped in front of it and tried to stop us. Jace showed him his badge and he stepped aside and walked back to the exit. That's when we heard your voice. You said 'help'." Simon's voice broke and he reached forward and hugged Clary tightly. She grabbed the front of his shirt and buried her face against his chest.
Simon sniffed and continued, rubbing her back, "Dude, Clary…Jace went total berserker on that guy. He was like a freaking vengeful Norse god! He tore the curtain open and saw that fucking Darkbitch with his hands on you. You were crying and struggling with him. Herondale totally hulked-out, grabbed him and threw him off of you way back onto the floor. Respect. That's when everything exploded. He and Jace started fighting and knocking into shit. Jace had him pinned down when the bodyguard guy decided to jump in and knocked him over with a stool. He went to grab Jace so I jumped on his back. Which got me elbowed in the face and I fell on the floor…" Simon took a deep breath and gestured wildly to his broken glasses. Clary nodded and sat back on her bed and hugged a pillow to her chest.
"Anyway. Jace got up and was going after the big guy, and Alec showed up trying to help. Then Darkbitch went to the wall and pulled the fire alarm. People started crowding us to get out and they fucking disappeared into the crowd… We lost them. Jace went back to the lounge and got you. You were unconscious and we had trouble rousing you so we took you to the Emergency Room. Izzy, Magnus and Alec met us there. Luckily, Elaine– err, my mom was working. She got you in real quick. Her team ran blood tests. The results indicated you were drugged with liquid ecstasy, but didn't overdose. They treated you with IV fluids and activated charcoal and said you were very lucky. You would wake up and then fall back asleep. We were so fucking worried, Fray… When Mom saw the bruising and um…bites… she paged a sexual assault nurse and– …" His voice broke again. Izzy put her hand on Simon's arm. She looked at Clary. Clary closed her eyes and nodded for them to continue.
"Let me, Simon. That shitbag didn't rape you, C. At least not, you know, with intercourse. The assault nurse thoroughly examined you and took pictures of your marks. She did a rape kit, okay? So everything from last night, your examination records, pictures, clothes, the mask, is now evidence. It seems that you put up a fight you fucking warrior queen." Izzy's eyes filled with tears and her voice shook. "You ripped that mask right off of that little bitch's face and got some of his beard with it. Jace found it in your hand on the way to the hospital. Alec took all the evidence into the precinct for processing. Hopefully that fucker is in the DNA database." Clary raised her eyebrows and nodded.
"You obviously don't remember being at the hospital, considering the state you were in, but they took a verbal report from you." Izzy reached out and put her hands over Clary's. "I was with you the whole time. Me and Elaine. You couldn't say much about what happened, um in the booth, but did say his name was Sebastian. The nurse said you may not ever remember much of anything about last night. Clary, I'm so– so sorry. I shouldn't have left you with that guy!" Clary stood up and Izzy and Simon joined her. She reached her arms out to them and the three of them hugged.
Clary pulled back and looked at Izzy. "Iz. It's not your fault at all. Please, I don't blame you. It's his fault. Sebastian's. I'm going to be okay. I'm just glad he didn't…thank you for telling me everything and… for being there with me. I love you." Izzy's tears spilled and she nodded, putting her hand on Clary's arm. Clary sighed, turned and hugged Simon. "Thank you so much Simon. It sounds like you and Jace saved me from– a lot. I love you so much. You were so brave. I'm so sorry you got your face smashed. Thank you." Clary stepped back from her two best friends. "Okay, guys. Shoo. I'm going to take a hot shower. And wash that fucker's stench off of me Then I'm coming out for a lot of coffee and… and I want Thai takeout. Izzy, can you please send Jace in. I want to talk to him. In private."