Author's Note: This chapter contains torture, captivity, nonconsensual sexual touching, mentions of incest, and mentions of rape.
Chapter Two
Jace was more than sorry.
He had struggled with every ragged breath, fighting to get to Clary's unconscious body, but the demon containing him was so much stronger, and his efforts proved meaningless.
As soon as Clary fell unconscious, Sebastian had created a black, demonic portal with a rapidly drawn rune, one that gave off images of pain and death. The knight had stepped through first, taking Clary with him, her body draped carelessly across his arms. Sebastian had gone right after them, stepping backward into the portal, leaving Jace with a sly smile, before the beast-demon followed, dragging him forcibly behind.
His mind had instantly gone blank—it wasn't like the normal Shadowhunter's portal that ripped away your breath and took you where your deepest thoughts were. It was dark. Cold. Like falling through ice and into a lake in winter, Jace had frozen up, body and mind numb.
He hadn't remembered anything else. He didn't remember coming out of the portal, didn't remember ending up here, only awoke to the crushing realization that it wasn't all just a dream. The pain was enough to prove as much.
Jace was so much more than sorry.
He was disconsolate.
He was furious.
And now, he stared up at the ceiling of his cell. He tried desperately to block out Sebastian's ranting.
"I do so love the color of blood…not my favorite, for sure, but…." Sebastian swiped his long sword down a section of Jace's chest that had been left uncut until now, and he grunted as he felt a warm stream of blood trickle down to soak into the waistband of his tattered jeans, heavier and darker with the fluid every minute Sebastian spent with him.
"...It is a wonderful color on you. I think you've given me a brand new appreciation of red." Sebastian stepped back a bit, squinting inquisitively, as if considering a new shirt Jace had tried on, before nodding to himself in approval.
Jace kept his eyes on the molding, grey ceiling. His head was heavy with pain, but he refused to look down. He refused to bow his head in exhaustion—or defeat.
He was chained up, tight manacles encircling his wrists and attaching to a chain that fed through a loop close to where the ceiling met the wall, keeping him half a foot away from the stone and just high enough that his feet would have set flat on the floor. But instead, they were folded under him slightly, his knees having given out beneath him early on. His arms ached from holding his weight, his neck sore from leaning back to rest his head on the wall.
This was the fourth time Sebastian had come to torture him since they'd been brought here. Each visit from the demon was bad—Sebastian cutting, or whipping, or electrocuting, or some other menial, unimaginative torment, until Jace was screaming, despite his best attempts to hold it in.
But this time something was different. Sebastian seemed to be going easy on him.
Was he getting bored of this so soon?
"You know, Jace, I'm actually starting to appreciate your resilient personality, too. It used to get on my nerves. But now, it just makes things all the more fun. I get to torture you all day, and have you still be up for more," Sebastian laughed, tossing his sword to the side. Jace stayed quiet. He'd quickly tired of replying; it only fueled Sebastian's chatter.
Suddenly, his torturer was moving, too fast for Jace's weakened mind to process, and in an instant, a new dagger was drawn and Jace's jaw was being wrenched downward by rough hands, his face forced to look at Sebastian. The taller boy pushed the tip of the knife to his forehead, and Jace bit down so hard on his tongue that he tasted blood.
A strangled noise escaped his throat, a sound that made Sebastian grin, as he slid the knife down over Jace's left brow. As he neared the boy's eye, his fingers dug in between Jace's upper and lower jaw, forcing him still as he tried to turn his head away, Sebastian only at the last moment skipping the blade teasingly over his eye to continue in a jagged path down his cheek.
When Sebastian finally pulled the dagger away, blood ran steadily over Jace's brow and down his face, spilling over Sebastian's fingers on his jaw to trail down his neck. He squinted his left eye against the blood.
"I don't know, Jace. I still feel like I'm not really getting to you." Sebastian shook Jace's head slightly and frowned, a look that twisted his beautiful, slim features downward.
Jace only snarled and spat blood on the other boy's cheek. Anger exploded on his face, the grip on him tightening, nails digging into his cheek, and for a moment, Jace thought that Sebastian would kill him right then and there, drive the knife into his side and leave him spilling his guts on the floor. But the look was gone just as quick, Sebastian smiling and turning away, finally releasing his jaw.
Jace's chin dropped to his collarbone for a second, before he wearily dragged his head back up against the wall.
"See? That right there is what I'm talking about. I'm just not getting to you."
Sebastian sighed, as if disappointed. "Nonetheless, there is still one thing we haven't tried," he said, turning back towards Jace. "One person, that is, that could perhaps assist in getting to you." Platinum brows raised over black, soulless eyes, and Jace couldn't help but look back at Sebastian, fear flashing across his face before he could remind himself to conceal it.
Over the past few days, or however long it'd been, Clary had been the only constant on his mind. Numerous times, Jace had demanded to see her, to know that she was alive and well, and not being subject to the same brutalities he was, but in return, Sebastian only ever laughed in his face, or ignored his requests altogether. Sebastian would leave him bloody and aching, hanging from his chains to worry endlessly over her, a fresh iratze to heal him for another day of pain.
Jace hadn't heard anything to indicate there were other rooms around him, no talking or footsteps outside his cell, no screams other than his own, but he knew without a doubt Clary was near, and she clouded his thoughts with anxiety and worry, trying not to imagine what could be happening to her.
Why was Sebastian bringing her up now, after days of telling him nothing?
Was it just to toy with them? Jace wouldn't put it past Sebastian to keep quiet about her, if only to let the anticipation build, simply to amplify Jace's pain, but still, Jace was all too aware that Sebastian had never been especially patient when it came to his sister.
"Ah. So there is something that can break the almighty Jace Herondale, hmm?" Sebastian gave an amused look as Jace huffed apprehensively and looked away, and then pulled out his stele to flick the healing rune onto Jace's side, the flashing gold of its activation signaling an early end to today's session.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems that would hurt you more than this monotonous abuse to your flesh. I've been letting Clary be for the past few days, but maybe it's time I pay her a visit, yes? Would you like that, Jace? I can give you a break, focus on Clary for a while?"
"Don't."
Sebastian's head tilted as Jace shuddered with a new burst of energy, the iratze returning a miniscule amount of strength, though enough to at last get his feet under him. When Sebastian just smiled teasingly, Jace viscously jerked at his bindings, the chains holding expectedly.
"Don't," Jace repeated more firmly. "Leave her—umph."
His words were cut off as the air left his chest, Sebastian's hand shoving him hard into the wall, pain blooming across the back of his skull as it cracked into the stone. He gasped a shallow breath as Sebastian shoved his body against Jace, pinning him back, and ground his teeth as he flinched involuntarily, waiting for the feeling of the dagger biting into skin.
When he instead heard metal clattering to the floor by his feet—another of Sebastian's blades deserted carelessly—he opened his eyes to find that the look in the black one's currently boring into his had changed. The typical, flat black seemed to be alight, charcoal sparking at the base of a fire, and Jace felt a chill ripple down his spine as he took in the craving behind the look, the boy's intentions evident on his face.
The lust, so clearly burning in his gaze.
Sebastian pressed his palms to either side of Jace's head. The boys were usually close to the same height, Sebastian only slightly taller, but now, Jace slouched in pain—and perhaps fear, though he wouldn't admit it to himself—and Sebastian seemed to loom over him. Jace grimly stared him down, swallowing around the lump in his throat. "Don't hurt her. Torture me all you want. Just leave Clary alone."
Sebastian laughed harshly. Jace knew it was futile to make demands, even as he spoke them, but he needed Clary to be safe. He needed her to be okay. But then…it was already too late for that, wasn't it?
Blinking against the blood weighing down his lashes, he held eye contact.
And slowly, quietly, he slid his foot over to the discarded knife. He pressed his toe under the tip of the blade.
If he could just kick it up to his hands…. It was a long shot. Hell. It was a miles long shot, being able to get it past Sebastian's face and all the way to his bound hands above him. No. It was impossible. But he had to try something.
"Please…I-I'm begging you…." Jace hung his head in Sebastian's hands, shame burning through him. This was exactly what Sebastian wanted. He knew Clary was Jace's weak spot—knew from experience Jace's care for her could be exploited—and Jace was the fool that let it happen. Let them be trapped and taken. This was all his fault.
Jace didn't regret loving her—couldn't regret it, even if he wanted to. By the angel, he had tried and failed to, before. But now, in this cell, covered in blood, and under the hands of a psychopath, he wished Clary never loved him. If she didn't, maybe she would have run when she had the chance. Maybe she would have been safe.
This was all his fault.
So he had to try.
He flipped the blade up onto the tops of his toes.
"Oh, I do love you begging. So discordant with our dear Valentine's teachings." Sebastian paused, and the room fell quiet, before the heel of his boot dug into Jace's bare foot. Jace groaned, less in pain and more at his failure, or the pitiful attempt to begin with, as Sebastian kicked the knife to the corner of the room, out of reach for good.
"Tssk. You know me better than that, Jace." Sebastian's voice lilted in mock disappointment before hardening, the hungered look in his eye flaring, as he said, "There's no getting out of this. You're mine. And Clary is mine."
Sebastian released his face, moving his hands to the wall on either side of Jace's head, and the blonde's frustrated growl was stopped short as Sebastian brought his head down to Jace's shoulder and thrust his hips roughly forward.
He choked on a surprised gasp as Sebastian pressed his groin to Jace's, and then began rubbing up and down his body, before bucking his hips in a rhythmic motion. Jace could feel the other's arousal through his jeans.
Jace gasped more noises of shock and disgust as he tried to wriggle out from under him, but there was nowhere to go, and when Sebastian spoke, the breath was hot and smothering against his ear.
"I'm going to fuck her so hard," Sebastian moaned. "So hard that she screams my name. Begs me to stop."
Ice flooded Jace's veins, and the shock of emotions that washed through him swept the pain from him completely. Jace knew Sebastian well enough, knew him from every minute he'd been forced to be with him. Jace knew Sebastian had made advances on Clary before. Knew he wasn't right in the head. But he didn't think—couldn't imagine—couldn't process the thought that he would actually take it this far. Fuck, he was Clary's brother, he couldn't do this—he couldn't fucking—he couldn't rape her—
But the firmness being pressed against Jace, and the low, genuine satisfaction in Sebastian's voice said otherwise, and Jace was again reminded that his captor was so far from being human. He was a child of corruption, of pure, unbridled evil, his soul blacker than his eyes. He would do anything he wished, just as he always had.
Sebastian would torture Jace, simply because he found it entertaining for the time being.
And Sebastian would take Clary, if he wanted to. When he wanted to.
And Jace could do nothing to stop it.
"Oh, God, Jace. She's going to be amazing, I know it. Even though you've already had her, hmm?" Sebastian's hand snaked downward, massaged between Jace's thighs harshly, and the wet friction of his bloody jeans between his legs sent a flash of unwanted pleasure through his own member. Jace snarled.
"No—no, I haven't, don't—" Jace cut himself off too late, and the cheshire grin that split Sebastian's face only confirmed his delectation in Jace's admittance.
"You haven't?" Sebastian laughed, his fingers curling against the wall as his eyes closed, as though he were imagining some scene playing out in his head. "Hell," he exclaimed delightedly, "then she'll be all the better, just for me—"
"Don't do this, Jonathan. Don't touch Clary. Please, please, don't do this—gghh!" Jace cried out in anger as Sebastian thrust his hips forward harder, panting hot in his ear.
"Mmm, she's going to love it, whether you want it or not. She's going to love me, one day. She wants me already, deep down," Sebastian whispered, his touch speeding up, desperate and feverish. "I just need to break her in, that's all."
"No!" Jace's voice was thin; he couldn't breathe, his lungs tight in fear and disbelief.
Sebastian laughed again, slamming his groin into Jace's one last time, and he lurched in discomfort, shaking his head disparagingly, as if he could shake away the intrusion of Sebastian's hands on him, the pleasure that was quickly being overwhelmed by terror, the cell, and the chains, and this whole fucking whole nightmare.
Sebastian slid his hands up Jace's sides, up his arms and to his hands, and then Jace was falling to the ground, his wrists free of manacles for the first time since he'd arrived. Jace let himself lay crumpled on the ground, in a pool of his own coagulating blood, his torn wrists stinging at the bite of air on the open, slowly healing wounds.
Sebastian gathered his strewn weapons and turned towards the door, abruptly disinterested in Jace. His focus—his arousal—had shifted elsewhere.
"I'll let you know how she feels on my cock."
I took a moment for Jace to register that the howling scream echoing through the cell was coming from him, before he was launching himself to his feet. He staggered at the wave of nausea and pain that washed over him, nearly falling, but the thought of Sebastian's life being snuffed out beneath his hands kept him moving, charging at the door.
He was a foot away from the thick, metal door when Sebastian slipped out, unbothered, and Jace caught sight of the guards just outside of the entryway.
He managed to get his fingers between the door frame and door, throwing it open, lunging into the hall, set on killing the son of a bitch here and now, but the guards only gripped his arms, jerking him to a stop and easily lifting him off the ground, before tossing him back into the cell.
Sebastian's maddening laugh floated down the hall, and Jace could hear the grin in his voice. "Don't worry, Jace. No need to leave your room. You'll be able to hear her scream just fine through the walls."
The door slammed shut, leaving Jace feeling like he had missed his only chance at escape, his only chance at saving Clary before it was too late, and he curled into a ball, finally letting himself sob.
He was so, so sorry.