Jace Wayland

"You sure it's a good idea to go in there?" Lissa asked me cautiously as I pulled her towards Simon's hermit shed.

"I'm sure it's fine," I shrugged as I stepped into the room, only to get thrown a shirt to the face.

I rolled my eyes at Lissa's giggles and headed towards an airhorn on a nearby table. I witheld my chuckles as the couple making out in the canoe scrambled up when I pressed down on the airhorn.

"Jace," Clary gasped as she tried to fix her hair, "Hey."

"What the hell are you doing?" I questioned her as I ignored Lissa's constant giggles, "I... You know what? Don't answer that."

"Here you go," Simon said as he helped her up and out from the canoe.

"You done, giggles?" I said, turning to my girlfriend.

She just raised her index finger, telling me to stop speaking as she tried to contain herself.

Once the couple were firmly on the ground, she finally managed to get ahold of herself, "Yep. I'm all good!"

"Jace, it's okay," Clary shrugged after sharing a quick look with Simon, "It's safe here. Lily is safe here…"

"Until Valentine stops hunting you, the only place that is safe for Lis to visit you is at the Institute." I took a quick look at this shed, "Why here anyway?"

"Really? I'm not sure you actually know how hiding works," I rolled my eyes at Simon as I threw his shirt back at him, "The whole point is to, um, not be where everyone thinks you are. Trust me, I'm kind of an expert."

I rolled my eyes at his lame argument as I grabbed onto Lissa's hand again, "For an expert, you were pretty easy to find. Just be thankful I got to you before the Circle did."

I glared at Simon as he decided to do his macho vamp act, "I'm not afraid of them. I've been working on my fighting skills."

I probably deserved the elbow to the gut at the scoff I couldn't help but release, "Oh, really? You wanna take this outside and give these fight skills a test run?"

"Anytime," he declared as he fully put his shirt on and started walking to the door, only to come short at the sight of sunlight, "As soon as the sun goes down."

"Guys, she can handle her-" the sound of burning skin and a pained scream suddenly filled the hermit hole, "What the hell?" Lissa gasped in disgust as she stared down at the redhead's hand.

"What's wrong?" Simon asked, jumping to stand beside his girlfriend.

"I don't know," said girl responded.

"What is that?" he gasped out in disgust.

Lissa immediately flicked her hand, making a portal appear, "We need to take her to Magnus'" she declared, "If it's what I think it is, we're going to need some help…"

Lissa helped Clary through the portal. I guess Lis wanted to be polite because we ended up outside the apartment rather than inside. I'm not polite at all because I just opened the door and stepped straight inside.

"Don't you people have phones?" Magnus complained.

Lissa helped place Clary on to the couch, "We need your help."

Magnus immediately approached the redhead, and let his magic start testing her, "La Chair Brulee," he mumbled grimly as he caught sight of Clary's decaying hand.

She winced when the magic released her, "I'm guessing that's not a dessert."

Lissa sighed in realisation as she sat down at the end of the couch with Clary, "It means 'the burnt flesh'."

"It's an old blood oath spell," Magnus continued to explain.

"Then it must be Iris. She said you owed her a favour," I contemplated aloud.

"At Max's party," Clary spoke her thoughts, "-she said I have to find Madzie."

I heard Lissa sigh, "Then we better start looking."

"We can get rid of the pain," Magnus explained as Lissa's glowing hands started to do their job, "-but that's about it. I'm afraid…" he paused as Lissa finished up her job, "-once the magic reaches your heart..."

"So if we don't find Madzie..." Lissa trailed off as Magnus turned away from us all.

"I'm dead." Thank you for stating the obvious, Clary.

"No... no," I denied, standing up, "Magnus, there has to be a cure. There has to be something we can do to stop this."

"Can't we force Iris to undo it?" Alec questioned.

"I wish it were that easy," Magnus sighed, "But blood oath spells are completely binding. Even Iris herself can't reverse it now."

"I may have an idea on how to give us more time though," Lissa murmured.

"How?" I asked her in confusion.

She just smiled grimly at us, "Leave it to me."

"So what do we do now?" Clary asked us.

"I'm going to just grab the books I need to help Clary," Lissa started off, "You…" she said pointing at me, "-will go with Clary to Luke's," she turned to Clary with a shrug, "He needs to know. Magnus, continue searching just in case and Alec-" she smiled at him, "-you have my permission to take charge in the institute whilst we're gone. Do whatever you think we need to do to maintain the peace with the Downworlders."

"They won't listen to me," he instantly argued back, "Not with Aldertree there."

"They will," she shook her head and opened two portals, "When the time comes, they'll listen." With that, she stepped through her portal.

I nodded my head at Malec before leading Clary through to the Chinese restaurant.

"Luke," I nodded at him in greeting, "I'll be back in a minute, I just need to wait for Lis outside."

It didn't take long for her to portal in after us.

"There you are," I exclaimed. I gave her a quick kiss before grabbing her stack of books.

"You really need to stop thinking I'm gonna get kidnapped every time I go somewhere," she teased as I led her towards the duo I just left behind.

"Well, if it stops happening," I smiled back at her, "Then I'll stop thinking it…"

"You always told me to read the fine print. Well, I guess, uh, now I know why." Clary was saying as we walked in.

"Did you find anything?" Luke immediately asked his niece.

I watched her shrug, "Not a solution, no." I plonked the books down on the table, "But I can give her more time as we search for a solution or Madzie, whichever comes first."

From the corner of my eye, I watched as Lissa led Clary to a table and began doing a spell.

"Iris' brownstone was wiped clean, but Alec just got a report from the Clave," I explained what I found out, "According to Iris, Madzie was abducted from Brady Park."

"All right, we'll start there," Luke nodded solemnly, "I'll round up some wolves and see if we can get a scent."

"Great," I nodded as I heard and saw Clary's sigh of relief as the spell seemed to work, the black char receding significantly. "Hey!" I called out to her as she got up and started heading outside, "Where are you going?"

She gave me an odd look, "To get Simon. If we're gonna be searching all night, we can use his skills. "

It was my turn to give her an odd look, "What skills?"

"I don't know..." she shrugged, "…night vision."

Lissa smirked knowingly at her, "There's a rune for that."

She frowned at us, "Too bad. He's coming." She turned her pleading gaze on to Lissa, the most sympathetic out of us all, "I need him."

Lissa nodded her head at her, "Go ahead." I watched her head out, "I'll go with her," Lissa murmured to us before running out after my biological sister.

Luke didn't stay long, instead, he left me to go talk to the other wolves.

"Ahhhh!" I suddenly heard a scream.

Lissa!

I ran out of the restaurant, only to see Lissa standing in front of Clary, her hands outstretched as she kept concentrated on holding her shield in place.

"Back off!" I heard her warn before whacking the wolf away from then.

I skidded to a stop beside her before yanking her into a hug, "Nice form."

"Five summers at Camp Winnipesaukee," she smirked at me as she absentmindedly high-fived the redhead.

"Show yourself!" I commanded the wolf as I raised my seraph blade.

We waited with bated breath as the wolf waited to reveal themselves.

What the fu- Maia?

"Maia!" I heard Luke's voice shout. She was quickly clothed and chained in the hermit shed.

As Simon and Luke interrogated, Clary, Lissa and I stayed outside.

"How is it?" Lissa asked when she caught sight of the redhead staring at her hand.

"I can feel it spreading. Slowly…" she commented with a grateful look at Lis, before turning back to me, "But still spreading."

"What if Maia's right?" Lis suddenly spoke up.

I didn't even realise she was feeling this guilty.

"She's not," her uncle announced as he approached us, "You need to find Madzie."

Tell me something I don't know…

"No problem," the vamp shrugged, why do you keep showing up when we don't want you? "We'll take the van."

We started heading to the car, only to be stopped by Lissa's voice, "Luke? You're not going to stay, are you?"

He only shook his head, "I gotta stay here." Luke braced himself as his niece flung herself at him in a hug, "If Maia told the rest of the wolves what that Sword is capable of, you're in serious danger."

"But, Luke..." this time it was Clary who was complaining as she stepped towards him.

"No time to argue," he shook his head as he passed his niece to me, "Word travels fast. I'll catch up... after I stop the Downworld from coming after you. I'll see you soon, kiddo."

After a quick hug with Clary, the girls got into the backseats of the van.

"Hey," I looked up at him, "If anything happens to my niece... and to Clary…"

"It won't," I reassured him, "Trust me, I'll protect her."

"We'll protect her," Simon declared, dude was probably thinking I was fighting for Clary again. Vamp can have her, I don't want to date my bloody sister.

"Just try to keep up," I said rolling my eyes.

"Who does he think is driving?" I heard him say as I got in the passenger seat.

"Are you sure this is the park Alec was talking about?" Clary asked us.

Lis just hummed in affirmation, "Positive. See the scorched grass?" she asked, pointing towards the ground, "Someone opened a Portal."

"Ughh…" Simon grunted as he came to a stop, does he not know how to use his powers yet? "Nothing over there. And without the wolves to help us pick up a scent, this is gonna take forever."

Clary let out a defeated sigh, I gave her a reassuring pat on the back before starting to give out orders, "We don't have forever. Everyone keep looking."

"Maybe he can help." Simon piped up, pointing at this old man sat on a bench, "Excuse me," he continued, approaching the man without any agreement from the rest of us, "Um... a little girl might have gotten kidnapped a few days ago. I was wondering if you've seen her."

"I don't know what you're talking about," the man denied. I couldn't the glare I was giving off.

Lissa grabbed my arm, "It's fine… Let Simon do his thing…"

"Are you sure?" Clary had continued to ask, "She's about this tall, pigtails, always... wears a scarf." She paused seeing what he was wearing, "Hey, where'd you get that scarf?"

"Nowhere," the man immediately denied, "I found it. It's mine."

I shared a look with Lis as the vamp continued negotiating, "Do you wanna make a trade?"

The vampire suddenly decided that it would be a good idea to hit me, "What?" I growled at him.

"Keep heading north," Lissa announced as she continued to track the little warlock with the scarf that the vamp managed to acquire. "The signal's faint, but we can still track her."

"Don't sound too excited," Simon scoffed as he continued to speed down the New York's roads.

"It's too easy," I grunted out, agreeing with my parabatai.

"It wasn't easy," Simon disagreed, "That jacket's at least two sizes small on that guy." He proudly flaunted, "I'm just a great salesman."

"Valentine's too smart to have not thought about blocking the signal," Lissa calmly explained as she rubbed her wrist uncomfortably, "If we can track Madzie, it's because he wants us to."

"We'll be walking into a trap," I explained in simpler words for the dimwit.

"What are you suggesting?" The boy immediately argued back, "That we don't find Madzie?"

"That's not what we're saying," Lissa calmly responded.

Clary cut us all off, "Simon's right. Trap or no trap, the scarf is our only option."

Lissa cut her once-sister off, "I can't let Valentine activate the Soul-Sword, either." She turned her gaze to me, "So whatever happens, you can't let him take me alive."

"Uh... Lil, you're kind of freaking me out."

"Trust me, I've thought about it. I've taken safety measures to ensure Clary will be safe as long as Valentine wants me alive and..." she paused before scoffing to herself, "Maia was right."

"What are... What are you talking about?" Simon finally stuttered out.

Her gaze turned to ice, "I would rather die than let Valentine destroy the Downworld." She looked us all in the eye, "I need you to promise me. All of you… If Valentine ever gets to me..."

"No. Absolutely not." Clary immediately denied, "I already lost mom."

I cut her off, already resolved to do whatever was possible to save her, "I promise. If it ever comes to that, I won't let him take you alive."

He'll have to kill me first to get to you.

Magnus Bane

A Seelie walked into a bar where a werewolf, a warlock and a vampire were sat, sounds like the start of a very awful joke.

"Meliorn," Lucian greeted the armour-clad Downworlder. "What happened to your face?"

Why so rude, Lucian?

"My punishment for helping Clary Fairchild into one of the Queen's realms."

"Well, it's good to see you," the wolf continued to greet him.

The Seelie wasn't as accommodating, "I'd say the same, but, sadly, I'm incapable of lying. Shall we get this over with?"

"Careful," I warned the wolf, "Seelie armour."

He acknowledged my words with a slight tilt of his head in my direction, "Means war. I noticed." He turned his head to fully look at the rest of the group, "So I assume you all know why I called you here."

"I've heard rumours," the vampire intoned.

"Well, unfortunately, the rumours are true," Lucian announced, causing a sharp intake of breath in the other two present, "Valentine wants to use the Soul-Sword to decimate the entire Downworld, and he needs Alicia or Clary to activate it, Alicia is the target we believe he is aiming for."

"And you have a plan?" Raphael asked grimly.

"Well, we can't defeat Valentine on our own. But together..." he paused, letting his words sink in. Wow. This must be where Princess gets her dramatics from. "…maybe we have a shot."

I backed him up, "Whatever it is, we can't have him get to either girl."

"I agree," the Seelie said. Pardon? That was way too easy. "But on behalf of the Seelie Queen, I'd like to propose an alternative." I didn't need to look at my fellow Downworlders to know we all had a questioning eyebrow raised, "Execute Princess Alicia Graymark on sight." I jerked up in my seat and shared looks of disbelief with my counterparts.

"Care to rethink that?" I said as I raised my hand to hold back a growling Lucian.

"You'd be rotting in the City of Bones had she not insisted we save your life!" The wolf shouted in disbelief. Never trust a Seelie, Lucian. They only ever side with the winning side. And right now, that side is their own.

"Then consider this my way of returning the favour," the Seelie grinned viciously back at us. "By killing her, I'll be saving you from yourselves."

"You do realise you are asking for a war with the shadowhunters by trying to execute their future queen?" Raphael pointed out to him.

He only shrugged, probably not even caring, "It is a risk we, the Seelies, are willing to take…" he cocked his head, "Either way, this council is biased. You've all allowed yourselves to become too involved with the Shadowhunters." He twirled his fingers in Lucian's direction, "Jocelyn Fairchild." He turned his gaze to me now, "Alec Lightwood." Oddly enough, he didn't exclude Raphael. "And you." Is he sniffing the air? "You've been seeing Isabelle, haven't you?" I sat up slightly, after all, this is news to me.

"What are you talking about?" the vamp immediately defended himself.

The Seelie ignored him, "I'd recognize that perfume anywhere."

"Then you're no different from the rest of us," the vamp sassed back.

"I'll admit, I know her charms better than anyone. But unlike you, my feelings never affect my judgment."

"My judgment's fine," the vamp hissed back, "Princesa has to die to protect our people...so be it."

Oh shit.

Jace Wayland

"Stay here," I said to the girls in the backseat. When I received a nod from both, I continued, "We'll be right back."

"Here…" Lis said as she passed the scarf to me.

Noticing her pale complexion, I quickly checked, "Are you still okay?"

With her nod, I gave her a quick kiss, "Stay safe. I'll be back soon…"

"You too…" she murmured against my lips before leaning back and conversing with the redhead.

"We're close. Very close." I told the vamp, "This still feels way too easy."

"And yet we've encountered no traps." Thank you for jinxing us. "Although if we did... All that stuff you said about Lily... You were just talking, right? You wouldn't actually kill your own girlfriend, would you?"

I gave him a look of disbelief, "No."

He sighed in relief, "Okay. But that's why I need to do this next part on my own."

"What do you mean?"

I gave him a look, "Clary's too weak to move, Simon. She'd only be putting herself in danger of getting captured. And Lissa, with the spell that she did, will be getting weaker within the hour too." He spazed out at the new news I gave him, "Hey, I'll use the scarf to track Madzie. I'll bring her back here. But I need someone protecting Lissa and Clary while I'm gone."

The vamp glared at me, "That's easy for you to say. You're the guy with the sword." His nerves started to get to him as his stammer began to come out, "Wha- What am I gonna do? Protect her with my teeth? We need your help here!" he emphasised his point by pointing at the spot he was standing in.

"Okay. All right, I'll stay," I let him believe.

Thankfully, the perfect distraction appeared in the form of Simon's phone ringing.

"Just a sec, it's Luke," he said to me.

"-Uh, we're still looking for Madzie. What's up?"

I quickly made a run from it as soon as he turned his back.

Using the scarf, it didn't take long to find my father in a cafe.

"How fatherly," I sniped at him as I sat down beside the warlock. "I didn't know you had it in you."

"Ah, Jonathan," he murmured as he fingered his seraph blade by his side. "I figured you'd come for young Madzie sooner or later. Although, it's a shame you didn't bring your betrothed along."

"-Girlfriend." I interrupted him. "Let the girl go."

"Interesting," he murmured, "But you see, young Madzie is quite happy where she is."

"Oh, I think Iris would disagree," I smiled briefly at the little girl to reassure her, "She made Clary take a blood oath." I turned my full attention on the monster, "If I don't get Madzie to her in the next few hours... Clary dies."

"I suppose you're here to save her life?" he smiled sarcastically.

I returned his smile, "I'm here to give you an ultimatum. I'll let Clary die if I have to... but you need her alive."

He cut me off with a heavy laugh, "I do not need Clary! I need your girlfriend"

"She's dying," I finally revealed.

If I didn't have Valentine's attention before, I definitely had it now, "Lissa linked her life to Clary's to slow down then effect of the blood oath. Only Lissa can remove the spell and she will only do so when Madzie is returned to us…"

"You're bluffing," I couldn't help but smirk at his slightly crazed look, "You couldn't kill your falcon when you were a boy, and you can't kill your sister or your girlfriend now."

I couldn't help but snarl my next words, "I have demon blood because of you. If you destroy the Downworld, I go with it!" I shrugged nonchalantly at him, "I'm just trying to save myself and my girlfriend. It's your choice..." I leant forward, "-but I'm not gonna ask you again. Either Madzie comes with me..." I gave the little warlock another smile before turning my attention back to the devil incarnate, "…or your angel dies."

"Lis!" I shouted out as soon as I stepped through the portal with Madzie, "Clary!"

"Jace!" Simon's voice responded.

I lifted Lissa's prone body as the duo joined us.

"You did it…" Lissa smiled softly at me.

"Madzie. Madzie, you're okay!" I heard Clary say to the little girl as she grabbed her hand. Lis and I split up as the red glow began to encompass the duo and heal Clary. Lissa's posture got stronger as Clary became more healed.

"I told you, didn't I?" I softly spoke to Simon, not wanting to ruin Clary's moment. "I couldn't have saved her without you," I said, fully turning away from the girls and towards Simon.

"Obviously," he stammered out with an awkward smile, "Thank you for... you know, everything. "

Our moment got ruined by the sound of Lis' voice, "Madzie, what are you doing?"

I spun around, only to see Madzie hold out her hand, opening a portal and making my worst nightmare come true.

"No! Lissa!" I screamed.

"Clary!" Simon's voice echoed my own. "No. No. No. This isn't good. They could be anywhere."

I cut him off before he could do a vampire sized panic attack, "Not anywhere. Valentine still needs a bolt of lightning."

"Great. So what's the plan?" I don't think my words helped him because he continued to fling his arms around as he continued to hyperventilate, "You want me to check the five-day forecast for every city in the entire world? You were right." As much as I love those words, I knew that now wasn't the time to gloat. "Finding Madzie was way too easy."

"As much as I love to hear you say that, now is really not the time." I couldn't help it, okay?

"Okay, Luke just texted me," he said as he whacked my arm again. I hope that this doesn't become a regular occurrence. "Maybe he can do something-" before he could even check the message, I made a run for it at the sound of someone's screaming.

"What the hell?" the vamp uttered in disgust at the sight of those things sucking the blood out of the man.

"Don't move!" I shouted, only for them to jump up onto the roof above us. I checked the man's pulse, only to see that "He's dead."

"Dude, that's not normal." Said the vampire, I thought with a roll of my eyes, "Even the worst of Camille's people wouldn't risk attacking a mundane on the street."

"Especially not with a Seelie," I uttered with disgust.

"That was a Seelie?" he asked in confusion, "Do you think that's what Luke was talking about? A Downworld revolt?"

Despite hearing the new news, I shook my head in disagreement, "No. No, I recognize that vamp. He's in Valentine's zoo."

"Why would Valentine have Downworlders attack mundanes?" Good question Simon. "That makes no sense."

I grabbed my phone and started to dial my brother, "It must have something to do with the Sword."

"Jace? Are you okay?" Alec immediately asked.

I shook my head, despite knowing he wouldn't be able to see, "No. Something weird's going on, Alec."

"Yeah, tell me about it. We have reports of violent Downworlders all over Manhattan."

"I think it's Valentine." I quickly skipped over to the plan Lis and I concocted earlier, "I can explain later, but right now, I need your help."

"-Is Clary..."

"It's complicated."

"Yeah, what's that supposed to mean?"

"It means we fulfilled the blood oath, but now Valentine has her and Lissa. I think he's trying to activate the Soul-Sword. I need everyone you have to be looking for her right now."

"Yeah, that's not that easy." I heard him cough on his end, "Aldertree dispatched every Shadowhunter we have to stop the attacks."

I sharted to get a little riled up, "Well, undispatch them, Alec! Lissa put you in charge for a reason!"

"Hey, I think I know how to find them!" the vamp announced from behind me.

Before Alec could argue with me anymore, I cut the line and ran after the vamp.

It didn't take long for us to find the monsters.

I stabbed the beasts with my blade whilst Simon used his skills (Yes, I will admit, he does have some.)

"Where do you come from?" Simon shouted before punching the monster he had tackled, "Where's Valentine?" Punch "Where's Valentine?" Punch "Tell me!" Punch "Tell me!"

As I headed towards him, I completely forgot to look behind me. I blame my worry for Lis, for that.

"Are you kidding me? I thought he was dead." Simon shouted at me after Luke miraculously showed up and shot down the beast.

Luke continued to aim his gun at the nothingness around us, "He definitely is now." The thing collapsed on the ground as the wolf made his way to us, "Valentine must be experimenting again. I bet there's more where that came from."

"Which means..." I pointed my seraph blade at the beast's neck, "-you're gonna tell us where he is, or you're gonna end up just like your friend."

As soon as he told us the location, we killed the thing but lost track of the screaming lady. I hope the other hunters find her and do something about her memories.

"Okay, I know this is an abandoned building, but it's starting to seem extra-abandoned." Simon pointed out as we surveyed the area.

"Are we too late?" I asked Luke nervously.

He immediately shook his head, making relief fill my bones, "No. Scent's still fresh. Someone's here. We gotta move fast."

I spun my blade in my hands, activating it, "Fan out. Cover as much ground as you can."

I soon found the person I was looking for.

"Jace!" I heard her voice shout in relief.

"Lissa! Clary!" I quickly rushed towards the two captives, "Where's Valentine?"

I listened to Clary as I gave Lis a quick hug of relief, "I don't know. All the Circle members just left in a hurry."

I nodded my head quickly before swiping at the chains binding them to the ground, quickly with my blade. "Okay. Don't move."

"Okay, we have to get out of here before Valen-"

Clary's words were cut off as a certain someone came into the room, "Going someplace?" We stopped at the sight of him, "I didn't think so."

I caught sight of Madzie raising her hand towards me? Just as I went to run at them, Lissa grabbed my arm and yanked me behind her, "Protego," she firmly stated with an arm raised to hold off Madzie's blast.

Valentine just shrugged it off as the shielding slowly released us, "She's strong for her age, isn't she?"

"Madzie. Hey," Clary said, standing in front of us, "-please... Please let us go."

"Now why would she do that, hmm?"

"I'm so glad I'm not actually related to Clary, otherwise I would be related to this lunatic…"

"Because you wanna hurt people." Clary continued, completely ignoring Lissa's very valid statement, turned her gaze to Madzie, "People like Iris."

Valentine stepped forward to grab the little girl's shoulder, "Don't forget... this is the mean person that got your nana in trouble in the first place." He knelt down beside the girl, "Now if you want to see Iris, you have to be a good little girl and do exactly what I say, okay?"

Simon suddenly appeared out of nowhere, laying swift punches towards Valentine, "Clary, run!"

"Brave and stupid." Valentine stated my exact thoughts as he held the withering vampire against his chest, "Sweetheart, save your magic for what's to come." He said to the little warlock as a portal formed behind them, "It's time to go." He sent us a wide smirk as he stepped through, Simon in towe, "I'll see you soon, Clarissa."

"Simon!"

"Simon, no!"