Chapter 9 "The Soul Sword"

The surrounding silence was literally torn apart by the bursting screech. It resonated with the walls and spread like an echo, only much louder and with a quiver. One could have compared it with an explosion or the collision of metal, but I couldn't quite say what it was about. We jumped on our feet and almost coincident, we raised our bows. The second we realized that the danger wasn't located inside the hall, we threw them aside and grabbed our seraph blades instead. Jace reacted fastest, Isabelle and Alec followed him. Adam and I looked at each other in worry.

For me, the moment felt like an eternity. I suddenly got apparent that I'd never took part in an actual fight. There were all those endless lessons of training, but I wasn't truly experienced. Somehow, I knew that there would be a fight tonight. It was as if I could feel it in my bones. The ground shook and seemed to fluctuate under my feet. A fire flared up in my veins. My entire body felt like it was on fire.

Adam's voice brought me back into reality. "Clary." He observed me with his green eyes and ran his fingers through his hair. I knew that his hairdo wouldn't last long.

Blazing fast, I got up and grabbed Adam's wrist. Then I ran off, past Jace and the others, to the exit of the hall. "We have to arm ourselves!" Adam broke away from my grip and followed me. His posture revealed how tensed he was.

"I can feel it", I gasped and ran down the hallway. Adam navigated me through the corridors with strident shouts. When we finally came to a stop in front of the armory, I tossed myself against the heavy door at full tilt. It was open and the door immediately gave in under my weigh. At the last second, I was able to adopt my balance and landed on the balls of my feet. The door banged against the stone-wall, which let plaster and dust trickle to the ground. Adam seized the first chair he could get and fixed the door in its current position. Behind him, Isabelle and Alec stormed the armory.

I grasped two seraph blades, which could be used separately but also together as one sword. I plugged them into a sheath that I wound around my waist. Out of the corners of my eyes, I watched Alec picking a bow. It was a much better bow than the one we had used at training. In difference to her brother, Isabelle was already wearing her weapon around her wrist. The whip shone silvery and formed the head of snake at its handle. The others armed themselves with more than one weapon and it seemed as if they wanted to play it safe. Probably just in case of emergency.

As against the others, I left it with my two blades and went back to the door, ready to back them up in case of an attack. Jace stood in the middle of the hallway and was balancing a blade on his palm. Instead of taking shelter, where he couldn't be spotted from afar, he presented himself as if this was all a great show. Especially right now, I didn't want to be distracted by him and his arrogance.

"Where's Hodge?", I asked astonished and looked around for our tutor. He was nowhere to be seen. Just now, he had been in the hall with us, but I had started to run so fast that my attention had slipped away.

Jace shrugged his shoulders. "He said, we should go on ahead. He wanted to search for Maryse." Although he gave me an answer, he didn't look at me while speaking. It was our first normal conversation since I'd said my name on my first day.

Slowly, I nodded and turned away from him to face the others who still were in the armory. "Hurry up", I hissed through the open door.

Feisty as Isabelle was, she growled something under her breath when she came out, and I was pretty sure that it involved an insult. However, she left it at that and joined Jace and me in the hallway, fully equipped of course. The corridor was empty, and a sinister silence filled the air. The roar had stopped on our way to the armory.

Isabelle stroked her gear and fixed a dagger at her belt, two seraph blades already attached. Alec took out his stele and drew a rune on her upper arm. It was a good idea to renew some old runes. I had to think of my own words when Adam had picked me up earlier. I can't say that I would be strong enough for a fight, but it will be enough for today. I didn't recover enough. I felt the weakness in my veins, the fatigue. My capability would increase with more sleep. My eyes looked for Adam while I took the stele from my belt. The moment the stele touched my skin, the quiver started again.

It shook the ground and reached through the hallways. Even the walls began to tremble. Unlike before, the quiver grew stronger with every second and the first paintings were already falling to the ground with a dull sound.

I turned to Jace and tried to forget our conflict for an instant. He had stuck his head into the room and shouted something. I used the time, crouched on the floor and touched the cold ground with my fingertips. It shook undoubtedly. Stressed, I tried to concentrate on the tremble and closed my eyes. The shakes actually grew stronger, and they did so very fast. Like a huge wave on its way to us. A wave.

Thunderstruck, I jumped on my feet and almost fell over on my back. "There's something coming", I exclaimed. It had already gotten so loud that I was barely able to understand my own words. Jace stared at me, his facial features seemed annoyed. Then his rage was suddenly replaced by a complete meaninglessness. What was wrong with him? Finally, Adam had collected his weapons and stepped into the corridor.

A moment later, Jace grabbed my arm and pulled me back at full tilt. I wanted to sidestep and fight back, but I was already in Adam's arms. They caught me like a net and bounced me back on my feet. Furious, I turned to face Jace. I wanted to pull him in my direction and strike him down when I saw them. Them, who ran up to us in a horde. Large and little, thick and thin, distorted grimaces. Demons. I had seen them enough times and knew exactly how they looked like. We had studied whole books about different types of demons. My father had always emphasized the lectures, so it was no wonder that I was able to divide them in groups from the weakest to the strongest.

But it all didn't matter now. I realized what Jace had just done. I didn't know why but he had maybe saved my life. I hadn't seen them coming, I had my back turned on them. And it had been too loud to actually hear them come closer.

Jace had already plunged himself into battle. And if he died, I would owe him forever. But the second he conducted the first hit with his sword, I was sure that he would survive. His body moved faster than I would have expected of a normal Shadowhunter. He isn't a normal Shadowhunter, whispered a quiet voice in my head. Everything about him reminded me of a dancer. His feet seemed to mince to and fro to the rhythm of a silent melody, without blunder and with such a grace that I had never seen before. And although Jace was visibly tensed, his arms flew around in precise elegance. An ambitious expression flashed over his face and his hands held his seraph blade in complete calm.

I saw an arrow flying towards the demons out of the corners of my eyes. Not a moment later, the others went into battle. I followed them, breathless. With a swift movement, my hand reached for the grasp of my blades. I yanked the swords upwards in a smooth turn, pulled them out of the sheath and split the first Ravener in two pieces. I felt Adam's presence at my side and together we began to send demon after demon back to their dimension. It was such a humorous feeling that I started laughing.

Adam's green eyes flashed in confusion, but he continued to consecrate himself to the black tongue of a Ravener, which he separated from the demon's body with a feathery blow. "What's so funny?", he finally asked over his shoulder as he turned to another demon.

He probably would declare me insane, but I had to think of something that I had thought of earlier today. "I knew that your hairdo wouldn't last long", I said in a noisy but cheerful voice, then I turned to a truly nauseating demon. Its head could be compared to a snake, but the rest of its body consisted of one brown bulk that left mucus on the ground behind it. It had legs on both sides of its body which weren't longer than short stumps.

With a scream, I stormed in its direction and dug my complete sword into the slimy body. The demon jerked away in anger and ripped the blades out of my hand, which were still stuck in its body. I made a surprised leap in its direction and eluded its razor-sharp, and probably poisonous, teeth to reach my blades. When the demon had localized my new position, it rushed its head downwards, but at the same moment I managed to grasp the swords and pull them out. Subsequently, it was easy to quickly lower my body and cut through the demon's neck.

Altogether, it had been a group of twenty demons. The fight hadn't lasted more than ten minutes. I had been able to kill at least five of them, Adam had helped me with two others. But none of them had been overly powerful, so it hadn't been a huge difficulty. At no time, any of us had been in risk of death. None of us looked genuinely exhausted. Rather taken by surprise. While Alec picked up his arrows, I walked over to Jace who cleaned his seraph blades from the demon blood. I had to thank him. I suddenly felt a strange feeling in my gut.

"Hi", I stepped up but came to a halt two meters in front of him. Jace looked up and our eyes locked. The gold in his seemed hard as stone. "I wanted to thank you for earlier", I said calmly. He looked at me as if he didn't know what I was talking about. "You pulled me back from the demons. I didn't hear them and I don't think that I-"

"You don't actually believe that I did this for you, do you?" Jace's face twisted to a grimace. "You were in my way. That's the only reason I pulled you back", he said. "I could have stroke you down all the same, you were blocking my view." He literally spit the words in my face. His eyes fixed me one last time, then he walked past me and joined the rest of the group.

I didn't know why, but his words hurt more than I had expected them to. For a short moment, I felt unendingly sad. Why couldn't he understand that I wasn't like my father? I didn't judge him for his father who had been part of the Circle himself. Jace probably even enjoyed hurting me, so I put a smile on my face. He mustn't see my pain. I rose my head and walked past him to Adam, without giving them a single glance.

Before I could reach Adam, someone grabbed my shoulder. Someone swung me around and then I stood face to face with Alec, his eyes only centimeters from my own. "I don't know what your intentions are, but stay away from Jace", he whispered dangerously quiet. His blue eyes were ice-cold.

"What are you talking about", I hissed back in fury. "Everybody knows that he'd like to kill me." I broke away from him and took a step back. My back dashed against the wall and only now, I realized that we weren't in the middle of the corridor anymore.

"All of this is your fault. Everything that's going to happen today will be your fault. You're destroying his life." Alec turned his head to the side and searched the hallway for the others. They had already turned around the corner and weren't in sight anymore. For a second, conflict flashed in his eyes. He took a deep breath. "Maybe it would be better for everyone if he just killed you, then we wouldn't have these problems at all", he finally said without a trace of emotion in his voice. Then he turned around and followed the rest of the group.

I stood petrified for a moment and then leaned against the wall. I looked at the floor in front of me and felt my mouth drop open. Had that actually just been Alec? If you looked at his sister, you should have guessed that he too had a nefarious manner. Alec wanted to protect Jace, he was his Parabatai. Was he just as dense as Jace, or were all Shadowhunters just as prejudiced and suspicious?

I slowly followed them. Adam was waiting for me around the corner. "Are you alright?", he asked. He probably wondered that first Jace and then Alec had talked with me. But I wasn't in the mood to answer him. I just nodded silently and walked next to him.

"What do you think, where are the others? My mom, Maryse, Hodge?" My head hurt. Carefully, I pressed two fingers against my temple.

"Possible that they've been at the library together. Maryse maybe was in her bureau, or they were in their rooms. They could have been anywhere", Adam said absently. He pushed his seraph blade back in the sheath and stared through the corridor.

"Maybe we should look in the foyer", I suggested so loud that even the others were perfectly able to hear me. "If the demons came through the gate, the others will surely be heading there." I doubted my own words, but Adam seemed confident enough, so I pretended as if I was, too.

"It's probably one of the little alternatives we have", Alec pointed out and my eyes darted in his direction. He looked placid and had crossed his hands in front of his chest. His face radiated no trace of emotion and it seemed as if nothing had happened earlier.

The others sneaked towards the elevator, and I followed them reluctantly. I had loved nothing more than to grab Adam and take another path. But of course, I couldn't tell it straight in their faces. It would only increase their hate. Shadowhunters stood together and didn't split. Never. And that was the mistake my father had made all those years ago. I wouldn't repeat it.

After we had defeated the demons, the Institute's silence had set in again. Almost nothing reminded of the horde of demons or the quake, only some paintings that laid on the ground, or trophies which had dropped from marble columns. It didn't take long until we were standing in front of the shiny golden elevator.

Alec paused, undecided. "Wouldn't it be better to take the stairs?", he quietly noticed and turned to face us. "We don't know what will expect us downstairs and whatever it is, it could be waiting in front of the elevator." We had no objections, he was right after all. We didn't know with whom we were dealing with or what would be waiting for us downstairs. Although, deep in my heart I knew who would be expecting me. I gloomily lowered my head.

Jace shrugged his shoulders. "We don't even know if the elevators work at all." He leaned against the wall and ran his thumb over the blade of his dagger.

"Then let's go", Isabelle demanded and began to move. Her black leather-boots chimed through the hallway. "The staircase is this way!" Jace pushed away from the wall and followed her with eager steps, Alec right behind him.

The staircase was located one corridor further in the eastern direction. It was huge and gloriously decorated. Angels made of marble and imperious lions graced the handrail. In a quadratic bending, the stairs proceeded to the lower floor.

Isabelle reached the stairs first, she carefully peered across the railing and then beckoned us over. As quiet as possible, we moved down the stairs. Half walking, half on our knees, so the railing would give shelter. When we finally reached its bottom, it was as if we had entered a completely different world.

Not a lot of Shadowhunters lived in the Institute, a dozen at most. In shock, we stared at the dead bodies. They were lying everywhere. Only the black fighting-gear revealed that they were Shadowhunters.

A croak left my throat. I dashed off before Adam was able to grab my arm and hold me back. Trembling, I fell down next to the closest lifeless body on the ground and turned her on her back. A little sigh escaped my lips when I couldn't identify her as my mother. Only a second later, Adam stood at my side and helped me to check the others. Even Isabelle helped us. One of them could have been Maryse after all. Some of them had widened eyes, as if the last thing they had seen had been something truly horrible. If it was the case, I softly closed their eyes. None of the eleven Shadowhunters, who had died in this corridor, were Jocelyn, Maryse or Hodge.

Behind me, I heard Isabelle sigh in relief, after I turned around the last body. I was infinitely relieved, too. Still, the sight of all those people who had lost their lives today left a numb feeling of fear behind in my chest.

With a heavy heart, I came back to my feet. Jace and Alec had kept guard and now wanted to keep moving. We had to go down another staircase to reach the ground-floor. My stomach tightened. What would expect us down there? I straightened my back and inhaled deeply. I couldn't lose my composure, I had to stay strong. Rashly, we ran towards the stairs. We had lost enough time.

I saw the first one after I had almost run into Isabelle. She had appeared in front of me all of a sudden. Like an animal, she stopped dead in her tracks and glared down at the creatures in front of us. Fortunately, the Forsaken needed a moment to spot as at the top of the stairs. But when they finally did, they rushed upon us.

I had never seen a Forsaken before. My father had told us stories about them. Born as humans they turned into Forsaken by applying a rune on their skin. They didn't eat or drink and died on their own after some time. Nevertheless, they were stronger than some demons, mostly a little taller and more powerful than any mundane. They looked like swollen humans, and every body part seemed monstrous.

Adam heaved himself on the polished marble-railing and slid towards the Forsaken with an outstretched seraph-blade in his right hand. I ran past Isabelle and jumped. For a brief moment, I was wafting in the air. I saw the Forsaken, but they didn't see me because they were focused on the others, who were still standing at the top of the staircase. My seraph blades started to shine in both of my hands. This time I would fight with separated swords. Before my feet touched the ground again, I had beheaded the first Forsaken. I felt the short victory, but then I rose my head and realized how many there actually were. Too many to lull myself into a false sense of security.

From behind, Isabelle and Jace came down the stairs and fought their way through the creatures. Alec was still standing at the top of the staircase, shooting arrows at the Forsaken. However, they didn't practically care for the arrows. They just got stuck in their skin as they marched up the stairs towards us. With an enraged growl, the next one came in sight in front of me. Before I could fly at it, Adam stabbed the Forsaken from behind. But different than in Adam's imagination, it didn't die from the injury. Instead, it turned around with a deep growl and tried to hit Adam with his oversized hand. I took the opportunity of distraction and beheaded it with a swift movement. My blades zipped through the air and the Forsaken flinched for a moment, then it died once and for all. I turned to the side in disgust.

"Now you're already stealing my toys", Adam exclaimed, out of breath but with a joyful tone in his voice. "Go look for your own." He made an effort not to grin and still, I could see the amusement flicker in his eyes. I smirked and turned to the stairs.

It didn't take me long before I eyed the next Forsaken. But it soon showed that not all of them were as easily defeated as the ones before. After every hit, it took me a lot of strength to pull my blades out of their heavy bodies and they weren't always dead at that point. It called for rapidity and precision not to get a little wearier with every new kill. And I wasn't at my best after all. Slowly, the exhaustion became noticeable, thereby I knew that this was probably only the prelude. I forced myself not to think about it any further, about what would wait for me at the end of the stairs. Or who.

Isabelle, who was fighting with her whip, seemed to be overwhelmed. Of course, she would never admit it to herself. When she realized that her whip had completed its service, she drew her Kindjal from her belt in no time and ran it into the chest of an attacking Forsaken. Jace was moving so quickly that I couldn't tell, how many Forsaken he had already killed. In the gloomy light, one couldn't see much more but his shadow. Only his blond hair shone through the dark. And after a while, even Alec got the hang of it. His precise arrows bore into the heads of the Forsaken. Always carefully targeted the brain. He was good at it.

Soon, I didn't count the kills I achieved. Lunge, turn, strike. Breathe. Here and there, I had to duck to escape an enormous arm that targeted me. The colors of the world around me faded, my body moved like in trance. And when no Forsaken was alive to be killed, I felt like waking up from a dream.

Astonished, I turned around. Jace and Isabelle took out the last two. At least, I assumed it had been the last two because Adam was suddenly running up the stairs in a hurry. At first, he blocked my view but when he slightly moved to the left, I saw them. Adam had barely time to stab one of the creatures with his blade, when the other lunged out for Alec.

I ran as fast as I could, with raised hands. Still, I knew that I would come too late. The Forsaken must have taken Alec by surprise because we was only able to yank his bow up. Then, the Forsaken grabbed him at his throat and lifted him effortlessly from the ground.

We lunged at the Forsaken who must somehow have escaped our watch. Behind my back, I sensed the threatening hiss of Isabelle's whip as she struck it at the Forsaken, who was trying to choke her brother. The silver metal burned the creature's skin and ripped it apart. The Forsaken escaped a deep growl and then it hurled Alec over the railing with all its power. Isabelle screamed.

A second later, Jace had beheaded the Forsaken. I turned around and saw Isabell running down the stairs in panic. She got down next to Alec and stroked his forehead with her trembling hand. Tears welled in her eyes. His torso was bleeding. Before his body had hit the ground on the ground-floor, he must have dashed against the adamant railing. The force must have hit his rips completely unexpected. His breath was nothing more than a vigorous and panting groaning. His eyes were closed but he wasn't unconscious. At a brisk pace, we went downstairs.

Jace jumped over the railing in a dainty motion and landed directly beside Alec. "Can he get up?", Adam carefully asked. He was standing behind Alec's head but didn't make an attempt to kneel down. He watched him, concerned. I had wanted to ask the same question. We had to move on. We didn't know what was happening here. The next wave could hit us anytime.

Isabelle checked his pulse and shook her head in uncertainty. "I don't know, I'm not sure", she desperately whispered. I had never seen her so distraught and somehow it surprised me that she owned such a side at all. I knew that the thought was unfair, of course she was distraught, this was her brother after all.

Jace knelt down next to Isabelle and put an Iratze on Alec's arms. He didn't know if it would do anything at all. Iratzes didn't help with injuries that were too bad. The effect of the rune unfolded, but nothing happened. The head wound stopped bleeding but didn't close. Alec's eyes fluttered and then he passed out. Judging by the violent heaving of his chest, he was having trouble breathing. Isabelle put her hand over her mouth and bowed her head.

"We can lift him up", Adam suggested out of hand and gave Jace a sign. He nodded and together they manhandled the unconscious Alec on their shoulders. They looked somewhat clumsy. Although my aversion for Alec had increased in the past hour, I wanted to do something to help him. It didn't matter what he had done, he didn't deserve this. But what also didn't matter was my wish to help because they wouldn't let me anyway. I was Valentine's daughter after all.

So I took command while Isabelle covered our backs. We were an easy target, moving so slow that anybody could have sneaked on us and so loud one could hear us a corridor away. The ground-floor looked even worse than the floor above. No bodies, but there was blood everywhere. On the walls, on the ground, it even trickled down the ceiling.

"By the angel, what has happened here?", I muttered, breathless, trying to let my voice sound as neutral as possible. Drops of blood ran over my forehead. After less than a hundred meters, I heard a wheezing groan behind my back and turned around.

Alec, who had been clinging between Jace and Adam, looked deathly pale. "He can't go on any longer", said Isabelle quietly. Jace and Adam kneeled down to carefully lay Alec on the ground. A painful gasp escaped his lips and he cast up his eyes. His pupils were too large, and no light reflected in them. He appeared more dead than alive.

It felt as if somebody pushed the remaining oxygen out of my lungs. Alec was unwell. I didn't know how deep his injuries were, but I had the odd presentiment that we would have to hurry, if we wanted to find help in time. Actually, it shouldn't have bothered me, but I still didn't want him to die. "We need to get help", I said and came a step closer. "He won't survive the night in this condition."

The disapproval of the others felt like a slap in the face. Isabelle narrowed her eyes and observed me with a warning look. As if I wanted to safe him myself. Jace glared. "And then what? You won't come back anyway. You only want to save yourself."

I flinched as if he had slapped me. The momentary pain was followed by a blaze of anger. "Shut up, Jace," I snapped at him angrily. "But go ahead and play your hostile game if you want your Parabatai to die. If I wanted to kill any of you, I wouldn't be so dishonorable as to do it when you're already dying half-dead and defenseless in front of me."

Jace speechlessly stared at me. He was still kneeling next to Alec, his fingers resting on the Iratze he had drawn earlier. Anger mirrored in his eyes for a moment. Then he suddenly nodded. "Alright, go and look for someone. We'll stay here and keep watch. But hurry up." I turned my head to Alec. Isabelle and Adam were so busy treating his wounds that they didn't answer.

Jace words had taken me by surprise. I hadn't expected him to give up so easily. Fast as lightning, I turned around and ran off. At least, it was what I had planned to do. But only after a few seconds, I stopped dead in my track, thunderstruck. My eyes caught his. The moment seemed to pass in slow-motion. As if stung by a scorpion, I lunged backwards.

Silent as death, he stood in the middle of the hallway. He wore his Shadowhunter gear and was armed to the teeth. His black eyes rested on me and he radiated danger, which let the blood in my veins freeze. He looked healthier and more vigorous as I remembered him to be. And he seemed so calm, so similar to his old self, that I wanted nothing more than to burst into tears. Only his pitch-black eyes gave evidence to the creature he had become.

I stood only a few steps away from him and stared at him with widening eyes, a look full of grief. Then, my legs betrayed me, and I fell on my knees. My throat tightened, I choked. I wasn't able to say anything. He raised his hand and outstretched it in my direction, almost pleading. A little smile played around his lips. A single sound escaped my own mouth. A sob. It took all my strength to resist the urge to throw myself in his arms. He had come to kill me. The monster, that had murdered my brother, had now come to murder me. Must have been irony of fate.

As the others caught my sob, they turned their heads around and peered at us. I still wasn't able to move. At first, they didn't seem to recognize him because they were rather looking puzzled than terrified. Only Jace didn't. The second his eyes fell on Jonathan's sight, disbelief flashed in his eyes. For a moment, I couldn't believe how similar they looked. I didn't know what I had expected Jace to do, but he gasped for air and jumped on his feet. With a quick glance, he surveyed the distance between us, and then he finally completely understood.

For an instant, I had assumed that he would come to help, but he just stood there and traced the scenery. Then it dawned to me. Of course, he wouldn't come to help me, I was Clarissa Morgenstern after all. I wouldn't need his help anyway. I heard him whisper something to the others. Adam's eyes widened in surprise and Isabelle drew the dagger from her belt. Adam wanted to make a step in my direction, but Jace ungently grabbed him at his wrist to hold him back.

"Clary." It sounded like a realization, as if he was relieved to see me.

I knew the others could hear us, so I had to choose my words carefully. "Jonathan", I coolly replied, at least I wanted to reply coolly. But the surprise and the pain were impossible to hide. When the others heard the confirmation of his name, they tensed.

"Your friends?" Jonathan nodded towards the rest of the group and laughed. Delight flashed in his eyes, and I instinctively made another step back. I hadn't even noticed how I had got up on my feet again. I opened my mouth to retort something, stared to Adam and the others, and closed it again then. Adam was my friend. But the rest? My angry gaze met the ground.

"I thought so", he added when I owed him a response. "How could they ever be worthy of you? Just look at them." His hand stretched in Jace's direction, his eyes darkened, and he sullenly examined him. "Someone who treats you like that deserves nothing but death", he said, referring to Jace. A second later, Jonathan was suddenly grinning and showing his white teeth. "The little Herdonale boy whose parents died."

I could literally sense how Jace clenched his fists and I wondered, how he was able to control himself. "That doesn't matter", I finally uttered. "What are you doing here, Jonathan? How did you find us?"

"Questions upon questions", he purred and took a Kindjal from his belt. His smile widened. It wasn't a pleasant or kind smile, but a mischievous, maybe even deadly one. "The rune the Silent Brothers removed was a nice start. But we have our spies everywhere."

"This can't be true", I murmured astonished. "You shouldn't even be here. The portal activity is strictly supervised as well as possible magic." Jonathan stroked his thumb over the dagger's razor-sharp blade.

"Do you recognize it?", Jonathan asked without giving an answer, and pointed at the dagger. He passed the last gap between us. It was the Kindjal he had used to stab me in the woods. Slowly, I nodded and didn't dare to breath. "Maybe I should finish what I began in Idris." I didn't pull away when he pressed the dagger against my throat. I only stared at him with emotionless eyes, and he did the same. The smile had disappeared from his face a while ago.

"Say it", I demanded instead.

Jonathan shrugged his shoulders while he let the dagger slide over my skin. I knew that he wouldn't kill me. Valentine forbade it. It was just a huge game. "There are more ways than portals or magic to travel between places."

I suddenly heard a thud behind my back and not a second later Adam had torn himself away from Jace and ran to my side. He grabbed my forearm and pulled me away from Jonathan, away from the blade at my throat. And to my surprise, Jonathan let him. "And you are Jonathan? Clary's brother?" Adam asked fearlessly. He had stood up to his full height next to me and fixed Jonathan with his dark green eyes.

Jonathan threw him a strange look. A mixture of amusement and stunner. He didn't seem to know Adam. "Who wants to know that?", he asked clinically.

"I want to know", answered Adam quick like a shot. "Adam Demonhunter. I just want to make sure that Clary is alright." At this, he smugly smiled at Jonathan. Adam didn't seem to understand the seriousness of the situation. He played with fire and didn't get the danger that radiated from Jonathan. Adam had entered the game with his own rules. And he played it well, I had to admit that, although he wouldn't stand a chance against Jonathan.

"Clary's going to be alright", Jonathan hissed and approached Adam. "Who are you that you're allowed to care about my sister?"

Adam was truly brave. He was standing bolt upright and responded Jonathan's look fearlessly and focused. He reminded me of a true worrier. His back muscles tensed, but Jonathan was unable to see that. "I'm a friend of Clary. I don't know what your father taught you about friendship, but I protect my friends." His voice darkened and was unbelievable mature. For a moment, I held my breath.

Jace and Isabelle watched the whole drama from a safe distance and seemed to get worried about Adam. They whispered nervously while Isabelle stroked Alec's forehead.

"Adam Demonhunter", Jonathan now said in an odd tone. Not angry anymore, rather resigned. "I thank you for protecting my sister from that scum of a Herondale and the rest of those Nephilim. But I'll take over from now on." Thereby, he gave Adam a triumphant smile which made me shiver.

The brown-haired boy shook his head. "I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I have other plans", he said casually, took my hand and pulled me back from Jonathan.

Then, everything happened very fast. Jonathan grabbed Adam's shoulder an wanted to turn him around. But a moment later, an arrow stuck in his upper arm. Like a mad dog, Jonathan turned around to face Jace who clasped the bow with trembling hands. Did he miss the heart on purpose? Isabelle jumped on her feet and even Alec was trying to stand up. Slowly and staggering, but still.

Jonathan yelled like fury. Not out of pain but out of anger. A tremendous, unpredictable and uncontrollable anger. His eyes, which couldn't be any darker, turned completely black and fixed Jace furiously. "You'll to pay for this! All of you!"

I dragged Adam away from Jonathan. Back to where Isabelle and Alec were standing. Jonathan, who had been distracted for a couple of seconds stared at me, unwavering. Then, he drew a blade from the sheath and outstretched it in front of his body in our direction. The sword's end pointed at me. "You bring dishonor on our family, Clary!", he roared in rage. "I should kill you and the rest of your little gang right away!"

I felt the pain in my gut. Again, tears welled in my eyes. Then, the monster in front of my inner eye was gone and Jonathan was standing there again. Happy, strong and brave. Smiling, he stared at me. My brother. But this wasn't my brother. This Jonathan didn't beam. He seemed to burn from within. A superior being with dark eyes, who fixed its prey with clenching teeth before ripping it in thousand pieces.

"Stop it, Jonathan", I screamed at him, trying to suppress my sobs, and made a step in his direction. "You don't have to do this. If you go now, then maybe everything's going to be just fine." Of course, my words were a lie, but I didn't want to say If you go now, then I won't have to kill you. It never occurred to me that it might result in just that. I couldn't imagine killing him.

Adam tried to take me back, but I broke loose and gave him a warning glance. Jonathan laughed gleefully. "You don't believe that yourself, Clary. The decisions will me made here. Here and now." He raised his hands in the air and then I suddenly recognized the sword in his hand. I had assumed that it was an ordinary blade and didn't give it further attention.

I flinched and gasped. With trembling hands, I pointed at the sword as my worst assumptions verified within seconds. "By the angel, is this-"

"Indeed it is, my dear sister", Jonathan replied smiling and stroked the hair out of his face in a typical gesture. "It's the Mortal Sword. I'm not surprised that you recognize it."

Isabelle let out a shocked sound. Just as me, she couldn't believe it. "What did you do, Jonathan?" My voice was shaking, and I felt the anger running through my veins and mixing with the fear.

"Come on, Clary, we did the Silent Brothers a favor when we slaughtered them", he said and didn't even raise his voice, as if he was truly satisfied with his actions.

In front of my inner eye, I saw the Silent Brothers. How they had guided us through the long shallow corridors. Only some hours ago I had been there. They must have arrived shortly after us. The picture changed in my head. I remembered the vision from which I had woken up on the cold ground. They had been lying in their own blood. Their silent screams had broken the silence. I had wondered how it was to die so lonely. Frightened, I opened my eyes.

Even Jace, who always had a comment on his tongue, seemed too shocked to say something. We just stared at Jonathan. "Both of you are monsters", I growled and made another step towards him. My body shuddered uncontrolled when I drew my seraph blade in a swift movement.

Jonathan laughed. "What do you want to do? Fight me? You know that you can't win this fight." I shouldn't attack him, and I knew it, but my blood was seething in anger. A red veil laid over my eyes and in this moment, I would have liked nothing better than to beat the grin from his face. With a scream, I lunged at him and tossed my sword in his direction. Jonathan took a step back and was actually surprised that I had attacked him after all. His surprise turned into anger blazingly fast, and he parried my second cut without effort. "This makes no sense at all", he hissed, and the sword flew down at me with so much power that it cost me strength to hold the weight.

I jumped back so there were several meters separating us. "You came here to kill me. This is your chance!"

Jonathan stared at me for a couple of minutes, his look free of any emotion. He had lowered the sword and given up his posture of attack. "Do you really believe that I came here to kill my own sister?" He shook his head. "I came here to save you from your own stupidity."

"Where's father?", I hissed without answering him. He had to be here. He would have never sent Jonathan alone.

"Father is looking for your mother", he replied and suddenly sounded furious again. Did they plan to take us along with them? As if we would ever accompany them voluntarily. They would have to lock us in a cage to prevent us from escaping again.

"What are you planning?"

"Isn't it obvious, Clary?", Jonathan asked sarcastically and gave me a crooked smile. "Do you really believe that we attacked Toronto and Paris only to kill some Shadowhunters? No, it's not the whole truth."

Puzzled, we stared at him. "Toronto was lucky though", he continued to narrate. "Without their silly shield, we'd have razed the Institute to the ground. But we were in Toronto for the Downworlders in the first place."

"Father hates Downworlders", I gave back, irritated. "It doesn't justify killing them."

Jonathan laughed again and came a step closer. „As if this was new. You know that he chases and kills Downworlders since the inception of the Circle." He shortly paused and the smile on his face made me shiver. "Apart from this, we killed them for a reason."

"What do you mean?", I pressed him, breathless, and finally lowered my own blade which had been pointed at him until now.

"Do you know how easy it is to turn the Mortal Sword's power around?", he asked and grinned. "Just imagine all the demons we could summon!" His black eyes shone. It sounded so absurd and awful that I started laughing. I didn't know that one could turn its power around. But I didn't believe that Jonathan was lying. Why should he? "Your behavior is ridiculous, Clary. Exactly as ridiculous as your Shadowhunter friends who can't stand you in reality." Angrily, I gazed at him. As if I didn't know that. "Do us both a favor and come back to my side. You're a Morgenstern, this fate is predetermined for you, just as it is for me. You only need the ability to accept your fate."

Behind me, the others started whispering. I was unable to move. Torn, I eyed him. Of course, it was beyond all questions to choose him. He lied, I could see it. He was looking for an excuse to win me over. "The process isn't done yet, Clary. Come back to me", he begged and suddenly looked unbelievably sad. His eyes shone in sorrow. He outstretched a hand for me. It trembled. "Clary, please." His voice was trembling, too.

A single sob escaped my lips. He is my brother, my head screamed. But my gut warned me to do something wrong. What was the right thing to do? "Jonathan", slipped out of my mouth and I made another step in his direction. My sighted blurred.

Then, someone grabbed my arm and pulled me back to the others. I turned around in confusion and met Jace's gaze. His golden eyes were only centimeters away from my own. He brought me back to reality. "It's a trap", he hissed and responded my look with a touch of puzzlement. Then he let me go abruptly.

I stumbled towards Adam who softly reached for my arm. We turned to Jonathan. His features were distorted in fury. "You don't have the right to tell her what to do", he yelled at Jace. His hands shook out of control. Jace had been right, it had been a trap. Jonathan couldn't control himself. How could I fall for him? This monster wanted me to believe that my brother was still alive.

"You're going to pay for this!" The empty shell of Jonathan strengthened the grasp around the Soul-Sword and raised it. The blade gleamed silvery in the faint light. "The inversion isn't completed yet, but the sword has unbelievable power already!" To underline his words, he let the sword collide with the stone ground. The point of the sword let the stone burst.

Our sight blurred for a second and then, we were standing in the church-like foyer which was right next to the huge doors of the Institute. It was the place my mother and me had entered first, after being granted access to the Institute. It was the place our group had wanted to reach, but nobody was here. Jonathan stood in the hallway while we had the church pews at our backs. For a moment, nothing happened. We silently stared at the sword in his hands. I tried to ignore the triumphant smile on his lips.

Then, everything suddenly happened super-fast. It didn't take longer than a blink when the Mortal Sword lit up and tossed us to the ground with an invisible power. I gasped for air, pulled myself together and caught a glimpse of Jonathan, who murmured words that I didn't understand.

Welcome back. I hope you liked this chapter. What do you think about it? Tysm for all the reviews! I'm so happy that you like my story. A huge thank you to Morgan Rogers who writes a lot of them! I just have one question: What did you mean with "You can do a chapter of fanfic that has like Q and A and thank yours or whatever."? I didn't get that, sorry haha. I'm not native :(

But anyway, have a great day and see you soon!

Skyllen