Forgetting the Past

Chapter Twenty-One: An Oath Unkept

The slam of a door jolted Clary awake from her place on the walk-in closet's floor. She blinked her eyes, adjusting to the new light, and saw Sebastian standing at the other end of the room,
just as angry and shirtless as she had left him. "Did you sleep well, sister?" He asked, voice tinged with poison.
"I..." She trailed off, at a loss for words.
"You're really getting on my nerves, Clarissa. And you will soon regret it."
She felt suddenly nauseous. Why did he have to say vague things like that to make her frightened? Her stomach- oh, God, she really was going to be sick-
Clary struggled to her feet, bolting past a confused Sebastian and flinging open the closet door. She ran to the bathroom and emptied out the entire contents of her stomach into the toilet.
She heard footsteps coming toward the bathroom, so she quickly closed the lid and wiped her mouth off, resting her clammy forehead against the cool porcelain surface.
"Are you alright, sister?" Sebastian said from the doorway.
"I just... I haven't eaten since, well, I can't remember," she said, her mouth feeling slow to work. She was dizzy. In an effort to steady her mind, she clutched the sides of the toilet and tried to relax. Eventually she opened her eyes to see that the world had come back into focus, so stood up to meet his gaze.
"It's good that we're going to a brunch this morning, then," he told her. Sebastian had a strange expression on his face; the kind when he was musing over something, studying a subject.
Clary itched to break the silence. "Brunch with whom?" She blurted out.
"The Princes of Hell. We have a casual brunch once a week. It's quite nice, you'll soon find out," he responded lightly. Ya, sure. Brunch with the Princes of Hell. Nice.
She sighed. "Fine. But I'll need something to wear." Clary was still in the comfy pajamas she had found last night, before she... Well, before she discovered Lewis.
"Of course," he replied. "Pick out anything you like from the right side of the closet, something nice but not too formal," he said. Clary went toward the closet and shut the door behind her.
She would have been happiest wearing a sheet just to keep Sebastian's eyes off of her, but she didn't find any loosely fitting clothes besides the drawer of pajamas.
Eventually she settled for a gray satin dress with a rather strait neckline. It had a v-shaped cut in the center that showed more cleavage than she liked, so Clary tried to pull it up. That inly made the issue of the tight and short skirt worse.
The dress had black accents along the hemlines and a thin, dark belt around her waist. The whole thing was skin tight, but she doubted she would find anything that wasn't. She threw on a gray/black jacket that was a size too small, and zipped on some thigh high black boots. She felt barely dressed and wished she would have had more of a choice in the wardrobe. Oh well.
Emerging from the closet, she found Sebastian buttoning up a black suit coat that was identical to the one he had worn yesterday. "Do you demons have a dress code or something?" Clary asked, startling him a little. He hadn't seen her come out of the closet.
Sebastian turned to look at her for a moment before he replied. His eyes lingered in her body, making her shift uncomfortably.
"No. I just prefer to keep it all business," he said matter-of-factly. "I do have a casual side, you know."
"Oh," she replied, feeling suddenly awkward. She hadn't wanted it to go back to the way it had been in Edom; she didn't want to have any kind of relationship with Sebastian. Even if she hated him, every last bit of him, she found herself conversing with him as if she didn't. She felt herself being pulled toward him-
Clary broke herself out of the trance before it could even form completely. "No way. I'm not letting you get into my head like that."
Breath hissed between his teeth as she watched his temper rise. "You either let me do what I please, or pretend, sister. You know the first option will be easier."
She grit her teeth. "Only if you promise not to take advantage of me."
"Fine. But I will do anything else I wish," he replied stubbornly.
"Nothing... Too far."
"Nothing too far."
"Swear by..." Clary began. She didn't know what to make a demon swear by. Shadowhunters swore by the angel Raziel because they got their power from him, but demons didn't. "Swear by Lucifer."
He chuckled quietly. "Sure. I swear by Lucifer."
"Good," she replied. "Now... Now you can do it."
For the first time, she let herself fall into the sensation. It was like being numbed yet feeling everything at the same time, but feeling differently. She felt confident, proud of herself, and she wanted Sebastian deeply. More than ever before, she wanted him...
She grit her teeth and breathed deeply to try and push down the lust. Sebastian laughed to himself. "Perhaps I'm putting it on a little thick, Clarissa."
In a moment, she felt the sensation lift fractionally. Though she still yearned to touch him, it was not nearly as overwhelming. Feeling as if she could now control herself better, she strode over toward him and wrapped her hand around his elbow.
"Shall we, sister," he asked.
"Yes."

The brunch had been rather dull. There had been several Greater Demons- Princes of Hell- gathered around a rectangular table. The food had been bland and the conversation political. At one point, one had asked her how his son was doing. What had he said his name was, Magnum? Maximus? Clary had told him she didn't recognize the name, and for some reason they thought they should congratulate Sebastian on it. Strange.
Although she had been quite hungry, Sebastian looked at her in an odd way whenever she reached for more food. Did he think she was getting fat? She was getting a bit of a belly, she realized when she looked down. It wasn't much, but it was noticeable. Never mind that- she was starving, and she would eat all she liked.
Now they were in their way to the bedroom again. Sebastian had his arm wrapped low around Clary's waist, pulling her along as fast as her leather-clad legs could take her. Eventually they rounded a corner that took them through the doorway to the bedroom.
Sebastian kicked the door shut loudly behind him and pulled Clary close to kiss her. His lips were rough against hers, and his hands gripped her waist bruisingly hard. She put her hands on his shoulders and pulled herself up, wrapping her legs around his waist. The extra contact only made him crush her body closer to his.
Sebastian turned to the bed, sliding down onto it with Clary underneath him. Her legs fell away from him and he straddled her hips, running a hand down her thigh. She pulled at the fabric of his suit, brushing her lips against the cold skin of his neck. She flicked her tongue across it, causing Sebastian to tighten his hold on her thigh. She took in a sharp breath, planting rough kisses up toward his ear. "What is it you want, naughty boy?" She hissed into it.
"You already know, Clarissa," he said, and captured her lips with his own.
They kissed. And while they kissed, Sebastian ran his hands freely over Clary. She moaned as his fingers slipped underneath her skirt, grasping the bare skin of her leg underneath. She undid the buttons on his suit coat, but he put his hands over hers to stop her halfway through the act.
Clary looked up at him with questioning eyes. "What...?"
Sebastian trailed his lips down her neck. "As much as I want this to go on, sister," he breathed, planting a kiss on her skin, "I have an oath to uphold." His mouth found its way down her shoulder and across the curve of her collar bone.
"What do you mean?" She said, still panting from the heated make-out session.
Sebastian sighed. "You will see soon. But not too soon." A devious smile spread across his face. Clary caught on, wrapping her arms around the back of his neck. "One more thing before were through," her brother said.
"And what is that?" She asked.
"Whatever you want it to be, sister."
So Clary locked her ankles at the small of his back and said, "Anything for you, Sebastian."
She slammed her lips against his, grinding her hips upward until he groaned deep in his throat. Sebastian's fingers dug into her hips as she ran her fingers through his hair, tugging and pulling at it. One of his hands ran further up her leg, just above the thigh, and gripped it tightly. "Clary-" he breathed.
Suddenly realization washed over her like a flood. This was her brother- her demonic brother, who she hated, who she was in bed with-
She rolled off the bed with a jolt. "By the Angel, Sebastian-" she screamed.
"If it weren't for the oath you had me take, that wouldn't have been the end of it, sister," he scolded. "Be grateful I stuck to my word this time."
"But you swore-"
He cut her off with a mocking laugh. "Do you really believe hell keeps its word? That's what demons do, Clarissa- they lie, they break promises. I'm no different than any other."
"You- I- ugh!" She yelled, at a loss for words and at the mercy of her own frustration. She stomped off to the closet and slammed the door. "Leave me alone, you bastard!" She hollered at the top of her lungs before flipping the lock.
There was only one place she wanted to be right now, besides Jace's arms. And the thought of being with him only made her more homesick.
Clary would visit Lewis.