ʜᴇᴀᴠᴇɴʟʏ ꜰɪʀᴇ ~ ᴛᴍɪ

Chapter 7 - Dawn of Glory

Disappointment.

That was the Inquisitor's reaction.

Her grandmother had appeared as an apparition in the New York Institute library and dismissed her quite early since Allison was bleeding into the carpet.

She had three broken ribs and a bleeding arm.

Now, she was in the infirmary, tuck inside the sterilized white sheets. She dozed off for a few minutes, but couldn't fall asleep. Besides, she is supposed to be in Alicante as soon as she was healed. The Inquisitor had ordered her to not get involved anymore. The panic in Imogen's eyes, Allison noticed it right off. She did not want her granddaughter anywhere around Valentine Morgernstern. If Allison crossed the order, the repercussions would be serious.

Sighing, she sat up against the pillows, which was a terrible idea. Sharp bouts of pain shot through her side. She could only curse and try to breathe slowly. God, every breath was torture.

"Hodge kept some sort of concoction for you on the table." Jace's voice reached her ears.

There was a glass of purple liquid, as he had said. Allison carefully reached out for it, not to disturb her wounded left arm as well. She drank the strong and bitter liquid, trying not to gag. But it worked. After a few minutes, the pain numbed. Her breathing became easy.

Allison's vision finally wasn't blurry. She looked around, taking in the infirmary. Simon, who had a broken leg, slept soundly in the bed to her right. Jace, with his shattered shoulder, stared blankly at the ceiling. He turned to his side and looked at Allison as if he was waiting to ask her something.

"What?"

"Aren't we going to discuss the elephant in the room, Investigator?"

"You're more like an orangutan,"

"I'll take that. But you have to explain how you made a vampire combust after drinking your blood."

Allison hid her surprise. "What do you mean?"

"You have no chance to evade that. I need answers." He looked dead serious. "Or I would just ask Hodge or even Maryse to explain what I saw."

"Do ask them," She smiled back. "The Inquisitor would make sure they won't speak another word."

"Is that a threat?" His voice took a dangerous turn.

She gave him a semblance of a shrug. "Depends on how this conversation is going to end, Wayland,"

Rage etched on his face. Before he could utter another word, "Look, I get it. You can't stand me. Like everyone else. So don't test me now, especially since I could almost lose my position as an Investigator. I took a great risk to help you, and I have to face the repercussions. Alone. Every member of the Clave wants me fired since I'm the youngest among them. I don't need another person to take me down."

Jace only stared, and she saw the shift of his moodLetting out a long sigh, and he laid back in the bed. Then said, "I don't want you to lose your job or anything. I can see that it's important to you. Hell, you're probably the most ambitious person I've seen close to our age."

Allison snorted at that.

Jace shot her a look. Yet, "I do respect that. But...I'm just curious. It's not every day I see a vampire die by drinking blood or a seraph blade catching fire. Whatever." He shut his eyes.

His answer was genuine, she realized. And she was sure the curiosity was killing him. But what was she going to reply? That she can never use seraph blades due to this reaction? Or that her first rune ceremony was disastrous due to this.