The Descent Into Hell Is Easy

Chapter Two - Hell No

When you see my face,
hope it gives you hell,
hope it gives you hell.

- The All-American Rejects

{Jace}

"He wants you to what?" Alec asks in disbelief, a mug raised to his mouth and suspended in the air like he couldn't possibly drink his coffee and listen at the same time. Isabelle has the opposite reaction, laughing out loud from where she stands by the window, admiring her blade before sheathing it. I'm glad she finds it so amusing.

"He wants me to find her and destroy her." I tell him diplomatically, summarising everything i just told them about the meeting with my father last night. Alecs blue eyes blink at me and he lowers his mug with a look like this whole thing is ridiculous, which it is "By fucking her?" He narrows those eyes at me and my jaw works. "Well I've to make her fall for me but i recon its all the same to him. He doesn't exactly understand the concept of love. Not like we do." I explain as if i do understand it.

I've never been in love, nobody has ever been in love with me either, as far as i know and for good reason. I don't stick around long enough for anyone to get that far and in all honesty I'm not sure if I'm even capable of feeling it myself. Not romantic love anyway.

The breeze through the window, the smell of lemon and lavender and her smile when she looks at me over her shoulder... No. i don't have time for that shit today.

"He is clearly putting way too much faith in your abilities." Isabelle chuckles again, leaning against the glass and sizing me up. I flip her off with a smile. Her amusement only grows.

"What if shes like sixty years old?" Alec butts in, making me turn back to his less than pleased face. I had considered that, but it's unlikely.

"I highly doubt one of the nephilim would have been able to hide out here for sixty years and not be discovered sooner. Assuming she's been here her whole life. Not that it makes any difference, i have my orders and by the sounds of things he isn't the only one involved." This sends a shiver through the dark haired man.

Isabelle is silent, rod straight by the window now. Not so funny anymore, clearly. Alec takes a long moment before he says anything, like he's working out the odds in his head and realising I'm completely fucked. When hell says jump, you ask how high. None of us had ever refused a direct order before.

The thing is, usually it wasn't us at risk but everyone else. This was risky, dangerous beyond comprehension. She could take one look at me and work it out herself and I'd be obliterated before my next breath. We were left to our own devices as long as we were keeping the balance but this wasn't just a job, it was retaliation, it was another step towards another rebellion and they wouldn't stand for it twice. Despite their patience. This was essentially a death sentence. Messing with one of their own.

"What can we do to help?" He finally asks and it catches me by surprise. He looks entirely serious, his bearings coming back to him, the stoic demeanour of a man with a mission from below. "Alec, you're not getting involved. Neither of you are getting involved in this. I was given this mission alone and I'm not dragging both of you into a war." I tell him but he scoffs at me, turning to his sister who merely nods with the same emotionless expression.

"In case you haven't noticed Jace, we've never been ones to shy away from a fight and we're not about to start now." He says matter of factly "Besides, we're a team. If one of us has a mission then we all have a mission." He takes a drink then to make his point. This fucking guy. I know by the look in his eye that there isn't even any point arguing with him.