Chasing Death (TMI FanFiction) // UNEDITED

Chapter Two

Beth awoke the next morning drenched in sweat. Her mind was racing and her heartbeat had accelerated far beyond its normal speed. She ran her fingers over her face and pushed a few small strands of hair back onto her head. They too were covered in sweat, but it didn't bother her. The only thing that bothered her was the dream. It was one she had never experienced and what had occurred had both confused her and traumatized her.  

Jonathan Morgenstern had been dead for years. In fact, she was a baby when he died. Her uncle had told her all about him and what he tried to do to Shadowhunters. She'd known him to be evil, destructive, manipulative, but never nice. He was not someone who wanted to meet in a dark alleyway, so why had she trusted him in the dream? It made no sense. A part of her knew he was being genuine, but the other part made her question his motives. He wouldn't do anything without having a motive, that's what her uncle always told her. She had also learned from countless films that everyone had a motive, no matter what the scenario. 

"Beth? Are you up?" Her uncle called from downstairs. Pushing the blanket off her lap she stood up and walked towards her bedroom door, which was perched open. She moved the wedge out from the under the door and stood at the banister.

"Yeah! I'm gonna take a shower and then get something to eat," she yelled back.

"Alright, I'm going out for a bit. Any problems phone me, okay?"

"Okay, see you later!" She shut her door and sat back on her bed, staring at the wall opposite. After five minutes, she stood up and walked towards the bathroom at the edge of her room. She grabbed a towel of a shelf and headed into the bathroom where she scrubbed the sweat that had clung to her body. Beth also noticed that under her nails was a layer of red dust, like the dust that as in her dream. For the time being, Beth pushed it away and finished up in the shower. She got dressed into her black workout clothes and went downstairs to get something to eat.

On the work bench was a plate of toast and a glass of orange juice, prepared by her uncle. Beth laughed under her breath and sat down to eat. She clicked a remote and turned the kitchen TV on so she could watch the news and find out what had been happening in the mundane world. 

"Good Morning and welcome to the BBC news, today's top story. Police have made a connection between several murder cases that have occurred over the last few weeks. Police say all victims have had fade white scars on their body and all have been drained of blood. The person behind these killings is unknown."

Beth watched the clips that unfolded on the screen as the voice-over continued. They showed photos of all those that had been murdered in recent weeks and, although she hated to admit it, she knew some of them. They were all Shadowhunters who had been killed, but by who, she had no idea. The only thing she could think of was the Rogue's, but it seemed unlikely they would be killing off random Shadowhunters. The Rogue's would only hurt those who worked on the Clave or were around during Jonathan's reign of terror. Almost all Shadowhunters pose a threat to them.

But these people weren't part of the Clave, nor did they fight in the war against Jonothan. They were innocent, so why kill them? The killings were sloppy, not precise, not Shadowhunter killings. Jonathan was right about something, they were being controlled. Thought Beth. It sounded crazy to her, but it was the only logical thing she could think of under the circumstances. 

Beth finished eating her breakfast whilst she watched the news and then went to the gym to work out. As she didn't like in the Institute, they didn't have a wide range of weapons or gear to practice with, so her uncle made a gym. The gym was equipped with all the high range equipment she would need in order to complete sufficient training. 

As she took the treadmill, she decided to play her music on full volume as no one else was in the house and, therefore it was unlikely she would get told off for doing so. When the music started she turned on the treadmill and started out on a gentle walk. Beth always found working out peaceful as it gave her a chance to think about the day ahead and also what had occurred the night before.