The Dark Ones

Chapter Three

I stepped into a dark room, the wooden floorboards creaking underneath me with every step I took. I winced at the loudness of it, squinting into the darkness to no avail. I could only see blackness. With fear blossoming in my stomach, I turned toward the entrance, pressing my fingertips against the wall to feel for a door handle, but there was nothing. Suddenly, I heard a floorboard creak on the opposite side of the room and I turned quickly on my heel.

"Who's there?" I questioned, my eyes wide.

At first, I was met with silence until a familiar voice broke it. "No one will ever love you," they said.

"Who is there?" My voice was unsteady. I willed my vision to adjust to the darkness so that I could see, but it wouldn't. Another floorboard creaked, and I could see a dim light approaching, getting brighter as the sound of footsteps got louder. I could make out a boy standing there.

Jace.

My breath caught in my throat and I felt my heart pounding. "What are you doing here?" I asked, looking down to see that he held a witch light tightly in his grasp.

"Nobody will ever love you." He said mockingly. I was struggling to find the words to formulate a response, but before I could, his face began to change. It morphed into a face that I never wanted to see again... Valentine's.

"No one will ever love you." He echoed, but I was more concerned on what was coming up to surround him. Shadows protruded from the darkness behind him, and it took me a few moments to realize that the shadows were demons.

"V-Valentine." I whispered, terror gripping at my insides. I backed up, watching as he came closer, the shadows coming with him.

"Any last words?" He asked, a grin spreading across his face. Not having any time to speak, he whispered something so faint that I could barely hear it. "Attack."

As if on cue, the demons charged straight toward me. I inhaled sharply as they began to surround me. They were speaking faintly, almost faint enough to where they were drowned out by the sound of my heartbeat in my ears. "Clarissa." They hissed, "Clarissa, wake up."

I tilted my head in confusion. They were messing with me, I thought. Why won't they kill me already?

"Clarissa. Wake up." The voices slowly changed, turning into a males voice, "Clarissa! Wake up! Clary!"

I sat up, breathing heavily. "Clary?" I turned my head toward the voice. It was Noah. Through the window, the sun shined brightly into the room.

"I-I..." I struggled to control my breathing. "I had a bad dream." I said, my voice sounding rushed.

"Are you alright?" He asked, a look of concern on his face.

I covered my face with my hands, trying to regain my composure, only to find that my eyes were wet with tears. I quickly wiped them away, "why did you come?" I asked, hoping he wouldn't notice my poor attempt at hiding the fact that I had been crying.

"You were screaming," he said, his voice soft and gentle. "And then you started crying." I looked at him and stopped wiping at my face.

"Oh." I responded, taking a deep breath. "I'm sorry that I woke you."

"I was concerned," he shook his head. "You don't need to be sorry. Do you want to talk about what's wrong?"

"It's nothing," I told him, looking away. "Just things with Jace."

"I'm sorry, Clary." He said, and something about the way he said it made me feel like he was being sincere. "What happened there?" He motioned to my hands and I looked down to see that there were narrow slits where my nails had dug in.