City of Heavenly Fire (The Mortal Instruments Fan-fic)

Chapter 12: No Turning Back

The vampire came out of nowhere, fangs bared and eyes narrowed. White-hot pain drowned out the rest of the world, deafening. Muted snarls and yelps rang around in her head as if they were the memories of a sound. The sound of a hopeless battle.

Dirt scraped roughly against Jocelyn's cheek as the vampire shoved her head against the ground. She could hear the others around her, scuffles and grunts of fighting, but the huge female vampire was all she could see. She twisted her head away and kicked out, her boot slamming into something soft.

She heard the vampire grunt in pain and scrambled to her feet, whipping around with a seraph blade in hand. "Arazel!" She cried, lunging forward. Before she could get close to her, the vampire moved lightning-fast, striking Jocelyn's sword arm. The blade flew from her hand, twirling in midair, casting elegant rays of blue light across the field. Before the seraph blade even hit the ground, the vampire slammed into her, knocking her to the floor on her side, pain lancing across her head as it hit the ground hard. She sat on Jocelyn, her weight keeping her in place even as she pummeled the vampire with kicks and punches her enemy didn't seem to notice.

This time, the vampire brought out a length of hard black cloth. Jocelyn felt her heart quicken as she fought harder, punching the vampire in the jaw, and leaving an angry red mark behind. The Downworlder snarled, grabbing both of her hands and twisting them behind her back. She pressed her foot against the side of Jocelyn's face and tied her wrists together so tightly, she couldn't feel her hands.

The vampire smiled, taking her boot off her cheek and pressing it against her side. She supressed a groan as it dug into her stomach. "Not so tough, are you? Maybe you should have spent more time training and less doing your pretty little hair," the vampire snarled, pulling at a strand of bright red hair. She twirled it between her fingertips tauntingly. "Do you think he would mind if I killed you? Drank your blood just a teensy bit?"

Sebastian. Jocelyn growled low in her throat, lunging toward the vampires hand. She bit down as hard and for as long as she could, tasting foul blood exploding in her mouth. The vampire yanked her hand away, screaming curses and slapped her head to the side. She was blinded for a moment, her cheek burning. She saw, out of the corner of her eye, the vampire leaning in towards her, fangs unsheathed and a maniacal look in her slitted eyes, clutching her wounded hand to her chest, the back streaming blood so dark it looked like acid. Jocelyn twisted her head away, staring at the vampire's fangs, trying not to think of the needlesharp points sliding into her neck, piercing her, her blood running-

"Cara!" Jocelyn looked up, her head whipping around as she tried to locate the other vampires voice, this one deep and distinctly male. "Enough. We are not to drink. Remember the orders!"

The vampire-Cara-snarled some more before sheathing her fangs with a snap. "You bitch," she spat savagely, "trust me on this. Next time, I'll savour drinking your blood."

A sound like the rush of waves filled Jocelyn's ears, blocking out the vampire's next words. It took her a while to realize it was anger. Anger and frustration, at herself for being so weak and helpless. Before she could move a muscle, Cara jammed a wad of the black cloth binding her wrists into her mouth, muting her yells and gasps. Then she took out another length of the same material. Realizing what was about to be done, she kicked out at Cara, trying to scramble to her feet, but she was unbalanced without her hands.

"Come here and help me with her!" She hear Cara growl. Another vampire joined her and pushed Jocelyn to the ground and held her still as Cara bound her ankles together. The other vampire-who she recognized as the one who spoke earlier-lifted her with ease and tossed her to the ground. Her grunt of pain was muffled by the cloth stuck in her mouth.