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

Chapter 14: Painted Red

One thought kept running around and around in Jace's head as his body went on auto-pilot, ducking and slashing out unconsciously with deadly accuracy. Not again, not again, not again. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught glimpses of Alec's pale face, his closed eyelids blue-tinged in the blinding glare of the abandoned runestone in the opposite corner of the cell. Strands of his long black hair clung to his forehead with sweat and his teeth were gritted in a grimace. Jace's heart clenched as he flashed back to their fight all those months ago against Abbadon, the greater demon. There was nothing he could do for Alec then, and there was nothing he could do now.

This blade of mine is special. You could call it... a mix between the mortal sword and the infernal cup. When cut by this sword, your soul will be... altered, changed. When he wakes up, his soul will be completely under my command, Sebastian's voice ran through Jace's head. The more he tried to push it out, the louder it got, filling him with unbearable despair. That is, if he wakes up at all and survives through the poison...

Jace shook his head as if the get the voice out of his head. He didn't need distractions. The black spots dancing before his eyes in looping figure eights was enough distraction enough as it was.

"Jace!" Isabelle's voice suddenly screamed, hardly recognizable with terror.

He forced himself out of his reverie, his head jerking upwards violently just in time to see the glint of the midnight black sword that was heading straight for his head. He hit the ground, hard. The impact of hitting the solid concrete sending shocks of pain up his newly healed leg. Jace wasn't going to admit it to anyone, but he was still badly banged up. The lack of food and water the entire time he was locked up in the cell didn't exactly help him in combat either.

Sebastian swung again, this time catching Jace's blade hilt with the tip of his sword. He jerked his arm up with a fluid motion and the blue ice-like seraph blade was jerked out of Jace's hand. It was flung over Sebastian's head and behind him, clattering against the bars before falling to the cement floor with an audible crack. Jace groaned inwardly, hoping the others had been smart enough to bring more weapons.

The white-haired boy smiled indifferently, as Jace swore softly, backing up against the wall as Sebastian advanced slowly. Jace was ready when the slash came and he leaped the the side, jumping over the sword that was aimed low to catch him off guard. He swerved in midair, landing awkwardly on his bad leg. He fell on his side with a grunt, his breaths shallow. A soft hissing sound sent his instincts on over-drive, his head whipping around and just barely making out the glint of black out of the corner of his eye.

Jace cursed himself silently as he rolled away as quickly as possible to the side. The sound of the sword striking the floor where he was a second earlier grated into his ears. He felt a small shiver travel it's way up his spine as he got swiftly to his feet, swaying slightly as his vision tilted. The sword radiated a kind of cold, dark energy. It felt like all the warmth in his body had left him and had been sucked into the blade, just from being close to it. Jace backed away to the wall next to his friends, positioning himself in front of them in a defensive pose. He forced himself to look forward. He couldn't bring himself to glance down at Alec' crumpled form, who lay in Isabelle's arms limply as she rocked him gently in her lap. Clary hovered over them with a seraph blade glowing in her hand.

Without a word, Clary stood and stepped to his side, passing him two illuminated tubes. Her emerald eyes never left Sebastian's cold black ones, which were filled with an unreadable emotion as he watched them from just feet away. Their fingers brushed as Jace took the hilts of the blades. He relished the touch of her skin against his, knowing that the unthinkable might happen. That he might never again feel her warmth, her love.