Fallen Arise

What about now?

The sky outside was brilliant, blue and beautiful. Coolness rolled off the waves that faced me and the lights on Sunset Boulevard winked in colours of blues and pinks and yellows. The beach was only a minute or so away from my bedroom, we walked out the front door, turned left, strolled through a wood squared tunnel onto some rocks and we were there. Jace helped me climb onto the sand, holding my hand the whole time and I was sure we were back to normal.

He'd taken his shirt off in the house in preparation, his skin tanned gold and perfect by the neverending sun and I had put a black swimsuit under a the white 'pajama'  t-shirt and my yesterday jeans. They'd get sand on them anyway.

I think Mom and Dad liked it when we did this because it's something they liked to do, and used to do all the time apparently. Mom's stories of their time at Sword and Cross- the school where they'd met for the first time in 17 of the 7 thousand years of the curse and where everything began this time- the swimming in the secret lake behind the it. It was nothing like that, me and Jace could swim for hours, every time I made him swear not to joke about sharks, not flirty at all. Nothing like Mom and Dad but I'd been told so many times by Cam and Annabelle that parents like to project what they wanted for themselves onto their kids, that told me my parents wanted me to live a normal life. Swimming with boys and doing nothing, it just occured to me that that might be why Dad didn't want me to go to New York.

Training with half angel beings that weren't the Nephilim I went to school within a city I'd never been to wasn't normal teenager stuff. I still wanted to do it though, and maybe I would.

Mental note: talk to Jace about New York, does he want to come? 

I hadn't thought this through I knew that, but I wanted to take the chance to say something now. So I would have to flesh it out with a conversation. I knew he would help me with a decision, I was sure of that much. 

He walked a little way ahead of me, his feet making deep marks in the dark sand as we got closer and closer to the waves. I was stuck in my own head, unable to make proper conversation. 

Unawkward silences were my favourite.

He lay down his towel, blue and worn on the sand. Dumping the bag of food he'd brought from home, staying completely silent as he stretched his arms above his head. I could see his wings through the skin, the scars on his shoulders clear and white compared to the rest of him. His wings a 3d template beneath the skin. Mine was the same beneath my black swimsuit. 

"When do you think we'll be able to go flying?" I asked, raising an eyebrow, pulling my shirt over my head and removing my jeans to reveal my suit underneath. 

Jace laughed, a beautiful sound, in the direction of the grey water. His silhouette lit up by the sun. 

"When you leave probably," 

He said it calmly.

His answer struck me with barely contained surprise, a gasp escaped me. 

"They told you?" 

My surprise was quickly replaced with anger, he must think I was going to leave him without a second thought. 

"Yeah," He spoke sadly digging at the little stones beneath his feet before he started towards the frothy waves. 

I followed him into the water, hoping the coldness might shock me out of my anger.

"You know I'd always ask you first, right?" I questioned, reaching a shaking hand out to touch his shoulder, he turned to me. 

"Yeah." He smiled, "Yeah, of course you would," He shook his head, but it didn't make me feel any better. 

"I was going to talk to you about it in a minute actually," My mouth folding apologetically. He sighed, a hot puff of air that blew my hair back. 

"Go on then,"

We walked further into the water, I stood on the tips of my toes to dodge some of the larger waves though notably the water was surprisingly calm. Quiet and serene apart from the noise of the amusement parks and tourist spots a few miles up, we might as well as lived on our own private island.

He had to stop walking when the water got to my shoulders, it was up to his chest. 

I sighed dramatically, which made him laugh. Pretending to be serious he held it back through closed lips.

"Jace I need to talk to you about something," 

"What?" 

I felt him move his hands around under the water, my body tensing when I realised they were getting closer to me.

"Dad wants me to move to New York," I tell him, feeling his hands move around my waist, his head blocking out the sun in front of me. 

Whenever it was like this, I hoped my parents couldn't see from the window. Angels were known to have excellent eyesight.

"That's cool," He commented casually, looking down at me with tightened hands. I stepped closer so that my feet were on his.

"To be a Shadowhunter," I explain, "I'd learn how to fight," I play with the string on his swimming trunks, tying it into a bow, "I'd make some friends," 

"Start my life off," I add, a smile tugging at my lips as we hug in a way that made the water feel 100 degrees hotter.

"Would you come?" I tip my head to the side, squinting my eyes from the glare off the water.

"I don't need friends," He breathed, leaning forwards.

"But I'll come," He grinned, leaning in finally. Pressing his lips to mine softly, the noise it made left me crazy.  An unbridled heat burned between my legs, his hips pressed against mine perfectly. I wished there was more friction but the water between us didn't allow it. 

This had only happened one time before, plus a few almost moments we shared. This looked like the furthest we'd got. 

He pulled me hard again him, I opened my mouth to let more of him in, moaning. He breathed onto me, so close, the heat getting heavier with every twist of his tongue. I felt his hands slip down, a fraction above my ass, I wound my hands into his hair wetting the spiking strands. Parting only a second to breathe. 

My heart hammered against my ribcage, the butterflies had been set free.

Pulling back I looked him in the eye , "What about now?"