Before City Of Heavenly Fire

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Tessa's POV

She was terrified. She wasn't going to deny it, now that she was actually there she had no idea what to say to Jace. What were you meant to say to a long lost family member who had recently been told that he was a Herondale and never knew you existed. She had heard very little about Jace, just odd bits of gossip from downworlder friends and they were never reliable. She had ben a very sociable person when Will was alive but over the years she had stopped making new friends and had stopped talking to people, over the years she had separated herself from the outside world. Now she found it very hard to talk to strangers, especially if she was nervous. She took a deep calming breath and followed Brother Zachariah past all the empty hospital beds to the very back of the room. Standing by the window stood a handsome looking boy with beautiful golden hair. He was also emitting a strange golden glow. He was facing the window looking out at the heavy New York traffic and hadn't noticed them come in.

"You have a visitor Jace." Brother Zachariah's voice echoed in Tessa's head. Jace turned a hopeful look in his eyes that disappeared immediately when he saw Tessa.

"I'm sorry have we met before?" He asked politely looking Tessa up and down.

"No." She took a deep breath and continued. "I'm Tessa Herondale."

He paused looking at her clearly for the first time, "You can't be. I have no family they all died." His voice was bitter and his skin was now glowing brightly.

"I've not had any contact with my family in years. Everyone assumed I was dead."

"So why are you here now. Why did you suddenly come out of hiding. Only to see me?" There was a mean look on his face as he sneered at her excuse.

"I've never been in hiding, I've simply been avoiding people. And I'm only here because I'm curious about you, your friends and Valentine. Though I'll admit that I didn't know much about you until this morning when Magnus showed up on my doorstep, but I have heard rumours and gossip and so I decided to finally meet you in person." Tessa was getting annoyed now. She had come all the way just to meet a young boy, that had a really bad attitude problem, and the least he could do was be nice to her. Though she knew that her excuse sounded lame even to her she was determined not to give up.

"She speaks the truth Jace." Brother Zachariah's voice was oddly comforting it was one of the small things that over the years hadn't changed, a small anchor to her old life. After a long silence where Tessa tried to look anywhere but at Jace, he finally spoke, "I'm sorry. I haven't been allowed out in ages and I'm in a really bad mood with everything that's going on." He spoke stiffly.

"It's alright it's a lot to take in. I'd hate it to if a relative I never knew I had just turned up." Tessa replied feeling stupid for lashing out at him.

"So what are you a long lost sibling, cousin or an aunt?" He asked a smile playing on his lips. From the corner of her eye Tessa saw Brother Zachariah shake slightly with what she guessed was laughter.

"Um no not exactly. I'm your Great-great-great grandmother." She said counting off generations on her fingers. Tessa looked up and saw the look on Jace's face and couldn't help bursting into laughter.

"She's joking right?" Jace was looking at her with a mixture of annoyance and anger. If it was possible for a Silent Brother to laugh, Brother Zachariah was doing that. " She isn't lying Jace. I have known her for most of my life." He finally replied his eerie voice echoing in their heads. Jace snorted and carried on looking at her, "Well you've aged really well. So tell me what exactly are you? You have no shadowhunter marks, no warlock marks, you can't be a vampire cause your on holy ground and werewolves don't live that long." He asked counting things of with his fingers.

Tessa had been dreading that question, she didn't want to tell this boy anything about her parentage as she normally told as little people the truth as possible but she didn't want to lie to him either. Finally deciding to tell him a short, very short, version of the truth she began. "My mother was a shadowhunter but as a baby she was taken away from her family as revenge from some angry downworlders. She grew up in a mundane family never knowing her true parentage. She got married and lived quite a happy life she got pregnant thinking that the father of her child was her husband not the demon that had impersonated him. She was never marked so instead of dying as the offspring of shadowhunters and demons I lived without the mark of a warlock but with the power to change shape." A long awkward silence followed her little explanation, finally broken by Jace, "So does this mean I have warlock blood in me, can I cast a spell and do magic if I try hard enough?"

"Nope shadowhunter blood is much stronger than warlocks. So none of my children ever inherited any of my powers." Tessa couldn't help smiling. This boy, who looked nothing like her darling Will, reminded her so much of him. Must be his attitude towards life. He does have a witty response for everything.

The rest of the afternoon was spent with Tessa answering and questioning Jace about everything and everyone. She had to admit that she had grown quite fond of Jace over the past few hours. He was sarcastic and always had a response for everything but he reminded her so much of Will that she couldn't bring herself to dislike him. She had never though of reuniting herself with her family, thinking the pain would be to much, but she had really enjoyed her visit. "Damn! Is that the time?"She looked up at the clock and saw that it was already half past six. "Time flys. Jace I'm really sorry but Magnus will probably be expecting me back soon and he's already really moody so I don't want to annoy him anymore than necessary." She was already at the door looking through her handbag for a phone to call Magnus with. She hadn't expected to enjoy herself so much and felt a bang of disapointment for having to leave so soon. "Oh and tell Alec to cheer up a bit, Magnus will come around eventually."

"Oh. Well bye then" he gave her a small wave as she opened the door to let herself out.

"And if you ever need anything just give me a call. Bye."

She quickly let herself out of the institute, thankfully not meeting anybody on the way, and practically ran towards the place were the portal had opened. She was happy with her visit. She had learned all about Jace Herondale and had even met the famous Alec Lightwood, all her questions had been answered and she was finally in contact with her family. She finally reached the small ally way where the portal had been opened and waited for Magnus to pick the phone up. Finally after five minutes trying to get through to him he picked up.

"Hello?"

"Magnus it's me..... Tessa." She added since the other end of the line had gone quiet.

"Yes I know who you are. I'm not stupid. So do you want me to open a portal?"

"Yes please Magnus and thanks for doing this for me." After a lot of grumbling from the other end of the line Magnus finally hung up the phone and a few minutes later a portal had opened up before Tessa. She took on last long look around the new, modern New York and stepped into the portal.

The End

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well that's it finished. Thanks fro reading it and I hoped you liked it (though I know it's pretty rubbish). Please comment and vote!!!😄😄

Please have a look at my other stories and tell me what you think of them and don't forget to follow. :)