9
Simon's Sacrifice
Clary stepped out of the Institute, looking up and down the street before she began walking. The sun had already slipped mostly past the horizon, even though it was only just after seven. Normally, she would have felt cold in the early evening chill with only her leather jacket covering her thin tank top, but lately she had lost her sensitivity to things like being cold.
She walked briskly, almost jogging, trying to put as much distance between her and the Institute as she possibly could. She kept constant watch over her shoulder to make sure there was no one following her, but the dense crowd of holiday visitors to the city crowded the street, too thick to pick out any familiar faces.
Clary, feeling claustrophobic, turned a corner, hoping that cutting through the alley would get her away from the suffocating mundanes on the street. Clary's phone rang again in her pocket. She pulled it out; the caller ID said that the number was blocked, but Clary knew exactly who was calling. She rolled her eyes and muttered to herself. "I told you to give me a few minutes, jerk." She hit ignore and place her phone back in her jacket pocket.
"Now that's just rude." Clary's head snapped up at the unexpected voice, her hand flying to the hilt of one of the daggers in her weapons belt out of instinct. "I mean, it's one thing to miss a call by accident, but to just ignore it? That's just spiteful." Jonathan Morgenstern stepped out of the shadows, his usual smirk plastered on his face.
"Well maybe if you weren't such an overbearing as—"
Jonathan reached out, grabbing Clary's arms and pulling her close, his breath tickling her face. She gasped, interrupting her own sentence. "Hey, now. Watch that dirty mouth of yours."
Clary looked up at her brother through her eyelashes. "I thought you did that for me."
He grinned wickedly, bending down and preparing to land a kiss on Clary's lips. When he was only about a hairsbreadth away, though, Clary placed a hand on his chest, effectively stopping his advances. "What are you doing here?" she whispered. Jonathan sighed and released her.
"Aren't you glad to see me, little sister?"
"I'm supposed to be meeting one of your cronies. It's too dangerous for you to be here right now. Someone could see you. We're too close to the Institute and literally every Shadowhunter in existence is trying to kill you."
"I agree, we are too close. I was planning to follow you for a few more blocks. But then you turned down this alley and I jumped at the opportunity. Oh, and by the way, 'cronies'?" Jonathan laughed heartily at her. "Are we in some mob movie? I prefer something more evil orientated. Ooh, like 'minions.'"
"This isn't a joke, Jonathan."
Her brother's grin widened. "Aw. Little sister is worried about me?"
"Of course I am, idiot. You're my brother."
"Come on, Clary. You can't tell me you aren't happy to see me. I missed you."
"Yeah, right," Clary muttered, unable to keep a smile from creeping onto her face. "You're here because you think I can't do what you told me to do."
"Okay, fine," he admitted plainly. "Maybe I just wanted to check up on you." Clary hissed as Sebastian's hands ran over her neck and, with it, the burns Jace's lips had left behind earlier. Jonathan frowned. "What's this?"
"Long story short, Jace is really, really hot," Clary joked. Jonathan didn't look amused. "He kissed me earlier," she elaborated. "He still doesn't quite have that little problem of his under control. It's nothing."
