Tainted Soul • Lightwood. [ON HOLD]

F I F T E E N

The Frays each entered their respective bedroom, both finding it burned. "Holy crap, Clary. Who torched your loft?" Simon asked.

Justin walked around his bedroom, picking up a couple of college books and going through the pages, seeing all with burned edges.

All of his things were gone, just because they were thrown into the Shadow World, and that angered him.

A shattering caught his attention as he sped from his room and to Clary's, Alec almost outside the door.

"There's someone here. Get what you need. Do not move until I get back. We've been here too long," the raven haired boy ordered, walking out.

He bumped chest with the ginger boy and grunted. "Go with your sister and the mundane."

Justin shook his head and followed after him. "It's better if the two of us secure the perimeter."

Alec sighed, knowing this boy was stubborn as they can come and let him tag along.

They jumped from the fire escaped, Alec deglamouring his bow and quiver, Justin taking his sword out.

The took opositores sides of the alley, looking around them. Rustling of leaves caught their attention. They each prepared their weapons in case of any emergency.

Leaves crunched from all around them, not allowing the males to identify where the intruder was coming from.

A growl sounded, Justin jumping back as an arrow flew past his head and landed on a pot. Both men saw a wolf running out the alley and to the street before disappearing.

What really worried them was seeing Clary and Simon being thrown into a car with handcuffs. Alec quickly ran past Justin and to the vehicle, but was too late because in a blink of an eye, they were gone.

"Crap."

➰

After Alec texted Jace about Clary's disappearance, the two men were back in the loft, Alec looking around the redhead's room, throwing one of the boxes to the wall.

"Okay Alec. This is not your fault," Justin said from his spot at the door. Alec didn't hear a word he said, being busy pacing around the room.

Jace and Izzy suddenly entered the room, the blond Shadowhunter almost knocking Justin off his feet.

"Asshole."

"Where is she? Where's Clary?" Jace asked his parabatai. "She's gone."

"What do you mean, gone?" Isabelle asked him. "She and Simon go arrested when Justin and I were securing the fire escape. I got distracted."

"The mundane was here?" Jace questioned, exasperated. "Simon? He's gone, too?" Isabelle asked in disbelief.

"It was an unmarked car. We don't know where they took her," Justin said from behind the group.

Jace took two steps towards Alec, his chest almost touching his. "What did you do, Alec?" When the raven haired didn't answer, Jace turned around and took a piece of paper and walked out the room.

Alec rubbed the back of his neck in frustration, while Isabelle took Clary's bag and walked after Jace.

"You do know this is not your fault, right?" Justin asked Alec as they both walked out. Alec looked at him with a face that resembled a kicked puppy.

Once outside, the duo saw Jace with Clary's drawing in his hand with his eyes closed. Isabelle was pacing around, her attention focused on her phone.

While Alec and Jace did their parabatai thing, Justin sat down thinking about the two guys that took his sister. He could've swore he recognised one of them but everything happened so fast that no one came to mind.

"It was your job to look after her," Jace exclaimed. "I did my best, Jace."

"Then maybe your mother was right, and your best isn't good enough."

In a fraction of a second, Justin walked over to the three and stepped in front of Jace, his fist making contact with Jace's face.

The blond Shadowhunter was sent a couple of steps back, his hands cradling his nose. "Justin!" Isabelle said.

"Are you so blinded by what you want from Clary that you literally treat your brother like shit? She snuck out. Alec and I went after her, to protect her. It wasn't his fault and neither was mine."

"I did nothing you haven't done a thousand time before," Alec added. "Yes, you did. You lost her." Jace said.

"Do you want me to punch you again?" Justin asked, a threatening look on his face. "Enough, all of you," Isabelle interrupted.

Alec sent one last dirty look to Jace before he walked away to cool off. Izzy grabbed Justin's arm and pulled him back with her, wanting to create as much distance with Jace as possible.

"Okay, calm down."

Justin closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I am calm!" Isabelle jumped in fear and stepped back, giving the ginger boy space for himself.

"Whoever took Clary and Simon must be holding them over a body of water. That's why our tracking rune won't work," Jace said.

Then a phone began ringing, the sound coming from Clary's bag. "Clary left her phone in her backpack," Isabelle said as Jace rummaged through the bag looking for the device.

"Hello?"

The four gathered around in a circle, the phone in the middle. "Oh, I thought I'd never utter these words, but than God it's you. It's me, Simon."

"Where are you? Where's Clary?" Jace asked. "I don't know. Some Chinese restaurant, I think? This cop Alaric arrested u, but it was a total fake-out," Simon said.

"Alaric? What the hell?" Justin wondered out loud. "Yeah, him and his buddy, they took us... they took us to their hangout and then they told Clary that they'll kill her if they don't find the Cup."

"Just calm down, alright? Tell us what you see."

"Okay. Uh... uh, we're definitely on a pier. There's a ton of water. Uh... I see lockers and... oh, my... I'm in some sort of torture chamber. There's claw marks all over the wall."

"Werewolves," Izzy stated. "It doesn't even surprise me," Justin scoffed. "That's possible," Alec agreed.

"Okay, Simon, you need to get more specific. Tell us what you see. Help us find you," Jace told the brunette. "There's nothing else that can help- Wait, hold on! Hold on. I'm at the Jade Wolf Chinese Restaurant on the pier at Greene St. And they have really inexpensive cocktails. Just hurry, just hurry."

"You need to create a diversion. Stall them." Jace ordered. "How? All I have are clothes and a lighter."

"Start a fire, Lewis," Justin snapped. "That never works! You've seen the action movies, Justin!" Simon exclaimed. "We're on our way," Jace said before hanging up the phone.