Distant Fires of Heaven (The Malevolent Sacrifices #1)

Crack My Heart

Everyone arrived back at the institute at around 7:00pm. Juliet admitted to herself that she missed the New York City traffic while being upstate. There's something comforting about it, while it's still annoying, like a constant buzzing in her ear.
As much as her body ached her, she refused to let anyone help her inside.
She carried her book bag on her shoulder, following Stephen in to the institute.
Rose was behind her, she looked a little upset to be leaving Mason for the night.
Ethan had left too, heading back to the Lightwoods home in Brooklyn.
Juliet had been informed by Rose that the Lightwoods owned several properties. There is a house in Brooklyn, a mansion in Idris, and a townhouse in London.
As the three of them entered the institute, Juliet turned to Rose. "You know you can spend the night with him. I'll be okay on my own."
Rose sighed. "I can't leave you alone."
Juliet shrugged. "I live next to the ocean, Rose. This isn't the first time this has happened to me."
I've just never kissed anyone under water before.
Rose just looked at her, and Juliet nodded at her encouragingly. "Go."
"Okay, okay fine. I just need to shower and stuff." Rose smiled.
Juliet watched her parabatai start to walk away, and she went to turn to Stephen, only to find him walking back towards the exit. "Now where are you going?" She asked him.
He stopped and turned towards her.
"Don't worry about where I am going. You need rest." He said. 
"He's going to Pandemonium. Where he always goes." Rose said with disappointment. "He has nothing better to do than to mingle with drunk mundanes and get into trouble."
"Go shower." Stephen said to her and turned walking away again.
Juliet followed him. "Let me come with you." She suggested.
Stephen stopped, spun on his heels and looked as if she had just slapped him. "No. That's a horrible idea. Go rest. You need it."
"I'm fine, Stephen. I want to come with you. I hear so many things about this club, I want to see it for myself." She crossed her arms.
Stephen laughed. "No Juliet. You heard Rose. I get into trouble at this club. It's not, it's not safe for you."
She rolled her eyes. "We're shadowhunters. What the hell is safe for us?"
Stephen moved close to her. "If you go to this club, you will see things you hate seeing."
"What do you know of what I hate to see?" She whispered. "Is there monsters there? Something that could potentially rip my heart out?"
Stephen placed his fingers against her cheek. "Possibly. Something like that." He sighed. "Please, just don't come. You won't want to. It's not a place for you, my Juliet." He pulled his hand away and walked away from her, leaving her standing in the hallway.
My Juliet. He called her his Juliet.
She shook her head. "You don't know what I can handle, my Stephen." She whispered and went to her room, where she changed into her gear.
As she opened her door, she spotted another Rose on her bed. Just as it was before, the thorns were speckled with blood. She picked it up, setting it next to the other rose, then went to retrieve her gear from her closet.
Her gear consisted of black pants, heavy combat boots, and a black vest. She put a golden cuff on her bicep, the metal etched with her family crest, a circlet of thorns.
Her cuff was given to her by her Uncle Octavian, who currently resides in Idris, teaching at the Shadowhunter Academy.
Juliet strapped on her weapons belt, her forearm bands where she could hide daggers, and loaded herself with weapons.
She took her stele and applied fresh runes. Such as agility, night vision, and energy.
If this place is dangerous, she had better come prepared.
She strapped Durandal onto her back, drawing glamour runes onto her skin to disguise herself from mundanes. Only those with the sight, or were downworlders, could see her for who she is.
She is a Shadowhunter, and she faces danger.

Finding Pandemonium wasn't the challenge, nor was going inside. The challenge was hiding from Stephen, who seemed to be everywhere at once.
If Juliet could go right, then somehow he'd be right.
She found a hiding place in the back corner of the club, and she watched him and what he was doing.
If Pandemonium was dangerous, she wanted to see why is was so dangerous.
She watched as Stephen walked around, looking through dancing crowds, as if he was looking for someone.
Juliet's heart ached. Who could he be looking for? She wasn't sure. What if he had a secret girlfriend and Juliet kissed him? What if that was why he was so distraught over what they did in the lake? The thought made Juliet want to kill somebody.
She bit down on her bottom lip, hard enough that she could taste blood, as she watched him circle the club.
He looked as if he'd given up, and Juliet watched him head towards the bar, where he was ambushed by girls, mundane girls.
The three girls barely had any clothes on, and Juliet felt her heart stutter as they felt all over him. She wanted to rip their heads off and feed their bodies to Mason's dog. She hoped Mason didn't mind.
Stephen didn't belong to Juliet, he was his own person. Yet Juliet felt as if Stephen was hers, and only hers. She wanted to rip him from those girls, and let it be her that danced with him, let him slide his hands up her waist, but she held herself back. The pain in her heart only increasing with every second that ticked by.
He was only being a friend to her the night before, and Juliet should not be reacting to this the way that she was.
Hot tears coated her cheeks.
My Juliet his voice echoed in her head. There are things you don't want to see.
Juliet shook uncontrollably. How could she be so stupid? To let herself believe he meant monsters and demons, when he referred to himself.
He would hurt her, and he knew he would. He knew she liked him, and she knew now that it was unrequited.
She wasn't even trying to hide anymore as she made her way through the crowd to leave.
She could hear her name, could pick out Stephen's voice through the loud bass drops and roars.
A part of her could turn around, turn around and confront him.
But she just wanted to leave.
So she pushed and shoved her way to the exit, until she made it there, and opened the door to the pitch dark alleyway.
Tears raining down from her eyes like tears of an angel.