Reflections of Light

Desperation

It was the pink slipper to the face that slowed Jace in his tracks.

Taking the distraction, Sebastian ducked out of sight, fleeing like a spooked animal back into the kitchen, even as Jace took after him.

Clary looked in shock, but moved as of to follow, only to have a set of sharp nails dig into the flesh of her arm, as she was held in a vice-like grip.

"Hey!" She yelped, twisting her arm in an attempt to free it from Luci's clutches.

"William, go upstairs." Luci commanded, her son needing no second bidding as he rushed out from beside the door to hurry up the steps; Nibs following behind to guard the young boy's back, snarling at the intruders with his hackles raised.

Jace rounded the corner, only to screeching to a halt centimetres from Sebastian armed with a kitchen knife he'd snatched up from the top.

They sized each other up, each watching for the other to make a move.
Jace eyed the steel of the knife warily, knowing the moment he went for a weapon, that thing was going for his eye.

"Hey, what's going on?!" Clary demanded, even as she pulled against Luci's iron grip. The faery girl seemed impossible to throw off; even if Clary managed to throw off a hand, she just latched on somewhere else.

Some kind of desperation sparked in Sebastian's eyes, something almost feral crossing his features.

Unexpectedly, he lunged forwards, slashing at Jace's face and just going with the momentum to break past him, not stopping to even see if he'd drawn blood.

Clary finally broke Luci's grasp, just in time to notice the steel blade whizzing towards her head, barely dodging in time, the knife burying itself deep in the wood of door millimetres from her face.

Barely she had time to register what had happened before she was stunned back against the wall, as vice-like hands wrapped around her throat.

Eyes watering, she gasped for breath. "Wait... Stop..."

"Did she say that?" Sebastian accused, venom in his voice as he bore down on her. "Did she ask you to stop? Did you let her?!
No." He snarled, drawing his face even closer. "You attacked her from behind, like a coward. So you wouldn't have to see her eyes. You didn't see her eyes."
He sounded half-mad, teeth bared like an animals, as his fingers tightened even further.

Jace ran to help the help the moment Sebastian leapt at her, but it was his turn to be stopped by Luci, pulling him back and blocking his path.

"Get out of the way!" He yelled, violently shoving past her, sending her smacking back against the wall, as he charged over and wrestled Sebastian off Clary, pulling her out from his grasp.

They circled each other, Jace pulling a gasping Clary behind him as Sebastian stalked around them, like a tiger looking to pounce.

As they backed down the hallway, Sebastian circled to the door, never taking his eyes off them as he prised the knife from the wood.

Jace drew his own weapon, moving to defend as Sebastian stalked closer...

... As something from the side blocked his action, catching up his weapon and pushing back against his movement.

It was Luci, a long pole-like weapon on hand, standing between the two warring parties and looking none too happy.

"Get out of my house. Now!"

On a second glance, Jace saw that the pole was in fact, not a pole, but the handle of a large mallet-like weapon she supported with both hands, ornately decorated and runed.

Behind her, Sebastian was like a caged animal, frustration at his restraint tensing on every plane of his body, like ties threatening to snap any second.

The room held still, everyone with eyes on the other, looking as if to pluck the next thought directly from their minds.

And then everything happened at once.

Sebastian lunged, thin restraint disintegrating almost immediately.
Jace went to defend, raising his blade to swing.
Luci took the opportunity to swipe his legs, sending him stumbling even as he blocked Sebastian.
Clary went for Luci, grabbing for her fingers in an effort to pluck the mallet right out of them, as Luci twisted the weapon, smashing it against the red-heads torso, sending her spilling down the hall.

From his perch on the stairs, Billy cheered. "Yeah! Go mummy!"

His mother shot him a silent look, which read 'Get upstairs now!'

Billy took the hint, scrambling up the rest of the steps, only to sit atop where the stairs joined the landing, craning to peer through the bannisters down onto the scene below.

Something flashed deep in Luci's eyes, and she charged Jace, shrieking bloody murder as she came down onto him, him only raising his blade just in time to take the brunt of the swing, grunting at the effort.

As she came down on him again, he kicked out his leg, knocking her foot from underneath her and rolling out from under her as she stumbled, racing over to where Sebastian was once again advancing on Clary.

Luci saw red.

With a blood curdling cry, power burst forth from her, calling a symphony of rage and fury to rain down on her enemies.

Billy whooped at the storm his mother was whipping up, loving the chaos; as Jace pulled Clary behind the kitchen counter to shield themselves, eyes blinded from the force of her power.

Then, small hope. Through a crack in her eyelids, Clary spied the back door.

The shout came a few moments later. "Mum! Mum! Dere in da garden! I see dem!"

Luci raced to the back door, creaking on it's abused hinges where it had been forced open, just in time to see them legging it over the fence.

She cursed under her breath.

"William, are you alright?" She called out, turning back to the immediate situation at hand, that being, checking on her son.

"Yup." He chimed, appearing at her elbow with a overzealous grin plastered to his face. "Mum! That was epic! Oh, found ya slippers."

Luci chuckled, shaking her head and taking the pink shoes from her son. "It was, wasn't it? Now, where's Sebastian."

"Uh... Fink he wented out da fwont winda. Et's smashed."

Phew! Longest chapter yet, I think! That should make up for not updating last week!