Bloodshed || Shadowhunters

Change

"Why would Valentine tell a prisoner what he was planning to do?" Clary asked, looking from Jace and Micheal, to Luke and a slightly better looking Nyx. After Nyx had woken up, the two had talked a little, talking as if prior instances hadn't occurred, and that helped strengthen their relationship. After that, Micheal had come out and told Clary that Jace was awake and better, silently asking her if she wanted to see him. Clary had been conflicted, but after a nudge from her older sister, she had got up and left to talk to Jace, but before she could reach him, Micheal- who had followed her- wanted to speak to her.

"He didn't, but he gave me a way to learn about his plans," Micheal answered, also looking around the table of individuals. His eyes seemed to stay on Nyx for a little too long, which made the redhead quirk an eyebrow at him. Nyx, upon the very short introduction of the man, decided that she did not trust him, even if he was Jace's father, or as he claimed himself to be. Something about the man threw Nyx off and gave her a very bad feeling, something that she easily did not forget. However, she was too tired to think about it at the moment and let it be for now. 

"How do you mean?" Jace asked curiously, looking to his father next to him. 

"He injected me with Downworlder blood. The pain was excruciating, sometimes I was sick for days. But, it's not often you gotta a Shadowhunter to experiment on, so I guess that's why he always stopped short of killing me." at Micheal's response, Nyx drew in a sharp breath, flashbacks racing into her brain. She remembered everything Valentine did to her, down to the finest detail. She wished she didn't. The others glanced at her, but she did not say anything, nor did she look at them either. It was silent, as they all shared a look not to say anything. 

"But, little by little, I developed enhanced hearing and vision," Micheal continued, but Nyx did not notice anything apart from her heartbeat and the blood rushing in her ears. She was worried. The liquids Valentine repeatedly injected her with, that was blood. No doubt, Downworlder among other things. She was worried about what was coursing through her bloodstream, and the fact that she felt like she was burning inside out- a result of the injections, she concluded. 

"He left me to die in that cage," Nyx focused in on what was being said again. She looked at Micheal and began surveying him. From his dirty clothes to his wide, blue eyes and matted blond hair, he looked good from someone who was held prisoner in a cage for more than ten years. Nyx knew that Valentine was anything but generous and kind to his prisoners, if anything unless they were experiments, he did not care for them, which is why she was puzzled at the state of Micheal. It might have been the fact that he had been in Jade wolf for a couple of hours and had time to freshen up, but she was not sure that was the reason.

She was once again pulled away from her thoughts when Jace stood up, looking determined to do who knows what. Clary then stood up from her seat, and stood in front of Jace, blocking his exit. 

"Jace, don't. Your runes are still weak, Luke and I will go, just take some time to rest," Clary looked to Luke, who gave her a nod to confirm that he was coming with her. 

"I'll be fine Clary-" before he could continue, Nyx cut in. 

"Forget that Clary you are not going anywhere without me," the way Nyx spoke made a small smile appear on Clary's face. Her sister's fire was returning, something she had missed dearly. 

"Jace, Nyx, please," she told them with a look, which caused Jace to sigh and relent, and Nyx to roll her eyes and open her mouth to protest when Luke put a hand on her shoulder, silently telling her to stand down. Rolling her eyes again, she relented. 

As Jace and Clary sat back down, Nyx began scratching at the black veins on her neck, her eyebrows scrunching up in discomfort as the burning sensation had yet to cease. Sweat was continuously forming on her forehead, which annoyed her because she had to repeatedly wipe it away with the back of her hand, therefore drawing attention to herself, which she did not like. Nyx was repeatedly asked if she was okay, and the honest answer to that would be no, but she was not about to answer truthfully. 

Nyx felt herself changing. She knew she was not the same person she was before she foolishly got captured by Valentine's goons. She knew that change was not human; she felt herself losing some of the humanity she had within herself, the humanity that screamed at her whenever she took a life. Call it a conscious, but it was more soulful... more complex. Whatever Valentine injected her with, it was not good. Far from it. It was something impure, something only demons and Downworlders could hold within themselves. It was painful. Nyx felt herself burn from the inside and out. It was burning her soul, boiling her blood, breaking down her bones... Nyx did not know how long she could last, bearing that type of unbearable pain.

Nyx knew pain. She lived for pain. She... loved it. Pain kept her human. It reminded her that she could die, that she could feel in a world that existed to keep her down. But if this pain is changing her, forcing her to part with her humanity... she worried that would be her breaking point.

The Shadow World was mysterious in more ways than one. And it may just be her downfall.