"i am ember
burning down your empire
glowing brighter than the darkness inside of you."
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Clary Saltzman thought living in a strange town with her estranged biological father and half-sister would be all she had to worry about...
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CLARY GAZES AT the abandoned ballet studio for a moment too long, the eerie aura radiating from the building before her making her skin ripple with unease. It's as if pure evil is lurking within—and it most certainly is.
Gathering her courage, Clary takes in a deep breath before starting forward, right into danger as usual. She isn't afraid to fight James, and she definitely isn't scared to die. But she isn't going to allow herself to die, not when she needs to be living for her friends and family.
As she nears the rickety building, Clary hears it creak ominously against the wind. The wind picks up harshly once more, making the shutters slap against the brick walls.
Inhaling another breath, she stalks to the front door. She knows there's a hell of a fight about to occur, and she refuses to go down easy. She'll fight with everything in her.
Clary throws open the door, her eyes hard and cold. "I know you're here!" She shouts, her voice echoing in the empty, cavernous space.
The tall walls appear to cave in on her, making the hybrid feel trapped. The mirrors surrounding her seem to almost swallow her whole, leaving her unable to decide which way to look. James has no heartbeat to track.
She sighs, frustrated. "Come out!"
"I'm here," his voice echoes from behind her, and Clary whips around, her eyes ablaze. "I'm everywhere." A gust of wind sends Clary's red hair swaying.
A beat passes before the vampire steps into the light so Clary can see him, his crimson eyes seemingly glowing in the moonlight streaming through the windows. He holds a camera up to her face, a wicked grin on his mouth.
"What? You trying to be kinky?" Clary asks sarcastically, ignoring the camera being shoved in her face.
James chuckles darkly, licking his lips. "I'm going to make a little film of our time together. I borrowed this from your house. Hope you don't mind," he says mockingly before turning the camera on with a grin. "And action!"
Clary growls and swipes a hand at him, her sharp nails screeching as they slide down his marble-like chest, ripping his shirt in the process.
Sensing James' surprise, she swings a fist at his jaw before kicking him hard in the chest, sending him reeling back in shock.
"Excellent!" James shouts gleefully as he steadies himself, lips pulled up in amusement. "Amazing! Who knew you were a monster underneath all that flaming red hair? I sure didn't."
Clary snarls, her eyes glowing gold. She snaps her teeth at him and kicks him in the knee so hard it makes a loud pop! that echoes throughout the room.
James howls painfully, falling to the ground and losing his grip on the camera, it dropping to the floor and sliding away from him.
Quickly pulling out a can of pepper spray Charlie gifted her, she sprays James right in the eyes before roundhouse-kicking him in the head.
Before she can do anything else, James' hand wraps around her ankle and he sends her hurtling across the room. Her body slams into a mirror hard, shattering under the impact.
Clary groans as she sits up, yanking a large piece of glass from her thigh. She stands quickly, ignoring her now healing leg.
"Beautiful!" James grins, his expression purely sadistic.
Clary narrows her eyes, muttering a spell under her breath and sending James flying across the room, his back hitting a pillar hard. There's a loud crack before he falls to the floor.
"You'll pay for those people you killed!" Clary shouts, her eyes glowing brighter as she stands tall.
"Wonderful..." James trails off as he gets to his feet, a look of wonder on his face. "A witch. I haven't fed from a witch in decades."
Clary cracks her neck, grinning. "I guess it's a good thing I'm not just a witch then." She raises both hands, twisting them and making James' skin crack and break.
"Stubborn, aren't you?" He grunts, whipping a piece of glass at her with vampire speed and precision.
Clary doubles over, groaning as the glass embeds itself in her collarbone. "Ah!" She stumbles back, struggling to rip it out of her flesh.
Suddenly, James is in front of her. "You've officially succeeded in annoying me," he snarls, glaring.
"I take pride in that," Clary spits before shoving him into a mirror, sending glass scattering across the floor once more.
She ducks under the vampire's fist and slams her own into his stomach, muttering a spell under her breath at the same time and sending him flying back with great force. But this time he catches himself before he can hit the pillar again.
James growls angrily and blurs towards her, grabbing her fist and crushing it in his own, feeling the bones popping beneath the force, something he finds great satisfaction in.
He hauls Clary into a mirror, slamming her body against it again and again, scrambling her ability to even conjure a single thought of her own.
Even though she's a werewolf, crimson liquid leeks from Clary's mouth, down her chin and neck. Her head rolls to the side lazily, dizziness overcoming her. Her body is covered in cuts that are healing slowly, unable to fully heal with every hit James sends her way.
Tired of being thrown around like a rag-doll, Clary puts all the force she can possibly muster into a kick that sends James stumbling back a few feet.
Clary launches herself at him, throwing punches and kicks left and right at him. Although the hits are breaking the bones in her hands and feet, she doesn't pay it any mind since she goes through something similar every month when she shifts into her wolf.
Done with the redhead and becoming angrier by the minute, James shoves Clary across the room, her body slamming into a wooden door that shatters on impact.
A piece of wood slides into her stomach, making her cough up blood. Feeling herself becoming weaker, she applies pressure to the wound, her heart beating way too fast.
James stalks over and grips the wood sticking out of Clary's stomach. "You've definitely put a kink in my plan, sweetheart." He twists the wood, making her cry out in pain.
Suddenly, the pressure on the piece of wood disappears, and she hears another voice, as well as the sound of fighting.
Clary pays her surroundings no mind as visions of all the terrible things she's ever experienced start playing in her head like some messed-up movie.
Her boyfriend... Klaus... Hayley... Jo... Everyone she's ever lost in her short years being alive. All the torture she endured because she was close with the Saltzmans or the Mikaelsons...
"Clary!"
She gasps, her eyes flicking open and allowing her to see blurry figures standing around her. She looks down at the wood sticking out of her stomach before yanking it out with a scream.
Breathing heavily, Clary lies down on the floor and sucks in a deep breath before closing her eyes, allowing herself to succumb to the darkness.
