"i am ember
burning down your empire
glowing brighter than the darkness inside of you."
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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 GASPS AWAKE, her entire body aching. She groans and sits up, freezing when her eyes find Bella and the Cullens standing at the end of the bed, just staring at her. "What?"
"What?" Bella repeats, growing incredulous. "What?! We just saw you pass out after fighting James. You were impaled, bleeding to death, and then all of a sudden, you're healing yourself. How the hell did you do that?"
Clary sighs, grunting as she feels around her stomach tentatively. Her hands are soaked in blood, as is the rest of her.
"Answer me!" Bella yells, her voice hoarse as she steps forward, her eyes locked on Clary, who flinches at the loud tone. "I'm sorry... It's just that—" She takes in a deep breath. "I thought you died... I was beginning to have a panic attack, thinking I wouldn't be able to see you again, but then you started healing yourself, and I... I—" She's unable to finish her sentence, throat closing as she swallows down her sobs.
"Well, I'm okay," Clary insists, rolling out a kink in her neck. "I need a shower." She looks up at the Cullens, seeing they need answers, especially Bella. She sighs softly, sitting up. "I'll explain everything after I take a shower, get a change of clothes, and eat something."
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AFTER SHE'S BATHED and given new clothes to wear, Clary sits down on a couch in the living room with a sandwich in her hand.
"Are you going to explain how you healed so fast after fighting a vampire?" Emmett asks, a curious look on his handsome face. He's basically vibrating on the spot with wonder and excitement.
Clary simply takes a bite of her sandwich, chewing it slowly. A smile appears on her face at the steadily growing annoyed faces of Bella and the Cullens.
"Clary!" Bella snaps, exhausted.
Ever since Bella entered that ballet studio and saw Clary bleeding on the floor with a gaping wound in her stomach, she'd been worried as hell.
The fast healing had also freaked her out—it wasn't normal, and that's why they hadn't taken her to the hospital.
The redhead rolls her eyes. "Okay, okay. Geez." She places her sandwich down on her plate before cracking her neck. "I healed that fast because I'm a werewolf."
"No, you're not," Rosalie speaks, a glare set on her pretty features. "Wolves don't heal like that."
"My kind does," Clary tells her, huffing. "We have very fast healing powers. Though it can be slowed down with something called Wolfsbane, something I'm sure you're all familiar with."
"We are." Carlisle nods. "Why didn't you just tell us?"
Clary raises an eyebrow. "I wanted to be a hundred percent sure you could be trusted, especially since I didn't know what you were."
Bella sends a cautious look to the Cullens. "What they were?"
"They're fucking vampires, Bella," the Saltzman girl snaps, crossing her arms. "How dumb do you think I am?" She isn't about to tell them about Hope and the twins since she wants to protect them. "Besides, I just fought a vampire after you idiots exposed yourselves trying to act human and play baseball. Which, by the way, I found absolutely entertaining."
"So you know what we were all along?" Alice asks, tilting her head.
She was curious as to why she wasn't able to see Clary's future, but now that she knows the girl is a werewolf, it all makes sense.
Clary nods. "Your vibes weirded out my magic. That's how I knew you weren't human."
"Magic?" Esme inquires, a curious expression taking over her face. "What do you mean by 'magic'?"
"Oh, that's right." Clary chuckles. "I'm not just a werewolf, I'm also a witch—a hybrid, a mix of two different species."
"How can that be?" Carlisle asks, wanting to learn more.
"My mother is a werewolf, and her mother—my grandmother—was a witch, so both genes were passed down to me. So here I am, a hybrid freak—an abomination," Clary explains, shrugging when she sees their sympathetic looks.
"So you just changed when a vampire came sniffing around?" Emmett questions, wondering how she turned since she's so young.
Clary lets out a humourless chuckle. "That's not how my kind works, buddy-boy." She bites her lip, knowing they won't stop asking her until she tells them how she came to be. "To break our curse, you have to take a life."
"Oh, my—" Bella gasps, covering her mouth.
Clary sucks in a breath. "Either accidentally or on purpose—it doesn't matter. Once someone dies by your hand, no matter how it happens, you trigger the curse. When the full moon rises, you turn, breaking every damn bone in your body until you turn into a big, furry monster." She refuses to meet anyone's eyes as she continues, "Since I'm a hybrid, I don't have to change every full moon—I can change whenever I want. And even though it hurts like a son of a bitch, running through the woods freely makes up for all that pain."
"I am so sorry, Clary." Bella sits beside her, going to rub her back when Clary scoots away from her. She doesn't want sympathy. "If I knew—"
"You wouldn't have been able to do anything," Clary interrupts, shaking her head. "You can't stop the breaking of the curse. The anger gets to you, and once someone says or does the wrong thing to piss you off, you can't help it—you just snap, and boom, someone's dead. My kind doesn't age past eighteen without breaking the curse. The anger is too much to handle for long."
"Did someone...?" Bella trails off.
Rosalie is tense. She knows where Clary's explanation is heading because she, herself, had been on the receiving end of something similar.
"Did someone touch me?" Clary finishes Bella's question, her throat feeling tight all of a sudden. "Yeah... I guess you could say that. My boyfriend at the time was a little too drunk and getting handsy with me. He wouldn't stop, so I pushed him away hard and he hit a tree, breaking his neck and dying instantly."
"Oh, you sweet thing," Esme sobs, though no tears fall. "I am so sorry that happened to you."
"I was fifteen when it happened... only a year and a half ago," Clary speaks, almost as if in a daze. "You know what's terrible? It's the fact that sometimes I can't control myself. Both supernatural sides of me are always fighting each other for full control. It gets so bad sometimes that I have to let it all out. Being a wolf is one thing, but combining it with the powers of a witch? You just have a damn bomb waiting to go off."
"I never knew you were struggling this much," Bella says softly, feeling sorry for her sister.
Clary clears her throat, coming out of her daze. Once she sees the sympathetic gazes, she immediately stands. "You know what? Um..." She hovers awkwardly before clapping her hands and backing towards the front door. "I'm going home and calling my besties."
Before Bella or the Cullens can speak or even move, the redhead is out the door and heading home.
