The Mortal Instruments: The Psychotic Siblings

11| Conversation with demons

Jace ran for the tunnel entrance without a second thought but was instantly blocked by Clarissa and Jonathan. Clarissa didn't enjoy doing this to him but she knew what all this would eventually end in and she knew she would help spill the blood.
"really" Jonathan drawled out "you didn't actually think you were faster than both of us, did you?"
Jace skidded to a halt and Clarissa could hear his heart beating unevenly in his chest.
"since I'm better than you in every other conceivable way, it did stand to reason."
Clarissa and Jonathan's mouth twitched up into smiles at the same time.
"We could hear your beating heart." Clarissa said softly as if she was talking to a kitten, though last kitten she talked to scratched her and didn't leave with its head "when you were watching us with Valentine. Did it bother you?"
"that you two seem to be dating my dad? " Jace shrugged. " you're both a little too young for him, to be honest, and there are two of you"
"what? " the siblings said together and Clarissa knew her emotionless mask had cracked like Jonathan's. They both regained their composure before Jonathan spoke. "i wondered about you sometimes. There seemed to be something to you, on occasion, something behind those yellow eyes of yours. A flash of intelligence, unlike the rest of your mud-stupid adoptive family and that sister of yours. But i suppose it was only a pose, an attitude. You're as foolish as the rest, despite your decade of good upbringing. Sometimes i really can't see what my sister likes in you"
"what do you know of my upbringing? " Jace asked in a stern voice but Clarissa didn't miss when his eyes narrowed on the word sister.
" more than you might think" Clarissa said "the same man that brought you and your twin up, brought us up. Only he didn't tire of us after ten years"
Clarissa knew she was being cruel and brutal but if she was going to take after her Father and stay with her brother she was going to have to stop feeling for Jace. He was her opposite after all. It's not like they could actually work together for as long as they both shall live.
"what do you mean? " Jace said as his eyes switched from Clarissa's to Jonathan's. Recognition slowly passed his face." You" he said to both of them "Valentine's your father. Your my brother and sister"
Clarissa felt like sighing but held it in as she watched Jonathan's fast movements. One moment he was next to her and the next he was behind Jace with his arms around his shoulder as if to embrace him but Clarissa remembered that hold. Poor Jace.
"hail and farewell, our brother" Jonathan spat and his grip tightened, cutting off Jace's breath. Within moments he was out cold. Clarissa let the sigh out and Jonathan looked up at her.
"what? " he asked in a kinder tone than he used to Jace.
" he thought we were related. Like him as well, probably meaning Seraphina too. You could have told him we weren't" Clarissa's voice dripped with poison and Jonathan smiled before bending down to Jace's ear and she had a weird urge to push her brother off him.
"we aren't related" Jonathan said and laughed. Clarissa's throat produced a growl without her telling it to and Jonathan looked up at her burning black eyes. He narrowed his own before looking down at Jace. "get the rope" he said and Clarissa was ready to rip his head off.
"you can" she bickered with him for a few moments till he sighed and walked away to get the rope. Clarissa sank down to her knees next to Jace and gently brushed the hair from his closed eyes. She thought he nearly looked peaceful asleep like that. Unless he wasn't asleep. Unless Jonathon did kill him. Clarissa took his wrist with fast movements although if she had thought for a second she could have heard his heart. She checked his pulse and calmed down when she heard the beat of his uneven heart. She felt her own learch and mold itself to beat with his. She closed her eyes and drifted into her usually dead mind. A picture slowly formed itself in her head. She was running in the bright green and healthy hills of Idris, running to Jace. He had just a normal white shirt on and jeans, his blonde hair flashing gold as it moved with the wind. She saw herself, dressed in jeans and an over baggy shirt. Her hair flew freely from it normal pony tail, slapping against her back as she ran with the big smile on her face and... Green eyes. They starred, transfixed on Jace, and Clarissa could see how magnificent the green looked. She looked like her mother.
"what are you doing? " Jonathan's voice broke through her dream and she growled a little. She turned back to him and slowly followed his eyes to where she had unconsiously grabbed hold of Jace's hand and laced their fingers. Clarissa untangled herself and held her hand out. Jonathan dropped the rope in her arms and she started to tie it around Jace's hands.
"i think you've gotten too close to Angel boy." Jonathan said as he sat down and leaned against the statue in the middle of the room.
"Don't start this again" Clarissa spat out as she finished the knot and rolled over to sit a few feet away from Jace.
"yes, i will. Clarissa, are you willing to drop all of this; everything Father had made, everything we have done- for him" Jonathan pointed an accusing finger to Jace and Clarissa felt protective over the unconscious boy she so dearly needed and wanted.
Yes.
The voice whispered through her mind and Clarissa knew her heart beat with it, just her brain was smarter.
"no. Why would i be willing? " she asked and eyed her brother down.
" because you're getting attached to him. Tell me, and be truthful. If you had to, would you kill him? " Jonathan's voice was filled with rage that he barely kept down.
No
"yes" Clarissa was ignoring that voice. Why now? Why, out of her whole life of being unemotional, untouchable, would feeling come to her- and for him of all people.
"just making sure" Jonathon said and they sat in quietness for a long time. Clarissa didn't like fighting with her brother, her parabatai. She gently touched her parabatai rune and it stung a little. Jonathan didn't look up or even move for a full ten seconds. He slowly raised his hand and touched his own rune. Clarissa smiled, knowing they were still the sibling duet they had always been. Eventually when they heard Jace's heart pick up, Jonathan moved and knelt in front of Jace. He pushed the Angel boy up so he was now sitting. Jace's eyes slowly opened and he coughed and Jonathon smiled that wicked smile that mimicked Clarissa's.
"awake, little brother? Good. I was afraid for a moment that I'd killed you a bit too early" Jonathan said with that smile. Jace turned his head and spat a mouthful of blood out and onto the ground.
"waiting for a special occasion to kill me? Christmas is coming" Jace said and Jonathan gave him a thoughtful look.
"you have a smart mouth. You didn't learn that from Valentine, so what did you learn from him? It doesnt seem to me like he taught you much about fighting either. You know what we got for our ninth birthday's? A lesson. He taught us that there's a place on a man's back where, if you sink a blade in, you can pierce his heart and sever his spine, all at once. What did you get for your ninth birthday, little Angel boy? A cookie? "
" so tell me, what hole was he keeping both of you in while i was growing up? Because i don't remember seeing you guys around the manor. " Jace said, purposely keeping his eyes from Clarissa's. She knew he was lying about seeing one of them.
"we grew up in this valley" Jonathan jerked his chin towards the cave entrance "I don't remember seeing you around here either, come to think of it." i did, Clarissa's voice in her head was annoying her. "although we knew about you and your sister. I bet you didn't know about us"
"Valentine wasn't much giving to bragging about you. I can't imagine why" Jace shook his head and both Clarissa and Jonathon's faces flashed with anger, making it twice as worse.
"we knew all about you" Clarissa spat the words and Jace slowly turned his gaze to her "but you don't know anything, do you?"
Jonathan stood up and unsheathed his sword that glowed like the Mortal Sword. "So watch, and watch carefully" Jonathan finished her sentence and with movements so quick it was a blur to a Mundanes eyes Jonathan lifted the sword and with a harsh sounding word from a Demon's language, he brought the sword across, hard and fast, in a slicing arc. The top of the stalagmite sheared away. Inside it the black red smoke rose with a giant roar that echoed from within the caves. Clarissa felt like she had gotten a wift of fresh air, although it smelt disgusting, she could breath in as easily as she could blink. It was like the air with the demons pouring out was begging for her to breath it in.
"Watch! " Clarissa cried out and Jonathan finished her sentence as she took in the glorious sight of mahem to come" Watch and behold Valentine's army! "
The power that pulsed through the air was like a warm bath or a massage to normal people. Clarissa felt refreshed, and she wanted to join them. She wanted to take off with the demons, roar with them, fight like them. Clarissa laughed a sickneing, twisted laugh that Jonathan joined into and she glanced at Jace to see him pass out. She ignored him and even gave a little swing of the hips. She spread her arms out wide and just breathed the rotting air that felt so good. Jonathan was in front of her within a instant and reached out and took her right hand and laid his other on her waist. He twirled her around the air that felt like laughing gas. Clarissa leaned her head on her brother's shoulder and thought how stupid that dream was. Why would she give up her brother, her life, for one person? She glanced at Jace as she spun around, still dancing with her brother, and had a new thought take over her mind. How silly was the thought of not giving it all up? Jace was like this air to her. It was breathable, understanding in some ways, loving if she wanted to fool herself. Everything in this air was anything but lovable. It was destructive, dangerous and awfully seductive to her. Just like Clarissa.
It was over to soon for her like but eventually the demons stopped pouring out and Jonathan let go of her. She sighed and her smile slowly faded as she watched Jonathan go over to Jace's awakening body.
"It's all right, little brother. They're gone" Jonathan said in a heightened mood. Clarissa looked at Jace's face which was streaming with tears and his nose scrunched up in disgust.
"he said midnight. Valentine said to open the gates at midnight. It can't be midnight yet" Jace's voice was as raw as his eyes and Clarissa knew he was right. They had disobeyed orders.
"I always figure it's better to ask for forgivness than permission in these situations" Clarissa nodded and walked closer to her brother, leaning an elbow on his shoulder as he kneeled over Jace's body, straddling his legs. Clarissa spoke up from her spot "it should take them a minute to reach Brocelind Plain from here, quite a bit less time than it will for Father to reach the lake."
"I want to see some Nephilim blood spilled. I want to see them writhe and die on the ground. They deserve shame before they get oblivion." Jonathan said coldly.