Black || Jace Wayland [1]

| 16. mary mulligan

******

THE VAN ROLLED TO a halt in front of a cemetery near the New York Institute. While Clary emerged from the driver's seat, the others filed out from the back.

Alec slammed the back doors shut and scanned the mass of graves ahead of them. "Whose grave is it?" Isabelle turned on her phone. It emitted a small glow that reflected off of her skin as she scrolled down the screen. "Mary Mulligan." She read aloud. "Born January 10th, 1802. Died, January 10th, 1878."

"Alright, Let's go."

"Wait." Clary's eyes roamed around the cemetery. "What are we looking for?" "Cache of weapons." Asher stated as she scanned the names of each gravestone she passed. "Stashed here with Mrs. Mulligan."

"Why are there Shadowhunter weapons in a churchyard?"

"Because all of the ancient religions recognized demons." Isabelle mentioned as she walked forward. "Or they used to." "They forgot about the threat because we've been here to protect them." Alec interjected, his eyes remained forward. "Typical mundane failure of imagination."

"Are you saying we did too good a job?" Isabelle scoffed and stopped walking. "You just can't let up, can you?" She narrowed her eyes in annoyance.

"You know what?" Jace looked over his shoulder at the bickering siblings. "Alec, why don't you go check out by the Angel." He pointed in another direction and Alec walked away with a huff. Isabelle trailed her eyes at his retreating figure before looking back down at her phone.

Asher watched Alec with sympathy. She just wished she knew what was going on. A small chime met her ears and she turned to see Isabelle grinning down at her phone. "Excellent, he's home." She smirked and cocked her head slightly. "I'm outta here."

"Wait, aren't you coming with us?" Clary asked her. Isabelle stopped in her tracks and shrugged. "Oh, I wouldn't miss it for the world, but I gotta figure out how to get into the vampire's lair." "Don't do anything I wouldn't do." Jace called after her as she sauntered out of the cemetery.

Asher looked over at Jace, who was invested in a conversation with Clary, so she decided to continue looking for Mary Mulligan's grave. She slowly walked forward with her arms wrapped around herself. Her eyes trailed over each headstone, but none of the names matched the one she was searching for. Asher gazed ahead at the long row of graves. Mist stuck to the ground, creating a thick sheet over what was in the distance.

"Jace! Asher!" Alec's voice carried over to where she was. "Over here!" Asher backtracked, eyes still looking ahead, before fully turning her body to walk over to the statue. Her eyebrows raised as she approached, beckoning the older Lightwood for an answer as to why she and Jace were called.

"We're crossing a line into vamp territory." Alec lowered his voice and pressed his hand against the statue. Jace raised a brow. "That's the point." He smirked and clapped his hand on his Parabatai. "Come on, Alec, cheer up. It's going to be fun-" "Dammit, Jace." Alec hissed and straightened his posture. "Just think this through. You don't even like this guy. This isn't about the mundane, this is about Clary."

Jace squinted his eyes in confusion at Alec's behavior. "Alec, this isn't just about Clary." Asher cut in. The black haired Shadowhunter gave her a side glance. "Not for you." He turned his attention back to Jace. "What, are you so desperate to get laid that you'll risk killing us?"