Who am I? *A Mortal Instruments Fanfic*

The Rising

        I walk into the graveyard and I see a crudely dug grave. As I walk over, the air becomes colder. Not just a wintery cold, but as though my core was getting colder. The dirt begins to quiver. A hand, white as ivory, pops out, nails black and cracked. The hand began to rake across the dirt, digging. Soon, a body, white as the hand, begins to surface. I suppress a scream. The eyes scan the darkness, as if looking for something. Its eyes rest on me. It starts advancing, the eyes hungry. It pounces on me and I notice the pointed incisors. Vampire. I struggle to escape, but it holds a vise grip on my wrist.

          When its head comes toward my wrist, only then do I scream. It rips from my throat, pure terror running through my veins. I see something whizz over my head. The vampire sees it too, and throws me like I weigh no more than a pebble. My head slams into the ground. A groan escapes my lips. A shadow appears in the front of me. The face is shrouded by velvety darkness. I shrink away. "I won't hurt you." A voice says. The shadow comes closer as a pair of muscled arms wrap around me. A pain shoots through my head. I wince and flinch. "What?" The boy asks. I'm not sure how I know it's a boy. "My head."

          "You must have hit it hard when you landed." A thought occurred to me. "Who are you?" I ask.

          "Jace. Jace Wayland." I start to nod but stop as a pain jars my senses. He sees the pained look on my face as he states, "I'm pretty sure you have a concussion."

          "No! I'm fine!" I snap, realizing I hardly know this person. I push away. Jace just stands up and reaches down. I flick it away and stand up. Bad idea. I see the boy. He had pushed his hood down. He has lion colored hair, below his ears. Despite it being long, it looks good. If fit him. He is wearing a leather jacket, leather pants, and leather boots, all raven black. He has an angular face, high, prominent, cheekbones and golden eyes that in the moonlight looked silver. He has long fingers with small white scars. Peeking from his sleeves and neck were small black lines and Marks. A second passes and the earth was tilting and rocking under my feet and the stars started spinning. I swayed on my feet. "Jace." I call before I crumple into him. He catches me and swings me up into his arms. I triy to see his face but only saw spots as I black out.

        I wake up lying on the grass. It is still night, I'm just not sure if it's the same night. My head is still throbbing, but it is more of a dull pain. I try to raise my head but end up giving up for it brought a more sharp pain. I groan. "You're awake How do you feel?" A familiar voice calls. "Ugh! It hurts but not as much." I answer, not sure why I'm talking to him. "I was right. You had a concussion, and it wasn't small." I ignore the last statement and ask another question that is nagging since I woke up. "What was that?" Jace knows what I am talking about. "What you saw, was something very few people get to see and live to tell the tale. Those who survive it, they are scarred for life." I sigh and he continues. "What you saw was a Rising, a person who was bitten by a vampire, died, had a grave dug for them, and they have to dig themselves out. Since they are dead they need more blood. This one saw you and wanted your blood. It could have killed you." His voice softens at the last phrase. "How do you know? Have you seen one?"

          "Yes. One other before this."

          "Great. Now I'm scarred for life." I finally try and sit up. The dull ache returns. "Careful. Are you sure you're ok, Ari?"

          "How do you know my name?" I ask, suddenly alarmed. "I-erm may have seen you around." Jace runs a hand through his hair. "I knew I saw a little bit of black around."

          "You've seen me?"

          "Yes." He looks alarmed, like he wasn't expecting me to say that. "No wonder it worked. I was certain you were dead until I saw you wake up." My forearm begins to burn. I glance down and see a black Mark. "What did you do?!" I demand, fixing an angry glare onto his face. "I put a iratze rune on you, hoping you were a Shadowhunter."

          "A what?"

          "Your parents never told you?"

          "Told me what?" I mutter, as I sit up. Ignoring the pain, I stand. "What are you doing?" Jace demands, standing. "Getting out of here." I respond. I start to sway and Jace catches me again. He sets me down and I put my head on his chest. "What part of 'you have a concussion' did you not get?"

          "Well, ok then. If you're so smart take me to a doctor."

          "I have something better."

          "Well, at least let me walk some of the way." He sighs and shakes his head and supports me with putting his arm around me. I take a step and it sends a pain up my leg and it collapses. "Your head?" He smirks, getting an 'I told you so' ready. "No, my ankle." I answer, giving him a small smirk to snuff the 'I told you so.' "Damn." Jace swings me up again. "It's not far." Jace says, noting the look on my face.

          About 20 minutes later, we come to a building. It looks old and beaten down. It looks like an old abandoned church. As if he can read my thoughts, he says, "It's a glamour. Concentrate, you'll see what it really is." I turn all my focus on the old building, and my head begins to ache. The building seems to expand, unfolding and becoming brighter with runes carved everywhere. Just as it feels like my head is going to explode, the full image appears in front of me. It's a beautiful, large, Gothic church, with the words The Institute carved into a wrought iron gate. A rune is carved around the I. It look like a diamond with wings coming from it. I rest my head on Jace's chest. He put me down just before we walk into the large bronze double doors. As I step in, my forearm began to burn. I collapse on the cold stone ground. "Ari!" Jace calls, but his voice seems far away and distant like through a long tunnel. My vision becomes that of how I hear voices, tunneled and spots dance across my vision. "Her concussion has gotten worse." Jace seems to call to nobody. A unfamiliar voice bubbles in. "Why did you bring a mundane in here?!" It shouts.

          "Get Hodge!" Jace shouts back, ignoring the other voice. I feel his arms pick me up as I struggle to stay conscious. "Hold on." Black spots begin to take my vision and the last thing I hear are Jace's words echoing on my brain.