The Mortal Instruments: City of Tainted Blood (Book 2) (ON HOLD)

Chapter 1: Aught But Death Part

"Wither thou goest, I will go,

Where thou diest, I will die,

And there will I be buried,

The Angel do so to me and more also,

If aught but death part thee and me,"

-Parabatai oath

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The fire crackled loudly around Clary Morgenstern as she stared at the person that stood opposite her, in his own ring of fire.

Simon Lewis, rightfully Simon Shadowhunter now, her best friend, the geeky boy she had grown up with, the boy who had stuck by her through thick and thin, the boy who loved D&D, the boy who had fallen in love with her, the boy she loved like a brother, the boy who had turned from a mundane into a vampire into a mundane again and into a Shadowhunter, the boy who had been mad enough to follow her into a demon realm, smiled smally at her before they stepped into the larger ring of fire that was in between them simultaneously.

The fire flared the moment both Shadowhunters were in the shared ring and Clary could feel the heat of the fire which had been lit by runes on the bare skin of her arm. It wasn't like the normal burning stinging warmth of a mundane fire. The warmth of these flames were caressing and felt silk-like as it enveloped on her skin.

Slowly, she brought her right hand up, meeting it with Simon's own risen hand. The backs of their hands touched, their Voyance runes coming in contact and they recited the sacred oath that would bind them together eternally.

The words flowed, perfectly memorized from Clary's and Simon's mouths, alto and bass, in sync and blending together like music. Years of love poured into the words which were a promise that even when the world was gone and as long as they were both still alive, they would always have each other to depend on.

"Wither thou goest, I will go / Where thou diest, I will die / And there will I be buried / The Angel do so to me and more also / If aught but death part thee and me,"

The flames flared again when the last word was spoken, a silent sign that said that they were now being held by that oath bynthe Angel Raziel. Without hesitation, Simon's hands went to his grey shirt and pulled it over his head leaving him shirtless. He carelessly disposed of the shirt onto the ground and stepped closer to Clary, his chest rising and falling at a gentle, calming pace which indicated he was not nervous about this at all.

His body was much more like Jace's and Alec's now--scarred with the silvery remnants of faded runes that all Shadowhunters obtained. It was also more built and consisted more of muscle than flesh-a product of hours upon hours of training and taking Jace's hunting bets which consisted of how many demons they could kill in one night.

Withdrawing her stele from her pocket, Clary put a hand over his heart and began to draw the parabatai rune on the unmarked patch of skin that was just above his heart and below his collarbone. A buzzing electricity shot in static ribbons through her veins and into her stele. The black lines of the sigil were burned onto Simon's skin, creating the Mark, where it would stay for as long as both of them lived.

She pulled the stele back when she was done, admiring the freshly drawn parabatai rune that was now decorating Simon's skin.

Simon took out his own stele and gently applied the tip to the same area where Clary had drew the rune on him except that the patch of skin there on Clary's skin wasn't unmarked. A silvery outline of Clary's old parabatai rune-the rune she had shared with Isabelle who had refused to become her parabatai again-sat like a memory etched onto her skin.