The Mortal Instruments: City of Past Ghosts (Book 1)

Chapter 34: The Angel's Language

Chapter 34: The Angel's Language

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Clary didn't think she had ever heard such a horrible sound. It was an earsplitting pitched keening of snarls and cries mixed with the sound of soft flesh being ripped apart as weapons sliced through flesh and flesh was being ripped off the bone. Clary winced at the awful noise.

Through the sea of black and monsters, Clary thought she saw a head of fiery red hair and swore that it could have been Jocelyn.

"Retrieve Clarissa!" Clary heard Sarrah scream, her voice somehow managing to overthrow the sound of violence and battle around them.

Jace cursed loudly, retreating until he was standing directly in front of Clary, his back almost touching her.

"Simon, I need you to—" Jace cut off as a demon reared up behind him. He spun around and brought his seraph blade down on it. He shoved the demon backwards until it was swallowed up by the fighting Shadowhunters and creatures.

Thump. An arrow flew past Clary before embedding in the face of a demon that had reared up beside her, dripping yellow goo that sizzled from its gaping mouth. It skittered backwards, snarling. Simon threw himself at it, a blade in his hand.

Clary willed herself into coherence, gripping the stele more tightly in her hand. Alec had a concentrated look on his face as he steadily let arrow after arrow fly. By the time one arrow was in the air, Alec was already nocking another, letting it fly in the very next second. The demons reeled back, hissing as they clawed at the arrows that were in their flesh.

Occasionally, flashes of silver shot out as Isabelle's whip wrapped around the demons. Her whip wrapped around a demon's neck and she yanked back harshly, the electrum whip slicing into the skin as if it were paper and decapitated the demon. It exploded in a shower of ashes and guts that fell to the floor.

Jace fell on one of the demons, bringing his seraph blade down on it, repetitively stabbing it as it thrashed and jerked underneath him. At one point in time, he had lost one of the seraph blades that he held leaving him with one.

He rolled off the demon just as it burst into ashes. Alec pulled him up and he scowled, rubbing his shoulder. "I am seriously starting to hate demons,"

Clary wanted to do something, anything, to help them but she couldn't make her limbs move.

Blue sparks flew from Magnus's hands, shooting past her and missing her by a hair though Clary doubted he had successfully missed her when she smelt singed hair. An arrow shot past Magnus ear, burying itself in a demon that had reared up behind him. Magnus grinned at Alec, sending him a flying kiss before attacking several of the creatures at once.

Two soldiers made their way across the room, through the fight and now stood several feet from her, bleeding and sweaty. They were both men and were both looking at her with a hungry expression.

Clary looked around and dread filled her at the sight of her preoccupied friends, all fighting their own battles. The closest people to her were Jace who was swiftly dodging several claws of the demons and creatures that surrounded him and Simon who was trapped under a massive demon with serrated teeth, Isabelle rushing to his aid.

Unconsciously, her hand, the one with the stele in it moved. The stele suddenly felt very warm and very alive in her grip, as if it were an extension of her arm.

"What are you going to do, little girl? Draw us to death?" one of the soldiers said, full of spite.

Maybe that's what I'll do.