The Angel and Their Gods

5 Keep Your Soul

"And you must keep your soul,
Like a secret in your throat"

-My Chemical Romance, Vampires Will Never Hurt You 

"Here it is." Lily said.

The sun shone brightly above the vampire. Isabelle had resolved the situation with a giant, black umbrella she found in the Institute, and with that, Lily Chen also had a few layers of clothes on her.

They wore not many runes, Clary had suggested that she would at least once, want to be noticed on the street as a short Newyorker making her way to wherever she may be going, and she invited the others to join in. They were dressed casually, Isabelle wore her own outfits (she refused to dress like Clary, plain), a simple chiffon dress. At least Jace and Alec were dressed properly.

Lily, Isabelle, Clary, Jace and Alec stood promptly in front of the bookstore Lily had brought them to. Clary could recognise how the bookstore looked a lot like Luke's bookstore, with a touch of individuality in how everything was placed. She knew that it must be a private business.

The glass door to the bookstore was covered by posters, Clary looked at one of them, it read: "Fascinated by mythologies? There is a section all dedicated to different myths. Roman, Greek, Chinese..."

Clary could see between the gaps of the posters, all she saw was shelves, books and shadows. There was no one in the counter, or so she supposed, "Looks empty to me."

She turned to face the others. Isabelle walked forward and swung the door open.

Even though they were dressed and visible to all Newyorkers, they all had weapons hidden in the outfits. Jace wore a longer shirt that covered his belt, with more than seven throwing knives hanging from there, often, they could hear the jingle of clashing blades. Isabelle had longer knives hidden in her boots and two seraph blades in her handbag. Alec, on the other hand, only had one seraph blade strapped onto his belt. Clary decided that she could hide her Morgenstern sword in a circular poster container.

As Isabelle stepped forward, she immediately took a few steps backwards and bumped into someone. She turned to apologise immediately.

The glass doors slowly closed as the wind blew onto the pane. Standing in front of Isabelle was a rather good looking, but small and scrawny boy, wearing an aviator jacket. "Sorry," she apologised.

The boy wearing the aviator jacket turned to his right and gestured for someone, a girl with light brown hair and a messenger bag considerably too big for her size. "No problem." The boy said, grabbed the other girl's shoulder and walked away.

"Shadowhunter instincts they say. Maybe I am better than you after all," said Jace.

Isabelle shoved her elbow into his ribs, and then she opened the door to the bookstore again, taking another big step, covering her nose with her palm.

Through her palm, Clary though she said, "It smells disgusting!"

Lily went into the shade of the bookstore and closed the umbrella so she could squeeze in, "A rogue vampire always results in a few mundane deaths. But then, they don't drain blood from all kinds of mundanes, only those who wouldn't be remembered."

Dead, without being remembered by anyone was like isolation, even in death, Clary thought as she mindlessly walked inside of the bookstore. "Smells like death and regret."

"This cannot fit into the category of 'regret'. More like, putrid." Jace said.

Clary glared back at him and stepped in further to the bookstore.