The Mortal Instruments: The Psychotic Siblings

16| Death

Clarissa looked away as the angel rose from the lake, it's brightness burning her. She could feel the wind blowing like a gale, water splashing around wildly.
When the water stopped splashing around, Clarissa took a peak at the angel.
His hair was golden and shining, his skin pale white with runes tracing along his skin. They were burning alive, flowing and moving. The angel was both enormous and no bigger than a man. His wings were spread open and wide across the lake. They were gold, feathered and set into each feather was a single golden staring eye.
His eyes were the brightest and even though she was looking from the comer of her it still was too bright to look out, so she kept her gaze at the water that moved below his feet, his body just in her view.
Father kneeled before the lake, devoid of all the Mortal Instruments. His hands had fallen to his side and he gazed at the angel with his mouth opened. A smirk spread across Clarissa's face as she watched her Father.
Then the angel spoke.
His voice was like a cry and a shout and like music, all at once. It contained no words, yet was totally comprehensible. The force of his simple breath nearly knocked Father backwards; he dug the tip of his boots into the sand, his head tilted back as if he were walking against a gale. Clarissa felt the wind of the Angel's breath pass over her: it was hot like air escaping from a furnace and smelled strangely of spices, it nipped at her skin like tiny needled and pierced her ears.
It has been a thousand years since I was last summoned to this place, Raziel said. Jonathan Shadowhunter called on me then, and begged me to mix my blood with the blood of mortal men in a Cup and create a race of warriors who would rid this Earth of demonkind. I did all that he asked and told him I would do no more. Why do you summon me now, Nephilim?
To say that Clarissa thought the history lesson was a waste of time would have been rude, so she was thankful that she couldn't talk.
Valentines voice was eager. "A thousand years have passed, Glorious One, but demonkind are still here"
Clarissa though the use of 'Glorious One' was a bit of a push over. Seriously, who said that to an Angel?
What is it to me? A thousand years for an Angel pass between one blink of an eye and another
Those blinks must be pretty long, Clarissa thought and silently thanked her Father for cutting off her speech.
"The Nephilim you created were a great race of men. For many years they valiantly battled to rid this plane of demon trait. But they have failed due to weakness and corruption in their ranks. I intend to return them to their former glory-"
Glory? The Angel sounded faintly curious, as if the word strange to him. Glory belongs to God alone.
Valentine didn't waver even though Clarissa felt like laughing at the statement. "The Clave as the first Nephilim created it exists no more. They have allied themselves with Downworlders, the demon-tainted nonhumans who infest this world like fleas on the carcass of a rat. It is my intention to cleanse this world, to destroy every Downworlder along with every demon-"
Demons do not posses souls. But as for the creatures you speak of, the Children of Moon, Night, Lilith and Faerie, all are souled. It seems that your rules as to what does and does not constitute a human being are stricter than our own.
Clarissa thought his was a fat waste of time. Couldn't he have just wished for something already? But the Angel seemed annoyed, his tone dryer than before. Do you intend to challenge heaven like that other Morning Star whose name you bear, Shadowhunter?
"Not to challenge heaven, no, Lord Raziel. To ally myself with heaven-"
In a war of your making? We are heaven, Shadowhunter. We do not fight in your mundane battles.
When Valentine spoke again, he sounded hurt. "Lord Raziel. Surely you would not have allowed such a thing as a ritual by which you might be summoned at exist if you did not intend to be summoned. We Nephilim are your children. We need your guidance."
Guidance? Now the Angel sounded amused. That hardly seems to be why you brought me here. You seem rather your own renown.
"Renown?" Valentine echoed hoarsely. "I have given everything for this cause. My wife. My children. I have not withheld my sons. I have given everything I have for this-everything"
The Angel simply hovered hazing down at Valentine with his weird glowing eyes. At last he said, God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son on an altar much like this one, to see who it was that Abraham love more, Isaac or God. But no one asked you to sacrifice your son, Valentine.
Valentine glanced over at me and Jace, then looked back up at the Angel. "If I must, I will compel this from you." He said. "But I would rather have you willingly cooperate"
When Jonathan Shadowhunter summoned me, the Angel said, I gave him my assistance because I could see that his dream of a world free of demons was a true one. He imagined a heaven on this earth. But you dream only of your own glory, and you do not love heaven. My brother Ithuriel can attest to that.
Valentine blanched. "But-"
Did you think I would not know? The Angel smiled. It was the most terrible smile Clarissa had ever seen. It is true that master of the circle you have drawn can compel me a single action. But you are not that master.
Valentine stared. "My Lord Raziel-there is no one else-"
But there is, said the Angel, there is your daughter.
Valentine whirled. Clarissa, lying half conscious in the sand, her wounds a screaming mess of agony, stared defiantly back. For a moment their eyes met- he looked betrayed and destroyed.
"Clarissa," he said "what have you done?"
Exactly what I had to, she wanted to say back. She raised her chin at him, her eyes cold and hard.
His eyes widened, just a s Jace's had widened before he died. Valentine went bone white. He turned slowly to face the Angel, raising hands in a gesture of supplication. "My Lord Raziel-"
The Angel opened his mouth and spat. Or at least that how it seemed to Clarissa- that the Angel spat and what came form his mouth was a shooting spark of white fire, like a burning arrow. The arrow flew straight and true across the water and buried itself in Valentine's chest. Or maybe 'buried' wasn't the word- it tore through him, like a rock through paper, leaving a smoking hole the size of a fist. For a moment Clarissa, staring up, could looked through her Father's chest and see the malls and the fiery glow the Angel beyond.
That moment passed. Like a felled tree, Valentine crashed to the ground and lay still-his mouth open in a silent cry, his blind eyes fixed forever in a am last look of incredulous betrayal.
That was the justice of heaven. I trust you are not dismayed, judging by your nature.
Clarissa looked up. The Ang hovered over her, like a tower ow white flame, blotting out the sky. His hands were empty: the Mortal Instruments lay by the shore of the lake, lapped by the subsiding waves.
Clarissa opened her mouth but nothing came out.
Ah, yes, the Angel said, and there was a gentleness in his voice now which surprised Clarissa. The rune.
The many eyes in his wings blinks sand something passed over her. It was soft, softer than silk or any other cloth, softer than a whisper or a brush of a feather. It was what she imagined clouds might feel like if they had a texture.
The pain vanished from everywhere basically. Her hands dropped to her sides, her les lightened and her wounds felt numb. The stinging of the tunes were gone too and she struggled to her knees.
The battle on Brocelind Plain is ending. Morgenstern's hold over his demons vanished with his death. Already many are fleeing; the rest will soon be destroyed. There are Nephilim riding to the shores of this lake at this very moment. If you have a request speak it now. The Angel paused. And remember that I am not a genie. Choose your desire wisely.
Clarissa hesitated. The Angel did not seemed phased by the fact she was partially demon, almost as if you didn't have any demon in her. But she knew better.
She though about it. She had completed what Jonathan and her had always planned on since they discovered Father's plan. They had killed him and now held the Angel at their hand and wish. She had the world in her hands for that simple few seconds.
But her brother wasn't here.
She looked over the fields around the lake. Her brother's dead body was there. She cousin fix that. She could make it alive again, give it air and let it move. Make the heart beat and the brain working. She could have her brother back.
Then she looked down at Jace. Jace. He had a life to look forward to, a family to take care of him. He was her love. She loved him and she could finally see that but it was too late. He was gone. And she could fix that as well.
But she couldn't choose both.
What did Jonathan have to live for? His sister, a world to rule and people to kill. He was too far corrupt, he would never be humane like Clarissa. She held tightly to the ropes that bound her to this world instead of the demons.
A plan formed in her head as se thought of demons. That exactly what they were. Demons. They were born because of a demon.
Maybe she could have both.
Clarissa turned to the Angel who waited patiently for her to decide. Instead of spilling out her wish she alder a question that nagged at her. "Why are you treating me like a Shadowhunter when you know I am part Demon?"
The Angel smiled slightly but no cruelty was held behind it. Because I can see that you are more human that demon. You had a chance to fix yourself and you did, and now you hold more Shadowhunter than demon. And that's what it different.
Clarissa nodded slightly and took a deep breath as she made her decision.