Raising Hell

18. The Original Selfless Idiot: Jace Wayland Lightwood Morgenstern

"Ready to share your plan yet?" I ask Jace, leaning against the hunk of metal junk behind me. In attempts to hide from other Shadowhunters, we are hiding out near the docks. Since water disrupts tracking, it seemed like a good hiding place.

"We're going after Valentine." Jace sets Hodge next to me. Hodge groans as Jace handles him roughly.

"Really?" I ask sarcastically, crossing my arms over my chest. "How do you intend to find him?"

Jace's eyes go to Hodge, silently answering my question. He takes a step towards Hodge, but I push myself off the hunk of metal to put myself between them. I hear Hodge let out a breath of relief and resist the urge to slap him-- anything he does annoys me at this point, even breathing.

"Don't you dare." I put a hand on Jace's chest. "You won't cross that line."

"We need to know where Valentine is." Jace looks past me and at Hodge.

"I know that. Let me do it." Jace looks down at me in shock. He wasn't expecting me to step in and willingly torture someone. Little does he know, I am stepping up to save the part of him that is nothing like Valentine-- I would never tell him this, though. "I'm going to take a guess and say that you weren't trained in the art of torture."

Before he can respond, his phone begins to ring. He lets out an angry huff and turns away to answer it. If I listen closely enough, I can hear the buzzing of an angry voice on the other end.

"We're going after Valentine," Jace tells the person on the other end without a greeting. "Go help Clary."

The angry buzzing continues, but Jace doesn't react to it. He turns to look back at me for a second. "She's safe." He waits a few more seconds while the person continues yelling at him. "That's just it, Alec. It is true. He's my father."

My eyes widen. He's talking to Alec. Of course, I figured Alec would call-- I was anticipating his call, but it didn't make me less anxious about the event. It's almost comparable to anticipating a doctor's appointment, but ten times worse.

"He taught us how to fight. Not to be weak," Jace continues, but I can barely hear what he's saying over my panicking mind. He listens for a few seconds while Alec responds. " It is me. It's always been me. He raised me to be a killer. Now I'm gonna make him regret it. Go help Clary. I'll keep Addie safe."

Alec's voice becomes louder, almost loud enough for me to make out what he's saying. Jace, however, doesn't seem to care about what Alec has to say as he ends the call. He looks at me, giving me a slight nod.

"How is he?" I ask hesitantly.

Jace looks at me for a second. "He's worried. He thinks we've gone off the rails."

"Have we?"

Jace doesn't respond to my question, which means that his answer is one that I probably won't like. Instead, he turns to Hodge. "We need answers."

I nod and glance at Hodge before taking Jace's arm and pulling him a few feet away. "Can you promise me something?" I say quiet enough so that Hodge won't hear.

"Anything," Jace responds.

"Don't look at me differently after this," I whisper. "You're about to see a part of me that I'm not proud of."

Jace hesitates before nodding.

I let out a breath and turn to Hodge, my hand hovering over the place where his hand used to be.  "Where is Valentine?"

Hodge lets out a breathy chuckle. "You wouldn't--" My hand closes over his wound and he lets out a yell.

"Try again," I suggest. "Where is Valentine?"