Age of Demons

Chapter 45 - Jace

Detroit Safe House

You killed your mother.

It echoed over and over in his head. He lay in Ashlyn's bed, eyes fixated on her blank ceiling. Both her and Ley were gone. It was just him and his thoughts.

Even though he tried denying the words as Sylvia trying to get into his head, he knew deep down in his gut that it was the truth. The flashes of memories haunted him—staring into his sister's blue eyes, the warmth of his mother's presence close by soothing him. A painful lump grew in his throat as he pondered over what could have happened to his siblings.

What if I killed them?

He clenched his fists at his side, the stubs of his nails digging into his palm. He wanted to scream, to yell—to let out all of those emotions raging inside him. Yet he couldn't. He was chained down in the bed by his own mind.

He gritted his teeth and urged his legs to move—to expend some of the heat sizzling inside him, yearning to burst free. His feet struck the floor, and he straightened. His legs wobbled, but he remained upright. He immediately walked into the bathroom and flipped on the light. He turned the handle of the faucet and splashed cool water onto his face.

It didn't help. The memories of the blood on his mother's face still punched him in the gut every minute. He stared into the mirror, at his dripping face. He then tapped into the reservoir of energy from the demon. In the mirror, he watched his eyes churn from brown to red. Everything sharpened into fine detail. He could see every pore in his face sticking out. He could see the whirlwind of emotions swirling in his murky red eyes.

He couldn't stand gazing at the eyes that belonged to a demon.

He funneled all of his frustrations and his terror into one yell and slammed his fist into the mirror. The glass cracked.

His face was a spider web of fractures. Fiery red glared between the splinters as a deeper scarlet painted the rest of his face in the mirror.

Jace held his fist out in front of him. Blood welled between his knuckles. He flexed his hand. It stung painfully as the skin stretched. He glanced back up at the broken mess he left before leaving behind the result of his anger and confusion.

Focus. Yet it didn't drown out the same echo from before: Control is an illusion. You killed your mother.

He stopped and dug the palms of his hands into his eyes. You can't let this consume you.

He dropped his hands from his face. Suddenly, all he wanted to do was see Ashlyn. Just being around her made him feel more like himself. He headed for the door, swinging it wide open.

As he entered the hallway from the room, he froze.

A shadow swirled down the end of the hall. It stood out against the light blue paint on the walls, as something that didn't quite belong. It took a bit for Jace's mind to catch up, for comprehension to slam into him like a fist. A demon. A demon was in the safe house.

"Fuck," was all he was able to get out before the demon charged, and Jace moved his hands up in defense. The demon shoved him hard against the wall, Jace's back slamming against it with an impossible force, and he dropped to the floor, tendrils of pain slashing along his spine. His perception blurred, but he roared to fight through the agony, and stumbled up from the floor. Immediately, he urged back his own demon's influence.

His vision sharpened—the bright walls become uncomfortable to stare at. But the demon was already moving in on him again, and Jace fought back. He gritted his teeth and tried to thrust his body at the demon, hoping by some chance, he could actually hit it instead of pass through it. But the demon had a different plan in mind, and right on collision, it tried to merge into Jace's body. Right as it attempted to hitch a ride, it shrieked in pain. The demon snapped away from him, as if burned, and Jace stumbled forward, almost face-planting. That was the one good thing of being possessed: He had a slight advantage—he couldn't be possessed.

He could still be slaughtered though.

The demon roared and grabbed at him with multiple tendrils of smoky shade. Jace ducked and then slammed his shoulder into its center. It fell back. Jace didn't pause. He leapt on top of the demon and dug his fingers into its body.

In a flash, the demon disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Jace blinked and stared at his hand. He grinned. He had suspected that maybe he could extinguish them, too, when Ashlyn told him her idea. Now he was equally matched with the demons.

He took off. If there was one demon in there, then that could mean there were more.

Just as he thought that, a blaring noise echoed off the walls. It reminded him of a hurricane alarm.

Before he could make it to the stairs, another demon appeared and raced at him. A second shadowed behind. The alarm droned on.

This is not looking good, he thought before launching himself at the demons. He caught one off-guard when he snuffed the first one out, but the second one understood what it was up against and put up a much tougher fight.

Jace lost himself to the rhythm of the fight, sweat falling freely from his forehead. Finally, he got the upper hand and extinguished the second demon. An odd sense of strength swirled inside him, and he breathed in deeply as his vision sharpened and newfound strength exploded in his body.

He examined his trembling arms. They weren't shaking from fear or exhaustion. Rather, they thrummed from power flushing every vein in his body. This is what Ash must feel, he realized. Might as well put it to good use.

He raced down the steps, desperate to finding Ash. When he finally made it to the bottom floor, three more demons confronted him. They slunk down the hall toward him.

"All right." He shook out his arms, preparing for another fight. "Let's do this."

A/N: Eek, getting so close to the end now! How are you guys liking the pace to the story right now? Do you think they'll make it?