Et tú, Clarissa?

Chapter thirty-five

Present Day (England, Britain)

As I arrive at the cottage, the door slashes up as a whiff escort me in. It does not take many seconds before I have ruled out the emptiness of the small house.

Not at the station. Not here.

My mind goes back and forth of where he can be while panic rise inside of me.

I cannot let- He cannot-

I run my hands over my face, up through my hair. I flicker to a similar memory where I run into the country house and find it empty and destroyed. My head snaps against the door as the wind makes the door dash against the wall. A whining sound from the forest fills the silence around me and I feel how I step closer to the outdoor. There is something in the complaining, helpless tones that make my heartbeat drum hard inside my chest. Before I know what I am doing, I start running.

My legs tremble under me as I practical fly through the forest as fast as I can. Beside me, through the trees, I can almost see myself run just like this. In a late-summer forest instead of the decimetre high snow. Running and panting whilst looking around me. As I even can make out the details of the phantom memory, I slow down. My gaze searches wildly my surrounding. Suddenly the light the forest has turned into a shade of dark turquoise. The trees around me all turn dark, almost black and through the forest, the name that had escaped my lips, changed into another name. A longer. And something suddenly feels too familiar about it all.

1736 AD (O'Brians' land, Scotland)

I stumbled through the forest with my voice barely holding any sound anymore and my eyes blurry with tears. The thorns had torn in my clothes and skin so that I bleed, but I did not notice it. A sudden green dark shade of turquoise made the forest gloomy. My gaze went around me before it locked on a lump on the ground that made me stop dead in my tracks. It was a body on the ground in front of me. A man. His clothes unusually dirty and torn for its expansivity and his long ebony hair lays as a broken halo on the ground around his head. Nicholas. Above him, a black creature stood with his big claw-like hands baptized in blood. Like someone drove a spear through my chest I felt how I suddenly became heavy and as panic grew, I felt my magic escape me. Before I knew it, the creature gave off a death scream and I ran towards Nicholas as the demon disappeared into thin air. I fell to my knees as I reached him and I turned him to his back to find his chest ripped open. He looked up at me with tender eyes and a small smile, just like he had seen an angel. With a weak hand, he reached out to touch my cheek, to wipe away the tears racing down my face.

"Don't- don't you dare leave me." my voice barely held the words, but Nicholas just looked at me with a pained but real smile.

"You are so beautiful..." he mumbled and took my face between his hands right before his eyes turned black and he screamed of pain as every muscle in his body reacted to the demon venom.

I felt my heart sink as I watched him, wishing nothing else than to change place with him so that this would not take his life away. My eyes changed as my magic reached for him trying my best to save him, but nothing I did seemed to help. Suddenly I felt a weak hand on my wrist.

"Clarissa, stop." his voice was as weak as his grip, but I had no trouble hearing him. "You will get hurt."

I could not help the sudden chuckle escaping me.

"I cannot let you die. I cannot live without you. Please, please do not leave me. I can't live without you..."

For the first time, Nicholas's eyes teared up and I saw the struggle he had to keep his eyes opened.

"You will figure it out. You always do, because you are strong, Clarissa. Stronger than I would ever be." something in the air told me that both of us knew that he did not have long, but he smiled coyly at me. "I love you. I will always do, whatever comes next."

"I love you too." I answered and lowered my face down to his to draw him into one last kiss before I felt my soul ripped from my chest with his.

Present Day (England, Britain)

I look at the spot where I can almost see Nicholas take his last breath, but I don't get longer before I hear a voice behind me.

"Young love, isn't it touching how one could be so foolish?"

I swing around and see her. This time I know it really is her. She lay her head askew while her eyes linger over me. Drinking the sight. Enjoying every second of this. However, my gaze does not stay at her as long as hers do on me hence I can only see the man standing beside her. Zac. Blood from a wound in his forehead roll down along the left side of his face and his hands are tied behind his back. He tries to get away but fails terribly. As I try to make my way towards him, Aurelia easily swift me backwards, making me fall to the ground.

"Clary!" he screams in despair and I force myself off the ground while not losing eye contact with him.

Until it moves to Aurelia.

"Let him go." I say with a steady low voice and it remains calm even though I see how the shadows behind her start moving, forming shapes of something that looks like a person or a demon of sorts. "This is between you and me. So, let Zac go."

Aurelia just laughs.

"Your precious Zac isn't going anywhere." she replies as confidant as ever. "He is the part that makes it all so much more fun."

Suddenly the grin disappears from her lips and she glares at me with dark eyes.

"But as I expected, I see that you will not give up without a fight."

I feel how people approach me from behind and to my left and right I see countless of animals. A wolf looks at me and I recognise the green eyes to be Josef and a second later I see Maze with her fangs out and Eli with magic sparkling around his fingers. After them maybe 20 persons, some vampires, others werewolves or werebears, a couple of seelies and a few warlocks and something about them all seems familiar. I have helped all of them. Eli looks at me with his lizard eyes and nod. I return the gesture and look to my right to find some guardians lead by Wanda. She repeats the gesture and I can feel a small ounce of hope grow inside my chest but it's not enough to let it spill onto my lips.

Maybe there is a chance that we'll make this.

However, that ounce of hope shrinks slightly as the shadows from behind Aurelia takes some steps closer and make a barrier next to her. Through the shadows, a pack of wolves appear too. In one of the wolf's eyes, I see a hunt for me and how he tears me over the back so that I roll down and end up in a ditch. Slowly painting the white snow red. I swallow hard and look back at Aurelia who grins at me.

"May the best warlock win." she says with an easy, careless voice and then, hell breaks loose.