Angel Blessed

6. Just Orphans

"I'm so sorry." Jace sighed then looked at me. I just shook my head. Leave it up to Clary to say sorry right after being told not to. "Wait, is he... is he buried here?"

We looked around the dusty cave, "No. Circle members are considered traitors." My eyes grew wide. "They forfeit their right to be buried here."

"Your dad was in the circle, too?" Clary hit a nerve. Jace huffed out a breath, trying to keep calm.

"My father tried to do the right thing and leave the Circle and it cost him his life." I discreetly squeezed his wrist in reassurance. I have no clue in the world what was making me react this way towards him, but I wasn't going to fight it. He was looking at me through the corner of his eye, I could feel it.

"That's why you're doing all this, why you're helping me." She looked down at the floor pitifully.

"We all have many different reasons for doing  the same shit Clary, so don't get upset when they don't match." I was defending Jace but the topic of having parents' lives taken away from you felt a little too close to home for my liking.

I let my hand fall back but he caught it and held on for dear life. He shook his head and looked Clary in her eyes. "Valentine and his people need to pay. I'm gonna make them pay."

She glanced at every other dingy wall in this cave. "For, um... for what it's worth... I'm still sorry."

He caught her gaze and made sure to drive the point home. "No more 'I'm sorry's. You're a Shadowhunter now." He turned his back and walked into the room. My hand was still being held hostage so I had to follow behind him. I snatched Clary's wrist however, and pulled her with me. We walked pass all the bones and up to the image illuminated by overhead spotlight.

"I've drawn this before." I felt the pulsing of this rune immensely. If my hands didn't have company, they'd already be skimming over it. "But I don't know what it means."

"Clairvoyance.... rune.... voyance.... my child" the voice said to me. I was slowly, very slowly,  getting accustomed to it.

"It means clairvoyance." They both looked at me quizzically. Did I say that aloud? Oops.

One by one, torches set ablaze around the cave. Each held by a cloaked figure that I, sure as fuck, know weren't there the whole time. Their eyes and mouths were sewn shout. What the hell?

I stood in paralyzed shock while Clary gasped and looked from one figure to the next. I guess these are the silent brothers.

"Shadowhunters." I was right. These 'people' communicated through telepathy, so who else could they be? One of them walked forward, took off his hood and gestured towards the rune carved into the ground. "Come into the circle. Step away Jace Wayland, Aiden Mason." He.. knew my name. Awesome.

"I'll be right here." He whispered to Clary as he pulled me back out of the room.

"Jace. Did he really mean step out of the cave? I wanna see." I pulled on his arm, stopping his stride. He walked us far enough, that Clary's words sounded like inaudible whispers.

He turned to me. " Really? You want to see a sword getting pressed into her skull?" I looked at him confused. Why was he so upset.

"Yes, I do. I'm going to do it too, ya know." I let him go and turned my head away from him, letting my platinum blonde hair hide my face. "I have to find out what's happening to me. Why I am the way I am."

"What are you talking about? I'm not letting you do that." He sounded pissed.

"But you let Clary do it." I huffed and crossed my arms. "Jace I didn't come here to be the moral support." I looked at him and gestured towards the entrance. "You don't just kill people without remorse like I just did. Not in my situation. I wasn't raised to kill demons. Hell, I didn't even know what demons were when I helped you guys kill them." I let out a deep sigh. "My mom was an art teacher and my sister did ballet... I on the other hand, was mastering the 'arts' of kenjutsu" I let out a dry laugh.

"You had the choice to do anything... but you chose to learn how to use a sword?" He looked so surprised. "But you look so...." His eyes scanned me from head to toe.

I laughed and punched his arm. "You should know better Jace. You grew up with Isabelle for Angel's sake. Just because Im deviously hot and take amazing care of myself doesn't mean I can't slice open a neck or two."

"I was going to say generically feminine." I glared at him, tempted to wipe the smile of his dimpled face. His smirk was followed by confusion. "And didn't you say you weren't raised to kill, so why are flexing your ability to do just that?"

I rolled my eyes. "Kill demons. I wasn't raised to kill demo—"

"So you were raised to kill mundanes then?" This boy was getting on my damn nerves. His smile was practically bursting at the seems.

"No, you baboon! It was a self defense slash sword fight class... and I boast because the message is that 'I may be small but I can defend myself'" I huffed. "I can kill but I wasn't taught to kill. I was taught to defend and protect. I was protecting myself and Jenny when I killed that piece of shit."

He was amused. Still smiling at my flustered state. We were quite, comfortable in each other's silence when we heard Clary's loud, labored gasps echo around the cave. Jace was already running towards her, leaving me to catch up.

"—done. We can't be done." She was shaking in her boots and confused out of her mind.

"Clary, do you know where the cup is?" He was holding onto her bicep, grounding her.

"No."

"Only fragments of her memory were accessible to us." Thought one of the brothers.

She shook her head in denial. "It can't be true... what I saw."

"Your memory does not lie. You must accept what has been revealed." What did she see? I walked closer to get a better look at her.

"I can't... I can't." She was crying now. Fat tears streaming down her face.

"What is it? What did you see?" Jace had had enough of being left out. His gaze shifted between the her and the Silent Brother.

"My mother lied to me. She lied all these years about my father." Oh shit.

He was really confused now. "About your father? What about your father?" I stood there waiting patiently for all this to unfold. I was curious too.

She sniffled. "My father... my father is Valentine." Double oh shit. Spawn of the devil himself. Jace and I were flabbergasted, searching her face for any sign of this being a joke.

The tears came harder and the sobbing louder. She ran out of the room without another word. I could just see it in his muscles that he wanted to run after her, but he turned to me. "You're not doing this Aiden."

"I don't recall your permission being necessary to do this Jace. Now go. I'm not the one suffering from daddy issues now." I glared at him and watched him grit his teeth before running after her. My eyes not leaving him until his back disappeared around the corner.

I turned to the Brothers. "I'm sorry but do you have time for one more?" I shivered as a bead of sweat rolled down my spine. What was I going to find out?

The leading Brother gestured toward the circle, "Welcome, child of Raziel" I furrowed my brows in confusion. My dad's name was Bill. I kept my mouth shut but went into the circle anyway.

"Thank you." I sighed. "Is there any warning I should be getting before all this goes down?"

"If you aren't strong enough to undergo this procedure, you will die." There was a pause in his statement, leading me to think there was more to it.

"... but?" I said unsure if I was ready for this. Where was all that bravado I had earlier?

"We have complete faith in your ability to survive this. It is your decision to make, however." Is this what they said to Clary? I nodded my head and watched as they lifted their arms and tilted my head back. The sword descend and I tensed as I felt the point on my forehead... but quickly, I was tensing up for a different reason.