Living Like Legends [Alec Lightwood]

{Chapter Thirty}

Ashe

"Oh, this isn't good." Ashe muttered. She could feel Alec's shoulders heaving as they touched and realized how exhausted the Shadow Hunters must be. Maryse approached her. "We tried the doors but they're stuck fast. We're trapped." Her usual pristine appearance was torn and ragged, and a bruise was forming on her left cheek.

"Any idea why they're keeping us here?" Robert Lightwood appeared on the other side. Ashe opened her mouth to answer but she didn't have to.

In the center of the room, from a swirling vortex of lilac, indigo and violet, stepped a tall man. His hair was closely cropped to his head and he wore a clean black jacket over a white shirt and freshly pressed blue jeans. Stubble dotted his cheek bones and his neck was marked with a particularly nasty looking rune.

"Valentine," Ashe snarled making a move to throw herself forward but Alec gripped her arm firmly, holding her back. Isabelle circled on the other side, resting a dainty hand on Ashe's shoulder. A flash of blonde hair confirmed Jace on Alec's left side.

His gaze raked the room, black, soulless eyes taking them all in. He bared his teeth in a sadistic grin. Maryse stepped in front of Ashe and her children, as if to shield them from his view. Robert swung his sword in his hand and planted his feet far apart. "What do you want, Valentine? Why have you trapped us here?"

"It's been a long time, Robert and Maryse. A long time indeed." Valentine's voice was surprisingly rough compared to his smooth appearance.

"Not nearly long enough." Maryse answered and Ashe recalled Alec saying his parents had once been a part of Valentine's regime before turning their backs on him.

"No need to be rude." The former Shadow Hunter answered.

"Answer the question, Valentine." Robert spit out.

Valentine seemed to sigh. "Very well." He stepped completely through the portal, his feet clicking on the stone floor and it disappeared behind him with a snap of light. He raised his hands and then sent a wave of energy soaring around the room.

Ashe tensed as it passed through her but nothing happened. Confused for a moment, she glanced at Alec and then heard Isabelle's gasp. She craned her neck to follow the girl's gaze and found all the remaining Shadow Hunters and Elementians collapsed on the floor.

"What did you do?" Maryse's voice was shrill.

"Relax. They are unharmed, simply asleep for the time being. No need to have a larger audience than necessary." From his back he produced a stone of crystal that shimmered a hundred different colors and sent a thrill through her spine. The Heart of Elementia.

She lunged forward again and Alec's griped tightened, as did Isabelle's. Valentine seemed to peer over the Lightwoods' figures, his eyes straining to reach her. "I know you are here, Ashlyne. You presence is strong and cannot be hidden."

Slowly Maryse turned to look at Ashe and then retreated back a step, Robert doing the same. Ashe felt the full weight of Valentine's brooding gaze fall on her and she set her jaw.

"Finally we meet." He kept the stone within her sight, taunting her.

She kept her gaze from going to it and tilted her chin upwards. "Finally?"

"Yes. I do recall having a fleeting glimpse of you as you leapt through the portal to another dimension in this very room. Of course your father and friend had to be cut down first. What was his name?"

Ashe bit her tongue, telling herself not to fall for his games, aware that she had a silent audience of the Lightwoods and Jace watching her. "Atlas." She muttered, finally. "His name was Atlas." Her fingers curled into fists and not being able to help herself, she continued, "He was supposed to get married that day." Her gaze found Layl'a's body among the sleeping Elementians. "A nice wedding along the beach." Her eyes found his again, voice surprisingly strong. "But that will never happen now. Do you know whose fault that is?"

Valentine sighed. "My sincerest apologies. However, if your father had simply cooperate from the beginning, all this mess could have been avoided."

"You would have slaughtered us all anyways." Ashe said, voice void of emotion. "Enough of your games. Why have you trapped us here? What do you want now?"

"You know, you surprised me, Ashelyne. Freeing Kyrler from his prison and bending him to your will- imagine the power it must've taken to do that. Can you still feel it pulsing through you? Singing in your blood?"

"Why are we trapped here?" Ashe repeated, refusing to be baited.

He continued as if she hadn't spoken. "Does it want to be released? Does it want to be let free? You've kept it in check for so long, why not just let it go?" He paced closer. "Right here. Right now. In this room. There's no one left to tell you no." His voice dropped to a whisper.

"Ashe." Alec's voice was calm but she could feel his stare burning into her. "Don't listen to him. He's baiting you, playing with your mind-"

"I know." She cut him off and slowly removed his hand from her shoulder. She walked closer to Valentine until they were mere inches apart. "That's what you want isn't it? My power? To see it with no restraints. Working for you."

His eyes flickered with something she couldn't place.

"I'll come with you," she breathed. "You can have it all, see the darkness, if you let them go. Allow them to return to Idris, unharmed with the rest of their warriors. I don't want you to ever set foot near a Shadow Hunter again."

"An interesting proposition, Ashlyne. This doesn't have anything to do with your feelings for young Alexander, now does it?" He said in hushed tones.

"Do we have an agreement or not?" Ashe hissed.

Valentine straightened. "I have two conditions."

Ashe eyed him. "Name them."

He held up one finger. "I want a demonstration. Here, now, in this room. Just so I know I'm not gambling anything away. Call it insurance."

"And what would this demonstration entail?"

"That's for me to know and you to find out." He produced a powder and sprinkled it on the stone floor. The rocks gave way like sand, creating a large hole. Ashe stumbled a step back as a thin black leg appeared from the hole. It grappled for a hand hold before another leg appeared, and then another.

Ashe's stomach turned over as the most revolting creature she'd ever seen crawled from the depths of hell. It stretched at least the length of Kryler with hundreds of spiny legs running the length of its body. Its bulbous body was cover in slime that she had no doubt was poisonous and its mouth was filled with thousands of needle like teeth.

"Have fun." Valentine winked at her and she made a particularly vulgar gesture at him before he disappeared.

The demon roared and her heart nearly stopped at the sight of its mouth again.

Then it charged.