Valentine's Arrow

31: Hanging by a Thread

Without a reply, Simon raised his wrist and tore open the vein. Blood ran in rivulets down his arm. Jace's eyes widened. He stood up and backed away; his hands were in fists, but he didn't move to stop Simon, who held his wrist over the gash in Isabelle's leg and let his blood run down his fingers, spattering onto her, covering her wound.

"What... are... you... doing?" Alec ground out between his teeth, but Jace flung up a hand and whispered something. Rebecca barely heard him. Her eyes were fixed on the wound on Isabelle's leg. She was still unconscious, but the ribboned skin on her leg was beginning to knit itself back together. Beneath the blood, Rebecca could see pink, fresh skin covering the torn mass of flesh.

Isabelle's eyes opened. They were wide and dark. Her lips had been almost white, but the color was starting to come back into them. She stared at Simon uncomprehendingly, and then down at her leg. The skin that had been torn and shredded looked clean and pale, only a faint half-moon of neatly spaced white scars left to show where the demon's teeth had gone in. Simon's blood was still dripping slowly from his fingers, though the wound in his wrist had mostly healed.

He looked pale – much paler than usual. He lifted his wrist to his mouth, his teeth bared-

"Simon, no!" Isabelle said, sitting up so suddenly that her hand struck Rebecca's face. Then she winced heavily and lay back down, her eyes closed.

Clary caught Simon's wrist. "It's all right," she said. Blood stained his sleeve, his shirt, the corners of his mouth. "It's okay - Isabelle's okay," she said, and drew Simon to his feet. "Let's give them a second," she said softly, and led him away.

"Izzy? Are you alright?" Rebecca clasped her hand. Jace and Alec were bending over her, their eyes clouded with concern. Isabelleslowly opened her eyes and nodded. "I'm okay - I'm fine."

And there, Rebecca felt it again – tears that pricked her eyes. She didn't fight it this time, just let them fall. These were for Isabelle, her dearest sister, and she was one of the people Rebecca loved most in this world.

SIMON

Simon was sitting with his back against the cave wall, staring into the heart of the fire. He could feel the heat from it hitting his skin, but it was different somehow – more of a tense crackling than a warmth. He guessed it was cold in the cave, from the fact that Alec had bundled himself up in a bulky sweater and carefully wrapped a blanket around Isabelle. But Simon couldn't feel it, not really.

"Hey." Rebecca was walking over to him, a sweater draped over her shoulders. She settled down beside him, resting her back against the cave wall. After a few moments of silence, she said, "What you did for Isabelle... that was really brave." She turned to look at him, and Simon flinched a little under her gaze – those pitch-black eyes seemed to look right through him. She must have realized, because she immediately looked away and cleared her throat.

"Sorry," he said immediately, hoping he hadn't hurt her feelings.

"It's alright," Rebecca said airily – perhaps a little too airily. "Anyway, I really came over here to say thank you."

"For what?"

"Duh. For saving Isabelle." She gave him a sideways smile. Simon couldn't help but give a small smile in return.

"I always thought it would be me," she continued, and Simon realized that the smile had dropped from her face. "I knew this was a suicide mission, but... I always figured if not all of us were to survive, it would be me."

"Why?" Simon said, trying to shake off some of his dizziness. He was dangerously low on blood.

"I-" she started to say, and then broke off, looking at him more closely. "Are you alright? You look... sick. And really pale."

"I'm fine-"

"The blood!" Rebecca interrupted, bringing her hand to her forehead. "Of course, you lost a lot of it..." She cast him an apprehensive glance. "I'd offer my blood, but... I'm guessing you don't want demon blood in your veins."

Simon opened his mouth to reply, but a sudden, stabbing pain shot through him, and he doubled up. He felt robbed of his breath, except he didn't breathe. Nevertheless, his chest hurt, as if something had been ripped out of it.

"Simon. Simon!" Rebecca gripped his shoulder. "What's wrong?"

He looked up at her slowly, his eyes streaming tears tinged with blood. A look of horror stole over Rebecca's face. "God, Simon..."

He sat up slowly. The pain was already starting to ebb. "I don't know. It was like someone stuck a knife into my chest."

Rebecca's eyes, which had been clouded with concern, immediately cleared. She examined his face and stood up, letting the sweater fall to the floor. "Raphael," she said in a flat voice. "He's your sire, the one whose blood made you a vampire."

Simon nodded. "So?"

She shook her head. "Nothing," she muttered. "When did you last feed?"

"I'm fine," Simon began, vaguely reflecting that Rebecca could be just as bossy as Isabelle when she wanted to.

"What about the bottles you brought?" Rebecca was already looking around for Clary's bag, which she spotted in a corner of the cave. She was about to pick it up when Simon stopped her.

"The bottles broke," he admitted. "The bottles broke when we were fighting the demons in the Accords Hall. The blood's gone."

Rebecca turned around, looking furious. "Simon Lewis, why didn't you say something?"

"Say something about what?" Jace appeared, his blond hair messy. Clary was still asleep in the far corner of the cave.

"Simon's starving," Rebecca explained. "His blood supply is gone, and he lost so much blood-"

"Why didn't you say something?" Jace demanded.

"Because," Simon said. "It's not like there are animals I can feed on here."

"There's us," Jace said.

"I don't want to feed on my friends' blood."

"Why not?" Jace walked past Rebecca and looked down at Simon; his expression was open and curious. "We've been here before, haven't we? Last time you were starving, I gave you my blood. It was a little homoerotic, maybe, but I'm secure in my sexuality."

Simon sighed internally; he could tell that under the flippancy, Jace was completely serious in his offer. Probably less because it was sexy than because Jace had a death wish the size of Brooklyn. "I'm not biting someone whose veins are full of heavenly fire," he said. "I have no desire to be toasted from the inside out."

"Oh, for God's sake. I'll do it." Alec stood up, carefully repositioning Izzy on the blanket. He tucked the edge around her and straightened.

Simon let his head fall back against the wall of the cave. "You don't even like me. Now you're offering me your blood?"

"You saved my sister. I owe you." Alec shrugged, his shadow long and dark in the light of the flames.

"Right." Simon swallowed awkwardly. "Okay."

REBECCA

Alec and Simon disappeared halfway into the nearest dark corridor so Simon could feed. Rebecca didn't understand exactly why Simon wanted privacy, but she didn't question it. It couldn't exactly be fun feeding in front of everyone.

While they were gone, Jace woke up Clary while Rebecca stuffed all the blankets and sweaters back into the backpacks. Isabelle was awake too, looking much better. She was still a little pale, but otherwise, she seemed perfectly alright.

Alec and Simon returned a few minutes later. The change in Simon was astounding – he looked... fuller, somehow. Rebecca was relieved. And glad that Alec had offered, though he didn't look too happy about it. While he applied an iratze and a blood replenishment rune, Rebecca and Jace hauled all the backpacks to the center of the cave and stomped out the fire.