Allison was certain the situation was going to head downhill very soon. When the moment arrived, she wasn't entirely surprised.
As vampires loomed overhead, filling the archway inside Hotel Dumort. The entire clan was assembling—the worst-case scenario. She could see the gears inside Jace's brain struggling to get out of this, his blade digging deeply into Raphael's back.
Raphael, the clever cretin, even made her almost suppose he was helping them. But the invisible tracks when he left the foyer, the whole woven story about his brother getting trapped here...he was the vampire.
"If you idiots are done, shall I take over?" She said, crossing her arms, entirely unfrazzled. Oh, she was in panic mode now, but better not let the others know.
Jace considered her calm demeanor, the idea she had brimmed her eyes. "Any idea?"
She smirked and looked at Raphael. "I'm going to have fun with you as my hostage, chico," She gestured at Jace. "Shut it and follow my lead. I know exactly what to do,"
Clary kept an eye on the vampires, rows of bloodless faces and sharp canines flashing. Allison grabbed her arm and pushed her behind her and said aloud, "Stop right where you are or your precious Raphael is dead."
A sort of murmur ran through the crowd that could have been whispering or laughter. "Stop," Allison said again, and this time Jace did something, she didn't see what, that made Raphael cry out in surprised pain. "Trust me, he's crazy,"
"I'm crazy," Jace agreed, twisting his grip.
One of the vampires flung an arm out to hold back his companions. "She means it," he said. "They are Shadowhunters."
Another vampire pushed her way through the crowd to stand at his side—a pretty blue-haired Asian girl in a silver foil skirt. "Shadowhunters trespassing on our territory," she said. "They are out of the protection of the Covenant. I say we kill them—they have killed enough of ours."
"Which of you is the master of this place?" Jace said, his voice very flat. "Let him step forward."
The girl bared her pointed teeth. "Do not use Clave language on us, Shadowhunter. You have broken your precious Covenant, coming in here. The Law will not protect you."
"Answer him," Allison's voice turned deadlier, her eyes glazing.
"Give me one good reason," The girl hissed again.
Allison just shifted her jacket, revealing the badge on her waistband. Her Investigator badge.
The vampires reeled back, and murmurs and gasps of the name Investigator echoed around. The symbol of the Clave was the three C's—the Clave, the Consul, and the Council. A sword struck through it—the Mortal sword. The official symbol of the Investigators.
"Now, you must understand I haven't broken the Covenant. Nor would my further actions would be considered illegal." She met the girl's gaze again. "Ready to talk or..."
The blond boy from earlier said with hesitation. "Our leader is in Idris."
"Someone must rule in her stead," Jace observed, his tone more controlled.
There was a silence. The vampires up in the balconies were hanging off the railings, leaning down to hear what was being said. Finally, "Raphael leads us," said the blond vampire.
The blue-haired girl, Lily, let out a hiss of disapproval. "Jacob—"
"I propose a trade," Clary said quickly, earning a look from Allison. "By now you must know you took home too many people from the party tonight. One of them was my friend Simon."
Jacob raised his eyebrows. "You're friends with a vampire?"
"He's not a vampire. And not a Shadowhunter, either," she added, seeing Lily's pale eyes narrow. "Just an ordinary human boy."
Allison decided to let her continue.
"We didn't take any human boys home with us from Magnus's party. That would have been a violation of the Covenant." Her eyes slid to Allison to confirm.
"He'd been transformed into a rat. A small brown rat," said Clary. "Someone might have thought he was a pet, or ..."
Her voice trailed off. They were staring at her as if she were insane.
"Let me get this straight," Lily said. "You're offering to trade Raphael's life for a rat?"
Clary looked helplessly back at Jace. He gave her a look that said, This was your idea. You're on your own. Allison's was the same, You interrupted me, deal with it.
"Yes," she said, turning back to the vampires. "That's the trade we're offering."
They stared at her, white faces nearly expressionless. In another context, Allison would have said that they looked baffled.
She could feel Jace standing behind her, and hear the rasp of his breathing. Allison was sure he too was trying to figure out a way out of this mess. She glanced towards the doors, wondering if she could sneak up and search for the rat herself.
"Do you mean this rat?"
Allison blinked. Another vampire, a thin black boy with dreadlocks, had pushed his way to the front of the crowd. He was holding something in his hands, something brown that squirmed feebly. "Simon?" Clary whispered from beside her.
The rat squeaked and started to thrash wildly in the boy's grip. He looked down at the captive rodent with an expression of distaste. "Man, I thought he was Zeke. I wondered why he was copping such an attitude." He shook his head, dreadlocks bouncing. "I say she can have him, dude. He's already bitten me five times."
Clary reached out for Simon, but Lily stepped in front of her before she could take more than a step in his direction. "Wait," Lily said. "How do we know you won't just take the rat and kill Raphael anyway?"
"We'll give our word," Clary said immediately, earning a warning glare from the two shadowhunters.
Nobody laughed. Raphael swore softly in Spanish. Allison let out an exasperated Oh my God.
"Clary," Jace said. There was an undercurrent of exasperated desperation in his voice. "Is this really a—"
"No oath, no trade," said Lily immediately, seizing on his uncertain tone. "Elliott, hold on to that rat."
This was why Allison only worked with George.
The dreadlocked boy tightened his grip on Simon, who sank his teeth savagely into Elliott's hand. "Man," he said glumly. "That hurt."
Clary took the opportunity to whisper to Jace. "Just swear! What can it hurt?"
"Swearing for us isn't like it is for you mundanes," he snapped back angrily. "I'll be bound forever to any oath I make."
"Oh, yeah? What would happen if you broke it?"
"I wouldn't break it, that's the point—"
"Lily is right," said Jacob. "An oath is required. Swear that you won't hurt Raphael. Even if we give you the rat back."
"I won't hurt Raphael," Clary said immediately. "No matter what."
Lily smiled at her tolerantly. "It isn't you, we're worried about." She shot pointed looks at Jace and Allison, the former was holding Raphael so tightly that his knuckles were white. A patch of sweat darkened the cloth of his shirt, just between his shoulder blades. Allison couldn't stop the annoyance radiating from her, already clutching her dagger underneath her jacket. Cool metal bit against her bare side.
Jace said, "All right. I swear it." Allison gave him a puzzled look. Was he out of his bloody mind?
"Speak the oath," Lily said swiftly. "Swear on the Angel. Say it all. Especially from the Investigator."
Jace shook his head. "You swear first."
His words fell into the silence like stones, sending a rippling murmur through the crowd. Jacob looked concerned, Lily furious. "Not a chance, Shadowhunter."
"We have your leader." The tip of Jace's knife dug farther into Raphael's throat. "And what have you got there? A rat."
Simon, pinned in Elliott's hands, squeaked furiously. Lily looked toward Raphael. "Master?"
Raphael had his head down, his dark curls falling to hide his face. Blood stained the collar of his shirt, and trickled down the bare brown skin underneath. "A pretty important rat," he said, "for you to come all the way here for him with an Investigator. It is you, Shadowhunter, I think, who will swear first."
Jace's grip on him tightened convulsively. Allison saw the swell of the muscles under his skin, the whitening of his fingers and at the sides of his mouth as he fought his anger. She instead spoke up, "The rat's a mundane," she said sharply. "If you kill him, you'll be subject to the Law—"
"He is on our territory. Trespassers are not protected by the Covenant, you know that—"
"You brought him here," Clary interjected. "He didn't trespass."
"Technicalities," said Raphael, grinning at her despite the knife at his throat. "Besides. You think we do not hear the rumors, the news that is running through Downworld like blood through veins? Valentine is back. There will be no Accords and no Covenant soon enough."
Allison rounded him up, the dagger now on her hand. "Where did you hear that?"
Raphael frowned scornfully. "All Downworld knows it. He paid a warlock to raise a pack of Raveners only a week ago. He has brought his Forsaken to seek the Mortal Cup. When he finds it, there will be no more false peace between us, only war. No Law will prevent me from tearing your heart out on the street, Investigator—"
That seemed enough for Clary. She dove for Simon, shouldering Lily aside, and snatched the rat out of Elliott's hands. Simon scrabbled up her arm, gripping her sleeve with frantic paws.
Allison released her dagger at the vampire which caught Clary. Stupid girl, she was going to get everyone killed. Clary was released but Lily struck her, with enough force to rock her head back.
Jace shouted her name, let go of Raphael, and was racing toward her. Allison blocked Raphael's path, her hunting knife now ready. "Bailemos, vampiro,"
Teeth hissing, he lunged forward, barely missing her knife. Another vampire tried to strike her from behind, but she kicked him square on his chest. She lashed out, and the blade finally struck Raphael, who fell back with an anguished cry. It wasn't the end.
Vampires after vampires assembled. Allison threw out a vial of holy water around her, giving her a moment. They needed backup. Now.
"Simon!" Clary's scream echoed, and Allison saw a rat sprint in panic. She caught him deftly, stabbing a vampire straight through the heart. A sudden bright light-filled a part of the room, the seraph blade held high in Jace's hands. "Come here! NOW!" he yelled at Allison.
Allison stuffed the rat—Simon—into her open pocket and swung her hunting knife in a wide arc. Every vampire shrunk back, but a vampire surprised her. She flung out her hand to defend her, his fangs buried into her forearm. With a cry, she fell down, her head banged against the steel floor.
The seraph blade light slowly disappeared—Jace hadn't spotted her yet.
Pain shot through her entire side, trying to hold back the vampire's weight. But he sucked her blood—there was nothing romantic about it. With a grunt, she reached for her another hunting knife when he lost his grip, and staggered back.
A blood-curdling cry erupted from him, startling everyone. Soon, his skin started to dissipate, and he fell into ashes.
"What the f—"
The windows exploded inward in a shower of broken glass. She heard herself gasp, and saw the vampires—barely an arm's length from her—whirl in astonishment, shock mingling with terror on their faces. Through the shattered windows came dozens of sleek shapes, four-footed and low to the ground, their coats scattering the moonlight and broken bits of glass. Their eyes were blue fire, and from their throats came a combined low growl that sounded like the roiling crash of a waterfall.
Wolves.
"Oh, hell no," Allison muttered, entirely forgetting how a vampire disintegrated after drinking her blood.
"HOW DARE YOU ENTER OUR PLACE?" Raphael screamed, the only one standing his ground. His face was scarlet, suffused with blood.
The largest of the wolves, a brindled gray monster with teeth like a shark's, gave a panting doglike chuckle. As he moved forward, between one step and the next he seemed to shift and change like a wave rising and curling. Now he was a tall heavily muscled man with long hair that hung in gray ropelike tangles. He wore jeans and a thick leather jacket, and there was still something wolfish in the cast of his lean, weathered face. "We didn't come for a blooding," he said. "We came for the girl."
Raphael managed to look furious and astounded at once. "Who?"
"The human girl." The werewolf flung out a stiff arm, pointing at Clary.
Luke Garroway's pack.
Burning hell.
Pure trepidation made her struggle to her feet, clutching her bleeding arm. Simon still thrashed in her pocket. But she caught Jace's gaze from afar, Get the hell out of here. Now.
Every face was turned to Clary; most looked astonished. Raphael's eyes were narrowed. He turned back to the werewolf, slowly. "You can't have her," he said. "She trespassed on our ground; therefore she's ours."
Allison jumped on top of a high stool and didn't bother to control her vexation. "ENOUGH,"
Every eye was on her, just as she wanted. The head werewolf had the audacity to laugh, "Stand down, Nephilim,"
"I'd watch it, werewolf," She fixed a glare on him. "You don't want to see an Investigator pissed."
That made him still.
"That girl," she pointed at Clary. "Is one of the Nephilim. And she's is under my protection. I suggest every single one of you to disperse right now before kindling my anger further or I swear on the Angel, I'll burn this entire place to the ground,"
The werewolf still studied her and there— recognition. Shit.
"I'm so glad you said that," he said, and launched himself forward. In midair, his body rippled, and he was again a wolf, coat bristling, jaws gaping, ready to tear. She heard a warning cry from Jace before the wolf struck Allison square in the chest, and they went down. But Allison kicked him off and snarled back. With answering howls of rage, the vampires charged the werewolves, who met them head-on in the center of the ballroom.
The noise was like nothing Allison had ever heard. If Bosch's paintings of hell had come with a soundtrack, they would have sounded like this. The werewolf still tried to rip her into shreds. She barely missed his teeth, stumbling backward. Something flew through the air. A weapon. Jace had thrown it from afar.
She immediately regretted having caught it.
The seraph blade lit up more brightly than intended. Then the flames erupted.
Every single downworlder near her cried in alarm. Considering her luck, she swung around, catching another werewolf behind her. He dissipated too, like the vampire earlier.
Among the utter confusion, she threw the flaming blade. It grazed the Downworlders on its path to hitting the floor.
Allison dashed towards the opposite end of the room.
Her hands caught hold of a railing overhead and she pushed her body up. Utter desperation to keep her life made her move. She ducked from two vampires, trying to dash towards a door afar. A werewolf leaped upwards, blocking her path. Her hunting knife slashed its hide, but didn't stop it. It pushed her down, and stilled for a moment, studying her. Its teeth lingered dangerously near her neck—she shoved down her whimper.
"I know your Alpha," She said in desperation, cringing away from the bloodied maw. "We're family at best,"
Say what? The werewolf's eyes flashed in confusion.
She nodded vigorously, "Believe me. He's—"
Perhaps she had some luck because Simon launched from her pocket, his teeth dug in the werewolf's snout. It thrashed its head and she thought Simon was going to get squished. Her beetle, Teffy, flew out and spat venom into the werewolf's eyes.
It let out a howl of pain and stumbled out of the platform.
Allison stared in horror. But Simon crawled back to her, with panicked squeaking. She blinked, her beetle and him were in the same pocket.
"Oh, you clever rat," She caught him and was on the move.
She shouldered each room she passed until the third one gave away. She bolted the door shut. Not long before the vampires and wolves came to finish her off.
Jesus Christ, what was she going to explain to Imogen? The Inquisitor would go ballistic if Allison started a war between the two Downworlder factions. She only hoped Jace had got Clary out. She shook her head, she had to get out of this blasted hotel first. She looked around the room; bunk beds, huge dressers, and writing desks were askew. No windows. No further door.
Yet...a vent was on the ceiling, and the steel grate seemed loose enough. "Okay," She took Simon to her eye level. "I have to crawl through the vents. So, what I need you to do is lead the way. No protests, you are doing it,"
He squeaked more but she jumped up and hung on to the grate. After two hard pulls, it gave away. "You better wait for me, mundane."
Allison had pushed him up when the door started banging. She used the opposite wall to push herself up and squeezed into the tiny. "Simon?" She asked into the darkness, before taking out her witchlight rune. Green light filled the vent and Simon was scurrying towards a far-right.
With a bleeding arm and a few broken ribs, she crawled painstakingly. Her blood left a trail along the path. Breathing became hard but she saw Simon ahead and kept on moving. There was a loud bang from behind. They've broken down the door.
Simon squeaked a bit louder and spun in circles around another steel grate. "Okay, you are my favorite mundane. Congratulations." She could hear the contempt squeal. Allison punched the grate, her knuckles starting to bleed profusely. It flew out on the fourth try and hot air breezed into her face. She caught Simon and struck her head out.
She was approximately three floors down from the terrace. There wasn't any a building closer for her to jump on. The entire way down was too far. "Let's climb, then. Hold on," She propelled herself out, her right arm barking in pain. With a hiss, she held on to a pipe leading upwards. By the angel, she was exhausted. Using the seraph blade always drained her. Biting her teeth, she began the climb. She managed not to squish Simon as she climbed.
Right before reaching the top, her arms threatened to give away. "Shit," she cursed but tried to reach out to the ledge. Just one more push, she urged herself. Her fingers clenched the brick ledge. And slipped.
Mid hissing, another hand caught her. She blinked, staring above.
Jace's golden head popped out of the ledge and he grimaced as he pulled her up. "Jesus, you are heavy," It was a hard job, but Jace pulled her up and dropped her on the terrace. Allison groaned but managed to say, "I got Simon,"
"You okay?" Jace ignored her statement and studied her arm, his fingers surprisingly soft. The night sky wheeled above her, scattered with stars like a handful of loose diamonds. It was not black but a clear dark blue, the color of oncoming dawn. They were on a bare slate roof turreted with brick chimneys. An old water tower, black with neglect, stood on a raised platform at one end; a heavy tarpaulin concealed a lumpy pile of lumber at the other. "I'll get an iratze later," She stood up, holding back a wince. "How are we going to escape?"
"Vampires fly up here, don't they?" Clary said, her eyes darting. "We don't fly so..."
Allison swayed, black spots filling her vision. "Easy, Investigator," He caught her shoulder, steadying her. "I wasn't much sure you'd survive down there alone,"
"I am an unkillable bitch," She admitted, using Jace to support her weight. Then, an idea hit, "Jace, dammit, those infernal bikes!"
"I can't believe I didn't think of it before." He looked feverish, his gold-flecked eyes very bright. He dashed to the far end of the roof, hauling Allison along, then paused and looked back at Clary. She was still standing dazed. "Come on, Clary."
Allison shrugged off his hold, letting him pull the tarpaulin. It came away, revealing not junk but sparkling chrome, tooled leather, and gleaming paint. "Motorcycles?"
Jace reached for the nearest one, an enormous dark red Harley with gold flames on the tank and fenders. He swung a leg over it and looked over his shoulder at her. "Get on. Both of you,"
"No, thank you," Allison said, but reached for a pure black Harley with a skull and crossbones painted in neon green.
Clary stared. "Are you kidding? Do you both even know how to drive that thing? Do you have keys?"
"I don't need keys," he explained with infinite patience. "It runs on demon energies. Now, are you going to get on, or do you want to ride your own like Allison?"
Numbly Clary slid onto the bike behind him.
"Use your stele," Allison told him and jammed her own into the ignition. In her pocket Simon squeaked loudly.
"Simon—" Clary started but Jace, to everyone's surprise, said, "He'll be safer with Allison,"
On cue, the roof door burst open with a crash, torn from its hinges. Wolves poured through the gap, racing across the roof straight at them. Above them flew the vampires, hissing, and screeching, filling the night with predatory cries.
Jace's motorcycle lurched forward when Allison's roared to life. Hers' shot forwards, tires skidding along the slates, scattering the wolves, who yelped as they leaped aside. She heard Jace shout something, his words torn away by the noise of wheels and wind and engine. The motorcycle hurtled over the parapet and plummeted like a rock toward the ground, ten stories down.
Shit, is this the wrong—
The cycle righted itself with a sputter and a jerk, she almost was surprised. Instead of plunging downward, she was now hurtling up toward the diamond-littered sky.
Allison glanced back and saw a cluster of vampires standing on the roof of the hotel, surrounded by wolves—she laughed out loud which was quite maniacal. Jace was yelling, loud whooping shrieks of delight and relief, just like her.
Something about the air rippling through her face, the sensation resembling flying... was so perfect. Never had she felt such freedom and absolution. This was her ideal dream.
Which was, of course, ruined when she felt something behind.
Simon...turning into a human.
"Ah, hell," She said belatedly and tried not to look back, "Just hold on tight to me, Simon,"
Instead, she focused her gaze back on the view below. They were flying east, away from the park, toward the highway that snaked along the right bank of the city.
There was a numbness in Allison's hands, a hard pressure in her chest. It was spectacular, she could see that: the city rising up beside her like a towering forest of silver and glass, and the dull gray shimmer of the East River. Just below the Queensboro Bridge, Jace, with Clary, turned the bike south and headed to the foot of the island. Allison followed his trail, trusting he'd know where to land. The sky had begun to lighten, and in the distance Allison could see the glittering arch of the Brooklyn Bridge, and beyond that, a smudge on the horizon, the Statue of Liberty.
A string of curses erupted behind her, and a pair of arms wound around her waist.
"Welcome back, Simon!" She said gleefully, banking the cycle, and then they were sailing toward the bridge.
"Should we even be this high up?" Simon yelled into her ears, making her wince. "A patrolling pigeon officer is going to give us a ticket!"
"I am great with pigeons," She yelled back. "My charm has no bounds!"
"What if the evil eagle inspector—"
"SUNRISE!" Jace yelled, then jerked the cycle savagely to the right. It took a second for Allison to fathom what was going to follow. "SHIT!" she banked her cycle.
"What's so bad about sunrise?" Simon asked, his arms bruising her broken ribs more, making it hard to breath.
"The bike runs on demon energies!" She pulled back so that they were level with the river, just skimming along the surface with the wheels kicking up spray. River water splashed into Allison's face. "As soon as the sun comes up—"
The bike began to sputter. Allison swore colorfully, slamming her fist into the accelerator. The bike lunged forward once, then choked, jerking under them like a bucking horse.
Jace's motorcycle went down on the tar road.
"When I tell you to jump, tuck and roll!" she ordered Simon, "You'll be fine," The bike jerked and sputtered underneath them. She leveled it against the road, the tires barely grazing the rough surface. She slowed the cycle as much as she could and, "JUMP!"
With a scream, he jumped off and she couldn't notice whether he landed safely.
The bike tilted and struck the asphalt of the parking lot, front wheel first. It shot forward, wobbling violently, and went into a long skid, bouncing and slamming over the uneven ground, whipping Allison's head back and forth with neck-cracking force. The air stank of burned rubber. But the bike was slowing, skidding to a halt—and then it struck a concrete parking barrier with such force that she was lifted into the air and hurled sideways. She barely had time to curl herself into a protective ball, holding her arms as rigid as possible, when she struck the ground.
She hit hard, agony screaming up her arm. Wincing, she turned to her back, her face towards the sky. Dawn had truly come—she could see the remains of the bike, subsiding into a heap of unrecognizable ash as the sun's rays struck it. Blood coated her fingers as she touched her knee. The cloth was shredded, her skin raw and torn. Not bothering to sit up, she laid on the road.
"Please be dead,"
She managed to open her eyes.
And there was Jace, the sleeve of his shirt had been torn away and there was a long bloody graze along his left arm. His face, under the cap of dark gold curls matted with sweat, dust, and blood, was white as a sheet.
"I will be once the Inquisitor hears how my night went."
Word Count - 4280