Two weeks, three days, and twelve hours since Alec had broken up with me. In that time, I have had maybe twelve hours of sleep at the most. I have no idea how I'm still standing.
All I know is that every time I lay down to sleep in my room, I toss and turn and just want to feel Alec's arm wrapped around me. I want to sleep back in his bed. I can't stomach any type of food; the thought of food makes my stomach roll.
I have been living off coffee and truth be told, I really don't like it, but the need for caffeine has become important to my life now.
I've been avoiding Alec since he and I broke up. Avoiding him also means not being around Izzy and Jace, not that I blame them. He's their brother and I was just his girlfriend, but I thought they were my friends too. Part of me knew that this was coming. I knew that something, maybe everything, changed.
When Jace came back with clary after he had saved her from the demon, our world went to hell. Trying to help her find her mom and get her memories back. Taking her to the Silent City only to find out that she was Valentine's daughter. So much happened that Alec and I weren't seeing one another. I didn't want to look too much into it. I loved him so much that I just overlooked it. That was my fault.
Or maybe it was Alec's. He just invested so much time with Clary and Mangus helping them and I can't blame him for that. Behind all of the walls that he put up, he really is such a sweet and kind person. That was the person that I fell hopelessly in love with. Even after the breakup, I still love him. That's the worst of this breakup. That no matter how hurt I am, I still love him.
Laying there in bed, lost in thought, thinking back on everything that has happened, I almost missed the knock that sounded on my door.
"Yes?" I call out.
"Y/N, we have a mission." My friend, Katlin, said to me as she walked into my room.
"Alright, give five minutes to get ready." I roll out of my bed and stand on my feet. Walking into the bathroom, I pull a brush through my Y/H/C hair before pulling it up and off my neck. Once done in the bathroom, I walk back into my room and over to my dresser. Pulling out a clean shirt, I take the one I am wearing off before pulling the new one on.
Once my Converse are pulled on, I walk out of my bedroom and to the armory. Grabbing my twin blades, I go to turn and see Alec standing in ops with Jace and Izzy. I can feel my heart breaking even more.
I can see that Alec has dark circles under his eyes showing that he seems to be getting as much sleep as I am. When Jace thinks that Alec will not notice, he looks at him with concern. It is then that he notices I'm standing there looking across ops at them. When he catches my eye, I turn in a hurry and walk to the doors. I can hear footsteps fast approaching me.
"Y/N, wait." I hear called behind me. I stop walking and turn to see Jace walking towards me.
"Do you need something Jace?" I ask when he is standing in front of me.
"No, I just wanted to talk to you," Jace asks as he looks me up and down taking in my appearance. Jace also knows me well enough to tell that I'm not doing okay at all. But not wanting to stand here and talk to him.
"I'm sorry, Jace but I got a mission with Katlin to go on. How about when I get back?" I ask him with what I hope passes as a smile on my face, but failing if Jace's face is anything to go by.
"Sure, come and find me in ops," Jace says to me. I nod my head in understanding before turning and walking to the doors.
"And Y/N, be careful."
Once outside, I can feel the New York sun warm my face. I almost feel alive at that moment with the sun on my face and the wind blowing across me.
"Took you long enough," Katlin says as I fall into step beside her as we walk down the sidewalk.
"Sorry, Jace wanted to talk to me," I say before we start talking about the mission. There seems to be some minor demon activity at an abandoned warehouse down in Queens. Should be simple: get in, make sure there are no demons there and if there are, deal with them. This type of mission I can do with my eyes closed.
When we find the warehouse that has been said to have demons it's pretty run down and I can understand why, if there are demons, they would go here.
Pulling the doors open, we start clearing the warehouse room by room. Not finding any indication of demon activity, I start to think that this has just been a false alarm. Then we move to the back room.
We find several bodies, all in various states of decay. The room smells of rotting flesh making my eyes water as I cover my mouth and nose with my hand hoping to cover the smell. Walking deeper into the room, I look at the bodies. Judging by the state of decay, I would say they've been here for more than two weeks.
Their skin is a reddish green color that seems to have started to fall off the bones. I quickly look away. I look at the five others laying around the room finding them all in the same condition. It's then I notice the pentagram in the center of the room.
"Seems some mundanes tried to summon a demon," I say more to myself than anyone else.
"But what demon?" Katlin says as she walks around the pentagram, taking in the scene.
"Not sure, but it didn't end well. We'll have to get the bodies back to the institute find out who they are. Go and call the Institute, tell them we got six mundane bodies and an attempt at a summoning and we need some help in the cleanup." Katlin nods her head before walking out of the room. More than happy to be away from the smell of the decaying bodies.
Walking around the room once more, I would say they managed to summon whatever demon they were trying to, but they couldn't contain the demon, which means it escaped, but to where?
The warehouse was clear and the bodies have been here so long I doubt the demon would have stuck around after killing them. I would have gone and looked for others and caused general mayhem like they always do.
Hearing the door open and close behind me I don't bother to turn around, expecting Katlin to have walked back into the room. Kneeling down, I take a closer look at the pentagram. Taking in the design, trying to find out what demon is now on the loose here in New York.
"Any idea of what kind of demon got through Katlin?" I turn to look at her, but it's not Katlin standing at the door.
I stand quickly up and grab my blade off of my holder. I have never seen anything like this before. It appears almost human-like if it was not for the solid black eyes and this black, almost blood-like substance dripping from its mouth and down its chin. It appears to be naked, but with all the dirt and maybe dried blood, I can't really tell.
"You will not make it out of here, Nephilim." It says to me as we start to circle around each other both of us looking for the moment to attack each other. The demon's voice sounds are gravely and make my skin crawl. The voice, with no other way to describe it, sounds like death.
"You sound so sure. I wouldn't." I say before seeing an opening and moving forward with the attack.
The demon has an unknown blade that meets mine in the middle. When the blades meet, a loud crashing sound is heard and flames seem to form.
We move almost as if we are dancing each blow that is made is blocked by the other. Neither of us can get the upper hand in this fight and I can't help but wonder where Katlin is. Did the demon kill her?
"You're good, Nephilim, but not good enough. I've killed hundreds of your kind." The demon starts to taunt me, hoping to make me angry to the point I'll lose focus and make a mistake, giving them the opportunity to land a blow that will kill me. I keep my cool and don't let what the demon is saying go to my head. Everything would've been okay if I hadn't tripped over the leg of one of the dead bodies.
I land hard on the ground and have the wind knocked out of my lungs. I can hear my blade clamor across the floor. Before I have the chance to jump up onto my feet, the demon is on me, crouching above me and looking down at my face. I can feel that black goo drip onto my face.
"Look at the pretty, little Nephilim so sure of herself laying on the floor, just waiting to die." The demon continues to taunt me. Before I can say anything, the demon brings its hand down and stabs me in the chest with a small blade. For a moment, I don't feel anything. Then, a pain so great blossoms across my chest causing me to cry out in pain. My vision goes dark around the edge before everything comes back into focus.
The demon then rips the blade out of my chest causing me to cry out again before the demon slams it back into me over and over. I feel the blade slammed into me only to have it pulled out again. I can taste blood on my tongue and I have gone numb to the blade tearing into me. Turning my head, I stare at the body closes to me and all I can think is
"I don't want to end up like them. I don't want to die, not yet. I have things that I have to do yet."
Feeling around my left thigh, I find the hidden blade that I always keep there. Grasping it as firmly as I can, the blade activates and I stab the demon in the neck. A look of shock crosses the demon's face before I pull the blade free. More of the black goo starts running down the demon's body, burning in the wounds that litter my chest. I move my arm before stabbing the demon right through its eye, praying to the Angel this will kill the demon.
With a strange gurgling noise, more of the black blood makes its way past its mouth and drips down onto me, burning whatever skin it touches before collapsing on top of me. The dead weight of the demon pushes the blade even deeper into me making me cry out once more in pain. With all of the strength I can muster, I push the demon off of me and onto the floor.
Laying there with mine and the demon's blood pooling around us, I try to get my breath back. Finding that nearly impossible, I pull the blade out of my chest with a small cry. With the blade out of my chest, I let it clatter to the floor. Mustering up as much courage as I can, I roll onto my side and start to pull myself over to the wall. Leaving a blood trail, I lean my back against the wall. Feeling around my pockets, I try to find my stele to activate my Iratze, finding it in my breast pocket of my jacket. Pulling it out, I look over to my left arm to the rune and activate it, hoping that it will work that the pain would dull.
Nothing happens. I try doing it again, still nothing. I let my arm fall limp at my side. Great, I can't heal this on my own. More than likely, I'm going to need a Warlock to heal me. I'm going to die in this room like all the others. I can feel the tears start to run down my face. Deciding that I'm not just going to sit here and die, I somehow manage to get to my feet. Using the wall as support, I walk around the room and over to the door. Anywhere that my body seems to touch, the wall leaves blood. I never knew that a body had so much blood in it. The small back room is now covered in my blood traces of it seem to be everywhere.
Once at the door, I manage to turn the knob and have the door fall open. With all of the strength out of my body, I slide down the wall. With both hands on my abdomen, I try to stop the flow of my blood. I start to call out hoping that Kaitlin will hear my cry for help and find me before I die in this room.
"Help...help." But my voice is no louder than a hoarse cry, not carrying far into the warehouse. My head is growing light and I can no longer hold my hands to the wounds, letting them fall limp at my sides. My breaths grow shallower and shallower. With every breath in, I can feel air rattling around in my lungs. I'm really going to die here. I don't want to die.
I want to go back to the Institute and talk to Jace like I promised even if would hurt, knowing that he would want to talk about Jace. I want to see Jace again even if it is across the ops center, knowing that I can never love him the way that I want, but also just be knowing that he is okay and happy. That's all I ever wanted for him. I just want to go home, maybe even talk to my parents. As I am sitting there, thinking about all the things that I will never have the chance to do, I can hear footsteps walking to the room. Turning my head so I'm calling out of the door, I try one more time.
"Help... someone....help me." I call out as loud as I can hoping that my voice will carry further into the warehouse this time. They must have heard me as the footsteps start to move faster towards me. The next thing I know, someone is in front of me. I can feel their hand on my face. I lean into the gentle touch before opening my eyes. Hoping to see one of my friends before I die, but I can't seem to focus on the person.
"Well, I-I need you... I need y-you to tell Alec... tell Alec t-that I-I....L-love him s-so much." I manage to get past my lips before I fall unconscious and into the void of nothing.