"Jace." His name left my mouth quietly as I stood in front of his cell, escorted by Brother Enoch.

"You shouldn't have come here." Jace shook his head, "Take her out."

"No- I'm staying." I quickly counteract, "Jace, I need to know if you're gonna be okay."

"Is Alec safe?" Jace stepped out the dark and to the bars, "Is he all right?"

"He's fine-" I exhale, "Jace, I feel terrible- about everything- you're here because of me. If I hadn't fallen under Dot's spell, you wouldn't have-"

"You're not what put me here, Zee." Jace cut me off, "I have to pay for my actions."

"What actions?" I snipped, "You were manipulated and blackmailed-"

Jace doesn't reply.

"What can I do to help?" I asked, "Please, tell me- I'll do anything-"

Jace's words then made my heart stop, "You can stay away from me."

My face twists in an emotion even I couldn't decipher, "You want me to what?"

Jace's words hit me hard, "No matter what happens, never come near me again."

"Jace, what are you talking about?" I gripped onto the bars, "You're my family- we grew up together."

"I am Valentine's weapon." Jace's face was inches away from mine, "You think he's just gonna let me go?"

I don't reply.

"He knows that you-" Jace stopped, and swallowed, his voice lowering, "You're my weakness."

Jace clears his throat and looks down, "If I ever get out of here, he'll come after you again- and I can't have that happen."

"I don't care, Jace." I argued, "I'm not afraid of him- we escaped his ship- we can get through whatever he has ready for us- we'll fight him off together."

"There is no together for you and me, Zee." Jace's words were like a slap in my face, "There never can be."

My heart fell to the deepest pit of my stomach, "Jace."

"We're done here." Jace pulled away from me and stepped back into the darkest.

"No- no, Jace-" I began to protest, but was being pulled away by Brother Enoch, my eyes locked with his until I could no longer see him.

-

"Well, this is one nasty demon." Isabelle took a sample, exhaling, "Punched a hole right through his chest."

Luke places his hands on his sides, "With that kind of strength, I doubt it's done yet."

Alec joined us, "Nothing in the immediate area."

"We're taking the body back to the Institute." Isabelle told us, "I'll run some tests to see what kind of demon we're dealing with."

"Zee and I will widen the perimeter." Alec lightly nudged me, making me snap out of the trance of thoughts I was in, "Young, we've got a demon to hunt."

"Right-" I murmured and followed his quick footsteps around the corner.

Alec grabs my hand as we walked, drawing the heat vision rune on my hand, "Remember- filter out everything unimportant, hone in on the heat signature."

"I know what I'm doing-" I sigh deeply, squinting my eyes, looking around.

"Are you okay?" Alec noticed my mood that even I hadn't paid much attention to.

"Yeah-" I don't look at him, "I'm fine-"

"I heard you went to go see Jace." Alec brought up, "What happened?"

"He told me to stay away from him." I huffed deeply and opened up to my best friend, "That I was his weakness and he didn't want Valentine coming after me again."

"That's why you're so- off-" Alec recognized, "Look- Jace'll come around- he just wants to protect you."

"Well, he should get by now that I don't need protecting." I huffed deeply and turned the corner, immediately stopping when I saw a heat signature, "Alec-"

The sound of deep breathing and small sobs filled the air, as I pulled out my kindjals, Alec his seraph blade as we inched into the alley.

I stepped behind the dumpsters to see a girl covered in blood, crying and shuddering, looking up at me, "What happened? Who are you?"

"Hey- it's okay." I let my guard down quickly, putting my kindjals away, "We're gonna help you-"

"Classic possession hangover." Alec let his guard down and recognized, "Once the demon leaves the body, they have no memory of what they did."

The girl looked at her hand, "Is this blood?-"

"Hey, don't look at your hand- look at me-" I directed her attention towards me, "Just try to keep calm."

"I don't understand." The girl was trembling, "What's going on?"

"I know nothing makes sense right now- you don't remember anything-" I calmed her, "But, I'm going to help you- I promise."

-

"Oh, my God, Welkie!" Clary gasped when we were entered the Ops Center at the sound of the alarm blaring.

"Classic possession hangover." I exhale, looking at Alec as we had both just got back from seeing this.

"Hole punched right through his chest." Lydia walked over to us, "Just like our mundane in the morgue."

Alec crouched, eyeing the dead body of our colleague, an unsettled look on his face, "The demon's in the Institute."

"Activate emergency surveillance, Victor's unreachable." Lydia lead us through the Ops Center moments later, "I've ordered the Institute be put on quarantine until we kill this thing."

"But- I don't get it." Clary asked as we headed to the table, "How did the demon get past the wards?"

"Same way it got in without setting off this." Isabelle's fingers touched her demon necklace as we began gearing up, "It must have some advanced cloaking ability- It hid in that dead body and let us do the rest."

"I didn't know demons could do that." Clary grabbed a seraph dagger, putting it in her sheath.

"Until now, they couldn't." Alec replied, grabbing his quiver, "This new form of possession, cloaking ability, targeting the Institute, it's-"

"Valentine." I cut him off, grabbing my kindjals, flipping them in my hands, "His experiments."

"Jocelyn and my mom told me how he was determined to create a super-being that could defeat the Clave." I put my swords into their sheaths, "It's what he tried to do with Jace."

"Both victims had damage to the prefrontal cortex, the demon must be feeding on negative emotions." Isabelle said as we stood around the table, "Anger, hate, rage- causing the host to violently act on those urges."

"So we continue to scan for venom and heat signatures, try to narrow down the host before it strikes again." Lydia pulled up the hologram of the Institute, giving us our instructions, "Alec, Clary, you check the living quarters. You two take the utility tunnels."

-

"Hey, Alec-" I walked into the hall when I saw him seated on the ground, "Iz and I got nothing in the utility tunnels-"

I stopped when I noticed his bloody hand.

"Alec." I rushed over to my best friend and crouched in front of me, "Alec?-"

Alec slowly looked up at me, his eyes filled with confusion, "What did I do?"

Connecting all the dots was when I realized.

Classic possession hangover.

My eyes drifted to the trail of blood that lead into one of the bedrooms and my heart stopped when I realized what bedroom.

Fast footsteps came running down the hall, revealing a teary eyed Clary, rushing for my comfort, "Zee-"

My eyes moved from the blood to her, as she spoke, "The demon- it's in the Institute and it got to my mom-"

I dreaded that the same would've become of my own mother after only having her back for a few weeks.

I slowly stood up, my eyes shifting to the blood again, hesitantly walking into my mother's room, my heart dropped to the farther pit of my stomach.

Clary looked in, a gasp leaving her lips at the sight of my dead mother on the ground.

Alec pulled himself up, staring at what he done in horror and confusion, and I could see the regret and guilt in his eyes.

I let out a shaky breath, not being able to move, my eyes glued, "Oh my god-"

-

My eyes stuck to the surveillance video.

Alec pushed his fist through my mother's chest forcefully after all her attempts to fight back, her body dropping dead where we found her.

Alec's hand was stained red, looking up at the camera, his eyes black.

Then it stopped.

Alec was horrified with himself, glancing at me every second to see my reaction, "Oh, my God."

My eyes burned with tears, but I didn't let them fall.

Alec looked at me, breathing in shakily, "Zee, I-"

I held my hand up, stopping him from going any further, my teeth gritting, "I have a demon to kill."

I turned away from him and walked away quickly, feeling nothing but anger and hurt.

I was so angry.

I wanted to be the one to send it back to hell.

An overwhelming, unfamiliar rush ran through my veins, making me stop mid way when I turned the corner, my hands gripping the wall for balance.

My eyes went black like Alec's had been when he was possessed, shocking me from where this had come from and why it was happening.

I blinked a few times, the black fading back into my pupils, as I began walking once more, my mind fixed on what had just happened.

Was this the result of Valentine's experiment on me on his ship? What he had injected into me?

This could've been the affects of the demon blood.

It had to have been.

I was snapped out of my thoughts when Alec rushed behind me, "Please, let me do this."

I denied and kept walking, "No, Alec-"

"You don't have to put yourself in danger." Alec argued, "Not now-"

Then, he calls out when Isabelle walks towards us, "Izzy, we need your help! Margaret's-"

"Dead because of you." Isabelle's voice was unexpectedly demonic, her hand clawing out, reaching for Alec who quickly dodged her.

Isabelle stops and looks back at us, her eyes black, a small growl leaving her lips, as I quickly pulled out my kindjals, "It's inside her-"

"Remember, it's still Izzy-" Alec reminded me, pulling out his bow and arrow, "Be careful where you aim."

Isabelle launches herself towards us, knocking me off my feet and tossing our weapons to the side.

Alec gripped his arms around his sister, in holes of simmering her down, "Izzy, please stop! Izzy-"

Isabelle throws him to the ground and crouches over him, "Always the favorite child- I'm done living in your shadow."

"Izzy, if you're in there, please listen to me!" Alec pleaded to his sister, not making any movement, not wanting to hurt her.

Isabelle smirks, "Nice try."

When her arm reaches up to punch a hole through Alec's chest, I act quickly and grabbed my kindjal, piercing it into her shoulder and pulling her off him.

Isabelle growls, her body trembling as I pulled my kindjal out, a black fog seething out and appearing in the air, her collapsing to the ground.

I clenched my jaw and flipped my kindjals in my hand, throwing right at it, the demon fading into nothing.

But, I didn't feel any better.

I breathe heavily, my eyes landing into my unconscious parabatai, dropping my kindjal, rushing over to her as well as Alec, "Izzy-"

"Izzy!" Alec shook her gently, "Please be okay, Izzy-"

Isabelle gasps, her eyes opening, leaning into her brother for support when she tries to sit up, "What happened?-"

I exhale deeply and stood up, turning my back to them, covering my mouth.

I was worried about Isabelle, and I was happy that she was okay.

But, the pain I felt in my chest didn't go away.

I thought eliminating the reason she was dead would help me cope with the fact, but it didn't.

I only felt even more in pain.

Tears fell from my eyes no matter how hard I tried to hold them back, walking further away from them and coming to a stop, staring at the ground, lost in my own thoughts.

That was when I felt a hand on my shoulder after hearing quick footsteps.

I turned my face, to see Jace.

He didn't look the best either.

And neither did I think I'd ever see him again.

Or if he'd ever want to be near me again.

But, here he was.

Jace doesn't say a word, simply wrapping his arms around me and pulling me into his chest to provide the comfort I needed.

But, it wasn't enough to calm the pain.

authors note:

oop, zee & demon blood = wild

some shits gonna happen within the next few chapters, just saying

sorry for the late update !

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