CHAPTER ELEVEN

REBECCA

The door banged open, and Sebastian stood there. His eyes rested on the ring in Clary's hand, which caught the light filtering in through the window and shone like a mini sun. For just a second, his eyes darkened to a pitch black, and an expression of intense fury crossed his face. Then it disappeared as quickly as it had come.

"Honestly, I'm disappointed," he said, "that you really thought you could get away with this."

Rebecca's throat closed up.

"Incidentally, how did you even find the ring? I thought I'd concealed it well enough, but apparently not." He gave a crooked smile. "Well done."

They simply stared at him, holding their breath. It was like those few moments just before getting pounced on by a demon – those tense moments of anticipation that were sometimes even more terrifying than the attack itself.

Before Sebastian could take a single step towards them, Clary, quick as lightning, threw down the ring and immediately stomped on it. Sebastian had stopped in his tracks, an incredulous expression on his face. "You seriously didn't-"

Clary lifted her foot, and Rebecca saw that the ring was now nothing but a pile of gold dust. Then she looked back at Sebastian and realized that they had no choice but to fight him. Sebastian snarled and took a step forward, but Rebecca didn't let him get very far. She kicked him in the stomach, and he stumbled back. Clary took the opportunity to grab his stele, but Sebastian grabbed hold of her and pulled her back, shoving her into Rebecca, who somehow managed to get a hold of Clary. "Clary, get out of here! Find a way out!"

Sebastian pulled Clary toward him and she wheeled around, bringing her fist into his jaw. He cursed and let go, and she ran downstairs, his stele still in her hand.

Rebecca tried to get in under his guard, but he was too fast. He shoved her against the wall, one hand gripping both her wrists. She kicked him in his most sensitive area – something she would normally never have done, but she was desperate. Sebastian grunted and let go of her, and she lunged for the door, but something caught her around her feet, and she fell.

"Stay still!" Sebastian growled, one of his hands around her wrists, the other around her throat.

"Let me go!" Rebecca wriggled and almost managed to free herself, but Sebastian tightened his grip so much that the pain was almost unbearable. His face was right next to hers, and she could actually feel his hot breath against her cheek.

"Do you remember..." he said in a low voice, "when I took you to that shop in Angel Square? And we went riding through Brocelind Forest?"

"I'm going to kill you," Rebecca said, her voice trembling with rage. "I swear it on Max's life, Sebastian-"

"You told me about the first demon you ever killed," Sebastian continued, his voice soft. "A Croucher, wasn't it?"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

Sebastian's grip relaxed on her throat. He placed his hand on her cheek, his lips brushing against her ear. "I remember you told me you never felt good enough for anybody..."

"By the Angel-"

"Alec was the oldest son, so naturally, he was the favorite. Jace was famous, even in Idris. And then there was you."

Rebecca struggled again, but her mind was only half in the present – the other half was reliving what she had told him that day in the forest.

"Not to mention those rumors that flew around-"

"Those were NOT TRUE!"

"But how do you know?"

"SHUT UP!" She was actually crying now, tears falling down her cheek. She hated herself for being weak in front of him, for weeping like a child. "Please, please just let me go-"

"I'm giving you a chance to make a name for yourself, Rebecca. No longer will you be Alec Lightwood's younger sister. Or Jace Herondale's adopted sister. Or Isabelle Lightwood's twin sister." He placed his mouth close to her ear. "You can become Rebecca Trueblood."

At that, a sort of dull explosion went off in her head, like a dull firework of rage. With tremendous effort, she wrenched her hand out of his grip and slapped him across the face so hard her fingers stung. For some reason, that seemed to badly shock him. He let go of her, and she was up and out of the door and down the stairs in no time.

Clary was in the living room, facing the blank wall. She was desperately tracing Sebastian's stele in the air, but the rune just wasn't taking shape.

"Clary, we have to go!" Rebecca screamed, as Sebastian thundered down the steps after them, one side of his face marked with a red handprint.

A shimmering doorway appeared in front of them – Clary had finally created the Portal. "The Institute!" she shouted, and Rebecca nodded. Gripping hands, they ran through the Portal.

Rebecca immediately knew that they hadn't made it back to the Institute – if not the gale that threatened to unbalance her, the hard rock under her feet and hands would have definitely told her so. Clary was a few feet away, looking a bit dazed. And behind her was Sebastian, who had somehow landed on his feet.

They were standing on top of a rocky plain. In the far distance bleak, scree-covered karst hills rose, black and iron against the night sky. There were lights up ahead.

Rebecca cursed silently. Sebastian must have somehow caught up to them and forced the Portal to send them here, to this ghastly place.

Sebastian looked beside himself with fury. "You bitch," he spat. Rebecca wasn't sure if he was talking to her or Clary. Either way, he didn't seem too fond of either of them at the moment. A knife had appeared in his hand, seemingly out of nowhere. "One false move," he said quietly, "and I will kill both of you. I don't give a damn anymore about what Jace says. Understand?"

Rebecca simply stared stonily at him.

Sebastian took that as a yes and then began prodding the two girls down the rocky slope. Rebecca managed fine, but Clary, who was wearing thin slippers, lost her footing more than once. Every time Rebecca held out a hand to steady her, Sebastian's knife came dangerously close to her throat.

The lower they climbed, the clearer the scene became. The ground in front of them rose to a low hill. If Rebecca hadn't been wearing jeans, the thorny bushes that were scattered around the hillside would have cut her to the bone.

Atop the hill, facing north, was a massive ancient stone tomb. In front of the tomb was a flat sill stone stretched across the shale and grass. Grouped before the flat stone was a half-circle of about forty Nephilim, robed in red, carrying witchlight torches. Within their half-circle, against the dark ground, blazed a blue-white pentagram. Atop the flat stone stood Jace. He wore scarlet gear like Sebastian; they had never looked so alike. He was saying something to the group clustered around him, and as they got closer, his words became clearer.

"...gratitude for your loyalty, even over these last difficult years, and grateful for your belief in our father, and now in his sons."

Sebastian jabbed the tip of the knife into Rebecca's back yet again; she gritted her teeth and refrained from turning around and strangling him, and instead shuffled forward towards the stone steps that led up to the podium on which Jace was standing.

Catching sight of them, Jace gave them a quick smile and then turned back to face the others. "A thousand years ago, the Angel gave us his blood, to make us special, to make us warriors. But it was not enough. A thousand years have passed, and still we hide in the shadows. We protect mundanes we do not love from forces of which they remain ignorant, and an ancient, ossified Law prevents us from revealing ourselves as their saviors. We die in our hundreds, unthanked, unmourned but by our own kind, and without recourse to the Angel who created us." He moved closer to the edge of the rock platform.

"Yes. I dare to say it. The Angel who created us will not aid us, and we are alone. More alone even than the mundanes, for as one of their great scientists once said, they are like children playing with pebbles on the seashore, while all around them the great ocean of truth lies undiscovered. But we know the truth. We are the saviors of this earth, and we should be ruling it."

Rebecca shivered slightly. Jace was a much better speaker than she had ever given him credit for.

"It is time to turn from Raziel to Lilith, the Great Mother, who will give us power without punishment, leadership without the Law. Our birthright is power. It is time to claim it." He looked sideways with a smile as Sebastian moved forward. "And now I'll let you hear the rest of it from Jonathan, whose dream this is," said Jace smoothly, and he retreated, letting Sebastian slide easily into his place.

Sebastian gave Jace a gracious nod, and then, gripping Rebecca tightly by the elbow, pushed her forward until they were both in clear view of the crowd.

"My friends, Jace Herondale has told you everything that is in my heart. Everything I believe to be true. I can only hope that you put your trust in me. Are you with me?" He raised their entwined hands above the crowd, and Rebecca twisted away quickly, giving him a look of deep disgust.

Sebastian ignored her. He reached into his tunic and drew out the Mortal Cup, which glowed softly white under the moon. The murmuring of the crowd grew louder.

Sebastian stepped down off the rock and moved toward a large, intricately drawn pentagram. At the edge of it he began to chant. "Abyssum invoco. Lilith invoco. Mater mea, invoco."

He drew a thin dagger from his belt and handed it to Rebecca. "Will you do the honors?" He held his palm out to her, and then stepped closer to her so their faces were a mere few inches apart. "And don't even think of trying anything foolish. Remember, I'm still bound to your brother."

Without looking at him, Rebecca took a deep breath, placed the edge of the knife on his palm and sliced downward. Blood welled, black in the night.

"I hope it hurt," she whispered fiercely, and stepped back, dropping the knife at his feet. Sebastian smirked and held his hand over the Cup. His blood dripped into it, thick and black as tar.

Something like a bright flame burst into existence at the center of the pentagram, growing and expanding until it had morphed into the shape of a woman.

"Lilith," Sebastian said in a ringing voice. "As you called me forth, now I call you. As you gave me life, so I give life to you."

The flames died down, and Lilith stood before them, the height of an ordinary human, ripped naked with her black hair waterfalling down her back to her ankles. Her body was as grey as ash, fissured with black lines like volcanic lava. She turned her eyes to Sebastian, and they were writhing black snakes.

"My child," she breathed.