CHAPTER FOURTEEN

SEBASTIAN

"I'm really sorry, but there is no way-"

"Find one," Sebastian growled. "Because if you do not give her back her life, I will take yours."

The blue-skinned warlock turned to the pale young woman lying on the bed, almost entirely motionless. Only her chest rose and fell with shallow breaths. The warlock turned back to Sebastian. "I wish I could, but... there is nothing I can do. She is going to die, and no threats of yours on my life can change that."

But Sebastian wasn't listening. He was standing with his fists clenched, face expressionless, staring at Rebecca. The view out the bedroom window was in dire contrast to how he felt - a sunny beach, the water as blue as cornflowers. But Rebecca was dying. The whole world should have been black and cold; nothing could be beautiful. She was almost perfectly still now - there was not even the rhythmic rise and fall of her chest.

Sebastian took a deep breath. He knew what he had to do now; in fact, it was something he had been planning to do ever since he had met her, ever since she had looked at him with eyes that shone almost silver in the sunlight, eyes full of admiration.

"Get ready," he said to the warlock. "There is a way to save her."

The warlock looked wary. "There really isn't. Unless she has a parabatai-"

"She doesn't. But there are other ways." Sebastian slipped off his shirt, dropped it to the floor, and pressed his stele to his skin.

The warlock's eyes widened. "If you do that, you will be condemning her to a life of constant pain and misery-"

"I don't care!" Sebastian snarled. "Now, do as I say, or I will have your head and display it as a trophy."

The warlock said no more, but simply readied herself as Sebastian started tracing a rune across his skin.

It had been seven days since Sebastian had rescued Rebecca and still, she lay like dead under his touch. It was only her shallow, shaky breaths that told him she was still alive. Her skin was cold, her lips tinged with blue, her hair spread out around her head like a halo.

The blue-skinned warlock by her bedside turned to face Sebastian. "No improvement," she reported in a low voice.

Sebastian nodded mutely. He had hardly expected to hear anything different, and yet, each time, that bubble of hope in his chest expanded only to be burst again. "You may go," he said. The warlock left without any hassle.

Sebastian waited until she had left, and then slowly walked over to Rebecca's side and touched her cheek. She was pale, almost as pale as Sebastian himself. Her runes were in blinding contrast to her skin. Her chest still rose and fell with short bursts of breath, almost in a hypnotizing rhythm, and yet, Sebastian felt as if she was already gone. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "I'm so sorry. Please come back. Please come back to me."

It was nearly midnight when Sebastian returned to the apartment, his clothes soaked through with blood. His boots left behind bright red footprints as he walked straight through to the bedroom and discarded his soiled clothes in favor of clean ones.

The next thing he did was go straight to the guest bedroom to gaze at the young woman sleeping on the bed. The curtains were drawn apart, allowing moonlight to wash the room in a pale, ghostly light. He was about to turn away, trying to ignore the sinking feeling in his chest, when a sound made him freeze.

It had sounded like someone taking in a breath. Not daring to get his hopes up, Sebastian turned his head slowly to look at Rebecca. Even from across the room, he could see that her eyes were now open, the moonlight making them look black. For a moment, she simply lay there, and then she slowly sat up, her face twisting in pain.

She looked down at her hands, her expression slowly changing from one of bewilderment to horror. She gasped and clutched at her face. Then she began to scream.

Sebastian leaped inside and tried to pry her hands away from her face, but she was having none of it. She was twisting, as if in incredible pain, her voice stripped raw. "It burns!" she screamed. Her nails raked Sebastian's cheek. She was incredibly strong. "And-and I can't breathe!"

"Rebecca!" Sebastian forced her arms down to her sides. "Calm down."

It took her a while, but she finally did. She was lying on the bed now, her eyes wide, and Sebastian could finally see that her eyes didn't just look black, they were black, completely bleached of their grayness. A heavy feeling settled in Sebastian's stomach, mixed with something else that could only be described as elation.

Rebecca shook her wrists free from his grip and sat up. "My whole body... it feels like my soul is on fire." Her eyes narrowed. "What the hell did you do to me?" Her voice was low, but when Sebastian didn't reply, she let out a scream of rage and leaped on him, bringing him to the ground, her hands around his throat. "What the hell did you do?!" Fury danced in her eyes. "Tell me, or I will kill you."

So, Sebastian told her.

REBECCA

Rebecca was a jumble of emotions. Fear, disgust, relief - they all whirled through her mind in an endless maelstrom. Laced through it all was an intense burning pain, as if she had fire flowing through her veins. It was pure agony. She sat with her knees pulled up to her chest, the hard wall pressing into her back. Sebastian was on his knees a few feet away, massaging his throat, and eyeing her as if she was a wild animal that he wasn't sure he could overcome.

"So, you couldn't handle being a monster all on your own," she said slowly. Every sentence took immense effort. "You had to make me one too." She saw a flicker of hurt cross Sebastian's face, and felt a savage pleasure.

"I did it to save your life," he said quietly.

"I'd rather be dead," Rebecca spat. "Leave me alone, Sebastian. Get out."

Sebastian seemed to realize it was fruitless to argue with her; he got up and quietly left, leaving Rebecca alone with her thoughts.

It took three days for Rebecca to get used to moving with the pain. On the third day, she could get up and move around, and if she concentrated hard, she could bring the pain down to a dull ache. It took another three days for her to stop spitting up blood at random times during the day, and it took ten days for her to be able to hold a sword without her fingers spasming from pain.

Throughout it, Sebastian was at her side, ever patient and ever helpful, which was very unlike him. For the first couple of days, Rebecca snapped at him and recoiled from his touch, and each time it happened, Sebastian looked hurt, but he pretended like nothing had happened.

The pain wasn't the only change, though. When she got it under control, she realized that something else had changed – she was stronger and faster than she had ever been before.

By the end of the twelfth day, she could hold her own against Sebastian in a swordfight.

"Alright, I surrender." Sebastian raised his hands in mock defeat, grinning widely. "You can take the sword away now."

Rebecca tried to fight a smile. "No, I don't think so." Her grip on her sword, the tip of which just tickled Sebastian's throat, was unwavering. In her other hand, she held Sebastian's sword, which she had deprived him of moments before. "It's really quite amusing to see you like this-"

She gasped as Sebastian moved with lightning speed; a second later, his sword was back in his hand, and he was standing pressed up against her back, the blade tickling her throat. "You were saying?" he said softly, his breath warm against her cheek.

Something like electricity ran through Rebecca's body. She was very aware of how little space there was between them, and how close his lips were to her ear. Butterflies erupted everywhere in her body.

She twisted away. "Alright, you made your point." She turned away from him and laid her sword down on the table. When she turned around, Sebastian had sheathed his sword and was sticking a selection of daggers into his belt.

"Off to do... whatever it is you do?"

Sebastian looked up at her. "I have to."

Rebecca looked away and pursed her lips. This was standard – every night, Sebastian would disappear to do whatever it was that he did, and he never told her what he was doing or where he was going.

She felt a painful sting on her forearm and shook it away. "Of course you do," she said, her voice expressionless.

Sebastian looked at her again as if he wanted to say something, but he simply slipped his belt around his waist and left the weapons room.

For a minute, Rebecca stared at the door through which he had vanished, and then, in utter frustration, slammed her fist into the table.

There was a low, droning sound – the sound of wood moving against wood. Rebecca looked around in surprise, and then she spotted it.

It was a false drawer of sorts, sticking out of the wooden table. Its texture was the exact same as the wood surrounding it – it would be impossible to find unless you knew exactly where it was. Or, as in her case, unless you found it by accident.

Rebecca dropped to her knees and began examining it. It was small and flat, and no more than six inches wide and two inches high. There was a small stack of letters, and lying on top of it was a silver family ring, engraved with a pattern of flames and a large 'L'. Her Lightwood family ring.

With trembling fingers, Rebecca picked it up, the weight of it familiar in her hand. It reminded her of home, of Alec's warm hugs, Izzy's tinkly laugh, Jace's witty quips, and Max's adorable little smile.

Silently, she slipped the ring into her pocket and pushed the drawer shut. As she hurried up the steps, teeth gritted to stop herself from crying out in pain, she made a promise to herself - tomorrow, she would convince Sebastian to let her go along with him, no matter what.