Cassandra Clare - City of Ashes

Simon reached for her. The chain that secured his ankle rattled as he stretched his hand as far as it would go. Maia smiled as their fingertips brushed—

"How touching." Simon jerked his hand back, staring. The voice that had spoken out of the shadows was cool, cultured, vaguely foreign in a way he couldn't quite place. Maia dropped her hand and twisted around, the color draining from her face as she stared up at the man in the doorway. The man had come in so quietly neither one of them had heard him. "The children of Moon and Night, getting along at last."

"Valentine," Maia whispered.

Simon said nothing. He couldn't stop staring. So this was Clary and Jace's father. With his cap of white-silver hair and burning black eyes, he didn't look much like either one of them, though there was something of Clary in his sharp bone structure and the shape of his eyes, and something of Jace in the lounging insolence with which he moved. He was a big man, broad-shouldered with a thick frame that didn't resemble either of his children's. He padded into the green metal room like a cat, despite being weighted down with what looked like enough weaponry to outfit a platoon. Thick black leather straps with silver buckles crisscrossed his chest, holding a wide-hilted silver sword across his back. Another thick strap circled his waist, and through it was thrust a butcher's array of knives, daggers, and narrow shimmering blades like enormous needles. "Get up," he said to Simon. "Keep your back against the wall." Simon tilted his chin up. He could see Maia watching him, white-faced and scared, and felt a rush of fierce protectiveness. He would keep Valentine from hurting her if it was the last thing he did. "So you're Clary's father," he said. "No offense, but I can kind of see why she hates you."

Valentine's face was impassive, almost motionless. His lips barely moved as he said, "And why is that?"

"Because," Simon said, "you're obviously psychotic."

Now Valentine smiled. It was a smile that moved no part of his face other than his lips, and those twisted only slightly. Then he brought his fist up. It was clenched; Simon thought for a moment that Valentine was going to swing at him, and he flinched reflexively. But Valentine didn't throw the punch. Instead, he opened his fingers, revealing a shimmering pile of what looked like glitter in the center of his broad palm. Turning toward Maia, he bent his head and blew the powder at her in a grotesque parody of a blown kiss. The powder settled on her like a swarm of shimmering bees.

Maia screamed. Gasping and jerking wildly, she thrashed from side to side as if she could twist away from the powder, her voice rising in a sobbing scream.

"What did you do to her?" Simon shouted, leaping to his feet. He ran at Valentine, but the leg chain jerked him back. " What did you do ?"

Valentine's thin smile widened. "Silver powder," he said. "It burns lycanthropes."

Maia had stopped twitching and was curled into a fetal position on the floor, weeping quietly. Blood ran from vicious red scores along her hands and arms. Simon's stomach lurched again and he fell back against the wall, sickened by himself, by all of it. "You bastard," he said as Valentine idly brushed the last of the powder from his fingers. "She's just a girl, she wasn't going to hurt you, she's chained up , for—"

He choked, his throat burning.

Valentine laughed. "For God's sake?" he said. "Is that what you were going to say?"

Simon said nothing. Valentine reached over his shoulder and drew the heavy silver Sword from its sheath. Light played along its blade like water slipping down a sheer silver wall, like sunlight itself refracted. Simon's eyes stung and he turned his face away.

"The Angel blade burns you, just as God's name chokes you," said Valentine, his cool voice sharp as crystal. "They say that those who die upon its point will achieve the gates of heaven. In which case, revenant, I am doing you a favor." He lowered the blade so that the tip touched Simon's throat. Valentine's eyes were the color of black water and there was nothing in them: no anger, no compassion, not even any hate. They were empty as a hollowed-out grave. "Any last words?"

Simon knew what he was supposed to say. Sh'ma Yisrael, adonai elohanu, adonai echod . Hear, oh Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. He tried to speak the words, but a searing pain burned his throat. " Clary ," he whispered instead.

A look of annoyance passed across Valentine's face, as if the sound of his daughter's name in a vampire's mouth displeased him. With a sharp flick of his wrist, he brought the Sword level and slashed it with a single smooth gesture across Simon's throat.

"How did you do that?" Clary demanded as the truck speduptown, Luke hunched over the wheel.

"You mean how did I get onto the roof?" Jace was leaning back against the seat, his eyes half-closed. There were white bandages tied around his wrists and flecks of dried blood at his hairline. "First I climbed out Isabelle's window and up the wall. There are a number of ornamental gargoyles that make good handholds. Also, I'd like to note for the record that my motorcycle is no longer where I left it. I bet the Inquisitor took it on a joyride around Hoboken."

"I meant ," Clary said, "how did you jump off the cathedral roof and not die?"

"I don't know." His arm brushed hers as he raised his hands to rub at his eyes. "How did you create that rune?"

"I don't know either," she whispered. "The Seelie Queen was right, wasn't she? Valentine, he—he did things to us." She glanced over at Luke, who was pretending to be absorbed in turning left. "Didn't he?"

"This isn't the time to talk about that," Luke said. "Jace, did you have a particular destination in mind or did you just want to get away from the Institute?"

"Valentine's taken Maia and Simon to the boat to perform the Ritual. He'll want to do it as soon as possible." Jace tugged at one of the bandages on his wrist. "I've got to get there and stop him."

"No," Luke said sharply.

"Okay, we have to get there and stop him."

"Jace, I'm not having you go back to that ship. It's too dangerous."

"You saw what I just did," Jace said, incredulity rising in his voice, "and you're worried about me?"

"I'm worried about you."

"There's no time for that. After my father kills your friends, he'll call on an army of demons you can't even imagine. After that , he'll be unstoppable."

"Then the Clave—"

"The Inquisitor won't do anything," Jace said. "She's blocked the Lightwoods' access to the Clave. She wouldn't call for reinforcements, even when I told her what Valentine has planned. She's obsessed with this insane plan she has."

"What plan?" Clary said.

Jace's voice was bitter. "She wanted to trade me to my father for the Mortal Instruments. I told her Valentine would never go for it, but she didn't believe me." He laughed, a sharp staccato laugh. "Isabelle and Alec are going to tell her what happened with Simon and Maia. I'm not too optimistic, though. She doesn't believe me about Valentine and she's not going to upset her precious plan just to save a couple of Downworlders."

"We can't just wait to hear from them, anyway," Clary said. "We have to get to the boat now. If you can take us to it—"

"I hate to break it to you, but we need a boat to get to another boat," said Luke. "I'm not sure even Jace can walk on water."

At that moment Clary's phone buzzed. It was a text message from Isabelle. Clary frowned. "It's an address. Down by the waterfront."

Jace looked over her shoulder. "That's where we have to go to meet Magnus." He read the address off to Luke, who executed an irritable U-turn and headed south. "Magnus will get us across the water," Jace explained. "The ship is surrounded by protection wards. I got onto it before because my father wanted me to get onto it. This time he won't. We'll need Magnus to deal with the wardings."