Chapter 20

Jace's POV

The sound of the faint water under the dock was what filled my ears as I stepped around the tons of dead bodies that scattered the deck. All of these people, died because their bodies didn't agree with the Shadowhunter gene.

Valentine did this. I did this.

My heart aches at the sight, but hurts even worst at the thought of Faith's face when I left. I finally said it, I said I loved her only to walk away from her.

I promised myself I would never hurt her, yet I did something worst then hurt her. I ruined her, I left her. But I had too. Valentine would continuously go after her if I didn't go with him. And to think how close he was to touching our ruin mark, how close he was to burning that off, seemed to send me in a spiral.

Part of me hoped that she would find it in her heart to forgive me. The other part hoped she wouldn't. I deserved this pain in my body and chest. I chose this and I deserved it.

"Jace."

My head lifted up, turning with my body at her voice. I could have sworn I was going mad as I met Faith's eye. She took a couple of steps towards me, smiling as she seemed to reach relief at the sight of me.

"Faith?" I breathed out. Before I could process the guards standing around the deck, or the bodies around me, I seemed to meet her steps and wrap my arms around her. Bringing her closer to me, I breathed in her lavender sent and closed my eyes.

We both seemed to let out a breath that we didn't know we were holding.

When I pulled away from her, my hands on her arms, I could feel the electricity shoot through my body. This was her, this had to be her. But that only lifted a question to my mind.

"Faith, how did you get here?"

"Our Connection, I was able to connect our minds. There's a portal. We have to go though, we don't have much time."

I paused for a second, shaking my head as I dropped my arms, "I can't."

Faith's eyes pulled together in confusion, "What?"

Lightly taking her arm and taking a few steps back towards the direction she came from, I started to lead her away. "Look, we got to get you out of here."

Ripping her arm from me, Faith looked at me confused, worried, and shocked. "No, I'm not leaving without you."

My eyes landed on her, only to move past her to one of the guard that were running towards us. I quickly push Faith aside as the guard tries to land a blow on us. I grab his arm, stopping him and pushing the blade into his stomach, killing him. I take the man's sword, gripping it in my fist as I take a couple of steps back to land me next to Faith.

Looking to our right, I notice Valentine walking towards us with three men behind him. A smile is on Valentine's face as he looks at Faith. "My dearest Faith."

Reacting to his words, I hold out my arm across her, pushing her behind me protectively. Valentine see's this, but continuous on making his way towards us and speaking. "You are tenacious, aren't you?"

I point my sword towards him, causing him to stop as I say, "Stay back." He smirks before pulling out his own sword. Both of the swords light up like our blades would, seeming to push us towards each other in a fight.

Valentine and I seem to be evenly matched, both seeming to get blows into each other while also blocking the sever ones. It isn't until Valentine swings his blade that I get a chance. I duck, pushing my sword into his stomach and killing him.

Taking a step back as I watch Valentine fall to the ground dead, I pause to catch my breath before dropping my mouth in shock. "I killed him."

Faith reaches towards me from behind, taking my non-occupied hand and giving it a small squeeze. "Jace, come on. Let's go."

Lifting my eyes to the men that had arrived with Valentine, I notice their shocked faces turn into pissed ones. Quickly I grab Faith's hand, pulling her away from the men and across the deck.

We both run along the deck, turning and dodging guys as we head inside the large ship next to us. Once inside, I close the door behind me, letting Faith quickly lead the way towards the portal. She's suddenly stopped by an elbow hitting her in the face and knocking her to the ground.

"Faith!" I run towards her, meeting the eyes of the intruder.

Valentine.

My eyes go wide at the sight, barley catching his smirking lips as they say, "Miss me?" It isn't until he turns to Faith who has brought herself up to a standing position, a bloody nose staining her upper lip that I seem to kick back into gear.

I run over to Valentine, yelling out, "Stay away from her!" as I swing my sword. He ducks, turning back towards me and swinging his sword. A predicable move for the most part, causing me to back up and dodge it.

Valentine continuous to swing his sword, backing me up to the edge of the story. He has his sword pinning me against the railing, smirking at me as he tries to fight my own weapon.

Suddenly, his eyes go wide, his shirt in front turning to a blood red. Looking past Valentine, I see Faith with a pipe in her hand, seeming to be the one to kill Valentine this time.

But as quickly as the action had happened, Valentine's dead body seemed to lean harder against mine, breaking the railing and sending both of us over the edge.

"Jace!" Faith yelled watching us both fall to the first floor. Pain shoots through my body, but I'm able to overlook it as I find my feet and stand. Faith is running down the set of stairs, towards me, seeming to miss what I was seeing.

Different creatures were locked up in cages, hissing and growling as they crept closer to their bars.

When Faith hits the floor, she races over to me, her hands seeming to find my cheeks instantly as her eyes look me over worriedly. "Are you okay?" I can only nod as my eyes stay locked on the cages. Faith's eyes follow me, finally seeing what I was seeing. She slides her hands down my arms, only one catching my own hand as she turns her body.

"What is this place?"

"Looks like a Downworld prison."

"More like a zoo," Faith comments, her eyes looking slightly concerned.

Turning my attention to her, I quickly pull back to the task at hand. "Where's the Portal?"

She motions behind her, her lips moving as if she's saying something but I don't seem to catch it. When she turns back to me and see's my confused look, her lips begin to move again, but her voice is unheard. Suddenly, her skin starts to fade, turning blurring almost.

"Faith? Faith!" Her hand dissolves from mine, her body seeming to fade away with a slight breeze.

My heart is racing and panic sets in, my eyes looking around for her, but she's nowhere to be found. The scene around me starts to fade as well, seeming to blur and fade away just as quickly before it all turns black.

The feeling of ice water hitting my face is what wakes me up, is what tells me that what just happened wasn't reality, but a dream. A sick dream created by my mind and Valentine to push me over the edge.

It's then that I recall where I'm at, chained by my hands with my shirt off. Most of my wounds have either stopped bleeding or started to swell.

"Have a good dream?" Valentine asks, making me rise my head to see him standing in front of me with his hands behind his back and a smirk on his face.

"I killed you twice in my head. You want to try it in real life?" I breathe through the cold that is starting to shake my body.

As Valentine speaks, he takes out his steel. "You're a born fighter. I like it. Get dressed..." he waves the Stele over my healing ruin, healing and reheating my body. "...We have a lot to talk about." With that, he walks away, leaving my body completely healed.

But my heart doesn't heal, if anything, it seems to have broken even more because of his sick mind games. It was real, Faith was real. Her touch, the feeling I got around her. But that was my mind, knowing what to do and think around Faith and seeming to only add fuel to Valentine's firry plan.

The man who was beating me up before undid my chains, letting me be as I stood tall and rubbed my wrist. Quickly, I slipped on a sweatshirt before following in the direction Valentine was headed in.

Somehow, I found myself in the kitchen, with Valentine standing over a pot of food. I cross my arms as I watch him reach into a pan full of sauce with a spoon and try it.

"Mmm. Needs pecorino? Do you remember your fifth birthday? And I made you spaghetti? Your absolute favorite."

"Michael Wayland used to make me spaghetti," I stated, not taking my glare from him.

"Just try some," Valentine stood up straighter, gesturing towards the sauce.

I shook my head, "You really think I want to have a meal with you, after what you just pulled?" Valentine sighs, looking away from me for only a second, giving me the advantage I needed.

The second I walked into the kitchen, I caught sight of the knife laying on the counter. Now, I was able to grab it and throw it toward Valentine. Sadly, he ducked, avoiding the weapon and looking back at it as it stuck in the wall.

Looking back at me, Valentine ticked, "Didn't I teach you not to play with knives? Look, I know that head of yours is full of questions. So, go ahead. Don't be shy," He gestured towards me, seeming to play some type of happy role.

"Why did you fake your death and pretend to be Michael Wayland?" I asked, figuring I might as well try and get what I can out of him. All of it may not be true with Valentine, but if even half of it is true, I can figure out the rest.

"I knew your father, many years before you were born. And when you were, I saw potential in you," he shrugged, like it was a normal answer. But he completely missed what I caught in his words.

Having it come more out as a statement, I said, "So you killed my father."

Looking at the floor, Valentine sighed, "I did what I had to do to make you stronger. And I'm glad I did it, I mean look at you?" He gestured towards me with a smile, acting like he had made me the man I am today.

Dropping my arms, I quickly shook my head. "No, the Lightwoods made me strong. They took me in, they trained me."

"Look, we had ten years together, and sure..." He paused, inhaling sharply. "...I may have been hard on you, but it was because I knew what you could do."

"No. All you knew was that I was a boy with no mother and father. And you, you took advantage of that." My words came out with venom, seeming to go along with my feet turning me to walk away only to stop when Valentine spoke up again.

"I saved you from your mother. She left you to die in Idris."

Turning to look back at the devil himself, my eyes pulled together in confusion, "What? Why would she do that?"

Valentine almost smiled, seeming to enjoy my questions. "Because you're different. You're special. Your part of a Connection, which makes you stronger than everyone else around you."

Fully turning to Valentine, I asked confused and slightly angry, "Then why would you try to hurt Faith?"

Waving my question away with his hand, Valentine answered. "I wasn't going to hurt her. I was trying to bring you here, to give you a step up in the new world that's coming."

My anger only grew more with his words. "And Faith? You threated her, you threatened our Connection!"

"And that's all they were, threats. I wanted her to come with us, but with her sister and everyone else I knew she wasn't ready too. Not yet."

The way Valentine spoke about us, it was as if he knew more into this Connection thing then what he was leading on. What anyone was leading on. That was what made me ask the question I did and got an answer I was confused and slightly concerned about.

"What are we?"

"You're the perfect weapons. The ideal marriage of good and evil."

Silence filled the room after that, Valentine seeming to forget about the meal preparing on the stove. "Come with me, I want to show you something."

At first, I consider finding another knife and trying to kill Valentine again, but that plan seemed to fade as Valentine laid his hand on my shoulder and lead me away. We left the inside of the ship and walked out to the deck.

My eyes watched the rows and rows of Shadowhunters that trained as a man shouted off orders to them. They all seemed to move like perfect soldiers.

"Impressive, aren't they? But they still don't have the inherent gifts that you have. You took to a seraph blade the way a baby takes to a bottle. We both want the same thing. To save this world from demons," Valentine said next to me.

Glancing at him, I spoke up. "The Clave fights demons."

Valentine seemed to grow sour at my words. "The Clave has grown soft, protecting Downworlders with the Accords. All Downworlders, one day, will give in to their violent tendencies. It's unavoidable."

"I know plenty of Downworlders who play by the rules. They control their urges," I said, turning towards him.

Valentine glanced over at me, "You're thinking of Lucian Graymark, warlocks like Magnus Bane, and even Clarissa's little vampire friend Simon? No matter how good they try to be, Downworlders cannot control their demonic blood forever."

With those words left, he turned, ready to walk away only to turn back to me when I spoke up. "You say that I'm evil, how?"

"Demonic blood. When you turned two I started giving it to you, putting it in your drink. It wasn't a lot, but it was enough."

My eyes went wide at his words, "Why would you do that?"

"To make you stronger. Little did I know about the Connection," He said and nodded towards me. At just the mention of it, I turned away from him, gripping the railing in front of him and looking down into the water.

I could do it. I could jump.

"I wouldn't jump if I were you," Valentine stated, as if he had heard my thoughts.

Scuffing, I looked over at him, "Why? Because I'm your ultimate weapon?"

Turning, Valentine grabbed the first man he saw, leading him to the railing. He grabbed his neck, pushing his face over the railing. As if a force field was there, his face began to burn, causing a yell to leave the man's lips.

Quickly, I backed away from the railing, looking at the scene before me in shock.

When Valentine released the dead man and let him fall to the deck, I could barely look away. "This warlock is infamous for crimes against mundanes. Take a minute, then meet me downstairs. There's something else I want you to see." With a smile like smirk, he turned and left me to myself.

I wanted to yell, throw things, do something besides stand there. But all I seemed to do is grip the railing again in anger. I swear, my knuckles were white in seconds at how hard I was gripping that railing. But as quickly as they had tightened, they loosened at hearing a voice.

"Jace."

Suddenly, my eyes glow as I look up. She's not here, at least her body isn't, but her voice is. It's not in my head, I know that much, but I can't seem to spot where her voice is coming from.

"Faith?"

"Hang on," Her voice seems to echo in my ears, hitting my heart like a hug.

I don't know how she knew where I was, or how she reached me, but I didn't care. Faith was what I needed to get through this. No matter how torn or confused I was, she would be the only constant and real thing I could trust.

So, with Faith's voice echoing in my ears, I left and joined Valentine below deck. He stood in front of a purple portal, waiting for me with a smile. When I paused at his feet, he nodded and took hold of my shoulder. Together, we walked through the portal, appearing on the other side in town, on the street.

It was just getting sunset by now, just bringing the lights of the town on. In front of us stood a Pizza place named Reggie's, a building I've passed multiple times.

"We're stopping for pizza?" I asked, confused as I looked at him.

Valentine ignored my question and looked at the building. "Reggie served the best pie in all of Brooklyn. Note the past tense." He paused, inhaling sharply. "When Reggie's wife, Maria, turned into a vampire, she slaughtered Reggie and created a den inside."

Shaking my head and taking a small step ahead of him, I turned and asked, "What does this have to do with me?"

"Two reasons," Valentine spoke, raising his head a little. "One, you and Faith snuck away here for a date many years ago. You didn't know what it was then."

I paused, recalling the memory. We had met the day before and promised we'd meet here to talk. We ended up talking for hours about anything and everything. The memory, in any other scenario, would have brought a smile to my lips. But right now, in the presence of Valentine, it halted inside.

"And the second reason?"

Valentine doesn't seem to answer my question, instead he just stares at me in a studding manner. When he speaks, it's as if he's finally saying what he's been wanting to say all day.

"You really think love will keep you from hurting your family and friends? No matter how hard you fight it, demon blood will make you kill. It starts in a small way. Urges. See, that's why you want Faith, and that is why you always will. This Connection thing, it just makes it stronger."

I'm beyond confused by his words, but my attention is pulled away when I hear a scream coming from a women inside Reggie's. Turning to look at the half boarded up building, I quickly run inside, forgetting Valentine behind me.

The building inside, since been empty for a while, holds dust and cobwebs everywhere. I hear the scream again, causing me to follow it to the basement. The sight before me is none that I haven't seen before, yet it's still shocking to see it in a place like this. Vampires are drinking from human, most either shaking in fear or half out of it.

Grabbing an old pool stick, I break it in half and use the two pieces to kill the vampires in there, catching more vampire's attention.

"Everyone run. Get out. Out, now," I yell to the people left. They scurry around me and out the door, leaving me to deal with the few vampires left.

Directing my words to the vampires, I speak up, "Hey! Which one of you is Maria?"

A women steps out, reminding me of an underrated Camille. She looks me up and down as she stops, "Who's asking?" More vampires steps out and practically circle me, seeming to help their "leader".

Seeing I've defiantly bitten off more than I can chew, I start to slowly back away, finding myself quickly turning around and leaving the basement. I push through the door, slamming it shut behind me, before leaning my body against it. In seconds, vampires are banging against the basement door.

I struggle to keep my body weight on it as I close my eyes. Suddenly, it seems to get easier, causing me to open them and look to my side. Faith is pushed up against the door next to me, looking at me with a smile.

"Faith?" I consider this to me a joke again, but when I hear her voice speak next to me, a bolt of electricity shoots through me hard enough that it would wake me up if I was asleep.

"You just couldn't stay out of trouble without me."

A smile crosses my face, only to wipe away when the banging continues behind us. Both of our eyes hit pieces of wood on a table across from us. We turn to look at each other, a nod of confirmation seeming to mirror both of us before we push ourselves away from the door.

We swipe up pieces of the wood, turning just as the vampire's pool in. One by one, two by two, we kill every vampire that busted through the basement door. Every swing, stab, and block seemed to encourage both of us to continue out battle.

In the basement, alone, I felt like I was going against 50. Now, with Faith fighting by myside, I feel like I'm going against 5.

When the crowd of vampires have subsided and vanish, it seems only one is left to walk through the basement door. Maria.

"Pretty strong, even for Shadowhunters," She says with a slight nod of her head.

"You're feeding on innocent mundanes," Faith says, gripping her make-shift stake in her hand.

Maria sighs, looking at her hand in a boring way. "A girl's gotta eat."

In seconds, I have the vampire pushed up against the wall, my stake aimed at her chest. "You're done, Maria."

A wicked smile crossed Maria's face, "You can't kill me."

"Watch me," I hissed at her, ready to push the stake through her chest. Her next words stop me though.

"I surrender to the authority of the Clave." I'm left motionless as I stare at her with anger in my eyes. She laughs at my reaction, "Aw, look at you two. You got your sticks all ready to go and now you can't use them."

I shake my head, "No, you broke the Accords. You killed innocent mundanes. And now, you're gonna die just like your friends."

"But unlike them, I'm no longer a threat. I know my rights," Maria said, leaning in to my face. "I might have broken the Accords, but I know you won't."

"You don't know anything about me," I hissed as I leaned in closer to her face, causing her to lean back.

She sucks in a long breath through her nose. "I know you're weak. I can smell it. And you'll do whatever the Clave tells you to do. Now, get off of me." She pushes me away, causing me to back up next to Faith.

Hearin Valentine's voice, Faith and I turn behind us. "Are you going to let her mock you after what she did? This thing in front of you, she was once Reggie the pizza guy's sweet and loving wife."

"You leave my husband out of this!" Maria yelled at Valentine.

I held up my hand, lightly pushing her back, "Whoa. You mean the man you murdered? You mean the man you devoured? That's what you mean."

I've pushed too far, causing Maria to hiss and reach for my neck to attack me. She barley gets two steps in before Faith pushes past me lightly and shoves her stake into the vampire's heart. She turns to ash at our feet.

Both Faith and I's eyes and mouth go wide at the sight of what she just did. She'll be wanted by the Clave for killing this vampire when she surrendered. Suddenly, fear sat in.

A noise behind us, made both of us turn around, spotting Jocelyn awake and well, with an electric crossbow aimed at me. She releases it, causing Faith to quickly step in front of me, along with Valentine.

The arrow just barley scrapes Faith's arm before ending in Valentine's lower shoulder. The impact causes him to fall to the ground and Faith grab her arm in shock.

"Mom! Wait!" Clary's voice yells as her and Simon run towards the building. But Jocelyn ignores her daughter and readies another arrow.

Suddenly, a portal next to us opens, causing my head to turn towards it. My mind is racing, barley processing what I'm doing until I've already done it. I grab Faith's hand, using my free hand to grab Valentine's uninjured arm and yank him up.

The three of us seem to stumble through the portal and away from Reggie's. Away from Clary and Simon. And away from Jocelyn.

This has honestly taken forever and for that I'm sorry. I hope you enjoyed Jace's POV in this chapter. The next chapter was originally supposed to be in Faith's POV but, in all honesty, I dont' really want to wright it. I kind of just want to fill people in, somehow, in the book with what happened during this chapter with Faith in a different chapter/episode.

If that makes any sense.

Anyways, I'll watch the next episode and see what I can do. Hopefully some more Jace and Faith scenes to come!

Comment and let me know what you think!