The Mortal Instruments

Everything seemed to be going well. Though Clarity didn't sound so great at least she was talking, joking slightly. The girl could keep herself awake for now, without Felicia's help in a distraction, that was good. Felicia completely backed away when there was the comment about foreplay. That was not what she intended. When she was a child, a human child, when she was upset or scared her mother used to let her rest her head in her lap and she would stroke her hair. To Felicia that was a place of safety and comfort and that was all she was trying to offer. Either way if she didn't need it perhaps she should deal with her own injuries.

Felicia simply watched as Clarity made an attempt to text someone she called Ash. She didn't need more people here. She didn't want more people here. Their best chance at safety was continuing with her story. The more people brought in, the more difficult that would be. But at least by this point the rest of her pack was arriving, only a small comfort.

When they reached the room Felicia turned to one of the females in the pack. "Go search this place and find us some proper medical supplies as well as a cloth and bowl of water, but take someone else with you." She instructed. She wouldn't let anyone wander alone, not when the Inquisitor was likely to be back, looking for her head. She turned to some of the others. "I need you guys to patrol entrances, let any werewolves in, I will deal with them and warn me if the Inquisitor is coming. If anyone else arrives, judge their threat level and either send them with someone to come see me or send someone to get me and I will meet them outside. The inquisitor will want my head and I don't know when he will be back, we need to take precautions." She warned as she headed back to Clarity.

"Taunting him really wasn't helpful you know." Felicia said with a slight laugh as the medical supplies arrived. "Please hold still, I am going to clean your wound, but first, take these, they should help the pain." Felicia handed Clarity some pain killers that were found with the medical supplies before starting to unwrap her arm. She dipped the cloth in the water and started to work on cleaning, though her shoulder protested. Just a little longer and she could deal with that bloody mess, but it was nothing too serious so she was trying to leave it for the end. ​

 

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"Agreed." He answered in reply to Brianne. Rhett's eyes were narrowed at the Seelie Knight who had caused so much destruction in his brief time at the safe house. Looking down at the corpses and pools of blood, Rhett shook his head wondering how someone could so casually turn on his own without showing any signs of remorse. The werewolf crossed his arms. "If he planned on helping us from the beginning, why bring the knights here? Even if there was no way around their deaths this guy must have known butchering them here wouldn't do any good for his image."

Even with a stomach as strong as his, he could not help but feel more than a little disturbed by everything. "That guy's a damn beast." Rhett whispered as he caught sight of the long tear in the wall Cin had been standing by, the damage having been done during the mighty swing of the knight's claymore. Between bringing danger to their front door, threatening everyone, and leaving a mess of bodies, destruction of property hardly seemed like the appropriate thing for Rhett to be focusing on.

​

Morrigan stepped forward towards him just as Cin began to remove his weapons from the corpses of his former allies. Their deaths were necessary. They would have never turned on the Queen and killing them now was the safer alternative compared to meeting them in combat in the future. He despised the dishonorable tactic but, having little alternatives, he was forced to stab them in the back to ensure victory. The fairy spoke quietly, as if there was any need for secrecy. Still, he humored her by lowering his own tone of voice.

"I will focus on dealing with the Queen and her cohorts. We are on the same side. On this, you have my word." He spoke just as quietly ensuring that only Morrigan could hear him.


Ash checked his phone upon hearing the buzzing in his pocket. He couldn't wait around any longer. He growled lowly and walked forward, standing beside Morrigan. "Someone is hurt. I need to leave to fix this. Will you join me or are you willing to stay here and await my return despite what has happened?" Ash did not wish to leave her behind. Not while both Cin and Masque were still in the room. Even with Brianne, Rhett, Alarick, and others present he felt she would have been safer at his side.

Speaking up to the rest of the group Ash turned his head towards them. "I will return here before sunrise. Any wishing to travel to Somalia must be present if they wish to accompany Morrigan and myself. I will prepare a portal but for now I have urgent business to attend to before leaving." His voice dropped as he gazed at Morrigan, whispering to her. "I will explain everything to you. Whether you join me or choose to stay. But please believe me, this is important. Exceedingly so." With a passing glance at Cin as he stepped over the corpses, Ash walked out of the safe house whether Morrigan followed or not.

 

He returned the smile though a little bothered that Morrigan had chosen to stay behind, he knew better than to force her to change her mind. She was stronger now than she had been before and was more than capable of handling herself. Still... Ash shoved his hands in his coat as he picked up his pace, his mind running through hundreds of thoughts and plans of action while he made his way to the Institute. It had been some time since he had to deal with such a large mess. Cin. Masque. Keller. Titania. Others. He breathed deeply, refusing to allow himself to get caught up in frustration. It would do him no good. And now Clary was wounded. What trouble had she gotten herself into now? How many times would he have to take her out of the fire? Getting burned was better than returning to ash but the longer he kept this up, the worse it would get. He knew that.


"Stupid girl. A hundred years and still biting off more than she can chew." Though she reminded him of himself in more ways than he was comfortable with admitting, he did not wish his multitude of near-death experiences to be inflicted on her. Even though he had told himself not to, he sighed with annoyance that betrayed the level of patience he should have possessed at his age.


With his pace as fast as it was, he caught sight of the Institute not soon after his thoughts had begun to settle in the back of his mind. He slowed down, eyeing the stranger around the building. The building. The Institute had been damaged, with explosives most likely, but not to the point of crumbling. A strange sense of amusement and disdain swelled within him. It was stupid. As he approached the Institute, the signs were clear as to what kind of Downworlders remained. Werewolves. The stood in his path as he went for the entrance but, surprisingly, did not immediately attack.


"Keller's former pets, yes? Found a new trainer to hold your leashes, have you?" It hardly mattered to him why they congregated around the Institute, only that they were in his way. Knowing that there was likely many others inside, Ash decided against throwing the first "punch", not out of fear but simply due to the fact that he thought it might take longer to incapacitate them all than it would to get to Clary through less violent means. "I'm here for an Ifrit. I don't have any reason to tell the Shadowhunters who's taken up residence here so you should have no quarrel with me." He preferred not spilling blood but with his patience wearing thin.... Ash walked towards the steps, whether the wolves made the effort to stop him or not.

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Cin eyed the warlock as he left, wondering what could have taken him away from Morrigan. When he returned his gaze to Morrigan he smirked at her newfound fire. No doubt recent events had caused her to snap and reveal her centuries worth of built up frustration and anger. "If I felt like betraying you, revenge would not be within your grasp. You have nothing to worry about from me."

Turning towards Alarick, Cin scratched his chin. "My ears have remained in the shadows for hundreds of years. I know more than you could understand. Do not worry. No ally of the Queen knows of this place." Cin glanced at the gore under his boots. The mere thought of him cleaning was amusing even to him.

​

Rhett almost laughed at Brianne's poor sense of humor. Almost. It was a good thing she had a classy werewolf with an excellent sense of humor by her side during these trying times. He waved at the other she had introduced him to known as Creed.

"Hey." He simply said. Definitely not awkward. Nope...no dead fairies just feet away. "It feels like we should be doing something, Brianne. You wanted to go check something didn't you? Or is waiting here more your speed for now? Considering Ash left, I think I have free reign to just...do whatever doesn't get me killed."

 

Well she was trying to be helpful, and while it wasn't being received as well as she would hope, Felicia continued on. "While yours may not be life threatening, I worry about internal injuries as well as the external wounds. While I can't take care of the internal ones that well, at least let me help you with the external woulds, so things are at least a little better. My shoulder isn't that bad, it can wait without issue." Felicia told Clarity, as she cleaned the wound.

It was visible that she was getting a little irritated with Clarity when the girl asked her next question. "Remember where we are. I just took the home of the shadowhunters. I am sure their water is filtered just find you you." She retorted. Would it kill the girl to show a little gratitude for saving her life? Instead she pissed off the Inquisitor more after he already wanted her head, complained about everything she did, and didn't even trust her enough to help her call for someone. This was ridiculous, she remembered why she never cared to have friends.

Meanwhile at the front door two wolves watched as Ash approached them. They silently listened to the man state why he was there before looking at each other and nodding in agreement. Without having to say anything to each other they understood each other knowing where they sat on the matter. The man to the left, the smaller of the two stepped aside opening the door for Ash to enter. He had to resist the urge to shift or bite off Ash's head for the comment about the leash. Instead he kept his words to a minimum. "Follow me, I will take you to the Alpha." He stated as he guided Ash up stairs to where Felicia waited.

Glancing away from Clarity as she heard a knock at the door, Felicia arose to greet her guest.
"He says he is here for the Ifrit." Her werewolf companion told hr before leaving the room to return to watch at the door.
"So I would assume you are this Ash person that Clarity spoke of, am I right?" Felicia questioned as she paced around Ash, examining him. Her eyes were cold, her stare deadly. She could play nice when she wanted to, but she did not trust strangers, and with more werewolves showing up any minute that she would have to deal with, she wanted to see where he would stand in all this. "Clarity is just over there, resting after her injuries, but first tell me, why should I trust you to get too close after I had to bale her out of the last mess. You see I don't like strangers, and she showed up to my home with one asking for help, and now we are here. You can understand my lack of trust for them, can you not?" Felicia stopped her pacing as she stood in front of Ash, her hand resting on the pommel of her sword.

Spoiler: Roxanne killing a Vampire

The Vampire screeched in pain as Roxanne cut out the shape of each organ out on his skin. She was just preparing for something. She smiled as she took out chunks of skin at a time, opening the Vampire up a bit giving her space to remove the organs, one by one. If she did this right there she wouldn't have to make any more cuts. It was good practice and more importantly reminded her of a game that she played as a child instead of reminding her that she was killing someone.

With the parts of the skin removed Roxanne continued to get her hands dirty breaking ribs and removing bone shards followed by organs, starting from the least important one, to the most. She had barely gotten past cutting the skin off before the vampire passed out, making things a lot easier on her. She didn't care if it was awake or even alive any more, she just had to finish what she started. When all the organs were removed and in a neat pile next to the body Roxanne glanced around looking for old newspapers or any flammable garbage she could use. Given she was in an ally it didn't take too long to track down. She covered the body and organs before dropping a match onto it all. Roxanne did not stick around to watch the body burn, she did not care for such things.

​

 

Ash followed after the werewolves, giving them little thought as he was lead to where this "alpha" was located. It appeared that the damage on the surface of the Institute did not carry into the insides of it. The Shadowhunters would be glad to know that their home had not been so badly damaged. Though it might have been almost amusing to watch the Shadowhunters take their home back from the wolves, he did not have the time nor interest for waiting around on such an event.

Ash entered the room the werewolves lead him to in order to find himself facing a young woman who looked to be around Brianne's age. She was quite ill-tempered. It was no wonder how she managed to gather the stragglers left behind in Keller's absence. "Yes, Ash is my name." She circled around him looking more tense than anything else. He would have spent the time doing so as well if he had not already seen the same behavior in countless other alphas. Some which he had slain, others which had been stabbed in the back by their beta. There was no pretty end to those who controlled others with force and intimidation.

"I am not interested in your trust, nor do I require it. I have come to take back one of my own so that she is properly cared for. I shall be on my way out as soon as I have her." He stepped to the side before moving forward to go around Felicia. Alpha or not, the werewolf was of no concern to him. As long as she did not interfere or prove to be a problem, her own affairs were not his business. Clary was, however. "I suggest you clear your pups out. It would be better for you to simply take up residence elsewhere by choice rather than suffer an embarrassing defeat to the Shadowhunters." Black eyes fell upon the young wolf as he paused for a moment. He considered giving further advice but decided against doing so. It was a waste of time. The young and ambitious rarely listened to logic.

 

"Proper cared for?" Felicia spat and rolled her eyes at him. "If you were going to properly care for her then you should have been the one here risking your life for her, not just coming once someone else has done the work for you." Felicia may just have been slightly bitter about the fact that after everything she had just done no one seemed to care. Now she had the Inquisitor wanting her head and soon she was going to be forced to take on every wolf that wanted to be alpha to keep her position just to keep that girl safe. It almost wasn't worth it, but the damage was done and the most likely way to survive was to keep on with her plan.

Ash soon continued with a "helpful" suggestion, before Clarity spoke up herself. "And I suggest that you don't poke your nose in where it doesn't belong. I am not leaving and do you want to know why? Because as soon as I leave, the man who attacked her will know that everything I told him was a lie and go after her again to get the proper answers to the question. Until you, your Shadow hunter friends, or my pack deal with him, we are not going anywhere, it is only more danger for everyone." Felicia stated before glancing over her shoulder at Clarity. "You never cease to amaze me with your sassy remarks girl.You are lucky for some damn reason I like you." Felicia responded to her as well. She took a step back allowing Ash to head towards Clarity, keeping an eye on them both. She would just watch and see what happened for now.

When the phone rang and an unknown number popped up, it meant one of two things. First it could mean someone finally tracked what happened to his wife and was contacting him about it, or Nick was calling him at long last. In the end it turned out to be the latter, thankfully. "The offer?" Slavko asked, pretending to be slightly confused. "Oh yes you are the man from earlier today! I am glad you called. So would you like to do coffee sometime? I have time tonight, or early tomorrow morning, though after that I am pretty busy for the next few days." Slavko lied to try to make Nick a little more desperate to take him up on the offer sooner rather than later. ​

 

Spoiler

1894

Nothing mattered at this point. His father had escaped and by his feet lay the broken body of yet another brother. Having been pit against another sibling to prove who was the strongest child, Ash had been forced to put an end to another he just might have called family if things had been different. But they weren't.

His Lieutenant had passed out from the torture inflicted upon him by the greater demon and, surprisingly, was allowed to live. Ash did not wish to question his luck. At least he was allowed this one thing. His one comrade. "Rest easy, friend. I have to see what father has spawned in this lifetime. Perhaps I can end his corruption here. For now at least." The warlock looked around the bloodied plains, watching as suffering nephilim still drew breath from their battle with his father. An entire Institute's worth of them. The few that had been less unfortunate had just been regaining the ability to walk but, knowing the power of his father's evil--his plague--Ash could not allow any of them to leave this place with their bodies intact.

They all had to die.

"I am not her keeper. She is free to make whatever mistakes she sees fit to make." Ash raised an eyebrow as Clary spoke, tilting his head at the young Ifrit. "Don't make me force feed you fluoride." He said, his tone suddenly lighter on speaking to her. Ash stepped towards her and knelt by her side. "I suppose I should have done a better job teaching you. The pointy end of the blade goes away from your body." The ifrit's wounds were simple enough to fix up. There did not seem to be any permanent damage on her so that much he was thankful for. Once he was done with the quick examination, he finally decided to speak towards Felicia once more.

"He will come after her regardless. The only difference is how many of your pups will die in the process." Slowly, he slid his hands under the ifrit and carefully lifted her up into his arms. It would likely be painful but hopefully everything would teach the girl to just be more careful. If he had been any less patient, he would have made a display of power by now but, again, it was a waste of time. Still, the urge was still there and whether it was the demon or the man feeling it hardly mattered.

As he made towards the door Ash stopped for a moment and looked down at Clary, the true source of his frustration. How hard was it for simply stay out of trouble? Even with all the effort he had placed into keeping her from living the same kind of life he did, it just wouldn't change anything. Deciding against speaking any further towards Felicia, he walked out of the Institute.

​

Cin looked from Alarick towards the corpses and back towards the nephilim again. "I suppose that's fair." Cin held up his finger in a "one moment" fashion as he stepped out the door to make a phone call. Not many fairies possessed phones. At least, not many he knew of. While outside, Cin called a cleanup crew. Well, they were less of a professional "cleanup crew" and more like lowlife Downworlders who just so happened to work for him. Being a knight with the power to overpower most of anything had its perks. It was less of an abuse of power and more of a total abuse of power. "A vampire, a werewolf, and an ifrit. Those are who will arrive to clean up this mess. Pay them no mind. They work better when they are not distracted." Cin cleaned the blood of his blades using a simple trick he had learned with his magic before sheathing them. "I suggest you get prepared quickly, Shadowhunter. I cannot kill every knight sent to hunt your party down."

 

Felicia did nothing as she watched Ash pick Clarity up to leave. There was no words to be said anymore, none that were worth while at least. She watched them exit the building before turning around and grabbing a fresh bowl of water to deal with her own injury at long last. Though the wound itself was not that deep, blood still covered her entire shoulder. Felicia kept her jaw clenched as she cleaned, refusing to acknowledge the pain. Her eyes stayed glued to the door. At any moment now more wolves were going to show up, and she would have to deal with them.

Just as predicted they did, and Felicia had not had time to finish bandaging her wound. She was able to talk the first couple down into not fighting her, buying her enough time to do a quick, halfa*sed job of wrapping her wound before the next that wanted to fight her showed up. With a sigh she escorted him to the training room. There she spent the next little while, beating down wolves when she had to, and talking the rest into picking someone to represent them so not as many had to be hurt, and more importantly she still needed to be ready for fights after these.


"I would love to go out tonight Nick." Slavko responded grinning to himself. "I don't believe I have formally introduced myself either. My name is Ryan, though you probably knew that from my card. However that seems like such a lame way to find out a name, wouldn't you say? Anyways I know of this quaint little Italian restaurant that we could go to. It is a little hard to find but it is also one of the best places I know. Shall we go there? I can pick you up if you are not sure about getting there on your own." Slavko offered Nick. Italian food went well with wine, so if Slavko could get Nick to have a few glasses of wine, get a little tipsy, chances are he would talk more and reveal more about himself that Slavko could then use against him at a later date. ​

 

Spoiler

1894

The aftereffects of his father's presence were easy enough to follow which led him to a poorly made shack or hut of some kind on the outskirts of the nearly village. The trail had stopped cold at the decrepit abode. The door creaked open as Ash walked through. The stench of blood was the first to assault his senses before he could take notice of exactly what he was looking at. There was a woman inside, naked and seeming to have recently died. She had left behind a child who had been laying between the woman's legs, cord still uncut.

The female child stirred as he stepped closer now standing over the baby. Just by looking at it, he could tell the child possessed no magic of its own but even so, he knew what kind of life laid in store for those who shared his blood. He had already slain two brothers. What was to stop this one too from being corrupted? How many needed to die before he would be forced to extinguish her light? He could end this now if only he chose to. Everything had to die. That was what he had told his ally. What he told himself. Yet looking at the child now, hesitation ebbed at his mind. Every action he had taken was towards a greater purpose, towards an act of justice, and now if he were to slay her at this moment...would he be able to act like he was still part of the greater good?

Until now, taking a life had been so easy. He never considered what kind of toll his violent nature had been taking on whatever remained of his soul, if he truly had one, nor whether he was doing more harm than good by simply killing those he believed were evil. The lines between justice and vengeance had blurred too far. Perhaps it had been too late to save his humanity, even if he changed his ways, but he could save her's. He was never going to allow her to be their father's plaything.

Ash stayed his blade in his moment of clarity, knowing the only way to save the child was to prevent anyone from ever knowing of their relation. He could never speak it to her. Connecting the two of them would only doom her to the same path he walked which only lead to a literal dead end. His black eyes stared at the child as his mind wandered to where he would take her. "I suppose I can no longer call you 'it' or 'child', sister. I know it is tradition for our kind to take our own names but allow me this one act of selfishness." He knelt by the child. "From now on, your name is..."

"Clarity, don't joke about that." If it wouldn't have done her so much harm Ash would have dropped her out of his own discomfort from her comment. "Why did you think getting into this kind of mess was a good idea?" As Ash left the vicinity of the Institute he picked up his pace.


"And of course you had to get stuck with a temperamental werewolf. If I had been any less patient things would not have turned out so well for them and you would have been waiting an extra minute to receive any kind of medical attention from me." He sighed. "Sympathy is difficult to gain when standing atop bloodied bodies. Whether you allow them to live or not." He muttered lowly, gazing down at the ifrit momentarily before returning his sights to the streets. Strangely, a part of him wondered how Clary and Morrigan would react if they met each other. He pushed the thought away and continued forward knowing that he would have to make his return swiftly before any more trouble showed up.


By this point, Ash had allowed himself to display his frustration with Clarity's antics. Had she still been a child, he would have delivered a different kind of punishment involving an open hand and the knee. "I am glad you are alive." He spoke lowly after a moment of silence. "The world would be too kind a place for me to bare without your almost-charming attitude." Despite being a joke, his tone remained mellow and serious. It was just his way.

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Rhett shifted awkwardly in place knowing that he and Creed had little to talk about other than idle chatter. "Uh...I nearly killed the meanest alpha to walk this side of the pond." He spoke, referring to Keller while leaving out the part where he too had almost died. At least he could sound a bit more impressive if he left that detail out. His eyes wandered away from the conversation and towards where Cin had been last seen. The fairy was no longer at the doorway, evidently having left without a word. He was not sure if this made him more or less comfortable.

When Brianne spoke up Rhett looked over at the nephilim who, once more, spoke of Clarity. Though her concern for the ifrit was obvious, there was a bigger picture that needed to be looked at. Rhett did not like big pictures. He liked little ones you could look at on the screen of your phone. Still, if Brianne thought it best to go after Clarity at a later time...then maybe that was the right move to make. Maybe. There was no point arguing as the sooner they dealt with the "bigger" problems the sooner they could check on Clarity.

"We could enlist the help of some of the werewolves. I know a place. And some people." Rhett spoke up. "It's not the same as a trap but there's safety in numbers, right?"