Sugar and Spice

Six

Six

*~*~*~*

That night I found myself sitting in my bed, my back pressed against the headboard with my knees pulled to my chest. I knew that I needed to get some sleep, but I couldn't bring myself to lay down and close my eyes. It'd been hours since we'd returned from Hotel DuMort and everyone had retired to their own rooms, but my mind just wouldn't seem to shut off. I kept replaying everything that we'd learned over the past thirty-six hours, from Clary being Valentine's daughter to Clary's mother being the key to finding the Cup.

"Zia?" My head snapped towards the door at the sound of someone knocking before opening it. I watched silently as Alec slipped into my room before closing the door behind himself, dressed in a pair of dark jeans and a black tee shirt. His raven hair was a mess, showing that he'd likely just woken up. His brows furrowed though as he looked me over, clearly noticing that I was in the same clothes that I'd worn to save Simon, even my boots were still on.

"Please, don't lecture me." I asked him softly. He said nothing as he walked across my room, climbing into my bed to sit next to me, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. I sighed, resting my head on his shoulder as he pulled me close to his side.

"You can always talk to me." He reminded me.

"I know." I said, my mind racing as I tried to figure out where to start. "I can't sleep, not with her here."

"I would never let anything happen to you," he began.

"I know, but that doesn't change who she is." I cut him off. "Her father killed my mother, and now we're just supposed to help her? I know this is all to find the Cup, to keep Valentine from getting it, but I don't get how Jace can trust her so easily. Her father's the reason he lost his, but he doesn't seem to care. For all we know, you could be right, she could be a spy, just using us."

"Do you remember when Jace first came here?" He asked me, trying to change the subject and get my mind off of the red head.

"Yeah," I smiled slightly at the memory. "I didn't talk to him for a week, kept myself hidden away in my room every chance I got. Until you dragged me out of here, convincing me to give him a chance."

"And during your first fight with him in training you gave him a bloody nose." We both laughed at the memory. "After that the two of you were practically brother and sister, always making jokes and teasing each other."

"So, you're saying that I should give Clary a bloody nose?" I craned my neck to look up at him, pleased with the idea.

"No," he shook his head, causing me to frown. "Just remember that you have a family here, we'll always be here for you."

"Always." I pressed my forehead to his shoulder.

"Always." He repeated, pressing a kiss to the top of my head. "For now, though, we need to meet up with the others. Izzy said that they had a lead to getting Clary's memories."

*~*~*~*

"Magnus Bane. He's over three hundred years old." Hodge pulled up images of the warlock on the monitor for all of us to see as we sat around a table. I gave a small smile at the familiar face of my friend, it having been a few weeks since I last saw him. "And, as you can see, he's not exactly shied away from the pleasures of every century. His tastes are both exquisite and quite excessive."

"He looks like the Downworld's David Guetta." Clary commented.

"Gutter's already a Downworlder. Vampire?" Izzy informed her. "Ever seen him in the daylight?"