My Beautiful One

41. A Heaven of Hell

Sebastian turned away, hooking his thumbs through the loops of his weapons belt and staring at the ground. "I knew you'd work it out eventually." He muttered. "I just hoped it would be when it was too late for it to matter. But it isn't too late for us, Amari: the world will burn but we will live on. There are other worlds..."

"Not worlds like this one." I snapped. The paralysing shock that first came with the realisation was beginning to wear off, and now I was all determination. There was going to be no slow, gentle convincing from me like there had been before; just harsh truth and nothing more. I was standing up straighter as well, with my fists clenched and my head up as I glared at him mercilessly.

Sebastian was shaking his head. The misty rain had dampened his fine hair and pasted it to his scalp, making him look bedraggled. That, plus his hunched stance, made him look about as far from Jonathan Morgenstern as it was possible for him to get.

"There are worlds like this one." He said, raising his pleading gaze to mine. "Worlds that are just as good! And surely if we're together-"

"We won't be together." I said, cutting him off. "I refuse to stand by and live the rest of my life knowing that I'm the only person other than you that's allowed to live at all."

Sebastian turned back to face me, and I saw that his expression had changed. He looked angry now, taken over by a demonic, unceasing tide of rage that he'd never turned on me before. "You promised." He spat, curling his hands into fists. "You promised that you wouldn't be like everyone else; that you wouldn't just judge me because of what I am."

"I'm not judging you because of what you are." My voice was rising to a shout now, rivalling his anger. "I'm judging you because you want to burn down the world! Literally burn it down! Nobody's going to survive this, Sebastian. Not me, not you. The guilt will eat us up even if we survive the flames!"

"I don't care!" Sebastian shouted back. "I don't care about anything here except you. You are the only thing on this godforsaken planet worth saving, and I am going to save you! Can't you just be thankful for that?"

"Yeah, sure!" I yelled. "I can be thankful for being able to live out my immortal life knowing that all my friends are dead and everything I've loved is gone and you are the reason for it!"

Sebastian's eyes narrowed and he stalked towards me. I thought he was going to attack me, and he was so fast I didn't even have time to defend myself as his hand went out towards me. Only, it turned out I didn't need to defend myself. He just grabbed my wrist, uncurled my fist, and slapped a mobile phone into my hand.

"Call your Shadowhunters then." He snapped. "Then put me on the line. Listen to what I tell them, and once you've seen what I've done just because I know how much you love your little angel-brat friends, maybe you'll be a bit more grateful."

I glowered at him but dialed the New York Institute's number anyway. I wouldn't let a little thing like my pride stand against the Shadow World being able to defend itself against Sebastian and his demon army.

After three rings, Jace picked up. "Hello?" He said, and the familiar voice of my friend somehow made me more relaxed. Jace was here, and as long as he was alive, he would fight as hard as I would to keep the world intact. "Who is this?"

"Amari." I replied quickly. "Look, Jace, I need to tell you-"

Sebastian cut me off, snatching the phone out of my hand and bringing it to his own ear. "Hello little brother." He sneered. "Good to hear from you. Tell me, how have you been since knowing that I've escaped your precious Clave? Again, I might add."

I heard Jace talking furiously on the other end of the line, but Sebastian interrupted as if not having listened at all. "Look, Herondale, I haven't got time for your threats." He said. "Now listen closely. Tomorrow, at some point in the day, my army is going to storm your precious city. What you choose to do with that information is up to you. Erchomai, little brother. And give Clary my love."