Tainted Soul • Lightwood. [ON HOLD]

S I X T E E N

When the group arrived to the locations Simon told them, Jace started giving out orders. "Justin, Isabelle. You two look for Simon in this torture chamber he talked about while Alec and I search for Clary."

The Lightwood nodded and pulled Justin with her to look for the awkward mundane. For them, it was fairly easy to find Simon, just following the smoke.

"They have bars on the windows. What is this? Harry Potter?" Justin commented. Isabelle laughed at him and got her whip ready. It wrapped around the bars and she pulled, the metal slipping from the window.

"I'll take one of that," Justin told her. "Ha, you don't. Come on, let's get him out of there."

Isabelle looked inside the room, finding a very relived Simon there. "I'm getting seriously tired of saving your life."

"I'm not!" Simon grinned. "Okay loverboy. Time to go," Justin said, interrupting their stare down. After Simon was safe and sound outside the room, the three walked to the front of the restaurant, looking for Jace, Alec and Clary.

"Clary!"

"Simon! Oh, my god." The two best friends hugged tightly, afraid something was going to tear them apart again. "Are you okay?" Simon asked her. "I was so worried."

"I hate to break up this little reunion, but we got a bunch of werewolves trying to kill us so maybe we should get going-" Jace started but Clary cut him off, looking at Alec.

"Wait, wait, the box. My backpack. I think I left it at the loft." The Lightwood boy glanced at Justin and then back at the redhead. "No, we've got it. I didn't screw up everything."

"Let's get out of here, then," Simon said.

"Wait, Simon. Whatever you do, do not make any fast moves," Isabelle ordered. All around them, bright green eyes were staring at them, growls emitting from the creatures.

"Great, we're their dinner," Justin said in exasperation.

"This can't be good," Jace expressed. The hunters prepared their respective weapons, each taking a portion of the place. "We're surrounded," Alec informed.

"Everyone stay together."

"Believe me, I'm not going anywhere," Simon said, his voice trembling a little. A big wolf exited the building, Jace alerting everyone. "Everyone, get back, that's the alpha leader."

The wolf ran to the humans, almost reaching them, when another wolf jumped into their defence, knocking the alpha off and into some boxes and crates.

"It's our lucky day, I see."

Growls and whimpers were heard as the two werewolves fought. "He's challenging the alpha," Alec said.

"He's helping us!"

"Or cutting in line to kill us." Justin rolled his eyes at the negative words uttered from Simon's mouth. "Could it kill you to be helpful for once in your life?"

The fighting stopped and the six of them took cautious steps towards the wolves. A human body, more specifically Theo's body, laid there bleeding.

"The alpha's dead."

The remaining wolf stepped into view, transforming back into his human form. "Oh, my god, Luke."

The pack started howling and each changing back to their human form and kneeling down. "What is it? What's happening?"

"When a werewolf kills the alpha leader, he become the new alpha. Your friend Luke's the leader of the pack now," Jace explained.

"That's dope."

"Clary... Justin..." Luke sighed. Both Fray went to advance, each being stopped by Jace and Alec. "Let go," Justin told the raven haired boy. Alec complied reluctantly and allowed the ginger boy to step forward.

"I promised your mother I'd always protect you two," Luke said. He smiled at them before collapsing. "Oh, my god!"

The two Frays and Simon ran to his aid, holding him before he completely fainted. "Luke, come on buddy. Don't die on me now."

"Clary, we gotta go," Simon said. "Here, I'll drive."

Justin's eyes found the Lightwoods figures and saw their expressions. "Simon, give me a minute."

The ginger boy walked to them. "I'm so sorry." Isabelle smiled in appreciation while Alec stayed silence, a blank expression on his face.

"I, uh, thank you for helping us. Both of you."

"We're a team now," Isabelle told him. Alec nodded in agreement. "Go help your friend."

Smiling, Justin turned around and followed after Jace and Clary and got in the passenger seat of the car.

"Go."

The drive to Magnus' place was relatively short, Luke's breaths being the only noise in the car. Justin couldn't help thinking about the events of the day and how angry Jace was when he found out Clary was missing.

But what filled Justin's rage was how poorly the blond Shadowhunter was treating his brother, like the two Lightwoods were useless, not good enough.

Jace's infatuation with Clary was clouding his judgement and pushing the people he always cared about away. And it was doing the same to Clary.