Smoke and Mirrors ▹ Alec Lightwood [1]

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
IN THE CHAOS

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

     For a single, disorienting moment, Adrian was back on the ship in New York, a demon sinking its claws into his stomach, pain wracking throughout his entire body. Adrian blinked quickly, and the ship disappeared. This demon was bigger than that one had been. He couldn't look at its face without feeling sick. He scrambled, trying to dig his fingers into the ground, but there was nothing beneath him besides stone walkways. He reached out for the sword that had flown from his hand when he fell, but it was out of reach. The only thing he had now was the dagger at his belt. He reached for it as he was dragged across the stone road, his shirt dragging up. He hissed when the rocks scraped across his back, then jerked hard on his leg to get the dragging to stop.

He bit back a cry of pain when something in his ankle popped, but the jerk worked. The demon stopped dragging him, as if confused that he was fighting back. He took that opportunity to sit up and slice the dagger through the tentacle around his ankle. For a moment, the tentacle turned into mist, and Adrian felt a wave of relief—and then that relief was gone, and the tentacle was back, stronger than before, what seemed like teeth as sharp as razor blades slicing through his jeans and his skin. He bit back another cry. Adrian looked down at the dagger and was horrified to find that there were no runes etched into it. It was just a regular dagger. It would've worked against werewolves or vampires, but demons only succumbed to sunlight or angelic power. The dagger was useless.

"Fuck," Adrian whispered before the thing jerked once. His ankle screamed in pain, and then he was being dragged again. His fingers scrambled against the stone, trying to find anything to grab onto, to drag himself away. There was nothing but hard stone and loose gravel. He didn't bother keeping hold of the useless dagger. Instead, he tried to reach for his sword, even though he knew it was even further than before. He didn't have a weapon, and the demon kept dragging him. Everything seemed like it was going in slow motion, and all he could do was grasp at nothing and hope and pray he found a handhold in the pathway. The closer he got to the demon, the more fear he felt. It was threatening to drown him, and his breath came out in uneven, desperate gasps. He didn't want to die. "Fuck," he gasped, breath hitching. "Fuck, fuck, fuck."

He didn't want to die. He really didn't, but he was suddenly very aware that he was going to. There was no way out of this, no way for him to save himself that didn't involve him completely severing his foot from his leg. He had been on hundreds of missions, taken out hundreds of demons, yet that was the first time he had truly believed he was going to die. The thought had never occurred to him before—they were all raised to believe that death was normal, that it shouldn't be feared, that dying in battle would bring nothing but glory to themselves and their family name—yet Adrian couldn't help but be terrified. He didn't know what awaited any of them on the other side, didn't know if Shadowhunters were welcomed into heaven or if there was another place that they went, didn't know if there was anything other than complete and utter darkness. It was that darkness that he found himself afraid of, and his finger scraped across the ground even more violently. He was too young to die. There were too many things he still wanted to do, too many things he hadn't said.

He didn't want to die, he didn't want to die, he didn't—

With a violent lurch, Adrian was beneath the demon. His eyes widened, and everything seemed to go in slow motion again as he watched the demon's jaw part. A shiver of horror went through him, and he went to crawl away again before a terrifying, inhuman screech left its mouth. It jerked, let out one loud screech that made Adrian cringe and slap his palms over his ears, and then the demon exploded. Adrian turned and covered his head, but nothing hit him. The demon seemed to have exploded into ash. He stared at the empty space, uncomprehending, and then he saw the girl walking toward him while twisting a seraph blade around her hand. She was tall and blonde, in leather gear. When she knelt down beside him and offered a hand, Adrian finally noticed her pointed ears. It was only then that he recognized her.