War of Hearts

Chapter 7: No Hope for the Wicked

Valentine's Shadowhunters were packing. Jace didn't understand why though – they'd just arrived a day ago. Why were they moving again?

He stepped in front of Valentine just as he finished a phone call.

"Where are we going?" Jace asked looking Valentine right in the eye.

"Our plans just accelerated," Valentine said and tried to step away, but Jace didn't let him. He blocked Valentine firmly with his arm and looked at him with what he hoped to be an intimidating look.

"What plans? You've gotta start telling me things. I'm not going to follow you around blindly forever. Where are we going and why? I want answers," He demanded.

It had only been three days, but he was so tired of Valentine hiding everything from him. He thought his father would start sharing things with him at this point, since he wanted him on his side. Jace felt useless and completely disposable. He hated feeling that way, especially around his father – for whom he still had some hope.

"Well..." Valentine said as he looked up at something behind Jace and smiled. "This might just be your lucky day, Jonathan."

Jace turned around confused and what he saw nearly made him faint. Alec approached them escorted by three of Valentine's shadowhunters, two on his sides and one behind him. He didn't seem hurt, which was a relief, but Jace's gut still twitched in despair.

"Alec?" He asked in complete shock.

"Jace!" He saw a smile light up on Alec's face as he ran to his parabatai and squeezed him into a hug. Jace's state of shock didn't allow him to hug back. After a few seconds, Jace finally recovered some of his senses and pushed Alec away.

"What are you doing here?" he asked fearfully.

"I got your text," Alec said too calmly for Jace's taste.

"My text? I didn't send you any texts." Jace shook his head.

"Yeah, I figured that out." Alec took a step back and looked away to observe the shadowhunters around them.

Jace glared at Valentine, who was watching them as someone would watch an interesting play.

"Alec, that text was a trap," he said turning back to Alec.

"Yeah, I know." Alec didn't show the slightest sign of surprise which made Jace panic even more.

"Wait, you knew it was a trap and you just walked into it anyway?" He couldn't believe this. Surely Alec wouldn't do something so stupid... It couldn't be. But his guilty face said otherwise. "What the hell were you thinking!?" he lashed out.

"I... wanted to see you," Alec said awkwardly. Clearly he wasn't expecting Jace to react that way.

Oh, God.... Please, tell me this is just a nightmare. Jace wasn't expecting this behaviour from his parabatai. He couldn't breathe for a couple of seconds and closed his eyes to avoid facing Alec's guilty look. He couldn't believe this was happening. Alec just made things easier for Valentine. Jace felt like the floor was slowly disappearing from under his feet.

"Dammit, Alec! You really should have stayed put!" That was all he could say. He finally faced Alec, but couldn't read him properly. His parabatai looked confused and... maybe a bit disappointed too.

"Why? I don't get it." Then turning to Valentine he added "What do you want from me? Don't you have enough shadowhunters to fight for you? You can't make me do that."

Valentine stepped forward between them and faced Alec. Everyone could feel the tension forming between them.

"Yes, I do have enough shadowhunters for now," Valentine said. "That's not why I need you. In fact, I don't need you at all. But you're going to help me get what I want."