Falling Stars

Notes:

This Fan fiction is the sequel to City of Retribution.

Set after City of Glass and my previous fan fiction mentioned above. With what I have planned now for this story, it will not follow the plots of City of Fallen Angels nor City of Lost Souls, because I wouldn't want to spoil it for anyone ;)

Disclaimer:

All characters belong to Cassandra Clare.

The Nephilim have returned and Valentine has been killed. Yet, there are still forces to be reckoned with and amends to make; word is Camille has returned to New York to take back her coven, Clary needs to make a choice between Jace and Raphael before one kills the other, and worst of all, there are rumors in downworld that Sebastian is alive and plotting his revenge.

Chapter 1 Claims and Marks

"You fucking marked me, you bruised my neck with your stupid fangs you- you," Clary could not think of a word harsh enough to describe Raphael right now. Her anger was like a red haze over her eyes and all she could see was Raphael staring at her with a blank expression on his face.

Of course, that could have been because Clary had stormed right into the Dumort, right up to Raphael's suite, and barged into his bedroom to yell and scream at him for what he had done. Clary also noticed, to her dismay, that from the looks of things he had just woken up, he had a pair of navy jeans on that were low enough that Clary could see the edge of his boxers along his hips and the gold chain around his neck glinted in the faint light. He wore nothing else. His dark hair was slightly mused from sleep and hia honey colored skin rippled as the muscles contracted beneath.

Raphael continued to stare at Clary as she ranted about his bite wound from a few days ago; which according to Clary, had made Jace suspicious and now she rarely had the chance to get away from him anymore.

However, Clary still could not get her words straight and failed at calling him anything worse than a bloodsucker, which technically he was. So she settled for staring him down with her hands on her hips until he could come up with some kind of apology. Well, at least that was what Clary hoped for.

"You're here now, aren't you?" Raphael asked with a lazy expression on his face.

"Well," Clary paused, he had a point, but Clary would not give it to him. "That's beside the point. I'm saying that thanks to your stupid mark from the other night, Jace is suspicious of me all the time. He rarely lets me leave the institute without him unless it's with Simon or my mother." Clary's breathing was heavily, the words rushing from her mouth.

Raphael took the remaining steps forward between them. Clary did not back up, she had the room, but she was not going to let Raphael threaten her. Not this time. "What do you want, an apology? Lo siento, hermosa, but I won't give you that." Clary looked up at Raphael; her brain seemed to process his words slower than they should, that was one effect of Raphael being so close.

Raphael leaned in, his lips by her ear as he whispered, "If you're still wondering, that means I'm not sorry and you're not getting an apology, ángel." Raphael's voice was soft and sweet and Clary almost fell for it.

Almost.

Clary stepped back, her face a mask of hate and rage as she prepared to yell at him again. She was cut off as Raphael grabbed her wrists and pulled her against him; she looked up into his eyes, her lips parted in surprise, and Raphael kissed her.

For a few moments everything was perfect and Clary melted into the heat of the kiss. She felt herself being pulled along as Raphael walked backwards, fell back onto the bed, and pulled Clary with him so she was on top of him. Then Clary slowly regained her mentality. She recognized that she was kissing Raphael when she should be kissing Jace; and only Jace, she recognized that they were on the bed and that was not the best place to be, yet none of that mattered because there was still that part of her that wanted to be with Raphael and only Raphael.

So Clary pulled back, staring down at Raphael beneath her as he looked up at her through his lashes. "Raphael, we can't do this, not now." Her words were hushed but it did not matter though, he could hear her.

"We've done it before; and it's not like the circumstances were any better then." Raphael argued as he switched his hold on Clary from her wrists to her hips, running his hands down her body in the process. Clary did not answer, she was too afraid that her words would betray her so Raphael spoke again, "What do you want? And don't say Jace because it's obvious that isn't true." Again Clary could not answer; she tried rolling off of him but his grip held her in place.

Clary looked back at Raphael as he moved one arm behind him to prop himself up on the elbow and pressed his other hand against the small of Clary's back as he leaned in to kiss her again; and Clary let him.

She was vaguely aware of her conscious screaming at her that this wrong; that she was cheating on Jace, the person she had fought so hard for, and it screamed at her that she was throwing all of that away. Yet, it did not matter to Clary; to her, there was only Raphael, at least for now. So she let him trace the runes on her arms with his fingertips, she let him rid her of her clothing as she removed his, and she let him take her to his bed, because all she wanted right now was him.

Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! The words pounded through Clary's head as she surfaced from the fog and back into reality. She had come to the Dumort to yell and threaten Raphael for what he did to her; instead she had ended up in his arms, in his bed! Her conscious yelled at her. How had she been so stupid? She had Jace, she had Jace back from the dead and she was throwing it all away, and for what? For Raphael?

Clary groaned as she pulled herself out of Raphael's arms, then she grabbed her clothes off the floor and hurriedly dressed.

"You could stay, you know." Raphael commented, his voice was lazy as he reached over to grab Clary and pull her back to him. Lucky for Clary, it was a halfhearted attempt so she was able to move out of the way before he could get a hold of her.

"No, Raphael. I really can't." She said as she looked down at the floor. She pulled her shirt on and was now fully dressed. Clary waited as Raphael got himself out of bed and pulled his boxers and jeans back on.

Raphael walked over to Clary, and Clary instinctively took a step back this time. She did not need a repeat, not now; not when she would already be in deep shit with Jace when she did not get back in time like she had promised she would. "Really? If the problem is Jace, that's an easy problem to take care of." Clary was not sure what Raphael meant by 'take care of' and she really did not want to find out.

"Yeah? Well, the problem is not Jace, it's you. We never had a relationship, we never will have a relationship and I'm not going to let this mess up my current relationship." Clary's voice was rising and she could see the suppressed anger flash in Raphael's eyes.

"And how do you plan to stop me if I decide to tell Jace what's been going on behind his back?" Clary could see the faint smile playing at his lips.

"I'll send the clave after you."

"On what grounds? I helped bring your little Nephilim race back, hermosa. I'm in the clave's good graces; you'd need a lot of evidence against me." Raphael said, his voice was mockingly sweet. Clary had to push back his charm to focus on the issue at hand.

"I'll figure something out. I always do." Clary said, as she walked towards the door.

Raphael grabbed her arm and swung her around, her back hitting the wall with Raphael standing in front. "I wasn't kidding about me telling Jace, ángel. I consider you mine just as much as Jace thinks you're his. Why do you think I bit you and left a bruise that bad in the first place?" His voice was like ice and Clary's mind flashed over with fear as Raphael stared her down. Clary went over his words again in her head, it made sense.

"You think you have some kind of claim over me?" Clary asked arrogantly, her eyes dared Raphael to answer.

He smiled and Clary could see the tips of his fangs as he spoke, "Of course, I'll always have a claim over you. I'm immortal, remember?" Clary inched her way towards the door while Raphael watched her closely. He stopped her right when she was about to slip through the door and out of harms away.

"Yeah, but I'm not. You'll tire of me in what? A year, maybe two?" Clary asked.

"Not if I make you immortal." Raphael's voice was level and reasonable; Clary gasped in fear and pulled at his arm blocking the door.

"You are not turning me into a vampire, Raphael. I swear if you do, I'll kill myself. I happen to enjoy my living life, and you won't ruin that for me!" Raphael moved his arm blocking the door only to grab onto Cary's wrists.

"I'm not saying I'd do it against your will. I'm saying that you'll want it. Eventually you will choose me over Jace." Raphael's words were soft and gentle and they curled the hairs at her temples. Clary struggled harder it was only instinct; finally he let her escape out the door.

"So what's new with you?" Simon asked as he sat down across from Clary. Her eyes were not red or puffy so she had not been crying, but Simon could tell something was wrong; something important.

Clary looked up at him, she had called Simon to meet her at Takki's because she wanted to talk about her predicament with Raphael, but now the words were stuck in her throat. So she stayed silent and Simon waited, giving her time to get her thoughts together.

"You know what; let's not talk about what's wrong. Let's talk about our incredible, non-mundane lives. Like just the other day, I got pummeled with names and rants about being a vampire from a group of werewolves; I also got attacked with names and rants about being the daylighter. See, now they've got two reasons to rant at me."

Clary felt a smile at the corner of her lips, it really was not that great of news, but Simon's hand motions and different voices depicting the werewolves were quite entertaining. "It's Raphael," Clary finally spoke up. Simon already knew about what had previously happened with her and Raphael; after all he had walked in on them in bed together.

"Oh," Simon thought for a moment, "Well, what's new with him?"

"He thinks he has some kind of claim on me because we slept together." Clary said as she tried to keep her voice level.

"That was when Jace was dead. Now Jace is alive again so Raphael's got nothing on you." Simon said confidently.

"Simon, I slept with Raphael a second time: today." The words were thick in her throat and she did her best to keep quiet so no one else would over hear. Simon had a look on his face like a strangled animal; his eyes were wide and he kept making strange throaty noises that might have been an attempt at coughing.

"Um, well do you like him?" Simon said the words slowly.

"I don't know. Sometimes I like him, sometimes I hate him, sometimes I want to rip his heart out."

"Well how do those feelings compare to those for Jace?"

"Jace makes me feel safe. Although I guess Raphael makes me feel safe at times too," Clary said as she remembered all the times Raphael had saved her life during her fight to bring back the Nephilim. "And I like him, he's sweet and gentle and," Clary paused again.

"You know what the problem here is, you can list the feelings you have for Raphael perfectly but you're a little lost on the ones for Jace. Personally, I'd say go for Jace. But then I'm biased because Raphael technically killed me." Simon said matter-o-factly.

Clary did not speak; she did not want to admit that Simon had a point. She knew exactly how Raphael made her feel; even if it was a mix of emotions, she could depict every single one. With Jace, she had become lost; she blamed that on him being gone for so long but maybe it was something else. Clary stood up and looked at Simon, she did not mean for her words to come out so arrogantly but they did. "I'm going to go talk to Jace." She walked out of the restaurant into the night, leaving Simon behind.