Another chapter down. I would say we're about halfway through the story now, give or take a couple chapters. A bit shorter than the other's mostly because I'm not really comfortable writing action sequences so I try and keep them short. Anyway here it is. Thanks so much to everyone who reviews, I really appreciate it!

Characters and world belong to Cassandra, plot belongs to my head.


Chapter 11: Dead End

Tessa had never been very good at physical activities. When playing with her brother and his friends, she was always too slow and clumsy to ever really keep up. But Harriet had always forbidden too much exertion anyway, claiming that proper ladies never rushed, never ran, and certainly never broke a sweat. Tessa huffed out a laugh at the memory. If only Harriet could see me now.

Tessa was careening down a hallway at full speed, out of breath and slick with sweat. She couldn't remember a time in her life where she had ever ran as fast. Though she also had never been attached to Will Herondale by the wrist when he was running as fast as he could run. She suspected her increased velocity had less to do with her own ability, and more to do with Will's.

She could see Jem just off to her right, bobbing erratically in her peripherals as they dashed down the dark hallway. Tessa chanced a glance behind her just in time to see the black creature reach the top of the stairs and begin crashing down the hallway in their direction before she was jerked very abruptly to the right by Will and around a corner.

And just like that Will stopped dead in his tracks, causing Tessa to half run into, half fall over, his immobile frame. She righted herself quickly, brushing away a lock of hair that had plastered itself to her sweaty face and turned to face Will. "What is it?" she panted.

"Dead end," Jem answered as Will looked up and down the hall, muttering profanities under his breath.

Tessa glanced around too. The hall was empty save for a few tattered portraits that still clung to the walls and an overturned chair. It was lined with open or unhinged doors, each leading to an empty room. Tessa assumed this had been the servants' wing where their living quarters were housed. Each room was small and sparsely furnished, housing only a decrepit bed and desk. Many of the rooms didn't even have windows, and those that did looked down on a forty-foot drop onto hard cobble stone.

There was no way out except the way they had come.

As if to stress the grimness of their predicament, the beast gave a great screeching roar as it pounded closer, each echoing footstep shaking the unsteady floor they stood on.

Will turned around, his eyes connecting with Jem's. Unspoken words passed between them, and after a moment Jem gave a curt nod, reaching behind his back and retrieving a second seraph blade. Both boys now held a blade in each hand, the ink black marks on their skin peaking out from under the cuffs of their shirts.

Jem then turned his attention to Tessa, a determined look in his eye. "Tessa, go into that room." He nodded in the direction of one of the empty rooms behind her. "Stay there, hide if you can. Whatever you do, don't come out of that room. No matter what you might hear or see, just don't. Understand?"

Tessa didn't move or say anything. Jem's pale face was especially gaunt and strained, his eyes drowning in dark circles. His chest was heaving unevenly and Tessa could tell he was trying, unsuccessfully, to keep his breathing steady. His hands that held the blades shook ever so slightly. But his voice was strong, and his eyes unwavering.

"Jem, I can't—" she began.

"Please Tessa," he cut her off. "Please just do this."

Tessa gave a quick nod and began to back into the room, keeping Jem and Will in her sight as long as possible. She could hear the beast, it was almost upon them now, and the clockwork creatures couldn't be far behind. There were too many of them for two Shadowhunters to take on. Even with Will's skill and Jem's wit, their sheer numbers were enough to overpower the two boys in no time at all.

Tessa stood in the middle of the dark room, her witch stone illuminating a small circle of light around her. She could see Jem and Will framed through the doorway, both standing with straight backs and tense shoulders facing some unseen monster to the left. The grinding of the beast's movements was drawing closer, it must be just around the corner now, and both Jem and Will crouched lower, preparing for the fight. At the last moment, Jem turned to look at Tessa, catching her eye. He began to speak, his words barely audible over the screeching of the beast. It took Tessa a moment to register what he was saying, for his words to finally sink in. "Don't make a sound."

And then both Jem and Will disappeared, rushing forward from the doorway to meet the beast, leaving the patch of hallway where they once stood dark without their witch stones.

Tessa held her breath, her hands trembling where they hung at her sides, waiting.

And then she heard it, the first sounds of contact. There was a low grunt, then what sounded like metal on metal, and a sharp yell.

Tessa clamped her hands over her mouth to keep her scream in, her eyes filling with tears against her will. She had to do something. Anything. But here she was, hiding like the child she was while others once again put their lives in danger to keep her safe.

The noises from the hall were becoming more constant, and more horrific. The beast was giving off more relentless high pitched shrieks, usually followed by a loud thud like a body being thrown into a wall. The clang of metal on metal would punctuate the beast's shrieks every now and then. She could hear Will and Jem yelling to each other, but she couldn't make out what they were saying. At least she knew they were both still alive. So far.

Tessa was rooted to the floor, her mind screaming at her to move, to take some sort of action, but her muscles frozen in place. The awful smell of the beast, so potent it was as if the creature were standing right beside her, didn't even affect her anymore. All her senses were concentrated on what was happening outside the door, alert for any sign of victory. Or death. Her ears strained to pick up every sound, every thud and footstep, every swish of a seraph blade.

And then she heard it. Coming from the darkness behind her, a low rasping, like the final gasping breath of the old, rattling out of its lungs for the last time. And the smell, so powerful and pungent, was not coming from the hallway like she had thought, but from the very room itself. She turned slowly away from the door to face the dark interior of the room. The rasping continued, slow and steady, increasing ever so slightly in volume. There was a soft rustle of movement, like a cloak dragging across the floor, and then Tessa saw it, only partially illuminated by the cold blue light of her witch stone.

Before she could stop herself, a scream ripped its way from her throat.


Will couldn't understand it. The beast was not fast moving, him and Jem were landing blow after blow, but it was like trying to fight a stone wall. The demon appeared to be protected by some sort of hard metal casing, like it had been stuffed inside a suite of incredibly thick armor.

"Its skin, it's too hard!" Jem was yelling at him while dodging what would have been a nasty blow. Will could tell that Jem was losing energy, and fast. His movements were becoming more sluggish, his face now drained of all its color. They had to figure out how to take down the creature, and fast.

"I know! We have to find the weak spots!" he yelled back.

The task was easier said than done. No matter how many times their blades connected with the beast, there was no affect. All they appeared to be succeeding in was covering their blades in thick coats of the slimy black goo that seeped out from under the creature's skin. And if Will wasn't mistaken, it also appeared as if his blades were now shrinking, like the black substance was slowly eating away at the metal.

"This isn't working! We need to try something else!" Will yelled to Jem. The creature seemed to be getting angrier, its earsplitting shrieks were becoming more frequent and of a higher pitch. All four of its massive arms whipped wildly through the air as the beast thrashed about, swooping dangerously close to Will and Jem. It showed no signs of tiring, its movements almost seeming to pick up in speed.

"What do you suggest we d—" Jem's sentence was cut off as one of the beast's clawed fists connected with his chest, flinging him across the hall. He slammed into the wall, the weak wood crumbling on impact and falling to the floor in a pile over Jem's crumpled form.

"Jem!" Will yelled, his eyes going wide as he took in his friend's unmoving body.

The creature gave a shriek of what sounded to Will like pleasure then turned its back on Will and began to advance upon Jem's limp frame.

"No!" Will yelled, and dashed towards the beast's turned back. He didn't know what he was doing, all strategic combat training had gone out the window the second Jem was hit. He was now running on pure adrenalin fueled fury, his mind focused on one thing and one thing only, kill the thing the hurt my friend.

He leaped into the air, soaring a good five feet before landing with a thud on the creatures back. His skin was instantly on fire, burning everywhere it touched the creature's oozing flesh. But it wasn't flesh, no it was hard, like metal or stone, like a shell on a bug. The black liquid was already eating through his trousers and shirt where they came in contact, and his hands were red and enflamed, almost unrecognizable as human. But he didn't care, he didn't even notice as half his shirt ripped away, burned right off his body, the flesh under it stinging and bubbling slightly as the black liquid began to seep into it. He was climbing up the creature's back, heading for its head. It had to have a weakness, and if it did it was most likely going to be near its eyes or mouth.

Its arms were thrashing about wildly, hitting itself in the back as it tried to find Will to throw him off. "Good," Will grumbled under his breath. "Beat yourself up. Save me the trouble." He neared the head, clinging to the creature's shoulder with one hand as he reached into the back of his belt with the other. My last blade, he thought. Better make it count.

The creature threw its head back, screeching so loudly Will thought his ears might bleed. He could see straight down its throat, see its dozens of circular rows of teeth ringing the inside of its body, he imagined all the way down into its stomach. Without a second thought Will plunged his arm down the beast's throat, blade turned sideways so it sliced the side of the throat as it went down, lodging it as far down as he could get. He released the blade as quickly as possible and jumped from its back, landing hard on his side and rolling away as far as possible. He looked up from the ground in time to see the beast stop moving, two of its arms going to its neck. It began to convulse and gag, like someone choking on a wishbone. Will didn't wait to see what else would happen, the creature was distracted and that was enough. He climbed to his feet, his body shaken and burning but otherwise unharmed, and ran forward. He dodged past the choking creature who was stumbling down the hall, crashing into walls as it continued to choke, and crouched down next to Jem.

Jem was awake, but in bad shape. His chest was heaving and blood streaked from the corner of his mouth down his chin and neck. His eyes were clouded over, the light usually found in them moving farther and farther away with each second.

"Jem," Will said gently, cradling Jem's head in his lap and placing a hand on his cheek, forcing him to make eye contact. "Jem, stay with me. Do you have your medicine? Did you bring it with you?"

Jem gave a small nod and motioned with his eyes to the breast pocket of his vest.

"Ok, it's going to be ok," Will said quickly as he reached into Jem's pocket. Just as he was retrieving the small vile a bloodcurdling scream echoed down the hall.

Will's head snapped in the direction it had come from, fear gripping him. That scream was human, and there was only one other human in the building.

He looked down at Jem, who's eyes were just as wide and filled with fear as his own. "Go," Jem croaked. "I can do this myself. Go. Tessa…"

Without further encouragement Will leaped to his feet, dashing around the corner and heading for the room Jem had told Tessa to hide in.

"Tessa!" he called out as he came to a stop in front of the door. He only saw her for a moment, standing in the middle of the room, her back to him as she faced a cloaked creature that towered five feet over her. In the next second Tessa turned to Will, their eyes connecting for the briefest of moments, and then the creature raised its arm, the cloak dropping away to reveal a skeleton thin hand. With a flick of its wrist the door, which had been unhinged and lying on the floor by the doorway, whipped into the air and slammed into its frame, sealing shut.

"No!" Will cried, running forward and slamming into the door. It didn't budge. "Tessa! Tessa!" he yelled, slamming his fists into the door to no avail. He yanked at the doorknob, pulling with all his strength. It didn't even tremble in its frame. He ripped his stele from his belt, quickly drawing an opening rune on the door, but before he could even finish the mark it sizzled and burned away, falling from the wood like ash. The door was sealed shut. There was no way in.

"No!" Will yelled, kicking the door. He whipped around, grabbing at his hair and pacing for a moment. There has to be a way in, there's always a way in. Think, Will, think! he yelled at himself.

He stopped suddenly, turning to face the sealed room. He knew what he had to do. It was risky, but it was the only chance Tessa had. He took a step forward, resting his forehead and palms on the door, his eyes closed. "Tessa!" he called through the wood. "If you can hear me, know I'm coming from you. I swear it. I'm coming."