ashes to ashes ➙ simon lewis [1]

v. DUMORT.

Churches never liked Bella, and Bella never liked churches. She'd spent too many years being coerced into attending every Sunday with her family, and it was really not ideal. Needless to say, when Jace and Clary needed to steal some sharp objects from a random Catholic church, Bella stayed outside, figuring out the best ways to arrange her knives within her jacket for easy access. Eventually, she decided the pocketknife would just have to remain hidden within her boot to avoid accidentally grabbing a shorter blade than intended.

The subway ride to Uptown was, mostly, anxiously silent. Clary looked lost in thought, almost as if she was completely unaware of Bella and Jace's presence. Eventually Bella, who had been rapidly tapping her foot and fidgeting in her seat, turned up to look at Jace, tightly gripping the pole rather than sitting with her and Clary. "You don't seem particularly concerned," she remarked.

Jace raised a brow. "About the rat," he asked, "or about storming a lair filled with vampires?"

"Yes."

His lips quirked into a small smile, reminiscent from earlier. "I'm not."

Bella narrowed her eyes. There was something about the blond's inherent arrogance that set her on the edge. "That doesn't sound normal."

His indifferent expression remained perfectly intact. It would have been unsettling if it didn't remind Bella so much of herself. That was the entire problem. "Neither does a warlock who refuses to do magic," he pointed out, "but here we are, I suppose."

Maybe her conversations with Magnus and Isabelle earlier had eased her anger when someone mentioned the fact that she was a warlock, because she didn't feel quite as angry as usual. Instead, she made a face, sticking her tongue out at Jace like a child. He blinked in quick succession, as if caught off-guard, before rolling his eyes and looking away pointedly.

Other than that, the subway ride was uncomfortably quiet.

Bella had anticipated that the Shadowhunters would suffocate her with questions about why it mattered so much to her, or at least refuse to allow her to tag along. But sometimes it seemed like she wasn't even there. She didn't know where their other friends from before had ended up, either, but it didn't seem like they would be incoming backup. It would likely just be the three of them.

Maybe that was why they weren't protesting so much. Despite Jace's apparent indifference, their odds against an entire clan of vampires were not particularly impressive.

The streets were unit unsettlingly empty as the trio exited from the subway car, and the air tasted metallic and thick. It was obvious that, despite Jace's insistence that he knew where the hotel was located, the Shadowhunters were unaware of how to reach it. Bella, grateful that she had wandered upon the den once before, led them to it right away.

Jace's golden eyes were suspicious in the dim lighting. "How do you know how to get here?"

Bella shrugged. "I've been around before."

Clary looked over slowly, rising anger palpable in her hooded stare. "Why didn't you tell us, then, instead of just letting us wait on Magnus?"

Frankly, Bella wasn't planning on answering, but Jace beat her to it regardless. "Because regardless of whether she was the one to inform us, it would have reflected upon Magnus, and she wanted that to remain his choice. Matters are handled in an extremely old-fashioned way in the Downworld. There's a certain hierarchy of responsibility delegated to well-known members. Such as the High Warlock of Brooklyn."

Clary had already refocused on the current task at hand halfway through Jace's little speech -- finding her friend. She pointed at the faded hotel sign, dangling haphazardly above them. It should've said Hotel Dumont, but someone had repainted over the "N" with a dark red "R."