Chapter Text
"Is that the mundane's name? I'm afraid Simon's coming with us."
That right there was the first time Simon thought he was going to die. Even after counting all those times when school, his social life or anything else for that matter had tried to ruin him. None of those things had ever come close to threatening his life for real, however.
But now he was being held what around hundred feet above the ground? By a couple of vampires? Definitely not cool.
He could try squirming a little, but even if the vampires let go of him, in the end, he would only meet the ground and he would... well die. Now, what good would that do? He would never pursue his dreams with music. He would never confess to how he felt about Clary. How he'd always felt. And he didn't even dare to imagine how his mom and sister would take this because they wouldn't. Not if this was really the end.
He still couldn't believe this. All this supernatural stuff was so new to him and here he was, already reaching to death itself. What an accomplishment in such a short time.
"No! No, he's not a part of this," Clary begged and Simon's heart broke upon seeing her so close to crying. Which was kind of ridiculous when you thought about it. He was in danger and his mind was still mostly focused on Clary. Just like always. He was really far too deep in it.
"And it'll be my pleasure to kill you unless you return him," Jace joined but once again it did nothing. Those were all just words and it didn't matter whether they were pleas or threats, the vampires still had the upper hand and Simon was still so close to losing it all completely.
"Careful. We'd be violating the Accords," Alec pointed out and if Simon wasn't stunned by the whole situation, he wouldn't help but laugh at that. Because how was it possible that his kidnappers weren't violating these so-called Accords too?
"I'm afraid your sidekick's quite right," the vampire continued and all Simon could do was just inwardly curse. "The Night Children have broken no laws. We're negotiating."
Negotiating my ass, Simon thought, but then another thought struck him. The Night Children? What a cool name for a band. Right after that he mentally slapped himself because he was still so close to dying and this was not the time to think about anything else than just that.
"The mundane, unharmed, in exchange for the Mortal Cup."
So this was his role? One so-called Mortal Cup in exchange for one mortal Simon Lewis. What could possibly go wrong?
"And the clock is ticking. Tick-tock, people," the vampire finished and right at that moment, the real panic took over Simon. But he still couldn't do anything about it. So he just hopelessly shouted Clary's name right before his vision got blurry. The only reply he got was Clary's terrified voice. She was screaming his name. Hearing something so close to breaking down even intensified his fear. So, in the end, he could only hope that he would hear her voice again. As happy and as beautiful as he'd remembered it. That was the only way how he would get through this.
And his fear hadn't lost his strength even when he found himself locked inside what he presumed the vampire lair was. He had no idea how much time had passed. For him, it seemed like hours but deep inside he was fully aware that couldn't be farther from the truth. To his defense, though, time went by far more slowly when he was terrified beyond imagination.
But the adrenaline pumping through his veins couldn't leave him alone. Not even for a little bit. He had to keep trying. No matter how stupid it might be.
So he marched towards the locked door and started knocking nervously. "Hello! Anyone?"
But did he really wanted someone to come? Judging by his heavy breathing, it was hard to tell really. But, god, he felt so hopeless. There was no way he would start thinking straight anytime soon much to his dismay.
"I'm just an accounting student. I have no value to anyone. An-and I barely saw your faces, so if you let me go, I couldn't even identify you," he stammered and turned away from the door. He had no other choice than to just start pacing nervously back and forth. Because that was what fear had always been doing to him.
"Not that I would, 'cause you guys are vampires! Who would believe me?" he pointed out more to himself and started waving his hands around but that did nothing to ease his mind nor his heart. And breathing was still the hardest task ever for him. "I didn't even know you guys existed until yesterday!"
But then something happened. He wasn't sure whether he heard or spotted something but it was still enough to convince him to take another look and after that, he was no longer alone.
"Is anyone there?" he asked and in a flash of seconds, someone indeed appeared. But everything happened too quickly to Simon's liking. One slight glance was all that was needed for him to know that this vampire was the same one that had kidnapped him. So much for not being able to identify them.
However, the sight of the vampire startled him so much that he couldn't help but recoil. And his legs suddenly felt much weaker than ever before, especially when the door to his cell opened and the vampire uncovered himself in his full glory. And the closer he got, the more his whole body faltered.
"If your goal was to scare the crap out of me, mission accomplished!"
"And if yours was to piss me off, then it's mission accomplished for you too," the vampire growled and uncovered his fangs.
Simon could swear his heart stopped beating for a split of seconds. He flinched back once again and could feel how the shivering only emphasized. He was so close to collapsing to the ground. Why he hadn't done so already was utterly beyond him.
"Okay, that's way scarier than in all vampire movies I've ever seen," he claimed and ran both his hands through his hair.
The vampire just glared at him in return, unamused.
"Look, as far as I'm concerned you can have it out with those Shadowhunters. Especially, the blonde one. You must be definitely older than them so it shouldn't be such a huge problem to take them down, right? Or is it rude of me to talk about your age?"
"You can never shut up, can't you?" the vampire hissed and kept coming closer right until he had Simon completely cornered.
"And you can't just simply let me go, can you? So I guarantee you that this is not exactly a walk in the park for me either!" Simon furiously shouted. Maybe no one was going to save him. Maybe he was indeed going to die here. In that case, no one could blame him for losing his mind. Because he'd just screamed at a vampire. If that didn't mean he was losing his mind, he was not sure what would.
But the vampire didn't march, infuriated, toward him as Simon supposed he would. He retained his composure and only lifted his eyebrows in slight wonder. "I'm here to follow orders, but you're tempting me to hurt you on your own."
"You're just following orders?" Simon questioned and furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.
The vampire's threatening stare returned right away. "What do you care?"
Simon quickly shook his head and glanced at the ground for a split of a second. "No reason. I just want to understand all of this somehow."
The vampire suddenly took a step forward and growled, making sure his fangs were once again visible to the latter. "No one needs you to understand!"
"Okay, okay! Jeez," Simon sighed and lifted both of his hands in front of his face in a surrendering manner. "You just didn't seem like the type, that's all."
After that, Simon thought only more threats awaited him, which was why he kept his head lowered. Facing the dark-haired vampire had seized being easy long time ago but now, he was on a completely new level of being terrified. If that was even possible. But like vampires were real, this obviously was too.
And yet no words or any other sounds managed to find their way to his ears. There was only this utter silence, scaring him even more. And as he slowly raised his head back up, he realized the vampire hadn't moved at all. Which made the temptation to panic stronger than ever. He still had nowhere to go. And he'd never been more aware of that than in that exact moment.
In the end, however, the vampire decided to break that silence for him. "You were wrong."
"About what?"
"You said that you had no value to anyone. But sadly you do. And until we get what we want, you have nowhere to go," he coldly stated and turned around towards the door, motioning for Simon to follow.
But before Simon could force his weak legs to move, he dared to point out one last thing. "And you said you would let me go unharmed."
The vampire stopped moving and Simon could swear he just rolled his eyes. That much was obvious even though all he could see was the latter's back. "I did. It's in your best interest to not tempt me or anyone else to violate that."
After that, Simon really had nothing more to say. He just gulped and followed him outside, praying that someone was going to help him soon.