#and I met 2 cool ppl!!! one of them hadn’t heard her before and he was blown away

[blacksails2017]

no thoughts just sloppy jane

[golbrocklovely]

only the lonely survive // colby brock - chapter one: just another la devotee

A/N: so... I’ve had this story in my head for a long time, and now I’m finally posting it! I have a bunch of chapters already written, but I’m gonna be posting the first two just so ppl can get a read for them and see if they like them. and if i get some good feedback, i’ll post weekly :)

here’s the description of the story

trigger warning: swearing

word count: 1766

DAY: 1/14

"Are you sure you have everything?" My mom asked, standing in between me and the front door. 

I rolled my eyes, "Yes mom. I literally went over this with you last night. I've been packed for, like, three days now."

She sighed, smiling. "I know, I just don't want you to leave yet. I can't believe I'm not gonna see you for two whole weeks. How will I survive?"

"You'll be fine, trust me. Besides, this is like a trial run to see what it will be like when I actually move out to LA." I stated, grabbing my bags and pulling them closer to me.

"That's not funny, Skylar." Her voice was deadpan. Oh no, not this again.

"I wasn't trying to be, Mother." I remarked, my voice the same as hers.

She exhaled, "Let's not argue before you leave. We'll talk about it when you get home though."

"That's fine with me." I smirked. Then, I heard my phone vibrate. I looked down at it, seeing I had a new message from Casey.

 Casey: ayeee bitch im here leTS GOOOOO

 I chuckled and then looked at my mom, nodding my head. I opened my arms to her, and she smiled sadly. We embraced, hugging as hard as we could. As much as I couldn't wait to leave, I'm still going to miss my mom.

"Text me when you land, okay? Make sure to call me every night, or as often as you want. Whatever hour, it doesn't matter." She whispered.

"I will, Mom," I said pulling away from her. "I love you."

"I love you too, Skye." She leaned in and kissed my cheek. I grabbed my bags and opened the door, seeing Casey in her red Jeep. She waved at my mom.

"Have fun! Don't do anything too crazy! Make sure to use protection!" My mom yelled.

I groaned. "Would you like to yell that to the whole neighborhood?"

"I meant sunblock, not condoms. But now that I'm saying it, maybe don't use too much protection. Ya looking a little pale, and I want grand kids anyway." She laughed.

I snorted, "Bye mom!"

"Bye honey!" She grinned, slowly closing the door.

I rolled my bags over to the car, opening the backseat's door. I threw my luggage in, closed the door, and then opened the passenger side. I huffed, winded from how heavy my bags were.

"Did you bring your whole closet?" Casey asked.

"Just about." I sighed, jumping into the car.

"By the way, I fucking love your mom." She giggled.

Starting up the car, the radio turned on. Panic! At The Disco's 'LA Devotee' started playing. It must have been from Casey's playlist, specifically made from our trip to LA.

After a moment of silence, I smiled. "Oh my God, we're actually going to LA. Like, this is happening."

We both looked at each other. Then we screamed excitedly.

"I have been waiting so fucking long for this to happen!" She yelled, turning up the music.

"You're telling me! The fact that we are actually leaving Philly and going all the way across the country to fucking Los Angeles... is fucking mind blowing. Like, I can't believe it. Why did it take us so long?" I sighed.

We both sighed and nodded our heads at each other, "School."

"If only we could have graduated sooner." I stated, shrugging my shoulders.

"If only we had met sooner." She smirked. I smiled back at her.

Casey and I hadn't been friends that long, only three years. We met because we both went to the same college. I was in the theater program working on my acting abilities, while she was taking dance. We ended up meeting because we both got into the same musical - 42nd Street. If you've never heard of that show, that's understandable. It's old as hell, but honestly still a good musical.

Casey is originally from Florida, while I've always lived in Pennsylvania. We connected with each other because we were both the outcasts. I was always overlooked, not for lack of talent but I'm overshadowed easily. She, however, is amazing at dance and always picked first. This caused a lot of jealousy to be thrown her way, but she took it like a champ.

We also have a lot of the same interest - youtubers to be exact. While we both love the bigger influencers, like Shane Dawson and Jenna Marbles, we also love a lot of relatively smaller ones. Like, the Trap House for instance. We talk about the guys a lot, especially Sam and Colby. I mean, I do most of the talking while she just listens.

Because of them, we started youtube channels. We're pretty popular on there, having both around 500+ subs. She does dance videos, while I do random covers, Q and As, and just whatever I can think of.

"So, explain to me again why we didn't have to pay for a place to stay at?" I asked, turning my head towards Casey.

"My uncle owns a bunch of properties out in LA and he turns them into AirBnbs so I asked if I could 'rent' one for two weeks and he was cool with it." She shrugged her shoulders.

"Thank God you have a rich uncle because otherwise I don't think I could have afforded this trip." I groaned, annoyed.

"What? You mean making eight dollars an hour can't afford you the luxury of living in LA?" She snorted.

I fumed, "No bitch. I can barely afford ramen at this point, and that shits three for a dollar."

"Don't get your panties in a twist now. We both got enough for the trip, and my uncle also stocked the house with food, so we'll have some when we get there. Plus, he's lending me his car for the time being too, so transportation won't be the biggest bitch." She responded.

"Why does everyone have a rich uncle but me?" I mumbled. She slapped my leg and laughed. I giggled back at her.

/  /  /  /

"Skye, Skye... Skye wake up!" Casey whispered, loudly into my ear.

I jolted awake, glaring at her immediately. She snickered back at me.

A muffled voice came over the loudspeaker, "Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We will be landing in Los Angeles in 15 minutes. The temperature right now is a cool 75 degrees. It is currently 2:38 pm. On behalf of me and the crew, thank you for flying American Airways and enjoy the rest of your day."

"Oh shit we're already here?" I asked, shifting myself in my seat.

"Yeah, the moment we got off the ground, you went out like a light." She replied.

"Well, I'm sorry but waking up at the ass crack of dawn isn't something I usually do so I'm little tired." I retorted.

"Yeah whatever. Oh, so you know, we don't have to get a cab anymore to get to the house. I have some friends out here and one of them is gonna pick us up from the airport. He's leaving right now." She stated.

I nodded my head, "Oh that's good. I remember you telling me about your friends, but like, you never went into detailed of who they are."

"The one that's picking us up is an old friend from Florida. We used to live next door to each other until he moved out to LA and I left to go to school in Philly." Casey explained, grabbing her carry-on bag and putting her phone inside of it.

"What does he do?" I questioned.

"Uh... he does youtube and he's a dancer, like myself. He's the one that got me into dance to be honest." She explained, shrugging her shoulders.

"Oh wow, I must meet him then. Without you being a dancer, I never would have met you." I smirked.

She laughed. "How much would your life suck if I wasn't in it?"

"Honestly I would be better off." I joked.

The plane soon landed. After getting our stuff and rushing out, we went and got our luggage.

Casey had told me she had been to LA multiple times, mostly to come visit this friend of hers that lives here. She told me that he has a bunch of roommates that we will probably meet at some point during our stay.

After waiting outside for ten minutes, Casey started to get impatient.

"Ugh, where is he?" Casey groaned, tapping her foot on the ground and looking out into the street.

"Didn't you say he was leaving for us while we were still in the air? Shouldn't he be here by now?" I replied, leaning against my luggage.

"Traffic in LA is a bitch..." She mumbled back.

We both looked down the street, car after car after car passing us. None of them were him apparently.

"Oh shit there he is!" She yelled, pointing at a black car come toward us.

I squinted, trying to see who was driving. I shrugged and grabbed my bags, turning my back to the car pulling up next to us. I grabbed my phone and sent my mom a quick text saying I had landed. She would have been pissed if I didn't say something to her soon.

"It's so good to see you! What's it been, like a year, since I last saw you?" Casey shouted.

I turned around to see Casey hugging the person, their back to me. He was kind of shortish, even though he was still taller than me. He had his hair in a short ponytail. He was wearing a sweatshirt, jeans, and sneakers.

"Let me introduce you to Skye." Casey said, pointing at me. Her friend then turned around.

My eyes widened. I shook my head, trying to look away and play off the fact that I knew who her friend was.

"Skye, this is Corey. Corey, Skye." She smirked.

"It's nice to meet you Skye." Corey replied, sticking his hand out.

"Uh, it's nice to meet you too. T-thank you so much for picking us up." I stuttered, shaking his hand.

"No problem. Sorry I'm late though, traffic has been backed up for like the last five miles. Here, let me take your bags." He slowly took my bags from me and popped his trunk, putting them in.

I turned to Casey. "We are having a serious talk when we get to the house."

"What's there to talk about?" She joked. She turned towards the car and got into the passenger side. I rolled my eyes, getting into the backseat.

| CHAPTER 2 >>

[alittleshocking]

Nightmare on Main Street (*) [Shanius feat. Mariel]

In which Shock and Lock cause some mischief on Halloween...

@littlcdvl, @princess-mei, @ariel-the-rebel

[tw -- violence (though mild, mostly scaring ppl), premeditated attack, graphic thoughts of violence]

LOCK: Halloween was the Adamsons’ night. Every year without fail, they got an itch. An itch that had to be scratched. And it was never their way for them to ignore it.

This year was different though. This year they were in Swynlake. A town full of magic that had its fair share of disasters sweep through its streets. You might have thought that one of these disasters would ruin their plans for mayhem tonight. But as luck would have it, tonight’s disaster seemed to be working in their favor.

They had decided to wear werewolf masks and go around scaring kids that ran into their path or get into character and cause some werewolf destruction. Busted windows, excessive ‘claw’ marks on doors, pro wolf graffiti - the works! It really was going as planned when the magical blast rolled through.

Lock had been working on recreating some claw like marks on a local business’s door when the magic swept over him. The transformation hadn’t been painful. Just - weird. One second, he was looking at his gloved hands, the next, said hands were giant paws. His new, large head whipped around, ears sticking up towards…Shock?

SHOCK: Shock had been pumped for Halloween, since, well, since they’d moved in the first place. This was the first Halloween where the Adamsons wouldn’t already be pinned for trouble and mischief. In Swynlake, they had more anonymity than just the wolf masks. No one would know to trace back anything they did to the Adamsons. As of yet, none of them had done anything of note. Mommy and Daddy were so proud of them. Maybe this move really was good, they said.

Meanwhile, Lock and Shock and Barrel plotted. 

It hadn’t been hard to choose werewolves as their victims. They were easy prey, ironically. Also, that one was a prissy rich boy who deserved to get knocked down a peg or ten. Shock hated everything about his smug face. He deserved to become a werewolf, in her opinion. He deserved to know how it felt to be mocked and ridiculed. Everyone did. It built character.

Though, it wasn’t anything personal, really. Werewolves were low-hanging fruit. Easy-peasy, lemon-squeezy. 

Her fingers were black from spray paint and her boots muddy as they trudged from neighborhood to neighborhood, running all about town. 

When the magic swept over them, she was standing look out, down aways from Town Hall while Lock fucked with the door to the antique shop. The music could be heard all the way down the street, even though the building itself was out of sight. She saw the magic, though, a few seconds before it washed over them.

“What the fu--”

And then, she was suddenly down on all fours.

“What the fuck?” she said, but her voice came out as a growl. She blinked over towards her brother, except her brother wasn’t her brother, but a wolf--black and hulking.

“Holy shit! Lock?!” She laughed once, but it came out like a bark. 

LOCK: Lock matched her bark/laugh with his own at her. You had to be shitting him! No way! This was...this was too perfect. He walked around Shock - lighter and smaller than himself, he noted - tail flicking back and forth as his nose sniffed. Taking in all the enhanced scents around him. The paint smell still in the air. The sweet scent of candy close by. Even people, not far from them either .

A brilliant idea went off in his head as he looped back around his sister to stand beside her. 

“You smell that?” He asked, raising his head back up in the air, his large nose inhaling again. 

No wonder people were so scared of these things. They were natural born predators. Full with power Lock had never felt before. And he planned to make the most of it while this mishap lasted.

“Fresh meat,” He answered for her, turning his gaze down the street and he bared his teeth.

SHOCK: Shock wasn’t thinking about smells. She was still in the “holy shit I’m a wolf” phase of things. She had questions, you know? Was this permanent? What the fuck had just happened? She wasn’t necessarily worried about the answers, but she did want to know them. 

Lock trotted around her. Somehow she could still read the smug-impressed-with-himself look on her brother’s face. 

She tentatively copied him, lifting her snout to the sky, nostrils quivering. 

And she did smell something that made her start to drool. Her tail wagged once, despite herself. It dropped down the next second but she turned towards the scent, all those people partying in Town Hall. Though it wasn’t just humans, she didn’t think so. There were too many smells for that to be the case. Had they been turned too?

“Man, Swynlake must be on our side tonight because this is how you pull a prank. Man, I love magic. Hey, how much damage you think we could do like this.” She pulled her lips back in a wolf-smile, sharp teeth glinting.

LOCK: Lock was someone who had learned to roll with the punches in life early on. Sure, he had questions, but at the moment, none of them mattered. All that mattered was all the scents and other changes to his senses hitting him all at once. And the power. The strength he felt in this body.

Fuck, he loved magic too if this is what it felt like.

“More than they’d like,” He growled, turning back to the door and jumping up onto his back paws to drag his claws across the wood with ease. He barked another life, starting to look around for more things to destroy. “We can keep up the little stuff ooooor -” He eyed the windows. “Do you want to go all out and break the windows like we’re looting the place too?”

SHOCK: Shock’s ears twitched (weird) at the sound of Lock’s claws against the door. It looked wicked cool, but the sound had sent shivers down her spine. Gross. Besides, breaking windows and scratching doors was kiddie stuff compared to what they could do as full on fucking wolves--with claws, like Lock had just demonstrated. And teeth, that they hadn’t demonstrated at all yet. 

“Why would a werewolf want to loot somewhere?” Shock said, realizing the stupidity of what they’d been doing up to this point. 

“Werewolves--they hunt.” Her eyes glinted yellow in the moon light and she felt the urge to lift her head back and howl. She was not going to do that. However, her tail did start wagging again, ever so slightly.

LOCK: Lock snorted, looking away from her. “Well, they fucked up that bar. I was just saying,”

He then looked back to her, noting her tail wag at the hunting comment. Now that - that was a good idea. But he wasn’t going to tell Shock that. He just sniffed the air once again, taking a step towards Town Hall. Looting and graffiti could wait for another day. Now was time to test out these teeth and see what these claws could really do.

“If we’re hunting, lets go before this wears off - if it ever does.”

SHOCK: It wasn’t werewolves who fucked up the Hunted Deer. Shock was almost certain of it. Though, whoever did it, she really wanted to give them a high-five, because it’d been brilliant from what she had heard. 

There prank was going to be much better.

Nothing was more anonymous than nondescript wolves.

Shock didn’t acknowledge Lock’s good point. It had been her idea to get moving anyway. Instead, she just lept forward slightly so that Lock couldn’t gain any more ground on her. They were side by side as they slipped into the shadows, away from the lamp light. Gosh, wolves really could be silent as fuck, huh?

“Alright, who should we go after? Someone easy to spook. Like--teenage girls.” She grinned her wolfish grin again. 

LOCK: The pair fell into step as they lurked through the shadows, the music from Town Hall making for an ominous backdrop. But who to go after? Anyone was easy pickings, to be honest. What could beat a werewolf after all?

Teenage girls? Honestly, the perfect targets. Not only were they easy to scare, they would also be sure to tell everyone what happened. 

All this trouble to ruin the werewolves’ reputation even more would make one wonder if the Adamsons had anything personal against them. Not Lock, at least. He could give a shit, but right now, they were the easiest to fuck with. And maybe the most dangerous if these teeth set in his new jaw were anything to go by. Too bad for them they’d have no one to blame.

“Sounds good to me. Chase them around a bit, maybe corner them in a dead end and watch them cry until they pass out.”

SHOCK: Shock had asked her the other day when she was going to get friends her own age and Shock had just scoffed. See, the thing was: she didn’t really want friends. Friends were boring. No one knew how to roll with the punches like an Adamson. No one else would think about chasing teenage girls and sound excited about the prospect of terrifying them. 

At least, no one she had met so far.

Which meant when it came down to it there were no better sidekicks than Thing 1 and Thing 2. 

Not that she would ever say anythng like that. 

Instead, she just laughed. ��Oh, that’ll be soo good. Maybe we can make them piss themselves.” 

As they drew closer, Shock slowed down slightly, hiding partially behind a building across the street from them. The door opened but it was a fucking tiger with a little kid. And while Shock had no problems fucking with a little kid, fucking with a tiger was a different story. She wasn’t an idiot. 

She huffed and her tail flicked, already impatient. 

LOCK: Lock stood with his sister, hidden in the darkness of the night. Yeah, the tiger and kid were definitely off limits. They would have to wait for someone else. Easier targets - teenage girls like they’d agreed upon. Hopefully they all hadn’t turned into Wonder Woman or something like that. Hopefully they’d gone with boring, typical costumes so they wouldn’t be a threat.

After a few minutes, impatience set in and he sat down, huffing through his new nose. “Come on, come on. We don’t have all night.”

Or did they? It was still a question lingering in the back of his mind. What if they were stuck like this? Was that actually a bad thing?

He didn’t like dwelling on these thoughts, and thankfully he didn’t have to for long. His ears perked up as the doors to Town Hall opened again and out walked....a scarecrow and the Mother of Dragons. Or, wait...Mei?

SHOCK: Shock wasn’t really thinking about whether or not they were stuck like this. From the stories she’d heard, this kind of shit just happened. The people who survived were the ones who rolled with the punches. Honestly, the Adamsons should’ve moved to this town years ago. It was built for them. Well, it was built for their demon-spawn children. Shock didn’t really know how Mommie Dearest and Wade would think about all this. Nor did she really care.

She was totally okay with this turn of events, even though, yeah, she was a little impatient too.

“Shut up,” she huffed at her brother’s own impatience, pretending as if she was above it all. Even if the anxious flick of her tail would give her away. 

Still, they sat and waited as one or two more groups of people came and went. 

And then--two slight looking young...girls. Sorta. One smelled like a barn, but Shock digressed. They were going to have to do.

“Perfect,” Shock said, standing up and prowling forward slightly. “We should go around the side of the building so we can cut them off when they turn down the street.” She started moving in that direction, silent on her new paws.

LOCK: “You shut up,” Lock growled back, deep and low in his voice. His impatience making Shock even more tiring than usual. But he kept his cool. Especially to not blow their cover with the two girls getting further from Town Hall.

He nodded, and followed along with her. Again, he wasn’t going to tell her it was a good idea. Had to see how it played out anyway. Or whatever. He just didn’t like to admit she had a good idea, ever. Even if she had her fair share of them.

“We could also split up,” He suggested, his tail wagging a little at the idea. “You chase them towards me, I chase them back your way. Lead them down a deadend - it’d be perfect.”

SHOCK: Splitting up was a good idea. Her wolf-instincts appreciated it. Circling the prey so that they could chase it into the perfect spot. However, her Shock-instincts were telling her not to let Lock know that he’d had a good idea. 

“As long as I get first dibs,” Shock reasoned with a wolfish grin and then nipped at his shoulder playfully. “Get going. I’ll give you a few seconds head start so you’ve got time to get up the street. And stay out of  sight until you hear them coming.”

Instructions given, Shock peeled off from her brother, trusting for him to be competent. She slunk into the shadows, waiting for the girls to get close enough. She could hear the scuffle of their shoes easily. Their voices too. When they passed her hiding spot, she started walking behind them.

When the blonde turned around, she ducked out of the light of a street lamp.

“Did you--see that?” the girl asked her companion.

Shock let out a low, menacing  growl.

LOCK: Lock gave another huff at her and her nip, pulling away from her. But he nodded, and made his way down the street, staying behind the buildings and out of sight. He parked himself just at the end of the street, already eyeing a couple of good deadend alleys on his way there. 

Now, he waits.

The redheaded scarecrow turned to look at the other, confused at first. Then she heard the growl. “Did you hear that?” She asked, whipping around, straw falling from under her hat around her as she trembled. “Maybe we should go back…”

SHOCK: This was too easy.

“Turn back? No. Let whoever it is come out and face me! I am the Mother of Drago--”

Shock stepped into the light and the girl shut her annoying face. That was better. There was a cloying smell in the air that hadn’t been there a moment ago. What was it? It made Shock want to lick her lips with hunger. 

“Go away, wolf!” the girl commanded, but Shock just prowled closer, growling, growling. 

“Stop!”

Shock sped up almost trotting along the sidewalk now. 

When she was a few feet away, she lept forward on her powerful haunches. The taller girl let out a shriek and stumbled backwards, grabbing on to the other girl as Shock landed right in front of her. She lunged and grabbed the girl’s dress in her teeth, tearing the hem with a snarl.

LOCK: Lock could already hear the shouts from down the street. He gave another bark of a laugh, drowned out by the terror of the two girls in the air. He stood up on all fours, peeking out and getting very excited for the upcoming chase. His tail even wagged.

“That’s a werewolf!” The scarecrow shrieked. An animal didn’t move like that. Or seem to grin at the fear coming off the two girls. Straw fell from her body as her friend used her to stay up. But she fell back herself, her hat dropping off and more straw surrounding her as the wolf pounced. “Mei!”

Now was the worst time to become a scarecrow. Well, no time was the best it seemed - but now was definitely the worst!

SHOCK: The stupid cloth of the dress didn’t taste very good, but it was worth it for the shrieks of the two girls (well, girl and scarecrow, if we’re being particular.) Those shrieks were better than tooth-rotting candy. Her black lips pulled back in a smile, even as she shook her head, jerking the fabric back and forth.

“Unhand me you fiend!” shrieked the blonde bitch. 

What the fuck was this? A Song of Ice and Fire book? (Yes, Shock had read those books, obviously. When you’re stuck in a hospital bed, books are your best friends.) Not that it mattered. Even if whoever this girl was had somehow morphed into Daenerys Stormborn herself,  she could still be bitten. Shock wasn’t made of fire.

“Run! RUN!” The girl squealed, grabbing on to her useless straw friend.

Shock’s head jerked, but the piece of dress in her teeth ripped. The girls took off down the street. Right towards Lock. Shock spit out the fabric and gave the girls a meter headstart before springing forward again, her paws near silent as she chased them over the cobbles.

“Faster!” shrieked the Daenerys-wanna-be.

LOCK: The scarecrow struggled to follow as their companion pulled them down the street, leaving a trail of straw behind her but it was long forgotten now. She was letting out her own shouts for help, but no one was coming.

No one other than Lock, and he certainly wasn’t there to help.

He stepped out from his hiding spot just as silent as Shock had, blocking off the rest of the street. He threw his head back and let out a howl before lunging at them, and growling as he landed a mere couple of feet from them. 

His appearance and howl had made the scarecrow come to a halt, and clinging to the white haired girl. “If you got dragons, now would be a great time to call for them!” She said, then looked around for any other escape.

An alley! Without a second thought, she tugged on the other’s arm to pull them away from the wolf and hopefully to safety.

“This way!”

Lock was quick to follow though, keeping pace behind them.

SHOCK: God, that howl. Lock could be so dramatic sometimes. He’d deny it, but really, when it came down to, there was no denying it. She would roll her eyes if she could. Could wolves roll their eyes? She didn’t exactly know and wasn’t going to care enough to figure it out just to be annoying to her brother. No, they had a mission. 

So, she loped forwards, the humans too slow for her to really run full speed to catch up with them. Kind of sucked, because she wanted to stretch her legs and all these powerful muscles. Honestly, why were people worried about becoming werewolves? This was excellent. 

By the time Lock was turning down the alley, she was at his side, trotting in sync with him. Their coats shimmered silver-black in the moonlight, glinting like knives. A fitting comparison, considering that they were weapons in these skins.

“If I knew where my dragons were, they would be here!” Daenerys screeched. 

The girls hit the chained linked fence. 

“We’re trapped!” the blonde lamented.

Shock snarled and growled. 

The girl lifted her chin. “Halt!” she commanded. “You will pay for this if you take one step closer!” 

Shock didn’t just take one step closer, she took several, close enough to snap at the finger that the girl had pointed her. The girl shrieked and tripped backwards.

LOCK:  Cornered in a back alley? It was the perfect position for them. And not unfamiliar territory for Lock. SoCal had a tendency to get rather ugly the further south you went from the City of Angels. Even though it was Mei he had cornered, his eyes still glinted with excitement at the damage they were causing.

To their mental states. To the werewolves’ reputation. This was shaping up to be the best Halloween ever.

Until Shock got too close with her teeth. Lock growled, though it wasn’t directed at the girls. “Shock, too cl -”

“Get lost!” The scarecrow called, actually taking off her boot (revealing tied off bottoms of her overalls to prevent more straw falling out) and tossing it right at the closest wolf’s head as she limped in front of the other girl. “You’re barking up the wrong tree!”

SHOCK: Shock wasn’t paying attention. 

Not to the scarecrow. Not, even, to her brother’s hesitance. She was having too much fun. You could say the bloodlust was upon her. If she was human, she’d be wearing a manic grin, her eyes glinting. She’d look partially insane. And, hey, maybe she was! All those chemicals couldn’t have been good for a kid. 

All she wanted was more screams. If she was a sorcerer, she’d bottle them up in jars and keep them on her windowsill like little trophies. If she was a demon, she’d be one of those ones that sucked the fear from people and was able to sustain herself on just that and that alone. 

As a wolf, she wanted to taste blood. 

Just one little bite. 

The boot colliding with her head was barely felt. She was very much focused on the actual human. The one with sweat she could smell, sweet as candy. 

She sure was pretty when she cried. 

Shock snarled again and jumped forward. Not close enough to actually reach, but close enough to make the girl squeal like a pig and the chain-link fence behind them jingle like Christmas bells. 

LOCK: Lock hadn’t even registered he’d moved when he slammed Shock into the wall with his own body, a deep growl vibrating from within. He was faster than his own thoughts it seemed.

Causing fear and making them cry was one thing, but the way his sister’s teeth clamped down on the air in front of Mei told him the fun was over. Sure, a bite or any physical attack would work wonders for destroying the werewolves’ already terrible reputation. It’d be like a nuke - none of them would be able to stay in town after that.

But it was too risky. Leaving mental scars, they couldn’t be linked back to those in disguise. But physical - then you’re talking DNA and all sorts of technicalities he didn’t know too much about. He hadn’t been careful this whole time to have Shannon ruin things.

“Save the teeth for a second date,” He snarled. “Don’t ruin this.”

SHOCK: Shock’s wolf yelped as she was body slammed into the brick of the alley. Immediately, she whirled on her brother, the growl ripping out of her throat one of warning. Her prey was forgotten in light of her confusion. The instinct in her screaming to hunt now compromised by her brother’s cockblocking.

“What the fuck?” she snarled at him, her ears laying flat on her ead.

“Don’t tell me what to do, asshole. I think they’ll survive a stupid little bite. Don’t tell me you’re going soft.” 

With a shake of her head, she turned back to the girl and the scarecrow, who were watching with round eyes (well, naturally, for the stupid fucking scarecrow.) She didn’t hesitate this time (hadn’t hesitated before, just for the record) when she lunged at the blonde. Now, this time, she was actually intent on drawing blood, if only to give Lock a fucking lesson. 

LOCK: Shock was really testing him.

And Lock’s patience was at its breaking point.

As she lunged, he did as well, but at her once more. He bit down on her back leg, not really caring if he hurt her, and attempted to hold her back. Even drag her away. His eyes momentarily darted up to the two girls, and he let out a low growl as he held onto his sister. The noise made the scarecrow jump, but she grabbed her boot and looked at her friend.

“Now’s our chance!” She said, looking around before spotting a small hole in the corner of the fence. “There!”

They were taking too long. And Shock was strong as well, he wasn’t sure he could keep her back much longer.

SHOCK: Shock felt teeth clamp down on her leg and she was yanked backwards, her claws scrambling against the concrete as she tried to bite and snap at the girls. 

“Lock! Fucking let go of me! They’re getting away!” 

She lifted up her back feet to try to kick him in the face or the chest, but he wasn’t letting go. Her hits were clumsy at best, not used to this body. Seeing the girls squeezing themselves through the fence, Shock gave it up for a lost cause. Instead, she whirled on her brother, yanking her too from his mouth as she turned.

With a snarl, she jumped at him, colliding with his chest, her teeth going to his ear and biting hard, while her forepaws pressed against his neck and chest. If she was paying attention, she’d see the little blonde stop and look at them once she was safely on the other side of the fence, before her friend tugged her along. 

LOCK: Lock let out another growl, this one directed at Shock as she jumped on him, his mouth tinged a slight red from his bite. When his sister bit down on him as payback, he gave a little yelp before it transformed into a snarl. His front paws shot up at her face, his teeth bared and ready to take another bite.

“Stop being a fuckin’ idiot for once!” He snapped, shoving at her now as well with his back paws with as much force as he could manage. “Get off me while you’re at it!”

He snapped his powerful jaw at her as he continued to push. He also wasn’t paying attention to the girls anymore. They accomplished their plan, and now it was over. Let them run for all he cared.

[professional-anti]

Chapter Eleven: Magnus Bane

Okay, kiddos. Let’s go.

Jace and Clary leave the Brotherhood HQ, and Jace calls the cab driver a “brain-dead moron”. You know what, here’s the full quote:

Jace leaned forward and banged his hand against the partition separating them from the cab driver. “Turn left! Left! I said to take Broadway, you brain-dead moron!”

Oh, man, I’m so hot for Jace you guys. He’s so evil and cruel. I’m fanning myself. And the reason he wants to take Broadway? He wants breakfast. That’s it. It’s not a life-or-death situation. He wants fucking breakfast.

I like the idea of the diner they go to. A place where magical ppl can get together for some spaghetti. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this, but I LOVE the idea of a secret (or not-so-secret) magical Manhattan. It’s just so unfortunate that Clare’s is so bad.

Clarinet asks Jack-Jack about Magnus Bane. Jack-Jack explains that he’s a warlock. Alec shows up. Clare is the foreshadowing master.

Clary freaks out about a guy in front of the store who looks like a demon. Clary. Girl. Come on. You know about this stuff already. It’s been like two days. Calm down. Apparently he’s a bouncer (for a diner) and is the warlock equivalent of a squib.

Honesty, I love this diner. They have blood on tap!!!! That’s so cool!!!!!! Plus, the people eating there sound way more interesting than our MCs.

[A] boy with spiky blue dreads was sitting next to a beautiful Indian girl with long black hair and gauzelike golden wings sprouting from her back.

Gotta love how the only people of color are basically set-dressing, though. At least Simon is Jewish, even with the messed up antisemitic crosses-burned-into-him dream thing. Clare’s Jewish, though, so of course she represents only herself and leaves everyone else out in the cold.

Alec shows up:

There was a kinetic, almost feverish energy to [Alec] that hadn’t been there before. Something about Jace sharpened him, brought him into focus. If she were going to draw them together, she thought, she would make Jace a little blurry, while Alec stood out, all sharp, clear planes and angles.

Oh, here it is. The “poor gay boy only comes to life in front of hopelessly straight crush” trope. Bc Alec has nothing better to do than obsess over Jace, a boy who is currently being rude to the waitress. Does Clare honestly not know how annoying rude boys are?

Isabelle and Simon show up. Apparently, even Isabelle’s perfume is evil:

Isabelle’s hair tickled [Clary’s] face, smelling of some kind of vanilla perfume. Clary fought the urge to sneeze. She hated vanilla perfume. She’d never understood why some girls felt the need to smell like dessert.

Haven’t I mentioned? Clary is the best girl to ever girl. Isabelle can’t even order right. Instead of getting something reasonable, like a large order of coconut pancakes (gross, Clary), “Isabelle fastidiously order[s] a fruit smoothie”.

Jace goes off to flirt with the waitress. Clary is confused bc the waitress is a Downworlder and aren’t they, like, totally evil? Isabelle and Alec assure her that the only kill the bad Downworlders. The rest they let live.

“Like letting spiders live because they eat mosquitoes, Clary thought.” Uh, not really. The Downworlders aren’t spiders. They’re just people, living their lives.

“So they’re good enough to let live, good enough to let live, good enough to make your food for you, good enough to flirt with—but not really good enough? I mean, not as good as people.” Isabelle and Alec looked at her as if she were speaking Urdu. “Different from people,” said Alec finally.

This doesn’t really seem like such a difficult question? Isabelle and Alec are just trying to cover up their bullshit.

“Better than mundanes?” said Simon. “No,” Isabelle said decidedly. “You could turn a mundane into a Shadowhunter. But you could never turn a Downworlder into one of the Clave. They can’t withstand the runes.”

So Shadowhunters judge others based on their ability to become Shadowhunters? Seems not at all racist. I’m so glad we had this chat. Jace comes back and explains that there’s just a shit-ton of hostility between Shadowhunters and Downworlders, so it’s not really racism.

Miracle of miracles, Isabelle reveals that Magnus Bane has invited the magical community of New York to his house for a party. God, I love parties.

There’s a whole day before the party, so Simon and Isabelle decide to go for a walk in Central Park. For some reason, this makes Clary feel a “murderous rage”. These emotions are seriously not healthy.

Back at the Institute, Clary goes exploring in the library and finds a photo of her mom and other Order of the Pheonix members-cum-Deatheaters Shadowhunters. Evil Giles shows up and points out Valentine, Luke, the Lightwoods, Jace’s mom, and himself in the picture. Clary mentions that Jace doesn’t look anything like his father. What could this possibly mean?

Honestly, the concept of a book about the children of villains isn’t terrible. It really just the complete ripping-off of Harry Potter that annoys me.

Oh, God. Clary gets back to her room (armed with a sleeping potion from Hodge) to see Jace looking at her sketchbook. I’m not even good at drawing, and my sketchbooks are still deeply personal. You can’t just look in someone’s sketchbook! It’s like a diary! WTF, Jace!

In fact, Clary tells Jace that it’s  basically a diary and that he shouldn’t look at it. This should be obvious.

Wait, I’m laughing:

“You could try not being charming all the time,” Clary said. “It might be a relief for everyone.”

BITCH, WHERE???

Jace offers to tell Clary a bedtime story. It’s the famous falcon story, the one that Clare used in her Harry Potter fanfiction. You know, where Jace’s father gives him a falcon to train, and when Jace loves it, his father kills it. Proof that Jace is Draco.

Somehow, Clary makes the connection that this story is about Jace only as she falls asleep. Whatever.

Isabelle wakes up Clary. Again, a famous moment:

[Isabelle] looked like a moon goddess. Clary hated her.

Bitch, Isabelle is a moon goddess, and I love her.

Yes, we have a makeover scene!! My secret weakness. I’m sorry, fellow patriarchy fighters. Makeover scenes are just so good.

Isabelle continues to be the coolest person in this book:

Her room looked as if a disco ball had exploded inside it. The walls were black and shimmered with swirls of sponged-on golden paint. Clothes were strewn everywhere: on chairs, spilling out of the closet and the tall wardrobe propped against one wall. Her vanity table, its mirror rimmed with spangled pink fur, was covered in glitter, sequins, and pots of blush and powder.

I want this room!

Clary gets a slinky black dress, fishnets, and boots. I want this outfit, too. When Isabelle does Clary’s makeup, Clary asks if Alec is gay. For some reason, this causes an intense shock in Isabelle:

Isabelle’s wrist jerked. The eyeliner skidded, inking a long line of black from the corner of Clary’s eye to her hairline. “Oh, hell,” Isabelle said, putting the pen down. “It’s all right,” Clary began, putting her hand up to her eye. “No, it isn’t.” Isabelle sounded near tears as she scrabbled around among the piles of junk on top of the vanity . . . She sat down on the edge of the bed, ankle bracelets jingling, and looked at Clary through her hair. “How did you guess?” she said finally. “I—” “You absolutely can’t tell anyone,” said Isabelle. “Not even  Jace?” “Especially not Jace!” “All right.” Clary heard the stiffness in her own voice. “I guess I didn’t realize it was such a  big deal.” “It would be to my parents,” said Isabelle quietly. “They would disown him and throw him out of the Clave—” “What, you can’t be gay and a Shadowhunter?” “There’s no official rule about it, But people don’t like it. I mean, less with people our age—I think,” she added, uncertainly, and Clary remembered how few other people her age Isabelle had ever really met. “But the older generation, no. If it happens, you don’t talk about it.”

Okay. So. I’m trying to judge this for when it was written. But, like. Is the homophobia necessary? It’s kind of like the ridiculous sexism in ACOTA/R. It’s a choice the author is making, for, like, no good reason. This is a case of a straight author needlessly torturing her gay character. But since this was published in 2007, I feel like this has been talked out, so let’s move on.

IT TURNS OUT THAT ISABELLE’S ANKLETS ARE WEAPONS. I LOVE HER. WE ARE GETTING MARRIED. WEDDING INVITATIONS TO FOLLOW.

Ugh, Simon short-circuits bc Clary is wearing a short skirt. Please calm down, sweetie. You’re embarrassing me. Wait, what is even going on here? Jace gives Clary a dagger, and, uh, this happens:

“I could give you a thigh sheath to put that in,” Isabelle offered. “I’ve got tons.” “ABSOLUTELY NOT,” said Simon.

I’m actually laughing. Lol for real. What does this even mean? Is a thigh sheath too sexy or something? Simon, can you chill for .2 seconds? This isn’t your body. Let’s all take deep breaths.

Clary puts the dagger in the outside pocket of her backpack because there’s no way having to unzip a backpack to get to the dagger could bit her in the ass during a fight. Then Jace reaches over and undoes her hair bc, uh, shipping moment.

I’m so grossed out by the fact that in a short while, they will think they’re siblings.