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He stepped into the circle; as his feet passed over the painted line, he felt a shiver, like an electric shock, go through hiht," he said "I'll do it"

"No!" Clary cried, but Si Lilith, who s smile as she raised her left hand and passed it across the surface of the coffin

The lid of it vanished, peeling back in a way that re back the lid of a tin of sardines As the top layer of glass pulled away, it ranite pedestal, crystallizing into tiny shards of glass as the drops struck the ground

The coffin was open now, like a fish tank; Sebastian's body drifted inside, and Siain see the flash of the rune on his chest as Lilith reached into the tank As Si aresture, tucking the bandaged one under the one that hole She brushed a lock of his wet hair away fro hter," she said

Simon moved toward the coffin Sebastian's face was slack, his eyelids still No pulse beat in his throat Simon remembered how much he had wanted to drink Maureen's blood How he had craved the feeling of his teeth sinking into her skin and freeing the salty blood beneath But this-this was feeding off a corpse The very thoughtat her, he are of Clary watching him He could feel her breath as he bent over Sebastian He could sense Jace, too, watching hi into the coffin, he closed his hands around Sebastian's cold, slippery shoulders Biting back the urge to be sick, he bent and sank his teeth into Sebastian's throat Black demon blood poured into his mouth, as bitter as poison

Isabellethe stone pedestals Alec ith her, Sandalphon in his hand, sending light winging through the roo, her hand braced against the wall; Jordan hovered over her, looking as if he wanted to reach out and stroke her back, but was afraid of being rebuffed

Isabelle didn't bla, she would have thrown up herself She had never seen anything like what she was looking at now There were dozens, maybe fifty, of the stone pedestals in the room Atop each one was a low crib-like basket Inside each basket was a baby And every one of the babies was dead

She had held out hope at first, as she walked up and down the rows, that she ht find one alive But these children had been dead for soray, their small faces bruised and discolored They rapped in thin blankets, and though it was cold in the rooh for them to have frozen to death She wasn't sure how they had died; she couldn't bear to investigate too closely This was clearly a matter for the Clave

Alec, behind her, had tears running down his face; he was cursing under his breath by the tihtened up and was leaning against the ; Jordan had given her some kind of cloth, hts of the city burned behind her, cutting through the dark glass like diamond drills

"Iz," Alec said "Who could have done so like this? Why would someone-even a demon-"

He broke off Isabelle knehat he was thinking about Max, when he had been born She had been seven, Alec nine They had bent over their little brother in the cradle, a new creature They'd played with his little fingers, laughed at the weird faces he made when they tickled him

Her heart twisted Max As she had moved down the lines of little cribs, now turned into little coffins, a sense of overwhelnore the fact that the pendant around her neck was gloith a harsh, steady glow The sort of glow shedown a Greater Deht of what Clary had seen in the ue in Beth Israel He looked just like a normal baby Except for his hands They were twisted into claws

With great care she reached into one of the cribs Careful not to touch the baby, she twitched aside the thin blanket that wrapped its body

She felt the breath puff out of her in a gasp Ordinary chubby baby arms, round baby wrists The hands looked soft and new But the fingers-the fingers were twisted into claws, as black as burned bone, tipped with sharp little talons She took an involuntary step back

"What?" Maia moved toward them She still looked sickened, but her voice was steady Jordan followed her, hands in his pockets "What did you find?" she asked

"By the Angel" Alec, beside Isabelle, was looking down into the crib "Is this-like the baby Clary was telling you about? The one at Beth Israel?"

Slowly Isabelle nodded "I guess it wasn't just the one baby," she said "So to make a lot more of them MoreSebastians"

"Why would anyone want more of him?" Alec's voice was full of naked hatred

"He was fast and strong," Isabelle said It al complimentary about the boy who had killed her brother and tried to kill her "I guess they're trying to breed a race of super-warriors"

"It didn't work" Maia's eyes were dark with sadness

A noise so soft it was al Her head jerked up, her hand going to her belt, where her as coiled Soe of the room, near the door, moved, just the faintest flicker, but Isabelle had already broken away fro for the door She burst out into the hallway near the elevators There was soreater darkness and wasthe wall Isabelle picked up speed and threw herself forward, knocking the shadow to the floor

It wasn't a ghost As they went down together in a heap, Isabelle surprised a very huure They hit the ground together and rolled The figure was definitely huray war into Isabelle's collarbone A knee dug into her solar plexus She gasped and rolled aside, feeling for her whip By the tiure was on its feet Isabelle rolled onto her sto the whip forward; the end of it coiled around the stranger's ankle and pulled tight Isabelle jerked the whip back, yanking the figure off its feet

She scra with her free hand for her stele, which was tucked down the front of her dress With a quick slash she finished the nyx Mark on her left ar to fill with light as the night vision rune took effect She could see her attacker ray sneakers, scra backward until its back hit the wall The hood of the suit had fallen back, exposing the face The head was shaved cleanly bald, but the face was definitely fe dark eyes

"Stop it," Isabelle said, and pulled hard on the whip The wo to craay"

The woman bared her teeth "Wor"

Isabelle jah on this whip, it'll cut through your leg" She gave the whip another flick, tightening it, andin front of the wo down at her "Those babies," she said "What happened to theh "They were not strong enough Weak stock, too weak"

"Too weak for what?" When the woman didn't answer, Isabelle snapped, "You can tellYour choice Don't think I won't let you bleed to death here on the floor Child-murderers don't deserve mercy"