Chapter Three

For the sake of not making herself suspicious Isabell decided to wait for a little more. Xavier's expression didn't move an inch since Isabell's message till she entered the cafe after he stared at the entrance for a total of fifteen minutes.

Isabell took some giant steps towards Xavier at the sixteenth minute

"Let me borrow my brother for a moment," She said clenching her fingers around the wrist of Xavier a little too hard

"Sure he is all yours," Said Zoe, Isabell smiled at Zoe's shining blue eyes "Thank you, Zoe" Jade raised a light hand in the answer because it was his turn to have a greeting but Isabell acted as if Jade was some type of an invisible thing "We'll get going then," She said and Jade's hand dropped on the table, defeated.

Xavier stayed silent he seemed to be feeling the upcoming trouble with mainly no reason.

Isabell took Xavier out of the cafe, "Izzy" he called but her steps never stopped "Izzy" he called again "Shut your mouth and follow me" Her grip stiffened over his hand and Xavier's lips sealed

Isabell took Xavier near an almost empty ground, she breathed a total of ten times "How" she breathed for the eleventh time "How many times do I have to tell you about keeping distance from Jade?" twelfth time.

All of a sudden Xavier looked irritated by his sister "He didn't do anything, Izzy. It was the guard who made this all up" Isabell moved her face around definitely not looking convinced by his reply

"Last time it was the traffic police who asked for a bribe and accused him of having drugs in his car because he refused to give money and now it's the guard" She let a chuckle out "He is my best friend and I know he is innocent" Xavier took a deep breath, making himself calm

"For God's sake, Zavy. Stop acting like a damn kid, everyone knows he isn't a good person!"

"I swear he isn't involved with drugs or anything like that, Izzy" Isabell's forehead filled with stretches, eyes spitting fire "I've had enough of this! Your ignorance is frustrating, you are an idiot for believing an addict like him" Xavier clenched his fingers, face flushing with anger

"You don't know anything, and even if you do you will never understand so please stop interfering with my freaking life, Isabell. Why the hell do you have to act as if you control everything!" A note tied in her stomach as her brother shouted at her "I don't control your life, Xavier. But your freaking life isn't only yours, it's linked with me and mother and I can't let you ruin it"

"Don't give me lectures. I know where I stand and what I do, you don't have to get Mom involved when it's literally nothing" he mouthed

"I am not getting anyone involved, you know it so damn well that we don't have a father and our Mother is getting old. The insurance company takes so much work from her and if you keep on behaving like a defiant child then you are going to ruin everything she has built in years" His expression loosened and for a long moment they kept quiet staring at the grass over the ground taking a deep breath to calm themselves down

"I hope you'll understand one day" Isabell broke the silence hoping to receive a yes for the least in reply

"I hope the same for you" Xavier replied, turning away, dismissing the conversation. He walked in the opposite direction, muttering under his breath about being misunderstood as always while Isabell stood there still frustrated at her brother for acting like a child and not opening his eyes to Jade

Counting the trees along the road she took small steps. Her gaze lifted to the clouds

They look sad too, or maybe they are just reflecting my feelings. I'm done with my feelings too, sometimes I wonder how great it would have been if I also had a father, what if I was the youngest in a big family, how many people would I have to look up to, to care for me. My father could have held me and told me I am here foryouand I would make everything okay If my mother never had to work so much, she could have stayed home every single day and not cried every night in silence when I stood at the door of her room. If Zavy and I could have played all day alone, have everything we wanted instead of doing dishes, instead of cooking and doing all the work just so our mom could rest for a little.

----

Kicking on invisible seeds of sand Isabell stepped into the Law building. She felt sad, she looked sad, and she was sad, but for Isabell smiling was the only way to cover it and she had to smile. She had to smile until she forgot what a real smile would look like.

Meeting eyes with Ashley and Steve were waiting impatiently for Isabell, her fake smile disappeared into angst

"Izzy Damn Bella!"

No that's not my middle name. Wait, wait, wait, I don't have a middle name.

Ashley shouted from a distance making every passing student glance at them, Steve took a quick half-spin around his axis as if he were telling everyone that

I don't know this girl with maroon curls "Where the hell were you?" She screamed again and this time ran to Isabell, she grabbed her by the arm and Isabell swiftly shoved away refusing to lock it with hers

"Ash, promise me one thing" Her breath was heavy from anger unlike Ashley's

"Promised" Ashley raised her right hand, extending the fingers between them as if she was taking an oath "You are supposed to ask 'What' first," Steve said giving a high five on the oath to her "Promised, Izzy" she repeated taking the oath again

"If one day, I kill my brother you'll be the one to provide all the legal defense to me. Promise me that you won't me go to jail and will be my lawyer" Isabell breath out, her eyes still shrunk like the forehead

"I do!" Ashley didn't blink an eye sealing the promise "But can you hold yourself back for a few years like I need to be a lawyer before your brother gets expired by you" Isabell nodded vigorously, agreeing with her

"If the two of you are done with your Legislation and Adjudication, then can we go to the class" Steve paused and tilted his body towards Isabell "Or do you want to be late again" Isabell's eyes widened, even though she already was angry a new wave of fury just passed in her

"Do you have a death wish?" She asked, genuinely "I'm quite young for that so I would really continue with living" he replied with a smile "This is the reason, Silly Steve, this is exactly why you are a Single Steve and not Smart Steve" a perfect hit from Isabell's hand just handed on Steve's head "We will see about that, Izzy" His steps stumble but expressions stayed in place

"Darn you, Steve"

"Darn you, Steve," The girls said at the same time "Okay okay enough of joking, we gotta go or we will really get punished" He notified, and they nodded. Only one step forward and Isabell stopped them again

"I don't want to go, I'm embarrassed" They both shook their heads in agreement as Isabell wailed, "I won't go, I won't go" She cried in the corridor,

Ashley placed a soft hand on Isabell's back pushing her ahead "He doesn't have a lecture with us till tomorrow" Steve informed making Isabell a bit okay as they started to walk to class again. Just a few steps later something rose in Isabell, probably a spark of rage that was buried somewhere deep in her. Isabell stopped

one more time

"I swear if I see that Bastarian again I'll kick his ass" Isabell lifted her leg aiming to kick the air but suddenly a vein pulled in her leg and Isabell's eagerness led her to lose her balance. Instead of executing a graceful kick Isabell lost control as her foot landed awkwardly on the floor. Gravity pulled her back, prompting a series of stumbling steps. Ashley tried to grab her hand but it was too late, everything happened in a blink and Isabell's steps took her away, she was at the edge of falling to the floor when a hand wrapped around her waist.

The trembling moments suddenly went still, everything in the air just took a break. Isabell looked down at the hand, the veins spread like thick branches of a tree as they were barely managing to stay beneath the skin.

This is a piece of art, and this is so perfect and extraordinary, and a level of perfection just like something I saw this morning.

She told herself but didn't tell what she was supposed to tell

Her thoughts just gathered finally telling her what just happened, the hand loosened its grip and was slowly removed ending with long fingers; one more perfection. Isabell's feet printed to the ground. She stood straight for some seconds, and Isabell moved around slowly.

Lighting sparked inside her, the hair on her arms stood upright and her eyes widened more than they possibly could because her eyes had just seen the strange man standing behind her and right in front of her eyes now

"Bastar–" she pinched her lips into each other

Dran your life, Isabell

"Mr. Lightwood" Isabell finished, she stopped, her breath stopped, her heart paused, and she heard that deep voice again

"I think you would need them fine" he pointed at her legs "if you want to kick someone in the ass" The hands were gone and so is the owner of them. hanging these words in the air Sebastian walked towards his office. Isabell froze at her place with breathes stuck in her throat

"You need some poison?" Ashley offered with a smile but Steve didn't join her smiling nor did he say anything to them but he wore some uncommon expression on his face. Steve didn't normally get this serious but Isabell didn't care about it right now

"That would be wonderful" Isabell finally let the stuck air out.

The first day of the final year carried two of the most awkward slash embarrassing moments that happened in her entire life.

----

"I'm home" she breath in relief closing the door of her room

Putting the backpack down she set her body free letting it emerge into the bed. She closed her eyes for a total of nine seconds and then opened them and repeated the same until she rose from her bed with a scream

"We are not gonna think about it!" she told herself "Obviously we are not, like why would we do to ourselves" she replied Isabell "But Jade-" she tried to speak against her will "Shut up!" Isabell shouted attacking the bed with her small fists "Yes I'll shut up but Sebast-" She said "Okay Isabell, we need to distract ourselves" she spoke to herself as in plural. There were always two people and despite having two close friends she still decided to make her, her closest friend but it didn't always work as she wanted it to and no one would understand why or how she did that.

Isabell looked around her room, blue paint covering the walls while looking elite with a white ceiling, with boxes and a lot of boxes on it, papers were all over the room, on the tables, the bed, over her cupboard, and the floor. Isabell slid the huge white curtains over the large window, she moved to the opposite side closer to a large painting after locking the door too.

Do good, Have good or Karma will be there for you -Isabell Harrington

was written over a scenery of Godwin-Austen. But the words and the K2 just seemed like a mask for something hazardous under it.

Her hand lifted. The painting shifted as Isabell slid the glass revealing a complex map entangled with threads; an evidence board

Throne Of Demon was written in the center with a deep blue color connecting uncountable red stings with it, some names, numbers, and pictures were attached to the evidence board.

Isabell picked a black marker from the stationary box on her table, uncapping the marker she detached a sticky note

Isabell wrote Sebastian Lightwood on the note and attached it to the board connecting a direct string from his name to Throne Of Demon, just an inch away from Jade Hilton.

Isabell took some steps backward, standing straight she opened the last drawer of her study table, she breathed for a long moment and then she took a recorder out. She took exactly two more deep breaths before pressing the starting button

"Tuning in: Monday, March 20th, 2023. This is Isabell Harrington, a law student from Veritas University. I'm recording this from my home, in California. Everything I speak and record is searched and collected on my own. I'm in my final and as decided I'm going to record everything I found" Isabell sat on the chair and took just one more deep breath as she continued

"Throne Of Demon was first reported by a teenager named Adolf in 2021; missing from the same day. TOD mainly deals with drugs and their side business includes; assault, torture, murders, and according to the rumors human organ trafficking.

Knight; the the leader of those filthy monsters, identity and facts about him are anonymous to the world except for one, he is from Veritas University

Except for the Knight, there are a few more key people, first is Spy: The right hand of the Knight. Spy keeps everything in order and is the one to gather all the clients and do the deals. One color represents every member of the club and blue is for Spy. Second, on this list is Lethal: a former member of a mafia who was kicked out because of accusations of stealing money from the boss. Red is Lethal. He has majestic skills of fighting, but he has never touched a gun, and only with his knives, he demonstrates perfection and sheer brilliance in the art of combat. In short, he kills people without a miss"

"If it was for how much I hate Lethal I would like to see him fighting flawlessly, showing that famous dance of knives of him but of course, I'll be more interested in killing him than I ever do that," Isabell said out of the recorder

"and last but not least Giant: he is enormous just like his name. Green. He is known for using destructive techniques to torture those who fail to pay on time and who run away. A rumor says that he once smashed a guy causing his brain to die and eventually leading the young boy to death"

Isabell put the recorder down stretching her arms, counting fifty seconds of her small break in her mind but before she could finish her counting and continue she heard her mother calling

"Time for dinner, Bella" Lowren said, a wave of panic passed through her body as she heard her mother's footsteps reaching her room. Isabell slid the painting covering her evidence board and tossed the recorder back into the drawer as soon as she was done her mother opened the door

"What are you doing, Bella? I've been calling you for the last five minutes" Lowren asked looking concerned "I- I didn't hear you" She nervously passed a quick smile and before her mother could ask something else "Will be at the table in a minute, Mom" Lowren nodded in reply, closing the door she told "Hurry up Zavy is already there" Isabell's face fell on the name of her brother