Ridley crumpled to the ground into a pool of her own black blood. Her eyes darted in search for him, the only one who could have done this to her. She locked eyes with him momentarily before her entire world started spinning out of control. With a bloody smile, she whispered sweetly to him. "I love you."

As she succumbed to the darkness, she could feel his hot tears on her skin. She wanted to reach for him, but her limbs would not move. Her head was resting in his strong arms, his hands clinging to her. Slowly, he bent down to kiss her softly on the forehead. "And I love you," his voice light and airy. She felt as if she were floating. Everything was deteriorating around her, he was disappearing. And then, almost in an instant, she was gone.

It was a brisk February day in New York City when Ridley and her sister, Roslyn, arrived. The sun was shining brightly above, giving the illusion of warmth even though small piles of snow still littered the sidewalk. The New York Institute loomed over them as she slid out of the car. To the mundane eye, it was a dilapidated church complete with broken windows and yellow caution tape. But underneath the so-called glamour placed upon it, it was a beautiful gothic cathedral with tall spires reaching up into the New York skyline with a sense of historic grandeur. It was quite lovely if you got the chance to actually see it for what it really was.

"Are you sure this is the place, miss?" The mundie driver had turned to her as he set down a large suitcase. His eyes wandered to the run-down church in question.

Ridley nodded in response, placing a glove clad hand down to pull her suitcase closer to the large wooden doors. She watched as the driver had finished unloading the trunk before turning to him with a fake smile. "That will be all." Her hand reached for his, sliding a roll of bills into it.

He looked down at his hand then back up to her and shrugged his shoulders before returning to the car. The black town car lurched forward then disappeared into the city traffic.

Roslyn had made her way to the massive wooden doors, where they swung open in front of her without a single touch. A tall, thin woman with long black hair and clear blue eyes stood before her. "Welcome to the New York Institute, ladies!" She introduced herself as their aunt Maryse. And she was technically their aunt or cousin of some sort, very distantly. So distant in fact that the girls had never met her before.

The elevator bell rang loudly as it reached its destination. Ridley and Roslyn moved into the hallway and listened quite intently on the history of the illustrious building as Maryse led them through the corridor to their respective guest rooms. Ridley's room was simple. Though she had imagined that all of the guest rooms must be just as plain, they weren't meant to be lived in. Just one of the two hundred open rooms that were left to house traveling Shadowhunters that decided to pass through the city. Nothing special.

Maryse lingered at her door as she unzipped her large suitcase, her pointe shoes falling to the wooden floor. "That's right, you are a dancer. Don't you have an audition for a school here?"

"Joffrey," Ridley replied plainly. The one thing my mother hates the most about me, she thought.

"What a wonderful place! Are you excited?" Maryse seemed giddy for her, like a mother would had her child gotten accepted to an Ivy League college or won some type of dismal mundane award. Well, a normal mundane mother, that is. But Maryse wasn't mundane mother. She was a Shadowhunter with two children that were just as strong as her and her husband ever were. A dark past idled behind her. The Circle. Ridley had heard all about them.

Ridley smiled at her from the large closet, but ignored her question. "This closet is huge. Are all the rooms this big?"

"No, the rooms in this hall in particular are much bigger. They are meant for long-term stays. My children live in this hall as well. I assumed with your audition and school, that you would be staying much longer than just a few days." Maryse's eyes watch Ridley closely. "There is also a room connected to the training rooms that I had the boys set up for you as a studio. I made sure everything was Joffrey grade."

Ridley thanked her, then returned to her unpacking. Maryse decided to let the conversation end at that and made her way down the hallway. Her steps echoing off the walls.

Ridley smiled to herself as she closed the door knowing that she was now alone. Abandoning her bags on the floor, she climbed up onto the windowsill and easily shoved the long window upward, swinging one of her legs out into the chilly air. She sat quietly, playing with her fingers. With a flick of her wrist, she snapped them and a spark turned into a small contained flame. A painless line of fire protruding from her fingertips. She stared at it, raking her mind for an explanation. But there wasn't one. What the hell is wrong with me? She snapped her wrist back and the flame disappeared. She continued this for almost an hour before someone left a loud rapping on her door. Before she could climb down, it opened slowly revealing a golden haired boy in the doorway.

Ridley eyes were locked on his lips as he spoke. "Maryse wanted me to bring you some dinner," he stated with a sly smile curling at the sides of his mouth. He stared at her as if he were slightly mesmerized. He shook himself out of it and moved closer to her with a hand extended. "I'm Jace."

With the intent to explore the darker parts of the city, Ridley stepped out into the hallway and looked around. Her sister lay asleep on the bed in her room, book in hand. She didn't hear anyone else. Maryse's children were not in their rooms. Guess I'm going alone, she thought to herself.

Quickly, she returned to her room to exchange her simple blue jeans and white tshirt for tight black skinny jeans and loose low-cut black tank top that just happened to expose her lacey ebony bra underneath. She slid her arms into her favorite leather jacket and laced up her knee-high high heeled boots tight. Her stele was placed neatly into an inside pocket of her jacket and two seraph blades were placed in each boot.

She smirked to herself as she climbed up onto the windowsill again and looked down, now realizing just how high up she was from the courtyard below. After taking a deep breath, she jumped. And landed perfectly. She may not know exactly what was going on with her but the extra bits of power made her feel superior and she certainly didn't mind using them.

The Pandemonium Club was packed, a long line of mundanes wrapped down and around the side of the building. Ridley held herself back while she used her stele to draw an invisibility rune on the inside of her arm. With her stele neatly tucked back into her jacket, she made her way past the bouncer and into the club where she pushed through the crowd toward the bar. She stood there for a moment as her eyes scanned the dance floor.

After moving onto the floor amid the sweaty bodies of Downworlders, she let the music take her over. Her mind wandered away from her as she closed her eyes and swayed to the beat. She was happy there in her own little world as the music blared through her ears. Then she felt it. Someone putting their hand on her shoulder from behind, bringing her back into focus.

Almost instantly, her eyes shot wide open. Slowly, she moved her hand to her belt to grasp the hilt of a dagger. With what seemed like one swift motion, she pulled the blade from her side twirling it through her fingers as she spun herself around to face the body behind her. She looked up, the sharp metal now held against his throat, and locked eyes with the man behind her. "Jace?"

Jace raised his hand slowly to her wrist and stared at her. "You're much quicker than I had expected."

She pulled the dagger back from his soft skin and returned it to her belt. "I will take that as a compliment."

He shrugged his shoulders and took a hold of her hand. "What are you doing here anyways?" He asked as he pulled her off the dance floor to a slightly quieter area of the club. "Where is your sister?"

Ridley pulled her hand away. "She is asleep at the Institute. Why?"

"You came here alone?"

She nodded. "Yeah, so?"

"So, your first night in New York and you decide to wander out into the darkness of the city by yourself..." his voice trailed off for a moment. "Well, that's one hell of a bright idea."

"Don't patronize me. I am certainly capable of protecting myself." She glared at him. Who does he think is?

"You made that quite clear. You know, dagger to the throat and all." His fingers rubbed at his neck. "I better not have a bruise. Can't have you marking up the money maker," he said sarcastically as he pointed to his face.

Ridley rolled her eyes. "I didn't even touch your face, pretty boy."

She had pulled away from him and turned to make her way back through the crowd when he grabbed her wrist and spun her back around to him. This time she was right up against him. "Why don't you dance with me?"

Her eyes closed for a moment as she breathed him in. His voice was twisting its way through her ears. She thought about saying yes and letting him pull her back onto the dancefloor, but then she changed her mind. "I don't think so." Then she nodded in the direction of a pretty pink-hair girl in the distance that was staring at them. "I'm sure your fan club would love to oblige you."

He looked over his should to the Downworlder that Ridley had pointed out, slightly releasing his grip on her waist. That was all she needed. Before he could turn back around, she shrugged him off and headed back to the dance floor alone pushing her body through the tightly intertwined crowd. The music thumped loudly as the bodies around her closed in.

Jace watched her contently as her hips twisted to the beat, her long blonde hair flowing down around her to the small of her back. Her hands pushing up into the air above her, her body swiveling back and forth effortlessly. He was lost in her from fifty feet away. He was captivated.

The walk back to the Institute was a short one, but the cold wrapped around Ridley tightly and slowed her pace. Her stiletto heeled boots clicked repeatedly on the roughly worn sidewalk as Jace kept pace behind her. She turned back to him with a sly smirk before twirling herself around in front of him. Grabbing ahold of her hand quickly, he spun her back to him returning her to the closeness that he had tried earlier in the night. Keeping one hand on her back, he moved the other up to her face and pushed a stringy coil of golden hair back behind her ear. She stared up at him, taking mental notes on all of his movements. Her mind registered his touch faster than she had planned for. Instinctively, she pulled him even closer to her, tangling her fingers up in his hair. His clear golden eyes seemed to pierce through her. A surge of heat rushed through her veins, the closeness seeming to set off tiny fireworks in her brain. Her eyes set on his lips and he leaned his face down closer to hers.

Her eyes closed, and suddenly she was no longer on that New York street. It was as if she fell through a hole - a rabbit hole. There she stood with Jace, but no longer were they standing on the gritty sidewalk. A lush, green grass field encircled them. Clad in a matrimonial gold gown and him in black ceremonial gear with blazing gold runes, they danced as the scene unfolded before her. Beautifully fragrant flowers roping through arches set in a large square and people swirling through the box in celebration. Her eyes darted around, she could see Jace staring at her. Not her face though, her hands.

Flames sprung from her fingertips. Her brown eyes darkened. She tried control the flames, to stop them, but nothing worked. She was losing control. Everyone was fleeing from her. She watched as Jace stood there, mouth gaping open, horrified at the monster he had just married. Her wedded union rune burned through her skin causing her to shriek in terror.

Then, just as quickly as she fell into the vision, she was brought back from it. Jace stood in front of her, shaking her forcefully. She could hear his voice through the blackness. "Ridley, come back." His voice was pleading, sounding worried.

Slowly, her eyes flickered back open. A soft voice rang through her mind, a man's but not Jace's. Be prepared, my child.

She shook her head, shaking the images from her view and focusing on Jace's worried face. "I'm sorry," she said breathlessly. Her body slumped to the curb where she sat quietly, her head pounding. She stared down at her fingers, examining her hands over and over.

Jace slid down beside her and placed an arm around her waist. "Are you okay?" He searched her face, but it was empty. "Where did you go in that pretty little head of yours?"