CHAPTER 1

Jace narrowed his golden eyes against the harsh pounding lights of the club, his eyes swept over the demon casually erasing the glamour in seconds. With a scoff his eyes took in the electric blue hair that was spiked so high it looked as if a crown was atop the demon's head. Jace balled his hands impatiently as the demon looked around already searching for its next victim. He could feel the adrenalin pulsing through his blood and almost dived through the crowd in his haste to get to the demon, but a strong hand grabbed the back of his black shirt and held him steady.

"Honestly Jace, were you planning on killing him in the middle of the dance floor?"

A smirk crossed Jace's face as he looked as though he was seriously considering the question and finally he said "I might have considered it except for the fact that it would have gotten blood all over my new shirt."

With a roll of his eyes Alec nodded in Izzy's direction as they both watched her saunter down the stairs and toward the demon. In her white dress with her face framed by her long ink black hair Izzy was impossible to miss and all it took was a smile in the demon's direction for it to follow her.

Isabelle looked behind her flirtatiously as she stopped against an old storage room door and rucked her skirt up. The demon's green eyes hungrily swept up her legs taking in her thigh high boots and creamy porcelain skin. She could almost feel his hunger as he stepped towards her and seductively biting her lip she turned to enter the storage room.

With a grin Jace began to follow the demon, he could feel Alec at his shoulder always guarding his back. As he watched the demon followed Izzy into an old storage room and his grin got even bigger. Just then a glimpse of red caught his eyes as he caught a little red-headed girl watching them. Jace looked at her and for a second the impossible idea of her being able to see them entered his mind before he laughed at himself. The girl looked barely old enough to be out on her own, the idea of her seeing the shadow world was just as absurd as Alec falling in love with him.

Already feeling his victim's life force burning down his throat the demon pushed through the door and looked at the beautiful girl before him. The long white dress she wore covered almost her entire body and reminded him of an era far gone. Standing so close to her he could see that she wasn't as perfect as she first seemed, her eye makeup had smudged around her eyes and her hair was stuck to her neck but the smell of her made his mouth water.

It was too easy. Reaching out to cup her neck his hand moved the dress back a bit and he noticed the odd black necklace she had. With a gasp he realised what it was and had only the time to shout out "shadow!" before her hand struck him with such force that he flew back into the cold stone wall.

With a soundless turn Jace opened the door and gave his most annoying smirk at the demon tangled in Izzy's electrum whip. The demon squirmed and spew forth curses at them, their parents, their children and even their pets.

With a poisonous smile Izzy said "He's all yours boys."

Jace could feel the demon's eyes roaming maliciously over him and Alec and he felt a swell of hatred rise up inside him. He yanked the bonds securing the demon to a concrete pillar and gave a low chuckle as the demon screamed in pain.

"So, are there anymore of you?" Jace asked conversationally.

The demon felt the blood dripping from his wrists and he spat at the boys feet as he asked "Any other what?"

"Come now, you know what I am" Jace said as he crossed his arms over his chest and the black runes all over his arms shone in the darkness.

With a venomous look the demon snarled "Shadowhunter."

A slow smile spread across Jace's face as he contemplated whether or not to drag the demon's death out but it had been a long night and all he wanted was a hot bath to wash the demon scum off him so with a quick flick of his hand his seraph blade was suddenly against the demon's neck.

Feeling the blood drench his shirt the demon began to grind his second set of teeth and thought about the blood of the golden eyed boy dripping into his mouth and refuelling his body but the door crashed opened before he could lunge at him and in surprise the demon looked at the girl in the doorway.

Jace, Izzy and Alec turned as one to stare at the red-headed girl standing in the doorway. At first they thought it was just a stupid mundane that had wandered into the wrong place at the wrong time but the girl was staring at them as though she could see them and that should not have been happening.

Jace stared at the petite girl blocking the doorway and felt a sudden urge to run one of his hands through her tightly wound curls. Blocking that disturbing thought from his mind he finally found his tongue but before he could say anything he heard Alec ask "What's this?"

"It's a girl Alec, surely you've seen one before, your sister Isabelle is one."

With a frantic glance at the demon the girl shouted "Stop this! I don't know what this is but you can't just kill people when you want!"

A frisson of admiration went through Jace for the girl. She had no idea what she had walked into, no training and no weapons and yet she stood before them with seemingly only her courage keeping her upright. Never before had he wanted to caress anyone's cheek as much as the girl standing before him. Her skin was all peaches and cream, flushed from the heat of the club and her encounter with them. Her hands were clenched tightly together and she stared at him though green eyes that seemed so alive it was as if a fire was contained in them. He wanted to fold her into his arms and drag her off into a corner just to hear her say-

A set of claws raked across Jace's hand as he blocked the blow from the demon. So consumed was he with the girl that he had let his guard down completely and see where that had got him. He vaguely heard Izzy screaming in the background as he swung his legs up and delivered a staggering kick to the demon's chest. Izzy's whip had curled back around the demon's ankles and with a tug the demon was back on the floor. A snarl escaped Jace's throat as he brought his seraph blade down and the demon cried out pathetically.

"I can tell you where Valentine is!"

"Oh the Angel, whenever one of you are about to die that's when we hear about Valentine! Valentine is dead and buried and that's where you're going next" shouted Jace, his hand flecked with his own blood.

"No! Please! I swear he's back! I could give you information, tell you where he is" the demon whimpered.

"Just kill it already Jace, it's not going to tell us anything we don't already know" Izzy said with a toss of her hair.

"Nakir!" Jace shouted and with a blinding flash his dagger cut through the air and buried itself up to the hilt in the demon's chest.

The blue haired demon began to shake violently and suddenly vanished leaving nothing behind but a trace of blood to even prove that he had been there at all.

A sudden shriek of pain made Jace turn as he heard the red-head whisper her name to Izzy, "Clary."

Clary's face was contorted in pain as Isabelle's gold electrum whip cut into her wrists and made them sting. She could hear the other girl muttering about how she had nearly gotten the golden-haired boy killed and she realised that the three people in the room were crazy! They had just murdered a man in cold blood, granted his body wasn't anywhere to be seen but she had seen it happen!

"Their bodies go back to their home dimensions when they die, just in case you were wondering" the boy named Jace said.

"Izzy, let her go now, I think you've made your point" said Jace with a pointed glance at Isabelle's direction.

Finally free Clary rubbed her wrists and shook her head to clear the tears that had begun to form in her eyes.

Jace watched the girl rub her wrists, he knew it must have been sore, and felt a sharp twinge of regret as the door swung open for a second time revealing a scrawny boy with glasses standing in front of two bouncers. Knowing full well none of them could see him he raised his hand and gave a little wave whilst Alec sniggered. He could see Clary weighing up her options, to sound like a crazy person or not to sound like a crazy person and finally making her decision she excused herself to the bouncers for wasting their time.

A smile cracked through the sweat on Jace's face as he watched Clary look back at them as she walked out the door. Never before had he met a mundane who had ever thrilled him the way she did, he wanted to talk to her, to touch her skin and run his hands through her hair. A swift realisation shot through him, if she could see them then she probably was not a mundane and Hodge would definitely want to talk to her. Yes, Jace decided, the best way to disguise how much he wanted to see her again was to pretend he was doing it on his tutor's orders. Happiness at seeing her again filled him up as he thought about seeing Clary's face again.