Chapter 1

Shivering, Clary stalked through the small alleyway, hugging herself tightly and attempting to conserve any warmth that she could. A few minutes ago, she'd been slumped in her tank top and pyjama bottoms before deciding she needed a coffee to keep her awake. Realising they had no milk, she shoved her feet into some winter boots and slung the door shut behind her. She didn't think she'd be too bothered by the cold as the shop was only a couple minutes away, but boy was I wrong, was all she thought. The alleyway was narrow, and the grass was wet and muddy from the light rain. Clary made her way swiftly down it, stalking through the sticky mud and moving through the shadows as the rain began to hit her icy cold skin like pellets. She began to speed up attempting a slow jog and all that went through her mind was, I hate the cold.

Clary suddenly crashed into a figure that was blocking her way.

"I'm so sorry," Clary exclaimed in slight panic and surprise. She lifted her head to see a man's face. He had beautiful features she thought, very slight eyes and furrowed brows, gorgeous black curls.

"My fault," was all he said, his voice deep but friendly. Clary then felt the warmth of his hand on her icy skin and she jumped slightly, allowing a gentle laugh to escape her mouth. Clary focused on the half of his face that was illuminated by the dancing streaks of moonlight, his eyes were the most intriguing. She could have sworn she'd seen them flicker black for a moment but assumed it was just the light. The boy moved closer to her and shifted her against the wall gently. Panic began to arise in Clary's chest before she realised that the boy was just letting a few people pass by. He stood close to her in the narrow alleyway, his body practically touching hers. He was broad and tall, muscular and chiselled. It wasn't the worst thing in the world she thought to herself. She listened to the people pass, their heavy boots trudging in the sticky mud and their laughs echoing after one boy had made a sarcastic comment.

Clary just looked up at the boy, leaning gently against her and his voice came out through nervous laughter, "Sorry about that, what an awkward first encounter." Clary just smiled and began to move slowly away from the wall before feeling the grip on her arm tighten. She laughed anxiously and pulled gently on her arm, realising the black-haired boy wasn't going to let go.

She sucked in a breath as the rain started to hit harder and furrowed her brows, "Let go of me."

An idle smile played across the boy's lips, and his eyes beginning to darken to black. It hadn't just been the light. With that, Clary let out a screeching cry and the boy threw his hands to her throat, slamming her against the brick wall. Her delicate skin, already wounded by the rain, scraped the rough brick and she felt claws dig into her neck as the boy's face begin to morph and change, leathery black skin beginning to crawl out from under his eyes. Clary's heart was thundering against her chest as though it were attempting to escape her rib cage, every moment, air becoming a little more foreign to her body and her throat becoming tighter. Gathering all her strength, she threw her fist into the stomach of what looked like now, more a creature than a boy and his grip fell from her neck, allowing her to gasp. Coughing and heaving for air, she struggled through the mud desperately, sprinting for the end of the alleyway when she caught glimpse of someone running towards her. She stopped in her tracks as they moved past her swiftly, screaming at them as raindrops streamed down her face.

"Stop!" She screeched, "Come back! There's something down there!" She stood frozen as the figure lurched into the air and a glint of metal caught her eye, blue light shimmered off it as the hilt of a huge dagger was slammed fiercely into the creature. Clary dropped to the floor, screaming and shaking, her mind not believing what was happening in front of her. The creature spasmed, all shuddering legs and arms until it fell away in black and blue flakes to ash.

The alley way was left silent except for Clary's heaving breaths alongside the pattering rain, her gaze still fixated on the figure, with the blade buried in the mud. It began to turn slowly, for Clary only to realise it was a boy, cloaked in black leather and she could just make out the blonde curls peeking out from beneath his hood. He straightened up and looked at Clary but didn't move from fear of spooking her, after all she was on her knees in the mud, tears stinging her face and her whole body was shaking. The boy thought it best to be patient. If it had been any other mundane, he would have moved silently past her and walked away, but this girl. This girl could see him. She wasn't just a mundane.

The boy stepped forward slowly and Clary just brought herself to her feet, unsteady. She blinked the raindrops from her eyelashes and watched him move towards her, his arms in front of him as if to calm a wild animal.

"Stop there," Clary growled, "Don't come any closer."

The golden-haired boy spoke for the first time, his voice oddly similar the earlier sarcastic comment of a passing stranger, "I'm not going to hurt you-"

"Not going to hurt me?!" Clary exclaimed, laughing in disbelief and panic, "You just killed a boy!"

"You know just as well as me, that wasn't a boy," he spoke gently as he began to move forward again.

Clary paused for a moment, remembering the claws in her neck, the leathery skin, the flickering black, emptiness in his eyes.

"What was it then?" Her voice was shaky but had calmed.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," The boy edged closer to Clary and into the moonlight and now she noticed his features a little clearer. He was tall but slender, his skin white as ice and laced with black swirls crawling out from under his t-shirt collar. His golden eyes were fixed on Clary's face searching for some sort of approval to move closer, but she just watched him wearily. Her gaze lingered on his face, the amber eyes shielded by fluttering long eyelashes that cast delicate shadows against his cheekbones. His face was as though it had been carved from porcelain, all angles and shadow and he was quite frankly, Clary thought, beautiful. For someone who has just killed someone… something, he looked surprisingly graceful.

Clary straightened herself up and drew in a breath, "Try me."

The boy walked slowly up to her and stopped a few steps away from her, his blade tucked into his belt.

"That, little girl, was a demon," he said.

Clary narrowed her eyes and laughed nervously, "You're crazy." She turned away from him and began walking. "And don't ever call me that again."

Clary gasped and froze as the boy appeared in front of her. Her eyes widened in shock. She knew she should be afraid of him, after all, he'd just slaughtered a creature and made it disappear, but she couldn't bring herself to move away.

He stood extremely close to her but she didn't shift just looked up at him as he spoke, "You assume we are going to speak again?" His lips quirked into a playful smile and Clary rolled her eyes.

"That's not what I meant, and you know it-" Clary sighed before being interrupted.

"So," the blonde boy began to walk ahead, "What do I call you if your name isn't little girl."

Clary ran after him, "How about you don't call me anything and just tell me what the hell that was and who you are."

"Now that's no way to speak to someone who saved your life but fineee," the boy teased and Clary just huffed in frustration, "I told you the truth, that was a demon, it can take possession of any living thing, unfortunately this time it chose a very youthful charming boy, of course not as charming or good looking as me but you-"

"You're insane," Clary said firmly, her body shivering. The boy moved towards her and shrugged his jacket off. After removing a few items from the pockets, one thing being what looked like a glinting metal pencil, he placed it around her shoulders. He was so close to her that she could feel the warmth from his body as he slid his hands under her wet hair and gently moved it from underneath the leather jacket collar. As he did so, his cold fingers grazed her skin and she jumped slightly.

"I'm Jace Wayland," he said quietly.

Clary took a deep breath, "Thank you Jace but I can't take your jacket, I'm going to be going home now I just want to forget this all, it's crazy and I just-"

"I know," Jace said simply.

"What do you mean you know?" Clary questioned, starting to shrug the jacket off.

Jace just gently repositioned it to cover her shivering arms. "I know you're going home," he said, "That's why I took the stuff from my pockets. You are taking the jacket."

Clary laughed, "No, I can't take your jacket."

"Too bad," Jace said pulling a face, "I'm not taking it." Clary smiled and looked down at the ground before turning slowly away.

"Fine," was all she said as she began walking.

She paused a little way down the alleyway and turned to see him standing there, his hands shoved into his pockets and smiling as the rain soaked his black t-shirt.

"Thank you!" She called. He strolled closer until he was about a meter away from her.

"So I give my jacket to this girl," he said enthusiastically, "this gorgeous girl, small, cute, crazy red-head for sure. Like she was outside, in her pyjamas, in the rain, like she was crazy" Clary laughed in confusion as he continued, "and I saved her, just to mention… And I still don't get to know her name." Clary let out a small laugh again before glancing at his eyes quickly.

"Clary Fray," She said and then turned around and began walking. She heard him repeat her name but didn't look back for attempt to hide her smile. Surely after the previous events of that night, she should be shaking with fear. A thousand questions ran through her head, her mind was spinning however for some reason she found comfort in a cold-blooded killer, the boy who slashed the skin of a creature without thinking. The boy who murdered. The boy who had saved her. And instead of running down the road to her house in tears and panicked, she walked. Simply and quietly she walked, wrapping a warm leather jacket around her body and wondering who the hell Jace Wayland was and where he had come from.