Chapter One

Victoria Lightwood sat on the grass at the reservoir in her school sports tee and shorts. She wore running shoes, despite the fact that she wouldn't be running. About a month ago, she had sprained her ankle. She had insisted that she was fine, but the teachers still hadn't allowed her to run for the road run that was in place of the last day of school, adamantly saying that she shouldn't strain herself.

Enviously, she watched as her schoolmates headed towards the starting line of the 4.2 kilometers road run. Her friends waved at her, and she shot them a slight smile. The school flag was raised and they began the road run. Sighing, she took a sip from her water bottle and stared as the school began jogging slowly, wishing she could join them.

"Hey, Tori," Harry greeted. Victoria felt her cousin settle down next to her, a bottle in his hands. "You're not running?"

"No way, the teachers wouldn't let me, although I can walk perfectly now," she replied, rolling her eyes. "What about you?"

He shot her a lazy grin. "I'd never waste my energy on a stupid road run."

"The teachers let you skip?"

"I have my ways," he said simply. Victoria smiled. Harry Lightwood's father and hers were brothers, although Victoria never actually recalled ever seeing them together. That thought never bothered her, considering she hardly even ever saw her father, or her mother, for that matter. She stayed with Harry and his parents, while her parents were constantly doing work overseas. She only saw them, Maryse and Robert Lightwood, once or twice a year. Harry was more of a brother to her than her parents were parents.

"You free to join me for lunch after this?" Harry asked her. Victoria was shocked – Harry didn't really hang out with her much, not because he was embarrassed of it or anything, but because they both would rather be with their own friends.

She really would have liked to go, but she had plans for the afternoon. Her eyes were locked onto the tattoo that Harry had on the back of his right hand. Harry had all sorts of weird shaped tattoos all over him. All the girls in their school found it irresistibly cool, but Victoria simply liked it because it was a family tradition. Her and Harry's parents' also had those tattoos all over them. About a year ago, Victoria had asked her aunt and uncle if she could get those tattoos. They looked horrified and immediately turned her down. After she had threatened to go on a hunger strike, they told her to talk to her parents about it. Coincidentally, Maryse and Robert had dropped by on a visit about a week later. All the merriness of their visit, though, had evaporated immediately when Victoria asked if she could get the tattoos that they all had. They had rejected it so strongly that her father had begun yelling at her and her mother had seemed on the verge of tears. Since then, Victoria had been thinking about those tattoos. About a week ago, she had turned sixteen and had gotten the tattoo that she was staring at, the one they all had on the back of their right hands. For now, it was hidden, but after the road run, she was going out with her friends and wanted to ask them about how she should reveal it to her aunt and uncle.

"Sorry, I've got plans," she answered, sounding genuinely apologetic.

"That's too bad then," he sighed, "I was relying on you paying for my lunch."

She grinned and shoved him lightly. "Get a job, loser."

"Hypocrite."

Victoria rolled her eyes. "I'm too young to get a job."

Harry shot her a fine you win look before turning to watch all the runners. He suddenly heard something beeping. With a sinking heart, he rummaged through his bag and saw that it was his Sensor that was beeping. A demon was close.

"Uh, Victoria, let's ditch, shall we?" he asked. Without waiting for a response, he lifted his bag onto his shoulders and started walking away. He knew that Victoria would only follow him if it seemed urgent.

"Harry, what the hell?"

Harry barely heard his cousin. As they continued walking, the beeping got faster and louder. He made an abrupt U-turn. He vaguely heard his cousin protesting, but he couldn't focus on her now.

The beeping became less persistent the further they walked. Harry was relieved. He wrapped his arm around Victoria's shoulder, to reassure himself that she was alright. He would kill himself if he let anything happen to her. Still, as a Shadowhunter, he couldn't just leave all the teachers and schoolmates there while a demon roamed around. He groaned inwardly. He had to get Victoria to safety first before anything.

When the beeping of the Sensor had become slow but steady, he said to Victoria, "Hey, you head home first, okay? I think I left something."

"Harry, don't just leave me here! I've got plans. Harry! What would your parents say if they knew we were ditching?"

Harry couldn't help but smile. "They'd be proud of us!" He continued walking back to the reservoir, but the Sensor wasn't picking up any more demonic activity. That was weird. The demon had to be nearby somewhere.

He made a frustrated noise as he stared at his Sensor. The demon was here just a minute ago. Unless…

A deafening scream filled the air. Harry's heart lurched as he turned around.

"Victoria!"

He ran faster than he ever remembered running before. The Sensor began beeping loudly again. Tori wasn't where he had left her. His hands shook as he ran towards home. Where was she? He heard a scream again and he followed the sound.

"Tori?!"

He finally found her lying on the ground, with a boy atop her. It was an Eidolon demon. She squirmed away from him as pinned her down. Rage filled Harry's heart. He flung a seraph blade out of his bag.

"Nakir!"

The blade shuddered out, glowing brightly. A small comfort overcame Harry to have a weapon in his hand again after so long. He only underwent Shadowhunter training in Idris during the summer vacation, and even then, he was only learning it to make sure he knew how to defend himself in such situations, not to go about hunting demons down, like most Shadowhunters did.

He slit the seraph blade between his cousin and the demon and lifted the demon up. He pushed it against the wall, the seraph blade against his neck.

"Nephilim," the demon snarled with amusement.

"That's right," Harry answered. "Did someone send you here?"

The demon's eyes flicked to Victoria's and Harry resisted the urge to stab its eyeballs. No demon had the right to even be near her. It disgusted him.

"She's a mere mundie," it hissed, "Who'd be after her? Unless…"

Harry lifted the seraph blade and easily stabbed it in the chest before it could get any ideas. Black demon blood bubbled out of the wound and the thing folded in on itself until it disappeared completely. Feeling accomplished, he kept the seraph blade and turned around to face Victoria, who was gaping at him. Her hands covered her mouth, and her eyes were wide with fear.

"Victoria," he began, taking a step towards her. She screamed and stepped away from him.

"Stay away from me," she sobbed, spilling down her cheeks. "You killed that– that boy, Harry."

Harry stared at his cousin, and without hesitation, he pushed her roughly against the wall, knocking her out.

A loud ringing sound resonated throughout the Institute. Isabelle Lightwood groaned and covered her ears with her pillow. When it became obvious that no one would pick it up, though, Isabelle stalked into the hall and answered it.

"Hello? May I speak to Ms Lightwood?" the voice on the other end asked. Isabelle narrowed her eyes when she couldn't recognize the voice.

"Speaking."

"Oh, Maryse," the voice suddenly was a mixture of relief and exasperation. Isabelle began to say that she wasn't Maryse, but instead the younger Ms Lightwood, but her next few words stopped her. "You wouldn't believe what your daughter did."

"She got marked, Maryse," the voice continued. "Went against our orders, and got the Angelic Rune on the back of her right hand. You've got to come here and do something about her, Maryse, I'm afraid we can't keep her much longer."

Isabelle was thoroughly confused, and she didn't like the feeling of that. "I'm sorry, but–"

A noise was heard on the telephone line, then Isabelle heard her mother's voice, serious and stern. "Isabelle, get off the phone."

Isabelle grit her teeth together. She made a clicking noise to make it sound like she had hung up, but she stayed on the line. She wondered if the phone call had to do with her parents' divorce about two months ago, and she was determined to find out.

"Maryse, oh my, was I speaking to Isabelle all this while?" the unfamiliar voice asked.

"I'm afraid so, Denice," her mother's voice, cool and crisp, replied. "But it's alright, I'll just wave it away. What's the matter, Denice?"

"It's Victoria, she got the Angelic Rune on the back of her hand yesterday."

Her mother was silent for a while. "I'm sure there's a way to solve it. Mundane tattoos can't be as permanent as runes, can they?"

"It isn't a tattoo, Maryse. She got it at this tattoo shop run by a Nephilim, and she thought it was a tattoo, but it's a rune. A permanent rune. Besides, Maryse, I think you should pay her a visit. I don't know how long we can keep this up. Now that you and Robert aren't even related, I don't see why we should still be taking care of Victoria for you."

"She is Victoria Lightwood," her mother said, "Or have you forgotten?"

Isabelle's mind was racing. What was this about?

"Yes, Maryse, but Robert wants nothing more to do with her and the other Lightwood children, plus, you've willingly agreed to take care of all three of them. I think you should bring Victoria back to New York with you."

Three of them? Were they talking about Max? They couldn't be, could they? Isabelle's confusion drowned out her anger at her father's lack of responsibility.

"And do what, Denice?" her mother demanded. "Get her trained to be a Shadowhunter? I think it's much too late for that. I may not be her biological mother, but I don't want her involved in this when the Silent Brothers specifically informed us that she wouldn't be able to take it."

"I don't know Maryse, but you promised to take care of her, so do it. I don't want to be involved with her anymore. I don't care if she's related to Robert and in no way related to you. Take her away, Maryse, or I will send her away."

Denice Lightwood hung up. Her mother remained on the line; Isabelle could hear her inhaling a furious breath and holding it in for a moment before letting it out.

Isabelle put the phone down as gently as she could, then turned to sprint up the staircase. She managed to make it upstairs without seeing her mother.

"Alec, wake up," Isabelle hissed. Her brother groaned and turned over in his bed.

"What?" he asked as he sat up slowly. In a moment, he was sitting up and wide awake, scanning the room as though he was expecting a demon there.

Isabelle relayed the conversation to him.

"Victoria Lightwood?" he repeated when she had finished. "Lightwood? Are you sure? I'm quite certain we'd know if we had a Victoria in our family, Iz."

"That's what I thought."

"And Denice mentioned that she's Robert's daughter, and not Maryse's?"

"Yes." It unnerved Isabelle to hear Alec refer to their parents by their names, but they had lost all respect for their father when he walked out on them, though Isabelle did find it harsh of him to blame Maryse for removing rune that bound her to Robert. Between the both of them, Alec was more affected by their parents' divorce. Isabelle, though, had known that their relationship wasn't as perfect as it seemed, after her mother had told her about her father's affairs when she was thirteen.

"That explains it, then," Alec said, "Robert had an affair with some other woman, had a child, and dumped her with Denice and Archer because we all wouldn't be able to take knowing that our father had sex with some other woman."

"But she said Mom had volunteered to take full responsibility of her," Isabelle said quietly.

"Of course. You know Mom. She'd cling onto Robert no matter what. I can just imagine it – Robert telling her that he had another child under his responsibility, and Mom saying that it didn't matter, volunteering to take care of her. Even if Victoria Lightwood was the living proof of Robert's disloyalty, Mom would look after her, as long as it meant that Robert would stay with her."

"That's some love," Isabelle said.

Alec looked her straight in the eye. "Unrequited love is always the most desperate."

"You're finally awake?"

Victoria forced her eyes open and saw Harry smiling at her. She groaned and tried to sit up. A sharp pain made her gasp.

"Easy, Victoria," Harry said lightly, pushing her back down onto the bed. "You hit your head pretty hard."

Victoria accepted a glass of water from him. As she lifted the glass to her lips, she realized that the fingerless leather glove that had covered her new tattoo was gone. She took a sip of water and quickly put the glass down to hide the tattoo.

Harry raised an eyebrow questioningly at her. "No point hiding it, Tori. Mom and Dad already saw, and they're pretty pissed. Personally, so am I, but I'm just gonna act like I'm not because I can't be bothered."

Victoria groaned. "I was planning to tell them today, anyway. I was just hoping I could tell them instead of them finding out themselves."

"It's too late," he said cheerfully, "Mom's on the phone with your mom, and I think you're gonna have to move in with your parents in New York."

"What?" she yelped.

Harry shrugged. "I told you not to go get yourself tattooed just because you've turned sixteen, but you didn't want to listen to me." He sounded calm, but when he turned away, Victoria saw a muscle twitching in his cheek.

She sighed and leaned back against the headboard. Memories began to flood her. "Harry… What happened, earlier on?"

Harry paled significantly. He cleared his throat and turned to face her. "You didn't listen to the teachers, insisted on running road run, then fell and hit your head."

Even to himself, it sounded like lies.

"I fell backwards?" Victoria asked skeptically.

Harry grinned and shrugged. "You're a pretty stupid girl."

"So what, you thought you could make up some story and lie to me?" she demanded, her tone harsher than she had intended.

Harry looked sincerely apologetic, but stood his ground. "I'm not lying to you! You really fell!"

"What I remember is that you forced me to ditch the road run, then this– this guy or something, I don't know, came up to me, pushed me down on the ground and tried to inhale me, then you came and pushed him up against the wall, talked to him, before you killed him."

Harry blinked. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Harry Lightwood, don't you lie to me," she growled. She sat up and nearly shoved him off his chair.

"What really happened just now?" she demanded.

"I swear, you ran the road run and fell!" he insisted. Victoria raised her arm to hit him again when he froze. She turned around and saw Denice Lightwood, her aunt and caretaker.

"Looks like the iratze worked," Denice said, stepping into the room.

"The what?" Victoria asked, her voice hoarse.

"You put an iratze on her?" Harry hissed. Denice nodded at him. She put her hand on the back of Victoria's head and gently pushed her head down. She then pushed her hair aside, and pointed at something on the back of her neck. Harry made a weird sound at the back of his throat.

"What?" Victoria asked, her hand cupping her neck. "What's there?"

"Something just like the one at the back of your hand," Denice answered, her voice cold.

"A tattoo?"

"Is that what you think it is?"

"That's what it is."

"I'm pretty sure it is just an ordinary tattoo, Mom," Harry piped in, staring at his cousin's hand.

"It's not, it was made with a stele," Denice said.

"What's going on?!" Victoria demanded. "This is a normal tattoo that I got at this cheap tattoo shop called Shadow Skin or something like that–"

Harry gasped.

Denice shot him a look. "She went to this tattoo shop run by some Nephilim, and when he realized she had Shadowhunter blood, he put the Angelic Rune on her using a stele. And she didn't even realize it."

"Could you guys stop talking about me as if I'm not here?" Victoria snapped, her patience wearing thin.

Denice glared at her fiercely. "You will not speak to me like that, Victoria Lightwood, especially when you have disobeyed me."

Victoria jumped out of the bed, ignoring her throbbing head. She went up to Denice and looked her straight in the eye. "You're not my mother."

Denice raised her hand and slapped the younger girl across the cheek – hard. Victoria fell backwards, hitting her head against the bedside table.

Harry gasped. "Mom!"

He went over to her side of the bed and bent down to help her.

"She can help herself up, Harry." Harry hesitated and Victoria, not wanting to put him in a spot, pushed him away gently, shaking her head. Denice left the room without another word.

"Clary, you've got some jam on your nose."

"Where?"

"Right there," Jace said, leaning forward to put some jam onto her nose.

"Jace!" Clary squealed, smiling as she wiped her nose. Alec and Isabelle exchanged a look. This was how their breakfast normally went, what with the fiancé and the fiancée living together now. Their wedding was two months away, but ever since their engagement, Jocelyn, Clary's mother, had permitted Clary to move in into the Institute, provided that they promised to sleep in separate rooms until after the wedding.

"Good morning, Clary, Jace," Maryse greeted as she entered the kitchen. "Alec, Isabelle."

She stared at her daughter, trying to guess just how much she had understood from the conversation, but Isabelle was furiously avoiding her eyes.

"Why are you in gear?" Jace asked, the jam spoon in his mouth.

"I'm going out to pick someone up," Maryse answered, not looking at anyone in the eye. "Her name is Victoria. Victoria… Lightwood."

Alec and Isabelle looked at each other in surprise. They hadn't expected her to talk about it. "I've never heard of her before."

"I don't expect you to," Maryse said, her voice soft. "I just need you all to help me with this one thing – she does not know anything about Nephilim, or Downworlders, or demons. You are all to act like she is simply a mundane, and you are sworn by the Convenant to not talk to her about any Shadowhunter business. Is that clear?"

They all nodded mutely.

"Clary, Jace, could you give us a moment, please?"

Clary and Jace left without any more prompting, not wanting to upset Maryse.

"Isabelle, Alec," Maryse began. The two children turned around and were surprised to find their mother's eyes shining with tears. "There's something I need to tell you, something I should have told you a long time ago…"

It was sixteen years ago. Maryse and Robert Lightwood were in New Hampshire. It was a rainy night, they were both having dinner in silence, the television loud as it blared out mundane news to them.

The doorbell then rang. Maryse and Robert exchanged a look, before Maryse got up and peered through the peephole. She turned to give Robert a shrug to indicate that she didn't know who it was before opening the door.

"Is Robert Lightwood in?" the woman asked, as a form of greeting. She wore a blue cloak that was too big for her. Her arms cradled a young child, with droplets of rainwater on its face. The child was peacefully asleep, seemingly oblivious to everything around her.

Robert looked up when he heard his name. When he saw the woman, an immediate look of anger filled his eyes. He stood up so quickly that his chair fell backwards.

"Elizabeth, what are you doing here?" he demanded. In a moment, he was at the door. He absently shoved Maryse away, as though he was just swatting a fly away.

She thrust the child into his arms. "She's your child. I can't handle her anymore."

Maryse let out a small gasp. Robert seemed to just realize her presence then, and he looked at her in panic before turning back to Elizabeth.

But she was already gone.

"Elizabeth!" Robert stepped out into the corridor outside their apartment. Impossible. How could a mere mundane move so quickly? Frustrated, he stepped back into their house and slammed the door shut. He walked right past Maryse into their bedroom.

He set the child onto the bed. He stripped off the cloth that she was wrapped in. Underneath, she wore a small jumper. She was so tiny, her entire upper body was nearly the size of his hand. He felt her chest rise and fall underneath his hand. Slowly, his hand moved upwards, and cradled her neck. It would be so easy. His grip on her neck tightened slightly. Just a slight squeeze, for a minute or two, and she'd be out of his life forever…

"Robert."

His hand recoiled instinctively. He looked up at Maryse, his eyes blank

"Were you trying to kill her?" Maryse demanded. "Your own daughter? Would you do that to Isabelle, too?"

Robert was shocked. He had never heard Maryse raise her voice at him.

"It's true, then?" Maryse whispered, her voice returning to the way it sounded when she talked to him, with a tinge of fear. "She really is your daughter."

Robert clenched his jaw tightly. He saw no point in denying it, but he didn't want to talk about it. "It was one night. Just once."

"With a mundane?" Maryse bit her lip and looked away, her eyes shining. She willed the tears away. She was a Shadowhunter, she would not shed tears over such a small matter.

Robert was already ignoring her. He was staring at his child's right hand. She had no protective runes, she was so, so vulnerable. He wasn't going to let her remain this way. But what could he do? It was against the Law to have a child with a mundane – a law that was put in place ever since the Mortal Cup disappeared to ensure the continuality of Nephilim.

He turned to his wife. "Maryse, you know I love you, don't you?"

Maryse nodded as a tear slid down her cheek. Robert stepped forward and wiped it away. "It's alright. I'll figure out a way to solve this. She won't affect our lives."

"Robert, it won't be possible. She'll want to find out about her real parents someday."

"Who ever said we'd have to hide it from her? Denice and Archer will take of her on the pretense that her real parents are always doing work overseas. We'll visit her once or twice a year, and the Clave will never know she exists since Denice and Archer aren't part of the Clave, they're wouldn't even be Nephilim if it weren't for the blood running through their veins, it'll work, Maryse."

"Why would Denice and Archer want to take care of a girl who isn't even theirs?"

"They're inactive Shadowhunters, Maryse. They have lots of time on their hands to take care of her, and after all, they owe me," Robert muttered bitterly. Maryse wondered what they did to owe him such a thing, but she didn't pry.

"And her protective runes, Robert?" she asked. "Will you let her remain vulnerable to all sorts of demon influence?"

"She's only half Nephilim. The demons won't bother her," he said with much more certainty than he felt. "It's settled then. She'll stay with Denice and Archer. Their son –Harry, was it?– will finally have a sister."

"I really hope she'll be alright," Maryse said, stepping forward to stroke the little girl's cheek gently, with a mother's love.

"She will be," Robert said, wrapping his arm around his wife's shoulders. "She's a Lightwood, after all."

"Victoria Lightwood," Maryse said suddenly. "That's a beautiful name, don't you think?"

Robert lifted the little girl into his arms. All of a sudden, a deep feeling of love towards the girl filled his heart. Like her mother, the girl could so easily make people fall in love with her. The little girl's face scrunched up, and a soft cry escaped her lips.

"Hush, hush," Robert soothed her as he rocked her gently in his arms. "Victoria Lightwood."