Chapter One
It was dark and the moon shed little light through the oppressive clouds that covered the sky. I struggled through the trash littered alleyways as the rain pounded down on me from all sides. I could hear its footsteps directly behind me, getting ever closer. My breath was getting quicker and shallower, red spots clouded my vision. I was running as fast as I could but it was difficult since the wounds from the previous attack from the demon were getting worse. I could feel the blood seeping through my thin jacket. The claw marks down my body burned with the venom of the Ravener demon. I knew why it was after me, but I knew I couldn't let it catch me. "Silly girl" it screeched, "you can't get away, Master always gets what he wants". The demon's voice sent shivers down my spine, I knew it was right but I couldn't give up yet. As I turned the corner the demon launched itself off of the alley wall and landed directly in front of me. I couldn't hold in the scream that escaped my mouth. The demon chuckled "I told you so", as it launched itself at me. I hit the ground hard, stars erupted in front of my eyes and I groaned as the demon's vile saliva dripped from its tongue and burned my neck. It dug its claws into my hips and arms, and as I struggled under its grip they dug into me deeper and deeper. I finally couldn't hold on any longer and slipped into darkness.
"Helllooo?" said a voice. It was female and surprisingly it sounded friendly. My eyes burned as I opened them slowly. The light above me was blinding "Uhhhhggg" I groaned as I covered my eyes with my arm. This was a horrible idea since an unbearable pain shot through my body at the slight movement. I slowly moved my arm back to my side and searched the room for the origin of the voice. Soon I discovered the girl sitting beside me; she was tall and had beautiful ebony hair and dark eyes that matched. She was staring at me with a concerned look "Finally, you've been out for almost a week!" the girl exclaimed. I flinched at the statement which made my head begin to throb. "Sorry" she whispered looking sheepish "we were getting curious". I looked around the room and realized I was lying in a hospital bed. The room was large and was lined with several other beds, they were all empty. "Where am I?" I asked in a hoarse voice. "You are at the New York Institute, in the infirmary" the girl said, rising from her chair. "I will be right back; I need to tell the others you're awake". "The others?" I thought to myself in panic as the girl left the room. I need to get out of here. After I waited as long as I could bear I sat up slowly, as to create as little pain as possible. I lifted the sheet off of myself and realized I was only wearing a thin nightgown. I looked around and saw that the girl had left a long grey wool sweater on the back of the chair that was beside my bed. I quickly slipped it on and winced when the fabric touched me. I took a deep breath and with all the determination I could muster, wrapped the sweater around my scar ridden body and tied the belt tight. I tiptoed to the door and peeked through the crack into a dark and fortunately empty hallway. I slipped through the door and ran down the hallway. As I turned the corner I ran directly into a tall young man. I fell to the floor and landed on my backside with a thud. I slowly looked up and as my vision focused once again I saw who I had crashed into. The boy looked to be a bit older than myself maybe eighteen or nineteen, he had tan skin that was almost golden he was tall and lean but his muscles were still clearly visible. He also had the marks of all Shadowhunters, runes, covering his arms and neck. His eyes were the most beautiful things I had ever seen; they were deep amber with flecks of gold. "I-I'm so sorry sir, I-I didn't see you and I-"I spluttered. "It's alright" he interrupted me with a chuckle, he seemed amused. He reached out his hand and I took it hesitantly. "I'm Jace" he said with a flash of his teeth "And you must be the mysterious girl we've all been wondering about". "My name is Aden, look I don't know what you want but I don't have anything" I said not looking at him. "All we want to do is help you" Jace replied earnestly. "Ya right" the words were out of my mouth before I could stop them; I blushed and looked quickly up at him. He smiled "its okay, look everyone really wants to meet you, why don't we go back to the infirmary so you can rest?" he suggested. I don't know if I trusted him but I followed him back to the infirmary anyway.
When Jace and I entered the room we were met by a crowd of Shadowhunters all talking in exasperated tones with worried expressions on their faces. No one noticed us standing in the doorway. "You were supposed to watch her!" one of the Shadowhunters said angrily. His dark hair and pale skin matched the features of the girl he was shouting at "Mom is going to be so mad if she's gone". The girl was the same one who I had been talking to earlier. "Hey! It's not my fault that she doesn't want our help" the girl said, aggravated. I blushed at this. All of the shouting was making my head throb again. Jace must have noticed this and led me to the bed I had woken up in. As I sat down everyone was silent. Jace turned to face everyone "I know, I know I saved us all from mom's wrath no need to thank me." I pictured him flashing them his smug grin and internally smiled at the thought. The short red headed Shadowhunter walked over to Jace and lightly punched him in the arm. "Don't be so smug" she said laughing. "Clary, everyone, this is Aden, Aden this is everyone; Clary, Alec, Izzy, and Magnus Bane High Warlock of Brooklyn" Jace said as he nodded to everyone as he introduced them to me. "Hi" I said sheepishly "I'm sorry for trying to run away I thought that the Ravener demon had captured me" I explained. "We understand" Clary said kindly "But we do need some information from you" she continued. "A-alright" I said nervously. I reached down to my wrist, I had a piece of fabric tied around it covering a scar, and I usually fiddled with it when I am nervous. But when I touched my wrist all I felt was bare skin. I looked down in astonishment then slowly looked back up at the group with my face drained of colour. The one they called Magnus Bane stepped forward, holding a strip of black fabric between his thumb and forefinger. "Looking for this?" he asked not smiling. He was tall with black hair spiked up around his face. He had cat like eyes that hid his thoughts. I covered the scar with my left hand, not answering his question. "What's going on?" Alec asked looking from Magnus to me. "Why don't you ask her" Magnus said coldly, throwing the scrap of fabric to me. I let it fall lightly onto my lap and just stared at it. Oh crap, I thought to myself, now they'll lock me up or worse...NO! I shouted in my head. I couldn't think like that, they seemed nice enough...maybe not Magnus but the others... I took my hand off my wrist and held it out so they could all see. They all gasped in chorus, except Magnus who just stared stonily at me. "Valentine's crest?" Clary said puzzled. I could feel all of them staring at me but I couldn't bring myself to look at them. Here it comes, I thought, they're going to give me over to the Clave. "Well?" Izzy asked me. I looked up at her then, completely shocked. "What?" I asked her. "Are you going to explain?" she asked. "You want me to explain?" I asked slightly dazed, this was surprising no one ever cared for what I had to say before. No one has cared for me in a long time, I still didn't believe it. "Well ya, unless you're just going to go with what we're all thinking" Jace said. Alec elbowed him in the ribs. Jace just glared at him then looked at me expectantly, they were all looking at me expectantly, even Magnus.
"Well, alright then" I took a deep breath and told them my story. "On my sixth birthday my parents took me to Alicante. We were living in Boston at the time and I was so excited to visit our home once again. We were going to visit my grandparents who lived on the outskirts of the city. After a few hours of talking with them I asked if I could go outside. My parents said not to go too far, but of course I didn't listen. There was a forest behind my grandparent's house and if you went down a path you could get to a beautiful field. I remember walking down the path humming and picking flowers, with not a care in the world. When I got to the field I sat down right in the middle of it. I don't know how long I had been there, a few minutes at least. Suddenly someone grabbed me from behind and everything went dark. I woke up in a small bedroom with no windows, there was a candle lit beside the bed and I could just see the outline of a door. I went to it and opened it slowly looking down the hallway to see if anyone was waiting for me. There was, it was a little boy. "Follow me" he said when he saw me. I tried to close the door but he was too quick. He wrenched the door open and grabbed my arm. When I started to cry he just walked faster. "Where are we going?" I asked between sobs. "To see father" he told me. He took me down a flight of stairs and to a library. "Close your eyes" the boy commanded. I did what he said. Soon I heard a door slide open and cool air surrounded me and made me shiver. The boy grabbed my arm again and I opened my eyes. He led me down another flight of stairs and into what appeared to be a dungeon. The stairs and walls were large stone blocks. The walls were damp and cold. I could hear moans echoing off the walls and the stench of demons was unbearable. I tried to get away from him but his grip was unbreakable. We walked past dozens of cells. In each cell there was a tortured creature; vampires burned to the skeleton, werewolves trapped in silver chains, faeries being drained of blood, and warlocks unable to use magic. The boy brought me to the cell at the very end of the room. There was a man standing in front of the empty cell. He looked like an older version of the boy; they both had light blonde hair that matched their skin, and dark eyes. The boy pushed me into the cell and the man closed the door behind me. I turned around and looked at them with tear filled eyes. "That should teach Nephilim to stick with their own kind" the man sneered at me. Then he left, the little boy following behind him. For the next ten years I was tortured and starved and changed. I was experimented on and turned into a monster" I finished now looking at my feet.
I held my breath waiting for the response I knew was coming. They were surely going to send me to the Clave now. "You don't look like one of Valentine's experiments" said Jace. I looked at him. I guess that was a reasonable statement, I thought. I looked like any Nephilim, I had long curly blonde hair, dark green eyes, and the standard runes any Shadowhunter has. I guess you could say I looked normal. I had no visible deformities or mutilated body parts. "Well he spent a lot of time working on me" I said with a sad smile. "Why would Valentine experiment on a Shadowhunter?" Clary questioned "I thought he was only against Downworlders." "A lot of my relatives left the Shadowhunters and married Downworlders" I told her "and he said that he was using me to make Shadowhunters even more powerful". "Well that's an interesting development" Magnus said. I could tell he disliked me, why wouldn't he? I was bitter and for all he knew I had been brainwashed and was working with Jonathan. "How did you escape?" Alec wanted to know. "He made me too powerful I guess" I laughed bitterly "I burned the place to the ground." "So what did he do to you exactly?" Izzy asked me. "Well I have the ability to use heavenly fire, I can change into a wolf, I have vampire fangs, I cannot lie, and I can cast magic like the Children of Lilith." They all stared at me with mouths agape. I knew I was being blunt but I didn't believe that they could really want to help me. Why would they? They didn't know me. I was pushing it but I just wanted to get it over with. "So your part Shadowhunter, werewolf, vampire, faerie, and warlock?" asked Clary. "H-how is that even possible?" spluttered Alec. "Well she wasn't born that way and she probably had Downworlder blood in her already" explained Magnus. "Look we can talk about this tomorrow! We need to let Aden rest" Jace said pinching the bridge of his nose, trying to clear his head. This flipped their worlds upside down. My existence shouldn't be possible. I shouldn't exist, but I do, and it was all because of Valentine and his son.