AN: This is going to be a darker type of story, lots of violence. There will be some romance and lighter fare too, but it's going to start off very dark. It is a shadowhunter story, but is very much an AU story. If you are down for all of that, enjoy the story! :-)

BTW this is a second story posting for me, I've got one under 'In Progress' status already so I make no promises on updating times. If you want to share your thoughts on anything else please feel free. Haters will be ignored, I don't have the time or energy to waste on hate mail, so if you are one of those don't waste your time with me.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Mortal Instruments or anything associated with them. I just love Cassie's characters.

In all seriousness, I'm writing because I used to love it and I'm hoping that I can get back to that. I hope anyone who reads my crazy rambles enjoys them.

Prologue:

Clary would never be the same again; she just watched a monster that should not even exist kill her mother. It was the most horrible sight she had ever seen, and it would haunt her for the rest of her days.

Her mother Jocelyn was a painter and one of the gentlest people Clary had ever known. They lived a simple life, with only a few close friends that they visited or that visited them regularly, they were not wealthy, and they didn't live a life of crime so Clary could not reconcile how they became targets for such violence.

What was worse was that Clary and her mom had fought earlier that day, and though they had talked after, and even told each that they loved one another the fight had not been resolved truly. They both knew that, and they both knew that they would have to talk or fight it out later.

Her mom had wanted to go out of town, she decided that with no warning and at the worst possible time for Clary, or so she had thought at the time. Now, she wished she'd forgotten about her stupid summer art class program and had just packed her shit and left with her mother.

It was her fault they were still in the apartment. Her mom had called the homeopathic healer, Magnus Bane, who treated her for insomnia and headaches over and because of their fight he could only reschedule the appointment for five in the evening. So they waited for him to arrive, only he never made it there because at four in the afternoon Clary's whole world was shattered just days before the fourteen year old was due to turn fifteen.

Clary had felt so helpless when their home was invaded by real life monsters, and shockingly her mom didn't flinch or recoil from the hideous monsters. Moreover she seemed to know exactly what to do to rid their home of the beasts. She charged over to the window seat that supposedly didn't open and pulled out a pen that glowed on one end, she swiftly twirled the pen on the seat and suddenly the lid was unsealed. Her mother reached into the seat and pulled out to rods that look like hand carved handles for something metal, when all of the sudden both handles extended with glowing white blades that nearly blinded Clary with the sudden brightness.

Clary had stood their stunned like a fool, while her mother had suddenly become an assassin with significant martial arts training. She twirled, and leapt, and flipped around the room slicing and stabbing the black oily beasts' one after the other. She killed five in quick succession and Clary began to feel hopeful that they would make it out of this alive. When all of the sudden one of the monster slid around the wall of the hallway on the ceiling. Clary barely had time to scream before it leapt through the air towards her mother.

At first Clary thought her mother had managed to dodge the assault with a twist of her body and leaping back over the couch, because she saw the last monster disappear like all the others after her mother stabbed them with the glowing swords. Then she noticed her mother's hair spread out on the floor around the edge of the couch. Panic clawed its way up her throat and she felt temporarily paralyzed in her fear.

Then she heard a wheezing breath followed by a wet sounding cough and she knew that whatever she was about to see around the edge of that couch was going to be terrible. The kind of terrible that would never fade in her memory, but still she managed to will her legs forward and she crept around the broken furniture and haphazard piles of books, paints, canvases, and sketchbooks.

There lying on the floor was her mother, and Clary could already see a large red stain tinted with oily black residue pouring from her mother's chest. The slight amount of bravery she had mustered to walk the few feet to her mother evaporated and Clary crumpled to the floor, grabbing her mother and pulling her head to rest in her lap. Sobbing she pulled her cell phone from her pocket and started to dial 911 in a desperate attempt to stop the inevitable.

Just as she was about to press the blurry call button the door that was hanging halfway off the hinges and cracked down the length slammed into the wall and startled her enough that she dropped her phone while she dove forward in the hopes that she could shield her mother's body from whomever was now coming to murder them.

She knew it was pitiful and would only save her mother for a few more seconds while the assassins dispatched her and that thought made her shudder violently. She realized that the murderer had already had ample time to slaughter her and move on to her mother so she hesitantly raised her head peaking through her long red hair and there she saw the only other person who could possibly help them. Luke, her mother's childhood best friend that had always been a major part of Clary's life. He was essentially her father, and right now she really needed a father. So she opened her mouth to beg for his help, all that came out of her mouth was a wail.

The wail seemed to unlock Luke from his frozen state just a few feet away and he lurched forward and then fell to his knees on the other side of Jocelyn's head. He reached a hand out to touch her neck, feeling for a pulse, when Jocelyn's eyes fluttered open. Her face was nearly colorless, her eyes clouded over and unfocused, but she was still alive. Clary wept harder and leaned forward to look into her mother's eyes.

Jocelyn seemed to be trying to talk, but she couldn't seem to say anything above a faint whisper. Luke and Clary leaned in and her mother spoke her final words, "Ravenors….Valentine…..sent…..them…..take….Clary…hide…..her." She coughed and blood and more of the black oil oozed out of the corner of her mouth, but she was determined enough to push a few final words with her dying breath, "love..you…both …so…much." Then she went still, and Clary knew nothing would ever be the same again. Her heart shattered and anyone in the world would have been able to tell from the broken wailing sobs that tore through her and echoed in their destroyed home.

AN: Yeah, told you it was a little darker. I killed Mom, no one is safe dun dun dun.