Prologue

The old television Alec had set up may have not been the most functional television ever made. For one, you could barely make out anything on the little twelve inch screen; it was all a bunch of moving blobs and static. Jace squinted his eyes, trying to make out exactly what the picture was, it seemed to be some kind of dog, which didn't really make sense to him considering it was talking. Although, with the audio sounding like a dying cat thrown into a washing machine, he assumed it was talking. Finally, the television gave up and went blank, and a frustrated Alec through his hands in the air.

"I'm sorry, blame me all you want, I just do not know how to work a stupid television." Simon got up, laughing as he walked lazily toward the dead TV.

"I can't believe it! There is something I know and Alec doesn't for once!" he muttered, just loud enough for everyone else sprawled out on the couch to hear it. Clary rolled her eyes.

"Simon, I think you should get an award for having the lowest self-esteem in the western hemisphere," she remarked sarcastically, as Jace smiled. Simon got real close to the little end table where the television sat, and gave it a little kick on the bottom left hand corner. The tiny screen blinked to life, once again showing the colorful blobs that were there only entertainment once the power had gone out in Simon's new apartment.

The apartment wasn't even finished yet; the electrician had been trying to wire the last part of his apartment when he put the wrong wires together and all of the power went out completely. Simon, who had been playing video games on his flat screen was so addicted to monitors, just had to go out and buy a junkie one from a flea market down the block. Except he had forgotten something: he didn't know how to set up a TV from before he was born. So naturally, he called up Alec, since he was one of the smartest people he knew. Simon forgot how before him and Clary showed up, Alec hadn't know a Gameboy from an Apple computer. But eventually, he figured it out, but not that well.

He sighed. "Well, I tried, but I guess I will just have to suffer one day without any electronics whatsoever." He fell back into the recliner chair, where he and Isabelle had been snuggling, enjoying "Blobs on a Screen." There was little furniture in Simon's small living space. A couch, where Jace was playing with Clary's sparkling red hair, lying together so close it was like they were one. In the dim light, her hair was the brightest thing in the room. It was carefully wrapped around her head, and it seemed to spread like wildfire. A lock of it was curled around his finger, and his hand was pressed palm-up on his cheek.

Then there was Alec, leaning against the base of the couch, focused on his phone, like he didn't seem to care what was going on around him. This, Simon thought, is my social life. But honestly, he couldn't have been happier.

Chapter 1

Jace on the other hand, was not happy, or anywhere close to it. He was troubled and lost in deep thought because of it. Ever since he had found out that he was a Heronadle, and once he had received the box that glowed silver that was the only part of his parents that he had left, he studied his parents very closely. The shaggy blond hair of his dad, the way it was cut just above the ear line ,and casually swooped over his forehead, just barely touching the top of his eyebrows. Nothing of his father had really intrigued him, other than how he had always pondered about why his father had even liked Valentine, much less had been friends with him.

But then there was his mother. He had always secretly thought he looked more like he mother than his father. Her delicately shaped jaw line, with her shaggy brown hair that fell down past her shoulders. The part that most intrigued him about his mother was her sun bathed golden eyes that were mystifying and hard to look at. He wondered what they must be like in person. Do my eyes look like that? He asked himself every morning, when he looked at himself in the mirror. But most of all, her smile. She had a carefree, happy smile, where all her teeth glittered in the sun's dazzling light. She seemed like she had a good sense of humor, which made him more firmly believe that he acted and looked more like his mom.

After he had been looking at them for a long time, he was confused with a question so basic. Where was her body? Luke had told him that Hodge and Valentine were the only people there to witness Celine's death. Once they had gotten the baby, Hodge took him to the hospital right away so he could live. When he returned, her body was gone. Valentine claimed he had given her a proper burial session, and had buried her already. But then, a few years later they dug up her coffin, and she wasn't in it. But now that both Valentine and Hodge were dead, no one could answer the question.

Before yesterday, he hadn't really bothered to think hard about that. It was a chilly Sunday morning. Small snowflakes fell from the crystal blue sky, and the sidewalk outside the new apartment Clary and Jace had bought was covered in a soft white blanket of snow. Clary had suggested a morning stroll through Manhattan, and Jace had happily agreed, seeing how nice the weather was.

Clary had wrapped herself in a baby blue scarf, black jeggings that went with the black fuzzy boots, and a grey knit sweater to keep her warm, while Jace had simply shrugged in to a Jets football jersey, a snowboarding jacket with blue jeans and Converse. They drove in Jace's new white Toyota, which he had received as a gift from Magnus, after his 30th time bugging him to drive him somewhere. They stepped out on to the avenue, which was buzzing with tourists and Christmas shoppers. It was gong perfectly. The snow crunched under the couples' heavy winter boots. As Jace sat down at a table outside their favorite coffee stop, "Charlie's", Clary offered to go order their coffee. He accepted graciously, for he was tired from the drive here. Clary gave him a quick kiss on the cheek a walked in to the shop. And that's when everything went wrong. Jace was gazing at the different tourists, when he spotted her. Her hair was cut short, a pixie hairstyle, her smile appeared nowhere on her face. But it was her eyes that really gave it away. Celine's eyes shined as bright as ever, gold and dazzling. But her they were cold and unforgiving. She stared daggers at everything. But, as if she could feel his eyes burning into the side of her face, her gazed directed his way, and then she was starring right at him. All the coldness, the hatred, melted right out of her irises, to reveal the warm, bright eyed woman he had come to love.

After she saw him, it was like she recognized Jace immediately. As if she hadn't seen him in 20 years. And he guessed she realized he recognized her too, because she looked as if she was about to faint. Instead, she screamed and ran away, and Jace quickly turned his attention back to a newspaper on the table that suddenly looked quite interesting. Well, one things for sure, Jace thought. My mother definitely isn't dead.

Chapter 2

The new Toyota pulled up to the curb with a jolting stop. Clary grabbed the door handle and jumped out from the passenger's side of the truck, walked around the front to reunite with her boyfriend, and slip her hand into his. Jace looked down at her, his golden eyes shining. His smile was wide, but a little too wide and stretched. Clary knew something was up. As he reached for the door handle, Clary started to interrogate.

"Is everything all right?" she inquired looking up at Jace with plain concern.

"Nothing at all." He stepped into the cozy apartment, hung up his snowboarding jacket which was covered in a slick sheet of snow. He patted it a couple of times, watching the snowflakes drift to the ground. Yeah, something was definitely up.

"Jace, you aren't good at hiding emotions from me, and you know that." she said blatantly. He flopped down on the couch, and closed his eyes making him look like he should be posing for the front on a magazine.

"Yeah, I realized. It's creepy. It's like you can read my mind or something." He opened one eye, cracking a smile. She smiled back so sweetly, it was poisonous.

"Yeah, that smile doesn't work with me, so c'mon. Spill your guts." She sat down beside him and patted the sofa. He sighed.

"You know, that term is not a term you should use around shadow hunters." He grumped, sitting upright.

"So, what's on your mind?" She asked softly.

"Well, you see-"and then the doorbell rang. Clary sat up straight, suddenly intrigued.

"Did we invite someone over?" Clary asked, looking back at Jace.

"Not that I know of," he replied, just happy to not be being interrogated. They both got up, silently walking to the door. Clary glanced down at the coffee table with her dagger on it, and carefully slipped it into her belt.

Jace reached for the door knob, frowning. If this is my mother… he began to think, than stopped, knowing that there was no way, especially if he was talking about the same person who had ran screaming from him yesterday, even if it was his mother.

And he swung the door open in a blink of an eye. Standing there was a girl maybe two years younger than him. She had almond-colored hair with a wide grin spread across her face. She was obviously a shadow hunter, with almost more marks than Jace. Clary glanced past his shoulder and gasped, almost falling backwards. She had never seen this girl in her life, but something looked so familiar….

"Oh my gosh," she whispered. It suddenly hitting her, like a slap right across the face. Besides the hair, she was an almost exact replica of Jace. Her eyes, were like little suns, brightening everything she looked at. She then spoke, her voice silky and musical, just like Jace.

"Hi, I'm Callie, and I'm your little sister."

Chapter 3

His whole life, Jace had been taught to always be the one who kept it under control. Be the brave one, who seemed like he was never offended by anything. But try he might, he could not keep it together. His family was a touchy subject for him. By now, he had like, seven different last names. Plus, he had just found out that his mother wasn't dead. So why not? Of course he had a sister.

He broke down, falling to his knees with his head in his hands.

"Oh God, "she remarked. "Why am I always terrible with words?" She frowned down at him uncomfortably, like she wasn't sure whether to try to sooth him. As for Jace, he felt as if his heart had ripped in two. Clary bent down, her jeans scraping the hard wood floor. "We should probably all sit down and talk." Callie and Clary led Jace down to the couch, where he sat there in a heap full of gorgeousness, looking down at his shoes while he explained what had happened yesterday. Clary sat there, shocked and speechless as he talked about his own mother screaming and running from him as if he had a disease. Callie sat in the recliner, grimly nodding her head as if she had been there too.

"I," she stated, once Jace had finished his story, "Am absolutely, terribly sorry. In fact, I don't even blame you for acting this way. You know, I just found out yesterday that you existed. I reacted the same way. I am so sorry that you had to go through all this pain with Valentine, while I sat back, not knowing there was a place called Idris, while my mom fooled me into thinking we were the only of our kind, meant to kill demons. It should have been me who-"

"No!" Jace roared, outraged. "Not under any circumstances should it have been you. I should protect you. I barley know you, but I love you therefore you will not blame yourself for what I've been though, because that's not how Heronadles act. And most of all you will not blame yourself for anything our mother did. Do you understand?" Callie looked like she had been slapped. For a second, Clary thought she was going to cry.

"But-" Jace through his arms around her. He tried to sooth her, although it was quite awkward, being that he had never known her for more than five minutes. She wiped away the tears running down her face, clearly trying to be strong. No one would have been fooled though, seeing that her eyes were red and blotchy. Callie removed herself from the hug, and sat up straight in her chair. "Come with me," She said, meaning both of them. "I want you to meet my mom."

Chapter 4

Callie, Jace, and Clary walked down the quite avenue. They had started their long walk in the busy street, but the group had slowly walked father away from the bustling city into the quite suburbs. It had been a long, quite walk, and Clary's sore feet ached in protest every time she took a step. The houses around her obviously weren't kept up very well; the dull gray paint was peeling and some of the windows boarded up. The grass in the front of the homes was brown and overgrown with weeds, the sidewalks cracked in many places. Storm clouds and rolled in turning everything a dull gray color. At the very end of the block, was a house smaller than the rest, although it was well kept up with a fresh coat of paint. The door had been recently scrubbed, as you could tell since not much dirt or cobwebs hang around it. Callie let herself in, and then motioned the others to follow. They walked down a narrow hallway with a single light bulb hanging from the ceiling. Pictures were hung up on the wall. One of a man Clary guessed to be Stephen, another of a small child laughing on the swings with another boy that seemed older than him.

Clary may not have met Jace when he was young, she could clearly tell from his mischievous golden eyes and quirky smile that it was him. He choked back a sob.

"Is that-?"

"Yes. Although you thought you were brought up by Valentine, you actually came to our house quite often. But after, a warlock would remove your memories, just like Clary. Eventually though, once you got into training, you stopped coming."

"So that's why my mother knew who I was when she saw me?"

"Exactly. And I want you to meet her. Follow me." They went in a single follow line down to the end of the hallway. It opened up in to a small but bright living room, where Celine sat on the baby blue couch. Her stormy eyes directed toward Jace and she burst out crying. Jace ran over to hug her. Clary was absolutely mystified. She would probably been mad at her mom from hiding from her all her life. But since she wasn't in that situation, she couldn't judge him.

"Jace," she breathed. "I want to give you your memories back. A warlock then entered the room. He looked human at first, but then as Clary looked closer, she realized his skin was shaggy and golden, and he had a lion's tail and sharp teeth. He smiled at her devilishly. Anger started to build up inside her chest.

"If so much as hurt Jace-" Jace looked at her, with his calming smile. She started to relax.

"Oh sweetie,"He said mockingly. "You don't have to worry about a thing." He placed his hand on Jace's forehead, closed his eyes and concentrated. Suddenly, Jace inhaled a sharp breath and his knees buckled, sliding to the floor. Clary, outraged, surged forward, but Callie stopped her, with surprising strength.

"You can't help him. My mother took away quite a bit of memories, and now all those memories are coming back, all at once." Her hands then dropped down to her sides and Clary backed away, the floorboards creaking under her feet. Jace took a shaky breath and got to his feet. For a moment, everything was silent. He then ran forward, catching Callie in a giant bear hug. Callie, being caught off guard, almost fell over, but Jace already had her in his arms. He was laughing, with tears of joy streaming down his face.

"I," he remarked," have a family."

Chapter 5

The days following, Jace visited his mother and sister almost every day. Callie, who now told them to just call her Cal, also came over so much that they had given up their couch so she could sleep over. She and Clary learned to become good friends, and Jace's bond with his mother grew stronger and stronger. They even introduced them to a shocked Alec, Magnus, Izzy, and Simon.

One night, at about 1:00 am, Clary, Jace, Alec, Magnus, Izzy, and Cal were coming home from a party. Jace and Alec were absolutely exhausted almost falling asleep waking home, but the others were wide awake. They were walking down a hill with car parked up and down the street, the streetlights being the only light to guide their path. Suddenly, a vicious hiss came from behind them. The group whirled around, drawing their seraph blades and daggers. The pack of demons were bigger and taller than Clary had ever seen. They looked like pit bulls, except three times bigger. Their eyes glowed savage red in the moonlight. The bared their fangs, which were as large as Clary's thumb. Although Clary had never really been scared of demons, she could feel the cold dark feeling of fear leaking into her chest.

"Hellhounds." Alec muttered. "Greater demons. The guardians of Hell. They have the effect to make you scared, so don't fall for it. I'm counting five, so this isn't going to be easy. Ready everyone?" he asked under his breath. Jace's eyes immediately flickered to Cal.

"Form a circle around Callie." Everyone started to move, their eyes still on the hounds. Cal started to protest.

"But Jace, I can-"

"Zip it." He demanded. I am not losing-"a hellhound sprinted forward with incredible speed knocking into Jace. He crumpled to the ground. The beast started toward Callie, but an arrow stuck through its neck and it dissolved. Clary turned to run to Jace, to protect him. But another demon was on her in milliseconds, sinking its teeth into her leg. She cried out, and fell to the ground in agony. The beast was about to bite her again, but Simon managed to kill it just in time, when another hound was on him, chasing him across the street out from any ones view.

"Simon!" Izzy yelled, and darted across the street, but not before whipping another one, dissolving it to ash. The second- to last one darted out at Alec, but Magnus had already thrown a blue fireball at its chest, killing it. The fireball was really powerful and it exhausted Magnus, letting him slink to the ground. Alec was trying to revive him, leaving Cal alone with the biggest hound. Simon and Izzy ran across the street, just in time to see what was happening. But they were in no shape to fight. They had been scratched and bitten, and they could barely stand up. Jace and Clary looked at her in horror, wanting to help but knowing they couldn't. And Alec would not leave Magnus, which permanently left her by herself. Callie could sense their mood. She could sense they thought it was over for her, a 15 year-old against the guardian of Hell. But that's when see unsheathed her seraph blade, it was long and slim, and it glowed brighter than the moon. She stared directly into the monster eyes. It had become so dark; the eyes were basically all she could see. The beast's eyes were full of hatred and revenge for killing his pack. For a split second, it seemed as if time had stopped. And then everything happened at once. The hound, thinking he could use his speed, darted at her. But Cal had anticipated the attack. She expertly twisted to the left, the jaws of the demon missing her by centimeters. She then shoved the sword into its back. The creature dissolved. Although she hadn't learned much about monsters, she had fought these before. She knew if you breathe in their scent, you would faint. Sadly, she forgot. Everything went black.

Chapter 6

She awoke at the Institute, in a soft cotton bed, looking up at the high ceilings and light fixtures. And Jace. He smiled down at her, and then helped her up. She had a breathing mask on and an I.V. in her arm. Cal honestly didn't think it was all necessary. She took off the breathing mask and asked what had happened. He replied that after she had fainted, Alec called up his mother to come get them. They were all put in the Institute hospital, but some had woken up before others. He was the first to wake up. The Magnus, then Clary, and the Izzy had just awakened. She and Simon were the only ones left. She yanked the I.V. out of her arm.

"Will he be okay?" she asked nervously.

"Yah, he is one tough cookie. He just got some demon blood in his system. He should be fine. Clary and Izzy are with him now." He smiled down at her with the same smile he had had when he was seven. But it quickly turned to a frown. "I think we have to talk." He said, tapping his fingers in a rhythmic motion on the nightstand. Yup, she thought, he's nervous.

"I will put it this way. Just because I didn't go to an Institute doesn't mean I wasn't trained." she remarked flatly.

"Not that," he said, eyeing her in that way he does when he is asking a question. "Do you… well you know… have… um… angel blood? I mean, what you did last night what fantastic and all, but that isn't normal. Not even for a Shadowhunter." She nodded her head solemnly and sighed. "Yes I do. You see, after mom saw what you could do, she gave it to me." He nodded his head. "I have been told people want to be me," he said thoughtfully, making that mischievous smile she had come to love. She laughed out loud and hugged him. "Thanks for being the best brother ever."