Home is Where the Heart Is
Summary: Jace and Clary are brother and sister living with their father Valentine in New York. Their mother died when they were young, under suspicious circumstances. The Uprising has not happened yet but Valentine is planning. There is no Circle, and he is using the help of demons.
Chapter One:
Clary's alarm blared into her peacefulness, dragging her out of sleep and bringing with it the reality of the real world. She rubbed her eyes with fisted hands, removing the signs of slumber. Sleepily she made her way to her closet and extracted the ever familiar St. Clarence's uniform- a white button down shirt and plaid green skirt for the girls and dark green trousers for the boys.
She dressed slowly making sure every button was buttoned up perfectly and that there were no creases in either her shirt or her skirt. Then she took the clothes in her hands and scrunched them up in her balled fists, before letting them go and rolling up the edge of her skirt so that it wasn't too obviously above school regulation, wanting to keep some integrity. It was as if she believed that holding out on going to breakfast would put off the inevitable fact that summer was officially over and school was starting up again.
She looked at herself in the mirror, a slight frown almost noticeable on her face. She didn't quite understand how she had become the person looking back at her from the glass. Nor was she sure that the girl she saw in front of her was the girl that she wanted to be, she was always more comfortable in sweatpants than in a miniskirt. Bringing her thoughts back to earth she shook her head. She wasn't about to drop what had made her who she was now, alpha-female extraordinaire. Girls wanted to be her and guys wanted to get in her pants, not that any had succeeded-yet.
She slipped on her black school shoes and thumped down the stairs, stopping abruptly when she reached the kitchen door. Sitting at the table was her brother, Jace, although you wouldn't know it if you looked at the two. Clary had striking red hair and fair features and the grace and slightness of a ballet dancer, whereas Jace was gold all over, hair a brilliant yellow and his skin had a permanently bronzed glow to it, and although he too was very graceful he exuded a strength that was noticeable by everyone. Appearance was only one of the differences between them, another being that although Clary had never had sex Jace had slept with most of the female population at their school.
When Jace saw Clary he smirked, and the temporary paralysis left her as she stomped into the kitchen, scowling at Jace and remembering another reason as to why she had dreaded the summer ending.
Clary had spent her whole summer lying on a beach in Florida, dosing on the sand, soaking up the sun and slowly becoming unbelievably bored. Her brother however had been jetted off to Idris for an intensive, whole summer long training course. He was the only one out of the two siblings that was allowed to go, and no matter how hard she had tried to persuade her father to let her train too he refused. Both siblings had the same Marks; both had a stele and the same training, and normally went on training excursions together, but not this time. Clary normally got on well with her brother, but ever since finding out about this special treatment she had started resenting him. Or at least she tried to; it was hard with Jace being Jace. She had dreaded seeing him again because it reminded her of how her father had adamantly refused to let her train and that she actually missed her brother, as they normally spent the whole summer together. However she would never admit this.
She sat down across from him at the table, and returned his smirk with a cool, indifferent look.
''So, how was the party last night, I am assuming that you don't want me telling dad that his little girl was out till three a.m. at some party, possibly doing drugs and having sex?' Jace asked staring at his nails as if they were more interesting than the look on her face was when he said this.
Her face betrayed the shock that she was feeling, and how much that comment put her on edge,
''You wouldn't ..." she almost whispered, knowing full well that he would. When she said this he looked up at her, his eyes boring into hers, and appearing to read her soul, an unnerving ability that he had been doing for ever. She shivered under his gaze, the hairs on her neck standing up. She closed her eyes for a moment, and opened them to see him staring back at her, his face like stone, unblinking, although the smirk that previously sat on his face was now hiding behind his eyes, laughing at Clary.
''Now sister dear, you know I would do anything to keep you from getting hurt, even if it means telling daddy about your midnight gallivanting.'' His smirk had now returned to his lips and Clary's body tensed, recognising the veiled threat beneath Jace's kind words.
He leant back in his chair, his hands supporting the back of his head, reminding Clary of the family's pet cat, who, having caught a bird, would toy with is endlessly before putting it out of its misery. Maliciousness and spite seemed to just grow wherever her father could be found, whether it was between his two children or in his cat.
As if some omnipotent power had read her mind, her father came treading silently through the kitchen door, his grace and silence uncharacteristic for a man with his size, his body dressed smartly in a suit. Neither of the children knew quite what their father did, except that every day he would drive to an office building near the Hudson River, and would come home again after dark. His profession was never discussed and when someone asked they said that he worked for the government, this technically being the right answer, he did work for the government, just not the government that everyone assumed it to be.
Jace turned to their father, and, before Clary realised and could stop what he was doing, blurted out,
''Father, I think Clary has something to tell you.'' Clary paled, knowing that if her father found out where she had gone the previous night she would end up lunder house arrest, having other Shadowhunters come in and home school her.
''Yes Clarissa?'' asked her father, the scowl on his face telling her he wasn't in a good mood. Clary's stomach fluttered and Jace's smirk grew wider, if that was possible.
''I...uh...'' she stammered, panicking in her mind for something to say, ''we are out of cereal.'' She quickly grabbed the empty box and held it up, her heart beating loud enough that she was sure it would tip him off about the lie. His face slackened and he nodded, before brushing the statement off and glancing at his watch.
''You two better hurry up, I wouldn't look good if you were late on the first day back to school.'' Behind their father Jace rolled his eyes, and Clary agreed with him for once. Their father had never been worried about their education and schooling; he just didn't like a situation in which he as the head of the family would be looked down upon. Plus, both Clary and Jace knew that if they wanted to be on time they would have had to leave twenty minutes ago, and that school would be starting in ten minutes. Valentine probably knew this as well but was trying to act the good father. Jace stood up and grabbed his books that had been sitting next to him on the table during breakfast, and said to Clary,
'' If you want a ride you better come now.'' With a two fingered salute to their father he walked out the door without looking back. Clary jumped up, and grabbing the half-eaten toast off of Jace's plate kissed their father on the cheek and scurried off to meet Jace in the car.