Chapter One

Dark clouds rumbled as water droplets fell on the city below. The streets weren't a place to be by yourself at night, not in this weather. A young girl dressed in black from head to toe ran past the buildings that lined the streets. Her dark brown hair was French braided across the back of her head, ending in a messy bun under her right ear. She wore leather pants with knee high boots, with a black thin strapped tank top with leather trim across the top. As the rain began to pour down she paused long enough to raise her hood on the sleeveless crop top jacket trimmed in leather. She began to run again.

She slowed down as she rounded a corner and saw the towers of an old gothic cathedral. She smiled to herself.

"Almost there," She whispered to herself. "Almost safe."

She sprinted off for the grand double doors. Stopping and running her fingers over the brass plate that read "The New York Institute" on it. She hesitated. She had never been to an institute before but Tessa had told her that they were a safe haven for Shadowhunters in their times of need. Taking a deep breath she knocked then waited. It felt like eternity. Checking over her shoulder to make sure no one was watching her, she fidgeted. Raising her fist to knock again soft clicks could be heard approaching from within. The doors parted, a girl with dark brown hair stood in the door way.

"Can I help you?" She asked looking at the girl in the rain.

"I'm a shadowhunter. I need a place to stay for the night. May I please come in?" She glanced over her shoulder again to check the darkness.

"Don't worry they can't see you. My name's Isabelle." Isabelle commented watching the nervous girl.

"I'm Raia." She said turning back to Isabelle.

"Come on. Let me take you to my mother, she's in the library." Isabelle said stepping aside for Raia to come in out of the rain.

"Thank you." Raia said coming in out of the rain and lowering her hood.

Raia looked at everything as they walked in the sanctuary. It was beautiful. The ornate details amazed her, witchlights twinkling on the walls. There was just so much to take in and it was beautiful. The arch ways, the candelabras, everything was so unbelievable. There was a ding as the elevator doors opened revealing mirrored walls. They rode the elevator in silence and continued down a long hallway. There were tapestries with an angel on them. Ahead there was a door agar, light streaming into the hallway, laughter could be heard.

"Izzy, who was it?" A blonde male asked coming out into the hall. First seeing Isebelle and then noticing the girl. He looked her over and then looked at Isebelle quizzically.

"This is Raia. She needs a place to stay for the night so I'm taking her to mom." Isebelle replied.

"Jace, is Izzy coming…. Oh hello." A red haired girl popped into the door way.

"I'll be right back. Come on Raia." Isebelle huffed heading away from the door and down the hallway, Raia fallowing her trying to ignore the looks she was getting as yet another male, this one with curly brown hair appeared in the doorway.

"Come on let's fallow." Jace whispered to the red haired girl. The girl nodded in reply.

Jace, Clary, and Simon quietly moved down the hall behind Isebelle and the new girl Raia. Jace was curious about her. It wasn't very often that a shadowhunter came to the institute unannounced and then for that shadowhunter to be a girl there age was very strange.

"Who do you think she is?" Clary whispered.

"I don't know." The blonde male responded proceeding down the hallway and pausing at the corner. "I'm going to find out." He peered around the corner and saw the doors to the library close behind the two girls. "They're in the library, come on." He snuck down the hall and pressed his ear to the door waiting for a bit of talking to happen so he could crack the door open just enough to peer in and not be noticed. The other two fallowed suite down the hall behind him.

Isebelle opened the large wooden doors and entered in, Raia fallowing her. The room was filled with books, isles and isles of books. Straight ahead of them was a large wooden desk being held up by an angel. Behind that desk sat a woman with dark black hair. She greatly resembled Isebelle.

"Mom, we have a guest." Isebelle announced, stopping just in front of the desk. The older women looked up at her daughter than at the girl standing beside her.

"Hello." She said looking Raia over. "I'm Maryse Lightwood, can I help you?"

"My name is Raia Nightwolf. I am in need of a place to stay for the night. I was told that this is where Shadowhunters can come when in need." Raia recited to the women before her. She wasn't quite sure how all of this went but she was really hoping that everything would end up alright.

Jace had heard that name before, Nightwolf, something about being attacked in the night. Something about her seemed different. She was very calm about the whole situation but Jace noticed small fidgets that hinted towards being nervous.

"I've not heard of that family name." Maryse stated and paused for a moment. Maryse noticed that there were no visible marks on this young girl before her. Was she really a shadowhunter or just a girl with the sight? "Shadowhunters are allowed to stay her if they need…" Raia removed her fingerless gloves on her right hand revealing her voyance mark on the back of her hand.

Raia knew people doubted her as a shadowhunter. She saw it now and knew she had to prove who she was to be accepted. "Tessa told me it would be safe for me here. She said she had ties here, that Magnus Bane…"

"You know Magnus?" Isebelle interrupted. Raia nodded in response keeping her eyes focused to Maryse.

"He and Tessa, they are close family friends." Raia added. "I am an adopted member of the Nightwolf family. Tessa was my caretaker before she thought it was best for me to be raised by my kind, by shadowhunters." Was she revealing too much? No, much had happened since that time and the name would always be a name that she was close to even after all that had happened. "Magnus Bane and Tessa always looked out for me, I consider them my guardians. In times of need they are there. If Magnus were avalible I would have gone to him. However he is away with a companion."

"My son." Maryse responded without hesitation. "Very well, I will allow you to stay the night." Maryse sighed. Her attention then turned to her daughter. "Isebelle please take her to the room next to your room that is empty."

"Magnus?" Jace, Clary, and Simon whispered in unison looking at each other.

"How does she know Magnus?" Clary asked quietly to the other two.

"No idea." Jace responded looking back through the door. The conversation continued for a minute more until Jace noticed it coming to a close. "They're coming back come on." Jace whispered backing away from the door and turning the corner. The three stopped on the other side of the corner and picked up a mundane conversation to cover up suspicion. A short moment later Isebelle and the new girl came around the corner.

"What are you three up to?" Isebelle stopped and eyed them closely.

"Nothing." Clary quickly responded. "Nothing at all."

"Right." Isebelle replied not believing the fiery haired girl.

"So, Raia right, is she staying the night?" Jace interjected before Izzy could ask more. He watched Raia out of the corner of his eye. She stood quietly, unfazed, calm even.

"Mom said she could stay the night. I was just taking her to her room. It's down by our rooms." Isebelle said looking over her fingernails as if she were bored.

"You should hang out with us for a bit." Clary interjected. "It's not every day that a shadowhunter comes here especially one our age. Come on." She grabbed Raia's one ungloved hand and puller her down the hallway towards the room she had first seen them in.

"I think I should just…" Raia started but quickly gave up seeing as she wasn't being listened to anyways. Simon fallowed after his best friend leaving Jace and Izzy alone for a moment.

"Have you ever heard Magnus talk about this girl?" He asked watching the dark haired girl being pulled away by his girlfriend fallowed by his girlfriend's best friend trailing behind.

"No." Isebelle paused. "He never talks much about personal things."

"Raia, Nightwolf wasn't it; she seems very calm yet nervous." Jace commented. Izzy nodded in response as the two fallowed the trio down the hall.

How did she ever get stuck in a situation like this? She was just supposed to come to the institute and sleep for the night. Now here she was sitting in a room listening to a girl her age gossip.

"So then Simon's friend went and spilled the coffee all over the table." Clary finished her story. They were sitting in a sitting room type room on the floor, Clary between Jace and Simon, as she had been introduced to him, with Isebelle or Izzy for short to the left of Jace and Raia cross from Jace. Jace had been watching her between laughs and kissing Clary's cheek from time to time. It unnerved Raia. It was like he knew something about her but wasn't going to say, just watch. Something about him just unnerved her and she wasn't very easily unnerved.

"Raia, where did you say you were from?" Jace interrupted her train of thought.

"I live here in New York, but I lived in Idris before that." She responded without hesitation. She was use to knowing what information she could say.

"Did your family move here?" Clary questioned curiously.

"No, I was adopted by a family here when my parents were killed." Raia responded looking slightly to the right for a second.

"Oh! I'm so sorry." Clary backtracked.

"It's fine that was a long time ago. I get bounced from family to family now. I never stay to long. It's fine that way." Raia reassured Clary.

"So how do you know Magnus then?" Simon asked out of nowhere.

"Simon!" Clary interjected, hitting the back of his head.

"It's fine." Raia half laughed. "Magnus is a friend of a friend that has always been there for me. A safe haven away from everyone I guess, although he is currently busy with someone." She ended with a sigh.

"My Brother." Isebelle added.

"My parabatai." Jace also added.

"Oh." Raia silenced herself. Apparently she had said the wrong thing about Magnus' companion. Not that she really cared who he was with, it was just an inconvenience that she couldn't go to his place for a night. The silence lingered on for a moment. "I'll just go to my room for the night. It's been a long day." She was standing up to leave.

"You never did say why you needed a place to stay for the night." Jace mentioned.

Raia froze for a moment. Memories from this night replaying in her head. "They kicked me out." Raia said and then went for the door.

She entered the room that she had been given for the night, witchlight twinkling in here hand. There was a four poster Queen sized bed with a window on both sides. Night stands were under those windows and there was a matching large oak dresser on the right hand wall. The room was much larger than she was use to. She hung her jacket on the back of the door after she closed it. Sitting down on the bed she noticed a pink shirt and white pajama pants. She took off her boots and neatly placed the on the floor. She pulled out a hair comb from just above her bun, pausing to feel the details of the ornate heron in flight design that graced the top of the decorative hair comb. Gently placing it on the night stand she then changed into her given pajamas and went to bed.

-end chapter-

a/n I hope you have liked this chapter. It's just a start. This is my own thought process and curiosities. I am very open to any feed back. I will say I'm not a writer, I just do it for fun. I'm going to try and get a drawing of Raia NightWolf drawn up sometime soon to share with you guys. She is my own creation and I hope to one day cosplay her too. Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed it and will read the next chapter when I post it.