I'm becoming a betrayer. I'm betraying my kind, betraying The Clave, betraying the way my parents and my grandparents have raised me to be.

But something about the way he talked seemed true to me. Something told me that he's a much stronger man –or, I take that back, a much stronger thing- than coming to me and asking for my help, unless it was for the reasons he has mentioned, and no, I can't figure out any other reasons right now.

If I forget… for a second… who I'm dealing with, I'm a fool. This is new to me… this is new to everyone and it's wrong… God knows, it's probably the biggest mistake of all and if my decision is wrong, this planet is on the guillotine.

For a second, I wished my parabatai was here. He would have understood… he would have helped me, held me back, not let me do this stupid thing that I'm doing only because of some impulse. I sighed. Samuel Blackthorne is gone God only knows where. How I missed you, Sam.

His red eyes stare at me quietly, and it's time for my final decision. Should I make that deal with Lucifer?

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

Only hours before that, I was visiting my grandmother. She and my grandfather (Well, it's only her now) run the New York Institute with The Lightwoods. I think they could have had a luxurious manor in Idris, or maybe they already own one, but I don't think they could bear to leave New York. They're New Yorkers, not Idrisians. They lived in this city their whole lives and here is where their love was born.

I visited my grandmother because I was planning to go searching for my Parabatai. My best friend… my brother who disappeared months ago. We were in Appalachia, killing a Behemoth demon in a forest on a mountain. We'd go on trips like these sometimes… Sam and I are usually too bored with just the casual New York demons we stumble upon rarely nowadays… demons are a rare thing to stumble upon since the war was over, 40 years ago. A terrible war my grandmother hates recalling. Anyway… Sam disappeared. I killed the demon but Sam was just… gone. I looked at him, killed the demon, looked back and he wasn't there. No body, no blood, no traces.

The Clave searched for him for long. Sam is important, and so am I. The reasons a 22 year old shadowhuntress and her fellow 21 year old Parabatai would be so important to the Clave they offer them honorary council seats, is a long story.

I knew I'd go and search for him. That's what my grandfather would have done if his parabatai, uncle Alec, had disappeared. That's what my grandmother would have done too if her parabatai Isabelle (she firmly refuses that we call her aunt) had. That's what parabatai are for. Only I had to wait because my search had to be out of Clave law… I knew that because I would stop at nothing to save Sam. I could feel it in my heart that he was alive and okay, only I couldn't tell where he was or why he wasn't right here.

All those thoughts crossed my head in the elevator. When I arrived to the second floor of the institute, I remembered exactly the reason why I'm here: I want runes from my grandmother. Runes as powerful as only she could do.

By this time, she'd be at the library. She loved having her breakfast at the library. It reminded her of grandpa because they used to do it together. I walked the institute's corridors to the library and I opened its door.

My grandmother sat there, drinking her black coffee and buttered toast with jelly. She was reading some book. She looked up and smiled as if she'd expected me.

"Gaby. Always good to see you, my girl."

It's amazing how she held up till now. It's been three years since my grandfather disappeared while demon hunting. I guess she'd known that would happen one day or something like it… my grandfather was almost adrenaline junkie when it came to demon hunting. I think I'm almost half like him. My grandmother, Clarissa Herondale, would have been completely on her own those three years if it weren't for me and my friends, with my parents in Idris for their work and my grandfather God knows where.

"Clary." I said, with a smile. Like her parabatai, Isabelle, she hated it when we called her with titles, either familial or formal, and she also preferred being called Clary to Clarissa (Just like me, Gaby to Gabriella). She and Isabelle have a lot in common, but they don't realize that. I think my grandmother's constant presence around my grandfather made her feel constantly young. It must make anyone feel that way, I have to confess.

"No news from Sam, I'm afraid."

"No." I said with a sigh. "None."

"And Magnus and Nicko are still failing to track him?"

"Yes."

"Let me guess why you've come for me today." She smiled like a grandmother who knows her granddaughter.

"You're guessing correctly."

She posed for seconds. And then, she walked to one of the shelves and pulled out one of the books. "You know the research for your grandfather is still going on till now, don't you."

"And also the research for Sam, but they're nowhere near finding him." That came out dryer than I'd planned.

She smiled. "Oh, I'm not trying to persuade you not to go. As a matter of fact, I'm trying to say the entire opposite. There were days when I was Clary Fray, a young and talented girl who was able to move mountains to save a boy named Jace Herondale. Today, that person still exists. The only difference is that she's still ready to move those mountains… yet no longer able. You know, I wish I was out there right now. Doing whatever it takes to find your grandfather. I know he's alive. But I'm old, my girl… I'm old."

She raised her head and looked at the top floor. She smiled darkly. "One day I hid up there and watched your grandfather a totally different person that the one I'd known. A part of me thought I'd lost him forever. It was one of the darkest moments of my life."

I looked at her in pain, regretting that I talked to her dryly. "You prefer not to talk about that time, don't you?"

"Not in details, no. I'm only going to tell you that I won't let that happen to you. Use the fact that you're young and able to save Samuel and do it. Don't be feeble like I am right now. I'll give you the most powerful runes I'm capable of but please… do something for him."

I smiled to my grandmother. This is one of the times I got reminded of why I loved her. I was most like her and grandpa. They raised me. I'm not blaming my parents for the fact that their job in Idris made them too busy to take care of me, I'm only stating facts: My grandparents took the role of my parents maybe ever since I was born. And I knew I couldn't leave her with Sam and go to Idris for the council job we got offered just like she didn't leave me, and just for the same reasons I couldn't leave New York: By nature I should belong to my parents and to Idris, but by circumstances and in actuality I belong to my grandparents and to New York.

"Have you heard from mum and dad recently?" I asked her, frowning a little bit.

"Your father called me and told me to say he misses you. The research for Jace and Sam is still on."

I hid my frown. "Do you have a stele, old woman, or do you need mine?"

She frowned, this time. "This is a ridiculous question, Gabriella."

Of course it is. A stele to my grandmother is what a seraph blade is to me or to grandpa.

I smiled… an adrenaline-full smile that I inherited from grandpa. "Let's get the work done, then."

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

"…Then why do I have the feeling I'm going to miss something major, Gaby?"

I sighed. "I told you, Nicko, I'm only going to meet my parents in Idris. When I start making any move to find Sam I'm telling you and the guys. I promise."

"Look, just know that if you do something big without us it's a major betrayal to Team Good.03. Just know that." said Nicko.

"Nicko, I do. Okay?" I said lightly, but with a terrible sense of guilt.

That's what we call ourselves. Me, Sam, Nicko, May, Jake and Moon. By the equality of numbers between boys and girls in the group, you'd think we're all couples, but we're not.

There's me. Gabriella Herondale. My parents are Stephen Jr. and Danielle (Originally Penhallow) Herondale. My inheritance of looks and personality is divided between my parents and my paternal grandparents. I inherited half of my personality from grandpa and the other half from Clary. As for my looks… I have my mother's black messy hair and my father's tawny eyes and high cheekbones he inherited from grandpa.

And then, there's Sam. Samuel Blackthorne. He had soft brown hair and blue eyes. He was attractive and everyone around us was waiting for us to get together already, but they didn't know. Sam and I were purely friends… even purer than my grandmother's friendship with Simon; Simon did have feelings for her for a while before he and Isabelle got together. As for Sam and I… Sam never had feelings for me. I'm not blind to what I call "The friendzoned-bestfriend's-unfriendly-feelings" like other girls. I spent half my life observing Sam for anything that might be torturing him about me, but there was none. He fell in love several times and broke up for several reasons, none of them was me. When this became clear to me, we went through the Parabatai Ceremony. So let me be clear on the fact that there's no impossible-romance thing that will go on between Sam and I in this story.

There's also Nicko. Nicko is a warlock. He was adopted by Uncle Alec and Magnus when he was newly born. Of course, his demon father fled back to hell and his mother tried to get rid of him when she saw the cat ears. He was found in the street by Alec and the adoption was his idea, and Magnus was extremely welcoming. Nobody mentions that story much, though. Nicko had red hair from which sprung two honey colored cat ears, freckles and hazel eyes.

May, strangely, was a fey. She was smart, but not cunning. She spent her entire life out of the Seelie court, we met her by chance at Taki's when Nicko thought it was odd for a fey –With her baby pink hair and her grass green eyes she was easy to recognize- to read The Tale Of Two Cities, a mundane book that I personally loved. Turned out May lived in New York, constantly under glamour, and even studied at some mundane university. It wasn't unlawful as long as she kept the secrecy, yet strange for her kind. They usually held on to their tradition, their court and their serpent manners.

Jake… Jacob Morales, is a vampire. He was bitten two years ago, at the age of eighteen. Ever since, he's living with Simon and Isabelle. They're helping him live with his new nature. He's been coming out of the fledgling phase, but he's still two years old as a vampire. The company of a group of cool guys and girls his age (Team Good.03) helped him a lot. May and Jake are the only romantic couple in the team.

This leaves Moon. Moon is, like me, Nicko and Jake, a descendent of Team Good.01. She was bitten by a werewolf when she was 5. Being at that young age she could have died, but a praetor found her and brought her to the care of the Praetor Lupus. She is now Praetor and she was adopted by original "Team Gooders" Jordan and Maia. Her name before her transformation, of course, wasn't Moon –That would have been a skeptical coincidence- it was Mona. We don't know when or how, or even whether she approved of it or not, her parents, her fellow praetors and everybody else started calling her Moon. So now she is Moon Kyle.

So, this is us, Team Good.03, and this is me sitting with Nicko at Taki's waiting for the other three.

The door opened and Moon came in. Her careless blond braid and her beautiful green eyes and her length, they all made her such a pretty girl. Yet, Moon was quite careless about her beauty. Boys always fancied Moon, but none of them was serious enough to actually give her the love she deserved, so she only had casual short relationships, but no long-terms or serious ones.

Kaelie lazily dropped another menu on our table for Moon and walked.

"I have a feeling our shadowhunter friend here is about to do something stupid." Nicko said while Moon was still pulling her chair.

"Something stupid without us? Not stupid enough."

"Or good enough. Tell her that."

"Guys… it's nothing! I'm only visiting my parents in Idris."

"Do you believe this…. Moon?"

"Well it doesn't sound that stupid…"

"I'm almost sure she's going to do something about Sam," said Nicko with his usual high tone.

There are reasons why I couldn't have them come with me. I couldn't endanger them. They were not shadowhunters. Yes, Sam and I are their friends and yes, we've protected each other in the past, but they've already lived enough of this life they're not prepared for. We are shadowhunters and we were born for this, Sam and I. They were not. Plus, May has a happy life and so do Jake and Nicko and Moon, the last three have amazing adoptive parents we all love and I'd hate to break their hearts, haven't they worried enough about their children already last summer? And Jake and May have an amazing relationship I'd hate to ruin. I'd hate to ruin their peace. Let's keep it that way.

"Nicko I told you I'm NOT."

"I know you, Gaby."

"Well… yes, I am going to do something about Sam, but after this visit to my parents. I've planned this. I'm visiting them for their blessings and to say goodbye just in case and all this bla bla bla, and when I come from Idris we're all packing to go and look for Sam." I posed to look for his reaction. He looked at me with his eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"You're still skeptic."

"No, you are being super skeptical right now."

"Right now all I care about is my burger. Hey Kaelie can I have a hamburger here."

"A strawberry milk shake, Kaelie." Nicko yelled.

"A double beef burger for me." That, of course, was Moon who, being werewolf, ate more meat than any of us.

"So where are Jake and May?" I asked.

"At Jake's. I stopped by to tell them to come here and I thought it would be nice if I lingered but they looked like they really needed privacy so I ran off," Moon answered me.

"And where were Simon and Isabelle?" I asked. Jake still lived with them since he needed help with the whole vampire thing. Simon said he'd be able to live alone soon, but not before a year or two more. This might have been soon for someone who had the entire eternity to live.

"Probably at the institute with Clary, I don't know."

I didn't tell them this couldn't be because grandma was alone at the institute by the time because they didn't know I visited her. They probably just ran off because Jake and May looked way too titillating.

"Sometimes it's really hard being around couples. See, that's one of the reasons it's good to be single… you feel like the sober one at the party." That was Nicko.

"I don't know if being sober at a party is that good, Nicko." I mumbled, but loud enough for the two to hear me and sigh. Our food came, I finished mine quickly.

"I've got to go," I said. "got stuff to prepare. My bags and all. Is your father available tonight Nicko? I need a portal to Idris."

"Which one of them?"

"Don't be an idiot, which of them is the one able to open portals and send blue sparks out of his fingers to say "Enjoy your trip"?"

"Uh… sorry. Yes, I think he is. But I can do that for you too."

No. I'm not actually portaling to Idris, and Magnus will do this favor for me, but Nicko will definitely not let me go wherever I'm going without him. I needed a quick excuse why I need Magnus and not Nicko to do this, though.

"No, I need Magnus, because… he said he has some words for my parents before I go."

Nicko and Moon exchanged suspicious looks.

"When Jake and May come tell them I had to go, I'll try to stop at their place later."

"Okay. Take care. Wherever you're going…" said Moon.

"Yeah."

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

So here I am in my apartment planning what to take with me exactly.

My gear. Lots of seraph blades. Daggers… my weapon of choice. Also some other weapons I'm an expert with… bows and arrows, I was taught those by Uncle Alec. Electrum whips… by Isabelle. My stele… grandma took that part. Grandpa taught me everything else. Also some other normal clothes; I'm pretty sure I won't spend the whole time with gear.

For the trip I wore an "I heart NYC" hoodie and jeans. I wore them to convince Nicko that I was meeting my parents, because he knows I love conveying that message to my parents every time it's possible: That I'm satisfied with my life in New York with my grandparents and friends, that it's not the glamorous Alicante manor or council job that I was after.

My appointment with Magnus still had one hour to go though and I don't want to disturb his peace with Alec by being early. I went to the kitchen and made mint tea and sat in the living room of my Brooklyn apartment. Quite brave of a girl to live in Brooklyn alone, but I'd already put some mundane thieves and rapists to their punishment before.

I was squeezing the warm china of my cup with my hands when I heard a noise in my bedroom.

Easy, Gaby. This is Brooklyn, like you just said. Could be a thief or something and he'll have just what he deserves. Not necessarily a demon. What's most important is that I get a weapon before I get there, as quiet as possible. There are weapons everywhere around the house. Right in this vase on the table right in front of me, there's a Herondale dagger. I took it and slid to the bedroom. My whole weapons' bag I'd prepared for the trip is in there, but It's not a problem; even if he had a machine gun, his reflexes and actions will never be as fast as mine, his muscles not even close to half as strong.

I posed for a second at the bedroom's closed door (Of course, he must have slid through the window) to get ready. That guy is about to get squashed. I felt my natural shadowhunter blood rush through me and the extra amount of angel blood I inherited from my paternal grandparents through my father pounded in my veins wanting to slaughter that human beast.

I snapped the door open and it took the "man" two seconds to turn to me, but they were enough for me to recognize his behind and stop.

That black suite. The black ashen hair. Not that this was a limited sort of looks in a way, but nobody did it like him. Nobody radiated evil like that.

Of course, he wasn't necessarily a "demon". The thought crosses my head as he turns to me and smiles… his red eyes shining… all his dead white teeth bare, his two fangs… his smile was the most terrifying sight in the history of my eyes that have seen a lot, God knows. His features were near perfection and he'd be easily called handsome if it wasn't for the horrifying smile. Of course, the seducer of all humanity must be handsome.

No, he wasn't a demon… he was The Demon. The morning star. The lord of hell. The demon of all demons. Father of the finishing warlock. The Devil. He had a million names and none of them succeeded to describe the terror that ran in my veins instead of the power I felt seconds ago.

"We meet again, Shadowhuntress Gabriella Herondale." He says in a frosting voice and a foreign, probably eastern accent. Yes, I have heard them before. Yes, I have seen him before and yet he doesn't fail to terrify me.

"Lucifer," I whisper.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

It was last summer that we met. Team Good.03 was demon hunting somewhere in Transylvania when it captured an unorthodox signal of demonic presence. Before it, we'd seen no evil. Jake was joking about the call in his blood from the vampires old as history who lived here, and Moon was occasionally howling. After it, we got into serious mode. We were near one of those old, creepy Transylvania castles that did indeed remind me of those old vampires in mundane movies.

We got ready for probably a greater demon or a group of small demons, but what we definitely hadn't expected was The Lord of Hell. It was him, it seemed to us one of those rare humans who succeed at summoning demons has brought him. An idiot who thought he could control Lucifer. Lucifer killed the people who summoned him and he was about to go to the outer world and do God knows what… and we'd found him. There was no time to call on The Clave for reinforcements or even extra weapons, it was a live or die situation.

We defeated him. Only God knows how. Sam and I used seraph blades named after the greatest of angels, Gabriel and Michael, and we succeeded, with Moon's, May's and Jake's help to distract him while Nicko drew a very powerful pentagram he'd learned from his father… we dragged him to its center and Nicko sent him, with a ton of effort, back to hell.

It was a miracle. I think a lot of shadowhunters don't believe until today that two twenty year old shadowhunters and four downworlders sent Lucifer back to hell defeated. The truth is the fight mortified us, after it we were drained and exhausted, but all of us received a lot of kudos and got offered council seats and all that stuff. So that's the story of the council seats Sam and I (And the entire Team Good.03, in fact) refused just to stay in New York.

So this is me and a dagger against that Lucifer, right now.

He could read my thoughts, I think.

"Believe me, there's no need for a weapon." He said coldly.

"You're the lord of liars." I said as I ran to the kitchen. I might have been a shadowhuntress, but still, my biggest stock of seraph weapons was in my kitchen, because it was unexpected by the enemy. I'd touched the first seraph blade my hand met in one of the drawers when he was already behind me.

"I'm not here to fight you, daughter of the angel, I'm here to negotiate a deal."

"Raphael" and the seraph blades shone of bright light that reflected the angel Raphael's power. "And what sort of deal with you would bring anything other than pain to my kind?" I say, as I turn and point it to his chest.

"A deal I need to make for my own sake?"

"Liar. You're here to have your revenge on me. And it must have been you who kidnapped Sam too, wasn't it?"

"I am the lord of liars as you have mentioned earlier, Gabriella Herondale, but not in this instant. You'd be dead by now had I wanted you to be."

"What do you want, devil?"

"Just for you to listen to me and make your decision. Only a few minutes. I understand those minutes must be nothing to me because of my immortality, but I reckon, even to your short life of a human, they're not that much wasted time, are they? Especially when they lead to saving your kind."

I posed to observe the situation. I had only one seraph blade up his chest, and I was sure he could get away from it and kill me… had he wanted to. Lucifer wouldn't stop and talk if he wanted to kill.

"Why would you want to save my kind? You… The pride that leads to man's doom… the fallen angel… father of the world's destroyer?"

"You have saved me a lot of talk. By getting to the point of the world's destroyer, I mean."

"I still don't know what that is."

"I have a lot of time to play with your kind. To move them… shake them… let them swim in their sins. This is not the time I intend to bear the finishing warlock… and yet one of my children intends to be him. Wouldn't you agree with me that he should be stopped?"

I pose for even longer and remember the story. The story of the finishing warlock… the world's destroyer.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

His name is Brother Nathaniel. He is the most important silent brother in our story because out of all the brothers, he went deep enough into the history books to find this.

All of the Shadowhunters and Downworlders and anyone acquainted with our dark world know that demons, small ones and greater ones, even princes of hell, leave hell and look for some momentary love affairs with mortal women. A lot of them get pregnant and the offspring is the kind of warlocks. That doesn't exclude Lucifer who, like all greater demons, gets bored of commanding hell and looks for some "vacations".

The history book Brother Nathaniel found said that a warlock born to Lucifer would be the destroyer of Earth. He is what some religions call "The Antichrist" and what Shadowhunter History called "The finishing warlock". His great power would come from his father who'd give him all that is necessary to call on the realm of hell into earth and destroy it. God only knows when Lucifer intends to bear that warlock, but ever since the historical research about the matter was discovered by Brother Nathaniel, The Clave and The Covenant are getting ready for war.

Every shadowhunter in the world is now doubly trained. Even downworlders receive training to fight now. Every warlock that is known to be a child of Lucifer was investigated until proven as "Not the one we're looking for".

I remember the story while looking into Lucifer's red, yet strangely cold eyes. He smiled again, only without baring his teeth, but it was scary enough.

"You began thinking, I see, which is a good start. In the mean time, had I misheard when I heard you humans have what you call "Manners"… and that they include inviting your guests into a good sitting and perhaps a treat?"

"Demons don't eat." I said, almost automatically, as if reciting information.

"That was just an expression, my dear."

"This way." I lead him to my living room.

Lucifer follows me. I've never seen a demon move so comfortably on Earth. Perhaps it was because Lucifer was a fallen angel; he was meant, by God, to live on Earth.

"What's his name?" I said once my rear touched the couch. He'd already sat… like a king on his throne. There was no doubt who ruled the situation.

"Oh, my dear son. His name is Frederique. Born to a French woman of course… his full name is Frederique Deraux. His mother was such a beautiful woman… I think she knew that something about me was not orthodox, yet she embraced the child inside her body till the day he was born."

"Who picked his name? You?"

"How do you know it wasn't her?"

"Because she died during childbirth."

He smiled. "Quite smart of you to notice. You must know, my dear, that we, greater demons, bear two kinds of children: The children for whom we have great future plans, and the children who are just the offspring of a momentary pleasure. Frederique is the second kind, but he hates it. He wants more. He wants to be the chosen son… the finishing warlock. I didn't intend it for him, nor did I intend it for any of my children yet. I plan to mess with your kind a bit longer," he said and smiled again, sending Goosebumps through my back.

"Doesn't this seem strange? Whether you intended it or not, he wants to destroy the earth. It's what you're meant for; I don't see why you'd want him stopped."

"Because I'm an old man who's seen everything until he got bored and he's waiting for one hell of a big show. Only I don't want it to be soon… I want to have the pleasure of waiting for it even longer. Like a cat that messes with a rat before it eats it. The cat knows the rat has no chance of escaping its fate and it's already hungry, yet it's having fun playing with it. I wouldn't want that kind of fun gone."

"And your deal is…"

"I know where he is. He is gathering followers of demons and rogue downworlders and even reluctant shadowhunters who are left from the old war. Go to him, find a strategy and kill him."

"You want your own son dead. Pretty low, even for demon."

"Not for Lucifer, my dear. I might call you or him or any son or daughter of mine dear, but I have no feelings. This is just a manner of speaking. I have no feelings even for my children. Only pride of a good son, or shame of a bad one."

"And what do I get back?"

"Well, two things, one more important than the other. The first and most important one, you save your kind from his endeavors."

"And the second?"

"I know how to find your parabatai," he says and smiles with no feelings. "Kill Frederique and the journey you were just going on is useless. Your parabatai will be back to you just as safe as when he disappeared. And before you ask me… no, it wasn't me who took him."

I look at him for seconds, and here we are, back to the situation we started from.

I'm offered a deal with Lucifer, but dealing with the devil is a betrayal to my kind by every law. It comes to whether I believe him or not and he might be the lord of liars, but something about the way he talked was just… scarily true. The Clave and The Covenant are the law, but they're slow… stiff. They represent the sloth of bureaucracy compared to the rush of youth. I didn't have to ask Lucifer why he'd come to me on such a matter and not to Clave members more able to stop Frederique… that was the answer. They'd never believe Lucifer, even if he was momentarily honest, and they'd act slowly and unreliably even if they did.

Does that mean I shake Lucifer's hand in agreement? I hand shook just at the idea of touching his.

I got up, and went for my phone. I texted a number.

"Magnus, I'm sorry for being late. No, I'm not portaling tonight. Not to Idris, not anywhere. Tell Nicko my trip was cancelled and tell him goodnight for me. Thanks for attempting to help me. Xoxo Gaby"

Lucifer still had the bad habit of eavesdropping on people's minds.

"Does that mean we have a deal, Miss Herondale?"

"Just so you know, devil, this doesn't mean we're in peace. We only have this one common goal at the moment but we're still enemies, so don't think you have me as a friend now."

"You're sure I don't, Gabriella?"

His smile sent shivers to my bones. This thing has literally no facial expressions but that feeless smile, and yet it terrifies the hell out of me.

"I'm sure, morning star." I say as I purse my lips firmly.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*