Hi, Guys! So, this is the first chapter of Queen of Magic. Now, I've actually rewritten this author's note a few times, because I keep changing things, but I hope that you guys like this story. Please follow, favorite, review, etc. Enjoy!
Tanya's POV:
I stayed back in the shadows with Jace and Alec and watched Izzy lure the demon into the storage room. I'd had an hour-long argument with Jace about coming on this mission at all. I hate this club. I saw Isabelle lead the demon into the storage room and they disappeared.
"Come on," Jace said.
Jace, Alec, and I followed Izzy and the demon through the No Admittance door.
By the time we got there, Izzy already had the demon tied up to a pillar.
"He's all yours, boys," Isabelle said, stepping back from the demon.
I moved to stand next to her.
Jace gave a low laugh. "So, are there any more of you?"
"Any other what?" the demon asked.
"Come on now." Jace held up his hands, letting his dark sleeves drop, revealing his rune markings. "You know what I am."
"Shadowhunter," the demon hissed.
Alec grinned. "Got you."
"So, you still haven't told me if there are any more of your kind with you," Jace said.
"I don't know what you're talking about," the demon replied.
"He means other demons," Alec said. "You do know what a demon is, don't you?"
"I know you seem to have a demon with you," the demon snapped, looking at me. "Right, downworlder?"
I scowled in response.
"Tanya's not a demon," Jace pointed out. "Demons, religiously defined as hell's denizens, the servants of Satan, but understood here, for the purposes of the Clave, to any malevolent spirit whose origin is outside our own home dimension—"
"That's enough, Jace," Isabelle said.
"Izzy's right. Nobody here needs a lesson in semantics or demonology," I agreed.
Jace smiled. "Tanya, Isabelle, and Alec think I talk too much. Do you think I talk to much?"
"I could give you information," the demon said, ignoring Jace's question. "I know where Valentine is."
"Valentine's in the ground. The thing's toying with us," Jace stated.
"Just kill it, so we can get out of here, then," I said. Jace raised his blade.
The demon gasped. "Valentine is back!" he protested. "All the Infernal Worlds know it-I know it-I can tell you where he is-"
Rage flared in Jace's eyes. "By the Angel, every time we catch one of you bastards, you claim you know where Valentine is. Well, we know where he is too. He's in hell. And you can join him there."
"Stop!" a female voice from near the door yelled. "You can't do this!"
Jace whirled, so startled that the knife flew out of his hand and clattered across the floor. Isabelle, Alec, and I turned too. Alec spoke first.
"What's this?" Alec asked.
"It's a girl," Jace replied, recovering his composure.
"Yes. Surely you've seen girls before, Alec. Your sister Isabelle is one," I added, following Jace's lead.
Jace took a step closer to the girl. "A mundie girl. And she can see us."
"Of course I can see you," the girl said. "I'm not blind, you know."
"Oh, but you are." Jace bent down to pick up his blade. "You just don't know it. You'd better get out of here, if you know what's good for you."
"I'm not going anywhere. If I go, you'll kill him."
"That's true. What do you care if I kill him or not?"
"B-Because, you can't just go around killing people."
"That's true. You can't go around killing people. That's not a person, little girl. It may look like a person, talk like a person, maybe even bleed like a person. But it's a monster."
I rolled my eyes. "So dramatic, Jace. There's no reason to scare the poor girl."
"You're crazy," the girl said. "I've called the police. They'll be here any minute."
"She's lying," Alec said, but there was doubt on his face. "Jace, do you-"
Alec didn't get to finish his sentence. At that moment, with a high, yowling cry, the demon broke free of his restraints and launched himself at Jace. They fell to the ground. The demon was tearing at Jace with his glittering claws. I'd had enough. I raised my hand and purple energy swirled around my hand before flying at the demon. The demon flew off of Jace and slammed, hard into the wall, where I held him there. I scooped Jace's blade from the ground and stabbed it into the demon's heart, my bright violet eyes blazing. Black blood exploded from the wound and I yanked the knife out before it touched my hand. I let the demon fall to the floor, where it arched its back and twisted. The demon opened its eyes.
They fixed on me. "So be it. The Forsaken will take you all."
"Have fun in hell," I said, coldly.
The demon's eyes rolled back into its head and it began to twitch and jerk, folding itself smaller and smaller before disappearing entirely. I turned back to my friends. "Can we go now?"
The girl had obviously gotten caught in some wires, because she now scrambled to her feet and made a break for the door. Isabelle blocked her way, flicking her whip, so it curled around the girl's wrist.
"Stupid little mundie," Isabelle hissed through her teeth. "You could have gotten Jace killed."
I moved to where Alec was standing next to Jace, pulling back his sleeve to get a better look at where the demon had clawed him.
"Are you okay?" I asked.
"I'll be fine," Jace said shortly.
"He's crazy," the girl said, trying to pull her wrist back from Isabelle's whip. "You're all crazy. What do you think you are, vigilante killers? What the hell did that girl do? The police-"
"The police aren't usually interested unless you can produce a body," Jace cut her off.
He walked over to the girl. Alec and I followed him. The girl glanced at the spot where the demon he disappeared. There was nothing there. It was like the demon never existed.
"They return to their home dimensions when they die," Jace said. "In case you were wondering."
"Jace, be careful," Alec hissed.
"She can see us, Alec. She already knows too much."
"So what do you want me to do with her?" Isabelle asked.
"Let her go," Jace replied.
Isabelle let the girl's wrist from her whip's grasp.
"Maybe we should bring her back with us," Alec suggested.
"No way are we bringing her back to the Institute," Isabelle argued. "She's a mundie."
"Or is she?" Jace said softly. "Have you had dealings with demons, little girl? Walked with warlocks, talked with the Night Children? Have you-"
"My name is not 'little girl'," the girl interrupted. "And I have no idea what you're talking about."
A boy with glasses appeared in the doorway, a bouncer standing behind him. I smiled at the fact that they could only see the girl.
"Clary?" the boy said. Clary turned around. "Are you okay? Why are you in here by yourself? What happened to the guys-you know, the ones with the knives?"
Clary looked the boy, and then looked back at Alec, Izzy, Jace, and me. Jace grinned and gave her a half-apologetic, half-mocking shrug. Clary looked back at the boy. "I thought they went in here. But I guess they didn't. I'm sorry. It was a mistake."
Isabelle giggled.
Alec, Isabelle, Jace, and I went back to the Institute after that. I know what you're thinking: "Tanya, if you're a downworlder, how are you allowed in the Institute?"
Well, it's true that downworlders are barely ever allowed in the Institute. But I'm kind of a special case. I've lived there since I was nine years old, thanks to Jace. My mother, a powerful faerie, kicked me out. Yes, she kicked me out when I was nine, solely because I'm a hybrid and it would be bad for her 'Credibility' to have me around. I think that's what she said. You heard me right. I'm a warlock-faerie hybrid. That gives me pretty cool powers, but it also makes me somewhat of an outcast among the downworlder community.
Anyway, I was nine and I got myself into a situation with a particularly nasty group of demons and I would most likely be dead if it wasn't for Jace. I didn't know how to use my powers very well back then, and even if I was, they're was way too many. I probably owe Jace my life… Don't tell him I said that. I remember waiting in the hall with Isabelle while Jace argued with Maryse about letting me stay at the Institute. He won, obviously, but I still don't get along well with Maryse to this day.
The other thing about being a hybrid is that I don't really have a warlock mark. I look a little bit different, but I don't have cat eyes or anything like that. I have light silver hair that shines like the moon and very bright, intense purple eyes. I've been told that it's very intimidating when I glare at people, because my eyes are so intense. I often find myself glaring at Alec. I don't get along with him much either. He was on his mother's side about not wanting to let me stay at the Institute.
There did seem to be something different about the girl, Clary. I wonder why she could see us… It's probably nothing. I don't know. I guess we'll have to wait and see.