"How good are you?" Asked Isabelle.

"What do you mean?" Asked Clary.

"Like, at fighting. How good are you at fighting?"

Clary, Isabelle, Alec and Jace were in the training room. They had all changed into comfortable clothes- Clary was in a slim fitting gray t-shirt with black sweats.

"I'm not that good. When Jonathan and I would train, I always lost," Clary admitted.

"Okay. Alec, go easy on her, will you?" said Isabelle.

Alec shrugged. He took one of the training swords- covered with leather to prevent serious injury- and handed another to Clary.

Isabelle and Jace stood back, watching them.

Clary took a stance. Alec lunged at her, and swung the blade. Clary deflected it easily on instinct.

Alec's eyes widened, and he swung again. Clary used her blade to put his to the floor, and kicked his handle. His weapon dropped, and his eyes were wide.

These events were only a few seconds long.

"I thought you said you weren't that good," Said Isabelle.

"He was going easy on me," Clary said at the same time as Alec said-

"I was going easy on her."

"Okay, don't go easy," said Isabelle.

Clary stepped away from Alec's weapon. He picked it up off the floor, looking disgruntled.

Alec took a fast swing at her. She jumped aside, a bit startled by how fast it was. She quickly recovered, and made a move. He deflected it, looking shocked. He swung at her legs, and she jumped over his sword, and as his sword was still low, she struck his right side forearm.

"Wow," Said Jace. "Who thought it'd be so easy to beat Alec."

Alec looked slightly angered now. He swung at her then, and she deflected it. He came at her again and again, Clary deflecting or dodging every time. Alec's anger seemed to fuel his speed, but Clary's instincts took over. She felt the familiar rush that came with a fight- even if it was just for training- and Alec was much easier than fighting Jonathan- who somehow always knew how she would attack or deflect and ended up hitting her anyway, leaving her bruised and sometimes bloody.

Alec's attacks had her backing up each swing, eventually, she was right next to the wall. She ducked as his covered blade stabbed the wall. She swung from underneath and hit his blade at the base. It flew out of his hand, and she stood and gently touched the tip of her blade to his heart. Alec looked appalled while panting. Clary was panting, too, but not as hard.

Jace whistled.

"Now that's impressive," said Isabelle.

"I thought you said you weren't any good," said Alec, visibly angry.

"I-"

"Clary said she'd always lost against her brother," said Isabelle. "If you are the loser in all your battles with him, I never want to get on his bad side."

Clary smiled at Isabelle.

Alec stormed out the door.

Jace picked up the blade and looked over at Clary, "You want to give it a go?"

Clary shrugged, "Sure."

Isabelle walked to the other side of the room to practice with throwing daggers.

Clary walked back to the center of the room. Jace stalked tauntingly towards her, smirking.
"Ready?" he asked.

Clary took her stance and readied her weapon. "Yeah."

Jace- like Alec- would walk towards her as he swung. Clary easily deflected his attacks, and putting in some of her own. He deflected and dodged her attacks easily, too, looking impressed more and more as their battle went on.

It had been a long one. They were both panting and sweating and they danced about the room. They went behind and around the weapon stashes, and even passed Isabelle- who shooed them away- annoyed.

About twenty minutes of this, and Jace finally knocked the blade from Clary's fingers. It clattered to the floor, and Jace put his blade to Clary's throat. Clary- feeling exhausted- fell backwards as her knees gave way. Jace's close proximity caused his to fall on top of her, and she gave a grunt as his heavyweight crushed her ribs.

"Got you," Said Jace between pants.

Clary's hand crept across the cold hardwood floor, and found her dropped sword. She clutched it and brought it up to the back of his neck. "I got you, too," she said triumphantly.

He smirked and chuckled. "Well done, Morgenstern."

Clary showered for the second time that day. She then decided that she would shower the night before, and after training.

Clary dressed in a loose red blouse with a visible black lace tank top underneath, and black, slim fitted velvet pants.

She then realised that her bed had been made, and her towels restocked. She would have to thank Mrs. Lightwood later.

She sat down at her desk and pulled out a piece of paper and begun writing.

Dear Jonathan,

Today is my first day at the Lightwoods' institute in New York.

The institute is beautiful. On the outside, it's glamoured as an abandoned church, but the looks remind me of a French palace. The inside is full of red and dark wood and paintings of angels.

The people are nice, too. Mrs. Lightwood is very friendly, and she's a good cook. Her daughter, Isabelle, is nice, too. Though, her older brother, Alec, seems like he doesn't like me. There's also another boy living here, Jace Herondale. He's nice, too.

We did a training session today, and I went up against Alec first. Alec and I went for no more than a few minutes, and I was surprised when I'd beaten him every time. Jace and I went next. He was harder to beat. We seemed about equally matched, in my opinion. We fought for a while, and I think we tied at the end, but he had me first.

I'll write again when more happens.

Sincerely,

Clarissa Adele Morgenstern

Clary sealed the newly written letter into an envelope, and burned it.


"Ha! I beat you again!" Exclaimed Maia, video game controller in the air as she announced her victory.

"You know, it's cheating if you shove me," said Simon.

"Well, I didn't shove you the other three times."

Simon rolled his eyes. He'd recently found out he wasn't as great at playing halo as he thought.

A small beep came from Maia's pocket. She pulled out her cell phone. "Hey, Jordan wants to meets us at a club. You wanna go?"

Simon shrugged. He wasn't that big on the whole nightclub scene in general, but Maia and Jordan loved it.

Jordan, Maia and Simon had all been friends for a while. They all had a common liking for video games, and liked to hang out at night- mostly for Simon, him not being able to go in the sun because he's a vampire and all- and Maia and Jordan were not only a couple, but a werewolf couple.

"I'll take that as a yes," said Maia, texting Jordan.

"Which one?" Asked Simon.

"Oh. Pandemonium."


Clary walked toward her bedroom door after sending the firemail. She opened the door to see Jace standing right outside, about to knock on her door.

"Oh," Clary wasn't expecting him to be there.

"We're going demon hunting. You wanna join us?"

"Um... Sure," Clary had never been demon hunting before, but this was what she'd been training for.

"Alright. Are you gonna wear that?" He gestured to her outfit.

She looked down at herself. "No. I'll change. Should I just wear gear?"

"Um... I'll send Isabelle to answer that question. See you in a few minutes," he began to walk away.

"Okay."

A few minutes later, Isabelle knocked on her door. She was wearing a tight, leather mini dress with a black lace over shirt that covered her rune covered arms and high heel boots that made her tower over Clary. She walked in. "What do you have?"

"Um," Clary gestured to her closet.

Isabelle threw it open and sifted through the hangers.

"I've also got things in my dresser."

Isabelle shut the closet and opened the dresser drawer. She dug through her pants drawer. She looked over at Clary, "Is that tank top a different shirt from the one you're wearing over it?"

"... Yeah..."

Isabelle shut the pants drawer and opened the shirts drawer. She pulled out a black, long sleeved shirt with a boat neck, and held it up to Clary. "Can you try this on over the tank top?"

"Um, sure," Clary took the shirt and walked into the bathroom. The shirt was slim fitted and a little long on her, and the wide neck showed her inch thick lace tank top straps.

She walked out of the bathroom and saw Isabelle sitting on the bed with a pair of boots, a belt and tights sitting next to her.

Isabelle stood up and walked up to Clary. She pulled the sleeves off of either shoulder and pulled the end down. It now appeared to be a very short dress. "Now, take off the pants and put these on," Isabelle took the tights off the bed and handed them to her. It was now clear that they weren't hers.

"But-"

"Go change," Isabelle encouraged.

Clary did as she was told. She felt exposed in the black, lace tights. When she came out again, Isabelle nodded approvingly.

"Okay. Sit here-" she gestured to the bed, "And put the boots on."

Clary zipped up the boots. "Um... I don't think I'll be able to walk in these..." Clary attempted to stand up, and gripped the bed's post to balance herself. The heels were six inches high with two inches of platform.

"Those are the smallest heels I have," said Isabelle. "Besides, you look cute."

"... I look like a hooker."

"No you don't, you look ready to kill some demons."

"... How am I supposed to kill demons in stilts? And why can't I just wear gear?"

"We're going to Pandemonium. It's a nightclub, so we need to blend in."

"And there are demons at this nightclub?"

"Yes. It's actually a common hang out for demons and downworlders."

"Oh."

"Now, makeup," Isabelle picked up a makeup bag that Clary had somehow missed.

Clary's hair had a little glitter in it, and the amount of makeup on her face made her look like a different person. She looked beautiful. Isabelle had transformed her into someone else.

"One last thing," said Isabelle. She put a black shiny belt around Clary's waist. "Now your done. Let's go."

"Oh, my stele," Clary took her stele off her nightstand from next to her sketchpad. She tried to put it into her belt, but Isabelle made her put it in her boot.

They walked down the hall, and into the weapons room. Jace and Alec were there in shadowhunter gear, picking weapons and putting them into their boots and belts.

When they came in, Jace turned and stared at Clary. Clary worried that she didn't pull off this look.

"Doesn't she look amazing?" Said Isabelle. "Okay, let's get you some weapons."

Isabelle handed Clary a dagger. "Put this in your boot," she also handed her a sword. "This one's called 'Jehoel'."

"Jehoel," Clary repeated, taking the seraph blade and putting it in her belt. She reached into her boot and pulled out her stele. She pulled up her left sleeve, and drew on some runes. She attempted to draw some on her right arm, but found it difficult- because she was right handed.

"Here," Jace took the stele from her hand and started drawing it for her.

She blushed at his proximity. "Thanks," After he finished, she put her stele back into her boot and pulled her sleeves down to conceal the runes.


Simon was waiting in line to get into Pandemonium with Maia. Neither of them had changed from their jeans and t-shirts to come here- Simon wasn't much of a club person and Maia was just casual.

"Simon! Maia!" Simon turned to see Jordan coming up to the line.

"Jordan!" Maia ran over to him and kissed him.

Simon looked away. Ever since Maia and Jordan started dating, Simon always felt like a third wheel.

A couple of people in line wolf whistled at them, but they ignored them.

They both came back to where Simon was waiting in line.

"What's up?" Asked Jordan.

Simon shrugged. "The usual."

"He sucks at playing halo," said Maia.

"I don't 'suck', I just may not as good as you are, apparently."

Maia giggled.

Maia and Jordan were on the dance floor, dancing.

Simon was leaning against a support post, looking around the room. There were all sorts of exotic looking people around. People in costumes with their hair unnatural colors.

Simon and Maia had been friends for awhile. They'd met when he was human, and started hanging out. It had been about a year, then he got turned. Maia found out- and after briefly freaking out- helped him by bringing him bottles of animal blood. Maia also revealed to him her world, and that she was a werewolf.

Later, Jordan Kyle- who had become the singer for his band- offered him to live at his two bedroom apartment.

One day, as Maia was over playing video games, Jordan came home, and Maia tried to kill him. Simon stopped her and found out the whole story.

Maia had forgiven Jordan for turning her, and now they were dating.

Simon was taken out of his flashbacks when he saw a demon. He looked human, but he definitely wasn't. Simon's super vampire senses could smell that garbagey demon smell from halfway across the club. He saw he had his eyes on someone, and followed his gaze. He was looking at a girl. She looked kind of lost, and was looking around, not really doing anything.

The demon started making his way towards her.

Simon looked at the girl again. She had long, curly red hair, and she wore a short black dress with tights and boots. She looked slightly uncomfortable in her ensemble- like she didn't usually wear this sort of thing. She also looked like she'd never been to a nightclub before, looking almost scared- with the flashing lights and loud music that made Pandemonium what it was. She also looked tiny, and fragile.

Simon made his way toward her. He got to her just before the blue haired demon did.

"Wanna dance?" he asked.

She looked a little confused, as if she had been concentrating on something else, and had been unaware of her surroundings. "What?"

He took her hand. "Let's dance," he pulled her to the dance floor, and started dancing- poorly.

"I really shouldn't. I came here with some friends, and... and... You're a vampire."

Simon stopped dancing, his eyes widened. "How did you know?"

"I'm a shadowhunter, I have a trained eye."

"Shadowhunter?" Maia had told him about shadowhunters. They kill demons and keep downworlders in check. Maia had also said they didn't socialize with downworlders, but this girl seemed completely fine with it. It was then when Simon noticed her seraph blade in her belt. "I probably didn't need to save you from that demon, then."

Her eyes widened and she quickly looked around. "Demon? Where?"

Simon scanned the crowd for the blue haired boy. He found him and pointed. "The boy over there with the blue hair," Simon then realized he was talking to another girl- one with black hair.

The red haired girl he was dancing with started towards them, and Simon followed. She paused when they were several feet away, and stuck her arm out to stop Simon as well.

Simon could hear the demon's conversation with the girl. She was laughing at something he'd said.

"I'm Isabelle, by the way," She smiled, fiddling with the gold bracelet on her right wrist. Isabelle glanced in his direction, and pulled down the black lace collar. She exposed some black tattoo on her neck and the demon gasped.

The blue haired demon turned to run away, but Isabelle was faster. She took her bracelet from her wrist- which turned out not to be a bracelet at all, but a whip- and struck it forward. It wrapped around his ankle, and he fell to the ground.

"Clary!" Said Isabelle, looking at him again.

Simon realized- as the red haired girl ran from his side, towards the demon- that she hadn't been looking at him, but at her.

The red haired girl- Clary, he guessed- drew the blade from her belt. "Jehoel," she said. Her blade glowed to life, and she stabbed the demon.

It screamed, and coiled into itself, disappearing.


Sunday has finally come! Check in next Sunday for chapter 3!

Look for sneak peaks into the next chapters at my website, .com

Enjoy!