Ty suddenly pulled Kit off the main sidewalk, into the shadow of the brick building beside them. He leaned against the wall, looking at Kit, but, Kit noticed, keeping the woman in the silver skirt in his peripheral vision. He leaned close to Kit and spoke in a low, hurried voice.

"That woman in the lineup over there, the blond with the white top. It's not a woman. It's a Corinthen demon."

Kit blinked, his heartrate speeding up. It seemed it wasn't going to be the quiet action free night he had hoped for.

"How can you tell?" He questioned.

Ty's eyes travelled over the scene behind Kit, plucking out details and signals that others didn't pick up on.

"It's a bunch of little things. First of all, it's teeth are blackened. That's because when demons take on human forms, they are imperfect. It's like trying to forge a famous piece of art. They can't get it exactly right. No human woman who looks like that would have rotten teeth, but the demon doesn't know that. Second, she's alone, and when people talk to her, she doesn't respond. Everyone else is in a group, but the demon is on its own. Its English may not be the best either. Lastly, you can tell by the way it's looking at the other people. It's a sort of disgusted hunger."

Kit whistled softly.

"Amazing." He stated.

Ty bent his head, but Kit could swear he flushed. He grabbed Kit's jacket sleeve and pulled him around the corner of the next street, where they still had a vantage point of the demon, but were mostly out of sight. The two stood shoulder to shoulder and peered around the corner, watching the demon make its way along the line.

"It'll be alone," Ty said, turning back to Kit. "Corinthen demons don't travel in packs. They're rogues, solo hunters and scavengers."

"So we have to kill it now?" Kit said, with a growing uneasiness. He wasn't uncomfortable with the idea of killing demons, but it was nerve wracking, this being his first time and all. The demons that killed his father didn't count, it had been a combination of luck and adrenaline. Here, he was expected to put his training to use, and make a calculated attack.

"I suggest one of us tries to lure it away from the crowd, and the other can ambush it."

As Ty continued, outlining details of his plan, Kit took in their surrounding properly for the first time since they had rounded the corner. They were standing in a dimly lit street, sloping downhill for a few meters before passing under a bridge. Underneath the bridge, Kit could see nothing but shadows. He though he saw movement, and focused on it momentarily, his heartbeat speeding. He exhaled when his eyes adjusted a little to the dark, and he saw the sleeping bag and shopping cart, realizing it was just one of LA's many homeless. Only one of the streets three lamps was functional, and it emitted a faint orange glow which caught the mist in the air, making it look thicker and soupier than Kit could remember. Something about the whole scene gave Kit a feeling like a heavy cold stone sat in the pit of his stomach. He suppressed a shudder as he realized it would be the perfect place for an ambush.

"Kit, are you listening?" Questioned Ty, tapping him on the shoulder. Kit zoned back in.

"Yeah, sorry. I heard you. I'm luring her over here and your ambushing from the roof." Ty gazed at Kit with a serious cast to his big gray eyes.

"It's an it. Not a she. Don't go there."

"Right. Of course, it." Kit tried to banish the sick feeling. It was just one demon, and they were shadowhunters. This was cake.

He peeked his head around the corner to get one last glimpse of their target before moving in, and inhaled sharply.

"Ty," he murmured, "It's gone. Shit!"

He wondered if it was possible that the demon had gotten into the club, but dismissed the idea. It'd had been at least halfway towards the back of the long line, which was moving at a snails pace. Maybe it left? He thought.

As these thoughts flicked through his mind and out again, he felt a prickling chill creep up the back of his neck. His body had processed faster than his brain the very wrongness of the situation, but a moment later his mind caught up.

Ty hadn't responded. The warm presence at his back had vanished.

Kit turned as if in slow motion. It felt like his body was locked in ice, and the cold numb feeling intensified as he took in the scene in front of him.

The woman in the silver pencil skirt was restraining Ty from behind, her front pressed against his back. Ty was visibly straining away, but his movement was restricted by the two-inch long, wetly glittering claws that the demon held against his throat. Kit had no doubt they were coated in some kind of deadly venom. His mind was as numb as his body, and fear and panic hadn't yet been processed. Instead he felt a sort of blankness.

Ty let out a small gasp and Kit eyes locked on his. The numbness and cold rushed out of him as he registered the underlying fear and overlying defiance in Ty's eyes. It was strange how much he could read in those grey eyes. He saw another emotion there two, that he took a moment to place. It was trust. Ty trusted him to get him out of this.

He felt a blaze of hot white fury towards the demon woman pass through him. How dare she touch Ty. Instantly, he was functioning on high gear, his mind racing to make a plan, his body poised to fight.

The demon smiled, her rotten teeth opaque and soft looking, making Kit's stomach twist. She hissed at him, and it seemed there were words in the hissing. While she couldn't speak properly, she communicated effectively.

"ssssI will sssssssslaughter" was all that Kit made out.

He spoke, his voice strong and clear. "Let him go. There is no scenario where you 'slaughter' here. I'm a trained shadowhunter, with runes that allow me outmatch you by far. I could take down three of your kind before you even moved a claw."

The lies passed easily through him. Kit had been lying all his life, it was what his father had taught him to do well. He now discovered that lying in battle was no different.

The demon hissed some more. Kit thought for a moment she was having a coughing fit, and he hoped that maybe she was having a highly opportune asthma attack, and would simply drop Ty. Then he realized the halting, heaving hiss was laughter.

He strained to make out her words through the laughs. "Sssssss good thingsssss there are moressss than three of usssss." She said, her yellowish wrinkled face contorted with demonic humor. Kit flooded with dread, as well as an insane adrenaline rush that made him feel lightheaded as he took in her meaning. He sensed movement behind him and turned his head to see six more demons round the corner and begin advancing towards him, hissing their disturbing laughter. They were all as gruesome as the woman, with flaws that made them inhuman to the trained eye. One man had an empty socket where one of his eyes should be, as if he had missed a piece in putting together the puzzle of the human body.

Kit stumbled backwards towards the Ty and the woman. The hissing was deafening now, and seemed to be all around him, closing in. One small sound from behind him broke through the din though. It was Ty, murmuring a word over and over. No, it was two words.

Kit. Run.

He just had time to think, no way in hell, before hell itself broke loose.

Thanks for reading! Pretty please review, it is so very encouraging, even if you just say a few words. Next chapter hopefully over the weekend.