A giant thing was descending on the roof of the building. As its hulking shape grew larger, Jace thought that he had never seen anything like it. The wings were spiky and bat-like, but the demon's narrow body was smooth, almost snakelike. Jace could also see several rows of pointed teeth, most likely making for a venomous bite. It wouldn't have been hard to take down, Jace thought, but at that moment the door burst open again and two figures came running out of it, closely followed by a third. Jace immediately recognized the first two as demons and the last one as Alec, who was grumbling something that sounded like, "why do things like this always happen on a roof?" by way of greeting. While Jace was naturally inclined to make a sarcastic remark, he instead focused his attention on the flying demon, which had landed on the roof. Quickly forming a plan, Jace yelled, "Clary! Isabelle! You take those things and Alec and I will get this little bastard!" Alec immediately changed direction to go after the unidentified demon and Clary and Isabelle sprung into action against the Eidolon demons.
"Jace," Alec called, "You do realize this thing has two heads, right?"
"The more, the merrier," Jace yelled back. "Just kill the thing!" Jace ran around to face one of the demon's heads. The bat-like wings were tipped with sharp, bony claws. "Sanvi," Jace named his Seraph blade. The demon swung its head toward Jace, who quickly jumped out of the way. He lunged back towards the thing, slashing out with his blade. It caught the neck, but only just. The creature swept one of its giant leather wings downward, trying to take Jace out with its claws. This time Jace wasn't so lucky. The pointed bones scraped across his shoulder, gouging a deep gash there. Jace flinched, but stabbed upward with the seraph blade, making contact with the thing's neck. The demon screeched, and Jace swung again, and then looked across the roof. The girls were fighting off a miniature demon horde. As he watched, Clary stabbed one directly through where its heart would be. The Eidolon demon froze, and then its body disintegrated. Impressed, Jace turned back to his own demon. He jumped out of the way as its ugly head descended to bite him. Seizing the opportunity, Jace brought his blade down on its neck, finally slicing through in one swift motion. Mildly disgusted, Jace ran around to help Alec.
Alec was faring quite well. As Jace reached him, he stabbed the demon in its ribs. Blackish blood poured out and Alec jumped out of the way before the blood could get on his shoes. Weakened, the demon collapsed on the roof of the building. Alec stabbed its body, just to make sure it was dead, and turned to Jace as the massive body grew smaller and smaller before disappearing completely. Though he kept a straight, even bored, face, Alec was elated. That demon had been huge and he had been the one to actually kill it. Truthfully, he couldn't wait to tell Magnus, but that would have to wait. He joined Jace and walked over to where the girls were sitting on some sort of gauge. They looked disinterested, but Alec noticed that they both still had weapons out.
"Clary, you should sleep over tonight," Isabelle was saying. Clary nodded.
"I'll have to talk to my mom first, just hang on a sec," she said as she pulled out her phone. After dialing, she had a brief conversation with her mother. "Mom? Hi. I was wondering, could I sleep over with Isabelle at the Institute tonight?" There was a pause as Jocelyn Fray spoke to her daughter. "No, it's just Isabelle." Pause. "No, they're out tonight." Pause. "Fighting demons, I suppose. They'll probably go to Magnus's party after." Pause. "No, I won't. Promise. Isabelle will lend me clothes. No, I'll be fine. Thanks, mom! Okay, bye! I love you too. Okay, bye," Clary said finally, snapping the phone shut. She sighed. "I'm allowed to sleep over, as long as those demons known as boys will not be present." She looked at Jace and Alec in a mock-glare and then rolled her eyes. Alec laughed. Jocelyn knew that Alec posed no threat to her daughter. She had been there in Idris when he had…well, she knew he was gay. Alec couldn't think of that without blushing, and sure enough a pink flush rose in his face. He followed the rest of them back to the party.
"You lied," said Jace, sounding surprised.
"I lie all the time," Clary answered.
"Yeah, but why?" he asked. "I mean, you knew we were coming back to the institute tonight. Well, I am, I don't know about Alec." Jace shot a sideways glance at Alec, who reddened and mumbled something unintelligible.
"Jace," said Clary with the patient air of explaining something to a three year old, "Do you really think that Jocelyn will let me stay overnight in my boyfriend's home, regardless of whether or not I will be with his sister? Angel knows what kind of shenanigans we'd get up to," she said, wiggling her eyebrows. Alec laughed.
"She's right, Jace," he added with a tone of mock superiority. "You should know this." Jace rolled his eyes and the foursome headed back to the party.
"It's not even like I was completely lying," Clary said. "I mean, you are out fighting demons, and you are going back to Magnus's party after."
"Well," said Isabelle, "they tried to go back to Magnus's party." The room was deserted, cleared completely of the Downworld crowd (including Farek, Alec noted happily.) Magnus was sprawled on the floor blowing multicolored smoke rings. His cat eyes gleamed in the semi-darkness.
"Uh, how long were we gone?" Jace inquired.
Magnus sent a purple smoke ring at Chairman Meow, who batted it with his tiny paw. Magnus smiled lazily, patted the cat's small head and answered, "Oh, about twenty-five minutes."
"What, did you kill everyone and send their bodies through a Portal?" Jace asked, toeing a bottle with his boot. It contained the acid green remnants of a faerie drink.
"No, that's what I'm going to do to you if you don't stop bothering me," Magnus answered irritably. "I got bored. And I'll get bored again, once I'm done with this." He blew a green smoke ring to the ceiling and watched it dissipate.
"Fascinating," Jace said in a monotone. "Alec, how do you put up with this? Rhetorical question. I'm going to head back to the Institute, actually, as I would like to return before next Wednesday." After a glare from Alec, Jace thanked Magnus for the party before leaving. Clary and Isabelle also thanked Magnus, and then followed Jace out the door. It was only a little after eleven, and the walk to the Institute did not take very long. Isabelle immediately started skipping down the hallway to her bedroom, pulling Clary along behind her.
"I'm going to order food!" Jace called after them. He received no reply. "Fine, more for me."
