CHAPTER 4 – Rogue

Kaden followed Maria into the mechanics shop. There were tools strewn about in what seemed to him like organized chaos. Two cars sat in the garage, other than his. One had the hood propped up; the other was jacked a few feet off the ground.

She moved with ease through the cramped space, pulling up her hair and rolling up her sleeves smoothly as she walked over to his car. Kaden wondered about her change of heart. He had tried to convince that he wouldn't report her, even as he decided it himself. Why get the Clave involved needlessly? It was kind of fun having his own private little investigation, if it could even be called that.

He watched as Maria opened the hood and leaned in, casting a gaze over the engine with a keen expert's eye. There was something different about the garage, a change since the last time he'd been here only a few days ago. Not something visible. It was odd, but he didn't think much of it.

"Yup, it's all good," Maria was saying, drawing his attention back to her. She looked at Kaden. "You have a very nice car."

"It's the Institute's," he replied, somewhat sheepishly.

"How many Shadowhunters are at the Institute right now?" she asked.

"Right now there's just me and my mentor," he said. "A few others come and go, but there hasn't been much demon activity in the city."

She nodded, her expression one of thought. She spoke cordially, easily, like this was a casual conversation between friends.

"Maria," he began, and it felt strange to say her first name, almost too intimate. "Why don't you live at the Institute? There's no record of you ever having even been there." Kaden had checked. She sighed and closed the hood, looking away and then back at him.

"I'm a rogue, what did you think?"

"A rogue?"

"I left the Clave."

"You… ran away?"

"Yes," she said softly, looking down at her hands. "I ran away." Kaden didn't say anything, and neither did she for a long time. Then she stood abruptly, her face hard and closed. She jerked her head towards the car. "Take it," she said. "It's done."


When a Shadowhunter leaves the Clave – an extremely rare and radical occurrence – they are supposed to leave the life of Shadowhunting. Of course, they can't change the blood in their veins, the blood of the Angel Raziel, but everything else must be given up.

Victoria couldn't bear to do it. She stole weapons and gear, and kept her stele. She hung dog tags around her neck engraved with runes so she wouldn't ever forget. She hadn't wanted to run. It was fear and anger and desperation that had driven her across the Atlantic Ocean, away from her home.

She watched as the sleek black sports car disappeared around the corner, feeling just as lost as she had when she first arrived in this unfamiliar place.


"Hey Vic!" Victoria turned, wiping her greasy fingers on a rag and tossing it to the side as Jacob swung in through the door to the garage. She had been working on a vampire's bike, destroyed by a hasty landing too close to sunrise. It seemed sometimes even the vamps lost track of time and forgot their bikes ran on demon energies.

Jacob wasn't alone.

"Mind if my friends come over?" he asked, slightly breathless from running. Two other boys were with him, seeming unsure whether to stare in awe at her or the bike. She smiled slightly.

"No problem, Jake." He grinned.

"Can you show them the car?" he asked eagerly.

"Of course," she said, smiling fully now. It made her happy to see him happy and with friends, unashamed to bring them to their tiny, not-very-impressive home.

"Guys, you've got to see this…" Vic heard Jacob say as she walked over to the sleek shape low to the ground in the far corner of a garage covered by a sheet. In one smooth movement she pulled it off and revealed the car beneath. Streamlined and aggressive, it was painted shiny black and had darkly tinted windows. A very rich warlock had commissioned her to ramp up the engine power and a few other more magical tweaks, and was paying her handsomely.

"Want to go for a ride?"

"Really?" Jake exclaimed, ecstatic. Vic rarely ever drove clients' vehicles, much less let Jacob ride with her.

"Just this once," she said, pulling the keys off the hook and sliding into the driver's seat. The boys got in eagerly. She started it up, feeling the car purr beneath her and then growl when she touched the gas. She shifted it into gear and pulled out of the garage, accelerating insanely fast and spinning out onto the road. The boys shrieked with laughter.

They drove around downtown for about an hour, and Victoria had had a permanent smile on her face along with the boys. They were all breathless when they finally pulled in to the garage again. When they piled out, Victoria hung the keys back on the hook and put the sheet back over the car.

"Thanks so much Vic! That was awesome!" Jacob exclaimed.

"Yeah, thanks!" his friends added.

"No problem, guys. I'm glad you enjoyed it." She ruffled Jacob's hair. "Anyone want a snack?" As Victoria pulled out a bag of chips, she grinned as she overheard Jacob and his friends talking.

"So she's your sister?"

"Yeah." Jacob replied.

"She's so cool!"

"Man, she's hot too." Victoria rolled her eyes. Boys were all the same. Even thirteen-year-old boys.

"Here you go," she said, setting the chips in a bowl on the table and three cans of Coke. Jacob looked sheepish; he knew she'd heard. But Vic just winked at him and said, "I'll be in the garage if you need anything." She needed to finish working on that vamp's bike; there was so much still to do and he was going to pick it up tonight.

But she did the work with a light heart.