Coast Diner was a bustle of activity just like it always was on Saturday morning, or any time for that matter. Never in my life had I stepped into the diner when it was empty. In this city there was always downworlders looking for a place to relax.

The same booth I was sitting in yesterday was empty so Finn and I took our seats, on on each side. Since we were children we had sat in this booth. No one seemed inclined to take it from Maverick's family.

I was almost surprised to see that no one batted an eye at my entrance. It seemed that no one really had cared about Brady in the first place. My thoughts were confirmed when a faerie set down two glassed on our table: root beer for Finn and coffee for me. "Whatever you two would like is on the house," our server, Elvia said. "As a thanks to Sydney for taking care of Brady. He wasn't exactly inclined to paying his bill."

"Thanks, Elvia," I said. "I'll just have my usual." I didn't even need to look at the menu to know what was on it. It hadn't changed in the past ten or so years. And it was rare anyway that I got anything different from eggs, ham and hashbrowns.

"Me too," Finn said. In all my life I had never seen him eating anything else than country fried steak and mashed potatoes when we were at this diner.

"Coming up." Elvia smiled at us as she walked to the back counter.

Finn reached out across the table and took my right hand, caressing the voyance rune on it. "It's been two months since you came back but I don't think I'll ever get used to these runes on you." I understood him, sometimes I still surprised myself when looking in the mirror.

"Be glad all you have to do is look that them," I told him. "Drawing them is a pain, pun intended." I hated etching the runes into my skin with my stele. If I could help it I wouldn't draw runes at all. It didn't help that I was horrible at them either. I messed up on a regular basis and had to start from scratch.

"More or less than getting stabbed with a silver dagger?" Finn's eyes showed amusement.

"That was an accident and you know it!" He chuckled at my exclamation. Years ago I had been playing with my dagger. Somehow I lost control of it and stabbed Finn in the arm with it. It wound wasn't deep or bad but it had been fun trying to cover it up and keep it from Maverick.

"When do you have to be back tonight?" He asked me when his laughter died down.

"Not until this evening, there's a mission briefing," I explained. When I saw the look on his face I instantly rememebered. "The moon meeting!" I cursed silently. "I can't go, I'm sorry." Twice a month the entire pack would gather to go over politics and whatnot.

Finn shrugged but I wasn't blind to his obvious disappointment. "I survived going by myself for three years," he started. "I can handle another meeting. I'm just going to miss my partner in crime."

"I'll try to come to the next one," I told him. I was careful not to promise him anything. Vows and promises were dangerous in this city. They were binding. Even though I knew that Finn wouldn't be mad if I broke it I couldn't bring myself to.

Finn nodded and opened his mouth to say something else when a werewolf boy suddenly ran into the diner, slamming the door open. "There's a Nephilim sniffing around outside!" No one pointed out that I, a Nephilim, was sitting right there in a booth.

I shared a glance with Finn before the both of us rushed outside. Shadowhunters, of course, weren't banned from anywhere in the city, that would break the Accords. However, it was unusual that one would venture this far into downworlder territory on their own. Except for me.

I regonized the familiar figure of the dark haired shadowhunter immediately. "Eli?"

He swung around looking at me first before his eyes wandered to Finn. "So this is where you get off to, Sydney. What are you doing at a downworlder Diner?"

"Where do you think I get my intel?" I had prepared for this. I knew that at some point someone was going to find out about my interactions with the pack. It didn't take my long to fabricate a lie in case anyone asked. And good lies always had a shred of truth as this one did. I mean, I did get my intel from here after all.

Eli jerked his chin at Finn. "Who's the werewolf?" He always had a knack for recognizing a downworlder even when they looked completely mundane.

"My primary informant," I said at the same time that Finn answered with his name, "Finnick Croy." I sent him a look. Eli didn't need to know who he was.

Something sparked in my fellow shadowhunter's eyes. "Ah, you're Maverick's kid."

"He's the Alpha to you," Finn nearly growled. He was fiercely protective of his father and respectful of his rank.

Eli practically rolled his eyes. "Right, because like I care about that he's this big powerful Alpha."

Finn stepped forward, this time actually growling. I put my hand on his chest to stop him. The rumbling subsided.

"Oh so scary, wolfy," Eli said sarcastically. My hand was the only thing stopping Finn from attacking the Shadowhunter. I could practically feel the rage coming off of him.

"What are you doing here?" I snapped at Eli. He shrugged, sticking his hands into his jeans pockets.

"I wanted to see where you got up to," he said. "Now I know. I also know where to find your body when one of these demons kills you." He was jabbing again, trying to illicit a reaction. I wasn't going to take the bait.

"Go home, Eli," I told him.

Eli put his hands up in defeat. "Fine, don't piss anyone off. Aiden'll be depressed for weeks if you get murdered." He walked off, almost disappearing into the shadows until he was out of sight.

"What about Aiden?" Finn asked. He knew about everyone at the Institute, of course, I had told him. I hadn't had time however to tell him about Eli's ridiculous assumption that Aiden had a crush on me.

"Later," I said to him leading us back towards the Diner doors. Everyone looked at us as we entered.

"He's gone; I took care of it," I announced so as to get everyone to leave us alone.

"This is your fault!" A red-headed vampire hissed. "Now the Nephilim know where we are!" I hadn't realized Dylan entered the Diner. It had a back entrance connected to the sewers and the windows were spelled so it was a vampire-haven during the day.

I sighed as I sat down in my booth again. "Newsflash, Dylan, the Nephilim already knew this place existed." Before building the Institute the first thing the Shadowhunters had done was canvas the city, marking all the downworlder hotspots. Coast Diner and Maverick's bike shop were already on the map when I arrived.

"Well you're a magnet for more Nephilim activity! You're brining them here!" Dylan was grasping at straws and it was getting on my last nerve.

"So what if they come? It's not like you're breaking the Accords. You can't be arrested for having breakfast." I heard the vampire grumble but he didn't say anything else. Half the Diner was still staring at me. "Well? Does anybody else want to voice their concerns?"

As the last eyes left me I looked across the table at Finn. He was staring intently at the food that had sometime been delivered. He was still fuming.

"Hey," I told him touching his hand with mine. He softened. "Eli's an ass. Don't let him get to you."

Finn looked at me, the anger disappearing from his eyes. "Yeah...okay. But how did he find you?"

I shrugged, savoring the delicious brunch in front of me. "He's Eli Ravenhallow, I stopped asking questions a long time ago." The dark-haired Nephilim was an oddity, one I had never cared enough to solve. "Now, hurry up and eat. I could eat a horse but your food looks just as appetizing."

Finn picked up a large portion of his steak on his fork when his phone suddenly chimed. His face paled as he looked at the text message. "We have to go, now. It's my father."

On the way back to the bike shop Finn was uncharacteristically stiff as he held on to my waist so I knew something was wrong. Something more than Maverick getting mad at his son for leaving the shop for brunch.

Finn practically leapt off the bike as I slowed to a stop in front of the shop. Throwing off my helmet, I hurriedly followed him into the garage.

I couldn't contain my gasp when I saw the three werewolves. Travis was there, his shirt slashed and the unmistakable tint of blood on them. Another man was wrapping a wound on his Alpha's upper arm. Cain, Maverick's second. Finn took the bandage from him, finishing the wrap so that Cain could tend to his own wound on his head.

"What happened?" I finally found my voice. I hadn't seen anybody in the pack get hurt like that in a while. Especially the Alpha and his second and third in commands.

"I heard of some rouge wolves in the territory," Cain started to explain. I could see the remorse in his eyes. He blamed himself that his Alpha had gotten hurt. "I asked Maverick and Travis to come help me."

"They weren't rouge werewolves," Maverick nearly growled. "They were from Jasper's pack." I shared a glance with Finn. Jasper's pack? We hadn't had confrontation with them in years. They were the neighboring pack and they used to always fight us for territory. But, one night changed all that. "They attacked us. We left them on the border as an example to Jasper but-" he shook his head before pulling something out of his pocket. "They found a body. I don't know what Jasper will do next." He held out his hand showing the familiar necklace.

I froze, my eyes wide. Then, I forced myself to remain calm, to even my heartbeats. I willed Finn to do the same. Because the necklace belonged to Dimitri, Jasper's son. The first downworlder I had murdered.