Jocelyn felt a pit of fear opening in her stomach as she saw the blood. The alley seemed covered in it, spatters across the walls, pools drying on the ground. Luke, his nose twitching, glanced at her, concern and his own fear for Clary vying with a fierce, cold anger on his face.

"It's still fresh. And mostly not human."

Jocelyn's heart seemed to twist in on itself. "Mostly?"

Luke hesitated, as if unsure what to say. "I think…" he pointed to a large pool of blood. "I think that's Clary's."

Jocelyn almost fell to her knees. What she would have done next, she had no idea. Fortunately, in a way, there was an effective distraction, in the form of the huge lioness which leapt fully over her and crashed into Luke's chest with a roar.

He fell back, changing as he did, landing on all four paws. His claws tore out, and his fangs were stained with blood as he pulled away, but his own sides were raked with claw marks, and his left foreleg limped.

Jocelyn caught one, warning look in his eyes before the lion crashed into him again, and she whirled just in time to avoid the next attacker, a lioness already wounded in the side, who had been lunging at her throat.

She managed to evade, scrabbling for her knife, but the third lioness had snuck up behind her. As she fixed her eyes on the one she now circled, the hidden beast launched itself silently through the air, it's two-inch-long claws aimed for her heart.

A golden, shimmering whip caught it in midair, wrapping around its throat, and pulling it off-course to smash into the brick wall of the alley. It staggered dizzily, the whip unwinding from its neck as quickly as it had appeared. Isabelle leapt gracefully into the fray, kicking at the wounded side of Jocelyn's second attacker. Beside her, Alec leapt with deadly precision to knock the lioness Luke had been grappling with off of him, sending her crashing to the ground.

The beasts circled, warily, and the three Shadowhunters gathered, back to back, weapons ready.

"Thanks," Jocelyn gasped.

Isabelle shot her a dazzling smile. "Anytime." Then the lions charged again, and all chatter ceased.

The beasts were smarter than any natural lion, larger and stronger, and they didn't make the same mistakes twice. Separating the three Shadowhunters, one leapt for Jocelyn, even as the other knocked Alec into Isabelle. The third, pursued down the alley by Luke, was locked in combat with the huge wolf, both animals snarling and tearing with powerful legs and claws.

Alec was winded, and Isabelle stunned. The lioness gave a snarl of triumph, and lunged for the fallen girl's throat. Alec gave a strangled shout, but he was too far away. Simon was faster. Appearing like a bolt of lightning, he locked his hands around the lioness, his fangs popping from his gums. His eyes were black with a wild fury as he hurled the animal like a stuffed toy cat away from his girlfriend.

Alec's eyes met Simon's as they gasped in the momentary respite, and there was a grudging acknowledgement in the eyes of the dark-haired Shadowhunter.

Magnus and the two Lightwood adults were next around the corner, the warlock's hands alight with fire and sparks, the two Shadowhunters armed with Seraph blades and deadly knives. Together, they drove the lions back from Jocelyn, and then from Luke. They formed a line across the alley, shoulder to shoulder, and the lionesses, bloodied and outnumbered, retreated from them, snarling angrily.

For a moment, they faced each other in silence. Then, the lions scrambled away, disappearing into the darkness. Luke shifted back into his man form, bleeding from a cut lip and scratches on his ribs and shoulder. He waved away Jocelyn's concern, however, and turned to the others.

"Thank you," he said, "but now we need to find Clary and Jace. I don't know where they are, but I can tell you that the man we need to worry about wasn't here. He is ten times more powerful than the others in his pride. If he's hunting our children," he glanced from Robert to Maryse to Jocelyn, "we need to find them first."

Leo felt the failure of his pride through their link, and he snarled angrily, but it didn't matter. They had delayed his enemies long enough, and now he had the children he had been hunting. He watched from his hiding place as they dressed, laughing, smiling to one another.

Fools, he thought, to have so quickly forgotten him, to have so quickly deemed themselves safe. Again, he gazed at the nubile form of the girl, and licked his teeth in anticipation. He would enjoy subduing her to his will.

He waited until the boy was off-balance, because the boy was the danger. Nevertheless, he was easily dealt with. Leo smiled to himself at their naivety, and as the blonde warrior was stepping into his pants, he charged him, in lion form.

Clary only saw the movement too late. Even Jace, brilliant, deadly, and controlled as he was, barely had time to turn his head towards his attacker before the immense bulk of the lion crashed into him.

He flew backwards, crashed through the broken glass of the window, and plummeted to the ground, ten storeys below. Clary screamed in horror and fear, scrabbling for her knife. The lion turned to her, his golden mane flowing around his snarling face, and shook his head. A moment later, the tall, broad shouldered man from the alley stood before her.

"Don't be stupid, child," he sneered, his accent a little strange to her ears. "You are not the fighter. If you resist me, I'll hurt you."

Clary met his gaze, and knew he was dead serious. Still, she lunged for her knife. And screamed as he stamped down with his boot on her outstretched fingers, moving faster than anyone she had ever seen.

"Again, and I will cut a finger off," he warned her, nothing but hate in his burning black cat eyes.

Clary didn't try again, pulling her fingers against her chest. She was wearing nothing but her black pants; her shirt and bra lay in tatters on the floor. She recoiled from the hungry look he cast across her body. It was lustful, but angry, promising nothing but violence.

The lion-man crouched down beside her. His voice was soft and cold. "I am Leo, child," he told her. "By nightfall, you will be a creature like me, bound to my will, body and mind." He smiled, mirthlessly. "If you don't struggle, it won't be as painful."

Clary's eyes were wide with horror. Jace was gone, dead for all she knew. No one was coming, no one knew where they were, and no one could save her. She opened her mouth to scream, but Leo's heavy hands struck her across the temple, and she fell, senseless, to the ground.

Alec and Isabelle found Jace. They had split up, searching desperately, but it was almost an hour later when the two Lightwood children found their brother, in a pile of broken glass, his body twisted at the foot of a tall building.

Isabelle gave a little scream of horror, and Alec gasped.

"Magnus!" He called, instinctively. Although the warlock had gone with Robert Lightwood to search the other side of the river, he was at Alec's side in an instant. His sparkling eyes swept across the scene, and he knelt, gently, at Jace's side.

He put a hand on his head, then chest, then turned back to Alec and Isabelle. "Anyone else would have died," he said, glancing up at the building above them. "He must have fallen at least ten storeys. I don't know the extent of the enchantments his Angel blood have given him, but he's alive, barely."

Isabelle was in tears. Alec's face was pale as he asked, "Can you heal him?"

Magnus nodded. "Of course." He spoke a word over Jace, and a moment later, the golden-haired Shadowhunter stirred.

"Clary!" His first words as he sat, bolt upright, on the pavement. The cuts from the glass were knitting themselves together as they watched, and his arms seemed to be twisting back in place, even as he regained his senses.

Isabelle threw her arms around his neck, glass crunching under her feet, and Alec stood back, pale and wide-eyed, at Magnus's side. "Thank you," he breathed to the warlock, squeezing his hand.

Magnus just looked at him.

"Jace, Jace, are you alright?" Isabelle's frantic gaze swept across his body.

The warlock sighed. "He's fine. Truth be told, after the various elaborate things you people have done to yourselves, a simple broken bone or two was a relief. Trust me to be able to heal a few cuts and bruises."

Jace's wide eyes seemed to register his sister's face for the first time.

"Iz," he said, a little off balance still.

Isabelle helped him to his feet. "Thank the Angel you're alright," she breathed. Then she glanced down at his pants. "Um…"

Jace followed her gaze, and flushed slightly. He pulled his pants up to his waist, and buttoned them. His chest was bare, the cuts across them covered in new, pink skin. "Where's Clary," he asked, looking from one to the other of them.

Magnus, who had been staring a little too appreciatively at Jace while he pulled up his pants, deferred to a scowling Alec. "We don't know," he said, resisting the urge to smack his boyfriend. "She wasn't with you."

Jace's eyes darkened, and he looked up the building. "I have to find her," he breathed, and leapt into the air, landing on a second storey window sill. In a few more leaps, he had reached the tenth level, and disappeared inside.

Isabelle swore. Alec sighed. Magnus chuckled, then raised a hand, and the three of them rose smoothly into the air, floating swiftly up to the shattered window, and stepping into the abandoned building.

Jace was kneeling over Clary's tattered shirt. No one else was in the room, not a trace. His own shirt was nearby, and Isabelle's eyes passed over a scrap of white cloth on the far side of the room, but she didn't notice it.

"She's gone," Jace whispered, almost to himself. "He took her."

"The lion?" Alec's voice was grave.

Jace swivelled. "Yes. How did you know?"

Isabelle put a hand on his shoulder. "Luke knows him. One of his wolves saw you fighting him earlier, and we all came to help, but you were already gone. The others are looking now.

"We have to look too, then," Jace growled.

It was Magnus who answered this time. "No," he murmured, ignoring Jace's aggressive glare at the word. "I can't sense a trace out of this room. This one is powerful, though I don't know in what way. I doubt you'll find him by looking."

Jace got to his feet, stubbornly. "What else can we do?"

Magnus raised a calming hand. "I'll search, but it'll take some time."

Alec glanced at him. "You'll do that?"

The warlock glanced at him. "Of course," he said, "and not just for you. I'm the High Warlock of Brooklyn, and I don't like the sound of this lion-man running rampant in my city."

Jace gritted his teeth in frustration. "We can't just wait around," he hissed. "Who knows what he could be doing to her?"

Isabelle sympathized, but she touched his arm again, trying to calm him. "We'd be wasting our time running around the city trying to find her," she said softly. "We'll find the others, and when Magnus finds where he's hiding, then," her eyes were cold, "then we'll be ready."