Apparently, everyone agrees with me that Jace is the best character because as soon as I brought him back, reviews and favorites and stuff tripled. Though some aspects of the story, such as his magical awakening, might seem confusing, just remember that they are all in there for a reason.

Disclaimer: Much to my dismay, I do not own this series or these characters.

Simon's research had only turned up more questions. We had to find out more about these three items. Isabelle had even thought to look up the demon and see what lore there was about him. Needless to say, this took time, concentration, and effort. None of which Jace was willing to supply.

"Why do I have to do this?" He asked. "I could be out fighting demons and finding missing objects. Instead, I'm stuck here with you guys researching." He said the word as if it was disgusting, but then Jace had always been more of the action type.

"You have to research because everybody else has to research," Isabelle told him. "And if you say that you're better than everyone else, I swear I will kill you."

Jace made a face and muttered under his breath low enough that only I could hear. "But I am better than everyone else."

"Aww," I teased sarcastically. "Poor Jace, forced to work like the normal people."

Jace nodded solemnly, pretending to miss my sarcasm. "It's so hard." I rolled my eyes at him as we went to work.

An half and hour later, we had next to nothing. And after all of this fruitless effort on the research front, we decided to take a break. Well, Jace and I decided to take a break. Mostly Jace, but I went along with it.

Putting down the dusty tome in his hands, Jace stretched conspicuously. "What time is it?" he asked. Everyone turned to look at him, but no one answered. It was less than a minute later than the last time he asked. "Fine, be that way." He muttered.

A few minutes later, I looked up from the computer I was researching on to meet Jace's eyes. He was looking at me intently in that way that brought heat to my cheeks. I wondered how long he had been staring. I felt myself blush and tried to hide it. "What?" I mouthed.

His trademark grin spread over his face and his golden eyes lit up. "Wanna take a break?" He silently mouthed back. I gave him a look. He responded by putting on his best sad face. "Please?"

I glared at him but nodded in agreement. His face lit up again, all traces of his frown gone. "I'm hungry," Jace announced. He apparently had issues with being subtle along with his work ethic issues. "I think I'm going to go get some food." Before anyone could protest, he got to his feet.

"Really, Jace? It's been, like, thirty minutes at the most since we started." Isabelle said.

"And you cooked breakfast," Jace said in reply. Judging from Isabelle's face, that was a dumb thing to say. I could see Alec and Simon tense in their chairs nearby. Isabelle was sensitive about her cooking. "Now, you listen here Jace Lightwood." But Jace was already gone. No one expected him to come back.

I waited about ten minutes before I decided it was safe to leave. Not sure how to go about it, I cleared my throat. "Yeah, um, I kind of need to go to the restroom." I said delicately.

Simon raised his eyebrows. "Kind of?"

"Oh, you know what I meant," I snapped. Then gave him an apologetic look to tell him I wasn't offended. Everyone's attention was now on me. "Yeah, well. I'm going to go now." I hurried out of the library, knowing exactly where to go.

I went to Jace's room, where we always met when we shirked our duties. I opened his door without knocking, knowing he wouldn't care. When I entered, he was lying on his back on his bed staring at the ceiling. He didn't move as I came in.

"Jace?" I asked. "You okay?"

Jace sat up almost immediately. "Yeah, I'm fine." Then, he smirked and added in a totally different tone, "Don't you agree?" He waited expectantly.

"Hmmm…" I pretended to think about it. "I'm not sure."

"Come on," his smirk grew wider and he swung his legs over the side of the bed to where he was facing me. "You know you love me for my gorgeous body and sarcastic genius."

I tried to do the raised eyebrow thing like he did. "Correction," I responded. "I love you despite your so called 'sarcastic genius'." Almost as an afterthought, I added, "Though the gorgeousness is a plus."

"That's what I thought," he said smugly, totally missing my 'sarcastic genius' comment. Seriously, the boy had a self-obsession complex. Jace's love for himself was eclipsed only by his love for me, and sometimes even that was iffy. He did love me; that much was for sure. As if he read my mind, his expression softened and his smile became gentle. "Come here," he ordered. "You're too far away."

Jace stretched and his shirt lifted, enticingly revealing a strip of skin across his stomach. While I was reluctant to give up the great view, I was eager to get closer to him. It wasn't that hard a decision. Sitting down on his lap, I wrapped my arms around his neck and waited for him to move. "You're still too far away."

I smiled seductively. I had practiced this smile on him before and it worked wonders. "What are you going to do about it?"

In answer, Jace pulled my face down to his and kissed me. His kissed me gently at first but with increasing fervor. His hands tangled in my red hair and he kissed me until we were both breathless.

He gave me a lopsided grin and said. "You're close enough now."

I didn't even bother to roll my eyes; I just kissed him again harder. We battled for control, pushing each other to our limits. Finally, I conceded. I was enjoying Jace's possessive kisses too much to try anything of my own. He leaned back so I was lying on top of him, never breaking our kiss. Jace slipped his hands up the back of my shirt, rubbing circles over my back.

I had been kissed by Jace before; often, as matter of fact. But every time, it was just as intense. As we came up for air, I hid my face in the curve of his neck. He seemed to like this position. I could tell because as he began kissing my neck and the curve of my ear, his hands never stopped their stroking. I would never admit it to Jace, but I loved this craving and desirous side of him.

Once I had regained my breath, I prepared myself to lose it again. I turned my head toward Jace, kissing him on the nose and then lower, purposely causing our lips to meet. I moved my hands up to caress his tawny curls. Jace rolled us over on his bed, so he was lying on top. He kissed me fervently and I kissed him back the same way.

I have no idea how long this went on, but finally, I remembered that we were supposed to be helping Simon, Izzy, and Alec in the library. I had a hard time disentangling my mouth from Jace's, but in the end, I succeeded. "Jace."

"What?" He looked distracted and his eyes were focused directly on my mouth. He seemed confused as to why I would stop him from this very satisfying activity.

"We're supposed to be in the library." I said. "The others are waiting for us."

"Screw the others," he said and leaned back down to kiss me.

I pushed him back slightly, but not before he got another kiss in. "Jace." He looked up this time and met my eyes. I didn't want to stop either, but we had to go back to reality some time.

"Fine." He rolled over to where he was no longer lying on top of me and brushed at his mussed hair. Reaching to feel my own hair, I could tell that it was a tangled mess. For now, there was nothing to be done.

"Come on," I told Jace, going to the door. I was all the way to the door when I realized he hadn't followed. I turned around to see him looking very pleased with himself. "What?"

He was grinning and openly staring at me. I watched as his eyes lingered on my lips and my hair. "Oh, nothing," he replied. This time he followed me.

When we got back to the library, the others had also taken a break. Simon and Alec were playing paper football, and Isabelle was busily painting her nails. "There you are!" Alec exclaimed as soon as we walked in.

"Paper football?" Jace asked dubiously.

"The bathroom?" Isabelle quipped. Jace looked confused, so she clarified. "According to Clary, she just spent," Isabelle made a show of checking her phone for the time. "Thirty minutes in the bathroom."

I looked down and blushed. "I never said I was staying in the bathroom." I told her defensively.

Jace turned to me and did that annoying eyebrow thing. "The bathroom? That's the best you could come up with?"

Isabelle let out a laugh. "I think you should have spent a little of that bathroom time in front of a mirror." I reached involuntarily to touch my hair. "You look like you've been rolling around on someone's bed." Her glance at Jace left no doubt as to who this someone was. "Were you two making out or doing something else?"

I felt my face get even redder. "Give her a break, Izzy." Simon came to my defense, flicking the paper football at his girlfriend. Jace frowned at Simon as if that was his line. But we all knew that he had been enjoying every moment of this discussion, and the idea to defend me would never have occurred to him.

"I'm sorry, Clary." Isabelle apologized. "It was just too good an opportunity to pass up." My face was still red. I sat down, hoping to turn their attention away from me. Isabelle turned her attention to Jace, and a smirk slid over her face. "Did you enjoy your food, Jace?"

Jace didn't miss a beat. "It was delicious," he replied. He was as bad as she was. He leered at me as he sat down, still looking satisfied with himself. Later, I was going to have to find some way to bring him down a peg or two.

Eventually, we went back to researching. We weren't at it for long before Alec interrupted. "I think I've found something," he spoke up. "It's not the information we need, but it's a way to get the information."

"That sounds promising," Simon said.

"Maybe… but then again, maybe not," Alec looked doubtful.

"Why?" Isabelle asked.

"There's a warlock," Alec told us. "Someone Magnus knows. This guy deals in dark or powerful objects, but he's a shady character. He sells most his stuff on the black market."

"Sounds just like someone Maggs would be friends with," Jace, ever the antagonist, put in.

"Don't call him that," Alec snapped. "And I never said they were friends."

"Calm down, Alec," his sister told him. "Don't be stupid. You know Jace is just trying to bait you." She gave Jace a glare.

"If we could get a hold of this guy, we might be able to find some record of one of these things," Alec continued.

Perfect. This was just what we needed, a way to get the information. Too bad, we were going to have to go through some sleazebag criminal to get it.

Tell me what you think about the new chapter! Personally, I liked it. Then again, I'm kinda biased.