I'm the devil on your shoulder
I'm the conscience in your mind
I'm the feeling that you, you cannot hide

Reckless – You Me at Six

oOoOo

He stood there, in the shadows, lurking.

He watched them kiss, too wrapped up in themselves to see him standing in the doorway. This is unexpected, he thought, and most definitely problematic. I wonder what they'll think once they find out about the development of the bitch's daughter and the blonde's relationship.

He was sure that it wouldn't matter, although some of them wouldn't be pleased. The plan, though, was unlikely to change. Everything had been carefully prepared and he was sure that a simple kiss wouldn't ruin it. After all, there was a lifetime of work at stake.

He watched them kiss. He watched her cheeks flush red, competing with her hair but still failing. Her red hair was mussed up and, against her pale skin, it looked like blood. He wondered how it would feel to have her blood on his hands, to see her wide eyes looking at his, her hands fighting against his own ones, wrapped in her pale swan-like neck. He wanted her to beg for mercy, wiggling under him, struggling and fighting for her life. He wanted to see the light leave her luminous green eyes and to close them afterwards, feeling the soft skin of her rosy eyelids. He licked his lips at the thought.

Hopefully, I won't have to wait long for this, Clarissa

oOoOo

She broke the kiss first.

They'd been kissing for hours, or minutes, or seconds, none of them was really sure. Their hearts were racing and their lips were red and swollen. Their hair was tousled from the pulling and running of each other's hands, and their pupils were unusually dilated. She broke the kiss first.

She moved her hands from his shoulders and put them in her hair, trying to tame her wild mane and failing. "Damn it, Wayland" she said as she stood up from his lap, where she'd spent the last ten minutes "My hair was looking nice before you came"

He smirked, hiding the fact that he'd enjoyed himself too much with the redhead "That's what she said". She narrowed her eyes, not finding it funny. "Come on, Red. You aren't the only one that looks disheveled right now. I recall you being the one to start the hair-tugging thing"

She scoffed "Don't act like you didn't enjoy it".

"Touché" he conceded.

He stood up, facing her. He wouldn't look at her, feeling awkward after the situation they'd just shared, but he couldn't stop looking at her. Her hair was wild and her cheeks were flushed, giving her a healthy glow. If she looks this radiant after kissing I wonder how she looks like after having sex. Not that he wanted to find out or anything.

She scoffed again, which attracted his attention. "Are you embarrassed, Wayland?" she asked. He laughed "Of course not, who do you take me for?" She simply shrugged.

"You're standing there and you can't even look me in the eye. I wondered if you were embarrassed, that's all"

It was his turn to scoff "Come on, it's not my first kiss or anything. It's just that I don't want you to get the wrong impression" she gave him a look that seemed to say "are you kidding?"

"We kissed and it was great. That's it. I'm not in love with you and I most definitely don't want to be in a relationship with you" he pouted, going for a very fake puppy face and putting his hand on his chest "You wound me, Clarissa. I thought you were harboring feelings for me"

She slapped his arm, laughing carelessly. "You are an idiot, Wayland." He shrugged and nodded "I might be, but I'm also an amazing kisser"

She narrowed her eyes at him, not wanting to state what he already knew. He was definitely a great kisser. If I tell him, his ego won't let me live it down. He simply laughed, shaking his head.

oOoOo

Once the awkwardness was gone, Jace found out that she was nice to talk to. So far, apart from kissing and bickering, they hadn't really spoken much. She spent her time talking with Simon and Seb, and he didn't really mind her not talking to him. Now that they were talking, though, he realized that they had a lot of things in common.

"No way" she laughed "No way!"

He laughed with her. "Yeah" he said, shaking his head at the image on his mind "She gave me a steele and asked me to draw a rune on her with my name on it" she laughed harder "When I refused to it, she took some panties from her drawer and wrote her number on them saying that 'I knew where to find her if I ever needed anything'. It was really weird"

"And to think that I thought a guy was weird for crying after we kissed" He laughed at the thought. She was a really good kisser, better than his average girl. Was the guy that impressed by her skills?

They got to the girls dorm, still laughing from the stories they were telling each other. She peeked inside, and saw that the girls were still sleeping. She brought her index finger to her lips, while motioning Jace to follow her. He raised an eyebrow at her, but did as she asked.

She moved closer to him, and standing on her tippy toes whispered on his ear the plan. He couldn't stop a sly smile from growing on his lips. He nodded and moved to where Aline was sleeping, Clary going to Isabelle's bed.

After counting to three with their hands, synchronically, they started to sing on the girl's ears "Good morning! How are you?". Both bolted up in bed, frantically searching for their wake up call.

Jace and Clary were on the floor by now, laughing loudly with tears on their eyes. One of their arms was on their stomach, while the other was either patting the floor in Jace's case or the knee like Clary. They laughed harder when Izzy threatened to kill them.

oOoOo

"You are in a good mood today" Iz mentioned while warming up.

They'd had a pleasant morning so far. After pranking the girls, Clary went to the bathroom and had a shower, the message on the mirror long forgotten. Then she got dressed, gathered her things and met the rest of the group in class. Some of the subjects were interesting, but others were simply horrible. Why did she have to learn things from the mundane world when she'd been brought up in it?

Now, however, she was excited. It was her first official class of training and she didn't know what to expect. Sure, she was good, but she could always learn more. For instance, she'd never hunted on a team, so she wanted to know what it felt like to have back-up.

She shrugged "I'm having a good day" She stretched her arms above her head. She noticed Jace looking at her and she stuck her tongue out at him. He did the same.

Isabelle looked at the non-verbal conversation the two were having "What's up with you and Jace? Last time I checked you only talked to annoy each other"

Clary shrugged again, having asked herself the same question a few hours ago. "I guess we're sort of getting used to each other's presence" The dark-haired girl raised a brow at her. Clary blushed under her scrutiny.

"Why are you blushing, Clary?" she asked, smiling. She knew something was up and, by the looks of it, she was determined to find out. "Do you have a crush on the golden boy?"

She made a nasty face "Heck, no!" both girls laughed. Iz was going to ask more, but the teacher shushed the class. The teacher, whose name was Gideon as Clary later learned, gave them the instructions for the day's class. Clary was slightly disappointed to learn that they were just going to fight against each other. They would practice first and later they would fight one on one with everyone judging the combat and deciding who the winner was.

She was paired with Aline to practice, but she was slightly bored. Aline was good, but not as good as her mother or as Jace. She liked a challenge, not an easy fight. So far, had they been on a real combat, Aline would've died five times.

"How come you're so good?" Aline asked, while struggling to stand up. Unlike Clary, who was as fresh looking as ever, she was starting to get tired. Clary shrugged "I just like training a lot".

Not long after, Gideon asked them to stop and summoned them.

"Fray, you're new here so you'll go first. I want to see how you fight" she nodded and stepped forward. "You'll be paired up with Lewis".

A guy with black hair laughed. Bill was his name, or Will or something. Clary wasn't really sure. "Come on, it's unfair to have her fight against a boy on her first day of training here. It's cruel" he stated. Clary looked at him, looked him up and down, and smirked. "You think I'm that bad? Now that's cruel"

She was still looking at the boy's deep blue eyes when she told the teacher she wanted to fight him, not Simon.

oOoOo

Will was a good fighter, one of the best of their year, although not as good as Jace.

Everyone was looking at the pair, who were profusely sweating after fifteen minutes of fighting. Gideon would've stopped the fight after five minutes, but he wanted to see how far she could go. She was easily the best girl fighter of the class, and would definitely go far as a shadowhunter if she trained a bit more.

Jace and the rest of the gang were betting on who'd win. Again. Only Alec dared to bet against her, saying that after 15 minutes she was starting to get tired and her movements were slow. Jace could see it. She wasn't as fast now, but she was still faster than Will. If she'd taken him down, she could surely beat Will's ass.

Then, suddenly, Will caught her by the waist and threw her to the ground, tackling her. Clary's eyes opened up immediately, the air leaving her lungs from the knock. Will was straddling Clary and made sure to put all his weight on her so she couldn't escape. Everyone was surprised by his sudden hit, even Jace had stopped mid-sentence and nearly stood up at the sight. Nearly.

Will turned his head towards the teacher, smirking. "Is this done yet, or do I have to humiliate her further?" He was still laughing when Clary kneed him in the groin and shifted them quickly, one knee on his stomach and her hands on his neck, thumbs above his Adam's apple.

"Yeah, teacher, I think we should stop. I don't want to humiliate him in front of all of his friends"

Even Jace, who'd been a victim of her deadly kicks and jabs, couldn't help but join the claps of his classmates.

oOoOo

"Magnus, why are we here?" Alec asked.

The fantastic seven, as Magnus liked to call them, were gathered on the boy's dorm. He'd summoned them to check something he'd found out among Hodge's belongings.

"I wanted to show you this" he said, while waving an old photograph. "I found it in one of Hodge's drawers, and I thought that maybe one of you might recognize someone"

The seven surrounded Magnus, looking at the photograph. It was really old, and it was rugged. Magnus recognized Jocelyn, Clary's mother, and Hodge, but he didn't know the rest of them. There were two strangers, both of them blonde. They looked alike. The four of them were dressed in black gear and were smiling at the camera. Magnus had never seen Jocelyn look so carefree and happy. Clary hadn't seen her like that either.

Clary pointed at her mother, while the rest pointed at Hodge. "I was hoping you might recognize the others" Magnus said, sheepishly.

Clary took the photo from the warlock's hands. It was a low quality picture and the faces were kind of pixilated. She took a closer look, with Jace and Simon peeking over her head. She stared at one of the men. They were young, the photo must have been taken about 15 years ago, but the way that one of the blonde men was standing seemed familiar to her.

She studied him for a bit, until she realized what she knew him from. Jace must've been studying him as well, because they both pointed at him at the same time "Him" they said. She turned to look at him, and blushed at the sudden realization of how close he truly was. Iz didn't overlook the look they shared and Clary's flushed appearance.

"Who?" they asked.

They pointed again. It was the man on the far right of the picture. He had light blonde hair and had a certain grace to him, his spine perfectly straight. "I've seen this man, here, on my first day" Clary explained "He warned me about this place". Magnus nodded, thinking.

"And you? What do you know him from?" he asked Jace. He looked away for a second and ran a hand through his hair. "Promise you won't laugh" he warned, pointing at everyone. Once everyone assured him they wouldn't laugh, he said "I've seen him on my dreams".

Magnus nodded again, a theory blossoming on his mind. He wouldn't tell them, though, until he was a 100% sure about this guy's identity. He didn't want to freak them out more than they already were. "Well, that means that we have a picture with Hodge, Jocelyn an unknown man and a man that Clary and Jace have seen" he was kind of disappointed, and his voice proved it "I thought this may be relevant, but I see it's not"

"It is" Clary assured him "It proves my mother knew Hodge. It proves that there may be a link between mom's disappearance and Hodge's death" she seemed excited all of the sudden, despite not having any evidence or trail to work on. She is a fighter, just like her mom. If there's someone that can find her, it's Clary.

Magnus thoughts went back to his theory about the mystery man, while the others talked about the picture, about how much Clary and Jocelyn looked alike and at how ugly Hodge was, even at a younger age. The man's face looked familiar, but he couldn't place him. All he had was Clary's and Jace's words.

Clary was the only one that had talked to the guy, and he'd been the one to warn her about whatever was going on at the Institute. She seemed to trust his words, even if she was a bit wary now that she knew that her mother knew him. Jace, on the other hand, didn't recall meeting him, but he'd dreamt of him.

It could mean many things, but the more Magnus thought about it, the more clearly the idea was forming on his mind.

It can't be, it's impossible he thought.

Deep down, he knew that his theory wasn't that crazy or that impossible. Deep down, he knew he was right, but for once he wished he wasn't.

oOoOo

"I told you not to call me unless you had something important to tell me"

He seemed angry. Whatever he was doing must've been important. The boss was a busy man and didn't like to be disturbed unless it was something extremely relevant. He hoped that what he had to tell him was considered relevant or else he would regret it. He'd been working many years for him, watching his bratty child, to know what would happen if he were to waste his precious time.

"I-" he swallow the lump in his throat "I think it's important, Sir"

"It better be"

He breathed in deeply, trying to slow down his racing heart. "Clarissa kissed Jonathan, Sir"

A pause. Then "Well, it certainly is an unexpected turn of the events" he let out the air he'd been holding. He wouldn't be punished for the call "I'll tell the others, but I don't think it will change the plans. I'll let you know"

"Thank you, Sir"

"Keep doing your job and you'll be greatly rewarded" he smiled. He'd been on the shadows for quite some time and he was starting to see the profit of his labor. If everything went as planned, the mission would be over soon and he'd finally be recognized for his job. "Do you happen to know why they kissed? Are they in a relationship?"

"Definitely not. Jonathan lost against Clarissa in a wrestle, and he wanted revenge. In the aftermath of his victory, she kissed him. She broke the kiss and both agreed that it was just a kiss and that it would not turn into something else"

The boss laughed, taking him by surprise "Of course it won't. My son is not one for relationships"

oOoOo

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and the story so far. I'm really proud of myself for uploading on a relatively short period of time and hopefully next chapter won't take too long.

Special mention to Gold, an anonymous reader who took the time to review last chapter, and to NightmaresAreDreams, a lovely reader who not only reviewed but made me incredibly happy as well. I am dedicating this chapter to both of you and I hope it lived up to your expectations.

BTW, I hope you had a lovely Sant Jordi (St. George's day, or Book Day). It happens to be one of my favorite days of the year and this year's has been my favorite so far. If you want to visit Barcelona, do it on St. George's day. You won't regret it.

Anyway, I'm heading to bed now. Have a long day ahead of me tomorrow. See you soon,

MissChemicalReaction.