A/N: Yeesh! You people are all so impatient! Yes, I know. Evil cliffhanger. But I update fast, (usually) so you can all calm down. Here's your chapter, okay? And thank you for all the reviews! (And the other stuff too) I woke up this morning with so many e-mails from fanfiction. So thanks!

And yeah, I'm not good at describing physical fighting. Give me something verbal and I'm good, insults seem to be my specialty, but sorry if this kind of sucks.

Disclaimer: I know I only put these things in sporadically, but do I really need one every chapter? Obviously, if I owned Jace I would not be dong this right now.

And yes, I know this chapter completely sucks.

Songs:

Young Money- Vita Chambers

Life After You- Daughtry

Clary POV

I'm honestly not sure what happened next. All I could really seem to focus on was the fact that there was some creepy, ugly, winged thing in Isabelle's room right now, and Jace was holding a glowing blade. Knives don't glow. That's just not natural.

Jace pushed me over to the other side of the room, and everything after that was a blur. Jace seemed to move faster than humanly possible, in a battle with the creature and trying to keep the thing away from me.

Jace suddenly grunted as the creature threw a blow to his ribs. Jace immediately struck back with his blade, but the creature dodged it just in time. No, not creature.

Demon.

I don't know why I thought that, but I knew it was right.

I heard Jace grunt again, and I suddenly felt useless. Like a damsel in distress or something.

I didn't like that feeling.

But I figured that if I tried to do something, I'd just get in the way, so I stayed still and tried not to let the demon notice me.

And then it was finally over as Jace shoved the knife into the demon.

"Valentine will find his child. And when he does, you, boy, you'd better run. The two of his children, they together will be the ones to destroy your world, Jace Wayland." It hissed. Jace pulled his blade out, and then the weirdest thing happened.

It burst into flames. Some weird black thing appeared behind it and then it burst into flames. It burst into freaking flames!

Jace stared down at it in disgust, then turned back to me with a gentler expression. I knew that expression. It's the expression you give a person on the verge of a breakdown.

"What was that?" I asked, sounding eerily calm.

"What exactly did you see?" He asked edgily.

I sighed. "You don't answer a question with a question, Wayland. I saw an ugly, wrinkly black thing. With wings."

Jace looked....shocked doesn't even begin to describe it. "No, that's not possible..." He muttered to himself.

I snorted. "Well, that thing wasn't possible either. And the fact that it burst into flames because you stabbed it isn't possible. And the fact that your freaking blade glowed isn't possible. But unless I just hallucinated that whole thing, it all just happened."

Jace sat down on Izzy's bed and motioned for me to come and sit next to him. I did so a little cautiously. "Clary, you shouldn't have been able to see the demon for what it really was. It had a glamour on. And you...You just saw right through it."

"...Huh?"

He sighed. "I really shouldn't be explaining this to you. Look, that was a demon. I'm a shadowhunter. So are some other people. We hunt demons, and you shouldn't have been able to see that."

"I thought we were past the whole 'you shouldn't have been able to it' thing."

"Clary, I shouldn't even be telling you any of this. If you were a shadowhunter, I'd know. And you wouldn't be asking about glowing blades."

"About that," I said, even though I knew he wasn't done yet. "What exactly was that?"

"It was a seraph blade." He said impatiently. "But that's not the point. Why are you taking this so calmly?"

"I really don't know." I answered honestly. "It freaks me out, but I think curiosity is getting the best of me."

"Curiosity killed the cat." He muttered.

I smiled a little. "No, curiosity kidnapped the cat, starved it, put it in the snow, tried to drown it, and then flayed the cat. But that doesn't stop me from being curious."

He smiled even though I could tell he didn't want to. Then he turned serious, and he sounded a little exasperated. "Angel, Clary, I'm not even allowed to tell you any of this. Just forget what you saw and forget what I told you. Go home and don't come back." At the end he turned cold and distant again.

"But-"

"No!" His eyes blazed with anger, and he started ushering me towards the door. "Go home now, Clary!" And then he pushed me out the door and got me down the stairs. Izzy started to ask something, but Jace shut her up with a look and grabbed my bag. Then he took hold of my forearm and started pulling me towards the front door.

"Jace...Ow! Would you let go of my arm?" When I whimpered in pain he loosened his grip but didn't let go. He opened the door and threw my bag on the porch, doing almost the same thing to me.

"Jace, what-" I didn't get a chance to finish because he slammed the door in my face.

After standing there for probably ten minutes, I picked up my bag and walked numbly back to my own house. When my mom heard the door close, she came in from the kitchen.

"What are you doing home? I thought you were staying at the Lightwood's for the night?" When I didn't answer, she seemed to get a closer look at my face. "What's wrong?" She asked, coming over to me.

I sighed. If Jace wasn't supposed to tell me anything, then I probably shouldn't tell my mother. She seemed to sense my distress so she put her arms around me.

I knew I shouldn't tell her, but I was so confused right now. Jace's answers (if you could even call them that) had only left me with more questions. And although I knew my mom couldn't answer them, but for some reason I felt like if I told her, it would somehow make me feel better.

But then I remembered something.

I froze, and my mom noticed.

Angel. That word. Jace said it. Isabelle and Alec, Sebastian and Aline. They all said it.

And my mom said it, too.

And Jace had said that there were other shadowhunters. And he'd gotten that blade from under Izzy's bed, and I was pretty sure that normal people didn't use glowing blades. Which meant that Izzy was a shadowhunter, too, and it would make sense if Alec was one.

I stepped back. "What exactly do you know about demons, Mom?"

She turned her head sharply to look at me. "What did you just say?"

"You heard me."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." If I was being truthful, I wanted to believe her. I wanted to be able to believe that everything I'd seen tonight was really real. I wanted to be able to forget about it.

But I wouldn't be able to. I knew that. "Stop lying. Just tell me everything you know about shadowhunters and demons."

My mother sighed. She went to sit on the couch, and I joined her. We were silent for a few minutes as she decided whether or not to tell me. Finally, she sighed again, and started to explain.

"You have to understand, Clary, that I only did what I did to protect you."

I sighed. "How about you start from the beginning."

She drew in a deep breath, as if she was preparing herself. "Demons are real. And so are a lot of other things." Then she started to explain things about The Mortal Instruments, and how the original shadowhunter, Jonathan Shadowhunter, created a race of people that could send demons back to their own dimensions.

"Dimensions?"

"Yes, Clary, dimensions. There are ones other than this, and that's where the demons live. But occasionally they find a portal into our world. So shadowhunters send them back to their own dimensions."

"How in the world do they do that?"

"It's very complicated, but the simple explanation is the fact that the Nepilim are a different race. They're trained from practically birth, and the runes they have can help to protect them."

The conversation went on for hours; For every sentence she explained, it was like I had another two questions.

But finally, we were both done.

Or not.

"But why can I suddenly see the demons for what they really are?"

My mom sighed, and panic flashed in her eyes, like she was hoping I'd forgotten about that. "Because, Clary, you have Nephilim blood in you, too. Your father and I were both shadowhunters.

I probably should have asked something about that, but I didn't. "But why haven't I been able to see them?"

"Because....I...I had to get someone to block parts of your mind. A warlock. Clary, it was for your own safety. You needed to grow up as a mundane, it was the only way I could protect you."

I should have been angry. I should have been completely furious with her for taking a part of my life. But I just didn't have the energy.

"Does all of this have anything to do with why we had to suddenly pack up and leave?" I asked wearily.

She sighed for what seemed like the millionth time that night. "Yes, Clary. You're father, he's...Let's just say he's not a good man. And I couldn't let him find us, find you. He's the reason we had to hide. He'll do anything to get to you, and I can't let that happen. He's an evil man, and he wants to use you."

"So you hid me in the mundane world." I stated slowly.

"Yes. I know you're angry, Clary, but I needed to do it. He's a cruel and ruthless man who experimented on anyone and thought other people's lives were expendable."

And without another word, she got up and walked up the stairs to her bedroom.

I should have screamed and screamed at her for hiding all of this from me. She'd taken away a whole other life from me. I think that's a pretty good excuse to throw a few tantrums. But I just couldn't muster the energy.

At first I was angry at Jace, though, for not telling me. But then I realized that that wasn't fair. After everything my mother had told me about the Clave and the Council and their laws, I realized that there was no way he could have told me.

And then I got angry at him all over again.

So I went outside and walked up to the Lightwood's door. I knew it was late, but I could see Jace's light on. So I knocked on the door, loudly enough so that he could hear it but soft enough that it probably wouldn't wake anyone else up.

Jace finally came and opened up the door. He looked tired and vulnerable, and I almost reconsidered what I was about to do.

Almost.

I drew back my arm and then reached up and slapped him. Hard.

Apparently it was hard enough to hurt (which made me a little proud) and he put his hand up to his face, grunting a little.

"What the hell was that for?"

"For kissing me and then shoving me out the door and slamming it in my face!"

He almost smiled, and then he came out on the porch, closing the door behind him. It was then that I realized what he was wearing. Boxer shirts and a very form-fitting black tank top.

Oh, God, help me.

"That's not what I expected." I tore my eyes away from his abs and looked up into his tawny eyes.

"Yeah, well, I probably should be angry about you not explaining, but I found out tonight that I really can't be angry at you for that."

His eyes turned cautious. "Why can't you be angry?"

I smirked, knowing that I was about to do something that was almost unheard of: Shock Jace Wayland. "Because it's against your laws, isn't it?"

His eyes flashed with some emotion that I couldn't decipher, and then he asked, "What did you just say?"

"I think you heard me." I was still smirking. "Doesn't the Clave forbid you from telling me any of this?" Then I paused and put on a different expression, pretending to consider something. "Well, not really, since I'm actually allowed to know, but they forbid you from telling mundanes. And you thought I was a mundane."

Jace stared at me with wonder and excitement in his eyes. "You're not..." He breathed.

Then he put his arms around me and picked me up off the ground, pressing his lips to mine with an almost scary intensity. After indulging for a few minutes, I broke away and asked him to put me down. I was a little lightheaded, though, so it was probably a good thing that he still kept his arms around me.

"But if you're...one of us, then why didn't you know?"

I sighed. "My mom...She needed to protect me. So she raised me in the human world and made sure that I never knew anything about Nephilim or downworlders or demons." I could tell he wanted me to elaborate more, but I didn't want to say anything else.

We just stood there for a little while, until I remembered I was supposed to be mad at him. I pulled away. "Don't think I've forgiven you yet."

He smirked. "I'll bet I can make you forgive me." He moved in to kiss me but I quickly slid out of the way, smiling. He pouted, and I laughed.

But then I remembered something.

"What exactly was that demon talking about earlier?"

Jace sighed and put a warm arm around me. "Valentine. He's pretty much the worst of the best. He thinks that we're stupid for signing the Accords, that we should wipe out all the downworlders. He's been trying to find The Mortal Instruments for a long time, but we've kind of been preventing it however we can."

"What was it saying about his kids?"

Jace sighed again and got a kind of faraway look in her eyes. "Supposedly, Valentine has two kids. He experimented on them somehow, something about mixing demon and angel blood in them before they were even born. They say that one of his kids has demon blood in it, and the other on has angel blood. They're supposed to have some pretty amazing powers, but Valentine is angry with them both because their mother took one and the other one apparently isn't working out so well."

"How has he not been caught yet?"

Jace gave a ghost of a smile. "He's cold, he's ruthless, and he's good at hiding. He had people believing he was dead for years. If he doesn't want us to find him, then we won't."

I should have been completely terrified after everything I'd learned tonight. Either that or I should have though that I was completely insane. But for some reason, I was just accepting it all.

Chalk it up to shock. I would probably be freaking out tomorrow morning.

But then I realized something Jace had just said. Cold. Ruthless. The exact same words my mother had used to describe my father. And Jace had said something about how Valentine's children's mother had taken one of the kids. And my mother had said something about my father experimenting, and Jace had said Valentine experimented with his children.....

Uh oh.

I know that this chapter was really crappy, and I'm sorry, but I was just too lazy to actually explain everything. Besides, you already know it all. And if you don't, then why the hell are you reading this?

I'm not entirely sure when the next chapter is going to be up, it depends on whether or not I get any sudden ideas. And sorry if there are any mistakes, I don't have a beta (which I'm actually okay with) but I couldn't be bothered to go over it when I was done. Too horrified by what I'd written to reread it.