Circa City of Bones

"You don't think I'm a slut." Isabelle stated simply, taking off her heels.

"Of course not," Alec said, snapping the Shadowhunter's Codex shut and setting it down on the table. He was curled up in Hodge's favourite armchair, still sipping from the mug of hot chocolate she'd seen him making before she'd left.

"Kick whichever asshole who called you that in the balls," he suggested. "Nobody should be slut-shamed, no matter who they sleep with. Ever. I'd slaughter anyone who dared to say anything like that to Clary."

"Where is Clary?" Isabelle asked, dropping the subject and her heels on the ground and sinking into the chair across from Alec.

"Asleep. How was your evening with your hot faerie boyfriend?" he countered.

"Adequate," she said with a half-smile.

He raised an eyebrow. "Just adequate? I hope you gave him pointers."

Isabelle laughed. "You know what? I think I like you."

"Don't like me too much, Isabelle. I'm gay as a pride parade."

"That's very specific," she noted.

Alec grinned. "It is, isn't it?"

He had a nice smile, Isabelle thought. And his eyes were very blue, even bluer than her father's. He looked a little like her father. Maybe he and Clary were descendants of shadowhunters - maybe even Lightwoods - and that's why they had the Sight.

She told him so.

"We would be cousins, then," Alec said. "What's it like to be a Shadowhunter?"

Isabelle pondered. "It's like being a soldier. Your siblings are your comrades, they fight by your side. Your parents are also your commanding officers - I think that's what mundanes call it - first and your parents, second. We're governed by the Clave and Council. There's no time for the arts, like drawing for pleasure like Clary prefers or drama and a life on the stage like you do."

"Who told you - no, wait, Clary, obviously." Alec interjected.

"She really loves you, you know, that sister of yours. That girl would tear the world to shreds for you." Isabelle almost sounded impressed.

"I'd do the same for her. I'd walk through fire, I'd raze whatever got in my way. That's what it means to be the older sibling," Alec told her.

She gave him a knowing look. "I've got a younger brother, you know," Isabelle provided. "His name's Maxwell but he hates it, so everyone calls him 'Max'. I don't know what I'd do if I ever lost him."

Alec shushed her. "Bad thoughts prelude bad luck," he said.

"Who told you that?" Isabelle inquired.

"A good friend," he said. "A good friend who is a fellow student of theatre and a lover of art. She'd be quite appalled at the thought of a people without the arts. Despises Plato's tenth volume of 'The Republic,' with a burning passion, actually."

"What's Plato?"

Alec paused. "Don't take this the wrong way, but don't Shadowhunters study philosophy?"

Isabelle sighed. "Alec, we're half-angel warriors. We study the art of war. Our nursery rhymes are hymns to banish demons and our bedtime stories are tales of our origin and the greatest shadowhunters over the ages. We're taught from birth that we have one purpose in life: to protect humans, kill demons and police the Downworlders. It's who we are. It's all we have."

"That sounds awful." Alec took another sip of hot chocolate. "And it's three things."

Isabelle rolled her eyes. "It's not all bad. Love might come second to the cause, but when a shadowhunter loves someone, it doesn't matter if it's agape, eros or philia, it's a love that lasts."

Alec looked thoughtful. "Your parents must really love each other, then. I guess you're lucky in that sense, you grew up with both parents. Not that I ever felt like something was missing in my life, my mom wa - is the best mother I could ask for," he said quickly. "She raised Clary and I after our father died and made sure we had everything we needed. I'm the person I am today because of her."

"That's nice. Not your father dying, that's horrible, but that you had your mom. She sounds like a good woman."

"Yeah. But I sometimes wish my dad had lived," he said wistfully.

"Do you remember him at all?" she asked.

Alec paused, his mug halfway to his lips. "No. Well, sometimes I get these impressions, but nothing really substantial. He was a soldier, died at war months before Clary was born, I don't even think I was two when he passed. His name was Jonathan Clark."

"Jonathan, huh?" Isabelle mused. "That's a very popular shadowhunter name."

"Oh, right. I know, he was the first one," Alec said, tapping the codex with a slim finger.

Isabelle said, "Jace is named after him."

"He is?"

"It stands for Jonathan Christopher. J.C. Jace," she explained.

"Huh." Alec said, with an air of mild interest. "Speaking of Jace, doesn't he play the piano? Clary said something about running into him last night."

"She did, did she?" Isabelle teased.

Alec glowered.

Her suggestive smile instantly vanished. "In all seriousness, we are encouraged to learn a musical instrument when we're younger. You can't really fight until a certain age, and before that, children need something to teach them discipline, concentration, dedication. Etcetera."

"Ugh," Alec said. "Wow. They even suck the fun out of music. What instrument do you play?" He asked.

"The violin."

"Oh, dear god, please tell me you don't play Paganini." Alec said.

Isabelle looked at him funnily. "What's wrong with Paganini?"

"I don't care much for him."

"But he's the best!" Isabelle insisted.

Alec said, "Maybe so, but the best are often the most popular, and the most popular eventually become overused and boring."

She considered his words. "I won't deny that I prefer Tchaikovsky," she allowed.

"Oh, he wrote The Nutcracker and Swan Lake, didn't he?" Alec asked. "Clary loved the Barbie movies of those two, but she was like, ten, so don't give her a hard time of it."

"What in the world is a Barbie and why would I give Clary a hard time because of it?" Isabelle was curious.

Alec looked scandalised. "Wait, you didn't watch the barbie movies when you were - oh, right, shadowhunter, my bad. I have to introduce you to it sometime. Still, we'd love to hear you play Tchaikovsky. Where's your violin?"

"It's up in my room, somewhere, I haven't played in years. Jace and I used to try and play a few pieces together before we had our parabatai ceremony, but afterwards it was so much easier to match each other's playing that it got boring. Mom and dad used to say they could hear angels singing when we played after we became parabatai, but we lost the fun we used to get from trying to stay in harmony," she said, making a face. "We used to have the worst fights about who messed up, but we'd always make up in the end. Anyhow, Meliorn's trying to teach me how to play the lyre these days."

"Really? Damn, that's one hot faerie, am I right?"

"He's a knight of the Seelie Court. And also, back off, he's mine," she said seriously

"Isabelle, I'm pretty sure if he's into you, he probably isn't into me," Alec reassured her, holding his hands up in surrender.

"Don't be so sure, most faeries are notoriously bisexual," Isabelle informed him curtly.

"First of all, there is nothing wrong with being bisexual. I hooked up with a pretty bisexual college boy last week and he was at least an 8.2 on a scale of 1 to 10."

"8.2, that's specific," she noted again.

Alec flashed her a bright smile. "Secondly, if this Seelie Knight does decide to dump you, even in a pathetic attempt to get into the pants of a hottie like yours truly, he doesn't deserve you. What he'd deserve, my friend, is to be stomped on with those six inch heels of yours."

"Seven inches, Alec," she corrected. "Always remember my motto: nothing less than seven inches. Well, I say motto, it's actually more like a golden rule."

"Don't I know it," he laughed. "On a more serious note, it's almost eleven, I should probably go wake up Clary."

"Absolutely not. I'll go and wake Clary up, I need to help her get ready for Magnus Bane's party. You go find Jace and see if he has anything you can borrow."

"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" Alec asked defensively, crossing his arms over his Pokemon t-shirt. It had what appeared to be an extremely dizzy Pikachu on the front.

Isabelle scoffed. "It's a party, not a hipster poetry slam with cartoon fanatics."

Alec gasped dramatically. "It's not a cartoon, Isabelle. It's anime."

"I have literally no idea what you're talking about."

He chuckled. "Yeah, that seems to be the running theme for most of this conversation. Don't worry, I'll introduce you to the joys of the mundane world soon enough."

Hello, again, my darlings! You called? I know, two updates in a week, I must be inspired. Here's some Izzy, I know she's been sorely neglected in this fic so far, but she's one of my favourite characters, so here she is. She's slightly different from canon, but I think I've kept the essence of her. For those curious about the state of this fic, I have several chapters in various stages of completion, it might be another week or so before I update again, but I'll try my best.

Reviews, reviews, give more,
My fingers ache and eyes are sore.

Just kidding. Thanks for the support, you guys. Remember, I always love and need constructive criticism.

Cheers!

A.S.

(P. S.: anyone who's been following this fic since the beginning, I recently did a read through, fixed some errors and updated the previous chapters, so go back and read them if you'd like.)