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BEAUTY AND THE RAVENER DEMON

"Mom! Mom!"

Bonnie sprinted three miles back to her apartment. Getting caught in a rain shower. She didn't have time to tell Jeremy what was going on with her mother, or that she was trying to get away from Kai. All her thoughts were on saving her mother.

When she arrived at the apartment door, she noticed the door was ajar. Bonnie pushed her way inside. Veiled in darkness, she searched for the switch and turned on the light. A soft glow from the chandelier cast inside the foyer.

Bonnie came face to face with the carnage. Someone trashed her living room, the couch was flipped over. The mirror on the back wall was shattered, the coffee table broken in half.

"MOM!" Bonnie's voice slightly trembles as she drops to her knees in tears. "Oh god, no." She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.

Bonnie tries to get her breathing under control, but her renewed calm was short-lived as she then mustered all the strength she had left, and rose to her feet again to walk towards her kitchen. Bonnie noticed there was an axe on the counter and grabbed it. There was a small foot step coming her way. She jumps before suddenly noticing who it was.

"Ms. Zhu? What are you doing here?" Bonnie shouted. She bit her tongue and took a calming breath to keep from flying off the handle.

"They took your mother." Madam Pearl Zhu answered as she appeared from around the corner.

"Who took her?" Her hands shook, so she gripped the axe in her hands until her knuckles turned white.

"Rogue Shadowhunters," Pearl said, only mildly gentle. "They were looking for something, something important."

"Ms. Zhu, what are you talking about?" Bonnie was confused, but she was too worried for her mother's safety to get into it with Pearl Zhu. "Who took her?"

"She should have never betrayed Mikael." Pearl's tone implies that she's shocked to have to explain this to Bonnie. "She's made him so angry. But no worries, I'll get revenge for him."

Suddenly, before her eyes, Ms. Zhu's body began to shape-shift. Going from a gracefully middle age woman to a long scaled creature with a set of dead eyes. Bonnie's heart dropped, and she opened her mouth to shriek.

The creature lunged at her throat, and Bonnie caught herself between her kitchen wall, nowhere to escape. The battle axe heavy in her hands, Bonnie tries to swing it towards the monster. But the beast was too fast and strung into action to attack her again.

"I'll savor you..." it hissed at her, the stank breath in her face. "I'm sure Mikael won't be too mad." The creature lunged for her face. Its drool hit her skin, burning her like acid. Bonnie closed her eyes, realising this was the end for her. She whimpered in defeat.

Just then, she heard a loud whistle nearby. Bonnie opened her eyes and noticed the creature had a blade stabbed through its mouth. There was a high pitch scream before the body of the beast vanished. And there stood Kai again.

"You're welcome." Kai bit his bottom lip, a horribly seductive habit on his part.

Bonnie's stomach flipped a little. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Saving your cute butt," Kai said in a low, patronizing lull. "Looks like that demon got a piece of you."

Suddenly, she started to feel anxious. "Oh my god, Ms. Zhu. She… she..." Bonnie nearly winced at how her voice sounded so out of breath.

"That thing was a Ravener demon, a shapeshifter." Kai says, leaning in, his eyes grave as a stormy sky.

"Why are there six of you?" Bonnie asked groggily. Her head was pounding, and she felt dizzy.

Kai raised his eyebrows high at her question. "The poison is affecting you. I need to get you somewhere safe."

A small gasp left her lips. "I'm not going anywhere with…" A blanket of sudden fatigue washed over her. Like someone had sucked out all her energy. Bonnie was feeling heavy and light at the same time.

Instantly, as she tried to take a couple of steps away from Kai, she swayed, feeling her soul leaving her body, her eyes closed, and she sank to the floor.

"Help! Someone help me. Bonnie, where are you? Help me, please help me."

Everything aches.

Bonnie stirred. She didn't move until she was sure she would no longer be in pain if she did so. She carefully opened her eyes, allowing the surrounding room to swim into view as the events of the previous lapse of time had.

"Well, if it isn't sleeping beauty." She recognized that voice, and so she slowly picked herself up. Everything was shaky and uneven, so she just focused on the girl in front of her.

"Where am I?" Bonnie tried to blink. "Where's Kai?"

"Malachai, is somewhere around here." Long blonde hair and pretty lips, Olivia or Liv, was standing before her. Bonnie looked her up from head to toe. She reminded Bonnie of a young Taylor Swift, with her big curly hair, in a white flowy dress, and shimmering eye make-up. "You've gotten him so distracted lately, I've never seen him so obsessed with a… mundane."

Bonnie looked down at her body and noticed she was wearing a hospital gown. "Where's my clothes?" she blushed at the fact that someone must have stripped her and changed her into this gown.

"There was blood and poison on it, I had it burned." The blonde explained hurriedly. "You're welcome." Her expression turned serious.

The throbbing in her head gradually slipped away. "I can't believe that sociopath kidnapped me," she snarled, crossing her arms to her chest.

"Kidnapped?" A slight frown etched on the other woman's face. "God, are all the mundane people so ungrateful. I mean, if I had a sexy hunter coming to my rescue, I'd be more appreciative." Liv then began to smirk to herself. "Getting to be wrapped up in those tight sweaty muscles of his."

Bonnie's nose scrunched up. "Isn't Kai your brother?"

Liv, surprised, took a moment to reply. When she finally managed it, she said, "Where did you get an idea like that? He's just a stray my parents took in after his father died when he was thirteen." Liv smiled, a strained, ugly thing. "He's more like my best friend, and I don't appreciate you stringing him along."

Bonnie opened her mouth to defend herself, but the door was flung open, and the two women faced a stern looking blond with Kai by his side.

"The mundie girl shouldn't be here, you know how dangerous this is." The blond looked out the tinted window. His brows drew together. "We could get in a lot of trouble."

"Where am I exactly?" The air rushed out of Bonnie's lungs.

Kai rolled his eyes at his friend. "I told you, already Luke. Bonnie is one of us."

His expression faintly lined. "You don't know that for sure. You said it yourself. There are no Shadowhunters named Bennett." Luke said, giving Kai a hard look as the other man took a seat on Bonnie's bed, ignoring Luke. "Liv, back me up here."

Liv gave him an unsympathetic look. "Malachai knows what he's doing, Luke. Just give it a rest."

Bonnie watched a grin parting on Kai's lips while Luke growled at his sister. "Look, give me a minute with Bonnie." Kai sounded desperate. Maybe he was. "Please, Luke."

Liv didn't wait for her brother's response. She just dragged his hand out of the infirmary. Now Bonnie was alone with Kai, pulling the sheets up to her chest.

"Sorry about Luke, he's very anal about things." Kai explained, he's eye's were on her forearm. "Your wound healed."

Bonnie looked down, noticing the acid burn on her wrist was gone. "That's impossible. It looked like I had a second-degree burn. What sort of doctors do you have here?"

"No doctors, I used a rune mark to heal you." Bonnie tilted her head, confused. "Look, that isn't important right now. I need you to tell me what that demon was doing in your apartment?"

"I don't have the answers you're looking for, my only concern is finding my mother." Bonnie felt like someone had punched her in the gut. "And if you have any idea how to help me..." She pauses for a moment. "She's the only family I have left."

He stared at her, as though he couldn't quite believe what he heard. "Okay." Kai leaned just slightly closer. "I'm probably your best chance at finding her, anyway."

Bonnie let her shoulders relax, heavy with gratitude. "Thank you."

"Get dressed. Alaric wants to speak to you." Kai dragged his teeth across his lower lip. "Liv left some clothes on the chair for you."

Bonnie looked over at the chair Kai pointed to. She noticed the white garment laying out. Kai made his own way out. The door closed behind him, and Bonnie suddenly found herself alone. She smiled at that, feeling slightly more at ease now that she knew Kai would help her.

When she got up, looking in the mirror, Bonnie noticed a freshly drawn black mark on her neck. "That son of a bitch." Her voice wavered with rage. Bonnie took a quick guess that this must have been the healing rune Kai used on her earlier.

Turning her attention back to the clothes Liv offered to her. A simple white sundress that showcased her legs and enhanced her petite shape. She studied herself in the mirror for a moment, smoothing out the fabric. It actually surprised Bonnie at how nice she looked in Liv's southern belle dress. Digging her fingers into her short and messy hair, Bonnie sighed deeply before leaving the hospital room and going to search for Kai.

Her lips parted as she took in the establishment. And it was enormous. It looked like something out of Harry Potter. So mystic and otherworldly. When Bonnie rounded a hallway, she smashed into Kai.

"Where am I?" she breathed in abject surprise.

"This is the Institute, it's a residential wing for Shadowhunters looking for safety and lodging." Kai explained, his eyes roaming her body, looking quite impressed. "This is pretty much a headquarters for us."

"Who's us?" Bonnie asked with a raised brow.

"Just me, Luke and Liv, their parents and little brother Joey. Plus Alaric."

His voice was serene, empty of emotions. Weirdly, he didn't sound like himself. He almost sounded like Luke.

"Are Liv and Luke's parents your guardians?" Bonnie asked, although Liv already gave her the quick backstory.

He was uncharacteristically nervous. His smile faltered. "Something like that," Kai mumbled as they turned a corner together, walking down another corridor. "Right now they're in Idris, that's our home country. Working on a peace deal."

"Wait, you guys have your own country?" Bonnie asked, shocked. "Idris, never heard of it."

"Of course you haven't, it's not known to mundies." Kai replied, a renewed sharpness to his tone. "They've got warding spells to protect the entire country. Even if a mortal stumbles between Germany and France to get to Idris, they get transported to another border."

Bonnie snorted derisively, "So it's like Hogwarts, basically."

That brought Kai up short. He rounded on Bonnie, his eyes flashing. "No, not even close, that's fiction, this is real."

"Sure, thing Malachai." Bonnie mumbled and continued walking. "If you have your own country, why are you here in New York?"

"We were needed out here." Kai slowed down his steps. "The Institute has a lot of resources and we get to train with one of the best Shadowhunters." Kai stopped suddenly at a large oak door. "This is the library." He said as they arrived by the oak doors.

A Persian cat with blue eyes and white hair came strutting over to Kai's leg. "And this is Klaus," Kai stroked the cat's ear, and Klaus purred with delight.

"Never took you as a cat lady," Bonnie said in all seriousness to get Kai's attention. "He's cute."

Kai scoffed before pushing the double doors open and allowing Bonnie to enter first. She gasped at the sight. The library was like a replica from the one in Beauty and the Beast, with the extensive windows, which flood the room with natural light; the spiralling stairs, which allow access to the higher end of the soaring bookshelves and the vast expanse of books themselves.

In the center of the room, her eyes caught a man behind a desk. He must have been late thirties, sandy brown hair, blue eyes and a fit shape.

"Malachai," the man greeted. "And this must be Bonnie, welcome to the Institute."

"Bonnie, this is Alaric, one of the greatest monster fighters I know."

Alaric ducked his head and smiled at that. "Come on, man. No need to kiss up to me in front of the lady. I'm far more a professor of history than I am a fighter these days."

"He's being modest. If anyone can train a newbie like yourself, it's Alaric."

"Train?" Bonnie was stunned to hear this. "I'm not interested in joining your supernatural fight club, I'm just trying to find my mother."

A sigh, but not a defeated one. "Whoever took your mother is skilled and dangerous, you're going to have to learn how to defend yourself, I'm not always going to be around to save your ass."

"I don't need you to save my ass." Bonnie got defensive. "I was doing fine without you showing up everywhere. Ever since I met you my life has turned into this mess."

A sharp laugh entered the room. Bonnie whipped her head around to see that it was Luke, moving away from the bookcase behind them. "Let's just drop this dead weight and focus on other things. She clearly doesn't want our help."

"You know we can't do that Luke," Alaric says to them both, sinking down into the chair at his desk and slouching, feet plated onto the floor. "A demon was in her apartment, it's our job to find out what's going on and who took her mother."

Luke pressed his lips into a thin line. "Do you know what will happen if the Clave finds out about what you're all doing, this could be our asses on the line, for this mundie girl."

"We are allowed to offer mundanes sanctuary," Alaric reminded him.

"Ric, you know very well a warlock or some powerful demon lord must have ordered that ravener to go after her mother." Luke hissed tersely. "Which means, whatever her mother is mixed up in, we shouldn't get involved."

"My mother isn't involved with any of this supernatural nonsense," Bonnie breathed. Luke's jaw clenched.

"Demons don't just hunt down innocent women, there's a reason for all of this." He snapped back with emphasis.

Kai took a deep breath and turned around to face Luke, trying his damnedest to keep calm. "Rude much? She just lost her mother."

"Excuse Luke's behavior," Alaric pleaded. "There's a chance a witch or warlock might have ordered a hit on your mother."

"That's impossible, my mother doesn't believe in magic." Bonnie stated, then she remembered her downstairs neighbor. "But Madam Pearl Zhu does, she lives in our building."

"I checked her out, she's a fake." Kai spoke up. There was a steely glint in his eyes.

"And Kai, Luke's right. With Bonnie being awake now, I'll have to inform the Clave of this." Alaric points out, "We still have to follow the rules here."

"Bonnie isn't a mundane," Kai said, a bit overconfident. "That night of the attack, I used the healing rune on her neck and it worked on her." Kai snatched her newly healed arms. "The mark didn't kill her, it saved her life."

"Wait a minute, this thing on my neck could have killed me?"

"Malachai, have you completely lost it," Alaric shouted, and turned to walk away from his desk. Luke sulked and grabbed at his friend's shoulder. "You know what the Law says about marking mundanes, you could have killed the poor girl."

The tips of Bonnie's ears burned. "Again, you could have killed me?"

"You've gone too far this time, Kai. You could have turned her into a forsaken and gotten yourself killed." Luke's eye twitched.

"Don't you guys get it, the mark worked on her," Kai said loudly, making Luke take a step back in fright. "I'm telling you, she can't be a mundane, she must have Clave blood, how else can you explain the fact that she could see us that night at the club."

"How many times must I tell you, I'm not one of you. I'm just a normal girl." Bonnie retorted back furiously.

"You don't know that for sure." His voice was hard, but not unkind. "With everything that's happened with your mom, there's a chance that maybe she was a Shadowhunter in exile. Or your father, you said he died, but maybe he was a Shadowhunter, who got banished for marrying a mundane woman."

"No, if that was true my mother would have told me."

"Would she?" Kai asked, clenching his clammy hands at his sides. He rubbed the thumb of his left hand against the underside of the third finger.

Bonnie's stomach dropped. Was this the ugly truth Bonnie always believed her mother was hiding from her?

"Mason," she quickly said, just above a whisper. "He would know. He's my mother's oldest friend. If I could call him and get this straightened out. He's probably worried about me." And Jeremy, fuck, she forgot about Jeremy.

Kai hesitated before pointing behind her by Alaric's desk, where there was an old wireless phone. Bonnie quickly dialed Mason's number, hoping he'd pick up. When she heard that familiar dial tone before someone picked up at the fourth ring.

"Hello?" Mason slurred.

"Mason, thank god. It's me, Bonnie."

"Bonnie," Mason sighs in what Bonnie interpreted as relief, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good. I tried to call you, my mom…"

Noise crackled in the background of the call. "I went to the apartment, and the police raided the entire place."

"Did they find anything, any clues to what happened to her or where she is?" Bonnie asked, her voice tiny over the phone.

"Nothing, they just think professionals have kidnapped her," Mason spoke with a hint of worry.

The room was spinning again, a familiar pressure building in her body. "Look, I'll head to your place and we can figure this out together."

Silence fell over the line. "No," Mason answered, Bonnie gasping. "I don't know what your mother got herself mixed up in, but I want no part of it. In fact, I would forget about her if I were you."

Bonnie switched the phone to her other ear. "Excuse me?"

She could hear quick, heavy footsteps while the background noise fell silent. "I told you before, Bonnie, I'm not your father, or your mother's husband. Neither one of you are my responsibilities."

It chilled Bonnie to the bone, her fingers starting to tingle painfully. "You fucking asshole. Fuck you, Mason, I'll find her myself." She ended the call.

Her ears were ringing. Bonnie's breath grew labored as she became more light-headed, the room spinning faster, walls closing in. Sweat beaded on her forehead, and she couldn't tell if she wanted to scream or vomit.

"Bonnie, are you okay?"

Bonnie shut her mouth immediately, but her chin continued to tremble.

Alaric looked at Kai hesitantly. "Let me speak with Bonnie, alone."

Kai unconsciously covered himself by scratching his shoulder, confidence rapidly deflating. "But…" Before Kai could argue with Alaric, Luke yanked him out of the library, giving Bonnie and Alaric a moment to speak privately.

"I know this is a lot to take in, you're scared and alone." Alaric spoke softly. "I understand your frustration, you've been through a lot these past few days." She watched as Alaric moved to the edge of the seat.

"I slept through most of it." Bonnie chuckled darkly. "I need to find my mother. But I don't know where to start, Mason's given up on us."

"Why don't you start what happened that night, when you got to your apartment?"

"Kai said it was a shapeshifter, just like the one from Pandemonium the night I met him." Bonnie's hip leaned against the desk. "It spoke to me about how my mother betrayed Mikael."

He clenched his jaw as he assessed the situation. "Mikael?"

"Yeah, that's the second person who mentioned him." Another wave of nausea hit Bonnie. "That night at Pandemonium, the demon mentioned Mikael was building himself back."

Alaric snapped out of his reverie. "Yeah, Luke and Malachai told me." He looked unease at this information.

"Is Mikael a demon too?"

"No Mikael was a Shadowhunter, like the rest of us." Alaric sighed, confirming Bonnie's suspicions. "He's been dead for almost twenty years." Bonnie's head was spinning. "We have a hunch that someone is going around using his name to spark fear, especially now."

Bonnie sounded small and weak as she asked, "Why now?"

"We're working on a peace negotiation with the Downworlders," Bonnie blinked twice. "Downworlders are those who share the shadow world with us. We haven't exactly been living in peace with them. But we're trying to work on it." Alaric added, softly again, soothing Bonnie just enough that she felt the powerful urge to melt into the floor and never move again.

"What's the difference between a Shadowhunter and a Downworlder?" she had to ask.

"Downworlders are vampires, werewolves, fairies, warlocks, and half-demons," Alaric began, and the tension in Bonnie's muscles dissipated slightly. "Shadowhunters are more like Nephilim, half humans, half angels. Our origin was created more than a thousand years ago, when a warlock summoned an angel to mix its blood with the human species in a cup. Anyone who drinks the angel's blood becomes a Shadowhunter." Alaric took a breath, "That cup is known as the Mortal Cup."

"So you think these demons are looking for the cup?"

"There's no point, Mikael destroyed it just before he died." Alaric leaned forward, placing his arms on the desk. "He burned his entire land, killing himself, his wife and son."

Bonnie's jaw fell open. Her knees weakened. "None of this makes sense. Why would he turn on other Shadowhunters?"

"He didn't approve of the Accords. Mikael hated Downworlders. He wanted a cleansing of anything that was unholy. The Clave wanted to assist the Downworlders, Mikael was against it. His efforts were for nothing, the Accords got signed in the end and Mikael's footmen turned against him."

Bonnie felt the familiar stab of pain at that. "I still don't understand. How does my mother relate to any of this?"

"I wish I knew, Bonnie." Alaric stood tall. "But I promise I will help figure out what's going on. But first I need to message the Clave and the Silent Brothers. So stick around, they'll probably want to speak with you."

"I need to go home." Alaric opened his mouth to protest, but Bonnie stopped him. "If I'm staying here, I need clothes, I need to see if there's anything left…" She paused, unable to continue.

"Of course," Alaric agreed. "However, Malachai will have to escort you there." Bonnie frowned. "Or I can send you with Luke or Liv."

"Kai will be fine." Bonnie didn't want to get stuck with Sharpay and Ryan Evans. "Where is he?"

"The weapons room, Klaus will take you to him."

Bonnie's eyes were down at the doorway. The white Persian cat curled up at the exit. When he heard his name, he rose before meowing at her to follow along. Bonnie bid Alaric goodbye, as the older man got back behind his desk and took out a piece of paper to message the Clave. Bonnie wondered how much more danger was coming her way.

AN: Alaric is the Tutor and Weapon's trainer at the Institute. Yes, Klaus is a cat, I'm sorry to anyone who wanted Klaus to be a main player in this fic. Next chapter will be Bonkai travels back to Bonnie's apartment. They have a little chat with the real Pearl Zhu, who fesses up on the truth about what she knows about Bonnie's mother.