authors note; so yeah, this chapter actually probably would have been longer, but, my parents were telling me that i had to go to bed. -tear-. . . so, now for all y'all's comments. =] my favourite part of these little notes. xD

flyingflower666'-'666; i've actually considered that, who knows. maybe in one of the next few chapters. x]

livindcncngdream; no, it won't all be fluff. . . but, i just was having to think up something actiony. but yeah, i went back and reread the previous chapters and was like, yeesh, it is all fluff.

powersthatbe,wanna be a fictional character,loveattheendoftheworld,onesongglory23,LOVEISTHEREASON X3, and Clary Fray 24; couldn't forget y'all, you just didn't have any specific questions. lol. thank you for all the complements to my writing, they made me smile. =D and oh yes, Magnus has had a huge impact on Alec, lol, just you wait. . . i have some quite scary ideas for later on. x] as a parting note, i hope you all aprove of this next chapter, i put in some action so that we could get back into the whole Shadowhunter thing.

well, enjoy =]

Clary sat on her bed with her history textbook open in front of her. It was about eight-thirty, and she had only finished three of the homework papers that she'd received that day. Looking over at her CD player that was playing some soundtrack that Simon had given her a few days ago, she sighed. She just wanted to go to sleep. Luke had taken her mom out to dinner, so she was alone, with just homework, music, and leftovers from dinner the night before. It was just another normal night at home.

Closing her eyes, she leaned back against the pillows, hitting the power button for the lamp on her nightstand, plunging the room into darkness. She didn't hear the window slide open, nor the breathing of someone until they laughed.

"I catch you after bedtime?"

No one could be as sarcastic as that and have a straight tone. Opening her eyes, she could see the silhouette of Jace sitting in the window,

"What are you doing here?" She hadn't meant to sound that harsh.

"I guess mundies just don't say hello anymore. . . shame." And with that he let himself fall backwards off the windowsill. Clary squeaked and jumped off the bed, running over to the window and looking out, she didn't see Jace anywhere. "Ah, there was the reaction I was hoping for." Her head twisted to the side, looking at the wall of the house, Jace stood there, holding a seraph blade in his hands.

"Ok, hello Jace Herondale, may I inquire as to why you're here?" She rolled her eyes at her own sarcasm.

"Much better, you sound like a proper shadowhunter to me. And the reason for my being here, was the fact that Isabelle wanted to cook. . . Alec considered following me, but, I figured that if your mom was around, it would be less unusual for me to be here." Clary had never heard him say so many words at once, but, she still smiled and backed away from the window so that he could climb in.

Heading back to her bed, she sat down, tucking her feet up under her and pulling her textbook into her lap, watching as Jace pulled himself up through the window and then sat down on the foot of her bed, just kind of looking around. She'd forgotten he'd never been in here. So, instead of talking, she just let him look around, leaning her head back against the wall.

"Where's Jocelyn and Luke?" He asked, breaking the silence, Clary looked over at the window, the drapes still billowing in the pleasant breeze.

"Luke took her out to dinner, they'll probably be back pretty late." She explained easily, reaching up and running a hand through her strawberry hair. Even in the dark, she could see Jace nod.

"I se-" He was cut short by a sound, quiet, but still audible. Clary's eyes shot to the door, the sound had come from Luke's office, meaning it was the bookstore. By the time she glanced back at Jace, he was already standing, seraph blade glowing in his hands. "Stay here." He hissed, opening the door and slipping out into the hallway. He should know by now, she never listened. Didn't the whole, 'hi, I'm in Alicante,' get that through his head? Reaching under her pillow, she pulled out the seraph blade she'd gotten in Idris, and followed him out the door.

She knew the bookstore second to best, she'd spent so many hours within that sanctum, and it was a wonder that she still hadn't read all the books there. But, it was more the fact that she heard Jace's laughter that surprised her, not the fact that there was someone in the shop. He was standing, completely illuminated, in the middle of the store, looking at someone who was hidden from Clary's eyes by shadows.

"Clary, even you could kick this guy's ass." He called over his shoulder, making Clary curse under her breath, of course he knew she was there. Stepping over to his side, she looked at what he was talking about. It was a man, probably about the age of thirty, with a cloth bag over his shoulder and a hammer in his hand. Looking up at Jace, a look on her face that said, are you nuts?! He has a hammer! But then again, she had a seraph blade. And Jace.

"You'd think that wouldn't you, Shadowhunter?" This caught even Jace a little off guard. Clary watched as the normal cat-burglar façade wore off, leaving a grotesque looking demon standing there. Greenish-brown skin that seemed almost liquidized and bright blue eyes, looking human, and yet, Jace had gotten his feet back under him, and he laughed once more.

"Really? A Karbat demon? I thought you were all extinct, after you failed miserably at becoming forsaken." Clary didn't even have time to blink before the demon was beside her, holding Jace by the neck up about three feet off the ground, it's arm stretching upward. Jace kicked outward, but, even as she saw it, Clary didn't hear the demon's jaw crunch with the impact from Jace's boot. It just laughed. "Sh-shit." The breathlessness in his voice made Clary finally get into motion. Murmuring the name of the blade, she watched it flash to life, looking at the demon, she reached out in a stabbing motion, but the demon's skin just seemed to take in her arm and the blade. This scared her a little bit, how the hell could you kill a demon that could just morph itself to all of their attacks. Did it not have any bone?

But, as she was pulling her arm back out to rethink her attack, she had an idea. Pulling it out until her elbow was out of the demon, she thrust the blade up through its skull. This caused it to at least drop Jace. He rubbed his neck, but other than that, didn't show any sign that the demon had come pretty close to causing damage to him.

"There's a spot. . . between where our lungs would be. . . that's their main weak point." Clary didn't know why he was telling her this, when he had a blade, and she didn't, but then she saw the thin line of blood dripping down his neck, everywhere that the demon had had a hold on, was now letting loose a thin stream of blood.

But still, he had a blade, she didn't. The demon kicked out, it's foot connecting with Jace's jaw, the same kick he'd just delivered to it, but, this one struck. She heard Jace grunt, but didn't cuss this time, but the force behind the kick was enough to send him flying backwards a few feet. It turned around and in the motion as it brought its foot back down, it had the chance to kick Clary, not as hard, but hard enough to send her backwards a yard or so and into one of the bookshelves.

"By the Angel, I hope this works." She heard him mutter as he flew. He tossed the seraph blade only seconds before he collided with the wall. The demon had a sickening grin on it's face as the blade disappeared into him, and then suddenly its eyes went wide. Clary watched as the thing suddenly began to waver in form, and then, flames burst around its head and it melted, literally, melted onto the floor. The puddle of demon-goo boiled for a moment, and then went still, normally, demons vanished when they died, but, this one just kind of pooled there.

Clary stared at it for a moment, until she heard Jace grunt as he tried to sit up from where he'd landed. Tripping to her feet, Clary ran over to him, his eyes were open, looking at his hand where their was blood from his neck coating it. He dug his hand around in his pocket before pulling out a stele, holding out his own arm, he roughly drew an Iratze rune on it, coughing a few times as his throat healed, but nothing more. Looking up at her, his eyes were hard.

"Are you hurt?" Clary rubbed the back of her head, she had a headache because of the impact into the bookshelf, but nothing really.

"No. . . What was it doing here?" Jace looked around the bookstore, there weren't any shadowhunter items around here, so, there went his first idea.

"Probably looking for Jocelyn. Your mother's return to the shadowhunter world probably caused a fair amount of stirring in the demon realm, it's a wonder that that was the first thing that showed up. Probably doing someone's bidding, if I had to guess." He had gotten to his feet and was now walking over to the puddle of demon, picking up the two seraph blades. "Either way, what's important is, is that its gone. . . I'll ask Maryse what she thinks when I get back to the institute." Clary nodded, taking the no longer glowing blade from Jace and looking down at it. "Come on, lets just head back to your room. . . there won't be anymore tonight." His tone was softer this time, and he gently patted her shoulder before she lead the way back to her bedroom.

Sitting down on the bed, she looked over at Jace who was laying across the foot of the bed, "There was something you said that has me curious. . ." She watched as he opened an eye and looked at her. "You said that they failed at becoming forsaken. . . How does a demon fail at becoming a forsaken?" She had a pillow in her lap rather than a book this time, and she absentmindedly plucked at some of the fuzz on it.

"Someone tried to turn them into forsaken warriors not too long ago, whoever it was managed to turn a few of them, but, they were weak. . .They also didn't last too long, lifespan wise." He explained, she nodded, picturing the demon that they'd just encountered. "They also lost the key element of their usual survival. . . their skin. You noticed, I should hope, how your arm went through it, like Jello, right?" Clary nodded. "Well, when they were changed into forsaken, their skin became just normal skin. . . come to think of it, they were a lot like humans." He laughed at this, and Clary just hit him lightly with her pillow.

He looked over at her when she'd brought her pillow back to her lap, "Oh really, hitting an unarmed man while he's laying down? That's hardly fair." Clary laughed, looking like she was about to hit him with the pillow again when he rolled over and snagged it, bopping her over the head.

"Hey! Now who's not being fair?!" Her laughter was clear.

"Who ever told you Shadowhunters were fair?"