How do I begin to explain Alexander and Isabelle Lightwood?

The Lightwoods are flawless.

I hear her hair's insured for $10,000.

I hear he does archery commercials... in Japan.

Her favorite movie is Interview with the Vampire.

One time he met Magnus Bane on a plane...

And he told him he was pretty.

One time she hit me in the face with her whip ... it was awesome!

This was how Clary pictured her conversations about the Lightwoods with the other party guests; she hoped to find out something useful, but no one seemed to know anything.

"No one knows them, Clary" said Horace regretfully, "the younger ones at least have never been to Idris and we've been here almost all our lives so we don't know anything, sorry". Jon could tell his sister was growing impatient, but he knew she would just have to wait and see if they actually showed up and then she could question them instead.

"Attention!" announced Aline from the top of the staircase, Helen stood behind her looking slightly dishevelled but giddy all the same, "may the party officially commence!" it seemed overly dramatic but it excited the guests when the music started to play. Jon couldn't help messing with the collar on his cotume, it was so uncomfortable he'd hate to be an actual vampire and be stuck wearing it for all eternity; if I became an actual vampire I'd kill myself, or dad would kill me first he thought, but immediately wished he hadn't.

"I'm not dancing with you Horace" Clary was saying, "and I'm not helping you look for your Warlock mark so stop asking!"

"So you're just going to stand here all night? You're not going to dance with anyone?"

"I bet she'd dance with the Herondale boy if he showed up" Jon muttered under his breath; thankfully he wasn't here.

"That is not a Downworlder costume!" Aline was shouting at the front door, "the other two can come in but you can't Herondale!"

Herondale?

"Of course it is. I'm a gold-tinted faerie warrior with giant wings; what did you think I was?"

"That is not a faerie costume; your brother's wearing a faerie costume and it looks nothing like yours"

"That's rather discriminative, implying that all faeries look the same. We faeries are a proud people and as such possess brotherly bonds with fellow faeries who are inferior in looks to ourselves. That's why I'm with Will here"

"Thanks … and it's William"

"Whatever"

"I'll let you in" Aline sighed, "but only if you can find a way to dial down the costume a bit. I know! I can't help, I'm the Seelie Queen, but my friend is dressed as a faerie and she'd be happy to help you alter your costume".

No no no no no no no no no no no no

"That sounds wonderful"

"Come on in then".

The three boys entered the house. The first was clearly dressed as an angel, despite his claims, and was easily identifiable as Jonathan Herondale; just when I thought this party couldn't get any worse, next it'll be the Lightwoods knocking on the door. The dark-haired boy in the faerie knight costume was likely his younger brother, as he was referred to as Will, and the boy dressed as a werewolf was a stranger.

"Hello" said the stranger, walking over to Jon and talking in a friendly (and slightly French) voice, "I'm Sebastian, what's your name?"

"Jonathan"

"Nice to meet you Jonathan. Your costume is incredible! It looks just like Dracula, whereas I just look like a big ball of fluff".

"No no I like your costume" why on Earth am I being nice to this guy? "I've never seen a more intimidating werewolf in my life"

"Well thank you; I need to go and talk to my cousin, unfortunately I didn't get a chance to at the door as she was too busy arguing with the angel boy". Sebastian was halfway across the room before Jon stopped staring, focus; you need to keep Clary away from Herondale.

It was too late. The red-haired faerie had locked eyes with the golden angel making his way through the crowd, and abruptly ended her conversation with a guest to slowly start making her way towards him, forgetting everything and everyone else in the room. There was a blazing fire in her eyes that Jon had never seen in her before, and it was like the angel was a magnet pulling every inch of her towards him uncontrollably. The angel was equally drawn to her but holding himself in place, waiting for her to come to him. She was mere inches from him and taking a long breath, finally raising her hand to rest on his cheek.

She slapped him across the face.

"First you take all the credit for killing the Ravener demons when you were partially responsible for taking down one, then you insult me and objectify me with sexual jokes and now you come to a Downworlder-themed party dressed as an angel? What the hell is wrong with you? Do you want me to call your Grandma and get you in trouble?"

Some of the guests who were stood near them, and who heard and saw it all, started to laugh; apparently Herondale wasn't as popular as he thought. He didn't look bothered about the slap, but was clearly annoyed at Clary's words.

"How ironic that if I hadn't partially brought down that one Ravener demon you'd be halfway to the Silent City in box instead of shouting at me in the middle of the Penhallows' living room"

"I was doing fine on my own"

"Of course you were".

She was doing fine on her own. She forgets that I was with her, her fighting partner ever since we were old enough to hold seraph blades. The one who killed two of those demons and praised Clary for killing four. The one who never complains that his father hates him for not being as good as his sister but yet still loves her very much and would do anything to make sure she was safe. Despite all that, she doesn't even acknowledge my presence anymore.

"You're just jealous, Herondale. You can't face the fact that a girl is better than you at everything you think you're amazing at. And guess what? I worked hard for everything! You've had it easy; the Inquisitor always gave you the best weapons and the best trainers and guarenteed you'd become a good Shadowhunter. But I had a normal upbringing with no guarentees but I worked at becoming good and guess what? I did it better than you did". Some might think Clary was being big-headed, but Jon knew that everything she said was true. Their father hadn't really paid attention to Clary, he was only focused on Jon becoming good. There was every chance that Clary would just end up like their mother, never really making a name for herself among the Shadowhunter community, but she changed that for herself and did it all without a grandmother in the Clave to fix it all for her.

"So you think you're better than me?"

"I know I am; I killed 4.5 of those demons"

"Care to test it? A friendly fight?"

"You'd fight a girl?"

"I'd fight a Shadowhunter who claims she's better than me"

"Fine"

"When"

"Now"

"Oh no!" exclaimed Aline from the sidelines, "no one is fighting anyone in this house"

"My my, you could cut the sexual tension in here with a seraph blade". Everyone turned towards the new voice, only to see that two people were stood near the door. Jon had never seen them before, but despite the costumes and the unfamiliarity he took in their dark hair and sinister looks and cool presence, knowing straight away who they were.

The Lightwoods.