I don't not own these characters as much as I would like to. They, and the basic plot, belong to the Awesome Cassandra Clare.

Please comment and help point out mistakes. Thx:)!

Following people isn't easy, no matter what anyone says. And people if say it's hard, then they're right. I had to stay behind Clary enough that she wouldn't see me or be able to notice me before I could have ducked out of sight, but New York is crowed. Too many people were between us, and half the time I couldn't see her. Whenever that happened, I got this panicked feeling in my chest, like I had just lost some thing too important to explain. When I could see her, I'd get a bubbly feeling and want to just…smile. Nothing drastic, but I just felt better.

I could tell when we had gotten within a block of her house, as she got even more frenzied and almost tripped a few times. I sped up too, but it wasn't enough. She had opened the door, and rushed through it, letting the automatic lock do its job. I managed to slam the door with both my fists, but it didn't open. It looked rather desperate, so I looked around, and cast a glamour on me in case some one saw me and though I was trying to break in. I then took out my stele and tried the 'open' Rune. I though the door would just unlock, but instead it shuddered in its frame, like the Rune was being resisted. I tried again, just to be sure, but it trembled like a leaf the second time, too. Why would an ordinary apartment door be resistant to Runes? I didn't even know that was possible. I couldn't think of anything else to do; I was desperate. I could hear Clary's screams, and so could every one else in Brooklyn. So I punched the glass out.

I know it was stupid, and if I wasn't so well trained, enough to know to put my jacket around my hand first, I think I might have cut myself or broken my hand or something equally annoying. It worked; I could get in now, so I turned the handle from the inside and walked in. The missing glass was a problem, though. I pondered the problem for a moment; the door was resistant to Runes, but was the glass? I put a small glamour on the remaining glass so it would still look like there was a full pane in the window, and turned around to take the steps three at a time. The door was unlocked and I walked into see Clary, on the floor, with a disappearing Ravener demon disappearing, my Sensor gone, but a suspiciously Sensor-shaped bulge was protruding from its lower throat. The Ravener's poisonous needle was sticking in the back of Clary's neck.

I fought the panic the sight induced and rushed over to her. She was still breathing fine. Her skin was pale, but Clary was pale normally; the sting was fresh enough that I didn't think much of it. I pulled it out, but the thing was transparent now, so the poison must have almost all been injected. Her veins were a normal blue, so it hadn't gotten very far into her blood stream yet. It was only a matter of time.

I managed to drag her outside, behind a pile of rose bushes before the police came into the house. They were already outside; someone must have reported the noise. Or maybe the demons in the NYPD had felt the Ravener die and decided to investigate, faking a noise complaint. She awoke just as the police were arriving. I think the excruciating noise of the sirens might have done it. Or the just as annoying red, white and blue flashing lights. She was coughing and shaking a bit. I knew I had to cover her neck with something, so I started to rip a piece of cloth I'd stolen from her apartment. 'Don't move'. I insisted.

Like the Clary I was getting use to, she turned her head anyway, and from the gasp, she'd felt where the stinger went in. She sat there, lying on her back on the grass for a bit, getting her bearings, I'd imagine. But, instead of sitting quietly like I had asked, she tried to sit up, and just started to gag.

'I told you not to move.' I whispered forcefully, 'The Ravener demon got you in the back of the neck. It was half-dead so it wasn't much of a sting, but we have to get you to the Institute.'

'That thing- the monster- it talked.' Clary was shaking harder now, and her voice was quiet, but terrified.

'You've heard a demon talk before.' I tried to be a gentle as possible; I've heard about how much these hurt. I tied the cloth, smeared with a slave to delay most demon poison, around her neck. The slave might, might, just allow me to get her to Hodge before it kills her. For some reason, I just didn't think that was an option here, her dying.

I'd told her not to move, but apparently, she doesn't consider talking moving. 'The demon in Pandemonium- it looked like a person. ' She was barely moving her lips, so I had to give her some credit. And I liked her voice.

'It was an Eidolon demon. A shape-shifter. Raveners look like they look. Not very attractive, but they're too stupid to care.'

'It said it was going to eat me.'

'But it didn't. You killed it.' I didn't let any pride creep into my voice; I was too worried still. I finished the note and rocked back onto my heels. The pain in Clary's neck should have faded slightly, but it didn't help her shaking. Or her lack of understanding of the words "Do not move."

'The police are here.' Her voice was cracking. Not a good sign. 'We should- '

'There's nothing they can do. Somebody probably heard you screaming and reported it. Ten to one those aren't real police officers. Demons have a way of covering their tracks.' No point in telling her that the head of most police departments were demons. Don't want to scare her even more.

'My mom.' I had to concentrate here! Clary was now sounding like a thirteen year old boy. Her voice was breaking and sounded so painful . I had to get her out of here. But how?

'There's Ravener poison coursing through your veins right now. You'll be dead in an hour if you don't come with me.' I held out my hand to help her get up, which she took, slowly. Arg! This was taking too long. 'Come one.'

As she got up, her eyes unfocused and she slipped down. 'Can you walk?' Wow, Jace. Another perceptive comment, by you.

'I think so.' She whispered; actual talking must have been too painful. I felt proud again that she was taking this well enough. Clary looked over and the police and noticed on of the not human officers. 'Her hand-'

'I told you they were demons.' I didn't want her to talk anymore, but I needed to find a way out of here, which I told her. 'We have to get out of here. Can we go through the alley?'

She shook her head and kept talking. 'It's bricked up. There's no other-.' Her couching cut her off. She covered her mouth with her hand, but when it came away, her hand was covered in speckles of blood. She whimpered. I didn't have time for this! She was dying right now and I couldn't find away out! With out thinking, I took my stele and traced the glamour for invisibility on her wrist. I could barley hold her still; she was dizzy and her knees buckled almost before I was done. I noticed her veins while I was Marking her. They were bigger and more teal than they should have been. The poison was getting everywhere.

She had been watching the whole time, 'What's that suppose to do?' She asked, her whispered voice more ragged than ever.

'It'll hide you.' I muttered. Explaining Runes to someone was not usual; if you were Marking someone, they knew what it meant. But every time I traced one, I could recite the name, what it did and other things about it. I guess it was like a reflex. She was staring at the cylinder that had traced the Mark. 'My stele.' I explained with no further elaboration. And that was because Clary was blacking out. She whispered 'Jace'. Once. And fell to into my outstretched arms. She was so light. I picked up the rest of her and muttered. 'Let's hope the Covenant markes don't hurt her. I don't want a Forsaken on my hands. ' I pushed that thought from my head and left the safety of the rose bushes to find something that would get us to the Institute. I had to flag down a cab.

I had to sit in the back as it would look strange to the man who couldn't see Clary, for me to open the door and shut it again with out getting in. I called Alec on the way and told him to get Hodge to mix a Ravener poison cure and to prepare a bed in the infirmary. Then to take out some of my frustration, I yelled at the cabbie to go faster for twenty bucks. I hoped she would still need the bed by the time we got there.

When we did get to the address I'd told the fat, smelly old cabbie, I crouched down and pointed out the window. 'You see anyone out there?' I did my best impression of a trustworthy, but frightened kid.

'Kid, this is the city of New York. Of course I see people. I'd see someone if it was three in the morning and pouring rain.' He seemed to kind that funny and gave a wheezing laugh.

'Do you see a tall man with white hair? Big, probably in black leather. Blue eyes,. Real cold blue eyes. Thin lips. Can you get out and look? I'll give you an extra twenty.' I whined again.

The cabbie sighed and got out, and looked around a bit. 'Nothin'. I don't see no one like that.'

I gave a fake sigh of relief. 'Oh, good. I thought they might be on me already.' I opened the door and reached into my pocket, as if to pay the fair. Instead I pulled out my stele, put it in an easier to reach pocket, then gave a shout. I fell to the ground and hissed 'There he is! How didn't you see him?'

The cabbie turned around, and jerked his head back and forth as he tried to see the man that wasn't there. I pulled Clary out while he was turned away, and gave my self the same Mark as I had given her. The cabbie turned back, slightly pissed with all this nonsense, even if he was making a buck off it. 'Kid, I still don't-' He cut off as he realized there wasn't a "kid" to address. I was gone.

No doubt the cabbie was pissed, but I was never going to pay him. I didn't even pay subway fair if I could help it. I was only a block or so away from the Institute and Hodge's healing hands, but Clary wasn't getting any lighter. I was breathing hard by the time I got there, and put her in the bed. Hodge shut the door on me, and I wondered into the shower to get rid of the sweat and the stink of demons. I didn't feel like eating anything, even when Isabelle decided to forgo her cooking attempts for once and order Chinese. The worry I had felt, and the panic, had ruined any appetite the Chinese would have given me. I wasn't sure how long the poison would take to be out of her system, but once, an older Shadowhunter had been struck and he'd been out for almost a week, even with the Silent Brothers. I couldn't wait a week for her. I'm bad with waiting. There wasn't anything else I could do today, though, so I just went to bed.

My last though before drifting off was that I had given the cabbie the exact description of my father the last day I'd seen him alive.