7:42pm: Outside at Java Jones
Clary, Simon, Maureen and Nick were talking on top of the van just before Simon and Maureen's gig at the coffee shop.
"What's with my mom being so over protectively lately".
"Who knows" Shrugged Nick in a nonchalant manner.
"So, do you remember in Aliens, when the alien queen was defending her eggs from Ripley? In this scenario, is my mom Ripley or the alien queen?".
"Both" Simon said.
Nick nodded in agreement.
"What?" Maureen said.
"A mother defending her young" Explained Simon.
"Defending me from what? I spend all day in an art studio" She said toying with her stele.
"My life couldn't be more mundane" Replied Clary "And besides, I really don't know much about when she was young".
"Oh, just do what I do and get all the dirt from your relatives".
"Well, I would if I could, but she doesn't have any. And my dad died before I was born".
"So, you have no one? No uncles, no aunts, no third cousins, twice removed?"
"No, just me and my mom".
"It's why the Lewis clan has added three chairs to every seder since pre-school".
"Mmm".
"One for Clary, one for Jocelyn, one for Elijah,".
"You guys don't think that's a little bit suspicious? You not knowing anything about your family? Your mom could be hiding some deep, dark secret".
"Maureen, it's not possible"
"No, no, think about it".
"No, seriously, my mother is incapable of concealing anything from me" Said Clary.
"Unless, Jocelyn thought it was for your own good. My mother lied to me about my biological father. I also thought she was incapable of concealing anything from me. But it turns out with the right motivation she could lie right straight to my face for years under the illusion that she was doing it to protect me by deceiving me. I still haven't fully forgiven mom because her lies almost destroyed me".
Maureen frowned and placed a hand on his arm in a gesture of comfort "Is that why you took off to London?".
"It was one of many reasons, but yes it was the main reason" He replied.
After the gig.
"So, you went on stage tonight as Champagne Enema".
"Well, you can't say that the name isn't original" Snickered Nick.
Maureen and Simon both laugh
"What were we thinking, right?"
"But now we're Rock Solid Panda"
"Yeah, we are".
"Rock Solid Panda, coming up".
"I don't know about anyone else. But, I'm feeling inspired" Says Nick holding up the cans of spray paint.
Clary gasps noticing that she draw the rune again for the second time without realizing it.
"What's that tag?" Asked Simon pointing at the rune.
'Here, we go' Thought Nick.
"Weird, I didn't even mean to draw that. Second time today" She admitted.
"You know they have confirmed cases of people waking up in the morning speaking French, and they never even studied the language"
"Do you think that's some kind of language?" Questioned Clary.
"Sanskrit maybe".
"It looks like some sort of rune. Maybe you saw it somewhere and just don't remember it, Clary. It's no big deal and besides I kind of like it" Reassured Nick.
Out of nowhere Jace bumps into Clary. "Hey, can you watch where you're going?"
Jace stops and turned around "You can see me?"
"Yeah, that's kind of the point, but you obviously didn't see me".
'Oh crap, I knew this was going to happen' Nick panicked.
Jace shook his head slightly trying to wrap his head around the mystery that had confronted him "You have the Sight. How can I not know who you are?".
Nick knew he had to do something, and fast as he came over "Hey, dude. Just apologize and move on. Clary isn't interested in you or your shoddy pick up lines. I mean has that line seriously ever worked for you? Even once?".
"Wait, you're a Shadowhunter." Jace said narrowing his eyes suspiciously at the runes that covered Nick "How can I not know who you are, either. I've never seen you at the institute and those runes…I've never seen them before. Not even in the grey book. Runes that have been removed are reserved for only the elite members of the Clave. Who are you and what are you doing here?".
"Jace!" Shouted Alec.
Jace looks at them both with a puzzled expression and runs to join his Parabatai.
"Can you guys believe that blond guy?" Clary says to Simon.
"You thought he was cute," Nick teased "Didn't you?".
Clary dug her elbow into his ribs, but didn't answer.
"You're both joking right? This is some sort of prank yeah? There was no one there".
"No, the guy right there, running into the club".
Maureen looks a little freaked out "Clary, there's nobody there.
"The guy covered in rune tats" Nick tells them "How could you, two not have seen him. He was smoking hot although blondes aren't really my type. I think they're more little red's type since she was eyeing him up like a piece of eye-candy".
Clary's face burned "I was not".
"What guy are you talking about? Seriously you're both freaking me out" Says Maureen.
Clary looks confused "You guys seriously don't see him?".
"No".
"Okay, could you stop making us feel insane?"
Nick nodded "Yeah, it's not funny anymore".
"Could you both stop acting that way?".
"Come on, Clary. We're going to find you some answers. Either we've been drugged, gone insane or there really is a blond haired prince in there although I would hardly call him charming".
Clary nodded as she unzipped her jacket and tossed it to Simon.
Simon shouted "Remember, your fake ID sucks".
Once inside the club.
"So," Simon said, "pretty good music, eh?"
Clary didn't reply. She wasn't paying much attention to Simon as she was determined to follow the mysterious blond-haired boy covered in strange tattoos who had bumped into her outside.
"I, for one," Maureen went on, "am enjoying myself immensely".
"I'm gonna go fail at getting us some birthday drinks" Says Simon trying to grab Clary's attention away from the blond haired boy.
"I'm gonna go fail with you" Maureen told him as she linked their hands together and begins dragging a reluctant Simon away.
"You are? Clary!" Simon tried once more in a last ditch attempt to get through to Clary who ignored him as Nick followed swiftly behind.
Clary had reached the curtain, with two bouncers position outside. She links arms with one of the Eidolon demons "Somebody works out. Cool contacts" She says as they slipped through the door with the two bouncers that had been stationed outside the curtain.
Jace leans in and whispers seductively "I hear you've been pedalling mundane blood" As he wraps an arm around the Eidolon demon's waist.
"Why? Are you looking to score?".
Jace smirks "I'm not. But you're gonna tell me who is" He says turning the Eidolon demon around with a serious expression on his face.
"Well, you're outnumbered here".
"Oh, I like our odds" Jace tells her confidently with a look of arrogance on his face as he reached into his jacket and drew out something long and sharp that flashed under the strobe lights. That Clary misidentifies as a knife."Watch out!" She shouts and rushes to push the Eidolon demon out of the way.
The Eidolon demon face opens up like a blossoming flower with razor sharp teeth ready to attack.
"Clary!" Shouts Nick as he rushes to her side as Jace shouts "Careful!" and pushes Clary out of the way sending her sailing across the floor. "Are you hurt?" Jace asks Clary as he helps her up, but is then jumped by an Eidolon demon and losses his Seraph blade.
There is a struggle and when Clary manages to pick up the Seraph blade it activates and Jace pushes the Eidolon demon into it causing the Eidolon demon to disintegrate into orange sparks.
Jace goes to retrieve his Seraph blade, but another Eidolon demon jumps him. Nick in a split second decision grabs the Seraph blade from Clary. The Seraph blade instantaneously becomes dull as it switches hands as Nick quickly vaporizes the blue-eyed tentacle faced demon that was attacking Jace.
"Hey! Catch!" Nick shouted and tosses it to Jace who catches it.
Nick then tackles the Eidolon demon that runs at Jace to the ground "A little help would be nice" The Eidolon demon tries to bite him as he dodges out of the way "Hey! Hot Shot if you're not too busy could you lend a helping hand over here. I'd really not get my face bitten off by something that looks out of Alien vs Predator?" He shouts over to Alec.
Alec races over and stabs the Eidolon demon as Nick rolls out of the way. He stands up and panting heavily before hunching over with his hands on his knees trying to catch his breath "Thanks for that hot shot" He then looks up to see Clary running out of the room.
Nick runs a hand through his sweaty hair and sucks in a deep breath before taking off after her.
He quickly catches up with her as he pushes through the crowd "Clary!" She turns her head to look at him with big terrified eyes and accidentally bumps into Magnus.
Clary momentarily freezes as she experiences flashbacks of her childhood. Nick also freezes the moment he feels powerful eyes fall onto him. Their eyes meet and suddenly, they were alone in the crowd. Magnus looked at Nick intrigued as his eyes swipe over his celestial demigod runes. Nick swallows thickly
and opens his mouth to speak when without warning Clary snaps out of her trance-like state and backs away from the warlock her eyes darted around maniacally, looking for an escape. She suddenly burst into a frenzied run as Nick reluctantly breaks eye-contact giving Magnus a lingering second glance before quickly following suit after Clary.
Nick steps out of the nightclub just in time to find Clary already in the taxi telling the driver frantically to drive. He watches with a heavy heart as the taxi speeds off.
He notices two men with a strange circle rune marks burnt into their necks also watching Clary from a distance.
Nick whips out his phone the least he could do was forewarn Jocelyn.
' I don't think this would be an appropriate time to tell you, I told you so'.
'What happened?'
'Tonight, Clary got her first glimpse of the shadow world. A blond-haired Shadowhunter bumped into Clary whilst under a glamour. She was able to see through it and commented. She attracted his attention, so I decided to help you out by diverting his attention to me. Long story short he mistook me for a fellow Shadowhunter. You're welcome by the way. Unfortunately, Simon and Maureen witness our interaction. So, basically they saw us talking to thin air.
"What did you tell them?".
"What could I tell them without sounding crazy? I just ignored them in favour of reassuring little red, who was starting to freak herself out. We ended up going into The Pandemonium nightclub to search for said Shadowhunter. It turns out that he and his team were on a mission to find out who's peddling mundane blood. They were interrogating these blue-eyed macho guys and their leader. Clary got involved trying to stop the blond guy feeling stabbing the woman. And that is when all hell broke loose. The blue eyed-men and woman opened their faces up like a blossoming flower with tentacles and razor sharp teeth'.
'They were Eidolon demons. Are you and Clary alright?'.
'Physically, we're fine. Clary's an emotional wreck after accidental vaporizing one of the Eidolon demon's with a seraph blade. I took care of the others, which wasn't easily since I almost got my face bitten off might I add. You're welcome by the way. Afterwards, Clary took off and is on her way home as we speak in a cab. I just thought I should warn you in advance'.
'Thank you, Nicky. Clary, is lucky to have you as a friend, brother and sister. I know that I've never told you or Simon this, but I have always seen you, two as my adoptive sons and daughter. I dread to think what would have happened to Clary had you not have been there. I love you, Nicky as any mother would unconditionally'.
'Despite, our disagreements when it comes to little red. I just want you to know I love you, too, Mrs. F'.
Tears well up in Nick's eyes. It felt good to know that he was loved and accepted for who and what he was.
Nick hailed a cab "408 Wallingford House, Fort Greene in Brooklyn" He said to the cabby, before slamming the door shut behind him as the cab took off into the night.