City of Bones

Chapter 1

Pandemonium

This is a remake of a story I did when I was younger. I decided to write it differently and change the name. Change some of the things that I wrote about in my first story.

I stood in line with my twin sister, Clary and our long time friend, Simon Lewis. We were going to the Pandemonium Club, which was a place for all ages. We were waiting for a while, there had to be about 50 people in front of us. All of us were teenagers. Me, Simon and Clary were 15. The line was stopped again as there was an issue up front.

The bouncer said. "You've got to be kidding me." He didn't do much, the bouncer. He just made sure no one brought any bad stuff in. It was New York, you never know.

The kid shook his head, grinning and lifted the wooden beam above his head. "Aw, come on. It's part of my costume."

The bouncer raised his eyebrow. "Which is that?"

I looked over and saw his bright blue hair and unreal looking green eyes. Me and Clary had green eyes, the same as each other, but his looked a bit different. He still looked like a young kid. "I'm a vampire hunter. It's fake. Rubber foam, see?" He bent it and it did bend like rubber. Clary was also staring at him.

Simon sighed. "You thought he was cute, didn't you?"

I snorted. "He's talking to you, Clary, not me."

She elbowed Simon. "That's not true, is it?"

Simon shrugged sheepishly. "I was. I know Will wanted the line to move." I grinned at her when she sent me a glare.

I glanced ahead, smiling. "Cool, the line is moving." I was right, the line was speeding along.

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

We finally made it past the bouncer, my hands brushing against my shirt. I didn't dress in a fancy type of way, just put on a nice pair of dark jeans and a nice shirt. The room was filed with smoke. There had to be at least a couple of smoke machines in here. There were also strobe lights above, so there were many lights filling the room with different colors.

I squinted. "Jeez, good thing none of us are epileptic."

Clary nudged me in the side. "Will, you don't have to complain."

I shrugged. "Just saying."

Simon laughed. "You know she has to say something." Clary smiled with him.

I smirked slightly. "Yeah, yeah. Let's get moving." I've always been known to speak my mind about whatever was on it.

We were sort of dancing in between the many people that were in the club. I don't mind the club, I liked watching everything that went on, but I didn't dance much.

Simon called over the loud music. "So, pretty good music, eh?" I smiled slightly at his awkward tone, this was not a Simon place. We hung out all the time, but this was not a favorite of his. He mostly went because of Clary, his crush not being the only reason as we've known each other since we were kids. That was something Clary needed to figure out, I wasn't getting involved. I was going to act oblivious. Simon said. "I, for one, am enjoying myself immensely."

Clary made a noise. "Mmmhm." We both knew that was not true.

I looked over at Clary, who was glancing at the boy. I shook her shoulder slightly, giving her a teasing smile. "Want me to put in a good word for you?"

"Willie, you are not funny." Clary sent me a eyeroll.

I wrinkled my nose. "Neither is that nickname." She sent me a smirk. She had called me that since we were kids. She was the only one. The boy disappeared after a pretty girl in a dress and long black hair. I saw Clary's shoulders slump and I smiled in amusement.

Simon noticed as he glanced at her. "I feel that this evening DJ Bat is doing a singularly exceptional job. Don't you agree?"

Feeling a bit pity for our best friend, I nodded in agreement. "Yeah, he sounds as good as last time." I shot Simon a grin and he sent me a relieved smile. My smile slipped when I saw what she was looking at. Along with the boy and the girl, two other boys dressed in back were following behind him, closely, but he didn't seem aware of it. Clary grabbed my arm, which stopped our awkward dancing. "Will..."

Simon went on. "Meanwhile, I want to tell you lately I've been cross-dressing. Also, I'm sleeping with your mom. I thought you should know."

I sent him a dry look. "Oh, man. I'm pretty sure that breaks best friend code."

He flushed to his ears, mumbling. "I was making sure you were listening. Of course you hear that part." I laughed, glancing at Clary when her grip tightened on my arm. "Did you see that?!"

"What do you-oh crap!" The first two went into a closet and the others followed them, one black haired and the other blond. The blond one had a knife. I felt worry for the blue haired kid. What the hell?

"I didn't mean it, guys. Seriously."

I smacked his shoulder with the back of my head. "No, not that. The two guys over there."

He squinted. "You have to be more specific. There are a bunch of people in here."

Clary shook her head. "No! The guy with the knife!"

"The guy with the-are you kidding?"

He was talking to Clary, but I shook my head. "No, I saw it too."

Simon frowned, looking serious. "Okay, I'll get a security guard. You two wait here."

I nodded, watching the door and moving closer to Clary. "Ok, hurry up. Who knows what's going to happen."

Simon nodded, eyed us and ran off. Clary let go of me and moved forward toward the door. I yanked her back by the shoulder and looked down at her with a scowl. I had a couple of inches on her. Something that would drive her inside when I used it to my advantage. I did that now. "What the hell? What are you going?"

She waved a hand toward the door. "To help! They could have killed him."

"They could kill you, they have a weapon."

"We have to do something, Simon won't get here in time." I noticed her stubborn look and knew a part of what she was saying was right. We couldn't just let some kid die. But, we were kids ourselves. I would be horrified and pissed if anything happened to my sister or Simon.

I hesitated. "But..."

Clary started walking toward the door. "Plus, you know karate."

I scowled at her and walked with her. "Fine! I'm not letting you do this alone. And I am a green belt. I'm still training."

Clary sent me a look. "We'll be careful, I promise."

I was more concerned with Clary than me anyway.

"Fine."

I grabbed her hand, ignoring her exasperated look and let her steer me toward the closet.

I had a bad feeling about this.

We opened the door and slid inside silently. I could smell paint and saw the high windows above us. There were wires on the ground. The only thing I could hear were the honking cars that were expected in New York. I could feel the hair on my arms raising due to the cold air. Clary stumbled forward over the wires, falling toward her hands. I looked over and saw her move the wires from her shoes.

I glanced up and flinched back as I saw we were not alone. I grabbed Clary's shoulder and pointed quietly, trying not to gather the attention of the people I saw. It was the girl, who was in a long white dress. She was pretty with long black hair, dark eyes and was tall. A boy next to her had dark hair and was taller. The other boy next to him was shorter with blond hair that was darker than my pale blond hair. What was the most alarming was the boy that we saw before with blue hair, was tied to a pillar with wire with his arms behind his back and his legs in front of him. I didn't know what we walked into. His face was full of fear. This looked like something after a gangster movie.

The blond haired boy paced in front of the boy that was tied up. "So, you still haven't told me if there are any other of your kind with you."

I grimaced in confusion. Kind? I remembered he was the one with the knife. I tensed, angling my body in front of Clary. She moved by my side and sent me a look.

The boy sounded annoyed and in pain. "I don't know what you are talking about."

The other boy, the dark haired one, spoke. He was silent up until this moment. "He means other demons. You do know what a demon is, don't you?"

The boy glanced away and I was lost as to what we were witnessing.

The blond spoke again, his tone drawling with a smugness underlining it. "Demons. Religiously defined as Hell's denizens, the servants of Satan, but understood here for the purposes of the Clave, to be any maleviolent spirit whose origin is outside our own home dimension-"

The girl said. "That's enough, Jace."

The other boy agreed. "Isabelle's right. Nobody here needs a lesson in semantics-or demonology."

My mind was spinning from all the information. The first part about demons could be excused for religious talk. But the Clave? What is that?

The boy, Jace raised his head and smiled. He was attractive and his smile was no different, but that grin put a chill down my spine. Caused every instinct I had to lock up. I didn't even know why. He said. "Isabelle and Alec think I talk too much. Do you think I talk too much?"

The blue haired boy didn't say anything to that, but he said instead. "I could give you information. I know where Valentine is."

Jace looked over to Alec, who shrugged. Jace said. "Valentine is in the ground. This thing is toying with us."

Isabelle threw back her hair. "Kill it, Jace. It's not going to tell us anything." I sucked in a breath, looking over to see if we could do anything to help while still holding an advantage. I wasn't getting us killed over this with just me, who only had a green belt and Clary's pint sized self.

His blade was raised and I noticed how strange it looked for the first time. It was oddly see-through, with rubies on the hilt.

The boy gasped, jerking forward. "Valentine's back! All the Infernal Worlds know it-I know it-I can tell you where he is-"

Jace's eyes flashed in rage. "By the Angel, every time we capture one of you bastards, you claim to know where Valentine is. Well, we know where he is too. He's in hell. And you-You can join him there."

I glanced around, looking for a distraction, something to knock over them. I saw a couple of boxes in a shelf a bit above them. I smirked, getting ready to slide over quietly.

Clary jumped from hiding "Stop! You can't do this."

I made a hissing noise with my teeth. "Clary! What the hell!?"

Jace, Alec and Isabelle all turned to stare at us. I went to her side. I snapped. "Are you crazy?"

She snapped back. "They were going to kill him!"

I ran a hand over my head. "That's not the way you do it."

Alec looked bewildered. "What's this?" He glanced at his companions.

Jace said. "They are girls. Surely you've seen girls before, Alec. Your sister Isabelle is one." He stepped closer and said. "Two mundie girls and they can see us."

Clary snapped. "Of course, we can see you. We're not blind."

Jace said. "Oh, but you are. You just don't know it. You both better get out of here, if you know what's good for you."

Clary snapped. "We're not going anywhere. If I do, you'll kill him."

I raised my hands and stepped in front of Clary. I heard her sound of frustration, but could feel her worried glance. She didn't want me close to them either. "Just calm down. How about we leave and you let him go, huh? Everyone wins." As nervous as I was at this situation, I tried to send them a small and convincing smile.

The boy, Alec, eyebrows' were furrowed. "We can't do that."

I felt annoyed. I usually was decent at convincing people. Any anger I had, I usually tried not show. Unlike Clary, who was very expressive. We had different personalities, but we still get along really well.

Clary said, coming back to being at my side. "Well, we can't just leave-you will kill him." I nodded in agreement.

Jace had the knife back in his hand as he twirled it between his fingers. "That's true. Why do you care if I kill him or not?"

Clary sputtered in shock and even I recoiled. "Because you can't just go around killing people."

I spoke up, my eyes hard. "Look, man. You can't just murder someone. But, fact to the wise, don't flash your blade around where people can see it."

Jace narrowed his eyes at me as I raised an eyebrow at him. A strange look I couldn't recognize flashed across his face. Alec hissed. "Jace!"

Isabelle looked at him with a smirk, but Jace shrugged. "The mundies weren't supposed to see me."

Clary said. "Seriously, you can't just kill him." I nodded in agreement again. He was about our age, just a kid. Gang war or not.

Jace replied. "You're both right. You can't go around killing people. That's not a person, little girl. It may look like a person an talk like a person and maybe even bleed like a person. But, it's a monster."

Isabelle said, a warning in her tone. "Jace, that's enough."

Clary said, stepping back a step. "You're crazy! I've called the police, you know. They'll be here any second."

I chimed in. "Or everyone can just leave. Therefore, no problems."

Alec eyed us both, a look of doubt on his face. "I said we can't do that. She's lying, Jace. Do you-"

I yelped as the boy broke free and attacked Jace. Automatically without thinking about the rest of them, I dragged Clary with me away from that mess. She followed without protest. I stumbled over her feet when she didn't move fast enough, both of us falling to the ground, with me flat on my back. I let out a grunt at the impact to my shoulders. I glanced over at Clary to see she looked like her breath was knocked out of her, but she looked okay. Isabelle was yelling something and I saw the boy on top of Jace. I grimaced as I saw the blood on his fingers that were starting to look like claws.

I felt my face pale. Was Jace right? He couldn't be. No such thing as demons.

I scrabbled to my feet, giving them a wary look. Alec and Isabelle went toward the other two. She whip lashed across the boy's back as he scratched at Jace, drawing blood. The boy shrieked and fell off of Jace. He stabbed the blue haired...boy, black liquid coming off the knife. My mind was spinning. That's...that's not blood. Jace had that stuff all over him. He was choking and twisting around on the ground. I felt bile in the back of my throat. He hissed at Jace. "So be it. The Forsaken will take you all."

Jace's mouth twisted into a snarl of anger. I could not believe as the boy shrunk and disappeared. I felt a tug on my shirt and saw Clary's wide eyes and pale face. She nodded toward the door and I nodded back. We walked backward while Alec checked over Jace's arm. We were blocked by Isabelle, who flashed her whip toward Clary. I felt that protective feeling at someone attacking my sister and snapped. "Hey!" I saw the whip an somehow grabbed it, the end wrapping around my hand. I winced in pain, it felt like fire was racing across my hand. I grit my teeth, snapping. "Don't go near my sister!"

Clary called out, sounding worried. "Will!" She glared over at the girl. "Let her go!"

Isabelle snapped at us, hissing from her teeth. "Stupid little mundies, you almost got Jace killed."

I glared back at her, trying to tug my hand away. "That seems like his problem."

Isabelle's mouth twisted in a snarl, her dark eyes flashing and Clary grabbed at the whip, hissing in pain. I jolted. "Don't touch it." She let go quickly, her fingers rubbing at her palm.

Clary was staring. "You're all crazy. What do you think you are? Vigilantie killers? I'll call the police-"

"The police aren't interested unless you can produce a body." It was Jace. He was walking over, easily stepping over the cables on the ground. He was holding his arm carefully, Alec following him, scowling.

Jace said. "They go to their home dimensions when they die. In case you were wondering."

Alec hissed. "Jace, be careful."

I flexed my hand, but didn't try to tug it away again. "Look, we don't care. We can just forget this happened."

Clary said. "Will-"

I shook my head. "No, your right. Like you guys said, this isn't our business."

Jace said, looking us over. "It's too late for that, little mundie. You saw too much." I tensed my shoulders.

Isabelle tugged on the whip. I hissed out in pain as my arm tugged with it, the whip burning my palm. Clary saw the pain on my face. "Hey! Stop!"

Isabelle ignored her. "What do you want me to do with her and her sister?"

Jace said quietly, glancing at me and Clary. "Let her go." Isabelle sent him a weird look and I didn't like the way this strange boy was looking at my sister. Isabelle sent him an angry look, but turned me back to me.

I sent her an expectant look. "My hand?"

She rolled her eyes, having her whip roll smoothly off my hand. I swallowed, giving her a glare, which she easily returned. I flexed my hand, wincing. I saw a deep harsh red line across my palm, almost like a burn. I curled my fingers around it. Clary looked back, but I shook my head. I didn't want to show these strangers how much it hurt.

Alec looked over at both of us. "Maybe we should bring them back with us. I bet Hodge would like to speak to them."

I scowled. "We are not going anywhere with you."

Isabelle replied, still looking disgruntled. "You can't anyway. You're just a couple of mundies." I wrinkled my nose, that sounded like an insult.

Jace said softly, looking over at us. "Have you had dealings with demons, little girls? Walked with warlocks? Talked with the Night Children? Have you-"

Clary finally seemed to have enough. I know her well enough to know her temper wasn't going to hold. I had a temper, but I also know how to hold mine. "Our names are not 'little girl'. And we have no idea what you are talking about. I don't believe in demons-or whatever you-"

"Clary? Will?"

I hopped about a foot in the air, now worried I was going to have to protect Simon from this too. I had a feeling my green belt wasn't going to help me here. Clary spun around, but I had my back to them. I wasn't going to turn my back on these psycho people or allow them to hurt them. I caught Alec's eye and give him a mistrusting look when he caught my eye. He gave me the same one back, an intimidating scowl on his face. Jace smirked at me, amusement shining in his golden eyes. It made me want to punch it off. Isabelle looked over at Simon, but looked away when Simon didn't seem to react.

Simon asked. "Are you two okay? Why are you in here by yourselves? What happened to the guy-the ones with the knives?"

I almost choked. "What? You can't see them?"

Simon said, sounding frustrated. "What are you talking about, Will? Where?" I gritted my teeth, realizing what they meant when they said we couldn't see them. Of course, they couldn't see them.

I looked at Jace shrugged and Isabelle and Alec's understanding looks. "Nothing."

Clary said as she must have seen the same thing. "I thought they went in here. Will followed me. But, I guess they didn't. I'm sorry."

Isabelle giggled at our situation and I clenched my jaw, trying to control my temper from this situations. "This is stupid, let's go."

We were waiting outside, waiting on a cab. They were standing together. I was off to the side a little, wincing in pain. They were talking, but I stood away from them, taking a deep breath. All I saw kept on running in my head. I couldn't deny what I saw. "Crap!" I rubbed a hand over my hair roughly in frustration. I winced at the pain in my hand. "Ow!"

Simon called. "Hey, Will? You coming?"

I ran a hand through my hair again, smoothing it out. It was pale blond, Luke said I got it from my dad, who Mom hates talking about, especially with me. More so than with Clary. I called. "I'm coming." I glanced around and didn't see those weird people anywhere.

"Will!" It was Clary and she sounded very worried. I looked over at her and saw her watching me anxiously. I turned back to the girl and blanched. She was gone. I walked over and Clary looked me over. I shook my head. "C'mon, let's go. This night is too weird."

Simon said. "There you are. Let's go. We're already late and your mom's going to kill you."

We all got in the cab and I didn't say a word.