A/N: I'm so sorry I haven't updated for so long! I have been uber busy and just haven't had the time. But here is a short new chapter. I hope to be able to update again this week or the next. Also, I have had to change some stuff in my other chapters due to the new info from City of Heavenly Fire (which was fan-freaking-tastic!) and new stuff Cassie has said. Just little things, but go check out those chapters again! And make sure to read CoHF if you haven't already! Thanks for the reviews! :D

-Kenxi

The kitchen of the Los Angeles Institute was a spacious one, with as many Shadowhunters living under its roof, it was a good thing too.

Even before Emma and Julian entered the kitchen the sounds of laughing and squealing were easily audible. The shrieks of delight sounded like they were coming from Octavian, Tavvy, who was only six and laughed at pretty much everything.

As the table and its food began to fill the frame of Emma's vision, she shared a smile with Jules, knowing he was thinking, like her, that Drusilla must be experiencing new ways to get him to eat his vegetables. Dru was always coming up with new silly ways to accomplish the task; it rarely worked, but everyone got a kick out of it, especially Tavvy.

Because they were late to dinner, everyone else had already began eating without them. As suspected, Dru was attempting to put asparagus into Tavvy's mouth. Today it looked like she was pretending the fork was a submarine, "Look, it's going underwater now! And into your mouth!" she was saying, but Tavvy just grinned happily and shook his head back and forth.

Livia sat next to her twin, Tiberius, and was speaking to him in a low voice so no one else could hear. This happened often. Ty wasn't the most… normal person. His brilliant and strictly logical mind made it difficult to understand him, or for him to understand anyone else. He was also the only Blackthorn, aside from Mark and Helen who had a different mother, who had black hair and gray eyes. Julian would always label it as the first sign of Ty's undeniable stubbornness.

On the other hand, Livia was quite sociable compared to Ty. Emma knew that she was almost and strange as Ty, but in another way that Emma hadn't quite discerned yet, even though she had known Livia her entire life. She had long dark hair and blue-green eyes that were just like most of the other Blackthorns, but the spark they held was the same as Ty's. It was as if she saw things the way he did, but handled them more appropriately than her twin. She protected Ty-that much was rather obvious, but as Emma thought about it, she realized regretfully that she really didn't know Livia that much at all. At least Tiberius was very blunt on his thought of things, even if they were strange and sometimes unfeeling. Perhaps later Emma could ask Jules about it. After all, she was his sister, even if Emma had known her just as long.

Emma sat next to Jules at the cherry wooded table. It wasn't super fancy, but it was still rather nice. China plates and tall glasses sparkled under the ceiling lights, the table was so long, they only used half of the space unless other Shadowhunters were passing through. The food was glorious. Tender roast beef sat in the middle of the area between them, along with fluffy mashed potatoes and gravy, seasoned asparagus, hot, buttered French bread, ripe peaches, and lemonade for all of them.

As usual, Emma piled her plate high with a few servings of everything. Hunting demons always made her extremely hungry. That was understandable though, who knew how many calories this occupation burned? Emma snickered to herself. Tiberius would probably know.

Julian was raising his eyebrows at Emma's full plate, but she knew he wasn't really surprised. He knew her better than she knew herself. Jules took her arm and drew on it with his finger: W-H-A-T A-R-E Y-O-U L-A-U-G-H-I-N-G A-T? It was a silent language the two had been using since they were small children, when they didn't want people to hear what they were saying. But sometimes they just used it for no reason at all. Perhaps they both just wanted the assurement that things would never change between them. The expression on his face was one of amusement.

"Oh, you know. Just how smart Ty is." Emma glanced over and sure enough, Ty had looked up from the thick book he had taken to dinner. She winked at him, even though she knew he wouldn't get that she was teasing him.

While stuffing food into her mouth, Emma then noticed how little her parabatai was eating. He was taking a few bites, but mainly watching and giving "helpful" advice to Dru as she vainly continued the task of getting Tavvy to eat his veggies. It looked like now she had morphed the submarine into a choo-choo train.

Emma finished swallowing her food before asking, "Well here I am, a girl, eating like a horse, and you, a guy, eating barely half of what I have on my plate. You really need step it up if you're going to keep your man card, Jules."

He laughed and brushed his floppy brown hair out of his eyes, albeit ineffectively, as it always fell back on his forehead. "Yeah, I snacked when we got back here after the demon annihilating. Lost my appetite and now I'm not hungry. My apologies, Queen of Extremely Large Stomachs."

Emma froze. It was five years ago, but she could still remember every last detail of those times during the war. Julian had just lost his half faerie brother, Mark, to the Wild Hunt, and also his father to the imprisonment of Sebastian who had turned him into one of the Dark Shadowhunters. What Jules had just said, just then, reminded her of one of those many nights where she and Julian had just sat together, sometimes talking, other times not saying a word, comforting each other in the midst of darkness.

D-I-D Y-O-U E-A-T? She had written on his arm. He hadn't even looked at her. No smile on his face then.

N-O-T H-U-N-G-R-Y.

Thinking of that night, when it seemed that the one person she relied on the most for everything, especially then with the death of her parents, was breaking apart right in front of her, all it did was remind her of the rest of the war. The rest of the pain. And how ever since she had lost her mom and dad, she planned to avenge them somehow, someday, and discover the truth of their death, and who was the reason for making a twelve year-old girl an orphan.

"… right, Em?"

Emma blinked, a bit startled as her thoughts entered the now, and met Jules' eyes. They were the same deep color they had always been. A misty green towards the pupils, and more blue on the outside. And… they also held a questioning look in them right at that moment.

"Sorry," she said, when she realized Julian had been expecting a response to a question he had apparently asked. "I was just thinking."

He narrowed his eyes at her for a moment, searching her face. There must have been some left over emotion on her face from her memories, because the next words that came from Julian's mouth were softer, a serious tone brimming them.

"What were you thinking about?"

Emma held his direct gaze, even though it felt like holding a work out squat too long. Those would make her legs burn and burn until finally she would collapse to the ground, legs feeling like lead. That was what this felt like, except there was no backing out of the eye contact. Jules had never said it, but she knew it was his way of knowing what she was thinking and feeling without saying anything at all. She did the same thing to him too.

"I was thinking of the war." That was all she needed to say. Julian knew.

And although she didn't really want to bring it up, there was no use in lying to Jules, even about the smallest, stupidest things. It would just make him determined to know the truth, because lying would make him anxious and think she didn't feel like she could tell him anything. And after everything he had gone through, she didn't particularly want to give him reason to doubt her. Ever. She was his only real anchor to sanity, and that was okay by her.

Emma had thought the words had come out quietly, but then everyone had looked up. Even little Tavvy had stopped laughing. He didn't know too much about the war, aside from the fact that there was one, but he knew enough to know that it hurt the rest of them.

There was a few seconds of silence, everyone knowing exactly what everyone was thinking, even Ty, probably. But just then Dru stood picked up her plate.

"Is anyone else done eating? I'm stuffed. Jackie really outdid herself this time."

Smiling softly, Jules picked up his plate and handed it to Dru's outstretched hand. "Thanks, Dru," he told her. Emma knew he was grateful for more than just her taking the dishes.

Drusilla was a peacekeeper of the family. Julian, being the oldest of his present four siblings, always tried to be the father of them, even if they did have Uncle Arthur, but Dru had a way of calming everyone down that Jules had yet to master. Where most of the Blackthorns were tall and thin, Dru was shorter, maybe 5 ft 2", and a more curvy than lanky. Her eyes were the traditional Blackthorn color, but they were softer and kinder than she thought possible. Emma knew she could count on her for almost anything.

Emma also handed her plate to Dru, she hadn't finished her food, but her appetite wasn't quite as present anymore, so she let it go.

Across from her, Livia had an odd look on her face. She opened her mouth to say something to Emma, but right then, there was ringing sound that told them someone either had just came into the Institute, or wanted to come in. It wasn't supposed to do that, but no one could seem to fix it. Even Ty couldn't fix it, but for all Emma knew, it could have been Ty who made it that way.

They all waited for a minute, to see if anyone had entered the Institute, but no one came. Just as Emma was about to grudgingly go see who it was, gasping sounds and ragged breathing filled the quiet room and man burst in, dirty and covered in blood.

"The killings," he breathed, his dark eyes dilated and full of fear, "there are more of them. You have to help me, please-" Before the man could finish his eyes rolled back into his head and he collapsed onto the ground, leaving everyone standing there for a moment in shock.

A/N: Please please remember to review! It makes me feel better in side. Warm fuzzies, if you know what I mean. Or you could send me a PM and let me know any mistakes I've made, grammatical or informational, or just wanna tell me what to change and do better. I love criticism! Thanks ya'll!

-Kenxi