Hey my fellow TMI fans! I'm back with another update! My very first review by IChangeForYou absolutely made my day! Thank you and I hope you enjoy!
P.S. Some of the humor I borrowed from tumblr and COLS/COFA. And Cassie Clare owns, well, you know.
Daughter: Pandemonium
Clary could barely contain her excitement as she watched the orange sun set behind the glimmering city of New York. Only the brightest stars were visible in the glowing city light, but she couldn't help but feel like there were more than usual. She gripped her Seraph blade tightly in her hand. It was smaller than a normal blade, small enough that it could pass for a hair accessory. Clary was especially fond of it because it suited her so well: small, but powerful.
Isabel, who usually wore long sleeves to hide her runes, had let her borrow it, although the raven haired girl probably wouldn't ask for it back. Isabel had also loaned Clary her red dress, and although it had been slightly loose on Clary's small frame, the two girls had managed to alter it so that it fit her perfectly. Clary could not deny that she looked attractive, although maybe that was just the Seraph blades talking. For the first time in her life, she felt like a shadowhunter. Clary had spent the last few months watching her friends from the sidelines, always shielded from danger like a child. Even Simon, her vampire best friend, was allowed to fight before she was. Now, as she waited impatiently outside the Institute in Isabel's red dress and black stilettoes, she felt empowered, as if she really was born to fight. It was like the angels in heaven were beside her, that she was beginning to realize her destiny as a shadowhunter.
There was a slight clattering sound as the door to the Institute opened, an arguing Isabel and Alec bursting out from behind the barrier. Isabel's raven black hair cascaded down her back, as it always did, the white dress she had worn when Clary had first seen the shadowhunters hiding the many runes on her arms. Her golden whip lay coiled around her wrist, the girl's smoky eye shadow reminding Clary of a wolf walking among sheep. The ruby pendant she wore around her neck glinted in the nearly set sun, her fierce brown eyes burning with excitement as she smiled at Clary. She was so slender and powerful, something Clary could only hope to be.
Alec looked the same as he had before, and Clary wasn't sure why he didn't wait for her outside. A spending a mere five minutes alone with him was like walking around Manhattan stark naked. He and Clary were not enemies, but Alec held her at arm's length, his deep blue eyes turning to ice if he felt even remotely threatened by the small red-headed girl. He and his sister could not treat her more differently. Alec was the only one in the Lightwood family who hadn't fully accepted her yet. Clary had put it down to the fact that they had both been in love with Jace, and he was just sore that Jace had picked Clary over him, or maybe it was just due to the fact that he didn't want his best friend's heart broken. Clary actually found the latter reason somewhat sweet, and maybe, had she been in his situation, she would feel the same way.
There was a whistle from the Institute doors, and Clary turned to find Jace, fully dressed in his black shadowhunter gear walking towards her. There was a grin on his face, one of his teeth slightly chipped, but this small factor did nothing to taint his image. Jace was one of the most attractive people she had ever met, even more so than the Lightwoods. His blond hair fell loosely around his face, casting shadows over his perfectly chiseled cheekbones. His hands were rough and callused, tiny white scars lining from the tips of his fingers to his shoulders. He looked like an angel, and Clary wasn't surprised if people mistook him for one. Even if he didn't possess full angelic abilities, he certainly looked the part.
"Are you ready for our first official date?" he asked, slinging an arm around Clary's shoulder as he passed. Isabel rolled her eyes, walking ahead of her brother and towards Club Pandemonium, the group's favorite demon hunting spot.
"It's a double date too. Me and you, and Isabel and Alec!" he joked, earning a less than playful nudge from his brother. He leaned down close to Clary's ear, as if to whisper, but the action was sarcastic, as he fully intended for the two siblings to hear his remark.
"Although, I wouldn't make mention of this to Mayrse and Robert, they've had enough incest scares to last a lifetime," he said, earning a laugh from both Clary and Isabel. She turned, walking backwards as to face her family, a smile breaking across her fire-engine red lips.
"First he's gay, now he's dating his sister. Taking this rebellious stage a bit far, don't you think?" she called, a snort resonating from Alec. He arced an eyebrow, shaking his head as his two siblings teased him.
"Why would Alec date plain old Isabel when he could have a perfectly smoldering Hotschaft Von Hugenstein?" Jace asked, gesturing to himself and raising his eyebrows seductively.
"Not everything, Jace, is about you," Isabel answered, sticking her tongue out as if insulted that her brother would rather date Jace than her.
"Possibly. But you have to admit, the majority of things are," Jace smirked, hugging Clary a little closer as if silently telling her that he was only joking. Clary knew and accepted what an arrogant ass-hat Jace could be, but it only made her love him more. It was this sort of playful banter that had brought them closer to each other, not just her and Jace, but Alec and Isabel as well. To anyone else, the humor would have seemed disturbing, but the group had been through so many disturbing events that it didn't bother them anymore.
By the time they reached the club, the sun had fallen behind the tops of the buildings. Nighttime in New York was better than most things in life, at least for Clary. She didn't feel at all out of place when she entered the eon lit club, the dancing bodies and loudly beating music not bothering her in the least. Different colored lights flashed as they entered, the smell of pixie dust floating into Clary's nose. Jace patted her back softly before slipping away into the club after his brother, the two of them heading for the small raised stage where they could watch for both her and Isabel. Clary was familiar with the process of demon hunting, Isabel and Jace had made sure she was fully prepared to handle whatever surprises came her way before they'd left the Institute. Her job was simply to act as a normal girl, to lure a demon away from the crowd so Jace and Alec could dispose of it. Of course, Clary and Isabel both knew full well they didn't need the boys to kill the demon for them, but a girl with demon blood all over her dress was unfortunately not very attractive.
Clary lost Isabel long before she reached the dance floor, the slender girl vanishing into the throng of dancers. Clary smiled, scanning the room for any sort of demon. She knew what they looked like, she had a way of telling them apart that was different from the rest of the shadowhunter community. She assumed that it was just one of the many extra gifts she was bestowed with because of the extra angel blood in her veins, not that she was complaining about it. The room was beginning to grow hot, clouds of smoke billowing around Clary as she spotted her first demon. The first thing she noticed were his bright purple eyes, their color cutting through the dancers and sweat that filled the atmosphere. He looked just like any other wildly dressed person in the club, except for the fact that Clary could practically smell the foul stench of demon from across the room. Complete with a studded leather jacket, ear and eyebrow piercings, and jet black spiked hair, the demon was almost completely camouflaged within the crowd. With a flick of her hair, Clary weaved her way toward the demon, smiling just as Isabel had taught her to. After a few seconds, the demon caught sight of her, a grin spreading across his face as she reached him. Without hesitation, the demon took Clary's hand, and began to lead her away into the back of the club. Clary fought to keep her excitement down, trusting blindly that Alec or Jace would be following close behind.
The music thudded loudly as they entered one of the back rooms, the steel door open slightly, enough so that when Jace and Alec entered there wouldn't be much of a sound. The two were blanketed in a deep purple light, only the bright eyes of the demon visible through the darkness. There was enough space to walk around, so Clary headed farther into the room, as to give herself and Jace more space if needed. It was almost like a bedroom, except with only the bed, a one-way glass wall giving Clary and the demon a view of the dancing club members. Clary could almost feel the demon's smirk as he ran a hand dup her arm, her heart beginning to race slightly as she prepared for his first move.
"You're very pretty. For a human," he sneered, his smirk turning into fangs, black lines sucking in the hollows of his cheeks, his true demon form breaking the surface as he prepared to feed. With more speed than Clary knew she possessed, she reached for the seraph blade in her hair, swiftly tugging it from her hair.
"Castial," she whispered, the purple glow in the room replaced with the sudden shine of the seraph blade. She smiled as the demon recoiled, anger replacing the lust in his violet eyes.
"Shadowhunter," he spat, venom in his voice as he began to back away from the glowing blade. In a single fluid movement, Clary swung her arm, whipping the small blade across the demon's throat, retracting and plunging it into his chest. The movement was so fast, it would have put Jace to shame. Not a single drop of demon blood had hit the floor and Clary was already wiping the blood on one of the pillows, twisting the blade back into its bun. The demon, although not yet dead, looked petrified. Clary's heart filled with pride, happy with herself for proving that she was indeed a shadowhunter. Neither Jace nor Alec had appeared yet, and Clary assumed it was because she'd finished the demon off so quickly. As she looked back at the spot where the demon had been, she realized that she should have waited for them, but that was a mistake she would have to fix another time.
As she was about to leave, she heard a rustling noise from the back of the room. Clary froze, turning slowly as fear began to whisper into her ear. What if she had been spotted? What if someone had seen her? This was impossible, she knew, as she was wearing a concealment rune underneath her dress, but the commotion was bound to attract some attention. Clary inched forward, her heels clicking against the ground as she went farther into the dark room, her eyes fixated on the opposite side of the bed, which she couldn't see behind. There was the faintest sound of breathing, like a cornered animal.
Clary nearly screamed when she heard the door snap shut. Her heart began to beat furiously, the fear of the unknown making it difficult to stay calm. Quietly, she reached for her seraph blade, once gain calling out its name, slightly comforted by its light. With a sigh, she prayed that Jace or Alec would come bursting in the room within the next few seconds. She discarded her heels, judging that whatever was hiding in the room she may have needed to actually fight.
Clary, deciding that a surprise attack would be best in investigating what was behind the bed, leaped over the mattress, slamming her entire body onto the floor. Much to her surprise, instead of meeting the hard surface, she plunged into a slightly bony object. The warmth of human skin seeped through her dress, the being below her screaming and bucking her into the wall. Clary realized with a shock that she had not attacked a monster, but another human.
Quickly, Clary discarded her blade, searching for the wrists of the flailing person and pinning them to the floor. Judging by the pitch of the screams, and the size of the body, Clary assumed that she had stumbled upon a girl. Clary could feel the girl's heartbeat racing through her veins, as if she thought she was about to be killed and was making as much noise as possible to be saved. Of course, nobody would hear you in the back of club Pandemonium. Clary felt a pang of guilt, the girl's face beginning to take shape as the two tumbled into an area with more light.
"Calm down, I'm not going to hurt you," Clary said, but the girl didn't seem to hear her. After a few seconds however, she seemed to realize that Clary was not a malignant attacker, and stopped struggling, the two girls panting as they caught their breath.
"Please let me go," the girl whimpered, and Clary released her, the girl scurrying away until her back was pressed against the glass. With the help of the club lights, Clary could now see the girl's face in detail. She looked young, maybe fourteen or fifteen, her brown hair greasy and unwashed. She was slim, like Isabel might have been when she was younger, but the girl wasn't nearly as tall as her. Both she and Clary looked roughly the same size. The younger girl's collar bones jutted out from underneath her black hoodie, her skinny jeans torn and frayed at the ankles. Her ratty tennis shoes left marks on the floor, dirt underneath her fingernails and smudged along her face.
"Who are you?" she asked, her voice calming a bit as she regained her bearings, though it still trembled. Clary sat back, leaning against the bed and redoing her bun, returning the seraph blade to its proper place.
"I'm Clarissa Morgenstern," she answered, trying her best to calm the girl further. She looked like a baby deer, cornered by wolves, but the frightened look in her eyes was beginning to fade as she grew more relaxed around Clary. There was something familiar about her eyes, not the color, but the way she looked at Clary was like another gaze she had felt before. They were silver, not quite gray, with flickers of white within them. They were unlike any other color Clary had seen.
Clearing her throat, Clary spoke again, hoping that the girl would be able to answer one of the million questions she had in her head.
"Now that you know who I am, why don't you tell me who you are," Clary asked, the girl squirming as she began to speak. Tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear, the girl met Clary's dazzling green eyes with her own silver ones.
"I'm Katherine,"