here i present chapter 13! chapter 14 will be coming possibly in a few hours, and one reviewer asked if Simon would tell Magnus aboutt he dreams he's had, and yes, he did and where i thought that would appear in chapter 14 it turns out that Simon and Magnus have a moment to talk to themselves in chapter 15 so it defaintly comes up and i hope when i get to that chapter that it is all one could hope for...writing this story is so much fun and i'm so glad that others have been enjoying it as much as i enjoy writing it! :) thank you so much and keep reviewing i love reading them and getting others feedback!

TMI and all characters belong to Cassandra Clare and the poem belongs to his/her name at the bottom.

We, unaccustomed to courage

exiles from delight

live coiled in shells of loneliness

until love leaves its high holy temple

and comes into our sight

to liberate us into life.

Love arrives

and in its train come ecstasies

old memories of pleasure

ancient histories of pain.

Yet if we are bold,

love strikes away the chains of fear

from our souls.

We are weaned from our timidity

In the flush of love's light

we dare be brave

And suddenly we see

that love costs all we are

and will ever be.

Yet it is only love

which sets us free.

'Touched by An Angel'

by

Maya Angelou

Simon listened to the crowd of people around him as he held onto the bags from the stores they had visited at the mall, he had officially became the pack mule for Magnus and Isabelle's shopping spree, Simon stood around awkwardly as they ooo'd and ahh'd at different outfits and accessories. Magnus had even tried to talk Simon into helping change his own wardrobe where he kindly declined, if he ever went to someone to help him pick out clothes Magnus was not on the top of his list, with his whacky rainbow pants and glittery tops that adorned in sequins, but even as he insisted and Simon kept declining he finally agreed for them to pick out a pair of sunglasses for him, which Magnus tried to pair with a black leather jacket, Simon couldn't deny he kind of liked it, but in the end he didn't cave and get it, he knew if he agreed once then he'd never be able to clothe himself again, between Isabelle and Magnus, he'd look like some washed out vampire model, and he wasn't a huge fan of what was called the modern vampire look to begin with.

Simon watched everyone around the Chinese restaurant that Magnus had taken him and Isabelle too, it was a little after lunch hour so it was crowded with people all around talking about their lives and jobs, making Simon smirk and look out the window next to the table they were seated at, he was kind of glad it was a buffet since he couldn't eat anything.

"I'm so starved I could probably eat everything up there and still be hungry." Isabelle announced as she came up to set next to Simon, a plate piled high with everything from lo mein noodles to sushi rolls.

Simon looked at her with a smile, "That's a scary thought."

Isabelle shot him a dirty look and turned back to her food as she picked up a napkin and placed it on her lap,

"Nice to see you're manners have improved." Magnus grinned as he set across from them, his plate equally as piled high as Isabelle's.

Isabelle ignored him as she picked up her fork and began eating; Simon laughed once to himself and watched her.

The blue flowing shirt she wore hugged her form, empathizing on her curves; she had pulled her long black hair back and tied it up, but it still hung down her back like a black shower, in waves, the silver shine to it was apparent in the dim gray light of the overcast day outside the window.

Simon watched her and found himself smiling, as she watched him out of the corner of her eye and turned to face him.

"Why do you keep doing that?" she demanded,

"Doing what?"

"Looking at me like that, it's creepy."

Simon shook his head the smile fading, "Because I can't seem to help it…"

Isabelle dug her fork into the food on her plate and gazed at him, opening her mouth to say something when Magnus interrupted.

"Oh the drama! Isabelle have you tried the spicy salmon sushi? It's delicious I would highly recommend it." He said stuffing some noodles in his mouth with a quick grin.

Both Isabelle and Simon looked to him,

"No," she answered his question, "But thanks for telling me." She mumbled gazing at Simon once before going back to eating, not bothering to say what she was going to before Magnus spoke.

Simon continued to watch the leaves blow by the window and made careful sure not to look at Isabelle, he had hated how her mood would change so fast, that was one thing he had always disliked about Isabelle, one moment she would be all teasing and nice and the next she was like an angry cornered cat about to claw you up if you came to close, he felt like he was on a perpetual roller coaster that never ended, and in a way he never wanted it to, but sometimes it would be nice to have a pause in the up and down track it seemed to take.

Simon saw the dark clouds swirling outside, making the day damp and gloomy as it looked as if it threatened to rain, but after all it was a dreary day in October, the weather was always unpredictable this time of year, Simon half smiled to himself, as he glanced at Isabelle who wasn't paying attention to him, maybe that was what was wrong, she was just like the weather, sometimes a sunny warm day and sometimes a stormy cold unpredictable one.

He turned his head back to the window, before she could notice he was watching her again, as he saw a shape move out of the corner of his eye and turned to see a pretty blonde waitress stopping by their table smiling, she wore a tight white shirt and stopped by their table, looking at Magnus and then Simon.

"Sure I can't get you anything, darling?" she asked Simon, batting her eye lashes as she watched him,

"Um. Just…water." He said with a crooked grin, Isabelle raised an eyebrow as the waitress winked at him with a smile, Isabelle looked up glaring at her as the waitress turned to Magnus.

"I would like some more pink lemonade please, and also can you put in an order in the kitchen for more eggrolls?"

She nodded and made a note as Magnus watched and spoke again, "And those little rice balls, their excellent."

"Anything for my customers." She smiled, and turned to Simon with another wink, Isabelle looked over at Simon who returned the smile shyly, as Isabelle turned her face back toward the waitress and glared as she walked off.

"What was that?" Isabelle demanded with a hiss,

"What was what?" Simon asked confused,

"You were flirting with her!" Isabelle accused poking him in the chest with her fork; flames were dancing in her dark eyes.

"I was not, she was with me first," Simon defended himself,

"Doesn't mean you have to back," Isabelle said back bitterly, and turned back to her plate as she viciously picked apart some noodles, something Simon was tempted to ask if she envisioned being his head or that of the waitress but afraid of her answer decided against asking.

Simon made a face and looked at her, "You're impossible Isabelle, one moment you act like you hate me and the next you don't! Can't you make up your mind?"

"No!" she shouted throwing down her fork, getting glances from others around them,

Magnus watched on with smirk, as his mouth twitched and he looked to the innocent bystanders watching the argument.

"Young love." He winked at a table not far from them that consisted of three lady-friends as they smiled and nodded as if they got what he meant, Simon and Isabelle on the other hand glared at each other like a pair of angry bears.

"Just because a girl happens to flirt with you doesn't mean you have to flirt back." Isabelle argued, quieter this time.

"I wasn't!" Simon told her, his voice hard as he fought to keep it down,

"Whatever." Isabelle mumbled as she pushed some of the mangled noodles around on her plate,

Magnus eyed them thoughtfully, as Simon shook his head once and looked out the window.

"It sounds like someone is j-e-a-l-o-u-s." he spelt out the word with a laugh, as Isabelle's head snapped up.

"I am not jealous!" she snapped, "I'm far from that!"

Simon rolled his eyes and didn't look toward her, as Magnus smiled amused,

"Keep telling yourself that, honey, but you are most certainly getting a visit by the little green monkey man."

Isabelle screwed up her face in a scowl as she fought the urge to hit Magnus; she ignored both him and Simon, and went back to man-handling her noodles, just as the waitress came walking up.

"Here you go, hun, and I put in the orders you asked." She told Magnus, as she handed Simon the water,

"Thank you," Magnus told her politely as she nodded and smiled back to Simon,

"Anything else I can get for you?" she asked, Simon looked over about to speak when Isabelle cut him off,

"Oh no, we're fine, really thank you for asking though." She looked up at the waitress who stared at Isabelle as if just noticing her for the first time, Isabelle made a shooing motion with her hand, as the waitress looked from Simon to Isabelle and frowned walking off, Isabelle watched after her with an amused look as the waitress walked away only turning to gaze back at them once,

Isabelle turned back to her plate satisfied with herself,

"You don't have to be rude." Observed Simon, his voice cold,

Isabelle blinked several times and looked at him, "Rude? I wasn't being rude."

"Then what would you call it?" Simon asked dryly,

Isabelle looked away from him thinking and looked up at Magnus whose eyes too seemed curious.

"I'd call it…" she began turning back to Simon, "Showing who's in charge." She said matter-of-factly,

Simon smirked, "In charge? So you're in charge of me now?"

"I didn't say that."

"Sure sounded like it." Simon told her bitterly, as he pushed his chair away from the table,

"Simon—"Isabelle began watching him with pleading eyes,

"No, Izzy, just no." he began, looking at her, she watched him and realized how mad he was, "You don't own me Izzy, and what you said before about me always coming back, well eventually it may not be like that, I may not always come back when you want me, when you think you need me, you need to either decide that you want me or not, but you can't want me one day and not the next, it doesn't work that way, either I'm here or not, your choice."

Simon stood up, as Isabelle opened her mouth to speak but he didn't pause to hear her reply, instead he heard her scramble to ask a different question.

"Where are you going?" her voice held worry, and he felt a pang of guilt that he knew he shouldn't feel, it was true he didn't want to be Isabelle's play thing whenever she needed him and then when she didn't anymore let her boss him around, he wanted a full relationship or none, he couldn't play around anymore, she either loved him and wanted him or not, and although he prayed for the former rather than later, Simon knew he had to prepare his heart for both possibilities.

"Bathroom." He called to her, not daring to turn around and meet her gaze, as he pushed through the crowd toward the restrooms.

Isabelle sighed as she watched Simon disappear into the crowd toward the bathroom, and looked back down at her plate, and realized she felt eyes watching her, she looked up to see Magnus his eyes held a certain look as if he was telling her you're stupid for screwing up, through his slitted eyes.

"What?" she snapped at him, as Magnus shrugged and put his hands up in peace,

"Nothing, but the way I see it, he'd do anything for you Isabelle and you're throwing it all away."

Isabelle glared at him, smirking, although she knew his words were true, she wasn't going to let him know that she had thought that,

"And what would you know? You're the one who broke my brother's heart." She said bitterly,

Magnus raised his eyebrows in surprise, before saying with venom in his tone, "You really don't know anything do you?"

Isabelle went silent, as she took in his words; she'd never heard Magnus say something with enough venom in his words to rip someone apart.

Isabelle looked up at his eyes that were frozen cold and angry,

"He broke my heart long before I broke up with him, you don't even know, so unless you do don't speak, and Simon there is a good boy and you're dragging him on like a puppy on a string, either love him like he deserves or let him go, Isabelle, don't play games, in the end they aren't worth it and aren't fun."

Looking away from the cold stare Isabelle swallowed and remained silent, unsure what to say, when Magnus broke the silence.

"I'm going to see if they got out the requests I made yet, feel free to eat more before we go, we still have some time left."

She looked up at him as he stood up; she noticed his tone turning numb and void of the previous emotion, like he was tired, and plain sick of fighting.

Isabelle opened her mouth to say something, but Magnus was already picking up a plate at one of the buffet bars, and she closed her mouth knowing he wouldn't hear her anyways, she sighed to herself and looked around the table.

She was alone, closing her eyes and then turning toward the window she gazed out in the gray and the drizzle that had begun to fall, and watched the rain streak the window, and realized that the empty table made her feel grateful that she had Simon and Magnus with her now, because otherwise she would be alone, Clary wasn't there, Jace and her family had no idea she was alive, nobody knew, and Isabelle knew she should be grateful for what she had, but how could she when she knew eventually it would all be taken away from her anyways?

Gazing back out the window, Isabelle caught sight of her reflection and realized how tired and pale she looked, the stunningly attractive beautiful girl that she was once was still there, but something about her face, Isabelle knew was different, but she couldn't quite tell or picture what, she turned away from the wide eyed girl that was her reflection as Magnus walked over and sat back down with another plate one side piled high with sticky rice balls as he licked his lips before popping one in his mouth.

Isabelle half smiled as she watched him and Magnus caught her eye, and swallowed before he spoke,

"Something wrong?" he asked,

Isabelle shook her head, "No, just thinking."

"On good things?" he questioned as he looked down at the food gathered on his plate,

She thought for a second before nodding slowly, and replied, "Yes. I think so."

Magnus watched her as she looked out the window, a confused look crossing his features,

"Okay, I just have to ask one thing,"

"Yeah?" Isabelle looked at him as she replied,

"It's not about me is it?" a playful tone entered his voice as she laughed,

"No." she shook her head with a small smile, Magnus let out a sigh of relief,

"Thank God, I thought you were getting a crush on me or something, and no way am I getting caught up in a love triangle again, there is only one sexy me to go around." He said as he ate another rice ball, now it was Isabelle's turn to raise an eyebrow in question,

"Again?" she asked, in regards to the love triangle,

Magnus's eyes shone with a playful spark, his eyes incredibly green-gold, "Long story," was all he said with a small laugh, and taking in Isabelle's interested expression he said, "Maybe someday when we have more time on our hands I'll explain,"

She nodded, "Sounds fair enough."

Magnus grinned this time taking a bite out of an eggroll, as Isabelle looked back at him and stood up, and she looked down at him as he remained seated, Magnus's cat eyes eyed her as she locked gazes and said,

"I'm going to get more food,"

Magnus nodded looking back to his plate, when Isabelle sighed and spoke again,

"Thank you." She said softly, making him looked back up at her,

"Thank you?" he echoed confused,

"Yes," she said, "For everything, this." She motioned around her, Magnus watched her thoughtfully,

"And helping me figure out everything else, despite what happened between you and Alec, and wanting to help me although deep down you seem to not want to, just thought I should say thank you while the moment seems right."

Magnus wiped some of the sticky ginger sauce from the chicken on his plate on his napkin and clapped once, Isabelle looked to him confused.

"Congratulations on finally showing us the sincere Isabelle,"

Isabelle's face held a shocked expression; she was being sincere wasn't she?

"Will we get to meet her often?" Magnus asked his tone hopeful.

Isabelle looked around herself awkwardly and then nodded once with a quick, "I hope so."

As a reply, getting a soft grin from Magnus as she moved from where she stood toward where the buffet bars were, and she thought about what Magnus had said, not only about being a sincere Isabelle but about playing games, she admitted that most weren't fun and the ones that were no longer applied to her, she was no longer Isabelle Lightwood, the rebellious teen that used guys and then tossed them aside, no that had all changed when Simon came into her life, and she knew even if it still scared her to death that her heart would be broken by the one person who could truly shatter her to pieces, sometimes came the time to just run with a chance, take it and not let it slip away, and after hearing what Magnus had to say, Isabelle began thinking that he was right, and Simon was right, if she didn't figure out how to become unafraid of her feelings for him, one day he would grow tired of being loved one day and unloved the next, it was time to conquer how she felt, and time to realize what she wanted, even if she knew she may not be around long in her second chance at life, it was her duty to set things right before she was put to rest again, she had one more chance and only one more and she intended to use it, anyway she could.

Isabelle picked up a plate so lost in thought she hadn't noticed eyes watching her, unfriendly eyes that sent a prickle down her spine, eyes that made her snap her head up and scan the room, it was the unfeeling cold eyes of something she was all too familiar with. Demons.

Isabelle scanned the room for the source of the feeling she got, as her eyes came to rest on a young man dressed in a dark gray suit, his tie the color of blood and around him were three others, they also worse suits—black, blue, and pinstripe, their ties various shades of burgundy to dark rust color red. The first man flashed a cold smile at Isabelle showing jagged teeth as the other did the same, Isabelle's heart lurched, as her blood ran cold, and she froze locking gazes with them, as they regarded her, and she realized she had no Marks, no stele, and most of all, no seraph blades, she held the plate in her hands tightly, as she backed away slowly as she could, back toward Magnus, she would tell him maybe he would know what to do, but it wasn't until she was nearly back to their table when she realized the demons table was right next to the large sign that read, Restrooms.

Simon.

Her mind snapped, like the very whip she wished she had with her, Simon was in there, they could easily get to him, Isabelle kept her eyes on the men as they laughed and whispered the one with the blood red tie never taking his black eyes off Isabelle, as she heard Magnus speak.

"Isabelle? Is something wrong what is it?"

All Isabelle could do was nod slowly toward the direction she stared at, she saw Magnus out of the corner of her eyes, although confused he looked toward where her gaze was fixed.

"I don't see anything—"he began to say and then paused, as she realized he too saw what she saw,

"What do we do?" she asked him softly, as she saw Magnus stand up just as the man with his eyes fixed on her did.

"Well, we have two options."

Isabelle tore her face away from the demons, only to look at Magnus standing next to her.

"Which are?" she asked,

Magnus watched the demons as they too stood up, one flexing his claws,

"We fight and we die, or we fight and we live."

Isabelle looked from him to the demons, as people began turning heads, Isabelle was unsure what they had seen, likely their mundane eyes only showed them robbers or some other criminal rather than what they really were.

"Is there no other option?" Isabelle asked quietly, as one of the demon men pointed toward them giving the others instruction.

"I'm afraid not." He said his voice tight, as he moved forward Isabelle opened her mouth to say something else, right when the screaming began.

another cliff hanger i suppose...but that's what makes it fun :) the next chapter i'm hoping will be up sometime soon possibly today or later this evening so it will hopefully be there soon :) remember to review, favorite, follow, etc and if have any questions or anything may like to see in coming chapters to let me know! i'm always opened to suggestions or if you just want to say, that was excellent or anything you'd like to say. thanks for reading!