++++++ So if all goes well with this fic it will be broken up into six parts, each following the books in the series with some movie/TV series elements to it.

I hope you enjoy.

I do not own ++++++

Four

"Someone please explain to me why I'm out in the middle of the night to rescue a rat from vampires?" Esme huffed as they walked down Diamond Street towards the great big gothic church.

"We're rescuing my friend!" Clary argued.

Jace and Gabriella rolled their eyes, arms crossed against their chests. Esme looked at the two and shook her head. "Mundane," they both muttered under their breath.

"I'll wait here whilst you get your gear," Esme told them as they came to the wrought iron fence outside the church.

"Wait," Clary frowned, "you're not coming?"

"I don't do churches," Esme deadpanned.

"But-" Gabriella started only to be grabbed by Jace and dragged inside.

"Come on, Gabby," he teased.

"Don't call me Gabby!" Gabriella snapped.

Esme laughed and stayed back, leaning against fence to wait. She leant back and fiddled with her stele, the instrument that shadowhunters used to put runes onto their skin. Hers was custom made, given to her by her mother and made from adamas and daylight alexandrite decorated with silver skulls and roses-uncommon for most shadowhunters but she loved it.

As she drew a rune into her arm for stealth, Esme could hear people talking. She put her hand on her seraph blade, ready to draw it only to realise that the two teens who had been with Clary at the party were back, they were armed to the teeth.

"It's you from the party," Isabelle frowned, "what are you doing here?"

"I'd ask you the same thing," Esme replied. "But it's obvious since you're so well armed. The three are inside getting some supplies."

"What are you doing here?" Alec asked her.

"Helping Jocelyn," Esme answered. "And before you ask, they came to help," she told The three as they came out of the church. We need to take a subway back uptown," she explained, walking off.

"Back uptown?" Isabelle gasped. "You're kidding me?!"

"Izzy," Alec muttered.

"We're looking for a hotel off 116th," Esme explained. "The Children of the Night are holed up there. Are you sure you're alright breaking Clave rules?" She glanced at Gabriella but didn't say anything. She'd heard that Gabriella Herondale was on the list to become the next Inquisitor when her grandmother stepped down-this was of course just a rumour. As she walked, it was obvious that Gabriella was very close behind her, following her every move.

They found the hotel, finally, after an hour of looking, in a side street just off 116th like Esme had said. They'd actually walked past it twice, thinking it was just another abandoned apartment building, before Clary saw the hotel sign. It had come loose from a nail and was dangled hidden behind a stunted tree. It should have said Hotel Dumont but some smart ass vampire had painted out the N and replaced it with an R.

"Hotel Dumort," Jace said when Clary pointed it out.

"Cute," Esme muttered under her breath. "Hotel…of death!" she gasped making Gabriella giggle a little.

"Giggling like a two-year-old I see," Jace muttered right before Gabriella hit him in the back of the head. "Ouch!" he gasped.

"Thank the angel it wasn't your ugly face," Gabriella muttered.

"How exactly do you plan on getting inside?" Clary asked them. "I mean the whole place is boarded up. How do the vampires get inside?"

"They fly," Jace said, waving his hands around like a crazy person at the upper floors of the building.

"We don't fly," Clary pointed out.

"No," Jace agreed, "we don't."

"We don't fly," Isabelle added, "but we break and enter."

"How?" Clary inquired.

"Supply cellar," Esme answered. "The only reason I know this place is here is because I tracked a rabid vampire here once. It was agreed on equal terms to put her down. I came in through the supply cellar." She took the lead again and walked into the alley, unafraid of the garbage littering the street, she started ratting through the trash, Gabriella surprisingly going to help her. Eventually the two found a piece of metal grating with thin, rust coloured bars. She lifted it and threw it aside.

"Alright," Gabriella huffed, "Jace, you and Clary look for Simon. Alec, you and Isabelle will cover, going from room to room, floor to floor, Esme you're with me. We split in the lobby, back in ten."

"Oh what fun," Esme answered. She brushed her hands off and stepped into the darkness of the hole in the ground.

"She doesn't play well with others," Isabelle muttered.

"She's an outcast," Gabriella reminded her, jumping into the darkness.

They followed Esme inside, through the darkness she was confidently navigating her way through the hotel where the others needed their witchlights, she just strolled through like she owned the place. She was even humming.

"Split up," Gabriella ordered when they got to the lobby, "we'll cover more ground that way."

Clary tripped and hit the ground. She rolled over and went to get up but froze. Her bottom lip quivered and she screamed, pointing to the stairs surrounding the lobby. The stars were filled with people…well vampires. Row after row of vampires with their white faces looking down on them with amused expressions.

"Well spotted, Clary," Gabriella muttered.

Shapes came from the darkness, taking the shapes of vampires that surrounded them.

"STOP!" Esme shouted. "Hello…you remember little old me, don't you?"

"Esme Ravenscar." A raven haired vampire came out of the shadows. "Here we are again…this time you bring five shadowhunter's with you."

"Yeah-let's just dispel with the pleasantries," she sighed. "We're after a rat. A little brown rat-he's not one of you. He's a mundane…please hand him over, Lily. We'll be on our way."

"We didn't take any human boys home with us from the party," Lily objected. "That would have been a violation of the Covenant."

She frowned seeing a vampire holding a little, squirming brown rat. "That's Simon?" Esme asked Clary.

The red headed teenager nodded. "Yes. That's Simon."

Esme raised her bow. "You all know me. You know who I am. You know that I do not followed the teachings or the lore of the Clave. The rat, now Lily."

The vampire huffed at her. "Not going to happen, shadowhunter."

"Right well…don't say I didn't warn you," Esme shrugged. She fired her bow and the fight started.

Clary dove straight at the vampire holding Simon, she managed to get a hold of him only to have the vampires at her jacket. She stripped herself out of her jacket and ran to seek shelter from the fight.

Esme would never admit it but she was loving the fact that she was fighting shoulder to shoulder with fellow shadowhunter's after giving up that dream so long ago.

Gabrielle was so entranced in her battle that she failed to notice the vampire coming up behind her.

Esme cried out as the vampire claws cut into the flesh of her back.

Gabriella spun around. "What?"

"Pay attention," she snapped, diving into a crowd of vampires, seraph blade flashing.

Gabriella stabbed a vampire in the chest, killing it, she spun around and took out another one.

"Gabriella!" Alec shouted, tackling her to the ground. "By the angel, are you alright?"

Gabriella rubbed her head where the gash was. "I'll heal, thank you, Alec."

"Wait till you say yes first!" Jace shouted across the room. "Can't keep your hands off each other. Might as well have the wedding now."

Alec and Gabriella got to their feet and simultaneously stabbed a vampire in the chest, withdrawing their seraph blades in sync. "When we get back, I'm gonna hit your parabatai where the sun don't shine," Gabriella warned Alec.

"Not going to stop you," Alex replied.

An arrow flew past her head and embedded itself into a female vampire's chest. Seconds later she exploded. Esme grinned, "it worked!" she laughed, using her bow to kill another vampire.

"What the bloody hell was that?" Gabriella snapped.

"Arrow packed with black powder," Esme grinned. "You can learn from mundanes after all." She loaded a bow and stepped back in a circle with Alec and Gabriella at her back, they were soon joined by Clary and the rat before long, Jace and Isabelle as the vampire encircled them.

"The situation could be worse," Esme shrugged.

"Could be worse!" Clary practically shrieked, clutching Simon the Rat in her arms. "Could be worse?"

The windows suddenly exploded inwards in a shower of broken glass. Each of the shadowhunter's whirled in astonishment, shock mixed with terror on their faces. Dozens of sleek shapes, four paws and low to the ground, their coats scattering moonlight and broken bits of glass. Their eyes were full of blue fire, and from their throats came a combined low growl that sounded like the roiling crash of a waterfall.

Werewolves.

"Now this," said Jace, "is a situation."

Gabriella smiled seeing the familiar form of a sleeker black wolf.

"Gabby's got the right idea!" Esme grinned. "Laugh in the face of death!"

"Don't call me Gabby," Gabriella snipped.

"See that lobby door?" Esme asked.

"Yeah?" Jace nodded.

"Duck," she grinned, loosening an arrow. A red feathered arrow flew through the air and hit the barricaded door with a thud. Seconds later it exploded. Esme, the only one smart enough to cover her ears did not have a ringing in them.

"You're insane!" Gabriella yelled.

"Insane is as insane does!" Esme laughed. "Out the door." She grabbed a handful of uncut diamonds from her pocket. She waited until everyone was out the door before she whispered under her breath. The diamonds exploded in a ray of ultra-violet light, protecting the doorway and their exit.

"What in the name of the angel is that?" Gabriella gasped.

"Like I said," Esme grinned, "you can learn a lot from the mundanes. It's sunlight trapped inside diamonds. It'll take me another month out in the sun to get them that powerful again but it's worth it. Now leg it whilst the bloodsuckers fight the puppies."

-XXX-

Esme followed the ragtag group of teenagers back to the Institute, providing some cover for them before they reached consecrated ground.

Esme looked up at the Institute…by the angel it was beautiful, she thought to herself. It reminded her so much of home…it hurt.

"Come in," Gabriella invited her. "Please."

She shook her head. "No. I'd rather not."

"Gabriella!"

"In case you didn't notice," she hissed, "she's wounded."

Jace cocked an eyebrow. "Huh?" he grunted.

"I'm inviting her in," Gabriella told them all, "if this comes back on you, I will bear the brunt of it as I am the elder. Inside, now!" she barked. "Beside's I think Esme should know what she might have accidentally gotten herself into by allying herself with Jocelyn. She's a sitting target with Valentine out there."

Esme gasped. "Are you kidding me?"

"Inside!" Gabriella snapped.

Esme hung back. Gabriella grabbed her arm and led her inside.

Standing in the street wearing a blood red dress, Gwendoline Nighthallow grinned. "Soon…Esme…soon."

++++++ Before you ask-yes Alec is still gay, no Gabriella will not end up married to him...there's someone else for her which will be explored in either chapter 5 or chapter 6 where we get to learn more about Gabriella's family ++++++