I wake with a sudden start, shooting up in a bed...who's bed? I glance around wildly, noticing that I'm in a random room, some kind of hospital-looking place.

My gaze drifts downwards and I notice that my clothes are gone and are instead replaced by a long black shirt that hangs to my knees...what the hell is going on?

"Where's Clary!?" I yell instinctively, not expecting a response, until...

"She's right her-ow!" A female voice speaks before being cut off by a spry orange head shooting up and smacking her in the face on the bed she's poised upon

"Clary!" I gasp, shooting from the bed and sliding to the floor by her side, grabbing her hand instantly, "Oh my God, are you alright?"

"Cami!" Clary gasps, before her head snaps towards the unknown company at the end of her bed, "Wait...Who are you? I don't know you-"

"I'm Isabelle" she interrupts, a bright smile etched across her angelic face, "I've never seen Jace so curious about a couple of mundanes...or distracted"

At the word 'distracted,' her eyes flit specifically to Clary and I frown. If she's talking about that blonde, tattooed guy from our house, he's got another thing coming...

"Like you saw earlier, distractions are dangerous in our line of work"

"Excuse me..." I defend, standing from the floor to gain height, feeling, for some unknown reason, threatened, "What line of work is that exactly?"

"Who's Jace?" Clary pipes up, her hand still in mine

"You really don't know much do you?" Isabelle condescends, a knowing smile on her face, a smile that just makes me angrier

"All we know is some psycho's taken our mother, and now you random people have taken me and my sister" Clary quivers, her eyes darting uncomfortably around the room

It's at that moment that I, too, take in my surroundings. We seem to be in some kind of gothic church, adorned with high, stained glass walls and ancient, historic looking pillars and stonework...but inside, where we stand, it looks high-tech and modern. Pristine white beds, marble floors, modern technology spaced throughout the room, glass walls. It was a strange mix between old and new...and it was making me uncomfortable.

"The mundanes shouldn't even be here" A gruff voice speaks from behind me and I spin around, spotting the blonde boy from earlier and...

Wow.

He was unlike anyone I'd ever seen before. Tall, at least a foot taller than me, with dark black hair and penetrating hazel eyes. He was ridiculously handsome, more attractive then anyone I had ever met in my life but there was a hardness to him, a coldness that I couldn't quite place, almost like an armour...

My eyes connect with his and I watch as the mask peels away infinitesimally, revealing some hint of exposed emotion before closing right back up again.

I'd always been incredibly intuitive when it came to people, that's why short, millisecond moments like the pretty boy's mask slipping were easy for me to catch but even so, something about this guy was impossible even for me to crack.

"Where is 'here' exactly?" Clary demands, her bravado returning

"They're not mundanes, Alec" The blonde sighs, as if this was the millionth time he'd told him this.

Alec.

Nice name.

"How do you know that?" Alec snarks

"Because the seraph blade lit up when she touched it" Jace explains

"I'm sorry" I turn to Clary, frown present, "Since when do you go around wielding blades?"

"Cami...at the club" Clary scoffs, "Remember? I told you there were these guys and the creepy monster thing and-"

"I'm Jace Wayland" Blondie interrupts, moving toward the vacant space left behind by Izzy

"Hey, Blondie, how about you get the hell away from my sister, huh?" I sneer, stepping in between him and the bed

"It's Jace"

"I don't care" I taunt, "I don't know you, she doesn't know you and you have no damn business being anywhere near us, so if you don't tell me where the fuck we are right now, I will call the cops"

Jace bursts into laughter, Izzy smirks, Alec...well, Alec sticks with the same displeased expression he entered with.

"Cops, huh?" Jace chuckles, "As if they could find the place. Look, if you just chill for a minute, I'll explain"

"Fine" I concede, "But you sit away from her"

Jace raises his hands in mock surrender before sitting on a chair across from Clary's bed as I take a seat at the edge of it, my hand still tightly clasped in hers.

"As I said, I'm Jace Wayland" he continues

"We're-"

"Clary and Cami Fray, yeah we know who you are" Jace interjects, cutting Clary off

"Am I the only one who finds this unusual?" Alec says, speaking before I can ask Jace how, exactly, he knows us.

"You find everything unusual, Alec" Jace sighs

"Nope, he's not alone" I voice, "I find this just as weird. I mean you people come out of nowhere and then-"

That's when I spot a raw, red looking mark on Clary's neck...almost like a tattoo...

"And then you brand my fucking sister!?" I screech, tilting Clary's neck to the side, examining the mark

"Cami! Ow!" Clary squirms, "What are you talking about?"

"They tattooed you or something!" I shout, "You've got this weird mark on your neck...Who the hell are you people?"

Jace, Isabelle and Alec are all calm, not even a hint of any emotion on their faces. Except amusement, in Jace's case...

How could they be so calm? And who the hell do they think they are? Tattooing my sister!

"Are you going to let me explain?" Jace utters, "Or are you just going to keep screaming?"

"Why should I listen to you?" I snap, "You've tattooed my baby sister and God knows what you did to me!"

"If I hadn't of put that mark on her neck, she would've died from that demon wound" Jace announces, "And if Alec hadn't of done the same to you, you would have, too"

"Wh-What?" I stutter, anger disappearing as my hand flies to my shoulder, where that monster had attacked me...he was right, there was no wound there and instead, there was a tattoo identical to the one Clary has where the bite had been.

"So, what, you tattoo us and we magically heal?" I ask

"No, no, don't confuse us with warlocks" Jace laughs, shaking his head

"A what?" Clary questions

"A warlock" Jace informs, an underlying tone suggesting we should know what that is, "It's one of the Downworlders"

"Okay, you're not making any sense" Clary breathes

"I have to report this to the Clave" Alec interjects again.

Jeez, he just loves to interrupt people, doesn't he?

Wait...

Clave.

Why do I feel like I've heard that word before?

"You know what? Dial it down a notch" Jace addresses him, becoming more and more frustrated with each word coming from Alec's mouth

"My brother doesn't have a dial" Izzy pipes up, "I love you, Alec, but you have a switch that's always on"

"I love you, too" Alec smiles at her warmly and my heart threatens to skip a beat. It was the first time he'd looked anywhere near happy and, I had to say, it was a nice sight, "But this just-"

"Hey, you know what? Give me a minute" Jace intrudes this time, raising a hand at Alec to stop him from talking but when Alec doesn't budge, he tries again, "Here's a word you never hear me say...Please?"

"What is with you?" Alec inquires, frustrated, "Really, no, what is with him?"

"Walk with me, big brother" Izzy speaks, grabbing Alec by the arm and leading him to the door, casting one last look behind him at us...or more specifically, at me.

"Downworlders" Jace returns to the conversation as if no one had interrupted, "You know, warlocks, vampires, seelies-"

"Ok, my brain is literally about to explode!" Clary cuts him off

"Jeez, alright, I'll keep it simple for you, then" Jace huffs, leaning further forward in the chair "All the legends are true. We're Shadowhunters. We protect the human world from the demon world. So those...'people' you saw murdered at the Pandemonium, Clary, they weren't people at all, they were shapeshifting demons"

"Woah, woah, woah. Okay, Buffy, slow your roll" I scoff, "Do you really expect us to buy into this shit? Look, we are not interested in being a part of you little fantasy fight club"

"We just want to find our Mom" Clary declares, gripping tighter to my hand, "All we care about is finding our mother. So would you please...Please, help us find her"

"I'm the best chance you've got"

"We don't even know you" Clary whispers

And then, the most blessed of sounds -- my phone rings.

I jump at the sound cutting through the tense atmosphere before scrambling up from Clary's bed and shooting across to mine, where my phone lay on the mussed sheets, flashing Simon's name across the screen.

"It's Simon!" I tell Clary, hitting the answer button, "Simon!"

"Why is Clary's phone not ringing?" Simon demands, "And why haven't you been answering yours for two days?"

"Two days?" I exclaim, eyes widening, "Things are...kind of hectic, right now, Si"

"Where are you guys?" Simon questions, "Find my Friends says your phone is in an abandoned church on Deighton...I'm outside"

"You're outside?" I squeak, rushing to a window overlooking the outside, Clary close behind me.

"I see him" Clary exhales

"Was that Clary?" Simon observes, "Cami, seriously, what the hell is going on? I can't see you guys!"

"Uh just..." I muse, looking down at the long, black shirt I'm in. It was covering everything but not enough and I suddenly felt incredibly self-conscious, "Give us 10 minutes, we need to get dressed"

"Dressed?" Simon stresses, "What are you guys doing undressed in an abandoned church? Guys...is there a meth problem we need to talk about?"

"Simon...just, give us a couple minutes, okay?" I plead exasperatedly before ending the call and whirling on Jace, "What happened to our clothes, by the way?"

"Demon venom" Jace replies in a 'duh' tone, "Remember?"

"So that means you strip me and put me in some random shirt half naked?" I snap, subconsciously pulling on the now incredibly short hem of the shirt.

"Isabelle left you both some clothes" Jace gestures to a bed with two outfits, one a very short-looking leather dress and another, a pair of very dark black leather pants and a tight-looking red shirt that for sure would show more skin then necessary...oh and some 'who the hell can even walk in those' high heels.

"Does she work the corner or something?" Clary scoffs, picking up the scanty outfit

"No" Jace growls, "And don't let her hear you say that, either. She's just...very comfortable with her body"

"Clearly" I note, raising an eyebrow as I study the very tight, very not me clothes.

"Yeah, you have that" I point to the dress before snatching up the pants and tight shirt, "I don't have the legs for that dress"

***

I stand hesitantly in front of the mirror, pulling my long red hair behind my ear, spotting the weird tattoo on my shoulder, very nakedly exposed thanks to the mesh fabric of Isabelle's shirt.

"You know, I still don't get everything that's going on here" I scoff, "But how does tattooing us save us from 'demon bites'"

"They're not tattoos" Jace explains, "They're what we call runes. They have enormous power. Good for Shadowhunters like us and lethal for humans"

"Lethal?"

"But you" Jace ignores my question, turning to Clary instead, a notebook in his hand, "You already know all about runes, don't you?"

"What are you talking about?" I enquire, snatching the notebook from Jace and looking down at it, they're are a bunch of Clary's aztec marking drawings inked across the page, the same ones that got her into the Brooklyn Academy, "Clary draws these all the time. They're for her and Simon's graphic novel"

"Wait, you...you don't know about runes?" Jace questions, confused

"No" Clary confirms, looking at the drawings, "I just thought these up in my head...or, at least, I thought I did"

"That just makes you even more interesting...Clary Fray" Jace ponders

"Uh, okay, creep, that's enough 'you're so interesting and strange' crap for today" I sneer, "Now, could you kindly show us the way out of here so we can get to our friend?"

***

"I saw something behind your friend" Jace announces, glowing blade in hand as we march towards the front doors of the church, me stumbling slightly in the skyscraper heels loaned to me by Isabelle.

"You're not gonna kill him, are you?" Clary questions nervously

"Protect the humans, kill the demons" Jace recites, "You'll get it eventually"

As we emerge out the doors of the church, I spot Simon a little ways down the front steps, looking nervous and uncomfortable.

"So...why can't Simon see you, again?" Clary asks and my mind flashes back to Clary mentioning being the only one able to see him at the club

"This is a glamour" Jace informs, pulling his shirt up to reveal another 'rune,' "It's a rune that makes me invisible to the mundanes. It's a shame, really, denying them all this..."

"Ha!" I chortle as Jace gestures to himself, "You're not all that, Buffy"

"Who's Buffy?" Jace inquires

"Mundane thing" I wink, "You needn't worry"

"What in the hell are you guys wearing?!" Simon voices, concern lacing his voice as he shrugs off his hoodie and places it around Clary's shoulders, "Let me take you guys home...I-I brought the van"

"We don't have one anymore, Si" I whisper, my guard slipping in the company of someone I trust

"What? Why? What do you mean?" Simon fires, frowning

"Camille Fairchild!" A man's voice sounds from behind me and I spin on my heel to face a man in all black, the same man from the police station who was talking to Luke, holding one of those glowing blade things...

The hair on the back of my neck stands up and I shrink slightly into a low crouch, somehow instinctively knowing that this position would be best for a fight...but before I can make any move, Jace appears behind the man, gripping him in a headlock.

The man's blade drops to the ground with a clatter and Clary gasps in shock, leaning back into me.

"What's going on?" Simon asks, unsure as to why I was setting myself up for a fight and Clary was squealing in concern as Jace battled the man, "What are you looking at?"

"If you give us the girls, I'll let you live" the man bargains but Jace scoffs

"You're in no position to be making rules" Jace growls but the man takes his distraction and uses it to head butt Jace and lunge for the blade again

Clary yelps and Simon jumps, his hands fluttering around her, trying to both comfort her and make sense of exactly what was frightening her. Jace and the man engage in a struggle, both of them gripping the sword, Jace trying to move it away from him.

"Cami!" Clary screams as I pull from her grasp and run towards Jace and the attacker

Before I even grasp exactly what I'm doing I effortlessly kick the man square in the chest, somehow keeping my balance all the while scooping up the blade which continues to glow at my touch.

Jace moves to push me away but I dive out of his way naturally and roll across the ground before ducking a punch swung by the mans hand. In the same moment it takes Jace to regroup and the attacker to swing another punch I duck, swerve...and plunge the blade straight into the attackers chest

"We'll never stop hunting you" the man grunts as the blade sinks into his skin, "Or your sister"

I drop the blade and let the man fall to the ground. Jace, suddenly next to me, gives me a strange look of both apprehension and surprise.

"Cami!" Clary squeals before Jace can say anything, rushing over to us with Simon close behind, "Jace!"

"Is he dead?" I ask, voice quivering. The strange haze that had passed over me a moment ago and I was stunned.

When had I ever learned to fight like that?

Or better yet...

Why did I put myself in danger when Jace was handling it?

"Is who dead?" Simon asks, aggravated, "What the..."

"Could you deglamourize or whatever, so our best friend doesn't think we're losing our minds?" Clary asks

Jace lifts his shirt, revealing the glamour rune again before using some sort of metal stick to wave over it, making the rune shine...wait a second.

"Hey, I have one of those" I gesture to the metal stick

"Stele. I'll explain later" Jace informs, "In the meantime, can you tell me just how the hell you-"

"Um...what the hell is happening?" Simon speaks up, swallowing loudly

"Yeah, we don't have the luxury right now, kid. Everyone, back inside"

"Guys, who is this, your meth dealer?" Simon exclaims

"Jeez, Simon, what's with the meth thing? We're not on meth!" I remark

"I've seen him before" Clary denounces, pointing to the dead body, "At the police station. Remember, Cami?"

"He's a member of the Circle" Jace points out, and the word 'Circle' makes me want to slip into that fighting crouch again but I restrain myself, "He was here for you and Cami"

"He's with the people who took out mother" I snarl

"Right, and your little friend here brought him right to you!" Jace snaps, "He's here to capture...or maybe even kill you both"

"There's a dead body there, we have to call Luke!" Simon pipes up

"Simon" I murmur, "I killed him. You saw me do it. Are you really going to out me for this?"

"Well...it was self defence, right? Luke will understand!"

"We can't trust Luke, Simon!" Clary interjects, "We can't"

"Clary, I need to keep you safe...and your sister, too" Jace comments, grabbing her arm and looking into her eyes, "I promise you, I promise I am gonna help you find your mother. But you're both one of us...you're Shadowhunters"

"What are you talking about?" Simon repeats, "Guys...you don't know this guy, alright? Come with me, I can get us help"

"Clary, please" Jace entices, "Cami..."

"Guys, come on, we gotta go"

"Simon, I think Jace can help us" I concede, "Trust me, I don't like him either but he knows things that you don't and...he can help us find our mother"

"Hey, I just saved your life" Jace snarks

"Actually" I whirl on him, "I'm pretty sure I just saved yours"

"Yeah, about that, how did you know what you were doing..." Jace asks

"I don't know" I answer honestly, "I think I just...knew"

"That wasn't instinct, Cami" Jace fires back, "That was trained, that was professional...what aren't you telling me?"

"Nothing!" Clary urges, "We don't know anything! Simon, please, just trust us! If you can't trust him, trust me, trust Cami. We can't go to Luke, we can't go home, we need to just trust him."

Simon gives her a weary look but nods softly, smiling comfortingly at us both. Jace huffs, bored by the exchange, before walking towards the church door, me following grudgingly behind him and just behind me, Clary and Simon.

"How do we know this Mick Jagger-looking guy is even gonna try-"

"Mick Jagger, huh?" I interrupt, trying to smooth over Simon's tension, "I've been calling him Buffy"

"You know, he does kind of look like the male Buffy, you're right" Simon jokes, the whirlwind events passing over his head for a second

"Mundane, we do not have the time" Jace snarls at Simon

"Hey, back off, Buffy" I spit, glaring at him, "He's with us and that's where he's staying."