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The darkness disappeared and I found myself in a light room. The walls made out of dark stone. No windows, a door made out of thick metal. It was small. My hands were smeared with blood and my whole body was aching. I heard steps. They were coming.

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I woke up heavily breathing, immediately sitting up. I had no opportunity to look around because an instant later a man sat down on the side of the bed. He wanted to touch my face but I flinched back and fended off his hand. "Shh, calm down. I'm not going to hurt you. My name is Jace. I found you in the Pandemonium." He had a bit longer blonde hair, was pale and had two different eye colors. One eye was blue, the other one part blue and part brown. Actually more golden than brown. I've never seen something like that. "You got bitten by a demon. The iratze did not work, so we needed to give you an antidote. You are in the institute of New York." Oh no, not another institute.

I threw back the blanket that was over my legs and stood up. I was still wearing my clothes but my jacket was missing. The moment I stood up I started to get dizzy. I held onto the wall and tried to balance myself out. "You should come back to bed. You are still weak." If he called me weak again I was about to tear his rip cage open. I still held onto the wall. I could feel the energy coming back. The blonde guy just stared at me. "Do you understand me? Can you speak English? Français? Español? Or no?" He raised an eyebrow, probably expecting an answer. Dumbass, I speak all of those languages, plus some more. I just did not want to talk to him.

My eyes wandered through the room. It was small. There was just a tiny window, a normal sized bed and a nightstand. That's it. Well, more than I had back in Siberia. Jace stood up and came towards me. He was about one head taller than me, maybe even some more and probably in his early twenties. He came a step closer and out of reflex I stepped backwards, pushing myself against the wall and banging my head. "Hey, be careful. Why don't you talk?" We were interrupted. Another person entered the room. He was a bit taller than Jace, had dark hair and dark eyes. "Oh, you are awake. Good. Tell me, who send you." He seemed to be angry. "Alec, that's not the right way to start. Just..." He could not speak further.

Alec: "You saw what she did. She is a threat. I don't know what she did to that demon but it's not normal."

Jace: "She wanted to kill the demon. We do that too. It's just another way, I guess."

I brought some distance between me and the wall and wanted to sneak away while Alec and Jace were arguing but the brown-haired soon noticed and pushed me back onto the wall. A stinging pain went through my body.

Jace: "Alec! Stop it! You hurt her! What is wrong with you?"

Alec: "What is wrong with me?! You brought a stranger into our institute, and we can't even tell if she is a nephilim. Maybe she's a demon. Stop trusting in people."

They were shouting now. Alec still grabbed onto my shoulder and every time he got angrier the grip became tighter. I grabbed his wrist and twisted his arm behind his back. With a kick below the knees he laid on the floor. The argument stopped.

Jace started to laugh out loud.

Jace: "You got laid by a girl. I thought you were gay. I'm about to tell Magnus."

Alec got up, presented me another grumpy expression and went out of the room again. What would I give to go too? I stared into the eyes of Jace. He giggled.

Jace: "My brother hates you now. You screwed up."

I always screw up, that's nothing new. Otherwise, I did not really mind.

Jace: "Do you want to leave?"

I just nodded.

Jace: "I see, you understand me. I mean, you can go if you want to but I would not advise it. You aren't fit yet. Get some rest. You can stay here. You are a nephilim. And if you go, where are you going to stay?"

I shrugged my shoulders and went towards the door.

Jace: "You don't trust me. Okay. I'll need to accept that. Let me get your jacket."

I went outside the door and stood in a long hallway. I guessed the direction and went right. Soon Jace came after and gave me my jacket.

Jace: "Isn't that jacket too cold for this time of year?"

Again I did not answer. He talked way too much. I began to get claustrophobic. The hallway was so tiny. I walked faster until I reached a bigger room with high ceilings. Jace overtook me and went to the big door, opening it for me.

Jace: "Listen, you don't have to go. Alec is a bit grumpy but overall it's nice here."

Oh by hell, I needed to go. As I stepped through the door Jace held me back one more time, whispering.

Jace: "Take me with you, please. Show me what you did."