I did not give in and pushed him away from me, holding onto him tho.

Jace: "Oh my... I am so sorry. I don't know why I did this. Please don't tell anyone!"

His heartbeat became even faster. With a hand movement I closed the door. No one needed to hear.

Freja: "It's alright, don't worry. It's between you and me. It happens. You are confused right now. I understand that you long for someone. I'll listen if you want to tell me something that burns on your soul. We can get this. It's not just Clary, right?"

Jace: "No, everything is upside down right now. Clary just hangs out with Simon, Alec is just with Magnus, Izzy is somewhere in other bedrooms with downworlders or other shadowhunters and you are gone too. I'm like the only one left. And now I even kissed you and Raphael will rip my head off."

Freja: "Raphael will never find out. It was  nothing. I'll talk with Simon about it if you want. He'll give Clary to you once in a while." I grinned.

Jace: "Why would he listen to you?"

Freja: "Vampires aren't allowed to kill mundanes. But they are allowed to kill other vampires. He either listens and behaves the way he should or he will never step a foot into the hotel again. And he needs to because of the blood. Where else would he get fresh blood?"

Jace: "You are such a bitch."

Freja: "I know."

We both laughed and I gave him a hug. For sure I did not feel anything love-related to him but he definitely is a good friend of mine by now.

After some hours I went back to the hotel. By now I even could travel shorter routes with vampire speed. Raphael taught me. He was already in bed and waited for me.

Raphael: "Where have you been that long?" He seemed stressed out.

Freja: "At the institute." I undressed myself and put on one of Raphaels shirts. Then I joined him under the blanket.  He put his arm around my waist. "You look stressed. What happened?"

Raphael: "There's a new vampire in New York. He killed a mundane. The clave thinks it was one of my followers. We will need to search him and deliver him to the shadowhunters. Idiotas."

I thought about it for some seconds and smiled.

Freja: "Let me help."

Raphael got up immediately and stared at me.

Raphael: "No, I won't allow that. You could get killed. It's too dangerous. No está sucediendo."

Freja: "We don't know. I'll just watch. I won't get to close. But I can at least track him. That would be a lot easier."

Raphael: "Magnus can do that too. No es necesario."

Freja: "He can do it for sure. He's the one who taught me. Let me help. It's the problem of the clan. Why do you want another person to join in?"

He groaned.

Raphael: "Okay fine. But you stay back. I don't want to see you anywhere near him. The hunt will begin tomorrow night."

I smiled. This was going to be my first hunt. For sure I was not going to hold myself back.

The night after we stood in front of the hotel. Raphael held onto my hand. Four more vampires joined, I only knew two of them: Kieran and Joanne. Both of them got bitten just 4 years ago. One of the unknown followers came towards me. "I suppose you are Miss Freja Santiago. It's nice to meet you. My name is Aldo Palazzi, San Marino, 1984." I just smiled. Santiago was not part of the plan but I let it stand there. Raphael started to giggle.

Aldo: "And this is my best friend, Caleb, Sacramento, 1989." He pointed at the other vampire. He waved at me and smiled, revealing his fangs.

Raphael: "I thank you for your help. Remember, don't kill him. Did you get the shred?"

Caleb gave Raphael a piece of dark fabric.

Raphael: "This piece of fabric was found with the corpse. We think it's part of a shirt. Probably of the killer. You still want to do this?"

I just grinned and took it out of his hand. I closed my eyes and let the fabric wander through my fingers. Some seconds later I exactly knew where we needed to go. I did not know the address, I just had a strong feeling. I followed it in vampire speed. I stopped an alley away and pointed at a corner. I did not want to talk. Vampires can hear over miles. I wanted to go some steps further but Raphael pulled me back and pressed me against the wall, giving me a silent kiss on the forehead. Probably meant "Stay here"... You bet. He almost reached the dark corner of the alley when I heard a scream. It was too late. He already found a new victim. I climbed onto the roof of the next building. Raphael wanted to distract or surprise him and tie him up with a magical rope... Why should he do that if we can do encanto? I jumped down again and made eye contact with the killer. He already bit his victim. Blood ran down his lips. His eyes were surrounded by darkness. It looked horrible. He was surprised, didn't think I was dangerous tho and came closer. "Oh, another vampire? Isn't it forbidden to turn children?" He stood right in front of me. I still held eye contact. I wanted him to stop. The world around us seemed to disappear. I put all my effort into telling him to stand still and not move.  And he did. I could feel an energetic connection between us. A rope was looped around him and the eye contact interrupted when Raphael grabbed me by the upper arms.

Raphael: "What do you think were you doing? He could have killed you!"

Freja: "I wanted to practice Encanto. Nothing wrong with it."

Raphael: "We can't do Encanto on other vampires!" He was angry, almost shouting.

Freja: "Well, I think I can."