Part 1 "The Mutated Demon"

Chapter 1 "The Earth Will Not Stop Turning"

I've never went through a portal. I knew what they looked like, but Valentine had always said that it was too dangerous to use a portal because the Clave supervised the portal-activity in Idris. They would have sent Shadowhunters to investigate. When I stepped through the portal Magnus Bane had created for us, I felt sort of nervous. I didn't trust a stranger's magic. But we had no other choice, Magnus Bane was our only chance to leave Idris and Europe far behind us.

Ungently, my feet hit a wooden ground and it was harder than expected to keep the balance. With a quiet sigh I turned my head and saw that the portal had already vanished. My mother stood next to me, she smiled when she noticed my gaze. Hastily I checked for my bag, but it was still on my shoulders. I slightly relaxed when I felt the rough fabric under my fingertips.

"Jocelyn Morgenstern", I heard an unknown voice speak and tensed. "Or should I rather call you Jocelyn Fairchild?" I looked around the room, a large living room decorated with a huge purple sofa and an ancient chandelier with lots of diamonds on it. On the walls were beautiful paintings of landscapes I'd never seen before. The room was adjacent to a glass façade with a balcony made of brick behind it. The glass façade revealed a view at the skyline of a city full of skyscrapers and neon lights. New York.

"I consider myself a Fairchild", Jocelyn said and smiled sadly. "Good evening, Magnus, I'm glad to see you."

Magnus Bane was a midsize man with stylish black hair and gold-green catlike eyes. He wore a deep-red suit with golden cufflinks and had a glass of blue liquid in his hand. An amused smile ran over his face. "You haven't changed at all", he continued, and his eyes rested on me. "Very interesting, Clarissa Morgenstern, daughter of Valentine Morgenstern. You look just like your mother."

I just stared at him without answering. I'd never seen a Downworlder before and my father had told us horrifying stories about them. He said that they were killers, monsters, controlled by their demonic blood. Very dangerous indeed. Magnus Bane didn't seem dangerous at all, he rather looked like a crazy warlock with a very special taste.

The warlock noticed my curious stare. "I bet my shoes I'm the first warlock you've ever seen", he said and winked at me. "Don't worry, Clarissa, I don't bite, only vampires do."

If this was a joke, I didn't understand it. It would take some time for me to get used to this world and how the living beings in it behaved. To be in the same room as him, a Downworlder gave me chills, and it took a lot of strength to keep my hands where they were and not slide to my weapons-belt. I gave him a weak smile and acted as if I found it funny. "Please call me Clary" I said instead. "Only my father calls me Clarissa."

Magnus nodded and turned to my mother. While they silently spoke about something, I looked around his apartment. The furniture consisted of individual pieces that looked so different from one another that it seemed as if Magnus had just tossed them together. "I though a High Warlock would receive enough salary to afford firsthand furniture. Your furniture looks as if you bought it on a flea market."

With an offended expression Magnus examined me from top to bottom. An unpleasant shiver ran through my bones. I didn't want to provoke him with my words I just wanted to see his reaction. At last, he was the first Downworlder I'd ever met in my life. I thought of them as completely different living beings with different behaviors and different values. I waited for him to jump at me, ready for a fight, but instead, Magnus just seemed offended at most. "Of course I earn enough, young girl, but I enjoy this furniture. Nevertheless, every single piece in my apartment is a unique item and very expensive. Don't bother other people with rude comments just because you lack a sense of taste, little Nephilim." Not the reaction, I had expected from a deadly creature with no self-control.

Apparently, my father's teachings didn't get me any further here. I didn't know how else to behave towards Magnus. The fear of him was still omnipresent. My mother didn't seem to have any problem standing right next to him. "Sorry for her behavior, Magnus," she murmured in a hushed voice, giving me a warning look over her shoulder. "Clary grew up under her father's worldview. It will take time for her to understand that not all of it is true."

"I see." Magnus's cat-like eyes fixed on me, unlike before. Curious and interested, as if I were an experiment to be investigated.

With a nervous shrug, I left the living room and stepped out on the balcony to finally take a closer look at New York. I'd never been outside of Idris, had never spoken to other people than my family. My father had always insisted to stay in Idris. He'd said that it would be too dangerous for the Morningstar children outside because the Clave had to believe that he and Jocelyn had died in the flames of the Fairchild's manor. In exile we learned everything about the world that was outside our magical protective walls. We obtained the best education, supervised by our father. Jonathan and I were undefeatable, he'd always told us, his voice full of pride. Now both of them were gone. Jonathan and Valentine. This conclusion hurt more than anything else.

In silence I stared into the distance and wondered about the sun's rays that mirrored in the skyscrapers. I wondered about the huge advertisements, streetlamps and the mass of cars driving on the streets. Somehow the skyscrapers reminded me of the demon towers in Alicante. I'd never been there personally of course but sometimes Jonathan and I had been allowed to watch them from afar.

The street was full of humans. I'd never seen more than four people at the same spot but here ... I couldn't say how many of them walked on the sideways. There were too many to count. None of them seemed worried or frightened. If Valentine's plan became reality, many things would change, even in the mundane world. But the world would continue turning and time would pass.

The sun rose further. Nothing could ever stop the sun. Nobody would ever dare to come in its way. The sun was overpowering. But even the sun had to set and then night would fall. Automatically I had to think of Jonathan.

He'd always been a very kind, considerate and intelligent man. Hate and rage didn't belong to his nature. Jonathan had liked to solve conflicts in a calm and peaceful manner, unlike me. It made his behavioral changes even more bizarre. I'd never seen his face shaped by rage the way it had the day when we had been in the woods. He couldn't hate me or Jocelyn. He loved us. But somehow, he forgot that he loved us. Valentine seemed to be the only one able to control Jonathan. Demons weren't able to feel emotions as love, kindness or compassion. They only felt hate and lust and satisfied their greed through humans' emotions. My father had always told us so. If this was true, Jonathan couldn't love us anymore, he couldn't feel anything anymore except the heatless fire inside his chest. Jonathan probably thought that he was still able to feel humane because he'd been human. Or was he still human? Maybe my mother had gotten something wrong, and Jonathan was fine. Maybe it would be enough to talk to him, so he could explain himself. But what would it change? We couldn't come back, either way. It didn't change the fact that my father had lied about the world and his actions, he had lied about everything.

Without Valentine all of this would never have happened. But then the two of us wouldn't exist either. It was hard to believe that my father had done all of this on his own, killing his own child and destroying his family for a vision, for some kind of personal revenge against demons. How paradox, I thought, that he hated demons but to achieve his goal he had turned his son into one.

The next step of our escape was still uncertain to me. My mother wanted to tell me her plan when she was a hundred percent sure how our path would continue. What would we do? We couldn't stay at Magnus's forever. Maybe for a couple of days but at some point, we had to move forward. The best place to hide was the mundane world. There were so many of them, I couldn't tell how Valentine and Jonathan could ever find us if we just went underground. A life in the shadows, an ordinary life between humans who were uncapable to see the whole world. Without weapons, runes and my training. I wasn't sure if I was able to leave everything behind. Hiding wouldn't protect us from my father's plan.

"Clary", a soft voice behind me said and I slowly turned my gaze away from the city lights. Jocelyn stood in the doorway óf the balcony and examined me. "We will stay in Magnus's guestroom for the night. For our own safety, we cannot leave the apartment." I nodded absently. "Magnus will ask around the Shadow World for information that concern your father and Jonathan, if they already started to hunt us down." The moment their hunt would begin was the moment when they would reveal their existence to the Shadow World and the Clave.   

Although the sun was up, I retired to the guestroom. I'd been up all night after all, and I wanted to lie down for a couple of hours before Magnus would return with important information.

oOo

"Clary." This voice.

Slowly, I opened my eyes and flinched in sudden horror as I recognized my room in Idris. I could see myself in the mirror on the wall. The red hair unkempt from sleep, sparkling green eyes and a pale taint. And in front of me on the edge of the bed sat Jonathan.

Surprised, I gasped for air and shrunk back until my back touched the wooden wall behind me. "Jonathan", I whispered strained and looked at him with a dull expression.

Jonathan was totally calm, much calmer than I expected him to be. Almost as stiff as a statue he sat on the bed and his hands were folded in his lap. He observed me with dark eyes. "Don't be afraid", he whispered with a soft voice. "Everything is over now. Everything will be alright from now on."

"Where am I? Where's mom?" With a pounding heart I tried to figure him out. My voice sounded fragile, and I noticed that I'd started crying.

Jonathan smiled – the way he used to smile when we'd still been a team – and reached out for my cheek with his hand. He gently removed the tears. "You don't have to cry. It's inappropriate for Valentine's daughter to cry. You should be happy that father and I rescued you both before the Clave could catch you."

Confused, I stared at my brother. "What do you mean? How did you know where to find us in the first place? What happened?" The questions blurted out of my mouth, but I wasn't ready to hear the answers. They would only cause me pain like all the things recently did.

Jonathan skimmed my hair. "It's alright."

"Damn it, Jonathan, what is this?! Now finally tell me the truth!" I wanted to break loose from him, but Jonathan abruptly pulled me closer by my hair.

"You should be ashamed, you embarrass our family's honor!" He screamed at me and now he looked like the Jonathan I'd left in Idris. His black eyes flashed in anger, and he bared his teeth like an animal.

"Let me go!" I screamed at the top of my lungs and with my free hand I hit him in his stomach as heavy as I could. Jonathan cried out and let me go. Not a second passed as I rolled aside and jumped out of bed in my pajamas.

"Clary." Suddenly, Jonathan stood in front of me, and it seemed as if he'd calmed down for a moment. How did he move so fast? His voice was filled with compassion. Demons are not able to feel emotions like we do but they are perfectly well at acting that they do, a voice inside my head whispered.

"Jonathan what's going on with-", I started but he abruptly interrupted me.

"Don't call me that", Jonathan hissed like a serpent. I glared at him, perplexed. "You don't have the right to call me by my name", he said calmly and put on a perfidious grin.

"You're insane", I gave back and folded my hands in front of my chest. "Jonathan ... If there's still a spark of humanity in you, try to fight against Lilith. This isn't you, you aren't like that."

Jonathan laughed a conceited laugh and grabbed my arm. "Listen to yourself, don't talk about things you don't have the slightest clue about."

"I know who you are", I screamed and pulled away. "I know who you are! This is not you! This is a monster!"

"Clary." His voice was dangerously quiet, and his eyes were narrowed.

My breathing went faster, there was no air to breathe, it was all gone. "I mean it, you are a monster. You aren't my brother anymore!"

"Clary." This time it wasn't Jonathan's voice that spoke to me but Jocelyn's. Then I woke up.

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