Avenge the Shadows (I)

:: 1.1 ::

CATHERINE'S POV

All my life it felt like there was something else waiting for me and yet that something never came, not until I turned fourteen years old, because I had an accident and somehow, I ended up at the London's Institute, just then, everything fell to pieces and I felt at home, like I belonged there and the blood running in my veins confirmed that. I was a Nephilim. According to the Book of Raziel, we were humans, but we had Angelic blood. By nineteen, we were named soldiers and our main goal was to fight demons that hurt whoever lived on Earth. Mundanes or Downworlders. Mundanes were the people that lived in the world, humans, normal people. Then, we have the Downworlders. They usually were looked down, because on the contrary as Nephilim, they had demonic blood. As Nephilim, we had to maintain the order in our shared society and after all that happened in the institute in New York in 2007, Downworlders were now our equals.

The demonic world was also named the shadow world, which led us to our nickname. Shadow Hunters. Despite our angelic ancestors, Shadow Hunters were mortal; therefore, we could get old and die from it. Yet, we were rewarded with special abilities that went beyond any human invention, those were the runes. Shadow Hunters were born more than a thousand years ago, when the Earth was being invaded by demons. We were called Raziel kids because a warlock had summoned him and he mixed some of his own blood with the blood of some men in a cup, and gave it to those men to drink. Those who drank the Angel's blood became Shadow Hunters, as did their children and their children's children and so on and on. Angel Raziel not only created high level humans, he also left these magical powers in form of runes for us to protect ourselves, almost like magical powers.

After Clary's visions and creation of new runes, the Clave decided to put into use those and we were authorized to use them, for as long as they were not affecting the balance between both worlds. My first year in the institute, I was trained and acquired all the knowledge I needed to survive in the institute as out of it. To be honest, it was alike a normal high school, except for the magic runes and special missions we were assigned. As I was still underage, I had been doing mostly administrative work within the institute, mainly because I was too scared to get out. I was happy in the institute, sharing time with the people there and everything was even more entertaining when the institute made the annual meeting worldwide. I had never been to those meetings as I was underage, but this year, I was seventeen and the head of the institute told me that everyone over sixteen that lived in the institute could go and I was among that group.

This year, the annual meeting was in New York. I was so fascinated with New York that I was the first one that jumped at the idea to go there; not really knowing what they actually did in those meetings. We were portaled to New York and we were welcomed with such a homey-vibe that for a moment I liked it better than my own institute back in London. "Welcome to New York, Nephilims!" A very chirpy girl said and all I could do was laugh at her enthusiasm. "Cradle of the Avengers!" Her words sounded literal and I did not know what she was talking about. "Which institute are you from?" She asked and some of the guys answered with a cheer. "London!" She giggled and high-fived every single one of us. "I'm Charlotte and I will be your guide. When I high-fived you, I implanted your room key into your palm, so you only need that to get into your room." We all looked at that type of technology like it was out of this world. "I'm kidding, guys!"

As she laughed, we all did too. She spoke about the institute and we all looked at it like it was some fantasy place. It was an old gothic looking cathedral and yet Mundanes only could see an old church, almost in ruins. The glamour used in this institute was literally, out of this world. As we kept walking, I stopped at the library. It was enormous. I have never seen so many books in my life!

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