Stone • Shadowhunters

Chapter One

Chapter One — the beginning

Alva hated this.

The clouds making it a dark night, streetlights barely working as usual. The odd one here and there giving a dull, yellow, flickering glow.

She pulled her black hood up, the thin cotton barely doing anything to keep away the cold, yet she could hardly feel it. She had been used to the cold for so long.

Her steps stopped, and her charcoal coloured eyes gazed into the narrow alley. Of course, she could go the long way, but that was even more dangerous. The female sighed, closing her eyes for a moment before beginning her fast-paced walk. It was bad enough that the area had a bad reputation, but this alley was known for its murders, for its crimes. Though, it was the quickest and technically, the safest way home.

Well, if she could call it home. Really, it was just the flat her and her dad lived in, could she even call him her dad at all?

As she rushed to get out, she stopped mid-way. Her wide eyes glancing around her. She was sure she heard something. A type of hiss that you'd expect from a grotesque creature. She wasn't wrong either. The creature was extremely tall, able to tower over her small frame, and seemed to be a cross between a slug and a centipede. It's many small legs wiggled and it's slime like body made squelching noises as it came closer.

"G..girl... power... de-delicious!"
"T-The hell? Wh-what are you?!"

The female was terrified, Alva felt her legs buckle and she was soon on the ground, dragging herself backwards as it continued to get closer, it's raspy voice not registering in her mind.

"Stay back!"

She shouted at it, yet it didn't listen. She shouted again, and again, but instead of getting her to safety, it drew more creatures from the shadows, all similar looking.

She felt the cold wall against her back, and she whimpered. This was the end. It was all over as the creatures' lipless mouths opened to show a collection of sharp tipped teeth, like a sharks except longer.

"First the father.. now for the daughter... what.. a pleasant... day"

At the mention of 'first the father' she whimpered again, then sniffled, then began to sob. He was never a proper dad, but he was still all she had in the world, and her early memories weren't that bad.

The creature continued to talk, the others chirping in. Her sobs got louder and louder, before the darkness behind her closed eyes became a light blue.

——

"Come on Jamie. We can't be slacking off on patrol. Remember last time? Maggie nearly died." Owen complained to his partner, to his parabatai, who was currently taking a selfie on snapchat. An app he was forbidden from having.

"Shush, I'm trying to get my good side. It's not like I'll get caught, since everyone else has it."
"You mean, ten other people? Whatever, we still need to do this, and if you don't stop I'll say something to Chantelle."
"And I'll tell her about your secret collection of that Chinese music."
"It's Korean!!"

Jamie rolled his blue eyes, hand running through his somehow perfectly styled hair. Probably from all the hairspray used. "Whatever."

Jamie sighed and stuck his phone in his pocket before joining his partner, walking down the street. An area with a bad reputation and often had many demons, or criminal Downworlders breaking the accords.

Just at that moment, in an alley not too far, a blood curling scream filled the air and a light blue fire shone bright.

"Do you see that?"
"Yeah! Seems Magnus is there!"
"That can't be Magnus. That wasn't a guy screaming and.. the blue is too light" the two looked at each other before running towards the alley.

When they arrived, they stopped. They couldn't believe what was in front of them.

A girl, obviously around their age sat on the ground, hands covering her ears as she screamed. Around her was a ring of blue fire and creatures, demons, five of them were burning from those flames.

"What.. the hell..." Jamie spoke first, blinking in shock.
"I don't kno— wait!"

Before Owen could finish, he saw another, larger demon get closer than the rest, about to burst through the ring. He ran forward, managing to leap over and strike the monster down. One slash and it was down.

He turned to Jamie who looked confused, and noticed the flames beginning to die down. Once they did, he could see the girl more clearly. She was crying, her screaming stopped, crouching. Her clothes, a hoodie and shorts looked slightly burnt, but she seemed to not be hurt. Her approached slowly, crouching in front of her. He put a hand on her shoulder only for it to be roughly slapped away.

"GET AWAY! STAY AWAY!! DONT COME NEAR ME YOU.. YOU MONSTERS!"

He wasn't surprised at her outburst, after all he had just used a sword to kill a thing, but couldn't say anything as Jamie had grabbed ahold of her arm, face dark.
"Don't slap him." This made her look up, and stop crying. "Don't ever fucking touch him again. I'll kill you."
"Jamie, stop. Can't you see she's frightened? From the looks of it, she's never seen demons before."
"She just used magic though!" Despite his disagreement, he still let go and turned away, shaking his head.

Owen sighed and looked at the girl who was staring at him, shuddering slightly.
"Are.. A-Are you going to hurt me?"
"No. We don't hurt people. Did you get hurt though? Did you do that fire?"
"I'm not hurt.. b-but I have no.. no idea where it came from."

She hugged her knees, eyes cast down before they widened. She remembered about her dad. Quickly, she stood and began running, ignoring the shouts from the two males. She could see her home, the run-down flat in sight. Two steps at a time, she ran up, before stopping.

Her door was missing, and inside was a mess. The couch in two, old family photos ripped and on the floor. Everything was broken. The thing that caught her eyes was the blood, fresh blood splattered everywhere. Tears began to well up and her sight went blurry as they rushed down her cheeks. She couldn't even feel the warm embrace of the guy who saved her life.

___________

[EDITED]