A/N: This is just my idea of how Cassandra Clare's third Shadowhunter book series will begin, The Dark Artifices. It is not much to go on, but hopefully it may quench some of the thirst of those out there seeking for more angels and demons. :D However, I do not think that any of you are more excited than me for City of Heavenly Fire coming out in March. Ahhh! Isn't the cover of it beautiful? Let me know what you think, and/or if I should continue a little bit further with it. Loves!

Lady Midnight

Kenxi

For perhaps the final time, Emma Carstairs jabbed the delicate looking but viscous seraph blade into the demon's side. It was then that the formless beast, slimy and ultimately lacking in its recent energy, fell to the earth and melted into a large green puddle of demon.

Emma smirked in that satisfactory way that often, if not always, came along when victory struck. Where the Behemoth demon had once been, the ground was now steaming as if the earth's core was suddenly much closer to surface than once believed, and the heat of it was beginning to show through the complicated swirls of smoke.

The sun was just starting to sink beyond the ocean where it would no longer be seen until the following day. Though the water was quite a distance away from where she stood, Emma could smell the salty sea that always seemed to fill the air where she lived. That, and the smoky atmosphere that was at times a bit hard to see through due to the pollution.

Nodding once toward the demon puddle in a mockery matter, Emma turned around to see how her parabatai was getting along with his own demon. He appeared uninjured, so far, but the demon on the other hand was getting hacked away little by little. Even as he was battling the infernal creature, Julian had that look on his face, the expression that suggested that he was smiling, even though you could hardly see it. It didn't seem to matter to Julian Blackthorn that he could die at any moment- he was almost visibly grinning. That slight smile on Jules' face happened to be there subconsciously no matter what was going on. Emma knew without asking that Julian wasn't even aware of the feature that lit up his already unusual blue-green eyes, the eyes that nearly everyone in the Blackthorn family had inherited.

Emma could still remember her own family. It was nowhere near as big as Julian's family was with eight people; it had just been her and her parents. But now it was just her, because they had died. They had died and there had been nothing she could do about it.

She had been young then, too young in fact, too young for a child to have to lose their parents when they were only twelve. However, as much as she was young, she was not likewise on the innocent side. Emma had grown up in the Los Angeles Institute, with Jules and Livia and the rest of the Blackthorns. Her family had been there with them too, it was perfect.

It was the timing that wasn't.

Five years ago, all the Nephilim had been in a raging war. More and more Shadowhunters and Downworlders had gone missing, or, more likely, had died. Emma knew what had happened for the most part, how a Shadowhunter named Sebastian was born with demon blood inside him, and tried to change the other Shadowhunters so that they would be like him. Jace Herondale, Clarissa Fray, and a few others had put a stop to it, ending with Sebastian's death. The war had finally come to an end.

But even though the fighting had ended, the pain was still as fresh as it was five years ago.

Emma's parents had died in the midst of the war and made her an orphan. Julian was also parentless by the end of the war; and as awful as it was the way it had happened, at least he knew how it happened. Emma hardly knew anything other than the fact that her parents were killed.

Jules looked up at that moment for a split second, his gaze reaching hers, and his face brightened before he turned his focus back on the blue demon. Although the moment was short, it was all Emma needed to recognize that Julian didn't need help. Ever since they had become parabatai, the two friends had been able to communicate without words, in fact, even before that, really.

So instead of helping him, she plopped herself down on the grassy hill and watched him, tugging on the messy blonde braid in her hair that was covered in leaves and dirt. Looking down at her pale arms she noticed for the first time a bloody gash that ran across the skin of her forearm. Emma didn't even think twice about putting an iratze on it or not- Jules was the one who always did her runes, she had stopped arguing about the matter long ago. Now she only put her own angelic runes on if she absolutely had too. She had never been too good at drawing them though; Julian was the artist. Emma could Mark herself if needed, but she liked that she didn't have to. She smiled purely to herself at the thought before turning her attention back on her parabatai.

The Shax demon suddenly thrust its pincers at Julian who danced out of the way and in return, slashed at it evenly with his seraph blade. His dark brown hair was sticking to his temples with sweat, his eyes very bright. Out of seven kids in his family, only three of them lacked the Blackthorn trademarks which consisted of the same dark brown hair and blue-green eyes. After living with them for such a long time, Emma knew Blackthorns like her own family. She and Julian had always been better friends than she had with the rest of his family, which was only one small part of why they had both agreed to become parabatai. It wasn't an oath to be taken lightly, if there was a knife coming towards him, she was bound by the Law to jump in front of it to protect Julian, just as he was sworn to do the same for her. Emma still had no regrets, and she didn't think she ever would. Pairing herself of with Julian had to be the best choice she had ever made. Emma narrowed her eyes at the scene in front of her, every so often mentally noting all the things she would have done differently had she been the one fighting the demon at the moment. Jules had always been so interesting to watch- no matter what it was he was doing. Fighting demons, talking to his siblings, joking with a friend, painting a masterpiece. Whatever it was, everything he did was just as artistic as the paintings he so flawlessly created. Even now as he sparred with the rather nasty looking demon, the way he moved and danced out of the way was beautiful. He didn't make it look hard at all with that calm look and hint of a smile on his face. Although, his way of decapitating beasts took much longer than it did Emma, who usually slashed the monster to pieces thoughtlessly before it had the chance to touch her. Each of his actions were just as much of a grand piece of art as his paintings were. Jumping back with precision to avoid getting clawed, Jules flicked his wrist and Emma watched as the flash of silver from the seraph bladed knife found its way into the demon's ribcage. It howled in agony for a moment before shrinking into nothing. She couldn't help but think how much faster she would have killed it. Not to mention how differently she would have done it. But Jules had a fighting style all his own.

He turned to Emma, his white teeth showing through his crooked grin. Emma rolled her eyes at him but she was smiling too. Everyone had to smile when they were around Julian, no matter who they were, they just had to smile.

"Not bad," Emma admitted coolly, "but you still took ten minutes more than me to finish it off."

He dropped to the ground next to her. "Seven minutes."

Emma shook her head and gave him a look. "Because of course you had the brain power to count while fighting a Shax demon. Gee, that makes sense, Jules," she teased.

Julian wrapped his long arms around his legs and looked over the ocean. It was getting dark, but she could always pick out his extraordinary bluish-green eyes, no matter the time of day. The color of the water was especially defining the blue in their color tonight, causing his eyes to get bigger on his flushed face. "As Nephilim we are trained to be able to think of other things in times of combat- it was never specified as to what exactly we had to put those extra focus points on."

Before she had been propping herself up on her elbows, but as Julian finished his sentence Emma pulled her arms out from under her and let herself fall backward onto the soft grass on her back in feigned annoyance. But she wasn't really, annoyed, that is. She knew he was just kidding, he probably hadn't given his timing a single thought till now, just vainly trying to needle with her into frustration, but it rarely worked. It took an incredible amount of pestering from Jules to anger someone. Mainly that was because he didn't have the patience with someone enough annoy them. However, she had seen him paint countless times, his nimble fingers so rarely-if ever-messing up in his art. It didn't make much sense, but then again, many things about Jules made no sense.

She nearly jumped out of her skin when his warm fingers gently fluttered across her right arm. Jules was already pulling out his stele when she glanced up at him, the sun, so low at the moment, burned her eyes when she did this, causing her to squint against the red glare.

"Even if I did take ten more minutes than you, at least I avoided getting myself injured," Julian pressed the tip of the stele into her wounded arm, which was covered in clotted blood and dirt. He shook his head in feigned exasperation.

Emma didn't say anything, she merely sat up so she could watch in fascination as Julian's slender fingers drew the familiar irazte into her skin. She never could get tired of watching him draw. It was so captivating- the way his dark brown hair fell into his shocking eyes which were so focused on the task, big or small. Even if it was simply painting a rune, he would always put his full talents into the work with a sharp, almost tangible, intensity that Emma knew meant that even if the sky was on fire, the idiot still probably wouldn't care. When he was painting, there was only Julian and his artwork, nothing, and no one, else mattered for that short moment.

"There," he said, lifting his head with a crooked smile. The small movement made Emma know that he had once again joined reality. Emma looked down to see that the ragged skin begin knitting itself together as the healing rune did its work. Breathing in deeply she stood, putting out her hand to pull her parabatai up.

He took her hand, but she felt nearly no pressure against it as he jumped to his feet. Another wave of hot air hit them and Emma swallowed, realizing how thirsty she was.

"Okay, you took six minutes more than me and I'm an idiot, how's that?"

Julian snickered. "No good," she could tell he was attempting to lay the smile low, but the corners of his mouth were twitching and a look of innocence spread on his face. "Like I said, I was counting the second you killed your demon. It was definitely seven minutes."

Emma punched him hard in the arm.

"Ow!"

She ignored him as he ruefully rubbed his shoulder and turned her gaze towards the brilliant red and orange sun that shone over the shimmering ocean. "We should get back. Everyone will be wondering what's taking us so long."

Jules folded his tattooed covered arms over his slightly lanky chest, following her line of sight. Dried paint spotted his black shirt and had hardened a few pieces of his dark hair together, probably from painting just before they had left the Institute, Emma thought. She hadn't noticed before though, probably because he was always painting and therefore always covered in paint, so often that she had grown used to the fact and had just accepted it.

The artist shoved Emma playfully. "If only it weren't for those extra seven minutes…"

Emma shoved him even harder than he had her, but she was smiling as she did it.