Disclaimer: Don't own Smallville/The Mortal Instruments

Set during City of Bones. No Clary.

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Magnus Bane.

It'd taken her months to get something more than just that name and by god the man better be some sort of living legend because she was going to be seriously disappointed otherwise! She didn't get what all the secrecy surrounding this guy was, but it was what had drawn her towards him in the first place, and why she'd put so much energy into finding out exactly where he was and when he was going to be throwing one of his next lavish and extremely mysterious parties. It wasn't going to be until a couple of nights, but that was fine, it gave her time to prepare considering she still didn't have one of the invitations she'd heard was necessary if she wanted to get into the house. That was no problem, she was working on it.

She'd also heard that there was some sort of dress-code when it came to Magnus Bane's parties, and she wasn't exactly used to hanging with that sort of crowd, which was why she was talking to her cousin on the phone and trying to get some pointers from her on how she was supposed to dress.

"Remind me again why you've been man-hunting this sketchy sounding dude?" Lois wanted to know, chomping on something loudly.

Chloe rolled her eyes and raised her voice as she neared Pandemonium Club, the all-ages club that always had a long line to it's entrance due to that very fact. Also Grandsville and Smallville and many other places near Metropolis had very other few 'hip' (if somewhat dark) places that people of any age could get into. "Because, his name keeps popping up everyone I go? It's everywhere and I want to know why!"

She could see three teenagers around her age exiting Pandemonium, chuckling amongst themselves, dressed up in dark clothes like everyone who went to the club did. There were two boys and a girl, the girl so gorgeous with her long black hair and charcoal eyes Lana would've gotten jealous if she could see her. The two guys weren't anything to scoff at either. The dark haired guy looked very similar to the girl except he had blue eyes. The other guy had a completely different coloring to the others, a very intriguing coloring, but giving the fact that most of the people who went to Pandemonium had bright blue hair and red contact lens on (or some weird artificial combination like that) his golden hair and matching golden eyes could very well not be real.

"Coincidence." Lois' voice in her ear brought her back to the present as Chloe neared the joyous trio. "Or he could be a very gutsy prostitute really into advertising."

Chloe snorted loudly. "I doubt he's a prostitute."

The two dark haired teens ignored her as they moved a little in front and the blonde male fell behind as he pulled out something from his pocket and examined it.

"I don't know. With weed getting legalized everywhere that could be the next thing coming. Mark my words." The teasing in Lois' tone was strong.

Chloe covered her eyes with her hand and snorted in laughter. "You're incorrigible!" And it was because she'd covered her eyes that she didn't notice the pebble until she tripped on it and stumbled into the blonde male's startled arms. She stared up at him in shock, and yet he seemed more surprised than she did. Then again, she had just attacked him out of the blue. "Sorry." Her voice was choked as she gave him a trembling smile. "I don't usually throw myself at guys like that."

He stared at her in shock. "I tend to have that affect on women."

She snorted again. "Good to know it wasn't just me being clumsy then, half of it was apparently your fault." She looked behind her, to where his friends were talking, the two brunettes not having seen anything that'd happened. "You better catch up with them before they leave you behind all-together."

His eyes went to his friends and his eyes widened further. He then looked down at his tattooed arm, as if making sure that the tattoos were still there. He then looked up at her. "But… you're a mundie."

Huh?

"A Chloe, actually." Hearing Lois' voice somehow, she gave him a little smile and a wave before she moved on and brought her phone to her ear. "Sorry about that. I accidentally tripped and fell on top of a total stranger. Talk about embarrassing."

"Was he cute?" Of course that would be Lois' only concern.

"Who says it was a guy?" Chloe hedged as she walked on, putting the guy and the incident out of her head as she continued on passed the line that was waiting to enter Pandemonium. She eyed the sign in front thoughtfully before she crossed the street. "You know what we should do? Just to break the routine?"

"If you start the next sentence with something to do with Clark I'll hurt you."

Chloe rolled her eyes at her cousin, who was just seriously overprotective sometimes. "We should totally do Pandemonium. Make a girl's night out of it."

There was a pause. "Are you serious?"

"Why not?" Chloe wanted to know as she started a brisk pace.

"Well, I mean, I've gone, but you've never shown any interest in going there before."

Chloe sent the nightclub a backwards glance. Oh, the interest had always been there, like a siren's call, but she'd always also had this knot in her stomach, as if she feared that going in there might change something fundamental about her. But if she wanted to get an invitation to Magnus Bane's party she heard that that was the place to be, so she was going to have to put her silly little fears behind her and go where the edgy kids hung out. "Nah. Let's do it."

"Okay. Sounds great." Lois was peppy immediately. "When?"

"Tomorrow?" Chloe finally made it to her car when she felt like maybe she wasn't alone, but she cast her gaze around the parking lot and couldn't see anyone around. "Yeah. We should definitely come and club at Pandemonium tomorrow night. Dress up and everything. It'll be good practice for me for the real party methinks."

"Methinks." Lois bemoaned. "No one says that!"

"I do!" Chloe, feeling somewhat paranoid, gazed in the back of the car as she threw the books she'd gotten from the bookstore she and Lois frequented due to the handsome owner onto the backseat before she slid inside and locked the door. She gave the dark parking lot another look as she started the engine and drove away.

After she left, a lone blonde male emerged from the darkness and stared after her, eyes narrowed.

-X-X-X-X-X-

The Next Night

"You know, when you said you'd been to Pandemonium before, I hadn't realized you had a whole section to your closet dedicated to it." Chloe stepped out of her cousin's car and tried to pretend that she didn't feel like she was a kid playing dress up in her mom's clothes. Considering that it was really short notice she'd had to go to Lois for help in the clothes and makeup and accessories department, and considering that while she was curvy she wasn't half as curvaceous (or tall) as her cousin, well, finding something that would fit her had been a chore. In the end she'd ended up wearing one of Lois' shirts as a dress. One of her shirts. It was horrifying. But Lois had been right, the shirt (which reached Chloe's mid-thigh) was longer than a lot of the skirts and dresses and shorts she was seeing the women around here wearing, so she felt a little better. A little.

"There's not a lot to do in Metropolis." Lois shrugged as she joined the line and gave the bouncer a wave.

He waved back. It wasn't even one of the masculine waves. It was what Chloe liked to call a finger-wiggle wave.

Oh boy. Lois had another huge, scary dude with a crush on her.

The bouncer motioned Lois out of the line and to the front. "You know you don't wait, beautiful."

She grinned. "Hannibal, you sweetie!" Lois turned to Chloe, who felt so tiny next to her bosom and tall cousin. "This is the cousin I've told you so much about."

Chloe blinked. Why had there been conversations about her?

Hannibal smiled toothily at her. "Chloe, right? I'm Hannibal. Nice to meet you. Any cousin of Lois is welcome here."

Chloe smiled back at him. "Uh, thanks." She pointed up to the Pandemonium Club sign. "What does the symbol mean, by the way?"

Hannibal blinked and looked up. "What symbol?"

Lois looked up too, confused. "I don't see a symbol."

Chloe could see it as bright as day, shining behind the "Pandemonium Club". She'd always noticed it and had figured it was the club's logo or something. "Sorry, must be a trick of the light then."

Lois sent her an odd look, shook her head, and then smiled at Hannibal. "Thanks again hon." And with that she pulled Chloe into the noisy club, already moving to the beat, a grin on her face. "Isn't this awesome?"

Chloe looked around at the dark atmosphere, people dressed up like it was halloween, with dark clothes, some with contacts, some seriously going all out and looking like what most people would call, well, she didn't want to say "freaks" but they definitely stood out. The blonde smiled at her cousin and nodded. "Yeah."

"You start dancing!" Lois pointed her finger to Chloe in an order. "I'm going to get us some drinks!"

Chloe wondered exactly what sort of drinks they served here, but giving the fact that this place was an all-ages club… She shook her head, it was things like this that kept her from having fun. She forced herself to relax. If she was going to infiltrate Magnus Bane's party she wasn't going to be able to stand there and examine everything and everyone the way she was now. She'd stand out like such a sore thumb. That was why she was here now. She needed practice. Needed to blend in and learn how to have fun and yet keep a watchful eye at the same time. She also needed to look like part enough to get invited to the party to begin with.

The blonde felt a little stupid and a lot self conscious but she let herself begin to sway to the music. She closed her eyes against the feeling that there were eyes on her because in this mess of bodies there was no way that anyone could see her, could make her out, it was all her insecurities rising to the surface. She was just one face in hundreds. She was anonymous. The thought made her smile and she got into it as she began to seriously dance.

"Chloe!" Lois' voice yelled from somewhere.

The blonde's eyes flew open to see her cousin returning, two guys on her heels.

Trust the brunette to not be able to go get drinks without being hounded by guys.

Chloe wondered what it was like to be so beautiful like that. She'd never had anything like that when it came to guys. She'd never had something that drew guys to her like a moth to a flame. She'd seen it enough times with Lois and Lana though for her to know that it happened-to know that there were some girls out there that had a certain something that made them irresistible to men.

"Chloe!" Lois was grinning so brightly it made Chloe grin in response on instinct. "I want you to meet some friends of mine: Derek Fox and Wade Mahaney."

The blonde shook their hands. Derek and Wade both had tattoos, but not like the ones that the guy from last night did. "Wade, didn't you both used to go to Smallville High?"

He eyed her in surprise. "Long time ago. I'm surprised you know that. I take it you go there?"

"Yeah, and it's hard not to know of you guys-but especially you." She tried for some charm. "You were something of a legend back in your day." She was here to have fun, right? What could a little meaningless flirting do, especially if it go her an interview for the Torch? "I might have to get your autograph before you leave… And maybe an interview for the Torch if I'm lucky?"

He grinned brightly and turned to Derek. "I want this one. I'm taking her."

Chloe blinked. She wasn't exactly something to be 'taken', but she was almost completely sure she'd assured herself that interview so she kept herself from responding negatively to that comment and merely smiled at him.

Derek chuckled, hands up in submission. "Who am I to get in the way of a journalist and a local sports hero?"

"Exactly," Lois placed her hand on his shoulder. "Who exactly are you?"

Derek snorted at her. "You know, I wasn't too bad at sports myself. I was something of a sport's legend too."

"Not like me though," Wade reminded him.

Derek rolled his eyes.

Okay, Wade was starting to get on Chloe's nerves, and it was beginning to get harder to keep that smile on her face-interview or not.

Lois must've noticed her cousin's annoyance because she cleared her throat. "Enough talking! Let's dance!" And with that she passed Chloe her drink, grabbed the blonde's free arm, and dragged her deeper onto the dance floor.

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The lights danced off of her body like exploding moonbeams, the girl's small body pale, ethereal and almost glowing as she twisted to the music. By every right she should be lost amongst the other mundies, but with her eyes closed and a small smile on her face as she seemed to feel the music and just moved to each rhythm and beat, she easily stood apart to each and every mundie out there-and there were a lot of them.

"Why are we here again?" Alec wanted to know, arms folded over his chest as he eyed the dance floor. "We dealt with the lower-level demon last night with no incident. There's no reason to believe that there'll be a repeat incident tonight."

"It should actually be pretty calm all things considering." Isabelle was eyeing the men around the room as if they were meat. "Maybe we could call it a night and just enjoy it? For once?"

Alec sent his sister a look.

She ignored him.

Alec turned that look on him.

But he hadn't been listening to them, instead he watched as the mundie she'd been dancing six straight dances with put his hands all over her. Her face contorted for a second, it was obvious that she wasn't exactly comfortable with what was going on, but she didn't do anything about it. In fact, she merely tried to laugh it off and seemed to be forcing herself to accept the handsy attentions of the guy she'd met up with. Her observer didn't get it. If she didn't want that guy's hands on her hips, pulling her against his front like that as they danced, then she should just come out and say something about it instead of just staying quiet like that. Why the hell would she just stay quiet throughout it all?

For the sixth consecutive time that night, Jace Wayland had to keep himself from going to the dancefloor and knocking the guy away from her, and the realization seriously bugged him.

He didn't know this mundie girl. He had no reason for caring about whether she'd just pushed away that hand as it'd begun trailing up her stomach inappropriately. The only reason Jace was there was because she had seen him last night while his invisibility runes had been active. Alec and Isabelle hadn't seen it and he hadn't wanted to just tell them, a part of him wanted to show it to them, for there to be proof that he wasn't insane, that this mundie girl could see through the runes.

Jace's hands clenched at his sides as both of those guy's hands slipped up under her shirt and began to move upwards.

Finally she pushed away, muttered something, and stormed through the crowd towards somewhere.

Jace watched her go and instinctively began to follow.

"Where are you going?" Alec called from behind him.

He ignored him and pushed through the crowd of dancers who wouldn't see him, his movements graceful as he kept her in his sight at all time, as something deep inside of him dictated. He didn't understand why he was keeping at a distance, why he was merely watching over her when the idea was to prove that she could see him. The way to do so would be by actually approaching her.

The girl ducked into the female bathroom.

This was it.

He moved to lean against the wall opposite the door, the sole of his boot resting against the wall, his gaze dead ahead.

Alec appeared eyes narrowed. "What the hell man?"

Even Isabelle seemed reluctantly intrigued. "What's going on, Jace? Did you just follow that girl to the bathroom? Because, if you really need to go, I'll tell you from now, the line is always longer in the girl's bathroom."

He ignored her snark. "She can see us."

Alec frowned. "No she can't.

"She saw me, last night." Jace didn't look at either of them. "We had our invisibility runes on and she saw us. She tripped and fell onto me, then she talked to me, talked about you two, and then continued talking on the phone as she left as if it was no big deal."

Alec and Isabelle shared looks.

Isabelle blinked. "But she's a mundie."

"Mundies can't-." Alec began.

"She can." Jace was sure of it. "And when she gets out of that bathroom I'm going to prove it."

"No mundie can see us, Jace." Alec narrowed his eyes at him. "None. If Hodge found out that one could-let's just say that him not being happy would be an understatement."

"I know." Jace announced calmly. "I'll deal with this."

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Chloe hesitated on the other side of the bathroom door, the girl only having gone to get away from Wade and his damn hands. Her heart raced in horror as the words of the three people waiting for her outside made her tremble. Invisibility runes? She wasn't supposed to see them? They were going to "deal" with her? What was this? The mafia?

She gulped, tiptoed to the bathroom stall and flushed the toilet to give the pretense that she'd been using the toilet. The blonde then went to the sink and was washing her hands when the door opened. She looked up, saw the three of them enter the bathroom, and gulped down her terror as she forced her expression into confusion.

"That's weird." Shrugging, the blonde turned her back on them and decided her best way out of this was a bluff. She continued washing her hands, able to see the reflections of the others moving through the corner of her eyes but she paid no mind.

The girl came to her side and did a weird little gesture that didn't seem rude but would've caught her attention if she hadn't been actively ignoring her.

The dark haired guy waved his hand in front of Chloe's face.

Chloe finished washing her hands and looked around her, going to get some toilet paper to wipe her hands dry, purposely bending in such a way so that what she was wearing would ride high up the back of her thighs. A choked sound came from one of the guys and she reacted as she felt someone would've if they'd heard that while they thought they were alone. She straightened immediately and looked around. "Hello?"

The dark haired guy hit the blonde guy on his chest.

She looked around and then shook her head as she returned to the sink, making sure to do so in a way that would force them to move so she wouldn't walk into them. The blonde eyed her hair and frowned as she began to flick it back and forth.

The door opened and Lois stumbled in, laughter in her voice. "So here you are. Primping."

For a moment Chloe felt panic, but then she realized that Lois couldn't see the trio. She forced a smile on her face and hoped her moment's panic had seemed in reaction to the question and not the situation. "I am not primping!"

"What's with the flicking of your hair then? Huh?" Lois grinned as she went to one of the stalls and closed it, the sound of peeing soon heard. "I'm relieved. For a moment there I thought you didn't like him."

Chloe so didn't want to talk about this with these people listening in! "He seems okay enough." She turned to lean with her back against the sink and faced the stall Lois was in, faced the blonde guy as she made a face. "Why do I have a feeling him and Derek being here wasn't coincidental?"

The blonde male narrowed his eyes at her.

"Okay, okay, maybe I told them I was going to be here tonight with my cute cousin." Lois was still peeing. How much pee did she have in her? "Sue me! You need to have a good time! And get laid!"

The blonde male began to move towards Chloe like a predator.

"Isn't he-I don't know-kinda old?" Chloe chanced the question as she kept her gaze on the stall and not on him as he reached her and leaned in, his hands on the sink on either side of her, trapping her.

Damn it! He was suspecting that she could see them! He was putting her through a test! And she needed to pass it! No matter what!

"He's not old! He's only a year or two older than I am." Lois laughed as the toilet flushed and the door opened. "And you need to get over your 'one true dweeb'."

Oh, this was so not the conversation Chloe wanted to have now!

The blonde male moved so that his face so close to Chloe's he blocked her view of anything else, his eyes staring deeply into hers as if trying to stare into her soul, his mouth so close it was almost as if they were sharing the same breath.

The dark haired male made a little noise.

Lois blinked as she washed her hands. "Did you hear something?"

Chloe nodded. "Yeah. Maybe this place is haunted."

Lois made a face. "Oh no. Not another haunting."

Chloe laughed. "Don't take it so personally."

"One can only get possessed so many times before one starts thinking the dead are out to get them." Lois shivered as she reached out for Chloe and unknowingly forced the blonde guy away from her cousin. "Come on. Let's go before we wake up somewhere with no memory of how we got there or why we're dressed skankily."

"Skankier than we are already?" Chloe wanted to know.

"Shut up." Lois grinned brightly. "These clothes are not skanky."

"You have me wearing your shirt! And only your shirt! You didn't even let me use shorts under it!" Chloe was all sorts of relieved as Lois pulled her out of the bathroom. Hopefully, those were the last words that trio would ever hear from her ever again.

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"Maybe you were imagining things, or maybe it was because when she fell into you, somehow, the runes allowed her to see you for a split second to explain why she wasn't hitting the ground or something. Or your runes could've been weakening by that time, wearing off already. I don't know, but I know that mundie isn't special." Isabelle was the first to break the silence. "She did not see us just now. Neither of them did."

"Let's just get out of here already." Alec sounded terse, unhappy as he turned and stormed out of the bathroom.

Isabelle sighed as she watched her brother and then hurried after him.

Jace stayed where he was, one question burned into his skull.

Was that mundane truly only wearing a shirt?

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Despite how late it was when Chloe made it home her father was still at work, which was great because she was sure he would've noticed that she was only wearing a shirt. Her father was hardly ever around, but whenever he was, that man sure had an eye for detail and she could hardly get one passed him. It was why his lifestyle suited her perfectly. She loved the man, adored him, truly she did, but his absences had cultivated a need within her to fill her life with other things-other pastimes-at first as a means to not be so lonely-and then she'd found her passion and she'd loved the man for it. He hadn't stifled her despite everything, and it was her true independence that had made her the way she was today. She owed it to him and his parenting. How she saw it, she had way more freedom than most teenagers she knew, and she relished it.

Sure, the man could get overprotective sometimes, but what father of a teenaged daughter didn't? It was almost always over boys of course, not that she got why, it wasn't like she had them knocking down her door or anything, but she father was sure one day they'd realize she was like "the parable pearl" and the "parable of the hidden treasure". She found that endearing, and a little surprising considering the bible references and the fact that her father and her weren't religious. She'd actually had to google both parables to figure out what the heck he'd been talking out, and once she had she'd hugged and kissed the man the next time she'd seen him and when he'd asked what he'd done to deserved it she'd merely given him a smile.

"B-A-N-E, M-A-G-N-U-S" -Batman

Chloe tried deleting all reference to the Batman villain in her boolean search because he kept coming up no matter how hard she tried to get rid of him.

But nothing, just like aways, there was no information on Magnus Bane, and it was killing her.

How was it that she was finding flyers for parties, stickers with his names on coffee cups at cafes, hearing his name on the radio requesting for certain songs, so forth and so on, if the guy was so off-grid like this? How could he be everywhere-and yet no where at the same time? How could there be no information on him? It was killing her!

…just like her head.

Popping another pain killer, Chloe turned off the lights and went to bed, resigned.

Invisible trios (she wasn't even going to try and think about that one tonight) and the ever elusive Magnus Bane… who was being the bane of her existence.

At least she didn't have to worry about those rune guys anymore.

On that train of thought, she fell asleep.

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So this was where she lived, and according to the driver's license in his hand her name was Chloe Sullivan.

Jace eyed her room thoughtfully.

He'd known it was a good idea to follow his gut, to follow her, and here was proof. She was researching Magnus Bane. That was a connection to the Shadow World if any. How did she know about the High Warlock? What did she want with him?

Jace's gaze went to the blonde, who'd faked her way brilliantly enough in the bathroom to fool Alec and Isabelle. "Who exactly are you, mundie?"

She whimpered in her sleep and turned towards him.

Something clenched in his stomach and he licked his lips as he knelt by the edge of her bed, gaze on her face.

She was obviously playing some sort of game here, something big if it involved the High Warlock of Metropolis, and Jace was just going to have to figure out what it was.

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TBC