The City of Love and War

'''Disclaimer. '''

7 year ago...
It was icy on the countryside near Paris and Jeanne Whitelaw shivered in her thin parka and kept on marching toward the next bus stop. Since the Institute of this lost village had been weakened by an attack, Jeanne had come and looked at the situation. She had smelled the demon, but not only that. Jeanne had also smelled Shadowhunter, or you could say sented one. But Ira had said no Shadowhunter had gone out and Jeanne wondered if Ira lied.

Then Jeanne sented another Shadowhunter, it was one she never met before. She pulled out her seraph blade and went over to the station. On an ugly orange seat, sat a little girl. She had skinny legs, that you could even see through the thick coat she was wearing and her auburn hair, fell in waves down her face. This was the Shadowhunter, a little girl.

When Jeanne went over to her, the girl looked at her, the blue eyes shining. "Do you want to sit too?"

"No games little kid. To which Institute do you belong to, and what is you family name?", Jeanne said agressivly.

The little girl frowned and shook her head. "My name is Catelyn, and my last name is not your business. And I am a French citizen, I do not belong to any institution."

A girl on countryside, not knowing she was a Shadowhunter? Shuddering because of the cold, Jeanne pulled up her parka sleeve and showed her arm to the girl.

"Do you see this on my arm?", Jeanne pointed on the marks on her forearm. Catelyn nodded and then Jeanne did one thing, the one thing she was really good in.

She bent her head down right infront of the girl's face, looked into her sparkling blue eyes and hissed:"I will come and find you if you do not come to me!"

And then she drawed a rune on her arm and vanished, watching the girl staring in the air blinking. Then Jeanne whisked away, knowing that she might really come back.

The City of Love
(Catelyn) Even though I had been living in the same institute with Jeanne, for almost five years, I was still scared of her. But I didn't know why. She had been taking care of me with love and everything, but still... I'd had a dream of her, scaring me to death. Her gray eyes staring into mine, as if she were challenging me. Though this memory wasn't even true.

Sweat trickled down my forehead and I wiped it away with my left hand. I pretty much ignored it. Then I kept on swinging the seraph blade until my right arm ached and I did the same practice with the left arm. No arm should be weaker than the other, my eyes seemed to blurr, because they kept following the movement of the blade.

I scowled when Jeanne entered the room. Her brown hair was in a tight bun and her gray eyes blazing with annoyance.

"What?", I snapped, because Jeanne knew she shouldn't bother me when I was training.

"Not that tone, Miss Starkweather. Anyway we are getting a new Shadowhunter, remember? He'll be there in an hour, so go and shower and put on that lovely green dress, that I bought you a few months ago."

"Hm, yeah, fine. What is his name again and how old is he?", I asked, not really interested and kept on moving my arms and legs, so I could have a bit more time to practice.

Jeanne watched me do my moves, stepped over and corrected my move.

"You're doing good, Cat. But you should act swifter. His name is Brandon Morgenstern, 17 years old." Jeanne said, still correcting my moves.

"Okay, what do you mean with swifter? Like faster? No irritating?" I asked, practically ignoring what she said about Brandon.

"Go showering, Catelyn. I know your tricks of not doing what you're supposed to do!", she smiled and I frowned.

Jeanne had put the green dress on my bed and I quickly showered. The hot water calmed down my sore muscles and washed away the sweat from my body.

The green dress clung tight to my figure, showing my long legs. I blow dried my hair a bit, so it was still a bit wet.

"You look beautiful, Catelyn..." Louis said and I turned.

"Hell, Louis! Could you knock? I might be naked! Have you realized?" I said angrily.

"You are worth a look, little sis!" he said softly and I saw that Louis was wearing a blazer, but you could still see his extra pounds on his ribs.

Sometimes or rather always, I wondered, why Louis was so fat and Jeanne so skinny. Did Louis eat all the food, so Jeanne was starving?

I laughed a short laugh at the thought and Louis raised his eyebrows.

"Nothing, my friend. I am guessing we have to go down and welcome our guest, hm?" I sighed.

I followed Louis out of my room and closed the door softly.

(Jeanne)

Jeanne was standing at the gate of the Institute, waiting for her two children. One was adopted and the other was her own.

She almost gasped when she saw Catelyn. Her auburn fell loosely down her shoulder and her blue eyes blazed. Cat was tall built and Louis looked like a fat idiot next to her.

Catelyn's expression was the same, as always. Her eyes blazing, her face expressionless. Jeanne was often worried about her.

She had only adopted Catelyn, because she'd seen her at the bus stop and realized she was a Shadowhunter under mundies. Then Louis had been failing being a Shadowhunter and Jeanne had thought that he might want to impress Catelyn and would work harder.

So Jeanne kidnapped Catelyn, told her the truth and found out that Catlyn had also been adopted into her mundane family. Her name was still Starkweather.

"Why do I have to be 'beautiful', when I meet that boy?" Catelyn interrupted her thoughts and Jeanne looked into her blue eyes.

"Hm...Well, maybe so he feels special and welcome?" Jeanne responded innocently and Louis chuckled.

"Mom, why is he coming after all?" Louis asked and Jeanne cringed. She was ashamed of her son. He was supposed to be good, strong and brave like his father. But he was nothing like that. It seemed like he wasn't even Jeanne's real son.

He didn't resemble her much and didn't resemble Pierre Verlac at all.

"Brandon Morgenstern, lived in the home for parentless kids in Idris, but he did too many bad things and wanted to go to an Institute so badly, so I let him come..." Jeanne said.

"Wait, we are having a terrorist in the Institute? Jeanne???" Catelyn said outraged.

"Cat, he needs attention and a home filled with love!" Jeanne argued.

"Love!" Catelyn snorted. "Where is the damned love in this Institute? You are ashamed of Louis, because he is not the ideal Shadowhunter, you love my skills and wish I weren't that cold, I hate you, because you took me from my family. And Louis, well he is a good person, so he doesn't hate any of us!"

Hotness flooded Jeanne and she snapped angrily, that Catelyn should shut up. Everything Catelyn had said was right and Jeanne was so humiliated.

Before anyone could continue to argue a carriage appeared and Brandon Morgenstern stepped out of it.

(Brandon)

Bran had expected a warm welcome. With everyone smiling at him, handing him weapons and showing him new tricks, but all he got when he stepped out of the wagon, was a stern woman in her mid-30t., a beautiful girl with auburn hair and an angry expression and a fat boy smiling hat, showing his ugly dimples.

If they acted so cold against him, Bran would too.

The stern woman stepped forward and smiled at him. It was a fake smile. It didn't take Bran a second to see that. Her face was warm but her eyes cold and gray and they made Bran shiver.

"Bonjour Brandon Morgenstern. Bienvenue. Moi, je suis Jeanne Whitelaw...", that woman, Jeanne, continued to talk in French and Bran listened.

He found out that the girl was adopted and had grown up with mundies and her name was Catelyn Starkweather. The fat boy was Jeanne's own son, the son of Pierre Verlac.

Bran walked over to the boy and Louis held out his hand and smiled. He seemed to be the only nice person in this lost institute, even though he was a weakling.

"Hi Bran! I hope you are fine!", he said in a sweet voice and Bran just nodded. Louis looked a bit disappointed, but he continued to smile.

"So you are Catelyn Starkweather. I didn't expect you to be so hot!", Bran said in a cold voice and his eyes flitted over her nicely shaped figure and he rested his eyes on her bosom on purpose.

"Well, don't expect me to be nice to you, Terrorist Morgenstern! I will not spread my legs out to you! You are not that special, you know?", she said icily.

Bran had to smile. She was the type of girl he liked. Tough, but under this hard wall broken, or so it seemed.

"Let's go in. It's getting cold. Do you have anymore luggage Brandon?", Jeanne said softly and Bran shook his head and followed Catelyn and the others in the Institute.