Game of Survival [HARRY POTTER and SHADOWHUNTERS]

Kaye was bored.

She was at, what was probably the party of the year. The music was loud and upbeat. The people were drunk and dancing. The food was amazing. After all, she had been the one to force Magnus to cater her favorites.

But Kaye was still bored.

It probably had something to do with the fact that she was thirteen years old and was in a house full of adults.

She was supposed to be asleep although Magnus wouldn't mind her being in the loft. Everyone in the apartment knew her or knew the consequences if they hurt or tried anything with her.

Kaye was currently at the bar, twirling around on a swivel chair.

Emmaline, a lilac-skinned woman with four arms, was arranging drinks along the table in tall, harshly colored glasses that tinted the fluid inside them.

She handed Kaye a blood-red glass and winked at her. "A virgin Cuba Libre for the prettiest lady in the room."

She rolled her eyes, and mimed passing a note over the counter, speaking in a southern drawl, "How about you add a little something to make it more promiscuous, doll?"

Emma laughed and shook her head, stuffing the air-money in her bra.

Kaye took the drink - which was basically rum and coke without the rum - and headed over to her dad. 

He was at the entrance to the apartment, talking to a group of strangers at a door. They were all dressed in black except for a brunette female who was wearing silver. They appeared to be a few years older than her at most.

Well, they weren't entirely strangers. There was a very familiar fellow redhead among them, looking entirely out of place in a tiny black dress and boots.

"Cla-" Kaye was interrupted by Magnus flicking his wrist and a cream puff flying across the room and into her mouth. She spat it out into her hand and took a bite. "Dad!"

Clary must not have had her memory back, then. They were friends, having become so whenever Jocelyn, her mother, had her over so Magnus could wipe all traces of the Shadowhunter world from her consciousness.

They bonded over being both gingers although Kavya's skin and hair were darker and she had significantly fewer freckles.

"Kavya!" Magnus greeted her pleasantly, as though he had nothing to do with the pastry in his daughter's hand. The lines around his eyes were unusually tense, although one wouldn't notice unless they knew what they were looking for. "Can I introduce you to these four Shadowhunters and their human pet? Shadowhunters, this is my daughter Kavya. Kavya, Shadowhunters."

She smiled at them, her free hand moving to grip the long wooden stick in her back pocket, almost instinctively. 

"I thought Downworlders couldn't have children." A black-haired boy spoke, a frown on his face. It wasn't a question. Just a statement that demanded an explanation.

Her smile dropped at his tone and her hand tightened around her wand. She knew enough spells to make the Shadowhunter regret ever speaking to her father like that and she would have used them all if her doing so wouldn't have put her entire species at risk.

Her world and Magnus Bane's were ones that were never meant to mix. However, certain events that she had never deigned to ask about with her birth parents, James and Lily Potter, and her father caused them to meet.

But through it all, one rule was followed no matter what. No one else could know about the existence of the other group of magic creatures. Kaye wasn't entirely sure why, but the system seemed to work. The universe hadn't imploded and both worlds existed with relative peace.

She was hot-headed and quick to anger but sometimes - rarely - she thought before she acted and fortunately, this was one of those times.

She forced herself to relax while Magnus spoke. "Adoption exists." He gestured to the blond boy in the group, as though that was an explanation in itself. His voice dropped, low and daring. "I have the relevant paperwork to prove it if you want."

The dark-haired idiot didn't seem to care and opened his mouth to ask for it, but the girl wearing silver interrupted him. They looked alike but the boy looked older - siblings, not twins, then.

"That won't be necessary." She waved a blue piece of paper like a white flag. "I have an invitation. These" - she indicated the rest of the group with a grand wave of her arm - "Are my friends."

Magnus plucked the invitation out of her hand and looked at it with distaste, "I must have been drunk." He threw the door open. "Come in. And try not to murder any of my guests."

The blonde edged into the doorway, eyeing Magnus with a look Kavya did not like at all.  "Even if one of them spills a drink on my new shoes?"

"Even then." Magnus's hand shot out. He plucked the stele out of his hand and held it up. Jace looked faintly abashed. "As for this," Magnus said, sliding it into the boy's jeans pocket, "keep it in your pants, Shadowhunter."

He grinned then, winked at Kaye, and started up the stairs. "Come on," he said, waving the rest of them inside. "Before anyone thinks it's my party."

The dark-haired boy, who was clearly stuck in an eternal depressive episode, followed her up the stairs.

"Aren't you a little young to be at this party?"

"The party is at my home." She eyed him, "Aren't you a little too old to be hanging out with minors? There's a police station right around the corner. The police code for pedophilia is 428." She had seen it on a cop show a few days ago.

"I'm seventeen."

"Could have fooled me. You don't look a day over 40."

His sister laughed, her bracelets clanking against each other. "I like you. I'm Isabelle, he's Alec, that's Jace, Clary, and Simon." She pointed at each person as she spoke. The blonde boy was Jace and their pet was a brunette boy with glasses. He was human. Interesting.

"Kavya. But you can call me Kaye." Isabelle seemed friendly, the exact opposite of her brother. It was clear to see who got the better genes.

"So Kaye, is it really safe for you to be around so many Downworlders? It's pretty dangerous for a human." Alec asked.

Kaye rolled her eyes. She really didn't like him. "I said Isabelle could call me Kaye. I didn't say you could." And with that, she disappeared into the loft.

>>>

"I think it's a little past your bedtime, sweet."

Kaye shook her head. "But dad! Clary's here."

"You have school tomorrow."

"I have school every day. Clary's here today."

"Bubbles and Snowy are sleeping. You should too."

Bubbles was Kaye's pet snake. She had always adored snakes and Magnus had brought her from India on her 5th birthday, the year before she started school at Ilvermony, the best magic school in all of North America.

Snowy was her owl. She had a white coat and was completely docile. Kaye got her because the school required one for various purposes.

"Bubbles and Snowy are also animals."

"How about-"

"MAGNUS BANE!" The deep, booming voice belonged to a surprisingly short man who looked to be in his early thirties. He was compactly muscular, with a bald head shaved smooth and a pointed goatee. He leveled a trembling finger at Magnus. "Someone just poured holy water into the gas tank on my bike. It's ruined. Destroyed. All the pipes are melted."

"Melted?" murmured Magnus. "How dreadful."

"I want to know who did it." The man bared his teeth, showing long pointed canines, thin and sharp as needles. Magnus stepped in front of Kaye, ever-so-slightly at that. "I thought you swore there'd be no wolf-men here tonight, Bane." 

"I invited none of the Moon's Children. Precisely because of your stupid little feud. If any of them decided to sabotage your bike, they weren't a guest of mine, and are therefore..." He offered a winsome smile. "Not my responsibility."

The vampire roared with rage, jabbing his finger toward him. "Are you trying to tell me that-" 

Kavya lost it. She took out her wand, hiding it as best she would while waving it in the air and murmuring a throat-locking jinx.

Mid-roar the vampire gagged and clutched at his throat. His mouth worked, but no sound came out.

She was going to be in a lot of trouble with her dad.

"You've worn out your welcome," Magnus said lazily, opening his eyes very wide. He had his arm outstretched, behaving as though it was his magic and not hers. His eyes narrowed. "Now go."

He splayed the fingers of his hand, and the vampire turned as if someone had grabbed his shoulders and spun him around. He marched back into the crowd, heading toward the door.

Jace whistled under his breath. "That was impressive."

"You mean that little hissy fit?" Magnus cast his eyes toward the ceiling. "I know. What is her problem?"

Alec made a choking noise. After a moment, Kaye recognized it as laughter. He ought to do that more often. Maybe then, he wouldn't be an insufferable prick.

"We put the holy water in his gas tank, you know," he said.

"ALEC," said Jace. "Shut up."

"I assumed that," Magnus looked amused. "Vindictive little bastards, aren't you? You know their bikes run on demon energies. I doubt he'll be able to repair it."

"One less leech with a fancy ride," said Jace. "My heart bleeds."

"I heard some of them can make their bikes fly," put in Alec, who looked animated for once. He was almost smiling.

"Merely an old witches' tale" said Magnus, his cat's eyes glittering. That was a lie. The countless rides Kaye had taken on the back of Rafael's bike, both with him and by herself, when she had stolen it, proved that. "So is that why you wanted to crash my party? Just to wreck some bloodsucker bikes?"

"No." Jace was all business again. "We need to talk to you. Preferably somewhere private."

Magnus raised an eyebrow. "Am I in trouble with the Clave?"

"No," said Jace.

"Probably not," said Alec. "Ow!" He glared at Jace, who had kicked him sharply in the ankle. Kaye liked Jace immediately.

"No," Jace repeated. "We can talk to you under the seal of the Covenant. If you help us, anything you say will be confidential."

"And if I don't help you?"

Jace spread his hands wide. The rune tattoos on his palms stood out stark and black. "Maybe nothing. Maybe a visit from the Silent City."

Kaye stiffened and her hand drifted back to her wand to discover it missing. She almost whined. Magnus had taken it from her.

His voice was honey poured over shards of ice. "That's quite a choice you're offering me, little Shadowhunter."

"It's no choice at all," said Jace.

"Yes," said the warlock. "That's exactly what I meant."