“I don’t want to be in charge of the clan,” Elliott wailed. “Please be a vampire and lead us, Jace! Please!”

“I used to walk in here and have to fight for my life as the place fell down around me,” Jace mused. “Now it’s all velvet cushions and insistent offers of immortal beauty.”

“It’s just one tiny bite,” Elliott coaxed him. “You’ll like it.”

“Nobody likes getting all their blood sucked out, Elliott,” Alec said severely.

Both the vampires in the room smiled because he was telling them off, then looked upset because of what he was saying.

“You only think that because Simon did it wrong,” Lily argued. “I’ve pointed out to him many times that he messed up everything for all of us.”

“Simon did fine,” Jace muttered.

“I didn’t like it,” said Alec. “I won’t talk about this again. Let’s get going.”

“Ah yes.” Lily brightened. “I’m very curious to see how the hottest Shadowhunter in the world is doing.”

“I’m great,” said Jace.

Lily tapped her foot. “Nobody’s talking about you, Jason. Have you heard the phrase ‘tall, dark, and handsome’?”

“Sounds like an old-fashioned saying,” said Jace. “Sounds like something people used to say before I was born.”

He grinned at Lily, who grinned back at him. Jace didn’t just pull the pigtails of people he had crushes on. He pulled the pigtails of everyone in the world he liked. This was something Simon still had not figured out over the years.

“There are a lot of hot Shadowhunters,” said Elliott. “That’s the point of them, isn’t it?”

“No,” said Alec. “We fight demons.”

“Oh,” said Elliott. “Right.”

“I don’t mean to brag. I’m just saying that if they made a book of hot Shadowhunters, my illustration would be on every page,” Jace said serenely.

“Nope,” said Lily. “It would be filled with pictures of the Carstairs family.”

Alec said, “Are you talking about Emma?”

Lily frowned. “Who’s Emma?”

“Emma Carstairs,” said Jace helpfully. “She’s Clary’s pen pal who lives in L.A. Sometimes I write postscripts to Clary’s letters and tell Emma handy knife tricks. Emma’s very good.”

Emma was a single-minded force of destruction, which of course Jace liked. Jace fished out his phone and showed Lily a recent picture of Emma that Emma had sent Clary. Emma was holding her sword on a beach and laughing.

Lily breathed, “Cortana.”

Alec glanced at her sharply.

“I don’t know Emma,” Lily said. “But I’d like to. I don’t normally go for blonds, but she’s hot. Bless the Come-and-Stare family. They never fail me. On that note, I’m off to admire the views in Buenos Aires.”

“Jem is married, you know,” said Alec.

“Don’t leave me in charge!” Elliott begged. “You can’t trust me! It’s a terrible mistake!”