Clary Fray is a normal teenager. She spends her days drawing and hanging out with her best friend, Simon. Having died when she was young, Clary doesn’t know anything about her father or any of her family’s past. When she asks her mother, Jocelyn, or her uncle, Luke, they feign ignorance or change the subject. Then one night she witnesses a murder at a night club which only she can see. To make matters worse, not only does the murderer, Jace, start following her around, but she receives a phone call from her mother as she is being attacked and kidnapped.

Clary learns that the people she saw in the night club are Shadowhunters, an ancient group of demon hunters that monitor and maintain the underworld, preventing supernatural murders from occurring while taking down the dangerous creatures hiding in the darkness. As Clary learns, Jocelyn was once a Shadowhunter who had been part of a pact whose leader planned to destroy all supernatural beings. After escaping from group, she started a new life with her soon to be born daughter. Learning this information, Clary realizes this is why she can the things that go bump in the night.

There are 6 books in Cassandra Clare’s initial Mortal Instruments series, starting with City of Bones. Having recently finished the second book in the series, I have been impressed with both the story and the characters Clare creates. Mortal Instruments combines well-known lore of vampires, werewolves, demons, and other supernatural foes but does not overdose on the current supernatural trends in teen literature. While these elements may be found in the books, they easily fall into the background, allowing the Shadowhunters to take center stage in the plot. Considering how many vampire and werewolf books for teens are on the shelves, this is a fresh look at the ghoulies.

If you don’t want to get trapped in a book series, you can also find these characters on television. Freeform (previously known as ABC Family, for reasons unknown) recently premiered Shadowhunters, a weekly series on Tuesday nights. Based on the first book in the series, the show introduces the same characters but in their late teens. Instead of a small group of kids as a result of the destruction of the hunters over time, we see an organization of hunters running like a military. While in my opinion this seems like this would be harder to hide from the world, it would be easier to take down the many dangers that are often missed.

With only two episodes so far, this series would be easy to catch up with. If not, I recommend reading, or at least listening to, the base series.