The Half Lilin: By The Light Of The Moon (Chapter 5) By shinieris Thanks To Stanman63 and Captain Normality for the proofreading! "You were saying something?" I cut her off just as she was about to say something, "Anyway, it's your mess. So you have an obligation to help fix it." "Oh!" I heard giggles from the other side, "So which tabloid did you hear that from?" "Tabloid?" "Oh, don't play dumb. I was wondering when you'd come across one of those mags." "What are you talking about?"

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It's hard. That was the first thing I noticed when I attempted to do anything. It wasn't really pain, but more about the inability to feel, to use my own muscles.

When I finally opened my eyes, everything was blurry. I wondered if I was still in the parking lot. The general color of the ceiling was about the same, though I couldn't really tell with my vision so blurry. I tried to get up but fell back down as pain wracked my body. I closed my eyes, trying to resist the pain.

A pair of hands held my shoulders and pushed me back down.

"Don't move," said a gentle male voice, "I don't think you're ready for anything more than a light kiss."

Light kiss? How dare he presume... I'm not that kind of... light kiss... kiss... shit! It's Chris! He's hovering over... going to steal a kiss... don't need eyes to see... get up!

A pair of lips touched mine. I didn't know how long, but it definitely felt far too long. I felt my right arm move and my fist connected to something hard. The pair of lips departed and then I heard a cry of pain.

"Jesus! Why'd you hit me, Pat?"

I suppose it's true that it takes seventeen muscles to smile and much less to throw a fist at someone's face. Case in point, it was much easier for me to hit him than to speak.

"Daddy?"

Is that little Vicky? Oh, of course it is. Who else would call me Daddy? Oh, I wish I can see better. It's all so blurry.

All of a sudden, I felt something grab my left arm. Power flowed all through my body like a broken dam. It was refreshing at first. Then it kinda hurt a little, reminding me of the time when the seal on Mom's tricorne power was broken. Then it hurt a lot and my body jumped twice, my eyes opened wide, before I sat straight up and screamed like a manic banshee. For in that split second of pain, I was reliving the torments of Ashmedan. Torments I thought I had left behind.

Despite the numbness of my body, I struggled a little bit when Chris put his arms around my body, holding my slightly flailing arms pressing against my sides. Then his arms transformed. It turned greenish and slimy before his hands merged to form a single tentacle which wrapped itself even more around my body. In front of me was the giant, circular maw of Harmidas, the monster with rows and rows of sharp fangs lining its circular maw. It never consumed its prey in one bite. It preferred to place its prey dangling just inside its maw and then it will close those rows of razor sharp teeth one by one. It will start with the deepest row of teeth, so the feet will be chewed first.

Then the second, when the calves will break. Next, the thighs and waist will be turned into mush, and I will feel all the pain of being chewed alive. Finally, the fourth and fifth, which will sink hundreds of its fangs into my breasts, my wings and my stomach, pulling me slightly in as its flexible gums tighten, drawing the tips of its fangs inward. It will appear as if it was sucking me in, as its lips closed in around me, leaving only my head outside.

But no, that wasn't going to be the end. I will not be granted a quick death. As I scream and scream, its maw will continue to chew, piercing skin, shredding flesh and breaking bones. I will be aware of everything. Harmidas wouldn't care that it was chewing its own tentacles, as it couldn't even feel pain. For it was slightly emphatic, nowhere near enough to the level of full telepathy, nor did it provide him with sentience, but just enough to experience the sensation of others.

It was a creature of pleasure, like many of Asmodeus's subjects. Unlike others, it could only feel pleasure through pain, other's pain. It can tap into its prey's mind, sharing a small fraction of their pain, but it was never enough, it needed more. So it will prolong its prey's torment, amplifying it by sending the small fraction of the pain it harvested back into the mind of its prey, so that the pain would only grow with the passing of time.

It once took sixty days just to completely chew the lower half of my body, and another twenty days to complete the job. Then it would spit out what was left of my body: the head and a third of my upper spine, which would've been completely bare of skin and flesh. In the end, my head would have a small hole at the top rear, a result of the explosion due to the unbearable echoes of pain on the fiftieth day.

My eyes open, but despite the horrific madness in front of me, my eyes was looking at nothing. As the monster lowered my legs to its maw, my mind went back to Yenne velt. Oh, how I longed to be returned there. And at the center of Yenne Velt, in Vanity Meadows would be Mother's calming face, waiting for my return with a smile on her lips and a twinkle in her eyes. Then she would pat my head and told me how proud she was of me.

"Mother, look at me. Look at me! Would you come and take me back? I swear I won't defy you again, please take me home, Mother," I cried, knowing deep in my heart that Mother heard me, but refused to save me so she could teach me a lesson.

"Snap out of it," came a rough male voice right before I felt the tip of the tentacle around my body slap my cheeks. So very odd, Harmidas never bothered to hit its prey before. The pain from such an act was so very minute that it wouldn't even be able to sense it.

Then I noticed that the tentacle wrapped around me was very loose. Seizing the chance, I gathered my strength and broke off the stranglehold on my own arms and body. My wings were broken in several places, but nothing that couldn't be healed over time. I raised my right hand, pointed it at Harmidas's face and snapped my fingers.

"Take that, monster!" I laughed hard at seeing him flailing his tentacles as his face (including his giant maw) was consumed by flames.

I looked to the sky and thought, Wait for me, Mother. I'm coming home. Then I leaped up to the red sky of Ashmedan.

"Ow!" I cried as my head hit something hard, causing me to close my eyes in pain. I reopened my eyes and found that I was back in my living room.

Why is my plasma TV melted and covered in foam? And why is Chris still spraying my home entertainment system with my emergency fire extinguisher?

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY PLASMA?!!!" I yelled the moment my butt landed on the soft couch.

"ME? It was you who snapped your fingers and set fire to it! Can't you see that I'm trying to snuff the flames?" he said in defense. Then he murmured something under his breath that clearly sounded like 'ungrateful bitch'.

"What the hell do you mean by me setting fire to it? I bought it with my first paycheck," I asked when he stopped spraying the extinguisher foam.

He looked at me, then turned to look at the melted plasma TV before returning his gaze on me.

"I think you were having a nightmare. You were struggling so much in my arms and shouting in some strange language. I slapped your face to wake you up, but you pushed me off, snapped your fingers and the plasma TV went up in flames. All the time, your eyes were vacant, as if your mind wasn't really there."

"So it was all a dream?" I asked.

He nodded. "I believe so." He stepped forward, dropped the fire extinguisher and gently took me into his arms.

"What was it that you were dreaming about? What was so horrific that it spilled into reality?" he asked as he ran his left hand along my the soft tresses of my shoulder-length, blood red hair.

"I... I was back in Hell. In Ashmedan. I was calling for Mother, begging for forgiveness, begging for her to return, to take me home, to Yenne Velt. Home where all my sisters are."

"You have one sister here. Shouldn't that be enough?"

"You won't understand," I sobbed, "It's different. When I was there, in Yenne Velt, it felt right. I felt good,to be with my sisters. Eventhough I haven't spent much time with them, it was like I've known them all my life. I was actually happy, even when one of them attempted to kill me and I had to kill her so I could return. Back in Ashmedan, I begged and begged Mother to listen to my call, to take me back to Yenne Velt. Every single day I begged her, and in that dream, I begged her again."

"That was the strange language I heard?"

"I don't know. Maybe. Can you repeat it for me?"

"No, it was too foreign for me. Definitely not French or German. I think it was probably some Middle Eastern language. Sure sounds like it."

"Something like Arabic? Or Egyptian? Hebrew?"

"No idea. I've never learned any of those. The only Egyptian I've ever heard of was from The Mummy. You know, I probably should sleep with you from now on. You scared the poor bo-ow!" He couldn't finish his sentence as he soon found my fist in his kidney.

"Damned lech!" I said as I pushed him off me, gave him a loud slap and kicked him in the shin.

He chuckled, "Hah! You kicked like a girl!"

"Oh really? Now would you please... stand... just... like... THAT!" I delivered a strong kick aimed at his thighs with all my might.

A kick which fell short. Chris obviously anticipated it because he moved to the left just as it was about to hit.

Chris taunted, "Neh neh, can't get me."

"Stand still, bastard!" I yelled as I chased him around the living room. Well, actually I only chased him around the couch.

"Only if you'd give me a kiss," he laughed as he lingered on the other side of the couch.

"No chance in hell, pervert!" I started running to the left, which he compensated by running to the right.

"Then I guess you'll just have to catch me," he grinned from the other side of the couch.

"Oh, you asked for it," I said as I feinted right before going left.

Then I stopped half-way through. No, it wasn't because Chris saw through my feint. Actually, I was questioning myself for playing along in this game.

The important thing right now is to see whether Tell and little Vicky's OK.

"Where are my sister and son?"

"In her room. Are we stopping already?" He looked pretty down when he said that.

"I'm not playing your game, Chris," I said as I turned and walked to Tell's room.

When I opened the door, I saw little Vicky sitting on the bed next to Tell, reading the story of Cinderella to Tell's unconscious form. He looked up at me when I entered the room and said, "You OK, Daddy? You were screaming."

I walked up to him and ruffled his hair. I said, "Don't you worry, little one. I was just shocked, that's all." Then I turned serious and asked him directly, "Now what do you remember about what happened at the parking lot?"

"Parking lot?" he said, looking confused.

I knelt in front of him. Holding his waist firmly, I said, "Yes, remember? It was after you watched a movie with Aunt Tell. Then there was a big dog blocking your way, what happened after that?"

With very animated hands, "Big doggie sooo eeee-bil! He stabbed Aunt Tell then throw her away. Big doggie looked at me. But Mister Blue Toyota said he'll take care of..." I just had to stop him at that point.

"I'm sorry, did you just say Mister Blue Toyota?"

"Yes, he hit bad doggie with his nose. Then Miss Yellow Voxwagen said don't worry and she hit bad doggie too. Then Mister Black Merseeedeez hit bad doggie with his butt. Bad doggie didn't like it so much, so he beat up poor Mister Black Merseeedeez but Mister Green Mustang ran woosh-woosh at bad doggie and kick it away. Then Mister Red Chev and White Toyota help..."

I just had to interrupt him again because I was feeling awfully confused, "OK, Sweetie, does these people have names?"

"Silly Daddy, they're cars, not people." He giggled.

"Young and funny, I think we're going to like each other," Chris grinned from the doorway.

I ignored Chris as I said, "OK, Sweetie, let's forget about 'Mister Car' for now. What happened after all the Mister and Miss Cars fought the doggie?"

He became so excited that it was hard to keep him sitting firmly on the bed.

"Then an angel came. A very beauuuu-tiful angel, with big white wings and very bright, too. She fired la-ser at the bad doggie and big doggie ran away. The angel landed on the floor and kissed Aunt Tell. Then she told me don't tell my daddy about her and disappeared. Oh-oh, will I go to Hell now?" He sat on the bed finally and bowed down to look at his feet solemnly with his hands placed on his head.

"Oh Sweetie, don't you worry," I replaced his hands on his head with my right hand, "You won't go to Hell just for that. Believe me, I know."

"Yeah, because she's from that place," Chris said.

I gave Chris a sharp glare before turning to little Vicky. I noticed that he was looking pretty tired and told him to take a nap on the bed. He didn't protest as he hugged his baby pillow and laid down next to Tell. He fell asleep almost the moment his head hit the pillow.

I waited a few more minutes, caressing little Vicky's back, trying to get him into a deep sleep. This time I didn't use my healing aura. I didn't know what happened back at the parking lot, but I wasn't going to repeat the same mistake. I checked up on Tell and was satisfied that she was fine, except for not waking up yet. Then I turn around to walk out of the room, but was blocked by Chris at the doorway.

I sighed. "Move aside, Chris. I don't have the mood to play with you now."

He gave me an appraising look, then he said, "You didn't say the magic word."

I groaned and said, "I really hope that this magic word is 'please', because if it's anything else, I think I'd rather kick your butt than say it."

"Full sentence, please," he said as his forefinger made a circle in the air.

"Please... move aside, Chris."

"Is that so hard?" he said as he stepped back to let me through. He watched as I went back to the living room.

"What are you doing?" Chris asked when he saw me pick up the phone's handle.

"Calling someone who can give me an explanation."

"Anyone I know?"

I looked at his face and tried to search my memory to check whether he knew her. They both used to live in Colorado Springs after all. Then I recalled one of those times when Chris made her cry.

"Yup, you know her. She used to live in our neighborhood."

"Who?"

"Stephy, she had lots of freckles and had braces. She wore her hair in twin ponytails."

"Can't quite place her."

"You kicked her cat away when you saw me playing with it."

I saw his eyes dilate before he said, "That girl... I remember pulling her pigtails during recess."

I looked at him sideways. "You're awful," I said.

He grinned and made the gun sign on both hands and pointed it at me. "You know it, babe," he said.

"Hello, who is speaking?" came a stern-sounding voice from the earpiece. It didn't sound like her at all, whether it be her human or demon form.

"Umm, is this Stephanie Mills's number?"

"Who's this?"

"Her friend..."

"I'm sorry, she's busy. I'll tell her to call...." Then I heard a commotion from the other side and some raised voices.

"... tell you not to pick up my calls!" said a different female voice.

"Hello?" she said.

"Hey, Shai-na," I replied in a slow, teasing tone, dragging the syllables as I said it.

"Oh, it's you. What do you want, Ilyse?"

"I need to talk to you, Shaina."

"We're talking."

"I mean face to face, Shaina. I need you to explain something."

"Just what is this 'something'?"

"You'll know. Can we meet, now?"

"Now? Hell no! I'm waiting for an important call."

"A director?"

"A producer if you must know. What if he calls me on my landline?"

"Well, you did say you wanted a break."

"I'm a top celebrity. If I take a break, people will think I have a nervous breakdown."

"Wow, you have some serious issues there. So can we meet?"

"Did you not hear what I said?"

"You were saying something?" I cut her off just as she was about to say something, "Anyway, it's your mess. So you have an obligation to help fix it."

"Oh!" I heard giggles from the other side, "So which tabloid did you hear that from?"

"Tabloid?"

"Oh, don't play dumb. I was wondering when you'd come across one of those mags."

"What are you talking about?"

"You mean you don't know?" More giggles, "Great Mother, this is going to be good. Meet me at the same Starbucks we went to last time... in thirty minutes."

Then the line went dead.

"Freckles is now Stephanie Mills? Wow, how the world has changed."

I gave him a sideways glare. "You're awful. I'm going out, Did you manage to bring my car back?"

"Who was going to drive it back? You were all passed out."

I groaned. "Fine, give me your keys."

"Babe, I told you before, nobody drives my car other than me."

"What is it with you and your unhealthy attachment to that car? Did you buy it with the money you saved from delivering pizzas since you were fifteen?"

"I happened to like that car very much, thank you. And no, I used all my pizza delivering savings to go to the same university you went to. I paid the car in full with my first and second salary with a great deal of contribution from your mother."

"Mom paid for your car..."

He nodded. "That's right."

"I'M GONNA THROW HER INTO A HYDRA'S PIT!" I screamed at the top of my lungs.

"Shh!" he frantically waved his arms, "Are you trying to wake little Vicky up? We can just go together."

"I don't want to go with you, asshole."

"Daddy?" said the little voice from the direction of Tell's rooom.

I looked in that direction and saw little Vicky half hidden by the kitchen wall. He was looking apprehensive, as if deciding whether or not he should be there. Looking at him, I recalled what Lauren said about his life at home. How he had to dance around her father, avoiding stepping on his toes all the time. How he had to hide everytime her father was in a foul mood. That kind of trauma could scar a boy for all his life.

It was all my fault. He never should've suffered that kind of life.

I gestured little Vicky to come closer. "Come here, Sweetie," I said.

He was hesitant, but seeing as my arm was still stretched towards him, he made a brave face and slowly came closer. I squatted on the floor to make myself look less scary to him.

He took my hand and I patted his head with my other hand. "There, there. You don't need to be afraid of me, Sweetie. I wasn't yelling at you. Did I wake you up, just now?"

He nodded once.

"Well, don't you worry. I'm never going to yell at you if you didn't do anything wrong."

"But I always do something wrong," he replied fearfully.

"Sometimes you made a mistake. That's OK. I make mistakes too. The important part is to learn from it and never make the same mistake again."

"But..."

"Ah-ah! No buts. I have to go out for a while. Will you be OK on your own?"

"Yes. I stayed at home sometimes when Momma went to work. I'll be OK," he said.

"Very good. I won't be long. Don't let strangers in and please take care of Aunt Tell for me, okay?"

He nodded.

"That's a good boy," I rubbed his head, messing up his dark brown hair as he squealed. He reminded me so much of his mother. She used to squeal too whenever I messed up her hair.

"I'm sorry that I... umm... the TV is damaged. But you can read storybooks while you wait. I bought some new ones yesterday. It's on the lowest bookshelf, so you can reach it easily."

"I'm not short!" he pouted.

Actually, I thought he was rather short for a boy his age. "Nobody's saying you're short, Sweetie. I just don't want you to be buried in a book avalanche."

"What's avalanche?"

"Err... it's when snow from the mountain's top fall..." I looked at his face noticed his blank expression.

"You know what," I said, "why don't we continue this when I get back, OK?"

I rubbed his head again as he said, "'kay."

"Good boy, now why don't you take the books and sit next to Aunt Tell. I won't be long."

Little Vicky nodded, went to the bookshelves to take the books and went back into Tell's room. I continued watching him until he closed the door.

I turned to Chris to tell him to start the car but was totally caught off guard when he wrapped his arms around my own arms and waist. Then his arms tightened, drawing me closer and tighter to himself. It was so tight that any movements I made would be closer to rubbing that actually struggling. With my arms pinned to my sides, he proceeded to give me a very deep and lustful French kiss.

I didn't realize when he let go of me. The next thing I knew, I had my eyes closed and I was actually kissing back. I stopped then opened my eyes. He opened his eyes and bent forward to continue the kiss, but I used my left hand to cover my mouth, causing his lips to kiss the back of my hand. That was when I found out that my arms were actually wrapped around his neck, pulling his lips down to mine this whole time. I looked at those soft lips that brought me to wonderland and licked my own lips before I caught myself.

"You forced me!" I cried after I used my other hand to push him away. He didn't make a move of protest. My left hand still on my mouth and I had to stop myself from licking my own lips again.

"Babe, if that was what you'd call 'forced', I'd really like to know your definition of 'consensual'," he grinned. Not the adorable, childish grin, but the annoying meanie grin, the one that said he's got what he wanted. I found myself getting hot in the face and neck.

"We're going to be late! Get your keys and let's go. I warn you, if you try to do anything in the car, I'll personally make us crash. Don't forget that I'm immortal and you're not!" I warned, then turned to the front door.

Behind me, I heard him say with a chuckle, "You're going to be a good mom."

I groaned.

*As always, comments are always appreciated.