The Half Lilin: By The Light Of The Moon (Chapter 6) By Shinieris Thanks to Captain Normality for the proofreading! "Well, Shaina, I'm having a problem with a werewolf." "Werewolf." "Yes, werewolf." "Impossible!" "I know! They're not supposed to exist..." I stopped when something else she said caught my attention. "What did you just say?" I asked. "This place is vampire territory. The entire L.A. area is vampire territory. They wouldn't let a werewolf in." "I'm sorry, did you just say vampire?" "Yes, I did."

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"So tell me about this Yeni Vet place," he said after making a turn into North Hill Street.

"What?"

"Yeni Vet, or whichever way you pronounce it. The place where there's more of your kind."

"My kind? I really don't like your tone, Chris. That's racism." I looked away, feeling slightly offended.

"I'm not a racist! Remember that time in high school when I dated that black girl... erh... what was her name..."

"Shawna Thompson," I reminded him with a glare.

He leered at me. "Oh, I thought you didn't want to have anything to do with me back then? How come you knew her name?"

I gave him a sharp look. "It's hard not to notice when you started playing tongue tennis with her in the hallways everytime I walked past!"

He grinned without looking at me. Not the adorable, childish grin that he made at the parking lot, but the evil, 'I-got-you-now' kind of grin. "My my. Am I detecting a certain jealousy in your voice? I think someone's ready to admit her fee~lings."

I frowned at him. "Keep quiet and drive! I don't want to hear a single word out of your lips until we got home."

"Cool, your home or mine?" Chris quipped.

"Mine... hey! I go back to my place. You go back to your place!"

"But that's just the thing, babe. My home is yours too. Your mom bought it for us."

"Okay then. Following that reasoning, the house should be mine. So I'm kicking you out. There." I crossed my arms ad made a satisfied smirk.

"Oh boy, that's just mean. Too bad it won't work though. The house is under my name."

"Then keep... why is it dark?" I said, referring to the Starbucks in question, which appeared to be closed.

"What do you expect? It's two in the morning. Why didn't you just agree to meet at 7-Eleven, for example?"

"But she clearly told me to come here..." I looked at my watch, "... around this time. Maybe she's waiting in her car."

"Or maybe, she stood you up."

"Shut up... maybe she's just running late. I'll call her cell," I said as I whipped out my own cellphone.

"Excuse me. but you're the one who's late. I've been waiting here for the past five minutes."

"Shaina? Where the hell did you come from? Where's your car?" I started looking around.

"Not here. I didn't drive here. I just blinked. My cousin put me on house arrest."

Chris leaned over to my side of the car and said to Shaina, "Hey, Freckles."

Shaina's eyes bulged out. "Why'd you bring him here?"

Before I could answer, Chris said, "Comes with the car, baby," he grinned, "Are you going to come in or just stand there like a hooker?"

Shaina's left eyebrow ticked twice. She then stepped back and opened the back door.

"Great Mother, you stink!" she said, immediately after her butt hit the seat.

"Hey, in my defense, I fought off five big guys two hours ago. I've been taking care of grumpy here until she woke up and broke my nose."

"I broke your nose?"

"You damned near did."

"Should've put more strength into it," I muttered under my breath.

"Come again?"

"You wish!"

"I hate to break up your lover's quarrel, but I wasn't actually referring to you," she pointed a finger at Chris, "I was actually referring to you," she pointed at me.

"Me?" I smelled my sleeves, no particularly strong smell. I hesitantly sniffed at my ampits. No strong smell there, either.

I turned my body to face her in the backseat. "But I don't smell..."

It was about that time that Chris's fingers pushed the hair at my neck away and pressed his nose to the nape of my neck. "Pat's right. I don't smell anything," he said.

I elbowed his kidney with my right elbow in response. When he pulled back in pain, I turned to face him and shoved him to his side of the car, hard. Probably too hard. I winced hearing the loud sound of his back hitting the door.

"Ow, ow, ow! You better wish my spine's not broken. Else I'll be announcing my wedding vows in a wheelchair," he said. Judging from his voice, I could tell that he was in a lot of pain.

"You shouldn't have done that! Especially when we have company! Besides, when did I ever agree to marry you?" I pulled him by the sides of his chest, "Turn around."

"What?" he asked, pain still obvious in his voice.

"I said turn around. Don't make me repeat myself."

He turned around, making some pathetic pained noises as he did. I ran my fingers across his back, poking here and there to determine which part of his body was in pain. I covered my fingers with pinkish healing glow as I massaged his back under his verbal guidance.

First he told me to massage somewhere below his shoulder bones. Then he told me to go lower, a few inches below what I would call wing bones. I did as he asked even after he told me to massage the sides of his torso, going slowly to the front. I continued my massage when he told me to go lower, and I couldn't help but admire his six-packs. Mine was pretty much always flat.

Then he told me to rub lower, and that was when I smacked him on the back of the head. That caused his forehead to hit the glass of the window.

"Ow! What the hell was that, Pat?" he cried, covering his forehead with his left hand as if expecting another punishment.

"That's what you get for being a rat-bastard," I said, turning the other way.

"I'm sure this is all pretty amusing," Shaina said from the back seat, "And I can understand why he can't smell it. But you, you're a lili, how can you not smell that?"

"What am I supposed to smell?"

"Oh, you're hopeless," she said as she pulled my left hand roughly.

The next thing I knew, I was looking at myself from the back seat. Freaky. But that wasn't the worst of it. Immediately I smelled the stench of rotten meat, the kind of smell you'd get if you let a dead rat's carcass rot on its own without the aid of maggots. I wanted to cover my nose, but I couldn't control her hands.

That wasn't all, however. I also noticed a shifting darkness around me, I mean my body. At first I thought it was just tricks of the light, but then I noticed the darkness was flowing. Flowing like black smoke from one part of the body to the other. Constantly, as if it was no different from my own lifeblood. Maybe it was my own lifeblood, this foul black smoke with a heavy rotten stench that lingered in one's nose. I never thought I could smell so bad.

She let go of my hand and I found myself back in my own body, with the bad smell and nausea nothing more than a bad memory.

"What the hell was that? How can I smell so bad?"

"Oh, don't feel so bad. I've smelled worse. My friend Ledria smells like rotten fish and another friend smells like she crapped on her own head everyday," she said, probably trying to make me feel better.

I wasn't really listening. With my hands on each side of my head, I mumbled, "Oh, how can this be? How can I stink so badly? Have I always smelled this bad?"

"Actually, you didn't stink this badly last time. When I first met you in your apartment, your aura was turbulent, but at least it smelled like flowers. You only started to stink... oh my... you have his smell. You slept with him, didn't you?" she said that last part with genuine shock.

For some reason, I just knew that the 'he' that she mentioned wasn't Chris. Apparently, Chris came to the same conclusion because he was glowering at me intensely while his cheek muscles kept jumping like kangaroos on a race.

I just felt like I should offer some explanation, there's no telling what Chris would do if I just let his rage boil. "Calm down... honey," I said that last word with a bit of difficulty, "I swear I haven't slept with anyone other than you and Vicky (at least not in human form). She was just spouting nonsense..."

"But you must be!" she interjected. Totally ignoring my evil eye look, she continued, "That explains everything, like the change in your aura, this disgusting smell and the reason you weren't kicked down to Papua New Guinea."

"Shaina, this is a good time for you to stop..."

"What's this about Papua New Guinea?" Chris growled. If not because I knew how bad his tempers often ran, I would probably consider his growls as delicious.

Shaina, the loudmouth, replied with, "Well, it's common knowledge that only angels of death and dead humans are allowed to enter Purgatory. Anyone else gets kicked down to Papua New Guinea."

Shaina...

"She's the only one I know who didn't get kicked down to Papua New Guinea."

Stop talking...

"That's why you said last time that Azrael was the perfect gentleman."

STOP TALKING!

"First Hades, then Uriel, now Azrael. How many men were you cheating on me with?" Chris asked in a barely controlled voice. His face dark with volcanic rage. His hands, tightly gripping the steering wheel as if meaning to crush it in his anger.

"No, no. It's not what you think. They're not men, see. They're angels. And they're not different people, they're actually the same angel in different names."

Shaina gasped at that point. "No way! You're lying!"

"QUIET, SHAINA!" I cried at the same moment when Chris pressed the gas pedal. I was thrown back into my seat as the sudden acceleration caused me to lose my balance.

"Hey Chris, come on, don't be this way. Nothing happened, okay," I said as I started to clumsily put on my seatbelt.

"What's he doing?" Shaina asked as she poked her head between us. I couldn't believe she was unaffected by the sudden speed.

"Chris, baby, please stop. Crashing us won't change anything."

He obviously wasn't listening.

"What's the big deal? If he wants to die, let him. It's not like we'll die with him."

I turned to face Shaina. "I don't want to be trapped under a wreckage and had to explain why I wasn't harmed! I can't blink away, I lost my wings."

"Clipped, not lost. I can always tag you with me when I blink away. Bet you didn't know that."

She was right, I didn't know that. But... "That's beside the point..." I turned to look at Chris, whose hands had gone white from gripping the steering wheel too tightly, "... I don't want him to die."

She looked at Chris, flinched a bit when our speeding ride almost nicked a much slower car and said, "Why would you care? Do you finally have to have feelings for him?"

"What's that got to do with anything? Chris! Slow down!" I cried, seeing him almost hitting the metal railing at my side of the road. My first reaction was to seize the wheel and force him to slow down, but I've watched enough movies to know that it will always make things worse. At least now, we're not hitting anything despite the car cruising at the speed that would make Michael Schumacher green with envy. I doubt though that anything I said would enter his brain.

"It has everything to do with everything. I don't want to take you away if it means letting the man you love to die. Remember the vow? I can leave on my own, but I'm honor-bound to bring you with me."

"So it means that you can't save yourself without me?"

"That is what-ow!" she tried to say before the car swerved and she flew, her face ended up hitting the left window. "I'll kill you, bastard!" she cried.

I looked at Chris's dark face. His eyes were focused forward, as if the only important thing at the moment was to continue driving recklessly. I looked into his eyes and there was no more 'me' in there.

"So do you love him?" came the question I've been dreading.

I looked at Chris again. "But... this is just... so sudden... I can't."

"Time's running. Ten seconds and we're out of here."

"What? I can't..."

"Eight."

"Come on, I need..." she cut in by saying, 'six', "... to sort out my feelings."

"Four."

"Wait... I... I..."

"Two." She grabbed my shoulders.

"Okay! I love him, okay? I love him, stop counting!" I shouted at her.

"You love me?" came the voice I thought I'd never hear again.

"Err, you were listening?" I said, feeling slightly embarrassed. Although it was true, sometimes at least, but I wasn't ready for it to become public knowledge yet. I especially wasn't ready for him to find out about it. That was why I kept looking at him just now.

"You owe me big, bastard," Shaina said as she let go of my shoulders.

"Won't forget it, Freckles. Yes, of course, babe. I was listening the whole time. Totally fooled you, didn't I?" He punctuated it with a laugh. For a second there, I thought we were about to hit that old lady's car. She was so shocked, she didn't even hit the horn.

"So you... weren't really mad?" I was feeling a bit, how should I say it... cheated.

"You kidding? I believed you the first time. I knew you wouldn't cheat on me. I was just messing with you."

Didn't look like that to me.

"You mean that was all an act? And you!" I said, referring to Shaina, "You were in on this? What, you had a telepathic discussion while I was worrying my ass off?" I turned back to Chris, "And why are we still speeding?!"

He eased the pressure on the pedal, causing me and Shaina to be thrown forward a little. " I want to hear you say it again," he said, before pressing his foot onto the gas pedal again, "I want to hear you say you love me."

"Great Mother! Slow down!" That only made him press harder on the pedal. "Okay!" I said after seeing how determined he was to hear me say that again, "I love you, okay? I love you! Now stop the car!"

He grinned, made a 270 degrees drift and drove the car into a smaller road. I bet that if the windows were down, I would be able to smell the stench of burned rubber.

I was still holding on to the dashboard and the window when Chris pried my pale and petrified fingers and held it in his own.

"Thank you, Pat. You have no idea how long I've wanted to hear you say that again."

"Let me guess, last Christmas?"

He chuckled. "Yet you insisted on pretending that last Christmas didn't happen. Didn't you know you were breaking my heart every time you denied that we had something special that night?"

Shaina suddenly poked her head between us, which Chris quickly shoved to the backseat with his left hand. "Okay, I'm sorry to interrupt, but we have coppers incoming. Just stay cool and let me do all the talking."

Just as she said it, I saw the blue and red lights of the patrol car at the bend, followed by the car itself. "How did you know they're coming? I only heard the siren when they got to the corner," I asked.

"I sensed a change in the air turbulence before they arrived. They've been following us for a few minutes, barely keeping up. If you didn't stop just now, they'd be left behind."

"I knew I shouldn't have stopped the car," Chris complained.

"This is L.A. If they couldn't keep up with cars, they'd use choppers," I countered.

Chris was about to say something when Shaina shushed and said, "Quiet! Ilyse, open your mouth."

I only managed to let out a "Why..." when she shot something powdery from her forefinger into my throat, causing me to cough a few times. It felt like that blasted thing wrapped itself aroung my vocal box.

"What the fu..." I immediately noticed something different, "What the hell did you do to my voice?"

"Much better. Your voice was pretty androgynous before, but now there should be no doubt as to your gender," she replied, referring to my more feminized voice.

"My gender? I'm a dude!"

"Not for the moment. My glamour will show that you're a dudette."

"WHY?!!!"

"I must say, Pat, this voice fits you better," Chris grinned. I responded by smacking his forehead.

Then there was a knock on Chris's window.

"Good evening, officer. Is something the matter?" Chris said after his window was lowered.

"Don't play coy with me, boy. You know damn well you were driving over the speed limit. License, please," said the police officer.

I didn't think he was old enough to call Chris 'boy'. He was a dark haired guy, with macho-ish demeanor and sporting a rather obvious pot-belly.

Shaina lowered her window while Chris fished out his driving license. I noticed that he was taking his time.

"Hey there, big guy. What-choo doin' here so late at night?" Shaina cooed excitedly. She sounded like a drunk prom date.

"Well ma'am, it's Officer Mal...co...lm" was what he managed to get out before his voice trailed off and finally going silent. I leaned closer to Chris to sneak a look through his window. I took a look at the officer's face and noticed his blank expression.

"Oh my, Officer Malcolm, ya must be tired, havin' to work the graveyard shift."

This Officer Malcolm was looking shy when he said, "Naw, it's all part of the duty, ma'am."

"Must be hard on yah marriage, officer. How can ya stand doin' this ev'ryday?"

"Well, uhum. I'm divorced."

"Oh my, divorced? A strappin' hunk like ya? Mmm..." She licked her lips. I couldn't believe she was openly flirting with the police officer.

Despite the darkness, I could see Officer Malcolm's face blush.

"Well, any-whoo," Shaina bit her lips before continuing, "me and mah girlfriend here," she gestured at me, "just got back from a party. We took a bit too much cocktails for the night and was well sloshed. So instead o' drivin' back, mah friend here called 'er boyfriend to come and save us. He was driving fast because we called in the middle of a baseball game. Ya know how it is with boys and their baseball, don't ya, Officer Malcolm?" She said that last part with a very thick flirtatious undertone.

"Umm," he pulled on his collar as Chris and I marvelled at how much influence Shaina had on this guy, "Thing is, speeding is still a traffic offense. I'll have to give you a ticket, I think." I heard a voice from the patrol car asking him what was taking him so long.

"Awww, please? Ah've never gotten a ticket before. Don't wanna start now..." she left the sentence hanging while she made the cutest of pouts.

"Gee, you're not making it easy on... hey, I know you. Aren't you Stephanie Mills?"

"Hehe," she giggled while biting her tongue, "Ya got me. Maybe ah should straighten mah hair before goin' out next time."

"Oh god, I'm your biggest fan, would you sign..." he gave her a stack of summons ticket before realizing his mistake and switching it with a notepad that he produced from his belly bag. "Would you give me an autograph?"

"Wah, of course, officer. Anythin' for the brave men of the force. Lemme grab mah pen," she said as she stretched her hand towards the other side of the car.

There was a slight vibration for a few seconds. It felt like the car was vibrating. For that few seconds, I could see it by the minute movements of the rear mirror and I could hear it by the sound the windshield made as it vibrated to the frequency of Vault Call.

Then Shaina pulled back her hand and the vibrations stopped. In her hand, she now hold a pen. Not an artifact made in the shape of a pen, but a simple, ordinary pen. Okay, maybe not so ordinary. It appeared to be one of those pricey specialty pens. Regardless, I couldn't believe she would keep an ordinary pen in her Vault.

"Who'd this be for, officer?"

"Would it be too much if you give me two autographs, ma'am? One for me, and another for my daughter Isabelle."

"Not a problem, compared to mah official autograph signing events, two's no trouble at all."

Then I heard a gruff male voice from behind the car. "Hey Georgie, what are you doing? Just give them the ticket. What's taking so bloody long?"

Shaina raised her head from the notepad she was scribbling on and yelled sharply, "Officer!"

Both of them turned to look at her and I saw the other officer's eyes glazed over. Man, she's good. Just a glance and she already reduced them to mere puppets.

"Would you like an autograph too, officer?" she asked, smiling sweetly. The other officer nodded his head and murmured 'yes'. I noticed she had dropped her ridiculous accent now.

"Not a problem! There's plenty of me to go around," she giggled as she flashed her trademark dazzling smile at the two officers.

Then she gave the notepad back to Officer Georgie Malcolm and received a stern but lighthearted warning about not doing 'it' again. I didn't think Officer Malcolm even remembered what 'it' was. Shaina remained her charming self, giggling and promising to behave. They tipped their hats, got into their cars and drove away.

"You used your glamour on them, didn't you?" I asked.

"Not glamour, charm. There is a big difference between the two. I dropped my glamour to get Officer Malcolm to recognize who I am, I used my charm to make then dance around my fingers."

Chris cut in with, "That was impressive, Freckles. So tell me, did you magically make your freckles disappear?"

"I will not even dignify that with a response!"

"Ha!" Chris laughed, "It's true, isn't it? You-ow! Why'd you hit me, Pat?"

"You're being a jerk!" I said as I poked him in the ribs.

"For your information, we lilim are the most perfect women to have ever existed. Any flaws are carefully considered to make us blend into human society."

"I bet you tell that to every guy," he winked.

"Enough!" I said, pushing Chris to sit straight on his seat.

"Yes, enough of this. Why did call me out? What can be possibly important enough that you need to see me face to face?"

"Well, Shaina, I'm having a problem with a werewolf."

"Werewolf."

"Yes, werewolf."

"Impossible!"

"I know! They're not supposed to exist..." I stopped when something else she said caught my attention. "What did you just say?" I asked.

"This place is vampire territory. The entire L.A. area is vampire territory. They wouldn't let a werewolf in."

"I'm sorry, did you just say vampire?"

"Yes, I did."

"You know, babe. Seeing as there are demons and werewolves, it's not such a big surprise that there are vampires too."

"Don't interrupt!" I said to Chris.

"I assume you want pointers on how to destroy one?"

"Destroy? Heh! As if asking you would make any difference."

"Now what's that supposed to mean?"

"You had your chance ten years ago. You failed to destroy that lone werewolf. And now, she's back."

"What are you talking about? Ten years ago? We were only... oh!"

"So now you remember? How you and mom destroyed Vicky's life?"

"Blame your mom! She was the one who refused to move away from the tube! We would've been there earlier if not for The Bold And The Beautiful!"

"Acapulco Bay."

"What?"

"You were late because mom was watching Acapulco Bay."

"What the hell do I care what soap opera she was watching?" she countered, sounding very irritated.

"Well, fact remains that you didn't stop mom from killing Vicky's mother and you didn't argue when mom chose Vicky's father to take all the blame!"

"How the hell do you expect me to argue with her? Sarai was starving. She was past reason, she wasn't herself! You should've seen-wait... how come you know about this? You weren't there."

"Your mind-wipe spell failed. I saw Tell's memories as if it happened to myself."

"Oh! Well, you can't blame me for not being able to maintain the spell matrix. I was much younger back then."

"Well..."

"Wait! Did you say the werewolf's back? Your tone implies that you're talking about the same werewolf as the one Sarai and I fought ten years ago."

"It is the same one. I saw both the one from ten years ago and tonight. Both had the same crescent tattoo on its right cheek that glows faintly with the light of the moon."

"Okay... but that's impossible. Vicky's mom was dead. We buried her. Sarai even kept watch over her grave for two years before she determined that Vicky's mom was truly dead!"

"Yet she has returned. And I believe she's still here."

Shaina twirled her pen around her fingers, appearing lost in thought.

"Tell her about the demon," Chris said.

The pen stopped twirling. Catching it in her hand, she asked, "What demon?"

"When we arrived at the scene some hours ago, the werewolf was gone. Instead, we got ambushed by mall security and one of our sisters was there," I said.

"She appeared to be fixing the place, now that I think about it," Chris put in.

"Strange. Are you suggesting that one of our sisters resurrected the creature?" she said in an accusing tone.

"Hey, hold on a minute, I never said..."

"Oh please, don't get defensive. I wouldn't be surprised if one of our sisters did mastermind the whole thing. You did, afterall, kill the 8th oldest bicorne. They still can't find enough of her essence to resurrect her, you know."

"That was..."

"Plus, you destroyed Yenne Velt."

"Hey, come on. I wouldn't have enough power to destroy Yenne Velt. You're exaggerating. Destroying Yenne Velt would require a power equal to Mother, and we both know that no lili is that powerful," I said.

She looked at me with an accusing glare, "You know Vanity Meadows?"

"Yes, of course. I've been there a few times."

"Well, savor the memory. It's no longer there."

"Huh?"

"Your last spell destroyed everything there. Vanity Meadows is just a hole in the universe now."

I felt my gut knotting. "And Mother?"

She gave me a curious look this time. "I'm surprised you even worry about Mother. She's Mother after all. She, alongwith the Ardat Lili moved to Mount Desire after your bout of destruction, carrying with her the throne that used to be at the center of Vanity Meadows. The rest of the older lilim were trying to close the hole that was Vanity Meadows when I left."

"At least everyone's alright," I breathed a sigh of relief.

"That may be, but regardless, Mother holds you responsible and forbids you from entering Yenne Velt."

I shrugged. "Meh, I thought it would be a worse punishment."

"She didn't say how long. It could be she meant forever," her voice suggests pity now.

"As I've said, I expected worse." I shrugged again.

She shook her head side to side slowly, as if my answer wasn't exactly what wanted to hear.

"But why fix everything thought?" Chris interjected, "And why didn't she just kill her, instead of running away?"

Shaina took in a breath and started to explain, "Well Chris, let me first tell you about how we lilim do things. We have this rule called the Code of Concealment. It basically states that we must not draw attention to ourselves, and if we do happen to show our true form to mortals, we must make it appear as if it was a dream or hallucination. In other words, our existence must only remain in legends and mythologies. As for why she didn't kill her, we lilim like to drag out our hate and anger. We are very much into long term vendettas. If that was really her intention, then you can bet that she'll appear in front of her again."

"Wow," he looked at me, "you have a very messed up family."

"Shut up..." I said as I smacked his arm.

"How did she look like? This sister of ours?"

"She was a bicorne whose horns were shaped like a pair of tiny wings on the sides of her head. Her hair was purple but her wings were black. I think she's friends with Delilah."

Shaina remained quiet for a while before slowly saying, "The only one I can think of is Arienh (she pronounced it as ah-ree-anne-nah), but she's ancient. Pre-Baphomet war, definitely. I don't understand why she'd dirty her hands with you instead of asking one of her subbies to do it."

"I suppose this means I have a very powerful enemy now?"

"You bet. But don't worry, everyone has a powerful enemy at one point or another. Our elder sisters love to bully the younger ones. Though I've been wondering... how did you escape from her?"

"As Chris said earlier, she fled. We didn't need to escape at all."

"Weird. but then again, all the ancient ones are senile. Did you know that Delilah fills her garden with tombstones and Milen loves to make ice sculptures of her long dead husband?"

"Really?"

"But I'll make some enquiries either way. This is quite interesting."

"I would hardly describe an assault on my sister and son as interesting."

"Wait, you have a son?" She glanced at Chris.

"No! Not with him. With Vicky," I explained.

"Vicky? When did that happen?"

"Soon after you destroyed her life. She went missing a few days after he was born. He was raised by her cousin until very recently."

Eyes wide, she said, "A few days? Did Mother..."

"I don't know. I have thought about it too, but I seriously don't know. I can only be sure if I can ask either Mother or Vicky herself."

"What are you talking about?" Chris enquired.

Shaina turned to explain. "Whenever a baby that carries Mother's genes are born, Mother will have a chance to claim them as her own. If it's a baby boy, Mother has eight days to claim him. If it's a girl, Mother has twenty days. Upon puberty, their powers will awaken and they will become a young lili."

Chris turned to me. "That happened to you?" he asked. I nodded in response. The real story was actually much more complicated. I didn't feel like explaining at that moment.

"Oh, before I forget," she tossed what felt like a glossy magazine at me. "Turn to page sixteen," she said.

I pressed the light button overhead to illuminate the magazine in my hand. Then I swiftly turned the pages to page sixteen. It took me a moment to digest what I saw on page sixteen.

"Fuck! Why the hell is my face in there?" I cried in shock.

Chris got in close to look. His eyes narrowed as he took in the picture in the magazine. It was that scene in Starbucks. Sitting in front of Stephanie Mills in disguise, was a man on the verge of falling backwards in his chair. That man looked very much like me. It was me, actually.

"Stephanie's New Boyfriend Afraid of Cameras?" Chris read aloud. "Yup, sounds like you. Remember how Miss Waters had to threaten to withhold your high school diploma if you refuse to take the graduation pictures?"

I gave him a sharp glare which he countered with a chuckle. Turning to Shaina, I asked, "So does this mean that my quiet life is over now that..." I showed her the picture, "I'm your supposed boyfriend?"

She giggled. "Hardly, they will try to find out who you are, of course. Then they will start pestering you, following you around, asking questions about our 'relationship', et cetera, et cetera. Just tell them that we were childhood friends and stick to that. They'll get bored soon."

"Oh they will just love this new voice of mine," I said drily.

"oops!" She giggled again, "Sorry, I forgot about that." Then she slapped me so suddenly.

I was reeling with shock that it took me several seconds to formulate a response. "What the hell was that for?!!!"

Immediately, I noticed that my voice had returned to normal.

"Get rid of the hair, though. I don't want people to think that I'm dating a poof, or a hippie," Shaina said.

"I'm neither poof nor hippie! It's just my hair is invulnerable to stainless steel. SO how exactly was I supposed to get rid of it? Burn it perhaps?"

Chris quickly cut in. "No! Don't you dare!"

"Sounds like you haven't turned off your natural protection yet. Just turn it off and you can just cut it with normal scissors."

"You make it sound so simple. But how exactly do I do that?"

"You're saying you don't know how? Such simple thing?"

"Yes, I don't have the priviledge of living as a half-lili since puberty, you know."

She shrugged. "All you have to do is say, 'In Mother's name, my body is not eternal'. When you want to regain your natural protection, just say 'In Mother's name, my body is eternal'. Simple as that."

"Only that?" She nodded. "That was all I needed to do? You can't be serious!"

"What? Were you expecting fire and brimstone or divine light from the sky? Oh please, you watched too much of Supernatural," she said as she opened the door and got out.

"I have never watched Supernatural!" I yelled at the empty back seat.

"I have. It's a pretty good show. Much better than that 'Angel' crap at any rate," Chris said.

I glared at Chris again and said, "Nobody's gonna call you mute if you don't speak, Chris."

He pressed his right hand onto his heart. "Oh baby, you've hurt my heart again. My painful, tortured heart can no longer bear the abuse you've heaped on it, my sweet love."

I was about to gag. "Good, why don't you just jump down a bridge in the next ten minutes?"

Shaina poked her head through my window. "I'll make some enquiries. Even though we younger ones aren't allowed to enter Yenne Velt while repair work is ongoing, I still have some sources I can trust."

"What if the werewolf or Arienh returns while you're away 'making enquiries'?" I asked.

"Then use your connection. What's the point of having powerful friends if you don't use them?"

"Who?"

"That angel you're so close to. An angel can do a lot more than a piece of angelic essence."

I could only think of one particular angel. "Forget it. Uriel won't come down here just to save me. He's too busy with Tartarus and I'm really just another consort to him."

Shaina cuffed me on the forehead. "Not him! That girl you're close with. I think her name's... Sue... yes... Sue Preston's her name. The one who organized that Christmas party. Just ask her to help you."

My brain failed to digest the information at first. When the gears started turning again, the only thing that popped into my mind was a question.

Sue's an angel?

*As always, any comments are very much appreciated. Thanks in advance.