The Half Lilin: By The Light Of The Moon (Chapter 7) By Shinieris Thanks to Captain Normality for the proofreading! "You've been spacing out for awhile now. Something in your mind? By the way, I don't like your new hairstyle." she said as she slurped on her OJ. I had cut my hair by myself before leaving for the office earlier this morning, using the tip left by Shaina last night. I didn't dare cut too much, as I had once become a laughing stock of the school for cutting too much of my hair in patches, so that I looked like a Kappa, a kind of Japanese spirit that holds water in the empty patch of hair on his head. I recalled Chris being suspended for a week for decking everyone who made fun of my hair, without caring whether it were boys or girls. Mom eventually applied a cream on my head that made my hair grow within 24 hours. Then she gave me a proper army style close-cut. At this moment, my hair is just a little above my shoulderline. "Sue..." "Uhuh?" "Why didn't you tell me that you're an angel?" It was funny seeing her choke on her OJ.

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Tasteless. No, not bitter. Tasteless. That was my opinion of the coffee I was sipping. I've never liked sugar in my coffee and I rarely tolerate creamers. I've never liked sipping on a coffee that tasted like sugar or milk. I suppose I was one of those purists who like the pure taste of caffein in my coffee. Today though, no matter how much sugar or milk I put into the coffee, it remained the same. Tasteless.

I looked forward, to Sue who's sitting in front of me, sipping on her OJ. As I studied her, the previous night's conversation came back to me.

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"Wait a minute, Sue Preston's an angel?" Chris asked as he pushed himself to my side of the car.

"Yes, no doubt about it. I saw her for what she truly was at the Christmas party."

"You mean the kind of angel made of light and pure goodness? Not the metaphorical kind?" I asked.

"Pure goodness? That's what they want you to think. I've heard of angels who were less than honorable."

Yeah, I can name one. Uriel.

"I can't believe you've been around her all this time and yet you can't see her true identity. I mean, her mansion was glowing! She was glowing, shimmering like the morning sun."

"Umm, no, never seen that before," I replied.

"I thought I was going to get blasted to Gehenna when she approached me after I gave my artifact to your sister. I was so relieved when she only told me to behave myself. Did you know that each of them angels from Briah is more powerful than us one on one? Judging from her aura, I doubted I could last even a minute against her if she really wanted to kill me."

"She saw your true form?"

"She's an angel. Angels see everyone's true form. She likely saw yours too, though how she could get along so well with you, I have no idea. Angels often like to pick fights with our faction."

"Why didn't she pick fights with you, then?" I asked when I managed to push Chris to sit straight on his seat.

"She said her mission doesn't require her to kill any demons that cross her path, unless they're a threat to her mission. Apparently, I wasn't a threat. Angels can be pretty stiff fellas."

"Patty."

So my best friend's an angel?

"Patty."

Gee, this sucks. What am I to do with her now?

"Patty."

Angels and demons don't mix well together. I wonder if she has an ulterior motive behind befriending me.

"PATTY!" came a voice that jarred me awake.

"What?"

"You've been spacing out for awhile now. Something in your mind? By the way, I don't like your new hairstyle." she said as she slurped on her OJ. I had cut my hair by myself before leaving for the office earlier this morning, using the tip left by Shaina last night. I didn't dare cut too much, as I had once become a laughing stock of the school for cutting too much of my hair in patches, so that I looked like a Kappa, a kind of Japanese spirit that holds water in the empty patch of hair on his head. I recalled Chris being suspended for a week for decking everyone who made fun of my hair, without caring whether it were boys or girls. Mom eventually applied a cream on my head that made my hair grow within 24 hours. Then she gave me a proper army style close-cut. At the moment, my hair was just a little above my shoulder line.

"Sue..."

"Uhuh?"

"Why didn't you tell me that you're an angel?"

It was funny seeing her choke on her OJ.

Once she recovered, she said with difficulty, "I have..." coughs, "... no idea..." coughs, "... what you're talking..." coughs, "... about."

"Sue, do angels lie?"

"How am I supposed to know?" she replied, sounding slightly better.

"How come we got along so well, Sue?"

"Of course because of my charming wit and sparkling personality," she giggled.

"Seriously, Sue. We've been friends for like, what..."

"A year."

I paused. Now that she said it, it really has been only a year. I first met her in the previous Christmas party.

"But it felt like we've been friends for a much longer time, Sue."

She nodded. "So why ruin a good thing, Patty?"

"And this insistence in calling me 'Patty'. You saw me for what I was since the start, didn't you? Long before I even knew myself."

"Patty, please, drop this. It will only bring hurt to both of us," Sue implored

"Why? An army of angels would swoop down and slay you and me if you told me who you really were?"

"Not very far from the truth, but I doubt it would happen. No, Patty. To keep this secret, is to keep you safe."

"So you want us to remain ignorant to the fact that I'm a demon and you're an angel?"

"Half-demon. True demons are real nasty bastards."

"That's beside the point, Sue. Why didn't you tell me earlier? Even when I found out what I was, you kept quiet. Why? Do I fit in with this great scheme of the universe that I'm not allowed to know? I didn't even know your name!"

"Susan Preston. Call me Sue. That's all you need to know."

"See? We need to work on our communication. Because frankly, I don't see how we can continue being friends if you keep insisting on hiding the truth from me."

She sighed. "Patty, leave it alone. Let's just forget this conversation has ever taken place."

"You want us to just pretend that we're just two ordinary humans that got along well?" I asked.

"Indeed, that is the best course of action."

"But you can't forget it, can you? You have a mission here on Earth. Tell me what that mission is."

"I cannot tell you what my mission is, patty. Please don't insist that I tell you that. It is dangerous, to know."

"Your tone suggests a threat is incoming, Sue. What? You're going to blast me all the way to Gehenna?"

"Provoking me will not make it easier for me to tell you what you want to know, Patty. Just drop it, okay?"

"At least tell me your name. You owe me at least that."

"My name is Su..."

I cut her off. "Don't give me that! I want your real name. Not this false identity you're using to lie to me!"

Sue looked to the left and right. Only then did I notice that we were drawing stares from people around. I awkwardly sat down.

With a controlled voice, Sue said, "That is my real name, Patty. This body doesn't just magically appear and disappear at will. It has to first be born through an act of love and raised with love. This body has a name. This body is human."

"What, you reincarnated into a human body? Like Naamah? For this particular mission alone?"

"Heavens no! I wasn't reincarnated. I borrowed this human's body. In a way, Sue and I are merged to become a single being. We feel what each other is feeling, we make decisions based on each other's opinions and because we most often agree with each other in everything, we often found it hard to tell who's who. We fit each other too well that it's sometimes hard for us to remember that we were once two different persons."

"Did you force Sue into accepting you into her body?" I asked while playing with the handle of my cup.

"Patty, you're starting to piss me off! I did NOT force her into anything! Angels can only enter those who are pure and wishes for the holy light. She asked for me to enter her body, begged for it, in fact."

"You know what kind of people would say that so passionately, Sue?" I waited to let her digest, "Rapists. Rapists say the same thing too when they plead their innocence."

"Fine!" She got up and grabbed her bag. Leaning down so her angry face was inches from mine, she said, "If you want to insist on believing that I forced myself on her, then I'm leaving!" Then she turned around and started to walk away.

She had only walked a couple of steps I demanded, "At least tell me your name!"

"Mihael (mi-har-el)!" she replied as she stormed off.

I didn't know how long I was spaced out, but the next thing I noticed, Ariel was sitting in front of me, with a mug of hot cocoa.

"Hey there," she said. She took a sip from her cup of hot cocoa, before she continued with," I bumped into your friend Sue on the way here. She seemed upset. I know it's none of my business, but I'm curious, did you guys have a fight or something?"

"You're right, it's none of your..." I paused... to admire the twinkle in her big blue eyes.

Blue. Just like the colour of the Carribean coast. Everytime she spoke, there was a melody in her eyes. Everytime she blinked, her blue eyes would look like tiny stars twinkling beautifully in a sea of perfect white.

Wait, why is it getting closer? I thought, just before I fell into the ice-cold water of the sea. I pushed at the water with my feet, trying to stay afloat but found it impossibly hard. It was as if the sea itself was trying to pull me down. Despite being a master swimmer, I found myself drowning pretty quickly.

Through the deep water of the deep blue sea, I could hear a song, impossible as it seems. At first I thought that it was mermaids, coming to save me, but then it came to me that the song was very familiar. For awhile, I forgot that I was drowning, and I looked for the source of the song.

Far below me, deep deep down, a cellphone lights up and starts playing 'My Humps' by Black Eyed Peas.

I swam down, helping the sea water drag me down into its depth. Only a few more inches now... I moved my left hand forward to grab the cellphone - only to end up grabbing a slim wrist instead. I looked at Ariel. She was standing and her upper body bowed slightly to my side. In her hand is a very familiar looking cellphone. I quickly felt my pants pockets with my other hand while never loosening my grip on her wrist.

"Why are you holding my cellphone, Ariel?" I asked in confusion.

She quickly dropped the cellphone, which started ringing and vibrating again the moment it hit the table. My left hand was still gripping her wrist when I picked up my cellphone.

She coughed. "I just... wanted to see who's calling, since you were spaced out just now."

I looked at the still ringing phone.

"But it was in my pants pocket. How did it end up in your hands?"

"Don't you remember? You took it out when it started ringing, then dropped it onto the table as you started... I don't know... dreaming, I guess."

"Really?"

"Of course," she said quickly, "I have no reason to lie to you, Patty." Then she giggled.

"You've been talking to Sue, haven't you?" I noticed her forehead was pressed together by a barely hidden frown,

I pressed the receive button on the unknown number as it started ringing again. "Hello?" I said into the phone.

"If you apologize, I'll forgive you," said the voice in the phone.

"Apologize?!" I said. I noticed that Ariel was looking at the cute waiter two tables down. Eh? What? Did I just thought the waiter cute?

"Yes, apologize. For the rude remark you made just now."

"What the fuck are you talking about?!"

"Hey, you're supposed to apologize! Not yell at me," said the voice again, sounding somewhat sulky by now.

"Who the hell's this?"

"It's Sue. What, you don't even want to admit we know each other now?"

"Sue? But... why is your voice different?" I looked at the unknown number on the screen, "And where are you calling from?" I enquired.

"My desk. Where do you think I'd be? It's still office hour."

"I thought you'd have left for China by now, with your..." my voice dropped to a whisper, "...wings."

I heard Sue's groan from the other side. "I can't do things like that too often."

"Why not?"

"Because this body will burn!" she hissed.

There was a momentary pause. "You mean as in being covered in flames?"

"No, as in being incinerated by the focused light of a hundred suns!"

I blinked. "That doesn't sound healthy."

"So you coming to apologize now?"

"Hey! Why should I apologize? You're the one keeping secrets from me!"

"It's not like I want to keep secrets from you. It's on a need-to-know basis, okay?"

"So I don't need to know that my best friend's a..." I risked a glace at Ariel, who was doing something with her own cellphone, "... well, you know, that."

"You make it sound like it's a dirty word, Patty."

"I'm stating a fact, Sue. I don't like this keeping secrets thing."

"If you didn't know I was an angel, you would've kept your identity as Lilith's daughter a secret too. So how can you attack me like this when you were planning on doing the same?"

"It's different. Don't compare this and that. I thought you were normal."

"I am normal. I'm not the one with a pair of ram's horns and a tail with the tip shaped like a water monster's tail."

"It does NOT look like a water monster's tail!"

"Actually it is. Don't you see that it looks like a flipper? Not like a fish's flipper, but like the Loch Ness monster."

"It does NOT look like the Loch Ness monster!"

She giggled. "Oh, come on. Why don't we just forget this and go bowling after work?"

"Since when did you start to bowl? I recall asking you to join us months ago and you refused."

"Let's just say that someone converted me and leave it at that." Then she giggled like a blushing schoolgirl.

"Converted? Is it PC for you to say that, Sue?"

"Oh please, it's just a word." Another giggle.

"Hehe, fine then. But not today. I think Tell's not awake yet. She wasn't awake when I left for work this morning. I would've asked for a leave today, but it doesn't seem like her conditions are worsening. Besides, my son is there and he knows how to use the phone. You don't happen to know what's going on, do you?"

"Err, she's not awake yet? That's strange. I honestly don't know what's wrong, Patty."

"That's okay, then. See you later," I said as Ariel signaled for my attention.

"Hey hey! Come to my desk, quick! I have something to show you."

It was at this point that Ariel's pretty face turned into a frown. Why's that, I wonder.

"Okay, Sue. I'll see you later..."

"Not later!" Sue cuts in before I managed to finish my sentence, "Come now! This is BIG! BIG!"

"What's so big, Sue?"

"You'll see, come on!" Then she hung up.

"Sue can be such a pest, don't you think so?" Ariel said.

I turned to look at her and again found myself drowning in the waters of her sparkling blue eyes. But then the song 'My Humps' was heard again.

I blinked my eyes twice and pressed the 'receive' button. I listened as Sue shouted from the other side, "Hurry up!"

*As always, comments and feedbacks are very much appreciated. Even criticisms are welcomed, though I hope it will be said politely.