The Half-Lilin Chapter 12 by Shin Eris

"I said I can't help you see her. It doesn't mean that you have zero chance of seeing her." "So there is a way for me to see her?" "There are several ways for you to see her. I just can't help you with any of those." I was suddenly struck by suspiciousness. "OK, what's the catch?" "Well," she said, her forefinger rubbing her lips. "I can teach you how to go there, but in exchange, you must swear one thing to me." "And that is?" "Be my slave, from now and forevermore. Obey me and pay me tribute," she answered with a look of satisfaction and childish glee. "Pardon? I lost you at the word 'slave'."

---

 
From last chapter:
 
Little Tell who no longer look so little anymore, fell asleep on my lap, hugging me tight. I couldn't bear to wake her up, so I carried her back to her room and her bed. Gosh, she was heavy!

I was in the process of making lunch when I heard the tune of Michael Jackson's Black & White playing very near to where I was standing. At first I thought it was just Little Tell cranking up the volume of her CD player. But when the tune kept repeating itself, I got curious and started searching for it.

After searching for a while, I found something under the flowerpot near the window. I fished it out with the tip of my fingers and pulled out a Nokia mobile phone. It was not mine, and I was really sure that it wasn't Tell's either. Maybe it was Chris? Maybe it was his ploy to see me again? Damn, he was cunning bastard. I think I'll ask Little Tell to return it later.

Then the phone rang again.

 
Chapter 12
 

Then the phone rang again. I was apprehensive about answering it. I didn't think I wanted to speak to Chris again so shortly after kicking him out naked from my apartment. Then the phone stopped ringing. Thank goodness. I really couldn't stand listening to a ringing phone.

Unfortunately, the phone rang again. With a groan, I pressed the answer button and said, "Hel..."

"Oh good, finally you pick up. Stephy, I need the number for that party planner who did your birthday party. I'm throwing a party for a friend and I want it to be perfect," said a female voice who spoke at a very fast pace.

"Uhm, sorry?" I replied, not quite catching her words.

"You sound different. Sore throat?"

"Eh? I'm sorry, I'm not Stephy. I just..."

Her voice cut my words before I managed to finish it again, "Oh? You're her new agent then? Don't think I've heard your voice before. So is my sister there?"

"Your sister?"

"Stephanie! I'm Sarah. I need to speak to her."

"I'm sorry, I don't..."

I heard a sigh from the other end of the line, "Okay, fine. If that's the way you want to play it. Hi, I'm Sarah, younger sister of your boss. What's your name?"

"Patrick, but I'm not..."

"Well, hello there Patrick. Could you get my sister on the line, please? I really need to speak to her. I know she's not on the set, so don't give me that excuse."

"Sarah, may I speak?"

"Yeah," she said, with a tone more like 'duh', "What's up?"

"The thing is, I'm also not her agent. I think your sister left her phone at my place without realising it," then I added another line to avoid her from saying something cheeky, "I wanted to return it to her, but I don't know how to contact her".

"Oh, that explains why she didn't pick up the phone. That's okay, I'll call her manager and tell her about the phone. Can't even reach her at home, wonder where she went. Any idea?"

"Umm, I don't know, sorry," Which was the truth, because I didn't even know a Stephanie.

"Oh well, I'll call her manager anyway. Nice chatting with you, Patrick. You're not her boyfriend, are you?"

"What? No!" How could I be a boyfriend to a girl I didn't even know?

"Just checking," and with that, she hung up.

Weird chick. So this is not Chris's mobile. How did it get here? Did Chris or Tell bring a friend here while I was gone? Or has this been here much longer? Did I bring a girl home while I was totally wasted?

-----

"Hello?" came a voice as I answered Stephanie's mobile. I've heard that voice before from somewhere.

"Hello, may I know who's speaking, please?"

"That's my mobile you're holding."

"Oh, you're Stephanie then? Do we know each other? You dropped your mobile in my living room."

There was a pause before she replied, "Do not insult me, Ilyse. No one forgets ME. Nobody can forget me, and you are NOT an exception."

Now I recalled where I've heard that voice from, "Shaina? Is that you?"

"Who else, you little bitch."

"Hey, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to blast you away. Besides, you were the one who amplified my darkness with that corruption line."

"I don't tolerate insults, bitch, and I don't want to see you. My manager will..."

"Hold, hold on, Shaina. I need to talk to you. Please, I don't know who to turn to."

There was another pause. "So the little puppy finally crawls back to her mistress? Give me one good reason why I would want to see you."

I paused, wondering what would entice her enough to want to see me again, "Well, how about a rematch? You've just passed through a feeding frenzy, correct? Don't you want to punish me for blasting you to pieces? Let's meet for a bit of a civilized chat and then we can set the date and place for a rematch. How's that sound?"

"Deal. Meet me at Starbucks 2134, West Sunset Boulevard in half an hour," she said before I barely finished. I wondered if she even thought it over.

"You mean LA? You're here?"

"Yes. Besides, I work and live here," then she hung up.

-----

"Here you go, one Sumatran Coffee," I looked up at the cute waitress with a beaming smile.

"Is there anything more that you'd like, sir?" she said again. My, she has such a beautiful smile.

"Well, if you can give me your phone number, I'd like that a lot," I replied with a grin.

She just giggled and left to deliver more coffees to the other more snobbish patrons. I was too busy watching her bouncing ass that I didn't even realize someone coming towards me until that person sat on the chair opposite me. The person's feminine face and long blonde hair despite being covered by a hat suggested that it was a girl.

"Shaina?" I asked.

She looked at me coldly and said, "If your next few sentences include, 'I don't recall how you look like' or something similar, I'm leaving".

"Gosh, Shaina. I don't recall how you look like," I said, just to spite her.

She got up as if to leave.

"Oh come on, Shaina. Sit down. Where's your sense of humor?"

"Blasted away by pure ether."

"You're still on about that? Sheesh! It was an accident, okay?"

She kept looking at me with that cold gaze. I was very uncomfortable. It felt like talking to a parole officer, not that I've ever talked to one though.

"Don't you want to order anything?"

"There's no need. I'm just here to tell you to be at the Executioner's Spire tomorrow at 12 midnight. Don't be late... and give me back my mobile!"

I dangled the phone by the ornamental lace girls like to attach to their phones these days.

"Sure, but only after you help me with my problem."

She attempted to snatch it but I withdrew my hand out of her reach.

"Give it back, little bitch," she said as she bared her twin rows of white fences at me.

"Only after you help me, and the proper word is 'bastard', not 'bitch'."

Her only reply was, "Whore!"

And so I replied with, "Skank!"

"Slut!" she countered as she made another attempt at snatching the dangling phone.

"Funny," I said, as I dangled the phone even more. "I was under the impression that we're all sluts".

She tried to snatch it again unsuccessfully. She gave up as she sat straight on her chair while crossing her arms under her breasts.

"Fine! What do you want?"

"I want to see Mom," I said.

She frowned, "Then just go see her. You should know how to reach Yenne Velt by now. We don't have any protocols about seeing her in Yenne Velt."

"Mom is in Yenne Velt?" I asked, feeling surprised. I thought she was in Purgatory.

"Of course, she's always there. You can't possibly miss her, especially when she sits on her throne."

"Mom sitting on a throne?" I asked, at the same time thinking that there was something wrong with this picture. "Are you sure we're talking about the the same person?"

"Well, I'm not very sure, who are you talking about?"

"My mom, of course. She died last year. Who are you talking about?"

"Mother never died, she's sitting comfortably on her throne at this time, I'm sure."

"Well, I think there's the problem. I wasn't talking about Mother, I was talking about Mom. You know, Samantha Willows, Sarai as you know her?"

Recognition dawned on her face, "Sarai? We're talking about Sarai? Why didn't you make it clearer? I thought you meant Mother."

"Hey, I only have one mom!" I said a bit defensively.

"Not from the rumors I've heard. They say that your godmother was an angel and you were protected by the avatar of the living Earth for an entire year, before she became angry at you. Then Mother took you in."

My godmother was an angel? "Where did you hear this nonsense?"

"One favorite pastime in Yenne Velt is gossiping and bitching about others." That explained so many things.

"OK, so how do I meet her? Mother once told me that she's in Purgatory."

"Yes, she should be. In 2000, Mother allowed Sarai to die as a human instead of a Lilim. I was there when Mother told her she was free. Frankly, I didn't understand why she asked for that particular boon when Mother was willing to give her much better things."

'Well, I can understand why. It would mean that she would die free, no longer bound to Mother and no longer needed to feed on strangers and paying for her meals with sex,' I thought.

"Unfortunately," she continued, "I don't know of any way that will allow you to see Sarai. Purgatory is not like a hospital, you know."

My heart fell. I thought she would be able to help me, "Do you know of one who can help me?"

This time, her expression softened, "No one can help you, Ilyse. Not even Mother can help you. Purgatory is the safe retreat of human souls, created solely for storing human souls until Judgement Day. Neither angels nor demons are allowed to roam freely there. I would know, because I attempted to free my grandmother once".

"Then what happened?" I asked, a bit curious.

She made a little shrug, "Azrael kicked me down to Papua New Guinea. My butt still hurts."

I slumped in defeat, looking into the black liquid in front of me.

"Tell you what," she suddenly interrupt, "if you'll accept my terms, I'll tell you how to go there".

I looked up at her face, not sure if she was playing with me. "But you just told me that you can't help!"

"I can't help you see her, but I can help you reach Purgatory," she clarified as she called for a decaf.

"You have no idea where it is, don't you?" she asked as she made a predatorial grin.

I was slightly annoyed with her words, "What's the point of going there if I can't see her?"

"I said I can't help you see her. It doesn't mean that you have zero chance of seeing her."

"So there is a way for me to see her?"

"There are several ways for you to see her. I just can't help you with any of those."

I was suddenly struck by suspiciousness. "OK, what's the catch?"

"Well," she said, her forefinger rubbing her lips. "I can teach you how to go there, but in exchange, you must swear one thing to me."

"And that is?"

"Be my slave, from now and forevermore. Obey me and pay me tribute," she answered with a look of satisfaction and childish glee.

"Pardon? I lost you at the word 'slave'."

"Oh you heard me. I want you to be my slave. You will share the essence you took from your meals with me everytime. I'll take 30%. Now, I assure you, that's the standard rate. Oh and I want you to call me Goddess Stephanie."

"I hope you're just pulling my legs, Shaina."

"No, I'm dead serious. With the exception of yesterday, it has been so long since I fed myself. I'm always busy with work day and night. Sometimes I think that my cousin, that's my manager, wants me to drop dead," she said as she looked out the window.

"I pity you, but..."

"It's not so weird really, It's common culture in Yenne Velt actually. It was only when the mistresses started killing each other's subbies in turf wars did Mother limit each Lili to have a maximum of two subbies."

"Mother allowed this to happen?" I asked, quite shocked.

"Sure, It's necessary, actually. Since we don't have generals, mistresses act as squad leaders. I wasn't born yet when the war against Baphomet occured, but from what I was told, the system work greatly against overwhelming odds. Sarai told me that they were outnumbered thirty to one. She lost all her subbies in that war unfortunately. Oh, that reminds me. You know the girl whose face you set on fire, Nediva? She was Sarai's last subbie, since a hundred years ago. I think she was hoping to serve the daughter after the mother's gone."

I looked at her with a blank expression. "I'm sorry, this is too much to take in at the same time."

She waved her hands, "Oh, it's simple really. You just need to say, 'I swear in Mother's name that I will obey Mistress Stephanie at all times, never cause harm to her intentionally and give her three tenth of the essence I acquired from each man I fed from for my entire lifetime.' Simple, isn't it?"

"You must be joking. Me, a slave? To you? You are so full of yourself, Shaina."

"What the hell's wrong? I assure you, it's a most fair exchange. This is really top secret info!"

"Oh yeah?" I said, raising an eyebrow, "I bet I can simply walk into Yenne Velt and ask openly to any of the Lili in there. Probably will get a better deal, probably will even get it for free."

"Oh, you're so damn sure about that, huh? Well, go on then."

"Maybe I would," I said as I raised my hand to call for the bill.

Shaina appeared agitated as the waitress with the cute smile came closer, "OK, you win. How about we reduce the payment from 30% to 20%?"

"No deal!" I said as the beaming waitress stood right next to our table. I wondered if that smile had been surgically planted on her face.

Shaina waved the waitress away, saying, "No, he's just joking. Please go bug someone else."

"That not a really nice thing to say, Shaina. She could've been your fan, assuming she has even heard of you, before."

She threw me a sharp look, "OK, what do you want, now?"

"Well, I can tell you one thing I don't want. I don't want to become your slave."

"Oh, come on! I need it, these essence I sucked into me in my frenzy will dissolve in a few weeks. I need a food source, but I don't have time to go out and get it myself."

"You have your marks, right? Mother said marks should be able to allow Lilim to live on starvation diet, as the marks allow a steady flow of essence into a lilin body."

"Have you actually lived off marks alone? They're nowhere close enough to an actual feeding."

I looked at her face. She was about to cry now. Again, I was struck by how familiar her face looked.

"Fine," I said, "I will give you 20% of the essence I take, but it will only be for a month."

"What?!! That's no compromise! What will I do after one month?"

"Find someone else!"

"It's not that easy!" she snapped, "They must be willing to become my slaves. That's why I needed you to say the magic words."

"So? Just bully them. That's what you like to do, don't you? Bully the younger ones?"

"It doesn't work that way. Mother strictly said that any agreement made by force are not binding."

Then she continued, "OK, how about this? You will be my slave forever, you will obey my orders, but I will only take 5% of the essence you earned. You won't feel a thing, and I promise you that I won't give you any orders unless we go to war".

"I'm not really fond of being anyone's slave." I said halfheartedly. I didn't think that 5% would be such a big deal, but the idea of being her subbie really sticks it.

"It won't be any different from now, trust me!" she said, her eyes hiding a glimmer of satisfaction.

"I would agree to be your slave, if you agree to abide by your promise, teach me how to go to Purgatory and swear that you won't turn against me."

I could sense that she was conflicted. By the exact wording, she would be as much my slave as I was to her. By swearing that she won't turn against me, I pretty much assured myself that she won't drop me in hostile territory, bully me or kill me.

After much eye contact between me and her, she finally said. "Fine, I agree to your terms".

And so we made the oath that will bind us to each other for the rest of our lives.

"OK, now that it's done, can we please go back to getting me to Purgatory?"

"Sure," she said, looking more and more relaxed, "but first let me show you the basic schematics of Heaven, Purgatory, Assiah, Sheol and Gehenna".

She took out a piece of paper and some colored pens. She drew a circle and said, "This is Assiah, the material world. Also specifically called Earth."

She drew a few crescent-like shapes below the circle, "This is Sheol. As you can see, Sheol has many layers. It ranges from the Cloud of Lost Souls nearest to Assiah to the Walls of the City of Dis that separates Sheol and Gehenna. Asmodeus's domain, Ashmedan that you've been to before is located on the third last layer of Sheol."

She drew a half circle below the crescents, "This is Gehenna. Nobody had set foot in there for thousands of years. It's a forbidden place that not even Mother was allowed to venture into."

She drew two more half crescents over the circle representing Earth, "Now, these are the lower Heavens. The lowest part is basically the materials used to create the world, or also known as the Realm of Elements or Yetzirah. The second one refers to several layers of Heaven where angels and prophets reside in, called Briah. We won't go into detail about this one as we're not going anywhere close to that place."

She drew another, much larger crescent over the two crescents representing Lower Heaven. "This is Atziluth, the place where the Sephirah reside in, a place that not even the Archangels are allowed to enter without prior permission. Supposedly it's the place where you can meet God, but we don't know that for certain. Mother has lived there before, but don't bother asking her. She won't tell, said it was a secret between her and God."

She drew a triangle next to Earth, "This is Purgatory, your destination. As you see, it's not connected to any of the three realms. It is so that neither Heaven nor Hell would have any hold on the human souls stored within. You may think that since they had no real military presence, it would be a piece of cake to enter. The reality is the total opposite. The fact that they recognize no authority other than God made it easy for them to shoot down every single non-human that approaches them."

"So, how exactly am I going to get in?" I asked, as I got a headache looking at all the colorful shapes.

"You will pose as an elemental."

"A what?"

"Elemental. You know, fire, water, earth and air? You were born when water was strongest, so it's easier to disguise yourself as a water elemental."

"But you said they will shoot down everyone who approaches."

"Yes, but they won't shoot down elementals. They often float around there from Yetzirah, so it won't be odd for one to drift close enough to Purgatory."

"Won't they notice that I'm an impostor?"

"Nope. Azrael would, of course, but his lackeys won't be able to tell the difference. Which is good because he let his lackeys do all the soul reaping lately, too caught up with his desk job. It's unlikely he'll shoot you down personally, unless he's awfully bored."

I gave her a dry look, "Your words does not inspire confidence, much."

She made a slight giggle, "Don't worry. You'll be OK, really, I'll weave a warding spell on your body to help mask your living body. It's what to do once you enter Purgatory that would be the real problem."

"What do you mean?" I asked, slightly wondering if this plan will work at all.

"Well, obviously you'll need to find a way to contact Sarai. Don't ask me, I've told you everything I know. The only other thing I can do, is help disguise you as a water elemental."

"I don't think it would be that easy. I'll probably get kicked down to Papua New Guinea as well."

"It's likely, but you'll never know until you tried."

I groaned.

"By the way, what are your views concerning paparazzis?"

"Huh? What's with the sudden question?"

"Because one's focusing his lenses on us now. Don't look!" she said as I was about to turn my face to scan the cafe.

"What the hell?!!” I fell backward with a loud bang when I hastily pushed my chair back, which caused it to get stuck between the seems of the tiled floor.

She got up from her chair and squatted next to me, "Uhh, are you okay? Why'd you do that for? Just let him take the pictures, he'll go away once he's satisfied."

I got up unsteadily as I felt eyes of the cafe's patrons watching my antics, "I just don't like cameras. I can tolerate certain amounts, but I get really jumpy whenever my picture's taken."

"That's... weird."

"Hey Stephanie, thanks for the great shot. Who's the guy?"

"Shoo! You've got what you want. Now leave me alone."

"O-kay, as you wish, princess. Tata! Good luck with your new film," said the paparazzi as he exited.

I grabbed the chair and put it back into position, "You mind telling me what that was about?"

"Oh, it's nothing. They're always hounding celebrities. It's like having leeches sticking to you permanently and draining your blood. They're beneficial in most cases where I'm concerned though," then she supported her chin with her fingers, "The one taken just now would be perfect as a cheap publicity for my new movie."

"So, that's what I am? I'm baring myself to paparazzis for your damned movie?"

"Oh poo! What's the big deal? You'll be popular for a couple of weeks, maybe a month. People will ask about you, trying to find out who's that guy having lunch with Stephanie. And then there'll be a brief interview with me and possibly you, and then once the interest dies down, you'll just be a footnote in my wiki page."

"You don't understand. I'm engaged, at least that's what destiny dictated."

“With who? Your childhood friend? Oh please, only the two of you knew about it. Just tell him that he won't be getting any pussy if he blabbed. And don't go flying out of your window for the next few months. If you need to go somewhere in lilin form, blink.”

I whined, "But still..."

"Oh I can already picture the heading now, 'Stephanie Mills ditched the set for a date'. Then they'll have a picture of us having coffee like any normal people," she said with a giggle.

Mouth agape, I cried, "Stephanie Mills?!! You're Stephanie Mills?!!"

"Shush! Shut the hell up!"

I heard excited chatter and a sounds of chairs being pushed as she shot daggers at me.

"I'm going to enjoy gutting you alive with my bare hands, sister," she said right before we were surrounded by her fans.

-----

"So are you ready?" she asked, still looking pissed off by my actions in the cafe. I am currently in lilin form, though very transparent, much like clear water and I can almost see my guts.

"Yeah," I said, not regretting it a single bit, because the cute waitress caught up to me after Shaina was 'rescued' by her manager and gave me her resume asking me to call her anytime I wanted. She must've thought that I'm Stephanie Mills' agent or something. I did intend on calling her sometime.

"Now remember, the moment you pass through the portal, you must empty your mind of all thoughts. Elementals don't have thoughts, they only drift lazily until someone calls them. Be the elemental!"

Shaina previously managed to blink away from her manager when she shouted, "OMG! Governor Arnold!" Now, she's helping me prepare for my coming journey to the land of the dead. With a very long incantation, she managed to open a portal the size of a small fridge in my bedroom. Unlike the black colored portals that link to places in Sheol, this portal shimmered blue, white and sometimes green. I was suddenly having second thoughts about this.

"Remember, clear you thoughts!" she said as she pushed me headfirst into the portal.

The first thought that entered my mind was, 'I'm going to kill that bitch'. Thankfully I immediately remembered to clear out my mind, which was really not as hard as I expected it to be. This place she sent me to, feels very calming. I thought I must've been flowing in fluids, not air. I could understand how Shaina could've forgotten her goals when she came here last time.

I scanned the area, looking around in search of something that might look like Purgatory. Not long after, I noticed a flicker of light somewhere far away. Knowing that it's my only lead so far, I slowly glide forward, taking over an hour to reach a place that looked like a cave floating in nothingness. Carefully I glided into the cave's mouth and landed softly on the marble floor with a loud 'splat'. I decided to remove my disguise as I thought the 'splosh, splosh' sound from my walking would probably be more telling than to walk as a demon.

I was so darn wrong.

"WHO DARES TO STEP FOOT INTO TARTARUS? REVEAL YOUR TRUE NAME SO YOU CAN BE THOROUGHLY PUNISHED FOR YOUR INSOLENCE!"

Man, the voice was so loud I could feel it in my brain.

Then a figure materialized in front of me. I didn't think I'd need to explain what I saw, because there looming above me was a giant Grim Reaper!

"WHO DARES TO STEP FOOT INTO TARTARUS? REVEAL YOUR TRUE NAME SO YOU CAN BE THOROUGHLY PUNISHED FOR YOUR INSOLENCE!"

I shouted as hard as I could, "Geez, Pop! Would you please stop shouting? It really hurts my brain!"

"WHAT? YOU DARE TO TELL ME, THE ARCHANGEL URIEL, RULER OF TARTARUS TO STOP?" said the Grim Reaper as he waved his giant scythe up and down.

"Yup, I did ask you to do that, yes!" I shouted again trying to match his volume, but I knew that I was nowhere close.

"WHAT IS YOUR NAME, DEMON CHILD? AND WHO DO YOU BELONG TO?" he said as he rested the shaft of the giant scythe on the marble floor, crushing a tiny insect in the process.

"My name is Ilyse, and I serve Mother Lilith! I am here to see my mom, please allow me passage."

"LILITH? OH YES, I REMEMBER HER. I WAS THE ONE WHO BROUGHT HER THE SOIL FROM HER HOME SO SHE COULD SHAPE HER OWN MATE."

Then his form suddenly became twisted and as if sucked by a small tornado, the Grim Reaper was gone, replaced by a handsome man with feathery black wings.

"How is Lilith? I haven't seen her since she left Heaven," said the ruggedly handsome angel. His voice was totally different, smooth and irresistable.

I was speechless.

"Oh, I scared you. Please forgive me. This place is so boring now that I've taken a desk job. Though it's much preferable to having to take the souls of people's love ones. Samael did it until he went insane. I didn't want to share the same fate."

"What happened to Azrael?" was the only question I managed to ask.

"Azrael? What about him?"

"Isn't he supposed to be the chief of Purgatory? Wait, this is Purgatory, right?" I asked as I looked around at the marble floor and lavish decor of the hall.

"Oh yes, Azrael is still the chief of 'Purgatory' as you call it. But I am also the chief of Purgatory," he said in a matter of factly tone.

"So there are two chiefs here?"

"No, there's only one."

"Huh?" I said as I cocked my head to the left.

He chuckled, "Azrael is me in another name. Humans like to classify things. So they separate my two aspects, the Grim Reaper and the ruler of Tartarus into Azrael, the Angel of Death and Uriel, the Lord of Tartarus. But basically, we're the same angel".

"Oh, but you don't look so scary." I knew I sounded foolish the moment those words came out of my mouth.

"I've taken a rest from soul reaping since six hundred years ago, so I guess I've lost much of the intimidation factor," he said with a wink.

"Come, please sit. It's not often that I have guests over here," he said as he gestured towards a tea table flanked by two chairs which I dare swear wasn't there a minute ago.

He pulled my chair as I sat, with me trying to fit the narrow backrest between my wings. There was a cup of steaming coffee in front of me. The aroma was divine.

"Please, take a sip," he said, smiling devilishly, "it's my very own special brew. Very good if I may say so myself."

"It does smell wonderful," I looked up at his face, "Well, I guess it would be rude to not sample such a rare beverage."

I picked up the cup and tipped it to my lips.