When the bright light dimmed and my vision recovered, I saw a... beautiful man... standing next to the body of a woman, where only moments before, stood the werewolf that was about to kill me. The woman was lying on the ground, unmoving, though I could tell she was still alive. Call it Death's instinct. "Where's the werewolf?" I blurted at this beautiful man, whose skin glowed in the darkness of midnight, whose fingers long,slim and perfectly formed, whose silvery white hair shone like the light of creation. He didn't answer. Instead, he took a few steps forward before stopping right in front of me. For some reason, I felt like I needed to thank him, so I extended my hand to his. The next thing I knew, there was a short whistling around my ears and I found my body sliced in many different places in less than a second after. "You are the new queen," I heard him say as I fell to the ground. "Pathetic. Uriel's adoration for that primordial creature will be his undoing." The Half Lilin By The Light Of The Moon (Chapter 13) Last Chapter By Shinieris

When the bright light dimmed and my vision recovered, I saw a... beautiful man... standing next to the body of a woman, where only moments before, stood the werewolf that was about to kill me. The woman was lying on the ground, unmoving, though I could tell she was still alive. Call it Death's instinct.

"Where's the werewolf?" I blurted at this beautiful man, whose skin glowed in the darkness of midnight, whose fingers long,slim and perfectly formed, whose silvery white hair shone like the light of creation.

He didn't answer. Instead, he took a few steps forward before stopping right in front of me. For some reason, I felt like I needed to thank him, so I extended my hand to his. The next thing I knew, there was a short whistling around my ears and I found my body sliced in many different places in less than a second after.

"You are the new queen," I heard him say as I fell to the ground. "Pathetic. Uriel's adoration for that primordial creature will be his undoing."

Then I felt, before I heard, the winds that then sliced my body to many barely connected pieces. Before the winds sliced me again though, I happened to hear a barely perceptible voice, a very familiar voice, though in my numbed brain, I couldn't identify who it was.

"Archangel Raphael of the Four Elements! Please stop what you're doing. They are my responsibility!" the voice cried.

"Ah," the beautiful man said, "Mihael of the month of November, the Angel of Passion, isn't it? I heard Barachiel banished you to Assiah for breaking Heaven's rules."

"Please, Archangel Raphael. She is my charge. If you choose to commit further hostility, I will have to lodge a formal protest to the Great Chief of the Heavenly Host. I wish not to do so, as I have great respect for you and your position, Great Healer."

"Bah! We both know that not even Metatron has any power over me. We, the four Archangels of the Elements are at a totally different level."

"Is that pride and arrogance I hear in your words, Archangel Raphael. Have the Great Healer finally succumbed to the corruption brought forth by the dark twins?"

"The dark twins are not at fault for anything. They are the way the Holy Father created them to be." Then I heard a sound of something treading on grass. "I'm just leaving anyway," he continued, "Just came here to take back what's rightfully mine."

------

"Are you okay now?" I heard someone ask when I opened my eyes.

"Sue?" I asked, to which she nodded.

"How?" I asked again, this time awed by the sheer beauty of her wings.

Her wings was big behind her, as if covering the entirety of the universe behind her. It was gold and bright, and it radiated light in all colors of the spectrum, like a rainbow in a rainbow. And she looked beautiful, divine, powerful. She looked angelic.

"Hard not to notice. With Archangel Raphael himself coming here in full form, nobody can possibly think that this is anything natural," she answered in a soft, calming voice. Her voice reminded me of my first love, Sarah Williams. She sounded just like her. But then with every syllables, it changed somewhat, and it then resembled the voices of every girl I once had a crush on.

"Sue?" I asked again, still in a daze.

"It's me. Can you sit up, Patty?" she asked, this time, her voice resembled Vicky, back when we we children.

"Yes, I think. What happened?" I asked as I pushed myself to sit up with her help.

She shrugged, "Archangel Raphael happened on you. He's never very friendly with Archangel Uriel, and he apparently didn't appreciate having a demon using his divine Collar with impunity."

"I remember being sliced... did you heal me, Sue?" I asked.

"Yes, both of you. Your friend didn't need any healing. But that Archangel Raphael was a tough opponent. If he was serious, neither of you would still be here."

"My friend?" I asked.

"Yes, come," she pulled my hand, and as I stood, her big feathery wings rubbed against my right shoulder.

"To where?" I followed as she pulled my hand.

"The truth, of who you were fighting and who you almost killed," she said simply, as she used her invisible hands to hold the woman's prone body in the air.

I gasped as the realization hit me.

"Recognize her now?" Sue said as the woman's identity became clear to me.

"Vicky! But we thought it was her mom, the werewolf had the same marking."

"Crescent birthmark on her cheek? That wasn't a personal marking. It was a clan's marking."

"What?" I asked as she gently put Vicky back on the ground.

"She was descended from a tribe of people who worshipped the moon goddess Selene. They were Endymion's people, the Menae. They were the daughters of the Moon goddess Selene and Zeus's son, Endymion."

"What, daughters of the moon? The moon has daughters? How would they be born?"

"You didn't have to accept it literally," Sue frowned, "They were empowered by Selene and taken as her children. See? Simple explanation."

"So what, they got cursed to turn into werewolves every full moon?"

"Not these people. Not the Menae. They weren't cursed, they were blessed. And unlike demon-cursed werewolves, the Menae can turn into any woodland animals at any time, as long as the moon shines. They didn't need to wait until the full moon," Sue explained.

"How can this," I gestured at Vicky, "Not be a curse? It happened to her mother, and she killed her father. Now it happen to her too, and she almost killed her own son and her friends. How can this not be a curse?"

Sue closed her eyes, the eyes that by itself seemed to shine with passion. Then tears flowed down her cheeks as she, without even opening her eyes, said, "It was truly unfortunate. They were the closest to nature, their respect for life and for the universe knew no bounds, and because of that, they were beautiful to Selene and she in turn granted them the ability to live forever as part of nature. They were proud creatures, and noble to a fault."

"Then how did Vicky and her mom became rampaging beasts?" I argued.

"They were hunted," Sue answered, without even opening her eyes, "The legs of a Mene was said to bring good luck, much like rabbit's foot nowadays. Their tails were considered aphrodisiac. And their heads could scare off malicious insects and beasts."

"That's horrible!"

"Yes, now those left are scattered all across the Earth. Most are young and have never learned of their ancestor's proud and noble heritage. They lost themselves to beastial rage every time they transformed, without even knowing why or how they transformed."

"So Vicky is destined to stay like this forever?" I asked as I looked down at Vicky's sleeping body.

"No, there is a ritual, but she must choose for it herself. Selene herself must be aware, and Selene herself must grant her freedom. Otherwise, even if she died, the blessing will just go to her female descendant."

"Like what happened with Vicky's mom? Not because of the wound on her leg back then?"

"No, the blessing of the Menae is very specific. Only 50 may be awakened at once, and if for some reason the current holder of the blessing dies without any hope of reviving, the blessing goes to one of their daughters. If there are no daughters, the blessing dies with them. They are not like demon-cursed werewolves who spread their curse by clawing or biting their victims. These people, the Menae, were not demonic, they were divine, just like their mother Selene."

"So is there anything I can help her become free from this 'blessing'?"

"It is possible, but let's not get ahead of ourself. First things first," Sue formed a ball of white light on the palm of her hand, "HOW LONG ARE YOU GOING TO WATCH?!" Sue suddenly yelled before turning around and firing a beam of light at the sky. The beam went on for about 10 seconds, before it disappeared leaving Sue with a shocked expression on her face.

"That slightly hurts," said a female voice. I looked around, but saw nobody other than us. It couldn't be Sue or me myself, because we were not letting out a word. Couldn't be Tell either, because she was still fainted, and her voice wasn't like that, whether in human form or lilin form.

A moment later, I felt a slight pressure in the air and a slight trembling of the earth.

"What's going on, Sue?" I asked, fearing an unseen danger.

Sue didn't answer me, she kept looking at the sky. I turned my head at the same direction and still saw nothing. That was until I noticed the air rippled somewhere in the sky. As soon as it appeared, it was gone, leaving a silhuette in the air. When the moonlight shone upon the figure, I recognized it as the lili who appeared at the parking lot soon after Tell and Little Vicky was attacked. The wing-shaped pair of horns was the giveaway.

"Mihael (pronounced mi-har-el), it's so nice to see you again after all these years. I've been looking for the chance of a payback for what you did to me back then," she sneered.

"Arienh (pronounced Ah-ri-an-nah), get lost. You have no business here. Leave and I shall not have to kill you," Sue said.

"You? Kill me? Hah! Angelic arrogance again? Seriously, you and what army?" she mocked.

"I don't need an army behind me to kill you. From what I remember, it was you who begged for mercy."

"You call THAT mercy? Do not say you have forgotten this!" she turned around, then something slowly appeared and covering the entirety of her back, was a scar in the shape of a cross.

"That is my mercy. You needed to be reminded of the evils of your past..."

"A reminder?! An insult is what it is! I was laughed at for decades for having this on my back. I couldn't heal it, I couldn't cast it away, all I could do was to put a constant glamour on it. Do you have any idea what kind of humiliation I went through? To be around Mother, concealing an ugliness that marked my defeat to an angel? Do you know how much Mother pitied me? I DON'T NEED TO BE PITIED!"

"Regardless, you made a sin, a terrible one. And despite being Lilith's daughter, you are still God's creation."

"God?! I owe my life to Mother! God left his creation centuries ago. Only you foolish angels still pray that He'll listen."

"What would you know? I don't recall seeing you anywhere in or near Briah."

"Only a fool would be so blind. Where was He, when the Crusades started, where misguided fanatics who worshipped Him slaughtered each other? Where was He when the first armageddon was about to destroy the world? Where was He when calamities struck? Where was he when millions died in the world wars? Where was He when my daughter was slaughtered by Baphomet's army?"

"There is a reason for everything, Arienh."

"It was US! It was the lilim who saved the human race each time. We saved the children who were about to be sold to slavery, for their misguided intentions of joining the crusades. We stopped the antichrist, when he wanted to level Jerusalem. We saved those innocent women wrongfully accused and forced to die for the envy of their neighbors. Many of us disguised ourselves as nurses, and took part in the war, to ensure that mankind has a future. One of us sacrificed her life to get Hitler out of the picture. Their...," the pointed at me, "...mother, stopped the fourth antichrist on her own, while being branded a traitor in the process."

"Arienh..."

"Where is your GOD!?"

"Obviously you will not listen. And I do not like to preach. Please begone and never come back."

"Oh? Never come back? But I can't do that, you see, I still have an unfinished business with..." she pointed at me again, "...her."

Sue stepped between me and her, with her back to me. "I shall not allow that, if you want, you will have to go through me."

"Oh, wonderful," Arienh said and clapped her hands once, after which the ground erupted around me, making me cover my head with my arms.

When the ground settled, I looked up and Sue was gone. In her place was a large ball of dirt.

"You see," Arienh said, and I wondered if she was talking to me, "I happened to learn that trapping an angel in darkness will most often kill them. Angels need God's holy light, whether directly or reflected by the moon to survive. If I cut that light, and plunge you into total darkness, you will continously expend your own light to avoid being crushed by darkness. An amazingly simple technique, though not always practical. Regretting it now? Oh right, I forgot you can't hear me from in there," she said before laughing in glee.

"Let go of Sue, sister," I said as I rose to my feet.

"Ah, this is amazing. A powerless infant wants to free her friends. That's so sweeeet."

"Eh! I'm not a child!" I proved it by pulling out the closest ice spike from the ground and wielded it as a weapon.

"Don't worry, I won't kill you, but I'll make you suffer the pain of losing someone important to you. The pain of being left alone," she said menacingly.

The moment she finished, I felt the ground rumble again and I heard the sound of landslide behind me. I turned around and saw claws of dirt had rose from the ground around Tell's body. Running, I tried to stop it, but I knew it was pointless. She was too far and I no longer had my wings or any of my lilin abilities.

"Tell!" was all I could say before the dirt engulfed her. I didn't stop, I kept running, and once I was there, I punched the hardened ball of dirt with first the ice spike, then my own fists, wishing for it to break.

"Painful, isn't it? To see someone you loved, who has been with you since you were a child, die in front of you?"

"Why are you doing this?!" I cried without looking at her. My fists were now bloody and it didn't seem to have any effect on the ball of dirt.

"Vengeance, my dear sister. Vengeance. Don't worry, she's not dead, at least not yet. I want you to hear the sound her bones make when it break, and her screams when she... " she managed say before the ball of dirt erupted and I was thrown back a few feet away.

"Ah," said a voice from inside the dust, "Good thing I arrived just in time, huh Tell? Any later and you'd lose more than a leg. Don't worry, I can heal it so easily. Of course I'll have to modify your memory again afterward, do you happen to have any request?"

"Eat shit, monster," said another voice, which I was delighted to identify as Tell's voice.

"Now now, is that any way to talk to your savior? But I must admit, I never thought my artifact would be able to transform in that way. Can I have it back?"

Then the dust cleared and I was so happy I could cry, "Shaina! Thank Mother you're here. How did you know we're here?"

"Meh," she leaned Tell onto me, "I think the only angels and demons who don't know something's up here, must be either dead or dying. You could've at least put up a barrier to avoid people from noticing."

"I did, you pesky weakling," I heard Arienh mutter.

"Arienh, so you're the reason why the werewolf was able to avoid all those vampires. You've been protecting her, haven't you? By the way, what is going on? Were you fighting angels here? This place blinds me."

Angel, oh gosh, I almost forgot. "Shaina, break that ball of dirt," I pointed at the ball of dirt that kept Sue captive.

"Nuh-uh. Mistress," Shaina said.

"Excuse me?"

"You're supposed to call me mistress, remember? And say please."

"Shaina! This is no time for games, Sue will die if she's in there any longer."

"Mistress, or I let that angel die."

I growled. "Fine! Mistress, please break that ball of dirt, if you can at all."

She made a frown. "More sincere, please. That almost sounded like sarcasm."

I bit my tongue and tried to form the words as sincere as I could. "Mistress Shaina, would it pleases you to break that ball of dirt with your awesome power? Please please, with cherry on top and whipped cream on the sides?"

"Still sarcastic. But I kinda like the grovelling part," she said as she flicked her fingers and the ball exploded.

Sue was lying down on the grass. She didn't look too healthy. The gold of her feathers had dimmed, making it look like old bronze. Her skin was pale and she had lost her shimmer.

"Sue!" I called. I wanted so much to run to her and see how she's doing, but I was carrying Tell and she had a broken leg.

"Get your Hollywood ass out of here, Shaina. This is not your problem."

"Oh no, you're picking fights with my slave, so it's my problem now!" Shaina said with crossed arms.

"Shaina, leave. I am showing you a great deal of mercy here."

"No, you're..." she pointed a finger at Arienh,".. the one who must leave. Leave and do not disturb my slave again," Shaina said with a determined look. It was times like these that I was glad Shaina was my friend.

"Oh my, sounds like you are under some delusions that you can stand against me. But Shaina, while all your Hollywood training can teach you how to make a passable facial expression, it's still not enough to do anything about your natural instincts," she paused for a bit before she continued with, "Why are you shaking, Shaina?" she mocked.

"I'm not shaking," Shaina said, even her voice is shaking now.

"I'm giving you one last chance to leave, Shaina. Turn your back on her and you can leave with your life attached to your body."

"No! I won't let you kill my friends."

"So be it," she said as a spike of dirt suddenly shot up from the ground, impaling Shaina from her stomache to the back of her shoulders, effectively pinning her to the ground, "You shall be the first to die tonight," Arienh continued.

"And as for you, I've changed my mind. Your play at friendship quite disgusts me. You'll all die together," she raised both her hands, before she continued, "Be thankful that I'm showing mercy."

The moment she stopped talking, the ground around us erupted, as huge teeth of dirt rose higher and higher, curving more and more, before the dozens of sharp pointy tips fell down like a giant maw, that intended to chew us to bits. I knew then that there was nothing more I could do, and that it was my final moment, so I hugged Tell tightly and prayed that Mother will save us.

The sound of something breaking and falling to the ground caused me to open my eyes, and in front of me, like a scene from a superhero movie, was the silhuette of two demons, which I immediately identified as lilim.

One was a tricorne, whose three horns curved backwards toward each other, its points barely touching. Her tail was jagged at the tip, whereas mine looked like a flipper while Tell's look like a crystal knife. She had in her hands a pair of twin short swords.

The other was taller by a full head. She was a bicorne whose two horns point forward at the base, curved downward at the middle and curved backward at the tip, with its points barely reaching past her ears. The way it curved around her ears made it look more ornamental than practical. Her tail was long, slim and trailed behind her on the ground, looking more like a length of rope than a tail. She wasn't carrying any weapon, but I figured that the long nails on each of her fingers would've been more than a match for any weapons.

It wasn't possible to tell more about their wings due to the lighting, except that it matches what every lilim's wings look like, in shape at least.

"Can you stand?" said a voice behind me. I didn't even realize that I had fallen to the ground.

I turned around and saw a young-ish looking lili. She had a tiny pair of horns on her head which branches at the tips, like a young stag's horns. Her wings were likewise small, but it was shaped like normal. She held a mace in each hands, and the head of the maces were covered in ice. I thought, It's so nice to see another ice maker.

"What is the meaning of this, sisters?" Arienh spoke, her anger evident.

"You attempted to kill our sisters," the tall one said, "You attempted to kill not one, not two, but three at the same time. You should already know it is against the rules to kill each other outside of duels sanctioned by Mother," she said and I noticed another lili landed next to Shaina and broke the dirt spike that impaled her body, before attempting to heal her. Two more lilim landed next to her and helped with the healing.

Then I heard Tell whimper in pain. I looked at her and saw that behind her, another lili was at work healing her broken leg.

"Don't be afraid, sister. This will only hurt a bit," she said to Tell, then she turned at me and smiled.

Then I heard Arienh's yell, "That bitch killed my grandmother! My grandmother! She was all that I have left in this world! And now she's nothing more than a hundred Legions."

"Dinah died in a fair duel. It is not your place to design punishments for Ilyse," the tall one replied in a cool voice. By this time, I saw several more lilim had landed between me and Arienh, as if trying to shield us. I looked up and saw many more in the sky. They were circling above us, some were at the center holding hands and there was a dull glow around their bodies, slowly extending to the center before spreading away. I couldn't really count, but I estimated that there must be about fourty lilim here, not including me, Tell, Shaina and Arienh.

"I don't care!" Four of the lilim in the sky dropped down and landed near her, she looked at each one anxiously, "This is my grief! Why are you in my way?!" Then the four lilim advanced and she lashed out at one of them with a volley of dirt spikes, "Get out of my way, Rion!" she said. The lili, Rion, raised one of her hands and smashed each dirt spikes with bolts of lightning from her palm.

"Arienh," said another voice, a voice which I couldn't forget. For that voice belonged to one of the three Ardat Lili, Ice Queen Milen.

"Milen, please," Arienh pleaded, her voice shaking, "This is my grief. I have nobody else. My daughter died in the Baphomet War and now my grandmother is a Legion. Please, don't interfere."

"Dinah is a Legion?" came the voice again, this time, the voice came from the fountain nearby. I turned and saw Milen emerging from the water. As soon as she appeared, she blinked, and stood right in front of Arienh. There was not a single drop of water on her body.

"Who told you Dinah is a Legion?" Milen asked again.

"No-nobody, but they told me that you couldn't find enough of her essence to return her back to life. Since it has been this long, I assumed what you couldn't find had already become Legion bugs."

"Mere assumption, then? Don't worry about Dinah. We have enough of her essence to lure the rest back. It will take a long time, maybe a hundred years, but she will return."

She seemed to sag with relief. "Oh, thank Mother, I thought she's lost to me."

"Regardless, you have committed a great sin to Mother tonight. You shall return with me to Yenne Velt. Mother will decide your punishment," Milen said.

"But I was only exacting revenge! You can't judge..." her words were cut off when Milen encased her in ice.

"Either you come willingly or I drag you home. It's the same to me. Either way, you're going back," then Milen turned to look at me and she said in a whisper which only I could hear, "So you're our future, eh? What a waste, a future that can't handle her own fights are of no use to me. Train lots or I'll take future's horns and shove it down future's windpipe and tailpipe." Then she blinked, carrying with her the ice block containing Arienh.

"Are you okay?" the bicorne who saved me from the dirt-maw said as she helped me get up.

"Yeah, where did you guys come from anyway?"

"Well, we sensed a great angelic presence here just now, like, archangel kind. We just wanted to check and ensure that it's not some kind of heavenly invasion. What you see here, is a group of lilim from the entire southwest regions, going as far as Mexico. You really don't do things small scale, do you?"

"Ellen!" cried a lili who looked rather oriental, she was holding Sue's arms, "What do you want to do with this angel?"

"Leave her alone! She tried to protect us just now," I shouted, noticing at the same time that Sue had started to come around.

Seeing so many lilim around her, Sue pushed the lilim holding her arms, ripped off the cloth on her breasts and placed her hand on top of her angelic tool, the Light of Passion. The moment she did that, it started to glow and the atmosphere immediately became warmer.

"Hold there, fallen," said the tall lili, "We will not harm you, and I personally wish to thank you for defending our sisters against one of our own."

The light started to dim and she said, "Yeah, whatever. I'm going home. See you at work, Patty." Then she spread her oh so bright and beautiful wings and flew away.

"Are you just going to let that angel leave, Ellen?" demanded the lili who was holding Sue just now.

"Leave it alone, Hina," said the tall lili.

"Next we'll be playing 'meteor showers' with the celestial angels," Hina mumbled loudly before flying away.

The other lilim took that as the cue to depart and each flew or blinked away. The only ones left behind was the tall lili who goes by the name of Ellen and the still unconscious Shaina. "This is not the end, sister. One day you'll face some enemies and we won't be here to save you again. You better learn to protect yourself, traitor's child," she smiled warmly and then she too, flew away.

Tell suddenly stood up, her legs fully healed. Placing her crossed arms on my shoulder, she said, "Now you're going to tell me everything, sister." She said that last bit with a little hint of sarcasm.

*As always, comments and feedbacks are always appreciated.

*There are many more half-lilin stories planned, and not all from Ilyse's perspective, but not sure when I'll be able to get it up. Again, anyone has any spare Ipads or Galaxy, I'd be happy to take it off your hands :P