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 half 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. Now, don't say you don't have his number because I'll be so pissed off if you say that. The party is just few days away," said a female voice who spoke at a very fast pace. I wondered how anyone could have that much lung capacity.

"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 is was 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 couldn't help but notice that 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 in Starbucks at 2134, West Sunset Boulevard in half an hour," she said before I barely finished. I wonder if she even think it through.

"You mean LA? You're here?"

"Yes, where else? 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. 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. It 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 in regards to seeing her in Yenne Velt."

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

"Of course, she has always been 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 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 said 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 or old folks home, 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 as her forefinger rubbed her lips, making her look like a seducer at work. "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 actually a common culture in Yenne Velt. 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 worked 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 will," 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 a big joker. 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.