THE CHALDEAN ORACLE

Freeing Ishtar

Chapter 7

I stayed there, sitting on the ground, unmoving, my fingers wrapped so tightly around my dagger that my nails were biting in the skin of my palm for god knows how long.

            I was trying to make sense of what had just happened.

            What had just happened?

            Fallen Angels—evil creatures—didn’t put their lives at risk to save an Ishim. It was completely out of the question. They wanted us dead as much as we wanted them dead, because one less Ishim meant one less threat.

            With that in mind, why had that Fallen Angel saved my life? Why had he fought those Demons? And why hadn’t he killed me when he had the chance? I could have understood if he had killed the Demons just so he could get me alone and rape me or something, because that fell in the typical Demon encounter scenarios. But this simply did not fall into any scenarios.

            So, the question remained. Why had he saved my life? And what had he meant when he had asked if we had met before? Because I was sure, without a doubt that I had never met this Fallen Angel before the field trip. Could he know someone that looked like me? Maybe a biological family member? My mother? Maybe a sister, if I had one?

            My hand still clutching at the dagger, millions of thoughts consumed my mind, as I tried to make sense of things, tried to find answers where I knew I couldn’t find any.

            Unsolved puzzles weren’t my forte.

            But even if I racked my brain, I didn’t know the Fallen Angel that had just saved me. The only thing I did know was that apparently his name was Levi. The only Levi I knew of was one of Jacob’s twelve sons. He and Simeon had been the one to go in Shekhem’s village and kill all the men because Shekhem had raped their sister Dina. I strongly doubted that this was the same person, seeing that Levi was a human an all. And the Levites were the priest in Judaism. And for some reason that Fallen Angel just screamed the opposite of priesthood.

            I stayed there, on the ground, breathing heavily. My gaze fixed on the five dead bodies in front of me. I felt nauseous. They might have been Demons but I wasn’t used to facing death, any kind of death. I was suddenly very aware of my corset—it was too tight, it was suffocating me, I couldn’t breathe! I wanted to be home, I wanted to crawl in my bed and forget this night had ever happened. I felt like crying.

            “Clea?” I voiced asked loudly.

            I almost sighed in relief at the sound of the familiar voice, but still couldn’t move, my butt stuck on the ground. My big brother immediately rushed to me, his Angel partner on his heels.

            “Clea, Clea,” Kalvin asked urgently, crouching to my eye level. He pressed a hand to my shoulder. “Are you alright?”

            “Michio?” I whispered softly, probably too softly. I had a hard time finding my voice, or my breath for the matter. And I couldn’t look at my brother in the eyes. I was suddenly hit by the fact that my little brother might not have seen as lucky as me, if we could considered what had just happened as lucky.

            Kalvin obviously hadn’t heard, or simply brushed the comment aside, his eyes suddenly fixed on the dagger I still held tightly. “Clea, what happened here?”

            “Michio? Where’s Michio,” I asked again, looking around me frantically. I probably looked like some kind of lost and confused puppy. I definitely felt lost and confused.

            “Did you… did you do this on your own,” Kalvin chocked, looking around him, taking in the scene before his eyes.

            “That one had his head chopped off Kal,” Sofiel breathed, walking around the corpses.

            At this point I was pretty much hysteric and I didn’t care about anything else, I wanted to know if my little brother was fine. Why weren’t they answering? Was it bad? “Is Michio okay?!” I practically shouted staring at my brother straight in the eyes.

            “He’s fine, perfect,” my big brother answered, almost annoyed.

            “Pissed actually.” Sofiel clarified. “He didn’t get the Demon and now he’s stuck at the headquarters getting yelled at by your mother.”

            “Good… good…” I nodded. Okay that was good. Everything was alright. Right?

            “Clea.” Kalvin almost pleaded. “What happened here?”

            I looked in his eyes again. What was I supposed to say? What had happened here? “I… I don’t know…”

            I was barely able to go back to school on Monday. My family had been walking on eggs around me all weekend long.

            After the “events” on Friday night, nobody had pressed for more answers though I knew they were burning with curiosity. If your “never trained in any kind of combat” nineteen year old girl had been found in a dark alley with five dead bodies around her holding the crime weapon you were bound to have a lot of questions.

            But for the people in charge there had been no need to explain more. The Demons were dead, that was what mattered to them. There were too many problem to deal with and bad guys to catch to chat about the dead Demons and give a full report. And I hadn’t found it in me to elaborate more.

            What was I suppose to say? That a Fallen Angle named Levi had saved me? I couldn’t do it… But not because I didn’t want them to know I hadn’t made the kill. No, it was because they had been investigating this particular Fallen Angel. They had been looking for answers on him, a name, anything. And I had a name. And I didn’t want them to have it. Something in me was telling me I needed to… protect him? That was wrong, wasn’t it?

            “You don’t need to go to school today sweetie,” my mother said for an eon time, standing in the hall, watching me slip in my brown, combat looking boots.

            “As a matter of fact I do. I already suck enough, if I miss days I’ll suck even more,” I answered her, straitening up, blowing on a red curl that had fallen out of the rubber band holding my pony tail.

            Couldn’t my hair just stay put for ten minutes?

            “After what happened I’m sure people would understand,” she pressed.

            “Mom, I’m fine,” I assured her, swigging my backpack on my shoulder.

            That’s all it took for my mother to burst. “You’re not fine Clea! You’re anything but fine!”

            I rolled my eyes. “Flap, thanks for the vote of confidence!” I grabbed my keys on their hook. “See you tonight.”

            I wasn’t going to argue with her and I certainly wasn’t going to stay home to… to do what honestly? Mop in my bed? As much as staying curled up under my cover was tempting I had more important things to do. Like going to school in order not to fail so I could become a true Ishim. And not spend too much time with my mother while she tried to pry out of me all the details of Friday night. I’m sure she would be ecstatic to know a boy had saved my life. Maybe she would invite him for dinner.

            After a lot of bus riding and little bit of walking, I finally got to school. Florence and Gotzone were waiting for me on the steps that lead to the main entry, were few of our fellow co-students chatted away and gossiped about the latest news. With the look they were giving me I couldn’t ignore the fact that I was probably part of the gossips. Apparently killing five Demons had that effect.

            “You haven’t been picking up the phone,” Flo stated when I reached her, and I just kept going up, heading for the front doors. My friends followed.

            “I’ve been busy trying to fend a hysterical mother,” I shrugged and automatically grabbed Gotzone’s arm right before he fell face down on the gray rocks because he had caught the tip of his shoes on a stair.

            He thanked me, straightening up. This was normal. He rarely didn’t fall in those stairs. Or on any flat surfaces too for that matter.

            “That’s not a good enough answer. I need a whole report on the thing. I mean, don’t get this wrong Hon, you’re great, but honestly, how, how oh how did you manage to pull this one off.”

            I looked down at my blond friend, making a face. “Well technically it wasn’t five guys. It was one Doppelganger and one Demon possessing a dude.”

            “Well what do you know, you do listen in class” Gotz joked and I rolled my eyes. But it was true; we had talked about them in class. And I really hadn’t paid attention. After the Fallen Angel had mentioned the whole Doppelganger thing, and I had gotten home and when I had been less freaked out I had looked it up. And sure thing, there it was, right in my school books. I felt immensely stupid to say the least. That’s how I had learned that Doppelgangers were killed much more easily because they were technically closer to humans physiologically than Demons. Basically they were killed the same way humans were.

            I didn’t add anything after that and Florence and Gotzone mercifully did not pry for any more info so I was thankful.

            It didn’t last for long though because the minute we reached class, I was sent to the headmaster.

            Mrs Hawk was an Ishim. Angels, the Arches, taught us, but they didn’t care that much about taking care of the whole discipline thing and keeping everything in order, fiscally wise. Therefore, most of the time, Ishims were the principals, or headmasters and what-not.

            Mrs Hawk’s name suited her. Something about her face just reminded me of a bird, her pointed chin, her piercing eyes, her proficient cheekbones. She wasn’t exactly ugly though… but definitely not beautiful. Her features were… interesting.  

            I walked in a fast pace to her office. I wanted to get this over with quickly. I was worried though, very worried. What exactly did she want to talk to me about? It wasn’t really a question, obviously she wanted to talk about the other night. But what should I tell her? I hadn’t told my family about Levi, I wasn’t going to tell her. Problem was, lying wasn’t exactly part of my many awesome none-existing skills.

            I didn’t have to wait to get in her office when I arrived. I was sent right in. Flap. That wasn’t a good thing.

            Peering my head in the room at first, I did a quick scan, trying to look for any threats, meaning more people hanging around to enjoy my misery. It was the whole lost and confused puppy thing all over again.

            “Ah, Miss Ivory,” the woman sitting behind the big magnolia desk smiled, peeking at me from over her glasses.

            Yeah, she was totally doing the bird-looking-thing on purpose here!

            “Yes.” I tried smiling but I failed miserably and stepped in the office, closing the door behind me.

            “Please have a seat,” she offered, motioning for the chair front of her desk that matched with it. Only, unlike the one that she was sitting in, that was huge and throne worthy, this one was smaller. I mean it wasn’t a tiny pre-school type of chair. It was just small. And I needed to analyse everything in the room because I was freaking out!

            Flap.

            I went for the smile again, but with my nerves it might have looked like a muscle twitch in my cheek. “Thank you.”

            The headmistress smiled, sighing, and put down her pen. “How are you doing Miss Ivory?” When she asked that, she sounded more like a shrink than a headmistress. Maybe I should lay down on a couch or something…

            “I’m fine.” Cheek twitch, check!

            “After your counter with the Demons, it is normal to feel scared and confused,” like a lost puppy.

            “I’m fine,” I stated again and managed to make what I considered a decent looking smile taking into account the circumstances.

            “Well if you ever need anything you know you can talk with anyone at this faculty and I’m sure your family is more than willing in helping you out with this… peculiar situation.” She spoke stoically and it seemed like she was worried I would burst into tears at any moments.

            Wasn’t it normal to freak when you got convoked in the headmistress’ office? She shouldn’t be making a big thing out of this, not like me that was. She hadn’t enough information as I did to have the right to blow this out of proportion.

            “We are kind of being trained for killing Demons our whole life, this shouldn’t be such a big deal,” I actually stated and felt overly proud for a second because I hadn’t stuttered or anything, before realizing I probably had sounded disrespectful.

            Flap.

            Luckily she didn’t acknowledge it. “It is true, and that is why, after the incident on Friday, I checked your file. You’ll understand that some people were asking questions about how you managed to pull those kills off. I noticed that you did not take any fighting class and you aren’t taking advance training sessions, just the basic ones.”

            No point in lying. “That’s right, I haven’t.”

            “Well, Miss Ivory, aside from the fact that it is very surprising that you were able to defend yourself so well, I’m bringing this up because if you ever want to have a job that does not include tons of paper work and classification you’ll need to change that.” She took her glasses off after saying that and placed them on her desk. It had a nice dramatic effect.

             “No one ever told me which class to take before…” I frowned. “I thought it was okay.”

            “Usually you should have taken at least one of those classes at this point of your academic evolution but we were given the instruction to let you chose your own course without any interferences”

            I jumped a little on my seat there. “Wait, by whom?”

             “Your mother—”

            I cut her before she could explain more. “My mother never mentioned anything about this, and I’m sure she didn’t do it with my brothers”

            “Oh, I was referring to your biological mother, Miss Ivory,” Mrs Hawk answered and picked up her glasses like what she had just said hadn’t been even more of a blow than being protected by a Fallen Angel.  

            I was probably the living definition of “eyes bulging” at this moment.

            “My… wait? My what?”

            “Biological mother,” she stated again.

            She couldn’t be serious. This had to be a joke!

            “You know her?” How could she know my biological mother? She was surely lying or playing with me because she knew I was lying about the “dead Demons in a dark alley” thing. Or maybe that was her cool Ishim skill, the ability to track down everyone’s parents to then tell them how naughty their child had been. Not to sound mean, but it sucked. And this, this was unbelievable, and not the good kind.

            “Know is a wide concept,” she answered all ominously, and she looked overly proud of having pulled that one off. She needed entertainment. And she definitely needed to get to the point!

            “You know who she is.” I sounded like a challenge more than a statement or a question.

            “Yes of course, it’s all in your file.” She slid her glasses back on looking at the said file. “I’m sorry, I thought you were already aware of all of this”

            “Seriously, that’s impossible. I’ve never met my biological mother. I haven’t even registered yet,” I burst.

            “According to these files, you actually already have.”

            “What?” I gasped, my voice hitching up a few octaves. Am I really completely out of it or is this seriously not normal?

            “Yes, it is right here” she looked down on her files, pushing her glasses a bit on her nose. “Clea Aeon Phoenix Ivory, daughter of Freyja Aditi Hapya Phoenix and Evander Jarek Gryphon Ivory.”

            Oh my flap. My parents worked with the four name things. Two names and two surnames the first and last in the bunch taken as your official one. And Phoenix? Hapya? Gryphon? Those family names were all taken from mythical creatures. Important families.

            I was worried, definitely very worried.

            “Are you sure?” My voice kind of broke when I asked that, but I couldn’t help it. I had just been thrown my parents’ names in my face after all something I had longed for so long. And yeah, the fact that I was pretty sure now that I didn’t have any blood relation with Joseph Leon was sweet but I was freaking out over the fact that well… my parents knew about me, they had actually been involved enough to make demands about my education and to be named in my files.

            “Yes I am, Miss Ivory,” the headmistress answered like this was funny.

            This was not funny. This was very, very serious!

            And that wasn’t the only weird thing. “I don’t understand it though, why would she ask something like that? Did she want me to get a clerk job? What’s the premise behind this demand?”

            “That, I do not know.”

            “Well can I talk to her,” I asked, exasperated.

            I was freaking out here. I was on the verge of getting up and running around the room, maybe get up on the tiny chair and assure my dominance as alpha female and flap, I was about to flip a switch wasn’t I? I wasn’t even making sense in my head.

            My biological mother had actually looked after me… How was that possible?

            “I’m afraid that is not a option.”

            “Why?! Don’t know where she is?” Okay maybe raising my voice and using a condescending tone was wrong but I was freaking out here!

            “Yes I do know, she is on Elephant Island with your father, biological that is.”

            That shut me up, obviously the reaction that the headmistress was going for.

            This just keeps getting better and better. The equivalents of Ishim’s White House and Pentagon, or basically headquarters were set on Elephant Island.

            I did not like the sound of this. Not one bit.

            “Either way, we are not here to discuss this matter today but the more pressing matter of your recent affairs.”

            Suddenly, this entire killing Demons thing was far, far away. My parents were alive, and they knew about me… they had cared enough about me to get information about me… but not enough to actually meet me. How was that right?

            I had no idea how I was suppose to be feeling. Too many things were happening all at once.

            “Look,” I sighed in exasperation, “there’s no point to make a big fuss about it, I didn’t do anything, the evil creatures did the work all by themselves.”

            This was as close to the truth as it could be. Fallen Angels were evil creatures after all…

            “And we did see the nice result. One thing that we are concerned about though is the man that was possessed…” It looked like she was talking to herself just then.

            I shrugged. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know how to do to save the man.”

            Maybe that exorcism I didn’t know how to do.

            “Oh no, I know, that was not what I meant. We wanted the Demon inside. His name is Xezbeth.” That’s how the Fallen Angel had called him, I was sure of it, well aside from Fungus. “When he was still a Malakhim he worked in… public relations if you will. He took care of people that saw supernatural incidents and made them believe that saw something completely different by convincing them of another story. Now he likes to go around and mess up stories and facts. Sure it makes it harder for human to actually learn the truth about us but he is still a threat. And he had valuable information.”

            This information was interesting enough to pull me from my new found biological family issue—like I needed more of those. It all kind of fitted with what the Fallen Angel had said.

            “Well he kind of just vaporized away after getting injured,” I explained.

            “He probably found it simpler to just get another body,” Mrs Hawk sighed. Or he had a message to give to a certain Luci back in the Sheol…

            My mind was buzzing with all the new information.

            “Anyway just so you know, I didn’t do it, any of it…” I needed to get this fact straight. I didn’t have to tell her about Levi, I just needed to get off the spotlight and not get in trouble when I would be unable to defend myself against a six year old in advance training which was probably not putting it mildly. “Evil creatures are strange. They killed each other.”

            “But you are still alive to report it. That should mean something.”

            But what did it mean, that was still the question… And I still wasn’t even close to an answer.