The echoing chime on the door greeted him as he clocked himself out of tonight’s patrol schedule.

His coworkers and fellow official of the department tipped their hats to the private walking his way into the night. The leather boots he wore snapped the twigs under him and sent the owls screeching above him, but Kris could not care less as he brought two small packs of maja blanco inside a crumpling plastic bag. Two kilometers were nothing compared to what he had to travel in distance every day, but these were the times Kris wished he had bought a motorcycle before he moved to Manila.

“You can borrow my motorcycle tonight, chief.”

The blonde turned his head to the post.

The blaring static of the television above them felt like it was burning holes in his eyes as Lu Han tinkered with the crimson antennae and kicked the side of the black box, when Jongdae saluted him after sipping his Nestle coffee, fanning the mosquitoes with his electric racket.

Jongdae merely grinned at him and waved his keys at the tallest man near the police station. “Just return the favor by picking me up at 8.00 AM tomorrow, yeah?”

“I could’ve accepted the offer if I can actually drive the vehicle, private.”

“Well, I don’t suppose that you’re better at electronics, then?”

All eyes were directed to the man twisting and turning the cables with such vigor akin to teenagers trying to entangle their headphone wires. Lu Han nearly fisted the screen in anger when the static vanished and waves of voices from the news channel sent him tumbling near his bamboo seat. He would have nearly choked the cackling Jongdae if the breaking news did not divert his attention.

“This just in: a mysterious, unidentified creature was spotted near the entrance of Ninoy Aquino international airport. Many of eye witnesses claimed this to be an aswang, a vampire-like mythical creature in Filipino folklore. While the existence of aswang is still a debatable subject, many people claim of have witnessed these for the past several months. More investigation is needed to figure out the real identity of the subject.” 

Kris recognized the sight of those horrifying thing. He did not believe in folklores, but his wife—despite his insistence for her to stop—had told his children so many times about an aswang that he was having trouble putting Kai and Taemin to sleep. It did not help that he once nearly saw this creature in person, though. In an airport, no less.

“By the insistence of the citizens, all doors are to be locked during the night and all windows must be shut tight to prevent this creature from invading the homes of civilians. Children are advised to sleep before curfew and all activities during the night must be—“ 
 

Before the news reporter could even finish her sentence, Jongdae had taken the liberty to turn off the television. “We’re not about to stand guard with some superstitious headline threatening to blow my eardrums off.”

“Tell me about it!” Lu Han shrieked, spotting a black hound near the fence and chucked his sandwich at the mutt. After a while of watching it only sniffing at the food and stared at them blankly, Lu Han continued. “I’m just about this far off from shutting my landlady off with a bolo knife. She wouldn’t shut up about for days about some ‘Maria Labo’. Hey, by the way, why are you going home, Kris? I thought you hated your wife?”

The blonde could only sigh as he shrugged nonchalantly. “Hating isn’t exactly the right vocabulary to use. It’s just that she doesn’t hold my interest anymore and we’ve been going growing distant lately—“

“Just tell Lu Han that you caught her cheating on you,” he mumbled before sipping his coffee.

“Jongdae!”

“—but still I’m coming home; not for her, but for my boys. They’re probably starving right now, so I want to go home and feed them, probably tuck them to bed if they have not done so.”

The man with chiseled jaws—Jongdae—laughed again before putting down his racket and coffee. Both Kris and Lu Han only stared at the only man that had not married to anyone in the post. “Aren’t you a Mother Goose then? Come on, I’ll drive you home then.”

“You really don’t have to do that—“

“Come on, I insist!” Jongdae reached for the blonde private’s shoulder and pulled it so he could sling his arm around the taller man, shouting towards Lu Han from afar. “Hey, Lu Han, you’re going to be okay patrolling for awhile, yeah?”

The hound, if Lu Han did not mistaken, seemed to stare all too intensely at him, as if it was examining him from the core and onto his very bones, and if Lu Han thought it was possible, he could feel his own bones cracking under the gaze of the animal as Lu Han’s eyes went down and saw traces of red on the side of its mouth, all the longer he stared, the dog’s face seemed to split from the jaw, from the side of its lip and onto the its left ear—

“Lu Han!”

The aforementioned male snapped from his thoughts and shook his head, shouting at Jongdae right after. “Y-Yeah! Just don’t forget to come back!”

“I’m not going to come back!” Jongdae replied playfully as he snapped the buckle of his helmet and kick-started his engine while mentioning to Kris to point him to the direction of his house. The rusty vehicle might have the tendency to consume half his paycheck for every turn of a wheel, but Jongdae prided the speed his motorcycle had. Why, he even gloated to Kris that they got there within a minute flat, according to his watch, though Kris being the gentleman that he was only saluted at him as he made his way into the rickety, old house.

Oddly though, when he returned, the post was ransacked and Lu Han was gone.

When Jongdae tried calling Lu Han’s communicator in panic, he only heard static.

A black hound was staring at him.















His wife, Mei Rou, always had this rather superstitious imagination that there is always danger lurking at every corner, but she always described her fears in a rather odd manner. And yet, she somewhat convinced Kris to build an underground bunker in case of an emergency. She asked this of him when she still had Taemin and Kai inside of her, when even the sight of her smile would bring down his knees. Nowadays, he just used the entrance of the bunker to get into the house because the front door could never be opened with the rusty lock on it.

They agreed that the basement would be used for precaution, but after long it was misused as a garage, nameless junk and worthless things stuffed inside, gaining cobwebs and dust bunnies after a few years.

Kris grabbed the flashlight strapped to his belt and turned it down, making a dash up the stairs and pushed the floor opening. He looked around before getting himself out, setting down the food on the wooden floorboards before himself, then picking it up again. Before he could set in down on the table, he felt something wrapped itself around his waist.

He would’ve shrieked if he did not recognize his child’s face under the flashlight. “Taemin?”

“Dad! Daddy, are you hurt? Did you see an aswang before coming here? Are you bitten? Please tell me you’re not!”

Both of his boys were only ten year-olds, so Kris thought it was quite normal that they—especially Taemin—were very hyperactive. The blonde thought it was endearing, really; he even laughed as he gripped Taemin’s shoulders and patted his head, then saw Kai behind his brother, his eyes peeking from behind his older brother’s neck. He ruffled his hair before turning on the lights in the kitchen.

“Would you care to explain why you two aren’t in bed yet?”

“We were worried, Dad!” Kai piped then spotted the box in the plastic bag in his father’s hand. Taemin noticed this and pinched his brother’s cheek to make him talk again. “The TV said there’s an aswang on the loose! Y—“

“What did I tell you two about aswang? Did Mom tell you scary stories before bed again?”

Kris had to hold his fury and forced himself not to storm towards Mei Rou when the both of them nodded.

“Mom said Maria Labo preys on livers and hearts of humans so kids have to stay inside after dark. Does she really, Daddy? Why would she do that? Does liver and heart taste delicious?”

“I’m scared, Daddy.” Kai whimpered when Kris swooped down to hold the both of them and put them one by one on the chairs. “Maria Labo wouldn’t come for me, would she? Would she?”

The eldest in the room grabbed two pairs of spoon and fork and gave the two carton boxes to Kai and Taemin. Kris only shook his head and told them to start having their dinner, leaving himself without even a scrap of food to eat. Taemin noticed this and decided to share some with his father. At first Kris refused, but when Kai started to do the same, he half-heartedly began chewing the meal handed to him.




“She really wouldn’t come, would she, Daddy?”

“No, she wouldn’t, sport.” Kris said as he unfolded the all-too-thin blanket over their bodies. “Because Daddy’s going to drive her away before she could get to you guys. Okay?”

“You promise?”

“I promise.”

Kris looked back at the two brave soldiers on the bed, the sandman already conquered their sleep. He pulled the switch of the light bulb after landing a kiss on each of their heads.

“Sweet dreams, boys.”









“What did I tell you about telling Kai and Taemin stories?”

“What? It was the fastest way I could get them inside the house. I was out all day looking for a job.”

“By scaring them off? Don’t you remember what happened to Taemin the last time you told him about Maria Labo? How about what happened to Kai's leg when he thought there was an aswang looking at him from behind the field?”

“It’s not my fault they’re scared of that stupid folklore.”

Even though they shared a bed, Kris did not have any intention of looking at his wife’s pleading face. She tricked him into loving her once—now that he knew what she was, Kris was unable to find it in his heart to forgive her. The fact that Mei Rou seemed very distant and uncaring of her children really sest Kris on edge, so he turned abruptly to face and decided to give her a piece of his mind when Mei Rou started to mutter. “You know I never wanted to return to Manila, Kris. We are here so you can follow your dream. I am nothing more than your wife who stood here beside you.”

“But you know for a fact that you sold yourself for money.” If he could afford it, he would have divorced her a long time ago. “It was despicable and you definitely know that.”

“We are desperate. Your payment as a policeman can barely keep bread spread on the table, Kris.”

“Oh, don’t you dare put the blame on me—“

“You don’t even love me anymore. Why do you care? All you cared about was those boys. What about me, Kris? You barely give me a second of the day anymore.”

He did not like the tone of her voice right that second.

“Why don’t we just drop them off somewhere? They’re old enough to fend for themselves, aren’t they?”

How could she?

“Then it will be just the two of us again. No one else but us—“

It hurts.

The sound of her scream nearly filled the whole night, but Kris did not want his children to wake from their slumber. The blonde twisted and turned her arm until she pleaded for mercy. He was strong, he was prideful, but never cruel. He let go of her as soon as she pleaded, but not until he cornered her on the bed, snarling at her. “If you ever say another word about abandoning or hurting my children again, it will be you whom I will sacrifice for the aswang.”

He did not love her anymore. He despised her.

Part of him wanted to dispose of her quickly, to have her clawing, envious heart away from his beloved boys, but the twins needed a mother figure.

She was right. They were desperate. Kris understood fully why Mei Rou did what she did, but he had been blinded by disgust towards her that she wanted her out of his family. She was only trying to help, that’s all. If Kris wanted her out of the family for even a little while, Mei Rou was going to need a job overseas.

That night he did not sleep a wink.

He did not even bat an eyelid at the rate of his phone bills skyrocketing from the amount of calls he made until dawn.










There were exactly 352 contacts he had called on last night. With the amount of sneezing he had in the scene, the forensic team had to force him to wear a surgical mask in order not to disrupt the investigation. It was his team of five officials that was called for the case of ‘aswang sighting’ in town, but with Jongdae found deceased last night, his team was down into four, so the corporal decided to fill in for the official.

Of course, that meant the police department taking more time publicizing to the media than doing any actual work. It was not necessarily their fault, though, not when they can clearly see that there was one person to blame, but they would not risk their rank in order to scold him.

“When do you think the next sighting of aswang will commence?”

“Why do think the spotting of mythical creatures kept happening in Manila?”

“How long is this going to go on? You are the police officials and yet why do you decide to take on this case yourselves?”

Lu Han would have rolled his eyes in disdain if he was not rolled up in a blanket with his quivering body twitching once in a while in panic. He glanced at his teammates—the three of them try to hold off the swarming mass of reporters while he requested the headquarters for backup. Corporal Salmo, though, was still in the middle of an interview, blocking the forensic from view of the cameras, answering all the questions with ease and charming all the microphones with his winning smile.

When the next question was ready, the corporal cut off the interview when the forensic team gave a signal. “Ladies and gentlemen, we are currently examining the scene of unknown sightings, but we are still unable to give certain answers at the current time. However, as I am head of the police officials for the mean time, we, the officers of Philippines, have our suspicion that the latest phenomenon was nothing but a fluke, perhaps one of the works of the young minds to create a sensation in our beloved city. We apologize, but that is all we can give you.”

“But what if—“

“Let me just tell you right now, that if anyone can prove me wrong that such… myth does exist, I would give my rank for that person in a heartbeat. Now, good day.”

Even when the corporal made a perfect one-eighty inside the airport and fast-paced his walk, the journalists still had the nerve to follow him and try to ask some questions. It was Kris and his team’s duty to ward off these people, but of course, they did not expect that it would take more than half an hour to drive them away. By the time they were finished, beads of sweat had coated their skins in layers and they thought they could not move anymore until they saw a pair of legs in their line of vision.

A really long legs with full thighs, in fact.

“Excuse me?” A nasally voice asked and Kris nearly felt his heart skip when he saw the boy. “Is the corporal still here?”

Talking seemed more like a challenge to him now. “He’s sort of busy right now, but what can I do for you?”

It might have been a false move for Kris to fall for the boy clad in black right then and there.

He should not have given into the kittenish lips, black almond eyes with rimmed underlines, and that mouthwatering sight of his body, but it was too late.

Within a few mere seconds, Kris had forgotten all about his wife the moment Zi Tao locked his lips with his.










Collecting the sum of money needed for Mei Rou’s flight scarred nearly half of what he earned for three months, but seeing that only one of the relatives he called ever replied positively that they were hiring, no matter what the job was, Kris saw no point in wasting any time to purchase the next plane ticket flying to Canada.


The airport was humid and bleak, almost soulless after three in the morning, when Mei Rou arrived at the airport with Kris, who was handling her bags all the way to the departure point. She would have insisted Kris accompanied her to check in, but the male avoided her reasoning by using his children as an excuse. The truth was that Kris's reluctance surfaced the moment he stepped in the bus to the airport, but seeing as Mei Rou will be the caretaker of his great grandfather Wu, the old timer would have his head if that woman said even one terrible thing about him.


It was not until Kris stepped inside the bus for the second time that he realized what day it was.


It's Saturday.


The boys don't go to school on Saturdays.







This was one of those rare opportunities that Kris gets amidst his duty as a policeman. His wife was not fond of fishing trips and forced Kris to help her with her chores most of the time, but seeing as she was away at the moment, he gently woke the twins and told them to prepare for their bonding time.


There was only one problem: they only had one bathroom outside of the house.


He would have gotten up and pulled water out of the well for them to wash up, but Taemin and Kai insisted that they do it for him. Instead, he had to wait inside, rearranging the fishing rods to avoid boredom from sinking in.


The sun was not even up yet, but Kris did not want to waste any time.


The twins, fortunately, reciprocated the logic.


“Is it there yet?”


Taemin grumbled at his brother's whining. “Shut up, Kai! We have to take this to Daddy! The bus is going to here early and we don't want to be late.”


But my arms are so tired. “Can't I sleep for a bit?”


“Quit it and just help pu—“




There was a rustling sound.



“Taemin, what was that?”



Both of them stilled and tried to locate the source of the noise, but the more they stood their ground, the quieter it became. The creaking sound of metal that held their rope was the only thing they could hear among the wind swatting them across the face.


It was only when they decided to pull the water up again was when they heard the noise again, this time louder and thrumming, as it was getting closer and closer and—


Kai was the first one to see the shuffling of the leaves of the bush, drawing closer to grasp a clump of sheets in his palm, and he cringed at what he saw as he tried with all his might to hold the scream in his frightened lungs.


Taemin soon ran up to his brother, peering in from behind his shoulder. “Taemin, what—“


When his older brother nearly yelped, Kai shot his hand up and clasped Taemin's mouth behind him, gesturing him in silence.






In the hand the figure lying down on the floor was a special communicator that officers often used.


The badges on his uniform, the hat strewn from his head--the person nearly looked just like their father.


But even then, with what looked like blood came gushing from his neck, they knew they recognized him.


It was Mister Lu Han, their father's coworker.






Both of them raised from the hunched position and tried to pull Mister Lu Han back with them, but stopped when they heard another sound, this time with occasional growling as the voices grew near. Taemin tugged at his brother to escape before anything else happens, but Kai was reluctant.


He could not leave Mister Lu Han like this!


The small hands grabbed at the man's front shirt, dragging him across the dirt with enormous effort. Taemin, the ever-so-anxious boy he was, kept telling Kai to stop and leave, and, oh, when he heard the voices increased, he was at his last straw. The boy kicked Kai's hand away from Lu Han's body and was about to drag Kai behind him was he realized Kai could not move.


There was something grabbing his brother's arm.


“T-Tae-min, h-h-h-help...”


The firstborn forcefully tried to pry his brother's hand away, but Kai refused to budge.


Moving the leaves would reveal their position, so Taemin had no choice but to swallow his fear and peer on top of the bush.









It was the most terrible thing he had ever seen.


A woman clad in ripped white clothing with black hair askew, her head moving up and down as she nibbled on his brother's skin. He could hear Kai whimpering beside him with each teeth grazing against his arm. Taemin prayed to the gods above that the woman--this hideous creature--did not look up to see him picking a stone up from the ground and tossed it against a mango stem far from them.


The thumping sound it created captured the ghoulish creature's attention.


The twins were quick to hide Kai's arm from behind the bushes, but still, the youngest insisted that they carry the man back with them.


“Dad might know something. He can help Mister Lu Han," he reasoned.






They both knew the both of them were stubborn by nature, as one would not back down from their decision over their own brother's. They were frightened, yes, but the foul scent evaporating from Lu Han's body made the boys think twice about running away without helping their father's coworker.


That said, they both turned to drag Mister Lu Han, but the one they grabbed was not a man.









Taemin could see the appearance of the woman he just saw.


He had figured the creature would be so gruesome, pale face and hollow eyes with decaying wounds all over its body, but this was far more horrifying than he thought.


She had wings on the back of her body, large scales and claws that looked as if it could cut them both at the same time into tiny pieces of skeletons. A pale face stared straight at them, bloodshot eyes piercing through their souls as they quiver, and a gash from the left ear to nearly split her face.

Run. 


Their legs carried them as fast as they could when their screams filled the sky, as if their voices called the sun to rise and lit the awakening dawn. When Kai tried to look behind him, he could almost the creature behind him, claws reaching out to grab his feet when he stumbled down.


The face was so grotesque that the boy found himself screaming at it to go away before his brother dragged him against the dirt, scraps of autumn leaves and falling twigs scratched the sides of his body as Taemin screamed at it to release Kai's ankle.


It was then that Kai realized what he just saw.


The terrifying wings.


The claws and canine teeth that nibbled his arm.


The bloodshot eyes of a woman.


The scar on her face.


Run. 


Kai let out another blood-curling scream as he tried to kick Maria Labo away from him, then got up from the ground before grabbing Taemin's wrist and continued running towards the shack.




He looked back again and there she was, flying to catch up with them.





Run, run, run. 



The wooden handle on the door looked very inviting as he felt his knees buckle with Taemin behind him. It was as if he was the wind, swiveling in full speed until he nearly stumbled on the wooden terrace, but Kai's intention to bolt open the door was fierce, and if he would have gotten inside too, if it were not for the fact that the bolt of the front door had been busted for years.



“Dad!” He shrieked in head-spinning panic. “Dad, open up, please!”



The images of the creature were flashing at the back of his mind.



Gnawing, blood covered jaw with razor sharp teeth.


“Daddy, open up! Please, I don't want to die!”



Claws threatening to seep into his tunic as she searched for his liver and heart.


“It's me, Taemin, Dad! Open up! Dad, help us!”


“Daddy, it's Kai!” He screamed on top of his lungs, his throat starting to cough so hard that it felt like wounds were starting to form. “Help me, Dad! I don't want to die! Please!”


Eyes of red that you will see the depths of Hell within her.


“Daddy—“






The last thing they saw was their father opening the door before everything blurred into black.









“—going to do? I can barely pay their school fees without borrowing from my neighbors, let alone having an insurance.”


“Mister Wu, please calm yourself—“


“What if something really happened to them? I should've listened to Mei Rou, I should have vaccinated them when I had the chance! Oh, what if Kai's injury from the other day—“




He really should be ashamed of himself. He was only a kid, one might say, but even the autistic ones would not go as far as he did to retrieve someone that might have been an aswang's next meal. He was a fool and he nearly got his brother and father in danger too. He was a disgrace as well, for making his father worry about his health when the family's financial balance was teetering at the edge of economy's last lifeline.


Kai glanced at the ceiling before looking at the hospital bed next to him, telling himself to stop eavesdropping on his father and the man from the forensic team's conversation in the next room. They were in a similar state, bandages covering their foreheads and arms, cottons dipped with antiseptic stinging at his ankle whenever he tried to move, but Kai learned to bear with it.


Maybe this Zi Tao person was a hero after all.


When he secretly woke up, the first thing he heard was his father's voice thanking Zi Tao for finding his children on his doorstep, exhausted from what the man thought to be hypothermia. It seemed that all the more Kai tried to stop listening to the both of them and actually getting some sleep, all the more Kai was intrigued.


Not by the stranger's charm and gorgeous lips, as his father claimed--the boy cringed at this, but by the man's manner of speech.


He hid it well, but Kai could hear the tiniest lisp, though he could not quite call it that. It sounded as if Zi Tao was having hard time moving his mouth to speak, even. But then again, if his father could hear him, he would nudge him for the rude thought and told him that Zi Tao may have a bad case of toothache.




“I'm sorry your trip got cancelled. I know how hard it must be to have some quality time with your children.”





There was one of the communicators for the police officials poking out from Zi Tao's handbag and Kai had taken the liberty himself to grab the item when no one was looking. Five minutes ago, the handbag was still on the bedside table, but Zi Tao removed it when he told Kris that he needed to attend something, righy after Kai hid it under his blanket with his fake-sleeping figure hiding it from sight.


“Do you really have to go?”


He could hear Zi Tao's laugh was muffled by his own hand. “Well, I don't suppose you would want to accompany me, would you?”

It was almost disgusting to hear his own father attempting to flirt with somebody. “I really would love to, but I have to take care of my kids and the police department must be swamped by now. Maybe I should give Lu Han a call; tell him I'll be late.”



Oh, god, no.





If what he thought was true, then--





Kai swiftly moved the device under his pillows in order to block any sound that might possibly come out. He pressed the feathered headrest down hard, as if terrified that what he was thinking might become real.














"Hello, Lu  Han, are you there?"











 

“You promised me you would not do this.”


“Sinabi ko ba?”
“Did I say that?”





Maria Labo was Philippines’ greatest fear, the creature of the night with a horrifying legend, skinning the tales of old into one so grotesque that everyone would shake their knees in fear for her presence.






“Leave them alone. They are not yours to claim.”


“At sino ka para pigilan ako, hayup?”
“And who are you to stop me, animal?”




She once fought for what was dearest to her, to keep them safe from harm, and what for? Tricked by a erse old man to become one of them and left with nothing but a gash on her face by the man she once loved.




“I understand you did not deserve this, but you need not to succumb!” Zi Tao yelped as he gripped on the sides of the mirror, watching intensely as his own eyes turned ghastly red and the scar near his mouth looked as if it was trying to rip him open. “You need not do this.”


“Gutom ako.”
“I am starving.”





The man once so dashingly beautiful lied against the tile floor, midnight hair turned into strewn strands accompanied by shards of broken glass beside him when he fell. The day's desire was no more, replaced by the night's horror as she strode forward, glass clinking against her feet, her canine teeth threatening to fall along with her slacked jaw.



As she saw her reflection on the shattered mirror pieces, there was only one thought that crossed her mind:




“Gutom ako.”
“I am starving.”




















Kris Wu was nothing more but a third child in his grand family tree.


He was a charming man with a smile so dazzling and a face crafted by the angels, but with a heart so fragile that one would not be corrected when he was called a fool.


That was all there was to him. A charming fool.


And yet Zi Tao found himself falling for him as well.


Every day he would wait for him to arrive while he sunk his legs into the tides, watching the sun rise and set before him like the chain connecting him to the Earth, his own sandtime each before the demon inside started turning his insight in reverse.


“Do you like this place so much?”


“What about it?”



He just wanted a place where he could see for sure when and where the aswang would strike, that's all.



“I suppose half of it is my fault. If I can afford to take you to nicer places, maybe you'd be more docile towards me. Not that you look fierce or anything, it's just that I think it would be a lot nicer if I can make you smile.”


“Don't worry about it.”



She made a mistake once. She did not intend to do it a second time.


She had to remember what the last one did to her face; what he had done to her.



“Is this some kind of trick for me to leave you? Because if it is, it's not working, Taozi. You're going to have work harder if you want me to think that you are repulsive in any way.”



Zi Tao could only laugh at the irony. “Oh, don't you ever shut up?” The tone in his voice was pure curiosity, charmed with a sugarcoated whine, one that seemed to capture Kris's interest more. “Don't you have a wife to go home to?”



“Don't you have somewhere to go to?” He shot back, lifting himself from the sand on his back and rested his upper weight on his waist. “If you want me to take you somewhere else, you could have just told me.”


Again, the boy laughed. “Go home, Kris. Your kids must miss you. It's Saturday. The boys don't go to school on Saturdays, right?”




Instead of the playful tackle Kris usually gave him, the blonde seemed to look at him blankly. Zi Tao glanced at the sky before landing his sight to the older man. Strange, it's not even sunset yet.


The sigh he gave him was more of exasperation. Kris, too, glanced at the sky before lying on his back once more with Zi Tao beside him. “I can't say much about what I actually used to feel about her.” Those hazel eyes seemed to pierce her more than anyone could, but she compromised herself. “She must have been something, but she's nothing compared to the dazzling you, sweetheart.”


Kris cupped his chin as he rolled to nuzzle his face onto the boy's tempting neck. “Let g—“


“Do you know why you've never seen her, Taozi? I wanted to get rid of her. I can't stand her, and then I met you. I want you so much, Zi Tao. I know this is sudden, but please let me have you.” His voice was dripping with desperation, the heat coiling inside of him, the inferno scorching his desire as he bit on the boy's shoulder and silently slipped his large hands inside Zi Tao's shirt. “It's been so long. Just one night, my darling, let me taste you under me. She's away and I'll lock the children in the bunker for a while so they could not see us. Please, Zi Tao, I can't wait anymore. I must have you.”


As she squirmed in his hold, she caught a glimpse of herself in the rippling water. She was a tempting man with catlike almond eyes and lips that always curved upwards like the cupid's bow, not a decaying, grotesque woman with crimson eyes and gashing wound exposing her canines and gargantuan black tongue. He was a beauty; she was a beast, it was that simple.


Kris did not love her.


He never would.


“I have to go.” Zi Tao pushed himself away from him, running even though the night had not fallen and no one would see her for the aswang that she really was.



“Okay! Tomorrow night, then?”





Indeed, he was a fool.


But she was idiotic for falling for him.


















She might not have been too skilled at technology, but Mei Rou handled ATM machines just fine even in the cold night air of Toronto. The great grandfather, as she put it to the kids, was very silent, never spoke a word unless he wanted something. The twins were almost reluctant to put down the phone, so instead of following their father downtown to take their monthly share, they continued chatting with their mother instead.


Oh, how they should have been there to stop him.


Their monthly school fees, their allowance, the money they used to pay bills and buy meals for the family--it was all gone.


They all became one into some form of ear piercing.


Although they were appalled by the actions of their father, Taemin and Kai would shame themselves by questioning their parent, even though Kris really was painting the bathroom walls white. They could hear Zi Tao's name uttered from the blonde's lips from the past months, the exact same time when Kris bought the jewelry.


At first, they thought it was only phase—their father being bored with his occupation and wanted to occupy himself without their mother, but soon it worsened. It came to the point where Kris would stop coming to work altogether to sit on the beach, waiting for Zi Tao with that jewelry in his pocket. Not only that, but Kris no longer resembled the figure they remembered as their figure with his unkempt hair, ragged clothes, and unshaven parts.




It was then that they decided that his obsession with this Zi Tao person needed to end.









He could not count how many times it had happened. There was no kiss from the boy, not even a lingering glance from Zi Tao, and yet Kris could still see him in his dreams. Oh, how he wanted Zi Tao beside him, whimpering in ecstasy and gripping his blonde locks in absolute need as Kris leave red marks that Zi Tao would glorious in.

The broken white sheets crinkled under his wriggling body as he tried to calm himself from the growing desire.

Oh, how those legs would look lovely wrapped around his waist as Zi Tao pleaded him to go faster, harder—




Kris could not take it anymore.

The lust he had for the dark haired boy had reached its and he had grown tired trying to pursue him into lying on his bed. Despite that, he compensated on imagining Zi Tao there instead, his moans filling the room as Kris drives into him, his fingertips longing to touch, those ruby ear piercings sparkling with the sheen of sweat when the blonde made him so vulnerable, so innocent against gentle caresses.

He wanted to touch him.

He needed to. He could not wait any longer.

His hands reached for the velvet box beside him as his hips grinded against his blanket, trying to relieve himself of the blazing, mouthwatering urge, but soon failing when he found that the ear piercing was not there.

“Kai, let’s go!” Kris heard when he shot up, spotting one of his children gripping something in his hand. “Take this to the pawn shop! Quick!”

Naïve was his very boys, but they were still his brave soldiers, even in the most inappropriate times. The long legs carried him to move towards Kai and Taemin, preventing them from getting to the opened floorboards. When he managed to close it, the twins thought that their father’s gaze was absolutely terrifying even when he was only looking at the jewelry in Taemin’s hand.

Kris snatched it from his hand and snarled. “What do you two think you are doing? I’ve never taught you to steal—“

“Dad, what are you doing? This,” his stubby forefinger pointed at the ruby, “was what came from Mom’s hard work! We’re supposed to buy food with that!”

“And what do you two think I’m doing my whole life?”

“But that’s Mom’s money! You shouldn’t be buying gifts for someone else with it!”

“This is the family’s money. I am part of the family and I can do what I want!”


The grip he had on their wrists was painful, but not as much as the stinging scratches they had once Kris threw them inside the basement. They coughed and wheezed while Kris was about to close the board, but Kai climbed up and stopped him on time. “But you still have Mom! You’re not supposed to flirt with someone when Mom’s still around.” Kai retorted, referring to Zi Tao. “I’m going to tell Mom right now if you don’t let us go right now!”

Kris could feel the blood in his veins beginning to boil. “Guess what, kids? Zi Tao’s going to be your new mom. I love him more than I ever do to her, so you better accept him or—“

“You can’t have him, Dad! Not before he eats you first!”




“What are you talking about?”



Kai pushed his father away from the basement opening, switching his place so Taemin could climb up behind him, leaving Kris’s back to hit against the wall. “You know what, Dad? You don’t know the first thing about this Zi Tao person!”

“Shut your mouth!” Kris barked. “I love him and that’s the only thing I ne—“

“He’s an aswang, Dad! He’s Maria Labo! He’s going to—“



Zi Tao was the most perfect person he had ever seen.

There was no one who was going to insult him when Kris was still around.

Not even his own children.



“You’re going to stay in there until you can learn how to behave!” he shrieked as he closed the opening and blocked it with a chair, right before he heard someone knocking on the door.












“Kris, are you home?”













It was almost midnight. The sounds that the twins made when they scratched the wooden floors with their nails were almost haunting even when Kris decided to cover it up with his mat. With each knock on the door, he heard his heart beat against his chest, abbreviating louder and louder with until he nearly could not breathe.

He could not believe what he just did to his children, but he was furious at them.

None of this would happen if Zi Tao would just come to his home and sleep with him—

“Kris, open this door right now!”


He heard her a second time.




“Kris, hurry up! I feel so weak! Let me in!”






 

No, he shouldn’t have blamed seductive, adorable little Zi Tao.


It was all her fault.

And he was going to finish this.















“Oh, thank God, Kris! Your great grandfather died a month ago and I couldn’t find any job there. As soon as I got here, I got this headache and—“

The shimmering glint of metal shone under their flickering lightbulb.

“Kris, what’s going on?”

She might have been beautiful once. He might have loved her once.

But his heart belonged to another.

“Kris, I feel so weak—“



Her lovely face was no longer there under his knife.











“Officer Kris, come in! What’s the situation?”

The blonde eyed the woman under him.



She was not going to stand in his way again.















One does not avoid the hands of the law and justice just by pleading on his knees. Whether it was a conscious act or defensive mechanism, Kris would have to attend court for his actions. His fellow coworkers had put him under house arrest until further notice until they could get his schedule and facts sent to the judge, leaving him alone with his two boys at the mean time.

It had been almost a week and he was already sent to the police station.

He had committed offense, there was no doubt.

It was not for his children. He was controlled by blind lust; he had abhorred his wife so dearly that he would act such crime to free himself.

What could he do?

Zi Tao did not want him because he was married and the twins prevented him from wooing the boy because of her.

Whatever the reason was, he still had to pay for his actions.

So why was he sent to do his job when he should be convicted?



“The next step was to put curfew, just as the government ordered. Villagers and citizens of Philippines are not to step outside their homes past eight and children are to be supervised without any exception. Doors and windows are to be locked shut and patrol duty shall be extended.”

Lines formed by the privates were in ten to fifteen rows in front of him as he read aloud the new order passed since the news regarding his wife broke. It should not be such a tremendous matter, but people were terribly scared by the sight of her growing wings on the stretcher of an ambulance. Mei Rou’s once lively face had been scarred from her ear to , resembling the terrifying creatures that people of Philippines call ‘Maria Labo’.

It unnerved Kris so that he had been the main cause of all that happened to him.

And yet, he did not know whether it was luck or a curse that plagued his life from then on.

His blind plan had succeeded. He was Corporal Wu. He accidentally proved the existence of an aswang by marring his own former wife’s face until she resembled the folklore and moved his rank up, along with his salary. The life he had would have been perfect if he did not hear the voices of his men talking while he had just finished inviting Zi Tao for supper using the station’s payphone.

“My patrol duty’s never going to end at this rate!”

“Would you shut up? I’m trying to get some sleep here! You should be thankful that Corporal Wu found his wife in his home and called straight away.”

“Yeah, but personally I would like to give him a piece of my mind. Not to an extent of what Maria Labo would do, especially considering he had two kids, but still.”

Anyone who knew the story of Maria Labo would be terribly traumatized by the horrors of the folklore’s ending. ‘Aswang’ was a flesh-eating creature of the night, shape-shifting to prey on the human flesh, preferring the heart and liver of children. Maria Labo was the most popular example, bearing a gargantuan scar across her face from where her husband had struck her with a labo—a grand knife—when he found her cooking his children.

Just like what Kris did to her.

The only thing that made his heart drum painfully against his ribs was his son’s voice in his head.

Without even a glance, he stormed out and ran towards his house, fearing the worst thing that could possibly happened to his brave soldiers.

 

Please let them be okay.






Please let them be okay.




Please let them—




“Taemin! Kai! It’s me, where are you?” He shouted; his baritone voice echoing against the walls of the basement, sweat breaking against his skin when he saw the outside opening of the bunker had been smashed from the outside.

It had been a week, so surely they were not in the basement, but somehow felt it in his gut as it churned inside that he should not have lifted the wooden boards, should not have saw Zi Tao standing in the kitchen beside an boiling pot, should not have shown his face when he heard Kai’s voice once more, but oh, he did. He barged into the children’s room and his face went pale from the sight that they were gone.

Please, let it not be true. 

“Taozi,” he mustered all of his strength to stop his trembling hands as he drew near to the figure in his kitchen, unmoving, watching the fire of the gas stove flicker against his eyes. “Taozi, where are my kids?”

When Zi Tao turned around, Kris was stunned at the reddening eyes on that face he once adored. It was as if the more he moved, the more Zi Tao was backing away from his own body. “School,” he muttered, but Kris caught the tone in his speech when he heard the odd lisp sounded more like a howl.

He inhaled, forming his hands into a fist as he walked closer, but then unclenched to stare at Zi Tao with a hollow expression. “It’s Saturday. The boys don’t go to school on Saturdays.”





Then what he feared most happened.



Zi Tao pointed at the pot.









The smell was awfully pungent as he strode closer; his face getting paler as he peered inside of the pot, spotting his precious children’s eyes staring blankly with their limbs strewn about within the copper kitchenware, their neck’s wound visible even among the boiling broth that began to seep into their skin.

They looked so brave in the sunset.

Kris felt his knees buckle under him as he fell onto the ground as he wept with his hands scooping the heads of his brave soldier, not even caring that the heat was burning his senses as he held them both close. The grunts behind him were loud and clear as Zi Tao’s voice began to fade alongside the light of the setting sun behind the row of trees, but he did not care. The blonde man held them tight, letting his cries fill the night sky.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, holding their heads as if he could feel them hug his waist again. “I’m sorry.”





They could have been a happy family.

The three of them could be together, maybe the four of them too if she never appeared.

What could she do? She would always be there when night falls. There was no other choice.




She did this out of mercy.



The three of them will be together.