I was laying on my bed trying to get some sleep, but my conscience wasn’t letting me. A part of me wanted to knock on Rory’s door and apologize for walking out like that, but there’s a part of me that wants to let her rest after what happened with Lydia and her coven. I groaned and got up from my bed, as I opened my door, I can hear someone singing softly in the living room. When I got there, I found green eyes with a ukulele sitting on the bay window. He was softly strumming and singing, he was singing something in Italian. I looked around and found his brother sound asleep on a cot that Rory probably got for them.
“Hey,” he whispered, “I’m sorry, did I wake you?”
“No, it’s fine. I couldn’t sleep. How about you? Couldn’t sleep either?”
“Well, I could but we don’t. I mean, angels, we don’t sleep.”
I looked at his brother, snoring, then back to him, “but your brother can?”
“He’s, uhm, he’s a different story,” we both smiled at each other, and I sat on the couch across him. “I believe we haven’t introduced ourselves. I’m Azriel,” he held out his hand for me to shake. I was hesitant because Azriel, or Azrael, is an Angel of Death. Yes, I did know a thing or two about angels because my dad told me to read about them too when I was younger. I stared at his hand, “don’t worry, you’re not gonna die by shaking my hand,” he said reassuring me that he’s “safe”. So, I shook it, “I’m Mia.” He nodded and continued with strumming his ukulele, softly humming. I rested my back on the couch when his brother suddenly sat up. Azriel stopped strumming, “Merikh, are you okay? What’s wrong?”
Merikh, held up his hand, “shut up for a minute.” Then he stood up, looking around then he looked outside the window, and went to the back door. “Is there something –“
“I said, shut up for a minute!” he looked at both of us, “do you guys hear that?”
“Wha-what does it sound like?”
“Uhm, tik-tik-tik-tik,” he replied. I stood up from the couch. I felt the hair on my arms and neck stood up, “is the sound loud or soft?”
“Right now, it’s a bit loud. It’s blending with the crickets. Do you know what that is?”
“Yes,” I said calmly, “that’s an aswang, or tik-tik. It’s, uh, it’s a monster that originated in the Philippines. But they can’t be here. I mean, it’s impossible. They feed on kids and unborn babies. No one here is –“
“Pregnant?” we all looked at Rory who was standing beside the couch, touching her belly. “Oh my dad, she is,” Azriel said while staring at her, “uhm, congratulations?”
“Are you sure? I mean, how would you know?” it was dumb, but I needed to ask. “I’m an angel, and angels can read minds. We can’t read a monster’s mind, no,” he explained. I went to Rory to let her know that I will take care of it. That I will kill that creature no matter what, before I go and get my gun and machete, she held my hand. “We’ll talk after this, okay?”
“Okay,” I smiled at her and went inside my room. I asked Rory to stay inside the panic room just in case the aswang gets a pass in the enchantment. She took everything she’s going to need in case the hunt for it takes longer.
I hung my shotgun over my shoulders, my machete on my hand, then I went outside and listened. Tik-tik-tik-tik-tik, it said. It was still a bit loud, meaning they’re still far. I turned to the house and said a little prayer that Rory gave me and proceeded to walk alone. It could be anywhere. They’re shapeshifters, they can turn into a dog or a pig, and even a large bird. I closed my eyes to listen, but the sound was getting fainter. They’re close, I thought. I remembered Rory gave me a small bottle of Hintura oil, it will boil like crazy when an aswang is near. I took the small bottle out of my pocket, seeing it boil, I turned around and I was met with a hard smack on the face. I flew a few feet away from the house, dropping my machete, and I heard Merikh and Azriel yell my name. I opened my eyes and the aswang was standing there, shifting into a large black dog with piercing red eyes. Its saliva is pouring out of its mouth, like a rabid dog ready to attack. It was about to run towards me when Merikh hit it with his staff, and it stumbled away from me.
“Are you alright?” Merikh asked as he helped me up. I was about to say yes then suddenly, the aswang came for me. Biting me on the leg dragging me away from Merikh. I turned to face the monster and I can see my upside-down reflection in its eyes. Then, I took my shotgun, smacking its head with the butt. It let go of my leg, and I crawled away from it.
Merikh ran towards between me and the aswang, pointing his staff at it. The large dog is showing its teeth then it attacks him. The creature lunged towards him, but he tried to stop it with his staff and all his might. “Fu….you’re too strong, I give you that,” Merikh said, then the monster snatched his staff with his teeth and threw it on the side, taking Merikh with it. The aswang turned its head to my direction, and slowly walked towards me, baring his teeth, and making a low growl. I am in so much pain, but I need to fight this thing, so I stood up, limping. It ran so fast, I couldn’t move. As it lunges towards me, I met it’s face with the butt of my shotgun again. I hit it as hard as I could, when it fell and roll a few feet away, I limped towards the middle of the empty street. I saw the aswang stood up again, shaking its head.
When I thought it wouldn’t notice I wasn’t there, it quickly turned its head to my direction, and started running. I cocked the shotgun, pointed it to the creature, then BANG!
It was shot right in the forehead. It was slowly turning into its original form – big pointy ears, long arms and legs, and bald head. I limped towards my machete as it caught the moonlight. Then I limped back to where the aswang was, took a piece of paper from my pocket, and said a prayer. Then I took my machete and chopped the thing into pieces. I asked Merikh and Azriel to take the pieces and shove it far away from each other, but they had another thing in mind. Instead of throwing the pieces away from each other, they decided to burn everything.
As we watched them burn, headlights were shining at us. “That’s kind of rude, you know!” Azriel shouted, shading his eyes with his hand. The headlights turned off and so did the car’s engine. The three of us looked at the car when the driver opened its door. What came out was a man with dark messy hair, blue-gray eyes, and pale skin. He was wearing a flash drive around his neck, a dark gray shirt, and denim pants, plus his signature black boots. “Collin?” I said, staring at the figure. He closed the car door and walked towards us, “hey,” he greeted. The anger that I once thought was gone came rushing back. I limped towards him and started hitting his chest, “hey?! Hey?!” then I hit him on his chest one more time, both Merikh and Azriel grabbed my arms. I pulled my arms away from them, “you left me and all you can say is hey?!” then I hit Collin one last time on his chest.
“Woah, hey,” Azriel and Merikh said in unison. “WHERE THE FUCK HAVE YOU BEEN?! WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME?!” I shouted, trying not to breakdown. “Look,” he started, “I have no excuse for doing that and I’m sorry. I…it’s just hard to explain. I –“
“Hard to explain?! Fuck you!” I shouted, cutting him off, “you left me in the middle of a fucking apocalypse! I fought unspeakable beings BY MYSELF! My father died!”
“What?” he whispered.
“I shouldn’t be pissed off because I have been doing this all my life until you came along!” I started bawling, making myself get all vulnerable. I almost fell to the ground, crying, but Azriel caught me. “I gotcha, I gotcha,” he said, slowly lifting me up. He helped me walk towards the house, Merikh and Collin in tow. I already lost my dad. I can’t lose my best friend. I can’t lose the one person who literally fought by my side.
When we got inside, Merikh went to get Rory out of the panic room. She ran upstairs and saw me being healed by Azriel. I was sitting on the dining chair, Collin standing close by, and Azriel kneeling down with his hands over my wounds. His eyes were closed, and he was saying some prayer. Merikh went to the fridge to get a glass of water for me. Rory saw Collin and walked towards him, “you must be Collin. Hi, I’m Rory,” she held out a hand and he shook it, giving her a small smile. The room was so quiet, I can hear myself thinking. “Okay, all done,” Azriel exclaimed as he stood up. “Do you want me to heal your face too?” he asked me, I shook my head no. He looked at Rory and Merikh, who was glaring at Collin. Collin was glaring back like there’s a secret macho showdown going on between them.
Rory motioned for the three of them to give us some privacy, Merikh was the last to leave.
“Mia,” he started. I glared at him, “why did you come back?”
“Because I wanted to. You were there for me when no one else was. You –“
“Lied to me! You lied to me, Collin!” I said, standing up from the dining chair. I tried my best to not cry but I couldn’t. I wiped my tears away, stood up straight, and walked out of the door, grabbing my keys from the holder. “Mia!” Collin called, following me as I walked towards my dad’s truck. I went inside and immediately locked the door, “Mia! Open the door! For God’s sake!” he said while knocking on the window. I started the engine then Collin ran in front of it, “Mia you can’t drive like that!”
“Oh yeah? Watch me!” I pressed my foot on the gas pedal with Collin still standing in front. He stopped the truck with his bare hands before I could run him over, “what the fuck, Mia?! Get out of that truck, right now!” he demanded. I released the gas slowly and moved the shift gear to park. I didn’t move. Collin didn’t either. I just sat there until I heard a sharp cry. Collin looked around, trying to figure out where it came from. I turned off the engine and got out. I wiped my tears away and I slowly walked away from the truck, looking around as well. Moments later, I found Collin standing beside me, his hand on my wrist, stopping me from my tracks. “We better go,” he whispered. “This is something we both should not be near,” he tugged me to go back inside the house where Azriel and Merikh were standing in the middle of the living room with Rory.
“So I guess you heard that too?” I asked. “Yeah, it’s either another one of those things or it’s something else, but I’ll go and take a look. All of you stay here, especially you,” he said while pointing his staff at me then walks past me. “I’ll check it too,” Collin managed to say. “No. You stay here, new guy,” Merikh smugly replied, and turned to the door.
“Well, I’m not asking for your permission.”
“Well, I don’t need your help,” he turns to face Collin, who was already inches away from him.
“Who said I was going to help you?”
“Alright, boys, cut it out. Cut it out!” Rory said, “Merikh and Collin, you both go and check it out. Mia and Azriel will stay here. Now, go!”