“Okay let’s start over again.” Diosdado was getting impatient. They’d been working on this for four nights straight and they still didn’t have any solid answers.
“Calm down Dio,” said Angela. She was tired too and she wanted more than anything to solve this mystery, but attacking it head on would just cause more confusion. They needed to think outside the box.
“Ange, it’s been four days. I don’t want to go out and find another victim.” Diosdado’s eyes blazed with fiery conviction.
Angela saw that there was no use in dissuading her longtime partner and she sighed. “Alright, let’s go through everything one more time.”
“The victim was found strangled and her body left in the park at Quezon City Circle. Police arrived at the scene thirty minutes from when the body was first found. In those thirty minutes we managed to examine the body and found signs consistent with a paranormal attack. There were marks everywhere on the body as if she had been bound by rope and there was hair in her mouth as well as in her nose and ears. The victim looked emaciated as if she hadn’t eaten in days—“
“Consistent with their life force being sucked out of them,” Angela interrupted.
“Which leads us to believe it might be some sort of aswang that targeted the victim,” Diosdado continued. “The police took the body to the morgue right away so we couldn’t examine it further and now—“
“We’ve hit a wall,” Angela finished.
Diosdado slammed his fist against the wall. It happened so suddenly that Angela jumped out of her seat. She placed her hand on his shoulder and said, “Let’s run through the usual suspects alright? We might find something if we go through the list.”
“Alright, alright,” Diosdado said. Maybe there’s something there.
“What about a gabunan? Strangulation isn’t anything new to them and they aren’t affected by weakness during the day. They’re also very fast, no one in the park would have seen them do the deed.”
“It doesn’t fit. Gabunan are the oldest and strongest of aswang. They wouldn’t risk being seen in such a public place. And their hair is usually white. From what we saw the hair in the victim was jet black. They like to see their victims suffer. They’re known for making copies of their victim from banana trunks and making the copy arrive home until it dies which is a signal to kill the real victim.”
“Hmmm, good point. What about a katanod? They look like ordinary people. It would be easy for them to blend into the crowd after strangling the victim.”
“The victim wasn’t pregnant or at least not obviously so. Katanod usually follow their victims home to be around the fetus.”
“Scratch another one off the list. How about a mandarangkal?”
“The victim was female. Mandarangkal only seduce men. They’re also very particular about eating the flesh of their victims. Whatever happened to this one was something a lot more subtle.”
“A korokoto could sneak in and out of the park without being noticed if it turned into a cat.”
“They’re not usually seen this far north. And they cook their victims. If this was a korokoto then there wouldn’t be a victim for us to find.”
“The Alasip?”
“They eat the livers of their victims. There was no blood around the victim’s abdomen and no signs that her liver was taken.”
“Harimodon?”
“I think people would have noticed a giant wild boar in the park. There weren’t any injuries that were consistent with being attacked by a Harimodon.”
“Maybe it was a newly turned yanggaw?”
“Yanggaw that have been newly turned to aswang have a manic bloodlust. They crave human flesh. If it was one of those then we wouldn’t have seen her body intact.”
“Let’s look at it from the point of the life force being drained. What about an aswang na gala? The last time we were against one they fed off the life energy of those poor patients in that ICU.”
“It doesn’t seem like something an aswang na gala would do. They’re psychic vampires, yes, but their victims are usually stressed, sick or dying. All the ones I’ve encountered would shadow hospitals and pick their victims carefully so as to not arouse suspicion.”
“Well let’s put a pin in that first and get back to it later. What’s next? The bangkilan?”
“We’re not in Palawan so I don’t think that they’re what we’re looking for. Besides they usually play around with their victims, kissing them so that they become aswang as well. Whatever did this doesn’t have that kind of subtlety.”
“A hubot could have made a quick getaway.”
“Yes, they have those large wings, but none of the witnesses we interviewed said that they saw a giant bat anywhere near the body.”
“It could have been really fast.”
“Maybe, but I don’t think that’s it. What’s next?”
“The sinasa’ban. It’s a good candidate for aswang that absorbs life essence from humans.”
“Yes, but it does so carefully. They’re attracted by the phlegm and excrement of sick people. The victim was healthy by all appearances. It sucks the victim’s life out little by little, not all at once like what happened here.”
“Tigabulak?”
“The victim’s too old. Tigabulak only hunt children.”
“Wait I think I’ve got it. What about the kubot?”
Diosdado’s face lit up for the first time in four days.
“Yes, I see what you’re getting at. The kubot uses its long hair as tentacles and wraps it around the victim and in some cases the hair goes into other orifices in the body. The life force of the victim is drained through the hair and the aswang leaves behind the withered husk.”
Angela smiled. It took a while for them to get there but at least they had the first part of the puzzle figured out.
“What now,” Angela said, “We know what caused the attack, but how do we know where it’s going to strike next?”
“The kubot look like ordinary humans, only with long hair—“
“So do we ask every rocker with long hair to stop and hold calamansi?”
“No, but they are creatures of habit. I bet if we hang around the park it will strike again.”
“I think it’s a little too late for that.”
Angela pointed to the TV. There was a news report about another victim being found at the same park. The newscaster was warning people to go in groups and to be alert about their surroundings.
“Dammit!” Diosdado’s fist slammed the wall again. “We’re too late.”
“Not for whoever’s next.”
Angela picked up her wards and stingray tail. Diosdado followed suit and slung his bolo around his back.
Knowing full well that they might not survive the patrol, they stopped and looked each other in the eye. This life hadn’t been the easiest on either of them, but as long as they were together they would push though it and fight.
That’s what warriors do.
Written by Karl Gaverza
Copyright © Karl Gaverza
Inspired by the different aswang legends
Kubot Illustration by Austin Salameda
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/austinsalameda