Rose

After a feast of lechon, Rose had warmed up to Catarina's icy exterior. Finishing off the last of the Napa valley wine, all they did was flirt as Ambrosio served them roast pig and sigsig, grilled pineapple and papaya skewers.

"So, Rose, you have the Second Sight? Are you a Babaylan shaman?" Catarina asked, her plum lipstick and pert pink cheeks like a golden China doll. Catarina's amaranth eyes sparkled secretively.

Rose blushed, then finished desert – strawberry a la mode Ambrosio had specially prepared. He cleaned their places with precision. "I'm a water witch. And my Second Sight says there is a curse on Aswang Mountain."

Catarina flinched, a tear in her bright purple eye. Rose reached over to squeeze her hand. "Fuck, I'm pathetic. I'm failing as a Queen if I can't at least present a façade of control. What do you make of this curse, dear Rose?"

Rose interlaced her fingers with Catarina's. Catarina traced her knuckle. Their attraction, instant, was like nothing Catarina had felt with a man.

This woman felt right. Like she belonged in the Aswang Queen's arms.

"The animals. They're enchanted humans and Aswang – a rival Babaylan cursed them like Circe did Odysseus's men into pigs."

"Eduardo. The Mountain Shaman. He's my half-brother and we warred over the throne. When I banned the Ikapati Tribe from eating babies and human blood, and brought back from the University of Manila human protein in plants, he set fire to Aswang Mountain four years ago, and set my servants and palace nest into a cursed sleep. The flying foxes are Aswang, the monkeys are humans, and the half-breeds are the other animals, like tarsiers. They only transform into their human and aswang bodies when the moonlight shines. Otherwise, during the day, we are in a court of ghosts…"

Catarina steeled her lip, plucking a jacaranda flower and placing it in Rose's hair.

Rose began to cry. "I'm so sorry, my new friend."

"We need a Babaylan, Rose Valentine Smith," Catarina Rosales Marquez pronounced. She unsheathed her sword stick, the cold steel blade etching a hatch across her olive wrist.

"Are you okay?" Rose asked, flabbergasted. She accidentally choked on her wine.

"A blood oath, Rose?"

"And I wager what?" Rose asked sweetly, cutting her finger with a knife before the conditions were even laid out. For this enticing queen, Rose would even quit her postdoc at Stanford and become a wild mountain woman, here in Domminga Valley.

"Sisterhood. You serve me, and I serve you. I'm trained as a botanist, and you are a zoologist. You may study the Philippine eagle from the safety of Aswang Mountain, here in the Iron Pillar, and my palatial estate. But we must defeat Babaylon Eduardo, and his dreadful allies the Tikbalang war horses and wind spirit tribe. We will have many obstacles – the humans of Domminga Mountains have many warrior shamans, priestesses, and soothsayers, and the Catholic diocese is always encroaching on my territory. We exist in a tenouos peace – hiding in the shadows. But the sun shines bright on my garden, and every creature I guard is far from extinct." Catarina traced the eagle carved on her swordstick as they pressed their blood together.

Violet sparks flashed as their blood oath bound them. Rose winced at the pain, but Catarina just smiled in secret.

"The Philippine Eagle is so densely populated here, it is the patron animal of the Ikapati Tribe, and stalwart guardians of my gardens," Catarina let Rose in on her secret.

Rose bowed, the majesty of Catarina Rosales Marquez overwhelming her as the Blood Bond worked it's magick.

"Then I promise to always serve you, you strange… beautiful girl." Rose misted her eyes, and the jasmine and jade gardens gave off lush whiffs of watermelon and root crops.

Catarina bowed in return. "I sense a great fortitude of friendship building between us, Rose Valentine Smith."

They joined arms and laughed, bracing each other on their strong backs, proud breasts touching – Rose noticed their heartbeats were the same.

"We have gardens to tend, sweet Rose Blossom. Then, I must train you on weapons, and reveal the secrets of I and Ambrosio's labs. I shall give you a spell that will let you talk to my animal citizens… and an animal guardian of your own."

Catarina helped Rose up, and they walked hand in hand out into the Ikapati Peace Gardens as pink dusk tinged the sky.

A great adventure was about to begin. Of love and trickster bargains, of war and pain and sacrifice. Of cursed queens, magick lands, and the secrets

Of Aswang Mountain.

But Rose knew none of that. All she knew was she wanted to get to know Catarina, Ambrosio, and the magickal world Rose had been thrust into.

It was all good as California gold in her books.