"Sigh... That is the fourth one this month..." the nurse tiredly whispered as she closed the hospital room's door. Behind the heavy thud of the thick wooden door closing, the sound of horrifying wailing echoed. A rectangular window was designed into the door in order to allow nurses and doctors to observe patients without disturbing their rest. Inside the room, on the rickety bed, sat a crying woman. Her tear stained face was buried in her hands as her husband stood beside her, hugging her shoulders as he tried to console her.



Cypher stood beside the nurse. Young and somewhat dashing in looks but had a strange aurora that surrounded him and alarming, suspicious eyes. He was surprisingly well dressed for a hospital visitor- wearing a personally fitted waistcoat that matched the same smooth, dark black of his pressed slacks and a rounded fedora upon his head, covering his darkened brown hair. A red armband was wrapped around his left upper arm bearing the letters AoM on it. He had his hands in his pockets as he tapped his index finger on the silver pocket watch he carried, "How far along was she?"

Nurse Marcela blinked as she thought. Unsure of an answer to give, she gazed down at the hospital charts on her clipboard and nodded, "Umm... Seven months."

"And the others?"

"I... I don't know..." she shrugged. "Anywhere from five to eight months. One time a few days before giving birth."

"Nurse Marcela, you are the head of the nursery department, right?"

She cocked her head, slightly confused by his question, "Yes... I am."

He glared at her quickly from the corner of his eyes, "Then shouldn't you know all the details about the patients brought in here? Especially regarding these women with their very unique symptoms?"

"Are you questioning my ability to treat my patients!?" Nurse Marcela stomped her foot in anger as her tired eyes narrowed.

"I have said nothing of sort. I am only trying to grasp the full context of the situation. It is frustrating having to work while so disorganized and your lack of knowledge when your employer requested the Agency to send an agent is only frustrating more so. Do you have the records of the miscarriages from all four incidents?" Cypher spoke coldly, as if it were a casual conversation. His ocean blue eyes fixed on the mourning couple inside the room. There was a sudden, unexplainable spike in miscarriages for the area. With such a small population of people, the village was very disturbed with the loss of four births in such a short time span, not including the couple sitting before him. The officials refused to look into the incident, and a Filipino legend began to spread like a virus throughout the streets. The people feared that they somehow angered a spirit and were now cursed since the doctors could come up with no scientific explanation for the deaths. All the women effected were all healthy and suffered from no physical harm. So it was no surprise that the Agency of Mystery sent in an agent to investigate the possibility of a supernatural phenomenon occurring.

Maricela walked over to the receptionist desk with a huffed at his request. As he studied the couple, he could hear the nurse asking for the patient records and the soft sound of shuffling papers. Minutes had passed before she returned to his side with a stack to give his hand.

"These records aren't suppose to be seen," she bitterly said as he took them from her.

He glared at her with annoyance as he stared into her eyes, bloodshot from her late night shifts at the hospital, "Do not tell me how to do my job."

Nurse Maricela hissed back through her clenched teeth, "Is that how all you government types are? Short, cold, and demanding?"

With his back turned to her, he began to look over the paperwork and waved his hand to motion her away with disagreement, "I am not government, ma'am. Now, please, I have some research to do and I am sure there is a bed pan somewhere that needs cleaning"

The angered woman gasped before storming off, leaving him to himself in the tight hallway of the tiny hospital. It was a very compact hospital only made up of two floors and stretching just a few blocks in width. To him, it was inadequate for proper medical use, but for the village in the midst of an island mountain range, it provided enough for the little use it received. It was not until recently that the rooms began to fill.

His eyes darted from side to side as he quickly read through all the documents she had given him. Desperately, he tried to make some sort of connection to all the victims. Damnit! he hissed to himself through his teeth. His search had been futile as he found find not logical connection between the women other than them all being from the village and all having been admitted to the same hospital. A result that meant nothing since there were no other villages or hospitals in the area. This makes no sense... Nothing about these women are connected.

Giving up, Cypher looked up from his papers to see the husband stepping out of the room. The two men's eyes met as the husband passed him in the hallway. Neither one spoke for what could be said at a moment like this. "I'm sorry" just would not cut it. The man stopped partly down the hall, gazing at Cypher from over his shoulder. His eyes puffy and red from trying to be a man and not cry in front of his wife, but behind the soreness, his eyes were filled with a deep sorrow and pleading, "People around here they call you the ghost hunter. That is what you do, yes? Hunt ghosts?"

Cypher's eye brow rose in bewilderment, "For lack of a better description, I suppose so."

"Good."







The tension in the air loosened as the husband disappeared into the darkness. However, he had left the door to the room open. Through the crack, Cypher could hear the cries of the grieve stricken mother, "The bird....I should have known....The bird...Tik tik tik" To the average person, they would believe the woman had gone mad. Babbling on about nonsense out of sorrow, but to a trained ear, it was the clue he needed.

His eyes widened as he listened in on her sobs. Quickly, he turned and jogged to the receptionist's desk, dropping the pile of papers in his hand. The sheets floated slowly to the ground behind him. He came to a screeching halt as he slammed his hands on the wooden desk and leaned over the counter, "How many of the miscarried mothers have talked about a bird?"

The woman sitting behind the desk had pushed her chair back from being startled by his sudden, abrupt appearance, "Ummm... I believe all of them?"

"Shit! Why didn't she tell me!?" He exclaimed as he turned away, leaning his back against the hard counter ledge while thinking. An Aswang. How did I not see it before... As he thought, a vision flashed before him. It was of Nurse Maricela's eyes from when the two had their brief dispute. They were an unusual color... An unnatural shade of brown with a hint of red to them... Almost ruby in color, but that was not what stood out in his mind. He could recall seeing his reflection in her eyes but the thing was - his reflection was upside down. He turned his head sideways with his heart racing from anxiety, "When did Nurse Maricela begin working here?"

"A month or so ago. Why...?"

"Do you have any current pregnant patients under her care?!"

"Yes. She's just in the room right down the hall. Nurse Maricela just want to check on her for the night but why..."



There was no time to explain or to listen to the rambles of the woman. Cypher now knew the truth behind the miscarriages. The clues had all been there the whole time, but his inexperience with the paranormal blinded him. He knew the text book terms and the qualities of many mythical beings and creatures. He could recite their descriptions but he lacked practice in the field. As he ran at a full sprint down the hall, he hoped he could make it in time.

Bam! He burst into the new room unexpectedly. The patient had let out a blood curling scream but it was not due to Cypher's entrance. Before him and the expecting mother, Nurse Maricela was in the middle of her transformation process as she turned from her daily young woman form to a large, crow. The crunching sound of her popping bones crackled as her neck twisted above her shoulders. Her head losing its humanoid form. Thick, dark feathers covered the nearly created body as wings sprung from where the ears use to be. It stretched his wingspan while hovering above its perch, made out of the lower half of its womanly body. Tik tik tik tik! She snarled as her beady eyes settled on Cypher, making him her target. He was the true threat. An unborn child and a sickly mother would not be able to stop the aswang from feasting, but a fit man with knowledge about her true form could.



Tik tik tik tik! The aswang spread its wings and flew out the window into the darkened woods that surrounded the hospital. Without hesitation, Cypher followed. Lucky for him the window was located on the first floor. The only damage he took was caking his slacks in a fresh coat of dust and mud. Tik tik tik tik! The aswang taunted from the darkness. Tik tik tik tik!

"Clever move, Maricela," he taunted back. "Getting a job at a hospital with a maternity ward. A trusting nurse by day; a hungry monster by night. It was like a buffet wasn't it? Weakened mothers came to you for aid. You lied and said they needed to stay overnight and then you ate their unborn children. You're a sick, bitch."

"Calling the kettle black? Tik tik tik! I could sense the evil from you, too." Her voice echoed through the branches.

"Never said I was the better man."

"Tik tik tik tik!You are sick, too. Very sick. Tik tik tik! " She was getting close. He could feel her eyes upon him as she hunted him in the night.

Cypher chuckled as he caught glimpse of a house in the distance. He smirked as he started to lead her towards it, "Perhaps I am."

"Tik tik tik tik! I can fix you. Let me eat you. I can make a new you in your place. Tik tik tik!" Hunger now overtook her voice as she stalked her prey.

He had reached the house and turned the doorknob to discover that the front door was left unlocked. He thought it was unusual but he did not have time to focus on the carelessness of the people living inside. He had foolishly been unprepared to fast the aswang and desperately needed some supplies before being attacked. Inside the house was dark and Cypher did not turn on any lights in order to not wake the home owners. It would be best if they never knew he was ever there. From the opened door, he could see the silhouette of the aswang peering inside, looking for him. It hopped into the living room and followed his scent to the kitchen, where he now stood.

"I don't thin you'd like the taste of me very much," he quietly said as he fumbled around the kitchen. His hands blindly searching the cabinets in the dark.

The aswang laughed in amusement, "Tik tik tik tik! Why is that? Is that your plea for me to let you live? Tik tik tik! tasting bad?"

"No," he replied as he grasped a cylinder-shaped jar. "It is just...That I am rather salty."

With no hesitation, he turned around while twisting the lid off of the container. He made a swiping motion with his arm as thousands upon thousands of salt crystals flew into the air. Their sparkled in the moonlight that seeped through the kitchen's window. The salt landed upon the aswang, burning its skin. It wailed in agony as it began to flop about in the kitchen attempting to shake the crystals off from its feathers. While it bashed about, Cypher reached for the revolver that he had holstered to his side. Quickly, he pulled it out and cocked it awhile pointing at the screaming aswang.

With a demonic voice, it snarled at him as he towered over it with the revolver pointing downward,"Tik tik tik tik! You think that can kill me!?"

"I do not think. I know." Coldly he stared at it as he he shot one silver bullet into its chest. The aswang's scream grew more intense as it used the last bit of its energy, trying to escape, knocking over the table and chairs. It collapsed to the follow where its body dissolved into ash on the floor. He lowered his gun as he caught his breath; that was his first extermination since joining the AoM and he knew that there was more to come. As he examined the ash, the lights suddenly turned out. He squinted as his eyes adjusted to the brightness upon which he discovered a man wearing pajama bottoms hollering at the mess. It was now time for Cypher to face the ultimate challenge of the night: Explaining to the home owner what happened to his kitchen.