"Rose, close your eyes, and imagine your heart's desire," Catarina whispered in a voice like rustling palm leaves on a jewel-swept wind. Catarina cupped her hands in the pool at the heart of the Ikapati Peace Gardens, where fruits and forages of such grand beauty played host to monkey, tapir, and tarsier alike.

Rose closed her eyes, smiling with her pink lips. Catarina wondered how they tasted.

Catarina plucked a white sampaguita flower and placed it in Rose's hands, with a drop of her blood from her incisor fang at her thumb.

"Open."

Rose's blue eyes widened at the sight of the red blood upon the sampaguita. "Arabian jasmine. Or, in the Philipines, sampaguita. It smells so sweet… why your blood?"

"My blood has healing properties. All royalty that are imbued with the spirit of Anagoly – her living incarnation on Earth – can reverse the effects of age or wear and tear on telomeres with our blood. Do not be shy – by mixing it with my godmother Ikapati's flowers, I can heal any wound, provide immortality to my loved ones – it is how I keep these gardens alive. And how I intend to heal your weariness from climbing the Domminga Mountains."

Rose balked. "Your blood is magick? How cool!" She ate the flower – made edible as Catarina had explained by Catarina's lab work to cultivate edible flowers, bark, and roots, alongside the fruits and vegetables, to extend the Ikapati Tribe's life and stop the terrorizing of her half-brother Eduardo's sector, the Night Clan, from feasting on human babies.

The sampaguita misted the air, sweet and crunchy, and Catarina's blood tasted violaceous. It was bittersweet like cacao, with a hint of Key Lime and honey. Suddenly, all of Rose's scars, bruises, and cuts from scrabbling up Domminga Mountain with Ambrosio earlier and the harsh bus ride to Mindanao were healed instantly.

Rose flexed her hand, where a thorn had pierced her. Instead, clean white skin. She laughed, laying down in the grass and sampaloc fruit glade – what the Chicanos in Cali called tamarind – and gazing up at the setting sun.

"You seem to have enjoyed my blood," Catarina said sweetly, her iron eyes hard but tender. She stood above Rose and spread her bat wings out tenderly to shade Rose from the hot night sun. "Let's watch the stars. When the moon comes out, the Ikapati Tribe will revert back to normal. I'd like you to meet my family. You'll love Aunt Gleziel… she is fond of women. Perhaps too fond. She took me all over Domminga Valley and Mindanao – all the way to Manila – on her motorcycle for my sixteenth birthday. Make sure she doesn't while you away to her room," Catarina whispered, laying down beside the human. "Tao, you are all mine."

Rose parted the sleek black hair from Catarina's soft nose, then skimmed her lips on Catarina's forehead. Catarina blushed, her fangs weeping sweet aphrodisiac poison. The poison fell onto Rose's breast, tingling. Catarina's lilac eyes bulged.

"By Ikapati, I'm so sorry. Where are my manners. I wasn't expecting that," Catarina turned, looking away in shame. "I'm a monster to a human like you, aren't I?"

"Just intriguing – and the most beautiful creature, human or haint, I've ever seen," Rose smiled, licking the poison up. "Mmm. Like lemon. I love lemon sour candies. Did you ever have those growing up, Catarina?"

"You're trying to distract me from your kiss!" Catarina laughed, tickling Rose. "Yes, we call them "Lemy." But my favorite is pastillas – Ambrosio makes the best soft milk candies. Here, try some," Catarina soothed, pulling multicolored pastillas out of her leather pants pocket with delicate red wrappers.

Rose popped one in her mouth, chewed, and laughed after she had swallowed three more.

"Sweet, like you," the human adventurer pronounced. "Say, Catarina, have you ever left the Philippines? Ambrosio said you went to the University of Manila, and that's where you got your idea for genetically engineered plants with human proteins. That's what got rid of the need for adopting the firstborn humans of Domminga and Mindanao."

Catarina smiled, her lips an elegant plum arc. "You and Ambrosio talked a lot. He must enjoy your company. He's stoic, a loner… but a sense of humor like Juan Pusung, the Filipino Trickster God."

Rose smiled, squeezing Catarina's hand.

"Rose… you'll have to do a ceremonial swordfight with me to be accepted by the tribe. We need to go practice in the Sand Room. Then we can cool off in the Jasmine Hot Springs. I know you're full from dinner, but it's not good to exercise on an empty stomach."

"Do you like fighting, Catarina?"

Catarina's eyes narrowed: "Only when it is absolutely necessary, and with Babylan Eduardo's encroachments with rebel aswang and tikbalang… I find myself often fighting over Domminga every day, protecting pregnant women… protecting children."

There were tears in her eyes again. Rose hated to see it.

She helped Catarina up and squeezed the 5'2 Aswang to Rose's 6' height. Catarina softened, sighing sweetly, as she buried her tiny nose and languid eyes in the blonde hair around Rose's throat.

"You are a good friend, tao," Catarina finally said… but her bat wings said more, wrapped firmly around the two of them like a second skin.

The gloaming was here, verdigris green, and a light, humid rain began to fall as the waterfall roared. A parrot crowed as a python climbed the sampaloc trees.

It was time to go practice

For

A match.