Precious Blood

His phone vibrated.

Klein fumbled in his bag and answered the call, his hands shaking. "D-Dad?"

"Klein! Where are you? I'm in front of your school with your friend."

Looking back to the crowd in front of the school entrance, Klein tried to find his dad. But he only spotted more of those luminous eyes blended among the throng of worried parents, hysterical students, and curious bystanders, while the police did their best to disperse them away.

People were in panic. But it wouldn't amount to the level of fear Klein was feeling, as he seemed to be the only one aware of the bigger threat in front of them.

Wolves always moved in packs. And so were werewolves, apparently. Many of them even looked directly his way, as if they knew Klein can differentiate them from ordinary humans. They also looked like they wanted to pounce on him at any second.

"I need an update, Klein! Where are you?!"

Klein's fingers shook; his father's shout on the phone a faraway noise over the surging fear in his entire body. When a hand landed on his shoulder, he almost dropped the phone. He glanced to his left-it was the cafeteria guy, Froilan.

"You're shaking," Froilan pointed out. His voice was low but filled with concern.

Klein didn't care about that, though. What mattered to him was Froilan's eyes—it looked normal, at least. But Khalil's eyes had looked normal all these years too, until yesterday, so he didn't know if he could trust his senses anymore.

"I-I'm okay. I'm in front of the church," Klein told his father. "Someone's with me. If you can hurry over here, I'll appreciate it."

"Okay. I see you now."

Klein didn't end the call even after he saw his father and Maya waddled through the growing crowd. He looked at Froilan again, who smiled and gave a reassuring squeeze to his shoulder, then to intense stares that slowly disappearing as they retreated into the dark.

If Froilan was one of them, he had the perfect chance to nab him for whatever reason before his father closed in on them. But he didn't. He just waited by his side until Klein got pulled in a comforting hug that normally annoyed him.

The entire thing could just be his paranoia, but for once in his life, Klein felt vulnerable because he knew nothing about the creatures he was dealing with.

———

In one corner of the school, inside an empty building where there were several basketball courts and sports amenities, Khalil left a trail of fur as he slowly regained his human form. His wounds had healed, but the reconstructed tissues still burned, especially his leg.

Khalil limped to the boy's locker room with a groan, resting on a bench until he could feel his toes again. Adrenaline had dulled the pain, but it still wasn't pleasant. It's as if he slept on it all night and blood was only returning to his leg.

"I'm gonna kill you," Khalil growled out, thinking about the white-haired bastard who shot him twice and axed him. "Just you wait. I'm gonna tear you apart in front of Klein!"

Khalil pressed one hand to his jaw. It felt awkward to speak with his canines still protruding out of his mouth. They just won't fit his humanized skull. He couldn't even speak properly. He ran his tongue across his sharp teeth and groaned.

It was such a major inconvenience!

Khalil didn't know why he shifted prematurely. Though, he knew it's got something to do with Klein. He had to find him. But first, he got to consult to their elders for advice. And he had to leave the school before anyone found him here.

Pushing himself up, Khalil dusted the remnants of his wolf fur and looked for something to wear.

———

"I already told your mom you'll be staying with me for the time being," his father said as he entered the car. "But she'll be stopping by to check on you. Have her look at your wound, okay?"

Klein sighed, knowing he'd receive an earful too because of it. His mother was too meticulous when it came to his health. At an early age, they had advised him not to get any injury that would draw out his blood as possible as he could.

"You know it's important, given your condition," his father continued. "Did it bleed too much?"

Klein met his father's eyes through the rearview mirror. Rubbing his arm, he shook his head in dismissal. "No. It's just a minor scratch. It's nothing."

"Where did you get that wound, anyway?"

"From a thorny bush," Klein lied.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"It's not a scratch from... a big bad wolf, is it?"

Klein rolled his eyes. "There are no wolves in Philippines, Dad. Especially in a highly urbanized city like Manila. You're a vet. You should know that."

Stopping at the red light, his father turned from the driver's seat to face him and grinned. "But migration is possible. Especially to those who can afford the plain ticket."

If his father threw this joke at him in the past, he would even pretend to laugh. Klein looked outside the window, not bothering to entertain his father's joke. He knew he was just trying to lighten the mood, but he's not up for it. His mind wandered to Calix.

There was a high chance the incident would be pushed on Calix's shoulders as a scapegoat if the government tried to hide the truth about the werewolves' existence.

While it was Calix's fault for being an idiot, it didn't feel right for him to carry the burden for those that had been harmed because of it. But it's not like there's something Klein could do about it if it happened.

"Son, you're not hiding anything from me, are you?"

"Dad, I'm fine."

"Just making sure. You have mild anemia. Every drop of your blood is precious. You know why?"

"Because it's gold," Klein mumbled sarcastically, even though it was partly true. "Maybe I should start selling it someday."

His father laughed. "Don't. You'll get more than what you would bargain. You're the only one with golden blood in this country. And you're unregistered for some reasons, so please take care of yourself. Okay, son?"

"Yeah, yeah. So keep your eyes on the road, Dad. If we get in a car accident, we'll have a bigger problem if I suddenly needed blood transfusion."

"Right."

Klein stared at his bandaged hand dotted with dried blood. RH null blood type, also known as the golden blood. Out of the eight billion people in the world, and he just got the rarest blood on Earth.

Whether it's a curse or a blessing, he was yet to find out—once he became a full-fledged scientist.