Chapter 4: The Veil Unfolds

The wind tasted like metal.

I stood there. Chest heaving. Claws still out. Knuckles raw. Breath sharp.

The masked figure tilted his head, watching me like a wolf sizing up a wounded dog. His crimson eyes glowed beneath the hood, catching every twitch, every tremble in my body.

"You don't even know what you are, do you?" His voice was quiet. Low. But sharp enough to cut bone.

I swallowed. My legs shook. "No... I don't... I don't know anything... I... I didn't ask for this..."

A faint chuckle. Dry. Almost pitying. "Yeah. No one does."

He stepped forward — not fast, not threatening. Just... steady. Measured. The way a hunter approaches a cornered animal without wanting it to bolt.

"Relax. If I wanted you dead..." His eyes flicked toward the girl's unconscious body slumped on the floor. "...you'd be on the floor next to her."

I staggered back anyway. Instinct. Fear. Human reflex against something that clearly wasn't.

"Come on." He turned, flicking his coat back. "Not safe here. Move."

"Wait—! I don't even know who the hell you are—"

He glanced over his shoulder. "Exactly. And sticking around means finding out what the inside of a hunter's blade feels like."

My breath hitched. My claws trembled. And despite every voice in my head screaming to run the opposite way... I followed.

---

We cut through alleys. Backstreets. Places where the streetlights didn't reach. Places where even the rats seemed scared to be.

Ten minutes. Maybe twenty. My head swam. My body felt... wrong. Too light. Too sharp. Every shadow looked like it wanted to crawl into my skin.

Finally, he ducked into an old fire escape. Up. Up. Three stories. Rooftop.

A broken water tank. A rusted satellite dish. A tarp stretched between two beams like a makeshift shelter.

Home. His home.

He pulled his hood down. Fingers tugged at the mask.

And when it came off...

I froze.

His face was sharp. Pale skin with thin lines of black veining along the jaw, barely noticeable unless the light hit right. His hair was messy — ink-black with streaks of crimson near the tips. His eyes... those damn eyes. Red as fresh blood.

And his teeth. When he grinned — sharp. Not fully. But just enough to tell me... he wasn't like me anymore.

Or maybe... he was exactly what I was becoming.

"Name's Kael." He tossed the mask onto a crate. "Half-blood."

I blinked. "...Half... what?"

His lips curled. "Half-aswang. Half-human. Mistake. Bastard. Abomination. Depends who you ask."

My stomach turned. "Wait... you're... but... those are real? You— Aswang...?"

He laughed. Sharp. Dry. "Yeah, kid. Welcome to the Veil."

"The... what?"

"The world behind the world." He sat on the edge of a water tank, dangling a leg. "Where monsters breathe, bleed, and bicker in the dark while humans go about their lives thinking shadows are just shadows."

I gripped my arms. "...This is insane. This is... This isn't real..."

"Oh, it's real." His eyes flicked toward me. "And you? You're neck-deep in it now."

---

He leaned back, gaze scanning the horizon like he was waiting for something. Or someone.

"Let me break it simple for you." His voice dropped, low and steady.

"There are... rules in the Veil."

"Three major factions." He raised three fingers.

"First... the Clans. The Purebloods. Aswang royalty. They run the underground. Bloodlines stretching back centuries. Different breeds — flesh-eaters, blood-drinkers, shadow-walkers, corpse-stealers, beast-forms. Each with their own hierarchy. Own territories. Own rules."

I swallowed. "...The girl..."

"Yeah." He nodded. "She was one of them. Pureblood. Looked young. Was probably older than your grandparents. Dangerous as hell."

My hands trembled. "She tried to... eat me..."

Kael's grin sharpened. "Yeah. That's kinda their thing."

He held up the second finger. "Second... The Orders. Hunters. Humans. Some born into it. Some trained. Some just... crazy enough to fight what they can't understand. They've been hunting the Clans for generations. Balance of power. Both sides hate each other... but both know full war means exposing everything."

I thought of the guy and the girl who kicked down my door. "Those... were hunters?"

He nodded. "Independents. Not full Order. Mercenaries, maybe. Some Orders hire outsiders when they don't wanna get their hands dirty."

"And the third?" I croaked.

His smile faded. For the first time... serious. "Third's the Rogue Circle. Outcasts. Half-bloods like me. Mutations. Accidents. Failures. People who don't fit clean into either side. Most of us get hunted by both."

My chest tightened. "...Why?"

"Because we don't follow their rules." He tapped his temple. "Because we're unpredictable. Because we shouldn't exist."

His gaze darkened. "Like you."

I froze. "...Me?"

Kael stood. Walked toward me. His steps were heavy. Deliberate.

"You..." His finger jabbed my chest. "...are an impossibility."

"That girl... when she died..." He circled me. "...her core — her Veil Core — should've shattered. Should've returned to the bloodline. Should've never bonded to a human."

"And yet..." His eyes narrowed. "...it did."

I stumbled back. "...What does that mean?"

Kael's voice dropped to a whisper.

"It means... you're not human anymore."

"You're not aswang, either."

"You're something new."

"Something... dangerous."

My knees buckled. "No... no no no no..." My breath hitched. I clutched my head. "I didn't ask for this... I didn't—"

Kael grabbed my shoulders. Tight. "Focus." His eyes burned into mine. "You think you have a choice? You think anyone in this life does?"

"Kid..." His grip tightened. "Both sides are gonna come for you. The Clans... because they'll think you're a stolen weapon. A rogue core. A threat."

"And the Orders..." He leaned close. "Because they kill anything with fangs."

I shook my head. Tears blurred my eyes. "...What do I do...?"

Kael sighed. Stepped back. Cracked his knuckles. "Simple."

"Survive."

Then...

His eyes snapped toward the edge of the rooftop.

A shadow moved. A crunch of gravel.

Kael's smile vanished. "...Sh*t."

He turned to me. "Kid..." His voice dropped. Sharp. Dead serious.

"They found us."