Last
Halloween, Trese was called to investigate an unusual medical case.
The
first patient arrived at the Alabang hospital at 8:13pm. The boy, 9 years old,
was complaining of a severe stomach ache. While the nurse was trying to get
details from the boy’s parents, he coughed out a beetle.
The
shiny, black bug glistened against the white sheets of the hospital bed.
As
the boy began to scream in fright with what had just happened, his scream was
put to a stop by the sudden urge to vomit. And out came a stream of spiders,
beetles, and locusts.
By
11:03pm, the ER was filled with children who were all vomiting a variety of
insects.
Trese
strode into the quarantined area, her boots crunched with each step on the
crawling carpet of the unexplained.
She
quickly cast a spell that made the children stop vomittng. That’s when the
insects started to attack her.
She
ran out of the hospital and this buzzing cloud of anger followed her.
The
Kambal’s bullets were useless against the mishmashed hive.
After
being bitten what felt like a thousand
times, Trese was finally able to summon an emissary of the Wind Tribe, who
trapped the insects in a tornado. Trese then dialled the exact date of the
Great Binondo Fire and threw her cellphone into the whirlwind, which burst into
the flames when the Santelmo emerged from it.
It
was during the investigation of the incident that Trese was able to track down
a mambabarang as the source of the curse. The mambabarang’s daughter was a maid
in that posh village in Alabang. The daughter died of mysterious circumstances.
During
a game of hide-and-seek with the children in the village, she was made to hide
in a bodega by one of the children. Turns out the bodega was due for fumigation
and was filled with pesticide fumes. It was deemed an accident by the
authorities.
Since
none of the children would admit on who made her daughter hide in the bodega,
she decided that all the children in the village must suffer.
The
mambabarang found a way to slip insect eggs in the “Trick or Treat” bags of the
children and disguised them as delicious chocolates and candies.
The
mambabarang was never caught.
Which
is why, on this particular all Hallow’s eve, Trese has returned to the village
in Alabang. She has brought along with her the Kambal, as well as Bantay and
his Askaleros, and they are patrolling the streets, looking for any sign or
scent of a deadly spell being cast.
As
the sun was preparing to set and the moon was taking its place in the grey
skyline, Hank found himself in a rush to finish the prepartions for the big
party tonight.
While
putting away the deliveries in the storage room, he made sure everything was
accounted for. The duwende beer, the enkanto wine, the higante lambanog. That
was when he noticed the additional box in the room.
He
mentally double-checked his order form and he was sure that the box did not
belong in the list.
It
contained jack-o-lantern boxes and each one was filled with jack-o-latern
chocolate treats. The treats smiled at him and he smiled back. The scent of the
sweet chocolate made him take a closer look at the selection before him.
He
could already imagine how each chocolate must have some secret filling. Which
one had truffles? Which one had caramel? And which one had strawberry cream?
He
picked up one and was about to pop it in his mouth when the ghost of Dr. Robert
Dredson Sunico III rushed through the cellar door.
Robert or RDS, as he was called by his good friends,
Dr. Dred by his secret friends, was a sommelier who died in the 1950s. He loved
his wine collection so much, that he never ever wanted to be away from it.
When
Anton Trese bought his collection from an auction, RDS followed his precious
bottles. Realizing he could not exorcise this particular ghost, Trese promised
to never open the bottles without RDS’s permission, and for as long as the
ghost provided his expert advise on which bottles to buy. Thanks to his
etherial presence, he actually keeps the wine cellar at the proper temperature of
13 degrees centigrade.
RDS
tried to slap the smiling, chocolate treat out of Hank’s hand, but his
ectoplasmic form just went through it.
The
sudden chill in the air and the frozen feeling that wrapped around Hank’s hand
was enough make him snap out of the lure of the treats.
It
was then he realized that the chocolates didn’t smell sweet at all. In fact,
they had a very, familiar pungent smell.
He
ran upstairs, determined to throw it out with the rest of the trash.
He
was already at the kitchen when the box began to shake. The old, familiar
pungent smell become stronger as the chocolate treats burst open. Hank found
himself holding a box full of cockroaches.
The
first swarm flew straight to his face, making him drop the box.
Out
came another swarm, skittering on the kitchen floor, flowing out and into the club.
Hank
covered his face, rammed his way through the kitchen doors and leapt over the
bar. Even with his eyes closed, he knew where to get his hidden shotgun.
He
brought out his three-barrelled ally, aptly named “Ang Ama, ang Anak, at ang
Espiritu Santo” and opened fire.
The
oncoming black swarm dissipated. The smell of burning roaches filled the air.
Hank
stumbled and realized the floor was moving.
It
wasn’t the floor.
He
standing on a carpet of cockroaches.
He
opened fire at his feet.
He
grabbed a bottle of lambanog, stuffed a rag on the mouth of the bottle and
quickly lit it with a lighter.
In
the corner of his eye, he saw the black cloud coalesce and it suddenly flew
towards him like a giant, buzzing cannonball.
Hank
unleashed several shots and threw the molotov on the floor.
He
was now standing on the bar, an island in the middle of a sea of roaches.
Hank
just kept firing everywhere, but not even the holy bullets of the TrinityGun
could dispell the curse.
As
he continued to defend his bar, his mind raced for the right kind of drink to
serve.
Hank
always believed, even on the on the worst day of your life, there’s always a
drink that can turn things around.
Hank
reached under the bar and hoped he still had enough ingredients.
A
glass of enkanto honeywine, with a shot of tequila made by the Mexican god of
telenovelas, sprinkled with holy salt.
This
was a variation of the drink he usually gave to brokenhearted who got left
behind at the bar, while the love of their life went home with somone else. The
drink allowed you to send a nightmare to the one who broke your heart and make
them wake up with a terrible hang-over.
He
called this drink, the MF TRAYDOR.
By
the time he finished his concoction, his arms and neck were covered with
roaches.
He
could see the black cloud reforming and preparing for another attack.
Instead
of avoiding it, he stood his ground, extended his right hand and grabbed a
handful of roaches from the oncoming stream of angry insects.
He
crushed whatever was in his fist and slammed the crumbled remains in the glass
with the MF TRAYDOR. He pulled out his lighter, lit the rim of the glass and a
green flame erupted from it.
Soon
enough, all the cockroaches started to ignite and burn in the green fire.
Hank
was finally able to sit down. He took a swig from the bottle of tequila as The
Diabolical quickly became a graveyard of roasted roaches.
By
the time Trese, Bantay and the Kambal returned, the Halloween party at The
Diabolical was in full swing.
Hank
called up the usual clean-up crew and they restored the place just in time
before the first guest arrived.
In
between sips of espresso, Trese told Hank about how they were able to track down
the mambabarang, who was disguised as one of the costumed Halloween guests in
the Alabang party.
When
the insect-mancer tried to fly away, she suddenly burst into a flames and
exploded in a ball of green fire.
Hank
chuckled. “And you thought you had a bad day? Let me tell you about my
Halloween treat.”
