CHAPTER 1:THE WOMAN NO ONE CAN RESIST
*Chapter 1: The Woman No One Can Resist*
Her name was Isabella.
In the small coastal town of Baler, there was no one who didn't know her name, and no man who didn't turn his head when she passed. She was twenty-three, and she was the kind of beautiful that felt dangerous.
Long, black hair that fell past her waist like spilled ink. Skin like warm honey under the sun. Eyes that were always a little sleepy, a little sad, and lips that were always parted as if she was about to say something she would regret. She wasn't just pretty. She was the kind of sexy that made old men forget their prayers and young men forget their names. The kind of beautiful that no one could resist.
And she was cursed.
It started on her 18th birthday.
Isabella Reyes had always been the most desired girl in their barangay. Vendors gave her free taho, fishermen gave her the best catch, boys from the next town would walk for hours just to stand outside her small nipa house. But Isabella never wanted any of them. She wanted to leave. She wanted Manila, she wanted college, she wanted a life where she was more than just a pretty face.
On the night of her 18th birthday, her Lola Pina called her inside.
"Isabella, anak. There is something in our blood."
Her grandmother's hands were shaking. She told her the story that every woman in their family carried. The Reyes women were blessed with unnatural beauty, a beauty that could make any man fall. But that beauty came with a price. A curse from an envious mangkukulam centuries ago. On their 18th year, on the night of the full moon, the beast inside would awaken.
"Aswang," Lola whispered. "We become what they fear most. But we can control it, if we stay away from love, from anger, from hunger."
Isabella laughed at first. She thought it was just an old story to keep her humble.
Then the moon rose.
The pain was like nothing she had ever felt. Her bones cracked, her skin burned, her teeth sharpened. She could smell blood from a mile away, could hear the frantic heartbeat of the chickens outside. Her beautiful face, the face that everyone adored, twisted into something else. Half of her remained angelic, the other half turned monstrous - black scales, a red eye that glowed like coal, fangs that dripped.
She ran into the forest and screamed until her throat bled.
For five years, she lived in hiding. By day, she was Isabella - the stunning, sexy, untouchable woman who worked at her aunt's flower shop, who wore simple white dresses that clung to her perfect figure, who smelled like sampaguita and rain. Men still lined up for her. She let none of them close.
Because by night, when the moon was high and her hunger grew, she became the nightmare of Baler. The aswang that everyone feared but no one could catch. She fed on animals in the woods, never humans. She chained herself to the old balete tree when she felt the change coming, her beautiful white dress tearing as her body contorted.
She thought this was her life forever. Beautiful and damned. Desired by all, loved by none.
Until he came.
Elias Montenegro.
He was not from Baler. He was from Manila - tall, broad-shouldered, his black hair always perfectly combed, his black suit always crisp even in the province's heat. He was the new owner of the Montenegro Beach Resort, the big project that was supposed to save their town. He was 28, a billionaire's son who wanted to prove he could build something on his own.
And he did not look at Isabella the way other men did.
Other men looked at her with lust. Elias looked at her like he was trying to solve a puzzle.
The first time he saw her, she was arranging white roses in the shop. She was wearing a thin, off-shoulder dress that showed her smooth shoulders, her hair adorned with small white flowers. The afternoon sun made her skin glow. Every construction worker outside had stopped to stare.
Elias walked in, not staring at her body, but at her eyes.
"You have sad eyes," he said, in that deep, calm voice.
Isabella froze. No one had ever said that to her. They always said "you have sexy eyes," "you have hot lips," "you have a beautiful body."
"I have work to do, sir," she said coldly, trying to be distant. It was her armor. If she was cold, they would leave.
He smiled. "I need 200 white roses for the resort opening tomorrow. Can you do it?"
"I can."
"I'll pay double if you deliver them yourself."
She should have said no. But she needed the money for Lola's medicine.
The next evening, she delivered the roses to the resort. The resort was breathtaking - right on the edge of the forest and the sea, with a huge full moon above it. It was a full moon night. Her worst night.
She felt it starting. Her hands began to tremble. Her heartbeat sped up. A low growl was building in her throat. She had to leave.
"Are you okay?" Elias asked, seeing her shaking as she held the basket of roses. He was in a black shirt now, sleeves rolled up, showing strong forearms.
"I'm fine," she whispered, her voice breaking. "I need to go."
"It's almost midnight. The forest road is dangerous. Let me drive you."
"No!"
She ran.
She ran straight into the woods behind the resort, where she knew the chain she had hidden near the balete tree was waiting. She fell to her knees, her white dress tearing on the roots, her hair wild with flowers falling out. She screamed as the curse took her again - half her face remaining that of a stunning goddess, the other half becoming the aswang.
This was it. She would be seen. And once seen, she would be hunted.
Footsteps.
Elias had followed her.
He stood there, under the moonlight, looking at her on the ground - half beautiful woman, half monster, her dress in shreds, her red eye glowing.
Most men would have run. Would have screamed. Would have called her a demon.
Elias knelt down.
Isabella hissed, her fangs bared, trying to scare him. "Go away! I'll kill you!"
He didn't move. Slowly, he took off his black suit jacket and wrapped it around her shaking, half-naked shoulders.
"You're shivering," he said softly.
Tears, hot and human, fell from her beautiful human eye. The red eye of the aswang still glowed.
"Why aren't you afraid of me?" she sobbed, her sexy, husky voice broken. "I'm a monster. I'm cursed."
He reached out - and with a steady hand, he tucked a loose strand of her black hair behind her ear, not flinching at the scales on the other side.
"Because I've seen monsters before," he whispered, pulling her into his arms. "But I've never seen one this beautiful. One that fights so hard not to become one."
For the first time in five years, as the full moon shone bright above the dark forest, Isabella didn't feel like a cursed beast that no man could love.
She felt like a woman being held. A sexy, beautiful, irresistible woman - being saved by his love.
And for the first time, the beast inside her stopped growling.
It started to purr.
