BOUGHT BY WATTPAD WEBTOON STUDIOS FOR PUBLISHING/MOVIE DEALS!!! Winner of the Wattys 2020 Award in Horror/English "This book really hooks you with its intriguing premise. A super fun horror story rooted in Filipino Folklore, with a science thriller twist - think Jurassic Park meets It Follows." -----What the Wattys2020 Team said about Haunteds, Wattys2020 Winner in Horror category Plot: In 1974, the mysterious cult's mass kidnapping and ritualistic killing led to the summoning of the Shade-a paranormal entity of living shadow. Ever since then, starting in October in Bastillio-a city in the Philippines steeped in history and superstition-the Shade would be seen haunting twelve teenagers at night throughout the month, often resulting in their deaths. But the discovery of U.V. lights as a deterrent from the Shade led the government to establish a system to contain the Shade's threat. Fast forward to 2025, twenty years after the system had successfully prevented any more deaths, the media and global firestorm surrounding the phenomenon died down. So when sixteen-year-old Vergil Torres was identified as one of the twelve and was immediately brought to Biringan-the government shelter where haunteds like him would stay for the month-he was more excited than scared for his life. But the gruesome and inexplicable death of one of them during their stay in the supposedly safe house renews the horror of the Shade. Reluctant at first, Vergil, together with his friends and Major Coleman, decided to get to the bottom of the mystery, if they are to survive through the month.

The world had gone to hell long ago, taken over by the vampire race. In order to keep some sort of peace in our land, the Vampire Lords made a consecutive agreement. The rich and powerful humans could survive just as they had been, untouched by the vampires save for the occasional blood collections, or so they thought In reality, we were all under their control. Castles spread out throughout our land, one landing in each city. Each castle varied in the number of vampires residing there, but all of them carried a Lord. The Lords were the ones in charge in every city, whether we liked it or not. The vampires often roam through the city, making sure that everyone was in order and no one stepped out of line. If you stepped out of line, you died, end of story. Even if the rich were still under their control, their lives were still better than the poor. The poorest lives held a much worse fate. The men were to be put to work as slaves, whether that meant serving a specific vampire, or just building their castles, they were slaves. The women were to be pets. Pets were the lowest rank you could have. They were forced into cages that were too small to stand in with collars around their necks. They spent their lives in pet shops, just waiting for the dreadful day that they'll be bought. They were treated like animals, trained into what their master wanted, and punished if they misbehaved. Those who were lucky enough to live through that, we're to be slaughtered for their blood at age twenty-five in an act to make sure that our population would stay steady. I was born into this world. Born into this world full of blood-sucking monsters. Except, I was one of the lucky ones. Was. It all ended for me when I was 12, when I was taken away from the last bit of hope and family that I had left. Ever since then, I've lived in a cage, just rotting away, waiting, dreading for the day that some monster would make me his. This is my life. I am a pet. ~~~ Cover by: @mshacake