I started to think that he didn’t have a clue what his eternal heart was. I tried to get his attention and ask him why he would chase the camazotz even if she was his eternal heart. He pulled and tugged me outside without even straining a muscle. I grabbed onto the steel light pole in an effort to stop his forward motion.
He turned and growled loudly in my face while baring his mutated teeth clearly showing me that he is a dangerous predator and that I must submit. I tried to fight back but my inner fox submitted immediately to the larger more dangerous coyote. I was forced to let go of him. The moment my hands released him, Ulric propelled himself after her. I was left with nothing I could do but to beg him to stay.
V~~ Ulric’s Perspective
I ran in my coyote form until I was beyond exhausted deep into the cool dark desert. I’d lost her scent many miles ago but kept running hoping to find it again. Finally, knowing that I failed, I threw back my head and howled in frustration. I could see the sun was starting to rise and I knew that my time for looking was over. As I aged, like the chupacabra I’d developed a sensitivity to sunlight. I would get blisters and eventually become very ill if I stayed out for too many hours in direct sunlight. I was going to have to take cover until the sun retreated again or until I was able to have Seraphina come and retrieve me in a car.
I found a small cave and shifted into my jaguar form so that I could crawl inside. It felt somehow wrong to ask Seraphina for help but since we were the only person I knew in Las Vegas it was Seraphina or sit in the tiny confined cave all day long. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my cell phone. She answered the phone on the first ring. I told her approximately where I thought I was and asked her to come and scout me out. I’d expected her to ask lots of questions but she kept silent only telling me that she would come.
In just under three hours I heard the roar of a car engine and knew that Seraphina was getting close. I touched quickly called her again. She suggested we use our coyote and fox to call to each other. I thought that was a great plan so I allowed my head to mutate into my coyote form. Then she howled from the car and I howled from the cave. With just the sounds from our howls she knew exactly where I was and was able to pull the car right to the entrance. Then to my amazement she got out of the car and opened an umbrella to spare me for even a small amount of sun.
That was my Seraphina, always thinking of my needs. She had been that way with me her entire life, always putting me and my needs first. She had even given up her own career goals just to stay with my family when I’d been young. Seraphina has always been convinced that I am her eternal heart. I wish that were true, but I’ve always known she is my best friend and confidant but there was no way she was my eternal heart. I’d wanted to love Seraphina, I’d even lied to myself so often that I was nearly convinced that I did love Seraphina.
I knew now that I didn’t really understood what an eternal heart would feel like. To think that I could snub destiny was as foolish as thinking you could lasso the moon. I wanted to love Seraphina but I knew I never would. Now the best I could hope for was that I could reduce the pain that I was going to cause her. I didn’t love Seraphina and it was time that she and I stop pretending that we are something that we’re not. I just hated the idea of having to tell her.
I sat down in the passenger seat and Seraphina put the car in drive and headed back towards Vegas. I could tell that she wanted to say something but she kept her mouth shut. We drove in silence the entire way back to the city. The longer we sat in the car the guiltier and ashamed I began to feel. Seraphina had been my best friend my entire life. Recently we had become lovers and she deserved better than what I was giving her.
Her silence was her way of waiting for me to make the first move. She pulled into the valet at the Palazzo and got out of the car. I opened my door and followed her like a bad puppy with my tail between my legs. My guilt was pouring off me in waves. When we reached the hotel lobby Seraphina turned towards me and said in a no nonsense voice
“One room or two?”
Then she looked at me with eyes the size of tea saucers. I knew this was the moment I’d dreaded the entire drive here. One word would change Seraphina and my entire relationship. It would alter for all time how we behaved with each other. Seraphina had been my best friend and I wasn’t sure I could live without her and I honestly had no idea if I would ever see my eternal heart again.
It was clear that she didn’t want to see me. Was it possible that the woman in the restaurant was Taini? Could she have survived the attack that my parents told me she died in? If she did why did she stay away from me for so long? If it was another woman that was also my eternal heart why would she run from me? I looked at Seraphina who was watching my face closely and I had a strong desire to comfort and care for her.
I knew Seraphina and I knew what we were like together. I knew that she would always care for me. Seraphina would walk away from her eternal heart if he showed up after we were married. Even if her fox and her life essence cried in pain and anguish Seraphina would stick by my side. How could I cause her so much pain and leave her for a woman that ran away from me. I swallowed hard took her hands in mine and said the only thing I could
“Two”
VI~~ Taini’s Perspective
I managed to lose him but now I would be stuck in the desert during the day with little to no cover. This was going to cause me a lot of pain and discomfort. The sun was strong in the Nevada desert, too strong for me to fly in my vulture form without serious damage. Hell maybe it was even strong enough to kill me. Probably not but then again one can hope.
I sighed and took another deep breath and looked around for options. I could see nothing for miles but desert in all directions. I could run and possibly find shelter but, I’d gotten turned around last night and I wasn’t even sure which way would bring me closest to civilization.
The sun rose high into sky and I could feel the light burning into my sensitive flesh. I winced and decided I’d to run because the only thing standing here was going to accomplish was make me sick. I closed my eyes, spun in a circle like a child playing pin the tail on the donkey then I opened my eyes and ran for all I was worth.
The muscles in my legs pumped up and down forcing my feet to move faster and faster. I felt the wind and tiny fragments of sand slamming into my skin. I knew the sand were like tiny pieces of glass tearing small cuts into my uncovered flesh while I ran. The jolts of pain kept me feeling alive and I ran like the devil himself was on my heels. I started to see the landscape changing ever so slightly and I knew I’d chosen an excellent direction. I spotted several dunes and knew that I was close to the Black Rock Hot springs.
I’d been to the springs before and knew that there was an abundance of caves that would provide me with shelter. With any luck the springs would have limited visitors so I could feed on one of them without interruption and then I could also enjoy a hot bath to soothe my achy, blistered and burning skin. The bath and the feeding would help the healing process.
Somehow I knew my eternal heart wasn’t going to give up finding me that easily. I may have lost him in the desert but had no doubt that now that he knew I was alive he would be actively seeking me out. I would need to get out of the United States and find a new place where he wouldn't come looking for me.
I was also going to have to call Gaho and ask for her help. She had a strong emotional attachment to Ulric and would want to save him the pain of knowing me. He has no idea the lengths that his family has gone through so that his heart and life essence didn’t suffer without me. They used magic, blood and at times pure will power to save my eternal heart from pain and suffering.
When he was an infant I tore him from his sick mother’s womb and ran away with him. He’d been premature and ill so I fed him my blood starting the process of comingling our life essence together. My heart became immediately attached. My life essence recognized our eternal heart and has been crying and suffering without him ever since. Every day that I deny my
heart my life force fractures and decays just a tiny bit more.
Someday I will be completely insane and will need to be put down like a rabid animal. Truth be told Waylon and Pau should never have helped me to recover from the attack. They said they did it out of love but somehow I know it was a punishment. I would take my own life but I find I am incapable. It seems I have a tremendous self-preservation instinct. No matter the circumstance if my life is threatened my instincts take over. It has been that way for as long as I can remember.
When I was strong enough to finally live on my own again Gaho had come to speak with me. She explained how I needed to stay away from Ulric and his family. She told me how Kealoha and Emilio had still not forgiven me for the kidnapping. She told me how it was better if he believed I’d died and how Waylon would take care of his heart so that he wouldn’t suffer.
Then she told me how even the skinwalkers thought I was dead and that I would be safe if I stayed in the shadows. In those early days I was scared and myself preservation skills agreed with Gaho. So I stayed in the dark and hid behind dark glasses and scarves.
Then as my body regained full strength I found my mind becoming sicker. I hated hiding and pretending to be someone I was not. I wanted to take back my life and my eternal heart. I did my homework and found him. He was in a high school on the reservation. Despite being a nagual he was popular and had lots of friends. I watched him from a distance for months.
I used my powers of persuasion to get into other students heads and ask questions and start rumors just to get an understanding of what he knew about me. I threw my name around to see if he was strong enough to accept who I was and what I’d done. I knew people would point out to him that he was kind of similar to a chupacabra and that we could have more in common than he thought. His reaction caused my heart to break even more.
My eternal heart very clearly considered himself a skinwalker and had said even though he was mutated, he hated like chupacabra and would kill any chupacabra or camazotz that came anywhere near his people. He was hell bent of being with his skin walking fox and said that he was relieved that his eternal heart chupacabra died while he was still an infant.
Then I was approached by Gaho again who somehow knew that I’d been poking around. She said that she’d had a change of heart and that perhaps we should tell Ulric that I was alive. She didn’t know what I’d just learned so I claimed that I wasn’t sure but that if she was convinced that I would want to clear the air with Kealoha and Emilio first.
I was invited to their home a few weeks later while Ulric was out of town with his high school sports team. The conversation did not go well. Emilio and Kealoha were still very angry and bitter for my past behavior. Neither one of them wanted to even consider forgiving me. My instincts were to ignore their feelings and take what I wanted anyway. Then Kealoha said something that changed everything for me. She shouted and ranted and didn’t stop until she drove it all home for me.
“Taini you are the most selfish person in the world. When he was still in my womb your selfishness tore him out of my body with no thought to his well being. He was chased by skinwalkers, starved and nearly died because his heart and lungs weren’t properly developed.
Then you left him alone in the dirt because your enemies finally caught up to you. They tore your body to shreds while my tiny infant son… your eternal heart was only a few miles away. What do you think they would have done to him if they knew he was your eternal heart?
Your actions nearly got him killed more times while he was in your care then everything that has happened to him since. Now if he finds out you are alive, his life will be in danger every single day. Why? Because you killed more skinwalkers in your lifetime than anything else in the world combined.
That includes sickness, car accidents and even wars. For destiny’s sakes Taini you are a camazotz and Ulric is first and foremost a skinwalker. If you love him even a tiny bit and are capable of one singular act of selflessness then please set him free. Give him a chance at life. Don’t steal his only chance at happiness by tying his heart to yours.”
I left that night understanding that she was one hundred percent right. I knew my life essence already loved my eternal heart and that meant I needed to make sure that he never knew that I was alive. I’d been doing so well before last night. Why in the hell was he in Vegas? I’d just spoken to Gaho the day before to make sure that he was still in California finishing his residency. She assured me that he was set to graduate yesterday then was driving home to Arizona with his skinwalker girlfriend.
He should have gone in the opposite direction. I would never have agreed to meet Pau in Vegas if had known there was any chance that Ulric might be there. Why would his own family risk him finding out about me? I wasn’t even sure now that he’s seen me if Waylon’s magic could still keep his heart satisfied. It was amazing the moment Pau got involved again everything went to hell in a handbasket. It’s been the story of my life if something can go wrong it always does.
VII~~ Seraphina’s Perspective
Two rooms, two rooms. After nearly twenty years of my life he says two rooms. The words kept reverberating over and over through my head. How could Ulric not know we are eternal hearts? I’ve known it since he was just a toddler what could be keeping his heart from knowing?
I stepped into the room and looked around at the two empty queen sized beds. The room was beautiful but it was the last place on earth that I wanted to be. This was supposed to be our honeymoon. We should be married and commingling our life essence by now. I just know the moment that we commingled our essence that Ulric would recognize me as his eternal heart.
I felt myself choking back my tears. My fox was whimpering inside me and I felt like my world was coming apart. I’d only ever wanted Ulric to be happy I just couldn't believe that he might do that without me. How could my fox and I know and he have no idea? It was like something had confused his life essence. Every now and then I would feel the little tingles that his essence recognized mine then it would become dazed again.
I huffed and crossed my arms across my chest. I wanted to be angry and indignant but the only thing I really felt was pain and disappointment almost to the level of anguish. I was starting to think that I was going to live my life alone without my eternal heart. Make no mistake, Ulric might be confused but I know beyond a shadow of a doubt since the day we met. I’d never intended to stay in that crappy little town until I recognized my eternal heart. Then I knew I didn't want anything more than to spend my life with him. Now, I wasn’t sure what I would do. If Ulric chose to leave me for his camazotz eternal heart my life became nothing more than a burden.
I laid on the bed and let the tears fall from my eyes. Before today I’d been able to hold things together. I didn’t gotten stuck in the past or all the bad things that had happened to me. I’d been focused on Ulric and our love. Now, I found myself thinking of all the things that brought me to this very moment in time. I didn’t want to live without Ulric and I honestly shouldn’t have to.
I’d tried to do everything right. I’d worked hard at being a good person for Ulric. I wanted to be the best eternal heart and make sure that he was always happy. I slammed my fist on the pillow and growled in frustration. Taini was a bad person and didn’t deserve my happiness. I wasn’t going to stand idly by and watch her steal my man. I was going to fight back. I knew in the end I could win. Ulric was a skinwalker at heart and I was his eternal heart, I just needed to prove it to him.
VIII~~ Taini’s Perspective
I heard the howls and growls long before I could see them with my eyes. I knew they had somehow come hunting for me. My eternal heart must have informed them that I was in their territory. By the sounds of the growls and the multiple birds of prey flying overhead, I had to assume there were more than thirty skinwalkers chasing me down. Bears, wolves and coyote. I looked out at the sun and knew it would be several more hours before sunset.
I was going to have to run and there was no doub
t it was going to cause me a lot of pain. The worst part is I didn’t really even had a chance to rest. I no sooner got into the caves when I heard the first howl. I grabbed a very quick bite and tried to find a way to navigate my way underground to escape them.
They however seem to know every inch of the springs and my only chance for survival is flying topside. If they wanted to chase, I would give them one hell of a run for their money .I took a deep breath, shifted into my vulture form. I burst from the cave just seconds before the first few skinwalkers closed in on me. They were yipping, howling and growling. They were close and I could tell they were trying to crowd me in so I couldn’t get into the air. They thought to use a simple but effective trick when hunting in the wild. The rules were easy push the prey towards the other members until it was completed surrounded with no chance for escape.
Their plan however had one major flaw. I was not a dumb animal. I was a woman who had lived several lifetimes and had endured more than they could ever imagine. Their simple little trick would not work on me. I managed to take flight and swooped directly towards one of the crow skinwalkers. I was hoping that I wouldn’t have to kill them but I wasn't going to allow them to entrap me. It was them or me. And my survival instincts screamed “them”.
An eagle swooped down and knock me close to the ground again. Before I could flap my wings, several crows and another eagle descended down on me. It only took a few moments before I was smack dab in front of six skinwalkers. Not much of a threat to me. I could shift back into my human form easily kill them all without breaking a sweat. My record was eighteen to one. In general I was a far better fighter than the average chupacabra. Most were comfortable with six to one odds. I was fine with anything less than a dozen.
I wanted to take flight again but the more I tried the more the eagles and crows blocked my path. I shifted back to my human form and tried another approach. This time I begged them to back off. I said I wouldn’t attack them or their tribe if they let me go in peace. In response they threw back their heads and howled, cackled and growled. They then all attacked simultaneously.
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