Heart Two Heart

by Dyami Nukpana

  They fought in their animal forms, while I fought in my human form. I used my bare hands, fangs and claws as deadly weapons. Initially I was trying very hard to incapacitate not kill. But every moment I lingered I could hear more skinwalkers approaching. I took down ten skinwalkers and then there were suddenly ten more. I took down the next ten and realised the first ten were waking back up.

  I was getting tired of fighting. I screamed at them to retreat or I would rip the head off the next skinwalker to attack. They hesitated then two jumped at me at the same time. I grabbed one in each hand and slammed them together with enough force to snap both of their necks. Then in a final attempt to avoid killing even more of them I screamed at the others still waiting to attack.

  “Know that this is their own fault. I never wanted to kill any of you. I just wanted to pass through in peace. My days of hunting skinwalkers are over.”

  Then I twisted the necks off of both skinwalkers and stood with their torn off heads in my hands and gave a last warning.

  “If you continue to attack, I will win… Then tonight after it turns dark, I will find your homes and kill your eternal hearts and your children. I will eat your babies’ brains for breakfast. Now decide… You can continue to fight me and sign a death warrant for your family or leave in peace with these two being the only skinwalkers I will kill today.”

  I knew I had them with the babies’ brains comments. They turned and ran without even collecting their dead. Most likely to return to their homes and leave for a new tribe with their eternal hearts and kids. No way did they believe I wasn’t coming to attack their homes tonight. The only difference was they realised they could get home and possibly save their family by getting out of town.

  I looked down at my bloody hands and the dead skinwalkers and felt the guilt and sadness flare with me. I didn’t want to be a killer anymore. I hated being the harbinger of death and the boogeyman to the babies. I just wanted to find a little peace and serenity. My skin burned and my blood felt like acid burning me from the inside out. I needed to find shelter and feed. Twice in twenty four hours I was lost in the desert and I was pretty damn tired of it. I limped into the nearest civilized area I could find and used a phone to call Pau.

  Pau is my brother in arms and one of the original nagual created by the Nazi’s. He like me was captured and experimented on by the Nazi’s. They combined my chupacabra DNA with his skinwalker DNA. Unlike me however, he was successfully mutated in a nagual and forced to breed with multiple Jewish prisoners during the war. As a result, Pau fathered many children. Sadly however, after the war he was able to locate and claim only two. Gaho his eldest daughter and Kealoha, Ulric’s mum.

  I love Pau and I knew he wanted only the best for me and his grandson, still… He got me into this damn mess and it was up to him to get me out of it. He answered on the first ring.

  “You bastard, I screamed at him. You set me up. You are an interfering old coot that doesn't know when to keep his nose out of something. Now the local skinwalkers are after me. You better come get me so I don’t have to kill them all.”

  IX~~ Óscar Anakoni’s Perspective

  Chief of the Nevada Skinwalker tribe

  I hung up the phone and tried to decide my options. It was unfortunate that the camazotz was still alive. It was even more unfortunate that she chosen to come into my tribe's territory. The council had given me very strict orders. Now I had to decide which consequences I would be able to live with. The Navajo council wanted my tribe to hunt down the camazotz and kill her, no matter what our losses were.

  They felt we should continue to hunt her until all of our resources have been exhausted. I told them my people were more than just a resource and we have lives, wives and children just like them. They said they understood my tribe would have to make sacrifices and that lives were going to be lost but it would be far less than the damage of the camazotz wreaking havoc on the tribes and pale faces all across the Americas. I wasn’t worried about every tribe in the America’s. I was worried about my tribe, my people and my family.

  I swung my arm and slammed into the desk lamp and sent it flying across the room. I heard it crack against the far wall of my office before shattering into a million tiny little sharp pieces. I heard a gentle knocking at my door and expected to hear my eternal heart Paula’s voice when I hollered

  “What”

  I was unprepared for my four year old son Isaija. He threw the door of my office open and skipped in with nothing on his feet. I shouted out for him to stop and even tried to stop his forward movement but he managed to get several pieces of the broken glass from the lamp imbedded into his bare feet.

  I scooped him and his now bloody feet off the floor and realised one thing with clarity. The camazotz had already caused my tribe and my family enough damage. I would not participate in anything that could bring additional harm to my tribe or more specifically to my family. The council would need to use someone else’s tribe to hunt down the camazotz. I was going to look the other way and pray she left my territory.

  X~~ Taini’s Perspective

  I sat down on the hotel bed and looked around the room. I was still pissed at Pau but some air conditioning, a shower and a real bed that I could get a good day’s sleep on was moving me towards forgiveness. He was lucky that I knew his intentions were good even if the results were not.

  I was glad that Pau and his partner Waylon were joining me tonight at the Tropicana. In fact Pau had paid for this room and had arranged for a pale face donor to come and take care of my needs. That was both good and bad. The good part was that I would be able to drink blood and heal my damaged body. The bad part was, Pau obviously knew I’d graduated to feeding on human blood and that animal blood no longer satisfied me. Despite that, he said he was sorry several times while we were on the phone. He just felt that my eternal heart and I needed to end our self-imposed separation.

  Pau believed that as we could overcome all obstacles in our way. Love healed all things and overcame all things, even destiny and death. Ever since he and Waylon fell in love Pau got it in his head that he was cupid and was constantly interfering in everyone’s lives. This time however he seemed to forget that I could die during his match making games.

  In his haste to have us accidently bump into each other he forgot that my eternal heart is a skinwalker and that skinwalkers are deadly to me. Someone either my eternal heart or his little fox girl friend called the troops down on me. Chances are it was my eternal heart. He made it clear that he hated me and what I stood for. I’d barely gotten away with my life and I blamed Pau. In the least I was going to blame him until I felt better.

  Sometimes, it just galls me that Pau likes to act like we chupacabra are indestructible. That’s not exactly correct. I understand he and a few of the children born to him and other original nagual like my eternal heart are somewhat invisible but chupacabra still have four major weaknesses. I am very aware of each and every one of them and in fact almost died of all of them.

  The easiest way for an enemy to kill me would be to simply sever my head from my shoulders. Now that might sound easier than it actual is. The truth is I am very strong and I have mastered the art of fighting over the years. If you want to remove my head from my shoulders you had better take me by surprise and get it right the first time because no other creature alive is stronger than a chupacabra and very few chupacabra are my equal in battle.

  The second way to kill me is to remove my heart from my chest and completely destroy it. This recently happened to me and thankfully the skinwalkers missed a tiny little piece and I was able to completely regenerate my heart with the help of Pau my nagual brother in arms and his newly found second chance love a male shaman named Waylon.

  Thankfully, like most people they misunderstand and thought simply tearing me into bits would get the job done. Perhaps next time a tribe of skinwalkers try to kill me they will make sure to eat every single tiny bit of my heart, because if like before they leave anything behind I can be
regenerated and I can completely recover.

  The third way I can die is direct sunlight. While I can tolerate a little sunlight, prolonged exposure causes me severe burns, and eventually death. Generally by prolonged I would mean days of exposure not hours. That however can change based on the kind of sunlight. Like earlier today when I was stuck in the desert. The sand amplified the effects of the sunlight and increased the damage. Ultimately, I would have only needed a day at most for my blood to corrode and severe damage to occur.

  The final way, and most deadly way to kill me would be for me to drink Ulric’s blood. See the truth is we chupacabra keep it a secret but the consumption of skinwalker and nagual blood for that matter is deadly. Ulric was born a nagual despite his mother appearing to a run of the mill non skin walking Navajo. Still, she carried Pau’s genetics and when she married the Spaniard Emilio and got pregnant with Ulric, she triggered the nagual DNA that laid dormant in her blood. In order for me to become immune to my eternal hearts blood, it would require me to undergo a very painful and long process of developing immunity.

  Given that my eternal heart hates me and the things I’ve done in the past I really don’t see that I would ever go through the immunity process. I live in enough pain every day that I walk the earth knowing that my eternal heart could be… but has chosen not to be with me.

  I turned on the bed and meant to punch the pillow just to let off a little steam. No harm no foul type of thing but of course instead of just taking my punch I managed to completely annihilate the feather pillow. It burst on impact and hundreds of little feathers scurried from the pillowcase and flew around my room. All I could think was it so figures! It’s typical and the story of my life, if it can happen it will.

  XI~~ Seraphina’s Perspective

  I’d barely slept last night thinking about Ulric choosing her over me. I didn’t really understand how he didn’t know we were eternal hearts in the first place but the idea that he would actually considering being with the camazotz who was once a chupacabra totally baffled me.

  My eyes and face burned from the amount of tears that I’d let slide from them. My nose was clogged and probably looked bright red. I sat up on the pillow and felt my body quiver. I was so on edge and was ready to start crying all over again. This was supposed to be the happiest day of my life. I should have woken up this morning as Mrs. Ulric Nukpana. I should have spent the night in a warm bed making love to my eternal heart not crying alone in a cold bed with nothing to comfort me but a stupid lumpy pillow.

  I was so upset last night I’d called everyone I could think of and cried in their ears. I called all my friends; college and nursing school. Then, I called his mother Kealoha. Kealoha like me was disappointed and was a little in shock that he behaved that way yesterday. She swore she wasn’t going to allow Ulric to throw his life away on his no good selfish two faced eternal heart.

  She said she was getting on a flight and coming here with the intention of putting the kibosh on this whole thing before it got out of hand. She cursed more times in our twenty minute call then I’d heard her say in the past sixteen years. The bottom line was she was appalled that the woman had the gall to be in the United States of America none the less the same State as our Ulric.

  His mother and I talked the entire time that she made arrangements to come to Vegas. Every now and then I would hear her say something to her husband but I really didn’t hear his reply. Her tone and attitude helped me to feel a lot better but I’m still really upset that he didn’t want to be with me last night. She told me how Taini aka the camazotz was evil and selfish. She told me how she had kidnapped Ulric as a baby and nearly got him killed. Then she told me how Taini swore to never contact Ulric. She said that she and Emilio would make sure that everything was okay.

  I hoped she was right because I knew that my fox and I couldn’t live without our eternal heart. I needed him like a fish needed water. I would wither and die without him in my life. Somehow I needed to get him to comingle his blood with me so that he could finally recognize our connection. I just know if he could feel the connection like I do that he would never consider the camazotz. He would choose me and the future we could have together over a nasty camazotz that killed women and children.

  He and I were perfect for each other. I was the yin to his yang. I could give him skinwalker babies and the big loving family he always wanted. She could do nothing but get him killed. She brought nothing to the table and did nothing to earn his love or respect. I’d changed my entire life to suit his. I’d done everything I could possibly do to earn his love and respect.

  Hell, I’d even changed my education major so that I would be more compatible with his choices. I’d studied my entire life to be a lawyer and gave it all up the moment I saw his little baby cheeks. Then, since he wanted to be a doctor I went back to school for nursing. I’d done everything so that I would be the perfect eternal heart for him with just one look at the camazotz he was ready to throw it all away.

  I growled deep in my throat and allowed the tears to roll unchecked down my cheeks. I felt my world unraveling and just didn’t know what to do. Maybe his mother was right; maybe she could help him see reason. Maybe everything would be okay and Ulric would remember that he loved me. In the least is was high time that I pressed the issue and tried to make him see the truth.

  My fox and I have known since the moments we laid eyes on him we just assumed since he was a nagual he was unable to realize we were eternal hearts until we commingled our blood. I was sure his life essence would figure out that we were eternal hearts. I was going to have to try to talk it out with him.

  Ulric was smart and always believed he was more skinwalker than chupacabra. He would want to be with me if he believed we were eternal hearts. He would never choose a camazotz over a skinwalker. I’d wondered if he even knew who his eternal heart was. I would bet the entire farm that he had no idea his eternal heart was the infamous camazotz that exclusively stalked skinwalkers. Hell, he would probably reject her just based on who she is and what’s she’s done in the past.

  Besides, Ulric trusted me and would want to be with me. Then once we commingled our blood he would see that I really was his eternal heart. I just needed to reason with him and he would come around to my way of thinking. Then again, if he didn’t see things my way, with some encouragement I knew that I was prepared to do whatever it took, even if it meant that I’d to find a way to eliminate the camazotz myself and make Ulric mine again.

  XII~~ Taini’s Perspective

  Dinner with Pau and Waylon had been unpleasant and useless. It however seemed to go on for hour after endless hour. Neither Pau nor I ate real food and watching Waylon shove bites of cooked food into his mouth over and over again did nothing but make me feel ill. By the time he finished shoving huge amounts of cooked meat into his mouth I was ready to snap.

  I could tell my cold energy was driving both Pau mad and Waylon was becoming flustered and excited in not such a good way. For a moment I found it interesting that I was affecting him a normal run of the mill human more than Pau a nagual with a skinwalker side. I couldn’t help but wonder if my eternal heart would appreciate my cold energy or would hate it. Because of the Nazi’s experiments, I was different than any other chupacabra. More specifically, for some reason I developed this cold energy that came off me in waves. Everyone is affected differently. Chupacabra find it difficult to be in the room with me since it irritates them.

  To the skinwalkers, and many humans my cold energy is like an aphrodisiac. I’d escaped the concentration camp twice during the war. Both times, the Nazi’s used my cold energy against me. The released a few of the skinwalkers they were also experimenting on and said they could do anything they wanted to me if only they found me. Both times they found me in no time at all. Back then, I’d been untrained and helpless. If they had just attacked and killed me I might have never grown my hatred for them. What they did was far worse. They played with me like a cat plays with a mouse. They chased me off
and on for days. Each time they found me they would torture, rape and injure me then leave me to heal. On and on this went without end an in sight. I was only twelve years old in human years and didn’t understand why they did this to me day after day week after week. These were grown skinwalkers, they knew I was helpless and just a young child and didn’t care.

  My cold energy when mixed with fear and pain changes to an extremely unique scent that excites and pleases the skinwalkers similar to what catnip does to cats. Pau looked over at Waylon again and realised he was enjoying my energy more than he was comfortable with. Then he looked at my face and decided that soon, very soon I would be taking a severe nose dive into crazy.

  In an effort to avoid an even more uncomfortable situation Pau cleared his throat and suggested that he and I take a walk alone. I agreed and we headed outside to walk the Vegas strip. Initially we walked in silence while I pulled my tattered and crazy mind together. I was having a hard time focusing of late and was beginning to believe that my time on earth was just about over. When I felt in control I finally turned and looked at Pau and said

  “I know that you think you were helping. I know you can tell that I am unraveling quickly and will probably lose myself sooner rather than later. As strange as it is, in some ways you are like a brother to me. Me born a chupacabra and you born a skinwalker. Natural enemies. Yet, we found peace and acceptance in our shared suffering. But you must understand it’s too late even for my eternal heart to pull me back from the banks of insanity. I’ve gone too long with my heart screaming for him only to go unanswered, You know as well as I do that the only end for me is a final ending. There can be no happily ever after. Without an end, I will become that which we all hate and I’ve been falsely accused of being most of my adult life a camazotz.”