Heart Two Heart

by Dyami Nukpana

  I had to assume the one that was yelling questions at me was the chief. I looked him over trying to decide if I could talk this out with him or if it was still likely to become a fight. I found it odd that he knew I would be here. So much about this whole situation just didn't add up. I needed answers and it seemed that I would get more if I appeared to be an ally. I smiled and held my hands in front of me as a sign of peace. I took a deep breath and calmly said

  "I don't want to hurt any of you either. The camazotz isn't here. I was expecting her too but the sun is rising and there's no chance she's coming now. Maybe we can go somewhere and figure out where she might be together."

  The chief stomped his foot and a look of pure terror and panic crossed his face. I didn’t been expecting that reaction. Why would her not being here terrify him? It made no sense. He turned and looked behind him at something then turned back to me and said

  "I have to find her and kill her. Someone kidnapped my son. He's only four. Oh god they said they would kill him if I didn't kill the camazotz. Please, I can tell you are a skinwalker to help me and my boy. Please"

  His words touched something deep inside of me. I wanted to help him and his boy. I would do anything but let him kill my eternal heart. There was no chance I was ever going to let the chief near her. There had to be another way to save his boy.

  Then I started to wonder how they knew Taini was supposed to be here. Who had Pau told? What would have happened if she had arrived? Where was my eternal heart? Things just didn't add up. I’d a big family and lots of resources. Between the chief and me there had to be a way to save his boy and keep my eternal heart out of the equation. I looked back at the chief and could almost feel his fear, pain and sorrow for his child. I said in my calmest bedside voice

  "I have no idea where she is, but I will do anything I can to help you find your son and make the kidnapper pay. The sun has risen and I don't tolerate the light well. Can we head to your camp and figure this out together?

  The chief nodded and motioned towards the east. They shifted into their skinwalkers and started running across the sand. The sun rose and I too decided to shift. My skinwalker didn't run as fast as I could in my human form but the fur would help to protect me in the early morning light. The chief raised his head to the sky and howled his fear and grief. His tribe and I howled back. Then we ran in unison towards his tribe grounds.

  XVII~~ Taini’s Perspective

  The heat was almost oppressive in Haiti. Not like the dry heat from the desert. This was moist wet heat that clung to your skin and soaked through to your clothes. I stepped out of the taxi and looked around. This was a part of town that even my kind became jittery and uncomfortable in. The streets were dirty and the houses were falling down. Hungry looking children without shoes played on the sides of the streets.

  People adverted their eyes and tried not to notice anyone or anything. I looked down at the piece of paper in my hands and again read the name and address. Amada Laurita’s Vodun. 342 Main Ave, Haiti.

  I looked side to side and saw the numbers 342 written in a deep red on the door. I sniffed and knew that blood not paint had been used to write the numbers. I’d known many powerful voodoo priestesses in my time on earth. It was said that none were as powerful as Amada. I knocked and the door creaked open. I heard a female voice say

  "Come in quickly Taini. The moon is high and the time for the spell is now. Close the door and take a seat at the table"

  I closed the door and immediately realised the room was very dark. I moved carefully through the room and sat down in the first chair I came across. Even with my excellent chupacabra vision it was difficult to make out the details in the room. I saw the shape of a petite female move towards the table and sit down across from me. She made an odd noise in the back of her throat then said

  "Did you bring the money?"

  I lifted the black canvas bag I brought in with me and said

  "It's all in here." Then I placed the bag on the table and slid it towards Amada

  I watched her open the bag and I heard her chair scrape along the floor as she moved her chair closer to the table. She peered inside and seemed to move the money around a little. I could hear her heart beating strong and steadily. Then I felt her hands reach across the table and pull mine into hers. Then she said in a raspy voice

  "Excellent, now we can begin. Close your eyes. Keep them closed the entire time. No matter what you hear or think you smell or feel. Whoever you were before tonight you will not be anymore. Tonight the old you dies and the new you is born. You will save the memories but they will no longer hold your heart. Even your cold ugly heart will be reborn."

  She released my hands and reached out for a box of wooden matches. I watched her pull one of the wooden matches from the box. She closed the box and struck the match against the side. Despite her warning of keeping my eyes closed I found myself peeking.

  I watched the flame light up and illuminate her face. With the light from the match I finally caught a glimpse of the Amada the voodoo priestess face. It was chocolate brown and was horrifically scarred. It appeared that some kind of animal had tried to feed from the flesh on her face.

  I squeezed my eyes tightly closed and tried to put it from my mind. It mattered not to me what the priestess looked like. My only concern is that she honored the bargain we had struck. She must have lit several candles since I could smell wax burning and I could feel the light behind my eyelids.

  The priestess stood up from the table and started to move around the room. She was chanting in a language that I thought had died many thousands of years ago. I had an eerie sense of dread when I realised the language was that of the Aztecs. The biggest believers in human sacrificing rituals and more often than not babies...

  I felt a blast of cold air slap my face. A chill moved down my spine and caused me to shiver in what I would almost all fear. Then I heard a small baby cry and grew anxious with fear that the child was so near to us. The crying stopped and I smelled fresh blood. My heart sank at the knowledge that she had harmed the child. I wanted to stop her but my head was swimming and I started to think I imagined everything.

  Her words were bouncing around inside of my mind. They didn't make sense at first. It was a mismatch of words. Things that were impossible. They spoke of times that had long since passed. Then just when I felt like I would pass out her words started to make sense. It was at that moment that I knew Amada was no voodoo priestess she was one of the Vaettir.

  Vaettir were considered mythological creatures in most human folklore. They were however very real. The Vaettir race were thought to have come from outer space. Thousands of years ago, they helped the human race to become educated and powerful. Races like the Mayans, Incas, Aztecs, Egyptians, Romans and even the Greeks. They taught them engineering, math, science, healing and even the art of war. Then the humans turned on them. They hunted them like animals until they were nearly driven extinct.

  How a Vaettir was alive and well in Haiti was beyond me. This one that called herself Amada Laurita was most likely a Sjövættir. Sjövættir are often mistaken as water life force essences in human legends and folklore. I’d thought all Vaettir including the Sjövættir died at the turn of the last century. Those that had been hanging on, living in the shadows were outed by the Nazi’s and experimented on until they all died. Why this one was living in Haiti pretending to be a human voodoo priestess was beyond me. How she had managed to stay alive for so many years alone and without protection was a mystery in itself.

  I tried to open my eyes but my lids felt like they had been glued shut. I tried to move my body but it felt like I was encased in stone. I could hear and smell but nothing else. I heard the Vaettir laugh briefly then she said

  "It is done. You will feel no more since you are encased in stone. I have stolen you face and will very happily live the life you wanted so badly to get out of. As a Sjövættir I have been hunted mercilessly. With your strength and body, I will have the advantage against
the humans. Our bargain has been fulfilled. You are now a statue free of pain and suffering. Best wishes for the next several thousand years."

  I heard her laughing in my voice. She even smelled like me as I watched her move towards the door of the house. I heard the door slam shut behind her and then the room was filled with silence. Amada trapped me in a stone statue and stole my flesh and blood. I was trapped, sealed in stone and unable to move. I felt my heart scream in agony at the realization that we could be kept here for all eternity. Never again feeling our eternal heart.

  XVIII~~ Ulric's Perspective

  I felt defeated and disappointed as I checked out of my hotel room in Vegas. Nothing went the way I'd hoped. The funeral for Chief Óscar’s son was later this afternoon. Seraphina and I were attending then heading back to Arizona with my mum and pop.

  It was clear Taini was no longer anywhere near here and I just wanted to go home and regroup. Seraphina took all of this really well. I always knew she was an amazing and wonderful woman. Her behavior over the past few days has proven that even more. She sat next to me as we climbed into the taxi and headed out to the tribe territory for the funeral. I saw tears shimmer in her eyes. I pulled her close and kissed her forehead and said

  "Easy Seraphina baby, I know you have a soft spot for children. We did everything we could to save the little guy. Let's say goodbye and go home. I want to forget about everything that happened here."

  She nodded and looked up at me. Before I realised what she was doing I felt her lips press against mine. Her warmth reminded me of home, security and fresh baked cookies. I couldn't stop myself from wanting to kiss her back. My heart has been aching for days and the moment I felt Seraphina's lips on mine I felt just a tiny bit better.

  I knew however it was cruel to allow myself or Seraphina to move forward with this. I knew Seraphina had an eternal heart out there somewhere, and as long as I allowed her to have feelings for me she wasn't going to look for him. I gently pulled her away from me and said

  "I love you Seraphina, you will always be my first love. But I have an eternal heart and somewhere out there you have an eternal heart too. Even though my eternal heart rejected me, I owe it to you to let you find your eternal heart and unconditional love.”

  Saying the words out loud brought the pain slamming back into me. I reached into my pocket and again felt the paper Taini left for me. Words of pain, written in her own hand. I didn't need to read the words again. I’d already memorized them.

  My dear eternal heart Ulric,

  I’d dreamt of meeting and loving you for many years before you were even born. Your life was started with pain because of me and my selfish behavior.

  I’d spent so many years making the entire skinwalker race pay for the mistake of a few skinwalkers during the war that died many years ago. I’d been shocked when I realised you were my eternal heart and that you were a skinwalker.

  Something in me snapped and I was unable to think clearly. I tore you from your mother’s womb and fed you my blood. That of course started the process of comingling our life essence. As such, my side of the promise had been created. Eventually like they always do my sins caught up to me and the skinwalkers tried to tear me limb from limb.

  I should have died but Waylon and Pau nursed a tiny piece of my heart until they were able to resuscitate my body. My first conscious thought was of you. I wasn't able to move for several years and yet every moment I spent thinking of you.

  When I was finally able to move about I went in search of you. I found you in high school. I listened to your friends and learned you hated me and what I’d done. My heart cried at the thought of not having you. My heart was driving me crazy. Being so close to you and being unable to commingle my essence with yours was making me insane.

  I’d just about decided to take you by force if necessary when you mother broke through and helped me to see my own selfishness. She pointed out that I would never be free to love you. That my sins would follow me for all the days of my life. That in the end I would be the reason you died.

  I walked away knowing that the pain I suffered kept you alive and well. That means more to me than any anguish that my heart can force on. When I saw you in the restaurant the other day all I could of was how much of an amazing man you had grown up to be. I am so proud to be your eternal heart. Even though we will never have the opportunity to be together, please know that I love you more than I have ever loved anything in my life.

  It is because of that love that I have gone to Haiti and am having my heart removed. I have always been too much of a coward to end this existence. I have enlisted the help of a very powerful voodoo priestess. She is going to separate my body from my heart.

  You will know if she is successful because for just a moment you will feel my heart touch yours and say goodbye. Pau told me that you'd gone to Vegas to marry your childhood sweetheart. Marry her and have lots of babies and be happy. Do this for me so that my heart can find the peace in the next life that I was unable to have in this one.

  Forever yours Taini

  XIX~~ Ulric’s Perspective

  Days turned into weeks that turned into months and my eternal heart’s heart never reached out to say goodbye. I was depressed and mourning her loss. If not for Seraphina constantly reminding me to eat and care for myself I would have begun to waste away. I can’t sleep, I can’t eat, and I certainly can’t work since I am barely functioning. I know that I need to heal and move on but my heart just isn’t ready yet.

  I looked over at my night stand and glanced at her letter again. She lied in that letter. She told me she loved me but she lied. If she had truly loved me she would never have separated her heart from her body. She would have fought for me and our love. I squeezed my eyes shut and felt a tear slip down my cheek. I found myself reliving those awful day yet again.

  I was sitting in my bedroom at my mother’s house. I had Taini’s letter in my hand and was rubbing my thumb over the paper trying to think of what I should do next. Intellectually, I understood her concerns but the emotional side of me just wanted my eternal heart, I didn’t care what it took or who was after her. Hell I was perfectly fine with living our lives on the run as long as I had a chance to be with her.

  That’s when I felt it. Something inside of me shifted and I was on full alert. I felt my eternal heart call out to me across a great distance. I knew in that moment that I’d hesitated too long and the choice was being taken away from me. My own heart screamed in terror. We were losing our eternal heart and didn’t have a clue on how to try to stop it.

  I felt her heart brush up against mine and though Taini had said she and would want to tell me goodbye instead it felt as if she was begging me to help her. She looked at me with sad, pained eyes and before we could even touch or speak she disappeared. I felt my heart shatter. There’s no way to explain the pain the exploded through me. It was as if my entire world ceased to exist. For a few moments I was completely unable to breath. I felt like my heart seized and my world went black.

  When I woke up, Seraphina was administering CPR. She said that I actually had a massive heart attack. It was a miracle that I was alive. By all rights I should have died. Even with my chupacabra mutation genes, my body was struggling to repair itself. Honestly I am still having heart trouble. In fact, when I think of Taini I can feel my blood pressure shoot through the roof, chances are I am going to have lots more heart attacks and eventually I know I can and will die of a broken heart.

  A few weeks after Taini separated her body from her heart, I received a phone call from Óscar the Las Vegas chief. He told me that they had leads on Taini and had her trapped in the mountains in California. He asked if I wanted to join the hunting party that was hell bent on sending the camazotz to hell. I’d never told him the truth about Taini and I quickly agreed to join him.

  For some stupid reason, I thought that it would be better if I saw Taini’s heartless body. I think part of me actually believed that I could bring her back and still have her
as my eternal heart. I learned quickly that it took more than her body for my heart to feel peace.

  I arrived in California in the middle of the afternoon. It was drizzling and I’d a hard time finding a cab and eventually decided to rent a car. I used the GPS to take me to the nearest tribe house. Óscar and his second in command met me at the car. They were quick to introduce me to the chief whose territory was now in. Emil said he was pleased to have me join the hunt for the camazotz.

  It was clear they understood since I was a nagual, I was both stronger and faster than all of them. They even pointed out that with me at their side there odds of success were so much higher. I smiled and faked like I was going along with the program. Then I said

  “Why not let me scout for her on my own. Let’s not risk anyone needlessly. Point me in the direction and I will do my best to make sure that by nightfall you never need to worry about the camazotz again.”

  They agreed immediately and the tribe supplied me with all the necessities and pointed me in the direction they had last scene Taini. It took me less than an hour to find her. Now, I wish I’d never gone. It was, yet it wasn’t Taini. It was her body, her hair, her face, even her smell. But the one thing I wanted the most was gone. I felt my heart flare to life as it reached out to find its eternal heart. Then like a candle in the wind it blinked out of existence.

  My eternal heart was gone. The women that stood in front of me was nothing more than a truly heartless evil being. She spat at me and growled when I approached her. I tried to tell her that I wouldn’t harm her but she attacked before I could get the words out. I kept her from injuring me and I tried to tell her who I was. I begged her to help me find her heart and get it back. She laughed and told me I was fool. She said in a cruel voice meant to hurt me

  “You are an idiot! I am happier than I’ve ever been in my life. Getting rid of my heart was the best thing I’ve ever done. Now, I have no pain, no sadness and no conscience. Why in god’s name would I ever want my heart back? That thing caused me nothing but pain and worse it actually desired a skinwalker. A foul vial disgusting skinwalker. I would rather cut my own heart out and feed it to pigeons before I allowed myself to ever consider being with a skinwalker.