Heart Two Heart

by Dyami Nukpana

  Go home little boy and make nice with your skinwalker fox. Forget me and stay out of my way or next time we occupy the same space I will take the liberty of removing your head from your shoulders. Do I make myself clear?”

  Her words had slammed into me like a freight train. I felt the air evaporate from my lungs and I felt my heart shrivel in pain. I knew my eternal heart had moved on and it was time for me to try as well. I flew home to Arizona without even telling Óscar goodbye. I didn’t want to know if their hunt had been successful as far as I was concerned Taini had already died.

  XX ~~ Seraphina’s Perspective

  I looked into Ulric’s bedroom and could tell that he was crying yet again. I sighed and walked back into the living room. I looked over at his pop and said

  “You said he can’t die from losing his eternal heart. Why is he still so sick? When will he get better? Please tell me what I can do to help?”

  His pop gave me a sad look then said in a calm voice

  “Seraphina, I know you love him and you want him to be all better but these things take time. In the life of a chupacabra a few months is nothing. He could grieve her for years even hundreds of years if that’s what his heart needs. I promise he will be fine but it is possible it won’t happen in your lifetime.

  Maybe you should finally take the time to go and find your eternal heart. Seraphina you are a beautiful girl and Kealoha and I love you and want the best for you. The truth is, if you were Ulric’s eternal heart he would have known it by now. We’ve heard tales of nagual having two eternal hearts, but if Ulric has two, you are not one of them.”

  I sputtered and wanted to scream at him that he was wrong. I am his eternal heart and I know it. I don’t know why he can’t see it. That’s when I realised what I needed to do. I could make him see the truth if I tricked him into commingling his essence with me. Once his essence felt mine, he would know the truth and he could stop grieving for her and start loving me. All I needed was a spell. Perhaps something that made him desire me enough to make love. Then, while he was distracted I could trick him into sharing blood with me.I smiled at his pop Emilio and said in a calm voice

  “Thank you for your concern. I’m not ready to move on right now any more than Ulric is. Perhaps in a few weeks. I’m going home for the night. I’ll see you tomorrow. Oh and make sure he eats something tonight. It’s been a few days.”

  Then I got out of the chair and left the house. I had some things I needed to pull together in order to make this happen. But soon, very soon Ulric and I would commingle our essence and then his heart would belong to me.

  XXI~~ Amada's Perspective

  There is no safe place for me to go. It seems no matter where I turn someone recognizes this face and this bodies scent and wants to kill me. I may have Taini’s body but I don't have her fighting abilities. Eventually one of them is going to accomplish killing this body. I took a deep breath and let a sigh of frustration slip from my lips.

  I thought my plan had been a good one. The plan was simple, even though the spell had been very complicated. Basically the spell allowed me to switch my consciousness with Taini’s. It was a win win for me. I would trade a weak and decaying body for a strong, healthy chupacabra body that would thrive for thousands of years.

  Taini was encased in stone for all eternity. There was little chance that she would ever be set free from her prison. The best part was Taini agreed to the spell. By agreeing to have me cast the spell she would now be trapped alive and aware until it felt she had paid for all her she convinced herself that she had paid for her sins. Since I now walk in her shoes I can honestly say it is going to be a very long time. I laughed at how easy it had been fool Taini. She all but begged me to steal her body. Her broken heart made her an easy target.

  The spell had been the most amazing and complicated spell I’d ever casted. I tapped into my core to pull every bit of magic out that I possessed. I was grateful that it was successful but it has left me weak and depleted of my magic. My plan to contain her conscious mind within a statue had been pure genius on my part.

  With her thoughts basically taken out of the equation I didn't have to worry that she would reach out to her eternal heart for help. I didn’t have to fight her mind on a daily basis for control of this body. In fact the only way she could ever leave the statue is if it was smashed into tiny little pieces.

  Releasing her conscious mind however didn't give her back her body. To repossess her body would require a reverse spell. It would need to be more powerful if not more so than my original spell. I have no fear of that since my magic is depleted and no one else on earth can possibly know the spell I used.

  I huffed in agitation at my depleted magic. Now looking back I realised the statue had been overkill. Hell, if I’d just been swapped Taini into my body instead of the statue I would have saved magic. Then I could have just killed the human.

  Now, I am in a jam without even a little of my magic I can't defend myself from the skinwalkers. I am strong but they just keep coming. No matter where I hide they seem to find me. If I had just a tad of my magic I could alter my scent just enough to keep them off my trail.

  I heard a noise at the back of the alley and realised the skinwalkers were closing in yet again. I looked behind me and knew they had the advantage and that I was surrounded. I growled out in frustration and used every bit of strength I’d to jump to the nearest rooftop. Running from the skinwalkers was becoming a full time occupation. Having this strong chupacabra body was not working out. I needed a new plan.

  XXII~~ Taini’s Perspective

  I have tried more times than I can count to separate my conscious mind from the stone statue but nothing works. My heart is throbbing with pain so intense I can no longer focus on anything but the sheer agony. If I had eyes I would have been crying. If I had a mouth I would have been screaming in agony. I am resolute that this is my punishment for my many unpardonable crimes against my eternal heart and the skinwalker people.

  My life is over. I am doomed to forever suffer and I will never again be able to touch another being. My body is lost to me, even if I break myself free from this stone prison I will be a soul without a vessel. I know exactly what the Vaettir bitch has done to me. I was housed with them during the war and I saw what the Vaettir were capable of.

  I also knew that the very best I could hope for was that my heart would finally give up and move from this lifetime to the next. For now however there was nothing for me to do but wait until my heart felt it had been punished enough for its sins.

  XXIII~~ Ulric's Perspective

  I felt the bed depress and I knew that Seraphina was sitting on the edge. Her soft clean scent floated towards me. I found myself enjoying her scent more than I have in the past. Something about it just seemed to call to something deep within me.

  I turned slowly to look at her. She was wearing a light yellow sundress and her slightly wavy hair was bouncing around her face. She looked more beautiful then I remembered. Her skin all but glowed with an inner beauty that I knew she possessed. I could tell she was forcing herself to keep a calm expression on her face. Somehow, I just knew however that Seraphina was anything but calm.

  She reached out and gently touched my face with her fingertips. I'm not sure why but I suddenly felt tiny little tingles everywhere her fingers touched me. Even my inner animals perked up and took notice. I was surprised since I haven’t felt any of my animals since we left California. Then I watched Seraphina's reserve slip for just a moment before she forced a small smile onto her face and finally said

  "Ulric, I need you to remain calm. I need to tell you something but you have to promise me that you will be calm. Do I have your word?"

  I wondered why Seraphina was all worked up. I found myself listening to her heart race. I could hear the blood pumping through her veins and I suddenly realised Seraphina was scared to death. Something deep inside of me didn't like that she was so distressed. It wanted to calm her and ease her suffering. I reached out
and placed my hand on her cheek in an attempt to comfort her. Then I opened my senses to try and understand what had her so afraid.

  I heard my mum, pop, Pau and Waylon in the living room. Their voices seemed a bit strained and I could feel anxiety pouring off of all of them. Then I heard a female’s voice that I didn't recognize. The voice for some reason sent tingles down my spine and my body had an almost visceral reaction. Without even thinking about it, I found myself sitting upright in the bed. Then I smelled something. No, I smelled her, my Taini, my eternal heart. I rose from my bed with the intention of launching myself into the living room but was stopped by Seraphina's words.

  "Ulric, it's not really her. You know that! The person out there is heartless and evil. Please Ulric! Wait! Give me a chance to talk to you before you do something you will regret."

  Seraphina's words stopped me in my tracks. She was right. I’d already seen the truth myself. Taini’s heart is not in her body. She threw her heart and our love away. She rejected me and the possibility of our love. Why was she here now? What did she want from me? Why was she here when just a few weeks ago she wanted to kill me?

  Seraphina sat opposite of me wringing her hands. Finally she looked at me with her eyes beseeching me to be patient. When she finally started speaking I realised that even her voice appealed to me in ways I’d never noticed before.

  "According to your Pau, Taini claims she made a mistake getting rid of her heart. She claims she wants it back and needs you, Pau and Waylon to help her."

  I felt a small glimmer of hope ignite within me. If she wanted to get her heart back she must want to give our love a chance. Seraphina seemed to know what I was feeling and I suddenly regretted the pain that my hope caused her. I was surprised when I had the desire to whimper at the thought of Seraphina being hurt by me. I watched as Seraphina seemed to become even more nervous before she continued.

  "Ulric, I really never wanted to have to tell you this but I know now that have to. I’d hoped that you would one day come to recognize it yourself. I however am out of time and well, here it is. I really am your eternal heart too. I know you don't believe that but I’ve known it since the day I met you. I’m telling the truth Ulric.

  I've spent a lot of time over the past few weeks trying to figure out how I could prove it to you. I even considered tricking you into commingling my essence with yours, just so you would finally understand. But I love you too much to force you to be with me. Then, today when I talked to Gaho it all clicked into place. She told me what happened when you were a baby.

  She said that a shaman named Lorena cast a spell on you that was meant to break your attachment with your eternal heart and instead link her to you. She said they killed Lorena and broke the spell but I think it didn't fix our connection.

  Gaho and Waylon both agree. We shared the insight with your mum and pop this morning while we waited for Taini to come and they all agree that I am probably right. We were born for each other Ulric and magic has caused us too much pain and time already.

  Please Ulric, we could be happy together. Just forget about Taini and let her deal with her own consequences. She chose this, she rejected you once already. I have always accepted you. Please give our love a chance. Please Ulric tell her to go to hell where she belongs."

  I was having trouble emotionally processing Seraphina's words. My inner coyote wanted to howl in shame and disapproval. He believed her words as truth. He suddenly believed everything she said and accepted that she was our eternal heart. I however wanted to disagree; I didn't want to believe that she had been with me all this time and I’d failed to recognize my own eternal heart.

  I took in a deep breath expecting to find the scent of a lie, but there was no hint of deception. No smell of untruth. Seraphina was telling me the truth. She believed she was my eternal heart and I had to either accept or reject her.

  XXIV~~ Amada’s Perspective

  Standing this close to Pau was giving me the willies. He was in the cell next to mine in the concentration camp. I feared something in my smell or mannerisms might remind him of me. Lord knew he was smart enough to figure out the truth. I was being quick witted so that I could keep him off balanced and occupied. My main goal was to make sure he didn’t take the time to think things through.

  That shaman partner of his was pretty clever as well. He asked more questions than he did. If I didn’t know better I would think he had some experience with the kind of magic that I’d supposedly used. This house was making me uncomfortable. There was such a combination of species that really shouldn’t be mixing and matching. I smelled nagual, skinwalker, human, chupacabra and something, well other. It was the skinwalker and the other that was making me even more uncomfortable.

  I sniffed again and tried to lock in on who was emitting what smell. I needed to be sure that someone wasn’t going to attack me while my back was turned. Skinwalkers were dangerous and the unknown species could be even more dangerous. That's when it clicked. The shaman wasn’t the human he looked like. No… he was Vaettir as well. Hiding in plain sight. Hell, he was the sexual partner of a nagual and Pau had absolutely no fucking idea. An Alfar Vattier. I loved it. The Alfar are the most beautiful of all the Vattier races. They are flawless to look upon and they radiate charisma. No wonder the stupid nagual fell for him. No matter, the Alfar wouldn’t rat me out or I would give away his secret.

  Besides, I had one goal in mind. Use any method necessary to convince Ulric he was still in love with Taini and wanted to commingle his essence with me. I would lie, cheat, seduce or steel what I needed if necessary. The moment he shared his blood with me, the scent of my new body will automatically change. Then, I can feed off his emotions. I can tap into his strength at will. Over time his torment from an incomplete commingling will completely charge my magic back up.

  With any luck the fool is so in love with Taini’s body that he would do anything I asked. I will make sure to promise him the world and even give him a taste of glory to make sure he was convinced. It should be as easy as taking candy from a baby. I smiled to myself at the thought of manipulating the chupacabra. They are always such fools when it comes to their eternal hearts. They will accept anything and everything for the chance of having a happily ever after. Since Taini’s eternal heart is a chupacabra as well that makes this whole process simpler.

  I heard movement and voices coming from the closed door and found myself focusing on the conversation. It sounded like a female was begging Ulric to reject me. I waited patiently for Ulric to tell the female she was crazy, but it actually sounded as if he might agree. I couldn’t have that. I was going to have to go in there and show him what he would be missing. I threw my shoulders back and pushed my breasts out and marched over to the closed door.

  The moment my hand touched the knob it opened on its own accord. I took one look at Ulric’s face and knew that he intended to reject me. Before he had a chance to say a single word, I threw myself into his arms and pressed my lips firmly to his. I made sure to kiss him with thousands of years of experience behind it. My kiss was as good as any working woman’s could be. My species absolutely loves everything about sex. In fact, I have been very sexually active through the ages and have become quite adept at the art of sexual pleasure. I know he melted in my arms and his desire skyrocketed.

  Everyone in the room including the stupid female that I could now identify as a skinwalker could smell his want and need for me. Just to make sure that I had him where I wanted him, I allowed my left hand to fall to his waistband and slip down his pants. I felt and heard his moan of pleasure the moment my soft hand touched his rock hard manhood. I could feel his body temperature rising and I knew that rejection was the farthest thing from his mind.

  I was slowly pushing us back towards the bedroom that Ulric and the female had just exited. My intention was to guide him to the bed and use the sexual tension that was already developing between us to get him to immediately commingled his essence with mine. We cleared the door jamb and I used my
foot to close the door behind us as I continued to assault his mouth and his manhood. I had to pull my hand out of his pants once we reached the bed in order to get us both in a suitable lying position. To move things along I pulled my dress up over my hips and ground my lower half into his.

  Each movement caused my thong undies to shift up and over, so that Ulric could see glimpses of my sweet spot. I felt his hands move around and grasp both of my butt cheeks. He was kneading my flesh and moaning over and over and his movements were at a fevered pitch. I pulled away from his lips and started kissing down his neck and body. I was half way across his chest when I realised I was smelling skinwalker too. It was so strong and poignant that I’d to keep myself from gagging on the smell.

  I’d never really cared for chupacabra but I was able to be sexual with them and generally find gratification. Ulric however didn’t smell like a chupacabra he smelled of skinwalker. He must be nagual like Pau. I hated skinwalker and their scent not to mention that their beast tended to rub my life force essence wrong. It was like chewing glass. Like Taini, I enjoy killing skinwalkers but preferred not to bed them. Despite my dislike, I unclipped his pants and smiled up at him. I looked up at him and said in a soft seductive voice

  “I want you Ulric. You are my eternal heart. We belong together. Nothing and no one should have ever kept us apart. Tell me that you want me. Tell me that you will help me get my heart back so that we can become a fully commingled couple. Please Ulric, tell me you need and want me as much as I want you.”