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  Heart Two Heart

  Skinwalker Tale

  By Dyami Nukpana

  Copyright 2015

  K. George Published at Smashwords

  This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  ~~ Glossary of terms

  Skinwalker: All skin walkers are descendants of the Native American people. They are pure of heart and can take the form of an animal. This is done by calling on their life force essence guide while holding a totem of the animal they shift into. True Skinwalkers can only take one of the following forms; Wolf, coyote, fox, eagle, owl, crow, bear, cougar, bobcat, hawk, crow, eagle.

  Naaldlooshi: Also descendants of the Native American people and are most likely shaman that have the ability to shift into two or more of the following animals; Wolf, coyote, fox, eagle, owl, crow, bear, cougar, bobcat, hawk, crow, eagle.

  Chupacabra: All chupacabra are descendants of Native Central and Southern American cultures dating back to the Inca’s or Mayan’s and Inca’s. While similar to a skinwalker they are often considered tricksters or wicked humans based on the animal forms they take. Chupacabra are often mistaken for vampires in folklore because they drink blood and have an intolerance for sunlight. Like their skinwalker cousins, they call on their life force essence guide while holding a totem of the animal they shift into. Chupacabra can only take one of the following forms; Bat, crow, vulture, snakes, hyena, jaguar and puma.

  Camazotz: A chupacabra or a skinwalker that is pure evil and drinks the blood of infants and children. More often than not, the victim of a camazotz dies. A camazotz can shift into the same animal forms as the skinwalker or chupacabra depending on which they started as.

  Nagual: Is a skinwalker or chupacabra that can shift into the animals of a skinwalker and a chupacabra. The first of which was created during world war two in Germany where the Nazi’s experimented on skinwalkers and chupacabra. In the course of their experiments, they unlocked the secret to both the chupacabra and skinwalker DNA, then spliced the two of them together to create the first Nagual. Both the skinwalker and chupacabra societies believe the nagual are abnormal in nature and as such they are often rejected.

  Vaettir: Thought to be mythological supernatural life force essences capable of vast magic. The Vaettir were divided into four families; Alfar, Dvergar, Jötnar and Sjövættir. These families sometimes intermarried with each other, and sometimes with humans.

  Alfar: One of the Vaettir. Often mistaken as elves in human legends and folklore.

  Dvergar: One of the Vaettir. Often mistaken as dwarves in human legends and folklore.

  Jötnar: One of the Vaettir. Often mistaken as giants in human legends and folklore.

  Sjövættir: One of the Vaettir. Often mistaken as sprites or water life force essences in human legends and folklore

  Aura: A visible emanation of a person’s life essence surrounding the body of a living creature. Ones aura can be viewed by mystics, life force spiritualist, shaman and one’s eternal heart.

  Life essence: Sometimes also referred to as heart, life force essence or life force.

  Eternal heart: The love of their life also known as true love or soul mate. Someone you love unconditionally and without reason.

  I~~ Ulric's Perspective

  I grew up with lies. Lies about my eternal heart. An eternal heart is the way we skinwalkers think of our true love, the love of our lives if you will. I grew up believing my eternal heart was an ancient chupacabra that had gone insane when she found out I was Nagual. Something so abnormal and hideous that she couldn’t accept me. Then again, according to the tales, despite how abhorrent she found me, she still kidnapped me as an infant and managed to get herself killed trying to run from my parents and the other skinwalkers that she made her enemies.

  I wasn't unhappy believing that I had lost my chance at knowing the love of my life but I had to tell myself that I would find love without destiny. Seraphina and I had gotten to know each other over time and had grown to love each other more than any love destiny could force on me. I was going through med school and had already made my intentions clear to Seraphina and my family. After graduation I was coming home to marry Seraphina in the traditional human fashion then we would create our own destiny.

  That plan and my love for Seraphina however changed the moment I learned Taini never died. She was alive and well but trying her best to deny our love and allow me to continue to think she perished all those years ago. The truth was, she chose to remain alone and pay penance for her past sins... She was hell bent on staying out of my life or trying to make me reject her. Now, I don’t believe any of the stories they say about her and I absolutely don’t believe she turned into a camazotz. A camazotz is what we skinwalkers call a death bat. Legend says that a Camazotz is a chupacabra or a skinwalker that has gone insane and begins to feed on and kill humans indiscriminately. They don’t just feed on the blood of animals like most chupacabra, they also feed on humans but prefer infants and children. I refuse to believe my eternal heart could be a camazotz. Now that I know she’s alive, the only thing I cared about is finding her, and making her eternally mine.

  II~~ Taini’s Perspective

  My heart ached on a daily basis. I had always been somewhat crazy but I knew that I was becoming completely insane. The pain alone was driving me out of my mind. My life essence incessantly cried for its eternal heart. It knew he was out there and just wanted to touch his heart.

  I tried to get rid of the feelings, I tried everything I could think of then I sought those who might know more than me. Nothing satisfied my heart. It wanted Ulric and nothing and no one else would do. I roamed through cities and felt nothing for the inhabitants I passed or anything that I see.

  My love of life is long gone. I have lived to many years of solitude I allowed my hatred to fuel my life and turn me into a monster. While I wasn’t a camazotz per say, but close and getting closer every day. I certainly did just as much evil in my years on earth as any true camazotz. I even kidnapped my own eternal heart and risked his life to satisfy my own whimsical feelings. I am not worthy of his love and will never allow Ulric to feel my pain.

  I will walk through life for as many years as I have left, paying penance for my sins against my eternal heart. Which could be a long time. As a chupacabra I age very very slowly. My lifespan will likely be hundreds of years old. I am nearly ninety years old and don’t look a day over twenty. My one and only chance at unconditional love will likely live even longer than me. That said however, I will make sure that our paths never cross and that he never suffers a single moment because of me. I make sure to keep very close tabs on him so that we are never accidently in the same place. So for that reason alone I couldn’t imagine why my heart was suddenly humming with excitement.

  It was like it knew something that I hadn’t yet figured out for myself. I looked around and didn't see any faces that stood out in the crowd. I inhaled deeply and was assaulted with the wonderful fragrance of honeysuckles that I knew belonged to my eternal heart. I pivoted my head around the restaurant and made eye contact. He was more handsome in person than photos.

  His dark brown slightly wavy hair laid on top of his head haphazardly like he’d just gotten out of bed. He was dressed in hospital scrubs and still looked like a million dollars. Every woman in the restaurant stopped and gawked at his good looks. He had a very attractive female skinwalker attached to his side and I briefly found
myself wondering if she was his girlfriend.

  Part of me wanted to stand up and rip her throat out while screaming at the other women in the restaurant to stop looking at him. Ulric belongs to me, always has and always will. Then the rational side of my brain kicked in and I knew I had to get out of there before he realised who he was looking at. I was no longer safe to be around and I knew that my presence alone put my eternal heart in danger.

  I knocked over the table with my hasty exit and several patrons in the restaurant tried to stop and ask me what was wrong. I bolted out of the restaurant while simultaneously grabbing at the vulture claw I kept around my neck. I ran full speed into the desert and shifted the moment I was out of site. As a vulture, I topped out around one hundred kilometres and hours and could fly as high as ten thousand feet in the air.

  I flew until I was deep into the Nevada desert. Once I was exhausted, I descended onto the cold sand, shifted back into my human form and allowed my emotions free reign. I moved through them like most people move through grief. First I was in denial. I couldn’t understand how my eternal heart and I were in the same state nonetheless the same restaurant.

  Then I moved on to anger. I was angry at Waylon and Pau for saving my life. I was angry that I had been such a bad person before Ulric’s birth and that I would never be able to be with my eternal heart. I was angry that I was probably clinically insane and that my very own mind was turning against me. I was no longer able to rationalise right from wrong. The only time I knew beyond a shadow of doubt that I was doing the right thing was when I stayed away from Ulric. I knew I was giving him a chance at real happiness. That wasn’t going to be enough however to keep me from turning into a Camazotz.

  That thought moved me on to grief, sadness and depression. This is the phase I have been stuck in for years. Waylon assures me if I move past this to acceptance that even my mind will begin to heal and I might escape turning into one of the things I hate the most. But how can I accept that I lived for dozens of years for the chance to be with my eternal heart, only to find him and lose him over the course of a few days.

  It was my own fault and my own obsessive behaviour that caused me to lose him. I never allowed myself to heal mentally from the abuse I had lived through at the hands of the Nazi’s and subsequently the skinwalkers. I’d gotten to the anger stage and stayed there for more than a fifty years. I’d taken my hurt and anger out on every skinwalker that crossed my path. I’d never given any of them a chance. I attacked first and never actually got around to the questions part. I’d always assumed they were all guilty. Guilty of what? Who knew but definitely guilty of something? Most of them were most likely innocent.

  If I’d ever actually allowed myself to move through all the steps maybe I wouldn't have been such a bad person. Maybe just maybe I wouldn’t have killed so many innocent skinwalkers. Then, maybe just the tiniest littlest maybe… I would have been able to have Ulric’s heart and finally known what unconditional love felt like.

  III~~ Ulric’s Perspective

  The last minute trip to Vegas had been Seraphina’s idea. I finished my final hours of residency at the hospital last night and we hopped in the car and drove straight to Vegas with the intention of getting married in a chapel and consummating our vowels in the Palazzo hotel and casino.

  Seraphina and I’d decided to elope since lately my mum and nan have been trying to put a wedge between Seraphina and me. I wish I knew why, but I don’t. It doesn’t even make sense since Seraphina has been part of our family since I was a baby. My nan took Seraphina under her wing and helped to shape her into the wonderful woman that I fell in love with.

  Then, out of the blue they start saying things like maybe you two are moving too fast. What if Seraphina has an eternal heart of her own? As a skinwalker, we all know chances are she does. Don’t bind her to you and cause yourself and her pain when he comes along. Seraphina and I couldn’t disagree more. Both of us feel we know how to make better choices than the destiny.

  I was starving and we decided to stop for a quick bite before checking in. I will still in my scrubs and it wasn't really appropriate for a sit down meal but my life essence was pulling me towards this tiny little Italian restaurant that was known more for the wine they served then the food.

  Seraphina looked at me quizzically and even raised her eyebrows when I insisted that we eat there. The moment I cross the threshold I felt my heart burst to life. It was like suddenly having a film removed from my eyes and the world lit up with color. I looked around room in wonder at how absolutely beautiful the world suddenly looked.

  Then I smelled lilacs and vanilla. I automatically tilted my head and my eyes in the direction of the scent. That’s when I saw her. The most beautiful woman I’d ever seen in my life. My eyes locked onto her magnificent obsidian eyes. She had creamy tanned looking skin and dark brown hair which was pulled loosely on top of her head. If I was guessing I would think her Incan blood was mixed with eastern European.

  I saw her eye dart side to side and knew that she was getting ready to take off. I watched as the table she’d been sitting at flew abruptly into the air and she moved towards the exit. I too started to follow her movements with the intention of stopping her from leaving. I needed to know who she was. I needed to understand why my life essence thought she was my eternal heart.

  She got to the exit first and took off at full speed. I blinked and lost sight her. I tried to run after her but found something was holding me back. I looked and realised Seraphina was holding me with one hand while holding onto a steel light post at the same time. I tried to shrug her off so that I could catch my eternal heart. I turned and actually growled at her. My teeth immediately mutating into those of my coyote form. I think the shock of seeing me partially mutate was enough for her to release me. I took off at running full speed following the scent of my eternal heart. I could hear Seraphina’s voice echoing in my ears

  “Ulric, come back. Don’t chase her. She can’t bring you anything but sorrow. Stay with me, we can be happy together. Ulric please.”

  Her words touched me and it hurt but, I knew I’d to go. I needed to track down my eternal heart. If I’d been lucky enough to have a second chance at eternal love, I would not spit in the eye of the destiny. Somehow just being near her changed my life in ways that I never thought possible. I knew to keep what I felt today and to experience more of the same I would chase her to the ends of the earth if necessary.

  IV~~ Seraphina’s Perspective

  I recognised the camazotz by her black heartless eyes the moment we walked into the restaurant. I felt the hair on my arms and the back of my neck stand on end. Then a shiver of dread ran down my spine like a thousand tiny little spiders. I’d been so confused by his choice in places to eat. Generally speaking we enjoyed steak houses over other forms of prepared food. Ulric as a nagual, could transform into three different predators; a jaguar, a crow and a coyote. Despite being predominantly a meat eater he enjoyed pasta from time to time, but this restaurant was mostly seafood which he generally dislike and this restaurant had a reputation for fine wines and bad food.

  I only ever wanted Ulric to be happy so I let him drag me into the dive. I spotted her the moment we cleared the vestibule. She was sitting at a table in the corner of the room with her back to the wall. She looked like the predator she was seeking her next victim. I felt Ulric’s body tense and I knew that he too was aware of her presence.

  I grabbed hold of his arm with the intention of leading both of us back outside and away from the camazotz. She would probably kill both of us on sight if given the chance. We needed to get as far away from here as possible. It was said that once a camazotz chose you as a target there was no chance for survival.

  I pulled at Ulric’s arm but his body refused to move. Then I watched as the camazotz spotted the two of us. I watched her pupils dilate and her nose flare. She knew we were both skinwalkers. I turned to face Ulric but instead of fear, I saw surprise and desire flash across his face. I sudd
enly smelled his pheromones fire off and I knew he was sending out a mating call to her.

  That’s when the truth hit me; the camazotz was his eternal heart Taini. The one that his mother and father continued to allow him to believe was dead. The reason why Gaho was pushing for Ulric and I to give each other space and time instead of marrying. I have known for years the Taini survived the attack. I’d overheard Waylon, Kealoha and Gaho discussing it years ago when Ulric has still been just a boy.

  I’d thought it odd that they had decided not to tell him of his eternal hearts’ existence but I’d been grateful that I wouldn’t have to compete for his love and affection. His mother Kealoha had been adamant that Taini stays away from Ulric. She’d even gone so far as to say that she would “kill her” if she ever came within five hundred feet of her child again. I’d found it to be a very extreme statement coming from a peaceful Navajo woman who showed compassion to worms.

  I’d meant to question Gaho but had never gotten around to it. The truth is I’d assumed that since Ulric’s family comes from a long line of powerful people that whoever this Taini was would be kept far away from Ulric. I’d never banked on Taini being just as powerful if not more as his family. She is the boogeyman to many skinwalker tribes. We use her name to scare the kids into staying indoors and going to bed.

  I trembled as I watched her push the table away and come to her feet. My body shook and I know that the smell of fear permeated the air around me. For just a moment I was too shocked to move, I held my breath waiting for her hand to wrap itself around my neck. I closed my eyes and tried to steady my breathing and my heart, by the time I opened them again she was gone and Ulric was trying to chase after her.