A Tale of the Other Kind: A Therian Novel (11 page)

‘The Khoi-San people were, of course, incredibly knowledgeable and had the powers of witch magic. A powerful chief named U-Tixo was a potent sorcerer of great skill. Several times, he died and rose again. He made war against any enemy of the Khoi-San people. The Khoi-San used this to their advantage when we first came here to take over their lands. However, they weren’t going to let us win without a fight. 

‘U-Tixo was strong and had the gift of ancient animal spirits, which fought shifters on an astral plain. This continued for many years until their kind started to dwindle due to us hunting them and they had to come to a truce. In exchange for their silence on our existence, we promised them a land where they would not be disturbed – a land that belonged solely to them. 

‘Before they left, and during the times that they were still occupying this land, they captured a lot of history in their rock paintings and drawings, such as these behind you. Unfortunately, it was already too late for their kind and, as you know, today only a few Khoi-San still remain in the Kalahari Desert. 

‘We told them it was their promised land, but frankly, its a banished shithole and before they knew it, it was too late.’ 

Kai turned around, looking at the drawings by the Khoi-San people that he hadn’t noticed before. Silently, he examined the pictures that were delicately drawn into the rock.   

‘Hey, what are you two doing here?’ a voice rang out from above the rocky escarpment. 

They both looked up at a young man dressed in khaki, wielding a dangerous-looking gun. Kai looked up at Astrid, his eyes growing large with surprise. 

‘Just looking around,’ Astrid replied calmly. 

‘You’re not allowed to be here,’ the voice shouted. 

‘So sue us,’ she replied, folding her arms. Kai threw his hands in the air and tried to explain, but the obviously disgruntled game ranger would hear nothing of it. 

Obediently, the two followed the ranger out of the reserve. All the way, the ranger explained the dangers of being out there without protection, which yielded a giggle from Astrid every now and again. 

The speech reminded Kai about Sienna and the night she’d been attacked in the forest. He felt weak and afraid of what their future held. Every passing day he missed Sienna more and even though he tried to ignore his feelings, the pain of not being close to her intensified. Walking through the corridors at school sometimes seemed unbearable. 

His sense of smell was so strong; he could smell her everywhere he went. She probably hated him by now, and this scared him. It scared him even more than not being with her. 

‘Now I hope you kids have learnt your lesson about why it’s unsafe to sneak into a game reserve and walked around without protection,’ the ranger lectured as they exited the reserve gates. ‘Don’t let me ever catch you here again,’ he warned, directing them out the park to ensure that they left. 

‘Yes sir, we didn’t now. I apologise. It won’t happen again,’ Kai replied as the large gate slammed in his face. 

‘Friendly people, these humans,’ Astrid laughed. 

‘I thought we were allowed to go in there!’ Kai grumbled. 

‘Of course we are. Our people own that land. Humans are like a plague. They’re everywhere and absolutely useless.’ 

Climbing into the car, Kai made a decision – he was going to visit Sienna.

It was getting dark outside as Kai parked his motorcycle outside Sienna’s house, which loomed larger than ever in his eyes. He was unsure whether anybody would let him in and he was almost certain that she’d refuse to see him. He had to explain things to her and make up for the wrongs he’d done. The gate was open, so he slowly made his way to the front door, and the maid answered swiftly. 

She showed him into the house and told him that he would find Sienna upstairs in her bedroom. Surprised by his luck, he headed up the stairs, which seemed to extend with every step he took. Before he reached the top, he heard voices. It was Sienna and she was talking to James. As he reached the door he could hear them arguing and it seemed they were arguing about him. 

‘You have no right to tell me what I can and cannot do, James,’ she said. 

‘You’re my girlfriend,’ he replied in an angry tone. ‘No, no, I’m not.’ 

‘It’s about that Kai guy, isn’t it? I should have broken his neck when I had the chance.’ 

‘Yeah right, you couldn’t even if you tried.’ 

‘Listen to me, you little...’ he said pushing her up against a wall just as Kai opened the door. 

‘I wouldn’t do that if I were you,’ Kai thundered, but not before Sienna gave James a solid blow to the groin with her knee. 

James took a step back from Sienna, reeling in unexpected pain, trying to compose himself. When he stood up, he smirked at Kai. ‘What are you going to do? Punch me again? This time I’m ready for you,’ he said, punching his fist into his chest. 

Kai stared at him for a second and realised that it wasn’t worth it to make another scene, but he wasn’t going to let James hurt Sienna again. He walked up to James and demanded that he leave. 

Without warning, James pummelled Kai to the ground in one swift movement. He landed his fist on Kai’s jaw, sparking fury in the broody shifter. He grabbed James by the neck and kicked him across the room, crashing into the wall. 

James struggled to regain his composure and breathed heavily. ‘Who do you think you are? She is my girlfriend. You have some audacity coming in here and throwing your weight around?’ he said enraged. 

Kai didn’t wait, jumping forward and grasping James by the neck – briefly flashing his razor sharp teeth and catlike eyes. 

‘I’m going to say this once, and only once, and you’d better listen carefully James, because if I have to repeat myself, I can assure you that you’ll regret the day you ever met me ... stay ... away ... from ... Sienna, or I swear, I
will
kill you.’ 

‘Kai, let him go,’ Sienna touched his arm softly. He released James from his grip, sending him sprawling on the floor. 

‘What are you, you freak!’ James screamed back at him and looked over at Sienna. 

‘You aren’t worth it,’ he yelled as he got up and leaped for the door. 

Kai was trembling with anger and kept staring at the ground, focussing hard not to shift. 

‘Kai, look at me,’ Sienna said as she held onto his arms. He turned around and stared at her. ‘Your eyes,’ she gasped. 

He flinched and tried to turn his head, but it was too late, she had already seen what he was trying to hide. 

‘It’s nothing.’ 

‘Enough lies Kai,’ she said, taking his face and turning it back to her. In the nick of time, his eyes changed back to their human form. 

‘Why did you come here?’ 

‘I wanted to talk to you.’ 

‘Why? You told me we couldn’t be together. You told me to stay away from you,’ she said, letting her arms drop to her sides. She walked towards the window and stared into the night sky. ‘You left me Kai.’ 

‘I know, but that was before...’ he trailed off. 

‘Before what? Before you thought I was hooking up with James again? Is that the only time when you’re interested in me? 

‘Yes, maybe something weird happened and yes, I’m amazed at how much has happened between us in only a few short weeks, but you are really messing with my mind here.’ 

‘I didn’t mean for it to be like this.’ 

‘Sure you didn’t Kai, but that’s the way it is and you hurt me. You have no idea how it felt when you walked away from me after all that had happened. I’ve been so scared and confused. I have no idea what’s going on.’ 

He walked over to her, reaching out to touch her, but she held up her hand in protest. ‘I’m not finished...’ 

‘Sorry...’ he said, dropping his hand. 

‘I want to know what happened that night in the forest. And I don’t want excuses. I’m the one who ended up in hospital. And, just so you know, I am perfectly capable of taking James out all on my own, thank you very much. I didn’t need your help,’ she huffed. 

‘Are you finished now?’ Kai asked, teasing her. 

‘Not nearly!’ Kai chuckled under his breath. 

‘Why are you giggling?’ 

‘It's just so funny; I’ve never seen you this angry before. It’s kind of cute,’ he joked. 

‘You are cruising for a bruising, buddy,’ she huffed crossing her arms. 

He smiled at her softly and after a brief moment, put his arms around her shoulders, pulling her towards him. 

‘So, you think that James will suffer a bruising under me, huh?’ he giggled. 

‘Oh, stop. That wasn’t to boost your ego. I bet I could rough him up,’ she laughed back. 

‘Feeling very brave today aren’t we?’ he teased. 

‘Yes, well, between you and James it hasn’t been an easy couple of weeks you know,’ she said more seriously, moving away from Kai’s embrace and frowning. 

‘What’s wrong?’ 

‘What does this mean Kai? You’re here, but I’m still not certain why?’ 

‘I don’t know ... I want to apologise.’ 

‘Very kind of you, but is that all? You could have done that a long time ago. What’s going on with you? To be honest, you’ve been avoiding me like the plague.’ 

‘I really am sorry. I mean it. I’ve just … been going through a really tough time the past couple of weeks.’ 

‘You know, I told you this before. You can talk to me. You don’t need to shut me out like this,’ Sienna offered. 

‘It's just that, what I’m dealing with isn’t something that I can really explain to you. I don’t even know how to explain it to myself.’ 

‘Okay then, why don’t you just start at the beginning. Try?’ 

Closing his eyes, Kai thought hard about what he was about to do. What if she thought he was nuts? This was not the type of story you told a girl that you are obviously head-over-heels for. She’ll run screaming, surely? 

‘I don’t think you would believe me...’ 

‘Thee of such little faith,’ she cracked a small smile. 

‘Sienna!’ her mother called from downstairs. 

‘Ugh, typical,’ Sienna said. ‘Yes mom?’ 

‘It's time to say goodbye to your guests. Dinner is ready.’ 

‘I’m sorry. Can we meet up later? She sighed. ‘I’ll come over to your place, and then we can talk? She just hates it when we miss dinner and I haven’t exactly been flying low on the radar these last couple of weeks.’ 

‘Yeah, sure,’ he replied, feeling a little bit relieved at the intervention, ‘I’ll see you later then?’ he asked and swiftly left the room as she nodded.

****

As the hours ticked by, Kai sat nervously staring out of the window, waiting for Sienna to arrive. He didn’t know how he was going to tell her about his experiences these last couple of weeks, but he knew that if he wanted to be with her, and if it meant that he had to tell her that he was a shapeshifter, then that was what he was going to do. His tapping on the windowsill became louder as time ticked by, anxiously awaiting her arrival. He got up and paced towards the bedroom door and back and forth between the windows, hoping that it would calm him down. 

Eventually, he heard a car pull up outside and he swiftly moved over to the window, where he saw Sienna waving from below, calling him to come outside. He smiled at her, his heart skipping a beat as he took in her beauty. Nobody ever made him feel this way and he knew that she had a right to know about his new world – the one she unknowingly became a part of. 

‘It’s nice outside,’ she said as he opened the door. ‘I thought we could walk around a bit and you could take your time telling me your complicated story,’ she smiled, stretching out her hand to him. He took her hand in his and they started walking towards the woody meadow behind the house. 

‘Are you sure? After last time...’ 

‘Oh no, I’m not going in there again, but if we stay close to the house I guess there’s no harm. 

‘Nobody’s home, we could really go inside if you’re scared.’ 

‘Do I look scared to you?’ 

Defeated, Kai shrugged in submission as they walked behind the house and found a spot to sit on a log of wood not too far from the outdoor lights. 

‘Spring is finally here,’ Sienna said, breaking the awkward silence. 

‘Yeah, I can’t wait for summer. The lake will be fantastic,’ he attempted. A light breeze rustled the leaves on the ground and gently lifted Sienna’s hair off her shoulders, sending a whiff of lilac through the air. 

‘Are you cold?’ Kai asked as she hugged her arms close to her body. 

‘A little, but I’m fine. It’s nice.’ Kai took off his jacket and placed it over her arms. 

‘We wouldn’t want you to catch a cold. It’s almost senior-year farewell and besides, I need a date,’ he smiled. 

‘Is that your weird way of asking me to the matric farewell?’ she grinned. 

‘Yeah, it kind of is. Of course, that all depends on whether I make you run screaming in the next half hour or so.’ 

Sienna’s tiny frame seemed even smaller in his large jacket, covering most of her legs as she sat with them curled under her. 

‘You know, you look kind of cute wearing that,’ he joked stalling. 

‘Well, maybe I’ll just keep it. Give you a proper reason to come visit me.’ 

‘I’ll come visit you. I promise.’ 

A moment of silence passed between them, with only the sound of crickets filling the night and every so often the sound of a jackal crying deep inside the forest. 

‘It's really pretty out here. I can see why you love it so much. It’s peaceful and calming.’ 

‘You know, if you listen closely, you could hear the faint sound of the waterfalls crashing on the rocks below. It helps me sleep at night,’ he replied. 

‘This really makes you happy, doesn’t it?’ 

‘Yes, it really does. It makes me feel free and; wild - somehow. What happens in the forest stays in the forest. The animals are free and uninhibited. Watching them live day to day in this forest astounds me. 

‘The way they move and think makes me want to know more about life. Unfortunately, I still don’t know where my life is heading and things are a little less clear for me. The year is coming to an end and if I didn’t know a couple of weeks ago what I wanted to do with my life, I now know even less about what I want and where I’m heading,’ Kai admitted.