Heart Two Heart (10 page)

It’s basically a deep hole encased in cement
with a sliding ceiling. When they open the top it allows the sun to
shine brightly down on me. I imagine it must have been built
explicitly to torture chupacabra. The bars are made of titanium and
even with my enhanced strength there is no way for me to break
out.

I felt him kick me in the back of the head
then I was lifted in multiple hands and tossed back into my cage. I
landed roughly and was a little surprised when I felt my right fang
crack. I pushed it with my tongue and spit it out of my mouth. I
took a deep breath and allowed my head to drop into my lap.

I'm coated in sun blisters and I know I'm not
healing. I always wondered if I was invincible I'm starting to
think that I'm not. I can feel my blood burning me from the inside
out and I'm pretty sure if they expose me to more direct sunlight
tomorrow I might go up in flames.

In some ways that was good thing. Taini was
probably dead, I really messed things up with Seraphina and even if
it was Amada in Taini’s body I just wasn't up for watching them
terrorize her. I was deep in thought when they suddenly opened my
cell and threw a young female human in the cell with me. With my
eyes swollen from the beating and the sun I could only smell and
hear her heart beating rapidly. Someone yelled to me

"No goats for you. Feed on her or we will
force you. Perhaps you will get carried away and become a camazotz
like your eternal heart. Either way, we want you alive... for
now."

I heard him chuckle and I heard the young
female tremble in fear. I wanted to decline but with each beat of
her heart I could hear her blood calling to me. I fought the desire
for hours. She sat across the cell from me all night whimpering and
crying. I tried to tune her out and concentrate on anything but the
sound of her heart beating fresh blood through her body. It really
shouldn't have been that hard. Hell, the thought of human blood
repulsed me.

I preferred animal blood. Goat blood to be
specific. Yup true to the myths, chupacabra really did prefer goat
blood. I felt the air grew thicker and I knew the sun would be
rising soon. I was trying to convince myself that I was better off
allowing myself to move from this world to the next. My blood was
boiling and I found myself thinking about how good the human
smelled. I was so hungry and her blood was calling to my blood. My
thoughts were getting fuzzy and somehow I found myself
instinctively moving towards her. I heard her gasp in fear as I
pulled her it my arms.

I tried to stop myself but something dark and
evil took me over. I think that’s why chupacabra and skinwalkers
turn. There is something truly evil in all of us. Something that
turned our worst nightmare into our biggest desire. I wanted to
feed on the woman and I wanted more than anything to drain her
dry.

Before now, I'd always fed religiously three
times a week to avoid temptation. When I was injured, I immediately
fed, I'd never took any chances and I made sure my body always had
sufficient blood. Pau had given me a complete and thorough
understand of blood lust. It was an instinctive reflex to our
endangered life. Pau said it wasn't evil in itself, but it did lack
a conscience. Blood lust could and would force me to do things that
I would not approve of. Once done, I would be full of guilt. Guilt
that could turn me into a camazotz. He warned me, to never drink
from a human if I could, but more importantly never allow myself to
slip into blood lust.

I didn't want to… but I couldn't have stopped
if I wanted to. In the back of my mind I knew with only one fang
the poor human was going to suffer needlessly. I even recall
thinking I would just take a small sip of her. Just enough to take
the edge off. Then I ripped into her neck and drank every drop of
blood that her body held within it.

I was angry and wanted retribution for my
son’s death. When I got the call from the Manhattan chief, I was
shocked. Then he told me he'd captured the camazotz eternal heart.
That however, was nothing compared to the shock I felt when I
arrived and found Ulric.

My shock quickly turned to anger and disgust.
Ulric had been their when we'd found my sons broken and skinless
body. He’s held me in his arms and allowed me to spill my grief.
He'd lifted me in his arms and carried me home. Finding out that he
was the camazotz eternal heart was a slap in the face. How could he
have stared me in the eyes and lied to me. How could he sully my
son’s funeral with his complete and utter lies? He was the bitch’s
eternal heart. He had to have known where she was. He was as much
at fault as the kidnappers for my son’s death.

I continued to yell obscenities at him the
entire time I punched and kicked him. I would have beaten him to
death had the chief from New Jersey not stopped me. They had plans
that required Ulric to be alive for. They promised me that once
they had the camazotz, Ulric was all mine.

I intended to make him pay for my son’s life.
I would skin Taini in front of him. Then I would heal her with
blood and repeat the process for days on end. Only after I grew
tired of seeing her suffer would I allow her to die. Then, I might
just repeat the process on Ulric until I no longer ached for my
son. Until my eternal heart no longer cried for our son on a
nightly basis. I might just skin the bastard alive every night
until I died. Then, I would allow him to find his own death in cell
just like this one in the center of the Nevada desert.

We grabbed his almost unconscious body off
the floor and threw him back in the cell. I flicked the switch and
closed the top since I couldn't afford him to accidentally die from
his injuries. Joe from Jersey said they secured a homeless female
and would toss her in so the Ulric could feed and heal his
injuries.

I smiled and clapped my hands together in
excitement. I loved the idea of him healing so I could repeat the
process tomorrow. With any luck Taini would turn herself in. We
were dangling the idea in front of her that he would go free. I had
to laugh at that idea. He was going to die just like she was.

I pulled the dirty human off the floor and
threw her in. I made sure she had several small wounds on her body
so that she dropped just enough blood to drive his chupacabra side
nuts. I expected him to grab her and feed the moment she entered
the cell. With any luck he too would turn into a camazotz. As a
camazotz it was legal for us to torture and kill him. As a nagual
the legalities were a bit cloudy.

During the night however, I had several
nightmares and my son had come to me. He reminded me that I was a
good man, and that this kind of behavior was beneath me. He begged
me to go home to my wife and forget about torture and evil things.
He shamed me into rethinking all of it. He even called me bad
because I threw a poor defenseless human in with a sick nagual that
would probably fall into blood lust and kill her.

When I woke up I knew that I had to go home.
I couldn't possibly participate in the torture of the camazotz or
Ulric. That morning, when I returned to his cell I’d expected to
find that Ulric had fed and killed the human. I was shocked to see
Ulric was still severely injured and had not fed. I was just about
to enter his cell and pull the female out when I noticed his eyes
suddenly shot open. I was too late, he was in full blood lust and
his blood red were the proof.

He made this horrific gurgling sounds in his
throat as he pulled the human into his arms. I saw his lips pull
back and I noticed only one of his fangs were still intact. He tore
into the human’s throat with a veracity of a crazed animal. I tried
to open the door but Joe was suddenly at my side and held me
back.

He forced me to watch Ulric tear into the
girl. He didn't just drink her blood he chewed on her flesh and
reveled in her blood. His face was coated in her blood. Then, when
he'd gotten every drop of blood he could from her veins he tore
into her chest with his claws and pulled out her heart.

I couldn't stop myself for from watching him
through partially closed eyes. He sat sucking on her dead heart
with a sick twisted smile on his face. I watched as his wounds
healed in record time. In less than an hour he completely
healed.

I assumed he was finished and I turned to
leave when one I realised several other chiefs’ had joined us. One
of the chief's I'm not sure which one said to me.

"Don't leave Óscar. You need to see what he
really is. You came down here with the intention of turning him
loose. I know because I heard you talking in your sleep. You need
to join us in our cause. This nagual is the start of something much
bigger. You knew this yesterday; don't let your heart go soft just
because he was with you when your son died.

Trust us. We are right about him and all the
nagual and camazotz. We can't have this nagual making this worse.
You need to see what he really is. What they all really are. They
are all evil, every last one of them even if they haven’t
officially turned yet. This will prove it to you. Believe me when I
tell you he deserves what you had planned. Watch so that you never
again feel guilty for the torture we will do to him, the camazotz
and the rest of their stinking dirty species."

Then I watched in pure horror as Ulric ripped
open her stomach with his claws and pulled out her internal organs
one by one. Ulric would twist and turn the girl's flesh in his
hands so that he could squeeze the blood from them into his mouth.
He had a look of pure bliss and pleasure on his face. I could
almost swear I heard him humming a happy tune.

I’d never in my life seen anything so
completely abhorrent. This was, in my mind worse than what I had
planned for him. I couldn't stop my stomach from turning. The smell
of her guts alone could have done it. Whoever had been holding me,
let me loose and I dropped to the floor and emptied the contents of
my stomach. I heard gagging behind me and I knew both of them were
throwing up too.

I felt a little uncomfortable showing so much
skin but Kealoha was clear that I needed to make sure I kept all
eyes on me. I was going into a very dangerous situation and the
only weapon I’d was my looks and my wits. I thought again about
what Emilio had told me earlier in the night.

"Now remember Seraphina, this is no ordinary
skinwalker tribe. These are mostly rogues and chiefs without
tribes. They are very dangerous. Don't let your guard down for a
moment. Now, they are going to think you are just a female in heat
that wandered into their bar.

Every male in the place is going to be trying
to win your attention. With the pheromone fragrance from the doc
they won't be able to think straight. Just don't overdo it. One or
two spritzes at most. Anyhow, make the skinwalkers think you want
them so they fight over you. Once enough of them are fighting turn
tail and get the hell out there. By then Kealoha and I should have
Ulric."

I made a kissy face in the mirror and
slathered on the deep red lipstick then I fluffed my bleach blond
dyed hair one more time. I pulled the bottle of pheromone fragrance
from my purse and spritzed myself with a couple of times. I sniffed
but was a little concerned when I didn't smell anything.

Just to be sure I
spritzed myself a few more times but still didn't notice any smell.
Well, with or without the perfume I had a job to do. I just prayed
the doc was right because without the scent I had no chance of
getting and keeping the attention of so many male skinwalkers.

I looked at the clock and realised it was
show time. I stepped out of the hotel room and looked down at the
pale yellow halter top that barely contained my large breasts.
Despite the fact that I had ample cleavage showing, I pulled the
halter top down a little lower and hiked the tiny black skirt I was
wearing up just a little more. Then I slipped on the four inch high
spike black pumps and clicked the hotel room shut behind me.

I glanced down at my watch and knew I was
right on schedule as I walked across the street and headed directly
for the bar. The street was quiet and empty and I didn't notice
anyone paying attention to me as I pushed open the bar door. I
paused a moment to let myself adjust to the light and tried to take
in my surroundings. My eyes adjusted quickly to the dimly lit room
but I was nearly knocked out by the heavy smell of cigarette smoke
and stale beer. I couldn't help but wonder that even if the doc’s
pheromone fragrance worked and if anyone could smell it over the
heavy odors already in the bar.

Looking at the crowd of men reminded me of
the past few weeks we'd spent on the road looking for Ulric. We'd
been rattling cages and kicking in doors when we finally caught our
break. It turns out there are a radical group of skinwalkers that
have come together for a common goal. They want to rid the earth of
camazotz and nagual and perhaps even chupacabra.

They claimed that chupacabra and camazotz in
particular where the reason Tsohanoai the sun god created
skinwalkers in the first place. Skinwalkers were charged with
shining a light on the creatures of the dark and to keep the world
safe from their evil. According to legend, Tsohanoai is the reason
the chupacabra are allergic to the sun in the first place. Since
the nagual are also allergic to the sun, the have concluded that
they too must be evil and need to be eradicated.

My pop is a founding member of the New Order
of Federation Skinwalkers. NOFS as they like to call it. As such, I
knew who they were and exactly what their goals were. That’s why
despite Ulric being a nagual, I called my pop the day Taini showed
up in Vegas and asked him to help me. I told him the truth about
Ulric and why I disappeared. He was so happy to hear from me, that
he promised not to hurt Ulric, if I helped them to kill the
camazotz and come home.