Heart Two Heart (16 page)

I heard her move towards me and I quickly
closed my eye tightly together. I felt her grab the small patch of
hair that was likely left on my head and examine my wounds. Then I
felt and heard simultaneously several more shots before the world
went dark again.

The next time I came through I was shocked to
see her feet stepping over my body. If I’d to guess I would have
thought I was out for hours. However based on the minute progress
the Vaettir made in her escape I would assume I was out less than a
minute. I waited until she had one leg on each side of my body
before I shifted. She fell abruptly to the floor. The moment she
was on my level I used my strength to force her body beneath me and
I growled in her face

“You will die today by my hand.”

I watched her swallow as she peered into my
eyes. I could tell she was calculating her odds and didn’t like
them. Then I extended my right arm as far as possible until I
connected with the hilt of my samurai sword. I pulled it into the
air and prepared to remove her head. Just as I made the downward
movement she made one last ditch effort to sway me by shouting

“I have a spell. You could have your eternal
heart back but you have to keep me and this body alive long enough
for me to do the spell.”

I heard her words and could almost even smell
the truth in them. I could recall the conversation my Nan had on
the phone with me so many weeks before. It suddenly all made sense,
no wonder why so many chupacabra had been unsuccessful hunting her.
They weren’t using deadly force. They had been hoping to recover
Taini’s body without injury.

I tried to stop the downward swing. I even
tried to push her out of the way of my sword. None of it mattered.
I realised what was done was done. I closed my eyes on impact. I
felt my sharp samurai glide through her spine like butter. I heard,
not saw Taini’s head roll off her shoulders and land with a thump
next to my face. I forced myself to open my eyes. I looked through
the stinging tears that had already started to fall at the sight
before me. Then, I watched in horror as my eternal heart’s body
turn to dust and disappeared.

“She is not going with strangers. She is
coming home with us.”

I looked again at the chief before continuing
in a professional voice

“My partner and I are more than capable of
fostering her until Ulric comes home. I understand Seraphina has
made it very clear that she doesn’t want the baby and that she is
adamant that Kealoha and Emilio are nowhere near it. I can promise
you that my partner and I are more than capable of taking care of
the baby. I raised six of my own children before I even met Pau.
With him at my side, this will be a breeze. Not to mention that I
am a trained medical doctor and shaman and the most equipped to
handle her unique medical issues.

Her heart and lungs are severely
underdeveloped and she likely is going to have a very short life.
She’s had four strokes already and her little brain is more than
ninety nine percent damaged. We all know that she has no chance of
making it to adulthood even if she is a nagual. She will be nothing
more than a bedridden vegetable. I want to give her joy for
whatever little life she has. She may have been conceived in pain
but she shouldn’t have to live that way.

Pau and I can ease her pain and give her some
tiny bit of happiness. Please let us do that for her. If it turns
out that when Ulric comes home he too declines parenting her, then
she will be adopted into a very loving family. If you give us the
baby we promise to leave Arizona with her today and not return
unless Ulric requests that we give her back.”

I stared down the chief and begged him with
my eyes not to disagree with me. I watched him swallow several
times before he answered

“I spoke with Ulric earlier today and while
he said he was heartbroken that Seraphina still didn’t want
interaction with the baby he understood. Said that given its
medical condition it was probably better she didn’t get attached
anyway. Then told me to allow the baby to be adopted but to a
family outside of Arizona. He was very clear he never wanted to
find out where the child went.”

He looked up and made a hand motion towards
Pau. Then continued

“I’m going to do this against my better
judgment. You can take the baby but you need to do the procedure on
Seraphina first. Now, what do you want to name the baby?”

I looked over at Pau then we both said
together

“Taini”

“Oh God Waylon, it itches so much! I had no
idea that it was going to be this difficult. I’m really glad that
it’s working and I am regenerating my body parts, but for some
reason I didn’t expected to want to pull the damn thing out myself.
Isn’t there anything you can give me to cut down on the pain?”

I screamed at Waylon for the sole purpose of
driving my point home. I knew that he had plenty of ways to ease my
discomfort he was just punishing me on purpose. He wanted to make
me suffer for trying to kill the monster. I knew my chief had given
him and Pau custody of it. I also knew that they were planning on
giving it to another family up north to adopt.

They think because of what happened to me
that I’m stupid. They couldn’t be more wrong. I’ve always been
smart and now that I’ve suffered and come through the other side I
am also cunning. I almost got away with getting rid of it and
making it look like an accident. If not for Ulric’s interfering
parents I would have succeeded in ridding the world of an atrocity.
It’s a shame that Emilio had been lingering around outside of my
apartment. If he hadn’t smelled the blood the damn thing wouldn’t
have survived. Instead Emilio burst through my door and dragged me
back to his place so Waylon could save it.

I still smiled just thinking about my Chief’s
reaction when he learned. He was so angry that he had spittle
coming from his mouth when he came to collect me and the monster.
In fact, he was so angry the he refused to allow Emilio and Kealoha
to keep it. He was furious that they kidnapped me off of tribe
territory and he agreed they had no rights to a tribe born baby. In
fact, he only relented to have Waylon and Pau take the baby after
they promised to never allow Emilio or Kealoha to have any no
contact.

“Well, I suppose I can give you some of the
blood orally, that should make you feel euphoric enough that the
itching shouldn’t bother you at all. In fact, I will leave a pint
in the fridge; you can rub it on your lips whenever you feel pain
or discomfort.”

I watched Waylon pause and look around the
room before his eyes resettled on mine. His lips were pinched
together showing clear disapproval before he said in a voice so
quiet I had to strain to hear it.

“I used to think you were sweet girl, just a
little misguided. I know now that you are twisted and were even
before this happened to you. I know you were the ones that called
the NOFS in the first place. I’ve always known who you were and I
know who your daddy is…”

He paused and used his hand to highlight my
missing limbs. Then he continued with just a bit more bite to his
voice.

“In a few weeks you will be physically
perfect again. No one looking at you will ever be able to tell what
you were forced to endure. Your demented attitude however will
remain exactly as it is. I strongly suggest that you take the time
to get healed emotionally and mentally.”

Waylon’s words boiled like lava inside of me.
How dare he speak to me in that condescending tone? Had he been
forced to walk in my shoes for even a short period of time he would
be singing a different tune? In my anger I said louder than I
intended

“Don’t be so smug Waylon. You think I don’t
know that you took my offspring and made it your own. The Chief
only agreed because I let him. If I asked to keep it, the Chief
would hand it back to me in an instant. I wonder what would happen
if it was to lay it in a crib, while I took a good long nap. I’m
wondering if its little heart could take the separation.”

I knew he understood what I was insinuating.
I saw him take a deep breath and his face paled slightly before he
said loud enough for even the guard outside, sitting in the waiting
room to hear.

“You’re not just twisted your evil! I know
you took something to force yourself into premature labor. I saved
that baby and he is family to me now. If I ever think that you are
trying to harm her I will come back in the middle of the night and
cause you more pain than you could ever imagine.”

I watched as he flung the door wide open and
stepped out of the room. I saw my guard look over at him. He nodded
in his direction then said loudly most likely so that I would hear
him

“My partner and I are leaving tonight with
our new daughter Taini. We will never come back to Arizona or this
tribe unless we are personally invited by the chief.”

I cackled loudly at his words and screeched
at his retreating back as he left the tribe doctor’s office

“Good luck Waylon with the beast. Just
remember bad things happen to good people all the time.”

I am not sure how I knew; maybe it was
because the body and I’d been together for so very long. Or maybe
it was because I felt my eternal heart’s pain cross space and time.
For whatever reason, I knew. A huge part of me wished I didn’t
know. My body was gone and all hope for our reunion died with
it.

If I had physical eyes they would have had
tears leaking from them. Instead in my non-corporeal form the only
thing I could do was mentally cry. I wailed and stomped and
rattled. My heart vibrated and thrummed in pain. Then to my relief
I felt myself slipping from reality and knew that like my body I
would soon dissipate into nothingness.

I felt it tugging at my heart and at first I
fought the pull with all that I’d left inside of me. As the seconds
clicked into minutes a loud roar filled my head. So loud I was
barely able to hear myself think. Then I saw Gaho and Waylon enter
the room. It was clear both of them had been crying. The moment she
saw me her eyes grew three sizes and reminded me of milk saucers.
Gaho tried to speak but for some reason I was not able to hear or
understand her. Her hands and arms were flapping around and I
wondered if she was asking me to hang on or let go.

Waylon looked calmer and seemed to have a
purpose. I watched as he pulled out an old dirty book and flopped
it open on the floor in front of him. Then like Gaho’s his arms
started moving as his mouth opened and closed. Suddenly I felt my
heart being tugged and pulled in two separate directions. I tried
to concentrate on what Gaho and Waylon were doing and realised they
were attempting to cast a spell that would allow my heart to remain
in this dimension without a body to anchor it.

I knew deep down inside of my heart, that
wasn’t something I was willing to live with. It was time for me to
move on from this world and leave my pain and sorrow behind. So
with the roar still booming loudly in my ears and my vision
blurring I decided to give up the fight and try to leave this
world.

I pushed with the last of my strength against
the spell I felt Waylon and Gaho weaving and instead I allowed
myself to drift with the original pain. It was like lying on you
back in the ocean and slowly drifting from the shore. I relaxed and
imagined myself saying goodbye to my loved ones.

For just a brief second I felt complete and
whole. Serenity and peace wrapped itself around me and I found
myself wondering if this was the satisfaction I would have had if
Ulric and I’d been able to complete our commingling. Then too tired
and afraid the pain would return I allowed myself to slip
completely into the darkness.

I threw the final bag into the trunk and
looked around the empty dark alley. I took a deep breath and let
out a sigh as I thought to myself how it was time to go home. I
knew it as clearly as I knew my own name. I wasn’t ready… and I
still had unfinished business… but given the circumstances I knew
I’d to head home.

The past several days had been too painful
and too chaotic to keep going at this pace. I needed family to help
me forget the things I’d seen and worse the things I’d done.
Killing the Vaettir had been the final straw. I was morally and
emotionally bankrupt. There was nothing inside of me that I was
proud of anymore. I needed to go home and rediscover my place in
the world.

I pulled open the car door and dropped myself
into the seat. I felt a warm hot tear splash onto my cheek and knew
that I’d failed. I’d started out thinking what I was doing was
noble and would avenge the wrongs done to Seraphina. Now however I
know nothing that I’ve done was honorable and all I’ve managed to
really accomplish was destroying my own heart.

I am covered in blood. I am as guilty as the
Vaettir and the members of the NOFS. I have allowed my own pain and
suffering to taint my actions. It’s time to go home and begin the
healing process for me and Seraphina. I’ve become twisting and sick
and so has Seraphina. At least she has a good reason. She suffered
unmentionable horrors that have caused her pain beyond my
imaginings.

I can’t say the same for myself. I have
nothing but shame and self-loathing to blame my actions on. I
didn’t want to be a real man and take responsibilities and help
Seraphina heal. I ran to hide my own disgrace. I didn’t kill the
members of the coalition for Seraphina’s honor I killed them for my
own selfish purposes.

I was angry and bitter that I lost Taini and
was forced to bond with Seraphina. I was furious that the NOFS
members dared to defy Seraphina and that I’d been helpless to stop
them. I was maddened by the fact that I allowed lust of my Taini’s
flesh to cloud my mind enough that they Vaettir fooled me. I was
enraged at my own stupidity and foolishness. Then to make matters
worse I was ashamed to see Seraphina’s belly swell with the proof
of my shame.