Kindred (6 page)

If you've ever gone to bed with fatigue after a marathon, or the dull ache of a too exuberant exercise routine, or in my case post a fight with three vampires in one night, one of them a level four master, and only had five hours sleep, then you'd know what I felt at that moment as I rolled out of my bed and stumbled to the door.

The clock on the bedside table said 10:00. I don't do 10:00 on a Sunday normally.

I reached for the door with a grimace at the light that poured in through the frosted glass window. You'd think I'd be more careful, opening my front door to an unknown and persistent banging. But I've long gotten over my fear of the average human and the undead wouldn't step foot on my doormat. I've known for some time now, that Michel has put a protection on my property. No vampire or ghoul would dare step on a millimetre of this land. My neighbours don't know it, but they've got the safest building in the city. Besides, where-ever it is that Michel rests during the day.

Anyway, I knew that sound. It was the ever cheerful banging of a wound up shape shifter ready for some fun. I opened the door, reluctantly taking in the fresh faced exuberance and endless electric energy of my best bud. His brown hair was in disarray, short spiky tufts of it standing out at odd angles, like he'd run through blackberry bushes backwards. His soft brown skin glowed in the morning sun and every well-toned muscle on his medium height body was defined in detail by a tight fitting white muscle shirt and hip hugging camouflage cargo pants. His feet were bare.

“
Rick,” I croaked in greeting and turned back towards the kitchen and the coffee machine. Need coffee now.

“
Whoa. You look like death warmed up.” His chocolate brown eyes twinkled with unrestrained mischief.

I glared at him for that one.

“
Tough night huh? On the streets, or in the dreams?” he asked with one eyebrow raised.

Rick knows about me. Everything. It was just too hard to hide it. Especially when the vamps started circling when we were out on the town one night and I had to flash silver. Silver, which as a shape shifter, he tries to avoid. We decided then and there to be honest with each other.

You can imagine the look on my face when he first changed in front of me on my living room floor. He'd warned me by then of course. But still, if you haven't ever witnessed a Shifter change, then it's bound to have an effect. And it's not as though his alter ego is a pleasant sight. Rick's a Taniwha. That's pronounced
Tan-e-far;
a native Shifter to New Zealand. They are considered dangerous, predatory beings. With the razor sharp serrated teeth, large round beady eyes - the colour of their human eyes remained with them through the change to Taniwha, they just became more sinister - and four inch long claws on both front and back legs, you can see why.

They have sand-paper skin, covered in small scales, grey on their backs with a white stripe down their fronts. The scales, along with their long, spiked tail, are designed to provide thrust and aerodynamic speed. They are shark-like in their Shifter appearance and characteristics. Although capable of running on all four clawed feet, they can move as a bipedal. Larger than their human form, Rick had taken up most of my lounge when he first shifted for me. But aside from the magic required to make the shift, his bulbous head, no neck and thick tree-like stumped legs and arms were what caught my attention the most. The size of him and the size of his very sharp serrated teeth, that is.

“
Both,” I said as I prepped the coffee machine. I love my coffee. Back on the farm it had been a stove top espresso maker, but here in the city I splashed out and got myself one of those fang-dangled uber expensive flash jobbies. You know, the kind that grinds the beans, froths the milk and even milks the cow? Yeah, it's a weakness I don't mind others knowing.

I grabbed two mugs out of the cupboard. Both covered in pictures of bright red lipsticked lips with fangs and a blood dripping message that read:
Bite Me! It's Monday.
What can I say, I'm a sucker for a good novelty shop.

Rick jumped up on one of the bar stools at the kitchen counter. “Come on, 'fess up. What's happening?”

I sighed as the coffee machine poured frothy milk over two steaming mugs of espresso and handed Rick his across the bench.

“
Three last night and one was a level four master.” I was getting used to saying that, even though it still sounded foreign to my ears.

You may think that vampire hunters spend every night hunting the undead. But that's the thing, very few vampires stray from the
Iunctio's
rules nowadays. It's odd to have so many in one night. I usually manage one or two each week, but they're spread over the entire week, not in one night. And how do I find them? Well, when evil comes calling in my city I just know. It's like a homing beacon or something. I just know they're here and I find them. Usually, but not always, when they're about to bite into an innocent. Nothing like getting hands-on proof you're doing the right thing.

“
Wow, that's busy. Why the action, ya think?”

“
Um, I'm not exactly sure why, but Michel reckons it's something to do with me.” I dared a glance at him across the top of the steam coming from my mug. He just looked at me expectantly, waiting for me to elaborate. “He mentioned something else. Something about a group of vampires who
wish to take over the night completely.
Does that mean anything to you?”

Rick shook his head from side to side slowly. “Nah, not a thing, but let's back up a bit. Michel reckons it's something to do with
you
. What's that about?” Rick, being a shape shifter, is well aware of what Michel is. Shape shifters and Vampires don't normally live so closely together, but Auckland's a little different. They say it's the Ley Lines, those invisible lines inter-connecting various psychic hot-spots around the world. Well, Auckland, for some unknown reason, is the Grand Central Station of all those Ley Lines. The supernova of all coming and goings on the supernatural plain. So, even though it's not common, when these two supernatural creatures do co-exist, the vamps are on top of the food chain and the shape shifters know it. So, Rick knows what Michel is and is afraid of him. Clever boy.

“
Apparently, my status as a Hunter comes into it, but I'm not altogether sure how. There's another thing, I got on the site last night and had a pow-pow with the others. It's happening everywhere, we're all being inundated with careless and aggressive vamps. There was something that Nero said, that didn't make any sense to me at all. Something about this happening to
our kind
before and we prevailed, or some such guff. You know Nero, he's so melodramatic.”

Actually, Rick didn't know Nero, but he knew what I meant. I'd conveyed enough of my conversations with the Egyptian over the past two years for him to get a picture of what he was like.

Rick shrugged. “So, what are you gonna do?”

“
Well, pay another visit to Michel, get some answers and then, I suppose, do what I do
best. Kick some vampire butt.” I grinned at him and swallowed the rest of my coffee.

“
Cool.” Ever the relaxed Shifter. “Well, with that settled, get dressed. Celeste has been gunning for you to come visit for months, so get going we're having a party.” He got up and ushered me into the bathroom to get ready.

There was just no arguing with a shape shifter.

Celeste is a member of Rick's Hapū. New Zealand shape shifters don't run in Taniwha packs, they run in a Taniwha
Hapū
. She's youngish, about two years older than me, that would make her 26 and the mother hen to the younger members of Westside Hapū. They call themselves that, but there's no Eastside Hapū, or Southside or whatever, it's just them. They are the Hapū of the city.

Shape shifters aren't as prevalent as vampires and certainly not as widespread as Ghouls. Celeste is as close to a best girlfriend as I have. We get on, we laugh together and can share the odd joke at the expense of the guys, but she's still a little aloof. I'm not Hapū and I never will be. My inclusion in their world is purely at the insistence of Rick. The others tolerate it, the guys especially - hormones! But, the girls in particular are more weary. It goes against their scaly skin to disclose who they are.

I guess a bit like a vampire.

The Hapū have lived in Auckland for decades. Maybe even longer than the vamps. New Zealand's not that old. The
Maori
have been here a while, but the white man, the
Pakeha
, only arrived in the early 1800's. The
Treaty of Waitangi
was signed in 1840, that's really when New Zealand as we know it today was formed. So, Taniwhas and vampires have not been here centuries like in Europe or elsewhere.

The Hapū lives out in Whenuapai, the west of Auckland City. They own several hectares, which is slowly being encroached on all sides by urban sprawl, but they'll never sell. Their roots are too deep. The land is heavily wooded and well fenced. No one strays onto Hapū land accidentally. They can get away with it, because they're right next to the Air Force Base. All that menacing barbed wire fencing looks legit.

The woods, of course, offer up enough coverage to run freely at Rākaunui, or Full Moon. Taniwhas, like any other shape shifter, are compelled to change in light of the Full Moon. They can change by desire at any other time of the month, but they cannot refuse the pull of the moon. The Hapū does venture further afield when the need arises, when they have to stretch their legs every now and then. But mainly those who work for a living in the city, like Rick, stay close to the land, the woods and their home. It takes Rick at least an hour, if not more, to get to the gym from home. I couldn't stand that. Why live in a city and travel like a country bumpkin? My work is five minutes away, if I take the car - which I don't, parking's a bitch in down town Auckland - but only ten or so if I jog.

Today, being a Sunday, the trip was much quicker. We turned off onto Hapū land after only 28 minutes on the road. I immediately rolled down my windows and inhaled the smell of the trees. It's always so peaceful to come here, not anything like my farm of course , but something akin to it. I figure it's all the trees and nature. You do miss that in the city if you're used to it. No lambs wagging their tails here though, they wouldn't last past the first Rākaunui.

The crunch of gravel under the tyres slowed as we rounded the final corner to the main houses. There's about a dozen or so in the centre of the land, a bit like a settlement. It used to be called a
Pa
, a Maori hill fort, but you can't make out the rise now with the woods so thick. Maori blood runs deep in Westside Hapū. It's not always obvious, they're not all brown skinned, but it's there, strong and true.

Celeste greeted us on the door step as soon as we arrived. Tall and thin, with waist length long brown hair and deeply tanned skin. She's beautiful in an exotic dancer kind of way. After a  few hugs all round, bone crunching, bear hugs that is - they are very tactile Taniwhas, part of being in a Hapū I guess - and I was part of the gang again.

“
It's been too long, Luce,” she squealed, actually squealed. I think I may have cringed.

“
Leave off her, Cel.” Rick shoved at her in what seemed a gentle move, but she ended up
spinning round like a top.

“
Oi, creep! You're asking for it.”

Then it was on, just like that. You get used to it, well kind of. They play-fight a lot, the Taniwhas. It's just in their natures. They don't have to shift to do it, they tend to stay in human form, but it can be rough. I soon realised there was a lot they could teach me when I first visited their land. I've been a regular member of the fighting sessions since. You don't learn how to street fight dirty at Judo or Kick-Boxing lessons, but you sure pick up a few helpful hints from Taniwhas.

I took a resigned seat on the swing-bench on the veranda. I was still not up to a full-on fight after last night. The combination of lack of sleep, invaded dreams and you guessed it, three vampires in one night, one of them a level four master, had taken its toll. But, I didn't have to watch it alone for long. Mary slid into the seat next to me and started swinging her legs, while her twin brothers, Joe and Rocky - don't ask me where he got that name from, maybe he chewed on rocks when he was young - jumped into the fray.

I glanced at Mary, she's only 12. Not fully grown by Taniwha standards, but quite capable of holding her own in a fight, be it in human form or Shifter. Taniwhas are raised tough from birth, there's no namby pamby sit-on-the-sidelines characters in the Hapū. Each and every one of them is a fine tuned killing machine. Just because they look like you or me most of the time, does not mean they can't kick your arse when they feel the need.

Still, Mary didn't look like she was up for a demonstration on juvenile Taniwha prowess. “Not joining in, hun?” I asked.

“
Naw, can't be bothered. They've been at it all weekend. It's Rākaunui tomorrow.”

Oh yeah, I'd forgotten. Not a good idea to be on Hapū land when it's Rākaunui. Even the days leading up to it can be a bit tetchy, but when that Full Moon rises, it's a different world altogether.