This new world excited him, and he wondered whether it was possible that Astrid could have been wrong about them being the only ones of their kind in the Lowveld. His suspicions grew daily as he analysed everyone in town with new eyes, trying to unravel the mystery that might lead him to others of his kind, but he was too new at this, and he had no idea how to distinguish his kind from humans. At night, he usually made it a habit to venture into the forest to practice transforming. It made it easier, not having to worry about the chance that a human might see him. His hunting skills were a hundred times better now and he regularly hunted fresh meat.
His new life as a leopard was changing him, making him become somebody he didn’t recognise anymore – he no longer felt fear, and stealth and strength radiated through his muscles. He was no longer simply Kai Emery who lived around the bend from Sabie; he was now one of the world’s most dangerous predators – fierce and cunning.
‘This isn’t you.’
Kai spun around in his chair as he heard a voice he thought was lost to him forever. ‘Astrid!’
‘Miss me much?’ she asked as she climbed through the bedroom window.
‘You disappeared,’ he replied accusingly.
‘Uh, hi, glad to see you, would have sufficed, but okay, yes, I went away for a while,’ she retorted. ‘Why? You said that I’d see you again. You said that you would still tell me everything. I’ve been going insane trying to figure this all out.’
‘Why are you cooping yourself up in your room like this? And why are you running around at night in the forest like some kind of animal?
‘It just isn’t natural ... for a human. You can’t stop living your normal life. Your family and friends are going to start getting suspicious at your behaviour. You need to act like a human.’
‘Why? I don’t see the point. It’s useless. I can’t live like them and I can’t live with them. I’m too dangerous now.’
‘Kai, you have to live like them or you’ll lose your humanity. One day you may not even be able to function like a person anymore and you’ll stay in your leopard form forever.’
‘What do you mean?’ Kai asked confused.
‘Animals, Kai. They used to be us, shapeshifters. Unfortunately, they were the ones who couldn’t balance their transformed side and their human side and ultimately become an animal.’
‘So what? Maybe it’s better that way. Maybe I should just let that happen because being human isn’t doing much for me anyway.’
‘You’re so dramatic,’ she quipped.
‘No, I’m being realistic!’ he yelled. Astrid moved back with shock-filled eyes. ‘This is a nightmare and nothing you can do or say can make it better. You have no idea what I’m going through.’
‘Oh really?’ she yelled back. ‘Try me,’ she challenged, placing her hands on her hips. ‘I’ve seen more death and destruction than you can count. I too had to go through this.’
‘I’m sorry,’ he replied shamefully, looking down at his hands.
‘It’s fine, Kai. Just don’t give over to these feelings that are obviously overwhelming you. If you want, I can help you. I’ll introduce you to the night world and our history,’ she smiled.
‘Really? You would do that for me?’
‘Umm, yeah, I will help you. I think it’s better we get you out of this funk. Besides, we’re friends now, right?’ she asked, sitting down on the bed next to him. ‘Yes, I guess we are.’
‘Good. Then come with me. I’ve got something to show you.’
CHAPTER 13
Kai followed Astrid as she led him towards a small red and black Mini Cooper parked at the end of the driveway.
‘I thought vampires didn’t need transportation?’ Astrid shook her head, ‘Running around everywhere all the time gets pretty tiresome, not to mention what the humans would think. Besides, this little car is a beast of its own!’
Heading away from Sabie, they drove towards the south-end of the Kruger National Park, mountainous landscape surrounding them as they sped down the highway. No exchanges of words were made between the two on their journey, each keeping their thoughts silent. Kai didn’t ask where they were going, silently staring out of the passenger window.
Driving through the wooded valley, he felt an intense desire to run free between the majestic trees and slopes.
After a long drive, Astrid broke the silence. ‘Were here,’ she announced.
In front of them stretched thousands of hectares of protected game reserve, kingdom to some of Africa’s most ancient animals.
‘What are we doing here?’ he asked.
‘Just wait and see. I have a lot to show you.’ Inside, they met with a soft-spoken old woman who moved slowly. She knew Astrid. They stood to one side of the room, keeping their voices low – lower even than Kai’s magnified hearing could pick up on. The woman stared at him through beady eyes, wrinkles covering her tiny face. He smiled nervously at her, hoping that her scarecrow eyes would end their intense analysis.
‘Let's go,’ Astrid said as the woman showed them a hidden trail leading down a steep pathway.
‘So, are you planning on ever telling me where we’re going?’ Kai asked, as he climbed down a steep, rocky embankment, ducking the thorn trees shading the overgrown pathway.
‘This is a very old area, Kai. Not just ancient, but sacred. Hundreds of years ago, our legends were engrained into the very earth and rock of this landscape. It is the greatest concentration of our history in the entire world.’
‘How so?’
‘This used to be the place where the San people lived many years ago before they relocated to the Kalahari Desert. Their history and their experiences were captured onto rocks, leaving a trailing legacy of the shifting kind from before we had to start hiding ourselves from humans. The San people are great shaman’s and people of magic – perhaps one of the only tribes that still knows of our existence.’
Kai’s interest was prickled and he kept pushing for more information as he sped up to follow closely to Astrid’s smooth, gliding movements over the rocks. She seemed almost unfazed by the tree branches extending over their heads and moved swiftly through the thick grass, faster than any animal Kai knew that was used to living in such thick vegetation.
‘So, how did they know about shifters and why did they not hunt us – kill us?’
Astrid looked up at Kai, who stood more than a foot taller than her, ‘Come and sit here,’ she motioned towards a large rocky area under a thorn tree. ‘Millions of years ago, a god named Zai fell in love with a human called Sulay. Zai was a shapeshifter and could move into any place or change from creature to god whenever he chose.
‘His cousin, Quinn, who was his closest confidant and a fierce warrior, magician and leader of the underworld, became jealous and unhappy with Zai’s relationship with the beautiful Sulay. After Sulay became pregnant with Zai’s child, Quinn could not control his resentfulness and pursued his lust for Sulay.
‘Out of pity, she met with Quinn in an enchanted copse in middle earth where he entrapped her for rejecting him. He then cursed her children to roam the earth being neither human nor beast. Infuriated, Zai became embroiled in a battle with Quinn for the souls of his offspring and his lover Sulay.
‘But, because of Quinn’s magical trickery, Zai could not enter earth’s atmosphere and could only see his children and Sulay from afar. Now, each time it rains on earth, it is a symbol to his children and Sulay of the heartbreak he feels when one of his children are deceived into the darkness of the underworld.’
‘But as a god he surely should have been able to do something to stop Quinn?’
‘It wasn’t that easy. As the ruler of the underworld, the repulsive Harpies he employs as protectors always surrounded him.
‘What are Harpies?’ Kai asked.
‘They have bronze talons, and are half-bird, half-woman. They are originally thought to have been beautiful winged goddesses that rejected him, and who he then enslaved to serve him for eternity.
‘It is said that they are swift and dark beings that can move like a hurricane across the plateau. They are menacing and filthy and peck out the eyes of the dead that enter the underworld,’ she replied.
‘Wow, that’s a pretty crazy story if you ask me,’ Kai replied, flicking a small stone down the embankment.
‘And I’m sure our existence ... you and I ... are not?’
‘No, but shifters coming from gods and us being cursed seems a little far-fetched.’
Astrid flew up and stood in front of Kai, her nose almost touching his. ‘Quinn watches us. All the time. It is more real than the stone you just flicked. More real than the mother that gave birth to you. There is one more thing,’ she trailed off.
‘Spill it.’
‘Still, to this day, Quinn is against our kind becoming involved with humans.’
‘What does that mean?’
‘It means that he unleashes the wrath of the underworld on us when we do fall in love with humans. To punish Zai and Sulay.’
‘Come on, my dad was married to my mother and nothing happened,’ Kai scoffed.
Astrid went silent. ‘That’s not entirely true.’ She stood up straight and looked over her shoulder, watching a herd of zebra passing not far from where they were sitting. ‘Hungry?’
‘No. Tell me about my dad. What happened and what does this all have to do with the Khoi-San people and why we came here?’
‘You know, we could have a lot of fun with a couple of Zebras. I’ll take the blood and you can have all the meat to yourself.’
‘Are you crazy?’
‘No, just a really, really hungry vampire.’
‘You’re changing the subject. And, anyway, I’m still not very comfortable with the idea of eating large wild animals. It just feels so primal and wrong.’
‘It’s not wrong. It’s nature, and it’s a part of who you are now. You can’t run from your destiny.’
‘You know, you’re pretty full of suggestions and advice for such a young girl,’ he joked.
‘I’m not young,’ she stated.
Kai looked up at her questioningly, ‘What do you mean?’
‘Just what I said. I’m not young. You still got ages to go, but I’ve been around a pretty long time.’
‘Like how long?’
‘Four-hundred-and-fifty-two years.’
Kai laughed out loud. ‘Now who is delusional? You’re joking ... right?’
‘Nope.’
‘Wow. But you look seventeen?’
‘I know. It’s funny being a granny when the young ones still want to get it on with me,’ she giggled.
‘You mean that I’ll get that old too?’
‘Weren’t you even listening to everything I just told you? It’s our curse – living forever on earth.’
‘I think that Quinn didn’t think that one out too well,’ he laughed.
‘I think he did,’ she said, looking at the ground.
‘What do you mean?’
‘We will lose everyone we love and every human we ever come across that becomes part of our lives. We will never be able to stay with them...’ Astrid said sadly.
‘Why won’t we be able to stay with them? What does it mean that he will unleash the wrath of the underworld on us? Sounds a little sci-fi, if you ask me,’ he said, shaking his head in disbelief.
She smirked at him. ‘So, getting back to my story. As our numbers grew over the world, shifters sought new places and areas to establish themselves in, trying to spread out as far as possible – infiltrating every human inhabited area as well as setting up in areas that were still uninhabited.
‘Back then, humans still lived in caves, which some of the shifting kind – vampires to be exact - found alluring, wanting the humans to leave so we could take over. In this particular area, that caused a struggle between the Khoi-San people and ours, ultimately resulting in a war of species.
‘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.
CHAPTER 14
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.