KISS in Paradise - Part 13
Luciana

Calista was flying as fast as she could over the ocean, 
trying to reach her home before the rainstorm caught up 
with her. She could not see much, despite her very sharp 
vision, because of the thick fog that gathered all around 
the islands, but she could smell the storm coming from 
behind her and feel the atmospheric pressure changing as it 
got closer. She breathed deeply and gathered all her 
strength in her feathered wings. She cut the thick tropical 
air with great speed and grace, flying very high in the sky 
like a hawk, but the rainstorm caught her midway home, 
still over the ocean. She knew she was close to one of the 
central islands and thought maybe it would be best if she 
went down and sought a place to stay until the storm 
passed. She shifted her weight to the right and spread her 
wings as wide as she could, gliding in circles, lower and 
lower, searching for the island, her sharp eyes wide open 
trying to see through the heavy curtain of rain. A bolt of 
lightning cut the sky and she was able see the contours of 
the island below her. She felt her wings grow heavy with 
the rain that poured down and her feathers sticking to each 
other, making it difficult to control the direction she was 
going. 

A strong current of wind caught her from behind and she 
shifted her weight again, trying to steady herself and 
glide with it but it suddenly changed direction, leaving 
her in a low-pressure area with no wind to support her. She 
flapped her wings desperately but her muscles were too 
strained from the struggle to fly with wings that weighed 
more than twice as much as usual due to the water stuck 
between the feathers and she fell, hitting the ground with 
a scream that was more of a hawk's call than a human scream 
as she felt the excruciating pain in her left wing and 
ankle.  She took a few moments to catch her breath and 
gather what little strength she had left to get up. Tears 
welled up in her eyes as she moved her injured wing from 
the awkward position it had assumed near her shoulder 
blade. The pain was mind blinding and she leaned against a 
tree for support. She looked around through the curtain of 
rain trying to identify where she was and found herself in 
the clearing where the New Ones had set their camp, right 
behind and a few yards from the largest tent. 

Calista thought it would be better if she avoided the New 
Ones and it would definitely be safer if she could find a 
cave, but she almost fell to the ground when she tried to 
walk. She must have broken her ankle when she fell and 
would not be able to look for the cave right now. She was 
beginning to lose her concentration and mental sharpness 
and all she could think about was that she had to get out 
of the rain and away from the fog. The tent in front of her 
was immersed in darkness and she could not hear any noises 
coming from it. She took a deep breath and managed to crawl 
to it, wincing in pain. She snuck inside and sighed, 
relieved to be out of the rain but also very alert to any 
noises or movement around her. She tried getting up so she 
could take a better look at the place, but ended up 
knocking over some boxes that were scattered around, making 
somewhat of a loud noise over the tumbling of the rain. 
Calista froze as she saw the dark shadow rise to its feet 
on the other side of the tent and look around, startled by 
the noise she'd made. The shadow walked to an opening on 
one of the sides of the tent and looked out, turning around 
very quickly and grabbing something in its hands; a weapon 
Calista didn't remember ever seeing before. All of her 
senses were taken over by her preservation instinct and she 
was not even aware of the pain anymore, only fear existed 
in her mind at that moment. The shadow walked slowly 
towards her with weapon in hand, as if it was an axe, and 
Calista could see it was a tall and strong man. She hid 
behind some boxes, positioning herself in a way she could 
fight back if he attacked her. She even stopped breathing 
as he got closer and stopped just a few feet from where she 
was. He turned around and in a wave of adrenaline Calista 
jumped to her feet and hit him in the head with a heavy 
metal device she had found on the floor. The man dropped 
his weapon and fell on the ground unconscious. Calista 
stepped back from him dropping what she used to knock him 
down with. Her whole body shivered and she fell by the 
man's side, pain and stress taking their claim over her and 
drowning her in the ocean of unconsciousness.

* * * 

Paul woke up with a terrible headache and a bit confused as 
to what had happened. He opened his eyes slowly and blinked 
a few times before getting used to the darkness he was 
immersed in. He could hear the rain roaring outside and 
then he remembered. Something hit him on the head when he 
was investigating a strange noise in his tent. He sat up 
and shook his head, trying to rid himself of the pain, and 
then he saw her, a pile of wet feathers covering almost all 
of her body. He couldn't believe his eyes… How had this 
woman and all those feathers gotten there? He crawled over 
to her and tried to brush the feathers off her but she let 
out a very weird and birdlike scream that startled him, 
making him fall back. The woman quickly jumped over him, 
straddling him and pinning his hands on the ground above 
his head. In the dark Paul could not see details of her 
face, but he could tell she looked like she was in pain and 
very scared. He tried moving under her, but she was a lot 
stronger than he thought and didn't allow him to move 
pressing her weight over him. Drops of water fell from her 
hair on his face so he turned his head to the side and 
noticed the pile of feathers was raised on her back, 
stretched out like wings. The woman made a grunting sound 
with her throat, a mixture of a growl and a moan of pain 
and shifted her weight to her right side, giving Paul some 
room to move.

"I'm sorry… I thought you were asleep… I didn't mean to 
bother you…" he said in a shaky voice, still recovering 
from the scare.

She looked right into his eyes and let go of his hands. She 
was panting and shivering as she stood up and moved away 
from him limping.

"You're hurt… I can help you," he offered as he stood up.

"How?" the woman asked in a deep and low voice that sent 
shivers down Paul's spine.

"I have bandages and medicines here, if you want," he said 
slowly trying to look at her in the dark. "Do you mind if I 
turn a lamp on?" she didn't answer and he lit one of the 
oil lamps dimly lighting the tent.

He gasped when he finally saw her. She stood tall and slim, 
completely soaked from the rain outside, dressed in a torn 
short strapless dress. Her light blond hair was plastered 
to her pale and freckled skin and her eyes were wide open 
with fear and pain. She had a wild expression on her face, 
her nostrils flared as she took long and deep breaths. But 
what really caught Paul's eyes were the huge wings she bore 
on her back, the long brown and white feathers totally wet 
and messy. He noticed her left wing was lower than the 
right one and that she avoided putting her weight on her 
left leg.

"Let me help you," he said, holding out a hand to her. "I'm 
Paul, and you?"

She looked at him with suspicious eyes and answered, "I'm 
Calista." Paul still held his hand out to her and she took 
a small step closer to him but lost her balance. Paul ran 
and caught her by the waist to steady her, helping her to 
sit on a chair close to the lamp.

"What happened to you?" he asked her with genuine concern 
on his voice. "You need to get out of this wet dress and 
get warmed up…" He got a towel and wrapped it around her 
shivering body, kneeling down next to her and examining her 
shoulder blade where the wing was inserted. "I didn't think 
it was possible to fly in the rain…" he said tentatively, 
trying to ease the tension between them.

"It's not," was her cold reply.

"Then why were you?"

She looked him right in the eyes and he could see how odd 
hers were. She had bright green eyes with pupils that took 
almost the entire iris and then suddenly drew back, 
revealing the color.

"Because I have something very important to do… but now 
I'll have to wait." Paul could see the cloud of fear in her 
eyes as she said that. He carefully dried her hair and 
shoulders, trying to avoid touching her injured wing.

"You need to get out of this dress, Calista, or you'll get 
sick," he said softly. She nodded and he helped her stand 
up, holding the towel up like a curtain for her, but she 
didn't seem to bother about it. 

He wrapped her with the towel and made her sit again, 
kneeling down and resting her left foot on his knee. He 
tried moving it but she winced and moaned with the pain. He 
got some bandages and wrapped them tightly around her ankle 
in an attempt to immobilize it. Calista closed her eyes and 
sighed as he worked on her ankle. His hands were big and 
warm and his skin was a bit rough, especially on his 
fingertips. She looked at his face and dark long hair and 
her expression softened. He was a handsome man… She thought 
he reminded her of someone, someone long forgotten, but she 
couldn't be sure. Paul felt her staring at him and looked 
up at her with a shy smile.

"Are you feeling better? Can I see your wing now?" he 
asked. Calista nodded and turned so he could have a better 
view of her back in the light. He took some ointment from 
his medicine kit and rubbed it gently on her back around 
her left wing. Paul marveled at how strong her muscles were 
in contrast with her soft skin. She was indeed a very 
strong woman, he thought. He tied another bandage around 
her shoulder and wing, and she turned around to face him.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome," he said with a smile she didn't return. 
"Can you tell me what is so important that you risked your 
life in this storm for?" he asked curiously.

Calista's expression hardened again and she sighed. "I am 
the Watcher of the islands, I see all and I make sure all 
is in place. But now the Beast walks and I need to be with 
mine to be safe."

"Aren't we safe here?" he asked in puzzlement.

"No one is safe in the fog," she answered gravely. 

"What is this Beast? How can we be safe, then?"

"No one knows what the Beast in the Mist is… but it walks 
with the fog. It was asleep for a long time, but now it was 
awakened and it will seek its preys." Calista clasped a 
hand around a necklace she was wearing. Paul touched her 
hand and looked at the necklace, it was a piece of string 
that held the biggest pearl he'd ever seen.

"It's beautiful!" he said with admiration.

"The Beast took the one who gave it to me a very long time 
ago..." she said in an empty voice.

"Do you miss him?" Paul asked after a few moments of 
silence.

Calista thought for some time, eyes closed as if trying to 
remember something long forgotten. "I used to, but not 
anymore." 

Paul looked at her now expressionless face and opaque eyes 
and felt sorry for her. He imagined that she had suffered a 
lot and was now trying to forget that tragic moment in her 
life, but the fact was that she really did not feel 
anything for him anymore. Her hair fell on her face as she 
looked down at her bandaged foot, a small cascade of soft 
ripe wheat hair that Paul gently removed from her face. 
"You need to rest now. Come?" he took her in his arms and 
lay her on his bed, carefully not to hurt her. She fell 
asleep almost immediately, leaving Paul watching over her 
for a while before falling asleep himself.

* * *

Paul woke up the next morning with the remains of the 
headache from the night before still pounding in his head 
and rubbed his eyes as he stretched. He sat on the bed and 
saw Calista by the entrance to the tent, wrapped in her now 
dry wings and looking out at the rain that still poured.

"How did you walk all the way over there?" he asked as he 
approached her, still sleepy but very curious about her 
recovery.

"I'm better today," she replied coolly.

"But I thought your ankle was broken?…"

"It was," she said matter of fact, but with a tone that 
made it clear that the subject was closed.

Paul took a drink of water from a bottle and handed it to 
Calista, who accepted it eagerly. "Well," he said looking 
disappointedly at the rain, "I'm gonna go get us something 
to eat, I'll be right back," and stepped out in the rain, 
returning a few minutes later with a basket of fruit and 
nuts. He was soaking wet and took off his shirt, grabbing a 
towel and drying off his body and hair. Both of them sat 
down to eat, which they did in silence, until Paul could 
not hold his questions anymore.

"Do you know a girl that can turn into a big wild cat and 
lives on another one of the islands?"

"Yes, but I just watch, never talk to her. She doesn't know 
me, and it's better this way."

"Are there many others like you?" he asked after a moment.

"There were, but not so many anymore."

"What happened to the others?"

"I don't know… I don't remember," her voice was lower and 
her eyes narrower, as she thought about the answers to his 
questions.

"How long have you been here and were you always like this? 
I mean, were you born as you are now?" he thought that 
maybe she could help him if she told him something useful 
about the islands and how she and the others had gotten 
there, since Shandi did not remember anything.

"No, I was different once, but I don't know how long ago… 
I've been here in these islands since I can remember, but 
there was a time before..." 

"And what made you change?"

Calista looked at him and tilted her head to one side, like 
a bird. She blinked a few times and said, "I don't 
remember..." falling into a deep silence and ignoring him 
completely. A long time passed without Calista making any 
movements. Paul just sat there looking at her and 
wondering. His brain was boiling with questions, but he 
knew it was no use trying to get her to answer to them now. 
After some time he got up and looked out, thinking of Gene 
and Peter missing somewhere out there. He wondered if she 
had seen them… He grabbed the guitar he had dropped the 
night before and saw the flare gun tossed closed to it. So 
that was what she had hit him with… Smart girl… he thought 
to himself. Calista jumped to her feet when she saw him 
with the guitar, her eyes wide with fear.

"Hey, easy… it's just a guitar!" he chuckled, but her 
expression did not change. He strummed a couple notes and 
then her expression changed completely from fear to 
curiosity.

"What's that?" she asked with a softer voice.

"It's music… Do you want me to play something for you?" he 
asked amused. Calista nodded and watched him attentively as 
he played `Forever'. Her mind was caught in a hurricane of 
lost memories and feelings that she had stopped feeling a 
long time ago. Paul watched the expressions in her face as 
he sang softly and wondered what she was thinking. When the 
song was over he smiled at her and asked, "So, what did you 
think?"

"It's beautiful," she said slowly. Again she walked to the 
entrance of the tent and looked out at the rain. Paul could 
tell she was very worried and walked over to her resting 
his hands on her shoulders, lightly massaging her powerful 
muscles. She turned to look at him and he ran a hand down 
her cheek. This woman really intrigued him, not only for 
her physical attributes but also for her personality. She 
looked so young and yet so wise, so powerful and also so 
helpless, so bright but always surrounded by a great 
darkness... 

"What's worrying so much? The Beast?" he asked in a low and 
soft voice.

"A lot of things worry me now," she said with a sigh. "The 
Beast is only one of them."

"Can I do anything to make those worries go away?" he 
wanted to reach out to her and make her happy, make her 
smile, but she felt so distant.

"No, Paul… I don't think you can," she answered in a low 
and deep voice.

"Can I at least try?" 

There was a spark in his eyes and a tone in his voice that 
got all of Calista's senses waken and alert. She could 
smell the male hormones rushing through his veins and feel 
her own hormones beginning to awaken in her body. This man 
is a fine breed, she thought, strong and healthy… Her eyes 
got darker and more birdlike and she opened her wings to 
accept his embrace. Paul gasped at the sight of her nude 
body, defined muscles under soft velvety skin, and stepped 
closer, holding her tight against his own body. He slipped 
a hand on the back of her neck and tilted her head to kiss 
her lips while his other hand roamed up and down her back 
between her wings. Calista ran her hands down his chest, 
feeling the softness of his hairy skin over his tight 
muscles and bit his lower lip, making him moan huskily. At 
the sound of that, Calista stepped back and took his hands 
off her, eyes wide open looking at him with a shocked 
expression.

"What's wrong, Calista? Are you OK?" Paul asked worried 
that he might have done something to upset her or hurt her.

Without saying a word, she stepped out in the rain and ran 
away. Paul ran after her calling out to her, but she soon 
was out of his sight and he walked back to the tent letting 
himself fall on a chair holding his head in his hands. 

Calista ran until she reached a secluded beach where she 
threw herself on the wet sand, looking south at the ocean 
ahead. The fog was gone so she didn't worry about the Beast 
right then. She thought of Paul and then of her home and 
the one who waited for her and wished the rain would stop 
so she could go to him. She felt very confused and knew he 
would help her, he always did…He was always there for her… 
her friend… her lover...


*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*

It was almost dark when Calista returned to Paul's tent. 
The rain had not passed yet and she was completely wet and 
cold. Paul looked up from his guitar and jumped to his feet 
when he saw her, running to grab her a towel so she could 
dry off.

"What happened? Why did you run like that?" Paul asked with 
concern.

"I needed to think…" Calista answered in a grave tone, 
closing her eyes as he rubbed the soft towel on her body.

"But did you have to run away in the rain?" he asked a bit 
annoyed.

Calista cupped his face with her cold hands, making him 
look right into her eyes. "I am sorry, Paul, but I do not 
wish to talk about that," she said with an apologetic tone 
in her voice. "Why don't we go to sleep? I'm so tired…"

Saying that she turned around and put on her now dry dress 
and sat on Paul's bed. He started to say something, but she 
interrupted him.

"Please, Paul, don't say anything… Just come lay down with 
me," she said and held out her hand to him. Paul didn't 
really know what to think but took her hand and lay on the 
bed beside her, holding her close and kissing the top of 
her head. She soon fell asleep, leaving him with all his 
questions and doubts.

Calista woke up the next morning with a ray of sunlight 
shining on her face. She looked at Paul, sleeping so 
peacefully by her side and traced his face with her 
fingers. Slowly she got out of bed and walked to the 
entrance of the tent, careful not to make any noises. She 
glanced at him another time and just stood there for a few 
moments, then she turned around and walked out of the tent 
to the bright and warm sun. No one was around, for it was 
very early in the morning so Calista walked to the beach 
close to the camp and scanned the sky and the ocean before 
her with her sharp eyes. It would be a good flight, her 
wing was completely healed and she was eager to get home. 
Just as she was taking off she heard Paul calling her name. 
He was running towards her, trying to catch her before she 
left.

"Why are you leaving so soon? The mist is gone… Can't you 
stay a bit longer?" he asked panting, trying to catch his 
breath.

"I have to go, Paul… Soon your people will wake up and I 
don't want them to see me… It will be better if I'm gone," 
she answered calmly.

"But you were leaving without saying goodbye… Why?"

"I didn't want to wake you, and I can't wait anymore. But 
now that you're here I have two things to tell you. Be very 
careful with the mist because the Beast walks wherever it 
gathers. Go to the caves, there you will be safe," she said 
taking his hand in hers.

"Why the caves?" he asked curiously.

"The Beast cannot find you there, its eyes cannot see 
inside the caves. It's the only place you will be totally 
safe." Calista said that with such vehemence it scared 
Paul. He asked her what was the second thing she wanted to 
tell him. "Stay away from Darkraven," she said with a 
softer voice. "She is very beautiful and though she doesn't 
mean it, she`s very dangerous. She can't help it, it's just 
who she is... She'll drink your blood and make you drink 
hers and you will beg her to do it again and again, until 
you turn into something just like her… She hasn't had a 
prey in a long time and she's hungry."

Paul looked at Calista with eyes wide open. "What do you 
mean? And how will I know who she is?"

"You'll know, Paul… You'll know," Calista touched his face 
with her fingertips and stepped back from him. "I have to 
go now. Promise me you'll be careful," she demanded.

"I… I promise," he said in a shaky voice. She really had 
him worried now, but it was too late to ask her anything 
else for she was already flying away with her wings 
outstretched. Soon she was high in the sky, quickly flying 
away until she was out of his sight. Paul wondered if he 
would ever see her again as he slowly walked back to the 
camp.

* * *

Calista walked in the cave, eyes locked in the dark figure 
before her. He stood tall and proud, but a warm smile 
softened his expression. His nostrils flared as she got 
closer and he breathed in her scent, scowling at the 
unexpected mixture he got.

"You were with a man... One of the New Ones," he said with 
a growl.

"Yes, Drakkon, I was. And he asked so many questions..." 
she said looking away.

"What kind of questions?" he asked with a raise of his 
eyebrow.

"Questions I once knew the answers to, but now they are so 
far away... I used to know who I was and how I became what 
I am now, but not anymore," she said in a very grave tone 
of voice and a strange glare in her wide green eyes that 
Drakkon had never seen before. "I think I'm supposed to 
feel sad about this, but I can't… I can't cry and I can't 
smile anymore."

Drakkon walked closer to her and grabbed her arm, making 
her face him. Her face was almost expressionless, even 
though she was saying things that came from deep within her 
soul and that she had never shown him before. He tried hard 
to remember how she was before, but his memory too was 
getting clouded. All he could remember was her smile, open 
and beautiful, and her laughter, clear and happy, even 
during the worst days. Now that she had mentioned it he 
realized how much he missed her smile and how long it had 
been since he had last seen it.

"What are you saying, Calista? Why don't you smile 
anymore?" he asked in a soft voice.

"I don't think birds have any emotions, Drakkon, and I'm 
losing all of mine… All I have left are instincts, nothing 
more..." her voice got lower and lower, until it became 
just a whisper.

"Please, don't say that, Calista…" he said in a sad voice, 
realizing what she said was true. She was not the same 
anymore; she was not human anymore… He gently stroked her 
face with the back of his hand and pulled her closer to 
him, holding her with a tenderness he had forgotten he 
could show. She nested her head on his shoulder and closed 
her eyes, wishing that somehow she could have her humanity 
back. She desperately wanted to love him, but she couldn't 
remember what love felt like and couldn't even cry for it.

* * *

Calista woke up the next morning with Drakkon softly 
caressing her face and stroking her hair. Her sleepy green 
eyes met his magnetic mahogany ones and she could tell he 
was sad. She touched his face with her fingers tracing his 
strong and handsome features. She felt nothing for him… he 
was her guide, her friend, her safe port, her home, but 
still she felt nothing for him...

"Why, Drakkon… Why is this happening to me now?" she asked 
in a whisper.

"I'm not sure, dear," he said narrowing his eyes, a 
different spark lighting up in his eyes.

Calista sat on their fur and moss bed, now fully awake. 
"But you do have an idea...?"

"Yes, I do," he said slowly and gravely. "But the answer is 
on the North Island, the one I hoped my feet would never 
touch again."

Drakkon got out of bed and walked outside of the cave to 
the sun-covered beach. He stood on the sand facing north, 
the waves lightly touching his feet. Calista walked after 
him and looked north as well.

"I don't like that island, Drakkon. There's something very 
wrong there, very evil… The island smells like death..." 
she was shaking with terror, all her instincts telling her 
to stay as far away as possible from that place.

"I don't like it either, Calista…" Drakkon said in a soft 
and soothing voice, brushing her hair from her face. "But 
if you really want to know what happened and why, there is 
where the answers are, for there is where everything 
started."

Calista just nodded and closed her eyes, trying to control 
the overwhelming fear that grew inside of her. Again she 
looked north and narrowed her eyes. Drakkon's hand gently 
squeezed her shoulder and his voice sounded deep and 
paternal.

"I will be there and won't let anything happen to you, I 
promise."

Calista looked right into his eyes and sighed deeply. She 
took off and flew high making a large curve and coming down 
with some speed. She grabbed Drakkon and quickly made her 
way up again, gliding north in a strong current of wind.