Paradise 23
By Lady Space/Ana

 
     Ana sighed deeply and turned around, kicking 
yet another rock. That sucked bigtime! First she was 
all happy and well in the islands.  Then Ace gets 
stoned in mushroons and things begin to get weird. 
Next thing she knows she's trapped inside a fucking 
cave and people talk about a corporation and beasts 
and there are strange people all around. She never 
wanted so badly to be home and put up with the 
boredom of her simple life.
 
     But it wasn't possible. 
 
     She sit in a rock nearby and sighed, taking a 
deep breath and trying to calm herself down. It was 
going to be ok. It had to. After all there were too 
many people in there already, they couldn't all get 
lost right? It had to finish somehow... someday. 
'Til then she just needed to grasp in to the reality 
and try not to go crazy after all. Sure, it'd be 
easier if things weren't such a mess, maybe if she 
had someone to talk to. Someone NORMAL... 
 
     Peter - she sighed again and shivered - she 
wanted so badly to talk to Peter, but right now 
she'd be glad if he stayed miles away from her. He 
had changed and it scared her. And that girl who was 
with him all the time - if you can call that a girl 
- she scared her too. She had played too much  
Vampire - The Masquerade and had read too much about 
those things to be at ease with both of them around 
her. She didn't trust Scarlett... nor Peter now. And 
with Ace gone - somehow, she didn't even know where 
- Elyana disappeared... she didn't have anyone she 
trusted around. 
 
     'So much for a friends' cruise' she chuckled to 
herself. 'But then, I should know it'd be like that. 
I mean... it's not like people are 100% trustable in 
the world out there either... why would they need to 
be so here? Shandi seems nice... but no, I don't 
think I can trust anyone from these islands. Who 
knows... maybe they're all out to kill us and are 
infiltrating one by one. Yeah, that oughta be it. 
They'd kill them all, they'd...'She began to freak 
out, panting loudly as the immaterial fears touched 
her soul. Her eyes widened and she felt her body 
shaking. Were her in a better condition she'd easily 
recognize the symptoms of a panic attack. 
 
     Suddenly a noise came from behind her. Ana let 
out a loud scream and jumped, looking to her left. 
She saw an iridescent golden scaled surface slide 
behind a rock. 
 
     'That's THE LAST thing I need now. NO GIANT 
LIZARDS! NO WAY!' she yelled, the panic taken the 
best of her.  She looked for a heavy rock and held 
to her left hand, walking towards the place where 
the damned lizard was. She heard a noise that she 
supposed would be the lizard running, and suddenly 
jumped towards the corner, raising the rock as high 
as she could and letting it down with all the power 
her panic gave her. A noise signaled she had hit her 
target, and she figured she could open her eyes.
 
   'OH SHIT' she yelled again, falling to her knees 
in front of the creature the rock had just hit. The 
tail was  there, alright. Scaled, reddish golden, 
lizard-like. But that was no lizard. Unless they now 
came with D boobs. She held her breath, curiosity 
overstepping the fear as she got closer in order to 
better examine whatever it was. The creature seemed 
to  have passed out. She noticed with a hint of 
pride the blood that ran down it's forehead, where 
the rock hit. 'Wow, I didn't know I was that 
strong.. maybe I am not *that* useless too and I 
won't end up dead with all those monsters around. 
Now... I better finish it off before it...'
 
     The creature opened it's eyes and looked at 
her, with a deep growl, taking her left hand to the 
forehead and feeling the blood.
 
     'Don't move you!' Ana raised another huge rock 
in her left hand while taking the dagger from the 
holder by her waist with the right. 'If you move 
even an inch I'll smash your head right here, right 
now!'
 
----------------------------
 
       Aurora sighed deeply. She didn't like the 
caves. Too dark, too cold. She didn't like carrying 
things also. That wasn't nice. What was she 
thinking? Oh, right… she was thinking to stay far 
away from Drakkon when he found out what happened to 
the box she should bring him…
 
     'Can I interrupt?' a voice came from behind 
her.
 
     Startled, she jumped high. 'What? Who? How?'
 
     Red eyes glowed in the darkness as she spinned 
around, and a sinister figure approached her. 'So… 
this is where the little fairy girl came to hide?' 
he whispered menacingly.
 
     'Hide? I… I don't… I don't know…' she babbled, 
unable to take her eyes off that red glowing orbits. 
'I didn't intend to hide, you know… I was going to 
talk to you as soon as…'
 
     'As soon as you could figure out a way to 
retrieve the stones I asked you to bring me?' he 
chuckled, but strangely it didn't bring her any 
comfort.
 
     'The stones… yes. See, the stones…'
 
     'I know about the stones' he cut her. 'They're 
in the bottom of the sea'. He slowly neared her.
 
     'Y-… yes… they… I…'
 
     'Out of my reach' He closed in, his eyes a few 
inches away from hers, his breath warm onto her 
face.
 
     'I…. I didn't….. I… they…' she wanted to get 
away, but she couldn't. Now she knew how those birds 
felt when the snakes neared them. Something in his 
eyes wouldn't let her do what her instincts asked 
her to. She couldn't run. She was trapped…
 
     'And that means' he whispered, taking a lock of 
her hair into his left hand 'That they're out of the 
beast's reach as well'
 
     'Y… yes… Listen, I didn't mean… I did…. I 
mean…' she suddenly shook her head 'They are? Oh, 
yeah, they are, aren't they?' she dared to breath 
'Does it mean… that… that… that I am safe?'
 
     'Safe?' his eyes shone as a strange smile 
spread across his face 'No, I wouldn't think so' he 
chuckled again.
 
     'N… no? I am not safe? I thought… I mean… you 
said….' She couldn't control herself anymore and 
began to shake wildly. A small part of her mind 
noticed coldly as his hands approached her neck, 
scolding her 'Wasn't it what you wanted so badly, 
Aurora? To get rid of the curse? Well, it will end, 
it seems… you should be happy. Now I can only hope 
it'll be painl….' Even the thoughts were suffocated 
inside her as she closed her eyes and surprisingly 
felt… not claws, but soft lips taking ahold of hers.
 
     Something inside her snapped. She couldn't 
breathe again, but this time the fear sure had 
nothing to do with that. She threw her arms around 
his neck and welcomed the exploring tongue of his, 
moaning lightly and forgetting her fears. She still 
felt her body shaking, but this time fear had 
nothing to do with that at all.
 
     Without a word he bent over and caught her into 
his arms. His eyes never leaving hers, he stepped 
away as easily as if she were a feather. Aurora 
didn't say a word, knowing it wasn't time for pain 
or fear; it was time for discovery
 
------------------------
 
     Ana took a deep breath trying to keep her legs 
from shaking. She didn't think the creature would 
take her very seriously if she were scared to death. 
Distracted by a sudden glimpse of light from a 
corner, she didn't notice the slender tail curling 
around her left leg and widened her eyes losing her 
balance as she tried to step back.
 
     'Oh fuck!' she could still curse before 
stumbling to the ground, inches away from the 
creature that laughed, watching her calmly. Trying 
to recompose herself she crawled back a bit, until 
she found out that the same tail wouldn't let her go 
too far. Trapped!
 
     Ana turned around to look at the creature. The 
eyes seemed human somehow, although the rest of it 
didn't. She pondered on begging for her life, but 
thought it'd be too much humiliation already. If she 
had to die in that cursed island, at least she'd die 
fighting bravely.
 
     'Alright, you… you…. thing! You can try and 
kill me if you want, but I warn you: I am NOT going 
to die without a fight!' she yelled defiantly, her 
eyes betraying the cold fear she felt inside.
 
     The creature chuckled
 
     'You're playing with me huh? Well, I am no toy, 
you hideous thing! C'mere, I'll show you what a 
brazilian can do!' She took a deep breath, noticing 
that the creature didn't move 'Are you afraid? 
C'mon… if you want to kill my friends you better 
begin with me, because if you don't and you hurt any 
of them I'll hunt you down and kill you with my own 
hands, you… you… alligator wannabe!'
 
     Samantha chuckled again, still pondering on the 
situation. The girl was terrified, she could almost 
smell it. She was panicking, but could still be 
dangerous. Moaning to herself , she raised a hand to 
touch the place where the rock hit. It had hurt. 
Actually it had done a bit more than that, she 
thought, noticing the blood already tinting her 
skin. She would need to fix it… but hey, how can 
someone lick their own forehead… 
 
     Lost in those thoughts Samantha barely noticed 
the intent examination that Ana put her through. The 
human woman finally sat on the ground, putting her 
fists down, and looked at her companion.
 
     'Won't you please kill me? I am tired' she 
whispered, tears running down her cheeks. She 
lowered her head 'End it already, I know I am no fun 
as a prey but maybe if you finally end it you can 
find someone better to play with' she said, 
defeated.
 
     Samantha raised a brow 'Killing you?' she 
finally spoke, a deep voice that didn't sound 
inhuman at all to Ana. 'I don't want to kill you. 
Why would I do that? You haven't done anything… or… 
well, not enough to get me to kill you' Samantha 
joked.
 
     Ana suddenly looked up, puzzled. 'You're not 
gonna kill me?' She examined intently the features 
of the lizard woman. 'It's not possible, you're a 
monster and monsters kill us… unless…' her eyes 
shone in fury 'Oh no, DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!' 
she jumped up, shaking in anger.
 
     'What?' asked Samantha, puzzled by that weird 
female that she was beginning to recognize. Yeah. 
That was Ace's friend. The one she had seen before. 
Ace's friend… it wasn't likely that Ace would 
appreciate her hurting his friend.
 
     'I know what you want… I know what YOU ALL 
want' Ana backed off against the nearest wall. 'You 
will NOT turn me into one of those things… NO WAY… 
NOT EVEN IF HELL FREEZES!!!' She showed her teeth, 
growling, promising herself that she'd die as a 
human, no more, no less.
 
     Samantha began to laugh.
 
     'You… you MONSTER… You think this is funny?' 
Ana retorted. 'Well maybe it IS for you. It's not 
for ME!' she growled again and threw herself to 
Samantha, trying blindly to strangle her and take 
that ironic smile off her face. Samantha easily held 
Ana's wrist, twisting it lightly, carefully not to 
break it, enough to make the other woman fall on her 
knees, panting in pain. 'Let me go already, you 
coward! Face me and kill me or leave me alone! I 
will NOT end up a thing like you!' Ana yelled, 
kicking and twisting her body in order to get rid of 
her grip.
 
     Samantha sighed discontentedly and growled 
lowly. She lowered her head to look in Ana's eyes 
'Will you please STOP IT ALREADY?'
 
     Ana stopped, startled. Her mouth hang open at 
the sudden raise in Samantha's formerly soft voice 
and she realized there and then that if Samantha 
wanted to kill her or turn her into something like 
her, she'd have done it already. But then… what did 
she want? She shook her head and buried her face in 
her hands, sobbing loudly to herself, not caring 
anymore.
 
     'Now, now… ' Said Samantha, getting closer and 
letting go of Ana's wrists. 'Don't do it. I know 
you're a friend of Ace's… you were supposed to be 
stronger…' she said, confused, trying to make some 
sense.
 
     At the mention of Ace's name, Ana raised her 
head 'Ace? Do you know Ace?' she asked hopefully, 
trying to grasp the only known name she heard so far 
to keep it as a rope to hang to her sanity. 'Ace… 
Ace's cool… but he… he isn't here. Why isn't Ace 
here?' She asked, seeming lost as a child. 'Oh… Ace 
isn't here because… Ace's not Ace anymore. Ace's 
different. Ace has a daughter… oh and Peter too… and 
Peter has those horrible wings… oh those wings!!!!' 
she curled against herself and began to cry loudly, 
rocking her body.
 
     Samantha looked at the woman in front of her 
and took the hand to the place where the rock had 
hit. It was bleeding. It wasn't like she could go 
anywhere now. Not even soon. Maybe she'd even need 
some help to heal it. And she couldn't get any help 
now… and it didn't seem like Ana would be able to do 
that so soon too.
 
     'Wonderful' she whispered to herself. I am 
stuck here, got a crazy hysteric human female stuck 
with me and I am hurt. What else could happen?'
 
     As she finished her thoughts, a strange rumble 
came to her ears and the cavern began to tremble.
 
     'Oh shit….'
 
-------------------------