After we set our clocks to the local time zone and got comfortable, we met outside on the private beach. Adapting human measurements to the length of a Stravian day gave us a couple of extra hours. Basically, Strava offered twenty-six hours per day, as opposed to Earth’s twenty-four. The midnight breeze was soft and pleasantly warm, and the air was fresh, yet slightly salty. This part of Strava had all the conditions to qualify it as the perfect vacation destination. I’d lost all doubt about it.

The ocean carried a dark blue hue, but we could see glowing jellyfish underneath the surface, about half a mile from the sandy shore. The bluish moon’s reflection rippled across the water, and all kinds of animals chirped and purred in the blackness of the jungle behind our resort.

“This is amazing,” Sofia breathed, slowly walking toward the water.

She’d slipped into a black, one-piece bathing suit, her auburn hair loose and cascading down her back. Her shadow stretched across the sand, quietly reaching out to me. Almost ninety years later, and I was still head over heels with Sofia. Every time she smiled, every look she gave me, and every breath she took made me feel like I was the most fortunate creature in all the universes, for she’d chosen me to spend an eternity with.

“It would be empty and grim without you in it,” I said.

She giggled softly, giving me a brief glance over her shoulder. I stepped forward, drawn to her like a sailor to a siren’s song. Only, my siren was the single most precious woman in the world—kind, sweet and fierce, patient and noble… perfect.

To my right, the others made their way toward the water. Vivienne, Kailyn, Marion, Corrine, and Claudia had changed into one- or two-piece swimsuits in varying shades of blue, green, and orange, while the guys had stripped down to their shorts, like me. I felt like a carefree sixteen-year-old again, and it was a delightful thing to experience after everything I’d been through.

“Last one in the water is a slimy Sluagh!” Claudia said, then dashed toward the ocean.

The others laughed, but didn’t stand still, either. They ran, racing to avoid being classified as a “slimy Sluagh,” a derogatory joke we’d been circulating among our group since the discovery of Eritopia. Not that long ago, Sluaghs had wreaked havoc and helped tipped the balance in Azazel’s favor. The Sluaghs were parasitic, worm-like creatures that occupied bodies and had zero morals. The worst of the worst, and, once separated from their meat suits, the stuff of nightmares.

“It’s official! Ibrahim is a slimy Sluagh!” Lucas announced, as he left Corrine’s warlock husband behind and jumped into the water.

Ibrahim shook his head slowly as his feet met the first round of sea foam settling on the wet sand. “Obviously, we’re all twelve years old now,” he muttered.

I shifted my focus back to Sofia. The water reached up to her waist, and she’d turned around to face me. Sheer happiness brightened her up, her smile filling my heart with liquid sunshine. This was probably as close as I would ever get to feeling the sun on my skin.

“You’ve got the makings of a sea nymph,” I said to her. As soon as I reached her, I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her close. Water slipped between us, lapping at our hips as the ocean trembled back and forth in its tide. “And I am positively hooked.”

“It’s nice to know I still have that effect on you,” she replied, smiling.

“I doubt you’ll ever stop having that effect on me.” I sighed, then chuckled softly when I heard Xavier’s yelp, followed by a turbulent splash.

Sofia and I both looked to my right, only to find Lucas and Xavier wrestling in the water, slipping and splashing around like bottlenose dolphins. Lucas refrained from using his water abilities, so he could tussle his brother-in-law, like the little boys they still were, deep down. They were laughing and challenging one another, while the rest of our crew gathered around them and picked sides to cheer on.

“Come on, Xavier, show Lucas how you fight in the water!” Vivienne encouraged him.

Xavier’s head poked out of the water, but Lucas brought him back under.

“It’s like wrestling a manatee!” Xavier managed once he came back up and put a few feet of distance between him and my brother. “A very… agile manatee.”

Lucas raised an eyebrow, panting as he wiped some of the water from his face. “Out of all the marine wildlife out there, that’s the animal you chose to compare me to?”

“You’ve got its strength, so I’m pretty accurate,” Xavier shot back. “Or would you rather be a hammerhead?”

“I was hoping you’d put me up there with the killer whales, but okay,” Lucas replied, then jumped out of the water and tumbled into Xavier. A second round of aquatic wrestling ensued, while the others went swimming around, relishing the feel of warm water against their skin.

“They look so happy,” Sofia said. “I barely recognize them.”

“They were just taken out of their usual environment,” I replied gently, keeping my eyes on Lucas and Xavier.

“Not that they weren’t happy before, but… this feels like a side of them that I didn’t even know was there,” Sofia murmured, smiling softly.

“We’ve been adults for too long, baby,” I replied. “It was about time someone unplugged us like this.”

We spent the next hour swimming and exploring the nearby depths. We found enormous coral reefs underwater, all virgin and untouched, unraveling in bright tones of orange, pink, lime green and citrus yellow. The fish were equally spectacular, most of them triangle-shaped and flat, covered in yellow and blue stripes. There were plenty of other varieties, but the yellow-and-blue ones seemed like the predominant species on that side of the island.

We spotted silhouettes of larger marine animals farther away, but we kept our distance. It would’ve been bad luck to rile up the locals on our first night.

After we splashed around for a while, we all came out of the water, dried ourselves off with soft towels, then slipped into light linen clothes and went into the jungle. It was time for a hunt. After all, Harper had already enticed us with the local fauna’s blood quality. It would’ve been a pity not to start our vacation on Strava with a taste.

“What do you think we’ll come across in there?” Corrine asked, pointing at the jungle in front of us. It was dark and bushy, but my vampire sight allowed me to see deeper and clearer than most. I’d already spotted several deer-like creatures, as well as large feline predators lurking in the massive, gnarled trees farther ahead.

“Hot-blooded animals,” I replied. “I can see some from here already.”

“Oh, yeah,” Vivienne said, narrowing her eyes as she followed my gaze. “What are those?”

“Well, we don’t have a name for them, but a working name could be ‘Stravian deer,’ I guess?” I suggested, then shrugged. My sister chuckled, shaking her head slowly.

“Okay. Stravian deer it is, then,” she said. “I see four of them. Two-hundred-and-fifty yards to the southeast from here. Shall we go for those, first?”

“Meh,” Yuri chimed in, exhaling sharply. “We might as well go deeper and see what else there is. We can always snatch one or two of those… Stravian deer on our way back, if nothing else pops up.”

“Aw, my husband’s in his exploratory mood,” Claudia replied, then pushed herself up on her toes so she could kiss him.

“I just don’t want this to be an in-and-out kind of thing,” Yuri said after the kiss. “We’ve got time. I could eat, but it’s nothing to warrant any rush.”

The others murmured and nodded in agreement.

“Time for a stroll through the woods, then, ladies and gentlemen,” I replied.

I took the lead, with Sofia close by my side. Xavier and Vivienne walked along with us, to our left, while Claudia and Yuri stayed to our right. Corrine, Ibrahim, Lucas, Marion, Cameron, Liana, Aiden, and Kailyn were right behind us.

We walked through the jungle, going deeper and leaving marks on nearby trees for quick reference on our way back. The moon still managed to peek through the thick foliage crowns overhead, the occasional ray of bluish light cutting through the night.

“There must be thousands of insects in this place,” Cameron said. “I think I’ve heard at least five different kinds of chirps, all around us.”

“Look at the flora, too,” Liana replied, then pointed somewhere above us.

“And the fruit looks yummy,” Corrine murmured.

We slowed down, just so we could take it all in. Flowers the size of our heads looked down at us. Their wide petals opened outward, displaying a dazzling array of colors, from all kinds of yellows and pinks to pure white and bold streaks of blue, surrounded by flat, waxed leaves. All the trees had flowers in their crowns. Those already shedding, however, wore fruit pods instead, hanging heavily from their elastic branches.

A plethora of ferns and wildflowers skirted the trees wherever we looked. The path ahead was narrow and grassy. This place hadn’t been touched in decades, at least.

“You know, the kids said there were ruins somewhere to the northeast,” I said. “We should check them out while we’re here.”

“We could take some samples and even some artifacts, if any have survived,” Corrine suggested. “They might shed some light into what kind of creatures used to populate the planet.”

“We don’t know what made them disappear in the first place, do we?” Lucas asked, frowning slightly. Knowing him, he was probably navigating different dark scenarios in his mind. He’d experienced enough in his lifetime to know that some of the most beautiful places hid terrible secrets. Our most recent example was Neraka.

“No, but it doesn’t seem to have been anything biological,” Corrine replied. “No pathogen, no plague or anything like that. The planet itself is pristine.”

“So why would anyone leave it?” Lucas wondered.

“Maybe they didn’t,” I offered. “Maybe they died out. Extinction doesn’t discriminate. Or maybe there was a pathogen, but it, too, perished with the people… Who knows?”

Xavier then shushed us and stopped. “Look over there,” he whispered, pointing somewhere to the north. “Is that… What is that, actually?”

I focused my attention on the creature he’d spotted. It stood quietly just fifty yards away, its long neck and small head poking out from a shrub. It reminded me of a giraffe, except that it was more like the size of a small horse.

Its coat was made of short, light brown hair, with black streaks on its back. Its eyes were big and round, like those of a young doe. There was a flicker of fear in them, and for good reason, too. We were, after all, hunters.

“Are there more like it?” I asked, then looked around.

“I don’t think so,” Xavier replied.

“Then let’s leave it alone and focus on getting some of those deer, instead,” I said. “I’d hate to be responsible for the death of a nearly extinct species or something.”

Lucas scoffed, slightly amused. “Just admit you’re getting too old for the hunt. That creature does look like a runner.”

Liana and Claudia giggled.

“I’m perfectly happy to prove my physical prowess, if you wish,” I shot back with a smirk. “You old fruit bat.”

“I’m physically younger than you,” Lucas replied.

“But you’re technically older. Also, me vampire, you fae, in case you forgot,” I held my ground, reminding him of the time lapse when he was in the Underworld. Physically speaking, yes, Lucas did have a few years under me. But he had been born before me. He was and always would be my older brother, and I did have fun reminding him of that once in a while.

“My previous circumstances exempt me from that consideration,” Lucas retorted with a childish pout. “Not my fault I kicked the bucket and spent two decades in limbo.”

Sofia laughed lightly. “Well, actually, it was very much your fault.”

Lucas grumbled, just as Marion ran her fingers through his hair and gave him a warm and loving smile. “For what it’s worth, mon cheri, I’m sure you were a very handsome and capable villain in your early days.”

“Yeah, he was quite a handful.” Xavier chuckled.

“You sound almost nostalgic,” Lucas replied. “Shall I give you a taste of the old me, then?”

“I thought you barely remembered that old version of yourself,” I chimed in, stifling a grin.

Lucas smirked, then gave Xavier a quick wink. “I’m okay with digging through the old drawers of my memory if Xavier misses the bad ol’ Lucas,” he said.

“Nope. Nope. Hell, no,” Vivienne replied. “Some things are best left in the past.”

“We agree, then.” Lucas sighed, then dropped a kiss on Marion’s temple. “Besides, being a baddie is quite the hassle these days. We’ve outgrown our old selves. I think a revival would be downright bland, if not pathetic, compared to the fiends we’ve dealt with recently.”

“You can say that again,” Claudia muttered. “He was dead by the time we got there, but Shaytan sounds like the worst of the worst. Do you think he’d put the Elders to shame?”

That question brought back memories of much darker times. But it was a good question to ask, because hindsight was always 20/20.

“I think so,” Sofia replied. “The Elders only had themselves and their formless evil to work with. Shaytan had swamp witch magic, which he’d learned to adapt and modify. Thankfully, he never connected with the Word, otherwise it would’ve been a hell of a lot worse. I think Azazel was just as bad, though he never had the chance to unlock that kind of power.”

A small herd of Stravian deer was grazing in a clearing just sixty yards to our right. I motioned toward them and exchanged glances with Cameron, Yuri, Xavier, and Vivienne. From our group, we were the most frequent hunters. We enjoyed the chase the most. Sofia and the others were more content with just drinking the blood. This was just one of the many ways in which we completed each other, as couples, as friends, and, most importantly, as a family.

“There will always be evil in the world,” I said. “It will take different forms, some more powerful than others, but, in the end, it will always be vanquished. Provided, of course, that we face it head on and together, just like we’ve done in the past.”

“United, we’re unstoppable,” Xavier added, setting his sights on one of the deer.

“It’s dinnertime, kids,” Aiden replied, then dashed toward the first deer.

One by one, Xavier, Yuri, Cameron, and Vivienne followed. The others spread out and around the herd to keep them from scattering away. We moved fast, whizzing by like fluttering shadows, our feet light on the ground.

Leaves rustled. Twigs crackled.

Then our claws came out. We went straight for the larger deer—the bigger and heavier they were, the harder it would be for them to run away. We gave the others, particularly the offspring, a chance to survive.

I had to admit, it was thrilling to hunt on foreign land. It added a different dimension to the whole process. We focused on four of the bulkier males and quickly took them down. Corrine and the others picked some fruit, as well. We had quite the feast ahead of us.