"Aah! I missed this place!"
Barns jumps onto the beach face-first. Sand gets in his hair, down his shirt, in his mouth - but he doesn't care. He was used to a certain level of sandiness from his island days.
"FADE TO NOTHINGNESS, BARNACLES. I HOPE WE BOTH WAKE UP."
'Ah, the classic good night,' Barns is delighted to hear it, but he knows there's no sense in responding. Clancy is down for the count.
Barns walks around the quiet island for a while. It had been weeks since they'd been here, and everything has changed since then. Still, some things never change.
'Maybe I'll retire here, once the world is saved,' he muses to himself.
On that note, he realizes just how tired he'd become. He figures he might as well try and get some sleep as well.
Sprawled on the beach, Barns has the best sleep of his life. Then, morning comes.
He's scared awake by long pincers prodding his stomach, tickling him. When he comes to, the first thing he notices is the smell of cooked fish. He looks over and sees Clancy has lit the old fire pit and roasted some mahi mahi.
Just like the good old days.
The two enjoy a fishy breakfast and get ready to move on.
"DECOMPRESSION TIME!" Clancy shouts, running around in an excited circle sideways. Barns hops on top of his shell and points his hand out dramatically like a navigator.
"Take us away, King!"
The two launch into the ocean and begin to rocket away toward the nearby island - a place Barns has never been. He's excited.
…
Barns and Clancy weren't the only two hunting that morning. A certain pair of vampire twins stroll through the town of Ordella, eyeing the citizens with mad delight.
Ordella's citizens live under the control of vampires completely, though unlike those in the Pale Court, they still retain some of their humanity. The twins like it better this way - soulless husks don't feel fear and agony the same way a live human does.
At least once a week, the twins come to town and 'invite' three to four people to a private compound. There, they hunt them for sport. Whoever the last human standing is (sometimes) will be allowed to leave and return home. The others, however, are sent straight to the abattoir.
Each human bears a brand on their neck, put in place by the vampires themselves. Two overlapping triangles, representing the hold each of the twins had over the human. They brand each person the first time they feast on their blood to seal their bleeding neck wounds.
"Oh, Adon, I want a nice fat one today," the sister giggles to herself. She twirls a thick lock of her ebony hair in her hand and swirls it around her pale white ring. The girls last week hardly had any blood in them at alllll."
"Oh, Adea. Always with your quirks. You'll have to stop butchering the farmers if you want these people to plump up." The two twins share a look, their blood-red eyes a perfect match. They were an attractive pair - if one would ignore the stench of death that clung to their clothes, and the malevolent psychopathy present in their vibrant eyes.
He licks his lips. The blood did nothing for him, but he did love the taste of fresh flesh. Bonus points if the person he's eating is still alive.
"The farmers are the most fun, Adon! They know how a butcher operates. Their fear is so uniquely exquisite. I could chop one to pieces right here!"
"Now, now, Adea, we mustn't get ahead of ourselves. The true joy is in the hunt, after all."
He snatches someone off the street who dares to try and walk past them - a young man, no older than fifteen. "How about you, kid? Do you like playing games?"
The captive makes no attempt to struggle, his arms falling uselessly to his sides. All he'd ever known was this haunted life. He knew it would come to this some day.
Adon summons a chain that binds the boy in place magically, while the vampires barely lift a finger. He bows his head in defeat.
Adea staggers toward the boy, pulling out her meat cleaver and dragging it along his face. She cuts a clean line across his cheek and blood begins to drip down. She licks his face, slurping the blood out of his open wound.
"Mmmhmh!" she moans as she licks him. "Adon, I know we said we'd behave in town but this is too much. The way he won't even fight or scream, but I know he's absolutely dying inside."
She puts her mouth up to her ear and whispers wickedly. "Isn't that right?"
A chill climbs up the boy's back and he's unable to resist shuddering. "Ahahahahahah! Oh, Adon! What a wonderful choice! Now find us a big one. The boy's so small I'll hardly get a hundred swings in before he's a puddle."
"Yes, Adea. Maybe we can have the whole town line up by weight and take our pick from the lot."
The siblings snicker at each other, holding their foreheads to each other as they twitch and jerk uncontrollably, consumed by their hunger.
They walk to the center of town, continuing to laugh and speak ungodly horrors to each other. Adea in particular has one plan she finds simply delightful.
"Let's feed someone to the gators on our way home."
As the twins enact their cruelty, Barns and Clancy finally arrive at the so-called 'Decompression Island'. The stranded island in the ocean is covered in a thick jungle canopy, and though no monsters are present where they land, Barns can tell they are lurking deep inside. His Crab Intuition illuminates the entire jungle with a seething red glow.
They land on the shore - it's too quiet. But it wouldn't be for long.
Barns withdraws his sword and nudges his best friend with his elbow. "How about a little competition, my man? Let's see who can take out the most monsters."
"CHALLENGE ACCEPTED."