One year later…

“For the love of god, we’re on vacation,” Jonathan groaned. “Hell, it’s our honeymoon. What are we even doing here, Anya?”

His wife hacked away the last of the huge leaves, revealing an isolated path leading up to a well-camouflaged bunker of sorts. Anya turned back with a huge grin plastered on her face, despite the soil and sweat clinging onto her hair.

“I knew I could count on Lucy’s intel. There really is something here.” She was barely suppressing her excitement. “Sorry I didn’t tell you about it earlier. I wanted it to be a surprise.”

Jonathan exhaled loudly. Not like he didn’t enjoy spending time with Anya, but he was looking forward to a nice evening walk around the city with her instead of a brutal hike through some godforsaken path.

A peck on his cheeks brought his attention back to the present.

“Don’t be mad at me, okay?” Anya looked up at him with doe eyes. “I was planning on enjoying our break together, but when Lucy told me about this group… I couldn’t resist…”

The cicadas chirped loudly.

“I’m not mad, silly.” Jonathan hugged her tightly. “I’m still spending time with you, after all. I suppose this can be considered our working vacation.”

“R-Really?”

“I’ll cherish every moment with you. Doesn’t matter whether we’re working or not.”

Anya blushed furiously, and Jonathan took the chance to give her a gentle kiss on her forehead. She released a small squeal before embracing him tightly like a love-smitten schoolgirl.

Jonathan fished out his phone.

“Lucy-”

-Was all he had to say before the vampire’s hearty laughter blared from his phone speakers.

“I take it you guys are already in China. Have you found the base?”

“Yes. And thank you very much, by the way,” Jonathan replied sarcastically. “For telling Anya about your findings and not your best friend. Aren’t you on vacation too, anyway? Wanna come along with us? We’ll just wait here in the jungle feeding the mosquitoes. No biggie.”

“What can I say? She has a very good work ethic. And no, thanks. I’m plenty comfortable here on the Hawaiian beach-”

Jonathan could hear her slurping on some kind of iced drink.

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“-I have to say, this ‘bikini’ fashion trend is very refreshing. I can’t believe there’s a place I can just walk around in my knickers. I feel so free here; I’ll have to do this more often. Oh, I have to go; a hunk’s approaching me. Have fun, both of you.”

The phone clicked.

“She’s certainly enjoying herself…” Anya commented.

“At least we confirmed that her intel’s legit.” Jonathan shrugged. “Come, let’s check that bunker out.”

The electronic lock fizzled out and cowered easily under the intimidation of Jonathan’s electricity, revealing a small but looming room of some sort. He looked at the crates littering the room; every single one of them was marked with red symbols that resembled some sort of flower.

“By the by, what happened to Cornelia after her brain was returned to her body?” Anya’s voice echoed over to him while she rifled through a stack of loose documentation.

“Did that flower logo remind you of her?” Jonathan commented absentmindedly. “Well, she’s no longer as obsessed about breeding anymore since the threat is gone. Angus gave her a protected plot of land to grow on, so she’s happy about it. That’s all I know.”

“Huh…” Anya muttered to herself, clearly more interested in the files she was now flipping through. Jonathan continued the investigation on his end as well.

The crates contained nothing else but racks of bottles. He picked up a bottle, examining it intently. Red-coloured electricity danced within, and the bottle looked like it was made of some kind of special transparent material. Chinese characters were labelled on the bottle as well, except for only three English words Jonathan could make out.

“Red Clover Corps…” he breathed. “What the hell is that?”

“Jon? Come here for a bit.”

Jonathan scooted over to his partner. Anya flipped through a tablet, showing him the dissection of a few creatures. Anger and disgust flushed his spine. He recognised some of the monster species. Centaurs, Minotaurs, Werewolves, Yetis… Whatever this ‘Red Clover Corps’ was, it had spared no effort capturing and experimenting on these paranormal creatures.

“Despicable…” Anya muttered behind gritted teeth. “We need to call this in.”

“No, we need to continue investigating in private.” Jonathan grabbed her hand before she could call Angus. “Get more concrete evidence of their deeds; save the rest of these creatures.”

“Way ahead of you,” Anya said, waving a thumb drive. “These idiots saved all their files locally. We can check them out once we’re out of here. But there was something a little concerning.”

A flurry of mechanical keys clicking permeated the eerie silence as Anya accessed their project database. Jonathan tilted his head at the screen.

“Project… Mutation Wave?” he mumbled to himself, trying to make sense of the diagram on the screen emitting some kind of rippling wave. “PSI enhancement… Evolved humans.”

“Those bastards were experimenting on supernatural creatures to induce some form of mutation in humans,” Anya said. “And it looks like they’re close to succeeding too.”

Anya switched off the screen as the duo walked out of the bunker.

“We’re going to need more resources to help us out,” Jonathan stated grimly. “I’ll show Angus what we’ve discovered and see what he says. I won’t let these people hurt the supernatural world any further.”

Anya squinted her eyes before tiptoeing to give him a deep kiss on his lips. “You sounded so hot, Jon.”

Jonathan simply grinned in response as he continued trudging out of the forest. Bad things happen in the world despite humanity’s best efforts. Some people fear every single one of them. Some learn to get used to them. Some choose to fight as though it is their first time every time. Him?

He was the Immortal Stonekeeper, and he welcomed them.

END