ɪ ᴋɴᴏᴡ ᴛʜɪꜱ ɪꜱ ᴀ ʟᴏᴛ ᴏꜰ ᴅɪᴀʟᴏɢᴜᴇ ʙᴜᴛ ᴊᴜꜱᴛ ᴛᴀᴋᴇ ɪᴛ ʙᴇᴄᴀᴜꜱᴇ ɪ'ᴍ ᴅᴏɪɴɢ ᴍʏ ʙᴇꜱᴛ ᴛᴏ ʟᴇᴀᴅ ᴜᴘ ᴛᴏ ꜱᴏᴍᴇᴛʜɪɴɢ ʙɪɢ. ʀᴇᴀʟʟʏ ʙɪɢ. ɪ'ᴠᴇ ʜᴀᴅ ᴛʜɪꜱ ᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴘʟᴀɴɴᴇᴅ ꜱɪɴᴄᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍɪᴅᴅʟᴇ ᴏꜰ ʙʀᴏᴋᴇɴ ᴍᴇᴍᴏʀɪᴇꜱ.

ꜱᴡɪᴍꜱᴜɪᴛꜱ ᴀʙᴏᴠᴇ

It took Aro and Marcus three hours to come back with bags of blood. When they came back, they found Caius and I purring, snuggled up with each other on our vacation bed. Aro seemed pleased, but I could tell Marcus was thinking you left me out?

"Looks like you two had a good time just based on the cracks," Aro said in a cheery voice. "Do you think il nostro amore will be able to come down to the beach with us? Our son has requested a trip and Anora is going along with it."

"Mmm, just let me get dressed," I say as I strip the blankets off of me, revealing my naked form. My mates all took in a deep breath as I shimmied on over to the dresser, finding a swimsuit that I could wear for the trip down to the beach. "Does this one look nice? Not too much, is it?"

"You look perfect, tesoro," Marcus complimented, kissing me on the forehead. "Shall I bring blood to the beach? Everything is uninhabited so we won't get caught snacking."

"That would be nice." Aro smirked at the way I put on my top and walked over to my side, kissing at my neck. "We're supposed to be going to the beach, amore."

"Mmm but you look so nice in that swimsuit." I rolled my eyes, pushing him off of me. Caius snickered, earning a glare from his raven-haired soul brother. Marcus simply grabbed some of our things and opened up the door. Aro grumbled something under his breath before taking out his phone. He sent a text to somebody, but I couldn't see who it was since I myself was already halfway out the door that Marcus had so generously opened up for me.

Beaming all the way down to the beach, I noticed that our son had already found himself on the sandy shores, messing around with Anora, who threw a ball in his face.

"Nor! What did you do that for?" Helios exclaimed, grabbing the ball off the ground and throwing it back to her. Before he could say anything more, Aro whistled, alerting our son to our presence. "Dads! You finally got Mamma out of the room with Father Caius."

"How many times have I asked you to not call me father?" Caius questioned, looking unimpressed. "It makes me feel old and you know how I feel about feeling old all the time. Children these days, making their parents feel like old people."

"You're literally over 3000 years old." Caius hissed, picking me up on his chest. I squealed, attempting to bat his hands off of me as they trailed down to my waist. "And now you're harassing Mamma."

Marcus and Aro chuckled at Caius' handsiness, rushing over to greet our son, who pulled his mate close to his chest. Anora puffed out her cheeks in annoyance and pushed Heelie's hands away from her face as he tried to kiss her head. God they're so cute. Why can't my mates do that? Wait, they do, it's just cuter since they're physically 13 and I'm becoming an old hag.

Anora and Helios were very close. Being the only hybrids in the castle allowed them to spend as much time together as possible. To be frank, they do everything together. Sleeping together (no not like that I swear they're children. They can't do that until they're at least physically 15 or 16), eating at the same time, and doing chores together (that was Caius' idea since they get into more trouble than any other child he's ever seen. Has he seen many other children, I don't know).

With them being so close and us knowing that they wouldn't do anything too mischievous, we let them out on their own. We're vampires, so if anyone were to try and kidnap them Helios could just pop their eyeballs out and take them as a midday snack. Anora as well, she has a mean streak when it comes to people messing with her precious mate. She's the perfect girl for my son and the perfect daughter for Rosalie, who she loves very much. It makes me feel so much better knowing that the children could be out by themselves. Of course, motherly instincts kick in once the sun starts coming up.

"Pass me that ball, Nora!" I called out. Anora turned her head before passing the ball to me a bit roughly, nearly causing the ball to pop from the pressure of her throw. "Make sure to be careful with these things. I don't want to exhaust the ball storage during the first week of our trip. We're going to be here for at least a month."

Nora stuck her tongue out at me before beginning to chase her mate across the beach. I sighed, not expecting anything less. At least they're getting their energy out before they have to go to bed.

"What should we do, tesoro?" Marcus asked, now right in front of me. I wrapped my arms around him, snuggling into his chest. "There are so many possibilities and so much time. Greece is a beautiful place."

"How come you haven't taken me here before?" Marcus chuckled, pressing his lips to the top of my head. "I mean, come on, we've been together for nearly four years and you've never thought of taking me back to your homeland? Greece is a part of you! You aren't even Italian, you bugger!" Marcus shushed me, picking me up in his arms. I blinked a few times before looking up into his big red eyes. "This isn't a way to drop the conversation!"

"Look, she's getting bratty again," Aro tutts. "What have we said about brattiness, amore?"

"That it makes you want to screw me into the wall." Aro sent me a half-hearted glare. "Fine, that it makes you need to give me a punishment. Both are correct. Don't deny it, Caius just screwed me into the bed."

"The bed and the wall are two different places," Marcus reminds me. Knowing that he was right, I pouted. My brown-haired mate ran a hand down my spine, making me melt into his embrace. "Do you want us to take you to the other side of the beach? It has the best sands. The kids will be running around for a few hours and they can just come grab us if they need something sorted out for them."

He took my nod as a yes, rushing us over to the lower end of the beach. Down here the sands are pure white, with the rocks being a nice black color. It was pure beauty here. There really is no place like Greece.

Just resting on the towel, my mates took turns running around trying to catch each other while one of them ran their hands through my long, slightly curly brown hair. After my newborn stage my hair truly gained volume and curls, no longer strained by my constant need for blood. As everyone says, a vampire looks prettiest when they're full.

Pulling myself onto Marcus' lap, I'm able to hear the birds chirping around us, almost ready to go to sleep. The sound of rushing waves crashing in overturned Aro and Caius' bickering. I was sure that one of them had thrown the other into the waves, ruining someone's hair. Marcus and I are lucky that someone hasn't had a vampire meltdown over their appearance yet.

"I WASN'T THE ONE WHO HIT FIRST, YOU BASTARD!" Caius screamed at Aro, likely loud enough for the entire island to hear. Thank goodness we have the island to ourselves. Poor humanity, having to exist on the same planet as these handsome drama kings. "ARO STOP IT! STOP THROWING YOUR STUPID SAND IN MY BLOODY HAIR!"

Taking a sip from my blood thermis, I watch the show in front of me. Marcus giggled at their antics, continuing to run his hands through my hair.

"THIS IS YOUR FAULT CAIUS! YOU THREW SAND SO I THREW HANDS!" I started to cackle at the show I was watching. I swear I'm living with these men for the rest of my immortal life and I can't complain. First class ticket to the best comedy play in all of history. "TAKE THIS, YOU FERRET!"

"NOOOO!" Caius screamed as Aro pummeled him with sand. "YOU DAMNED ENDERMAN!"

"We shouldn't have let him play that game," Marcus mumbled. He turned his head away from my hair to scream back at his brothers, "CAIUS PLEASE DON'T CALL ARO NAMES IF THEY AREN'T GOING TO BE GOOD ONES!"

"I HATE YOU MARCUS!" Caius screamed in frustration.

"I LOVE YOU MARCUS!" Aro praised his brother for his contribution to his sand throwing cause.

"How did we end up with the two of them?" I asked my calm mate, who shrugged. "It's like they're immortal children with control over their bloodlust. Like five-year-olds fighting over who gets to say the last word. Kind of reminds me of two kittens swatting each other from underneath blankets."

"Lovely visuals, Mamma." I flinched as my son kissed me on the cheek, sitting down next to Marcus and I. "Nor and I could hear them from a mile away. Literally. Do they do this inside your nest?"

"Obviously," I deadpanned, getting up from Marcus' lap. My mate frowned, reaching out to try and pull me back into his embrace. I scanned for my mates, only to find them harassing each other with fistfulls of sloppy wet sand. They were a long ways away, but I could still hear them arguing on the ethics of their fight. Aro claimed revenge, Caius claimed cruel and unusual punishment. Sorry, darling, that only works when you're in American. Just kidding, America doesn't set good punishments either. For almost nobody, actually. "SWEETIES COME BACK OVER HERE YOUR SON IS HERE TO SAY HELLO!"

"I am not-" Heelie tried to retract what I said to his fathers, but he was unsuccessful.

Instantly the two of them came running back to where Marcus and I had been previously laying. My mates were caked in layers of dirt, salty sea water, and sand. Just sand. Caius' hair volume was now just sand. Density? Sand. His mouth? Probably sand as well.

I pushed Aro away as he tried to kiss me. He whined at me, putting on his best pouty face.

"No sandy kisses for me." He growled, turning to see our son.

"None for me either," Heelie said quickly. Aro grinned, picking him up and throwing him in the sand. "DAD!"

"Become one with the sand, child, it is your friend," Aro ordered, lazily pointing his finger at Helios. "Be my sandy child. You have a sandy father so you shall be a sandy child. Anora-"

"Throw me in sand and I will boop your bonds," Anora threatened, not liking the idea of joining her mate in the soft white sand. "Heelie has already ruined my bathing suit with sand. And my hair. I'm so glad I didn't bring shoes. He could have ruined my new shoes!"

I looked between Helios and Aro, who were both sporting the same cheeky grin. "Don't even think about ruining my stuff. I will make this place rain hellfire if you mess up my hair with sand. Consider me Anakin Skywalker."

"He wouldn't even step foot in sand," Caius said dramatically. "Plus you wouldn't turn to the dark side over potentially losing your wife. You don't even have a wife. Nope. Marcus, hand me blood. I'm so hungry. I haven't eaten anything since we got here and I need a snack."

"Won't even ask nicely," Marcus grumbled out, handing his brother the bag of blood. "Heelie, Anora, are you getting hungry? They're fresh out from the blood bank. I have your favorites."

"Yes, yes, I want O+. Give me O+," Heelie ordered, eyes growing dark at the mention of his favorite blood type. He thought it tasted similar to chocolate. It was much healthier for him than chocolate, so we let him have it regularly.

"What's the magic word?" Marcus pressed.

"Abracadabra." I let out a snort.

"That will have to do for now... Just take your blood, needy child."