"I like this," Amber said quietly. "It's nice."

Melissa agreed, "A little chilly, but yeah. Nice, relaxing. Quiet."

The four of us were sitting by the fire pit. Me and Melissa were sitting together on one of the big logs, and to our left Sue and Amber were together on another one. We had a big bonfire going, and we all had hoodies on. We had a nice spring day, but now that it was dark out there was a definite chill in the air. In fact it was downright cold.

Apart from the fire, the only light at all was from a tiny dim bulb in the cottage above the sink. And we'd only left that on so my girlfriends could find their way back there in the dark.

Not that it was that far away or anything, but it was really, really dark out. There were no street-lights, no lit-up buildings, no billboards, nothing. There might have been a little sliver of moonlight somewhere but the sky was overcast so we didn't even get that, or any starlight.

If not for the fire and the light in the cottage, it'd be pitch black. And none of my girlfriends could see in the dark the way I could.

I had no idea what time it was, I guessed around ten o'clock or so. It was a very long day, and a long drive. We didn't get away from the house till after noon, after packing the car up full with all our gear and groceries and everything. We had the big cooler box in the backseat between me and Amber, while Melissa was driving and Sue was in the passenger seat.

The drive was a little over four hours, but it took more like five and a half hours because we stopped a few times on the way. We had a late brunch / lunch partway here, then stopped again to buy a bunch of firewood, then had to completely re-pack the trunk and the rest of the car to fit it all in.

The final hour of the trip was spent on small winding country roads, and the last half hour the roads weren't even paved. Melissa worried a few times about her car not making it, like 'year round access' probably assumed you had a big SUV or heavy-duty pick-up or something. But the car survived and we arrived intact.

And the place was perfect. We wanted somewhere remote, this place had so much isolation it almost felt scary. Like I didn't exactly grow up in a big city, but even so I was used to being surrounded by people, houses, buildings, civilization.

Out here, there were other cottages maybe a kilometer or more away but they probably weren't occupied at this time of year and we couldn't see them. The last time we saw any other people was just after we got onto the dirt road, so like a thirty-minute drive from the cottage.

We didn't even have cell-service. The guy warned about that in his email, like modern smartphones depended on nearby cell towers or whatever. Apparently if you had an older phone with a big antenna that might work, but that was it. So we'd all turned our phones off and left them in our packs. Having no internet, no texting, no way to call anyone was another kind of isolation I'd never really experienced before.

Apart from being so far from civilization, the cottage was really nice.

There were trees all around three sides, and the fourth side was the lake. We weren't right at the waters edge though, the cottage was on a bit of a hill so the water was about ten meters below and twenty meters away. There was some cleared ground around the structure, and the fire pit was set about ten or fifteen meters away to one side. Four huge thick logs were laid around it to provide seating, and we had a view out over the lake. Or we did, until it got too dark for my girlfriends to see their hands in front of their faces. Even with my night-vision, the lake was just a large flat empty blackness, but at least I could still see it.

The inside of the cottage was all right. It wasn't anything super fancy but it was cosy and seemed friendly. The two bedrooms were small, each had a twin-size bed with an ok mattress. We had the double-sized sleeping bags and zipped two of them together so each bed would be comfy for two people, plus we had the four blankets incase we all got cold.

The washroom facilities were passable, and the main living-area was nice. It had windows overlooking the water and facing towards the fire pit, so there were nice views.

The kitchen was a bit primitive, especially now that I was used to our big beautiful kitchen at Sue's house. It was functional though, there was a modest fridge with a small icebox inside. On the counter sat a two-element electric stove and a counter-top combination oven / toaster-oven. I pan-fried some pork chops and roasted some vegetables for the four of us for dinner, and we ate in the little living-room.

Then we all grabbed vodka coolers and came out to the fire-pit, and Sue got a nice bonfire going. We roasted some marshmallows, now we were all just sort of quietly relaxing and enjoying the silence and the stillness. The only motion was the flickering of the fire, and apart from our talking the only noise was the crackle and pop of the burning wood.

After a long period of silence, Susan asked "So what are the plans for tomorrow?"

"Sleep in," Melissa replied with a smile. "Then breakfast whenever we're all up? I think at some point tomorrow I'm going to get out my camera gear and maybe walk around, take some pictures?"

I smiled, "Me too. We've basically got all day tomorrow to just chill out and do whatever. Lily wants to do the ritual tomorrow night at midnight, so that's the only thing we really have on that's like an appointment or a plan or whatever."

After a moment I added, "And I'm the only one who has to be here for that. You three can watch, but like Lily said, she won't know till it happens what the energy will be like."

"I'll be here for that," Amber stated. Her voice was quiet, but firm. She hadn't wavered on that decision since she made her mind up in the first place.

Susan agreed, "Same."

Melissa nodded but didn't say anything else. She gulped down the last of her cooler then just watched the fire for a bit.

"So if tomorrow night goes anything like the solstice," I continued, "Then we'll probably spend Thursday figuring out how it affected all of us. We'll probably spend the rest of the day relaxing or whatever? And Friday we pack up and go home."

Melissa grimaced, "We just got here, please don't talk about packing up and leaving already."

I smiled, "Sorry. Anyways, so yeah. Tomorrow's pretty much wide open. Relax, chill, do whatever, then there'll be magic at midnight."

My girlfriends nodded quietly, and Melissa offered, "Anyone want another drink?"

There were some quiet murmured no-thank-yous, we were all pretty relaxed and it seemed nobody wanted to over-indulge. Our tall blonde girlfriend got up and went back to the cottage anyways, but instead of vodka coolers she brought us all bottles of water.

"Thanks Melissa," I smiled as I accepted the water.

Over the next hour or so we all quietly watched the fire burn down, and finally the four of us decided it was time for bed. Me and Melissa went into the first bedroom together, while Sue and Amber took the second. None of us actually said anything, it wasn't a deliberate or planned thing. We all just sort of silently picked what we wanted and went with it.

The walls were thin and extremely not sound-proof in any way, so me and Melissa did our best to be quiet about it but the two of us absolutely had some fun before we were ready to sleep. Unfortunately there wasn't much we could do about the various squeaks and groans the bed made as we both moved around ontop of it.

I couldn't hear any noises from the other bedroom but that didn't surprise me. I was pretty confident Amber and Susan wouldn't be doing anything more than cuddling.

Without clocks or whatever it was hard to know what time we got up. It felt like we slept in, but the light outside made it look early. Like seven o'clock early.

Amber had a night-shirt on, but the rest of us stayed naked at first. The cottage was cool but not cold, like the guy said there was a heater and it seemed to be working ok. I figured out the coffee machine and got that going, then I had a bottle of juice and Amber grabbed a can of root beer. We all sat quietly in the little living-room and had a nice slow relaxing start to the day.

"What do you all feel like for breakfast?" I asked after Melissa and Susan had a few sips of their coffee.

"What are the options? What did we bring?" Amber asked.

There weren't a ton of options but we had a few, and it only took another minute or two for everyone to agree on french toast and bacon. I quickly pulled on some leggings and a t-shirt because I already learned first-hand why it's a bad idea to fry bacon in the nude, then I got started.

Despite the 'primitive' conditions breakfast turned out ok, and after we'd all had enough to eat Susan and Amber took care of the washing-up. Meanwhile Melissa got dressed and we both got our cameras out and started discussing our options. Sue and Amber decided to join us too, and once they were ready all four of us set out to do a little exploring around the area.

There were some rough wood stairs that made it easier to get down to the lake, and the dock seemed sturdy enough. The water looked absolutely frigid so nobody wanted to risk falling in, but it was kind of peaceful being right next to it. The sound of tiny waves quietly lapping at the shore and the underside of the dock helped with the relaxing vibe of the place.

It was another overcast morning but that was ok for both me and Melissa. Even if it meant there was a little less light than on a bright sunny day, we didn't have to deal with harsh contrasty shadows. We both took pictures of the lake and the shore-line. There wasn't any beach, or at least not the kind with sand. Most of what we could see to the left and right was rocky, and in some places trees and other stuff kind of grew right up to the edge of the water.

Just to the left of the dock was probably the closest equivalent of a beach. There were lots of small rocks and pebbles that made for a relatively smooth passage into the water. Maybe in July or August when you could swim without getting hypothermia. Or I figured folks could always just jump in off the dock.

After ten or fifteen minutes next to the water we did some exploring. We couldn't travel very far in either direction along the shore, between the terrain getting too rocky and there being too many trees and bushes. So we went back up the steps then did some hiking in the woods on either side of the cottage.

We found a few really scenic spots where the trees opened up and gave us more great views of the lake. Some parts of the woods were still sort of wet and muddy though, and apart from the evergreens most of the trees were bare or just starting to get buds. Like spring was definitely a month or more later here than it was back home.

It was nice though, we all seemed to enjoy the little hike and stuff. And me and Melissa both got some nice pictures.

Eventually we wound up back at the cottage, and spent some time just lazing around the living-room. It felt like late afternoon but when Sue checked the time on her phone we were all surprised to find out it was only eleven in the morning.

"It's weird how our sense of time gets messed up when there's no clocks," I commented.

Melissa agreed, "No clocks, and no neighbours, no TV, no internet. There's nothing but the sun to tell us when to get up and when to sleep. I bet we were up at six or something this morning."

The others nodded quietly, then Susan asked with a smirk "So who's going to be the first one to complain she's bored?"

Me and Melissa both giggled, while Amber replied "Not me. I brought a book."

"Ooh!" I grinned. "Read it to us, tell us a story!"

That made her all blushy as she confessed it wasn't that kind of book. Apparently it was one of her mangas. She referred to it as 'hentai' and the cover depicted one cute girl and a whole lot of tentacles.

So we left Amber to enjoy her book in peace. After all, it's not like a half-sex-demon and two half-succubi couldn't find something to occupy our time.

Me and Melissa and Susan wound up back outside. This time we didn't bother with any clothes, and we made the most of the isolation while enjoying the great outdoors. One thing I found I really enjoyed was being a naked demon girl out in the open air, with my horns and tail visible and not having to worry about anyone seeing them.

The three of us enjoyed each other by the fire pit then down at the dock, before Melissa got the idea to grab her camera. I got mine too and we all had some more fun together while taking a bunch more pictures that would never, ever be submitted in class.

All in all it was a very good afternoon and a great way to make the most of our first full day on vacation.

PurpleCatGirl

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