Penny's Choice (5 page)

“Fire, Fire,” Charles yelled as they joined a group of befuddled students on a lower floor that wasn't taped off with police tape. Charles pulled the fire alarm and students started toward the doors. Penny and Charles joined the herd spewing from the library. Flames were already shooting from the sixth floor window when Penny turned around to survey the damage. A
figure burst from another window and landed on the ground gracefully. Penny assumed it was a vampire and took off running.

“
Wait, that
was Thomas!” Charles said, stopping Penny from pursuing.

“Thomas? Thomas just jumped from a sixth floor window and didn't break a bone?” Penny said looking at Charles with a hint of disbelief in her eyes.

“Thomas, well, look, can we just not mention Thomas anymore?” Charles rolled his eyes and turned around.

“The man has saved me twice,” Penny said, trying to pry an answer out of her strong, but silent boyfriend.

“And he'll probably save you another ten times,” Charles said. “He's one of the most self-sacrificing individuals I know. He's the good guy.”

“Does he always help the Brotherhood like this?”

“No! Just you and me,” Charles said, violently grabbing Penny. “Don't ever mention Thomas to the Brotherhood, Thomas's life depends on it. Please.”

“Look, as far as I am concerned, I owe Thomas my life twice already. I'm not going to purposefully cause him trouble.” Penny broke Charles's hold on her. “And it really hurts that you don't trust me. You never tell me anything.” She stumbled back, fighting tears.

“I'm sorry; I'm just not used to being able to trust people,” he replied. “Just give me a little time, k?” He put his hand on hers.

“Maybe,” she said she was still mad, but her heart still skipped half a beat when Charles touched her.

“But I know more about Thomas, except how he can jump out of a building – which is not much to know, but is more than I know about you… and I've only met him twice.”

“Can we talk about something else?” Charles sighed.

“Sure. How about the mission,” Penny said as she stared up at the inferno blazing in the library.

“Yeah, like the mission, at least we don't have to worry about the cover up anymore. No more evidence,” Charles said. Penny thought she saw a small smile on his face. “That's one thing he always could do well.”

“Well, maybe not for the public,” she replied. “But we have to do something about the Thomas element in our report for the brotherhood.”

“Sometimes I get tired of the brotherhood,” he said quietly. He sat down on a fountain and traced his finger through the water.

“So why did you join?” Penny asked. She sat next to Charles.

“You thought you had a choice,” Charles replied, “but you really didn't.”

“What do you mean?” Penny asked. Of course she had a choice. Didn't she?

“Never mind,” he said. He drew his legs up Indian style and looked off at the burning building. “He always knew how to leave a mess too.”

Penny hated how Charles always seemed to evade her questions. She decided to give up and ask Thomas when he showed up again.

“I goofed up,” Penny said.

“What, no, Thomas shouldn't have given you that gun,” Charles said. “You never shot one before.”

“No, no, that's not what I meant,” she said, looking at the throng of students gawking at the firemen.

Some students were excited about the drama, some were excited that maybe school would be canceled, and the good students were crying about the inability to get their work done. A group of librarians stood by some trees and, despite being out of the library, still whispered to one another. “I mean that's the cover story. I took your gun and got overzealous.”

“I couldn't have you take the blame for my crazy friend,” Charles said. He glanced over at the police who were talking to the librarians. One of the women pointed over in their direction. “I think we’re going to have company,” he said slowly nodding in the direction of the police, “perhaps we should have gotten out of here while we could have.”

“Don't worry, I'm a good liar,” Penny said and winked at him. “Plus, it will give us a chance to do a little more damage control.”

“Officers,” Charles said to the campus policemen.

“Librarian over there thinks she saw you two running down the stairs and were the first to sound the alarm about the fire.”

“Yes, officer, my boyfriend and I were, well you know, taking a study break...” Penny then winked at the officers. “I know the library isn't the place, but like, when the mood hits, it hits,
ya
know?”

“Uh-huh, and did you see anything?” The shorter officer asked.

“Like what?
Vampires?
That's part of the reason that I got so hot in the library...vampires are so sexy,
ya
know?” Penny could tell that Charles was trying to not laugh at her dumb coed spiel, but the officers were eating it up.

“No not vampires, like did you see anything real?” The taller officer probed her for better information.

“But vampires are real,” Penny replied, making sure to look totally aghast that not everyone believed in vampires.

Okay, well just for arguments sake, was there anything that you saw other than vampires?” The officers rolled their eyes at each other. Penny was glad that they thought she was an idiot.

“Well, there was only one other person up there with us. I mean, he was,
ya
know, not with us, but he was some ragged homeless looking guy. He didn't have all his teeth; it was gross. Almost ruined the mood, but vampires...” Penny started off on a rabbit trail. She could hear Charles suppress a chuckle behind her.

“And sir did you see this same guy?” The short officer asked as he took down notes on pad of paper.

“Yeah,” Charles replied. “He was pretty gross. Seen worse after an all-night
kegger
, but he was still pretty gross.”

“Do you think that you could describe this man to a sketch artist?” Both officers asked almost in unison.

“
Ooo
, a sketch artist!”
Penny said.

“Sure, man,” Charles said, trying to continue with his best frat guy impression. He was not nearly as good at this game as Penny was, but he was passable. It worked to their advantage that cops usually look for non-supernatural answers to crimes. The cops wouldn't have believed that the fire was started by three vampire hunters even if Penny and Charles had told them the truth.

Charles and Penny spent the rest of the night in the police station describing a half toothless version of their friend George back in the brotherhood.  The police decided that the homeless man was probably responsible for the attack on the librarian and the fire. They said they would probably never know because the library was a complete loss. The firemen said they had never seen a fire spread so violently. They had such a hard time just containing it to that one building that their mission went from putting out the fire to containing the fire.

Penny and Charles returned to the brotherhood sanctuary in San Jose. Penny received a small slap on the hand for using an unauthorized weapon, but was congratulated for being creative with the cover-up. It showed she could adapt and think on her feet.

Her next mission would be strictly supervised.

Penny sipped a dink, relishing the taste. It was pleasing, melting on her lips. Normally at 18, she would not be able to consume alcohol, but not in the Brotherhood. She was an adult and could do whatever she wanted. She sighed and placed the drink on a nearby table. She eagerly glanced at the people dancing. She had to keep alert in case any vampires came out. After the incident with the library, Penny had to beg to get put on this team. And even then, she was just the decoy. It had been almost three months since the she burnt down the UGA library. She had been praised for her quick thinking, but was still put on probation. She was, though, allowed to train in the use of the fire guns. She enjoyed shooting the gun and the Brotherhood, especially the High Warden, was quite impressed with the accuracy of her aim.

She leaned against the walls and straightened her treacherously tight, little red dress. Her long blonde hair flowed down her back and the excessive high heels made her legs go on for hours. Classical music was played by a small ensemble as unsuspecting human twirled around the floor. She felt confident.

"A vampire has entered the ballroom," Charles said, his voice echoed into her ear through her electronic earring. She raised her head to search for Charles and found him standing at the opposite end of the room; he met her gaze with his sexy eyes and nodded at the door's direction.

"Another two entered. Get ready, Penny," he said through his collar. Charles had insisted that he go on the floor with her. She wasn't sure if it was because he didn't trust her to do a good job, or if he just was concerned for her safety.

Penny had an incredible urge to grab her small wooden daggers out of the back of her dress and get rid of the vampires. Even though her aim was impeccable, she was still not allowed to carry the fire gun into combat.
Too much risk of civilian casualties.
Just as Penny calmed herself down, a tall man with curly mousy brown hair caught her attention. He wore the standard tux and his hair flowed around his neck. He looked around twenty, which
was
only a few years older than Penny. She would never forget his face. He had been there the night that all of her trouble started. When the vampire turned his direction to her and met her gaze, a friendly smile appeared on his face and he raised his hand as if he were saying hello. She felt her face grow incredibly hot. Who exactly was he?

“Charles, that one there, he's the one,” Penny said through her microphone. She started to tremble and braced herself against the wall.

“What?” Charles replied.

“The one with the curly hair...he's the one that shoved me in the closet...the one that was there that night!”

“What, that one?” Charles said looking over in the vampire's direction.

“Yes,” Penny said. Her composure started to fall apart. She wasn't ready to face him yet.

“Oh great,” Charles said. His voice was filled with irritation. “Listen Penny, you stay away from him! You hear me, don't you go anywhere near him.”

“What, but...”

“That's an order,” he said curtly. He then stalked directly over to the vampire, grabbed him by the collar, and pulled him down a hallway. He must have muffled his microphone because Penny couldn't hear anything that he was saying to the vampire. Penny would have thought that Charles aggressive behavior with the vampire was strange, but she could barely remember her name at the moment.

She found a chair and sat down. Her head swam around the room. Emotions flew her. She went from rage to hopelessness then to confusion in just a few seconds. His face brought back scenes from the last night she had spent with her family. She had tried so hard to forget them.

"Charles, I'm heading to the bathroom," she whispered into the microphone. “I need to collect myself.”

“Fine,” he said in a muffled reply. “Stay out of trouble.”

She wandered around aimlessly for a few minutes and found herself in a very long dark hall, far off from the ballroom. She spotted a door
labeled
'Private'. She blinked. Was this a vampire room? Maybe she could find some information on that vampire. Her mind was still not working fully right. She turned the doorknob and twisted it hard, but it didn't move. She sighed and blinked again. She smashed the door with great energy and it opened with a loud crack. She smiled. At least smashing things made her feel a little better. She looked around the area, there was a light in a corner, but it the room was still mostly dark. She moved quickly to a filing cabinet filled with what would hopefully be vampire files.

Her hands searched desperately for anything with her name on it or maybe that Priscilla vampire or even something on Thomas. She grabbed a file and was about to open it when suddenly two hands wrapped through her arms from the back keeping her from moving. She felt a hot breath on her back.

"Girls like you shouldn't be alone in a place like this." The voice was happy and playful.

She breathed sharply. Thomas! His touch made her more goosepimply than Charles's ever did. She tried to banish the thought from her head, but she was just so glad that he was here and Thomas' skin was just so smooth. Maybe he could help her with her problem, especially since Charles wasn't there to get in the way.

"Thomas," she said, then she turned a little bit and caught sight not of Thomas, but of the vampire from the ballroom. She found herself staring into breathtaking blue eyes. She struggled to get free, but it only made him tighten his hands on her arms. She thought about screaming, but she was afraid it would bring more vampires instead of help.

"Is this your office?" She said, trying to get her arms out of his clutches.

The vampire gave her a sly grin when she turned her head around.

"No," he replied, his voice sent chills down her. She wanted to grab her daggers and pierce him straight through the heart. She waited for him to sink his teeth into her neck and finish what he had started months ago.