Penny's Choice (Book 1 of Penny's Choice Series)

Chapter 1 (Leaving The Nest)

Wind whistled through the upstairs window, rustling her grandmother’s antique curtains. Penny slammed the window shut. Her grandmother knew that she didn’t like the window left open. It’s how they got in the house. Of course her grandmother, the police, psychologists, and teachers didn’t believe her story. The story sounded ridiculous even to her: Vampires. According to one psychologist that her grandmother had sent her to, vampires were a figment of teenage girls’ imaginations, built from a suppressed desire for danger, sensuality, and the proverbial bad boy. The solution to her hallucination: get out and date a little.

Penny peeked through the curtain, causing a flurry of stagnant dust to dance around her face in the starlight. She had seen them, though. Five of them, to be precise. And here she was living with her grandmother, being harassed by reporters, and being driven from one shrink to the next, instead of being on summer vacation with her family. Vampire: it’s what she wrote on the police report.

Penny glanced back at the clock: 2 a.m. She lifted the quilt from her bed and pulled her suitcase from underneath. She was leaving; she was joining the Brotherhood. She was going to get revenge for her family.

She left a note on the night stand for her grandmother. She wrote only one word on the paper: Vampires.

Penny opened the door to her bedroom quietly, stopping at the point where the hinges tended to creek. While her grandmother’s vision was failing, her ears were as sharp as a bat’s. She tiptoed through the hallway making sure to miss the two squeaky floor boards. Once outside she made her way down to the end of the lane to a taxi that was waiting on her.

“Penny?” the taxi driver asked. He shifted his baseball cap as he looked at her.

“Yeah, I’m kinda in a hurry,” she said as she clutched the suitcase closer to her body. “So if we could just get out of here, I would appreciate it.” She looked around the wooded area uneasily. She still feared that the vampires would come back for her. She was still unsure why they had passed her up.

“You expecting somebody, young lady?” The driver stated, squinting his eyes at her. “You seem a little young to be going out by yourself...especially so late.”

“I’m 18,” she lied. She was only 17, but she didn’t want to alert the driver that she was running away. “Best time to fly is red eye cause it’s cheaper.” She avoided his gaze and looked back into the forest.

“Sure.” He opened the car door for her, and she rushed into the back seat.

In the taxi, Penny opened up her suitcase; it was packed only with a few family photos, a diary, and one change of clothes. She left everything, including her laptop and cell phone, at her grandmother’s house. The last communication from the Brotherhood, as they called themselves, told her not to bring anything that could be used to track her and that they would provide anything she might need. She slammed her suitcase closed when she noticed the driver eyeing her again.

Penny was not taking a flight like she told the driver. She was to meet her contact from the Brotherhood at airport baggage claim 2. He would be wearing a green Beatles t-shirt and sitting on the edge of the carousel.

At the airport, Penny gave the man two 20 dollar bills, the last of her money.

“Hold on, I'll get you some change,” the driver said.

“Keep it!” She was already halfway to the airport door as she yelled back.

“That's lots of money for a 10 minute...” But Penny was already through the door and didn't care how long he had driven her. She didn't need the money anymore. It was on the do not bring list.