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

Chapter 2 (Penny Saves the Day)

Penny and her sister Violet were fighting in their bedroom. Penny smacked her sister and screamed at her about stealing the boy that she liked. It was the last straw; it had happened too many times before. Penny was about to strike her sister again when her parents entered the room to break up the fight. But no sooner had her parents entered when five vampires, dripping with blood, entered through the window. One female vampire went directly for Violet and sunk her teeth into her neck before her sister even had a chance to scream. A gruesome looking male hurtled Penny into a closet. He bit into her neck and briefly fed on her while her family screamed in agony outside.

The vampire didn't kill Penny. He cut his own wrist and fed her his blood. Penny kicked and screamed, trying to refuse the blood, but to no avail. She was turning, and she had a hunger for blood. She burst through the closet door, looking for the first living thing she could feed on. She grabbed her sister's neck and was about to consume her first meal as a vampire.

“Penny, Penny, snap out of it,” Charles said. He was leaning over her and rubbing her arm.

Penny sat straight up in her seat. She was a little disoriented in the strange surroundings. She grabbed onto Charles' arm as she recomposed herself. She had drifted off to sleep after about ten minutes of riding in the car. She hadn't slept much or well since the incident with the vampires. The nightmares that woke her up screaming almost every night, along with the insistence that her family had been attacked by vampires, were what had prompted her grandmother to send her to a string of highly qualified psychologists. None of them had been able to help her.

Penny felt more secure around Charles already. Unconsciously she thought that he could protect her in her dreams. But he could not.

“Sorry, I just have these dreams,” Penny said, as she finally relaxed by putting her head back on the seat and releasing her death grip on Charles. “Do they go away?” she asked.

“Not completely,” he replied.  “The best thing to help them subside is to kill the damned creatures.”

Penny looked outside at the scenery. Mostly barren landscape met her gaze. There was a sign for Salt Lake City in 75 miles.

“So, are you going to tell me where we are going yet?” Penny asked, thinking about how far west they had already come.

“California.”

“And, anything more specific?” she asked. His mysterious answers intrigued her. He was a challenge, and Penny always loved challenges.

“Southern California,” he said, still evading her question.

“Are you trying to avoid answering my question?” Penny prodded him a little deeper.

“Yes,” he said, looking vacantly out the window.

“Oh, come on, Charles, what am I going to do? Do the vampires not know where the Brotherhood is?”

“Oh, they know...” he said, still staring blankly.

“Then why won't you tell?” She crossed her arms and thumped back into the seat. Penny didn't like it when people thought she was untrustworthy.

“The public doesn't know,” he said, looking at her as if he were trying to decide if she was trustworthy.

“I'm not the public anymore either.” she said. She uncrossed her arms and planted an accusing finger on Charles's nose. “My family was killed by those monsters!”

“So was mine. And I wasn't told till I got there.” Charles lifted her finger off his nose and held her hand in his. Penny wasn't sure if she wanted to kiss him or slap him. She just turned her head and huffed.