Penny's Choice (8 page)

Most of the questions she had now revolved around the Brotherhood. There was one thing that Charles said that really bugged her still. After the library fire, Charles had hinted that she didn't have a choice in joining the Brotherhood. She had postponed asking Thomas about it because she was afraid of the answer. She was afraid that she had
wrongly
put her trust in the organization.

“It's meatloaf!” Thomas said, with a note of glee in his voice. He sat the tray down on the table, arranged the silverware, and
pulled out the chair for Penny.

“Meatloaf?
What's so special about meatloaf?” Penny asked. It wasn't that she had a problem with meatloaf, but it was an odd choice to get excited about. So far, the food that she had eaten with the vampires was about ten times better than at the Brotherhood Sanctuary, even if it was just a sandwich.

“It's my mother's recipe,” Thomas replie
d.

“The cook has your mother's meatloaf recipe?” Penny said as she took her seat. Thomas helped her scoot up to the table. One thing was for sure, Thomas was a perfect
gentlemen
.
Something that his suave brother lacked.

“Sure, I'm the cook,” he said, taking a seat next to Penny. “Who do you think has
been cooking all of your food?”

“I don't know a cook of some sort?” Penny took a bite of the meatloaf. It was really good and just a little spicy. “You’re a really good cook, Thomas.” She spoke between bites of meatloaf. “Are you trying to fatten me up or something?”

“Yup,” Thomas said, grinning from ear to ear. “I've never really understood my brother's
fascination with skinny girls.”

Penny giggled. “That's not what I meant!”

“Body fat doesn't really affect the taste of blood,” he said. “That's more of an age and gender type thing. Men taste better than women and the young taste better than the old.”

“So little boys?
That's g
ross!” Penny wrinkled her nose.

“God, Penny, I'm not a
pedophile
!” Thomas said, sitting up. “That's enough talk about that.” He rolled his eyes. “Try your polenta.”

“What?”

“The mashed potato looking stuff,” Charles pointed to the yellow, grainy lump next to the meatloaf.

“Haven't you just heard of mashed potatoes?” Penny took a
tiny bite. “Not bad, I guess.”

“You’re boring,” Thomas said with a twinkle in his eyes.

“Boring? I'm eating meatloaf with a vampire!” Penny ate up the rest of her meatloaf while Thomas droned on about whatever was passing through his brain at the moment. Penny had never seen two people as opposite as Charles and Thomas. She could sit for an entire dinner with Charles and he would never say a word. Thomas on the other hand, could talk for hours without taking a breath. They did have some things in common.
Like they were both extraordinary fighters.
But while Charles was simply stronger than anyone else, Thomas was a good fighter because he was smarter than everyone else. He used complex physics and geometry equations to determine the best route. His abilities to instantaneously execute complex equations in his head, made him practically precognitive, and a favorite of the Matriarch. He often knew with mathematically certainty what was
going to happen before it did.

Penny looked up to see Thomas doing a ridiculous dance. “What are you doing?” Penny asked.

“You weren't paying attention,” he replied, “so I thought I
would bring you back to earth.”

“Oh, sorry,” she said, putting her fork down.
“Just thinking.”

“Yeah, I could tell,” he said sitting b
ack down. “You got a question?”

“Did I have a choice joining the Brotherhood?” It felt good to finally get that question out in the air.

“Yes, you did,” Thomas answered.
“But not good choices.
You could have joined the Brotherhood or you could have b
een killed by the Brotherhood.”

“What?” Penny didn't really like that answer.

“They don't want the secret to get out. They want humans to go about their merry lives not having to worry about the rest of the creatures in the world. In fact, I bet you don't even know about
half of us that are out there.”

“So, people that learn about vampires either have to join the Brotherhood or die?”

“No, mostly they just die. If you wouldn't have been young, strong, talented, and filled with rage for vampires, they would have killed you. Or tried to kill... I wouldn't have let them do it that easily.”

“Is that why we don't find many bodies and stuff?”

“No, you don't find many bodies because most vampires don't kill when we feed. Most humans that find out about vampires don't find out in a bloody mess like you. Vampire's befriend humans, fall in love with them,
help
them out. I mean this isn't always true. There are many, many bad vampires
out there.
More bad than good.”

“They just kill innocent humans?”

“More than just innocent humans.
They have it out for all nonhuman species, even the peaceful ones.
Like they hunt down werewolves like a bunch of mindless beasts.
Werewolves never hurt humans.”

“Wait, I've been
attacked by werewolves twice!”

“Yeah, I know, but not until you joined the Brotherhood,” he replied. “Werewolves are the warriors of the Shape-shifter community.”

“So you mentioned other...things,” Penny said, wondering if she even wa
nted to know about all of them.

“Sure, sprites,
djinn
,
mer
, just to name of few. Are all of these creatures good? No, but neither are all humans good either. But that doesn't mean that humans should be systematically exterminated because there are a couple bad ones in the batch.”

“The Brotherhood is like the Nazis, Penny. They are charismatic, charming and they fill your head with propaganda and lies to get you to go along with their extermination of everyone that doesn't fit a specific physical bill. They're monsters!” Thomas was much more serious and agitated than normal. She could see tears forming in his eyes. “We just have to get out of both of these places of
hell and to someplace better.”

“What, you want me to come with you all?”

“Yes,
I mean you and Charles, are...”

“Not anymore, even if all of this is true, I don't think I can really trust him anymore.”

“Well, I would...I still...feel responsible for you. Please, you can't stay with the Brotherhood. I really want to make th
is right...between you and me.”

Penny took a step back. She could see terror in his eyes when he talked about losing her.
Terror for losing his family.
Terror at what he could do in a place like this. She finally let her guard down with Thomas and let herself feel.

“Fine,” she said. She took a couple small steps toward him. “When the time co
mes what do you want me to do?”

“Stay out of it. Lay low, please. I don't want anything more to happen to you,” he said with pleading in his eyes.

Penny rolled her eyes in response.

“Alright, I thought so, miss I sleep with a dagger under my pillow,” Thomas said. A smile returned to his lips. “Let me think about it.” Penny liked it when he smiled. “Did you want to go on a walk with me?” He offered her hi
s arm. “I need some fresh air.”

“Sure,” Penny said. She hadn't been outside since she had been abducted. “I didn't mean to upset you.”

“No it's okay. You needed
to hear the truth, I suppose.”

When fresh air hit her face, Penny suddenly wanted to cry. She grabbed Thomas and buried her head in his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and held her tight while she cried for over an hour. Eventually, Thomas scooped her up like rag doll and carried her back into the holding area. At that point Penny had nothing left in her. She was emotionally exhausted.

Thomas tried to place Penny in her bed, but she wasn't going to let go of him. She needed to feel him next her. So he crawled in bed with her and held her tight, caressing her hair while she drifted off to sleep. Penny dreamed her same dream again. But this time instead of Thomas's presence being ominous, it was comforting; the dream was pleasant. She heard no screams, only felt his strong, loving pres
ence, and felt completely safe.

When she woke up hours later, she was still wrapped in Thomas's arms.

“Morning sleepy head,” Thomas said when he felt her stirring. “You were starting to put my arms to sle
ep.”

“Can I just snuggle here for a little longer,” Penny said, burying her head in his chest.

“
Mmmm
, if you have to,” he said, but he tickled her sides instea
d of letting her doze back off.

“Thomas, quit it. Geez, can't you be serious for a minute?' she asked trying to wriggle out of his grasp.

“You are so not a typical vampire!”

“Yeah, I know, but I'm still pretty good looking!” Thomas said grabbing Penny back in his arms. “What do you want to do today?” He finally let Penny go and got up out of bed. He sti
ll looked fresh and unwrinkled.

“You're asking me? Aren't you supposed to order me around and be all mysterious?” She followed him out of the cell. Penny liked that Thomas was different, but the happy vampire still took some getting used to.

“What, so all vampires have to be moody and brooding? I have to demand this and that and control everything that you do?” He filled a bowl with water for Penny to wash up. Every morning he made sure that she
had all the human necessities.

“Well, you're not supposed to just say 'ok' and go on with your merry way,” she said between brushes of her teeth.

“How about, sure Penny, that's fine with me. Or I really don't care what you do, Penny... Are those better?” he said while turned around to let Penny get on some fresh clothes. Penny rolled her eyes.

“That's not really what I meant,” she replied. “Well, I mean I am your prisoner.” She finished washing her face and grabbed a hand towel from Thomas. She felt a little more human now that she was washed up, so when Thomas moved a little closer she didn't have
to worry about morning breath.

“Do you want me to put you back in your cell?” Thomas jingled the keys in his hands. “Or would you prefer 'Get out of my sight you filthy mortal before I succumb to my blood lust from your young, supple neck.” He bar
r
ed his teeth.

Penny giggled. She grabbed a brush and com
bed out her long, knotted hair.

“See. I'm just not a scary, moody vampire. My intent there was pure terror!” He clenched his fist and slammed it into the wall.

Penny giggled again.

“All right you,” he grabbed her by the arm, which shocked Penny. She started to retract her arm, but he was much too strong. Penny panicked; she had pissed him off, but then she saw the impish smile on his face as he dragged her back down the hallway toward the cells. He threw her back in the cell and followed her, locking the door behind him.

“You
idiot.
You locked yourself in.”

Thomas jingled the keys and then threw them out of reach outside the cell. “Oops. Oh well, what's next? Oh right I ravish you long into the night, right?” He grabbed her and threw her onto the bed in the corner.

“Oh, Thomas,” Penny said trying not giggle again. She didn't want to spur on his impish streak anymore, but then again maybe she did.

Thomas jumped over towards her as she tried to sit up to catch her breath. He then
sat on directly on her stomach.

“
Oof
, got off me, you weigh a ton.” Penny struggled underneath the full weight of the vampire.

“No, I
vant
to suck your blood, ah, ah, ah,” Thomas said
leaning slightly over her face.

Penny burst out laughing.

“Thomas, hasn't anyone told you not to play with your food?” Priscilla said outside the cell. “Eat it, rape it, whatever, but don't play with it. It's disgusting.”

“Sorry, Priscilla,” Thomas said and immediately go off of Penny. The va
mpire threw the keys at Thomas.

“I just came by terrorize our bait with the news that the Brotherhood is amassing a small army to come retrieve you. Seems you are very important to someone,” Priscilla said. She had a deep rasping voice that would have normally terrified Penny, but somehow with Thomas nearby, everything seemed slightly comedic. The vampire turned and floated gracefully out of the room.

Penny waited for a minute and then laughed. “She
reminds me of the High Warden.”

Thomas laughed in return. “You can see why I want to get out of here. I want to leave and go to a happy place. I could be...I don't know...a library vampire,” he said sitting down next to penny on her bed.