Penny's Choice (9 page)

“A library vampire?
Oh, Thomas, you are a little silly,” Penny
said, patting him on the back.

“Laugh all you want, but I intend to spend my eternal life reading,” said Thomas. He knocked his shoulder into Penny's.

“And telling bad jokes,” Penny replied. She smiled at Thomas and patted his leg. It was
much colder than she expected.

“Hey, you laugh at them,” he said in his defense.

“No, I'm laughing at you! I don't think anybody would actually laugh at your jokes,” Penny said. She was beginning to really enjoy Thomas's company. She liked him more every minute. She knew that it wasn't his vampire charm because she still had just the tiniest distrust for him. She just liked his sensitivity, his crazy humor, his infectious laugh, his strong hands, his toned body. Penny had to stop that thought train. Thomas was her boyfr
iend's brother...and a vampire.

“Ah ha, you like my bad jokes, I knew it!” Thomas laughed and goosed her.

“What
? No...” Penny said in protest.

“Penny, vampires are very intuitive. Now, I'm not saying I can read your mind...but you were totally turned on when you said you hated my jokes,” Thomas said moving in very close.

Penny pushed him away. “I have no idea what you are talking about.” She crossed her
arms and looked the other way.

“Whatever
you,
like it or not, you think me and my stupid humor is sexy,” Thomas teased her.

“No, it's just stupid Thomas,” Penny said. She was laughing to cover up her embarrassment that Thomas
caught her thinking about him.

“Oh, ok, well, there is one thing I know, and that is you were turned on by something that I did. So either it is my so called 'stupid' humor or it was because I touched you.
Ooo
,
or maybe both. I should touch you while telling a stupid joke. So...” Thomas grabbed her in a big bear hug. “A vampire, a werewolf, and a zombie walk into a bar,” Thomas said as he started his joke.

Thomas, you are just too much,” Penny giggled and pushed against his well-toned arms. She couldn't help thinking about the curvature of his muscles for just a second, or maybe two or three. Crap, she tho
ught, He's just too attractive.

“Oh, I was right, both.” He pulled her in tighter.

“Are you trying to seduce me?” Penny said with her face muffled in his chest.

Thomas laughed before he spoke. “No, I'm trying to harass you. If you think this is sedu
ctive then you have a problem.”

“You don't think much of your abilities,” Penny said, still enjoying the smell of his chest.

“No, my vampire charm is pretty broken. The Matriarch claims I am defective, “he said. His ba
ck slumped up against the wall.

“A charmless vampire?
Sorry,” Penny said. She wished he could harass her again, but he seemed upset, so she just patted his leg.

“Yeah, well, that's supposed be like one of the big perks of being a vampire. You know, even the goofy, nerdy guys become irresistible.” Thomas sighed “And here I am almost a 30 year old
vampire who still has never...”

“
Ooo
, a thirty year old virgin!”
Penny poked him in the side, but he seemed not in a very playful mood any more. “I'm sorry, I was just trying to harass you back...
ya
know a little flirting?” She couldn't believe that she just admitted that she was flirting with him.

Thomas smiled slightly. “No that's not it...I mean that I am a...a, a virgin, but
it's
worse than that I am afraid...” He rolled his eyes and hung hi
s head.

“Worse? Oh wait, no, you haven't even been kissed?” she asked.

“Yeah, ok, I'm leaving now that I have totally embarrassed myself,” Thomas got up and just abo
ut ran out of the holding area.

Penny shot up and ran after him. “Thomas, what do you think you are doing?”

“Trying to save myself from further embarrassment,” he said. He pressed his back against the wa
ll like he was afraid of Penny.

“You are one dumb vampire,” Penny put her hands on his chest. “You can read body language...exactly...you knew I was turned on, but you left. No, you ran away.” Penny moved in closer, but Thomas had his hands pressed up against wall and his head was straining to get even an inch further from hers.

“I, really, don't...
Penny,
you're making me uncomfortable...” Thomas said, but he didn'
t make a move to push her away.

“Good,” she replied. She leaned to kiss his lips, but he turned his head so she kissed his pale cheek instead. Penny was getting irritated. She reached up to his face to turn it and try again, but this time he pushed her away.

“I don't want to take advantage of you or you to think that I am just trying to seduce you to get you to help or something,” he said. He started to walk away but Penny grabbed his hand.

“I think if anyone is taking advantage of someone here, then that would be me taking advantage of the shy, smart mouthed virgin. Kiss me Thomas!”

Thomas whipped around and grabbed her in his arms. When Thomas's lips met hers, Penny encircled her arms around his neck and pressed her body against his. She shut her eyes; she wanted to blot out everything but the feel of his lips on hers and the touch of his cool body next to hers. She kissed him eagerly, welcoming his tongue into the depths of her mouth. The kiss made her legs weak, and at the same time she was stronger and m
ore alive than she'd ever been.

Thomas threw her up against the wall, pressing the full length of his body against hers. She felt desperate to touch him, to feel his skin. She pulled at his shirt, seeking the vampire beneath. Her hands slid over his chest, pulling a deep groan from him. His mouth moved from hers. She moaned softly in protest. He kissed her ears and slowly kissed down to her neck. He bit deeply into her neck and her legs buckled underneath, sinking them into the floor. Thomas licked her neck where he had bitten and moved back up toward her lips. She could taste her blood on his tongue; feel the sharpness of his teeth. Penny scratched at his skin.

Frantically, his hands began pulling at her clothing as he kissed his way to her ear. He nipped her neck then soothed it with his tongue, as he
maneuvered
himself on top of her anticipating body. His hands grasping at her breasts as his lips kissed down her chest. "I need to touch you. I h
ave to touch you...all of you."

“Please,” Penny whispered inn his ear. No kiss or touch from Charles or any other man had ever felt so exquisite, right,
perfect
.

A throat clearing above them broke Thomas's hold over Penny. She jerked away from him fearing that Priscilla or the Matriarch would be standing over them. Thomas however seemed unaffected and p
ulled Penny back into his arms.

“Go away
Charli
,” Thomas said in an irritated voice. Thomas continued to kiss Penny and ignored the newcomer. Penny figured if Thomas didn't care,
then
neither did she.

“Wait,” Penny said as she suddenly realized that this was Thomas's
sister. “This is your sister?”

“Yes, now
Charli
, you can come back...”

“I just thought you would like to know that our brother, the one who's girlfriend you are currently disrobing, you know Charles....is at the front gate...or was at the front gate. They're bringing him down
to the holding cell right now.”

“What? Ah, hell,” Thomas muttered. He scrambled up.

“This was the plan remember?”
Charli
said crouching down to Penny's le
vel.
Charli
offered her a hand.

“Yeah, I know, it was my plan, I just...I was right in the middle...” Thomas ran both of his hands through his hair, making the curls fly everywhere. There was a loud commotion in the hallway and Penny heard Charles's voice. “Oh, shit, this is going to blow up!” Thomas grabbed her arm and started to drag her back to the cell, but Penny knew that even with Thomas's speed, they wouldn't make it to cell in time. But she had an idea.

“Tear off my
clothes!” Penny ordered Thomas.

“What?” he replied not understanding her plan, even though he was pretty much doing that a minute
ago.

But
Charli
got the idea and tore Penny's clothes off in half a second.  Penny follow
ed with a bloodcurdling scream.

“No, you monster, no,” Penny said as she threw herself under Thomas, who had suddenly gotten the picture. Thomas aggressively threw himself into the scene and just as Charles and his captors rounded the corner, Thomas bit into her neck again.

Penny screamed again as the delight of Thomas's bite sent shivers down her spine. She wanted to grab onto him and bite him back, but then she remembered that they had a crowd they were pretending for. She looked up to see if her bliss had blown their cover. The vampires seemed rather turned on by the scene and Charle
s's face was beyond bewildered.

“What the hell?” Charles yelled. “Thom...”
Charli
smacked Charles in the face to keep him from blowing the cover. Charles must have gotten his twins message because he strained against the guards and railed profanities at everyone and no one in particular. “You freak of nature, get off my girlfriend!”

The guards struggled to get Charles through the dining area into the cell. He kicked, punched, and protested every inch of the way.  Thomas eagerly continued his part of the charad
e and threw Penny on the table.

Penny laid back and enjoyed as Thomas kissed down her body and tore off her bra with barely a finger. His hands inched down her body, his kisses trailing not far behind.

“You'll watch her enjoy him,” one of the guards quipped as he slammed the bars in Charles's face. They turned to watch as Thomas's hands found Penny's underwear. Despite the crowd watching, she wished he would just tear them off like he did
her bra.

“Hey you perverts,”
Charli
said, stepping between the gawkers and the lovers. “We need to interrogate him. So if you will leave me to my duties...”

“Right, Ms. Charlotte, sorry.”
The two vampires sulked out of the room. While the duo was making their way out, Thomas’s lips were getting too close to Penny's
breasts for Charles's comfort.

“Okay, Thomas, that's enough!” Charles yelled when Thomas didn't get off Penny fast enough. Thomas pulled his lips off of her body. “Did you really have to go that far?”

“Blood drinking is the only way to make it believable,” Thomas replied with his hands st
ill around Penny's naked waist.

“I wasn't talking about that...But the whole...She's half naked and you were...kissing her,” Charles said, his brows creasing. “I didn't even think you knew how to kiss a girl!”

“Oh, he knows how to kiss a girl, well, at least that girl,”
Charli
said, suppressing her laughter.

“Shut up Charlotte,” Thomas said and threw a pen from the table at her. “Are you going to get her some clothes or something?” Thomas unbuttoned what was left still buttoned on his short and handed it to Penny.
“Until she finds you something more substantial to wear.”

“You are in so much trouble,”
Charli
shook her head full of curls the same shade as Char
les.

“Sorry, Charles,” Thomas said. “I didn't mean to get that carried away.” Thomas strode over to the cell and unlocked the door.

“You should be apologizing to Penny, not me!” Charles said as
he pushed his big brother back.

Penny buttoned up Thomas's shirt. It hung half way down her thighs. As she got up from her perch on top of the table, her legs buckled underneath and she slumped to the ground. Thomas rushed over to her, gingerly picked her up and held her in his arms.

“I'm sorry, I think I drank too much blood,” he said, wiping a
few matted hairs off her face.

“No, no, you just make me a little weak in the knees,” she said and clung to arms. “It was a little intense...from the beginning.” She rested her head on his chest as her consciousness spun around the room.

“No, I think you're a little dizzy,” Thomas replied. He sat her down on the chair. “You ne
ed to eat and drink something.”

“I'll be okay,” Penny said before she bit into a piece of bread. “We'll just have to be more...less eager next time.”

“Next time?
There will be no next time,” Charles said.  He flinched as he punched Thomas hardened arm. “Wh
at have you been doing to her?”

“Nothing,” Penny said reaching for Charles arm. “Leave your brother alone. It was me. I started it.”

“Started what?”

“Penny attacked me,” Thomas sighed.