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

Chapter 4 (The Clean Up)

"Bilberry extract," Thomas said, elaborating. He playfully poked Penny in the stomach.

"All right, we came here to do a job. Keep out of it, Thomas," Charles said as he moved cautiously down the shelves.

"No," Thomas replied. "I don't take orders from you. And you need me."

"He's right, Charles; even with only three unorganized vampires, I like the odds of three humans against three vampires."

"No, we can handle this on our own, Thomas," Charles said, ignoring Penny's reasoning.

"No, you can't, because I know something that you don't know," Thomas said, strolling up to Charles and crossing his arms.

"Like what?"

"Those vampires in there are Priscilla's fledglings, and there are more than just three now," Thomas said. Charles took a step back and slumped against the floor.

"Priscilla? Are you sure? Why would she even do something like that?" Charles said with his head almost buried in his knees.

"She planned on rising against the...her matriarch...I guess. She's being punished quite severely, or so I hear. The Matriarch is giving a large reward to anyone who's willing to take them out. So now you are going to have to deal with vampire hunters too."

"Um, not to be the stupid one, but who is Priscilla?" Penny asked.

"Particularly nasty vampire. Responsible for your family's death, actually," Thomas replied.

"What? You know about my family?" Penny asked. She wanted to know everything that Thomas knew. Why wasn't she told this before? Why hadn't they tried to take her down?

"This is not the time, sweetheart," Charles said as he stood up. He put an arm around her and kissed her on the head. "We'll talk about it after this. Do we have the time on the...other hunters?" Charles asked.

"Um, yeah, I'm not sure how much time," he said. Penny thought she could hear him smiling. "I sent them over to the wrong library. Right now they are stalking the law library!" He laughed hard.

"Thomas, keep it down!" Charles smacked him in the stomach with the back of his hand.

"You two fight like brothers," Penny said, shaking her head at the old friends. "So what are we going to do?"

"Well, there are two more vampires that should be emerging tonight," Thomas said. "So, I think that the best course of action would be to use those wooden daggers of yours as a last resort." He pointed to the daggers still gripped in Penny's hand. When she realized that she still had them in her hands, she stumbled to put them back in her boots.

"I am guessing you brought some fire guns?" Charles asked.

"Indeed I did," Thomas replied. "One for each of us."

"But I haven't used a fire gun yet," Penny said. Fire guns shot out bullets that would burst into flames whenever they hit a target. They were one of the main weapons in a hunter's arsenal, but they were also dangerous. She had wanted to try one out, but Charles had told her that they were only for advanced agents. In another year or so, she would be able to start her training.

"Well, today's your lucky day," Thomas said as he pulled out a fire gun from his pack. He handed it to Penny.

"Whoa, wait a sec," Charles said. "She doesn't have any training. Those things are dangerous if you don't use them right."

"Don't worry, Chuck," Thomas said as he handed Charles a gun. "She's a better aim than you are!"

"Funny," Charles replied as he checked the clip. The gun looked almost like any normal gun, but instead of gunpowder it used air to propel the bullets with the flammable chemicals. The bullets came out slower, but it didn't matter if the bullets went into the target, just that they hit the target.