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.
Charles sighed and let go of her hand. “The Winchester Mystery House,” he said quietly.
“Where?” Penny had never heard of that place before, but of course, she had never been west of the Mississippi before she met Charles.
“The Winchester Mystery House is a unique building and popular tourist attraction that was built by an eccentric widow and heiress.”
“Why are we going to a tourist trap?” Penny asked. She didn't like the idea of staying at a place inundated with noisy tourists.
“Because that is just a ruse and a way that we support the Brotherhood. It was built to keep vampires out, well, and tourists too. The building has 579 rooms, but the public only know about 160 of them. Every odd feature of the house – and there are many – is designed with one thing in mind: keep the vampires out.”
“Oh, so she had vampire problems too?” Penny asked. Perhaps this place might be more interesting than she thought.
“Took her family from her,” he said. “Her husband died several years after the initial attack that claimed her newborn child. She spent the rest of her life building a fortress against vampires.”
“Oh,” Penny said. She puckered her lips in deep thought. “I'm sorry about yelling at you. It's just been a long couple months.”
“It's all right.” he said, squeezing her hand lightly before he let it go. “You're entitled to be a pain in the butt occasionally.” A half smile flickered across his face.
Penny slugged him in the arm.
“Okay, okay, save the violence for the vampires.” He resumed his position with his arms crossed and his eyes closed. He was done talking for now.
Penny was about to resume her sleeping position when the car lurched to the side. Charles immediately jerked up and pressed a button on the center console.
“Bradley, what seems to be the problem?” Charles asked while he grabbed a gun out of the back of the seat and handed it to Penny.
“Um, not Bradley...this is Thomas,” the man replied.
“Thomas? Thomas, what the hell are you doing?”
“Saving you from hungry werewolves,” he replied, and the car swerved down another road. Penny saw the skyline of Salt Lake City on the horizon. She thought they must be going over a hundred miles an hour. She looked back behind the car and saw a large wolf chasing them.
“How long have you been driving?” Charles asked as he loaded a gun for himself.
“Since you left San Jose,” the man said. “Overheard some werewolf talk. Lost the rest of them a couple miles ago.”
“Thomas, you can't be here...driving,” Charles said. Penny thought he was complaining about a rather odd thing. Let the man do his job and drive, she thought as the car lurched again as the wolf butted its head against the vehicle.
“Wow that thing is fast!” Penny said when she realized that the wolf was keeping up with the car's pace.
“And strong,” the voice said over the intercom.
“Just shut up and drive, now that you're here,” Charles said.
“I am guessing these things are killed by silver bullets? Or is that just a werewolf myth?” Penny asked.
“Silver bullets!” Charles said as he unbuckled his seat belt.
Penny followed his example by unbuckling and readying her gun.
“Oh, no you don't!” he said as he pushed her back into the seat. “That is for backup protection only. I don't want you to get hurt already.” He went to open the window, but Thomas spoke before he could accomplish his task.
“I'd prefer that neither of you gets hurt, so both of you just sit back and hand me the gun,” Thomas said.
“But you're driving!” Penny protested. Shooting a werewolf and driving an escape vehicle didn't seem humanly possible.
“I am more than capable of driving and shooting at the same time,” Thomas said. Somehow Penny was not reassured.
“No way. I am not giving you a gun!” Charles said.
“What, do you want me to use my teeth?” Thomas said. Penny could hear a giggle in the front seat.
“Shut up! Just shut up, Thomas.” Charles rolled down the window as the car lurched again with another blow from the giant beast. Charles flew back into Penny but quickly recovered and leaped to the window, gun in hand. Penny was not about to let Charles go out on this mission alone, so she disobeyed her order by rolling down her window to follow.
Penny heard a shot, but it was followed by another jolt of the car, so she assumed that Charles had been unsuccessful. Penny hit her head on the window seal when another jolt hit the car, but she continued to pull half of her body out through the window.
“Penny, get back in the car,” she heard Thomas say through the wind-muffled intercom.
She looked up to the side mirror to give him an ugly look, but she didn't see anything in it. So she stuck her head back in the car and yelled into the intercom. “Shut up! Charles needs backup.” she said. “Can you just hold this car steady?”
“You try holding it steady against a werewolf pack leader,” Thomas said. “Fine, don't mess up your hair, though. It would be a shame for you to look all disheveled for Charles.” She could hear him laughing in the front seat.
“Are you even capable of being serious?” Penny asked as another shot rang out, then a jerk that symbolized another failed attempt on Charles's part. Penny pulled herself out the window again and surveyed the scene. The mangy dog was distracted by Charles. He took a couple of lunges toward Charles's gun arm, but a couple of smooth and skilled manoeuvres from Thomas sent the beast into the car door instead. Penny's abdomen lurched into the side of the door.
Wow, Penny thought, Thomas is a good driver! While the beast was distracted by the handsome vampire hunter and the mysterious driver's evasion techniques, Penny took aim. She had one shot before the wolf would notice her. One shot to take him down. Penny steadied her hand, and just as the beast lunged toward Charles, she shot it in the head.
The beast slumped to the ground, and the car sped off toward the city. Penny pulled herself back into the car. She smiled at Charles as he re-entered the car. “You're welcome!”
“What part of ‘stay out of this’ didn't you understand?” Charles asked, giving Penny a scowl.
“Charles, I told her to. You needed some backup,” Thomas said as he rolled down the partition. Penny still couldn't make out much of the mysterious, joking driver who had saved their lives. His collar was popped up, and he wore a very large hat, a turtleneck, and huge aviator sunglasses. He kept his head down.
“She could have gotten hurt,” Charles said. He poked Thomas's shoulder with his finger.
“I wasn't going to let her get hurt,” Thomas replied. “And I wasn't going to let you get hurt either.”
“Hey, I'm not a lady in distress here,” Penny spoke up. She didn't like their conversation planning her actions with her right there. She could handle herself, as she had just proved with the werewolf.
“Of course not,” Thomas said. “Charles can just be a little intense and overprotective sometimes.”
“All right, good job, Penny,” Charles said. He ruffled his perfect hair and sighed. “Just try to follow orders next time, and I will be sure to include you more, okay?”
“Sounds good.” Penny smiled as she spoke to Charles. She was going to like this charming guy, and she had no one to steal him from her anymore. Penny fought back a tear at that thought; she would give anything to have her sister back, even if Violet did like to steal the cute boys from her.
“Thomas, pull over so I can drive,” Charles said as he leaned forward in his seat. “You need to get out of here.”
“Now?” Thomas asked. Penny wasn't sure what he meant by that question. When was a better time?
“Fine, you are so vain. We'll pull over at nightfall,” Charles said. He nervously drummed the seat back.
“Oh, look who's talking! Your hair is messed up, by the way,” Thomas said as the partition went up again.
“Excuse me, I don't understand what is going on. Who are you, anyway?” Penny asked through the half-raised wall.
“He's just an old friend,” Charles told her.
“So, he's not part of the Brotherhood?” Penny asked with a raised eyebrow. “What was all this about not telling me anything because of the public?”
“Look, Penny, please, please, don't mention Thomas to anyone in the Brotherhood. Forget that Thomas had anything to do with this. Can I trust you? Can you trust me? Please.” Charles took Penny's hand in his.
“I was just harassing you,” Penny said. “I don't think Thomas will do us any harm. And if I had friends from my past that were willing to help me, I would do the same thing.” She hoped she had alleviated Charles's fear. She wanted him to like her. Plus, she hoped she would see Thomas again someday. He provided great backup and much needed comic relief in the heat of battle.
“Thanks,” he said. Charles pulled out a mirror and fixed his hair.
Penny laughed as he put every lock back into place.
“Okay, maybe I am a little vain,” Charles said. He put the mirror away and resumed his “I'm done talking” position. Penny however was no longer in any mood to rest. She had just fought and killed a giant werewolf. Her adrenaline was pumping, and she could not understand how Charles would just sit back and relax. He took one of his hands off his stomach and intertwined his fingers into hers.
The two rode silently hand in hand for another couple hours until sundown when Thomas pulled the car over on a small side street. The front car door opened, and Thomas stepped out into the shadows. Penny tried to get a better look at him, but he still kept his head down and never faced toward her. He quickly disappeared down an alleyway.
Penny and Charles emerged from the car, and Charles made his way around to the driver’s side. She stood awkwardly by her door while Charles stepped closer to her and closed the door for her.
“Thanks,” she said as she ran her fingers through her hair. “He's kind of...weird.” She looked off in the direction that Thomas had disappeared.
“Yeah, always has been an interesting one,” he replied. He took her hands and looked into her eyes. “I really wanted to thank you again for agreeing to this secret. It really means a lot to me.”
“It's really not a big deal,” Penny said, turning her head down to avoid his intense gaze.
“No, it really is a big deal. So thanks.”
Penny looked up at him again. His eyes were addictive. “You’re welcome,” she said. She wanted him to kiss her, but she didn't know how appropriate that would be. Perhaps the Brotherhood had rules against fraternization. She hoped they didn't.
Charles held her gaze, and she felt like she was stuck in a vampire's seductive charm.
“I thought vampires were supposed to be the charming ones,” she said and let a nervous giggle escape her lips.
“Oh, they are...very seductive,” Charles said and gave her his trademark half smile.
“Well, that is not good because right now, I am sure you could get me to do just about anything for you,” she replied, inching a little closer.
“I could say the same for you too.” He let go of her hands and softly caressed her face. He cupped her cheeks in his hands and brought her lips up to his, kissing them lightly. Penny fought her instincts to grab him and throw him against the car.
“All right, get in the car. We have to get back,” he said, pulling away from Penny. He walked around the car and opened the door for her. “You can ride up front.”
Penny regained her composure from his kiss, trotted over to the other side, and got in the car. She tried not to stare at him, but his lips commanded her attention.
Charles drove the rest of the way to the Brotherhood sanctuary. Occasionally, Penny caught him glimpsing in her direction. She gave him coy smiles in return. For the first time in months, Penny was happy again. She had new friends who understood and believed her. She also had adventure and a place to call home.