"I wasn't seriously considering it." She shrugged. "I prefer research. And grant work can be done anytime, anywhere. I have a few irons in the fire." Her mouth trembled. "But that doesn't mean I didn't want to have the choice."
"Quit whining." Rafe was obviously all for tough love as he pulled into a deserted area on top of a hill.
I recognized the place. He'd gone ballistic here once when I'd let him know our relationship was going back to being friends without benefits. There was still a charred stump as evidence. Hmm. I gave him an inquiring look but all I got back was a bland smile.
"So what are we doing here?" Penny finally sat up straight and looked out the window.
"I'm going to teach you to shape-shift." Rafe opened his car door. "I had to work with Glory to get her comfortable with it, so I figured I'd help with this part of your education. What do you say, Glory?"
"Sure, go for it. You need to learn this, Penny." I got out of the car and waited while Penny climbed out.
"You're serious. You're really going to make me turn into something else. What? A bat?" She looked down at her green blouse. "Will we have to strip off? No way, no how. I'm not comfortable with that."
I laughed. "Luckily, we can do it wearing what we have on, even down to our shoes. Believe me, if I had to go skinny shifting, I'd never have made it a habit."
Rafe winked at me. "Not saying it isn't more comfortable that way, though. And fun if you're doing it with the right person."
"Okay, Rafe, let's just get on with it." I turned to Penny. "Shifting is good for defense. It can help you escape when you're in a tight spot."
Penny frowned. "What am I going to be defending myself from? I can take down a frat boy now with my handy-dandy new fangs." She gave us a demo with a snarl. "And I seem stronger too. I'm not one to go to a gym, but my punch had some power behind it tonight."
"You hit someone?" Rafe looked from Penny to me. "What's been going on?"
"I'll tell you later." I smiled at him. "Now, Penny, let's pretend you're surrounded and outnumbered by people brandishing stakes. We can be killed with a wooden stake to the heart. That part of the vamp mythology is true."
"Gross." Penny looked around, searching the shadows. "You mean there are people out there who know vampires exist and hunt them?"
"A few. Luckily most of society doesn't believe them. Writes vamp hunters off as crazy." Rafe smiled. "Or considers the stories about you guys pure fiction."
"Obviously it's not." Penny sighed. "This is almost too much to take in."
"You can handle it." I patted her shoulder. "You have to. Now back to defense." I stepped back and looked around, pretending I was surrounded. "Vamp hunters everywhere, but they're mere mortals. Too many to fight, but you can escape. What do you do?"
"Shape-shift?" Penny looked interested. "But forget flying. Not my thing."
"Why not? You need to move in a hurry. Flying is a good way to escape and I prefer doing it as a bird. Though you can become a bat if you don't mind being a cliche." I studied the sky. It was a clear night with a sliver of a moon. "This is a perfect night to practice. No wind."
"I told you. Forget flying. Can't I shift into other animals and just scare the hell out of them? How about a panther?" Penny also glanced at the sky, but not appreciatively.
"You can shift into whatever you want, but what's wrong with flying?" I got close to her. "You afraid of heights?"
"I'm acrophobic, okay? Deal with it." Penny's chin lifted. "I don't do airplanes or roofs and I'm sure not going to do, uh, birds or bats. Trust me, if I hadn't been scared, I'd have jumped out of my bedroom window earlier tonight and gone to see Jenny then. I actually opened it and tried to take the leap, then chickened out."
"Give me a break." It had never occurred to me that she might have gone out her window.
"You give me one. No flying." Penny had a mulish look and I figured arguing was futile.
"Now that's a problem." I glanced at Rafe. "Got to be honest with you. Once I got past my own reluctance, flying out of trouble saved my butt a time