I turned to say something to Damian but the man had slipped out while my back was turned and quietly closed the door.
"Well, Penny, looks like you're stuck with me." I smiled and gestured at her bulging backpack. "Is that all your stuff? Want me to show you to your bedroom?"
"Forget that." Penny stepped close to me, a rookie mistake, and grabbed the lapels of my robe. "There's only one thing I want from you."
"Whoa, girlfriend." I jerked her hands off my robe. "Rule number one. Back off the intensity." I tried to read her mind. What the hell? How had this fledgling already learned to block her thoughts?
She smiled a creepy smile, and looked me over. "You'll learn that I'm a quick study. I'm nineteen and I've already got three degrees from UT."
"Three college degrees? At nineteen?" I knew UT was the University of Texas here in Austin. I was turned vampire in 1604. Back when I'd been school age, I'd been lucky to learn basic letters. I'd had to teach myself what I knew today, which was practical stuff and wouldn't have earned me a degree anywhere.
"Yeah. I'm a geek and a freak. Big whoop." Her smile had changed from creepy to a sad little twist.
I realized that this girl would be pretty if she'd let me guide her. She had nice auburn hair and skin that would be golden if she didn't mask it with pale makeup. She sure didn't need the black lipstick she'd obviously decided went with her new vampire status.
"Hey, being a brain is a big whoop. And lay off the freak thing. Being a vampire isn't all bad. Trust me on that." I sat on the couch. "Now what is it you want from me? I'm going to be your mentor. I'll do what I can to help you adjust to your new life." I smiled and gestured at the chair across from me.
Penny sat, then leaned forward. Her eyes were a golden brown and they shone with an intelligence that saw too much. I put up a block. If Penny had already figured out how to block her thoughts, she was probably already reading other's too.
"There's just one thing that will make me happy right now, Glory. Damian said that's your name, right?"
"Yes, it's Gloriana St. Clair. I'm a four-hundred-plus-year-old vampire, Penny. I've had a few centuries to learn the ropes. So if there's something you need, something you want to learn, I'm your gal." I kept smiling, feeling all motherly, even though to look at me, I'm only twenty-two to Penny's nineteen. Mortals would think we were sisters. Maybe I'd even introduce her in the shop as my sister from out of town. Yes, that would work. I realized Penny was waiting for me to focus on her, to give her my full attention. I finally did.
"Okay, Penny, what do you need?"
"Help me kill my sister."
Chapter Two
"Excuse me?" I hadn't heard correctly. Couldn't have.
"I said you have to help me kill my sister. I have a twin." Penny jumped up and pulled a picture from the side pocket of her backpack. "This is Jenny."
"Whoa. Never would have guessed - " I shut up. Penny had probably grown up hating to be compared to the blond angel in the cheerleading outfit who smiled into the camera.
"We're fraternal twins. Obviously." Penny smiled down at the picture. "I got the brains, she got the beauty."
I waited for the snark. Teenagers. Sisters, at that. I'd watched those reality shows on TV. There was bound to be some sibling rivalry, bitterness.
"So now you want to break in your fangs by killing her? Isn't that a little radical?" I was ready for the explosion. Some kind of meltdown. What I got was Penny looking at me with a shimmer of tears.
"No, you don't get it. Look at her. She's beautiful, perfect. She's smart too, just not the phenom I was. How can I let her grow old when I never will? We can turn her, Glory, and she'll be like that forever." Penny rushed me and grabbed my hands. "You've got to help me do this. Jenny's my best friend. I can't just leave her to be human when I'm" - big sniff - "not."
"Are you kidding me? Did you hear what Damian was saying when you were standing in the hall?" I knew she had vamp hearing and was sure she'd eavesdropped. Who wouldn't?
"He was persuading you to take me on. Obviously he got the