job done." Penny sat on the couch. She laid the picture on my cluttered coffee table, right on top of my copy of InStyle magazine. I bet it was Jenny's bible. Penny probably used it as a coaster.
"Yes, he talked me into it, because I'm about to be kicked out of Austin. I'm hanging by a thread here." I sat across from her. "You also heard him say the guy who made you vampire isn't around anymore. You know what he meant by that?"
"Guess he was asked to leave too. That bastard deserved to have his nuts cracked." Penny heaved a sigh and stared at her sister's picture again. "I didn't ask for this, though the living forever thing has me stoked."
I leaped over the table and landed beside her. That finally got her full attention. "Listen to me, Penny. That bastard may have gotten his nuts cracked, but it was right before he got a stake through his heart. He's dead, girl, dead for what he did to you. The Austin council doesn't want anyone turned vampire around here. It's rogue behavior. Only tolerated when it's done to save a mortal's life. A last-ditch effort."
"They killed him?" Penny bit her bottom lip and I glimpsed her new fangs. "Wow. That's so Gothic."
"Yeah, well, vampires like to keep a low profile, not easy with all the vamp books, movies and TV shows out there now. People pay attention when weird things happen."
"Would it be so bad for vampires to come out of the closet? I think this is kind of cool. So will Jenny." Penny was fixated on the picture of her sister again and I wanted to shake her.
"Really? Will Jenny like missing cheerleading practice in the mornings? Or hitting the drive-thru at McDonald's?"
Penny frowned. "The cheerleading, sure. But she gave up Big Macs years ago. Way too busy counting calories. Not like me." Her eyes filled. "No more of those fries? Ever?" She bit her lip again, then gasped when her new fangs popped through her skin. "Ouch!"
"At least you got to taste one." I made a face. "I drive by those places, inhale, and just fantasize." We both sighed. "Anyway, face facts, Penny. And for every vamp groupie, there will be a vamp hunter who sees you as a demon from hell and is eager to exterminate you." I shook my head. Was I getting through to her? Didn't think so. She was obviously still figuring out how to convince her sister that the trade-offs for immortality were worth it.
"Maybe we could arrange some kind of accident." Penny smiled at me. "Then we would have to turn Jenny. The council couldn't object to that."
"You think they wouldn't see through that? The council is fairly new and trying to establish control. To prove that zero tolerance means exactly that. It's bad enough that Austin has a Bat Festival every year and puts 'Keep Austin Weird' on T-shirts. We don't need to become known as the vampire capital of Texas." I put my hand on hers. "I'm sorry about your sister, but running her over with your car might not be her idea of a good time." I squeezed her fingers. "You haven't told her what happened to you, have you?"
"No, not yet. I wasn't sure how." Penny's eyes filled again. "Jenny's just a sophomore, in a sorority and doing all the normal college things that I never did." Penny sighed. "I figured my news would just bring her down."
I let her go. "Yes, finding out your twin's a vampire might put a damper on date night."
Penny frowned at me. "You don't get it, Glory. I think it's great that Jenny's having fun. I was always too busy studying, being the whiz kid, to do the things Jen does. So I'm getting a vicarious thrill from her life now." She glanced down. "And then there's the way I look. I'm not exactly cheerleading material."
"Don't put yourself down. I've seen those competitions on TV. Cheerleaders come in all shapes and sizes. With the right hair, makeup and wardrobe, you could fit in with that crowd, pre-fangs of course. And the way those people hop around, you would have trimmed down in no time." I wondered why Jenny hadn't helped her sister do just that.
"It's no big deal. Jen and I don't compete." Penny still blocked her thoughts and I wondered if her relationship with her sister was as easy as she claimed.
"Obviously, who could with your three degrees? I guess