Take a breath. I need to show you how to close these punctures." I gave her hair another hard jerk and her eyes watered.
"You calm down. He's mine. Give him back." Her eyes narrowed and we were playing tug-of-war with poor Josh's arm. She didn't have my strength though and even one-handed, I was winning.
"What's going on here?"
Both of us froze, Penny's face smeared with blood, Josh's arm between us. I knew at once who stood in the doorway staring at us in horror.
I paused to toss Josh off the couch and out of Penny's reach, then grabbed the newcomer before she could run away screaming. I clamped a hand over her mouth and wrestled her inside, kicking the door closed behind us.
"You wanted to see your sister, Penny? Well, here she is." I stared into big blue eyes, well aware that all the excitement and blood in the room had my fangs on full display. Yep, that did it. Jenny, Penny's twin, slumped to the floor.
Chapter Six
That snapped Penny out of her bloodlust.
"Glory, what have you done?" She jumped up and ran over to Jenny, rolling her over to stare down at her pale face.
"Not a thing. She fainted." I dragged Josh up off the floor where he'd landed after our little tussle and sat him in a chair. He was still staring blankly into space. To my amusement, the cat jumped into his lap and made himself comfortable. If Josh had been awake, I'm sure he'd have let out a few yelps as paws trod over his crotch.
"Jenny." Penny patted her sister on the cheek. "Wake up."
"Don't think I'd be in such a hurry to do that. You've got blood smeared all over your face." I checked Josh's wrist, which was still bleeding sluggishly. I forced back my fangs when all I wanted to do was take up where Penny had left off.
"I'll go wash it off." Penny turned toward her tiny kitchen.
"Not yet. Get over here and do what I tell you." I was not a happy camper. Can you tell? "You've got to close these wounds so that when Josh wakes up, he won't be wearing evidence of your snack time."
"But Jenny." Penny squatted down again. "I can't just leave her on the floor."
"Pick her up and put her on the couch. You've got vamp strength now, should be easy to tote around that lightweight. If she starts to wake up, you'll have to use the whammy on her until we figure out what we're going to do with her." I tapped my foot and looked around. A luxury condo, this wasn't. And a housekeeper, Penny wasn't. I was surprised she'd brought a man back here.
A big computer setup held pride of place on the small dining room table and it was surrounded by a sea of papers, boxes of books, notebooks and stacks of more papers on the floor. Penny might have big grants, but she sure didn't waste them on interior decorating. The sagging couch looked like it had come from a charity store, as did the rest of the furniture. I could see an unmade bed in a tiny bedroom next to the kitchen with a sink piled with dirty dishes. Clothes were draped on a chair next to that double bed.
Penny heaved Jenny over to the couch and arranged her head carefully on a throw pillow that was the only bright spot in the avocado green and brown room. Too bad the burnt orange UT pillow wasn't Jenny's color.
"She's still out. Guess the sight of your fangs, which are way bigger than mine, blew her fuse." Penny stumbled over to my side. No coffee table, which was a good thing. Otherwise poor Josh would have a bruise to add to his bite marks. "Now what?"
"You have a healing agent in your saliva that makes bite marks disappear. You should always lick wounds closed after you feed from a mortal. Not that you should make that a habit." I grabbed her shoulder as she leaned forward to take his wrist again. "Do not be tempted to take another drink. I swear I'll knock you against that wall if you try it."
"Geez, Glory, go all Terminator on me, why don't you?" Penny carefully reached for his wrist with two fingers then really looked at Josh's pale face. "Oh, God, what did I do? I was the Terminator, wasn't I?"
Great, here came the waterworks. But, no, she sucked it up.
"How long? How long can