Knight Shift (7 page)

Penny plastered on a fake smile at work the next day, while inside her head pounded. “
Why did I do that?
” she yelled at herself, but then cringed even from the internal noise that thinking caused from within her mind. As she walked gingerly through the aisles, a pair of hands grabbed her at her waist.

When the voice said, “Hey my slice of bacon. What’s sizzlin?”

Penny covered her ears, cringed, and whispered, “Not so loud.”

Seeing her bloodshot eyes, Tadd asked, “What in the world did you do last night? You look like the walking dead.”

“It was my brothers’ birthday and we celebrated long distance. I think I may have overindulged. I don’t recall much of the night after I disconnected.”

With a chuckle, Tadd asked with a chuckle, “Did you wake up on the floor?”

“Actually no. I woke up tucked in bed.”

Taylor asked, “How did you manage that?”

“I didn’t. Casper carried me.”

Tadd added with his eyebrows raised, “Your ghost?”

“I know you don’t believe in ghosts, but I swear last night he helped me get into bed.”

“And helped you out of your clothes, I bet,” Taylor replied with irritation in his voice.

Although she half-heartedly chuckled, she looked away to hide her warm cheeks. If her ghost had helped her the night before, she knew he saw more than just a little flesh.

To divert the subject matter she said, “It’s almost lunch and it’s time for my break. I’ll let you buy me something to eat and a bottle of aspirin.”

The twins said in unison, “You have a deal.”

*~*~*~*

Later that night when Penny again awoke from her sleep, she looked over to her shadowed corner and, to her dismay, she felt nothing. “Casper?” she called. After searching the entire cabin unsuccessfully, she was forced to admit that her ghost wasn’t going to visit her that night. She had become so accustomed to his presence that she felt an odd sense of loss by not feeling his familiar tingle in the air. Facing the night without her friend, she headed off to the couch alone to watch a sappy romance and eat a bowl of chocolate pudding.

The cabin was devoid of Casper for the rest of the week. When her day off arrived, she didn’t want to spend it locked up in her cabin alone, so she decided to do some hiking. She jumped on the back of her dirt bike and headed down a long winding back road. When she headed down a side gravel road that she hadn’t traveled on before she marked her GPS location, for safety reasons. When the road stopped she continued on, following a narrow dirt trail. When she could go no further on her motorcycle, she parked and headed out on foot.

She traveled for several hours before she stopped at the top of a ridge to rest. While leaning against a tree, she heard unusual animal sounds down in a ravine. Feeling the breeze in her face, she knew she was downwind so she quietly stalked forward to try and get a glimpse of the creatures.

She quickly spotted the animals, which were covered in reddish fur and resembled a large wolf. She was fairly familiar with typical woodland creatures, but she had no idea what these animals were. She sat quietly and watched them fight. Although they both made a lot of noise, neither seemed angry or injured by the other’s attacks. It resembled puppies play fighting.

As she continued to observe their actions, one of the creatures jumped at the other. Although he had left the ground as an animal, it landed as a Human male. After tossing his attacker to the side, the second creature shifted to a Human form as well. She gasped when she recognized who they were. “The twins are Changelings,” she whispered in disbelief.

She continued to watch them shift back and forth effortlessly. Then, without warning, the wind shifted direction. In an instant, the now animals stopped playing, looked in her direction, and growled. She quickly hid behind a tree, but knew that wasn’t going to hide her scent. It was too late. She stared into the woods in front of her and ran.

She never looked back, but she could hear something quickly approaching from behind. “Keep moving,” she yelled at her legs when they started to cramp. To herself, she added mentally, “
And whatever you do, don’t trip like some big boobed girl in a bad horror movie.
” As soon as the thought hit her, she stumbled over a downed log and cursed. After scrambling back to her feet, she raced into a small clearing. One of the creatures dropped in front of her and blocked her path. She skidded to a stop and, when she turned to run the other way, she found the other creature waiting for her. Now surrounded, she grabbed the daggers from the sheaths on her legs and stood her ground.

Instead of attacking her, they paced nervously. She could tell they were trying to decide what to do and she knew her only hope was to try and connect to their Human side. She gathered all of her courage and yelled, “Hey fur balls. Knock it off. Let me see Taylor and Tadd.”

The animals stopped moving and, after glancing at each other, shifted back to their Human form. Penny now stood between two naked men. Unsure where to look, she tried to stare at Tadd’s eyes and said, “I guess clothes don’t shift with you.”

The twins looked down at themselves and chuckled. “Sorry. Our clothes are back at our camp.”

Taylor asked, “Why aren’t you screaming in terror?”

“I’ll admit my heart is about to explode out of my chest, but why would I scream? If you wanted me dead, I would already be your lunch.” While glancing between her friends, she asked, “Why didn’t you tell me? I knew the two of you were different, but I never would have guessed this was your secret.”

Taylor said, “You’re Human; we’re forbidden. Our kind is being hunted to extinction.”

Penny said with complete honesty, “I would never expose you and would rather die than hurt any of you. You’re family to me. This is like a dream come true. I’ve always hoped that someday I would have the opportunity to meet one of you, and now here you are right in front of me.”

Tadd added, “Our laws say that we have to kill you or risk you exposing us.”

“Are you going to kill me?”

Taylor shook his head. “We like you too much to ever hurt you, but Ice is a different story.”

Tadd added, “He’s already angry that we’re friends because he knew that, in time, you would learn our secret. Since you’re standing here in front of us, I guess he was right. And if he finds out that you know, he won’t hesitate killing you and he doesn’t know the terms ‘quick’ and ‘painless’.”

Taylor replied, “I’m actually surprised he hasn’t killed you already. I thought for sure the day that he found out we were friends that your life was measured in hours.”

Penny squared her shoulders and said, “Then we need to make sure he doesn’t find out. It’ll be our secret.” After debating both sides of the issue, Penny ended her side of the argument with, “Don’t make me walk away so that I never see you again. I honestly can’t imagine life without you two in it.”

Seeing her eyes well up with tears, the twins had no other choice but to agree. She was special to them as well. Taylor said, “For this to work, you must keep this a secret from everyone—including your family out east. If they knew, it would put them in grave danger.”

“I promise not to tell a living soul.”

Seeing the curiosity on Penny’s face growing, Tadd asked, “I’m assuming that you have a lot of questions for us?”

Penny nodded but said, “They can wait. Right now, I have one question.”

Tadd said, “Fire away.”

Penny asked, “Where’s your camp?”

Taylor’s eyes opened wide as he replied, “That’s an odd question.”

Penny gave him a crooked smile. “To be honest, I’m finding it extremely difficult to stand here and talk to the two of you while you’re buck naked. Although I do like the matching flame tattoos on your backsides.”

The twins started to laugh and pointed her in the direction they needed to head. As they walked, Tadd leaned in and asked her, “Now that you have seen all of our secrets, which body do you think is better looking?”

Taylor leaned toward her other side and added, “Maybe you should strip naked so that you wouldn’t be so uncomfortable being the only one with clothes.”

Penny whacked his chest and couldn’t hold back a laugh. Now that the tension in the air had eased, she started asking them non-stop questions, wanting to learn everything she could about them. After they made it to their camp, she even made them shift forms several times in front of her just so she could watch. Her questions didn’t stop for the rest of the day and continued at her cabin that evening. By the time she finally let them go home, her voice had become hoarse. When she crawled into bed that night, she had wonderfully vivid dreams about magical creatures.

*~*~*~*

As the night went on, Ice appeared back in his favorite shadowed corner. He had found it extremely difficult to stay away from the object of his visual obsession. Although he was back, he promised himself that he could look, but he was never going to touch her again until it was time for the final hunt.

It had been over a week since Penny had felt Casper’s presence, so when she woke at her normal time, she didn’t even glance over at the shadowed corner. It was a hot day that carried into a muggy night. When she saw the full moon shining through her window, she crawled out of the opposite side of the bed and walked directly to the window to take a look.

Ice waited anxiously to see what color she was wearing tonight. He secretly hoped that it was the pink one he liked so much. With his eyes open wide, he stared unblinkingly at his target. The moonlight reflecting off her body made her sweat twinkle like stars, enhancing her figure, which he was memorizing, since she was completely naked. She turned and walked toward the bathroom with Ice locked on her figure.

As she passed him, a huge smile lit her face and she exclaimed, “Casper. You’re back! God, I missed you.” Her expression quickly changed to an angry scowl. “You really pissed me off disappearing like that. My nights were so long without you and I was afraid you were never coming back.”

Ice was shocked to sense real anger from her. Although he felt guilty for making her mad, the scolding would’ve had more impact if his eyes weren’t still locked on her fully exposed body.

Penny turned in a huff and stomped toward the bathroom.

Ice took a moment to regroup. He shook like a dog trying to get the image of Penny’s body out of his mind and thanked the heavens that she left to put something on.

When she returned to the door a couple of minutes later, his face fell as other parts of his body stood at attention. Penny stood naked in the doorway and, as her face quickly softened, she said, “Sorry for being so cross. I really did miss you terribly. Come join me while I take a cool bath so that we can talk. I have so much to get you caught up on. It was an amazing day.” She turned back into the bathroom and started the water.

Ice repeated to himself, “
She’s only a Human
,” over and over before gaining enough mental control to join her. After taking several deep, calming breaths, he entered a dimly lit bathroom. He stepped through the threshold and said to himself, “
I hope there are bubbles.
”

His hunters eyes instantly adjusted to the lack of light and he found Penny stretched out in the tub with her wet skin glistening in the candlelight. His shoulders slumped as other parts continued to jump for joy as he said to himself, “
No bubbles
.”

Once Penny felt Casper’s presence near her she started talking. “First I wanted to thank you for taking care of me the night I got drunk. Although no one believes me, I know you helped me into bed. I also want to apologize for any dancing or singing that I may have done while in your presence. My behavior filter disappears when I drink and I do some truly embarrassing things.”

His heightened senses could feel the extra heat coming off her cheeks and he knew she was blushing, which he thought was very funny since she was lying in front of him naked.

“With that said, let me tell you about my week.” To entice him into staying until she finished her story, she added, “I guarantee the ending will knock your socks off… assuming you’re wearing socks or even have feet. I promised not to tell a living soul, but since you’re dead and don’t have a mouth, I think it’s okay to tell you.”

No teasing required. Short of being sucked out a window by a freak cyclone, nothing would make him leave his current viewing spot.

Penny talked non-stop about every day he was gone without missing even the smallest of details. He really didn’t care what she said…he enjoyed hearing her voice again. When she talked about going into the woods alone because of how lonely she felt without him, he was shocked that he was hit by a pang of guilt.

As he marveled at yet another new sensation for himself, Penny became very excited and started to tell him of the strange animals she saw while in the woods. She took in a calming breath as her pulse began to raise with anticipation. “Well, you won’t believe this, but the animals changed before my eyes and guess who they were?” She knew she wouldn’t receive an answer, but paused for a moment just in case. When she could wait no more, she blurted out, “It was my twins, Taylor and Tadd.”