Midnight Squad: The Grim (32 page)

           
The basics from Niki’s speech were that people read what
interests them. That part was a big huge duh, but she had a point. Usually what
interests a person is something that they don’t have. Either people read
romance because of something they think is lacking in their life, or it’s not
to the level they hoped. Therefore, a person reading the clothes ripping trashy
romance novels wanted hot steamy sex. A person reading about love and
relationships was probably lonelier than she’d want to admit. If that was true,
then Penny was very lonely.

           
I moved to the next room. I thought it was some type of
entertainment room, but then after a few moments I realized it was her
workroom. There were fashion magazines everywhere, and an endless collection of
vampire books and magazines. She even had a designated work computer. Penny
must spend hours of her free time studying up on how to act the way she does.
It made me a little uncomfortable. Looking at this, I started asking myself if
Penny was who I thought she was. She always seems like the perfect combination
of playboy playmate and predator, but occasionally a bit of a geek would rear
its head triumphantly. It started me wondering about every moment we spent
together. She’d made a few comments about computers, and I knew she played
videogames, but on the surface she didn’t really seem like a gamer. Now I
wondered if what I saw all this time was an act, and the reality was those few
moments she accidently let slip. Personally I kind of hoped that it was an act.
The playmate and the predator weren’t exactly the type of girls you could build
a relationship with, but the woman that curled up with me all night. That was a
woman I’d like to spend a lot more time with.

           
Moving on I stepped into another room. This was her
computer room. I meant this literally. There was a computer. To be honest it
was the computer of all computers. I might be just this side of retarded when
it comes to computer makes and models, but even I could tell someone spent some
serious cash on this. Penny had obviously taken her time setting this computer
up for gaming. Speakers the size of children surrounded the room, and three
giant monitors were mounted on the wall, one for the front, and two on the
sides for peripheral vision. There was one table in the middle of the room. The
keyboard, mouse, and joystick were all sitting there, and they all looked
expensive. Gaming posters covered the wall that normally faced Penny’s back.
She really was a hardcore gamer. She was smoking hot, and played videogames.
Holy shit! Hot videogame chicks do exist. I mean clearly they must, but
secretly I thought they were just a legend, kind of like unicorns. Although
considering my current situation maybe I should reevaluate whether unicorns are
legends? I know she said a few things about videogames, but I thought it was
just something she did when she was bored and killing time. It didn’t really
sink in until now that she was a hardcore gamer. I couldn’t wait to move to
another room. It was like peeling back an onion. I’d gone past her outer
layers, and now I was learning more about what was inside her.

           
This room was just full of stuffed animals. No, that
doesn’t really do it justice. This room was a sanctuary for stuffed animals, a
stuffed animal Shangri-la. A shrine dedicated to all things cute, cuddly, and
soft. All kinds of stuffed animals were sitting around the room. There was a
second bed here. It looked like Penny came back here from time to time for naps.
On the bed was a little fluffy stuffed skunk. It was just freaking adorable. It
had a wholesome sweetness cranked to diabetic coma levels. On the wall over her
bed was a painting of some old family. It was easily a few hundred years old by
the look of their clothes. I took a closer look, and in the corner of the
painting was Penny. She sat next to her sisters. This must have been before
they were changed.

           
In the painting, Penny looked shy. Since I’d been here,
Penny seemed outgoing, proud, and more than a little intense. Then again,
occasionally she just seemed like a different person altogether. Maybe I’ve
only seen what she wanted me to see. Maybe all this time it’s been a little
vampire misdirection, and I fell for it like a child when someone does the old
what’s this behind your ear coin trick. I moved closer to the bed. The stuffed
skunk looked back up at me. It was practically a giant black and white fluff
ball. It had two sad eyes that made you want to pick it up and hug it. There
was a collar, and on the collar a tag. I turned the tag over and read the name:

Dr Fluffenstein, P.H.D. in cuteness

           
Okay, that is just adorable. It actually made sense of
Penny’s gamertag. I could hear something moving my way. Suddenly Penny was in
front of me. She snatched the skunk away, and hid it from me behind her back.
Her eyes were nervous.
“Grimmy!
I don’t suppose you
could just pretend you didn’t see any of this.” I shook my head, and
Her
shoulders slumped. “Damn! Please don’t tell anyone.” She
really looked worried.

           
“What’s wrong? Who cares if you collect stuffed animals?
I have six sisters, and between them you could start a stuffed animal zoo.” I
smiled at her.
but
Penny still looked worried, “Grim,
that’s just it. You have sisters…human sisters, living, breathing sisters that
don’t have to feed on others. If they have this kind of stuff then they don’t
have to worry about someone seeing them as weak, or trying to prey on them
because of it.”

           
“Penny, if you can’t be yourself then what’s the point of
existing? I mean you have lived several of my lifetimes, and you’ll be around
long after I’m gone. What good does it do for you if you never really enjoy
it?” I cupped the little vampire’s chin with my hand and looked down into her
beautiful green eyes. “Besides, I’d really have liked to have gotten to know
the real you before I go.” Penny’s eyes watered a little.
“Really?
Grim you’re just saying that because of how I look.” She pulled her eyes away.

           
“Hey! I’m many things. I’m a horndog. I’m not ashamed to
say I do think with my dick sometimes…okay well most times, but I’m also a
brother to six sisters. I may have been interested in you initially because of
how you looked, but your looks don’t keep me interested. What I’ve been up here
wondering was which you is the real you? Are you the kick-ass vamp? Are you the
practically perfect combination of sexuality and intelligence that makes it
almost impossible to keep from constantly fantasizing about you but never
knowing you, or are you the other Penny? Are you the silly, nerdy girl, that’s
more than a little neurotic? Are you the girl that knows Rocky Horror Picture
show songs? Are you the girl that is equal part geek, and smart-alecky pain in
the ass?” I waited patiently.

           
“I wish I was the first one, but that’s just an act. I
hate to admit it, but I’m just a big nerd at heart. I’m sorry if I led you on.
I…just wanted you to like me the way I like you.” She looked so lost. “Whew!
Thank God! That first version is hot, but boring. I mean what the hell am I
gonna do with that pretend version of you….okay there’s the obvious, but what
would we do for the rest of the day. I let you sleep in my room last night
because you were that little nerdy girl, and she’s irresistible. I can actually
have a conversation with that girl. I like that girl better.”

           
“You can’t mean that?” Her eyes were wet and shiny with
tears. It was as if she’d convinced herself that there was no possibility I
could like her for herself. “Penny, I have six sisters. Just because I think
with my dick, doesn’t mean I don’t eventually use my head. I’m a grown man, and
I can make my own decisions. One of those decisions is that I want to get to
know you better if you’ll let me, and for the record I think you’re still every
bit as hot as ever. The wrapping didn’t change. I just got a better prize
inside.” I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her close. “I want to know you
better. I just don’t think that they’re going to keep me around after today.
They don’t need me to train ya’ll anymore.”

           
Penny blushed and whispered, “That may be both the
sweetest and most depressing combination of things I’ve heard in a long time.”
I kissed her on the forehead and gave her a nudge, “Well this isn’t getting you
breakfast any sooner. How about giving me the ten cent tour while we hunt down
your breakfast?”

           
“Oh Grim you’ve said the magic word.” Penny smiled and
batted her eyes.

           
“Magic word…you mean breakfast?”

           
“No silly…hunting.”
There was a
different gleam in her eyes. It wasn’t quite sexual, but it was close. It
reminded me of the time I promised an old girlfriend I’d take her shopping then
rub her feet while she ate ice cream. “I don’t want to ruin your mood, but I’m
pretty sure the idea of hunting is a lot more fun for you than it is for me.
Especially considering if there’s going to be a hunter then there has to be a
hunted. Between the two of us I’m betting I’m not the hunter.”

           
“Oh come on Grimmy, It’ll be fun. I promise.” Penny edged
towards me slowly. A playful hunger danced across her face. “Can’t we talk
about this?” I questioned, my feet slowly backing away. Penny kept closing in.
“Oh what the hell,” I turned ran down the hallway. Penny was chasing me. I
ducked and dodged around through her place, running from room to room while she
playfully loped behind. She stayed close enough that I had to keep darting and
scrambling around the place, but she made it a point not to catch me. We romped
around like two goofballs until my legs started to get rubbery, and at the pace
I was keeping it wasn’t long before my lungs were burning. We got back to her
workroom, and I slipped under the desk trying to dodge. I was halfway past the
other side of the table, almost ready to stand up and start running some more
when Penny gripped my ankle and pulled me out.

           
Penny lifted me up and pinned me against the wall. I
fought, but only halfheartedly. I tried to act scared, but I couldn’t stop
giggling. The little vampire climbed up my body, and I pushed against her a
bit, just for show.
“Oh no!
Please let me go! Don’t…”
I’m sure I was about to say something else but at that moment her fangs snapped
open and I completely lost my train of thought. So here I am pinned to the wall
by the sexiest woman I’ve ever set my eyes on, and all I can think of is not to
piss myself in fear. I really was struggling now. Penny kept getting closer. I
felt her fangs drag across my throat. She then drove forward against me. I
cringed, expecting those same fangs to puncture my skin and
start
sucking me down like
a glorified drink pouch, instead tender lips were
kissing my neck. “What’s wrong Grimmy? Did I scare you?”

           
“Scared…me? No…of course not!
Although,
if there’s a puddle on the floor then I’m blaming it on the invisible dog.”
I joked. Penny kept kissing my throat. She was playing with my chest, and I
moaned a little. My hands twined around her tiny waist and I was just about to
start returning her kisses when I heard a tone and suddenly Elizabeth’s voice
blasted out of a speaker mounted in the ceiling. “Attention! Attention!
Arrival of the General in forty-five minutes.
Make sure you
have anything you plan to use for the next week packed away. Remember to pack
lightly. Shipping and transport will pick up everything else in a few days and
take it to your future residences.”

           
“Forty-five minutes?” Penny’s eyebrows wiggled a bit as
she leaned in. “Listen, I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but we should
stop. As much as I want to know you better, a quickie right before we go our
separate ways isn’t exactly what I had in mind.”

           
“A forty-five minute quickie?”
Penny raised an eyebrow.

           
“Only if I’m doing it right.”
I
gave her a quick kiss on the lips.

           
Penny chuckled and let me move from the wall. “Okay, rain
check then?”

           
“Sure thing, but next time I’m doing the chasing.” I
kissed her one last time and headed back to my room. Penny caught up to me as I
was getting onto the elevator. She had a little pouch with her. “So how does
that work anyway? I mean you absorb the life essence, but there isn’t really
any life left in that.” Penny pressed the button and we went up the elevator.
“You’ve eaten an orange right, and you’ve had a juice box. Well this works the
same way. This blood is still alive, and so I can drink it just like a person.
It’s not as good, or as much fun, but it is a lot more portable. Until recently,
when I was hungry I could just go down and munch on a few of the synthetic
combatants, but since they are all clones of you it seems kind of wrong.
Luckily DD and Gina can produce blood from the previous synthetics. So I can
still eat like a vampire queen.”

           
We chatted in my room for a few more minutes before she
left so I could finish getting ready. After checking myself one last time in
the mirror to make sure I was presentable, I headed off to join the others. I
moved to the elevator. When the doors opened DD, Elizabeth, and Dr Nowitski
joined me. Elizabeth was practically buzzing with excitement. We rose to the
surface level, and the others straggled in a few minutes later. The only one
that didn’t show up was Alhambra. When I asked about it Elizabeth said, “She’s
on lockdown for her constant misbehavior. We will transport her to a
containment cell after this
.“
Penny goosed me as she
walked by. Janine and Danika giggled as Elizabeth glared at us. A low rumble
signaled two transport vehicles headed our way. Eventually we caught sight of
them just along the horizon. It wasn’t long after that when I heard a
helicopter approaching as well. I have to give the general credit. It’s not
easy to coordinate land and air together like that. The copter was landing at
almost the exact same time the two transports were parking.