Knight Shift (42 page)

Although Charlie thought it was a horrible idea, it was also the longest conversation she’d seen Van Gogh have since he arrived. And for some unknown reason the Human’s presence did seem to calm him. Charlie gave Penny the nod to proceed.

Penny walked over to the bed and sat down on the edge. After scanning the room and his many sketches, she started to draw. Charlie remembered her promise to Ice and sat down beside her. Soon curiosity won out and, after a few minutes, Van Gogh joined them. Penny told them about the room she decorated for Susi and, while they looked through the pictures on her phone, Penny quickly drew several rough sketches for what they could do to this room. By the time they handed back her phone, she turned the pad to the boy and asked, “Want to decorate your room?”

The boy stared at the images and then gave Penny a brilliant smile full of sharp white fangs.

As Penny began to transfer her sketches onto the walls, Charlie stood guard. Penny explained every step to her fellow artist in hopes that he would continue to do the work even after she left. Several times her student got up and actually helped put the design on the wall. While they worked, Penny received a text from Jax wanting to confirm that she was okay. Although she didn’t tell him exactly what she was up to, she reassured him that she was fine. She told those in the room that the text was from a friend, so that Jax’s relationship to her continued to remain a secret.

As the two artists worked, there was a constant flow of watchers at the door and they were all shocked to see Van Gogh so focused and calm. They didn’t know if it was Penny’s influence or the artwork, but they were thrilled to see him engaged in something.

By the time the walls were covered in a rough design, a few older members of the group joined them, carrying artist paints and paintbrushes.

Charlie looked at the items and asked, “Where in the world did you find these?”

One of them replied, “Don’t ask.”

With an audience locked on Penny’s every move, they watched as she gave Van Gogh a lesson in how to paint. Although he was initially awkward with a paintbrush, as he saw his sketches come alive, his eyes grew wide. To Penny’s delight, the brush soon became a natural extension to his fingers.

With Van Gogh busy, Penny stepped out of the room for a moment to take a quick break. With Charlie pinned to her side several people pushed away their fears and approached. When a young girl handed Penny a piece of paper and asked her to draw a picture, she did what was asked enthusiastically.

She was finishing up the sketch of a dragon, when someone came running toward them in a panic and said, “Van Gogh is having one of his seizures. He needs blood now.”

Charlie replied in a panic, “But we’re out and Spock isn’t back with a new batch.”

“Razor is with him and said that this is a bad one. I don’t think he can wait.”

Charlie and Penny raced back to the room to find their target writhing in pain on the floor. He was being held by an Asian man with pale skin and long dark hair pulled back into a ponytail. Seeing his fangs, Penny guessed that he was the one referred to as Razor—the leader of the local Night Walkers.

Someone else in the room said to Penny accusatorily, “He started having a hard time breathing shortly after you left the room. Thanks to you, he wore himself out and now he’s most likely dying.”

While Charlie pulled out her phone and called Spock, Penny stared at the wonderful artwork Van Gogh was creating on the walls. With tears welling in her eyes, she said, “We can’t let him die.” Charlie announced that the blood was still ten minutes away Penny asked, “Will any blood work?” Although she asked the question, she already knew the answer.

Razor said, “It must be Human. It’s a horrible twist of fate that we have to continue to live dependent on those that are trying to make us extinct.”

Penny squared her shoulders and announced, “I’m Human. Use me.”

“What?” Charlie asked in astonishment.

“You heard me. Let me earn my nickname Snack and let him take some of my blood. I can give him just enough to keep him alive until they get back here with a new supply.”

Razor replied, “You have no idea what you’re asking and what it will feel like. He’s young and unable to control his feedings.”

With the image of Logan in her mind, Penny rubbed her neck and said, “Actually, I do know what it will be like. Unlike Sam’s bite, it’s going to hurt like hell.”

Charlie added, “He has no control when he feeds so odds are he would kill you. And, if you die, we’ll have to deal with Ice.”

Penny replied, “But Van Gogh is barely alive.” Looking pointedly at Charlie, she added, “Conan and Razor could separate us when he starts to go too far.”

Realizing that Penny was serious and was putting her life in their hands, Razor said, “We have to do something or we’ll lose him.”

There was no time to waste so Penny took the situation into her own hands. She walked over to Razor and, watching the light reflecting off his extremely sharp teeth, she held out her wrist and said as calmly as she was able, “Bite me.”

When Van Gogh gasped for a breath, Razor called to the room, “Everyone out, now.” Although he didn’t expect either of them to survive, he didn’t want his people to watch another one of their own die.

Charlie cleared the room and, once only the essential people remained, Razor took Penny’s wrist in his hand and bit into her skin. Penny held back her reaction to the sting that shot up her arm. Once the wound was bleeding hard, she dropped to her knees and pressed her wrist on Van Gogh’s mouth. As his mouth filled with her blood, she whispered encouragements in his ear. She sighed in relief when she felt his mouth’s pressure on her skin. Her relief was violently yanked away the moment his fangs dug into her.

Pain shot through Penny’s body like a lightning bolt and, unlike Logan, Van Gogh offered no ability to silence her reaction. The room quickly filled with her screams of pure agony. When Charlie raced forward to separate her from the fangs that were buried deep in her skin, Penny frantically waved her back. While sweat beaded on her skin and tears flowed down her cheeks, she replied with her words choppy and forced, “I’m. Okay.” After taking a moment to try and force back the pain, she whispered barely loud enough to be heard, “Get Conan ready.”

Charlie stripped and instantly shifted but, when the transformation stopped, it wasn’t Conan that Penny stared at. Instead it was the bright sky blue eyes of Thor that returned her gaze. Penny couldn’t stop an appreciative grin from forming, but her smile turned quickly into another scream. She grabbed Thor’s hand until her knuckles were white, making Charlie cringe at her unexpected strength. When the pain was too much to bear, Penny’s eyes rolled back into her head and her world went dark.

Penny woke and expected to be screaming in pain. Instead all she felt was a steady, but tolerable, ache and a tingling sensation. Seeing Razor working on her wrist, she knew that she had him to thank for using his talents to dull the pain. When her eyes focused on the full room, she caught Jax, Spock, and Charlie in a deep discussion, anger obvious on all of their faces. As hard as she tried, she couldn’t make out what they were saying. All she could hear was a constant buzzing sound, like a radio between stations. When her brain finally engaged and the room filled with normal sounds again, she looked at Razor and whispered weakly, “Is Van Gogh okay?”

Razor gave Penny a genuine smile of gratitude and said, “He’s fine and so are you, by the way. Your blood saved him.”

When the familiar angry tones of Jax registered in Penny’s mind, she knew Charlie was getting an earful. She couldn’t help noticing that while others cowered at Jax’s projected anger, Charlie was standing tall and holding her own.

Penny decided that it wasn’t fair for Charlie to take all of the blame for her own actions, so she interrupted Jax’s tirade by saying, “This wasn’t Charlie’s fault or idea. It was all mine. I gave her no choice but to agree, and she stayed at my side the whole time to watch over me.”

Razor added with pride, “It was the strength of Charlie’s Thor that was able to separate the two in time.”

Charlie replied, “I did what I needed to do, but I honestly didn’t think the Human had it in her. I expected her to see those fangs and run for the door.”

Jax said, “You have no idea what this woman is capable of.” Now that Penny was finally responsive, he knelt at her feet and asked, “Are you really alright?”

His look of weariness informed Penny how concerned he was about her. She put her hand on his and said, “I’m fine, really. Thanks to Razor I’ve stopped bleeding and he has taken away almost all of my pain.”

Although one side of Jax was proud of what she had done, the other side was terrified of what could have happened. He said exasperated, “You’re okay this time, but you can’t put your life on the line just to make others accept you. One of these days someone is going to take advantage of your selflessness and the ending to the scene will be much different than today.”

Penny replied, “I don’t think there’s anything I could do to make this group like me, and acceptance has nothing to do with why I did it.”

While trying to keep his frustration in check, he said, “Then explain it to me. Help me understand why putting your life in the hands of people who would enjoy seeing you dead is a good thing.”

She pointed around the room and said, “Look at the walls. He’s a fellow artist like me. I couldn’t sit back and watch him die.”

“But he isn’t like you. He’s a newly turned Night Walker that would have killed you without thinking twice. If the situation was reversed, there isn’t a single creature in this building that would have come to your aid. Odds are they would have watched you die just for the sport of it.” He knew that a year ago he would have been happily standing in the front of that crowd. Now the thought of watching Penny die made his chest hurt.

Penny replied, “I’m quite aware that he isn’t my kind, but he needed what only I could give him. If I faced the same situation again, I wouldn’t do anything differently. It’s who I am and I pray that I never lose that part of me. And if I die because of it, so be it. I’ll die living the life that I believe in.”

Before Jax could continue his lecture about taking unnecessary risks, their discussion was interrupted when someone across the room called, “Penny.”

Penny searched the room to find the one that spoke and found Van Gogh sitting at the opposite wall staring back at her. The moment the two made eye contact, to everyone’s surprise, Van Gogh got up and walked tall and confidently across the room.

After he knelt at her side, he said, “I owe my life to you and I’m more than just fine. Look.” Besides the fact that his skin had color and his cheeks were even pink, he held up his arms and then opened his shirt. He said excitedly, “My scars are almost gone and, whatever was wrong inside of me, it’s healed too. I’m finally feeling alive.”

Razor added, looking down at Penny with admiration, “I didn’t expect him to make it another twenty-four hours, but look at him. We tried every blood type from many different sources and nothing worked, until you. Your blood was the key.”

From across the room, Charlie expressed her theory for what happened by saying, “Maybe it was the fact that it was fresh from the vein?”

Razor had tasted Penny’s blood and knew there was a different answer but, seeing the expression on Jax’s face, he kept his theories to himself. Instead he nodded and said, “That must be it.” Although that was what he said out loud, he knew it was a lie and planned to have a long, private talk with Jax later.

Jax gave him a small nod to thank him for his discretion and to acknowledge that he understood that the two of them would discuss the scene later.

Penny looked down at a wound on her wrist, which looked several days old, and said to Razor, “You have quite a gift.”

While nodding toward Van Gogh, he replied, “And so do you.”

Penny’s eyes grew wide when her mind caught the hidden meaning behind Razor’s words. In the panic of the moment, she had forgotten that her blood offered more to Night Walkers than providing them a good snack. She looked over to Van Gogh and, although he was thrilled over his recovery, he seemed too young to truly understand the significance of her role. As she stared at Razor, however, she knew he was more than aware. Knowing how protective Jax was about her and their secret, she was suddenly full of fear for Razor’s life. She knew that she had to do something. She refused to save one life just to watch another die because of her actions. As she looked at Jax, she wished he was psychic like Ben so he could hear her thoughts of pleading to not do what she knew he would to contain the damage.

Before Penny could come up with a plan, they were all startled when Van Gogh jumped back to his feet with newfound enthusiasm and announced, “We have a room to finish.” After picking up a paintbrush he looked to Penny. Seeing her still pale skin, he said, “You stay where you are and be my teacher.”

Penny watched as Jax and Razor made eye contact. After giving each other a nod, they both rose. Penny refused to let them leave without her but, when she tried to stand, she swayed and was forced back down.

Jax said, “Stay here and rest.”

While urgently exchanging glances between Jax and Razor, she whispered to Jax,

“But I need to talk to you privately for a moment.”

Jax knew Penny well enough now to know what she was thinking. He put his hand

on hers and said, “Don’t worry. We will
both
be back shortly.” He emphasized the word ‘both’ to inform her that he had no intention of killing Razor.

After staring into Jax’s dark eyes and seeing no lies, Penny was forced to put her faith in him to remain in control. Jax then walked to the door with Razor at his side. The moment the door was opened, the hallway full of people fought to look inside the room. Several shouted, “He’s alive!” when their eyes locked on Van Gogh and were shocked by his miraculous recovery.

Although Charlie attempted to explain the facts of what happened to the crowd, no one was listening. She found it irritating that Penny’s contribution went completely unrecognized. She finally gave up and said, “Penny, I’m going to get you something to eat. Van Gogh will keep an eye on you and I’ll be right back.”

Penny was pleased to hear Charlie finally call her by her real name. Maybe her act caused at least one person to rethink their opinion of her.

*~*~*~*

Once Razor led Jax to his room and closed the door behind him, he turned to his fellow Changeling and said, “Van Gogh should be dead and there’s no way Penny’s blood should have prevented it. I’ve opened many a Human vein and no one’s blood even remotely compares.” Pressing his palm on his own chest he added, “My pulse is actually racing.” When Jax didn’t react to the announcement of the miracle he had witnessed, Razor asked, “I know that you are exceptional at hiding your feelings, but why aren’t you surprised by what just happened?” Seeing Jax’s continued hesitation, Razor encouraged, “You can talk to me. I owe you my life so you can trust me when I say that anything said in this room will not go beyond these walls.”

After a few minutes of silence, Jax finally admitted, “You’re right. Her blood is one of a kind and truly extraordinary.”

Seeing the almost dreamy expression in Jax’s eyes, Razor asked, “You’ve tasted her, haven’t you?”

Jax nodded. “We’ve been traveling together for several weeks and, to help keep my

darker side under control, she has allowed me to take a small amount of her blood on a regular basis. But with each day, I’ve felt myself changing.”

Razor found his mouth watering at the thought of being able to taste Penny’s blood every day. He said, while looking at Jax’s Human form, “Actually the fact that you’ve changed is obvious to anyone that knows you, but how can a Human’s blood be capable of doing this?”

Jax shook his head and said, “We don’t have a clue. Sam is trying to contact a Changeling doctor that he trusts implicitly. We’re hoping that he can help us figure out what’s going on in Penny’s body.”

Razor paced excitedly and asked, “Don’t you realize the significance of her gift? Her blood could save countless lives. I brought Van Gogh to the castle not so that we could heal him, but so that he wouldn’t die alone. It’s been hard for me to watch. His condition reminded me so much of my wife. If I had known of Penny’s gift, I could have used her to save my sweet Elena. Instead all I could do was watch her die in my arms. After her death, I went insane with grief. Although I don’t feel guilty about the lives that were lost because I took out my rage on the Human race that had hurt her, I’m sorry for how many of our kind died in the Human’s retribution. If it wasn’t for you, I might still be on my killing spree.”

Jax said, “But you’ve found your place here and regained control.”

“And it looked like Penny has helped you find yours. By the way, how in the world did you find this wonderful creature?”

Jax replied, “Actually she found me. She lives near Sam’s place and, through the bumbling of the twins, she found out what we are. As you can already tell, she has no fear of us. In fact, she wants to learn everything about our kind.”

Razor asked, “But how did the two of you end up here in Reno?”

After Jax shared a brief summary of the circumstances that led the two of them on a trip across country, Razor said, “Normally I wouldn’t care about a worthless Human, but this one’s gift is truly amazing. Knowing your intolerance to her kind, being forced to stay at her side for so long must be excruciating for you. Is she the reason that you lost control in Nashville?” Before he had a chance to respond, Razor said excitedly, “I’ve gained excellent control around Humans and would be willing to take her the rest of the way to Oregon. You could stay here a while and recover.”

Jax was stunned by not just Razor’s request but also by the twinkle in his eyes at the prospect of him spending time alone with Penny. He could have sworn he could see his mouth water. With the hair on the back of his neck standing on end, he replied, “Penny stays with me.” A low protective growl started to fill the room.

Razor took a step back, feeling the coldness of Jax’s projected anger. To diffuse the situation, he quickly added, “If you’re afraid that I would hurt her, you have nothing to worry about. I wouldn’t leave her side for a minute and would protect her with my life.”

Trying to contain his reaction, Jax clenched his fists and said, “That’s not the issue.”

“Then what aren’t you telling me?”

Jax decided he needed to confide in someone and he knew that Razor could be trusted to keep what he was about to say a secret. He took in a deep breath and said, “When I found you, I never really understood how someone could care about anyone so much that their loss almost drove them insane. And now…”

When Jax didn’t finish his thought, Razor raised his eyebrows in surprise and finished it for him. “You understand now, don’t you?” When Jax remained silent, Razor added, “Penny isn’t just someone you were forced to travel with, is she?”

Jax replied, “No, she isn’t.”

“I’m sorry; I didn’t realize. How did this happen? As long as I’ve known you, there has been no love between you and Humans.”

Jax shared a condensed version of how Penny had become a part of his life. When he was done, he said, “I’ve hid nothing from her and she now knows me better than anyone on this planet. The craziest part is that no matter how many truly awful things that she discovers about me, she refuses to leave my side. In fact, she actually tries to protect me from everything. She’s Human and yet, I can’t imagine a single day without her at my side. Like you with Elena, if something were to happen to her, I’m not sure I would be strong enough to handle it.”

Razor asked, “Does she know how you feel?”

Jax replied, “She knows that I care a great deal about her, but I don’t know how to tell her the extent of those feelings when I’m not sure myself.”

“Just talk to her. She has the right to know that the choices she makes and the risks she takes affect more than just her now.”