Free Charles' Choice (Penny's Choice) by Annette Archer

you have enough left in for one more crazy creature?” Thomas said, slowly kissing her neck.
    “Hmmm, maybe,” Penny said as she stroked Thomas hair. He continued to kiss down her neck, reaching her collar bone.
    “Yuck,” Thomas said, suddenly pulling away from Penny’s neck. Penny was about to question him when the familiar smell rotting off flesh wafted up through her nose.
    “Okay, I think that we need to get out here and back to the room ,” Penny said and got up off the ground. She was wet from the grass and peat of the Irish hills. “I’m a mess anyway.”
    “Sorry, banshees are nature creatures. They don’t have tables and chairs.”
    “I was thinking more along the lines of a bed,” Penny said, putting her arms around Thomas’s neck.
    Penny was glad to have to the banshee behind them. The banshees would be a welcome, but creepy addition to their crew. But at that moment, all she wanted to do was spend the night with Thomas. He was able to help her forget all of the problems that seemed to follow her around the world.
     
     
     

(CHAPTER 8 ) Things that go boom in the night
     
    Penny tossed in her bed. Her dreams were getting worse again. For a while when her and Thomas were first together her dreams got better, but now that they were going to be dealing with the Brotherhood again, the dreams had returned with a vengeance.
    “Penny, sweetheart,” Thomas said, shaking her slightly and rousing her from her sleep.
    Penny rolled over and looked at Thomas through her sleepy eyes. She hoped that he hadn’t noticed that she was having another dream. “Morning,” She said, stretching her arms out behind her.
    Thomas held out a bagel and a cup of coffee. Penny sat up in bed and placed breakfast on her lap. She looked out through the window; dusk had just settled into the sky and the stars were beginning to dot the night.
    “You were out today,” Thomas said, sitting on the bed next to her. “I think you slept like thirteen hours.”
    “I think I needed it,” Penny said. She rubbed her eyes, trying to make her eyes wake up. She sipped on her coffee and closed her eyes again. Her body did not want to get up.
    “I would have let you sleep longer,” Thomas ran his hand down her thigh, “but we need to go meet up with the rest.”
    “Are they here?” Penny asked, forcing her eyes open.
    “No, but they are close,” Thomas said. He got up and put the newly acquired clothes and supplies into a black leather messenger back. “We do need to get out of here as soon as possible. Time is ticking on getting Charles back to the Brotherhood in time to save your grandmother.”
    “I hate all of this,” Penny said then took a bite of her breakfast. She sat up and placed the bagel and coffee on the night stand and got out bed. “I just want to sit on my grandmother’s porch drinking lemonade.” Penny gulped down the rest of the coffee. “So, what castle is Charles at?” Penny pulled on a long shirt over her leggings. She chose clothes that would be easy to move and fight in because the way things had been going lately, another fight was always around the corner.
    “Well, I have it narrowed down to two,” Thomas said, slinging the bag over his shoulder. “But I think that one is more likely than the other. It isn’t far from here.”
    Penny grabbed the rest of her bagel and followed Thomas out of the room. “How many other races are we going to ask to help?”
    “I think just one more , maybe two ,” Thomas replied, walking down the hall. “I could get more, but I am trying to keep it small and strategic. The less that know…”
    “I know, I know, the less that there will be to go wrong,” Penny said. She opened the door the small inn and walked out into the night air. “I won’t bother asking anymore questions either, Mr. tight lips.”
    “Good, now get in the car , human,” Thomas said with a fake snarl and a goofy look on his face.
    “Thomas, you couldn’t scare a church mouse,”