"This is nice," Tara commented. "I could almost get used to this."

I nodded slowly, but I didn't trust myself to answer yet. I was dealing with too many emotions and too many physical sensations.

The main one that had me not knowing if I wanted to laugh or cry with joy was the gentle warmth of the mid-day summer sun on my face, my bare shoulders, and my arms. And my legs and feet too.

I was dressed in a cute purple one-piece swimsuit, a pair of cut-off jean shorts, and I had some open-toe sandals on my feet. A little purse was slung over my shoulder. I'd even had my hair styled for the occasion, my messy black mop was now a cute pixie-cut. And I'd put on some bright colourful make-up.

After thirty-eight years I was finally able to enjoy a warm summer day as a cute girl.

Standing to my right, my girlfriend was wearing a pink bikini with a short beach skirt wrapped around her waist. She had sandals on her feet as well.

Neither of us were wearing sunglasses or hoodies or long coats, we weren't being blinded or sunburned. We wouldn't get tans but we could at least enjoy the warmth and be part of the crowd. We could act like normal girls for the day.

And we were certainly in a crowd, today was a holiday. It was July first, Canada Day, and we were down at the Forks enjoying the hustle and bustle and festive atmosphere. There were people all around us, with lots of events and stuff going on as part of the celebrations.

Tara grinned at me and teased, "So I think you're going to have to apologize to Penny about all those 'hocus pocus' and 'mumbo jumbo' comments."

Before I could respond, an indignant voice on my left demanded "What?! Are you still dissing my magic after everything I've done to help?"

The smirk on her face told me Penny wasn't actually upset with me, but I tried to explain anyways just to be sure I was safe.

"I wasn't dissing it I swear!" I protested. "I was just a bit skeptical, that's all. I mean some of the instructions and ingredients for the potion seemed a little too fairy-tale, you know? And I still have trouble believing in this magic stuff..."

Making the potion was fairly straightforward, though some of the chanting seemed a little silly. And it couldn't be made by just any vampire, only elders could do it because you needed a few drops of elder vamp blood to activate it or something. Apparently it was the strength of our blood that empowered the potion. Tara and I were both strong enough to do it because we'd been enhanced with the ancient blood.

The young blonde rolled her eyes, "If it wasn't for magic you'd have been worm-food thirty-eight years ago. Magic's the only thing keeping you from being compost right now."

I sighed, "Yeah you keep bringing that up. It's still hard to believe."

Penny showed up at the front door of our nightclub late Saturday night. The bouncers weren't going to let her in for obvious reasons, but she convinced one of them to contact me. Tara and I were already there of course, so I came to the door and vouched for her.

It was a shock, she hadn't told us she was coming. Last we'd heard on the subject was she was still thinking it over. But apparently school finished the week before and she told her friends she was going to visit her mom in Japan for a while. Then instead of flying to Tokyo she drove to Winnipeg.

Me and Tara were happy to see her, though we weren't sure we were ready to have her stay all summer. We'd only just got Patricia and Christine out of the condo and into their own place. We literally had less than two weeks of privacy in our home before Penny showed up and took over the guest room.

Her unexpected arrival did help in one way though. The full moon was on Monday, and her instructions for that potion were clear that it could only be mixed when the moon was full. So she was around to supervise as I made up my first batch of the stuff.

And now she was here with us while Tara and I were trying it out.

Like me and Tara she was dressed for the summer sun. She wore a sleeveless pale-yellow sundress and had cute pink sneakers on her feet, and a little purse dangling from her shoulder. Her long blonde hair was pulled back into a pony tail, and she had some make-up on too. As usual she looked and acted like a typical sixteen-year-old girl.

"So Penny, what do you think of the Forks?" Tara asked. "It's kind of nice right? This is our first time enjoying it in the day like this, but we've been here at night quite a few times."

Our guest shrugged, "It's ok. The river's all right I guess? I mean, It's nothing like the Toronto waterfront, but you can't expect a river to compete with a lake."

I rolled my eyes, "It's not a competition."

"If you say so," the kid replied with a grin.

Tara smiled as well, and the three of us continued meandering sort of aimlessly around. We didn't have any real plans, we didn't have anywhere we wanted to be. We were just out enjoying the summer sun, the crowd, and the festive holiday atmosphere.

We wound up walking along the bank of the Assiniboine River. There was a wide path right next to the water that was kind of nice. Tara and I had walked there countless times at night, but this was our first time experiencing it during the day.

After a few minutes of walking, Penny asked "Can you swim in that river?"

Tara and I exchanged a glance, then I responded "Probably not? I don't see anyone else in there, and I haven't seen anywhere that looks inviting to get in and out of it."

"Why?" Tara asked. "Were you planning on going for a swim?"

The young blonde shrugged "Just curious. You're both wearing swim suits, so I wasn't sure."

Now I was thinking about it too. I knew how to swim but I couldn't remember the last time I'd done it. Not since I was a little kid anyways, before I started to notice the dysphoria.

I commented, "There's some public pools around, but I bet there's some lakes with nice beaches we could go to."

"Lake Manitoba's just over an hour away," Tara said. "I'm positive there'll be a beach or two there."

That brought a smile to my face, "Maybe we need to start planning a day trip? We'll be busy the rest of this week, but how about next week? What do you think Penny?"

She shrugged, "We'll see. What else have you two got planned for today?"

• • • • •

Sam and Penny and I spent the rest of the afternoon and part of the evening outside enjoying ourselves, then around nine o'clock we finally returned to the condo. At ten we all stood on the balcony and watched the fireworks over at the Forks, then the three of us got changed for our late-night plans.

Sam and I were in short skirts and tight blouses, while Penny got into jeans and a t-shirt. At about eleven we set out on foot for Club Nocturne. And as usual we let ourselves in through the staff entrance.

The club was unusually busy for a Wednesday night. That was all thanks to Phoebe, she'd come up with ways to promote the place with special events and tonight we had a big Canada Day thing going on.

Zach greeted us from behind the bar as the three of us approached. "What can I get you young ladies to drink?"

"The usual for me and Tara," Sam replied.

Penny added, "I'll just have a cola."

The girl was still masking her scent. She'd never told us how that trick worked, and no-one in our new family knew she was a vamp. I was positive they were all very curious why we were hanging out with a teenage human girl, but we promised not to tell anyone about her.

Zach prepared our drinks out of sight of Penny and any other humans who might happen to look. Then he handed glasses of warmed blood to Sam and me, and the glass of cola to Penny.

I led the three of us up the stairs and we settled in at our favourite table as usual. Me and Sam were cuddled against each other on one side while Penny sat opposite us.

Megan was in the DJ booth and as expected Phoebe was dancing nearby. I spotted Reuben talking with one of the waitresses, and focused on their conversation through the din to verify there wasn't any trouble. It was fine though, everything seemed to be going smoothly.

"This is all right," Penny commented. "Your DJ's pretty good."

After a glance in Meg's direction the girl asked "How long since you turned her?"

"It was around the end of October, beginning of November," Sam told her. "So about eight months ago."

I added, "Same for her girlfriend. Sam and I turned the two of them a week apart, after we got back here from Toronto."

"That's nice," Penny commented as she sipped her cola.

My girlfriend asked her, "What about you? Have you turned anyone, apart from Claudia?"

Penny shook her head, "Nah."

"Why not?" I asked. "Not that it's any of my business."

The girl shrugged, "I liked Claudia but she kept trying to act like my mom. It was annoying, like because of the age thing? Like she was in her late twenties, she was a 'grown-up' and all that? I was already a hundred years old, I didn't need a baby vamp acting like a parent to me."

She added, "And I wouldn't turn someone my age. I wouldn't even turn someone Samantha's age. It's too young. Back in my day sixteen was old enough to be married and start having kids, but nowadays I can't do shit without getting questioned or having people want to see my ID. Of course back then I couldn't do shit because women were chattel right? Property of your father or your husband, unless you were extremely lucky."

There was enough bitterness in her voice to suggest there were some stories behind those sentiments, but I couldn't argue with her choices or her reasoning. And I'd already talked with Samantha a few times about that sort of thing. Being stuck as an immature eighteen-year-old caused her some problems, and she suggested that would be even worse for Penny.

Sam and I were both quiet for a few moments, then my girlfriend surprised me as she told our guest "Well if you get lonely, you're always welcome around here. I mean, not living indefinitely in our guest room, but in Winnipeg."

Penny looked as surprised as I felt, and she hesitated. Then she shook her head, "I don't know. I've been independent since the eighteen-eighties, and that chunk of suburbs east of Toronto has been my turf for about the same amount of time. Not sure I'm willing to make a move after all these years."

"That's ok," Samantha replied. "You're still welcome here, even if it's just for the occasional visit."

The young vamp smiled, "Thanks. I'll think about it."

None of us danced, and as the night wore on most of the guests packed up and left. Today was a holiday but most people would be back at work again tomorrow.

At about half past one, a few late arrivals showed up. We recognized their scent before we saw them step into view.

Trish and Chrissy both stripped at a nearby 'gentlemens club', they'd come straight over as soon as they were off work. We'd have hired them ourselves as waitresses, but we didn't have any openings. If any of our staff left though, we'd give Trish and Chrissy the opportunity to work for us if they wanted.

The two of them waved at me and Sam, then Zach gave them some drinks and they stood there at the bar talking with him and Rueben.

And finally Mikhail came in just before closing. He wound up joining the others all standing around the bar.

Once the last of the living guests left and the front doors were locked, Meg put on one of Sam's old eighties playlists then she and Phoebe joined the gang at the bar. Reuben let all the human staff go home early, and within a few minutes the last of the living people had cleared out.

Sam looked at me and suggested, "Hey cutie, I think we should go join the party?"

"Yeah," I nodded. "Let's join the family."

As much as Sam and I didn't like to admit it, we were the new matriarchs. Reuben was like a brother to us, while Zach, Meg, and Phoebe were the first of a new generation. And we'd sort of adopted Chrissy and Trish. They were ex-Family like us, and they turned out to be good people. We basically adopted Mikhail as well, he was a nice guy and got along well with the rest of us.

Together, the nine of us were all friends and we'd basically forged a new little clan here.

Penny followed Sam and I as we headed down the stairs and joined the others at the bar. She was the only one who wasn't really part of the group. The others went sort of quiet as we joined them, not sure how to act around her since they believed she was a young human.

Zach prepared a couple more glasses of blood for me and Sam, then asked the young blonde "Can I get you another cola?"

Penny hesitated, then flashed her fangs and smiled "May as well drop the charade and try to fit in. I'll have what the rest of you are having."

Everyone looked surprised. They'd have noticed the kid didn't have an undead scent, they assumed she was human.

Then while Zach prepared a drink for Penny, Samantha started doing the introductions and I just smiled. I wasn't sure if she'd actually decided to join us, but at least the kid was ready to try being social with everyone.

Once we all had our drinks, all ten of us went up to the second level. We pushed some tables together, then we all got comfortable and the conversation resumed. Everyone seemed eager to get to know Penny better.

I couldn't help wondering if our little family was about to grow again.

~ The End ~

PurpleCatGirl

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