When Simon had last seen her, Penelope had been just a kid of about 150 or 160. But now she was a proper woman. Simon noticed that her hair were shorted, and dyed black, and her face had lost the plumpness it used to have. "That's to be expected I suppose, a century is a long time." he murmured to himself.
While Simon was noticing Penelope, he had been distracted, and hadn't seen Stella walk closer and closer to the vampire. He saw her only when she almost reached her.
"STELLA NOOOOO!!!!!" Simon shrieked as Stella raised a hand to touch Penelope. He was now not afraid of Penelope attacking Stella or Stella being in mortal danger. Like Den, Penelope had given up drinking from humans. And there was not any real danger of her being tempted. Penelope had the strongest mind of all people he knew, and she had always despised drinking from humans. Even before, when she still used to do it. But a new kind of threat had just presented itself when Stella tried to touch Penelope.
Simon was well aware that whenever she practiced, Penelope had the habit of putting up a barrier around her. It wasn't any physical barrier, of course, Stella would have seen it otherwise. While training, Penelope put a barrier around her mind. It affected the mind of everyone who tried to touch her, regardless of their intentions. And it's affects, though not lasting, were quite horrible. Simon could tell from first hand experience.
So Simon rushed towards Stella to stop her before she touched Penelope and faced the full force of her barrier. But Stella was only a couple inches away from Penelope, and Simon was all the way on the other side of the attic.
Curse the size of this house. Curse the size of this attic. Simon thought to himself as he ran at his full speed, even knowing there was no way he would make it to Stella before she touched Penelope. And he was right, of course. Stella's hand made contact with Penelope's shoulder while he was still halfway through the attic.
Simon watched in anticipation as he imagined Stella being knocked out cold and thrown across the room. "I must break her fall." he thought to himself and continued to rush towards Stella, hoping to reach her before she was thrown away.
But contrary to Simon's expectations, nothing of the sort happened. Stella was neither knocked out cold nor thrown away. Actually, she showed no reaction to Penelope's barrier, as though it didn't exist. But being somewhat of a manipulator himself, no matter how weak, Simon knew there had been a barrier. He sensed it break just as Penelope opened her eyes, and looked around in alarm.
Simon could tell she had gone into survival mode as Penelope's eyes flitted across the attic and settled on Stella before she jumped away from her touch and crouched a few feet away from her, in one corner of the attic. A deep, low, threatening growl escaped her mouth as her lips curled over her teeth, exposing her fangs that had come out as soon as she felt threatened.
Stella blinked and looked around the attic. Her eyes found Penelope's maroon ones, so dark they almost looked brown, and she frowned.