Vampire Romance: Vampire Preference (paranormal shifter romance) (New adult vampire shapeshifter short stories comedy) by Diane Queenston Page A

it.”
    “Yeah, but I like my men wild
Sammy. I like ‘em really wild.”
    “I know Jen.” Sammy rolled her
eyes and thought back to some of the men that her friend had dated over the
years. “Remember the skinhead you dated a few years back. That one was wild and
it went really well as I recall. Didn’t it?”
    “Okay that one was kinda bad.”
    “Kinda?”
    The skinhead had taken both Jen
and Sammy hostage in a store when Jen told him that she wanted to see other
people. He just kind of lost it and pulled a gun out of his waist band and
pointed it at both of them. It turned out to be a twelve-hour hostage thing
with the SWAT and police.
    “Okay it was a disaster, but
what are the chances of that happening again?” Jen asked as the waited for the
crosswalk light to turn green.
    “I’d say pretty likely if you
keep dating those ‘bad boys’ like you always do.”
    “Whatever.” Jen dismissed her
comment with a wave of her hands. “Did you see the news this morning that . . .
”
    Sammy zoned out as her friend
went on to describe the hot actor she saw on the news that morning. In her mind
she went over what she should wear tonight for her date with Tomas. He usually
wore that black trench coat with a black vest and white long sleeves
underneath. Now that she thought about it, she realized that those clothes were
all he wore. She had never seen him in anything different. Maybe he just liked
those colors and has a wardrobe of those same outfits, she thought.
    They reached the restaurant
they had both worked at since their big career as stage actors withered and
died beneath the spotlights. As Sammy thought about her life, she realized that
she was a walking cliche. She was a failed actress in New York, whose career
had dried up, no love life to speak of, and a friend who was wild and dated
even wilder guys. All she needed was a cat and she would fit the role
perfectly. You know I’ve always wanted a cat, she thought with a chuckle as she
tied on her apron.
    Tomas watched the hundreds and
hundreds of people as they moved around him in a wave on the way to who knows
where to do something that to them in that moment seemed like the most
important thing in the world. As he watched the daily races of the homo sapiens
he could almost see why most of his vampire brethren hated them with a passion
and saw them only as cattle to be turned- but then a man stopping to give hard
earned money to a homeless woman changed his mind. These people only lived long
enough to barely grasp life, but they still somehow found the time to be kind
to others. Sure there were those who did more harm than good, but every now and
then some shining example would make him think that maybe this species should
be in control. It wasn’t like the vampires were doing a great job so far. Wars,
murders, deaths by the thousands from diseases- no, the vampires weren’t doing
so good at all.
    He thought all of this as he
walked along 54 th street to where he was supposed to meet Sammy at
Pescalero’s. He thought that tonight would be the night that he told her what
he was and asked her to be his bride. He found that he hoped more than he ever
had that this one would say yes. He had married hundreds of brides over the
centuries, but this girl was something special and something that he had never
encountered before. He had never had feelings for a bride like he had for this
one. In short, he was in love with Sammy.
    He rounded the corner and there
she was standing beside a newspaper kiosk with a little black dress on. He
grinned and picked up the pace. As he touched her on the shoulder, she spun
around with her big, blue eyes open wide. She smiled when she saw it was him
and the smile lit Tomas up inside.
    “Good evening dear Sammy.” He
took her hand and kissed the back of it.
    “Hi Tomas,” she laughed.
“You’re such a weirdo. Kissing my hand like it’s the thirteenth century or
something.”
    “Actually they didn’t start
kissing the backs