The Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance

were arguing over not wanting. There are distinct disadvantages to being a half-demon with super-charged hearing.
    “So this vampire bar,” Tiffany tried again. “It’s for dating. It’s not easy being a vampire, you know. You think you have dating issues? Try being immortal.”
    “They are only semi-immortal. And why would I want to date one?”
    “Uh, because they’re hot.”
    Sure, if you went for tall, dark and parasitic. I gulped the rest of my beer. Sadly, it didn’t make anyone in the bar look better.
    And, considering the only guy glancing my way was at least sixty, apparently the booze wasn’t doing the trick for them either.
    I signalled the bartender for a refill. Even he ignored me.
    “Hello?” Tiffany waved her hand in front of my face. “Earth to Melanie. Can we blow this joint please? The vampire bar is calling. Hot guys who’ve been waiting centuries to meet you.”
    I snorted.
    “Oh, come on,” she said. “Don’t you find it the least bit romantic? A creature of the night, tormented by the emptiness of his life, searching for that one special woman, knowing if he doesn’t find her in time, he’ll be condemned to eternity as a soulless monster.”
    “That’s a book.”
    She frowned. “Are you sure?”
    “Yep.”
    “Fine, but they still need to find their true love, the one bright flame that will warm their cold existence.”
    “Book. More than one, I think.”
    “Forget romance. They need sex. It’s like Red Bull for vampires, boosting their powers to unimaginable heights. They need lots of it, in every way, shape and form imaginable, including a few you haven’t imagined.”
    “Book,” I said. “I hope.”
    “Maybe, but they’re still tormented creatures of the night—”
    “They can walk around in daylight.”
    “No way.”
    “Yep. I’m not even all that sure about the tormented part. Sure, they have to drink blood and take one life a year, but once they work past that, they get a long life, eternal youth, near invulnerability and conga lines of swooning women fighting to get into their beds, eager to prove they’ll be their ‘one true love’. What’s not to like?”
    She slumped in her chair, a sigh whistling out.
    “Maybe we can find you a tormented one,” I said.
    “How do you know so much about vampires anyway?”
    “Wallace.”
    She winced. “Sorry.”
    Wallace was my latest ex, and the cause of the self-imposed celibacy I was now eager to break. Tall, dark and tormented fitted Wallace perfectly. He hadn’t been a vampire, though not for lack of trying. A Vodoun priest with an inferiority complex, Wallace had been obsessed with the undead. Our relationship ended the day I walked in to find him shooting up with black market vampire blood.
    I wish I could say Wallace had been a blip in an otherwise healthy love life, but he was only the latest in a string of losers. Dating fellow supernaturals solved a lot of problems, and opened up a whole bunch more.
    “Forget the vamp bar then,” Tiffany said. “Maybe there’s someone here.” She looked around. “Or maybe someplace else.”
    I sighed. I was being a bitch, really. This bar sucked. I didn’t have another place in mind. And my friend really wanted to try this so-called vampire one. Was that too much to ask?
    “All right,” I said. “We’ll check out this bar and find you a vampire. And if he’s not tormented, I’m sure I can fix that.”
    A vampire bar. Now that we were on our way, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t just a little bit intrigued. And Tiffany wanted to go so badly that I could tell myself I was doing it for her sake . . . and almost believe it.
    I’d met Tiffany three years ago in a support group for half-demons. As a rule, women don’t hook up with demons willingly and bear their children. Our mothers have no idea that we’re anything but human, and we don’t either, until our powers start to kick in. That power depends on Daddy. In my case, it’s enhanced hearing. Tiffany is a low-level ice demon. She can’t freeze a guy in his tracks, though she has a glare that does the trick pretty well. Mostly she just turns water into ice. Useful at parties when the freezer is broken. Otherwise not so much. She’s happy with it, though.
    Not every half-demon is so content. Hence the support group. I’d first learned of my demon blood when I was “found” by a group that monitored medical channels and discovered I’d been trying to find an explanation for my