Free Dead End Dating by Kimberly Raye Page B

the tip of my tongue, but she looked so hopeful that I found myself swallowing instead of shattering her hopes and dreams and turning her into a cold, hard cynic like most other made vampires the world over.
    I remembered Ty Bonner (whoa, baby), and I couldn’t help but think of the glimmer I’d seen in the dark depths of his eyes when I mentioned dating and love and vampires all in the same sentence. Hope? Maybe. Probably.
    Okay, so there’d been a hell of a lot of disbelief, too. But somewhere in the mix, I’d definitely seen hope.
    After all, made vampires were entitled to the emotion, too, even if their situation was pretty dismal. While born vamps were, for the most part, attractive, charismatic creatures, made vamps were an entirely different animal.
    As I mentioned, they’d once been human. With human flaws. And whatever imperfections they’d possessed when they were turned—everything from acne to jock itch—were with them for the rest of eternity. Ty still had his scars and Esther still had her cellulite.
    “A thigh wrap, huh?” I nodded. “Maybe I should try that myself.”
    Esther eyed me as if I’d sprouted a halo. “You don’t need your thighs wrapped. You’re just an itty-bitty thing. What are you? A size seven?”
    “A five.”
    She sighed. “I can’t remember if I ever fit into a size five. Back when I was turned the clothes weren’t divided up into sizes. You couldn’t even buy off the rack. You just made your own.”
    “How long ago was that?”
    “About a hundred years ago. I was thirty-three at the time.”
    Am I good or what? “Where are you from?”
    “Texas. Barron’s Bluff. A small settlement just south of San Antonio. There’s not much left of it now. Just a few run-down houses. But at one time it was a nice place to live.” She smiled. “And date. Boy, I had ’em coming out of the woodwork when I was in my prime. But my mama got sick and I had to stay home to tend to her, so marriage was out of the question. I turned into an old maid. Then this crazy miner—at least I thought he was a miner—rode into town and stole me away from my farm in the middle of the night. Me and two other women from nearby spreads. He sold us to the man who drained our blood and turned us. The other two women were the appetizer and dessert. I was the main course on account of I was so healthy looking.”
    “And you haven’t had a date since before you were turned?”
    She nodded. “Way before on account of my mama. And now…” She shook her head. “It’s a different world. Men aren’t looking for a soft body to curl up against. They want long, slim legs.” She grimaced as she adjusted the purse sitting on her lap. “And tight tummies. And perky boobs.” She glanced down. “While I’ve got the boobs, they haven’t been perky since I was eighteen years old.”
    “Not all men are interested in perky boobs.”
    “True, but I don’t want a human man. I’ve buried a whole mess of relatives—I wouldn’t turn them and doom them to the same fate.” She shook her head, and a sadness filled her eyes. “When I get close to someone— if I ever do—it’ll be somebody like me. The trouble is, why would a made vampire want a not-so-perfect vampire when he can have any human woman he wants?”
    She had a point. Born male vamps had to choose a born female vamp in order to continue the race. But made vamps weren’t genetically equipped with any such loyalty. Their survival instincts were purely self-sufficient. As in feeding. Since all men—human and vamp alike—were visual creatures, it only made sense that they would opt to suck on a pretty woman rather than an ugly one.
    “I know it seems sort of hopeless, but I’m sure there’s someone out there.” What was I saying? “You’ll never know if you don’t at least try. Wow. An entire century without a date.” I sounded shocked, but truthfully, I wasn’t nearly as surprised considering I myself hadn’t had an official one in