“Kate lost a mother,” I said, “but I lost a nothing.”Kate doesn’t feel that way,” Jack assured me.But what about everybody else besides Kate? How can I ever explain to anyone what she was when she and I had no name? People need names for everything. I wasn’t a relative or a friend, I was just an object of her kindness.”He wiped my cheeks, saying Ssshh. I buried my face in his shoulder.True kindness is stabilizing,” I went on. “When you feel it and when you express it, it becomes the whole meaning of things. Like all there is to achieve. It’s life, demystified. A place out of self, a network of simple pleasures, not a waltz, but like whirls within a waltz.”You’re the one now,” Jack said definitively. “That’s why you met her. She had something she had to pass on.” (p. 95)”

“I’ve missed you, Sebastian.””Have you, love?” He unfastened the buttons of her robe, the light eyes glittering with heat as her skin was revealed. “What part did you miss the most?””Your mind,” she said, and smiled at his expression.”I was hoping for a far more depraved answer than that.””Your mind is depraved,” she told him solemnly.He gave a husky laugh. “True.”

“I hate the vamp jobs. They think they’re so suave. It’s not enough for them to slaughter and eat you like a zombie would. No, they want to be all sexy, too. And trust me: vampires? Not. Sexy.”

“If you fail to report within the next 12 hours. you will be terminated. If you attack any humans, you will be terminated. If you attempt to remove the tracking device, you will be terminated. We look forward to working with you.”