“That settles it, no more books about vampire before bedtime.”

“A serious adult story must be true to something in life. Since marvel tales cannot be true to the events of life, they must shift their emphasis towards something to which they can be true; namely, certain wistful or restless moods of the human spirit, wherein it seeks to weave gossamer ladders of escape from the galling tyranny of time, space, and natural law.”

“If I’d had enough breath, I would have screamed, both at the sensation and at the sheer pettiness of the bastard who wouldn’t allow me even a tiny chance of escape.”

“Big lots,’ I said, seeing the eighty-year-old oaks and shady lawns. The houses were set way back and had iron fences and stone drives. The harder to hear your neighbors scream, my dear,’ was David’s answer, and I sent my head up and down in agreement.”

“The many men, so beautiful!And they all dead did lie:And a thousand thousand slimy thingsLived on; and so did I.”

“It’s about time! It’s supposed to be a ritual, not a marathon.”

“The most temptation I’d experienced had been with Tomas, the Senate’s spy who had been feeding off me without permission, and Mircea, who was probably plotting some nefarious scheme. I have no taste in men.”

“there are three kinds of people in the world: those who don’t know and don’t know they don’t know; those who don’t know and do know they don’t know; and those who know and know how much they still don’t know.”

“You had this all planned, didn’t you?’ I accused. ‘Thought you could come in here and seduce me like you do everyone else?’ It wasn’t as if I could be angry, lying atop him as I was, but I tried.”

“I dodged behind Mac for cover and refused to take the bait. I glanced at my nonexistent watch. ‘Oops, look at the time. Guess I have to be going now. Let’s not do this again sometime, okay?’Before I could move, Pritkin was there, jamming the medallion into the skin of my upper arm.’Ow!’He looked at me expectantly. I glared at him. ‘That hurt!’What do you see?’A big red mark,”

“I’ve never even been to Long Island”

“To sustain the belief that there is no God, atheism has to demonstrate infinite knowledge, which is tantamount to saying, “I have infinite knowledge that there is no being in existence with infinite knowledge”

“Great. I’d been dumped in Hell’s waiting room.”

“Jenks enthusiastically leaned against the counter and opened the box. Bypassing the plastic knife, he broke off about a third of it and took a huge bite. Ivy watched, appalled, and I shrugged. His mouth moving as he hummed, Jenks finished unpacking the sacks. I was half dead, Ivy was whoring herself to keep me safe, but Jenks was okay as long as he had chocolate.”

“Ivy!’ I stammered, then glared at Kisten. ‘You told Ivy? Thanks a hell of a lot. Want to call my mom next?”