“As long as women are denied the priesthood, we will try to make our own rituals at our own kitchen altars and we will sew our own magical capes at our own sewing machines”

“Come with meAnd you will findWhat’s been trappedInside my mind…”

“Killian O’Brien, would I truly do anything to damage your diddler after I’ve only just healed it?”

“Killian, have I nearly killed you?” she whispered as she lay beside him and her lips kissed his ear. “No, but when I do die, I would ask that you make certain it is you who takes my life in just such a manner,” he said in a breathless fashion.”

“How do magical beings celebrate?” Killian was curious to know. “Music, food, wine, ale, dancing, frivolity, and merriment in many forms.” Lugh grinned again. “So entirely the same as in the human realm?” Killian smiled back at the god. “Well, with a bit of magic thrown in for good measure.”

“The sun might not rise one day and leave the world in perpetual darkness. The moon might fall to the sea and send an endless tide that floods the earth, or I might simply slip in sheep dung and break my neck! How will Danhoul prevent any of that?”

“That would have killed Shylie to watch you die!” Alainn whispered. “She’s quite dead, even now!” Killian suggested not with callous intent but merely stating the fact of the situation.”

“Always life would bring with it joy and sorrow combined. To allow herself to love and to love well, she opened her heart to loss, but to live without love would truly be no life at all. Alainn was well aware with any great love there would be great loss. It was both the cost and the reward of loving.”

“Tis just you and me, all alone.” She smiled suggestively. “And there is an inn here before us,” Killian noted. “Just a few steps to the doorway.” She smiled. “They surely have beds.” He grinned.”

“WEST SALEM ~ October 2011A sudden vision, fraught with malevolence and darkness, obscured her sight. The face of a menacing figure turned from the shadows of his grisly handiwork and stared at Sorcha.Her muscles tensed. By the Goddess, could he see her?Please! No!She wanted to scream, to run, but the vision ensnared her into the horrific moment like a fly in a spider’s web.”

“Not all vampires are created equal.”

“Lips to lips, mouth to mouth,Comes the speaker of the shrouds,Suck in the spirit, speak the words,Let secrets of the dead be heard.”

“Yeah, cause that would be a smart choice. So, I should just forget about the whole lying to me thing when you pronounce you will never do it again?” “Yes.” “You’d have a better chance getting a donkey to shit gold.”

“Silent. So it should be. You have no place in this world, Luthiel. And there is no other.’ Zalos reached out and lifted a few strands of her hair. ‘Bright songs and the magic of hope are but a dangerous illusion. The fake comfort of witches charms.”