Alyxandra Harvey

“Where's Quinn?'"He went around the other side." Connor replied. Stealth mode."A war whoop and a mocking laugh belied that comment.Hunter sighed. 'He's across the street, being a lunatic, you mean.'"That's stealth mode for him.”

“Stop hiding condoms in my stuff. It's like some twisted Easter egg hunt in there.”

“That's good," Hunter said, panting. "Keep grinning at your attacker like that and they'll think you're way creepy. And mental."I grinned wider. "I totally love this. Who can I punch next?”

“What is it?' I whispered. 'What's wrong?''Everything but you,' he said hoarsely.”

“And then Lucy happened.Never mind prophecies and bounty hunters, she was the one who'd really turned my life upside down.... She made everything better.She was necessary.”

“I knew damn well if Lucy broke up with me I'd still love her until I turned to dust.”

“I love you, too,' he whispered, one corner of his mouth lifting into a smile. I grinned back, then kissed him until I felt light-headed and breathless.”

“What's the matter with you?" I hissed at her as we followed Kieran and Solange inside.'She's royalty!'"And a vampire, remember?"'Oh yeah,' Chloe paused. 'Nope, princess trumps vampire.”

“...and Lucy." She looked like she might cry.'What about her?'"Lucy smells like food." She nearly gagged saying it.'Sol, all that's normal. Lucy smelled good before I turned, and now she smells even better. But I haven't tried to eat her face and neither will you.'"She's not safe in this house."'Safer than out there,' I argued, even though I agreed with her. 'Look, you used to eat hamburgers.'She blinked, confused. "So?"'So, did you ever walk through one of the farms at a field party and suddenly try to eat a cow?'"Um, no." Her chuckle was watery but it was better than nothing. "And, ew."'Exactly. You can crave blood and not eat your best friend.”

“He's not good enough for you.""What?" I stared at him incredulously. "I'd say you have that backwords. He's from a good family. Iam not" His fingers slid away from mine. A swallow darted past us. "So if you'll excuse me, I have to go convince his mother that I'm not a desperate fortune hunter with a liar for a mother an a disgusting talent for drugging old ladies.""No"I frowned. "What do you mean, no?Whats the matter with you?"He just stepped closer to me, right on my shadow, which had been the only thing between us. His eyes were angry and conflicted but his hands were gently on my face, wrapping around the back of my neck. He pilled slightly and i stumbled forward. His mouth closed over mine, the kiss sending warmth shooting all the way from my belly down into my knees. His tongue was bold, sliding over mine as if I were strawberry ice cream. I felt devoured, delicious, decadent. He stopped abruptly, pulling back, his breath ragged."I'm not good enough for you either.”

“The very second the door closed behind them, Nicholas started shouting. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised.'I can't believe you did that!' he railed. 'After the field party, the vamps in the garden. Didn't you hear a single word I said?''No why don't you yell a little louder?''This isn't funny, Lucy.”

“I read a lot. I love books. If they came in a bottle, I'd be a drunk too.”

“You're our best hope.""If you call me Obi-Wan I'm going to kick you."He grinned. "Hot. say Obi-Wan again."I laughed, shoving his shoulder. "Shut up.”

“I could see the widening of his pupils, and the pale blue fire of his irises. He'd told me my eyes would change too, would go lighter until they looked like amber. I couldn't imagine they'd be half as beautiful as his. He was gentle and self-deprecating and way tougher than people gave him credit for. And twin or not, he was even hotter than Quinn, in my humble opinion.”

“I hadn't had a chance to read an entire novel in weeks.Whatever the others might say about politics, civil war, and hunters, the real evil was lack of reading time. If they all read more they might freak out less. And if I was going to live forever I was going to have to start a reading list.”

“Oh Crap," Connor muttered. "She's going Darth Vader on us.”

“With her long dark hair and green eyes, she was pretty as a doll. You know, the kind of doll that came to life at night to kill monsters.”

“I knew how he felt, how it was like being swallowed by winter, so that even your insides were too stark and too cold.”

“The Drake's didn't lure drunk college students out of the bars and compel them to forget being fed on. Well, maybe Quinn used to, but I could guarantee none of those girls needed to be compelled.”

“Solange looked enthralled, manic. Deadly. So I did the only thing I could think of.I threw a snowball at her head.”

“A shaft of sunlight fell on me, making my dress look like fire and my skin glow like pearls. The shadows around me darkened, as if my glowing skin were leeching the light from everything around me. I was a lantern on the longest, darkest moonless night.”

“When Kieran nudged me awake, I tried to punch him."Lucy—shit!" He ducked, smashing his head on the window.I blinked blearily. "Sorry, Kier. Habbit."He rubbed the back of his head. "Between you and Hunter, it's a wonder I have all of my limbs still intact."I snorted, rubbing my eyes. "You dosed me with Hypnos.""Three months ago. Let it go, Hamilton."I just grinned sleepily. "You have so much to learn.”

“They were untamed, like thunder and lightning in a glass jar. You just knew, sooner or later, the jar would shatter into pieces.”

“The Drake farmhouse was like the chimpanzee enclosure at the zoo when feeding time was late.You know, if all the chimpanzees were undead.And insane.”

“Perhaps I won't marry then. Instead, you and I shall live as spinsters in a cottage by the sea. We'll burn our corsets, eat chocolate morning, noon and night and grow fat as hedgehogs.”

“You can have a normal life. It's not too late for you."I nearly laughed. "You've clearly never met my parents. Normal was never an option.”

“And your people tried to kill my best friend, so you'll forgive me if I'm not overly keen on learning the secret handshake."She shook her head sadly. "You should be going on dates and hanging out at the mall. Not wearing stakes on your belt."I shrugged one shoulder. "The mall sucks.”

“He kissed me as if we had all the time in the world, as if it weren’t cold outside, as if winter weren’t coming, or the dawn, or any of the dangers that waited for us outside this field. I kissed him back as if he were right, as if there were only the two of us, as if the only worry we had were my curfew.”

“Why couldn’t we just lose ourselves in the fire again? When passion was enough, and the questions didn’t matter.”

“I would never believe that I was better off without the Drakes and they without me. Growing up, I’d seen them more often than my own grandparents. They were part of my landscape. And if that particular landscape suddenly included earthquakes and volcanoes and mudslides, then too bad; I already built a house there and dug the well and planted crops. It was an analogy my parents had to understand. They were homesteaders; they knew that once you found your home, you dug your roots. Period.”

“The one time I tried to get her to watch Pride and Prejudice, she hadn’t been able to sit still. Granted, it was the six-hour version, but come on. What’s not to love?”

“I couldn't convince her that if I had a book with me, I wasn't lonely.”

“what happens when all you love, becomes all you hate?”

“You were at the party on Friday night, weren't you?" I didn't mentioned I'd followed him into the woods.He leaned back in his chair, his legs sprawled out. His boots nudged the bottom ruffle of my skirt. "Aye."Aye? Seriously? Could he be any hotter?Unless he had been looking for his girlfriend at the party.Not hot."I was supposed to meet my cousin," he elaborated, "but I didn't find her,"Hot again.”

“That alone made me want to find every Richelieu in the world and kiss them. With tongue.”

“Not me." He bent his head, voice dropping to a husky whisper. "Never me.”

“I was secretly entranced with the idea of a lady novelist. I should dearly love to be one. Or maybe a goblin-fighting-pirate-queen. It was difficult to choose sometimes.”

“I kissed him lightly and used the moment to slip the package out of the inside of his pocket. I was a white handkerchief folded into a square. "What's this?"He pretended to look put out. "Did you just pick my pocket?""Yes.""Good thing it's for you then.""It is? Really?" I'd only been teasing him when I went through his pockets. I unwrapped it, touched. It was a small brooch made of tin, in the shape of a rose. "Oh, Colin, it's lovely. Thank you!""I thought the rose would remind you of this place. I guess now you don't need it." he pinned it to my top, just under my collarbone. "I love you, Violet. Could you love a gardener who can't afford real silver, now that you're an earl's daughter living in a fine house?"I leaned forward so my lips were so close to his they brushed lightly when I spoke. "I love you, Colin Lennox."His grin was crooken and wicked."Then we'll be just fine.”

“And in her underthings, no less!" Murder was less scandalous than my corset and pantalettes. She sniffed. "Like mother, like daughter.”

“I could think of a hundred things I'd rather do than follow a possible murderess and the ghost of her victim.”

“A scratch at the door interrupted us. Colin dropped and rolled under the bed again. One of the maids poked her head in. "Miss?"I tried not to look as if I was hiding a handsome young lad under the mattress."Yes?""Lord Jasper sent me up to see if you need help getting ready for a ball." She smiled proudly. "I have a fair hand with a curling iron.""Oh.Thank you." I needed to get Colin out before I ended up naked in the middle of my bedroom. "I,um, could I get some hot water? To wash my face?""Certainly,miss. I'll have the footmen bring up the bathtub, if you like, before all the fine ladies start calling for their own baths.""That would be great, thanks." I'd never actually been in a full reclining tub before. We had a battered hip bath in the kitchen.The maid curtsied and closed the door behind her. I let out a breath. Colin crawled back out. "They need to sweep under there," he said, sneezing.”

“I tried not to look as if I was hiding a handsome young lad under the mattress.”

“Dearest Reece,I know you think it improper, or at the very least imprudent, for us to write to one another, but I don't care.There are too many rules as it is and they would choke me if I let them. Between corsets and lessons and curtsies and etiquette, I am hardly myself, and that is how they want it. They would prefer we all dress and talk and think (or not think) alike, like paper dolls.I do not wish to be a paper doll.Surely you can see that I am stronger than that.I don't give a fig for the scandalbroth or the gossipmongers. Let us remove to Paris, where no one knows us to care and where they dine on scandal with eclairs every morning.You will say again that it is impossible but I refuse to believe it. I know with every touch of your hand on mine, with every stolen kiss, that nothing is impossible.Perhaps love isn't meant to be simple. Perhaps this is merely a test, such as Psyche went through to prove herself to Cupid. Would you have me count lentils, beloved?And as you claim I have the most to lose, I pray you will let me decide for myself what it is I want and need.Which is you.Not silks or lobster soup in crystal bowls or diamonds around my neck.Just you.You say again and again that you love me.Prove it.”

“You get into trouble the way debutantes get into ball gowns.”

“I was going to have to use my teeth to pull the curtains aside. I was leaning over, barng my teeth, when the thick curtain was yanked aside."What on earth are you doing?" Peter drawled. "You look positively feral.”

“If I'd been ten years old again I'd have stuck my tongue out at Caroline. At sixteen, I ought to be above such behavior.I wasn't.”

“Could one write a strongly worded letter to the deceased requiring their full cooperation?”

“We welcome our beloved dead." Determined, I lifted my eyelids and searched the room. The feather in Mrs. Thompson's white curls bounced in a draft. Mr. Hunt's whiskers quivered. Lord Marshall sat entirely too near to Mother; his knee must surely be pressed against hers. The candle flickered. Someone cleared their throat. The poodle whined, bored.No spirits. They'd been hounding me all week; the least they could do was show themselves when they were needed. It was just rude otherwise. "Spirits," I snapped. "I said you are welcome here." Colin coughed once. "As long as you mean us no ill," I amended, remembering the surge of the angry spirit at the Whitestone Manor pond.”

“We were so close to home now, I would have tripped an old woman with a cane if she'd stood in the way of the first available chair.”

“Are you serious about leaving?"I touched my aching face. "Yes.But I don't know how.""I'd go with you," Colin said quietly."Really?""You know I would.""If you could do anything, what would you do? Would you go back to Ireland?""Maybe," he said. "I've no family left there but I miss the green hills. I'd love to show them to you, show you Tara and the Cliffs of Moher.We could live in a thatched cottage and keep sheep."I grinned at him. "If you clean up after them.""What would be your perfect day then?" he asked, grinning back at me. "If you don't like my sheep?""Your cottage sounds nice," I allowed. "I'd like to sleep in late and read as many books as I'd like and drink tea with lemon and eat pineapple slices for breakfast.""No velvet dresses and diamonds?"I rolled my eyes, then stopped when the bruises throbbed. "Ouch.And no, of course not.I don't care about that. Only books." I looked at him shyly. "And you.""That's all right then," he said softly.”