Amy Plum

“Would you risk your life for love?”

“The next day Georgia left for school before I even got to the breakfast table. From behind his newspaper, Papy asked tiredly, "Are you girls on World War Four now, or is it Five?”

“I spent the rest of the day in someone else's story. The rare moments that I put the book down, my own pain returned in burning stabs.”

“Lucky man,"Jules said to me, leaning over to kiss my cheeks. "What I wouldn't give to be in your head." Instead of the usual quick air-kisses, he took his time kissing both of my cheeks tenderly. "Jules!" I gasped, feeling myself blush. He stood, looking up in space, and raised both arms as if in surrender. "Okay, okay, man. Hands off, I get it! But it's not often we get a young pretty human in the house. in fact, it's never.”

“So is this a habit of yours, leaving your bag behind in order te strike up a conversation?" He grinned and nodded at the bench where I had been sitting. Lying beneath it was my book bag. "Wouldn't it be easier to just walk up to a guy and say hello?”

“He ran his finger along my jawline and down my neck. "The wait will be fun, but it's not going to be easy.”

“I have to warn you that my bedroom isn't the best place to stage an assault on me. It's where I'm at my weakest, with my bed a mere twenty feet away.”

“Kate,I'm not always the best at expressing myself to you, so I'm taking advantage of the fact that I will be completely unresponsive when you read this, and therefore incapable of messing things up.I want to thank you for giving me a chance. When I first saw you, I knew I had found something incredible. And since then all I've wanted was to be with you as much as possible.When I thought I had lost you, I was torn between wanting you back and wanting the best for you—wanting you to be happy. Seeing you so miserable during the weeks we were apart gave me the courage to fight for us . . . to find a way for things to work. And seeing you happy again in the days we've been back together makes me think I did the right thing.I can't promise you an ordinary experience, Kate. I wish I could transform myself into a normal man and be there for you, always, without the trauma that defines my life as "the walking dead." Since that isn't possible, I can only reassure you that I will do everything in my power to make it up to you. To give you more than a normal boyfriend could. I have no idea what that will mean, exactly, but I'm looking forward to finding out. With you.Thank you for being here, my beauty. Mon ange. My Kate.Yours utterly,Vincent”

“My mom said I was an escapist at heart.... that I preferred imaginary worlds to the real one”

“So you’re making demands, are you? Well, let’s hear them.”“I want unlimited access.”“Now that sounds interesting. To what, exactly?”

“I can't promise you an ordinary experience, Kate. I wish I could transform myself into a normal man and be there for you, always, without the trauma that defines my life as "the walking dead." Since that isn't possible, I can only reassure you that I will do everything in my power to make it up to you. To give you more than a normal boyfriend could. I have no idea what that will mean, exactly, but I'm looking forward to finding out. With you.”

“Thank you for being here, my beauty. Mon ange. My Kate. Your utterly, Vincent.”

“He leaned forward and opened his door, politely standing aside to let me by before following me in. There are some advantages to dating a guy from another era, I thought. Though I am a big believer in gender equality, chivalry scores high in my book.”

“Well, spit on my empty grave--if it ain't the attack of the Disney princesses!”

“Jules wants me to tell you that it's a shame you have to fall for someone as boring as myself. He wishes he could take my place and show you how well an older man can treat a lady." He talked back to the air. "Yeah, right, buddy. What are you, like twenty-seven years older than me? Well, at the moment we're both nineteen, so back off.”

“I spent the rest of my day in someone else’s story. The rare moments that I put the book down, my own pain returned in burning stabs. I felt like a circus knife thrower’s target. If I held my mind immobile, I might avoid being hit by the blades whizzing by my head.”

“Besides the alternate universe offered by a book, the quiet space of a museum was my favorite place to go. My mom said I was an escapist at heart . . . that I preferred imaginary worlds to the real one. It’s true that I’ve always been able to yank myself out of this world and plunge myself into another.”

“I had feared that love would make me vulnerable. Instead I felt empowered.”

“Now that you are here--now that we're together-- I can't imagine going back to the life I had before. I don't know what I'd do if I lost you now. I love you too much. ~Vincent Delacroix, Until I Die (ARC), Amy Plum p. 71”

“But now I have something that blows that feeling out of the water. Every time I need a hit of joy, I think about you. You are my solace, Kate. Just knowing that you are in this world, everything makes sense. p. 275 Until I Die (ARC)”

“Gaspard eyed me cautiously. “I really can’t say,” he responded in his formal nineteenth-century style. Can’t, or won’t? I thought.”

“All this yummy muscleness first thing in the morning is almost too much for me to take,” she cooed, and gave him a playful wink as she scooted herself into the front seat. I shook my head. If “Flirt” qualified as a foreign language, my sister and Ambrose would both have PhDs in it.”

“Kate, I admit that we aren’t in the easiest of situations. But are you always this . . . complicated?”I opened my mouth to say something, but Vincent shook his head, grinning. “Actually, don’t answer that. Of course you are. I wouldn’t be so totally into you if you weren’t.”

“Kate: “Oh, please, Vincent. We’re in the middle of a major tourist site. Père Lachaise cemetary is practically Disneyland for the Dead. It’s not some Buffy soundstage with vampires rising out of the ground every time someone turns around.”

“We stood in the graveyard, among the tombstones, forty-some dead people and me. A couple of my fellow funeral-goers had even been in their own coffins, deep under several feet of French soil.”

“The day I stop seeing you as one of the strongest people I know is the day I wake up human.”

“A few Paris blocks away I led a completely normal life with my sister & grandparents. And here I was sword fighting with dead guys.”

“How’s your dance card look?” “Double-check your century Jules. No dance cards.” Jules shrugged & gave me his most flirtatious smile.”

“Still in one piece?” Vincent teased, pulling me close & planting a soft kiss on my lips. “After dirty-dancing with Jules, I’m not sure.”

“As Jules kissed my cheeks he whispered, “She has nothing on you, of course, Kates. It’s just that you’re so very…taken.”

“Luck, normalcy, fate ... none of those seemed to be on our side. Our very being together went against all the odds. All I knew was that something good had begun. A flame had been lit. And the whole universe was watching to see if it would be blown out.All I could do was hold my breath. And wait.”

“As we neared the water, I pointed out an antique taxidermy shop. "My mom and I used to always go in there," I said. "It's like a zoo, except all the animals are dead.”

“At lunch I turned my phone on to check my messages. Georgia always sent me a few inane texts during the day, and sure enough there were two messages from her: one complaining about her physics teacher and a second, also obviously sent from her phone: I love you, baby. V.I wrote her back: I thought I told you to buzz off last night, you creep-o French stalker guy.Her response came back immediately: As if! Your beet-red cheeks this morning suggest otherwise ... liar! You're so into him.I groaned and was about to turn my phone off when I saw that there was a third text from UNKNOWN. Clicking on it, I read: Can I pick you up from school? Same place, same time?I texted back: How'd you get my number?Called myself from your phone while you were in the restaurant's bathroom last night. Warned you we were stalkers!”

“We stood there for a moment, stunned. The crosswalk light turned green, and Georgia hooked her arm through mine as we stepped out into the street."Weird night," she said finally, breaking our silence."Understatement of the year," I replied. "Should we tell Mamie and Papy about it?""What?" Georgia laughed. "And spoil Papy's 'Paris is safe' delusion? They'd never let us out of the house again.”

“Just then the door flew open, and Ambrose burst through, yelling like a madman and swinging a battle-ax in one hand.”

“Okay, Kate, first of all, you’re touching me,” Vincent said for the room to hear. “So I’m not a ghost.”“And we’re not true zombies,” Charles said with a grin, “or he would have already eaten your face off.”

“You've heard of vampires?"I nodded."You've heard of werwolves?""Of course.""Had you ever heard of us?"I shook my head."That's called 'staying under the radar,' dear Kate. It's what we're good at.”

“Better not to have loved at all, than to love and have lost.”

“I'm a revenant, not a vampire, chérie." ~ Vincent Delacroix”

“Stop flaunting your impeccable language skills, Vincent, help the girl to her feet and let her take her leave”

“Yeah, right, like Catherine Deneuve has her own hot-guy SWAT team trolling the neighborhood for celebrity stalkers with swords" - Kate (Die For Me)”

“Let's just say that I'm not the kind of guy your mother would want you hanging around with" - Vincent (Die For Me)”