Ilona Andrews

“Two hours. More than enough time to kidnap a man. Or to slice his throat, bury him in the forest, and steal his magic project. How the hell did de Harven fit into it? Did he surprise the thieves? Of course, Adam Kamen could've killed his uber-bodyguard and bolted with the goods. Because he was secretly a ninja, adept at mortal combat and vanishing into thin air. Yes, that was it. Case solved.”

“Andrea raised her eyebrows. "Look at you, all high-speed.""Yeah, you'd think I was a detective or something."Andrea held her hand out. "You'll jinx it.”

“Unfortunately, the Best Lord had condemned both vehicles as unsafe and instead I now leased a Pack Jeep I called Hector. Equipped with dual engines, Hector worked during magic or tech. He didn't go very fast, especially during magic, but so far he hadn't stalled on me either. As long as our high-speed chases stayed under forty-five miles an hour, we would be all set.”

“Rene, you want us to find you-don't-know-who and to retrieve his you-don't-know-what for you-won't-tell-me-whom?”

“Aha," Andrea said. "I'm going to ignore that you just referred to yourself as 'sugar woogums'.”

“Who snitched?""We have people monitoring police radio frequencies. They gave Jim a heads-up in case our security had to storm PAD offices and bust you out of there. I found out when I saw Jim walking down the hallway snickering to himself.”

“In a perfect world, Joshua's vertically gifted murderer would've had himself a monologue before rampaging, during which he loudly and clearly would've announced his full name, occupation, religious preference, preferably with his god's country and time period of origin, his goals, dreams, and aspirations, and the location of his lair. But nobody had ever accused post-Shift Atlanta of being perfect.”

“May I say that I am delighted that my favorite alpha is feeling better. Why, you'll be running recklessly into danger against overwhelming odds anytime now.”

“He kissed me, and I pulled my personal psycho into bed with me.”

“I trusted her about as far as I could throw her. I was strong and she was small, but it still wasn't very far.”

“My ego doesn't need soothing. I don't want him soothing anything of mine, including you.”

“I would not leave you. I'll be there. Wherever you want 'there' to be.”

“I can't hate people that much. Don't get me wrong. I want to murder every last Keeper I can find. But that's not hate. That's vengeance.”

“They're fanatics. It's like expecting humanity from a falling rock. It's not going to have a fit of compassion and not crack your skull open.”

“We don't need teenage bouda sex fiends as interns.How do you know he is a sex fiend?He is fifteen and he's a bouda. Hello?”

“Put your badass faces on and follow me.”

“I'm investigating people who sacrifice trained killers to dark gods.Perfect, it will keep him occupied.In what capacity?Bait.”

“What is wrong with you?Many, many things.”

“The kid was so handsome, he almost looked unreal.”

“Black hair, angelic face, and devil eyes.”

“Shapeshifter parenting motto—if your kid slits somebody's throat, always have a backup plan to make the body disappear.”

“Seducing him in the tub smelling of vinegar was out of the question. There had to be some boundaries.”

“I don't know if you heard, but I kind of run this place.”

“It was his eyes. When you looked into them, you saw chained violence baring teeth and claws back at you.”

“Some men were handsome. Some were powerful. Curran was...dangerous.”

“Whatever storm was brewing, I'd find it and fight it. If it was the price of being with Curran, then I would pay it. He was worth it.”

“I know people who will gently persuade you to be forthcoming.”

“I'm an angel of death. I don't need night school, woman. You should just give up on this detective shit and start killing people for a living. It's simple, honest work, and you ain't got the brains for anything else.”

“Judging by the hard lines of his face and the flat look in his eyes, he'd left the Marines, but the Corps hadn't quite left him.”

“Had records so stellar, they had to lock their resumes in a drawer at night, so the golden light streaming from the pages wouldn't keep them awake.”

“The first magic wave kicked the world in the face.”

“I wouldn't be able to do anything with my vampire horde except make it run around in a herd, but it would be a very impressive herd.”

“It was the kind of place you went when your earthly troubles became too much for you and you were looking for a creative way to commit suicide.”

“It was one of those idiotic things that could've been resolved in a split second. Tara had no right to touch Raphael, and once she did he had every right to punch her. She should've left it at that, and now she was dead because she didn't.”

“Raphael was a bouda and they viewed sex as a fun recreational activity that should be practiced vigorously and often.”

“One day I'll kill him, you know.I glanced at her. She was deadly serious.”

“She can tell you the height of the attacker from the trigonometry of the blood spatter, while I'm fuzzy on what trigonometry is.”

“My investigative technique mostly consisted of going through the list of interested parties and making as much noise as possible, until the culprit lost his patience and tried to shut me up.”

“Are you happy?When I can get out of my own way.And the rest of the time?The rest of the time I'm in a state of silent panic. I'm afraid it will end. I'll lose him. Lose everything.I've done that. Lost everything. It's a bitch.”

“She put her hands over her face. Ah crap. What do I do now? Do I say something, do I not say something? I kept talking, keeping my voice as light as I could manage. Her shoulders shook slightly. She was crying. Fuck me. I sat there, not sure what to do with myself.”

“Would you like to work here with me?We have no clients and the pay is shit.”

“I got a dog-training book. It says Grendel needs mental stimulation, so I tried to train him, but I think he must be retarded.”

“Her face looked like it would shatter any second.”

“Shifting in the hospital bed had blown her closet door wide open.”

“What do you mean fainted?Took a dive, kissed the pavement. Swooned like a southern belle after her first kiss. Had a dreadful case of the vapors.”

“I'm going to kick you in the head when I get home. Repeatedly.”

“You sure you don't need your Prince Charming to come and save you?Sure, do you have one handy?Oh, I think I could scrounge one up somewhere. As often as I have to rescue you.”

“People around me die. They drop like flies. I've gone through life leaving a trail of dead bodies behind me. My mother is dead, my guardian is dead, my aunt is dead—because I killed her, and when my real father finds me, he'll move heaven and earth to make me dead.”

“The sound of my name in his voice stopped me in midturn. I don't know how the hell he did it, but whenever he said my name, it cut through all other distractions and made me pause, as if he'd clenched me to him and kissed me.”

“I turned and bumped my head against his chest a few times. It was the nearest hard surface.”