Jennifer L. Armentrout

“I'd face down a horde of spiders for you, baby." I grinned at the sound of his laugh again. "For real.""Thats true love there. Some serious stuff," he teased."It is.”

“I would never give up on you, Alex. Never.""Then why are you being such a--""What?" His voice dropped low. "I'm being what?"Infuriating. Stubborn. Thick-skulled. Freaking sexy.”

“I bit back a gag. “Gods, your breath is kicking.” I pulled the blade free, revolted by the sucking sound. “For real.”Cocking its head to the side, it blinked. “Kicking?”“Yeah.” Spinning around, I planted my left foot and kicked out, catching the fury in the stomach. It flew back, smacking into the tree. “See? Kicking.”

“What? And leave him? He was insane.”

“Go ahead," Apollo said to Luke. "Tell them what it is, since it's obviously hugging material."Crimson stained Luke's cheeks. "Legend goes that one of the gates to hell is in Stull Cemetery in Kansas.""Oh, gods," I muttered, remembering where I'd heard this before. "Wasn't that a season finale on Supernatural?" When the boys nodded, my eyes rolled. "Seriously? Are Sam and Dean going to be there?”

“We’re in this together, Alex. Don’tever forget that. We’re in this together to the end.”

“Flipping to the front, I caught Aiden's gaze and offered a sympathetic smile."Skittles?""Please."I dumped some into his open palm, then picked out the green ones. Aiden grinned at me."You know I don't like the green ones?"Shrugging, I popped them in my mouth. "The few times I've seen you eat them, you leave the green ones behind."Deacon popped his head between our seats."That's true love right there.""That it is."Aiden's gaze flicked to the road. I flushed like a little schoolgirl and focused on the remaining pieces of candy until Deacon drifted back into his seat. I handed all the red ones to Aiden.”

“Everyone dies, but in the end it comes down to what you are willing to die for, Alexandria.”

“Desire wasn’t the only thing between us. There was so much more: forgiveness, acceptance, relief, and most importantly, love.”

“Eíste pánta mou…”You are my everything.”

“It sounded wrong rolling off his tongue, but still elegant, somehow. Like a British person cussing.”

“May I ask why you’re passing notes to Aiden?” He eyed the letter like it was a bomb.“It’s a love note. I’m asking him to circle ‘yes’ or ‘no’ if he likes me.”

“But Apollo told me."The laugh that came out of me sounded incredibly bitter. "Of course he did. And where was Apollo when I was getting my ass handed to me, by the way?"A pained look crossed her face, and I immediately regretted saying that. "I'm sorry," I whispered. "He was probably off doing important god stuff." Or chasing nymphs.”

“Daggers. Never leave home without them.”

“Shower first. Epic b****-out session second, sincere apology third, and then sleep.”

“You've been running like the little Apollyon Energizer Bunny.”

“If you cannot defeat him and take his power, then you must kill him."Apollo made it all sound so simple, like he was asking me to go to the store and pick up Crunchy Cheetos and if they didn't have them in stock, to get Cheetos Puffs. Insane.”

“Crap on a cracker, this was bad.”

“Alex fainted-""I didn't faint," I grumbled, feeling my cheeks flush.Aiden's lip curved up on one side. "Okay. She was suddenly not walking or talking anymore...”

“Dying isn't the only way into the Underworld, but it's the safest."Well, that sounded like an oxymoron if I'd ever heard one.”

“I heard him whisper, "Eíste pánta mou..."You are my everything.”

“Deacon laughed. "Oh, you're so going to be the next person who gets hit. I'm putting money on that.""You need to add yourself to that list." Aiden looked about seventy-percent serious."And I'm putting money on that," Luke threw in.”

“My eyes locked the fury's and I smiled.She hesitated.I snapped to my feet. "Bitch, please.”

“You don't think we're related?What? Seth burst into laughter. No.How can you be so sure? Because if we're pulling a Luke and Leia, I'm going to barf.”

“And that kind of love is more important than anything right now, Lexie. It's going to keep you sane. It's always gonna remind you of who you are.”

“And that was the thing about truths and secrets. Sometimes the truth didn't need to be known. The lie was healthier than the truth and, while some secrets could set people free, other secrets could destroy them.”

“We can't lose you," she said after a few moments of awkward as hell silence. "You have to understand that we aren't doing this because we don't care about Kat. We're doing this because we love you.""But I love her," I said without hesitation.Dee's eyes widened, probably since it was the first time she'd herd me say it out loud, well, about anyone other than my family. I wished I had said it more often, especially to Kat. Funny how that kind of shit always turns out in the end. While you're deep in something, you never say or do what you need to. It's always after the fact, when it's too late that you realize what you've should've said or done/It couldn't be too late. I knew that. The fact that I was still alive was testament to that. Like Dee said, though, there were worse things than death.”

“Whatever you do, don't break my brother's heart. You are his world. And if you leave it, it will destroy him.”

“We had no idea what waited ahead of us, other than the big, fat unknown, and most likely a big, fat kick in the face. The gravity of that was killing me-killing usI squared my shoulders. "Release the Kraken!"Several sets of eyes settled on me."What?" I gave a lopsided shrug. "I've always wanted to yell that since I saw that movie. Seemed like the perfect moment.”

“By the way," Aiden said casting me a long look that had me totally forgetting the seriousness of our mission. "You look damn good in a Sentinel uniform."A hot flush that had nothing to do with embarrassment spread over me. "So do you.""I know.”

“Oh, I was two seconds from jumping on his back and strangling him from behind… with love, of course.”

“Hope flickered in my chest. 'Do you think they'll stop this... zombie-apocalypse-in-the-making if they realize I'm back on Team Not-Insane?”

“Do you know how terrible I felt when Marcus came down and found me sitting there like a turd?”

“Come on...come closer."I stood my ground. "I didn't get you up here to indulge in wild monkey lust.""Crap." He dropped his hand to his lap.”

“All the pent up, helpless rage formed a wrecking ball inside of me. Maintaining human form was near impossible. I wanted to hit something—destroy something. I needed to.“Daemon, no one—”“Shut up,” I said, turning to where Matthew sat in the corner of the room. Right this moment I wanted to destroy him. “Just shut the hell up.”

“This isn't a book. This isn't a paranormal fantasy or whatever the hell it is you read. There is no set plot or clear idea of where any of this is going. The enemies aren't obvious. There are no guaranteed happy endings.”

“No, I didn't lose... I still won”

“Cookie?” he offered, holding up a cookie full of chocolate chips.Upset tummy or not, there was no way I could refuse that. “Sure.”His lips tipped to one side and he leaned towards me, his mouth inches from mine. “Come and get it.”Come and get…? Daemon placed half the cookie between those full, totally kissable lips. Oh, holy alien babies everywhere…My mouth dropped open. Several of the girls at the table made sounds that had me wondering if they were turning into puddles under the table, but I couldn’t bring myself to check out what they were doing.That cookie – those lips – were right there. Heat swept over my cheeks. I could feel the eyes of everyone else and Demon… dear God, Daemon arched his brows, daring me. Dee gagged. “I think I’m going to hurl.”Mortified, I wanted to crawl into a hole. What did he think I was going to do? Take that cookie out of his mouth like something straight out of an R-rated version of Lady and the Tramp? Heck, I kind of wanted to, and I wasn’t too sure what that said about me. Daemon reached up and took the cookie. There was a gleam in his eyes, as if he’d just won some battle. “Time’s up, Kitten.”

“tell me to stop and i will”

“I studied him silently. He looked like he always did—a living, breathing statue. Perfection without any humanity, and yet he was here.”

“You're too important, too special to throw everything away for a pure." Seth sighed, dropping his hands to mine. "Now, I brought us a movies to watch, the one that has sparkly vampires in it. I thought you'd be down for that.”

“Oh, my gods. There were furies in the Covenant.”

“This was pretty much when the Guards behind me decided they were going to try to make me do this. And that is when I decided I was going to be hitting someone again.”

“He followed me around the edge of the bed. "I've been told my lips can make a girl forget just about anything. You should try it out.”

“When I did show up next door, at 6:34, it sounded like World War III had erupted in the house. I’d let myself in since no one answered the damn door.“I can’t believe you ate all the ice cream, Daemon!”I cringed and stopped inside the dining room. There was no way I was going into that kitchen.“I didn’t eat all of it.”“Oh, so it ate itself?” Dee shrieked so loudly I thought I heard the rafters in the ceiling shake. “Did the spoon eat it? Oh wait, I know. The carton ate it.”“Actually, I think the freezer ate it,” Daemon responded dryly.I grinned when I heard what sounded like the empty container hitting what suspiciously sounded like flesh.”

“Seguro, era un extraterrestre con poderes ilimitados, pero ella lo hacia temblar. ¡Anoten un punto para la débil humana!”

“—Oh, por el amor de los bebés humanos en todas partes, eres un idiota, —Daemon salió disparado a través de la sala, poniéndose cara a cara con él—. Así que, 'llegas a conocerla' y te enamoras. —Escupió la última palabra como si se hubiera tragado las uñas—. ¿Entonces qué? ¿Vas a intentar quedarte con ella? ¿Casarse? ¿Tener una casita con una valla blanca y a demás dos-punto-cinco niños?Dios, él no había pensado tan lejos. —Tal vez. Tal vez no.”

“—Vamos, con alguien que luce como tú, probablemente hay una fila de chicas esperando llevarte a casa.—¿Y? —Estiró la mano, jalando el borde de sus vaqueros—. Estoy aquí contigo, ¿no?—Sí, lo estás —Frunció el ceño—. Algunas veces me pregunto por qué.Dawson la miró fijamente por un momento, luego se rió. No podía estar hablando en serio. No había manera que no supiera lo linda que era y como su risa atraía a las personas.”

“—¿Acabas de... lavar un plato? —Dee retrocedió lentamente, parpadeando. Miró a Daemon—. El mundo se va a terminar. Y sigo siendo vir...—¡No! —gritaron los hermanos al unísono. Daemon parecía que en realidad iba a vomitar.—Jesús, nunca termines esa oración. En realidad, nunca cambies eso. Gracias.La boca de ella se abrió.—Ustedes esperan de mí que nunca tenga...—Ésta no es una conversación con la que quiera empezar mi día. — Dawson agarró su mochila de la mesa de la cocina—. Estoy yéndome a la escuela antes de que esto se vuelva todavía más detallado.”

“—Simplemente no te agrada Ash.—No es que me desagrade. —Dee se salió fuera de la cama y se disparó por la habitación, apareciendo al lado de su ventana—. Simplemente creo que es una perra.Dawson se rió ahogadamente.—Sí, no te desagrada en lo absoluto.”