Melissa de la Cruz

“It is better to trust and face betrayal than to remain skeptical of everything and everybody. Your open heart is a gift.”

“It didn't help that she was painfully shy and kept to herself, because then they just thought she was stuck-up, which she wasn't. She was just quiet.”

“It was maddening how your best friend could twist the knobs inside of you so much that it hurt.”

“If you think we'll get in, we'll get in. It's all about confidence, trust me.”

“I know you. I know this isn't you. And even if it is, I still love you. As much as I always have. You will always be mine. I will always love you, I promised you that when you left, and it's true now.”

“Because love was not the answer to every question. Because real love meant sacrifice.”

“Evil was seductive and easy, and virtue was difficult and unappreciated.”

“You made a sacrifice. And heaven rewarded you.”

“This is college?' Schyler asked. 'or Downton Abbey?”

“Kingsley, ever the joker, had his Venator mark tattooed near his unmentionables”

“It was time to say good-bye.I love you.Always, Jack sent. Always and forever.”

“Had pretended to be Abbadon of the Dark, when always he had been working for the Light.”

“She could not trust herself to hope—but without hope, she realized, she had no reason to go on.”

“Not that they were there to have fun—although with Kingsley Martin around, fun was never far from the agenda.”

“A promise, a bond, a joy, a love for the ages, for the history books.…But what was love but pain?”

“I am not sorry for a moment . It was worth every moment, every second we were together. I would not change it for an immortal lifetime”

“Trust me to return to youI will wait forever”

“Kingsley smiled his Cheshire smile. And without a word, he called up the white darkness—the subvertio—a spell that unlocked what could not be unlocked, that destroyed what could not be destroyed. There was a rumbling, a shaking, like the strongest earthquake, and the iron gate crumbled, and the path began to melt. the demon shrieked, but Kingsley just looked at Mimi the entire time."Azrael...”

“Looking for Narnia? You’re in the wrong universe”

“Tell me, are you still hung up on that boy?' 'Excuse me?' Schuyler asked, holding a test tube. 'Nothing.' Kingsley shrugged innocently. 'If that's how you like to play it.”

“When their lips met, and their tongues touched, it was like they were kissing in a hundred different places, and her senses were flooded with new sensations and old memoires. He kissed her, and their souls melted into each other in a melody older than time.”

“You have punished me long enough, you have punished yourself long enough. Return to me. I beg.”

“Instead of fearing the future, I should live and enjoy the present, she told herself.”

“It's always good to be underestimated.”

“Was he hungry? He'd had an enormous breakfast, but the transition from the glimpse had taken a lot out of him. Did they serve lunch in Hell? Should he have packed a snack? Why was he suddenly thinking about food?”

“Azrael...In a flash, they disappeared. The path, the gate, the demon, and the Silver Blood.Kingsley was gone. Trapped in Hell for eternity.Mimi collapsed to the ground, as if her heart had imploded in her chest.”

“Do not cry for me, Azrael. Do not waste your tears. You made your decision. And this is mine. Sacrifice seems to be my destiny. A funny thing for a selfish man, isn't it? They always called me weak back then...”

“Jack leaped over the gate, his sword aflame. To vanquish his foe and rescue his love.”

“Why should I? What do you promise me?Nothing. And everything. A life of danger and adventure. A chance to be yourself. Leave him. Come with me.”

“When she reached the shallow end, Kingsley held out his hand and pulled her up, but she lost her step and fell into his arms, her body crushing momentarily against his.”

“Kingsley did the same, except he also removed his T-shirt, showing off his broad chest, tan and smooth. When had Kingsley had time to work on his tan? Mimi wondered.”

“Kingsley nodded. 'Of course. Sophia always did say wisdom had to be earned.”

“Bonds are made to be broken," he said. "Just like rules.”

“You're late," she said, tapping her watch."No, you're just early.”

“Popularity was fickle and elusive, like trying to catch fireflies in a jar. You were either born with it or relegated to wallflower status according to your mysterious and unknowable workings of the universe.”

“It wasn't a lie, not at all like one of those lies she told herself all the time, like This is the last drink of the evening, or I'm not going to set the bitch's house on fire.”

“She really did trust Eliza. People made mistakes. She understood that now. And as Happy as she was to be with Ryan again, her friendship with Eliza was just as important. You only met a few kindred spirits in your life, and you had to hold on to the ones you were lucky enough to find.”

“Now that she decided she knew exactly what she wanted –him- she couldn’t wait to break the news. And if he didn’t want her, she could live with that – what she wouldn’t be able to live with was if she never told him.”

“He was like a shooting star you tried to catch with your hands. She would only get burned.”

“It was so nice just to live in the moment, to enjoy holding him so closely, to pretend for a little while that they were merely two young people in love and nothing else.”

“I lived for those moments when we were together, those few times in my life that I actually felt alive.”

“A mind is like a puzzle; you must unlock it to read its hidden secrets.”

“You may be to call up the entire encyclopedia, but a brain with no heart and no reasoning .. well, nothing is more meaningless.”

“I'm tired of being your best friend. I'm tired of being second best. I won't settle for that anymore. It's all or nothing, Schuyler. You have to decide. Him or me.- Oliver Hazzard-Perry”

“He knew what it was like to love one who did not--or could not--love you back. But he'd had no choice. None of them did.”

“I have never given this ring, my soul, to anyone. Azrael has never had any part of this. This is the only part of myself that is truly mine, and now it is yours.”—Jack Force”

“They did it for love, and sometimes love makes us do the irrational .. even the inexcusable.”

“You cannot be with someone just because you don’t want to hurt him. You have your own happiness to think about.”

“If she loved him the way she said she did, she wanted him whole. Maybe this was what love meant after all: sacrifice and selflessness. It did not mean hearts and flowers and a happy ending, but the knowledge that another's well-being is more important than one's own.”

“I don’t want to make the same mistakes I’ve made before. I want to be free. I want to be with you. We will be together. I believe I will have less to live for, if I am not with you.”