Rachel Vincent

“I will never marry you. I will never have sex with you voluntarily. And the day you touch me without permission will be the day you swallow your own testicles whole. Do you understand?”

“The problem with getting everything you want in life is that you're not prepared for disappointment when it comes.”

“I’d learned that my mother was a badass in disguise. She was Van Helsing in an apron and heels, and—at least for the time being—I couldn’t think of a single thing cooler than that.”

“Love, my ass. The international language is food.”

“I could have kissed you months ago, but it wouldn’t have meant anything. I wished for you to see me. And want me. So…did you mean it?”“Yes,” I said, and some unnamed tension inside me eased. “I see you, Tod.”

“Did we ever find out for sure about the possible forked penis?”

“As a matter of fact, I was going to offer you something.” “What did you have in mind?”"A field trip. You interested in doing something dangerous, and possibly illegal?”“Does it involve underage girls, broken curfews and assorted fruit toppings?”

“You should be careful, tossing descriptors like that around in a situation like this. My ‘problem’ isn’t little. Unless you’re drawing some pretty wild comparisons. Please tell me you’re not drawing wild comparisons. Or blood-relative comparisons.”

“You two are cracked," Tod snapped.My smile widened. "Says the undead man in love with the soulless pop star.”

“You shouldn't talk about things you don't understand. Which should leave you pretty damn quiet.”

“So what does Tod look like? Whitewashed skeleton skulking around in a black cape and hood? Carrying a scythe? 'Cause I'm thinking that would cause mass panic in the hospital." ..... "Do you chase after a funeral processions in a long, dirty dress, hair trailing behind you in the wind? I shot him a mock frown. "Have you been following me again?”

“Great. "So not only am I not-human, but Death is my arch foe?" Who, me? Panic? "Anything else you want to tell me, while we're confessing?”

“Unfortunately, unless the job description included a translation of the prologue of The Canterbury Tales, I was dreadfully under-qualified.”

“This isn't about you...." "Well, it should be!" he shouted, and I flinched. "Everything I do is about you, and I want the reverse to be true, too." I wiped more tears, my throat aching with words that would only make this worse. "What, you need a reminder? That's what he was doing, right? And now you smell like him. You probably taste like him. You should taste like me..." He was on me before I could even catch my breath...”

“His name's Nash."Aunt Val took a butter knife from the silverware drawer. "What year is he?"I groaned inwardly. "Senior." ...here we go ...Her smile was a little too enthusiastic. "Well that's wonderful!"Of course, what she really meant was "Rise from the shadows, social leper, and walk in the bright light of acceptance!”

“Hey, you wanna drop back a few paces? Did you forget how spying works? You're supposed to at least aim for unobtrusive. The others pretty much have it down, but you're about as inconspicuous as a drag queen at a Girl Scout meeting.”

“Anyway, I was the one in real danger. I got cornered by a pack of wild sorority girls in the food court. Apparently it's mating season.”

“Em didn't truly understand about my panic attacks - no one did. But she'd never pushed me to explain, never tried to ditch me when things got weird, and never once looked at me like I was a freak.”

“You deserve better than me,” I whispered, and the selfish part of me hoped he wouldn’t hear.He heard.Marc spun me around so fast I would have slipped again if he weren’t holding me up. We were so close drops of water from his chin fell onto my chest, and I had to crane my neck to see him.“You are perfect for me, Faythe, just like you are, because you’re not perfect. You’re headstrong, and impulsive, and outspoken, and I’m possessive, and overprotective, and too easy to piss off. We’re both wrong for a lot of things, but we’re right for each other. Do you understand?”I nodded. I didn’t know what else to do.”

“Justice is for the victim.” Kick. “Vengeance is for the survivor.”

“Okay, go ahead and fill these out,” Jeff said, standing as he glanced over the growing crowd in the club. “When you’re done, we’ll go back to my brother’s office and you can show us what you’ve got.” He grinned. “Normally we’d do that first, but something tells me you know exactly how to keep a man’s attention.”Indeed I did. Get a tight grip on his balls. A man’s attention never wandered far from his crotch, especially when it was in mortal jeopardy.”

“But more than any of that, I was thankful for the possibility he'd shown me: that a man really could love a woman enough that he'd do anything to protect her. That's how much Tod loved Addy.That's how much I wanted Nash to love me.”

“And you still love Marc?""More than I can even explain. He's my rock—strong and steady, and ready for anything. He knows what I need before I know it, and he pushes me to work harder, and look deeper, and be better. He challenges me, and infuriates me, and he lights me on fire, deep in my soul. And he has never, ever let me down. Sometimes it feels like he's the only thing keeping my heart beating. I love him so much that it feels like I'm dying a little bit every day that he won't smile at me. Or touch me.”

“Not even if you fed me your firstborn, still wet and screaming”

“I didn’t know if I could stop her with one blow. But I could whack the crap out of her.”

“He was half again my size, but when we embraced, I felt like I was holding him up, and it was all I could do to remain standing. He buried his face in my hair, his body shaking against me with the spasmodic rhythm of unrestrained sobs. It was almost more than I could bear gracefully.”

“Kicking ass is surprisingly therapeutic”

“Wonderful, a death match on my first day behind bars. Some girls have all the luck”

“Lit majors are not known for watching where they're going; most of us walk with our eyes in a book instead of on the path ahead.”

“...the dead have a way of becoming saints in the eyes of their survivors...”

“Regret couldn't fix what he's broken. Apologies couldn't bring back what he's lost. What we'd lost.”

“Nash has been the sun lighting up the horizon of my life, outshining everything else in my world. I'd thought once that he was to good to be true. Turns out I was right.”

“I wasn't going to toss off words like love and forever until I was sure. Until he was sure. Forever can be a very long time for a n=Bean sidhes, ans so far his track record looked more like the fifty-yard dash than the Boston marathon.”

“But I had no plans to end my own life, and accidents couldn't be predicted. Neither could murder, unless my aunt and uncle were planning to take me out themselves.”

“Kaylee, you're adding two and two and coming up with seven.”

“Crap. He was actually crying. I didn't know how to deal with a crying father. I barely knew how to deal with a normal one.”

“When you push someone too far, they will push back and they push hard.”

“I grabbed another. Aerosmith. Nope, can’t throw classic Aerosmith. I snatched a copy of the Thompson Twins’ greatest hits and chucked it at him.”

“Chocolate says "I'm sorry" so much better than words.”

“The worst memories stick with us, while the nice ones always seem to slip through our fingers.”

“Then strong, warm arms wrapped around me from behind. "I've got you," Tod whispered in my ear.”

“I couldn't resist another grin. "So...is there a family discount?""Hell, no. Nash is paying full price. Plus tip.”

“Nice is good, but it's not enough. I want you back for real. I want to talk to you at lunch, instead of staring at you while you eat. I want to see the smile on your face and know I put it there. I want to hear your dad's voice get all low and pissed off, like it only does when I've stayed over too late.”

“I don't have you, and without you, it feels like what I do have doesn't matter.”

“Yeah. She wants him back and has decided I'm in her way. But I have news for that little sleep-terrorist--it's going to take more than a couple of bad dreams to scare me off, so I hope she has something bigger up her sleeve.”

“Exactly what part of that is supposed to make me feel better?" Though, honestly, hearing that she was jealous of me did make me feel a teeny, tiny bit better.”

“Think of it as a second opinion on his value. If he wasn't worth the fight, wouldn't she just let him go? Wouldn't you?”

“What are you gonna say?" Emma asked. " 'I'm not sure I want you back, but I'm sure I don't want your ex-con ex-girlfriend to have you, either'? Yeah. That'll start this little triangle off on the right foot.”

“Can we save the live demo for later, please? Bean Sidhe in angst, here.”

“Unfortunately, what my head wanted and what my heart wanted were two completely different things.”