“I’m just trying to do the right thing. I’m a vampire.”“Duh.”“And you’re not.”“Again: duh.”“I could hurt you. I could lose control.”“If you were anyone else, I’d have kneecapped you by now.”

“I’m here to take you on a date.”I blinked. “A date?” I repeated as if it was a foreign word I’d never heard before.“You know, where we go out, hold hands, cast longing glances at each other? It’s tradition. You might have heard of it.”“But I have class.”“Class?” Now he was looking at me as if I was speaking a different language. “But it’s ten o’clock at night.”“We have classes until midnight.” I smiled pointedly. “The thing about vampires is that they kind of like the night. It’s tradition. You might have heard of it?”“Oh, smart mouth.” He grinned back. “Sexy.”

“I’d learned long ago you had to block out the rush of regrets that followed the adrenaline dip after a fight. Otherwise the loop of thoughts could pull you under. Did you just kill someone? Or was it a monster, plain and simple? Did that make you a monster? Was it murder if you were defending yourself? Was it a war and were we just soldiers trying to survive?I preferred the adrenaline rush. (Quinn)”

“He’s supposed to look out for you.”“I do!” Kieran sounded offended. “You should be proud of her. Hart requested her presence personally at the Drake coronation.”I closed my eyes briefly. We were doomed.“You went to a vampire ceremony?” Grandpa asked evenly.“He didn’t know?” Kieran asked.“No, he didn’t.”“Sorry.”Grandpa vibrated with rage. “I will not tolerate this kind of behavior in my family!”“It’s different now,” Kieran tried to assuage him. “I’m dating Solange Drake. They’re a good family.”Grandpa went red, then purple. Kieran took a step back. I whacked Grandpa between the shoulder blades.“Grandpa, breathe!”

“He went farther into the shadows to exchange his pants for the leather breeches. Too bad. When he emerged again, he looked pretty good even though it wasn’t his style. And he was lucky there were no tights, after all. He tilted his head.'You like it.''Shut up.' I blushed. I hated vampire extrasensory perception. It wasn’t fair that he could hear my heartbeat or smell my skin or what ever.'Girls are so weird.'Kieran snorted. 'No kidding.''Please, you two were fighting ten minutes ago, and now you’re the best of friends?' I said witheringly. 'Guys are weird.”

“Okay, listen up, people,” Kieran raised his voice so that it was all gravelly and impressive. I wasn’t particularly impressed since we’d grown up together and I’d force-fed him mud pies when we were little, but it seemed to work on everyone else. Lia actually sighed.Only a thirteen-year-old vampire hunter would get a crush in the middle of a vampire attack.I was a little bit proud of her actually.----------------------His grin widened and he nudged my shoulder companionably. “I like you, kid.” (Quinn)I tried not to groan out loud. I was as bad as Lia.I had totally developed a crush during a vampire raid.”

“I bet it’s never happened to you."She was right. But that was only because I’d been five years old when Grandpa had started my training. When I’d thought there were monsters under the bed, he taught me how to do a proper sweep to get rid of them.”