“That's when I saw—cleary saw—that there was more than one mountain in my life. Some could be seen and some couldn't be, but just the same, they were all out there. All out there waiting for me.”

“I couldn't. I just needed a few more seconds, a few more seconds to drink him in before I killed him. And that's when he spoke."Roza." His voice had that same wonderful lowness, the same accent.. it was all just colder. "You forgot my first lesson: don't hesitate."I just barely saw his fist striking out toward my head.. and then I saw nothing at all.”

“That final look into those glinting crimson eyes – so many that all I saw were numerous flashes as they swiftly approached the prey, never one in the same place – confirmed my true fear; I was a goner to the world. My life slowly descended out of me when one of the vampires reached forward with an arm, stripping me of my soul. With just one snap of his wrist, my mind went blank.”

“You was the onlyest person that looked past my skin and past my meanness and saw that there was somebody on the inside worth savin...We all has more in common than we think. You stood up with courage and faced me when I was dangerous, and it changed my life. You loved me for who I was on the inside, the person God meant for me to be, the one that had just gotten lost for a while on some ugly roads in life.”

“No one has really seen me in years.” Blake looked at the sky. “Sometimes I wonder how they know I don’t have a home. I try to dress decently.” He waved a hand at his jeans and army jacket. “I think it just seeps out of me. I’m not the same as everyone else.” He shook his head, pulling himself out of his despair, and looked at Livia again. “But when you saw me for the first time, you actually saw me. You saw me, and then you smiled like I was just the same as everyone else on that platform.”

“From childhood's hour I have not been. As others were, I have not seen. As others saw, I could not awaken. My heart to joy at the same tone. And all I loved, I loved alone.”