“Don’t be mad” was the first thing he said. He really was terrified, as if the most frightening reaper on the planet was no scarier than a mouse, and yet put him in a tux and it was the Apocalypse.”

“All the beasts of Hell knew they couldn't stop me. I was the archangel Gabriel, the Preliator, and they knew that no matter how many times they killed, I always came back to kill them. No matter how much they frightened me, I remembered what Cadan had told me about the stories of me he had grown up hearing. Even demons feared something. The demonic reapers had nightmares of their own, stories they told one another to terrify, a legend that haunted them in their sleep. That was me. I was Hell's nightmare.”

“Maeghan is local, Berengar is Liege.""Shotgun on Liege," I said quickly. The reapers all stared at me like I'd grown a third eye. "What?" I asked, not the least bit embarrassed. "Their waffles are world famous. I'm going to Liege if only for their awesome waffles.""I like waffles," Cadan said.I beamed at him. "All right. You'll be on Team Waffles with Will and me."Will just shrugged. He accepted me for who I was and he didn't seem to mind being on Team Waffles. Marcus gave Ava a pathetic look. "Why can't our team have a cool name?”

“Love is a beautiful but terrible thing," he said. "You have to be careful with it. It can destroy you.”

“I looked down at the reaper's blood on my hands, and I felt very sad.”

“Good-bye, Cadan,' I said, backing out the door.'If I hear anything new, I’ll come to you.''Be careful,' I warned. 'My guard dog bites.'He grinned, and that impish gleam returned to his eyes. 'And you don’t?''Wouldn’t you like to know.''Don’t get me excited.”

“As much as I hungered to learn more about my past, I was afraid of learning other things too--mostly about death and despair, and dark corners of the globe. I prayed that those memories wouldn't come back to me, because I felt in my bones that some things were too frightening to remember.”