“Be still my non-beating heart.”

“Vlad made a sound too harsh to be a growl. "You won't be satisfied until you've brought me to my knees, is that it?""Why not?" It shot out of me with all the recklessness of my still-broken heart. "You brought me to mine.”

“Bones smiled. “Oh, grand. Going to make me beat the truth out of you? My favorite way to work.”

“Yes, but you are still only human.”I laughed, the sound of it drowned out by the crunch of rocks as the mountain continued to shudder as though in the throes of birth pangs.“So was Van Helsing, yet in every movie, he beat the vampire in the end. Never underestimate the power of humanity.”

“Usually my form of turning someone down was shoving a stake through his heart while smirking, Gotcha!”

“Kitten.” The word was rasped so low I almost didn’t hear it above the whoosh of wind. “You have to let me die. Now, while I still have her contained!”I didn’t know what he meant and I didn’t care. I pulled the knife free, flinging it aside in revulsion. Bones made a ragged noise and his face twisted, as though he were somehow in more pain without the silver in his heart than with it.“You’re not going to die,” I swore, then pressed my mouth to his for a kiss filled with all the love, pain, fear, and frustration of the past several days.I was still kissing him when I pulled out my other gun and shot him through the head.”

“I’d heard Bones threaten to beat someone with their own limb before, but I’d always assumed that was a figure of speech. Apparently not.”