“I sat up. Slowly. Between the belly dancing, the fire, the visit to Dave and it's aftermath, the night had taken its toll.You look like crap!" Cole said merrily. "I like the hair though."He made a camera frame with his thumbs and forefingers and in the genie voice from Aladdin said, "Now what does this say to me? Homeless women? Tornado victim? Britney Spears? I've got it! Preschooler who's misplaced her gum!"I regarded him balefully. "You're a morning person, aren't you?"You make that sound like a bad thing."Not if you stop talking.”

“Cole!" Cassandra smacked him on the shoulder."Wha-?" When he opened his mouth all you could see was half-chewed goo."How old are you?" I demanded. I threw shrimp at him and it got stuck in his tangle of wig hair. Bergman fished it out, wiped it off, and put it back on the serving dish."Now, thats disgusting," said Cassandra."Children!" Vayl's voice boomed in our ears, loud and sudden enough to make us all jump guiltily. "I trust you are all preforming actual work right now.""Chill out, Vayl," I replied. "Bergman is just conducting and experiment to see how vampires respond to ingesting brown hair dye.""That makes me curious, Vayl," said Cole in a sticky, goodie-between-the-gums voice that reminded me of Winnie the Pooh after a major honey binge. "Have you ever colored your hair? You know blonds have more fun.""Not when they are in the hospital.”

“Now, here's what we do. You and I will find a back way out of this place. If we come across someone else, we make like a couple of lovesick teenagers. People generally hurry past heavy breathers. I get you to the parking lot, you vanish. Got it?"He nodded. "There's just one thing I've got to do before we go," he said. Before I could inquire, he grabbed me and planted a kiss square on my mouth. It was short but fiery, despite the grape flavoring, and when he let me go I wan panting.Holy crap!"He smiled, not at all apologetically, and said, "I've wanted to do that ever since I saw my first Bond movie.”

“Besides my professional goals, I have a couple of private ones, my man. One of those is to pet a kangaroo before I leave Australia. I understand there's lots of Eastern Grays around this area. What do you say? Are you in?'Bergman looked at him like he'd just made the worst financial investment of his life. 'Kangaroos are wild animals. I've heard they claw like girl fighters and kick like jackhammers. You're going to get your skull crushed.'Cole held up a finger. 'Or I'm going to pet a kangaroo. How cool would that be?”

“I like these boots," I told Vayl."Do you think they'd sell them to me cheap? I keep ruining mine.""Since when do you fret over money?" he asked with amusement. "I was not even sure you knew what to do with it."I shrugged. "A women has needs.""Still." said Cole. "Gosh, Jaz, why didn't you say something to me? I'd never let you suffer.”

“I can't belly dance.'Yes, you can. It's in your fi--'Will you stop reading my goddamn file!”

“Okay, okay, backing off. Um, I suppose this would be a bad time to ask you to talk to Pete for me, you know, about the car?'His eyes widened. I could almost hear him thinking, Of all the nerve! 'You were driving,' he said.'But he likes you so much better than me.''That is because I do not keep wrecking the rentals.”