“What happened to you?" she asked."I got hit in the side.""With what?""A knife.”

“At the last minute, she bobbed left so that he stabbed the wall she'd hit, trapping the blade in the Sheetrock. As he went to try to get the thing free, she whirled around and nailed him in the gut with her backup blade, springing a hole in his lower intestines. Meeting his shocked stare, she said, "What, like you didn't think I'd have a second knife? Fucking idiot.”

“She was seriously staring.Which was what you did when you got a gander at a man who is hung like a Louisville Slugger.”

“No, you've got it all wrong, John." Reading his emotions, she shook her head. "You're not half the male you could be because of what was done to you. You're twice what anyone else is because you survived.”

“V? Answer the question or so help me God I'll beat it out of you.""I just know how to find him.""What are you hiding?"V went over to the bar, poured himself a couple of fingers of GreyGoose, and hammered the shot. He swallowed a number of times and thenlet the words fly."I fed him."A chorus of inhales floated a...round the room. As Wrath rose in disbelief, V poured himself another hit of Goose."You did what?" The last word was bellowed."I had him drink some of me.""Vishous..." Wrath stalked around the desk, shitkickers hitting thefloor like boulders. The king got face-to-face close. "He's a male. He's human. What the fuck were you thinking?"More vodka. Definitely time for more Goose.”

“No, thanks.” Rhage laughed. “I’m a good little sewer, as you know firsthand. Now who’s your friend?” “Beth Randall, this is Rhage. An associate of mine. Rhage, this is Beth, and she doesn’t do movie stars, got it?” “Loud and clear.” Rhage leaned to one side, trying to see around Wrath. “Nice to meet you, Beth.” “Are you sure you don’t want to go to a hospital?” she said weakly. “Nah. This one’s just messy. When you can use your large intestine as a belt loop, that’s when you hit the pros.”

“Butch, I got sick and needed some time to regroup. But I wanted to see you. That's why I asked you to come calling when I ran into you back in December. When you said no, I thought... well, you'd lost interest."She'd wanted to see him? Had she said that?"Butch, I wanted to see you."Yeah, she had. Twice.Well, now... didn't that perk a guy up.”