“I glanced at Radu. "What, exactly is Louis-Cesare's problem?'. [..]Suddenly a speculative gleam lit his eyes. It made me nervous. 'He tends to be very protective of women,"he said thoughtfully. "You're a woman Dory.""Thank you for pointing that out. But I didn't think dhampirs qualified."Radu smirked. "It appears you've been upgraded.”

“We cannot do this now!" ...."Sure we can."He scowled.... "Go home, Dory.""Give me what I want and I will!"Radu appeared in the doorway. "I know this is a stupid question before I ask it, but is there any chance that we can discuss this like civilized people?"Louis-Cesare.... stepped back a pace and dangled the duffel of one long finger. "Come and get it."I stared. "Oh, no, you didn't.""Oh, yeah. He did. You gonna take that?" Raymond piped up...."You really want to do this?" I demanded.... The only answer I got was a flying tackle that caught me around the knees and sent me skidding on my back over hard wood.I grinned. Well, all right then."That's what I thought." Radu sighed.”

“ I was the dhampir daughter of the family patriarch, the little known stain on an otherwise immaculate record. Louis-Cesare, on the other hand, was vamp royalty. The only Child of Mircea’s younger, and far stranger, brother Radu, he was a first-level master--the highest and rarest vampire rank. A month ago, the prince and the pariah had crossed paths because we had one thing in common: we were very good at killing things. And Mircea’s bug-eyed crazy brother Vlad had needed killing if anyone ever had. The collaboration hadn’t exactly been stress free, but to my surprise, we eventually sorted things out and got the job done. By the end, I’d even started to think that it was kind of nice, having someone to watch my back for a change. Sometimes, I could be really stupid.”

“He didn't ask what I was thinking, which was out of character for him. I guessed that meant that he was just as nervous as I suddenly was.”

“Good-bye,' he said with sudden force, and his eyes gleamed with their last light. 'Good-bye.... Listen ... you know I didn't kiss you then.... Breathe on the dying lamp, and let it go out ...”

“To her surprise, Lucky tilted his head and looked her in the eye, appearing oddly…crestfallen, she thought. “Don’t be nervous,” he said. “I hate making you nervous.”