“Natalya asked, "How'd you escape all the vampires out for your head?"In a monotone voice, Lothaire stated, "I'm that good.”

“Vampire females are as good as extinct.”Thad was aghast. “No females?”Natalya patted his shoulder. “You can date other species, Tiger. Don’t you worry. I’ve already thought of some ladies to relieve you of your big V. One’s a nymph—”“Over my dead body,” Regin said. “Two-bit hookers, every one of them.”Thad scratched his head. “Mr. Lothaire said every male needed a purring nymph or two chained to the foot of hisbed. As pets.”Natalya gasped. “All right, lad, no more talking to Lothaire.”

“You could run, and I could stay to fend them off," the vampire offered. "For some reason, I feel amazingly refreshed." He swung an amused look at Declan that made him grind his teeth. "And it seems I'm quite handy against them."----Natalya tossed away her busted TEP-C. "So, Lothaire, you're going to fight them out of the blackness of your heart?”

“I'm dating Brandon," I told his bowed head."Really?" he asked without looking up."Yes!""I'll print you a wallet card to whip out every time you need to say that, so you can save your voice.""Could you laminate it?”

“The imagination says listen to me. I am your darkest voice. I am your 4 a.m. voice. I am the voice that wakes you up and says this is what I'm afraid of. Do not listen to me at your peril.... The imagination is not our escape. On the contrary, the imagination is the place we are all trying to get to.”

“„You don't really want to do this. I'm a good vampire – I mean, like, a vampire with a soul, not that I'm really good at, you know, vamp-stuff. I'm not some monster. Heck, I've only been a vampire for less than a week! I've never even sucked blood” I ducked under the blade and backflipped away. „Really! You can ask my parents! My mum's a university professor, she's a very trustworthy character reference!”