“Ah crap!" I instantly shooed away darkness and whatnot, so that I was solid, visible me again. "Sorry, Stevie Rae. I forgot I'd gone all Bram Stoker.”

“I heard my father trail off, my face hidden in Bram's chest."Ah...I should have told you about that," Samedi said, sounding a trifle embarrased. Bram urged me back again and bent down to give me another peck on the lips, a calmer one. I melted into it."You do realize that this is wrong?" Bram joked. I opened my eyes and found him looking at me as if he wanted to rememorize my face."So,so wrong," I agreed, reaching up to finger another new cut he'd acquired on his hairline. The skin along his right cheek was lightly singed. He was still the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen."No, it's all right, Samedi," I heard Dad chuckling. "It's all right.”

“And, as Stevie Rae would have said, Kalona was as wrong as manboobs.”

“Stevie Rae looked from vampyre to vampyre. “Y’all need to get your shit together. Here’s a newsflash from the only High Priestess you have left at this dang school: Zoey isn’t dead. And believe me, I know dead. I’ve been there, done that, and got the frickin’ T-shirt.” Stevie Rae turned her back on the room and, with her fledglings, got the heck outta there.”

“Ah, crap. I forgot what my hands look like after drawing. You may have little gray marks...everywhere.”

“So, go talk to flowers about bulls and such," Aphrodite said. "I'll go talk to flowers," Stevie Rae said.”