“For a minute I consider taking my iPod out of my pocket to give myself a little music to make the walk go faster, but then decide against it. The pre-storm rustle of the forest feels like the right soundtrack for my restless thoughts. Music would only jolly me out of my funk, and I'm in the mood to wallow a little longer.”

“The clock is ticking. I should be leaving right now. But what I want to do is take Cicely in my arms and press her up against me hard enough to make her not care that I'm messing up her lipstick. I want to pick her up and carry her back through that doorway. We're only a few strides from the couch, only one rip away from ruining that expensive fabric, the dress she must have bought to wear for him.”

“My Mother always wants to know why I don't just take things down, but I like it the way it is - like layers of sediment in an archaeology dig, or overlapping scales of armor. My room is the safest place I know.”

“Listen, I have been through Hell in the last few hours. I have been chased and clawed and bitten by vampires - twice! One of them being you! And my leg is torn and my mind is blown and I'm wearing somebody else's pants! I need to sleep, I need to eat, I need to wear my own damn clothes, and what I don't need is for some vampire to smile at me all amused like I'm the wife in a fifties sitcom!”

“I press my lips to the curve of her neck, just to prove I am strong, just to prove I can do it. But I can't. I'm going to bite.”

“It is an intensely beautiful world. More and more, I think of it as Cicely's world. More and more I wish it were my world, too. A minute ago, I hoped I wasn't bonding, but now, I almost hope I am. Because its either that or I'm falling in love.”

“You want to know why I brought you out here." "The question had crossed my mind, yes. But I figured it was probably to buy me horses or feed me caviar. Or, you know, to kill me." He looks up surprised. "Kill you? No. And in the future I would say if you suspect someone wants to kill you, you shouldn't follow him into the woods.”