“Who hit you?""Why, so you can go beat him up?" "One of the fringe benefits of being my human servant is my protection.""I don't need your protection, Jean-Claude.""He hurt you.""And I shoved a gun into his groin and made him tell me everything he knew," I said.”

“Shane said, "Don't worry. I'll protect you."Claire hit him in the shoulder. "I don't need you to protect me.""Then why am I going first?""So you can take the first punch while I throw the second?""So I'm bait? Ouch. You've been in Morganville way too long, girl.”

“Umm…Jinx is it? I have no idea why you thought you needed protection from me before, but if you call me bitch ever again, you’ll be needing protection from me in the future because I will be shoving my foot up your skinny little ass. Comprende?”

“How did Terrible Teddy’s face get like that?”“Me.”“You hit him?”“He touched you, you said it hurt. I found him and beat the shit out of him.”Oh… my… God.”

“When I press my forehead to his back, the shape of his pain is alluring, almost visible. It forms him, tells him to protect himself, makes him everything he is. He needs to keep it.”

“Auggie said you were too sentimental for your own good sometimes."Out loud he said, "Perhaps, but you have taught me that sentiment is not always a bad thing."I stared up at that impossibly beautiful face, and felt love swell up inside me like a physical force. It filled my body, swelling upward until it made my chest ache, my throat tighten, and my eyes burn. It sounded so stupid. But I loved him. Loved all of him, but loved him more because loving me had made him better. That he would say that I had taught him about being sentimental made me want to cry. Richard reminded me at every turn that I was bloodthirsty and cold. If that were true, then I couldn't have taught Jean-Claude about sentimentality. You can't learn, if you don't have it to teach.He kissed me. He kissed me softly, with one hand lost in the hair to the side of my face. He drew back and whispered, "I never thought to see that look upon your face, not for me.""I love you," I said, and touched his hand where it lay against my face.”