“Death stalked toward us on padded feet.       And it was not alone.”

“Darkness enveloped us again, and for the first time in years, I welcomed it.”

“I had lied to myself from the very beginning, deceived myself into believing that I was being fanciful and overly imaginative. Surely such monstrosities only existed in nightmares? Yet I had lived through a nightmare these past months, and that was no dream at all.       I was still fighting against the awful truth, not wanting to give in, searching my mind for a logical explanation—but there was none. And the most horrible realization of all was that I had known, somewhere deep inside, ever since the day I first set eyes on Vladec Salei.       Plague carrier.       Living death.       Drainer of life.       The phrasing did not matter. No euphemism could strike fear into the hearts of men the way that single word could.       Vampire.        And for me, the uninitiated, that single word meant death.”

“Thirteen years of friendship had bonded us together more thoroughly than if we had been born of the same mother. Even at this late stage, I was unwilling to let him go.”

“If I were pressed, I would admit that she was beautiful, in a dead bride sort of way.”

“With Stefan, the line between good and evil, right and wrong, becomes increasingly blurred.”

“I’d go to hell and back and cut off the devil’s head myself to save you.”