“Ask yourself what a man without guile might do to your body in the dark.”

“All right,” she said a little sarcastically. “I was going to assume you liked eating babies and sacrificing virgins, but I might as well ask, what do you do for fun?”“I languish in sin,” I replied in the same tone. “I take my babies rare, and my virgins over easy.”

“If she sees him again, she isn't sure what she might do. Only that it will include grievous bodily harm and possible grounds for her own firing.”

“He was everything your mother warned you about when she told you not to walk alone in the dark.”

“Why do you fight me?" His voice is soft again, as textured as velvet. "Can't you see I'm doing everything I can to help you?""Help yourself off the edge of a cliff," she growls.”

“That's not cruel. This is. You come here in the middle of the night, expecting me to be awake, and ask—no, demand—me to give you things that belong to me as much as they belong to you. Never mind what it does to me. Never mind that each time I see you, I wonder if I'll ever hold you in my arms again, or be able to touch you without you cringing away like I'm a monster. I think it's fair to ask if there's an 'us,' my dear, because I suspect you're trying to use me just now. Tell me that's not cruel, and I'll let you go.”

“What is your collective GPA for this year?”“Not as high as I'd like it to be.”Freud steepled his fingers in front of his mouth. “What about your parents?”“I don't know. They haven't been in school for a while.”