“And I thought the whole point of my education was that violence IS the answer.”

“I know," she said, guessing my thoughts. "I know exactly how you feel.""Does it get easier?" I asked. Unlike Sydney, Olena had an answer."Yes. But you'll never be the same.”

“Then, I heard the pounding again—and worse, my whole bed shook violently. Someone was kicking it. Opening my eyes again, I turned and found myself staring into Yeva's shrewd dark eyes. If Sydney had met many dhampirs like Yeva, I could understand why she thought our race were minions of hell.”

“You…you got rid of that dress fast," I pointed out between heavy breaths. "I thought you liked it." "I do like it," he said. His breathing was as heavy as mine. "I love it." And then he took me to the bed.”

“You're a Dhampir," I breathed."So are you." he teased."Yeah, but I just thought—""That I was human? Because of the bite marks?""Yeah." I admitted, No point in lying."We all have to survive," he said "And dhamphirs are good at figuring ways out to.”

“Mmm. O positive, my favorite.” “Is it? I thought it was a cabernet sauvignon.” “So it is,” said Adrian, straight-faced. “My mistake.”

“I think it’s more like a shirt that says, ‘I’m going to have to end this date early so I can go prepare my Power Point presentation”