“But why would Victor and Robert take her? And how the hell did two old men subdue a teenage girl anyway?”

“Why the hell would I bring you?" she exclaimed. All her anger turned at his presumption. It was a sign of her agitation that she'd sworn."Because," he said, face calm, "I can teach you how to stake a Strigoi.""THE HELL YOU CAN," I said aloud to no one.”

“Okay, so. You, Belikov, the Alchemist, Sonya Karp, Victor Dashkov, and Robert Doru are all hanging out in West Virginia together.”“No,” I said.“No?”“We’re, uh, not in West Virginia.”

“I have it on good authority that Victor's going to have car trouble. Also that Robert really likes Cheerios, so if you want some, you're out of luck. He doesn't seem like the sharing type.”

“No, I can just read you. Finally. I can't believe how blind I was. I can't believe I never noticed. Victor's comment...he was right." She glanced off at the sunset, then turned her gaze back on me. A flash of anger, both in her feelings and her eyes, hit me. "Why didn't you tell me?" she cried. "Why didn't you tell me you loved Dimitri?”

“Wild and disrespectful? Who the hell are you anyway? Outsourced help?”

“Do you believe in 'fairy tales'?" I asked, looking up into Lissa's eyes."What . . . What kind of fairy tales?" "The kind you aren't supposed to waste your life on."[...] The question was: How long did I have to figure out if the impossible was actually possible? Because if Dimitri showed up before I had a chance to find the 'dragon' in this story—Victor—things were going to get ugly. If Dimitri came for me before I could get to Victor and Robert, I'd have to fight him again. I couldn't wait for this magical cure. I'd have to kill Dimitri for real this time and lose any chance I might have to bring back my 'prince.'Damn. It's a good thing I work well under pressure.”