“Christ," I exclaimed. "We cannot roadtrip to Paris!”

“We cannot road trip to Paris.”

“You used your power to toss one rock at me?" he exclaimed, an almost comic note of incredulity in his voice. "On the contrary," I heard Dorian say pleasantly. "I didn't use magic for that. I just threw it.”

“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.”

“I can't believe you've been here all day and didn't come visit. ", Tatiana said."Aw, I figured you had more important things to do than see me, " Adrian told her. "Besides, I quit smoking, so now we won't be able to go sneak cigarettes out behind the throne room together. " "Adrian!" chastised Nathan, turning bright red. It occurred to me then that I could have based a drinking game around how many times he exclaimed his son's name disapprovingly.”

“Doug returned five minutes later and shook his head. "Sorry kid. She's single, but she doesn't think you're her type. She's into the Goth and vampire scene. You're too mainstream for her." I was sipping a glass of water and nearly choked on it."That," said Peter, as soon as Doug was gone, "is what we call irony.""How is that possible?" exclaimed Cody. "I am a vampire. I should be exactly what she wants.""Yeah, but you don't look like one," I said. If Gabrielle had been a Trekkie, he might have had a shot tonight.”

“Nothing will get you anywhere with me," I exclaimed. "I don't know about that." He put on an introspective look that was both unexpected and intriguing. "You're not as much of a lost cause as she was. I mean, with her, I had to overcome her deep, epic love with a Russian warlord. You and I just have to overcome hundreds of years' worth of deeply ingrained prejudice and taboo between our two races. Easy.”