“When I talked to him earlier, he said he had to work tonight,” Peter explained, “but that we should go ahead and draw for him.” “Draw?” I asked uneasily. “Oh Lord. Tell me it’s not Pictionary night too.”Peter sighed wearily. “Draw for secret Santas. Do you even read the e-mails I send?”“Secret Santas? Seems like we just did that,” I said.“Yeah, a year ago,” said Peter. “Just like we do very Christmas.”

“Feminist,” he said, clearly amused. “Next you’ll be telling us you hate men.”She gave him a blank look. “I only hate stupid men who don’t actually understand what ‘feminist’ means.”He laughed. “You run into a lot of men like that?”“All the time.”“Really?”“Even as we speak, Nick.”“Oh no she didn’t,” said Peter. I groaned.”

“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.”

“I was at Peter's fondue party,before that was at the mall. Peter's tell me about Peter's, Did anything weird happen there? I was at a fondue party at a vampires everything about that is weird.”

“What is it you’re interested in exactly?” the man askedslowly. “Just the color?”“I think we both know,” said Adrian cunningly. “I want thecolor. I want the ‘bonus effects.’ And I want it to lookbadass. You probably can’t even do the design I want.”“That’s the least of your worries,” said the guy. “I’ve beendoing this for years. I can draw anything you want.”“Yeah? Can you draw a skeleton riding a motorcycle withflames coming out of it? And I want a pirate hat on theskeleton. And a parrot on his shoulder. A skeleton parrot.Or maybe a ninja skeleton parrot? No, that would beoverkill. But it’d be cool if the biker skeleton could beshooting some ninja throwing stars. That are on fire.” “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard,” said thetattooist.“That’s not what the ladies are going to say,” said Adrian”

“You see something you like?" I asked, echoing something I'd said to him ling ago, when he'd caught me in a compromising position at school. "Lots," he said.-Rose (Roza) to Dimitri”

“Well he didn't treat my mother very well. He did some horrible things.""Like..." I hesitated. "Blood-whore things?""Like beating-her-up kinds of things" he replied flatly."Oh God," I said "That's horrible. And she...she just let it happen?""She did." The corner of his mouth turned into a sly, sad smile. "But I didn't""Tell me, tell me you beat the crap out of him"His smile grew, "I did.”