“The Lone Ranger of vampires. Did that make me Tonto?”

“My father... raised me to make up my own mind. The way he did this was by yielding to me when I asked, even when I was foolish. I lived through it; and I know my own mind; and he will do what I ask him.”

“He laughed, tried to make it into a cough, inhaled at exactly the wrong moment, and then really did cough.”

“Vampire. Dangerous. Unknowable. Seriously creepy. This one's name was Constantine. We'd met before.”

“My kind [vampires] does not surprise easily," he said. "You surprised me, this morning. I have thus used up my full quota of shock and consternation for some interval."I stared at him. "You made a *joke*.""I have heard this kind of thing may happen...”

“What was new was the fact that, despite my heart doing its fight-or-flight, help-we're-prey-and-HEY-STUPID-THAT'S-A-VAMPIRE number, I was glad to see him. Ridiculous but true. Scary but true.”

“I smiled. "I understand now. But It doesn't matter and you needn't apologize. They have been very kind to me too. Even if we did differ a little about suitable dresses." He considered me a moment, a mischievous light creeping into his eyes, and said: "Was THAT the dress - that night you wouldn't come out of your room?"I grinned and nodded, and we both laughed;”