“Were you raised in a barn? You don't just walk into someone's house." Ash laughed. "I have an open invitation to enter whenever I'm here.""Yeah, but what if he's naked or something?"Ash led him into the foyer. "I've known Kyrian for over two thousand years, and I can honesty say that I have never once caught him naked in his living room." The door closed behind them without Ash or Nick touching it- something that always unnerved Nick when Ash did it. "Besides, Rosa's still here. I know he's not walking around bare-assed with her on duty.”

“You know he loves you, right? (Amanda)Yeah, but emotions don't have brains. (Ash)- About Nick”

“(As Ash left the house, the back door slammed shut, catching the tail end of his long black coat. Ash jerked to a stop and cursed. Nick howled with laughter at the sight of Acheron trapped.)Don’t it take the bad-ass right out of you? (Nick)(Ash arched a brow. The door opened by itself, freeing his coat, then it slammed shut again. Nick sobered instantly.)And that puts it right back in you. (Nick)”

“I need dating advice. Fast.”Ash arched a single brow at that. “I’m useless. I’ve never been on one.”The three human men turned to gape at him. “What?” Ash asked them defensively.Nick started laughing. “Oh man, this is priceless. Don’t tell me the great Acheron is a virgin?”Ash gave him a droll look. “Yeah, Nick. I’m lily-white.”

“I tried to call your cell phone when we got in to see if you made it."Ash immediately tensed as he put his comic down and pulled out another issue. "I turned it off on the day I got here.""Really?" Dante asked, stunned by Ash's confession. It wasn't like him to be out of touch with his Dark-Hunter charges. "What if one of the Dark-Hunters needed you?"Ash shrugged. "If they can't survive alone for four days once a year, they deserve to die.”

“Nick cleared his throat. “Do not  … and I mean do  … not  … take this the wrong way, okay?” He wrapped his arms around Ash and hugged him. “I will always be your brother,” he whispered in Ash’s ear. “And I won’t ever hate you.”

“I would ask what it is you think you're doing, but... you are a teenager. I should have known better than to leave you in the car unattended. Next time, I'll seal you in there...probably with bricks. Maybe even mortar." Nick ignored his dry tone. "Just so long as you make sure nothing can get inside to kill me, I'm good with that." Ash frowned. "What are you talking about?" "The kid dead on the ground. Fourteen, Ash. Fourteen. I'm fourteen." "Yeah...""Ash, I'm fourteen""Got it. You're fourteen. I'm so proud you can count that high. It's a testament to the modern American educational system. But I should probably point out that you're no the only one. I'm told you go to a school with a whole class of -get this- kids who are fourteen." Nick rolled his eyes at the sarcasm. No wonder his mom wanted to hurt him for it. He finally understood. "Yeah, but they're not dead. Someone's killing fourteen-year-old boys, which I happen to be one. The cops said so. This is the second one in a day who's been murdered." "Yeah well given the lippiness of the average teenager, I can understand the urge" "You're not funny.""And you need to calm down. The only person you need to fear killing you when I'm around is me.”