“Bless me, Father, for I have sinned. It has been…” “Eight days,” Søren supplied. “Eight days since my last confession. Let’s see… where to start?” “Pace yourself, Eleanor. If you forget something, I will remind you.”

“My confession begins," Father S said, "as the confessions of many men begin - with three words""Father forgive me?" Michael hazarded a guess. Father S signed."I met Eleanor.”

“How easily you forgive, Eleanor. How freely youabsolve the sins of others. Tell me, little one, when thetime comes, how will you absolve yours?With the first lash of the whip Nora felt a strip of fireburn across her back. She cried out from a pain soferocious she nearly choked on it.Like this, Søren, she dared answer only in her mind.This is how.”

“My name is Søren.” Kingsley nodded and prepared words of his own. “Je t’aime,” he replied in the language God spoke. I love you.”

“Kid, Søren could eat you for breakfast and not even need to chew. Don’t ever fuck with a sadist, Wesley. For Søren, torture’s just foreplay.”“Why did you stay with him?” he’d whispered.Nora had grinned at him, and she saw a new fear in Wesley’s sweet brown eyes.“I like foreplay.”

“...Jamison appeared in the doorway with a cooler."Thank you, Alfred," Griffin said, taking the supplies. "There's a thousand dollars in the cookie jar. Go buy yourself something pretty.""I will purchase a firearm and shoot you with it," Griffin's butler said, bowing elegantly. "Master Griffin."He left the room...”

“My, my, my…” She sighed, affecting a Southern drawl she no doubt stole from Wesley. “I see temptation has come a knockin’ and you have answered the door…”