Ilona Andrews

I was so happy to be out of there. __arabas, if you weren__ battingfor the other team, I__ marry you.__e grinned. __f I weren__ batting for the other team, I would accept yourproposal. You had me at __o comment._ If all my clients were this smart, mylife would be much easier. Much, much easier.

I know human nature. We might sacrifice a few, because we are stupid and hardwired for group survival. But we would never die in the thousands because a god wished it. Those kinds of numbers require material gains, like power, wealth, territory.

He__ spent the night in the boat. Next to the spaghetti queen.William glanced at the hobo girl. She sat across from him, huddled in a clump. Her stench had gotten worse overnight, probably from the dampness. Another night like the last one, and he might snap and dunk her into that river just to clear the air.She saw him looking. Dark eyes regarded him with slight scorn.William leaned forward and pointed at the river. __ don__ know why you rolled in spaghetti sauce,_ he said in a confidential voice. __ don__ really care. But that water over there won__ hurt you. Try washing it off.__he stuck her tongue out.__aybe after you__e clean,_ he said.Her eyes widened. She stared at him for a long moment. A little crazy spark lit up in her dark irises. She raised her finger, licked it, and rubbed some dirt off her forehead.Now what?The girl showed him her stained finger and reached toward him slowly, aiming for his face.__o,_ William said. __ad hobo.__he finger kept coming closer.

The universe was full of wonders. Some of them would drive you insane if you thought about them too long.

Secret to what?""Secret to shutting you up," he said. "I just have to beat you till you're half-dead, then give you chicken soup and"--he raised his hands--"blessed silence.

You can do without sleep or without food, but not without both and sleep wasn't an option.

What did I tell you about plastic ties? Only for humans, Julie murmured.If you don't listen to me, I can't teach you anything.

The last time Assistant Principal Parker called, a girl in the school's locker room had accused Julie of being a whore during the two years she'd spent on the street. My kid took exception to that and decided to communicate that by applying a chair to the offending party's head. I'd told her to go for the gut next time- it left less evidence.

No, it's human, Curran said. That's the problem. People, especially unhappy people, want a cause. They want something to belong to, to be a part of something great and bigger, and to be led. It's easy to be a cog in a machine: you don't have to think, you have no responsibility. You're just following orders. Doing as your told.

It seems that we had...not a better education, per se, but perhaps more incentive to use it. They learn, but they hardly think.

Anger - a better alternative to caffeine.

Dina, I__ bored,_ Caldenia announced.Too bad. I guaranteed her safety, not entertainment. __hat about your game?__er Grace gave me a shrug. ____e beaten it five times on the Deity setting. I__e reducedParis to ashes because Napoleon annoyed me. I__e eradicated Gandhi. I__e crushed George Washington. Empress Wu had potential, so I eliminated her before we even cleared Bronze Age. The Egyptians are my pawns. I dominate the planet. Oddly, I find myself mildly fascinated by Genghis Khan. A shrewd and savage warrior, possessing a certain magnetism. I left him with a single city, and I periodically make ridiculous demands that I know he can__ meet so I can watch him squirm.

. . . hated each other so much their feud had become legendary. Half the jokes in the galaxy started with __ vampire and an otrokar walk into a bar_.