Melissa de la Cruz

It's always good to be underestimated.

But there's always a first time for everything

Boys. Drau or mortal, they were all the same.

You are healed." Allegra nodded. "You are no longer a Silver Blood." She paused. "But you are no longer a vampire either."Bliss started. No longer a vampire-but what did that mean? Did it mean she was just human?

I'm proud of you, Bliss," he said."Michael's sword released the souls that were trapped in your blood. You freed them. You freed me.""But now I'm never going to see you again, am I?" she asked.Dylan smiled. "It's unlikely. But I never say never.'"I wish you wouldn't go. I'll miss you so much," Bliss said."I'll miss you too."Dylan put his hand up, and so did Bliss. But this time, instead of touching air, she felt his warm hand grasping her cold one. She looked at Allegra. Somehow, she knew her mother was making this happen. Dylan leaned down, and she could feel his lips, soft and inviting, gently kissing hers. Then Dylan was gone. But Bliss did not feel anguished. She felt at peace. Dylan was not broken and incomplete anymore. He was whole.

I lived for those moments when we were together, those few times in my life that I actually felt alive.

It was so nice just to live in the moment, to enjoy holding him so closely, to pretend for a little while that they were merely two young people in love and nothing else.

I'm up for it. Whatever it is. As long as it means I'll always be with you.

Oliver liked to play the part of disaffected youth, but he liked shopping in SoHo even more.

As long as she could remember who she was, she was okay. She wouldn't go crazy. At least not today.

This is not some silly game...This is life and death Angels and demons.

That was the problem these days--everything was considered disposable--clothes, cell phones, relationships.

For Alex to be enveloped into one of New York State's blue-ribbon families helped put to bed a lifetime of doubts and depression about his own dubious birthright.

Medicine is a bit like love," Aunt Gertrude began. "There are the theatrical outer forms gone through by the players-the bandages and injections and extractions, the flowers and love notes and dances-but the real work is always happening out of sight. In here," she added, tapping herself on the heart.

silly man. I know the man I am marrying is destined for great things, as the many remarkable things he has done thus far have brought himto such a high oint already. Mark my words, Alex. You are a man whose future lies before him for all to marvel at one day. And you, Colonel Hamilton, are mine, and I am yours always.

Yes, she had seen Alex's temper flare over his disappointment with a lack of his own regiment to command, but she saw that as merely the fighting spirit of an ambitious and confident leader. Yet, wasn't that what appealed most to her about him? A spirit and impetuousness that could match her own and challenge her to be better herself in this new democracy? A man who could honor her own values?

And at last, the lonely young man who belonged to no one finally belonged to someone, forever, and the practical girl who would not settle for less than a love story for the ages found the lifelong romance she had yearned for all her life.

He had written her reams and reams of letters, as well as a poem that she kept folded in a locket around her neck. Her letters were full of love and anticipation, matching his for enthusiasm and tenderness. He was the luckiest man in the world.