Rachel Caine

I'm so glad you're okay.""So, how do we celebrate my okayness? It's my day off. Let's go crazy. Glow-in-the-dark bowling?""No""I'll let you use the kiddie ball.""Shut up. I do NOT need the kiddie ball.""The way you bowl, I think you might."He grabbed her in an exaggerated formal dance pose and whirled her around, backpack and all, which didn't make her any more graceful. "Ballroom dancing?""Are you INSANE?""Hey, girls who tango are hot.""You think I'm not hot because I don't tango?"He dropped the act. Shane was a smart boy. "I think you are too hot for ballroom or bowling. So you tell me. What do you want to do? And don't say study.

See?" he said, with an unholy amount of glee. "I hardly broke any laws at all. I should drive more often.""No. Trust me, you shouldn't," Eve said. "Think of all the little old people and the children.

Even bipolar vampires needed sleep from time to time, and he was well past his recommended safe dosage of stress.

You're much shorter than my mom.""Brat," she said, surprised into a giggle."That's no way to talk to a vampire.""Bloodsucking brat.""Better" he said.

He was a nice guy, middle-aged, a little tired, like most doctors usually seemed to be, but he just nodded and said, "Let me take a look at him. Shane?""I'm not dropping my pants," Shane said. "I just thought I'd say that up front.

That's very rude," Myrnin said. "I haven't brought my fangs our for some time. Not in mixed company, anyway.

You know what we call pedestrians in Morganville? Mobile bloodbanks.

Hey!" Claire called after him, as she leaned her backpack against the wall."No onions!""Your loss!""I meant for YOU! Not if you want to get kissed tonight!""Damn, girl. Harsh.

I can__ take the ring. It means__t means too much to you. It__ all you have left of them.___hat__ why it__ better if you have it,_ he said, and held out the box, cupped in one hand.__ecause you can make it a better memory. I can barely look at this thing without seeing the past. I don__ want to see the past anymore. I want to see the future._ He didn__ blink, and she felt the breath leave her body. __ou__e the future, Claire.

Claire, I-Look, my life is one long series of screw-ups and bad decisions, and I know that. I own that. But you...I just want you to be happy. And it cuts me when you're not.""I'm happy with you."She heard the smile in his voice this time. "So what do you really want? A storybook life in Vampireville, with your life on the line every day and a half?""I'm considering it," she said. And she was.

Yeah. She'd manipulated the second most powerful vampire in town into taking her side against a psycho bitch-queen sorority girl. She'd talked rationally about putting people's brains into computers. This was a normal day. No wonder she was screwed up.

You're just Little Miss Optimist, aren't you? Do you come with accessories, like a glass half full and lemons to make into lemonade, too?

They've all got stories, Jess thought. I need to know them. Best of all, he could know them. He could learn anything here. It felt like limitless possibilities.

Samuel," Amelie said, and her voice was low and quiet and warm. She bent closer to him. "Samuel. Come back to me."His eyes opened, and they were all pupil. Scary owl eyes. Claire bit her lip and thought again about running, but Hans and Gretchen were at her back and she knew she didn't have a chance, anyway.Sam blinked, and his pupils began to shrink slowly to a more normal size. His lips moved, but no sound came out."Breathe in," Amelie said, in that same quiet, warm tone. "I'm here, Samuel. I won't leave you." She stroked fingers gently over his forehead, and he blinked again and slowly focused o

Promise me you__l marry me. Not now. Someday. Because I need to know.__laire felt a flutter inside, like a bird trying to fly, and a rush of heat that made her dizzy. And something else, something fragile as a soap bubble,and just as beautiful. Joy, in the middle of all this horror and heartbreak.__es,_ she whispered back. __ promise.__nd she kissed him, and kissed him, and kissed him, while the sun came up and bathed Morganville in one last, shining day.

Shane kissed her one more time, lightly and softly, and fluffed her hair back from her face. __o be continued,_ he said. __ hate cliff-hangers._ __lame Eve.

Her eyes felt swollen, and she knew she looked a mess, but sometimes...sometimes the emotions were just too big to hold.

Your personal dignity was always more important to you than mere emotion, wasn't it?