Rachel Caine

I had a good teacher.""Better not have been Myrnin or I'll have to kick his predatory ass.""I mean you, dummy.

Shane looked faintly injured. __ make it my business to know everything about silver. And I saw your notes. I study up on everything when it comes to your boss, anyway._ There was a flicker of jealousy about that, but she didn__ have time, or energy, to consider it very much. Not even whether or not she liked it.

Shane was sitting on the curb next to the old, cracked gas pumps, eating a candy bar. Claire plopped down next to him. __alf?_ she asked.__nd now I know you__e my girlfriend, since you__e not afraid to demand community property,_ he said, and pulled off the uneaten half to hand it over.

Okay, this was kissing. Serious kissing. Not just a kiss before moving out, not a good-bye, this was Hello, sexy, and wow, she__ never even suspected that it could feel this way.

Claire. Wake up._ She blinked and realized that her head was on Shane__ shoulder, and Michael was nowhere to be seen. Her first thought was, Oh my God, am I drooling? Her second was that she hadn__ realized she was so close to him, snuggled in. Her third was that although Michael__ part of the couch was empty, Shane hadn__ moved away. And he was watching her with warm, friendly eyes. Oh. Oh, wow, that was nice.

I added pieces the same way I__ constructed my body, from the inside out: boy-cut panties first (lacy), bra (sheer), stockings (thigh high), knee-length leather skirt (black), lime green midriff-baring shirt (polyester). David leaned against the wall and watched this striptease-in-reverse with fabulously expressive eyebrows slowly climbing toward heaven, I finished it off with a pair of strappy lime green three-inch heels, something from the Manolo Blahnik spring collection that I__ seen two months ago in Vogue.He looked me over, blinked behind the glasses, and asked, __ou__e done?__ took offense, __eah. You with the fashion police?___ don__ think I__ pass the entrance exam._ The eyebrows didn__ come down. __ never knew you were so___ashionable?___ot really the word I was thinking.__ struck a pose and looked at him from under my supernaturally lustrous eyelashes. __ome on, you know it__ sexy.___nd that__ sort of my point.

Fire is always ready to burn the hand it warms.

It's been happening since I was in kindergarten. Not them all the time, but other kids, you know. Every day. It never stops, and it never goes away, thanks to the Internet--it just keeps happening every minute, every day. And I just want it to stop. I think about how to do it, you know. How to kill them. All kinds of elaborate things, like trapping them in pits and burying them alive, or covering them with concrete.

People bond themselves into families and groups for protection, and strangers...strangers are always at risk.

Bad men skulking in the darkness have always been there, and always will.

You__e not touching us,__ Eve said, and raised her voice. __hane! Shane, get your ass up here now!___here was a touch of panic in her voice, although she was putting on a good front. Her hands were shaking where they gripped the hockey stick.The man glided around the end of the bed, prowling like a cat. Six feet tall, at least, and as broad as two of Eve, maybe bigger. His bare arms were ripped with muscle. His blue eyes looked shallow and hungry.Claire heard the thump of footsteps outside, and then a bang as Shane fetched up against the locked door. He rattled the knob and pounded hard. __ve! Eve, open up!____he__ busy!__ the biker yelled, and laughed. __h yeah, gonna be real busy.____o!__ Shane screamed it, and the door shook with the strength of the blows he put into it. __tay away from them!

Parents had some kind of sin radar, Claire thought. They always called when you were in the middle of something you just knew they'd consider wrong. Or at least risky.

Here's a tip...If you leave a girl crying you're probably not doing your Don Juan routine right, asshole.

Don't read it. Just shred and burn, or your eyes will melt.

I'm good. And it's good to see you've kept up the tradition of getting the holy shit beat out of you,even when you're in a nice, civilized place.

What are you going to do? Are you going to live in the dark, locked in here? Afraid to look out, answer the door, leave? Yes, he's out there, and he's clearly not going to leave you alone until one of three things happens: he hurts you and gets arrested, or he makes a mistake and gets arrested, or you stop him.

One thing you learn early growing up a girl--people always talk, whatever you do,' Glain said. 'What bliss it must be to be male.

Nothing here is like fighting vampires,' I said. 'It's more like fighting smoke. I think I liked it when I had an actual enemy to face.''Oh, don't worry, you have some. We just haven't seen them yet,' Jesse said. 'But we will. And wham we do...' She showed fang, just a flash; anybody who happened to catch a glimpse would have doubted their sanity, especially since the teeth disappeared in a flash. 'When we do, we'll settle this Morganville style.