"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," Myrnin said, his voice still gentle and low. "Amelie said you had to work. No one said you had to work alone." He picked up the next part and slotted it in, took the screwdriver from Claire's numbed fingers, and fastened it with a couple of deft, fast movements. "I'll be your hands."She wanted to cry, because it was so sweet, but it wouldn't do any good."

"I'm your worst damn nightmare, Skeletor. I'm a vampire killer with fangs and a grudge."

"Perv."He pointed to himself. "Male and eighteen. What's your point?"

"Myrnin said softly. "And how is it that you do not understand that HERE, in THIS place, this girl belongs to me, not to you?"

"She was almost at the top of the steps, and Shane was right behind her, when she heard Myrnin say, in a quiet voice that was like the old Myrnin, the one she actually liked, "I'm sorry, Claire. I never meant - I'm sorry. Sometimes I don't know... I don't know what I am thinking. I wish... I wish things could be like they were before."

"Shane looked faintly injured. "I 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't have time, or energy, to consider it very much. Not even whether or not she liked it."

"He started to touch the mechanism under the keyboard, then pulled his hand back with a snap."Ah," he said. "Must deactivate the security....Turn around, please.""What?""Turn around, Claire. It's a secure password!""You have GOT to be kidding.""Why ever would I joke about that? Please turn."

"I ended your experiment. Because you're not a scientist. You're a monster. I'm not leaving any of them at your mercy."

"Married and buried, wed and dead."

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

"Some people come to Morganville and collapse, Michael said as he put the car in motion. "I've seen it a dozen times. But there are a few who come here and just-bloom. You're one of those. Claire didn't feel especially bloomy. "So you're saying I thrive on chaos."

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

"Maybe she'd seen too many Japanese horror movies, and maybe it was just a tingle of warning from generations of superstitious ancestors, but suddenly she knew that what Alyssa wanted was not to be saved, but for Shane to join her. In death."

"I don't matter here, Shane. I feel like I just don't matter. Stupid, right?""No," he said. He sounded so gentle it broke her heart. "It's how most people feel most of the time, Claire. You've grown up being special, and this is how most people live their lives...on their own, unnoticed. And they get used to that feeling. It's just new for you."

"You should have trusted me. I'm really tired of people not trusting me."

"Oh hell no. Guys don't talk about that crap."You're serious."Really."What do you talk about?Shane looked at her as if she were insane. "You know. Stuff. We're not girls. We don't talk about our feelings. I mean, not to other guys.Claire rolled her eyes and said, "Fine, be emotionally stunted losers; I don't care."

"Afternoons are hard. Mornings are pure evil from the pits of hell, which is why I don't do them anymore."

"Michael had to pound me a couple of times to convince me not to go stage a rescue." Shane shrugged. "He hits like a girl, for a vampire."

"Shane sat like a statue if a statue wore headphones and radiated angry coiled tension that made hair stand up on a person's arms. She felt like she was sitting next to an unexploded bomb, and given all of the physics she'd had, she understood what that meant. Talk about potential energy."

"Let's say that it belong to me as much as it belongs to anyone alive today. If I am, strictly speaking, living. The old word was undead, you know, but aren't all living things undead. I dislike imprecision."

"My dad used to say that life's a journey, but somebody screwed up and lost the map."

"You weren't picky about who got hurt. Still aren't. So don't preach at us like you're some kind of saint. You're just another sinner."

"And then I heard the ring of metal on concrete, and I went cold, because one of them had found a piece of rebar lying around, and I knew with sudden certainty that these guys were going to kill me right here on this stupid sidewalk, for nothing, without even the reason of knowing my name or hating my politics. They were just going to kill me because they needed to kill something, and I was handy. At least zombies would have had a reason."

"Oliver paused for a few seconds, then leaned forward with his elbows braced on his knees, pale hands dangling. "When I was . . . transformed, I thought in the beginning that I could stay with those mortals I loved. It isn't smart. You should understand this by now. We stay apart for a reason."You stay apart so you don't feel guilty for doing what it is you do, I shot back. "I'm not like you. I'll never be like you. Best of all, I don't have to be."

"I'm going to have to give him shit for all this,' Shane said, as he wandered around. 'He lives alone and makes his bed? Who does that?''People who like things neat?''Its not natural."

"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."

"At the very leadt, we can grab Monica and hustle her skanky ass back to her dad wile you brave, strong menfolk hold off the bad guys. Right?"

"I think so, she [Claire] said. "Just watch your back, okay? "Nah, Michael's got mine. He [Shane] looked straight into her eyes."I've got yours."

"He's named you heir apparent to the Apocalypse. Congratulations."

"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."

"Claire was struggling through last summer's diary volume when Myrnin popped in through the portal, wearing a big floppy black hat and a kind of crazy/stylish pimp coat that covered him from neck to ankles, black leather gloves, and a black and silver walking stick with a dragon's head on it. And, on his lapel was a button that said, If you can read this, thank a teacher."

"I never meant it," he was saying. "Never meant it to happen. Can't stand it,seeing her suffer. Must do something, do something... What do I do? What can I do...?"

"Delighted," Jess said. "I think all houses should be stuffed with books. It makes them--""Homes?" the doctor finished. "You are quite the heretic, for someone in a Library uniform.""Guilty."

"Maybe I should, I don't know leave? Because this is starting to sound like one of those reality shows I don't want to be in. Maybe you guys want to take turns in the confessional booth."

"There once was a kindly farmer who found a viper freezing on the ground in the snow. Please help me, the poor creature said, for I am too cold to live. The farmer took the viper and put it inside of his shirt, and the viper began to warm itself and come alive again. But upon coming alive, it bit the farmer most wretchedly, and as the farmer died, he asked the viper, but why? Why when I was so trusting of you?Because I am a viper, the snake replied. And one cannot expect kindness from evil."

"She can go with us to the lab and keep Myrnin pinned down while we pull the plug, if he's not... you know, better.""Define BETTER with that guy.""Not all fangs and raaaaar."

"Claire found herself staring at his feet, which were in bunny slippers. Myrnin looked down. "What?" he asked. "They're quite comfortable." He lifted on to look at it, and the ears wobbled in the air. "Of course they are," she said. Just when she thought Myrnin was getting his mental act together, he'd do something like that. Or maybe he was just messing with her. He liked to do that, and his dark eyes were fixed on her now, assessing just how weirded-out she was. Which, on the grade scale of zero to Myrnin, wasn't much."

"The look in his eyes turned a little wild. "That's the only reason I'm letting you go. If I had any choice--""You do," she said "Wed can all sit here and let him die. Or you can let Eve go on her wild-ass rescue mission and get herself killed. Or you can let sweet, calm, reasonable Claire go do some talking."He shook his head. His long, elegant hands, which looked so at home wrapped around a guitar, closed into fists. "Guess that means there's no choice.""Not really," Claire agreed. "I was kind of lying about that choice thing."

"In her experience, groups of friends like that just didn't open up to include underage, undersized geeks like her. They hadn't sounded mean, they just sounded - self-confident. Something she wasn't."

"Amelie said, "I won't be your servant in Morganville. Nor should you be mine. Equals. She offered her hand to him, and he looked down at it, clearly taken aback. But he took it. "Now defend what is ours, my partner. He grinned, grinned! and whirled to meet Myrnin in midleap as Myrnin attacked."

"Bishop was all done with the witty converstaion. 'Will you swear?'And Myrnin said, shockingly, 'I will.' And he proceeded to, a string of swearwords that made Claire blink. He ended with, '-frothy fool-born apple-john! Cheater of vandals and defiler of dead dogs!' and did another twirl and bow. He looked up with a red, red grin that was more like a leer. 'Is that what you meant, my lord?"

"I like the sound of that, crashing Monica's party," he glanced at Michael, then quickly away. "What about you? That break some kind of vampire rules or something?""Blow me Shane.""Boys," Eve said primly. "Language. Minor at the table.""Well," Shane said, "I wasn't actually planning to do it."Claire rolled her eyes. "Not like it's the first time I've heard it. Or said it.""You shouldnt say it," Michael said, all seriousness. "No, I mean it. Girls should say 'eat me' not 'blow me'. Wouldn't recommend 'bite me' though. Not around here."

"Myrnin to Claire about their costumes of Pierrot and Harlequin, respectively"Don't they teach you anything in your schools?".""Pity. I suppose that's what comes of your main education flowing from Google."

"This was like watching murder. Defilement. And it was something worse than either of those things. Even among his family, black trade as they were, books were holy things."

"I'm faster than the rest of you, if .. Because I'm a vampire, Michael said, and it was some kind of breakthrough for him to say that. "If you get in trouble, I'll be there."Nice, Shane said. "I'm warming up to this bloodsucking thing, Mikey."No, you're not."Okay, no, I'm not, but right now let's pretend I am."

"Bite me, Goth princess, Shane called from the back. "Not literally or anything."Maybe you should say that to Michael."Not funny, Eve, Michael said.Eve raised her eyebrows and held her fingers up, measuring off about an inch. "Little bit, she said."

"Myrnin was silent for a beat, and then he said, "Bob would be very disappointed in you."

"An intriguing world where vampires rule, only the strongest survive, and romance offers hope in the darkest hours."

"Hey. Shane's hip nudged her chair, and he bent over, putting his mouth very close to her ear."What are you doing?"Thinking."Stop."Stop thinking?"You're doing way too much of it. It'll make you go blind.She laughed and turned her face toward his. "I think you're thinking of something else."