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

"Don't play his game. Play yours."

"There were a few things scarier than a bipolar vampire off his meds, but to be honest, not that many."

"Get in here and make me some dinner-now, woman.""News flash, Michael, you're supposed to be evil, not redneck!"

"Sometime, somewhere, life always comes to a fight, and peace always comes to an end."

"As he was bringing his hands up her sides, his fingers just barely brushed the outer curve of her breasts, and she gasped into his mouth.Shane immediately sat her upright, and moved to the other end of the couch. His face was flushed; his eyes were bright and no longer looked even a little bit tired. "No,' he said, and held out his hand like a traffic cop when she tried to scoot closer. "Red flag. If you make that sound again, we are in trouble. Or I am, anyway."

"You are so lucky I'm too tired to murder you right now."

"You can't go around... licking things that come out of a water treatment plant. That's just... unsanitary."

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

"Does it give you deja voodoo how alike the houses are?""That's deja vu, and I hate you right now.""For narcing on you to your mom? Wait until you hear what I tell your dad."From the sly grin on his face, she knew what he was thinking."Don't you even think about it.""I could tell him about the time we-""Hell, no."

"I am sorry my decisions do not meet with your approval, but nevertheless, they are mine, and the consequences are also mine."

"Are you all right?" The question surprised Jess, and it broke through his black shell enough to make him throw a look at his friend. "No." I didn't think you were. Everyone wants you to be. That must be worse, that they think you should be fine."

"Well, friend, I don't know about your tastes, but I tend to like it very bloody, Myrnin said. He shifted position, dragging Claire along like a rag doll without any effort at all. "Have we been introduced?"Probably not. Why, are you asking me out, sweetheart?"You're not my type, darling. Is this one yours?"No, Frank said, and looked at Shane, just in a quick flicker. "Let's say she's a friend of the family."

"Welcome to Morganville.You'll never want to leave.And even if you do...well, you can't. Sorry about that."

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

"How'd you get to be so good at this?""I had a good teacher.""Better not have been Myrnin or I'll have to kick his predatory ass.""I mean you, dummy.""Oh."

"His eyes ignited into a color found only in the heart of the sun. ''Yes?''''Yes, already. I'll marry you. Yes. Hell, yes. What am I, stupid?"

"You couldn't be romantic if your life depended on it." "You know what's lucky? Most bad guys don't ask you to be romantic on command, so that probably won't matter."

"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."

"She came awake, stomach rumbling, and opened her eyes to see a plate being held right under her nose. When she reached for it, Shane snatched it back. 'Nuh-uh. Mine.''Share!' she demanded.'Man, you are one grabby girlfriend.'She grinned. It always made her feel so fiercly warm inside to hear him say that- the girlfriend part, not the grabby part. 'If you love me, you'll give me a taco.''Seriously? That's all you got? What about you'll do sexy, illegal things to me for a taco?''Not for a taco,' she said. 'I'm not cheap.''They're brisket tacos.''Now you're talking."

"And without forgiveness, there is never any peace."

"Boys. I'd turn gay if they weren't so sexy."

"I hate traveling with amateurs."

"If she were any friendlier, she'd be giving you a lapdance right now."

"Claire hated to say it, but she knew the answer, in her heart. "Because he feels something for me, and he wanted to give me a chance to live. Like him. With him. But I refused.Shane turned and looked at her, a blank expression on his face that turned quickly into . . . something else. Claire was glad Myrnin had gotten out while he still could. "Great, he said. "I knew it."It's not like that. He's- She shook her head in frustration. "It's not like he's in love with me or anything; it's more complicated than that. I don't even think he understands it, exactly."Yeah, he only loves you for your mind, Shane said..."

"Shane: "Bro," he said, in an injured tone, "I had to go out with a flamethrower, and you weren't there to see it." Michael: "Pics or it didn't happen." Shane: "Dude, little busy for pics. You know, throwing flame."

"I can handle Glory." "Can you?" Eve asked. "Because I notice you never call her Gloriana. Just Glory." He shut up. Which is probably about the only smart thing he can do, Claire thought."

"Scoot over, man. I don't like you that much." "Dick. That's not what you said last night.""Bite me."

"Stop using him, and start protecting him. I know he thinks he doesn't need it, but sometimes he does. Sometimes we all do."

"Claire. Wake up. She blinked and realized that her head was on Shane's shoulder, and Michael was nowhere to be seen. Her first thought was, Oh my God, am I drooling? Her second was that she hadn't realized she was so close to him, snuggled in. Her third was that although Michael's part of the couch was empty, Shane hadn't moved away. And he was watching her with warm, friendly eyes. Oh. Oh, wow, that was nice."

"This is the biggest damn IPod I've ever seen," Claire said, which made him choke on his beer. "Kidding. I have seen a jukebox before."

"Oliver: Fear is the natural state of anything that dies."

"Myrnin came in from the back room, carrying a load of books, which he dropped with aloud bang on the floor to glare at the two of them. "Excuse me," he said, "but when did my labbecome appropriate for snogging?""What's snogging?" Shane asked."Ridiculous displays of inappropriate affection in front of me. Roughly translated. Andwhat are you doing here?"

"I'm all right, Nic," Wolfe said, and finally looked at him. "We walked through the dungeons under Rome, survived Philadelphia, and this perfumed cage won't bring us to our knees. We're all stronger than that.""All right," Santi said. "But don't ask me to stop standing next to you. Because you know I will, however much you shout about it."

"You know,' Shane said twenty minutes later, 'I'd feel a whole lot better about the two of us if you didn't think i was the go-to guy for breaking and entering.'She felt a flash of guilt about the breaking-and-entering part -but she had called him- just before her heart did a funny little painful flip and she heard him say again in her head THE TWO OF US."

"That's brain tissue. How can you-?" Claire shut her mouth, fast. "Never mind. I don't think I wanna know.""Truly, I think that's best. Please take it." He showed his teeth briefly in a very unsettling grin. "I'm giving you a piece of my mind.""I so wish you hadn't said that."

"Oh, come on. A vamp marrying a human gets the fanged ones all upset, and Eve made herself look like the ultimate fang-anger to all the humans by putting a ring on one, so what did you expect exactly? Flowers and parades? This is Texas. We're still figuring out how to spell tolerance."

"So, been attacked by any vampires yet?""Not one.""Zombies? Giant spiders? Water monsters?"It's been really quiet on the supernatural front""Too bad, 'cause I got attacked by a devil dog. It was not awesome."

"You've turned into quite a bossy little thing," Myrnin said. "I think I might like it."

"Survival," I said softly. "It's selfish, and it's dark, and we've always been a species willing to do anything to satisfy our needs. Individuals have morals. Mobs have appetites."

"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?"

"I'm gonna kill him," Eve said, or at least that was what it sounded like filtered through the pillow.Stake him right in the heart, shove garlic up his ass, and-and-"And what?" (Michael)When did you get home?" Claire demanded.Apparently just in time to hear my funeral plans. I especially like the garlic up the ass. It's...different."

"I'm not obliged to defend your dignity. Provided you have any."

"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."

"Well," he said, "I think we've found our way in. We just wait until they're duking it out, but trust me, these Humans First types don't have a lot of staying power or they'd have been at the gym with me before. I doubt Grandma Kent there is going to do a lot of damage." He pointed at a gray-haired, hunched lady in a shawl, carrying what looked liked a gardening tool. "It's like Plants Versus Zombies, and I'm not rooting for the zombies, weirdly enough."

"Me neither, Shane put in. "Homie don't play that."I wonder, sometimes, if your generation speaks English at all, Amelie said."

"Sure, she said, and hugged the laptop bag closer. "What could go wrong?Michael's eyes flashed to meet hers in the rearview mirror.Besides everything, I mean, she said."

"Santi and Wolfe exchanged a look. Wolfe inclined his head a little to the side, with a strange, crooked smile. "You see? They're as bad as we are.""Worse," Santi sighed."

"There are always a few, Claire, who like being told what to do instead of being required to think. And those are the ones you should fear. That goes equally for humans, I'm afraid. Critical thinking has become a sadly rare skill these days."

"Any fool can kill. It takes genius to create."