"Sometimes you wake up from a dream. Sometimes you wake up in a dream. And sometimes, every once in a while, you wake up in someone else's dream."

"Do you think I'm pretty?He regarded me with utter seriousness, like he always did. "I think you're beautiful."Beautiful?"You are so beautiful, it hurts me sometimes."

"Throughout history, people with new ideas-who think differently and try to change things-have always been called troublemakers."

"I needed to protect her from this - and from herself."

"Both Christian and Adrian had worried there would be some piece of Strigoi left in him, but their fears had been about violence and bloodshed. No one would have guessed this: that living as a Strigoi had hardened his heart, killing any chance of him loving anyone.Killing any chance of him loving me.And I was pretty sure that if that was the case, then part of me would die too."

"I looked him in the eye. "I will always love you. Then I plunged the stake into his chest."

"Wow, said Adrian. He sat down on the bed and tested its bounciness, giving it a nod of approval. "This is amazing. What do you think, buttercup?"I have no words, I said honestly.He patted the spot beside him. "Want to try it out?"

"Wow. What'd he do to deserve that? Rescue orphans from a burning building? If so, you might want to make sure he didn't set the building on fire in the first place."

"Yeah? Can you draw a skeleton riding a motorcycle with flames coming out of it? And I want a pirate hat on the skeleton. And a parrot on his shoulder. A skeleton parrot. Or maybe a ninja skeleton parrot? No, that would be overkill. But it'd be cool if the biker skeleton could be shooting some ninja throwing stars. That are on fire."

"What's that?" he asked, when I stood beside him again."Halos," I said with a grin. "For heavenly creatures like us.""That might be a stretch."

"What hope is there?" I asked. "If even angels fall, what hope is there for the rest of us?"

"Did you pick that out?" I asked Dimitri. Honestly, I would have expected him to bend a piece of steel with his bare hands and present her with that."

"The only thing better than imagining Dimitri carrying me in his arms was imagining him shirtless while carrying me in his arms."

"But what are loyalty and caring really worth?""To me? Everything."

"It is terrifying, said Adrian. "And weird, for lack of a better word. And part of you knows well, part of you knows something's not right. That your thinking's not right. But what do you about that? All we can go on is what we think, how we see the world. If you can't trust your own mind, what can you trust? What other people tell you?"

"How we love others is affected by how we love ourselves, and for the first time in a long time, I was whole."

"I'd said it before and meant it: Alive or undead, the love of my life was a badass."

"God might work on mysterious ways, but hell worked on efficient ones."

"Call me crazy for asking this, but, um, are Lissa and I going with you?""No""No?""No."

"Yet, it had been Dimitri's gentleness and thoughtfulness mixed with that deadliness that made him so wonderful. The same hands that wielded stakes with such precision would carefully brush the hair out of my face. The eyes that could astutely spot any danger in the area would regard me wonderingly and worshipfully, like I was the most beautiful and amazing woman in the world."

"Feel guilty. Mourn this. But move on. Don't let it destroy you. Forgive yourself."

"I had a standing arrangement with God: I'd agree to believe in Him -barely- as long as He let me sleep in on Sundays."

"In the real world, you can make your own miracles."

"It doesn't matter, said Adrian, smiling. He rested a hand on my shoulder. "Some things are worth the trouble."

"Hey." She said, looking up from an open book propped up on one knee. She brushed a few strands of pale hair out of her face. Her boyfriend, Christian, lay on the floor near her, his head propped up on her other knee. He greeted me by way of a nod. Concidering the antagonism the sometimes flared up between us, that was almost on par with him giving me a bear hug."

"Did you just use juxtaposition in a sentence?" "Yes, Sage" he said patiently. "We use it all the time with art, ... That, and I know how to use a dictionary."

"I told her if she really cared about me, then she'd let me do whatever I wanted for my birthday, just like Mom did when I was twelve."What happened when you were twelve?"Oh, Mom offered to take us all out for dinner-us girls, Dad was out of town-to celebrate, but I didn't want to. This book I'd been waiting for had just come out, and the only thing I wanted to do was read it all night."My God, I said, touching the top of her nose. "You're adorable.She swatted me away. "Anyway, Carly and Zoe really wanted to go out so that they could score a meal, but Mom just said, 'It's her birthday. Let her do whatever she wants.'"Your mom is cool."

"Your wit is always such a delight, Mr. Zeklos. I can barely contain myself around it."

"I had never thought I could love another person this much. I also never thought I'd live in such fear of losing another person. Was this how everyone in love felt? Did they all cling tightly to their beloved and wake up terrified in the middle of the night, afraid of being alone? Was that an inevitable way of life when you loved so deeply? Or was it just those of us who walked on a precipice who lived in such panic?"

"Except, now that I don't have a car, I can't really make good on my birthday promise. Sydney thought about it for several moments. "Well. I've got a car.An hour later, I vowed I'd never make fun of that Mazda again."

"When he finished, he drank from the cup. Everyone else did too, so I followed suit.And nearly choked to death.It was like fire in liquid form. It took every ounce of strength I had to swallow it and not spray it on those around me."Wh...what is this?" I asked, coughing.Viktoria grinned. "Vodka."I peered at the glass. "No, it isn't. I've had vodka before.""Not Russian vodka."Apparently not."

"Sydney spent a lot of time on my bed these days.Unfortunately, it wasn't with me."

"Everything's about my personal entertainment. The world is my stage. Keep it up- you're becoming a star performer in the show."

"Those words, that voice, had more power over me than any phantom ever could."

"Adrian, I'm on a date. Why are you here? On my car?"

"She was right about something else too," Dimitri said after a long pause. My back was to him, but there was a strange quality to his voice that made me turn around."What's that?" I asked."That I do still love you."With that one sentence, everything in the universe changed."

"Because I've got a lot more terms of endearment to use. Honey pie. Sugarplum. Bread pudding.""Why are they all high-calorie foods?"

"I had a standing agreement with god. I'd agree to believe in him, barely, so long as he let me sleep in on Sundays."

"I'm sure it is," she replied. Her expression turned fierce, making her look far different from the scattered teacher I knew. "But listen to me when I say this. You are exceptional, taleneted, and brilliant young woman. Do not ever let anyone make you feel like you're less. Do not ever let anyone make you feel invisible. Do not let anyone-not even a teacher who constantly sends you for coffee-push you around." She put her glasses back on and began randomly lifting up pieces of papers. At last, she found a pen and grinned triumphantly."Now, then. What is your brother's name?"

"I don't balance you like you need.""What the hell does that mean?" he exclaimed.My heart ached for him, and I was so sorry for what I'd done...but this was the truth of it all. "The fact that you have to ask says it all. When you find that person...you'll know."

"Rose, I cheat at cards and buy liquor for minors. But I would never, ever force you into something you don't want."

"My skin tingled, and suddenly, Deanna materialized before us. I jumped."

"And besides . . . I don't want to leave you. Er, you guys.He smiled, and it lit up his whole face. "Well, 'we' are certainly happy to hear that. Oh, and I'm also happy to watch our darling little love child dragon while you're in St. Louis.I grinned back."

"He'd moved toward me again. His hands released mine and moved to my waist, and I noticed I wasn't the only one breathing heavily. He pulled me to him, bringing our bodies together. The world was all heat and electricity, thick with tension that was only one spark away from exploding around us. I was balancing on another precipice, which wasn't easy to do in heels. I wrapped my arms around his neck, and this time I was the one who drew him closer."

"He nodded toward the sub. "This is going to be a blow-off day."I dragged my mind away from magical intrigue. After being homeschooled for most of my life, some parts of the "normal" school world was a mystery. "What does that mean, exactly.""Usually teacher leave subs a lesson plan, telling them what to do. I saw Ms. Terwilliger left. It said, 'Distract them."

"I nearly dropped the plate I held. "You've asked me out tons of times.""Not really. I've made inapproprite suggestions and frequently pushed for nudity. But I've never asked you out on a real date. And, if memory serves, you did say you'd give me a fair chance once I let you clean out my trust fund.""I didn't clean it out," I scoffed."

"I've heard that the soul often recognizes truth when it hears it, even if the mind does not."

"I get in that kind of situation all the time, Comrade. It's not a big deal." Anger replaced my fear. I didn't like being treated like a child. "Stop calling me that. You don't even know what you're talking about." "Sure I do. I had to do a report on the R.S.S.R. last year."

"There was so much testosterone in the air, I felt like I needed a gas mask."

"My hands tightened on her, and I again tried to memorize every part of this moment. There was such perfection in the way our bodies were wrapped together. It didn't seem possible that outside the sanctity of this moonlit car was a world we had to hide from, a world that wanted to tear us apart. The thought of what surrounded us made what was between us seem that much more fragile."