Nothing bubbled up from the depths. For once, the present was so alive and captivating that the past was not even an echo or a shadow-she was, in this moment, wiped clean.

You are the male I might have been. You are the potential I had and lost. You are the honor and the strength and the kindness she needs. You'll take care of her. I want you to take care of her.

He [Vishous] was all need, no ease.

Too bad the freedom seemed like a prison. As his boots hit the mosaic floor at the bottom of the stairs, John Mellencamp's old-school, bic-lighter anthem echoed in his head-and though he'd always like the song okay, he'd never truly understood what it meant. Kind of wished that were still the case. Life goes on...long after the thrill of living is gone.

That human, he's a lesser waiting to happen, in my opinion--nothing less, nothing more

Good? No, that didn't go far enough. She'd made him feel… alive. Awakened.

[...]you know what they say about messengers, right"? Excuse me?" Too much bad news will get you shot."[...]