Where. Is. He?" Alphonse repeated, although it sounded more like "Don't make me eat your face.

I’d been declared—over my loud and sustained protests—Pythia, the chief seer of the supernatural world.

I stared at him, unable to believe this was happening. That he could just disappear, along with everything rich and strange he’d brought into my life. Vanished, like magic.

My lord...I can explain-," Louis-Cesare began, looking less than certain that he could do anything of the kind. Radu held up a hand. "I am sure there is a perfectly good reason why my niece is naked and tied to her bed. I am also equally certain that I do not wish to hear it".

..."I ran out of stock around midnight and dropped by a place, got some Chinese." I hoped he meant takeout.

Then you must be willing to fight," Mircea responded. "Life is not a gift, Raphael; it's a challenge. Rise to it!

The worst part was the silence. Death was supposed to be loud — gunshots, explosions, screams and thunder. Not this eerie quiet that wrapped around me like a shroud.