As a child, Kate hat once asked her mother how she would know she was in love. Her mother had said she would know she was in love when she would be willing to give up chocolate forever to be with that person for even an hour. Kate, a dedicated and hopeless chocoholic, had decided right then that she would never fall in love. She had been sure that no male was worth such privation.

Kate," Lucern interrupted. "What?" she asked warily. "I do not need blood." He tugged her off balance and into his lap. "All I need is you.

I'm mortal. You really don't want me falling down stairs and breaking my neck." "I'd catch you," he assured her solemnly. "I'll always be there to catch you, Inez.

Inez? I'm sorry I bit you," he said with sincere regret, and then inspiration made him add, "Bastien made me do it.

Birthdays could be such a bummer when you were older than the country you lived in.

Intelligent people know they are intelligent. They also know that one person cannot know all, hence a person is not stupid simply because he is ignorant of one thing or another. They know that, to another intelligent person, they will not appear stupid in asking for an explanation of what they do not know, and so their ignorance on any particular issue does not become an embarrassment.

Dani," Decker said firmly. "Trust me, this is not a dream." "Why is it you men always say trust me before spitting out something completely unpalatable?" she asked, irritation flickering through her. "Vampires aren't supposed to be real. And how come you had to be a cute vampire? You should be a dog. All evil, vile people should look as ugly as they are inside." "We aren't ev--" Decker halted his denial, and then did something she hadn't yet seen him do and lifted his lips in a very rare-and in her opinion, totally inappropriate-grin as he asked, "You think I'm cute?