The trick to going wherever you want unchallenged in a hospital is to walk briskly, nod to the people you know, and ignore the ones you don’t. The nod reassures everyone that you are known, the brisk pace that you have a mission and don’t want to talk

Don’t lick the guests, darling. Bad manners.

It is hard to accept being different, hard to have people avoid looking at you, and still believe in yourself.

Mercy," he said,"in a fair fight between near equals, I'll back you every time. It's the demons, vampires, and river devils I worry about, and I'm working on that.

If she know how strongly he felt, she'd have run out the door. He wasn't used to the possessive, or the savage joy she brought to his heart. It ate at his control, so he turned his attention to the music. He understood music.

Not that I'd really been planning on keeping the attack secret; it had just been an option I'd wanted to keep open if I could.

He bit the nape of my neck and I moaned.