A loud booming noise interrupted us, and we saw a flash of light off to my right. People near the other garages screamed. "There, you see?" asked Abe, quite pleased with himself. "A new gate. Perfect timing.

Rose!" I looked to my right and saw Adrian cutting across the lawn toward me, oblivious to the slush's effects on his designer shoes. "Did you just call me 'Rose'?" I asked. "And not 'little dhampir'? I don't think that's ever happened." "It happens all the time," he countered, catching up to me.

Having your own, um, cave at eighteen is pretty cool.

Tradition or not, I sometimes thought putting children on an old guy’s lap was already creepy enough. We didn’t need to mix alcohol into it.

For once, you're going to hear something that doesn't fit into your neat, compartmentalized world of order and logic and reason.

You will lose what you value most, so treasure it while you can.

We all have moments of weakness. It’s how we recover from them that really counts.