Both Christian and Adrian had worried there would be some piece of Strigoi left in him, but their fears had been about violence and bloodshed. No one would have guessed this: that living as a Strigoi had hardened his heart, killing any chance of him loving anyone. Killing any chance of him loving me. And I was pretty sure that if that was the case, then part of me would die too.

Rose was so full of life and passion that sometimes she seemed more human than I was.

Well, you've finally got a license to kill. It's about time.

That's pretty weird—and when I say something's weird, you know it's serious.

I thought I'd finally get to relax with Dimitri.

You're burned into my mind forever. There is nothing, nothing in this world that will ever change that.

Besides, when not hard at work with this research, I'm actually conducting a side experiment on how cigarettes and gin increase charisma. As you might guess, the results are looking very promising.