1
I like pink." Lucius sniffed. "It's just red's sorry, weak cousin.Beth Fantaskey
2
Stupid Romanian bloodsucker. He was lucky I hadn't bestowed another exalted scar on his imperial body.Beth Fantaskey
3
Fear is the worst kind of grave, because it buries one alive.Beth Fantaskey
4
I knew that most people would consider us too young to talk about lifelong commitments or marriage, but I couldn’t imagine taking her to bed without that promise. Even if it meant never being with her, I didn’t want to have one desperate, hurried, hidden night. I wanted to put a ring on her finger. I wanted a future–or nothing. I knew, in her heart, that she would want that, tooBeth Fantaskey
5
As you wish, of course." Lucius lowered the volume on an old record player, which spun a warped vinyl disk that wailed unfamiliar music, scratchy and whiny, like cats fighting. Or a coffin with rusty hinges opening and closing over and over again in a deserted mausoleum. "Do you like Croatian folk?" heasked, seeing my interest. "It reminds me of home."" I prefer normal music."" Ah, yes, your MTV with all the bumping and grinding. Like a shot of raging adolescent hormones administered via television. I'm not averse.Beth Fantaskey
6
The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.Beth Fantaskey
7
As you know, I have always been curious about our immortality.. how it feels to live on and on through time.. I need speculate no longer, I have sampled eternity in Miss Campbell's fifth period "social studies" class. Three days on the concept of "manifest destiny, " Vasile. THREE DAYS. I yearned to stand up, rip her lecture notes from her pallid hands, and scream, 'Yes, America expanded westward! Is that not logical, given that Europeans settled on the Eastern shore? What else were they to do? Advance vainly into the sea? .Beth Fantaskey
8
Why do humans always look at these things from the wrong perspective? Predators deserve our sympathy, too.Beth Fantaskey
9
On the stage Tristen bent over the piano, his fingers swift and sure, his blond hair gleaming under the spotlight. I glanced around at the audience, watching their faces, gratified that they were as captivated as I was by the dark, thunderous song that Tristen conjured.Beth Fantaskey
10
Happiness makes people beautifulBeth Fantaskey
11
You're a wrestler, right, Jake?" Dad asked, passing Jake more saag. My parents were in an Indian food phase. The evening's entree consisted of limp spinach. God forbid we'd throw a few burgers on the grill and just have a barbecue when guests came over. Jake gave the bright green, mushy contents a wary glance but accepted the bowl. "Yeah. I wrestle. I'm captain this year."" How Greco-Roman of you, " Lucius said dryly, lifting a glob of spinach and letting it drip, slowly, from his fork. "Grappling about on mats.Beth Fantaskey
12
(Honestly, Raniero, are we the only noble-born Vladescus who would know, for certain, that Bluetooth is not some dread, vampire-specific disorder involving lack of oxygen to the gums? I fear it is true.)Beth Fantaskey
13
Ranerio wrapped his hand around mine, guiding my fingers like Lucius had done when he'd shown me the latch behind the dressing-room door mirror. But while the warrior I loved had been offering me an escape route, the pacifist was trying to show me how to fight.Beth Fantaskey
14
Where do you. come from?" Frank challenged, puffing his chest, a little bolder now that he could breathe. "Some of us are starting to wonder."" I come from civilization, " Lucius retorted. "You wouldn't be familiar with the territory. Now pick up the books.Beth Fantaskey
15
Lucius shrugged. "Perhaps in time you will find it useful."" Sure. I'll keep it on my shelf right next to The Idiot's Guide to Becoming a Mythical Creature.''Lucius actually laughed. "Very funny. I didn't know you made jokes."" I'm a funny person, " I defended myself. "And by the way– I don't snore."" You do snore. And you mumble, too." My blood froze. The dream. "What? What did you hear?"" Nothing too intelligible. But it must have been a rather pleasant dream. You sounded ecstatic.Beth Fantaskey
16
I must endure, fighting the temptation simply to become slack-jawed like most of my school 'peers' (they wish! ), who will themselves into a collective, vacant, trancelike state for the duration of each class. (Although I sometimes secretly envy their ability to empty their minds completely for a full fifty minutes, reanimating only at the sound of a bell, like Pavlov's dogs...)Beth Fantaskey
17
My greatest friend is truth.Beth Fantaskey
18
One should never confuse fashionable with beautifulBeth Fantaskey
19
This is eternity, Antanasia, " he said, both warning and imploring. "Eternity.Beth Fantaskey
20
I was wrong to insult you, and not only because you are my hosts. I am afraid that I mistook kindness for weakness. My apologies. I stand - only with your aid - profoundly corrected.Beth Fantaskey
21
It is strange how love is a source for power——can spur the desire to fight to the death, or to fight back from something that seems like death for long enough to write a coherent note——but also of weakness.Beth Fantaskey
22
Why did I sign up for this?'' Because we grow by challenging ourselves.Beth Fantaskey
23
She, of all people, knew the sacred trust that word -- "librarian" -- implied. Because a librarian was supposed to to be a spiritual, intellectual mentor who kept your secrets and didn't give you a funny look when you checked out a book on the care and feeding of pythons... A librarian opened up new doors for you, intellectually, too, without shoving you through them. A librarian was important.Beth Fantaskey
24
Everybody should have a librarian.Beth Fantaskey