1
She sighed. Loudly. "Physical appearance is not what is important." Yeah right. Tell that to any girl who hasn't bothered to put on a presentable shirt or fix her hair because she's only running into the grocery store to get a quart of milk for her grandmother, and who does she see tending the 7-ITEMS-OR-LESS cash register but the guy of her dreams, except she can't even say hi–much less try to develop a meaningful relationship–since she looks like the poster child for the terminally geeky. .Vivian Vande Velde
2
Don't, " she begged, knowing that surely she was trying his patience, that his kindness would stretch just so far, that if he were truly kind he could never have survived as a vampire.Vivian Vande Velde
3
Little girls who hang around with vampires need to get used to dead things... In fact, little girls who hang around with vampires already are with dead things.Vivian Vande Velde
4
And there was this sweet-looking little old lady with her white hair in a bun and everything, the typical grandmother type, and she was swearing her head off. I guess Alzheimer's had brought out her inner sailor.Vivian Vande Velde
5
That's very kind of you, " she said bitterly, for she no longer believed in kindness. "And you're willing to do this...why? Because you're fond of helping others?"" I'm fond of revenge, " the dragon answered.Vivian Vande Velde
6
Dragons don't ask for maidens, he said. Dragons are offered maidens. Alys shook her head to show she didn't understand. Is a king likely to be a maiden? Or a village headman? It's the men who make the laws that decree that maidens be offered.Vivian Vande Velde