Daniel came to sit beside me, ignoring my wariness and settling into the thin, worn cushion. “Who’d you think I was that first night we met?” “The night you attacked me, you mean? I thought you were a vampire.” “A vampire?” His look was one of genuine confusion. “Vampires aren’t real.

Then what’s the problem? You keep telling me she’s just a job. So, fine. The job’s done. You found her. You trained her. Now she has to do her part. She has to kill Dmitri. Whether she can survive the battle or not doesn’t matter, and it isn’t up to you to decide.” Luc got up from the swing and went to Daniel. “Listen, man, I’m trying to be a friend here. You’ve been down here so long you’re starting to think like one of them. Quit trying to grow a conscience and just finish what you started.

That last night,” she said quietly. “Why did you say you hoped you'd never see me again?”He hadn’t said it; it had been his last thought when he’d turned to leave. But he didn’t seem to notice the discrepancy as he looked at her now.“Because,” he began before faltering, his voice leaving on a sigh. His left hand reached to rake a path through his hair, scattering the inky thickness in all directions. “The more I learn of you, the more difficult it is to stay away.

I’m going to ask you a question,” I said. “And I want an answer this time, no dodging and no playing cryptic. Is the reason you’re leaving because you need to look for Nicholas, or because you want to get away from me?”Daniel looked me square in the eye, unblinking. “The first thing accomplishes the second, now doesn’t it?

He tasted like summertime - of wicked thunderstorms, fresh clover, and wild honeysuckle - and I had the sensation of falling, my stomach tumbling over and over again until calm finally reached in, rooting deep and stretching out to encompass everything: my mind, my body. And my soul - whatever that was. The same clean, almost scentless breeze whipped over us again, just like it had the first night we’d met, and I could physically feel one chapter of my life closing and another beginning.

I twisted my body, suddenly unable to stand his hands on me. “Do you really think I give a damn what you are? That anything else matters to me more than you, yourself? I don’t want you to stay because you think I need a protector, Daniel. I’ve been looking after myself for a very long time now, and I’ve done just fine. Dammit, have some faith in me.”“If I didn’t have faith in you, Sarah, I wouldn’t feel this way.