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Guidance is not the same thing as coercion.”
“You are being vague and evasive,” Rudy said. “And you are being disingenuous,” countered Nicodemus. “You do know what I am saying.”
“The killer,” he said. “The one who has lost the grace of the Goddess. The one who walks with ghosts.”
If I felt the tension of a wire or heard a click, I was going to set a new land speed record for a scared white guy in a hazmat suit.
A scalpel, not a sword.
I wanted to scream, to pound my fists on the walls. But all I could do was continue, to go on, go deeper into this madness.
imagine that the economy is like an hourglass. Turn it on its head and the sand flows in a safe and predictable way. But if that same glass had holes in its sides, then during the process of turning it around some sand would inevitably fall out.”
You’d be surprised how many of these soldiers of God will sell their own mothers for a few hundred K and a California blonde with plastic tits. Kind of ruins your faith in suicidal fundamentalism.”
I knew that I didn’t want to do so from the cold and antiseptic distance of a gun.
I’m no saint. Furthest thing from it. But I can at least grant a little mercy.
‘behind every great man is a—” “totally psycho power-hungry bitch?”
Dogs are truly the best of companions. You don’t need to explain. They know as much as they need to know, and they are loyal no matter what sins you’ve committed.
“When you were in there … was that the Killer or the Cop?”
imagine asking that question on a performance review: ‘Would you release a virus capable of creating a global pandemic to keep your kids safe?’
The Angel of Death might smile like that.
“The darkness is all around us. Very few people have the courage to light a candle against it.”
Like the unknown and unseen enemy we fight, people like you and me, we are the darkness. In some ways we are more like the things we’re fighting than the people we’re protecting. Granted our motives are better—from our perspective—but we wait in the shadows for our unseen enemy to make a move against those innocents with the candles. And by that light we take aim.”
his favorite toy—a well-chewed stuffed cat with DR. HU stitched on its chest—from
The brown of her eyes was so dark that the irises looked black.
You, on the other hand, are a very good-looking man of prime breeding age. Old enough to have interesting lines and scars—and stories to go with them—and young enough to be a catch.
“I’m as male and horny as the next guy. Maybe the next four guys, and sure, that’s the alpha-wolf drive-to-breed gene firing on all cylinders.
I’m letting my heart take a long vacation. It might even retire to a cave.”
person ‘becomes’ something higher through ritual acts that include sacrifice.”
“Killing is proof of dominance over ordinary life as well as the pathway to ascendency.”
It’s always a Hallmark moment with him. You always feel like your call is the centerpiece of his day.
The ache in my chest was so fresh, so raw, that I wanted to scream. I could see every line, every curve, of Grace’s beautiful face. I could smell the scent of her, taste her lips, feel the solid, lithe warmth of her in my arms.
personal murders so numerous that they were recounted in summary form.
We maintain the conqueror’s point of view, which is self-justifying.”
He looked into Santoro’s eyes and saw—nothing. No life, no spark of humanity, no genuine passion. There was absolutely nothing there. It was like looking into the eyes of a monster. A zombie. Or a demon.
“Conscience is what we choose to make it. The devil on your left shoulder and the angel on your right are slaves to your will.”
“Alpha wolf bullies young pup.”
Ghost looked up as if he understood that comment and regarded it as heresy.
“He said I was a world-class smart-ass. He’s right, too. I hold several international records.”
The gnashing and wailing is such a kick.”
I hoped like hell the Spaniard would show up. There were a few things I’d like to discuss with him. And then I wanted to rip his fucking lungs out.
Top gave them a warmer smile than anything his enemies would believe him capable of.
We slapped each other’s backs as Ghost yipped and danced around us. He loses all traces of self-respect around Rudy.
My, my, but the good Lord was in a generous mood when he made her.”
“Rudy,” he said exactly the same way someone would say “your slave.”
A goose had walked over my grave, as my grandmother would say.
once he purchased a Mercedes dealership on a bet and then lost it in a run of poker hands that same night.
sometimes you feel painted with magic as you run through hellfire without a scratch. Bunny calls it having a Die Hard moment. Top says that it’s Madman Mojo.
How many of the bastards did they send? I mean, I’m flattered and all that they think I’m that tough, but an entire army seemed a bit excessive.
He cut me off. “How is Circe? Is she injured?”
No matter how much you hate someone, no matter how justified you are in pulling the trigger, at the end of the day there are only three possible emotional reactions to killing another human being.
Bring Dr. O’Tree as well.” He paused. “How is she handling this?”
“If that son of a bitch in there knows something that might stop this from happening, then you go and fucking get it.”
For just a second her tone of voice and ferocity of personality reminded me of Mr. Church.
You simply cannot imagine him losing a fight, and I doubt he ever has.
If it came down to a fight between us, I didn’t like my odds.
