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“I’m headed to the Stop and Rob,” I called downstairs. “Does anyone need anything?”
“Ahrrrr.” My husband Adam’s voice traveled up the stairs. “Gold and women and grog!” He didn’t play often, but when he did, he played full throttle and immersed. “Gold and women and grog!” echoed a chorus of men’s voices.
“Give me a man who knows what to do with what the good Lord gave him instead of these clueless scallywags who run at the first sight of a real woman.” “Ahrrrr,” agreed Auriele, while Jesse giggled.
“Swab the decks, ye lubbers, lest you slide in the blood and crack your four-pounders,” I called. “And whate’er ye do, don’t trust Barbary Belle at your back.”
“Wulfe is subtle, and he often gives correct answers that lead to the wrong conclusions.
Radiating nothing in the presence of power is a sign of even more power.
“Contact. Hmm. Full-body contact makes for an interesting negotiating technique. Diplomatic, even, like the discussions that the CIA’s well-known negotiation and waterboarding team conducts.”
Horrified, I realized that they were playing good vampire/ bad vampire.
Tri-Cities? Vampires lied all the time—but Wulfe was more like the fae. It amused him to always tell the truth and make people believe it was a lie until it was too late.
I may be fragile, but I stand on the shoulders of giants
“Love,” the vampire said thoughtfully after a moment, “is the most powerful force in the world. You are loved by many.
“don’t wait to escape. The hour you are taken is when you will be at your strongest. Time gives them the opportunity to starve you, to torture you, to break you and make you weak. You have to escape as soon as you can.”
The mastiff, bless her, welcomed me into her yard like a golden retriever welcoming a burglar into his home—that is to say, with a wagging tail and licks of affection.
While I traveled by bus, Adam made do with a luxurious private jet. That is kind of how my life goes.
The secret weakness of all vampires—and it was a big one—was that they all feared death.
As long as she felt she stood on the side of the angels, she wasn’t particular about how her enemies fell.
“And you have no room to talk.” “Yes,” Elizaveta said venomously. “We are all beautiful here. Can we get going? Or do I need to get the makeup mirror out of my purse so you two can admire yourselves a little longer?”
Adam pinched his nose and closed his eyes briefly as the weight of responsibility fell on his shoulders. He had to keep all of these people safe—and they were going to be doing their best to get themselves killed.
He folded his arms. “Peanut butter,” he said. “Excuse me?” I tried to sound blank. That stupid story had made it all the way here? Jeepers creepers.
“You,” he said, “are Bran’s little coyote girl who made him sit in peanut butter because he made your mama cry.” Foster mother, actually, but I wasn’t about to correct him. Not until I knew him better, or it was over something more important. He gave me a wolfish smile. “You wrapped his new and very expensive car around a tree. People still talk about the chocolate Easter bunny incident with awe. And still Bran did not kill you. You escaped from the Lord of Night, Master of Milan. And you want me to think you pathetic?”
“Do I look stupid to you? Tired. Pathetic. Yes. Stupid—not usually.
Witches are bitches and they’ll burn your britches sure as kittens have itches if you give ’em half a chance.”
“Matthew Smith,” said the man himself in a meek voice, though he didn’t turn back. “You can call me Matt, sir.”
“A bus,” murmured Marsilia. “At least she never hit one of mine with a bus. I wonder if it was a mark of respect—or the opposite. It doesn’t do to underestimate Mercedes, Jacob, something that I had to learn, too. Did she give you the spiel she likes to bring out now and again about how she’s mostly no more powerful than the average human? It is a most effective speech, because I think she actually believes it.”
“You already know that if my wife dies, I will not rest until you are no longer walking the earth. You don’t fear that, though you should. But what you don’t know is that Bran feels the same—and only an idiot would not fear Bran.” “Bran has cut his ties to your pack,”
I think after a long time, some people grew tired of themselves.
“When a job can’t be done, does that mean it will take forever—or no time at all?”
why would he lie unless he wanted you and he didn’t want me to know it? Are you ugly?” Heaven save me from jealous vampires. I’d always thought that vampires were cold-blooded, and, if they thought about another creature at all, it came with thoughts of food.
and not in a happy Harry Potter sort of way, either.
We have a saying, ‘Listen when the soft ones speak.’”
Explain to me how a single Alpha werewolf can dictate behavior to the Gray Lords. To Beauclaire, who has the power to level cities. To the children of Danu, who were worshipped as gods.” “Oh, that one is simple,” Adam said. “They made me do it.” Silence.
As an “I love you and wish you to return to me” it lacked both clarity and passion, Adam judged. If he’d said something that lame and uncommitted to Mercy, she’d make sure he paid for it.
when it comes right down to it, my real superpower is chaos.
“Is that Bran? Or am I hallucinating?”
Adam smiled at me; I heard it in his voice. “Of course not. What would he be doing here? It’s Matt Smith, our copilot and submissive wolf.” “Matt Smith is the Doctor,”
“no one knows what she managed except for you, me, and my people. It is better that way, no?” “Agreed,” I assured him. But part of me couldn’t help but think of that saying about how two people can keep a secret if one of them is dead.
You are not the Doctor, Bran. At your age, it is important to keep a lookout for excessive hubris.”
“And yet,” Bran said softly, “you were mine from the day I first held you. No matter how hard I fought it. It isn’t safe to be in my family, Mercy. And you were this fragile creature who put herself in the path of destruction on a daily basis.”
Bran said, “I love you.” I said, “I know.” Adam nudged me with his shoulder, and I laughed. “I love you, too.”
