Empire of the Vampire (Empire of the Vampire, #1)

by Jay Kristoff

Take hold of my hand, For you are no longer alone. Walk with me in hell.

ASK ME NOT if God exists, but why he’s such a prick. Even the greatest of fools can’t deny the existence of evil. We dwell in its shadow every day.

My mama knew herself, and there’s a fearsome power in that. Knowing exactly who you are and exactly what you’re capable of. Most folk would call it arrogance, I suppose. But most folk are fucking fools.”

“Too much hate will burn a man to cinders, Chevalier.” “Oui. But at least he’ll die warm.”

“There’s no misery so deep as one you face by yourself. No nights darker than ones you spend alone. But you can learn to live with any weight. Your scars grow thick enough, they become armor.

there’s a difference between those who swim with the flood and those who drown fighting it. And its name is Wisdom.

“‘I wouldn’t do that if I were you, my little bumblefuck,’ Talon warned.

Forged from the dark belly of a fallen star in an age whose name was legend.

“The graveyards of the world are full of fools who thought of fear as anything but a friend.”

Gabriel tapped an empty leather pouch at his belt. “Behold the purse in which I keep my fucks for what you think of me.”

God didn’t want me. And the devil was afraid to open the door.’

Through all my years in San Michon, all the blood and sweat and darkling roads I walked, I learned one of my greatest lessons sitting in that Library with those girls in the still of the night. “A life without books is a life not lived.

“‘But you’re not a weak and foolish girl.’ “‘No. I’m a fucking queen.’

Put a man in a room for a hundred years with a thousand books, and he’ll know a million truths. Put him in a room for a year with silence, and he’ll know himself.”

“‘Fuck,’ I sighed. “‘Fuuuck,’ Dior said. “‘… Fuuuck?’ I asked. “‘Fuuuuuuuuck,’ he nodded.

If His will be done is the golden rule, then God’s going to do what he wants, regardless of how hard you beg him.

Well, fuck my face…’”

“No mercy begged, Gabriel. And none bestowed.

That’s the horrifying part—the only thing holding some folk back from the worst atrocities they can imagine is the fear they might not get away with it.

How relevant this is now

hanging limp as a boned fish.

So many LOTR lines

Your past is stone, but your future is clay. And you decide the shape of the life you’ll make.’

‘I’ve tits that’d make angels cheer, you grumpy shit.’

“‘Get dressed,’ Dior spat. ‘Can’t have lil’ Gabriel flapping about while we’re running for our lives through a nunnery.’

“She sighed, pawing her hair down over her eyes. I’d noticed she did that when she wanted to stop people from seeing her.

“‘I didn’t know girls could love girls. I just knew I loved being with her.

All the people I care about leave, or they get taken away.

I know every time you give a piece of yourself to someone, you risk them breaking it. I know there are some wounds that never truly heal, and sometimes all that’s left of people are their scars. I know time eats us all alive.’

My friends are the hill I die on.

That’s the awful part about it: the worst days of your life start out just like any other.

“But there is a time for killing too. “There is a time for blood. “And a time for rage. “And a time to close your eyes and become the thing hell wants you to be.

In those few moments I had them, and if only then, I was immortal. Because they were immaculate. And they were mine.

“‘I will never leave you,’ I vowed.

Privileges of being a father. Don’t do what I do, do what I say.’

“‘Who the fuck told you I was a hero?’

The simple wonder of books.