I’d been willing to kill for the people I loved for a very long time; now I had to start living for them.

I couldn’t think of anything helpful to say, so I resorted to humor, my shield of last resort. ‘Just please tell me they don’t have a dog and a picket fence.’He smiled. ‘No fence, but...

Sometimes you fight what you are, and sometimes you give in to it. And some nights you just don’t want to fight yourself anymore, so you pick someone else to fight.

Twenty-three stories up and all I could see out the windows was grey smog. They could call it the City of the Angels if they wanted to, but if there were angels out there, they...

Here’s the secret to finishing that first book. Don’t rewrite as you go.

I cannot do it. I cannot bear it. I cannot go back to what I was here. I cannot stand at her side and watch another take her. I am not that strong or that...

I used to think I knew what was right and what was wrong, and who the good guys are, and who the bad guys are. Then the world got very gray, and I didn’t know...

People are supposed to fear the unknown, but ignorance is bliss when knowledge is so damn frightening.

The Catholic Church sees voluntary vampirism as a kind of suicide. I tend to agree. Though the Pope also excommunicated all animators, unless we ceased raising the dead. Fine; I became Episcopalian.

I feel that if you are blessed, or lucky enough, to be doing well, you should help others.

I’m not terribly fond of soapboxes.

The tears were back, stinging just behind my eyes. There was blood all over my penguins. I didn’t give a damn about the walls and carpet. They could be replaced, but I’d collected those damned...

I will love you always. When this red hair is white, I will still love you. When the smooth softness of youth is replaced by the delicate softness of age, I will still want to...

when you live forever and don’t age, it gives you time to hope

To gain your heart’s desire you have to lose some part of your old life, your old self. To do that you have to have courage; without it, you can’t make the leap. And if...

Every ruler should strive for his people to love him. But if they cannot love you, then make them fear you. Love is better, but fear will do the job.

Two things I do well in books are sex and violence, but I don’t want gratuitous sex or violence. The sex and violence are only as graphic as need be. And never included unless it...

Now that I’m being very successful, publishers are trying to mainstream me, but I’m unabashedly genre. It’s what I like to read, what I like to write.

I’d never met coffee that wasn’t wonderful. It was just a matter of how wonderful it was.

He balled his hand into a fist. “You are such a bitch.” “Woof, woof,” I said.

Very few people see their own actions as truly evil,… It is left to their victims to decide what is evil and what is not.

Patience is a virtue, but there comes a moment when you must stop being patient and take the day by the throat and shake it. If it fights back; fine. I’d rather end up bloody...

I’m more influenced by my own interests than anyone else’s. Writers have to entertain themselves, or they can’t entertain anyone else.

An atheist waving a cross at a vampire was a truly pitiful sight.

There comes a point when you either embrace who and what you are, or condemn yourself to be miserable all your days. Other people will try to make you miserable; don’t help them by doing...

Most hatred is based on fear, one way or another. Yeah. I wrapped myself in anger, with a dash of hate, and at the bottom of it all was an icy center of pure terror.

What do you do with a master vampire that won’t leave you alone? Good question. Unfortunately, what I needed was a good answer.

I want a kiss to be so believable it gives the reader shivers.

I’ve been writing stories since I was 12. ‘Writer’s Digest’ was one of my writing teachers, actually.

There was a tinge of evil to it, a lot of sex, but under that was alittle boy peeking out, an uncertain little boy. That was it. That was the attraction. Nothing is moreappealing than...

Love sucks. Sometimes it feels good. Sometimes it’s just another way to bleed.

Never trust people who smile constantly. They’re either selling something or not very bright.

Give a truly good person power, and they’re still a good person. Give a bad person power, and they’re still a bad person. The question is always about the person in between. The one that...

He made a small sigh, as he swallowed the first blood, then his mouth closed over my earlobe, mouth working at the wound, tongue coaxing blood from the wound. He pressed his body the length...

If you’re open to it, New Orleans will teach you about yourself, but if you want to hide from who you really are, the city will help you do that, too.

trust me, Anita, if you get dead, especially if he blames himself in any way, he will be a force of destruction looking for a place to be aimed. And he’s blamed himself for introducing...

All I really wanted to do was cuddle back under the blankets, maybe with a certain stuffed toy penguin I knew. Yeah, hiding sounded good.

I’m dating three men, living with two more, and having occasional sex with two others. That’s seven men. I’m like a pornographic Snow White. I think seven is plenty.

Vampires are people too!

I’m Christian, but if God is truly a God of love, then why would he have a private torture chamber where he put people that he was supposed to love and forgive to be punished...

If I’d been easily discouraged, I could have been a one-hit wonder.

It may be a crush, or hero worship (…), it may not be love, but if you’ve never felt anything stronger, how do you tell the difference?

Please, Anita, go home, and don’t freak. Just go home, and be happy. Be happy, and let everyone around you be happy. Is that so hard?When Jason said it like that, it didn’t seem hard....

Only those who have never known fear are allowed to think less of others for being afraid. Frankly, I think anyone who has never been afraid of anything in their entire life is either a...

The sunken grave would fade away, probably in my lifetime. If I could avoid killer zombies for a few years. And vampires. And gun-toting humans. Oh, hell, the hot-spot would probably outlast me.

What happens in Vegas may stay in Vegas, but what happens in New Orleans, goes home with you.

If people would write exactly what I wanted to read I wouldn’t feel so compelled to write myself.

Questions are great, but only if you know the answers. If you ask questions and the answers surprise you, you look silly.

Only love of a good woman will make a man question every choice, every action. Only love makes a warrior hesitate for fear that his lady will find him cruel. Only love makes a man...

Can the sarcasm,’ he said. ‘Please, I always use fresh sarcasm, never canned.