I need it! I need it! It’s a royal heirloom!””Adrian?””What are you doing here?””Looking for you. Come on, we need to go. I’ll drive you home.””No, I can’t. Not until we get it. He stole...

Everything I’d fought for, every challenge, every victory … all of it was empty if anything happened to him. Without him, I wouldn’t have had the courage to become the person I was. Without him,...

What were you thinking?” I demanded once we were moving to the music. I was trying to ignore his hands. “Do you know how much trouble you may have gotten me in?”Adrian grinned. “Nah. They...

So, what’s this mean exactly?” he asked.”You finally come around, and now you’re going to just end things because of her?””Kissing you isn’t exactly ‘coming around.'”He gave me a long, level look. “There was a...

She sat up, cheeks flushed and golden hair tousled. She was so beautiful that it made my soul ache. I always wished desperately that I could paint her in these moments and immortalize that look...

Why do you react that way if I don’t mean anything to you?” There was a desperation in his voice, and it was legitimate.

Escape plan number seventeen,” I told her. “Run away and open a juice stand in Fresno.””Why Fresno?””Sounds like the kind of place people drink a lot of juice.

Are you in a suit?’ I managed at last, my voice choking up. ‘You didn’t have to dress up for me.”Quiet, Sage,’ he said. ‘I’ll make the hilarious one-liners during this daring rescue.

Whether it’s simply some fierce animaljoining of mates or a sublime mergingof souls, she is mine, and I am hers.

Let me get this straight. The future of our relationship hinged on advice from a fifteen-year-old girl, a probably untrue story from a one-eyed Chihuahua trainer, and me unromantically – yet skillfully – kissing you...

“Whatever happened to the dragon?” I mustered my primmest tone. “He has a name, you know.”Adrian pulled back and gave me a curious look. “I didn’t know, actually. What’d you decide on?” “Hopper.” When Adrian...

My boyfriend was insanely sexy, vampire or not, and I couldn’t keep my hands off him.

Our lips met hungrily, and his clever artistic hands wrapped around my hips. A sudden buzz from my regular cell phone startled me from the kissing.”Don’t,” said Adrian, his eyes ablaze and breathing ragged.”What if...

That we should’ve been doing this a long time ago.

What is it with you and girls, Adrian, dear? Why do they either mean nothing to you or everything? It’s always an extreme.””Because I don’t do things in halves, mom. Especially when it comes to...

Centrum permanebit.

I’m guessing whatever ‘ways’ you have in mind aren’t Jill-appropriate either.” “Put your books away and I’ll show you.

Somehow, Sydney had an internal clock that told her when time was up. I think it was part of her inherent ability to keep track of a hundred things at once. Not me. In these...

I gave him a smile that I hoped was as dazzling as one of his. “I realized I’m in love.”Marcus, startled, looked around as though he expected to see my object d’amour in the car...

Did Belikov bend the rules of time and space to get here so fast? He can do that, right?

Why are they all high-calorie foods?

He’s been out for a while,” she said. “You ready to take a break?”Hopper could exist in this living form or be transformed into a small statue, which helped avoid uncomfortable questions when people came...

I can’t waste time quibbling over trivial things like pepperoni and mushrooms. If you’d gone to my school in Devonshire, you’d understand. For one of my sophomore classes, they left us alone on the moors...

All that mattered was that he was Adrian, my Adrian. My match. My partner in crime, in the long battle I’d just signed on for to right the wrongs in the Alchemist and Moroi worlds....

An image of Sydney’s face appeared in my mind’s eye, calm and lovely.I believe in you.My anxiety faded.I took a deep breath and met the gazes of all those watching me in the room.Who was...

As far as I’m concerned, you’re both.

Damn, you have no idea what I have been through today.””Actually I have a pretty good idea.

It’s a fact that people are afraid of what they don’t understand. And most are too lazy or ignorant to find out more.

We will undo whatever that Moroi boy has done to you.””You sure about that, Dad? Because he’s done everything to me.

Well—actually, I am. And I’m pretty sure there are certain things we have to do before you need to be reading that.

You know,” he said, “under normal circumstances, you inviting me to the bedroom would be the highlight of my day.”I crossed my arms and sat on the bed. I did so out of simple fatigue,...

I left it out on the street. Figured it’ll be fine there while I’m gone.

She is mine, and I am hers.

Well…I’m on birth control”I was drinking the water again and choked on it. It took several moments of coughing before I could gasp out. “What?””It takes a while for it to start working, so I...

Adrian Ivashkov wasn’t easy to surprise, but I surprised him then when I brought his mouth toward mine. I kissed him, and for a moment, he was too stunned to respond. That lasted for, oh,...

No matter how long or how difficult, we will undo whatever that Moroi boy has done to you.”I managed a wavering smile, tasting blood in my mouth. “You sure about that, Dad? Because he’s done...

Not everything about me is cute.””That’s true, some things are cute. The rest are sexy. Astonishing, agonizingly sexy. It’s a wonder I can get anything done at all, when all I ever think about is...

Nah. It’s part of the gift: you getting to think about it for the next three days.

I’ve taken debate classes. You’d lose to my logic.

Ivashkov,” she repeated, her face the picture of serenity. “My name is Sydney Ivashkov.

My nails dug into his back, and he trailed his lips down the edge of my chin, down the center of my neck. He kept going until he reached the bottom of the dress’s V-neck....

You can think whatever you want, do whatever you want. I’m going to just go on loving you, even if it’s hopeless.

Well. I’ve got a car.”An hour later, I vowed I’d never make fun of that Mazda again.

And you look cute with hypothermia. I hope to God you can get a real coat while you’re here.

Moroi shied from the sunlight but as I watched Sydney, I knew without a doubt that humans had been made for the sun.

Relax, having kids is years away. But can you imagine? Your brains, my charm, our collective good looks… then add in the usual physical abilities dhampirs get. It’s really not even fair to everyone else.

My wife, ladies and gentlemen. Beauty, brains, and now brawn.

Love is a flame in the dark. A breath of warmth on a winter’s night. A star that guides you home.

Out of old habit, I put my hand on my collarbone, touching a cross that was no longer there. Don’t let them change me, I prayed silently.Let me keep my mind. Let me endure whatever...

Sydney spent a lot of time on my bed these days.Unfortunately, it wasn’t with me.