Quotes from Kim Harrison

She reeked of tenure

Shouts of dismay rose as the red flesh splattered against the table. It was only a tomato, but one would think I was pulping a decaying heart by the noise the big, strong FIB officers were making.

His right ear still held both studs, and I wondered who had the missing earring. I would have asked, but was afraid he'd tell me Ivy had it.

Avoiding me, Quen downed a swallow of wine. Trent is a fine young man, he said, watching the remaining wine swirl. Yes... I drawled, cautiously. If you can call a drug lord and outlawed-medicine manufacturer a fine young man.

itsy-bitsy-skitsy

Jenks]I think you're all screwy in the head, he said when Bis nodded his encouragement. But go ahead. I've got Quen's number in my phone. I'll call him if you both explode in a flash of black underwear and money so I won't have to fly all the way home.

Sure, it was nice now, but eventually there would be running and screaming and blood on the floor.

Anything worth having is going to be hard

Double damn. I was a harlot. I was a freaking vampire hussy.

You just click your heels and think there's no place like being pwned.

Maybe if I didn't say anything about what happened, we could get back to the way we were. Ignoring a problem was a perfectly acceptable way to deal with it, as long as both people agree never to bring it up again.

Life was going on, and no one but a handful of people cared if I lived or died.

The cookie maker needs someone to look out for him.

I cannot stay, he lied for me, eyes averted. I'm only going to be here for a time, then leave you. His gaze met mine. And I will cry when I go, because I could love you forever.

Did something happen to the sanctity of your church again? My eye twitched. Newt broke it so she could look in my closet. Again.

She was only a year old, but elves grew up fast. Not like witches, who Jenks swore were not able to be on their own until they were thirty. Ahem.

Coffee. I could smell coffee. Coffee would make everything better.

Rose to Rachel: You cry you get angry then you do something about it.

I tried to breathe, failing. I clutched her to me, tears slipping from under my closed eyes. It was as if her soul was liquid fire and I could feel her aura, swirling about mine. She was taking my aura. But I wanted to give it to her, to cat her in a small part of me and protect her. Her needs made her so fragile.

And while seeing Trent in his tighty-whities would make my decade, I'd found out long ago that I couldn't stay mad at a man wearing nothing but underwear. They looked so charmingly vulnerable.

You are the devil to talk to, Rachel, he said curtly. Will you shut up and listen?

Because for all the changes, some things were immutable truths: friendship transcends all barriers, understanding trumps fear, and great power can always be surmounted by determination.

What was in the trunk? I asked, and my eyes widened when he opened his coat and let me glimpse a big-ass rifle. I know these people, he said, his expression going hard. We handle their insurance.

Trent, is this a date? He didn't reach for the key still in the ignition. You never told me how your car got impounded. Is this a date? I asked again, more stridently. Silent, he sat there, his hands on the wheel as he stared at the front door and the neon bowling pins flashing on and off. I want it to be.