Кои са любимите ви цитати от книги?

Малко цитати от една моя любима поредица,
тази за Анита Блейк.


."Important safety tip - never look a vampire in the eyes."

I hate to waste a really good threat.

Who knows, maybe Death slept with a teddy bear?

"You smell of other people's blood, ma petite."
I smiled at him, sweetly. "It was no one you know."

"Anita, are you all right?" Why do people always ask you that when the answer is obviously no? I spoke in a whisper, not sure how it would feel to talk. It didn't feel too bad.
"Just peachy keen."

Geez, look into my eyes. You'd think the city's master vampire could be more original.

He leaned into the car, one arm on the roof, one on the door. "Now, answer my question. Would you really cut out Monica's heart, so she couldn't come back as a vampire?"
I stared into the blackness of his sunglasses and said, "Yes."
"Remind me never to piss you off."

"You are either very brave, or very stupid."
"You really need at least one dimple to go with the voice."
Jean-Claude said softly, "I'm betting on stupid."

I walked back past the coffin and hesitated. I had an urge to knock on the smooth wood. Anybody home? I didn't do it. For all I knew someone might have knocked back.

**

Important safety tip with most of the spiritual world: if you ignore it, it has less power. This does not work with demons or other demi-beings. Other exceptions to the rule are vampires, zombies, ghouls, lycanthropes, witches...Oh, hell, ignoring only works for ghosts.

"You are mine, Anita. Willing or not, you are mine."
"See, Jean-Claude, here's where you lose me. First you try seducing me, which has its pleasant side. When that doesn't work, you resort to threats."
"It is not a threat, ma petite. It is the truth."
"No, it isn't. And stop calling me ma fucking petite."

We would go down to the Tenderloin. Pimps beware. I was bringing the Master as backup. It was like carrying a thermonuclear device to kill ants. Overkill has always been a specialty of mine.

Had to see. Had to look. Might find a clue. Sure, and pigs could fucking fly. But still, maybe, maybe there would be a clue. Maybe. Hope is a lying bitch.

I felt like shit, but it was happy shit.

**

"If the Master eats you, can I have your nifty coveralls?" Zerbrowski asked.
"Buy your own, you cheap bastard."
"Id rather have the ones that have enveloped your luscious body."
"Give it a rest, Zerbrowski. I'm not into little choo-choos."
"What the hell do trains have to do with anything?" Dolph asked. Zerbrowski and I looked at each other. We started giggling and couldn't stop. I could claim sleep deprivation. I'd been on my feet for fourteen straight hours, raising the dead and talking to right-wing fruitcakes. The vampire victim was a perfect end to a perfect night. I had a right to be hysterical with laughter. I don't know what Zerbrowski's excuse was.

"I thought you'd be taller"
"It disappoints me, too, sometimes," I said.

"Jesus, are all vampires over two hundred perverts?"
"I am over two hundred," Jean-Claude said.
"I rest my case."

Something like fear crossed his face, filled his eyes.
"What are you afraid of?" I asked.
"Airplanes, guns, large predators, and master vampires."
"I agree with two out of four," I said.

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

Turnabout is fair play. Payback is a bitch.

He was quiet so long that I asked, "Did you hear me?"
"You really meant to kill me."
"I told you I would."
"But now you warn me. Why?"

**

Never take your eyes off the vampire in front of you to glance at the werewolf in back of you. One problem at a time.

"What the hell happened to him?" one of the deputies asked.
"He's been skinned," I said.
"Jesus Christ," the deputy said.
"Right thought, wrong religion," I said.

Richard was still by the door, looking unclothed and inviting. Jean-Claude stood by the couch utterly still, like a three-dimensional picture of a wet dream. The sexual potential in the room was astronomical. The fact that nothing was going to happen was almost sad.

"You sound awful."
"You don't. You didn't get much more sleep than I did. How come you sound so much better? Please tell me you aren't a morning person."
He laughed. "Guilty as charged."
Furry I could forgive; a morning person, I'd have to think about that.

"What do you want?
"I want to play," he said.
I stared at him. "Just like that. You don't know what I'm involved in, but you want a piece of it."
"Following you around lets me kill a lot of people."
Sad, but true.

"Always needing to have the last word is a bad trait, Ms. Blake. Pisses people off."
"That's the idea."

**

Larry twisted in his seat. He was sitting beside the pilot. "You're really afraid of flying?" ...He sounded amused. "Yes, Larry, I'm really afraid of flying." I hoped sarcasm traveled the headsets as clearly as amusement did. Larry laughed. Evidently, sarcasm traveled.

Bayard had gotten us a black Jeep with black-tinted windows and more bells and whistles than I could even guess at. "Some of these roads are not even paved. I thought you might need something more substantial than just a car." I resisted the urge to pat him on the head and say 'Good flunkie'.

I shook my head. Asking Jean-Claude not to be a pain in the ass was like asking rain not to be wet. Why try?

Jean-Claude turned in his seat as far as the seat belt would allow. I'd insisted everybody wear seat belts, which amused the vampire. I guess it was silly to have a dead man buckle up, but hey, I was driving.

One thing I've learned about vampires--they keep pulling new rabbits out of their cloaks. Big, fanged, carnivorous bunnies that'll eat your eyeballs if you're not paying attention.

I looked at Larry. There wasn't a drop of blood on him. He was the only one who hadn't wrestled with vampires tonight. He shrugged. "Sorry; I just couldn't get anybody to bleed on me tonight."

"It was a vampire. It's not the same thing as killing a person."
"Yeah, right. And how many corpses have you given CPR to lately?"
I glanced at Jean-Claude smiling at me. I shrugged. "Just one.




"They are monsters, Larry. Some of them are prettier than others, but they
are monsters. Never doubt that."
"You can honestly tell me that you think Jean-Claude is a monster." It was
more statement than question.
I almost looked at the monster in question, but I didn't. I'd looked at him
enough for one night. "Yeah, I do."
"Now, ask her if she thinks she's a monster." Jean-Claude leaned on the
back of the love seat, his arms crossed over his chest.
Larry looked a little startled, but he said, "Anita?"
I shrugged. "Sometimes."

turned on the bar stool, putting his elbows behind him. "I have too
many masters now, Anita. I don't need another one."
"And I've got too many monsters messing with me right now. Don't add
yourself to the list, Jason."
"Is it a short list?" he asked.
"Gets shorter all the time," I said

His eyes were still closed, his face blank. He fed like a baby with singleminded
determination, but this baby was draining my life away. I could feel it
going down my arm. My heart was beginning to pound in my ears as if I'd been
running, pumping the blood faster. Feeding him faster. Killing me faster.

**


"I was just offered a contract on your life, for enough money to make it worth my while." It was my turn to be quiet.
"Did you take it?"
"Would I be calling you if I had?"
"Maybe," I said. He laughed.
"True, but I'm not going to take it."
"Why not?"
"Friendship."
"Try again," I said.
"I figure I'll get to kill more people guarding you. If I take the contract, I only get to kill you."
"Comforting..."

"Dammit, Anita, you could have been killed."
"But I wasn't."
"That's your answer to everything. If you survive, it's all right."
"It beats the alternative," I said.

"You can stay in here." I didn't add, keep your hands to yourself. His face was raw with a need that had nothing to do with sex. He needed to be held, to be told the monster under the bed wasn't really there. I couldn't help him on the last. The monsters were real. But the first, I might manage that. Cold-blooded killer that I am, maybe I could share my toy penguin with him.

"It is too damn early in the morning for furball politics. If someone wants a piece of me, tell them to go to the back of the line." She cocked her head to one side, like a curious dog.
"Is it a long line?"
"Lately, yeah."
"I thought all your enemies were dead," Jason said.
"I keep making new ones," I said. He smiled.
"Fancy that."

"She is pack now," Sylvie said. "You fight one of us, and you fight all of us."
Edward raised his eyebrows at me. "What is going on, Anita?"
"I think I've been adopted," I said.


**


The air slapped against the plane, making it shudder. Turbulence, just turbulence. Jason kissed the top of my head. "You know you're actually cute when you're scared." I turned very slowly in the seat and stared at him. I would have liked to say I stared at him until his smile faded away, but we didn't have that kind of time. Jason would grin on his way into hell.

Her first words were, "I cannot believe you dated that woman. She is a whore." Richard looked embarrassed, more than I'd gotten from him.
"I know what she is."
"Did you have sex with her?"
"Mother!"
"Don't you mother me, Richard Alaric Zeeman."
"Alaric," I said. Richard spared me a frown, then turned back to his mother.

"Linus will search you for wires, then we can talk."
"I don't want him touching me. Nothing personal, Linus."
"I must insist it be Linus, in case you have some magic or other about your person that would disturb us." I frowned at him.


**


Men and women dressed in leather were setting up a framework of metal with lots of leather straps. I was reeealy hoping to be elsewhere before the show started.

It took me two tries but I had a smart-aleck comment, and I was going to make it. "Now, everyone who can stand, raise their hands." None of us moved.

I'm stubborn, not stupid. Though I know a few people whom might argue that.

Jason moved out of my way without uttering a single teasing comment. Unheard of!

I'd tried kindness. I'd tried friendship. I'd tried respect. But when all else fails, fear will do the job.

Maybe they know what I know, that the true way to a man's heart is six inches of metal between his ribs.

Dear God, the last thing I needed was another emotional cripple following me around. But I couldn't kick him out. Anita the bleeding heard, who'd have thought it?

**


Behind the circus was dark and quiet. The calliope music that blared out front was a distant dream back here. Once upon a time I'd only come to the circus to kill vampires. Now I used the employee parking lot. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

My vision took a second to focus, then I saw the knee beside my face was wearing hose, and a skirt. I knew it wasn't one of the men, unless they had hobbies I didn't know about.

Nothing turns to hate so bitter as what once was love.

Vampires were always either trying to kill me, or own me. God I hated being popular.

Guns don't care if you're psychically gifted. Guns don't care about anything. They don't bitch at you about the rules in your personal life, either. Of course, neither does a dog, but I don't have to use a pooper-scooper after I'm through shooting my gun.

"I only need one of you for questioning, the other is just gravy. I'll do my best to see that one of you lives, but I won't break a sweat to save you both, because I don't need you both. Is that clear?" The blond said, 'yes,' the other one said, 'crystal fucking clear'. Oh, yeah, he was American, only we have that poetic turn of phrase.


**


What do you say when someone can read your emotions, so that you can't hide behind polite lies? What do you say when the truth is awful, and you can't lie? Nothing.

It was that old, old problem of his (Jean Claude) and his line of vampires. If the only tool you have is a hammer, all your problems begin to look like nails. If the only tools you have are seduction and terror, and you're trying to be nice....well, there you go.

I took a deep breath and counted slowly to five. I didn't have the patience for ten.

There comes a point where you just love someone. Not because they're good, or bad, or anything really. You just love them. It doesn't mean you'll be together forever. It doesn't mean you won't hurt each other. It just means you love them. Sometimes in spite of who they are, and sometimes because of who they are. And you know that they love you, sometimes because of who you are, and sometimes in spite of it.

**

The truth may not set you free, but used carefully, it can confuse the hell out of your enemies.

Why was I mad? Because he'd surprised me with a really nice hotel room. What a bastard.

We finished the walk to the grave hand in hand. Maybe it wasn't professional, but I didn't care anymore. Besides, once I cut his arm open with the machete, no one would complain that he wasn't assisting me enough.

"I didn't think the FBI was allowed to admit they were wrong."
He smiled, but not like he was entirely happy. 'If you tell anyone, I'll deny it

**

Nathaniel hugged me. "We'll help you be charming."
"I'm just not the Cinderella type," I said.
"But you're not Cinderella, Anita, you're the prince. You're Prince Charming.

**

I was the only vampire hunter who was also dating her Master of the City. Most people saw it as a conflict of interest.

'Go on your date with Nathaniel, celebrate your almost-anniversary. This is not our fight, not yet, perhaps not ever. Do not make it our fight, for it could be the death of everyone we love.'
'Oh, thanks, and with that cheery message, I'll have no trouble going to the movies and enjoying myself.'

One of my other boyfriends said I hated being in love, and he was right. It always felt so stupid, like your insurance rates should go up, because you're impaired. Romantically handicapped.

You hate most in others what you're afraid of in yourself.

**

Most of the wereanimals would go around nude if you let them. I wasn't quite comfy with that, so [Nathaniel] wore the shorts to save my delicate sensibilities. There were some who thought I didn't have any of those left, but they would be wrong, and they would be jealous.

All men are leery of their emotions, spook them and they'll shut you down. If you're careful, quiet, not too eager, sometimes you'll learn more. Of course, sometimes you have to club men over the head with some question to get any sense out of them, but they prefer to speak from a quiet place.

My eyes widened. 'Oh, Jason, I'm sorry, I didn't know.' I hugged him tighter.
He moved back so he could see my face. 'With all the bad news I've had today, and you look that stricken that my girlfriend would only do standard bed sex?'
I tried to put into words what I was thinking, not always my best thing. 'You love sex. You're good at it.'
'Why, gee, thanks.' He grinned.

**

Other people pick up stray puppies; I kept collecting men. Crap.

— Cassandra Clare (City of Bones)

— Cassandra Clare (City of Ashes)

— Cassandra Clare (City of Glass)