Heather McVea

Calina studied Nessa__ profile in the dim light of dawn. Her pulse raced as she formed a question in her mind. __ho do you want to be bothered by?__alina felt like anything could happen in the silence that followed. It wrapped around Nessa and her, stifling the breath from her body and tightening her throat.Nessa shifted and turned so she was facing Calina. It was too dark for Calina to see Nessa__ eyes, but she could feel them wandering over her face.__ou._ The word was exhaled from Nessa as if a great relief had washed over her. __ want to be bothered by you.

I miss the days of burning your kind at the stake. For generations we have settled for financial ruin and ostracization of your whorish ancestors - but know this, I will personally gut you and put your head on a pike in my parlor.

Stop wiggling - you__l move when I move you.

It__ a vampire cabal and I__ feeling like the odd human out_or lunch.

You__e candy to her. Something sweet, but nonessential.

I__e been so careful my whole life that I don__ even want to imagine what I__e missed._ Sara realized she was speaking so quickly she hadn__ taken a breath, and suddenly felt lightheaded. __ can__ miss you.

What a waste._ The woman sighed and moved away. Looking at Victoria, she rubbed her thumb and forefinger together absently. __urn him. Slowly. From the inside out.

Bailey took an exasperated breath and sat up in the seat. __ou can__ reason with a teenage girl.__lise__ eyebrow shot up. __ailey, you__e a teenage girl.___xactly.

Trust me, somewhere over the rainbow, happily ever after, etcetera, etcetera - looks far less likely in your mid-thirties.

We__e animals. No shame, no guilt - no sin_

You__l sacrifice for your child in ways you had never imagined. And they__e not exciting and earth shattering ways, either. They__e small, seemingly insignificant gestures that mean the world to them.