A jolt. A small hitch in the rhythmic beating of my heart. Dèjà vu didn't even begin to describe it. ... My heart stopped, my breath jostled forward, shock rippling through my system. It happened again. For a few precious seconds my mind froze up and, together with my body, went into a complete lockdown. It was the same each time I saw him.

Well, you could stare at a white wall until you were blue in the face, it would never be more than a white wall. The same was true for the master vampire. A vampire was a vampire was a vampire. Period. (Anna Johnson)

... for a moment I thought that everything was back to normal, that I was okay. But then it came crashing down on me. Blood was valuable. Blood was life. The loss of blood had a price. A high one.