#Rose

"He who wants a rose must respect her thorn."

"I arose like a rose, and this is how I knew I was in love. In the garden of life, I’m better off in your neighbor’s yard."

"When he finished, he drank from the cup. Everyone else did too, so I followed suit.And nearly choked to death.It was like fire in liquid form. It took every ounce of strength I had to swallow it and not spray it on those around me."Wh...what is this?"I asked, coughing.Viktoria grinned. "Vodka."I peered at the glass. "No, it isn't. I've had vodka before.""Not Russian vodka."Apparently not."

"She was right about something else too,"Dimitri said after a long pause. My back was to him, but there was a strange quality to his voice that made me turn around."What's that?"I asked."That I do still love you."With that one sentence, everything in the universe changed."

"Love planted a rose, and the world turned sweet."

"Yet, it had been Dimitri’s gentleness and thoughtfulness mixed with that deadliness that made him so wonderful. The same hands that wielded stakes with such precision would carefully brush the hair out of my face. The eyes that could astutely spot any danger in the area would regard me wonderingly and worshipfully, like I was the most beautiful and amazing woman in the world."

"He rose like heroes, and I rose like rows of red roses. Love grows wherever you plant it, so I try to farm it wherever I go."

"Wow. What'd he do to deserve that? Rescue orphans from a burning building? If so, you might want to make sure he didn't set the building on fire in the first place."

"Love flows like flowers, and grows like water. I’m so thirsty for romance I could drink a dozen roses."

"I’m an all-the-water-I-can-drink-in-a-flower-vase kind of lover. Roses and batteries sold separately."

"Too bad. Family members hit you by accident. Psychopathic whores tend to come back for more."

"But friendship is the breathing rose, with sweets in every fold."

"Okay, God, I thought. Get me out of this and I’ll stop my half-assed church-going ways. You got me past a pack of Strigoi tonight. I mean, trapping that one between the doors really shouldn't have worked, so clearly you're on board. Let me get out of here, and I’ll...I don’t know. Donate Adrian’s money to the poor. Get baptized. Join a convent. Well, no. Not that last one."

"What's that?"he asked, when I stood beside him again."Halos,"I said with a grin. "For heavenly creatures like us.""That might be a stretch."

"I have a tongue like a rose petal, and when I say I love you, it has the fragrance of truth. My words are my garden, and I’m planting our future."

"I loved how your cheeks had a natural rouge, like a delicate rose, and I was a rogue full of thorns. I was only a flower when I was with you."

"A rose is the visible result of an infinitude of complicated goings on in the bosom of the earth and in the air above, and similarly a work of art is the product of strange activities in the human mind."

"When I am longing for love, every rose is the expression of my soul."

"Love fades. Mine has."

"The roses of romance grow when you water your relationship with gratitude. Love will bloom and blossom when you recognize the awesome."