#Rose

"A ghostly smile flickered across his face. "If you weren't so psychotic, you'd be fun to hang around.""Funny, I feel that way about you too."He didn't say anything else, but the smile grew, and he walked away."

"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."

"Saepe creat molles aspera spina rosas"- "Often the prickly thorn produces tender roses"

"My hands will get dirty holding your rose-shaped heart, because love is like gardening—it’s earthy and takes work to keep it alive."

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

"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."

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

"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."

"Only in art will the lion lie down with the lamb, and the rose grow without thorn."

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

"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."

"She handed him a glass of water and two Aleve gelcaps. “They’re anti-inflammatories. They will dull the pain a little bit and keep down swelling and redness. Swallow the pills, don’t chew.”“Well, I thought I’d stick them into my nose and impersonate a walrus, but if you insist, I’ll swallow them."

"Dimitri: "Why did you come here?"Rose: "Because you hit me on the head and dragged me here."

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

"I realize all guys have thorns. But I am a rose, and she chose a cactus over me. I wish her luck with her dry, desert-like existence with him."

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

"She bats her eyelashes like I’m throwing baseballs at them. I must be as romantic as Pete Rose’s last name."

"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."

"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."