Nenia Campbell Quotes

You don't think I could bring myself to mark your lovely skin? I'll take my knife to you, if that's the case. I'll carve my name in your breast so that every beat of your heart will remind you that you are mine - and mine alone. Because blood is binding, and because I would rather see you destroyed than see you free or in the possession of another, so I suggest you not try me, or you will suffer as no earthly creature has." He slammed her back against the wall. "Or ever will. But that is a suggestion, and one you are free to disregard at your own peril. But you are are going to answer my question. ~ Nenia Campbell

She had come into the garden expecting summer roses and had instead been caught in a bank of twisted, thorny, frostbitten vines. ~ Nenia Campbell

He acted like a libertine of Europe with a genteel Southern propriety - and had all the morals of an emotionless psychopath. The two former masked the latter, like leaves covering a snare. You didn't notice the steel jaws until they were impaled in your flesh, and by then it was already far too late to run. ~ Nenia Campbell

The villains were always ugly in books and movies. Necessarily so, it seemed. Because if they were attractive - if their looks matched their charm and their cunning - they wouldn't only be dangerous.
They would be irresistible. ~ Nenia Campbell

The amount of sympathy you get from having an illness is paid out like a Ponzi scheme and psychiatric disorders are all the way at the bottom. ~ Nenia Campbell

If a woman defined herself solely by the man she was with - and vice versa - the world would be a very shallow and insipid place, indeed. ~ Nenia Campbell

I'm not asking you to be bad, I'm asking you to be bad for me. ~ Nenia Campbell

In the absence of deliberate cruelty, the harshness of his face and the fullness of his mouth just looked sullen and a little wicked. An angel frozen into a tableau of marmoreal perfection as he contemplated his imminent fall from grace. ~ Nenia Campbell

Okay," he said, planting his newly freed hand on the mattress. "I stopped. Now let me tell you what I think. I think you think that if you give in to what I want, and what I suspect you want, I'll make a killer and a whore out of you. You think I'll hurt you if you refuse. ~ Nenia Campbell

Because you mean the world to me. And because I would let it all fucking burn to ash if it only meant sparing you ~ Nenia Campbell

Without ethics, science would be cruelty. ~ Nenia Campbell

Too bad. Game over. Insert new fucking quarter. ~ Nenia Campbell

Why did this keep happening? Why her? Perhaps there was some pheromone certain people omitted, perceivable only on a wavelength unique to those individuals who preyed on them. ~ Nenia Campbell

You are fifty different kinds of twisted."
"Only fifty? Val, you wound me. ~ Nenia Campbell

She said my glasses made me look like a butch jock's locker room bitch. ~ Nenia Campbell

Fairytales by nature only talk about the victors. The survivors. Nobody speaks about what happens to those who failed, except in the abstract: as cautionary tales to guide others onto the path to success. How many brave knights fell to the dragon before he was slayed by the noble prince? How many children burned to a crisp and eaten before the wicked witch received her due? These stories are lost, but the lesson behind them is not: it is not enough to be merely pure and good. ~ Nenia Campbell

That is the first time I enjoy the privilege of having the upper hand with Professor Delacroix. And though I do not yet know it, it will also be the last. ~ Nenia Campbell

Not yet," he said. "You're beautiful, and it's killing me and I want to die a moment longer. Please. ~ Nenia Campbell

Nothing about me scares him, because he's always able to match it. We're two peas in a fucked-up pod. ~ Nenia Campbell

I'm pretty sure those're my balls you've found," I said to the man searching my pants. "You gonna count 'em out now? Because I'll save you the trouble. There's two. ~ Nenia Campbell

Would you rather I played with you instead? ~ Nenia Campbell

I participate in BDSM, but I wasn't abused as a child. I don't hate women, or particularly enjoy hurting women. Sometimes I make them feel pain, but it's consensual, it serves a purpose - to get them off - and they can indicate that they wish me to stop at any time. I do like the power I get from total submission, and the trust that my partner puts in me to give me everything, from her mind to her body, while expecting nothing in return - except the understanding that I won't violate that trust. ~ Nenia Campbell

Does your family play games, too?" She tries to sound off-hand.
"No. Just me - and my brother."
Which means her parents are in the casinos, then, leaving this kid in a collapsing mine. Okay, a virtual one, but still. ~ Nenia Campbell

Once a flower is picked it immediately begins to die. ~ Nenia Campbell

What is art, if not an excuse to be adventurous? ~ Nenia Campbell

When your whole foundation fractured well past the point of repair, all you could do was glue the pathetic, jagged shards of your life back together and try not to bleed on them. ~ Nenia Campbell

You mean you don't want to come in and hold my hand while I piss? ~ Nenia Campbell

Books make the best ersatz friendships. ~ Nenia Campbell

What a joke, coming from a woman who worked for the fashion industry. Really. Starving yourself to fit into a size zero - why did that size even exist? Zero referred to the absence of something, but what did it mean in terms of a model's measurements? Her fat? Or her presence? How much could you cut away before the person herself vanished? It was hypocritical, that's what it was. I said as much, adding, If you're so keen on me being healthy then you should have no problem accepting me for the way I am. That's what's healthy, Mom. Not being focused on all this freaky weight-loss stuff. ~ Nenia Campbell

I couldn't tell anyone how I felt because I knew they wouldn't understand. Oh, poor little Christina, falling for the bad man who treats her like dirt because she didn't know any better. And isn't it a pity that they don't still teach sex-ed in schools? Or, oh, Christina, that filthy slut, if she puts out for a man like that, I imagine she puts out for anyone. You stay away from her. It wasn't like that at all. Maybe it would have been easier if it was, just like ticking a box. Are you the Madonna, or the whore? The victim, or the vixen? The Sabine, or the skank?
But nothing in life is ever that simple. ~ Nenia Campbell

If I catch you, I might do anything. I might strip the skin from your bones as I drain you dry. Or I might drag you into my chambers and have you pleasure me in ways you cannot even imagine. I might even take mercy on you, and that would be the cruelest injustice of all, because for you, it would only be a temporary reprieve. ~ Nenia Campbell

At first you might wonder what you did to deserve such treatment. Nothing, probably, so that doesn't matter. What matters is that, eventually, the abuse becomes the status quo. It's no longer about the whats and whys ("what did I do?" "why are they doing this?") but the whens and hows ("when are they going to do it?" "how are they going to get me?"). Persecution becomes inevitable, inescapable. And once you get into the victim mindset, you're fucked. The bullies don't even need to hurt you now; your poor, warped, pathetic brain is doing half the work for them. ~ Nenia Campbell

He wanted a fight, yes - but he wanted her willing, not besieged, with his name shattering from her lips like a broken shield as she surrendered. ~ Nenia Campbell

Such a dark green, his eyes. They reminded her of the forest, of all the dangers lying dormant behind that verdant cloak of leaves. ~ Nenia Campbell

I was starting to fall in love with Michael Boutilier. Quickly, violently. It was a love that was both armed and dangerous, a ticking time-bomb of destruction that threatened to send my whole world up in flames
and it felt good. ~ Nenia Campbell

I want him to hurt me, so I won't feel pain. ~ Nenia Campbell

Bite me. Scratch me. Cut me. Break me open, until I crack and all the ugly things fly out of my body to drench us both in sated lust. Yes. ~ Nenia Campbell

They said the shape-shifters fucked with the enthusiasm of animals - if they didn't devour you with the enthusiasm of one first. ~ Nenia Campbell

Don't mistake me. I want you. You are what they call a tease. I don't like that, and I intend to make you fully aware of my displeasure by fucking you senseless and subjecting you to all kinds of stimulation that will make your tender young body shiver and writhe for my touch, and mine alone. Sometimes it will be in pain, sometimes in pleasure, but always, always with passion. ~ Nenia Campbell

Girls can fight with swords, too. Sometimes, even better than men can. They just have to want it badly enough that they're willing to work harder at it. ~ Nenia Campbell

It's drier than I thought it would be."

"That isn't saying much," the shape-shifter griped, wrapping the waterlogged coat more securely around her frame. "We've absorbed enough water to be classified as vernal pools. ~ Nenia Campbell

A story unwritten is without beginning or end. But in its potential lies another story; and in the heartbeat before pen meets page, both stories exist at once, reflecting endless permutations of the other, before one of them disappears forever. ~ Nenia Campbell

We always vilify what we don't understand. ~ Nenia Campbell

It wasn't that she was sad - sadness had very little to do with it, really, considering that most of the time, she felt close to nothing at all. Feeling required nerves, connections, sensory input. The only thing she felt was numb. And tired. Yes, she very frequently felt tired. ~ Nenia Campbell

All lines are gray in the dark. ~ Nenia Campbell

Now there's a girl I don't want to mess with' - or at least, that's what I would think if I had a chronic fear of freakishly nice people. ~ Nenia Campbell

I am not going to think about the things I am not going to think about. ~ Nenia Campbell

There was something delightfully intimate about the relationship between predator and prey. ~ Nenia Campbell

What's happening to me?" she whispers to the quilt. "I'm losing my mind."
Though that implies that I had one to begin with. ~ Nenia Campbell

People say hate is like a poison - but they're wrong. It's like a drug. You never forget your first hit, how it seduces you with its strength and power, and takes you completely by storm. It colors your world in light and meaning, until you wonder how you ever managed to get by without it. And then, eventually, you get to a point where you can't. It takes over your life, until hating becomes your reason for living. ~ Nenia Campbell

Valys also didn't think I was good enough for him. He made that clear every time he acted like a martyr forced to settle. But what he didn't understand was that if he thought I might not be good enough for him, he definitely wasn't good enough for me. I was well aware of my flaws, but I knew my merits, too; I shouldn't have to be anyone's second-best. Least of all, his. ~ Nenia Campbell

It takes many sheep to satisfy one wolf. ~ Nenia Campbell

I think you enjoy messing with people."
"That's a purely hypothetical supposition on your part," the bastard says. ~ Nenia Campbell

I'm as lucky as a bed of oysters on cioppino night. ~ Nenia Campbell

When they figure out how to bottle up orgasms and sell them as a food additive, I'll be first in line. ~ Nenia Campbell

I'd seen entire constellations of possibility I'd never previously been aware of, so blinded had I been by the bright, glaring stars of expectation. Freedom, I was beginning to think, had less to do with where you were, and was more about who you were trying to be. ~ Nenia Campbell

But moods pass; they are fickle things darting in and out of the underbrush of the conscious mind. This - whatever this is - is deeply entrenched: a permanent squatter looming dark and dangerous in the forefront of my brain. ~ Nenia Campbell

So you thought you could shit and eat at the same time. How disgustingly convenient. ~ Nenia Campbell

Thank you, Co-Pilot Obvious. ~ Nenia Campbell

It's true what they say, you know. First fuck. First love. First kill. You never forget your first. ~ Nenia Campbell

You were a well-respected agent, Michael, a rags-to-riches fairytale ending. Until you became disgraced. Now it appears your own organization wishes to be rid of you. Why is this?"
"My gun turned back into a pumpkin. ~ Nenia Campbell

She seemed like the kind of woman who would fall in love with the sky. ~ Nenia Campbell

In my experience, the romance novels written about BDSM have about as much in common with actual BDSM relationships as a child playing with a jump rope. ~ Nenia Campbell

Keep calm. You have the forest in your blood. ~ Nenia Campbell

I don't want to hear you talk about yourself like this."

"I don't have to talk." He ran his hand down her thigh as he let his lips drag across her cheek, towards her ear. "I could do other things with my mouth. ~ Nenia Campbell

Boys," Lindsay agreed, nodding. "What doesn't get lost in translation?"
"Things with the letter X in front of them," Rachel posited. "Like X-Box. And X-rated movies. ~ Nenia Campbell

You would do well to guard your tongue, lest it be stricken from you. ~ Nenia Campbell

Subjugation requires vigilance; if you relax your brutality even for a moment, the people you're oppressing will revolt at the first sign of weakness. That's why dictatorial regimes are always a slippery slope of cruelty doomed to end in failure. ~ Nenia Campbell

If this was love, it felt different than she'd imagined it would, walking a thin line between passion and terror. It was Romeo and Juliet. It was Wuthering Heights. And Val was left petrified from the boiling intensity of it. ~ Nenia Campbell

Come here. Then we'll talk."
That sounds like a bad idea to her. "I can hear you fine right here."
"Is it the arrows?" He kicks bow and quiver into the stream and grins a grin that puts the devil to shame. "There. Now I'm harmless."
"No?" He tilts his head, shifting to his side so he can lean his stubbled chin on his hand. "Well, harmless enough. Don't you think?"
"No. ~ Nenia Campbell

Fuck, Christina."
"Yes, fuck Christina. I think she'd like that. ~ Nenia Campbell

I know what it is to want something that could destroy you. ~ Nenia Campbell

You're like a half-tamed creature, still shy of the bridle. 'Except you enthrall me, never shall be free.' But freedom is an illusion, anyway. ~ Nenia Campbell

She understood now why so many members of her kind died so young. It was possible to squeeze an entire lifetime of living into a single day: to live more, to feel more, in the span of twenty-four hours than most did in eighty years.
Shape-shifters lived in a world of color and brightness, of heightened senses. They felt everything more intensely, and so they lived their lives more intensely - anything to make their hearts pound harder. Life could be like a drug.
But how does one wean oneself off life? ~ Nenia Campbell

This is what he likes - violence and rebellion. But only when he can control it. ~ Nenia Campbell

You think you're superior to the others, don't you? We'll you're not. In fact you're worse for mistaking basic human decency for moral superiority. ~ Nenia Campbell

That's how it started: a series of small hurts and excuses between two people that built up slowly, widening over time to form a vast and yawning divide. ~ Nenia Campbell

There were many stories of girls - brave girls, foolish girls, reckless girls, pretty girls - who went into the woods searching for fortune or adventure, only to encounter a monster. Whether man or beast, the monster served as an allegory for all the things that could befall a girl who strayed from the path. If she were valorous and her heart was pure, the stories said, she could rise above being brought low by hubris.

But the stories never talked about the other girls - the ones who never came out of the woods and found themselves an unwilling bride to the venal darkness within those trees. The girls whose virtue was not quite enough to resist the seasoned allure of the wicked villain and who, as a result, found that men, like beasts, could devour the unwary, and that it could feel so good to be consumed. ~ Nenia Campbell

Men who thought of themselves as gods fell the farthest, and the hardest. ~ Nenia Campbell

Young girls chased after bad boys for the same reason that riders broke wild horses; they wanted the rush of taming something, of bringing that raw energy to heel. ~ Nenia Campbell

Adrian had been felled by a Coach bag. ~ Nenia Campbell

No. I made that choice. I let all that anger and pain get twisted up in my thoughts for you." He leaned in. "It fucking kills me. Every night. I relive what I did to you every night." His forehead rested against mine. "Until you," he said softly, "I never felt truly helpless. ~ Nenia Campbell

College had once been my greatest aspiration; it stood for everything my mother did not - intellectualism, feminism, freedom. But being kidnapped had given me plenty of time to think, and somewhere between all that fear and dread, I'd realized that was the wrong reason to go to college. That the potential for those things had been inside of me all along, only I'd never realized because I hadn't believed myself strong enough to break free without an intermediary. ~ Nenia Campbell

Conquest was not satisfying if it began with a surrender. ~ Nenia Campbell

There is no playacting in this court. If you stay your hand, they will cut it off. ~ Nenia Campbell

I'm not going to force you into anything you don't want. But I'm also not going to take a vow of chastity and pine away for you, or whatever the hell it is that men do in romance novels these days. I have needs. I'd rather satisfy them with you, but if you don't want me I suppose I'll just have to find someone else. Might take me a while, but I'll make do. I always have before. ~ Nenia Campbell

Humanity was a precipice and she was standing on the edge of it, staring into the wild and yawning void that encompassed all things bestial and frightening. It would be so easy to jump, to let go and fall in - but once she started falling, her fear was that she would never stop. ~ Nenia Campbell

We don't have dealings. He just stalks me. I'm popular like that. ~ Nenia Campbell

I know what you want. You're a vicious little hellcat - all teeth and claws. And you want to use them, don't you? You want to fight. You like to fight." She stiffened at the pinch of his teeth at her neck and he blew gently into her ear. "Fight me, then. Fight me as much as you want. As hard as you want. Because no matter what you do, I'm going to ruin you. No one will ever fuck you the way I do. ~ Nenia Campbell

Everyone needs to escape sometimes, and retreating into somebody else's fantasy isn't nearly as satisfying as slipping into your own. ~ Nenia Campbell

You were the most beautiful thing that I'd ever seen. I couldn't decide whether to pluck you out of the sky and cage you, or simply break your wings. ~ Nenia Campbell

He traced my lower lip. I braced myself for the pain that was sure to follow because he was like a sadistic King Midas, turning everything he touched into pain. ~ Nenia Campbell

We feel most alive when we are closest to death. ~ Nenia Campbell

I suppose you don't care about anyone," said Catherine.

Finn paused. "I find few people are worth the effort."

"A charmer like you?" she said. "No. I don't believe it. ~ Nenia Campbell

When we mated I felt your heart stop beating and it was as if the world had stopped turning. It was only while surrounded by death that I realized I had never felt more alive. ~ Nenia Campbell

You shouldn't be wandering around in
such a big city all by yourself. Even if it is Seattle. ~ Nenia Campbell

You think I'm gorgeous?"
"When I look at you, all I can think about are the the different ways I'd like to fuck you."
"So that's a yes then?" she said shyly.
"No, darlin. It's an I-hope-you-weren't-planning-on-sleeping-alone-tonight. ~ Nenia Campbell

That's life. Life is the ultimate game, and its rules were made to be broken ~ Nenia Campbell

Crazy people always think they're perfectly sane. It's what makes them so crazy; their entire delusion lies within the fact that they believe they aren't deluded. ~ Nenia Campbell

Phineas Riordan was exactly what came to mind when someone imagined a cruel prince from a fairytale: the kind that ruined maidens instead of saving them. ~ Nenia Campbell