All That You Can't Leave Behind.

Our Favorite Fever Quotes

by Veronica Vishous & Zee the Terrible.

We're smack in the middle of Fever Focus in anticipation of ICED! And what better way to celebrate our love for all things Fever than to take a walk through the books we love and the moments that had us burning for more! The quotes that made us swoon, sweat, and sigh. Scenes that made us grip the edge of our seats, or gasp out loud in shock, or just moments that made us smile. All those moments that made it impossible for us to ever completely leave this addicting world behind. We picked just a few of our favorites to share with all our Saucy readers! (Sharing them all would take a lot more than just one post!) 

To make it a challenge for ourselves (because we're masochistic Wenches), we both picked ONE moment/scene/quote from each of the Fever books. It was tough, but we persevered. So, let's get this Fever started!

DARKFEVER:

 I couldn't imagine Jericho Barrons as a child, going to school, face freshly scrubbed, hair neatly combed, lunch box in hand.  He'd surely been spawned by some cataclysmic event of nature, not born.

Barrons has come to see Mac at her hotel.  She has just reluctantly agreed to let him into her room and is peering at him through the still-chained door.  She is assessing his level of threat to her, but knows she needs him.  I think, in an effort to figure out if she can trust him or not, she is trying to humanize him.  Only she can't.  Humanize him.

I love this quote because this is the first time that Mac, unwittingly, sees Barrons for who he is.  The first time I read the series through, I didn't catch on at first but Mac was always referring to Barrons in animalistic terms.  On my second read-through, however, it is obvious from the very beginning that Mac knew who she was dealing with.  She didn't need to keep asking him what he was.  She already knew.

Cataclysmic event? Other? Who cares, right?

"We all have our… gifts, Ms. Lane. You are a Null. I am… other things. What I am not — is your enemy. Nor am I in league with the Shades. You're just going to have to trust me on that."
"It'd be a whole lot easier to trust you if you'd just answer my question."
"I don't know why you ask, anyway. I could lie to you a million ways to Sunday. Look at my actions. Who saved your life?"
"Yeah, well, OOP-detectors don't work so hot dead, do they?" I pointed out.
"I managed just fine before you came along, Ms. Lane, and would have continued swimmingly without you. Yes, you can find OOPs, but frankly, my life was a great deal less complicated before you barreled into my bookstore." He sighed. "Bloody hell, I miss those days."

It was hard to pick just the right moment, the whole last scene between Mac and Barrons is made purely of win. But despite the absolute brilliance of the nail painting scene, I had to go with this. This was when I was first clued in to Barrons' dirty little secret, that he doesn't just keep Mac around for her OOP detection skills. He pretty much says it outright. She, of course, chooses to not hear it. Typical Pink Mac. She shook his controlled little world up... and he STILL doesn't get rid of her. Nuff said.

BLOODFEVER:

When everything else is gone, balls are all any of us really have left.  The question is: Are yours made of flesh and blood, or steel?

Our little Mac is growing up.  Fiona has just tried to kill her.  Mac doesn't seem as upset about Fiona's sudden disappearance as she did about having Rocky O'Bannion's blood on her hands.  In fact, Mac is coming into her own as a bookstore clerk now that Fiona is gone.  Speaking of Rocky, Derek has just come sniffing around to find out what has happened to his brother.  And Mac has killed her first Fae.  Sort of.  Mac is starting to change.  I can't imagine Pink Mac taking advice from an imaginary John Wayne telling her to grow a pair (in steel, please).

“Shall we dispel some of that youthful angst, Ms. Lane?” He offered me the keys. “Not far from here there’s a road that goes on for miles, through positively desolate parts.” His dark eyes gleamed. “Devilish curves. No traffic. Why don’t you take us for a drive?” My eyes widened. “Really?” He brushed a curl from my forehead and I shivered. Barrons has strong hands with long, beautiful fingers, and I think he carries some kind of electrical charge because every time he touches me it shoots an unwelcome thrill through my body. I took the keys from his hand, being careful not to make contact with skin. If he noticed, he let it pass unremarked. “Try not to kill us, Ms. Lane.” I slid behind the wheel. “Viper, SR10 coupe. 6-speed, V-10, 510 horses at 5,600rpm, 0–60 in 3.9 seconds,” I babbled happily. He laughed. I kept us alive. Barely.

I honestly can not put into words just how EPIC this scene was. It was intimate, sexy, personal. Mac still hasn't come to terms with anything when it comes to Barrons, but this scene is so awesome it doesn't matter! I'm pretty sure this was when a lot of us were goners! Completely and utterly ruined by Barrons for all other men. I know I was long before this. This was just the deliciously, decadent cherry on top. 

FAEFEVER:

I turned around slowly, and looked up at him.  He stiffened and sucked in a shallow breath.  After a moment, he touched my cheek. "Such naked pain," he whispered. I turned my face into his palm and closed my eyes.  His fingers threaded into my hair, cupped my head, and brushed the brand.  It heated at his touch.  His hand tightened at the base of my skull and squeezed, and he raised me slowly to my tiptoes.  I opened my eyes and it was my turn to inhale sharply.  Not human.  Oh, no, not this man. "Never show it to me again."  His face was cold, hard, his voice colder. "Why?  What will you do?" "What it is my nature to do.  Get inside.  It's time for your lesson."

Oh scene, how do I love thee, let me count the ways.  This is the first time Mac allows herself to be emotionally vulnerable in front of Barrons and in a way that seeks comfort from him.  Barrons, for the first time, allows Mac to be vulnerable (that is, when she's not drugged and/or dying), and he provides her comfort.  After this little interaction, can Mac really keep telling herself that Barrons' attraction to her is purely physical and he only keeps her around because she is useful?  Also, lest Mac (us) become overly sappy or sentimental, Barrons is sure to remind her (us) that he is not the romantic hero; that whatever he is, he is dangerous.  Related to this, I love it that Mac caused Barrons to let his control slip just for a second.  And....finally, I love this scene because it is just plain HOT.
*I was going to pick the scene where Mac compares driving the Viper to sex, to go along with Zee's quote from Bloodfever.  Hot cars, hot sex, Barrons has a garage full of hot cars that Mac covets.  You see where I'm going with this, right?

Hot cars, hot sex & Barrons...

"...And you can just shove your stupid birthday cake. I don’t even know why I bothered!” The silence was so protracted that I decided he’d hung up. I hung up, too, wishing I’d done it first. Twenty minutes later, Barrons stepped through the door from the back of the bookstore. Ice was crystallized in his hair, and he was pale from extreme cold. I was sitting on the sofa in the rear conversation area, too aggravated to sleep. “Good. You’ve finally stopped pretending you don’t use the mirror. It’s about time.” “I only use the mirror when I must, Ms. Lane. Even for me, it is . . . unpleasant.” Curiosity overrode irritation. “What constitutes ‘must’? Where do you go?” He glanced around. “Where is the cake?”
...................
Waiting outside for me was a thermos of coffee, a bag of doughnuts, a set of car keys, and a note. I unscrewed the thermos top, sipped the coffee, and unfolded the note.
Ms. Lane, I would prefer you join me in Scotland this evening, but if you insist on helping the old witch, here are keys, as you requested. I moved it for you. It’s the red one, parked in front of the door. Call if you change your mind. I can send a plane as late as 4:00.
CJ
It took me a moment to figure out the initials. Constant Jackass. I smiled. “Apology accepted, Barrons, if it’s the Ferrari.” It was.

I fucking love this entire scene so hard. From the moment he actually rushes over after hearing about the cake (even though he only uses the silvers when he "must") to the cake massacre (Mac sure does make the beast lose control), to the apology. I truly do not understand people who don't love Barrons to the point of obsession. Really, after reading this series, if you aren't in love with him you just aren't reading it right! (So I get a little worked up about Barrons.... there is no cure.) This whole scene really speaks for itself, so I'm not going to say anything more about it. Except it made me laugh, it made me wince for the poor cake, it made me mad at Barrons and forgive him by the end, and made me want to hug Mac and tell her she still had a right to all the pink cakes in the world. More so than ever before.

One scene. So many emotions.

 


DREAMFEVER:

"By our estimates," Dani said, "total world population has been reduced by more than a third."  It was one of the few complete, well-spoken sentences I'd ever heard pass her lips.  I looked at her sharply and caught a split second of a completely different Dani--a geeky, smart thirteen-year old abandoned by everyone she'd ever trusted or loved, in a world gone mad.  It was so quickly masked by an insouciant grin that I wondered if I'd really seen it at all.  "Dude.  Pretty intense, huh?"  Her green eyes sparkled.

Now it's getting impossible to narrow down our favorites to one quote or scene.  So instead of trying, I picked a snippet that stood out to me because of some bit of curiosity or even controversy about the upcoming Iced release, the start of the Dani O'Malley series.  There are those who wonder how Dani will fare as the main POV of an entire book.  I think many of us remember Dani's voice as the boisterous teenager, and the voice of the flyers posted around Dublin in Shadowfever.  Mac's observation of Dani reminds us that much of what Dani allows us to see is her bravado.  As I read this passage I thought to myself, "This is a character who needs her own book!"  And a character who can handle the likes of Ryodan or Christian in a few short years.  (Yep, I said it!)

Bring on the Dani awesomeness!!

"It works" said Barrons. He paused heavily, the better to emphasize his coup de 

grâce. "It always did."

My breathing stopped. What he was saying was not possible. I spun, searched his eyes. "The power was down! My call to Dani was disconnected. I never got service back!" I knew. I‘d kept checking all night.
He moved toward me so quickly, I didn‘t see him coming and had no chance to 

react. His body was pressed to mine, his lips were against my ear. 

I leaned into him and inhaled. I couldn‘t help myself.

He whispered, "O ye of little faith. Not for IYD."
It was the number he‘d programmed into my cell, which stood for If You’re Dying.
"But you didn‘t even try."
His tongue touched my ear. Then he was gone.

I think all the Wenches know this is one of my all time favorite scenes. I can not read it just once, every time I come across it. I mean, some of the most memorable, moving scenes are in the beginning of this book, and I almost picked one of my other series favorites from her Pri-ya phase (and Barrons' most swoon-worthy phase), but in the end, I had to go with this one. Mac, Barrons IS the one who will ALWAYS keep you alive. If only you would give him a chance. He made sure he was ALWAYS available to her in the worst possible circumstances. No one else could guarantee that. For all his insistence on looking beyond words to the actions, in this case his words carry just as much weight. He said he would be the one who will always save her, always keep her alive. And he had every intention of following through with that. Also one of the most swoon-inducing Barrons moments for me.

SHADOWFEVER:

God, he was beautiful.  I looked up and down.  The Book had done an amazingly accurate job, right down to his more generous attributes.

But it had gotten his tattoos wrong.  I knew every inch of that body.  The last time I saw Jericho Barrons naked, he'd been covered with red and black protection tattoos, and later his arms had been sheathed in them from biceps to wrist.  Now the only tattoos he had were on his abdomen.

"You screwed up," I told the Book.  "But nice try."

The fake Barrons tensed, knees bending slightly, weight shifting forward, and for a moment I thought he was going to launch himself at me and attack.

 "I screwed up?" the Barrons figment snarled.  He began to stalk toward me.  It was difficult to look at his face when there was so much bouncing around at eye level.

"Which word didn't you understand?" I said sweetly.

"Stop staring at my dick," he growled.

Oh, yes, it was definitely an illusion.  "Barrons loved me staring at his dick," I informed it. "He would have been happy if I'd stared at his dick all day long, composing odes to its perfection."

In one fluid motion, he had me by my collar and was yanking me to my feet.  "That was before you killed me, you fucking imbecile!"

 I was unfazed.  Standing toe-to-toe with him was a drug.  I needed it.  I craved it.  I couldn't end this charade for anything.  "See, you admit you're dead," I parried smoothly.  "And I'm not an imbecile.  An imbecile would be fooled by you."

Again, sooooo hard to pick just one quote/scene.  In fact, this scene went on for so many pages that I quoted only a tiny portion of it.  As if I wasn't sold on the Fever series before, I became absolutely in awe of KMM's writing at the beginning of Shadowfever.  She didn't just write about Mac's grief at the beginning of the book, she has come the closest I've experienced to capturing the essence of grief over losing someone so close.  Once Mac trades her acute grief for her mission of vengeance, the writing takes on a dreamlike quality because Mac's thinking is still clouded by grief.  I love this scene for two reasons.  First, it serves as a transition from Mac's dreamlike state to reality (when she realizes--finally!--that this is Barrons and not the Sinsar Dubh).  Second, KMM may have put us through the wringer, and we may have deserved a HEA at this point, but...  Barrons has been slapped in the face with the fact that Mac killed him and then hooked up with the enemy, and Mac is feeling the mother of all betrayals for Barrons keeping the ultimate secret from her.  Not exactly happily ever after at Barrons Books & Baubles.

*Sorry.  I really couldn't pick just one.  I was completely suckered and really thought Barrons had died.  So at the beginning of Chapter 8 (Chapter Motherfucking EIGHT), I read these three sentences and did the happiest of happy dances (literally, in my house, with the curtains open for all the neighbors to see):  It took me a bloody fucking month to get back.  I died three times.  It was worse than the 1800's when I had to book passage on a steamer to cross the bloody ocean.  KMM--don't you ever do that to me again!

Chapter 8 squeeing.

“I didn’t get the spell.” My voice broke. I’d failed him. I hated myself for that. He’d never failed me.
“I know.”
My gaze flicked to his face, bewildered. “You … know?”
“I knew it was a lie the moment you said it.”
I searched his eyes. “But you looked happy! You smiled. I saw things in your eyes!”
“I was happy. I knew why you’d lied.” His dark gaze was ancient, inhuman, and uncharacteristically gentle. Because you love me.
I drew in a ragged breath.
“Let’s get out of here, Mac. There’s nothing for you down here.”
“The spell! It’s here. I can get it. Use it. Lay him to rest!”
“But you wouldn’t be you anymore. You can’t take a single spell from that thing. It’s all or nothing. We’ll find another way.”
The Sinsar Dubh poisoned the moment. He lies. He hates you for failing him.
“Shut it down, Mac. Ice the lake over.”
I stared at the Book, shining in all its glory. Power, pure and simple. I could create worlds. 

Ice his ass over. He’s just worried you’ll be more powerful than he is.

Barrons held out his hand. “Don’t leave me, Rainbow Girl.”
Rainbow Girl. Was that who I was?
It seemed so long ago. I smiled faintly. “Remember the skirt I wore to Mallucé’s the night you told me to dress Goth?”
“It’s upstairs in your closet. Never throw it away. It looked like a wet dream on you.”
I took his hand.
And just like that, we were standing in the street outside Barrons Books and Baubles.

Seriously, making myself pick ONE scene from Shadowfever was the worst kind of torture. It was torment! If I could I would have highlighted the whole book! Instead, I will just ask you to read it from start to finish and know that EVERY, SINGLE word in the book is amazing. It moved me in a way few other things have, and I lived and breathed each moment along with Mac.

But, I finally picked this scene. It made me choke down a sob. She was willing to face the book and risk her very soul for Barrons. Because she lied to him about the spell and had seen his hope and his smile "I would never forget his smile. It had illuminated him from the inside out." (See how I cheated there and added another quote... I'm a naughty Wench.) She could not fail him, because he has never failed her. And he would do the same for her. Their love for each other gives me butterflies in my stomach, makes my heart hurt when I think about it. I almost hate Mac for being lucky enough to have Barrons. But the truth is, they are BOTH lucky to have found each other. And I thought this was a beautiful summation of just what they are to each other. The ones they would risk everything for, and the ones who would always be there to bring the other back from the worst possible scenario. Be it Pri-ya, Barrons' beast, or from the Sinsar Dubh itself. Cue Mac & Barrons-induced sobbing.

In Conclusion:

We hope you enjoyed our stroll through some of our favorite scenes from the Fever Series.  We certainly couldn't include all the moments that have stuck with us, the ones that draw us back to those five books over and over again.  We know there are many swoon-worthy, squeal-inducing, laughter-invoking, or just plain fondly remembered scenes just waiting to be shared.  What are some of your best-loved Mac, Barrons, Dani, Christian, V'Lane, Darroc, K'Vruck, or other beloved (or not-so-beloved) character quotes?  Let us know in the comments below.