How does Laurell K. Hamilton use imagery in The Killing Dance?

Imagery:

"So how did I end up being safer in the depths of the Circus of the Damned with the monsters than above ground with the humans? Because somewhere along the line, I didn't kill the monster I should have. That particular monster was gliding up the hallway ahead of me. And he still had the cutest butt I'd ever seen on a dead man."

"A wind swept through the falling darkness, catching me like a net before I touched that blue fire. The wind smelled of growing earth and the musty scent of fur."