KISS THE DEAD, CHAPTER FORTY FIVE, PART TWO

[a_sporking_rat]

KISS THE DEAD, CHAPTER FORTY FIVE, PART TWO

Okay, so the master who set up the vampire monastery? "He was devout, so his very faith made holy objects work around him; it was most distressing to all of us."

HOLYJRTSHGERGRGHARE

SJDGGKJG

OMIGOSH I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS INFO SINCE THE START OF THE SERIES

RHEKFAK

SO EXCITED

WE FINALLY HAVE CONFIRMATION ON WHETHER OR NOT A VAMPIRE WHO HAS FAITH CAN ACTIVATE FAITH-BASED OBJECTS

AND THE ANSWER IS YES!

And I think it's implied ("it was most distressing") that, if he wanted, he could have used them against other vampires too. THIS IS SO COOL! AND SO VERY, VERY RELEVANT TO MY FANFICTION AND RPG CHARACTERS!

Oh yeah, and he says this is "the head of my master's bloodline" so this guy and Benjamin are two different people; Benjamin is not the fountainhead of this line, just one of its members. And according to what Weiskopf said earlier, said fountainhead was killed by a vampire hunter long ago...I wonder if we'll get the story on that? Because a vampire monk just hanging out in the wilderness trying his best to do no harm and ensure his followers don't either doesn't seem like a target. Maybe a human religious group felt like the evidence that vamps could power holy objects as well as anyone else was blasphemous, or would cause people to believe vamps weren't really damned and thus more interested in becoming one so as to gain eternal life, and so they hired the hunter as a hit man? Or maybe another vampire group hired the hunter, because a vamp that could use holy objects against them could be really dangerous!

Anita "fought not to show surprise" at the idea that "the vampire had not lost his faith" and that said faith had been able to make holy objects flare around him and has hard time being able to "wrap my head around the idea" because it is "just too weird." Seriously? Seriously? Because I don't see what's weird about it at all. What's weird to me is the fact that, if a vampire's faith can power holy objects just like a human's faith can, then the fact we've never ever heard of it before and Miss Vampire Expert Anita never has either, means that vampires with any faith in anything, holy or otherwise, are just that rare. There's no vampire with enough faith in, say, money, which has definitely been a lasting thing (even if the mode of currency changes) to make a credit card glow like that atheist did? Or what about vampires with faith in non-Christian religions that might not be at all condemning of vampires like ABverse Christianity seems to inherently be according to Anita? And even with that, I still think there would be quite a few vampires who, for various reasons, could still be Christian and may or may not believe themselves damned. And yet there's never been any. And it can't just be that there are loads around and that we just didn't see them onscreen till now because it never came up, since if that were the case then Miss Vampire Expert Anita wouldn't be shocked by this story. And what about Warrick, the Christian vampire from Burnt Offerings? She met him, she knew how devout he was, I'm surprised it never even crossed her mind (no pun intended) that if he ever got around a holy object sometime he might be able to make it glow.

I'm still psyched about the information but Anita's reaction and its implications are dumb.

Weiskopf must clearly be able to read her reaction because he says she can think what she wants he's still telling the truth. Anita asks if he was there or if Benjamin just told him this, Weiskopf points out that she should know "how complete the memories can be between master and servant" so he knows just as well whether he was physically there or not, "We were there. We saw the truth." Anita is uncomfortable with how he says "we" and wonders if that's what would have happened to her and JC if they weren't careful about controlling their psychic connections and thinks about all the work they and Richard did and how if they didn't "it could have made us into one mind with three bodies" and how that idea had "scared the hell out me" so much that she had run away from them both for six months. And she thinks about how Weiskopf and his master are clearly "a we, no longer than I" and it scares her. I think that's an awful big conclusion to jump to, myself. Honestly, using the plural actually just sounded appropriate/apt for the situation he was describing. Weiskopf asks what scared her, and Anita realizes "I wasn't doing a very good poker face." Have you tried BLUFFIN' WITH YOUR MUFFIN? She tries to "distract him" by informing him that the vampire hunter killing Benjamin's master and fountainhead would not have killed his descendents. "It never has, not a single time, when I've done my job."

Um, yes. Weiskopf knows this. He was the one who told Anit that the idea that killing the fountainhead killed the other vamps descended from it was a lie told to keep said descendents under control, whereas Anita was the one who said that she'd never heard of a line surviving after its fountainhead were killed and that The Wicked Truth were the only vampires she knew who survived that (which also ignored the fact that they were the ones who killed all the other decedents, the descendents didn't just drop dead on their own). Can LKH seriously not even keep track of what her own characters say for a couple damn pages? But then Weiskopf says that it's supposed to, then repeats what he said earlier about it turning out to be a lie because they woke up the next morning without their master/fountainhead. Okay then, yeah, LKH definitely does not have an editor and definitely cannot keep track of this very, very simple shit within the space of a few pages.

Anita says that it's just that Benjamin was strong enough to make his own heart beat...so, is she contradicting him? Even though she just said what he said? I AM SO CONFUSED ON WHAT ANITA IS TRYING TO ARGUE I DON'T EVEN. Weiskopf says it's not that simple, Anita asks why then was it just Benjamin that woke up and the other vampires didn't...wait, did Weiskopf say they didn't? Um, he said Benjamin "alone, woke" but I assumed it meant alone as in without a master, not as in without a Kiss, but I guess he did mean without a Kiss because he says that the vampire hunter had murdered many of them. Anita asks if these vampires had murdered people, Weiskopf admits that though "Our master had grown depraved with power." I wonder, was he still able to wield holy objects even when depraved? Because again, if it's just faith that makes them work, a terrible person should still be able to do it so long as they personally believe, like, you know, ANITA DOES. I feel like in a good series, that would be a wake-up call for her, but since this isn't a good series this question is not brought up and Weiskopf continues that "You cannot seek to control other vampires without it leading to the corruption of your very mind and soul." I wonder if Anita will spot what that says about JC then? And about her? "So we sought to control no one but ourselves."

Sounds valid. Anita asks "And how did that work out for you?" which I can only read as baiting/obnoxious/condescending. Weiskopf says they were tempted to make followers but resisted, and were always traveling so they didn't draw the attention of any other masters because they didn't want to have to fight for territory or have to submit to any other vampire and "We wanted only to be left alone." Y'know, if this is seriously all true, I really like Benjamin and Weiskopf. I really do. Anita says that they do so have followers and that one almost killed his pregnant ex-wife "when we stopped him." Weiskopf corrects her that they "killed him" and she's like yeah fine we killed him but it was him or the pregnant lady "who'd done nothing wrong besides leaving her abusive ex-husband" Anyone else think she's misogynistic enough to literally mean that as something wrong versus the way a normal person would? "I'd make the same choice again." Weiskopf agrees with her that it was the right thing to do, and "I couldn't help but frown at him." Um, why? "Glad you see that." Again, I do not understand why Anita is so antagonistic towards this guy especially in a situation where that's probably a bad idea. Weiskopf tells her not to be surprised and that "We believe in violence to save the innocent. We are not complete pacifists." Oh so THAT'S what she was frowning/scoffing at. That...sadly makes sense. She scoffs more with "Good to know"

Weiskopf admits that "We had followers in the way of any human leader, but we did not make them bow to us. We did not make them take an oath to us. We were very careful to use only words." Anita tells him that a master vampire is going to exert control over lesser vampires just by being near them whether on purpose or not "like some kind of preternatural pheromone." Like? Shouldn't she know more specifically what it is, what with her Preternatural Biology degree and all? Also, the way she phrases it, it sounds less like she's saying "you're lying, and I know why" but more like "no silly, you're wrong, let me teach you this thing you clearly must not know about" which is just absurd because how would a centuries-old vampire master NOT know it? Even if he didn't figure it out for himself there's no way some other vampire wouldn't have eventually told him this is just A Thing. But absurd as it is, it seems to be the case, since Weiskopf says she's lying, and Anita informs him that "that's how a Master of the City knows another master is in his territory. They sense it." I...don't see how those two things connect at all? Weiskopf notes that JC doesn't sense his lot, and Anita says that must mean Benjamin is very old and very powerful.

She then says "Let's say that he truly is trying not to exert control over other vampires. Let's say he honestly believes that he is just talking to them, just telling them they deserve to be free of any master" and Weiskopf is like yes that is true that is exactly the case and "is that so awful a goal?" Anita responds that "it's a great ideal" and tells us she believes this but given her attitude thus far about the idea of masterless vampires I doubt it. I think Weiskopf must be similarly skeptical, because he says he didn't expect her to agree.. She says she's just full of surprises, and he says he should have known she would be. He also calls her by her full name, and she says to just call her Anita...despite the fact she told him to call her by her last name earlier. He says being friendly now won't fool him. Anita says she's "just tired of hearing you say Anita Blake. I feel like I'm in trouble with a teacher at school." Instead of pointing out she's the one who told him to address her as such in the first place, he just smiles and nods and says he understands and even adds "thank you for letting me use your given name." Y'know, even if he does turn out to be evil/lying, I still like that he is polite. Politeness is something I really appreciate, which is why Affably Evil villains are my fave. It's funny, I really loathe polite bigots since I wish they'd just be openly hateful since that's easier for me to deal with, but when it comes to just being evil (in a non-bigoted way) I don't see why you can't still be nice and polite about it. Just a quirky preference of mine, I guess.

Anita asks "So, you and your master decided to try to free the little vampires from the control of the master vampires?" I think there should really be terms for non-master vamps and/or vamps under the control of a master vamp, because I get tired of hearing Anita call them little vampires and baby vampires and what. Plus it seems like something there would be a term for in this world. He's like yup and she tells him that she believes vampires are people or else she wouldn't be in love with "one, or two." Um, which is it, one or two? He asks how she can continue to execute them then. My answer would be in the same way that a human can love some humans--partners, family, etc.--but support the death penalty for other humans, especially ones who they don't know and/or that have committed heinous acts. Normally I'd say that these two case aren't equivalent, since vampires can be executed for petty theft and similar non-heinous crimes, but since we just found out that's no longer the case, then yeah, that's my answer to that. Anita, however, just admits that she's been "having a little crisis of conscious for a while" about that. Great, first she's rude to him, and now she's giving him an 'in' to emotionally manipulate her with. Anita has zero tactical interrogation/negotiation skills whatsoever. At best I guess this could maybe be a way to try to gain his trust, but it's portrayed as being an honest admission rather than a calculated one.

Dolph makes an "involuntary movement" beside her at this, because don't forget he was only just recently a big mean scary no-good anti-vampire bigot, and Anita struggles not to look at him. Weiskopf asks if Anita believes she murders the vampires she executes, she says sometimes, he says all the time, Anita shakes her head and says she's seen vampires do really terrible things and how SHE'S SEEN THINGS MAN and describes how "I've walked through rooms so thick with the blood of their victims that the carpet squished underfoot, and the room smelled like raw hamburger" and this makes Weiskopf flinch because even a centuries-older human servant who has surely seen some shit himself cannot handle the darkitty-dark of that, and Anita says she doesn't believe that killing "the animals that did that" was murder. Weiskopf looks down at his hands, agrees with her, and likens it to how the guy about to kill his ex-wife had to be stopped, and Anita is like yes. Weiskopf asks if she'd kill a human who did similarly terrible things, she says she has, Weiskopf looks at Dolph and asks if the other officers know this, and Anita nods and says "Sometimes the bad guys aren't all vampires." Wow, cops would totally never know THAT, it's not like their main job is dealing with human criminals or anything while only the specialty squads deal with monsters! And, of course, super-cop Anita claims that "I've helped the police hunt down and execute them too." Has that ever happened on-screen, or even been mentioned? I know she's found human culprits in the process of investigating supernatural-related crimes, but when did she and the police ever actually set out to chase down and execute a human from the start?

Weiskopf is suspicious because "Humans have more rights; you can't just kill them." LOL, THIS IS ANITA BLAKE YOU'RE TALKING TO BUDDY, SHE CAN KILL WHOEVER THE FUCK SHE LIKES CONSEQUENCE-FREE. Anita asks if he considers shifters to be human, he says that since the law gives them the right to trial unless a warrant has been issued for their deaths, and that the once said warrant is issued then "they are as much a pariah of human society as a vampire." Um, firstly that doesn't answer Anita's question at all, but I'll let that slide as him trying to avoid it for whatever reason. But secondly, that's not what pariah means. It means an outcast, not someone who is (necessarily) going to be killed. Anita asks if Benjamin is going to try to free the wereanimals from their pack leaders just as he's trying to free lesser vamps from their masters. At this, Weiskopf "looked startled for a moment, as if the thought had never occurred to him." Anita gives him an unpleasant smile and says "All the old vamps think the shapeshifters are lesser beings. You think of them as animals, not people." Or maybe he and Benjamin figure that meddling in the shifter community is NOT THEIR BUSINESS and that they don't know what's best for another species and shouldn't presume to, UNLIKE YOU. Also, Anita talks about the shifters as if they're animals more than any vampire we've encountered to my memory.

Of course, because LKH is writing this, Anita has made a completely correct and armor-piercing point that the other person, despite having hundreds of years on her and far more experience in the supernatural world, never thought of, and he immediately proves her right. by saying "I cannot dispute your accusation. It did not occur to us to try to free them of their oppression, because they are animals, and animals need discipline, a leash of sorts to keep them from running amok and slaughtering the innocent." LKH, I realize that he's your designated strawman here, but could you at least give him the intelligence to think that maybe 'animals' should not be 'leashed' by other animals aka their pack leaders? Because if he really believed shifters were all these things, he wouldn't think their pack leaders, also being shifters, would be any better and thus not be inclined to trust them with controlling their people. However, not only does Anita not make this point, she doesn’t even argue with him. In fact, she implicitly agrees with him because her response is “Vampires need the same thing.” WOW, ANITA. JUST WOW. Also, insert my rant from earlier chapters here about how being legal citizens and subject to “you can now live openly, we will only kill you if you actually do something instead of just for existing” is a fine incentive/leash for vampires (and therians) to behave, in addition to eliminating the corruption and exploitation of the hierarchies in Kisses, Packs, etc. I’d like to also repeat my earlier point that, considering this, I don’t think Anita so much believes what she’s saying as she just wants to keep the benefits she has of being on top of all these hierarchies.

Anyway, Weiskopf says that’s not true, and Anita says that “the newly dead can be just as animalistic as any first-time shapeshifter” Okay, so they both need control when they’re brand-new…but Packs/Kisses/etc. keep that control for life. Of course, before anyone can dare make such a sensible point, Anita starts to show off her scars. SHE DOES THIS EVERY SINGLE BOOK. EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. Or at least every one that I’ve sporked. She points to one that vampire made on her arm “like a terrier with a rat.” Oh, the exact same simile she used with Nathaniel chomping her breast earlier. Just saying. Weiskopf notes that she has a cross-shaped burn scar, Anita says it’s from Renfields that thought it would be funny to brand her with it, and he asks about another and she says it was a shape-shifted witch and Dolph recounts how “I was there for that one. Anita helped save one of my officers.” Yeah, if you thought previous ‘Scar Show & Tell’ with Anita incidents were bad, now we have Dolph here to assistant and talk about what a great hero she is. Of course, Anita doesn’t need the help because she goes on a massive tangent, starting with how that incident had involved Zerbrowski being disemboweled and how she’d held his guts in her hands “because the white uniforms had refused to help, because they thought the witch was a real lyanthrope, and they might catch it” and how she’d been the one to hold the pressure on the wound and save his life while screaming at them that they were cowards and how she and Dolph had been the ones to get him out of there. THIS SOUNDS LIKE SUCH A LOAD OF BULLSHIT. I DON’T CARE IF IT ACTUALLY HAPPENED IN THE BOOK, IT’S STILL A STEAMING PILE OF ILLOGICAL BULLSHIT SET UP TO MAKE ANITA LOOK GOOD AND EVERYONE ELSE A BIG BAD DUMMY NO MATTER HOW LITTLE SENSE THAT SCENARIO MAKES.

And this leads in to Anita talking about how she held Katie at the hospital, and that’s why she and Zerbrowski are partners and why “Katie made sure my sweeties and I were invited to the barbecues and dinners.” I like to think Katie would otherwise never ever let Anita set foot in their house. “She wasn’t comfy with the vampires visiting, but she let my furry sweeties come visit.” FURRY SWEETIES AHAHAHAHA. And she talks about how Katie has made it clear to other cops that they can leave if they don’t like it and she defended Anita, Micah, and Nathaniel at the cookout last summer and “I loved Katie for that day.” I would love it if LKH could please just let her editor do her job, then this totally random pointless segue would be cut.

Weiskopf brings things back to the scars by asking if the vampire that scarred her was a newly risen one, she says no, and he says "No vampire that had been undead for any length of time would do that, unless it was one of the revenants" OH FOR CRYING OUT LOUD. I realize LKH is trying to paint him as this naive idealist who just doesn't understaaaand the cold harsh truth of why Kiss hierarchies are needed, but it does not fit one bit with the past she's given him! He shares the memories of a centuries-old vampire, and it's not as if Benjamin was cloistered away at the monastery for all that time up until now, he's said that they traveled around constantly to avoid other vampire masters, so they've been through a lot of times and places and vampire communities. They've probably seen some shit. And we KNOW that Benjamin saw some bad vampire shit with his master/fountainhead since he remembers him becoming depraved and corrupt before a vampire hunter killed him! This would make sense coming from, say, a human who has never known anything of the vampire community, was born after they became legal, etc., but it does NOT make any sense AT ALL coming from Weiskopf! How do you screw up a character like this WITHIN THE VERY CHAPTER SAID CHARACTER IS INTRODUCED?

Anita says that the vampire who did this was not a revenant and was over a hundred and that "he chose to hurt me like this; he wanted to make me suffer." Weiskopf asks why (I think he could probably think of a few reasons himself just from having interacted with her thus far) and Anita says that's something he'd have to answer, which, as I think she planned, causes Weiskopf to ask if the vamp is alive to answer it so she can say no, which she does. He says "There are bad vampires, as there are bad people, I suppose." Wow, no way. Anita says yeah and now they're people with super-powers and bloodlust and "without a master to hold their leash, they're like most people, power drunk." Power drunk? Sounds more like JC and Anita to me...Anita holds herself above the law and sentenced a guy to death for not sleeping with her, meanwhile JC has proclaimed himself Vampire King of America. And Benjamin's own master got power drunk too, not his followers. It seems to be a much bigger problem with the leash-holders than the leashed from what we've been shown.

Weiskopf disagrees with her, Anita says "They've killed two police officers. It was a trap to kill me." Anita, how does the criminal action of this one tiny group of masterless vampires equate to the idea that all masterless vampires have to be enslaved by people like JC? Especially since Weiskopf's own master Benjamin is a walking counter-arguement, being a powerful and masteless vampire who has gone for centuries without ever causing any trouble as far as we can tell. Even if I agreed with Anita to begin with, I think I'd still end up disagreeing with her anyway because of how badly she argues her case. Since Weiskopf is not allowed by LKH to actually make any good points like this back at her avatar, he says that "they" had talked about killing Anita and JC but that "we had told them no, but apparently they went ahead without us." Anita says that if Benjamin had really been their master, he could have prevented this. Yeah, and if he'd wanted to, he could also use his abilities as a master to make them do this even if they were the ones who didn't want to. Anita is acting like all masters are saints when that is in direct opposition with almost every MotC she's encountered. She should be in agreement with Weiskopf, and I think if she weren't a sociopath, or at least not profiting from the MotC system, she would be. But since it benefits her now, she's going to pretend it's a good thing despite all her own experiences to the contrary.

Weiskopf says Benjamin being their master would defeat the purpose of their desire for vampires to be free and prove that they don't need to be controlled like animals. Anita says "You mean like wereanimals" and I'm pretty sure she's using a derailing tactic here that there's a name for but I don't remember once. Weiskopf says that wereanimals are part animal, which Anita was just thinking earlier (remember, the bit about Micah being able to taste Dev's cock/cum still on her mouth?) so she just says that she has more wereanimal lovers than vampires. Weiskopf shudders and says "That is your choice, but vampires have no taint of beast in them." See? He's a bigot therefore none of his arguments, even those un-related to his bigotry, can be valid. Just like being a vegetarian is bad because Hitler was one. Anita comes back with "No, just like human serial killers, they're just people that do unspeakable things" So do humans need masters too then? Also, Anita is a hell of a one to talk about doing unspeakable things. Dolph adds that bombs were found at the last house raided, Anita thinks about how this is a partial lie since they only found parts for making bombs "but the look of shock and horror on Weiskopf's face made the white lie worth it." She's such an asshole. I really don't know why I'm expected to root for such a nasty, petty person.

Weiskopf goes "Oh, no, no" and Dolph asks what they're planning on doing with the bombs, Weiskopf asks how many were found, and Anita is like erk gotta keep lying and Dolph says two and Weiskopf pales as he says "No, they can't" and Dolph "uses his size to intimidate" (um Weiskopf is a human servant, he has super strength) as he asks who the targets are. Weiskopf is "truly shaken by the news" and repeats that they had talked of making bombs but he and Benjamin had said no. "But you didn't have any real authority over them, because you didn't make them take your oath." No real authority meaning no mind-control over their very lives, just like regular human leaders with regular human people and their pesky free wills, oh no! Does LKH have any idea how Anita looks here, what message this is giving? Any? I really hope not. Weiskopf says "They were better when we were with them" and Anita is like yeah cuz of the pheromones (the pheromones we've...not heard a thing about till now) and Wieskopf says they had been worried that Benjamin just being around was affecting them so he'd started to sleep elsewhere, and Anita says that's what lost him any control he had over them. Weiskopf looks at her with "real anguish" and says that there must be some way to "be human again" You know what, I want a series about Benjamin and Weiskopf. Anita says they're vampires and that can't be changed and that means they need a master. Yeah, this is just DRIPPING with so many Unfortunate Messages/Implications. Weiskopf is horrified by this because that would make everything he and Benjamin done useless.

Anita asks who the targets for the bombs are, he says “The Church of Eternal Life; they feel that Maclolm betrayed them all by making them take other to Jean-Claude.” Wait, if some of his group are those who were made to take oath to JC by Malcolm, which it sounds like from this statement…doesn’t that mean JC has had control of them all along anyway? Man wouldn’t it be a great mind-screw if he actually engineered this whole thing for some purpose? The other targets are Anita, JC, and JC’s clubs/businesses, because the rebels “felt if they could kill him, and you, that they would be free. We told them that wasn’t true, that you were the best and most modern prince that we had ever seen. That you gave us hope.” UGH I WANT TO PUKE ALL OVER THIS. Did Anita and JC give them ‘hope’ when they raped visiting vampires like Augustine and his entourage? How about ‘hope’ when Anita set Olaf on a female vampire of his preferred victim ‘type’ after telling her that she wouldn’t do it if said vamp gave up the info Anita wanted, which she did? JC was comparably better than other MotCs at one point the series, but I think that point has been passed. She and JC rape and kill and abuse and exploit as much as any evil master in this series has.

Anita thinks about how this isn’t anything the guards hadn’t already guesses and they’ll triple-check everything but she’s still scared. She asks if there are any other Human Servants in the group, he says no. Anita feels relief because then there’s no one who can use the bombs during the day…because setting timers on them doesn’t exist I guess. Then she thinks to ask “Are there Renfields; two-biters?” and Weiskopf says that term “is an insult to humans we are bringing over.” Wait a second. Renfields are humans who are mentally enslaved by a vampire. But calling them “two-biters” and “humans we are bringing over” makes them instead sound like they’re humans who are in the process of being made into vampires, since Anita said in a short story that it takes three bites in a short space of time to do it (though I think it’s been said elsewhere that a sufficiently powerful vamp can do it in one) Given that the bite of a master vampire can give the vamp mental control over the victim (like Nikolaos tried to do with Anita in the first book) are people who are in the process of being turned still subject to that because of the bites, and thus anyone who gets turned is going to temporarily be a Renfield before they become a vampire?

Now of all times, of course, Anita doesn’t info-dump (I swear, she never ever does it when it’s actually something I want to know, it’s like she’s taunting me!), she just repeats the question to Weiskopf without saying the offensive term this time, and he says there are a few vampires in the group that have Renfields. She asks their names, he hesitates, she says his master and he will be as guilty as the rest if the bombs are used, Dolph tells him he can stop this, and Anita repeats that if anyone dies he’s in deep shit and “human servants are treated the same as vampires under the law if the vampires in question commit murder and the servants aid them in any way.” Hmm, interesting. Dolph seems to be trying to appeal to Weiskopf’s better nature by saying he can help stop a bad thing, whereas Anita just emphasizes how he’ll be punished. Given how Anita tends to act as if everyone thinks like she does, I think this says something about her, though nothing we didn’t already know.

Weiskopf says that "We would never forgive ourselves if more innocent lives are lost" and so "he told us the names. One of them wasn't in the system at all, but one had a record for assault, and other was in the system because he'd worked at a court officer before he became a vampire." and that segues into about half a page of Anita talking to us about how, like the military, the government doesn't want vampires working for them...and given how vampires have mind-control powers, I gotta say, that's not entirely unfair. She says this would be a good motive for Clarence Bradley, the former court officer, to have "all sorts of bitterness." They begin to work one an "all-points bulletin" for the one guy they have pictures of "then started working to get the last picture we needed." Her phone rings, and it's Nicky, who says they have a problem. Anita tries to keep her voice neutral as she asks what so that the police won't pick up on it "in case it was a problem that we wanted to handle without the other police." Again, this woman needs to turn in her badge already.

Nicky says there is a Renfield at Guilty Pleasures "with a bomb strapped to him, and a dead man's switch, so if he dies it blows." Anita's reaction is to say GP is closed, Nicky says that "They were here rehearsing the new dance routine", Anita gets afraid and asks who 'they' is, Nicky informs her that the bomber has grabbed Nathaniel. "If we shoot the Renfield, the bomb goes off. If we don't shoot him, eventually the bomb goes off." Anita feels nauseous and puts her head down. Claudia asks what's wrong. Anita asks why he hasn't blown it already and thinks about how "I didn't have enough brownie points to give myself" for her voice sounding almost normal as she does. Nicky says that the bomber wants her to come down and will let Nathaniel go if she does. Anita says okay and has to sit down on the floor because she's so nauseous she's dizzy. Nicky tells her that just because the bomber says he'll let Nathaniel go doesn't mean he will and that he may just be trying to blow them both up because taking out her Therian Servant means that there's a better chance that Anita will die...which means there's reason to think that alone she could survive a BOMB BLAST holy shit. Anita, for some reason, thinks that the bomber wouldn't know this. Nicky counters that she doesn't know the bomber doesn't know, and also that he still might blow them all up just because he can and that "You can't do this." Anita says "I can't not do it" and adds "Don't sacrifice Nathaniel to keep me safe, I'd never forgive you for it."

At this point "there was a crowd gathered around me" of Claudia, Pride, Zerbrowski, Arnet, Tammy, Dolph, and possibly others but Anita swears to us she doesn't care about any of them but only Nathaniel. I certainly don't doubt that she's concerned about losing her favorite toy, but I also can't help but feel the mention of the crowd is there because LKH wants all attention on Anita. Now, this is a scenario where attention actually is warranted---a woman is on the phone, having horrible reactions, clearly upset, of course people are going to be concerned and come over to make sure she's okay. It's just that Anita so often has crowds around her fussing over her and protecting her and whatever that it's obnoxious here even though it's totally okay on its own out of the context of the rest of the book. Sort of a Boy Who Cried Wolf thing---it's been done so much needlessly that I'm sick of it by the time it actually is appropriate. Nicky says he'd never hurt Nathaniel, Anita says "I thought you'd say, now that I told you you couldn't, you couldn't" and that takes a minute for me to work out. Nicky says "he means something to me to, Anita" because "this is the first home I've had since the woman who raised me" and "I want him safe" and Anita realizes "Nicky wasn't nearly as good a sociopath as I'd thought" Um, you may want to think about using 'good' as a quantifier for sociopathy. Mental illness isn't something you're 'good at' for fucks' sake.

Anita says to "keep him safe for both of us" (how?) and not to get killed himself either and that she's on her way. He says he won't get himself killed "on purpose" and then hangs up.I like to think he's thought of getting himself killed on purpose before just to escape her. She thinks that she could call him back but all she could say if she did would be "Don't die on me. Don't any of you die on me." and "Yeah, I could have said that" are the last words of the chapter. I'm sure glad she didn't say that because it is stupid cliche action movie dialogue that sounds dumb.

So basically, the plot got put on hold for what must have been 50% or more of the book so that absolutely nothing of importance could happen except Asher got kicked out and Anita learned not to screw Nicky two times in a row, then when the book is 90% through it dumps the bad guys into Anita's lap on a silver platter. She never had to do any work to find them, she never even raised the issue at all with Jean-Claude to get anyone else on it. I'm willing to bet if Weiskopf and this bomber hadn't shown, she'd have forgotten the whole thing. Also, I'm going to make a prediction as well on how things will go down: Anita shoots or otherwise takes down the bomber, no one (especially not Nathaniel) is hurt, and the actual issues that the rebel vamps have are never addressed/resolved or we'll just be told that everything was worked out offscreen. Because if there's one thing LKH clearly just doesn't want to be writing, it's her own actual plots. Even more than Bullet, this makes it plain that all she wants to do, and will put any effort into, is sex and domestic crap with Anita and her harem.