The sight of an electric light makes Anita feel or happy because it means to her that she's leaving the underground.. Ok? I would've thought that natural light would mean that... But.. Whatever right?
Anywhose there are two doors ahead of them and she can hear music floating through the one in front of us, high bright circus music.
Strange, we currently have a circus opposite my place of work and they only play recent, popular pop music. Which in my world is anything but high and bright more like whiny and repetitive. You know like stereotypical circus mus... Wait...
Anita moves through the door and finds herself in a crowd, apparently all the powerful vamps live under a circus they own 'the circus of the damned' no wonder Anita has such a high kill count, vampires in this world are fucking morons.
Oh.. So they didn't walk through the door, someone had opened the door and some teenager is naturally trying too peer backstage before someone in a old fashion riverboat gambler outfit has wondered in and shut the door behind him, blocking out the noise and lights of the actual circus.
Insert the usual description one will learn to expect from an AB novel, then we learn that the mystery gambler is a vampire, who was apparently worried that he would miss meeting the executioner, Winter moves between them clearly playing the roll of bodyguard. A roll the vampire makes fun of by asking Anita if he should tear Winter apart to prove how much of a strong manly man he is, Anita steps forward explaining that, that sort of extreme behavior won't be necessary.
The vamp asks if she remembers his voice (the cliche virus attacks again, they really should look into getting a vaccine for it) they have a bit of a back and forth about how the vamp had assumed she died two years before and didn't realize she was in fact the executioner... Why'd he want to meet her then?
Zach begs him not to do this since he's been commanded to see her safely to her car, the vamp assures Zach that he doesn't plan to harm a hair on her head... Tonight.
Then he proceeds to remove his mask, revealing that half of his face is essentially melted, his eye on that side of the face is still in good condition besides the fact it's rimmed in scar tissue. Anita redundantly points out that it looks like acid burns, only that it wasn't, it was holy water.
Those scars apparently seems to cause Anita to have a flashback about him pinning her to the ground, his teeth tearing into the arm shes using as a barricade between him and her throat, he breaks her arm with his teeth. Rearing back he pushes her head to the side before striking, somehow missing her neck and striking her collarbone, while he's distracted by her blood, and she's not currently feeling pain due to shock she gropes around with her spare hand, finding a vial she smashes it against the side of his head, he pulls back as he grabs his face and screeches in pain. (We never get anything this cool in the actual series, it's all flashbacks... Yay)
She'd assumed he'd burnt with the house, he'd assumed the same of her... It's like those awkward romantic comedies where they meet up again after a few years of non-communication because of some stupid bullshit reason.
"What. no scream of horror? No gasp of fright? You disappoint me, Executioner. Don't you admire your own handiwork?"
It could just be me, but if this sort of shit happened to me I'd be somewhat comforted that I wasn't defeated by someone who was so squeamish they couldn't handle looking at the damage they did to me, I wouldn't mock them about that fact at all.
Anita replies that she thought he was dead, the vampire replies in a reasonably snarky fashion that now she knows, and he now knows that she's still alive.
He then goes on about how he has to live forever looking like this, when Anita asks what he wants he tells her to be as brave as she wants to be because he can smell her fear then... Asks to see the scars he gave her? Really?
When Anita asks what'll happen afterwards he replies that they'll go their separate ways since the master has given him strict orders that he can't get revenge until she's done working for them, which is when he'll get revenge for her melting half his face off.
Another jab at Winter trying to protect her and the fact the Anita shouldn't be shy since he's already tasted her blood and seen the scars before they healed so get on with the showing already!
Anita finally shows the vamp her arm (I thought it was her collarbone he gnawed on...?) he's surprised that she still has use of it, Anita responds that physical therapy is beyond handy, the vamp replies that there isn't anything that could help him, Anita pushes her shirt down enough to show her collarbone, gushing about how the scar looks before thinking sarcastically about how great it looks in a bathing suit.
The vamp mentions that she smells of cold sweat and fear (didn't we just go over this) before stating that he now hopes he can haunt her like she haunted him, Anita shoots back that it's different since she was merely defending herself.
Which of course pisses the vamp off, he points out that the only reason he attacked her was because she entered his house with the plan of stabbing them in the heart with stakes.
A claim she stomps on by pointing out that 23 people died before she was called in...
Are you fucking serious?? What were the police doing this entire time? Now in my story when the death toll by the supernatural were reaching these kind of numbers the government formed an elite group of vampire hunters (them being the main threat at the time) who basically policed the supernatural with brute force that both worked for and against their advantage, they didn't sit around before calling a lone assassin in, that's just stupid beyond all fucking belief.
Mystery vampire has probably the dumbest comeback I've seen in awhile.
"Who appointed you God, who made you our executioner?"
[...] "the police."
NO! The police didn't make you a hunter, that would be a government section. Police don't have the right to just walk up to people and ask them to become what is basically a licensed vigilante.
The vamp then lets her go, with another threat that once she's done he's going to gnaw on her like a piece of KFC chicken, Zach and Anita leave the room, Winter stays behind to watch their 6s which causes Anita to call him an idiot for some reason... I don't know why, because she's a ungrateful little bitch?
As they leave the vamp tells her his name which is Valentine... Seriously? That's what you're going to call him? Ok then....
Zach asks Anita if she she has a gun with silver bullets in it (I've already had this rant... I've already had this rant... I've already...) when she replies that she does he points out that she should carry it with her *headdesk* Thanks caption obvious... (I really should learn how to put pics into my blog, I have at least three that would suit this)
And now we get an insert about how badass Anita is!!!!!!!!
"What I need is a shotgun."
He looked at me. "You going to carry a shotgun with you day after day?"
"Sawed off, it would fit under a coat." *Cough*Illegal*Cough*
"In the middle of a Missouri summer, you'd melt, Why not a machine gun, or flamethrower, while you're at it."
"Machine gun has too wide a spread range. You may hit innocent people. Flamethrower's bulky. Messy, too,"
When Zach asks if she's used a flamethrower on someone she responds that no, but she's seen it used and that while it worked like a charm it was messy as all hell and burnt the house down around them causing her to think it was a little extreme.
Isn't there regulations about what these people use on vamps? It'd be like going up to someone who dared to shop lift a chocolate bar and beating them half to death with a crowbar.
We then learn that Anita doesn't actual hate vampires, it's just a job for her. Now again I'm going to use my story as a example here, my 'hero' doesn't hate vampires/supernaturals either, but he's a firm believer that if the human race doesn't stay on top of the monster they will take over and the human race will become nothing but cattle.
Anita? No... She's good at it and gets paid for it so... YAY, vampire slaughter for everyone!
Zach shoves his number into Anita's hand once they reach her car, stating that he'll be her daytime contact. Anita opens her trunk, putting on her shoulder holster. Thinking smugly to herself that while guns in plain view attract attention, that most people also run out of the way clearing a path which makes chases very convenient.
Two issues, one how many chases must she do? Her prey are dead by day and the streets aren't that crowded at night and two.. This statement proves how out of date this book is, again not an American, but what little I've gotten from the media, walking around with a gun in plain sight would be a very good reason to get arrested and locked up while they comb through your files.
Zach points out that it just being a job is a pretty shitty reason to start killing vampires, Anita replies that she fears them and its a natural human trait to kill those that you're scared of.
Zach responds that most people avoid things that make them afraid, which is a sign that LKH was only typing with on hand here. This statement doesn't make Anita look good!
She then has a random thought that doesn't seem to contact with anything...
"I raised the dead and laid the undead to rest. It was what I did. Who I was. If I ever started questioning my motives, I would stop killing vampires. Simple as that."
If her convictions are that easily shaken then maybe she should stop and consider why she's doing this.
The chapter ends with her gushing about how she's not questioning her motives tonight, and still makes her a vampire slayer, the Executioner.
You know, this book seemed so much better when I was 17. Now.. It's just... Painful, I was clearly a lot less critical about the books I read back then.
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