The rest of the place is decorated with old school Broadway signs, claiming such wonderful, awe aspiring shows such as! The death defying count Alcourt (The picture relating to this is someone hanging themselves) Watch the zombies raise from the grave (Relating picture is pretty obvious) and Fabian: The werewolf! (Again, pretty obvious picture is attached)
Something tells me that whoever is in control of marketing for this place should be fired as Anita is careful to point out that most of the banners and signs are crudely drawn and hung up in a ragtag fashion.
Guilty Pleasures treads a thin line between entertainment and the sadistic. The circus goes over the edge and down into the abyss.
And here I go inside. Oh joy in the morning.
Though pointless would probably be more relevant
Anita wonders into the circus, bitching that it's loud, crowded and smells strongly of cotton candy and the like. Before yammering on about how under all of the other smells there's the neck-ruffling smell of old blood, which apparently smells like old copper coins and that most people don't recognize it.
Ugh, hate to break it to your darker then everyone image you have going there Anita, but I'm fairly sure that any female who has hit puberty knows what old blood smells like, anyone who has cut themselves bad enough for some serious blood flow knows what it smells like... Hell, gardeners who works with blood and bones as their fertilizer knows how it smells.
The point I'm trying to make here is that loads of people know what blood (no matter how old) smells like!
But there is another scent on the air, not just blood, but violence. Of course, violence has no smell. Yet, always here, there is-- something. The barest hint of long-closed rooms and rotting cloth.
So... Much... Stupid... Crammed... Into... One... Page!!!!!
We learn that Anita has never been here except on police business (and escaping crazy vampires who kidnapped her) and that she would give a lot to have a few uniforms with her now.
WHICH SHE COULD HAVE HAD IF SHE HAD FUCKING CALLED THEM!
Hell, she could have Eddy has backup if she wasn't so bloody stubborn!
And no, I don't trust him isn't a good enough excuse when peoples lives are at risk.
Winter, the blond haired muscle man we met when she first fled from Nicky. He's wearing the stereotypical strongman outfit you see in all the old cartoons.
"Is your entirely family obscenely tall, or is it just you?" I asked.
He frowned, eyes narrowing. I don't think he got it. Oh, well.
FUCKING GET WHAT? IF THAT WAS SUPPOSE TO BE A JOKE!!!! FNJDSFNKJFNKJSNFKJFGNVKJSNFKDNVSDVJDFVBJSVBSKJNVJNVJBVSDK
Right... Ok.. I'm ok... Lets just get this damn thing over with.
Anita follows Winter through the circus, every now and then stopping to comment on a show or ride to drive home the 'creepiness' of the place. Honestly though it just sounds like every other tourist trap out there that specializes in this sort of thing.
Like, c'mon this place has a haunted house for crying out loud. While she does make an idle stab at it, it does make this place seem more like a joke then an actual creepy place.
So gets backstage and is then searched for weapons, but they suck at their jobs since they miss the knife she has concealed on her ankle, she better be wearing boots otherwise I'm seriously going to pissed that they could miss such an obvious spot for weaponry.
They then head down the stairs to the throne room, one guy in front and Winter behind. Making sure she doesn't make a break for it and idly taunting her by pointing out that Nicky is waiting for her downstairs with her friend.
They naturally stop outside of the dungeon door, knocking lightly they wait until Valentine opens the door, he's wearing a silver mask what hair can be seen is sticky with blood. He sweeps his hand and tells them to enter.
She walks into the dungeon but stops at the top of the stairs, claiming that the sight which meets her stops her cold.
Aubrey is leaning against the wall with a bestial look on his face, Nicky is standing in front of her, her white dress splattered with blood.
It turns out that they have Phil chained spread-eagle to the wall and proceeded to bite him over and over, now I remember when I first read this book that I was shocked that this would happen to what I then considered to be a main character and love interest.
Now I'm jaded and all I can think about is how these vampires don't know how to torture and/or put a good show on.
Series like the Banned and the Banished by James Clemens (It's the original Song of Fire and Ice, seriously if you like a character in that series they die) and the like have since toughened me up to this sort of thing so now days it doesn't bother me (besides the fact that Phil hasn't really had enough page time to get to know beyond ANGST!)
Getting back to the scene, Phil looks at her and she is horrified to see the level of despair in his eyes, since he appears to be convinced that he has come here to die. Hell even Anita isn't sure there is something she can do to help him.
The guy behind her touches her shoulder, causing her to jump, causing the vampires to laugh but the humans in the room don't.
I think this is suppose to be some sort of contrast thing, but honestly if you don't like what the vampires get up to why would you willingly work for them?? If these guys have been blackmailed into it then something of the like should have been mentioned in passing as a possibility.
Nicky idly runs his hands over Phil's inner thighs as she taunts Anita about having her lover chained up and helpless. When Anita points out that he isn't her lover she naturally isn't believed.
Nicky then holds out her hand and slowly stalks towards Anita, when Anita steps back into Winter Nicky gives her a choice.
Stand still and let this happen, or move again and Winter will hold her in place.
Choosing to stand her ground, Anita grinds her teeth and sinks her nails into the palm of her hand preparing herself for Nicky's invasion of her mind.
Instead Nicky runs her blood stained fingers slowly over down her temple and the side of her face, before idly smearing the blood over her lips. She orders Anita to lick her lips, when she refuses she asks if JC has given her this courage.
When Anita claims not to know what she is talking about Nicky tells her to stop being coy since it doesn't become her and that she knows her little secret. Standing by the fact that she honestly has no idea what she's talking about (mostly because she's as dumb as a bloody brick) Nicky spazzes out claiming that if she wants to play games then she's willing to play.
Nicky darts back to Phil's side so fast that Anita doesn't even see her move, Nicky points out that she is still the master of the city and has powers that her master can't even dream of.
Anita continuing to not understand anything that hasn't been waved under her nose for the past 20 or so minutes mentally bitches to herself about what Nicky could be talking about since she doesn't have a master.
Nicky then clears a patch of blood of Phil, showing untouched skin. Rearing her head back she makes to strike him. Anita shouts no and makes to step forward, but Winter rests a hand on her shoulder and slowly shakes his head indicating that she shouldn't interfere.
Nicky then sinks her teeth into Phil, causing him to jerk in his restraints. Anita drives her elbow back into Winter's stomach, making to rescue her would be lover. Only Winter digs his fingers into her shoulder making her want to scream out in pain before using both arms to restrict all movement.
Nicky pulls back from her snack, stating that it was ironic that she sent Phil out to seduce Anita for some unknown reason but instead Anita seduced him.
Anita again tells her that they are not lovers and Nicky points out that claiming that they're not lovers are going to make this stay even more unpleasant.
Anita.. Seriously what are you gaining from standing your ground on this point? Just tell the psycho vampire what she wants to hear and move on already!
Nicky says that they should leave so they can discuss the future of Anita and her lover, surprisingly enough Anita doesn't argue with her about the lover thing. But she does ask for two favors (the fact that she says please seems to have softened Nicky somewhat)
Anita asks that all the vampires leave the cell when they leave and that she get to speak to Phil privately for a moment before they do leave.
Nicky responds that if Anita calls her master then she can have what she asks for, Anita does as asked and Aubrey and Valentine leave the cell without argument which according to Anita makes Nicky that much more scary.
Honestly, the only thing this would tell me is that they already know that they'll get to play with Phil regardless of how the conversation with Nicky goes. That would scare me a lot more then a vampire who keeps her minions well trained.
Nicky leaves Burchard (the bald man who escorted Anita to the cell) her human servant at the top of the stairs to make sure they don't do anything funny and leaves our love birds alone.
Anita asks Phil what happened, he explains that they came and took him from GP because he apparently doesn't have a home. Anita asks if Robert had tried to stop them, going on to think that she had only met him once but that he should have protected Phil better since he's looking after things since JC has gone AWOL.
Wait... When was this mentioned and how the hell does Anita know about it? This seems like something the vamps would keep close to their chests. And if I remember correctly Rob turns out to be a fairly weak vampire and never was JC's second so I'm not sure what he was suppose to do against the master of the city.
Hell, even if he actually JC's second, he's kinda been outranked her. Nicky is the master of the city, Phil is just another snack. A snack that makes money, but a snack nonetheless.
Either way its clear that Rob wasn't strong enough to stop them from taking Phil.
We then get a segment about Phil moaning about the fact that a few months he would have paid good money for this. Anita stares at him, thinking that he was trying to crack a joke and doesn't seem to understand why.
Burchard informs Anita that time is up and she tells Phil that she won't leave him here. Phil simply tells her that he'll see her later, which to me just speaks volumes about his outlook on her getting him out of this mess.
Phil and Anita stare at each other for a moment and Anita's eyes mists up as she thinks that tough-as-nail vampire hunters don't cry if they can help it before climbing the stairs to leave.
Turning one last time to wave at him like the idiot she is, she goes on to think that Phil's eyes are to wide like a child who watches ts parents leave the room before all the monsters are gone.
I had to leave him like that -- alone, helpless. God help me.
Well, if I want to be really picky you didn't have to leave him there all alone. You had one human guarding the exit. It shouldn't have been too difficult to overpower him and make good your escape.
The fact that she didn't even entertain the thought bugs me on so many levels, she could have at the very least inspected his chains before dismissing the idea. ANYTHING to prove that she really does care about leaving him alone, chained up like a side of beef in a freaking vampire den!
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