And now that, that is out of the way. Crack open your grog, put on your most obnoxious Christmas clothes and get ready to delve back into the horrible world that is Anita Blake...
The neighborhood was older houses; fifties, forties. The lawns were dying to brown for lack of water. No sprinklers here. Flowers struggled to survive in beds close to the houses. Mostly petunias, geraniums, a few rosebushes. The streets were clean, neat, and one block over you could get yourself shot for wearing the wrong color of jacket.
-Cracks open can- I was planning on doing this completely sober, but no... Not going to happen, if this is the theme for this chapter it's going to be painfully stereotypical.
All gang activity stops before reaching Dominga's neighborhood, since most of the gang-bangers have learnt that bullets don't stop a zombie. According to Anita you can hack them to pieces and those pieces will keep coming.
There are stories of a Hispanic gang that thought it had protection against gris-gris. Some people say that the gang's ex-leader is still down in Dominga's basement, obeying an occasional order.
That sounds suspiciously illegal, also they had protection against gris-gris? What good did they seriously think it would do against a bloody zombie?!
Dominga lives in a two story house sitting on about an acre of land. The house is painted white and there are two young boys sitting on the porch watching a small girl ride her tricycle on the footpath.
A random guy wearing a shoulder holster steps out onto the porch, Anita goes on to state that all he needed was a neon sign above his head flashing 'bad ass'
Locals have drawn symbols of worship on the sidewalk outside her house that the young girl is carelessly riding her bike over. Anita and Manny walk towards the house, she's all jumpy because the young girl has stopped to watch their progress with an unreadable face.
They reach the porch and Manny calls the armed male Antonio, he's sullen and has his arms loosely crossed so that his hand lightly brushes the butt of his gun.
I used Many's body to shield me from sight and casually put my hands close to my own gun. The boy Scout motto, 'Always be prepared.' Or was that the Marines?
EVERYONE KNOWS THAT'S THE BOY SCOUT MOTTO, WHY DO YOU FAIL SO MUCH AT HUMOR?!
Uhm, moving on...
Manny goes on to state that Antonio has grown into such a big strong man! Antonio brushes off this compliment by stating that his grandmother told him that they're allowed in before peering at Anita suspiciously and demanding to know who she is exactly.
Manny introduces her, she says hello and keeps smiling at him, instead of wondering why the strange female is smiling blankly at him, Antonio smiles back apparently thinking that she's flirting with him or some such.
Antonio then says something softly in Spanish which Anita doesn't understand, Manny tenses up and replies which pisses Antonio off enough to take a step back and reach for his gun. For the first time ever Anita doesn't go all Rambo on us as she touches Antonio's wrist while continuing to smile up at him. He looks down at Anita and relaxes some, moving to kiss the back of her hand while glaring daggers at Manny.
Anita goes on to think that Antonio might carry a gun but he's clearly an amateur which means he'll end up dead sooner then later. And that while Dominga might be a whiz with the zombies but clearly doesn't know much guns or some shit.
[...] I bet she didn't know much about guns, and what it took to use one on a regular basis. Whatever it took Antonio didn't have it. He'd kill you all right. No sweat. But for all the wrong reasons. Amateur's reasons. Of course, you'll be just as dead.
I'm... I'm going to need more booze aren't I?
Antonio moves inside, still holding Anita's left hand which she doesn't have an issue with since it leaves her gun hand free. He then frisks Manny down for weapons, while this happens Anita wanks on about all the mistakes he's making (Has his back to her, is clearly angry while making fast, jerking movements) before gloating that he didn't think to frisk her for weapons.
Another male then appears, demanding to know what the hold up is. Relaxing slightly when he hears that Antonio frisked them for weapons.
Yadda yadda, they head into the living room, insert description that basically boils down to the fact that it looked like the stereotypical grandma's house. We then get a description of the most powerful Vaudan priest this side of the border. And she also looks like your everyday grandma.
Plot twist!
Manny steps forward, brushing his lips over her knuckles as they exchange pleasantries before Dominga turns to face Anita.
They then have a back and forth about how Dominga is happy that Anita has finally shown her face, Anita retorts that she didn't know she was eagerly awaiting to meet her. Blah Blah she's heard all sorts of stories but not from Manny because his wife doesn't let him talk to her anymore, they then have a back and forth about Anita not being Vaudun. Honestly this is as exciting as I can make it, it's a pretty pointless block of text that slows the plot back down to a crawl.
Dominga then goes on to elaborate that Manny made it very clear that Anita wasn't coming down to participate in any of her rituals. Before telling Anita to come to her as she holds out her hand, Anita doesn't want to touch her though she isn't overly sure why.
She takes her hand either way and Dominga starts speaking to her in Spanish, when Anita points out that she doesn't know the language Dominga points out that you don't get black hair anywhere Europe.
Uh... I have strong European heritage and I have black hair and pale skin (sorta, in the past year or so I've actually started to tan!) but my point here stands, Europe is a massive country that takes all skin tones and hair colours, it's not all blond hair, blue eyes.
Anita admits that her mother is Mexican, and that she died while Anita was young so she never learnt the language. (If I remember correctly Anita's mum died when she was 8, by then she should've been speaking flaunt Mexican if her mum was teaching her, just saying.)
We then get way too many words explaining that even after Anita takes her hand back she feels jumpy even though Dominga has done nothing to her to deserve such a reaction.
It turns out that her and Manny were having some sort of power fight as suddenly she smiles and Manny slouches over looking worn, Dominga states that he could've been so powerful while he bites back that he didn't want it.
She then turns to Anita, asking if she wants power instead. Anita replies that she doesn't and Dominga, like everyone else in this bloody series doesn't take it at face value as she points out that she mightn't want it now, but she will.
More vague power play that is as boring as the rest of this chapter, randomly Anita feels warmth flow out of her body and she jumps to her feet while swearing. Manny asks if she's alright, she replies that she doesn't know before demanding to know what Dominga did to her.
Apparently Dominga did nothing, but Anita did something to her as she looks pale and her face is beaded with sweat.
Dominga and Manny have another fight over her not harming Anita in anyway before she turns to Anita demanding to know if she wants to save the young boy from a Bokor.
I did a little google-fu because I'm curious to see if what google says and what LKH say are the same thing. So for future reference...
Dominga tells Anita that if she endures her little tests she'll happy supply Anita with the knowledge she so much yearns for.
Manny says that since Dominga gave her word to not hurt her, then it is fact. Dominga expresses surprise that Anita can raise up to three zombies constantly night after night yet is clearly still a novice.
Anita tries to hurry this up by stating that all this delay could cost the boy his life, Dominga slaps down her argument by asking if she really expects the boy to still be alive. When Anita admits that she finds this fact highly unlikely Dominga gets smug telling her that she has the time to indulge her wants then.
She tells Anita to place her hand on the table, pulling a small black bag out of her lap Anita gets worried since she clearly was planning this. Manny stares at the bag with some worry.
It was a charm, a gris-gris made of black feathers, bits of bone, a mummified bird's foot. I thought at first it was a chicken until I saw the thick black talons. There was a hawk or eagle out there somewhere with a peg leg.
Dominga places the gris-gris in Anita's hand then stares at it intently, after awhile of nothing Anita starts to feel silly. Just when she's about to ask Dominga what's going on the gris-gris heats up and the foot starts slowing moving.
Anita tenses, resisting the urge to fling the thing on the floor, which... I can actually completely understand, that would freak the hell out of me too.
She asks Dominga to get the damn thing off her since she's passed her little test, Dominga makes an obvious effort to not touch her skin while she takes her gris-gris back.
Anita demands that they get back to business, Dominga cradles the gris-gris carefully in her hand, stating that she was scared but not surprised that she reanimated the foot before asking why this is.
Anita isn't sure what to say, going on that she has a special affinity for the undead and they react to her like some people can read thoughts.
Dominga gets all scornful, asking if she really thinks her ability over the undead are the same as reading minds and such parlor tricks.
Which sets Anita off in a mental ramble as she thinks about how if Dominga had ever met a good telepathic she wouldn't have been so quick to mock.
This entire thing boils down to the fact that Anita had been tested before, why she didn't just outright say that instead of making me read an extra page of crap is beyond me.
Anita's grandma tested her, but not with such a morbid gris-gris, while her gran was Vaudun Anita refuses to believe that her affinity for the undead also controls which religion she should believe in.
Which... I guess is fair enough, I'm not educated enough to really get into this sort of debate. And I have the same sort of stubbornish issues so I can kinda relate.
After Dominga makes Christianity sounds like a dirty word, Anita gets to her feet and makes to leave. Dominga tells her to ask her questions since she upheld her end of the deal by sitting through her test, she'll hold up her end of the deal.
Anita asks if she's raised any zombies in the past few weeks, which Dominga has. But no she hasn't sent them out on any errands or used them as revenge.
We now get back to Dominga gushing over how powerful and awesome Anita is, I'm seriously skimming over the pages at this point. Very little of interest is actually happening so apologies if this post reflects the utter boredom I'm experiencing right now.
Yadda yadda, Anita has raised at least a thousand zombies in her lifetime. When she admits that she doesn't keep count Dominga asks if her bosses keep files on such things as she's curious about knowing the exact number. Anita not seeing anything bad with this, says that she'll ask her boss when she see's him next.
I'm... I'm really hoping that she's this to appease the old women, because that's kinda stalkerish and creepy.
Dominga goes on to state that she doesn't know who raised this supposed killer zombie, but she knows people who might know. And that while they won't talk to Anita or the cops they'll talk to her. So she'll get the truth and pass it onto Anita.
Anita thanks Dominga for her help, before Dominga drops the other shoe. Stating that she wants a favor done as payment for her gaining this information.
She wants Anita to complete another test.
Anita demands to know what sort of test, instead of answering Dominga say that it'll be easier to show her and that Anita should follow her.
Manny tries to talk Anita out of following Dominga or agreeing to the deal that's on the table. Anita shrugs him off, demanding to know more about this test before agreeing to anything, Dominga smiles triumphantly since apparently this means Anita will do whatever she wants now.
She says that she'll take them down into the basement before explaining more...
That... Sounds wrong, on so many levels and like a good way to get killed. Anita, why do you still think this is a good idea???
Manny again tries to talk her out of doing this, instead of heeding his advice she tells him to stay close and give her a heads up if he spots anything that could harm her in any fashion.
Manny and Dominga start having words, he accuses her of blackmailing Anita, when she asks Anita herself and she agrees that she was blackmailed. She compliments Mannny on training her well since Anita apparently has his bravery and honesty or some crap.
Either way they follow Dominga towards the basement and this chapter is finally over!
Now I get to look forward to no sleep and family dramas... YAY, CHRISTMAS!
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