Demon Book

[kippurbird]

Dear LJ.

My will is slowly being sucked into a demon possessed book. I'm not sure how much longer I have before I become a mindless LKH fan and stumble to the bookstore and buy all her books. As the book is almost done, I hold on to the hope that I will make it. I can make it before I lose myself to the Demon Prince that is Laurell K. Hamilton. A spork is on the way. Hopefully it will get her before it's too late.

Kips.



Chapter forty two.

Anita is still freaking out about how she made everyone love her. While this is a perfectly reasonable response, the problem is not one of her puppets see it as a bad thing. Micah is a fine example of this.

"Anita," Micah said, "I don't care that it was vampire magic that brought us together. We're together, that's what matters." He held his hand out to me.

I shook my head. "No, because if you touch me, I'll give up. I won't fight. I can never win a fight when you touch me. The effect you have on my body overwhelms everything else."

"And that's a bad thing?" He made it a question, his hand still held out toward me.

"I wondered why your touching always overwhelmed me, and now we know. It's vampire powers. It's mind tricks. It's an aftereffect of the ardeur, Micah."

He let his hand drop slowly. "I love the way your body reacts to mine, Anita." He closed his eyes, hugged his hands into fists in front of his chest. "I abso-fucking love that you react to me like I'm intoxicating." He opened his yellow-green kitty-cat eyes. "Don't you love it too?"

I like how he only likes her because of the way she gets aroused by being around him. Not about her personality or anything like that. She is just boobs and ass. Or at least an open vagina.

This scene vaguely reminds me of the Alec and Orion story that I did where Orion was an evil sadistic monster who broke and brainwashed Alec using his mind fucking abilites. He never, however, pretends otherwise. He knows he did it. He loves that he did it and he loves that he has a perfect lover willing to do whatever he wants. And by the fact that Alec is completely and utterly insane proves that it wasn't a good thing that he did. Here on the other hand, Hamilton is trying to show that no, it's not a bad thing.

Nathaniel woobies at her. "'Anita,'he said, 'would you really throw us away? Could just walk away? Just like that?'" When he cries a single tear, Anita gives in.

I went to him. I hugged him, and he collapsed so suddenly in my arms that it pulled us both to the floor. He clung to me, weeping, and I was left drowning in the vanilla warmth of his hair. Micah stood there, looking down at us.

Was it a lie? It didn't feel like a lie. The man in my arms felt real, and his tears were real. The thought that I could turn away from him because of something so... petty, had broken his heart, just a little. Micah had said it; we knew that the ardeur had been the beginning of us. Hadn't I always known it was the beginning of Nathaniel and me, too? If I hadn't needed to feed the ardeur, I never would have allowed him to move in with me. I would have never slept with him, clothed and strangely chaste, feeding by a kiss, a touch, but never with release for him. I would never had done all that without the ardeur to feed. I would never have fallen in love with him, if the ardeur hadn't kept him in my way.

Anita: She turned me into a reasonable human being!
Kips: You don't look like one.
Anita: I got better.

I think that sums up that part well enough.

Hey! Remember Travis? Poor Travis who is going into shock and waiting for Anita to help heal him and save his pack?

He shows up again, him and Noel come forward on their gorram hands and knees. Not only that but Travis collapses.

Anita, god bless her non-existent soul, suddenly realizes that Travis' injuries might be worse than she thought. "I hadn't even asked if there were other things broken. I hadn't even asked exactly what the doc had said. They had just been another embarrassing problem. Another pint of blood to lay on the alter of the ardeur; and my beast." It's all about her. She didn't care to think about them because, as we all know, it's only her that matters.

Which we already knew because it's been pounded into our heads for the entire book.

She admits that she doesn't want Haven to be in charge of the lions. So, they need to feed on one of the two lions crawling and bowing like slaves to feed on. The trick is they need to do it in such a way that they don't get bonded to Anita. Auggie, who suddenly shows up, even though he was here the entire time, offers to help control Anita's lion.

She wants to be able to try and bond with Noel with out doing it like she did with Micah and Nathaniel. Auggie says that the reason why she finds his lions so tasty is because they're dominant and the others around are crap.

This then leads to the revelation that Auggie wants to try and take over the local lion pride. See! Now he's EVIL!

this is forgotten as Noel begs to be fed on. She thinks about how she wishes she could help the lion pride but "no other animal could interfere. We could help each other, but we couldn't interfere directly in the dominance hierarchy of the other groups." You mean, instead of treating them like people in need, you're going to let them kill each other! Brilliant! No wonder were's in the place aren't trusted. They kill their own kind and have no problems with it.

Still, finally, she agrees to help Noel and maybe help the lions by doing so.

This means, most likely, sex next chapter.

Comments

[yetanotherbob.livejournal.com]

All I can think of is Penny Arcade's comic.

Also: "She turned me into a reasonable human being!" "You don't look like one." " I got better." sounds like a LJ icon in the making.

[subieko.livejournal.com]

Man, you were right, it DID get worse. T__T Anita is so...these two men are enslaved to her to the point that she's taken away their ability to want to leave. Their devotion is fabricated, every time they say they love her, it's not really THEM saying it. When she reacts to them and finds them attractive (because I see no evidence that she loves them, just that she wants them), it's not because she actually finds them attractive--it's forced.

Isn't there something inherently horrifying and sickening about that? I know it squicks the hell out of me.

And in the hands of a competant author, it would be wonderful. Seeing them all torn, wondering if their love is fake, if it even counts anymore, if they're even capable of thinking about this or if the ardeur is influencing that as well...the conflict and turmoil...

Except that this isn't a competant author, so it's all resolved with a hug and a kiss, and the idea that this ardeur-induced obsession might be a bad thing is called 'petty' by Anita. Petty!? It's freaking important! It's the difference between being FORCED to stay with someone and staying because you WANT to, and that's an important difference! Augh, this...no wonder they're all so screwed up.

[yetanotherbob.livejournal.com]

So wait. Flat characters, main character is suddenly the love interest of all involved. Major ethical issues are brushed aside in the name of what the main character wants...

Ladies and gentlemen, I do believe we've made a discovery. This book is actually a fanfic of Dracula, in which Anita Blake is a Mary Sue.

[kippurbird.livejournal.com]

And it all went away when one of her slaves started to cry because she might leave him. (I originally wrote he might leave her, and considering the characters involved, it may have been more appropriate.)

There is something horrifyingly sick about it. And the fact that she just lets it go away even after she realizes that it's all false is even more sicking.

[kippurbird.livejournal.com]

That's a great comic!

And it should. I shall try and make one.

[gjohnsonkoehn.livejournal.com]

We could help each other, but we couldn't interfere directly in the dominance hierarchy of the other groups.

This sounds like one of those rules people talk about in the open while simultaneously doing everything they possibly can to break in the background. Like a sort of were-based Prime Directive; sure you talk a good game at the Academy, but as soon as you run into the first utopo-primitivistic society ruled by a computer, it's paradox time, baby!

Also? The way I see it, Anita's mind-whammies are okay because they're in the past, but Auggie's isn't because it's in the present. If he just hadn't mentioned it for ten books or so while everyone fell in love with him, that would've been just fine.

[kippurbird.livejournal.com]

Like a sort of were-based Prime Directive; sure you talk a good game at the Academy, but as soon as you run into the first utopo-primitivistic society ruled by a computer, it's paradox time, baby!

Yeah, but Picard and the others broke it when they felt that morally it would be the best thing to do as opposed to just letting something catastrophic happen. Here, they're sticking to their guns even if it would make everything better. Or at least, if not better, safer for everyone involved.

Also? The way I see it, Anita's mind-whammies are okay because they're in the past, but Auggie's isn't because it's in the present. If he just hadn't mentioned it for ten books or so while everyone fell in love with him, that would've been just fine.

Sadly, I think you're right.

[smurasaki.livejournal.com]

Oh, ugh. Maybe if Auggie had just burst into tears at the right moment he wouldn't be teh Evil. This book is so disgusting. What the hell is wrong with LKH? I mean, really, does she pay any attention to what she's writing? No, wait, if she does it's even worse. *sob*

I hope you're planning on soothing your poor brain with a really good book after this horrible thing.

[elegantelbow.livejournal.com]

Heheheheheh!

fab_icon!