So, rather out of the blue, Zoey admits to Erik that she saw the Blow Job Incident, all so Erik can assure her that he’s not dating Aphrodite.  But we already knew that so…who cares?

Apparently when Zoey went all ga-ga over Heath’s blood, that was unusual.  That was a ‘bloodlust’ that’s not supposed to happen until she’s almost done with school.  All things considered, I’m pretty unimpressed, because that wasn’t much of a bloodlust.  It didn’t kick in until Heath had already started bleeding, and even then all she did was lick him.  Come on, where’s the rending and shredding and murder? 

They go on for quite a while talking about blood and how it’s delicious and Erik tries to assure her that it’s normal for vampyres to think it’s delicious.  Which, really, shouldn’t be a hard concept, but Zoey seems stuck on the “no, it’s impossible!” track.  She just flatly refuses to believe that vampyres actually like their main source of food.  It’s a really strange conversation, because she’s not going on about how she doesn’t want to like blood, but rather that she thinks she’s unusual for being a vampyre that likes blood.  Uhg.

But she’s a special vampyre, because she likes to so early, when most new vamps her age don’t.  You know, given how connected blood and sexuality is in this book…this really strange.  Like Zoey’s hating herself for discovering she’s a sexual being ahead of her classmates, and she thinks that makes her bad and dirty.  If this had just been about blood, without all the parallels this book has been drawing, it would be less creepy.  However, as it is…yeah, it really feels like a stand-in for sexuality, and Zoey is ashamed of it.  Though I guess that’s not exactly deviating from any of the other messages about sex in this book.

Zoey even wonders if she’s becoming a “vampyre slut” just because she wants Erik to kiss her.  Let me repeat that: this is the first time in the novel she actually wants sexual contact, seriously THE FIRST TIME THAT SHE WANTS IT, and she thinks that makes her a “slut.”  Book…just…god, you fail so hard.

There’s so much that’s bad in this conversation that I have to skip over some to get to the really ragey parts.  Erik decides that Heath was in a trance while Zoey was eating him, rather than:

Two—he might have been acting like that because you’re really pretty, and that alone could make a guy feel like he’s in a trance around you.”

That’s right, folks!  That age-old toxic idea that a woman’s mere looks can force a man to do things he doesn’t want to do.  That idea that women’s power comes from sexuality, and even more, that it’s to the point where she doesn’t even have to do anything in order to ‘control’ a man.  I hate this idea.  I hate it for so many reasons.  1) No, fuck you, a woman’s power is the same as a man’s power.  We’re all equals.  There is no “his and hers” with power.  WE’RE ALL THE FUCKING SAME.  2) Classifying a woman’s sexuality as ‘dangerous’ gives people leave to assume that said ‘dangerous’ sexuality needs to be repressed.  No, fuck you, it doesn’t.  It’s a neutral, natural thing that everyone has a right to explore without being made to feel bad.  3) It gives men the wiggle room to claim that it’s “not his fault” for perpetuating sexual violence against women.  In the last chapter, Heath even forced a kiss on Zoey when she didn’t want such, and claimed it was because he was just “so in love with her.”  No, fuck you, men need to take responsibility for their actions and stop blaming sexual assault on the victims.  Guys, I swear to god this is true, but you have the ability to NOT FUCKING ASSAULT PEOPLE.  Yes, even pretty people.  Nut up.

They go on a bit more about how Erik and Zoey are both just omg you guys so super special.  Just, seriously, you do not understand how super special they are.  You also don’t understand their love, because you are a poopie-head.  I think the immature writing in this book is rubbing off on me.

…Fuck their super-special-ness.  Erik has been in this Dark Daughters (and Sons) group for three years, and he says even back then they were nomming on other students.  I’m supposed to get behind the idea of this jerk as a love interest, even though he spent three years sitting idly by watching his classmates get eaten?  And participating in the same?

And I’m supposed to get behind the idea of Zoey as a heroine, even though she’s explicitly said that she won’t tell anyone what happened in the ceremony, simply because it was embarrassing that she liked the blood?

These are horrible, horrible people.  The students are being assaulted and drained of blood, which is causing a real hardship in their lives, if Elliot is anything to judge by.  But neither of these two think it’s worth it to stand up for these poor kids, and instead they’re both going to participate in the continued torture.  I hate them both.  They are terrible, terrible people and I can’t put into words how much I hate them.

Erik does bring up that drinking other vamp’s blood is legal as long as it’s consensual, and that there’s no lasting effects because vamps heal so fast.  Um, bullshit, when we saw Elliot he was clearly exhausted and unable to stay awake, and he was clearly upset and mortified to the point that he wouldn’t tell the teachers what was wrong.  That doesn’t sound like it’s consensual or harmless.

Turns out adult vamps drink donated blood, because if they drink it straight out of the neck, the human will get magically emotionally attached to the vampyre.  So…that’ll be a plot point later, yes?

Hey, remember Liz?  The undead monster we saw last chapter?  Neither does this book.  We’ve got undead vamp kids and blood-drinking rituals, both of which would make for some decent plottage, but our ‘heroine’ has decided that she’s not going to tell anyone about either incident.  So what are we left to dwell on?  Erik’s hotness and infodumping.  Not only is the writing terrible and the characterization terrible, but it’s even constructed terribly, too.  This is not the way to tell a story.

They go back to the dorm and before parting ways, Erik says if she ever wants to drink blood again, she can drink him.  It…just really sounds like an offer for sex.  Which, again, not surprising since those two things have been connected throughout so far.

Chapter Nineteen

Zoey gets back to the dorm room and recounts everything that happened (including Liz, which Zoey claims was a “ghost”), and I really don’t give a fuck because I just got done reading all of that.  Why would I want to read it again?  It really wasn’t that spectacular that I want to read all about it twice in a row.

Both girls dismiss Liz as being some other kid, not really Liz, and then they both proceed to call Kayla a slut.  Why?  Because she likes Heath.  That’s right, she likes a boy who is single, therefore she’s a slut.  Heath isn’t dating Zoey, Zoey doesn’t like Heath, Kayla knows that Zoey doesn’t like Heath, but…Kayla isn’t allowed to like him either.  Because if she likes a boy who is totally unattached, then that makes her a slut.  Because fuck feminism, that’s why.

And then they call Aphrodite a ‘ho,’ because she couldn’t be as classy as Neferet.  Guys, she’s…I’m not sure how old, but 17/18 at the oldest.  Of course she’s not going to be as practiced as an adult High Priestess.  Do you think people are just born knowing how to dance in a ceremony?

…fuck you, you think people are just born classy or not, don’t you?

Aphrodite’s super-special vamp power is to be able to see the future.  But only tragic futures, like if someone is going to die.  She doesn’t tell about her visions unless she gets caught having one, which means that if she sees someone die horribly, she won’t warn them about it.

…Uh, I’m supposed to hate her for this, aren’t I?  I don’t.  Poor Aphrodite.  She sees visions of terrible tragedy every day (maybe?  we’re not sure how often they come), and in excruciating detail.  That has to be traumatizing.  Sure, it seems some of them are avoidable.  If you get there in time.  But what kind of horrible burden must it be to watch someone die and be unable to do anything?  What if she watches someone get mugged in a dark alley?  She can’t tell what dark alley that was, or who the guy or his assailant is.  She can’t find him to stop it.  She can’t do jack shit.  The only times she can help are when the circumstances are easily identifiable, and that’s not going to happen every time.  Hell, there’s plenty of cases where there’s nothing she could do anyway.  What if she sees a ship go down in a storm?  Or a flood?  Can she stop floods?  So here we have this poor girl, burdened with visions of horrors that she can only occasionally influence, wracked with guilt from not being able to stop them, and oh yeah, SHE’S FIFTEEN FUCKING YEARS OLD when they start.  And I’m supposed to hate her because her self-defense measure is to hide from her curse?  She’s not even causing these events to happen, she just is forced to watch them.  Yeah, it would be heroic if she’d tell as often as she could.  But it’s not a sign of evil if she tries to cope with her affliction by pretending there’s nothing she can do.  Running around after every single vision she has is just going to burn her out and leave her a mentally wrecked shell of a person before she even reaches adulthood.  Fuck you book, I do not blame her for trying to preserve her sanity.  Not everyone is cut out to be a comic-book hero, and that doesn’t make them bad people.

No wonder the poor girl has such fucked up social skills. 

Zoey asks if anyone has told Neferet of this, and SR replies with a “well, what would Neferet do anyway?  She can’t kick Aphrodite out on the streets.”  No…but she can remove Aphrodite from the Dark Daughters club.  She can get them to stop eating other students.  Come on girls, show at least a modicum of common sense, would you?

(They go on a bit about how Aphrodite hates human men, all of them, and knowing what we now know about her…how many violent rapes has Aphrodite had visions of?  How many spousal abuse horrors?  How many murders?  I would hate men, too.)

(Yes, women commit crimes, too.  But statistically, they are likely to be less violent.  If you see 7 men violently stab someone and then 3 women violently stab someone, you’re going to identify ‘violence’ with ‘men.’)

Zoey thinks that things would different if Aphrodite got replaced, then feels guilty because she’s not “power hungry.”  And…therefore it’s wrong to want to be in charge of shit.  Because fuck you, that’s why.

I hate this trope.  I hate it with every fiber of my being.  You never see this with guys.  You never see a guy who wants to…I don’t know, depose a bad king being thought of as “evil” and “power hungry.”  It’s only when it shows up with women.  Any woman who actually wants to be in charge of shit is wrong, wrong, wrongity-wrong, according to this trope.  And always for no god damn reason.  It’s like these books just think it’s unnatural for a woman to be in power, so any who want to be in power must be unnatural abominations as well.

What, is it somehow better to leave Aphrodite where she is, with the power to eat other students at will?  Is that how logic works in this book’s universe?  It’s actually more moral to leave a bad ruler in place that to work to depose her?  Why, just because you happen to be a woman, too?

No.  Fuck that.  Women can be in power.  Women can rule shit.  Women are just as good at being leaders as men.  Which is to say, some are bad and some are good at it, but it’s an individual thing, not a gender thing.  Women are allowed to be ambitious, and this does not make them evil.  This is not something to feel guilty about.

And Zoey, if you just can’t fathom the idea of being in charge yourself, at least let Neferet know so that someone else can take the role.

Next, we get confirmation that Zoey is special, since only she felt anything during the ceremony.  This means Zoey has an affinity for all five of the elements, which is super-dooper special.  They decide to keep her specialness a secret for a while, just in case it turns out to be a fluke.

SR tells the story about how she was almost a snack at the DD ritual once, but she was tricked into it, mortified, humiliated, and only said ‘no’ at the last minute.  So…why is it okay for this to be happening to other kids, again?  Book, are you sure you want to stick with the claim that all this is ‘consensual’?

Oh, yeah, and Zoey is all upset that they tried to eat SR…but still has no fucks to give for Elliot.

Also, Neferet left them a random bag of cat supplies, because she knew ahead of time that Zoey was about to get a cat. 

Chapter Twenty

In this chapter, Zoey decides that she doesn’t want to tell about her element-affinity, because thy might *gasp* test her!  And omg you guys, that would be just so embarrassing.

Seriously, what is wrong with this book? 

More hatred directed at women.  Even the suck is getting stale.

Zoey goes to talk to Neferet.  She starts talking about how much she hates John, because we haven’t hammered that point home enough.  Book, let it go.  John isn’t even in the story anymore.  He doesn’t have any effect.  He doesn’t even have any residual effect, like that he’d managed to brainwash Zoey into a way of thinking and now she has to fight that off.  No, the only time he pops up is when we want to go on about how Christians are all evil, bad people.

And then Neferet randomly tells is that her father sexually abused her as a child.  Because…yeah, that was real necessary.  What the fuck, book, you haven’t been able to handle any subject, even the most benign, with any amount of tact.  What made you think that a completely random child abuse background would be a good idea?  And then the whole thing is dropped again.

Do you want to know why abuse is a bad backstory?  Abuse happens, and it’s very sad, and I’m not going to sit here and say that bad things shouldn’t be included in books just because they are bad.  However, abuse happens and it’s a bad thing.  There are people who are reading this book who have been abused.  They have scars from it.  Those scars still hurt.  To see someone casually include abuse and then completely ignore everything that goes with it is very, very painful.  It’s dismissive and belittling and compounds a culture which already makes victims feel ashamed about their pain.

Casual mentions of abuse and rape cause real pain to your readers.  Stop hurting your audience.

If you’re going to include such things, and they can be included, then give them the full weight and consequences that they are due.  Don’t brush over it.  These are subject that need serious discussion, because part of the problem is that they are so often dismissed and brushed to the side.  Don’t be part of the problem.  If you can’t handle everything that abuse brings with it, then don’t include it.

Zoey tells Neferet about the blood-drinking, and it turns out Neferet is okay with it, and she’s only upset that Zoey wasn’t informed about it beforehand.  Zoey does not think to say “oh, and they’re totally emotionally abusive to the kids that they eat, and also I think Elliot is having real problems due to his constant anemia.”  Because, you know, none of that is important, since Elliot is a pooie-head.

Zoey mentions she actually liked the blood, which is odd, so Neferet suggests putting Zoey into an advanced sociology class.  Because…apparently those three years she’s about to skip just don’t have anything important in them?  If that’s the case, why teach them?  Is it just something to keep the kids distracted since there’s not enough actually important classes to fill the day?  Well, that’s an issue with your curriculum, Ms Principal, and maybe you should address it.

Zoey doesn’t want to skip a grade, so she’s just going to do homework out of the advanced book but stay in her own class.  So, in this conversation, Neferet was told two things…and absolutely nothing changed.  Neferet isn’t going to move Zoey’s class or reprimand Aphrodite, both at Zoey’s request, which makes this entire interlude basically pointless.  It’s good that Neferet knows of the issues, but that still doesn’t make for engaging storytelling. 

Then Zoey recounts the story of her meeting up with Heath.  Again.  This is now the third time in as many chapters that I’ve read this story.  Book, it sucked the first time, and it’s not getting better with retellings.  Let it go.  Quit rehashing material in a desperate attempt to pad out your word count.  Come up with something new, damnit.

“It’s nothing like that wretched book!” she snapped. “Stoker vilified vampyres, which has caused our kind endless petty troubles with humans.”

No.  Legends vilified vampires.  They’ve done that since…always.  If anything, Stoker made vampires sexy, because before that they were seen as really gross corpses of country bumpkins, not sexy counts.

So…yeah, that’s it.  Neferet says she’ll keep an eye on Heath, in case he ‘imprinted’ on Zoey when she licked his blood, but nothing else is going to happen.  How riveting.  I’m so glad we wasted that many pages on the conclusion that nothing is actually going to happen.