zelda_queen | Betrayed: Chapter 18

ZeldaQueen: In which I rant a lot

Projection Room Voices: Starting Media in 3...2...1...

Chapter 18

ZeldaQueen: So Zoey goes and pulls out her Vamp Sociology textbook, which she reminds us was given to her because of her...bloodlust I guess, and how she nearly was put in a higher class but that would make her such a freak because being moved up a grade is for losers who are also dorks and probably smell bad. She also angsts because she should have been studying the book more regularly, but what with drinking her boyfriend's blood, flirting with a teacher, and allegedly reforming the Dark Daughters and doing her other homework, she hasn't had time. Poor her. Hermione Granger, she is not.

But still, now she calls upon the tome for she is in need of knowledge! Surely she must be looking up vampires returning from the dead, or some other such thing relating to Elliot...

Bloodlust. She's looking up bloodlust.

You know, I can understand an author introducing something significant but downplaying its importance so that the readers will be surprised later. Having someone return from the dead as some zombified vampire who refers to a teacher as "Goddess" and all but gets it on with her on the school grounds is not something that you can do that with.

So yeah. We get more on bloodlust. *sigh* And this part pisses me off for two reasons. The first is because it's just halting the plot for a stupid infodump when, as I pointed out above, there's more important things going on! The second thing is that this section gives us some explanations as to how vampires work, and that always leads to the Cast ladies tooting their "Humans are horrible" trumpet. So. We all ready? Great! Let's get this over with!

Zoey reaches the part of the textbook that explains sexuality and bloodlust and slows down there. The section starts out by explaining how adult vampires will periodically need to feed on human blood to stay healthy and sane. Okay, fair enough. We also get a sentence on how "It is, therefore, logical that evolution, and our beloved Goddess, Nyx, have insured the blood drinking process is a pleasurable one". All that reminds me off is a comic from Arthur: King of Time and Space, when Lancelot asks Merlin whether he believes in evolution or creationism and Merlin chooses both, answering "I don't care" when he's told that the theories contradict each other. Anyway, the textbook goes on to explain that vampire saliva excretes endorphins, so both vampires and humans get really nice highs from the blood drinking.

Now I'm not very good with biology, so I can't comment on how accurate it is, however I will admit that the theory does make sense. Although given that you can exchange a few words and turn the blood drinking explanation into The Talk, I can understand the Cast ladies having an already present biological system to follow.

Zoey pauses here, to muse "Well, hell! No wonder I'd had such a slutty reaction to Heath. Being turned on while I drank blood was programmed into my Changing genes". I...really don't have a lot to say to that.

Reading on, we're told that older vampires excrete more endorphins. Not sure why that is but...okay. I guess I could buy that. I know it's bad foreshadowing for Chosen, so whatever. And then, we get our human hating

"Vampyres have speculated for centuries that the ecstasy of blood drinking is the key reason humans have vilified our race. Humans feel threatened by our ability to bring them such intense pleasure during an act they consider dangerous and abhorrent, so they have labeled us as predators. The truth, of course, is that vampyres can control their bloodlust, so there is little physical danger to human donors. The danger lies in the Imprint that often occurs during the ritual of blood drinking"

ZeldaQueen: A few things to that.

First of all, "vampires have speculated"? Why don't you just ask humans why they're freaked out by it, you idiots! It's not like we're an ancient civilization long since fallen! WE STILL EXIST!

Second of all, yes of course, how silly of us stupid humans. How irrational of us to be frightened of something latching its teeth onto our necks and biting down. It's just so ridiculous that we're afraid of things like blood loss. It's not like we need our blood to live or anything. Why, if I was to hazard a guess, that would be why we "vilified" the vampires! But of course, that's just stupid.

Third of all, I'm pretty sure the Cast ladies are trying to make a very blatant connection between the old belief that sex feels good and is thus sinful. Given that engaging in sex for too long or losing control while having sex doesn't result in potentially dying of blood loss (leastwise not unless it's some kinky sex or something), I'd say that analogy fails.

Fourth of all, is it just me, or does that paragraph boil down to "Humans are stupid to be bothered by vampires drinking from them! There's no danger at all, unless you count the mindrape of imprinting. So it's totally safe, except for where it isn't".

Fifth of all, there is a species in real life that drinks human blood and has chemicals in its saliva that it uses to keep said humans distracted during the blood drinking. It's the mosquito. The Cast ladies basically made their wonderful, glorious Sue-race analogous to tiny pests that most everyone squishes on sight.

Moving on, we get to learn about imprinting. Thank God, there's no toddlers involved. Instead, we get a reminder of what imprinting entails, along with the hand wave of "We don't know everything, so the author doesn't have to give a detailed explanation of it". We're told that blood drinking directly from humans is highly discouraged because imprinting is Serious Business and should not be taken lightly at all. Personally, I'd think that all fledglings should be told about it immediately then. Lord knows there's plenty of idiot kids who would probably drink from humans regardless of bloodlust, just because they think it's harmless and kinky or gothic or something. Also, apparently the blood banks used to provide blood for vampires are kept completely hush-hush and hidden and the owners and workers there are well paid for their silence.

Um, Cast ladies? That makes no sense. Your vampires are not a hidden race, my dears. They are very public knowledge. The fact that they drink blood is very public knowledge. So actually, hiding the existence of the clinics (and no, I don't mean the locations, I mean the fact that they exist at all) would backfire tremendously. Because think about it. People know that the vampires need blood. The vampires are surviving, and thus must be getting it from somewhere. If people know about the clinics, they think "Oh, okay. The vampires are getting blood from a careful system, so I know no one is getting murdered in an alley". If people don't know about the clinics, they'll think "How odd that we never hear about where the vampires get there blood from. Hey, I haven't seen my favorite waitress at Denny's since last weekend. You don't suppose...?"

Zoey, of course, misses all of this and instead starts to angst because it looks like she's in trouble because of the imprint on Heath. And I love how the textbook glosses over how the human will be mentally connected to one person and obsess over them and pine after them for life in a way that is clearly unhealthy, but treats the idea of a vampire being tied to a human like an unthinkable thing.

There's a brief mention of how humans and vampires who imprint with each other can read each others minds and track each other. Again, the theory makes sense (tracking prey and so on), but I have to ask how does that work??? These vampires are science-based! How does science explain gaining an inexplicable telepathic connection to someone? And yes, I know the Cast ladies would just say "The Goddess made it like that", which is a cheap cop-out.

We are treated to a tangent on Bram Stoker, and you all have to see this

"There the text went off on a tangent about how Bram Stoker had actually been Imprinted by a vamp High Priestess, but that he had not understood her commitment to Nyx had to come before their tie, and in a fit of jealous anger had betrayed her by exaggerating the negative aspects of an Imprint in his infamous book, Dracula"

ZeldaQueen: Okay folks, pause here. This one really pisses me off, and pisses me off good.

So let's take a look at that. Under unknown circumstances, even though I'd wager that imprinting was already well-known amongst vampires at the time, a High Priestess drank blood from Stoker. She basically mind-melded with him, which means that he gets to spend the rest of his life pining after her, feeling everything she does, always knowing where she is, and being privy to some of her thoughts. After she did all of this to him, she leaves him out on the sidewalk, telling him "Sorry, but my career comes first" and then the rest of the vampires get PO'd because he is heartbroken and probably, if Heath's anything to go by, mentally unstable and upset and reacted accordingly. I'm sure a lot of people would justify this by saying that it was the olden days and blood banks were hardly available and for all we know she was starving and had no other options and so on and so forth. Fine. Except here's the thing.

Bram is being blamed for everything.

It's all him. He's the one who just can't understand that Nyx comes first (even though we've seen no evidence at all that the High Priestess does anything beyond staging a few fancy rituals, so I fail to see how she couldn't have a lover as well). He's the one who was petty and jealous. He's the one who wrote about how evil and horrible imprinting is and victimized all of those poor, sweet, helpless vampires. Never mind that a vampire in such a high station probably had other vampires she could have drank from who could cope with the imprint better. Never mind that from what we've seen, the vampires are pretentious assholes who don't explain anything to the humans. Never mind that from what we've seen of imprinting, being separated from one's imprintee is a hellish experience. Never mind that the same textbook that condemns Stoker is also going on about how imprinting is such a huge responsibility and shouldn't be taken lightly and is a lifelong commitment and so on and so forth.

In fact, let's take another look at that little story, shall we? The Cast ladies are so determined to compare the drinking of blood to sex, so let's try that. Let's pretend that the story instead went that Bram Stoker and this High Priestess chick had sex and when he expected her to marry him and commit to a relationship, she says "Sorry, I've got more important things in my life. Bye now!" and runs off. And when he gets angry about that and writes a book from his perspective on the matter, the entire race of vampires gets angry with him in return.

Now, let's have some more...erm fun and flip things around. Let's pretend that it was a male vampire who had sex or drank blood with and imprinted on (pick one, they're basically the same thing) a human girl. And after what amounts to a one-night stand, when she goes to him crazy in love and wanting to be only with him, he tells her to go away because he's got a job that's more important. And when she gets angry and responds, she's treated as a jealous little girl who just doesn't understand that there's more important things than herself, her feelings be damned.

There, wasn't that fun?

Now, I know a lot of people would argue that it's a vampire textbook, so it could very well be a case of unreliable narrator. I'd go with that, except for one thing. No one ever indicates that it is an unreliable source. As soon as Zoey reads it, her reaction is a simple "Huh, how about that?" before moving on. And spoilers for Chosen - her grandmother just thinks that Stoker and the High Priestess' imprint is just sooooo romantic! Oh but wait, Zoey's mother finds it disturbing and not romantic in the slightest. They bitch her out for being prejudice when she says so.

*shakes head* I hate this series.

So after skating over that infuriating bit, Zoey jumps to fledglings and imprinting. We're reminded again that fledglings are forbidden from drinking the blood of humans, but "they may experiment with each other". Yeah, I bet they like to stay up late at night...light a few candles...eat some strawberries...play some music...practice biting each other...

Seriously, I cracked up so hard at that line. Could the Cast ladies be any more blatant?

We're also told that it's possible for an adult vampire and a fledgling to imprint on one another, and again, I know this is all stupid foreshadowing. Zoey, meanwhile, has this reaction

"I shook my head, appalled all over again by the blood drinking I'd witnessed between Neferet and Elliott. Setting aside the whole issue of Elliott being dead, which still confused the hell outta me, Neferet was a powerful High Priestess. No damn way should she be letting a fledgling drink from her (even a dead one)"

ZeldaQueen: Another list!

First, she just saw a kid return from the dead and talks about it like she's mildly puzzled. She sees a teacher letting said undead student drink her blood? OH MY GOD, HOW CAN THAT BE? THAT'S THE WORST THING EVER!!!!!!!!!

Second of all, I could understand if Zoey was appalled because given that Elliot is dead or undead or whatever and blood drinking is a fantasy version of sex, the implication would be that Neferet pretty much committed necrophilia. The way it's worded though, it's not that Zoey finds that aspect squicky. No, it sounds like she's freaked out that someone as grand and powerful and gorgeous as Neferet would dare let a plebian like Elliot drink her blood.

Third of all, apparently Zoey is dumb enough to ignore the fact that Neferet is up to something evil. So why doesn't she consider the possibility that this undead Elliot needs blood to survive and Neferet is providing it to him as his only lifeline? And before anyone points out that Zoey would never think that because if that were the case, Neferet would get more help, I'd like to point out that Zoey herself has a number of "good" things she's doing that she's keeping hidden from everyone else.

Fourth of all, am I the only one still getting unfortunate implications? Zoey thinks it's hot and sexy that an adult male vampire is asking her to take her top off, but the adult female Neferet letting the gross Elliot drink her blood is the worst thing ever.

And then Zoey just drops that train of thought. Really, are you surprised? Instead, she skims the part on breaking imprints. She mostly skips this though, because it's haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaard and depreeeeeeeeeeeeeeesing and she doesn't want to think about such things. To me, it just sounds like a contrived reason for the Cast ladies to keep Heath around. "Um, I don't want to be imprinted on him but...I can't help it! Any other way is difficult and painful! Yeah!"

She goes over to the window and has pointless musings about oh yeah, her other boyfriend is coming back in a few hours and Blake will be with him and whatever will she do about Heath and isn't this just a mess, red-eyed ghosts, what red-eyed ghosts? She seriously considers lying about drinking his blood the second time and dating both Heath and Erik at the same time. And yes, she sins her ass off and angsts about how she knows it's wrong to do that, but I find it disgusting that she seriously considers that twice. Zoey, I know you want to have your cake and eat it too, but you can't play the virtuous good girl while playing three guys. Do the responsible thing and break up with Erik if you want to be with someone else, otherwise you get no sympathy from me.

And then, as she sits by the window, thinking about how nummy Heath's blood is, she has a vision of Heath, asleep in his bed. What Mary Sue would be complete without the cliched mental link between lovers? Zoey watches him toss and turn and then hears him murmur her name in his sleep. And after he says her name, he starts to play with himself, still in his sleep. I honestly wish I could say I was kidding by this point.

Zoey "wakes up" and finds that she was in that vision for...two hours. Bull, I say! She finds that in the...erm two seconds it took for her to ponder that, Heath woke up and sent her a text message on how he felt her presence. Yeah, I bet he did.

Zoey stumbles off to bed, angsting about her boyfriends and ignoring the actual plot. And with that, she falls asleep and I need a break

Onward to: Chapter 19

Back to: Chapter 17

Back to: Table of Contents

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

carmyn

All I can say is: no freaking wonder teenage girls are so confused about sex and relationships. I can't wait for this trend of 'self-insert fantasies' ends.

Speaking of which, how is City of ~~Dumbasses~~ Bones coming? I heard through the grapevine (okay, the author's site) that Jamie Campbell-Bower was cast as Jace in the movie. (YES A MOVIE). Can anyone see it?

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