The Darkest Hour, Chapter 4 Part 2, Section C
SOS: I apologise for the long wait. I promise I had worked on this while gone for the past few months, but for some reason, every time I try to open up the document, something goes wrong and all of what I’d typed down would disappear, and I had to go download another word processor just so I can type this. Sometimes, I really hate my computer.
Well, we start a few hours after the last section, with Edward walking along and pondering about his new daily habits, and how “...his ideal time in the city was between three and five in the morning...The city streets were as empty as they ever were this time of day, and Edward enjoyed strolling along the sidewalks unmolested, just another denizen going about his solitary business.” And that supports my theory that with all his bitterness and disgust, Edward isn’t completely DONE with society. It’s more like he’s done with human interaction. But with the way he insists that he has a role in the running of the city and what he says here, it’s clear that he still wants to be a PART of things. Which is kind of a pretty big change from how he was feeling at the end of Chapter 2 Part 2...or the beginning of this chapter, in fact, when he was going on and on about how humans are insignificant and petty and worthless and blah, blah, blah.
I guess part of this was to show that what he ranted on about in the first part of this chapter wasn’t as sincere as you think -- that it really was just a ritual used to gear himself up to hunting, in order to distance himself from the misgivings he still has about murder. That, and to contrast against his new companion, mentioned in the very next sentence with a rather abrupt tone change, to highlight how different they are, and how fallen though Edward may be, he’s still far, FAR better than fucking James.
Well, he thinks back on what happened when he led James down to the docks now. James had warmed up to him significantly once he offered to feed him, because he’s nothing but an ANIMAL. A pretty intelligent animal, maybe, enough to know how to manipulate and use Edward for his own ends, but still a slave to his baser instincts. Of course, he quickly cools once he realises that by feeding him, Edward didn’t mean symbolic intercourse via hunting together, but instead wants them to split up -- a sentiment that just confuses Edward. And again, we see their incredibly different attitudes to hunting -- one of the main things that will drive them apart. For James, hunting is...a social thing. For all he goes on about how he hadn’t eaten in days and is starving, it doesn’t sound like he’s hunting to feed at all in these passages, what with all the drama about Edward not wanting to hunt with him. It honestly just sounds like this is what “normal” vampires did together when they wanted to befriend each other, like inviting someone out to a cup of coffee. So Edward’s reluctance over hunting in front of others, because he still regards hunting as a rather shameful activity that is symbolic of moral weakness, is interpreted by James as...well, snubbing.
And they never really come to see each other’s view points, because neither of them ever felt the need to really get to know the other. For all my ranting about James, he’s not the only person in this solely for personal gain. They’re using each other. James only wants Edward as an early-warning systems, and goes about corrupting him because he thinks Edward snottily maintaining moral high ground is his way of asserting power of James. Whereas Edward wants James to conform to his idea of a perfect friend, and when James inevitably falls short of his imagination, he has nothing but contempt for him.
Anyway, Edward handwaves his reluctance as a precautionary measure, which does make a little sense. There’s no use trying to hide the fact that there’s a new vampire in town from the Imperial, but they can gain some advantage by delaying them finding out that the new vampire has allied with the strange intruder on their territory. James doesn’t really buy that, because he’s half-decent at reading people, but still goes his own way.
Edward goes off to find his meal too...and what follows is incredibly, INCREDIBLY disturbing.
In a single paragraph, Edward calmly, blandly, and almost matter-of-factly lists a brief description and history of a man he finds, to establish that the man is an acceptable target, and then kills and drains him in SEVEN WORDS. Seven. This scene is startlingly and JARRINGLY short, to the point, and emotionless compared to the only two other scenes we’ve seen of Edward feeding, and it really drives home just how much he’s changed since the last time we saw him.
You could interpret this scene in two different ways, I suppose. You could say that this detachment from Edward is deliberate on his part. That he’s distancing himself from what he’s doing on purpose, because he knows if he thinks too hard about what he’s doing, he won’t be able to follow through with the deed. Therefore, he actively tries to think as little about it as possible and just get it over and one with as quickly as he can.
Or you can think that he’s hunted so many times since the last time we’ve seen him, and been through this routine so many times, that he’s genuinely been desensitised to it. He’s honestly stopped feeling anything for what he’s doing because this has become...well, a routine by now. Especially if you also consider all his ranting in the first part of this chapter to be a ritual to gear himself up.
Either option is incredibly creepy, and I have to say that this scene convinces me that Edward has really fallen more than any other scene. Somehow, this is so much more chilling than scenes where he’s laughing and waxing poetics and having a ball while hunting...because at least then, you can argue that he’s been taken over by his vampiric instincts and degenerated to James’s level. But this cool-headed calculation and calmness....that’s HIM. Committing MURDER. And he honestly doesn’t feel a thing.
He dumps the corpse in the river, to obfuscate how often he hunts and where his hunting ground is from the Imperials, he heads back to where he and James had split up.
Where he proceeds to fret like a schoolgirl over whether James likes him.
“He’d been briefly concerned-James certainly seemed to be taking his time. Had Edward offended him enough that he’d left?”
Oh, of COURSE, if James had left, it would be entirely YOUR fault. No, it’s not like you need two people to make a relationship fail! Nope, it’s entirely YOUR responsibility to bend over backwards to make sure this works out. *slaps him*
Well, James does return, eventually, and...this happens. “Edward had heard James’s thoughts, ripe with the dark satisfaction of a successful hunt, the familiar singing euphoria of his own body after eating doubled in James’s own, and Edward grinned lazily when he finally dropped down atop the roof with him.”
Guys? James is fucking CREEPY.
We SAW what Edward was thinking while he was actively feeding -- it was all methodical and mechanical and he didn’t say anything about revelling in the blood...that only started up when JAMES came back. Look, I know it’s not his fault, exactly...but his thoughts are influencing EDWARD’s. And though it’s quite subtle, the more time Edward spends around him, the more he becomes LIKE him. And that’s another reason I fucking hate James, because while he’s the only person pointing out Edward’s hypocrisy to him later, he’s also ONE OF THE MAIN REASONS EDWARD KEEPS ON FALLING. Because even on a subconscious level, he’s dragging Edward down with him. And for all his mocking of Edward, there are plenty of reasons for us to think that Edward would ever have reached the excesses that he did HAD JAMES NOT BEEN THERE.
And OH HEY, LOOK THERE. We get our first look at his trophy-collecting. Isn’t that SUCH a joy to read about right after that passage.
Though I would like to take a moment to address what I heard was a complaint about The Darkest Hour, and NO. I AM NOT BASHING ANYONE HERE, OKAY? I CAN SEE WHY THIS COMPLAINT OCCURS, AND HONEST TO GOD, I RESPECT YOUR OPINION. THIS IS JUST MY OPINION ABOUT THE ISSUE. I’M NOT SAYING YOU’RE WRONG. I’M JUST SAYING I’M SEEING THIS A DIFFERENT WAY, SO PLEASE DON’T KILL ME, PLEASE.
But yes, apparently, some people do dislike this story for how much it borrows from the movies, especially when it came to James’s characterisation. Well, firstly...I don’t see why taking inspiration from the movies takes away from this story. I mean, if it was nothing but a novelization of the movies that is basically a copy-paste of the script, I can see people getting pissed because the writer obviously put no effort into it. But the changes Mrs. Hyde borrows are almost all cosmetic, and simply add flavour to something that is all her creation. The borrowed elements are merely the spices, not the meat.
And secondly...I don’t think her James is all that alike to the movie James at all. I mean, sure, they do have a lot of cosmetic similarities. They look alike, dress the same way when they first show up, both collect tropies, and are witty in similar ways. But the main characteristics that I define Mrs. Hyde’s James by, I don’t see in movie!James, such as his hatred of authority, his need to assert power over everyone he interacts with, how he gains a taste for the finer things in life, most of his animalistic nature...
Not to mention, he certainly has a very different place in the story. The movie!James, improved from the bland book version as he is, is still a random threat dropped out of nowhere that has no motivations besides “for the evulz” and is dispatched just as quickly, never makes any lasting impact on the story, and has no thematic ties to the story at all. Whereas this James is...a lot more personal. He KNOWS Edward, at least enough to know how to really hurt him and push his buttons and manipulate him. And he has a very legitimate reason to really HATE Edward. Should he show up in Mrs. Hyde’s rewrite of Twilight, we’d know EXACTLY why he’d want to go after Bella and tape her death so he can show it to Edward, and even why Edward’s first instinctive reaction to him is RUN FOR THE HILLS!!! And as an antithesis to everything Edward is, he plays an important thematic role as a symbol of what a real, traditional vampire is like, in contrast to Edward.
So, if you look beyond the superficial similarities, at least to me, Mrs. Hyde’s James is a potent, poignant, and TERRIFYING character that you won’t find anywhere else in the fandom.
*Looks up* ...Well, that got a little out of hand. Anyway, James and Edward joke about what a great meal they had (HAAAAAAAAAAAATE), and they head back to the city again. Edward takes James by a department store and tries to be as delicate as he can in pointing out that he needs a shirt. Because god forbid we offend the random shirtless serial-killing hobo. James agrees to go shopping with Edward, and they sneak into the department building. Which they can do because security technology was a lot less sophisticated ninety years ago, MEYER. Because no, just because your protagonists are vampires, doesn’t mean they won’t set off the alarms if they tried that nowadays!
James goes to search for clothes, while Edward grabs some soap and shampoo in preparing for our Epic Slash scene of the week. He leaves enough payment to cover what James buys as well, because, “the man didn’t look as though he had two pennies to rub together.
”
Sweetie, even if he was rich enough to erect a statue of himself made entirely out gold, he still wouldn’t be paying for that shit.
And then he goes to...the women’s section. And now I’m busying imagining Edward is flapper dresses. Someone who has photoshop, MAKE THAT HAPPEN. Well, actually, make that an Edwardian era dress, as he spends the entire time waiting snidely snarking at the dresses in style. Oh, Eddie. Just wait until the eighties. You have NO IDEA, man.
Though I was rather surprised by how casually he thought about his mother in this scene, thinking she “wouldn’t have been caught dead in these grain sacks that were in style in this decade.” You’d think, after what’s happened and all, he’d avoid thinking about his parents as much as he can.
James comes back with new clothes, and asks about a shower. Edward interprets that as him having “swallowed his pride.” ....Yeah, no. See, it’s different here because he’s not going to be taking a shower because you don’t approve of the way he is right now. He’s going to be taking a shower because he feels like one. He’s still just using you, dear.
Though that’s a good place to mention something else. I’ve ranted plenty about how James is corrupting Edward...but the same goes the other way, too. Edward is corrupting James. Sure, he’s not doing it consciously, but he is showing James all the luxuries that he hadn’t realised he missed by being a nomadic vampire. And once you get used to the finer things in life, it’s very hard to go back. James probably hadn’t had clothes fresh from a store or hot showers and stuff since he’d been turned into a vampire, and he seemed to be perfectly happy to accept it as a pretty good price for becoming a super-strong, immortal creature. But Edward has shown him that it doesn’t have to be that way. In fact, by unwittingly getting them noticed by Laurent, he’s shown him that vampires can live in even more splendid luxury than most humans. And now that James knows that, he WANTS that. And that’s what’s going to eventually drive him to try to change Alice.
This is a bad relationship because BOTH of them are becoming worse people because they know each other. It ruins BOTH of their lives. I just tend to focus more on Edward, because James is a douchebag.
And I bet James’s hatred of Edward isn’t just because Edward ruined his meal twice. It’s also because Edward just ruined every chance he might have had at getting an Imperial appointment. In a couple of weeks, Edward has shown him what he could have had and permanently prevented him from getting it. And for such a hedonistic creature like James, I can see why he bore this grudge for decades.
They creep out of the department store again, Edward taking care to cover their tracks (which, again, they can do only because this is the TWENTIES, MEYER). And then...
“Edward...offered, “I sneak into the Y a few blocks from here. Months of sluices in rivers and the rain got very tiresome.”
James actually chuckled, a hint of camaraderie seeping into his thoughts. “Tell me about it-never thought I’d actually find myself missing things about being a human.”
“Well, I suppose we’re not quite all that different on such salient points,” Edward replied with a shrug.”
HAAAAAAAAAAAATE. HATEHATEHATEHATEHATE.
HATE.
Look, fucking EDWARD just shrug off James saying the ONLY thing to miss about being human is the HOT SHOWERS. I trust I don’t have to explain why I’m pissed.
In fact, I’m so pissed that I barely even noticed the weird name for a gym. How the hell did you get “Y” from “gymnasium”? America is weird.
Edward and James go into the showers (the...communal showers. And that is why I don’t go to gyms).
“Edward made a point to give James his own toiletries that he had stashed there, rather than the newer ones he’d bought at the store.”
I...don’t get why he did that? Is it because James is so dirty that he’d be, I don’t know, contaminating the new soap and towels? Or is this some kind of weird wooing ritual?
Anyway, he’s surprised when James just starts taking his clothes off, because somehow he thought a guy who ran around shirtless would have a sense of decency.
Edward turns away, embarrassed, but does not leave.
And what he JUST noticed! Why, he smells absolutely horrible, and oh, he’s so filthy, I guess he has no choice but to take a shower now, has he? And lookie there, he even takes the time to strip slowly.
Okay, I kid, I kid. It’s just that focusing on the slash is a lot healthier for me than thinking about what Edward just fucking said. But yes, this scene isn’t just about the slash. It reintroduces Edward’s insecurities about himself, as well as set up another important dynamic between Edward and James -- their power struggle.
Edward ogles James’s, like, totally amazing physique--
--and compares it with his own. And seeing as he’s a teenager still in the middle of filling out, and thus is all awkward angles and gangling limbs (are you taking notes, MEYER?). And the obvious difference reminds him of how young he is, and we all know Edward has an ISSUE with his age. Go back to any of the scene in the previous chapters where he fantasises about drinking people’s blood, and you’ll notice it usually follows them dismissing him because of his age. Hell, during the whole scene where he beats up Reggie and Froggie and kills them, his ranting and raving is focused on how he’s not just a “boy”, so RESPECT DAMMIT.
Just standing next to James makes him feel inferior, so naturally, he tries to assert power. And that just provokes James to try and assert power right back, and thus their relationship rapid devolves to fighting and bickering.
Edward finishes showering and fashions his hair into the standard super saiyan style to distract himself from thoughts of how much hotter James is than him.
James finishes up too, and appropriately “[shakes] himself off like a dog”, and then, uh...glides over for a towel. That’s...a bit of a contrast. He actually makes small talk with Edward, whose response is less than enthusiastic. Probably because he’s still caught in the throes of penis envy.
““I know-I thought I’d died and gone to heaven when I first came in here-figuratively speaking, of course,” he hastened to add, realizing the inappropriateness of such an expression in their situation.”
....Yeah. That’s...not funny. Or...appropriate. Like, at all. That’s just...incredibly awkward. I really can’t imagine someone who had gone through the graveyard scene in Chapter 2 part 2 would just randomly say this kind of thing without a second thought. I don’t even know what this is doing here. To establish James doesn’t have any hangups about being denied the ability to die and perhaps ascend to heaven? You’d think people would just take that for a given, what with how much he’s gone on about how he misses nothing about being a human.
Then they engage in the most thematically significant conversation in this chapter. While presumably still naked. So...that’s the second theme we’ve had obscured by massive amounts of sexual subtext. Is this a motif or something?
Edward asks how old James was when changed, and it turns out he was twenty-three, five years older than Edward. And he says this in the most douchebag-y way POSSIBLE. “Twenty-three-luckiest damn day of my life.” HAAAAAAATE.
He then eyes Edward speculatively and guesses at his age, and I don’t care how stupid it is, I’m declaring that he has to be trying to make Edward feel even more insecure on purpose. Because I hate him. Deal with it.
Edward confesses that he’s (physically) seventeen, and this scene feels particularly moving because...it just strikes a chord within me. I think just about everyone can sympathise with Edward’s insecurity about his body compared to James.
You know, one of the many, MANY reasons The Darkest Hour is great isn’t just because it uses the same template as Twilight but explores so many intriguing themes that Twilight more or less just ignores, like the morality of vigilantism. It’s also because it DOES explore a lot of themes that Twilight explores too, but does it RIGHT. Age was an important theme in Twilight too -- you just have to read the first chapter of New Moon to realise that. Except here, Edward has the exact opposite problem from canon!Bella. Instead of being a vain teenage girl who fears growing old because, LE GASP, she’ll get WRINKLES, he’s an intelligent, mature young man who’s stuck in the body of a child and forever dismissed as such by society. And thus, what was a whine-fest in Twilight was turned into a moving portrayal of someone deprived of the most fundamental of human experiences -- getting to grow up. Which is a brilliant fishslap as well, because no one in Twilight ever grows up. It’s not just that they are completely static as character, but they all act like spoilt three-year-olds, complete with literal foot-stomping tantrums. They never think beyond immediate gratification, are completely self-centred, and can’t grasp any complex concepts.
Twilight also has long, rambling passages where Bella puts herself down in relation to other vampires in order to shit on humanity and fish for compliments, seeing as it’s made clear pretty early on that she is, indeed, That Beautiful and just doesn’t realise her own infinite magnificence. Here, Edward has a lot of issues about his body too. Never mind that he’s pretty much engineered to be attractive, he almost always describes his appearance in negative terms. We hear about the trouble his vampiric charm brings him because we see its effects, and even when he does mention that he is supernaturally attractive, he uses words with decidedly negative connotations, like “calculated perfection”. And here, when he compares himself to James, not only does his insecurity feel genuine, but it’s also not just shallow whining about how he wishes he could be more hawt. It’s pretty clear that he’s less concerned about physical attractiveness as, well, being able to reach ADULTHOOD. He envies James not for his faaaabulous physique, but for his ability to get people to take him serious because he looks ADULT. In Twilight, whenever Bella gets made over, we ALWAYS have to sit through a long, third-person description that uses the same words that she uses to describe vampires, implying that even without being turned into a vampire, all the way at the end of Twilight, she’d already lost all reason to continue her whining about not being one of the Beautiful People. But Edward will NEVER be able to reach his goal of simply GROWING UP.
There are lots of other themes that are explored in both texts, but done SO much better here too. Like how Twilight is a subconscious Mormon tract on Meyer’s part. The Darkest Hour has a pretty central religious theme too, but instead of it being an authorial tract, it’s a realistic character trait of the protagonist that actually fuels character growth and is naturally integrated into the story. It also helps that Mrs. Hyde doesn’t want to screw Jesus. ...I hope. And, of course, there’s Edward supposedly feeling guilt for what he’d done back in the twenties and wanting to atone, which is THE major plot thread in this fic and the asides that follow, but is strangely absent from canon.
I should mention that this fic single-handed made me prefer reconstructions to deconstructions, because it’s easy to dismiss Twilight as just a bad novel and mock it for its badness. But it’s much harder to take all its shitty, shitty themes and shitty, shitty messages and build something so mind-bogglingly Awesome out of the same material.
So, while I got sidetracked by spontaneous fangirlism, James and Edward has gotten dressed. Finally. James, for once, actually keeps his mouth shut. Of course, Edward can still hear exactly what he’s thinking, the ageist bastard. *grumps* And just to make me feel better, he makes sure to transfer all his lovely little trophies from his old outfit to his new one, and Edward is still oblivious like a sweet summer child. *endless hate*
Still obsessed about the age thing, Edward asks when James was changed, and then gets...painfully, childishly gleeful when he finds out he’s been a vampire for twice as long as James. And it’s just so hard to read this, because...dammit, he’s reminding me of my LITTLE SISTER (who insists she’s ~*~six~*~ and, like, ~*~a big girl~*~ when she’s only four). And goddammit, you are Not Allowed to make me want to hug you! Not right now!But, of course, Edward’s declaration that he’s “older” than James rubs James the wrong way. He interprets this as Edward asserting power over him...which I can’t quite dispute, with what happens later. They bicker like kindergartner over who’s older, eventually grudgingly agreeing that they’re the same age, because they were born in the same year, which makes Edward pout (like a little girl).
But evidently, making sure he doesn’t offend James is still more important, so he just smiles awkwardly.
James asks again about Edward’s hideout, seemingly still trying to wrap his brain around the concept of a vampire being settled down. Edward says “honesty” compels him to admit that he’s actually got SEVERAL hideouts around town, to throw the Imperials off his tracks. James is suitably impressed, and that makes Edward feel better. I don’t know if it’s because James is happy, and thus he’s reassured he won’t offend him and drive him off, or if it’s because anything that makes him feel superior to James is welcome after what just happened.
Edward reassures him that the Imperials have no idea where it is, and James makes a jab at them. ""A man after my own heart-I keep away from those bastards,” he said, his mind full of contempt, as well as a trace of fear that Edward didn’t think he was even aware of."
I’m sure even if he WAS aware of it, he’d be actively denying it, because of COURSE he isn’t afraid of anyone! He is the Awesomest Awesome to ever Awesome, and NO ONE has authority over him! Nope, it’s not that he’s avoiding the Imperials because he’s intimidated by them! He just thinks they’re a bunch of losers and squares. Totally.
Haaaaaate.
Edward asks what makes him hate the Imperials so much as they finally head out of the shower, thus concluding our Epic Slash scene of the week. James then explains about the vampires that changed him.
“Not personally. But the asshole who changed me sure had a beef with them, and he was always telling me all about it. About the way they use all that Imperial money to set themselves up like kings, and just want everything brought to ‘em.” He snorted. “The thing is, I’m pretty sure that old Myron was just mad that someone had beaten him to the punch somewhere, and turned me hoping I’d help him take over or something.”
And by the end of this story, Edward has turned James into Myron. See my point? James is turning Edward into what he hated the most, sure, but Edward is doing the exact same thing back, unintentionally. Not to mention, that’s a nice display of James’s hypocrisy. For all his talk about how he holds nothing but contempt for his creator, he still let the guy influence his opinions of the Imperials.
Edward jumps down from the window, and James is absolutely scandalised by the thought of *le gasp* walking through the street. He points out that...well, why not? It’s not like they’re going to break their cover just by walking down a street. And it’s pretty interesting the way James reacts, like he’d never thought of it that way before. And it makes sense here, because James cared NOTHING about his humanity. Once he was a vampire, it only made sense that he’d have no problems distancing himself from humanity and never thinking about them again. Whereas, no, it doesn’t make sense when the Cullens (and Bella) do it, because they’re supposed to have spent their whole vampire lives trying to blend in with humans because they ENJOY living amongst them. YOU MORON.
They walk together in silence some time, and...
“...James was already eyeing everyone they passed as if they were a steak, playing his tongue over his fangs, sniffing the breeze of a passing human, imagining eating near everyone they passed.
It must be because he was so young, Edward decided. His own self-control had been less than stellar when he’d been new. Now, glutted on fresh blood as he was, he didn’t have the slightest desire to eat anyone. James just needed time and a bit more experience.”
....A;LSDKJFAOKPWOEHGIWGH;LSDGHDK
HAAAAAAAATE.
Hey, Edward. Bitch. You know what? Your self-control was not exactly stellar even at the start of this fic! You still fantasised about eating people whenever something pissed you off! But guess what you did? YOU REALISED WHAT HORRIBLE THOUGHTS YOU WERE HAVING AND FELT GUILTY ABOUT IT. As soon as you realised what you were thinking about, YOU STOPPED. And notice what James is doing with his tongue there? HE’S ACTIVELY TRYING TO MAKE HIMSELF AROUSED. LIKE YOU WERE DOING WHEN YOU WERE PLANNING TO HUNT. HIS FANGS WEREN’T OUT UNTIL HE MASTURBATED THEM INTO COMING OUT. HE. IS. DOING. THIS. ON. PURPOSE.
His bloodlust isn’t getting the better of him, because he’s so young! He’s actively FUELING his bloodlust, because he CAN’T see humans as anything else than a snack! So he doesn’t know how to walk down a street and be normal, because he’s not doing this to just appear like another denizen of the city, going about his solitary business or anything. HE IS STILL PERUSING THE MENU.
AND TIME AND MORE EXPERIENCE ISN’T GOING TO MAKE A DAMNED DIFFERENCE. You know why? Because he’s not even TRYING to deny his bloodlust. No, he’s REVELLING in it. YOUR bloodlust subsided because you did EVERYTHING in your power to push it away and deny it and work past it so you can function like a normal person. It got easier to bear with, because you were SO USED to ignoring it! Do you see James ever getting USED to denying himself pleasure? FUCK NO. Because he isn’t trying, and you KNOW for a fact that he’s never, EVER going to try.
My GOD, you stupid, stupid MORON.
“Still, listening to his increasingly explicit fantasies of eating was making Edward more and more uncomfortable, not just because he was being forced to once again feel a hunger not his own, but from the oddly violent bent to his thoughts.”
ODDLY VIOLENT BENT TO HIS THOUGHTS.
ODDLY VIOLENT BENT.
VIOLENT BENT.
AND YOU STILL FUCKING THINK THIS IS NOTHING BUT YOUR AVERAGE, EVERY DAY BLOODLUST!? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?
Why the FUCK would he need to have excessively violent fantasies if he’s just plain HUNGRY? Those aren’t the thoughts of someone who’s honestly just hungry! Those are the thoughts of someone who HONESTLY ENJOYS THINKING ABOUT VIOLENT THINGS. He has NO REASON to have those fantasies. He’s doing it just because he WANTS to. For fuck’s sake, he’s not even particularly angry or frustrated, like you were when you fantasised about showing people you’re not just a kid. HE’S JUST BEING A DISGUSTING, SADISTIC ASSHOLE!
Edward tries to distract me by asking about how James was changed...which seems like a really weird topic of conversation to me. Especially since James had already explained that Myron turned him, hoping that he’d help him win an Imperial appointment. I don’t know...this whole conversation feels a little superfluous to me. Everything established here has already been established earlier. I just felt like it just...reiterated a lot of information we already knew. As far as I can see, it’s just here so we can have slash (“he followed me for a while, and then one night he jumped me.”) and establish James’s gift (“the best damn tracker you ever saw.”). Which...given how proud he seems to be of it, there must be a better way to do that, without so much repetition.
Oh, and by the way, James? That is a LIE. And you are a lying liar who LIES. If you were really THE best tracker ever? You would NOT have lived until twenty-three. SOMEONE would’ve changed you before then, TRUST me.
Edward even points that out -- that if he was so powerful, then he probably would’ve been gobbled up by the Imperials by now. Of course, that just makes James suspicious that he was turned by an Imperial, because Edward certainly doesn’t act like a “normal” vampire. Edward is quick to reassure him that that’s not the case, but let’s it slip that Carlisle visited the Imperial Heads once. Which, I really hope we see what went down when he did, because...I doubt any random vampire can just go to the Imperial Heads and demand a meeting with them? Like...was he invited? If so, why? He doesn’t sound like he’s much of a famous figure amongst vampires...or if he is, then certainly not in a good way.
This shocks James. I imagine being changed by a vampire who tried so hard for just an appointment and failed, it must be rather mind-screw-y to imagine a vampire who’d actually met the HEADS. Which is certainly a much more realistic portrayal than canon, where vampires seems to hardly care that the Cullens are supposedly totally tight with the Volturi. But then again, no one seems to really respect the Volturi’s authority in canon, because that is TOTALLY how you create a threatening villain. By having everyone dismiss them, or ham up fear to such ridiculous, melodramatic levels that no one can take it seriously.
That, and they don’t have nearly as much TASTE as the Imperials.
“Edward nodded as they turned the corner. “They’re somewhere in the Alborz Mountains over in Persia, I believe. They live in an underground fortress built into the side of a mountain.””
THAT. That is Awesome.
And a lot more realistic too, than living in a historical castle in the middle of a populated Italian city.
James is all disbelieving, because he clearly has no taste either, but Edward elaborates, and we get a very interesting bit of history here. Carlisle apparently visited right around the Enlightenment period? And it’s implied that he at least took part in bringing about the edict for secrecy. And that. Is. Awesome. He didn’t go to the Imperials because after decades of vampire life, he still has no clue how vampires even work. He didn’t go there just to sit around and watch people BLEED to death in front of him, while congratulating himself on his self-control! He didn’t just kinda...leave without trying to change anything. He was there during a PIVOTAL change in vampire-human dynamics and was at least partially responsible for giving humanity a chance to flourish without living in the shadow of vampires.
That, and it’s very interesting how differently Edward and James were...well, brought up by their creators. Both Carlisle and Myron had reasons to be less than fond of the Imperials, but where Carlisle taught everything he knew to Edward, all James was taught that the Imperials were a bunch of LOSERS.
They reach Edward’s hideout at the library, and Edward continues to act like a school girl. “Edward was suddenly self-conscious of the meager little niche that he’d carved for himself. He wished he’d tidied a bit more recently; it looked woefully shabby, and terribly small.” I’m sure if he could get his hands on giant posters of James, they’d be all over his attic.
Unsurprisingly, James is impressed. After all, he’s been living in a tree for the last five years. Edward is so encouraged that he losses his caution and makes it a little too obvious that he’s not worried about the Imperials finding him at all, which James naturally finds suspicious. He first assumes that Edward has a masking gift, and again, I can’t emphasis enough how much I love that there are “common” gifts among vampires. They’re not all unique, because that makes no evolutionary sense. Especially if it means some vampires get stuck with stupid, STUPID powers that they have NO uses for.
And apparently, I was wrong. Edward didn’t let it slip because he was too overjoyed that OMG JAMES LIKES HIS INTERIOR DECORATING SKILLZ. He honestly doesn’t see a problem just TELLING him about his mind-reading powers. I mean, I’m not implying that hiding such an important part of yourself is a good way to make friends, but when it’s something like this, you do want to be a bit more delicate when you break it to them! Do you honestly not know why people might find that a TAD disturbing?
James reacts like any normal, sane person (for once) and is outraged. And Edward STILL doesn’t get why he’s pissed, not even when he specifically addresses something James thought about. He tries to reassure James that it’s not something he does intentionally, but I don’t think James ever grasps the concept that Edward can’t control his mind-reading. I’m guessing tracking is a power that you can turn on and off at will, because James seems to think that’s how everyone’s powers worked.
James naturally demands to know how to keep Edward out, and...
““You can’t,” Edward said automatically, surprised-Carlisle and Esme never asked him that. Did they think they couldn’t, or did they just never bother?”
...*very calmly* Edward. Do not force me to bring out my bitch-smacking hand again.
Did you even consider maybe Carlisle and Esme asked that because they TRUSTED you? Because they KNEW you and KNEW you wouldn’t purposefully invade their privacy, and that anything you learn, you won’t use against them? Because they have NOTHING to hide from you? Because they don’t want you to feel even worse about your powers and like it’s some kind of burden on them? You know, because they LOVE you? YOU FUCKING IDIOT.
And by the way, that is a TERRIBLE excuse for why you didn’t think James would be uncomfortable with your power. I mean, just think about it. If some guy came along and could read every thought that goes through YOUR head and know everything about YOU, would you be happy about it? Do you want some random guy to know you occasionally feel like Cleopatra?
Overwhelmed by James’s anger, Edward explains that he can hear emotional thoughts more clearly and that James is giving him a headache. ...My god, you are the single most TACTLESS person on the face of the planet. Yeah, go ahead and complain to the guy whose MIND you just invaded about your headache. The headache you got from INVADING HIS MIND. Look, I REALLY hate to side with James, but...seriously. You’re an asshole in this scene.
And then we get a nice look at how...well, threatening an enemy James would make, “His anger only mounted at that, but then Edward felt a sudden, deadly calm clamp down on it.”
For all my talk about how James is nothing but an animal...he’s a terrifyingly INTELLIGENT animal. And he’s not entirely ruled by his feelings, because that’d make him a much less threatening opponent. No, when he needs to, he can quell his rage in a moment and FOCUS. And as we see, he’s very clever at making sure he has an upper hand in every situation, and knows exactly what words to string together to hit Edward where it hurts. He’s not the moron from canon who strings together the most confusing and self-contradictory plot ever that relies on dumb luck 80% of the time. Here, he not only KNOWS Edward much more intimately, but he knows how to USE that knowledge.
Edward confirms that he can’t hear James as clearly now and that he can only hear surface thoughts. James asks about his powers, obviously still trying to find ways to block Edward out. And while I know this is probably nothing more than James not wanting Edward to know anything more about him than what he’s willing to reveal, because knowing him would give Edward power over him, my first thought was still that something big happened in his past that he doesn’t want anyone to know about. (Even though we see that when mentioning his past, all the thinks about is all the times he fed. Probably because he spent the past five years doing nothing BUT that. Scum.)
Edward elaborates that he can’t, and that he only uses his powers to evade the Imperials and hunt. He tries to revitalise the friendly atmosphere by inviting James to sit down and continue their chat. Unsurprisingly, it doesn’t work, and James is still suspicious and on guard. He has his Serious Business face on, “his back was stiff, and his eyes were focused. Gone was the easy confidence and dark humor in his eyes.” And...I kinda like the implication that the whole easy confidence and dark humour thing is at least in part an obfuscating façade put on by him. It’s creepy.
Edward tries to initiate conversation, asking how James got to St. Louis. ....Well, how do you THINK. He probably attracted too much attention from the Imperials at the last place he was at, so he moved on! Like all nomadic vampires! What, you think he came because the city had ~*~emotional significance~*~ to him? Not every vampire go on a pilgrimage to their home town, you know.
James flatly answers that he travelled from Kentucky, and Edward points out that he actually didn’t know the answer beforehand because James was too busy thinking about how he didn’t want Edward in his head. Which means...for the first bit of their relationship, Edward likes James for precisely the same reason he likes Bella. He can’t predict what they’re going to say, because he can’t read their minds. ...Fishslap?
James is initially angered that Edward just made another reference to reading his mind, but then brightens as he realises a way to keep Edward out of his head.
Edward concedes that maybe it works, and then jokes about sex, “In an attempt to set him at ease, he rather painfully admitted, “It’s given me some grief around married couples.”” In the least surprising twist ever, this is what makes James laugh and ease the tension.
But the tension still isn’t completely gone. Oh no, James is too busy to think about the sex joke. He immediately tests out his theory by singing a song in his head and keeping the conversation going with Edward. And...it works.
“But Edward didn’t hear that in his head, no-James was singing to himself, he realized, and if he pushed, he could hear more beneath it, but if he deliberately didn’t listen, all he could hear were the inane words to “Yes, We Have No Bananas”.
Edward smiled.”
And if you’re anything like me, ominous music just start playing in your mind.
Edward had just handed to James the most powerful weapon he’s got against him. He just relinquished any chance of him having the upper hand when fighting James.
And he doesn’t. Even. Realise.
No, he thinks life is ABSOLUTELY peachy right now. He’s never felt better since becoming a vampire. He’s got a friend! Who knows how to get around his mind-reading, so he can actually have entertaining conversations! A friend who ~*~understands~*~ him, because he doesn’t have to pretend to be human with him! LIFE. IS. PERFECT.
This fucking chapter, I swear. It sets up BRILLIANTLY the character of James, and makes it clear from the moment he’s on screen that he’ll bring nothing but misery and destruction. And Edward’s desperation and loneliness and OBLIVIOUSNESS is nothing but painful to read. God, re-reading this, knowing what’s coming, is just...awful.
I’m going to go hug my squirrel soft toy now. See you guys next time.
Go Forward to: Chapter 5 Part 1, Section A
Go Back to: Chapter 4 Part 2, Section B
Well, we start a few hours after the last section, with Edward walking along and pondering about his new daily habits, and how “...his ideal time in the city was between three and five in the morning...The city streets were as empty as they ever were this time of day, and Edward enjoyed strolling along the sidewalks unmolested, just another denizen going about his solitary business.” And that supports my theory that with all his bitterness and disgust, Edward isn’t completely DONE with society. It’s more like he’s done with human interaction. But with the way he insists that he has a role in the running of the city and what he says here, it’s clear that he still wants to be a PART of things. Which is kind of a pretty big change from how he was feeling at the end of Chapter 2 Part 2...or the beginning of this chapter, in fact, when he was going on and on about how humans are insignificant and petty and worthless and blah, blah, blah.
I guess part of this was to show that what he ranted on about in the first part of this chapter wasn’t as sincere as you think -- that it really was just a ritual used to gear himself up to hunting, in order to distance himself from the misgivings he still has about murder. That, and to contrast against his new companion, mentioned in the very next sentence with a rather abrupt tone change, to highlight how different they are, and how fallen though Edward may be, he’s still far, FAR better than fucking James.
Well, he thinks back on what happened when he led James down to the docks now. James had warmed up to him significantly once he offered to feed him, because he’s nothing but an ANIMAL. A pretty intelligent animal, maybe, enough to know how to manipulate and use Edward for his own ends, but still a slave to his baser instincts. Of course, he quickly cools once he realises that by feeding him, Edward didn’t mean symbolic intercourse via hunting together, but instead wants them to split up -- a sentiment that just confuses Edward. And again, we see their incredibly different attitudes to hunting -- one of the main things that will drive them apart. For James, hunting is...a social thing. For all he goes on about how he hadn’t eaten in days and is starving, it doesn’t sound like he’s hunting to feed at all in these passages, what with all the drama about Edward not wanting to hunt with him. It honestly just sounds like this is what “normal” vampires did together when they wanted to befriend each other, like inviting someone out to a cup of coffee. So Edward’s reluctance over hunting in front of others, because he still regards hunting as a rather shameful activity that is symbolic of moral weakness, is interpreted by James as...well, snubbing.
And they never really come to see each other’s view points, because neither of them ever felt the need to really get to know the other. For all my ranting about James, he’s not the only person in this solely for personal gain. They’re using each other. James only wants Edward as an early-warning systems, and goes about corrupting him because he thinks Edward snottily maintaining moral high ground is his way of asserting power of James. Whereas Edward wants James to conform to his idea of a perfect friend, and when James inevitably falls short of his imagination, he has nothing but contempt for him.
Anyway, Edward handwaves his reluctance as a precautionary measure, which does make a little sense. There’s no use trying to hide the fact that there’s a new vampire in town from the Imperial, but they can gain some advantage by delaying them finding out that the new vampire has allied with the strange intruder on their territory. James doesn’t really buy that, because he’s half-decent at reading people, but still goes his own way.
Edward goes off to find his meal too...and what follows is incredibly, INCREDIBLY disturbing.
In a single paragraph, Edward calmly, blandly, and almost matter-of-factly lists a brief description and history of a man he finds, to establish that the man is an acceptable target, and then kills and drains him in SEVEN WORDS. Seven. This scene is startlingly and JARRINGLY short, to the point, and emotionless compared to the only two other scenes we’ve seen of Edward feeding, and it really drives home just how much he’s changed since the last time we saw him.
You could interpret this scene in two different ways, I suppose. You could say that this detachment from Edward is deliberate on his part. That he’s distancing himself from what he’s doing on purpose, because he knows if he thinks too hard about what he’s doing, he won’t be able to follow through with the deed. Therefore, he actively tries to think as little about it as possible and just get it over and one with as quickly as he can.
Or you can think that he’s hunted so many times since the last time we’ve seen him, and been through this routine so many times, that he’s genuinely been desensitised to it. He’s honestly stopped feeling anything for what he’s doing because this has become...well, a routine by now. Especially if you also consider all his ranting in the first part of this chapter to be a ritual to gear himself up.
Either option is incredibly creepy, and I have to say that this scene convinces me that Edward has really fallen more than any other scene. Somehow, this is so much more chilling than scenes where he’s laughing and waxing poetics and having a ball while hunting...because at least then, you can argue that he’s been taken over by his vampiric instincts and degenerated to James’s level. But this cool-headed calculation and calmness....that’s HIM. Committing MURDER. And he honestly doesn’t feel a thing.
He dumps the corpse in the river, to obfuscate how often he hunts and where his hunting ground is from the Imperials, he heads back to where he and James had split up.
Where he proceeds to fret like a schoolgirl over whether James likes him.
“He’d been briefly concerned-James certainly seemed to be taking his time. Had Edward offended him enough that he’d left?”
Oh, of COURSE, if James had left, it would be entirely YOUR fault. No, it’s not like you need two people to make a relationship fail! Nope, it’s entirely YOUR responsibility to bend over backwards to make sure this works out. *slaps him*
Well, James does return, eventually, and...this happens. “Edward had heard James’s thoughts, ripe with the dark satisfaction of a successful hunt, the familiar singing euphoria of his own body after eating doubled in James’s own, and Edward grinned lazily when he finally dropped down atop the roof with him.”
Guys? James is fucking CREEPY.
We SAW what Edward was thinking while he was actively feeding -- it was all methodical and mechanical and he didn’t say anything about revelling in the blood...that only started up when JAMES came back. Look, I know it’s not his fault, exactly...but his thoughts are influencing EDWARD’s. And though it’s quite subtle, the more time Edward spends around him, the more he becomes LIKE him. And that’s another reason I fucking hate James, because while he’s the only person pointing out Edward’s hypocrisy to him later, he’s also ONE OF THE MAIN REASONS EDWARD KEEPS ON FALLING. Because even on a subconscious level, he’s dragging Edward down with him. And for all his mocking of Edward, there are plenty of reasons for us to think that Edward would ever have reached the excesses that he did HAD JAMES NOT BEEN THERE.
And OH HEY, LOOK THERE. We get our first look at his trophy-collecting. Isn’t that SUCH a joy to read about right after that passage.
Though I would like to take a moment to address what I heard was a complaint about The Darkest Hour, and NO. I AM NOT BASHING ANYONE HERE, OKAY? I CAN SEE WHY THIS COMPLAINT OCCURS, AND HONEST TO GOD, I RESPECT YOUR OPINION. THIS IS JUST MY OPINION ABOUT THE ISSUE. I’M NOT SAYING YOU’RE WRONG. I’M JUST SAYING I’M SEEING THIS A DIFFERENT WAY, SO PLEASE DON’T KILL ME, PLEASE.
But yes, apparently, some people do dislike this story for how much it borrows from the movies, especially when it came to James’s characterisation. Well, firstly...I don’t see why taking inspiration from the movies takes away from this story. I mean, if it was nothing but a novelization of the movies that is basically a copy-paste of the script, I can see people getting pissed because the writer obviously put no effort into it. But the changes Mrs. Hyde borrows are almost all cosmetic, and simply add flavour to something that is all her creation. The borrowed elements are merely the spices, not the meat.
And secondly...I don’t think her James is all that alike to the movie James at all. I mean, sure, they do have a lot of cosmetic similarities. They look alike, dress the same way when they first show up, both collect tropies, and are witty in similar ways. But the main characteristics that I define Mrs. Hyde’s James by, I don’t see in movie!James, such as his hatred of authority, his need to assert power over everyone he interacts with, how he gains a taste for the finer things in life, most of his animalistic nature...
Not to mention, he certainly has a very different place in the story. The movie!James, improved from the bland book version as he is, is still a random threat dropped out of nowhere that has no motivations besides “for the evulz” and is dispatched just as quickly, never makes any lasting impact on the story, and has no thematic ties to the story at all. Whereas this James is...a lot more personal. He KNOWS Edward, at least enough to know how to really hurt him and push his buttons and manipulate him. And he has a very legitimate reason to really HATE Edward. Should he show up in Mrs. Hyde’s rewrite of Twilight, we’d know EXACTLY why he’d want to go after Bella and tape her death so he can show it to Edward, and even why Edward’s first instinctive reaction to him is RUN FOR THE HILLS!!! And as an antithesis to everything Edward is, he plays an important thematic role as a symbol of what a real, traditional vampire is like, in contrast to Edward.
So, if you look beyond the superficial similarities, at least to me, Mrs. Hyde’s James is a potent, poignant, and TERRIFYING character that you won’t find anywhere else in the fandom.
*Looks up* ...Well, that got a little out of hand. Anyway, James and Edward joke about what a great meal they had (HAAAAAAAAAAAATE), and they head back to the city again. Edward takes James by a department store and tries to be as delicate as he can in pointing out that he needs a shirt. Because god forbid we offend the random shirtless serial-killing hobo. James agrees to go shopping with Edward, and they sneak into the department building. Which they can do because security technology was a lot less sophisticated ninety years ago, MEYER. Because no, just because your protagonists are vampires, doesn’t mean they won’t set off the alarms if they tried that nowadays!
James goes to search for clothes, while Edward grabs some soap and shampoo in preparing for our Epic Slash scene of the week. He leaves enough payment to cover what James buys as well, because, “the man didn’t look as though he had two pennies to rub together.
”
Sweetie, even if he was rich enough to erect a statue of himself made entirely out gold, he still wouldn’t be paying for that shit.
And then he goes to...the women’s section. And now I’m busying imagining Edward is flapper dresses. Someone who has photoshop, MAKE THAT HAPPEN. Well, actually, make that an Edwardian era dress, as he spends the entire time waiting snidely snarking at the dresses in style. Oh, Eddie. Just wait until the eighties. You have NO IDEA, man.
Though I was rather surprised by how casually he thought about his mother in this scene, thinking she “wouldn’t have been caught dead in these grain sacks that were in style in this decade.” You’d think, after what’s happened and all, he’d avoid thinking about his parents as much as he can.
James comes back with new clothes, and asks about a shower. Edward interprets that as him having “swallowed his pride.” ....Yeah, no. See, it’s different here because he’s not going to be taking a shower because you don’t approve of the way he is right now. He’s going to be taking a shower because he feels like one. He’s still just using you, dear.
Though that’s a good place to mention something else. I’ve ranted plenty about how James is corrupting Edward...but the same goes the other way, too. Edward is corrupting James. Sure, he’s not doing it consciously, but he is showing James all the luxuries that he hadn’t realised he missed by being a nomadic vampire. And once you get used to the finer things in life, it’s very hard to go back. James probably hadn’t had clothes fresh from a store or hot showers and stuff since he’d been turned into a vampire, and he seemed to be perfectly happy to accept it as a pretty good price for becoming a super-strong, immortal creature. But Edward has shown him that it doesn’t have to be that way. In fact, by unwittingly getting them noticed by Laurent, he’s shown him that vampires can live in even more splendid luxury than most humans. And now that James knows that, he WANTS that. And that’s what’s going to eventually drive him to try to change Alice.
This is a bad relationship because BOTH of them are becoming worse people because they know each other. It ruins BOTH of their lives. I just tend to focus more on Edward, because James is a douchebag.
And I bet James’s hatred of Edward isn’t just because Edward ruined his meal twice. It’s also because Edward just ruined every chance he might have had at getting an Imperial appointment. In a couple of weeks, Edward has shown him what he could have had and permanently prevented him from getting it. And for such a hedonistic creature like James, I can see why he bore this grudge for decades.
They creep out of the department store again, Edward taking care to cover their tracks (which, again, they can do only because this is the TWENTIES, MEYER). And then...
“Edward...offered, “I sneak into the Y a few blocks from here. Months of sluices in rivers and the rain got very tiresome.”
James actually chuckled, a hint of camaraderie seeping into his thoughts. “Tell me about it-never thought I’d actually find myself missing things about being a human.”
“Well, I suppose we’re not quite all that different on such salient points,” Edward replied with a shrug.”
HAAAAAAAAAAAATE. HATEHATEHATEHATEHATE.
HATE.
Look, fucking EDWARD just shrug off James saying the ONLY thing to miss about being human is the HOT SHOWERS. I trust I don’t have to explain why I’m pissed.
In fact, I’m so pissed that I barely even noticed the weird name for a gym. How the hell did you get “Y” from “gymnasium”? America is weird.
Edward and James go into the showers (the...communal showers. And that is why I don’t go to gyms).
“Edward made a point to give James his own toiletries that he had stashed there, rather than the newer ones he’d bought at the store.”
I...don’t get why he did that? Is it because James is so dirty that he’d be, I don’t know, contaminating the new soap and towels? Or is this some kind of weird wooing ritual?
Anyway, he’s surprised when James just starts taking his clothes off, because somehow he thought a guy who ran around shirtless would have a sense of decency.
Edward turns away, embarrassed, but does not leave.
And what he JUST noticed! Why, he smells absolutely horrible, and oh, he’s so filthy, I guess he has no choice but to take a shower now, has he? And lookie there, he even takes the time to strip slowly.
Okay, I kid, I kid. It’s just that focusing on the slash is a lot healthier for me than thinking about what Edward just fucking said. But yes, this scene isn’t just about the slash. It reintroduces Edward’s insecurities about himself, as well as set up another important dynamic between Edward and James -- their power struggle.
Edward ogles James’s, like, totally amazing physique--
--and compares it with his own. And seeing as he’s a teenager still in the middle of filling out, and thus is all awkward angles and gangling limbs (are you taking notes, MEYER?). And the obvious difference reminds him of how young he is, and we all know Edward has an ISSUE with his age. Go back to any of the scene in the previous chapters where he fantasises about drinking people’s blood, and you’ll notice it usually follows them dismissing him because of his age. Hell, during the whole scene where he beats up Reggie and Froggie and kills them, his ranting and raving is focused on how he’s not just a “boy”, so RESPECT DAMMIT.
Just standing next to James makes him feel inferior, so naturally, he tries to assert power. And that just provokes James to try and assert power right back, and thus their relationship rapid devolves to fighting and bickering.
Edward finishes showering and fashions his hair into the standard super saiyan style to distract himself from thoughts of how much hotter James is than him.
James finishes up too, and appropriately “[shakes] himself off like a dog”, and then, uh...glides over for a towel. That’s...a bit of a contrast. He actually makes small talk with Edward, whose response is less than enthusiastic. Probably because he’s still caught in the throes of penis envy.
““I know-I thought I’d died and gone to heaven when I first came in here-figuratively speaking, of course,” he hastened to add, realizing the inappropriateness of such an expression in their situation.”
....Yeah. That’s...not funny. Or...appropriate. Like, at all. That’s just...incredibly awkward. I really can’t imagine someone who had gone through the graveyard scene in Chapter 2 part 2 would just randomly say this kind of thing without a second thought. I don’t even know what this is doing here. To establish James doesn’t have any hangups about being denied the ability to die and perhaps ascend to heaven? You’d think people would just take that for a given, what with how much he’s gone on about how he misses nothing about being a human.
Then they engage in the most thematically significant conversation in this chapter. While presumably still naked. So...that’s the second theme we’ve had obscured by massive amounts of sexual subtext. Is this a motif or something?
Edward asks how old James was when changed, and it turns out he was twenty-three, five years older than Edward. And he says this in the most douchebag-y way POSSIBLE. “Twenty-three-luckiest damn day of my life.” HAAAAAAATE.
He then eyes Edward speculatively and guesses at his age, and I don’t care how stupid it is, I’m declaring that he has to be trying to make Edward feel even more insecure on purpose. Because I hate him. Deal with it.
Edward confesses that he’s (physically) seventeen, and this scene feels particularly moving because...it just strikes a chord within me. I think just about everyone can sympathise with Edward’s insecurity about his body compared to James.
You know, one of the many, MANY reasons The Darkest Hour is great isn’t just because it uses the same template as Twilight but explores so many intriguing themes that Twilight more or less just ignores, like the morality of vigilantism. It’s also because it DOES explore a lot of themes that Twilight explores too, but does it RIGHT. Age was an important theme in Twilight too -- you just have to read the first chapter of New Moon to realise that. Except here, Edward has the exact opposite problem from canon!Bella. Instead of being a vain teenage girl who fears growing old because, LE GASP, she’ll get WRINKLES, he’s an intelligent, mature young man who’s stuck in the body of a child and forever dismissed as such by society. And thus, what was a whine-fest in Twilight was turned into a moving portrayal of someone deprived of the most fundamental of human experiences -- getting to grow up. Which is a brilliant fishslap as well, because no one in Twilight ever grows up. It’s not just that they are completely static as character, but they all act like spoilt three-year-olds, complete with literal foot-stomping tantrums. They never think beyond immediate gratification, are completely self-centred, and can’t grasp any complex concepts.
Twilight also has long, rambling passages where Bella puts herself down in relation to other vampires in order to shit on humanity and fish for compliments, seeing as it’s made clear pretty early on that she is, indeed, That Beautiful and just doesn’t realise her own infinite magnificence. Here, Edward has a lot of issues about his body too. Never mind that he’s pretty much engineered to be attractive, he almost always describes his appearance in negative terms. We hear about the trouble his vampiric charm brings him because we see its effects, and even when he does mention that he is supernaturally attractive, he uses words with decidedly negative connotations, like “calculated perfection”. And here, when he compares himself to James, not only does his insecurity feel genuine, but it’s also not just shallow whining about how he wishes he could be more hawt. It’s pretty clear that he’s less concerned about physical attractiveness as, well, being able to reach ADULTHOOD. He envies James not for his faaaabulous physique, but for his ability to get people to take him serious because he looks ADULT. In Twilight, whenever Bella gets made over, we ALWAYS have to sit through a long, third-person description that uses the same words that she uses to describe vampires, implying that even without being turned into a vampire, all the way at the end of Twilight, she’d already lost all reason to continue her whining about not being one of the Beautiful People. But Edward will NEVER be able to reach his goal of simply GROWING UP.
There are lots of other themes that are explored in both texts, but done SO much better here too. Like how Twilight is a subconscious Mormon tract on Meyer’s part. The Darkest Hour has a pretty central religious theme too, but instead of it being an authorial tract, it’s a realistic character trait of the protagonist that actually fuels character growth and is naturally integrated into the story. It also helps that Mrs. Hyde doesn’t want to screw Jesus. ...I hope. And, of course, there’s Edward supposedly feeling guilt for what he’d done back in the twenties and wanting to atone, which is THE major plot thread in this fic and the asides that follow, but is strangely absent from canon.
I should mention that this fic single-handed made me prefer reconstructions to deconstructions, because it’s easy to dismiss Twilight as just a bad novel and mock it for its badness. But it’s much harder to take all its shitty, shitty themes and shitty, shitty messages and build something so mind-bogglingly Awesome out of the same material.
So, while I got sidetracked by spontaneous fangirlism, James and Edward has gotten dressed. Finally. James, for once, actually keeps his mouth shut. Of course, Edward can still hear exactly what he’s thinking, the ageist bastard. *grumps* And just to make me feel better, he makes sure to transfer all his lovely little trophies from his old outfit to his new one, and Edward is still oblivious like a sweet summer child. *endless hate*
Still obsessed about the age thing, Edward asks when James was changed, and then gets...painfully, childishly gleeful when he finds out he’s been a vampire for twice as long as James. And it’s just so hard to read this, because...dammit, he’s reminding me of my LITTLE SISTER (who insists she’s ~*~six~*~ and, like, ~*~a big girl~*~ when she’s only four). And goddammit, you are Not Allowed to make me want to hug you! Not right now!But, of course, Edward’s declaration that he’s “older” than James rubs James the wrong way. He interprets this as Edward asserting power over him...which I can’t quite dispute, with what happens later. They bicker like kindergartner over who’s older, eventually grudgingly agreeing that they’re the same age, because they were born in the same year, which makes Edward pout (like a little girl).
But evidently, making sure he doesn’t offend James is still more important, so he just smiles awkwardly.
James asks again about Edward’s hideout, seemingly still trying to wrap his brain around the concept of a vampire being settled down. Edward says “honesty” compels him to admit that he’s actually got SEVERAL hideouts around town, to throw the Imperials off his tracks. James is suitably impressed, and that makes Edward feel better. I don’t know if it’s because James is happy, and thus he’s reassured he won’t offend him and drive him off, or if it’s because anything that makes him feel superior to James is welcome after what just happened.
Edward reassures him that the Imperials have no idea where it is, and James makes a jab at them. ""A man after my own heart-I keep away from those bastards,” he said, his mind full of contempt, as well as a trace of fear that Edward didn’t think he was even aware of."
I’m sure even if he WAS aware of it, he’d be actively denying it, because of COURSE he isn’t afraid of anyone! He is the Awesomest Awesome to ever Awesome, and NO ONE has authority over him! Nope, it’s not that he’s avoiding the Imperials because he’s intimidated by them! He just thinks they’re a bunch of losers and squares. Totally.
Haaaaaate.
Edward asks what makes him hate the Imperials so much as they finally head out of the shower, thus concluding our Epic Slash scene of the week. James then explains about the vampires that changed him.
“Not personally. But the asshole who changed me sure had a beef with them, and he was always telling me all about it. About the way they use all that Imperial money to set themselves up like kings, and just want everything brought to ‘em.” He snorted. “The thing is, I’m pretty sure that old Myron was just mad that someone had beaten him to the punch somewhere, and turned me hoping I’d help him take over or something.”
And by the end of this story, Edward has turned James into Myron. See my point? James is turning Edward into what he hated the most, sure, but Edward is doing the exact same thing back, unintentionally. Not to mention, that’s a nice display of James’s hypocrisy. For all his talk about how he holds nothing but contempt for his creator, he still let the guy influence his opinions of the Imperials.
Edward jumps down from the window, and James is absolutely scandalised by the thought of *le gasp* walking through the street. He points out that...well, why not? It’s not like they’re going to break their cover just by walking down a street. And it’s pretty interesting the way James reacts, like he’d never thought of it that way before. And it makes sense here, because James cared NOTHING about his humanity. Once he was a vampire, it only made sense that he’d have no problems distancing himself from humanity and never thinking about them again. Whereas, no, it doesn’t make sense when the Cullens (and Bella) do it, because they’re supposed to have spent their whole vampire lives trying to blend in with humans because they ENJOY living amongst them. YOU MORON.
They walk together in silence some time, and...
“...James was already eyeing everyone they passed as if they were a steak, playing his tongue over his fangs, sniffing the breeze of a passing human, imagining eating near everyone they passed.
It must be because he was so young, Edward decided. His own self-control had been less than stellar when he’d been new. Now, glutted on fresh blood as he was, he didn’t have the slightest desire to eat anyone. James just needed time and a bit more experience.”
....A;LSDKJFAOKPWOEHGIWGH;LSDGHDK
HAAAAAAAATE.
Hey, Edward. Bitch. You know what? Your self-control was not exactly stellar even at the start of this fic! You still fantasised about eating people whenever something pissed you off! But guess what you did? YOU REALISED WHAT HORRIBLE THOUGHTS YOU WERE HAVING AND FELT GUILTY ABOUT IT. As soon as you realised what you were thinking about, YOU STOPPED. And notice what James is doing with his tongue there? HE’S ACTIVELY TRYING TO MAKE HIMSELF AROUSED. LIKE YOU WERE DOING WHEN YOU WERE PLANNING TO HUNT. HIS FANGS WEREN’T OUT UNTIL HE MASTURBATED THEM INTO COMING OUT. HE. IS. DOING. THIS. ON. PURPOSE.
His bloodlust isn’t getting the better of him, because he’s so young! He’s actively FUELING his bloodlust, because he CAN’T see humans as anything else than a snack! So he doesn’t know how to walk down a street and be normal, because he’s not doing this to just appear like another denizen of the city, going about his solitary business or anything. HE IS STILL PERUSING THE MENU.
AND TIME AND MORE EXPERIENCE ISN’T GOING TO MAKE A DAMNED DIFFERENCE. You know why? Because he’s not even TRYING to deny his bloodlust. No, he’s REVELLING in it. YOUR bloodlust subsided because you did EVERYTHING in your power to push it away and deny it and work past it so you can function like a normal person. It got easier to bear with, because you were SO USED to ignoring it! Do you see James ever getting USED to denying himself pleasure? FUCK NO. Because he isn’t trying, and you KNOW for a fact that he’s never, EVER going to try.
My GOD, you stupid, stupid MORON.
“Still, listening to his increasingly explicit fantasies of eating was making Edward more and more uncomfortable, not just because he was being forced to once again feel a hunger not his own, but from the oddly violent bent to his thoughts.”
ODDLY VIOLENT BENT TO HIS THOUGHTS.
ODDLY VIOLENT BENT.
VIOLENT BENT.
AND YOU STILL FUCKING THINK THIS IS NOTHING BUT YOUR AVERAGE, EVERY DAY BLOODLUST!? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?
Why the FUCK would he need to have excessively violent fantasies if he’s just plain HUNGRY? Those aren’t the thoughts of someone who’s honestly just hungry! Those are the thoughts of someone who HONESTLY ENJOYS THINKING ABOUT VIOLENT THINGS. He has NO REASON to have those fantasies. He’s doing it just because he WANTS to. For fuck’s sake, he’s not even particularly angry or frustrated, like you were when you fantasised about showing people you’re not just a kid. HE’S JUST BEING A DISGUSTING, SADISTIC ASSHOLE!
Edward tries to distract me by asking about how James was changed...which seems like a really weird topic of conversation to me. Especially since James had already explained that Myron turned him, hoping that he’d help him win an Imperial appointment. I don’t know...this whole conversation feels a little superfluous to me. Everything established here has already been established earlier. I just felt like it just...reiterated a lot of information we already knew. As far as I can see, it’s just here so we can have slash (“he followed me for a while, and then one night he jumped me.”) and establish James’s gift (“the best damn tracker you ever saw.”). Which...given how proud he seems to be of it, there must be a better way to do that, without so much repetition.
Oh, and by the way, James? That is a LIE. And you are a lying liar who LIES. If you were really THE best tracker ever? You would NOT have lived until twenty-three. SOMEONE would’ve changed you before then, TRUST me.
Edward even points that out -- that if he was so powerful, then he probably would’ve been gobbled up by the Imperials by now. Of course, that just makes James suspicious that he was turned by an Imperial, because Edward certainly doesn’t act like a “normal” vampire. Edward is quick to reassure him that that’s not the case, but let’s it slip that Carlisle visited the Imperial Heads once. Which, I really hope we see what went down when he did, because...I doubt any random vampire can just go to the Imperial Heads and demand a meeting with them? Like...was he invited? If so, why? He doesn’t sound like he’s much of a famous figure amongst vampires...or if he is, then certainly not in a good way.
This shocks James. I imagine being changed by a vampire who tried so hard for just an appointment and failed, it must be rather mind-screw-y to imagine a vampire who’d actually met the HEADS. Which is certainly a much more realistic portrayal than canon, where vampires seems to hardly care that the Cullens are supposedly totally tight with the Volturi. But then again, no one seems to really respect the Volturi’s authority in canon, because that is TOTALLY how you create a threatening villain. By having everyone dismiss them, or ham up fear to such ridiculous, melodramatic levels that no one can take it seriously.
That, and they don’t have nearly as much TASTE as the Imperials.
“Edward nodded as they turned the corner. “They’re somewhere in the Alborz Mountains over in Persia, I believe. They live in an underground fortress built into the side of a mountain.””
THAT. That is Awesome.
And a lot more realistic too, than living in a historical castle in the middle of a populated Italian city.
James is all disbelieving, because he clearly has no taste either, but Edward elaborates, and we get a very interesting bit of history here. Carlisle apparently visited right around the Enlightenment period? And it’s implied that he at least took part in bringing about the edict for secrecy. And that. Is. Awesome. He didn’t go to the Imperials because after decades of vampire life, he still has no clue how vampires even work. He didn’t go there just to sit around and watch people BLEED to death in front of him, while congratulating himself on his self-control! He didn’t just kinda...leave without trying to change anything. He was there during a PIVOTAL change in vampire-human dynamics and was at least partially responsible for giving humanity a chance to flourish without living in the shadow of vampires.
That, and it’s very interesting how differently Edward and James were...well, brought up by their creators. Both Carlisle and Myron had reasons to be less than fond of the Imperials, but where Carlisle taught everything he knew to Edward, all James was taught that the Imperials were a bunch of LOSERS.
They reach Edward’s hideout at the library, and Edward continues to act like a school girl. “Edward was suddenly self-conscious of the meager little niche that he’d carved for himself. He wished he’d tidied a bit more recently; it looked woefully shabby, and terribly small.” I’m sure if he could get his hands on giant posters of James, they’d be all over his attic.
Unsurprisingly, James is impressed. After all, he’s been living in a tree for the last five years. Edward is so encouraged that he losses his caution and makes it a little too obvious that he’s not worried about the Imperials finding him at all, which James naturally finds suspicious. He first assumes that Edward has a masking gift, and again, I can’t emphasis enough how much I love that there are “common” gifts among vampires. They’re not all unique, because that makes no evolutionary sense. Especially if it means some vampires get stuck with stupid, STUPID powers that they have NO uses for.
And apparently, I was wrong. Edward didn’t let it slip because he was too overjoyed that OMG JAMES LIKES HIS INTERIOR DECORATING SKILLZ. He honestly doesn’t see a problem just TELLING him about his mind-reading powers. I mean, I’m not implying that hiding such an important part of yourself is a good way to make friends, but when it’s something like this, you do want to be a bit more delicate when you break it to them! Do you honestly not know why people might find that a TAD disturbing?
James reacts like any normal, sane person (for once) and is outraged. And Edward STILL doesn’t get why he’s pissed, not even when he specifically addresses something James thought about. He tries to reassure James that it’s not something he does intentionally, but I don’t think James ever grasps the concept that Edward can’t control his mind-reading. I’m guessing tracking is a power that you can turn on and off at will, because James seems to think that’s how everyone’s powers worked.
James naturally demands to know how to keep Edward out, and...
““You can’t,” Edward said automatically, surprised-Carlisle and Esme never asked him that. Did they think they couldn’t, or did they just never bother?”
...*very calmly* Edward. Do not force me to bring out my bitch-smacking hand again.
Did you even consider maybe Carlisle and Esme asked that because they TRUSTED you? Because they KNEW you and KNEW you wouldn’t purposefully invade their privacy, and that anything you learn, you won’t use against them? Because they have NOTHING to hide from you? Because they don’t want you to feel even worse about your powers and like it’s some kind of burden on them? You know, because they LOVE you? YOU FUCKING IDIOT.
And by the way, that is a TERRIBLE excuse for why you didn’t think James would be uncomfortable with your power. I mean, just think about it. If some guy came along and could read every thought that goes through YOUR head and know everything about YOU, would you be happy about it? Do you want some random guy to know you occasionally feel like Cleopatra?
Overwhelmed by James’s anger, Edward explains that he can hear emotional thoughts more clearly and that James is giving him a headache. ...My god, you are the single most TACTLESS person on the face of the planet. Yeah, go ahead and complain to the guy whose MIND you just invaded about your headache. The headache you got from INVADING HIS MIND. Look, I REALLY hate to side with James, but...seriously. You’re an asshole in this scene.
And then we get a nice look at how...well, threatening an enemy James would make, “His anger only mounted at that, but then Edward felt a sudden, deadly calm clamp down on it.”
For all my talk about how James is nothing but an animal...he’s a terrifyingly INTELLIGENT animal. And he’s not entirely ruled by his feelings, because that’d make him a much less threatening opponent. No, when he needs to, he can quell his rage in a moment and FOCUS. And as we see, he’s very clever at making sure he has an upper hand in every situation, and knows exactly what words to string together to hit Edward where it hurts. He’s not the moron from canon who strings together the most confusing and self-contradictory plot ever that relies on dumb luck 80% of the time. Here, he not only KNOWS Edward much more intimately, but he knows how to USE that knowledge.
Edward confirms that he can’t hear James as clearly now and that he can only hear surface thoughts. James asks about his powers, obviously still trying to find ways to block Edward out. And while I know this is probably nothing more than James not wanting Edward to know anything more about him than what he’s willing to reveal, because knowing him would give Edward power over him, my first thought was still that something big happened in his past that he doesn’t want anyone to know about. (Even though we see that when mentioning his past, all the thinks about is all the times he fed. Probably because he spent the past five years doing nothing BUT that. Scum.)
Edward elaborates that he can’t, and that he only uses his powers to evade the Imperials and hunt. He tries to revitalise the friendly atmosphere by inviting James to sit down and continue their chat. Unsurprisingly, it doesn’t work, and James is still suspicious and on guard. He has his Serious Business face on, “his back was stiff, and his eyes were focused. Gone was the easy confidence and dark humor in his eyes.” And...I kinda like the implication that the whole easy confidence and dark humour thing is at least in part an obfuscating façade put on by him. It’s creepy.
Edward tries to initiate conversation, asking how James got to St. Louis. ....Well, how do you THINK. He probably attracted too much attention from the Imperials at the last place he was at, so he moved on! Like all nomadic vampires! What, you think he came because the city had ~*~emotional significance~*~ to him? Not every vampire go on a pilgrimage to their home town, you know.
James flatly answers that he travelled from Kentucky, and Edward points out that he actually didn’t know the answer beforehand because James was too busy thinking about how he didn’t want Edward in his head. Which means...for the first bit of their relationship, Edward likes James for precisely the same reason he likes Bella. He can’t predict what they’re going to say, because he can’t read their minds. ...Fishslap?
James is initially angered that Edward just made another reference to reading his mind, but then brightens as he realises a way to keep Edward out of his head.
Edward concedes that maybe it works, and then jokes about sex, “In an attempt to set him at ease, he rather painfully admitted, “It’s given me some grief around married couples.”” In the least surprising twist ever, this is what makes James laugh and ease the tension.
But the tension still isn’t completely gone. Oh no, James is too busy to think about the sex joke. He immediately tests out his theory by singing a song in his head and keeping the conversation going with Edward. And...it works.
“But Edward didn’t hear that in his head, no-James was singing to himself, he realized, and if he pushed, he could hear more beneath it, but if he deliberately didn’t listen, all he could hear were the inane words to “Yes, We Have No Bananas”.
Edward smiled.”
And if you’re anything like me, ominous music just start playing in your mind.
Edward had just handed to James the most powerful weapon he’s got against him. He just relinquished any chance of him having the upper hand when fighting James.
And he doesn’t. Even. Realise.
No, he thinks life is ABSOLUTELY peachy right now. He’s never felt better since becoming a vampire. He’s got a friend! Who knows how to get around his mind-reading, so he can actually have entertaining conversations! A friend who ~*~understands~*~ him, because he doesn’t have to pretend to be human with him! LIFE. IS. PERFECT.
This fucking chapter, I swear. It sets up BRILLIANTLY the character of James, and makes it clear from the moment he’s on screen that he’ll bring nothing but misery and destruction. And Edward’s desperation and loneliness and OBLIVIOUSNESS is nothing but painful to read. God, re-reading this, knowing what’s coming, is just...awful.
I’m going to go hug my squirrel soft toy now. See you guys next time.
Go Forward to: Chapter 5 Part 1, Section A
Go Back to: Chapter 4 Part 2, Section B