Betrayed: Chapter 10
ZeldaQueen: Well, the Cast ladies have set us up for some potential plot. Let's see how this goes
Projection Room Voices: Starting Media in 3...2...1...
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Chapter 10
ZeldaQueen: So I'm just going to start off by saying that this chapter? My opinion's divided on it. On one hand, stuff actually happens and for this book, that's impressive. On the other hand though, Zoey and her friends continue to be pretentious twits and that displeases me greatly.
Right. So. *cracks knuckles* We start off in the middle of a conversation, with Zoey having told her friends about Aphrodite's vision and how they have to save the people on the bridge. Damien wants to know why they can't just tell Neferet about it so that she'll make a few phone calls and get it fixed. Zoey says they can't because "She made me promise I wouldn't go to Neferet. The two of them are having some kind of weird fight". Weird fight. Yes, that's totally how I'd sum up that scene between the two of them. I know if I ever saw a normally kind teacher berating a student and pretty much saying "God hates you" while said student cries, my reaction would be "Oh yeah, that's weird". And I do so love how Zoey had her token moment of sympathy before going back to acting like this is all nothing to be bothered by at all, nosireebob!
*face palm*
This leads to a chorus from the other girls about how Aphrodite's such an evil, demonic, puppy-kicking banshee who deserves to be gutted
"'It's about time Neferet started seeing her as the bitch she is,' Stevie Rae said.
'Hateful cow,' Shaunee said.
'Hag from hell,' Erin agreed"
ZeldaQueen: I do so love how kind and sympathetic our protagonists are. It does make them so easy to cheer on and support. And incidentally, that's pretty much how they talk any time Aphrodite's name is brought up, including when Zoey tells them about how that girl is being abused by her parents and hurt by Neferet. Really.
Anyway, Damien trots out the argument that Aphrodite's visions are inaccurate and thus they can't be trusted. Because that's totally what it is because Neferet said that and Neferet would never, ever, ever make something like that up, right? Anyway, he believes that Aphrodite just lied about the vision to get Zoey to do something stupid and look foolish. If so, that would have to be the dumbest trick ever, seeing as Aphrodite has made it clear that she knows that Neferet hates her and thinks the sun shines out of Zoey's ass. If Zoey was tricked and then said "Aphrodite lied to me", who do you think would actually suffer any negative consequences? Anyway, Zoey sticks to her guns and says that she saw how scared Aphrodite looked and believed that she was telling the truth. Stevie Rae suggests that Aphrodite was actually hiding parts of the visions. Yes, that's why she told Zoey exactly when and where and vaguely how the event would take place, as well as the fact that Zoey's grandmother would be involved. Zoey doesn't believe that either, and tells them that her Deus Ex Machina feeling is advising her to act on Aphrodite's advice. Of course no one questions this, because these people never disagree with Zoey in this thing. Lord.
Damien suggests that Zoey call whoever would be in charge of the bridge and pretend to be Neferet. We actually get an explanation for how Neferet is able to get people to check stuff so quickly, incidentally. Apparently she's been right about the accidents so many times that people are afraid to not listen to her. Zoey says they can't do that, partly because she doesn't know who to contact and partly because she is sure that whoever she calls will call back and Neferet will find out what they did.
This leaves them with getting the bridge closed down as their only option. Stevie Rae suggests that they call in a fake bomb threat, explaining that they will certainly shut down the bridge to look for the bomb. Zoey asks if they can safely call via her cell phone, and the Cast ladies prove that they are slightly more tech-savvy than Meyer as Damien snorts and tells Zoey that cell phones can be traced and "This isn't the nineties". He then says that she can use a disposable cell phone to call, so long as she is sure to destroy it afterwards. There's brief unfunny banter in which Zoey is shocked, shocked I tell you to learn about the existence of disposable cell phones and Erin and Shaunee mock her. Oh, and Stevie Rae doesn't know about disposable cell phones, because she's a bumpkin. Zoey asks how Damien is so familiar with him, and instead of him saying that he's halfway competent with modern technology, he wangsts about his homosexuality
"I got it after my parents freaked about me being gay. Until I was Marked and came here it felt like they were grounding me for life from life. I mean, not that I really expected them to lock me in a closet somewhere, but it's good to be prepared. Since then I've made sure I always have one"
ZeldaQueen: I have nothing to comment on that but this - are the Cast ladies honestly so out-of-touch with reality that they think that this is how most families deal with gay sons? Or are they just trying to make the repulsive protagonists look better because clearly they're the only ones in the state who are nice to homosexuals.
After that Big Lipped Alligator Wangst, Damien advises Zoey to say that the bomb is under the waterline, so it will take longer for them to search and thus keep the bridge closed longer. He also suggests calling at two-thirty in the afternoon, so that the bridge would be closed before three-fifteen but the search would most likely not end before that time.
They then figure out who to call, with Erin suggesting Googling it and Damien telling Zoey not to, as that would still leave a trail to them. Instead, he suggests she call the local branch of the FBI, using their number in the phone book. And I have to pause right now and say that besides that random wangsting up there, this has got to be the most serious and intelligent and helpful I've seen Damien be yet. Seriously, if he were like this for more of the book, I'd enjoy his character far more.
We then get some more unfunny banter as they try to decide what cause their "bombing" should be in the name of. Stevie Rae keeps insisting that it should be pollution, because "Pollution's a real problem". Erin insists "I don't think it should be because of pollution. I think it should be because you're sick and tired of government interference in the private sector's lives". Zoey reacts to that sentence like Erin just began to speak Swahili. Because, you know, teenagers are dumb and have no knowledge of such things.
Just as they agree on all of this, in comes Neferet with two human men. I...guess this entire conversation has been taking place in Zoey's dorm room, because we are told about how the other students there are all amazed that there are humans in the House of Night, whoever has heard of such shenanigans? Neferet calls Zoey to join them in the dorm's library room and we get a random mention of how it's six minutes past seven on Saturday morning. It's a very good thing we were reminded of this, because I honestly have given up on keeping track of the days in this thing. Anyway, we're told that the men are Detectives Marx and Martin (hey, I think there's a crime show title in there) and they're from the homicide division of the Tulsa Police. They want to question Zoey about the missing kid and the murdered one. We also find out at this time that Zoey and all of the students in the House of Night are legally emancipated. No, we were not told of any paperwork or that Zoey was even aware of this or that her parents gave consent. No, we're not told how they manage to wrangle that for a large number of children. I'm no expert in the law, but I do smell bull in that one.
Anyway, they start questioning Zoey about her connections to the high school football players and she says what she said before - that she sort of knew them, but not very well. They then ask if either of them visited her while she was at the House of Night, or if any human teenagers have visited her at all. This throws Zoey for a loop because oh my God, how do they know about that and Neferet cuts in and says that Heath and Kayla did visit her, but it wasn't exactly official. I have to pause because I'm genuinely curious, would the police really question Zoey with Neferet still in the room and let her answer questions for Zoey? I mean, aren't they worried that would risk something being hidden or mis-represented or something? Anyway, this is her recapping to the readers about what happened
"I'd told her all about Heath and Kayla climbing the wall with the ridiculous idea of busting me out. Or at least that had been Heath's idea. Kayla, my ex-best friend, had just wanted me to see that she'd staked a claim on Heath. I'd told Neferet all of that, and more. How I'd kinda accidentally tasted Heath's blood-until Kayla had caught me and totally lost her mind. Staring into Neferet's eyes I knew as sure as if she'd said the words aloud that I was to keep the little blood-tasting incident to myself, which was more than okay with me"
ZeldaQueen: Yeah, a few things.
First of all, Kayla just wanted Zoey to see she "staked a claim on Heath"? The fuck? When did Kayla EVER give the impression that she was showing off her relationship with Heath? She wasn't clinging to him, she wasn't kissing him, she wasn't wearing a ring from him that she was showing off, nothing! The only reason Zoey knew was that she noticed that Kayla was looking at him in a certain way, and it wasn't told in a way that particularly gave the impression that it was deliberate. And for that matter, why is Kayla being treated like she's so evil for being with Heath anyway? I know I already ranted about this, but Zoey had told her in no uncertain terms that she and Heath were over! And no, we never get the implication that Zoey's being irrationally jealous or angry with Kayla. Quite the opposite, this is far from the end of the Kayla-bashing in the story, and the poor girl doesn't even show up at all!
Second of all, I do so love the implication that Kayla was getting in an irrational flap over Zoey drinking Heath's blood! Given how Zoey was showing no signs of stopping then, and given what we will later learn about imprinting and what it does to Heath's life, I'd say Kayla was well justified in freaking out.
Third of all, see what I mean about Neferet's presence meddling with Zoey's testimony? Spoilers folks, we're going to see Heath again, and we're going to see how the imprinting affected him. We're never told whether or not Heath's parents were informed of what happened to him, but given that up there, I'd guess not. We later will get it hammered over our heads how imprinting is a tricky, heavy, potentially dangerous thing which should not be engaged with lightly. If that's the case, one would imagine that some warning to the human side of things wouldn't go amiss. But no, because it makes the vampires look bad, they hide it. And Zoey does so willingly because hey, Neferet said so and Neferet's never wrong, huh?
And yes, I realize I might be jumping to conclusions, but going off of what comes up later, it does seem pretty apparent that the human community is told squat about the vampire community.
Oh, and we find out here that Heath's last name is actually "Luck", which leads to Zoey making a dumb joke about how lucky Heath is to never get a DUI.
The detectives continue to grill Zoey about that visit, asking if anything unusual happened and if she drank Heath's blood. Zoey takes a moment to wank over how unusual she is, with her bloodlust and her filled-in Mark and tattoos, before freaking out and wondering how they know so much about that night, all while making stupid justifications because she didn't cut Heath like they asked, he cut himself, and she didn't drink his blood, she only lapped it up. She wonders how they learned all of this, and figures it can't be from Heath, as he wouldn't be that stupid as to tell the police that his girlfriend tried to drain him dry. Considering that his response to Aphrodite being surrounded by demonic vampire ghosts was "Cool, a vampire chick", I wouldn't bet much money on that assumption. And then, Zoey figures out who told them and we get this.
"'There's something you should know about Kayla Robinson,' I said suddenly, interrupting the short cop's boring tirade. 'She saw me kiss Heath. Well, actually Heath kissed me. She likes Heath.' I looked from one cop to the other. 'You know, she really likes Heath, as in wants to date him now that I'm out of the way. So when she saw him kiss me she got pissed and started yelling at me. Okay, I admit I didn't act very mature. I got pissed back at her. I mean, it's just wrong when your best friend goes after your boyfriend. Anyway"-I fidgeted, like I was embarrassed to admit what I was telling them-"I said some mean stuff to Kayla that scared her. She freaked out and left.'
'What kind of mean stuff?' Detective Marx asked.
I sighed. 'Something like if she didn't go away I'd fly off the wall and suck her blood.'"
ZeldaQueen: Oh look, another list!
I'll bring this up first and get it out of the way. That "boring tirade" of the short cop's? He was explaining to Zoey about why he was questioning her, explaining to her that he wasn't accusing her of anything, but that he was acting on the evidence of a murdered teenage boy! And she refers to him talking about solving the murder of a teenager as a boring tirade. Which really sums up her attitude towards this questioning in general. She is either disdainful of the police, offended that they might think she has anything to do with it, or worried about how they might be angry with her. And I realize that the last one is something that is common when questioned by the police, except that it honestly reads like Rose Potter not wanting to return to Grimmauld Place so she won't get in trouble with the Order or Bella Swan worrying because her dad might catch her in one of her pointless lies. And the only thing she doesn't feel is any sort of concern or sympathy towards the reason this questioning is going on at all - A FREAKING MURDER! I'm sorry, but that just...it really gets me.
So now, on to point two - see what I mean about the Kayla hate? And no, this isn't the end of it by a long shot. Kayla is to the Cast Ladies what Lauren was to Meyer, and she has only shown up twice in the entire series thus far! I really fail to see what she's done to earn this amount of hate.
Third, no Zoey, Kayla was not making accusations out of jealousy because you kissed Heath. She went to the police because you were drinking his blood! Mother of God, are you honestly incapable of seeing how that would look to someone, especially someone with no idea how vampirism works?
Fourth, and this might be nit-picking, but am I the only one who got the impression that Zoey was trying to shift all blame possible from herself in regards to Heath? "Oh yeah, he's totally my boyfriend and Kayla's a jealous cow who saw me kiss him. No, wait, he kissed me, I had nothing to do with it! She's just hating me for no reason at all, officers!" And I bring this up because honestly, I don't see why the officers would care who kissed whom there. I mean, I could see if Zoey minded as a personal thing, but it just comes across as being one more petty jab at Kayla being a jealous bitch who irrationally hates Zoey.
Fifth, Zoey doesn't feel sorry that she threatened someone less powerful than herself. She's pretending she does, to get the police off of her back. And she words it all like it was clearly not to be taken seriously and Kayla was just a silly girl for believing it. Now see, this is why I was so pissed off about the hiding of the blood drinking. Because it totally justifies Kayla being scared!
Oh, but it gets better! Neferet plays along with Zoey, pretending to chastise her for threatening Kayla. We're specifically told that she's "playing along". She's honestly not bothered that Zoey scared a girl and made threats that she easily could have carried out. Oh, but Zoey doesn't care that Neferet hates humans and doesn't care that Zoey has threatened one. After all, she's covering Zoey's ass and it's only Kayla.
You know, I think this entire thing would bother me a lot less if there was any sort of a sign that Zoey felt something like guilt or sympathy or compassion for someone. ANYONE. Heath, Kayla, the missing teenager, the murdered teenager, their friends or family, any of them. Anything would be better than either her brushing over of their fates or situations or the contemptuous way she describes them all.
*sigh* So yeah, they ask if Heath or Kayla were around any other times and Zoey gives a very brief mention of the Samhain ritual (devoid of all mention of demons) and how Heath crashed it while drunk. For no reason at all, she gives an aside about Heath's "unfortunate, and hopefully temporary, experimentation with pot". Because pot is the Devil's garden herb and anyone who uses it will be forever branded across the chest with the Scarlet Marijuana Leaf.
The detectives start to wrap things up, and have one more question for Zoey. They take out a necklace and ask if Zoey recognizes it at all. Zoey describes it as "a silver pendant on a long black velvet ribbon. The pendant was in the shape of two crescent moons back-to back against a full moon encrusted with garnets. It was the symbol of the triple Goddess-mother, maiden, and crone. I had one just like it because it was the necklace that the leader of the Dark Daughters wore".
DRAMA!!!
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Onward to: Chapter 11
Back to: Chapter 9
Back to: Table of Contents
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Chapter 10
ZeldaQueen: So I'm just going to start off by saying that this chapter? My opinion's divided on it. On one hand, stuff actually happens and for this book, that's impressive. On the other hand though, Zoey and her friends continue to be pretentious twits and that displeases me greatly.
Right. So. *cracks knuckles* We start off in the middle of a conversation, with Zoey having told her friends about Aphrodite's vision and how they have to save the people on the bridge. Damien wants to know why they can't just tell Neferet about it so that she'll make a few phone calls and get it fixed. Zoey says they can't because "She made me promise I wouldn't go to Neferet. The two of them are having some kind of weird fight". Weird fight. Yes, that's totally how I'd sum up that scene between the two of them. I know if I ever saw a normally kind teacher berating a student and pretty much saying "God hates you" while said student cries, my reaction would be "Oh yeah, that's weird". And I do so love how Zoey had her token moment of sympathy before going back to acting like this is all nothing to be bothered by at all, nosireebob!
*face palm*
This leads to a chorus from the other girls about how Aphrodite's such an evil, demonic, puppy-kicking banshee who deserves to be gutted
"'It's about time Neferet started seeing her as the bitch she is,' Stevie Rae said.
'Hateful cow,' Shaunee said.
'Hag from hell,' Erin agreed"
ZeldaQueen: I do so love how kind and sympathetic our protagonists are. It does make them so easy to cheer on and support. And incidentally, that's pretty much how they talk any time Aphrodite's name is brought up, including when Zoey tells them about how that girl is being abused by her parents and hurt by Neferet. Really.
Anyway, Damien trots out the argument that Aphrodite's visions are inaccurate and thus they can't be trusted. Because that's totally what it is because Neferet said that and Neferet would never, ever, ever make something like that up, right? Anyway, he believes that Aphrodite just lied about the vision to get Zoey to do something stupid and look foolish. If so, that would have to be the dumbest trick ever, seeing as Aphrodite has made it clear that she knows that Neferet hates her and thinks the sun shines out of Zoey's ass. If Zoey was tricked and then said "Aphrodite lied to me", who do you think would actually suffer any negative consequences? Anyway, Zoey sticks to her guns and says that she saw how scared Aphrodite looked and believed that she was telling the truth. Stevie Rae suggests that Aphrodite was actually hiding parts of the visions. Yes, that's why she told Zoey exactly when and where and vaguely how the event would take place, as well as the fact that Zoey's grandmother would be involved. Zoey doesn't believe that either, and tells them that her Deus Ex Machina feeling is advising her to act on Aphrodite's advice. Of course no one questions this, because these people never disagree with Zoey in this thing. Lord.
Damien suggests that Zoey call whoever would be in charge of the bridge and pretend to be Neferet. We actually get an explanation for how Neferet is able to get people to check stuff so quickly, incidentally. Apparently she's been right about the accidents so many times that people are afraid to not listen to her. Zoey says they can't do that, partly because she doesn't know who to contact and partly because she is sure that whoever she calls will call back and Neferet will find out what they did.
This leaves them with getting the bridge closed down as their only option. Stevie Rae suggests that they call in a fake bomb threat, explaining that they will certainly shut down the bridge to look for the bomb. Zoey asks if they can safely call via her cell phone, and the Cast ladies prove that they are slightly more tech-savvy than Meyer as Damien snorts and tells Zoey that cell phones can be traced and "This isn't the nineties". He then says that she can use a disposable cell phone to call, so long as she is sure to destroy it afterwards. There's brief unfunny banter in which Zoey is shocked, shocked I tell you to learn about the existence of disposable cell phones and Erin and Shaunee mock her. Oh, and Stevie Rae doesn't know about disposable cell phones, because she's a bumpkin. Zoey asks how Damien is so familiar with him, and instead of him saying that he's halfway competent with modern technology, he wangsts about his homosexuality
"I got it after my parents freaked about me being gay. Until I was Marked and came here it felt like they were grounding me for life from life. I mean, not that I really expected them to lock me in a closet somewhere, but it's good to be prepared. Since then I've made sure I always have one"
ZeldaQueen: I have nothing to comment on that but this - are the Cast ladies honestly so out-of-touch with reality that they think that this is how most families deal with gay sons? Or are they just trying to make the repulsive protagonists look better because clearly they're the only ones in the state who are nice to homosexuals.
After that Big Lipped Alligator Wangst, Damien advises Zoey to say that the bomb is under the waterline, so it will take longer for them to search and thus keep the bridge closed longer. He also suggests calling at two-thirty in the afternoon, so that the bridge would be closed before three-fifteen but the search would most likely not end before that time.
They then figure out who to call, with Erin suggesting Googling it and Damien telling Zoey not to, as that would still leave a trail to them. Instead, he suggests she call the local branch of the FBI, using their number in the phone book. And I have to pause right now and say that besides that random wangsting up there, this has got to be the most serious and intelligent and helpful I've seen Damien be yet. Seriously, if he were like this for more of the book, I'd enjoy his character far more.
We then get some more unfunny banter as they try to decide what cause their "bombing" should be in the name of. Stevie Rae keeps insisting that it should be pollution, because "Pollution's a real problem". Erin insists "I don't think it should be because of pollution. I think it should be because you're sick and tired of government interference in the private sector's lives". Zoey reacts to that sentence like Erin just began to speak Swahili. Because, you know, teenagers are dumb and have no knowledge of such things.
Just as they agree on all of this, in comes Neferet with two human men. I...guess this entire conversation has been taking place in Zoey's dorm room, because we are told about how the other students there are all amazed that there are humans in the House of Night, whoever has heard of such shenanigans? Neferet calls Zoey to join them in the dorm's library room and we get a random mention of how it's six minutes past seven on Saturday morning. It's a very good thing we were reminded of this, because I honestly have given up on keeping track of the days in this thing. Anyway, we're told that the men are Detectives Marx and Martin (hey, I think there's a crime show title in there) and they're from the homicide division of the Tulsa Police. They want to question Zoey about the missing kid and the murdered one. We also find out at this time that Zoey and all of the students in the House of Night are legally emancipated. No, we were not told of any paperwork or that Zoey was even aware of this or that her parents gave consent. No, we're not told how they manage to wrangle that for a large number of children. I'm no expert in the law, but I do smell bull in that one.
Anyway, they start questioning Zoey about her connections to the high school football players and she says what she said before - that she sort of knew them, but not very well. They then ask if either of them visited her while she was at the House of Night, or if any human teenagers have visited her at all. This throws Zoey for a loop because oh my God, how do they know about that and Neferet cuts in and says that Heath and Kayla did visit her, but it wasn't exactly official. I have to pause because I'm genuinely curious, would the police really question Zoey with Neferet still in the room and let her answer questions for Zoey? I mean, aren't they worried that would risk something being hidden or mis-represented or something? Anyway, this is her recapping to the readers about what happened
"I'd told her all about Heath and Kayla climbing the wall with the ridiculous idea of busting me out. Or at least that had been Heath's idea. Kayla, my ex-best friend, had just wanted me to see that she'd staked a claim on Heath. I'd told Neferet all of that, and more. How I'd kinda accidentally tasted Heath's blood-until Kayla had caught me and totally lost her mind. Staring into Neferet's eyes I knew as sure as if she'd said the words aloud that I was to keep the little blood-tasting incident to myself, which was more than okay with me"
ZeldaQueen: Yeah, a few things.
First of all, Kayla just wanted Zoey to see she "staked a claim on Heath"? The fuck? When did Kayla EVER give the impression that she was showing off her relationship with Heath? She wasn't clinging to him, she wasn't kissing him, she wasn't wearing a ring from him that she was showing off, nothing! The only reason Zoey knew was that she noticed that Kayla was looking at him in a certain way, and it wasn't told in a way that particularly gave the impression that it was deliberate. And for that matter, why is Kayla being treated like she's so evil for being with Heath anyway? I know I already ranted about this, but Zoey had told her in no uncertain terms that she and Heath were over! And no, we never get the implication that Zoey's being irrationally jealous or angry with Kayla. Quite the opposite, this is far from the end of the Kayla-bashing in the story, and the poor girl doesn't even show up at all!
Second of all, I do so love the implication that Kayla was getting in an irrational flap over Zoey drinking Heath's blood! Given how Zoey was showing no signs of stopping then, and given what we will later learn about imprinting and what it does to Heath's life, I'd say Kayla was well justified in freaking out.
Third of all, see what I mean about Neferet's presence meddling with Zoey's testimony? Spoilers folks, we're going to see Heath again, and we're going to see how the imprinting affected him. We're never told whether or not Heath's parents were informed of what happened to him, but given that up there, I'd guess not. We later will get it hammered over our heads how imprinting is a tricky, heavy, potentially dangerous thing which should not be engaged with lightly. If that's the case, one would imagine that some warning to the human side of things wouldn't go amiss. But no, because it makes the vampires look bad, they hide it. And Zoey does so willingly because hey, Neferet said so and Neferet's never wrong, huh?
And yes, I realize I might be jumping to conclusions, but going off of what comes up later, it does seem pretty apparent that the human community is told squat about the vampire community.
Oh, and we find out here that Heath's last name is actually "Luck", which leads to Zoey making a dumb joke about how lucky Heath is to never get a DUI.
The detectives continue to grill Zoey about that visit, asking if anything unusual happened and if she drank Heath's blood. Zoey takes a moment to wank over how unusual she is, with her bloodlust and her filled-in Mark and tattoos, before freaking out and wondering how they know so much about that night, all while making stupid justifications because she didn't cut Heath like they asked, he cut himself, and she didn't drink his blood, she only lapped it up. She wonders how they learned all of this, and figures it can't be from Heath, as he wouldn't be that stupid as to tell the police that his girlfriend tried to drain him dry. Considering that his response to Aphrodite being surrounded by demonic vampire ghosts was "Cool, a vampire chick", I wouldn't bet much money on that assumption. And then, Zoey figures out who told them and we get this.
"'There's something you should know about Kayla Robinson,' I said suddenly, interrupting the short cop's boring tirade. 'She saw me kiss Heath. Well, actually Heath kissed me. She likes Heath.' I looked from one cop to the other. 'You know, she really likes Heath, as in wants to date him now that I'm out of the way. So when she saw him kiss me she got pissed and started yelling at me. Okay, I admit I didn't act very mature. I got pissed back at her. I mean, it's just wrong when your best friend goes after your boyfriend. Anyway"-I fidgeted, like I was embarrassed to admit what I was telling them-"I said some mean stuff to Kayla that scared her. She freaked out and left.'
'What kind of mean stuff?' Detective Marx asked.
I sighed. 'Something like if she didn't go away I'd fly off the wall and suck her blood.'"
ZeldaQueen: Oh look, another list!
I'll bring this up first and get it out of the way. That "boring tirade" of the short cop's? He was explaining to Zoey about why he was questioning her, explaining to her that he wasn't accusing her of anything, but that he was acting on the evidence of a murdered teenage boy! And she refers to him talking about solving the murder of a teenager as a boring tirade. Which really sums up her attitude towards this questioning in general. She is either disdainful of the police, offended that they might think she has anything to do with it, or worried about how they might be angry with her. And I realize that the last one is something that is common when questioned by the police, except that it honestly reads like Rose Potter not wanting to return to Grimmauld Place so she won't get in trouble with the Order or Bella Swan worrying because her dad might catch her in one of her pointless lies. And the only thing she doesn't feel is any sort of concern or sympathy towards the reason this questioning is going on at all - A FREAKING MURDER! I'm sorry, but that just...it really gets me.
So now, on to point two - see what I mean about the Kayla hate? And no, this isn't the end of it by a long shot. Kayla is to the Cast Ladies what Lauren was to Meyer, and she has only shown up twice in the entire series thus far! I really fail to see what she's done to earn this amount of hate.
Third, no Zoey, Kayla was not making accusations out of jealousy because you kissed Heath. She went to the police because you were drinking his blood! Mother of God, are you honestly incapable of seeing how that would look to someone, especially someone with no idea how vampirism works?
Fourth, and this might be nit-picking, but am I the only one who got the impression that Zoey was trying to shift all blame possible from herself in regards to Heath? "Oh yeah, he's totally my boyfriend and Kayla's a jealous cow who saw me kiss him. No, wait, he kissed me, I had nothing to do with it! She's just hating me for no reason at all, officers!" And I bring this up because honestly, I don't see why the officers would care who kissed whom there. I mean, I could see if Zoey minded as a personal thing, but it just comes across as being one more petty jab at Kayla being a jealous bitch who irrationally hates Zoey.
Fifth, Zoey doesn't feel sorry that she threatened someone less powerful than herself. She's pretending she does, to get the police off of her back. And she words it all like it was clearly not to be taken seriously and Kayla was just a silly girl for believing it. Now see, this is why I was so pissed off about the hiding of the blood drinking. Because it totally justifies Kayla being scared!
Oh, but it gets better! Neferet plays along with Zoey, pretending to chastise her for threatening Kayla. We're specifically told that she's "playing along". She's honestly not bothered that Zoey scared a girl and made threats that she easily could have carried out. Oh, but Zoey doesn't care that Neferet hates humans and doesn't care that Zoey has threatened one. After all, she's covering Zoey's ass and it's only Kayla.
You know, I think this entire thing would bother me a lot less if there was any sort of a sign that Zoey felt something like guilt or sympathy or compassion for someone. ANYONE. Heath, Kayla, the missing teenager, the murdered teenager, their friends or family, any of them. Anything would be better than either her brushing over of their fates or situations or the contemptuous way she describes them all.
*sigh* So yeah, they ask if Heath or Kayla were around any other times and Zoey gives a very brief mention of the Samhain ritual (devoid of all mention of demons) and how Heath crashed it while drunk. For no reason at all, she gives an aside about Heath's "unfortunate, and hopefully temporary, experimentation with pot". Because pot is the Devil's garden herb and anyone who uses it will be forever branded across the chest with the Scarlet Marijuana Leaf.
The detectives start to wrap things up, and have one more question for Zoey. They take out a necklace and ask if Zoey recognizes it at all. Zoey describes it as "a silver pendant on a long black velvet ribbon. The pendant was in the shape of two crescent moons back-to back against a full moon encrusted with garnets. It was the symbol of the triple Goddess-mother, maiden, and crone. I had one just like it because it was the necklace that the leader of the Dark Daughters wore".
DRAMA!!!
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Onward to: Chapter 11
Back to: Chapter 9
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