Here’s a something that’s been puzzling me since last chapter. How the hell is Zoey going to get away with hurting those guys? Let’s pretend that they’re alive and well and just bruised, because we know they are, for a moment. Zoey threw them into traffic using magic powers which would fall under assault and battery by Oklahoma law. To be convicted of that, the state has to find that the act has four elements; willful, unlawful, was an act of force or violence and upon another person. I think making the wind carry two people into traffic fits all four of those nicely.
But wait, PCK will say, they don’t know Zoey or anything about vampires. True, they might not know vampires can summon wind but the police should. And even if they didn’t, all it would take is one plucky detective asking the school to put the blame on Zoey. There aren’t many vampires who could do that. Never mind that Zoey scrubbed off her makeup first so they could see her vampire brand, ensuring that they can tell she’s one of them.
It’s worse if they’re dead because there’s no way for Zoey to come out smelling like roses. Either she hides and lets the driver get convicted of vehicular manslaughter or she steps forward. And that would only be more reason why the humans, who PCK is trying to portray as prejudiced, as right to fear and hate them. Maybe it’ll turn out that Stepdad is the real hero of the story. He knew Zoey was going to go bad and was trying to stop her, not from becoming a vampire but from becoming a monster. As Zoey is unwilling to change her evil ways, he has to put her to death.
We begin with Zoey feeling guilty, which would be a start if it was for the right thing. She feels bad about making the imprint stronger and turning onto a “ho-bag”. Also, she’s a little upset that she might have killed two people but obviously she’s got to prioritize by what affects her in the long term. Zoey says she didn’t learn as much as she thought form the textbook, about imprints, and needs an adult vampire to teach her. Lucky for her there’s an adult who’ll be glad to teach her stuff.
I’m sure there were lots of things he’d be ever so pleased to teach me.
Like how to seduce impressionable young students and how to get off the sex offender list. Zoey thinks about those “things” and it makes her all tingly and sexy. She walks over to Aphro’s house to visit Stevie while all horny and stupid. This distracts her from noticing she appears to be only mist as she enters the apartment though not from noticing that Stevie is watching a Lifetime original movie which PCK pokes fun at. A cliché poking fun of a cliché? It’s getting all Escher up in here. She says it’s depressing and this scares Stevie.
“Ah, crap!” I instantly shooed away darkness and whatnot, so that I was solid, visible me again. “Sorry, Stevie Rae. I forgot I’d gone all Bram Stoker.”
Yeah, sorry about that Stevie. Zoey didn’t mean to turn into and undead Irish novelist with talent. She’ll gladly revert back to the pain old, Unicus suffering author avatar.She says she’s brought Stevie some blood and Stevie says not to sneak up on her like that because it could be dangerous. Don’t listen to her, Zoey, sneak up on Stevie more often. In fact, you should make sure she’s armed when you do it next. I’ll FedEx a crossbow over if she doesn’t have one. Zoey, of course, can’t pass up the opportunity to whine at Stevie.
I sighed and sat on the couch, trying to ignore the fact that she was already gulping down the first bag of blood. “If you ate me the way my life sucks right now, you’d be doing me a favor.”
You’re talking to a dead girl, Zoey. Someone who died quickly, painfully and messily. Then she rose again, unable to sate the hunger in her belly. I don’t think you deserve Stevie’s pity, Zoey. And because PCK is vaguely aware of hoe much that would suck, Stevie is sarcastic back to Zoey. Zoey then tells her about Nolan’s death, her suspicion that Stepdad did it, and making out with Heath and Loren. This of course shocks Stevie because making out with Loren is big news.
Stevie wants to know what it’s like, Zoey says making out with him is awesome and that they might have something together. Stevie says like Romero and Juliet and Zoey asks her to drop the metaphor as they didn’t end so well. Stevie says that she thinks Loren’s blood must taste good and then whines about being hungry.
This turns into a broader whine about how she can feel her humanity slipping away. If I believe Stevie had any in the first place, I might care. Zoey pats her on the back and says that they’ll figure this out together. Stevie then tells Zoey how she’s fighting the urge to kill and drink her blood and blah blah blah. Zoey says it’s okay because Stevie is special and different from the other undeadlings because she had/has powers.
Stevie then cries and begs for help which is exactly the kind of thing someone does when they have no humanity. Zoey says that she’ll form a circle and Stevie asks if that’s all Zoey will do. Zoey says their circle is powerful and Nyx is a goddess, what else do they need? How about a functioning brain or a plan? Stevie then asks if she can represent earth, Zoey isn’t sure and Stevie has a tantrum about not joining in this time.
Stevie Rae’s expression shifted again. Now she looked broken, utterly defeated. “You don’t want me to be part of your circle anymore.”
You’re the one that just said you were losing the fight to eat people, Stevie. Zoey says that’s not it, she needs to do more research and Stevie asks her to hurry. Zoey says she’ll try and that Stevie should try to ration her blood and focus on her connection to earth. Zoey says she has to go and Stevie says it’s been a month since she died. Zoey realizes that’s true and Stevie wonders if now would be a good time to try and perform a resurrection.
Zoey says that she’s not sure and to give her more time. Stevie asks if she should come to the school then. Zoey says no, that’s not a good idea because of all the “warriors” on campus. It’s good to see that the “warriors” managed to find work after their contract with Paolini was up. Zoey says they’d catch her and Stevie says maybe they should. That might cause conflict though, Stevie and Zoey’s allergic to that. How could you forget unless you’re a terrible friend?
Zoey tells Stevie to wait just a little longer and Stevie agrees. When the avatar of your god tells you to stay put, there’s no room for discussion. Stevie asks Zoey to hurry because she doesn’t think she can wait another month. Zoey says sure and a quick goodbye, since Stevie keeps turning the conversation away from Zoey’s boy problems. Stevie asks Zoey to just text her when she knows and she’ll show up.
“Okay.” I turned at the door. “I love you, Stevie Rae. Don’t forget that. We’re still best friends.”
The way that’s written, it carries all the sincerity of someone saying goodbye to their grandparents after a dutiful visit. The kind of visit which they hope keeps them in the will but it arranged to be as short as possible without being more than passingly rude. Zoey then covers herself in mist again and sneaks away while Stevie watches on in silence.
Vivisector's Writ 