Narcissus in Chains chapter 33

So in the last few chapters we have:
-totally ignored the trauma of another human being in favor of Anita drama
-had Anita tell us that remembering abuse from the POV of the abuser is worse than remembering abuse that happened to you
-had conversations that have nothing to do with sex be accompanied with sexy motions
-Had Anita's very existance be blessed by God.

Also: remember how Anita came down hard on the concept of Christian witches? what the fuck is she, then? I'd say playing with herbs and oils is a little less offensive to the general population than raising the dead from the ground would be. If nothing else, it creates a MUCH bigger theological problem (Think about it: Jesus the Zombie.)

Anyway, Richard has now shown up. And I bring up the God thing because, having justified every little thing about herself for the last several chapters, we are now going to shit all over someone else's idealism.

This is not going to be fun.

Anita continues kissing Nathanial, because she doesn't want to feel like she's been caught doing something wrong. Girl, you stopped seeing this guy for six months. You are either done with him, in which case you're not doing anything wrong, or you're still very much romantically entangled with him, in which case you need to start making decisions.

Anita did that whole thing because she believed Richard didn't know about the ardeur. Well, Richard does know, so the whole thing is moot. Anita gets all huffy that Jean Claude told Richard about it. Richard's thing is apparently that he isn't anybody's food.

I think this is why I keep reading this god-awful series even when it hurts me. This dynamic--Anita as sexpire, Richard as nobody's food--has a lot of potential for drama in it. If the characters were more sympathetic, if they weren't fighting like cats, and if there were an actual plot behind it. It gives me hope. Hope that never pays off, sadly. It's going to get smashed like a Bambi when he met Godzilla. But it's still there.

And then Richard asks her how long she waited until she had sex with Micah.

You remember that? The rape in the shower? Yep. Richard is using it against her too.


This is the point where sane people drop the assholes like hot rocks and go find better boyfriends. Who aren't Jean Claude or Micah.

And then Richard basically strips Nathanial to inspect Anita's bite marks. This reminds me way too much of cut inspections to be comfortable. You don't violate someone else's privacy like that. You just don't.

This all eventually ends with Anita keeping Richard off Nathanial via a knife to Richard's throat. She cuts him, he threatens to leave Gregory to be deaf or dead, Anita guilt trips him and....we have an instant reversal. Richard almost starts crying, he agrees to help Gregory, he apologizes for manhandling Nathanial and says that he deserved to have his arm damn near cut open by Anita.

It's like we have two totally different characters here, and we only needed one.

Anita blames Jean Claude for telling Richard, Dr. Lillian gives Richard stitches, and the chapter ends.

Yep, I knew these chapters would be getting itty bitty here near the end. And we're over two thirds of the way there, guys. I am not looking forward to future chapters.