Cerulian Sins chapter 9

So. Anita and Musette are about to get into it. And it's going to be as nasty drag out fight, right? In which Anita scrapes by via the skin of her teeth and/or gets her ass handed to her, thus implying that the final boss battle at the end of the book will be actual danger to her, and we will all enjoy this emensely, right?

Phhhft, what book were you reading.

At the risk of ruining the entire fight AKA one-sided massacre, the trickiest thing in writing is getting the rhythem right. Making sure that something interesting happens at the right moment, and that your lulls in the action are being used correctly to advance character interaction and the reader's knowledge base. *inhales.* The SECOND hardest thing to do is to write it in a way that makes the main character be at risk for most of the book.

That's important. Your main character ought to be a part of resolving MOST major incidents, they should be the primary when the climax is resolved, and they should be on the recieving end of a hell of a lot of danger, otherwise why the fuck are they the main character? I've found this to be rather problematic when writing girls in both senses of the word--the "fuck is this hard" part of writing and the "fuck I don't want to offend people" part--but it's not something you can avoid. The main character has to be in danger, and the main character has to be capable of resolving things only after a great struggle, because if it is easy we won't be half as interested. Thus, I spend a lot of time trying to make sure that my girls aren't being rescued, or if they are being rescued they are an equal party participant in said rescue.

Laurel K. Hamilton? She kind of has the opposite problem.

MUSETTE MADE NO move to protect herself. Angelito stayed with the other men across the room. It was as if neither of them saw me as a threat. You’d think with my reputation, vampires would stop underestimating me. But dead or alive, there are always fools.

You also need to spend a lot of time making sure that your bad guys aren't morons. Or if they are supposed to be morons, that they are overpowered morons who can compensate for their own stupidity.

That is not the case here. Musette is openly watching Anita because this show of torturing Asher is all for her--and not, you know, his lover of uncountable centuries who already has a major guilt complex--and she does not do one goddamned thing when Anita rushes her, yanks the knife out of Asher and uses it to pin Musette to the floor through her stomach.

Anita's idea of diplomacy. The woman is a raging lunatic.

And then the shape shifters show up. A lot of them. One of them is a wererat, heyenas are implied to be involved, wolves are mentioned but we don't have whining about Richard so either they're not there or he sent his own people on without him.

the were-rat Bobby Lee asks Anita if she plans on killing Musette. Anita does not, so he suggest she might want to let Musette get up before the knife in her stomach does anything serious. Anita says she will, as soon as she's done.

Belle Morte takes over Musette's body. She starts lecturing Jean Claude for neglecting Anita's vampire servant education, and Jean Claude replies like so:

“Musette overstepped the bounds for a visitor to my lands. You would not tolerate such treatment of one of your own people. I have learned well the lessons you taught me, Belle Morte...“Tolerate nothing... I admit that I forgot this in the rush of fear that Musette brought with her. The thought of insulting you, even indirectly was unthinkable, but I am no longer your creature. I am a Master of the City now. I am my own creature, and Asher is mine now. I will be what you brought me up to be, Belle, I will truly be your child. I will let ma petite be as ruthless as she likes, and Musette will either learn better manners, or she will not be coming home to you ever again.”

Yes, sports fans. Anita going rabid watchdog on Musette's ass has magically caused Jean Claude to grow a spine.

 Belle Morte and Jean Claude exchange their fuck yous for a few minutes, mostly involving Asher and how torn up Jean Claude was over what happened to Asher, and how Belle Morte has no sincere fucks to give

And of course, it all centers around fucking.

You know, Frost Bitten was an ungodly train wreck of a book but at least the shoe-horned in vamp politics weren't something that could be solved by a bottle of KY jelly and a condom.

And then Belle turns on Anita, because of course everything is Anita. Everything has to revolve around Anita. Otherwise Anita is, you know, just a character in a book that is actually likable. 

 Instead of actually developing the characters, we get a long lecture about love and about how very attached Asher and Jean Claude are to each other and how Bella Morte doesn't get love at all, and I'd buy it for more than two nanoseconds if Anita had not been keeping Asher out of JC's bed when she knew goddamn well that the two of them loved each other completely and that she was screwing everything with a pulse back at her own place. Hypocratsy, thou art short, curvy and in desperate need of incarceration (involuntary commitment at the least)

Belle Morte drags Anita's mind into a memory where Belle Morte is revealed to be pretty. Given that "Being in Belle Morte's Bed is the BEST THING EVAR!1!1One!" has been the theme of this chapter I think we kind of guessed that.

Belle Morte then tries to rise the Ardeur in Anita. She resists. Finally, Belle retreats, Musette collapses, and everybody decides they've had enough and heads off into their bedrooms.

End of chapter.