The skalds are the 2 nerdy morons we met before arguing about wine and about every single word the other one said, I don't think they can be of any use beside target practice.
About Sharon probably changing some behaviours after finally meeting Callisto I agree. She needed her face bashed into reality a few times.
About the more private matters, I'm not sure the competition will be enough but one can hope, it should at least be a push in the right direction. MC needs to stop running after her that much though.
Anne Rice books aside for Interview with the Vampire suck so I hope it will not be like her stories.
(yeah still much MUCH better than twilight and all the other crap of more recent years... which in the past would have been rightly considered just as "bad fanfic" btw.. even the TONS of half-softcore-porn-bmovies about vampires of the 70s and 80s are somewhat better tho xD)