Nice update and looking forward for the next. And damn! Sharon and Laurie are the best, easily my favorite ones. I'll die before something bad happens to them! Burn down all world but nobody touches my girls!
Hrmmmmm
Hard words to live by friend.
This is a vampire novel. The best ones make you care about people, and then do horrible things to them. Not all of them or it loses it's effectiveness.
That said, it is possible I suppose that both Laurie and Sharon survive. I do not believe that scenario to be a high probability scenario though. Some weird factors are playing into this. For instance, what is the purpose of the trait of Sharon saving Laurie? That trait gets about 9 (NINE) potential adds in chapter 1 alone. (6-7 more as you progress through to 3) If it is a simple matter of just saving Laurie through something mundane, why would it be an issue? The MC is Laurie's best friend, and Sharon has genuine feelings for the MC, so if it is not a big deal, she is going to save her no issue. She stuck her neck out a long way right off the bat, with the whole Laurie blabbing to Astrid thing, and she did not know Laurie at all at that point. That was pure humanity acting there.
So why is Saving Laurie something you acquire (potentially a shit ton) points for??? Well, clearly this means that at some point Laurie is for sure going to be put into life threatening peril. Sharon already has a huge target on her back ala vision the MC had with Mommy Vampfu gobbling her up. Metaphorical or real? Or Both? It could be a real heart thrashing moment of her having to choose between Laurie and Andrew, but if that were the case, Andrew wins. It could be Carmen vs Laurie... Laurie wins.... It won't be MC or Laurie, that is pretty much a given. So... what is the importance of that trait. Personal sacrifice is the sole scenario that makes sense to me. One very long odds shot could be if Sharon has to make a choice between Astrid or Laurie. This would have a lot of implications, and also is not real likely, but super interesting to consider....
Before I get to my main part of this post, we have to do something fairly significant, which without cheating is hard to do. We apparently have been introduced to all five potential love interests. Why is this important for this conversation? It can have some implications for that trait I mentioned for Sharon, as well as other implications. So while this might not seem like an issue for some folks, for me, it is a pretty large issue.
Potential love interests in no order of any sort.
Sharon, Laurie, Carmen, Calisto, Inanna, Ivy, Malia/Kassandra, Hound Eloise, Miri, Cindi, Miss Olivia, Astrid, Zephir, Random Nos Chickie-poo, Blood Doll, Girl outside Princep's chambers, GLITTER, Andrew, Sgt Davis, Mayor, Gregor, Merrick, Frank, Random Nos Dude (who saw gray inside the pussy of Random Nos Chickie-poo), Marcius, Marcus, Lord old Fuck, Princep, Virgil, Fabian, Wolf Boy outside Princep's chambers.
As there is no indication of LGBTQ+ being in play, we can safely eliminate the dudes......
Of the remaining choices, strangely, only choice number 5 was definitively put in print as identified-Ivy the cave girl (ROFLMFAO)
ok so we have Ivy as the only definite.
Sooooo in order of likelihood of being one of the 5 referenced love interests.
1-Ivy-definite-stated in print-who knows her qualities other than crankiness at being disturbed and a cutie.
2-5
2-Sharon-Strong, Sexy, Capable, most likely for the next candidate based on performance in the novel so far. Also based on novel so far, is the only actual choice, thus some shit must hit the fan in order to allow for other options. As we are not quite half way through the novel, and we just had our final LI introduced according to the Patreon Post, this means realistically she has to be removed from play to lose her spot in my humble opinion. This can be death, betrayal, torpor. Otherwise I am not sure how anyone else has a chance as this is not a harem novel.
Furthermore;
Based on pure conjecture plus non conjecture, Sharon has 2 steps of a blood bond to the MC. She likely has 2 steps to the Princep-1 from her previous fuck up in the southern district (based on how things should be run in a city of vampires) and 1 from her investiture. Since she said she was Almost bound once before to what we now know was Astrid, we will have to assume 2 steps there. So Sharon has some blood mixing around in there. To what end this makes her actions more or less predictable or complicated is hard to really lock down. The MC partial bond is the most fresh and most powerful blood (99%sure). Princep's partial bonding has recently been refreshed. Astrid's date of blood infusion we are more or less in the dark about.
3-Laurie- would be an extremely strong contender based on past history, however thralldom does make this uneven, and in my humble opinion makes her a less strong contender for that simple fact. For her to become a real love interest, this situation needs to change, with some combination of becoming a vampire and/or having the bond broken being most likely required. Also she has traits like Laurie as Lover, Submissive, etc... SOOO Sure, she can be a fuck toy, blood toy, etc, but any real romantic interest is going to be strongly suspect due to her lack of complete free will where the MC is concerned.
4-Carmen- Depending on how you treat her. She is either food and someone to be used, or a STRONG contender. She has guts, determination, a growing affection and loyalty to the MC without a blood bond. She is capable, super sexy. If you are a douche to her, she is going to likely come to a bad end, and you will not get her sexiness for your lover. You get the Carmen Start trait if you have second thoughts going to screw her at her house. You get one more chance to start down a good path with her if when you go to feed from her the first time you are gentle rather than food. Treat her as food, and well........
Interestingly, if you had second thoughts when first going to her house, and received Carmen Start, then by being gentle you receive Carmen Saved as a trait.
5- ok so let us eliminate a bunch of very unlikely choices first.
Easy to eliminate-
Miri-she was a one off in my opinion. She might make an appearance depending on whether you soul stained yourself or not. She will have a fascination for you from the Whisper Power, and the kiss would have left a very strong impression on her. Still, I think she is off the table.
Miss Olivia- she cares for you, but she is either bound to Astrid or looking for some Andrew lovin. In either case, I think her 'stache loving Burt Reynold's lovin ass is off the table.
Girl outside the princep's place- She is bound to the princep or Virgil... so she is off the table for now.
Eloise- I think if she knew our lineage, she would be up in our love list, but she doesn't and therefore I think we are not on her radar.
Zephir- Heavy heartedly, I can not see a path to this as a romance. (sigh)
Cindi- Calisto won't allow that unless it serves a purpose, and at this point, it serves no purpose that a romance with Calisto would not serve better.
Random Nos Chickie-poo- I like her style... I think she would be fun in spite of a skin condition (
) not happening.
Blood Doll- there is a trait you pick up for getting her, Blood Doll. She is not anything more than a future kiss junkie.
Arguably this ends the easily dismissed-
Inanna- ok so she is either fond of the MC or simply focused on what she needs him to do. Either way, she is out of our league in terms of anything like a relationship. She can not SIMPLY be dismissed though, because even goddesses have lovers..... She is a long shot though.
Calisto- Personally this feels like a very dangerous choice, since there is a destroy sire trait we can pick up. If we have that trait, it might be that we gobble her down, which might make us more suitable for Inanna, or we might be her lover boy. Again though, she is very far above us. As she is a goddess of sorts also, she would have the potential for a lover, and thus is also a long shot.
Astrid-
Ayhsel will be all up in this... Astrid is a choice due to betrayal only. I think she is toast, very crispy, charcoaled toast, but the potential exists that she could be a dark horse candidate. Things that must happen for this to occur-Laurie, Sharon, Andrew, Carmen, Gregor all eliminated.... and somehow our MC being ok with that........That seems so far fetched at this point.
Malia/Kassandra is my vote for most easily believable of these. She is smart, sexy (very), independent, knows us, knows a lot about whatever appears to be going on (and is probably more than she seems to be). Is arranging to be near us through her club. She is not apparently bound to anyone else. I think she makes a good mate.
Ok so now to my other portion of the post, and I will not go into non important deaths.
Survivors/DOA as I see it at this point:
MC-Survivor- could well be the star of another novel, or the motivating force of a new novel.
Sharon- Depends entirely on MC choices, and I think either she survives or Laurie survives, unlikely that both can.
Andrew- Follow me on this one, could easily be the most complicated-
(IF Sharon is dead, Laurie is dead) Andrew Dies killing Southern Archon-whose name escapes me if it was ever given... I think it was...... OR (IF Sharon is alive and Laurie is dead) he becomes a vampire after being mortally wounded killing that fuck Archon, and Sharon is alive to embrace him. OR (IF Sharon saves Laurie and dies) Andrew kills the Southern Archon, gets mortally wounded, and MC (for love and a debt to Sharon and poetic shit) saves him by embracing him. OR (IF Sharon is dead, Laurie is a vampire) Andrew and Laurie rape the Southern Archon together and both live, Andrew either walks off into the sunset or becomes Laurie's or MC's thrall. OR FINALLY (IF Sharon is alive and somehow Laurie is alive as well) Southern Archon gets toasted, daughter of Andrew and Andrew both get mortally wounded, Andrew begs Sharon to save his daughter, which she does, and Laurie ((who pretty much has to be a vampire to survive)) embraces Andrew.
Laurie- see above if you can follow all that.
Astrid-Toast. Probably killing or attempting to kill Laurie either by her own hand or Gregor's. OR She dies while kissing Sharon, and gets a stake through her heart and then diablerized or left to the sunrise.
Marcius-toast if we see him again at all.
Gregor-likely toast, likely part of what threatens Laurie, since she lets her guard down around him so much, especially now that Astrid is in the basement. (very dangerous)
Carmen- First or second most likely candidate for a love interest or Vampfu Childe of the MC and I think she lives.
Ivy- love interest or Vampfu Childe or both as Carmen.
Malia/Kassandra- potential love interest, most likely survivor.
Glitter- fucker better live, I wanna see him turned by Malia, would be a hoot!
Eloise- lives unless somehow dragged into the fight with Virgil.
Frank- Wildcard.... Personal wild ass theory, he is digging for Tiamat as some have named her. Not for Inanna. Secondary mission which he took as reason to come to Scottstown is Merrick has seen something, and Marcus needs him dead. Frank is to do the deed. Again, wild assed theory. Astrid aside, a lot of theories have been close to the mark, and well, Astrid ain't outa the woods FUTA wise just yet lol. (ok that was just to fuck with my bud
Ayhsel!!!!!)
Calisto/Callisto as they have now spelled it both ways. She lives unless;
1-Virgil gets the jump on her and MC is not there to throw himself in front of Virgil to buy mommy time to end the fucker.
2-Inanna requires that the MC diablerizes Calisto to be a more capable servant of hers.
If she lives, Virgil dies, and she will then become likely as a lover for MC.
Virgil-dies, hopefully by the MC's hand. If he manages to end Calisto, then Inanna will be looking at a potential problem that I think she is trying to avert by using the MC.
Princep dies. Painfully. Why? Who gives a shit really? Roland is a fuck.
Merrick- lives or dies depending on if we can stop Frank-see my crazy theory.
Marcus- may die based on if Merrick dies. We could get the urge to take him the fuck out. Also if Tiamat is somehow a progenitor of the Nos, this could be very problematic. For the record, I am not sure that Tiamat is a good choice for the opposing force. More on that another time when we have more information.
Ivy- lives or dies depending on 1- does she become a vampire or is she already a supernatural of some sort, and 2 if she is the MC's lover.
Miri, Sgt Davis, Mayor-should all live barring a cluster of some serious proportions.
Most everyone else is not on the radar except for the Skalds..... I think that we might see them get taken out if the MC starts digging too much more.
Ok that was long, but thinking on this, I could have gone longer.... thank goodness I have to cook dinner.
Peace!
