The Darkest Hour: Chapter 4 Part 1, Section A:

[sos_sporkers]

SOS: Hello, gentle viewers! I apologise for the long delay-I’m a little busy in real life right now as my finals are coming up VERY soon. I’m afraid my updating will be a little sparse lately.

But never mind that, because we are in Chapter 4, and this is where Edward’s subtextual boyfriend shows up! And the chapters from here on out set up many, many, MANY things that will no doubt influence The Blue Hour, so this should be fun.

Before we start, though, I need to confess something.

I HATE JAMES.

I CANNOT STAND HIM AT ALL, BECAUSE HE IS AN ABSOLUTE BASTARD AND I LOATHE HIM.

So, just to get this out of the way, I do understand why people like him. I can see why people would think he was a fun and fascinating character to read about, and indeed, he doesn’t have the hypocrisy of Edward’s, and he’s absolutely right in some of the things he says. That is all true, and I’m not disputing it. And…though he simply repulses me, I guess I can see why he can be considered “sexy”. And the slashy subtext and carefree air he brings are a breath of fresh air from the heavy angst from the previous chapters.

HOWEVER.

There can be no argument made that he is a good person in any sense of the word, and thus I simply can’t bring myself to like him. I value decency in characters, and that’s why I simply cannot like either Edward or James in these chapters.

We start this chapter with some beautifully descriptive prose, much like the last chapter. And also like the last chapter, a focus is laid on the tranquillity and peace of the scene. But that is quickly shunted aside, as we instead dive into the head of the much-changed Edward who will serve as our protagonist for the rest of this chapter.

We see that the dehumanisation of people from the last part has not stopped, and he likens people to ants, scurrying about. So, there is not only a sense that he thinks humans are mindless drones, spending their lives doing little but completing a few pointless tasks, but that they’re weak and easily crushed. And not only that, but at least to me, the comparison carries a connotation of sadism, as the first thing that comes to mind is the image of children frying ants with magnifying glasses.

Edward also describes the city he’s in, St. Louis, as a prison for its citizens, implying that everyone there is a criminal. Again, this shows how much he is so totally NOT a force of justice as he believes, since he feels the same amount of disgust for everyday people and the worst criminals, only preying on the later to ensure himself justification for his actions.

Edward then literally thinks that he is ‘above them’, and while in context, he is referring to his physical location, as he is perched atop a building, the symbolic significance of that statement cannot be ignored. And this is very much a reason why I can’t bring myself to like him-because of how close he is to sounding like canon!Edward. Of course, he has had an actually believable character arc thus far, and I am still worried about what would become of him, and his hatred and bitterness is actually portrayed in a negative light…and all of those make me respect Mrs. Hyde, but doesn’t make me like his hypocrisy and conceit anymore.

‘…the night [was] not soft and dark, but polluted by the noise and light that [the human’s] small minds insisted on creating to ward away the creatures that still stalked their subconscious in the night.’

As nature symbolises a sanctuary and almost a nurturing figure to Edward in this story, that passage shows very clearly his belief that the result of human progress is the destruction of things dear to him. Indeed, if you take the nurturing power of nature further, it could be a subtler manifestation of Edward’s bitterness about how his parents’ memories were trampled by the progress of society. Of course, the fact that he believes humanity disturbs nature indicates that he doesn’t believe humanity is a part of nature, which is very hypocritical of him, considering that he’s a vampire.

The fact that Edward believes the appearance of new technology is because humans are subconsciously trying to drive vampires away is also very interesting and helps further explain his bitterness, as he is taking progress as a personal rejection, instead of accepting it as an inevitability and simply the natural way of things.

And, of course, by referring to himself as a ‘creature’, he shows that he has rejected his human identity, and now considers himself entirely removed from humanity. Which will become very ironic, as we see how…humanly he behaves next to a very traditional vampire. But still, it is a very brilliant way to SHOW that he is disgusted towards and contemptuous of humanity.

Edward repeats how he is ‘above it all, near scraping the sky, with all the rest of the city spread out below him, ripe for the picking.’

Every time he emphasises how much better he believes himself to be than humans, all I can think of is how low he has sunk from when he still tried to participate in humanity.

And, of course, it’s very interesting here that Edward considers the people in the city to have little purpose other than for him to feed on. And the wording here implies that he sees everyone in the city as a perfectly good food source, no discrimination. And yet he gets uncomfortable when James expresses the same views.

If you don’t watch your hypocrisy, Edward, it’s going to collapse under its own weight and create a black hole.

And, of course, in the very next sentence, we see that he is so NOT above it all. He is still frustrated by his mind-reading, drawn into the trivial daily cares of the people around him. And the impotent irritation and bitterness almost oozing off the screen makes it more than clear that it still bothers the hell out of him.

Though here, the implication is clearer than ever that Edward believes that the lives of the people around him are made of nothing BUT ‘the same trivialities, the petty squabbles, the mindlessly inane comings and goings of their short lives’.

Uh, Edward? YOU ONLY READ SURFACE THOUGHTS! Of course, you can only see the trivial stuff! Your gift doesn’t LET you see the deep, underlying issues OR potential that people have! Hell, or maybe it’s just a matter of you not sticking around anyone for long enough to find out, except, you know, TEENAGERS IN SCHOOL!

Yeah, I’m going to be ranting a lot…Edward is being just a little asshole-ish in these chapters.

We find out that unlike his canon counterpart, he didn’t actively go after every single criminal he ever bumped into, instead shying away from them normally until he needed to hunt. And while that further dismantles his argument that he is doing this for the sake of justice-you don’t see Superman only going after criminals when it benefits him personally, do you?-it also means that even here, at almost his lowest point, he’s still far, FAR better than the canon Edward.

He didn’t feed like a king, and instead only ate when he absolutely had to. And that already makes him more likeable than the canon!Edward. Furthermore, with him eating so sparingly, killing perhaps four or five people in the two months he’s been in St. Louis, I find it much more believable than every person he killed was an utterly vile monster who had little chance of redemption. Whereas canon!Edward killed HUNDREDS of people across three years. You don’t just FIND that many serial-killers or rapists lying around! That number alone indicates that he would have killed some petty criminals in his career.

Edward is out hunting tonight and says that ‘he welcomed [criminal thoughts]’. Again, a reason why he is NOT a force of justice. Someone who were putting down criminals in order to benefit society would wish for an end to crime, instead of eagerly hoping for a criminal to stroll by, so they could have a power-trip and get off.

So, he’s eagerly anticipating the hunt, getting all excited, and there’s, ‘an impatient hum in his bones that played counterpoint to the drone of humanity in his ears’.

So, he’s indulging in his vampiric lust in order to escape the thoughts he can’t help hearing? Again, we see that ultimately, he’s doing everything for himself. And not only that, but it again shows how removed Edward had become from humanity, as he describes himself as almost the polar opposite of human-the counterpoint of humanity.

Despite his impatience, though, Edward is very deliberately drawing this out, saying that ‘he was in no hurry. For now he was content merely to sit, to watch, to listen.’ So, again, he is actively taking joy in this decidedly loathsome activity-quite a contrast to the Edward we had seen in the last chapter-making it longer so he can indulge himself more. And personally, I think he’s sitting there listening to the thoughts of the people below in order to gear himself up for the hunt too.

After all, the only reason he can continue to do this is if he constantly reaffirmed his justification that he was doing a favour for society. So, he’s probably listening to all the shallow and possibly criminal thoughts below, in order to convince himself that this society DOES need his intervention.

He again emphasises how the progress of society destroyed nature, as he imagines that if he were out in the forests that night, the sky would have been covered with stars that are invisible in the city, because of the light pollution, and how the night should have a ‘quiet intimacy of the darkness’, which is broken by the noise of humanity. Again, I can’t see this as anything else but him reinforcing his hatred of and bitterness towards humanity, by reminding himself of all the things he loved that they destroyed.

Edward then goes a step further from animal metaphors, and instead just likens humanity to disease, like countless hammy movie villains. He then proves me right, as his thoughts zero in on the blood. This whole exercise is just to reinforce his justifications, so that he can stay alright with hunting.

‘Edward ran his tongue along the length of one fang, stroking, idly coaxing it from its sheath.’

O.O Oh GOD, I did not need to hear Edward fellating himself! GAH!

Well, admittedly, that is excellent foreshadowing for when he meets James (not that way).

He thinks back a little, and we get some exposition on what had happened since Froggy’s death. This seems to be a format that Mrs. Hyde likes to use a lot, when delivering exposition. Having a character reflect back, whiles interspersing it with little passages of what the character is doing in present time. We saw it in Chapter 1 Part 1, the beginning of Chapter 2 Part 1, and the beginning of Chapter 3 Part 2, and the entire The Thorns Remain aside is told this way.

Anyway, he had apparently been in St. Louis for two months. And considering that Edward stops hunting not long after meeting James, the total amount of time where he’s eating people can’t be longer than three months. So, again, even at his lowest point, Hyde!Edward is still more decent than his canonical counterpart. Because I can buy denial and self-deception brought about by well-justified angst turned to bitterness driving a person to kill, but not keeping them killing for YEARS. Hyde!Edward’s justifications might have been strong enough to have him hunt four and five times. But when you’re killing for YEARS, and have a body count well into the hundreds? Yeah, no justification can possibly do that.

You’d have to have honestly wanted to kill, or at least been okay with murder.

Edward keeps track of time by the newspaper discarded by people. Not only is this another sign of how detached he has become from society, in that he doesn’t buy papers himself, but instead scavenges for them, but is also quite symbolic. He’s always picking up the pieces of time that people have forgotten about.

Edward wants to…settle down in St. Louis. Because in the end, his chief goal is still to belong-to have a place of his own-to have a home. He still feels the wandering was liberating, but has also grown tired of it, most likely because he simply had nowhere to go. He’d travelled the pilgrimage of his life, and he simply doesn’t know where to go anymore. He can’t retreat into nature, because he’s hooked on blood, and he knows he’ll just get bored again. But he has no idea where to settle down either, because all the places that have significance to him, he can’t return to. So he just stayed where he’d found himself.

Also, Edward is almost constantly in search of a home. He didn’t feel like he had it with Carlisle, and so he went to all the places that he had lived in before, that he had called a home before. And they didn’t work either. So now he’s trying to create a brand new home for himself.

In this chapter, we see a very interesting juxtaposition. Edward had adopted many of the mannerisms of traditional vampires, eagerly hunting and looking down on humans, but also retains many recognisable traits from the earlier chapters, like his love of reading. This is not only consistent characterisation, but also contrasts how far Edward has fallen and serves as a little ray of hope, that he has retained enough of himself to be redeemed.

Edward makes a home for himself in the attic of the public library, appropriately enough, drawn by the proximity to books. Meyer, are you taking notes? THIS is how you write a character who loves reading. You make them READ A LOT. Not try to tell us that they love reading, but only showing them reading maybe two times out of four books!

He again comments on how much greater his life is now, continuing the whole theme of vampirism being liberating. But this is somewhat different from the almost child-like exhilaration he showed in Chapter 2 Part 1. It's all but oozing with bitterness and hate, just like the rest of this section. He talks about how he had been, ‘soaking up the knowledge that had been denied him for ten years.’

This sort of thinking-that everyone is out to get him personally-is quite stunning in its childish vindictiveness, but only furthers his justification for hunting, as he thinks the whole world is responsible for his misery.

Edward fashions a little home for himself up in the library, and as much of a jerkass as he is in this chapter? I personally find that this image is still rather heart-warming-Edward sitting reading in the fading dusk up in the library, the whole room covered in a golden glow…if you ignore the murder, that is.

He then broke into a department store, forcing a window open to sneak inside. And that is so, SO much more realistic than the passage where Bree Tanner breaks into a store, just because the two stories are set EIGHTY YEARS APART. Security technology has improves A LOT, Meyer. We have ALARMS now. In the twenties, at least, they couldn’t have put sensors on windows.

Anyways, he gets himself new clothes, because his old ones were getting dirty. *Nastily* What do you care, Edward? You’re not human, so why should you be bothered by silly human customs? *Sobers* But my tantrum-ing aside, this is a very symbolic moment, showing Edward taking on a new identity. He’s leaving behind the pain-filled, frustrating old life that he had to put up with for far too long before and starting a new one.

He pays for the clothes by leaving money on the counter, again showing that despite being pretty much a serial killer now, he still retains much of the gentlemanly values his mother had taught him, creating an interesting and rather hypocritical contrast.

And this is the point where I suddenly remembered Carlisle and wondered what he must be thinking. After all, Edward probably stopped sending him postcards after the whole Chicago thing. I don’t believe he can be mostly in contact with Carlisle and continue doing what he is doing. So just what is he thinking when Edward suddenly stops contacting him?

Anyway, after buying some clothes and symbolically starting his new life, Edward goes to shower in the local YMCA. And my brain immediately tells me that it’s a symbolic baptism into his new lifestyle, especially since, you know, he’s doing it at the Young Men’s Christian Association. But that may just be because I was studying for Studies of Religion before this anti-sporking...but seriously, he’s washing away the grime and the blood, and considering he got them from two cases of murder and wandering the forests in a guilt-coma? You can say he’s washing away his sins…

Okay, I have to stop thinking about this. Let’s just say, both his showering and his throwing away his old possessions into a bin are symbolic of him discarding his former self. He’s distancing himself from who he used to be, as part of his plan to start anew. And having ritually reaffirmed his new identity, Edward feels much better about himself and that he belongs in this city of his new birth.

He says that he’s done well for himself, and smirks. And I immediately want to stab it off of his face, because I have seen that word is SO many badfics, oh god. But I maintain I have a right to want to stab him in this case, as the reason he is smiling is because he’s feeling powerful in his new environment, and Edward here is all about power and being recognised as a man.

St. Louis has an Imperial Governor stationed there permanently, as we find out, because it’s a large town. And again, I have to admire what Mrs. Hyde and Mervin have done for the Volturi in their rewrite. In canon, when Meyer reassures me that the Volturi are unfairly strict rulers who punish all wrongdoers and are feared by all vampires?

I don’t buy it.

They’re located in Italy, all the way on another continent, and hardly have any agents around. The only way they can take care of a problem is if it’s big enough for news to travel around the globe, and even then, their enforcers have to take a plane ride to the source of the problem, giving the culprits plenty of time to hide.

Here, though, with Imperial authorities stationed in every town, it’s much more believable that the Imperium can monitor vampiric activity around the globe and nip any problems in the bud quickly and efficiently.

The Governor of St. Louis, as we find out, is female. So, you know, FISHSLAP. She lives with her…minion? Criss in very comfort, with quite a bit of money, which explains why vampires would want to become a part of the Imperium. So, again, FISHSLAP. The Governor is named Sarah Masterson, and that name is…just a tad anvilicious.

But I have to note here that Edward’s tone when talking about Sarah and Criss is very, very vicious. And considering that they’re only doing their jobs, and he’s the one provoking them and making fun of them? He’s reminding me a lot of James. In fact, this is a pretty constant theme in these chapters. That no matter what pretty justifications Edward uses, he’s not fundamentally that different from James. And considering I MOTHFUCKING HATE JAMES, it just makes me want to Angry Face at Edward.

They know Edward’s there as, ‘It was the job of the Imperial bureaucracy to keep their fingers on the pulse of their territories-and to know when it stuttered.’

Not only is that some pretty clever imagery, but also takes the dehumanisation one step further. Edward is thinking of people as literally nothing but the blood of the city, implying that they have no purpose but for feeding, a sentiment echoed by James.

I also like the implication that the Imperials work in tandem with the local law enforcement and possibly human government. Because as humanity is the dominant species, it only makes sense that the Imperials can gain far more power and have access to needed information by cooperating with the local governments. This also gives the Imperium more cohesion and structure, as it parallels the human government.

It’s then revealed that apparently, by law, the Imperial Governors are required to provide shelter, clothes, money, and other general supplies in reasonable amounts to vampires who need it. Again, it makes so much more sense here how vampires are able to blend in, in society. Nomads weren’t expected to just be able to come up with the array of things they’d need to blend in, like clean clothes or even a fake ID in some cases. This also gives the Imperials more purpose and show that they are vastly more powerful than their pitiful canon counterparts, who can only rush in after a vampire has already exposed himself and do damage control. The Imperium sounds like it has far more purpose and reach than the Volturi.

Not to mention, this generosity helps the Imperials too, because then nomads won’t be as tempted to commit crimes in order to acquire supplies, which could get them in trouble as security technology improves. And it allows the imperials to keep a tab on the vampires coming into and leaving their territory, thus maintaining control and accurate intelligence of vampiric activity.

But Edward is wary of the Imperials, and probably with good reason, as I doubt they’ll take kindly to him trying to set up shop in their city, so he’s been avoiding them. He actually more or less has the upper-hand in dealing with Masterson and Criss for now, as he hasn’t broken any Imperial Laws, and therefore they hardly have a reason to full-on hunt him or call in reinforcements. But by continuing to live in their city and ignoring their presence, he’s silently defying their power and authority. So, of course, Masterson will try to regain her control of the situation by locating Edward and confronting him directly, but Edward has been able to keep to the shadows, where he can utilise his powers best.

However, when I read this the first time, I immediate got a feeling of dread in my stomach, because I know this situation can’t possibly last long. His power may protect him from them for a few months, I can buy that, but provoking the Imperium and mocking it simply can’t lead to anything good, and his arrogance now will come back to bite him in the ass SO hard.

Vampires here, much like in canon, are mostly solitary and nomadic. However, unlike canon, a good reason is actually provided. It’s not because drinking human blood magically makes them unable to build bonds of love and family or some other bullshit that’s added in solely so the Cullens are even speshuler snowflakes. Here, it’s the same reason why many other apex predators are solitary animals-to conserve prey. Sure, nowadays, vampires can hunt in large packs and still not drive humanity to extinction. But tens of thousands of years ago, they would have brought about crippling hits to the human population. Therefore it makes sense that evolution would have led them to hunt alone and frequently change feeding grounds.

The main exception to this rule is the Imperium, who station small forces of two or three vampires to a particular region or large city, and those forces are tasked to maintain secrecy and enforce laws. We’re not yet told what those laws are, but judging by the requirements of the Imperial forces, I can tell the Imperium is a lot more involved in controlling vampires than their canon counterparts. And this makes sense, because that is what a government is supposed to do. You can’t rule someone if all you’re doing is sitting back and letting them run wild.

And it makes sense for the Imperial forces to be permanently stationed in places, instead of all living in the same headquarters and being sent out all over the world when there is trouble. Not only can they keep a constant eye on the local news, but also get to know a region and its culture and environment, so that they can come up with the best way to resolve things given the social context of the city they’re in. Not to mention, build up whatever contacts and allies they need so that they can do something if a situation should arise.

While Edward may have started to avoid Masterson out of prudence and wariness, it soon becomes a 'game’ to him that he revels in. His need to be acknowledged as an adult and treated with respect in the first chapter has become twisted so that he’s actually flaunting his power and enjoying taking advantage of others with it. In fact, he’s quite clearly taking joy in his opponent’s suffering (or at least frustration), even though, again, they’re only doing their jobs and quite frankly have a right to be suspicious of him.

Masterson is speculating about Edward’s purpose, probably because most vampires who avoid the Imperium have a reason to not want to be caught. That and, again, if she was prone to letting people get away with challenging her power, she would have never made it to the position of Governor of St. Louis.

So, she’s sent Criss to catch Edward, so that she can confront him in a place where she has the upper-hand. It turns out that Criss has tracking as a power. And I have to make a note here that I’m VERY pleased that of all the vampiric gifts we have seen so far, all of them serve to help the vampire be better at catching prey or competing with other vampires in some way. And this makes a hell of a lot more sense than the apparently random powers in canon, as no doubt these gifts evolved into place in the first place in order to give the vampire a chance to survive better. There’s no freaking reason why a vampire would have the power to “sense relationship” because, frankly, it’s a lame fucking ability and won’t help in many places. But it does make sense that tracking seems to be quite a common power, because it’s one that’s USEFUL to a predatory animal.

We find that Criss is not very powerful, in terms of gift, and again, I have to say I love this. The vampires in Twilight seem to either have abilities so ill-defined that they may as well not have gifts (like Rosalie’s “beauty”), or, in the cases where they do have clearly-defined abilities, they’re always amazing and awesome and oh so powerful and comes straight out of a badly-written comic book. I like it that vampires can have the same abilities here, because it makes no evolutionary point to have every vampire be a special snowflake.

And I especially love that despite his relatively weak gift, Criss has still managed to claw himself into a position of power by utilising his gift well, and having skills to compliment it, like being able to read trails and understanding the psychology of his prey. He didn’t soar through the ranks because he had what was basically a superpower, but actually had to work and train in order to become better and EARN what he has. And at the same time, he’s a lot stronger than any canon vampires, simply because he is not utterly DEPENDENT on his gift and nor is he defined by it.

If he was up against someone who had, say, a mental shield, he’d still be a formidable opponent.

This already injects the story with a lot more potential for conflict, as we know that enemies won’t crumple like wet tissue against Bella.

Not to mention, it’d make sense for the Imperium to choose a vampire who is flexible and can adapt to a number of situations, than a vampire who has a strong power but can only use it in one way.

And then Edward is an arrogant bastard.

Admittedly, he’s saying the truth in that his ability does give him more of an advantage here, but I’m not feeling happy now, so he’s still an arrogant bastard. But yes, given that hunting is basically nothing but a way for Edward to indulge in his addiction and go on power trips, it makes sense that he’d be a tad overconfident in these few chapters. And considering we know that his power is far, far from perfect and he certainly doesn’t know everything about the minds he’s reading? It’s pretty clear that this, too, will come back and bite him in the ass.

He actually admits to toying with Criss, but I have a feeling that he doesn’t get what’s wrong with that at all. He’s slipping rather close to canon!Edward’s train of thought, where everyone who dares to go against him deserves his wrath…especially with how much he looks forward to being hunted by Criss, just so he can revel in the guy’s frustration. He’s not avoiding the Imperium because he’s certain he’ll get in trouble with them. No, at this point, he’s doing it just for power trips, AGAIN.

But I have to admit that Edward is rather clever in how he established several fake hideaways in the city, in order to distract Criss from his real home in the library. That is rather clever of him, and I’m rather impressed by how he’d managed to achieve it.

And again, I do see why some people like the Edward here. He seems to be having a lot more fun than the rather angsty Edward we’d spent the first few chapters with, and I suppose after three chapters of depressing depression, the glee this Edward has is a welcome relief, even if it’s rather mean-spirited.

Edward then says a DELICIOUSLY ironic line:

‘But tonight he was free.’

I find it immensely amusing that only when he’s basically become a slave to his instincts and myriad of psychological issues that he declares himself “free”. No, Eddie, you’re not. You were far more free when you were restraining yourself and “pretending to be something you were not” so you can go to school, because at least then, you were doing everything to achieve your own dream of going to Yale and becoming a doctor.

The Imperial Governors apparently have to write up quarterly reports, which again amused me. It’s rather…odd to imagine such a bureaucratic government for VAMPIRES. Though, of course, it again reinforces the cohesion and structure of the vampire government and make them seem like, you know, AN ACTUAL GOVERNMENT.

Though I am a tad confused that they apparently save up their reports to send in all at once at the end of the year…that doesn’t make much sense to me. After all, in November, all the information the Imperium has on its territories will be almost a year old. And the reports of the first two quarters are probably going to be useless by the end of the year, too. I thought the point of quarterly reports was that they had to be filed in every quarter.

But yes, due to the mountains of paperwork, Masterson and Criss are too occupied to play hide-and-seek with Edward, which leaves him free to enjoy himself without having to worry about being spotted…and he’s going to hunt tonight.

Edward then starts coldly and logically rationalise to us his eating habits and why it makes sense.

And I want to bitchslap him through a wall.

He says that he doesn’t usually eat in downtown, as it was too crowded, too close to Masterson’s home, and too near to his own hideout, increasing his chances of being caught. And I still can’t get over the fact that he’s calmly explaining why he only murders people in a certain region-because it’s the most convenient for HIMSELF. It’s CREEPY.

But you know what’s even CREEPIER? After Edward very coolly says that he doesn’t hunt in downtown because it’d be SUCH a hassle for him, he then adds on as an afterthought that the people there are also relatively harmless and not serious criminals. Honestly, it reads like nothing more than a tacked-on aside, as if Edward just realised half-way through his explanation that he was supposedly doing this for justice! And even while he’s grudgingly acknowledging that most of the people in downtown are not that bad, he still doesn’t forget to insult them and call them ‘Silly, shallow, and small-minded…’!

I supposed to I should be glad that at least we know that unlike canon!Edward, he won’t kill petty criminals, or just slightly morally ambiguous, innocent people…but I still can’t help but bristle at how…how obvious it is that he doesn’t give a shit about justice.

‘…they did no lasting damaged as they scuttled to and fro, mired in the short, pointless concerns of their short, pointless lives.’

Edward, honey, darling, sweetie…OF FUCKIGN COURSE YOU THINK THEIR LIVES ARE POINTLESS. BECAUSE YOU ONLY READ FUCKING SURFACE THOUGHTS, YOU FUCKING IDIOT! IF YOU CAUGHT ANYOEN JUST STROLLING AROUND, CHANCES ARE, THEY’RE GOING TO HAVE TRIVIAL CONCERNS ON THEIR MINDS, BECAUSE WE CAN’T DEVOTE OUR BRAINS TO FULL-ON PHILOSOPHICAL ANGSTING AND PROFOUND REFLECTION ALL THE TIME! AND DON’T YOU FUCKING DARE CALL ANYONE’S LIFE SHORT, BECAUSE YOU ARE ONLY TWENTY-SIX FUCKING YEARS OLD!!! THE PEOPLE YOU SEE ARE LEGITIMATELY OLDER THAN YOU, AND MOST PROBABLY FAR MORE MATURE!

HELL, YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO EVEN JUDGE WHAT KIND OF LIFE IS POINTLESS! YOU HAVE NO FUCKING POINT IN YOUR LIFE! WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO WITH YOUR LIFE, HUH? BECOME A DOCTOR? BE A VIGILANTE? YOU DON’T EVEN FREAKING KNOW WHAT YOU WANT! JUST BECAUSE A PERSON MAY SPEND ALL DAY WORKING IN A CUBICLE DOESN’T MEAN HE DEFINITELY WOULDN’T HAVE AN IMPACT ON SOCIETY! HELL, YOU DISMISSED HEMINGWAY OUTRIGHT, AND HE’S ABOUT TO BECOME ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL WRITERS IN HISTORY!

SO YOU SHUT UP OR I’LL SMACK A BITCH, DAMMIT

*Pant, pant, pant*

Uh…ahem…

Sorry, I um…I don’t know what happened to me.

I am so, so, SO sorry.

Anyway, so, um…Edward says that he usually fed on the outskirts of town because-

…Oh my god.

‘Edward…reserved his hunger for the outskirts of the town, feeding not on the silly little creatures who went about their own business…’

I…he…just…

I don’t-but-that-

;ASDKLFJ;ASKLDH OH MY FUCKING GOD, I KEEL YOU WHORE

*SMACKS A BITCH* THAT’S FOR THE SILLY LITTLE CREATURES LINE. *SMACK A BITCH AGAIN* AND THAT’S FOR ‘RESERVED’, AS IF IT’S A FUCKING PRIVILEGE TO BE EATEN BY YOU!

YOU. ARE. AN. ASSHOLE.

Uh…I didn’t mean to rage. Sorry! I just…ugh. Edward is not being very likeable right now.

‘...but for the depraved filth that stalked the darker places, the madmen and murderers and monsters who preyed on their weaker brethren.’

That is SUCH brilliant foreshadowing, I think I just pissed myself with joy. See? That is why I like this chapter, despite hating one of the major protagonists and being beyond frustrated with the other. Because it is SO clear that every single thought he thinks here are all setting him up for a hard fall. And we all know his delusions can’t sustain him for that long, and one day, sooner or later, he’s going to have to admit that he was no better, and possibly worse, than all the people he’s killed.

Anyway, Edward confirms that he sticks to the docks and back alleys and so on, and it’s very interesting that he’s exiling himself to the edge of society, rejecting human society after being rejected BY human society for so many times. It makes sense that he wouldn’t continue to attempt to mingle with humans, as we have seen his resentment towards them. Not to mention, eating fulfils a lot of what he is searching for, such as a purpose and an identity. And this foreshadows later, as we know that Edward can’t sustain being alone for long, and thus explains why he’d be so eager to befriend James.

Not to mention, this portrays Edward in quite an animalist light, skulking around the edge of society, briefly darting in to kill someone who won’t be missed, and then melting back into the shadows-quite a contrast to the Edward that sits atop the public library and drowns himself in the literary works of HUMANS.

In fact, he even points out himself that he mostly hangs around places ‘where decent, law-abiding folk dared not go.’ That should tell you something, Edward-namely, that you are far from decent or, god forbid, law-abiding.

Not to mention, now you’re even more hypocritical for thinking that society is filled with crime and filth. You just ADMITTED that you mostly hang around the neighbourhoods that had the highest crime rates, so OF COURSE you’re going to be encountering a lot of it. Mind-reading or not, you’re still seeing a heavily, HEAVILY biased version of reality!

‘There he was the hunter, and it was their turn to be the prey.’

I have to admit that as hypocritical as it is for him to go after rapists and drug-addict, there is certainly a sense of poetic justice here, and I can see why it may be appealing to some. However, poetic justice or not, this line still creeps me the fuck out, because it is SUCH brilliant foreshadowing for James’s argument against Edward later. No matter how he might hand-wave his activities, it doesn’t change the fact that to him, the humans were nothing more than prey. He’s only going after the bad ones to sooth his own conscience. In the end, it didn’t matter at all. All he wanted to do was FEED.

Edward again repeats how he likes to spend his hunting time by going to the highest point in the city. It’s a very nice moment. His physical distance from the streets can symbolise him distancing himself from humanity, in order to gear himself up for hunting. And his overlooking the city gives him a sense that he really can watch over everything and knows everything, soothing his doubts about whether or not he’s killing the right people-after all, he knows. And again, it’s symbolic of how he thinks of himself as above humanity. Not to mention, by going hunting, he has to come down from the highest point, making a symbolic fall to darkness. Very, VERY nice moment.

He calls the city ‘his domain’, again reassuring himself that he has a right to be going about his vigilante activities. Indeed, he follows it up with comparing himself to Masterson, saying that he policed the humans as she did the vampires, arguing that what he is doing is ultimately to the benefit of the city, and thus it is justified.

‘…he policed the area just as she did, keeping down crime among the humans as she kept it down among vampires.’

Except, uh, Edward? You hunt so sparingly, and always go after the people who won’t be missed-i.e. not the infamous criminals-so I doubt you’re having that much of an impact. The people you kill are often repeat criminals, yes, but you eat so sparingly that I doubt it changes the crime level in any way, as they’re just one drop in the ocean of crime lurking in St. Louis. And you can’t say your activities are going to prevent other people from committing crime, as is Light Yagami’s rationale, because your killings are not nearly high-profile enough for that, and there’s nothing tying these criminal’s deaths to you.

In simpler words, you are BULLSHITTING. You are FISHING for reasons to feel okay with MURDERING people. And that makes me want to Angry Face.

You are NOTHING like an Imperial Governor. Although they are hardly nice people, they still keep vampire society running smoothly, and without them, everything would be a whole lot more chaotic. Whereas without you, NOTHING. WOULD. CHANGE. And they are appointed by a legitimate government of vampire society, and while the justice system there is hardly perfect, at least their punishing a criminal who has broken Imperial Law is completely legal. They are authorised to do so! Most likely because they can be trusted to govern an area with prudence and insight!

Edward again compares himself and Masterson as ‘two sides of the same coin.’

NO. YOU ARE NOT. YOU ARE NOTHING ALIKE. YOU’RE JUST SAYING THIS TO FEEL MORE LEGIT, AND THUS LESS GUILTY ABOUT YOUR ACTIONS. AND POSSIBLY TO MAKE YOURSELF FEEL MORE IMPORTANT, BECAUSE YOU LOVE POWER TRIPS. DO NOT MAKE ME SMACK A BITCH AGAIN.

‘Really, she should thank him.’

OOPS, THERE YOU GO. *SMACKS A GODDAMNED BITCH THROUGH A WALL*

Oh dear. If I rage this much in the first section of the first part of this chapter, I’m never going to make it through…

AND EDWARD CERTAINLY ISN’T MAKING IT BETTER, BECAUSE HE’S A SMUG, CONDESCENDING BITCH AGAIN, TALKING ABOUT HOW MASTERSON WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO FIND HIM.

I almost wish she DOES find him, if only because he’s being an insufferable ASSHOLE right now. And he’s making my bitch-smacking hand itch again.

Edward smirks and savours the moment some more, while I seethe and Angry Face at the computer, before he finally leaps off the slippery slope the building. Here is a Dark Knight reference Mrs. Hyde inserted for Mervin:

‘His long coat fanned and fluttered behind him like wings in the breeze created by his fall…’

To be honest, I completely missed the Dark Knight reference the first time around, because I thought this was a fishslap directed against all the times Meyer called Edward an avenging or destroying angel in her book in reference to his vigilante activities.

Edward lands silently on the rooftop of the next building and then makes his way towards the docks by leaping from roof to roof. Again, the symbolism of distancing himself from society and being “above humanity” is there, and it’s nice.

He hears the thoughts from the people around him but, ‘brushed them aside without a thought , not caring…’ This is quite a contrast to when Edward went walking in Chapter 1 Part 2, calming himself with the trivial, everyday concerns of the people around him. And a contrast to all the times someone’s thoughts just invaded his narration. I guess it shows his detachment from society even more, as he’s more frustrated or comforted by the thoughts. He just dismisses them, because he doesn’t care anymore.

Again, the thoughts he hears seem mostly negative, full of complaints and morally ambiguous acts. Except he’s much less bothered about them here, because he’s not longer angry at the discrepancy between the society now and the rose-coloured society he remembers as a human. On some level, he has to welcome these thoughts, because now they help him justify his killing.

And it’s at the end of a list of people that he hears… ‘James hadn’t eaten for days and was so hungry and oh, yeah, he could hear the blood pumping, almost taste it beneath the surface, and he would bite, and he would drink-‘

Oh yeah, his subtextual boyfriend is finally on the scene! And already, I can see James’s thoughts echoing Edward’s own from Chapter 2, when he was having increasingly detailed fantasies about killing the people who piss him off. And oh, it’s about to get SO much worse.

I’ll end this here. See you next time, as we get introduced to James. I have a feeling I’ll be raging a lot there too.

Go Back to: Chapter 3 Part 2, Section D

Go Forward to: Chapter 4 Part 1, Section B