Hush, Hush: Chapter 26 (Part 2)
ZeldaQueen: Well, this is it! Part two of this horrible, horrible chapter. I have no idea what was running through Fitzpatrick's head when she wrote this. Maybe she noticed that the last few chapters weren't creepy enough and she needed to resolve that. I don't know. Let's just get this over and done with
Projection Room Voices: Starting Media in 3...2...1...Chapter 26 (Part 2)
When they leave the theater, Patch actually grabs Nora's arm and yoinks her into the ladies' room. He locks the door, and I have to ask Fitzpatrick, have you ever been in a movie theater bathroom? Because none of the ones I've seen work like that. You have the door to the bathroom, which has no lock, and then there are the individual stalls, which do. You know why this is? Because there are lots of people who need to use the bathroom in public places like movie theaters and just letting them in one at a time is Bad Planning. Between this and the two-screen bit, I'm wondering if you've ever been in a movie theater at all, Fitzpatrick.
Moving on from that, I'd like to ask the viewers to keep in mind that yet again, Nora has allowed Patch to manipulate her into being trapped in a confined space with him, with no means of contacting help, while he is clearly freaking her out. Don't you just love it when a character fails to learn anything at all? Although given what's going to transpire, I'm starting to think that Ms Fitzpatrick just imagines being locked in close quarters with Patch is Sexy Fun Times.
Patch stares at Nora and it honest to God sounds like he's going to hit her. We're told that his eyes "showed every sign of wanting to rattle [her] to death" and THIS IS NOT FUNNY FITZPATRICK, DID YOU THINK IT WAS? No, it's not! And it's not sexy or hot that Nora is frightened of him! And frightened she assuredly is! People who are not frightened do not back against a counter and cling to it, as Nora does!
And this next bit of idiocy must be seen to be believed
"'You're mad because I didn't go to Delphic.' I raised one shaky shoulder. 'Why Delphic, Patch? It's Sunday night. Delphic will be closing soon. Any special reason you wanted me to drive to a dark, soon to- be deserted amusement park?'"
ZeldaQueen: Gee Nora, you were told he wants to kill you, and then he asks you to wait for him at an isolated place. WHY DO YOU THINK HE ASKED YOU TO GO THERE! And I refuse to believe that she's trying to lead him with the questions, because that would imply that she seriously believes he would kill her and that MAKES IT ALL THE MORE STUPID THAT SHE'S LOCKED IN A ROOM WITH HIM AND ISN'T TRYING TO CLAW HER WAY OUT!!!
Although Nora does raise a good question. Yes Patch, why Delphic? You claim you don't want to hurt her. So why there? We never get an answer for that, just like Fitzpatrick has continued to conveniently ignore any questions from her fans about why exactly Patch faked his Jeep breaking down and getting Nora in the motel room.
Patch starts walking towards Nora and is all up in her business, and I'm dead serious, this is just a complete dominance bit with him terrifying her into submission. He tells her that the killing thing is true, but "It has to be an intentional sacrifice. Simply killing you won't do it".
Okay, Fitzpatrick? That is not in the least bit reassuring. Because remember how you've had Nora yammer on about why he hasn't killed her yet if he wanted to? There's a great reason why. He's working at breaking down her will and inducing Stockholm Syndrome and getting her to sympathize with him so he can manipulate her into willingly sacrificing herself. Spoilers for Crescendo - all Nora does in that book is wangst about how it isn't fair that Patch doesn't have a human body and how she wishes he did and how he totally deserves one. It honestly sounds like he's grooming her to willingly kill herself for him. I'm not saying any more on that, for fear of ruining the climax.
Oh, and even better (worse?), Fitzpatrick has told her fans that Patch knows human personalities to a T. That he understands human nature inside and out. Which, besides reminding me unpleasantly of Edward Cullen, just sounds like he knows all about people...so he's really great at manipulating them to do what he wants. Which makes his stalking and threatening of Nora, his pseudo-rape of her before, and my theory up above all come out into one neat bundle of Do Not Want. I don't suppose Fitzpatrick thought of that, though. In fact, I don't suppose she thought at all.
No, clearly she didn't. We instead move on to Nora asking Patch about the girl he fell for, and "I hated myself for experiencing irrational pangs of jealousy. This wasn't supposed to be about me. This was supposed to be an interrogation". How about you slap some sense into yourself, Nora? Because if you're about to possibly be killed by some guy and you're more worried that he dated someone before you, your problem is that you're an idiot, not that you're self-centered.
Oh, but she doesn't have to worry. The girl grew old and died, so there's no more competition! *head desk* And Nora's response to Patch telling her this?
"'That must have been hard for you,' I snapped"
ZeldaQueen: You know, I've ranted about how Patch's backstory is just sloppy and stupid and in no way an excuse for his treatment of Nora. If I thought Nora was saying that to call him out on it, hey, go her. But I've read Crescendo, and I know that she's just pissed because Nora is a stupid, selfish bitch who throws tantrums at the slightest hint that Patch liked anyone before or other than her.So I still am unimpressed.
Patch promises to come clean, and I snort derisively at this because he already told her that he'd answer her questions and has proven by now that he's quite fine with continuing to hide things from her. He also says that he was worse in the past than he is now, which is damned terrifying. He tells Nora about his fall and how he didn't know about only possessing people during Chesvan and had his wings ripped of for his troubles, and it's all boring and rushed. It's also angsty as fuck, probably because Fitzpatrick seems under the impression that she can get us to ignore and excuse his sexual harassment and violent behavior if he has some angsty backstory to make him a woobie. It doesn't work, Fitzpatrick. Please stop. Now. He concludes with the line "But if I hadn't fallen, I wouldn't have met you", and I can just hear the idiot fangirls sighing at that one.
He then tells Nora that she's from a Nephilim on her dad's side, but when she asks him where her immortal ancestor is, he conveniently does not tell her. This most likely is because, as we'll see, he's an irresponsible idiot who can't keep track of his vassal.
Patch starts crowding up against Nora, so that "His boots were flush with the toes of my tennis shoes" which, besides being a rather...interesting description (seriously, does anyone use the term "flush" like that?), sounds almost exactly like the scene where he was pinning her to the wall in the motel room. And Fitzpatrick is clearly setting up for some softcorn porn thing
ZeldaQueen: So Patch keeps leaning in and Nora keeps backing away and I keep reeling in horror. Patch tells her "I'm not going to kill you, Nora. I don't kill people who are important to me. And you top the list"
*raises eyebrow*
First of all, implying what? That if people don't matter to you, you don't give a damn if they die? Given how you treat Vee in this book and Crescendo, Patchy-boy, I believe that.
Second of all, so it's only that Nora is in his good graces that's keeping him from killing her. Isn't that fan-fucking-tastic? Nothing gives me the warm fuzzies like seeing a couple where the woman is completely dependant on the good favor of the man to survive! And before anyone tells me that I'm misintepreting a joke, I would like to assure you that no, I am not. A later chapter is going to pretty much outright say that he was lined up to kill her until he fell in love with her!
Third of all, a guy who is only compelled to not kill someone by how much he likes them and not because murder is wrong. Yeeeees, that sounds like just the right sort of person for Heaven to bring back as a guardian angel.
Fourth of all, Patch has no compunctions at all about murdering his vassal, who he forces to give him the gift of a physical body. Meaning that Patch has been dragging this poor guy around for centuries, using him as a resource for the thing that Patch wants the most, and Patch doesn't hold him in any regard at all. You know, I'll be ranting about this in the later books, but I shall say this - Fitzpatrick, if you seriously think that I'm going to sympathize with Patch over the Nephilim, you are whacked out of your skull.
Fifth of all (and my, this just keeps going on and on, doesn't it?), don't even try to sell me that "You're the most important person to me" bullshit. Don't even. You've already proven that you're fine with treating her like shit. If you want to impress upon us your love for her, Patch, why not start now and back up a few steps like she's asking you to? Or stop stalking her? Or treat her with respect, instead of spewing crude innuendos every other sentence? And if anyone tells me that those things are a part of his charm or that Nora secretly likes him doing those things to her, I will reach through the computer and bitchslap them, I swear to God.
Well, that rant aside, back to sexy time! Where are we? Ah yes, Nora is trying to push Patch away, because his presence upsets her. What, you don't believe me? Here, see for yourself!
"My hands were pressed against his stomach, which was so hard even his skin didn't give. I was keeping a pointless safeguard between us, since not even a towering electrical fence would make me feel secure from him"
ZeldaQueen: Ah yes, you know it's love when he makes you feel like you're in danger.
*a la Gilbert Godfrey* YOU IDIOTS!
Nora tries to get him to back off by telling him "You're impinging on my private space", and he is an asshole and mocks her because, ha ha, she knows big words, isn't it funny? And then... OH JESUS CHRIST, YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS IN FULL!
"I tucked a few stray hairs behind my ears and took one sizable stepsideways, skirting the sink. 'You're crowding me. I need- room.' What I needed were boundaries. I needed willpower. I needed to be caged up, since yet again I was proving I couldn't be trusted in Patch's presence. I should have been bolting for the door, and yet ... I wasn't. I tried convincing myself I was staying because I needed answers, but that was only part of it. It was the other part I didn't want to think about. The emotional part. The part that was pointless fighting.
'Are you keeping anything else from me?" I wanted to know.
'I'm keeping a lot of things from you.'
My insides took a steep dive.
'Like?'
'Like the way I feel about being locked up in here with you.' Patch braced one hand against the mirror behind me, his weight tipping toward me. 'You have no idea what you do to me'"
ZeldaQueen: Two things there.
First of all, how many times are we going to have Nora repeat how Patch makes her feel so weak and vulnerable and she just feels so loose powerless and amoral around him? Yes, I know such things can be written to be kinky, but guess what? It's creepy as fuck if you have your female go on about how weak she feels around the male lead, while said male lead does absolutely nothing but enforce his dominance over her and remind her of how easily he can overpower her.
Second of all, read that bit. Take a good, long gawk. When you're done, tell me what that reminds you of.
Where else have we seen Nora say that she ought to be running away, but feels powerless to resist the allure of Patch?
Where else have we seen Patch push her up against a wall and refuse to back up or give her room, despite her clear requests otherwise?
Where else have we seen Nora desperately try to question Patch, only for him to just give her not-answers consisting of extremely inappropriate sexual banter?
*taps chin*
HOW ABOUT CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE CHAPTER WHERE PATCH ASSAULTS NORA???
Yeah! Look familiar? That chapter that ought to have been grounds for Patch to be arrested? And yet here we get pretty much the same thing, and it's supposed to be hot and sexy and a sign of their progressing relationship!!!
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, FITZPATRICK, SEEK THERAPY!!!
I am so very, very tired right now.
And it just. Does not. End! Nora starts gasping and telling him that she needs room. He's all smiles and of course does not do this, because "There's all kinds of right...On the spectrum, we're still in the safe zone". DOES THE PHRASE "NO MEANS NO" MEAN ANYTHING TO YOU, JACKASS?
No, clearly it doesn't! Because even though Nora is trying to get away from him and keeps telling him "I don't want this", he keeps telling her it's perfectly fine, and to relax, and geeeeeehhhhh this is creepy!
At this point, Nora spies a fire alarm and gives serious thought to pulling it. A note to all people reading this - if you ever feel the need to resort to pulling a fire alarm to get someone to stop pawing you up, don't date that person. In any case, Patch figures out what Nora has in mind and tells her not to think about it. She does run for the fire alarm and pulls it, only for it not to move. Oh, surprise! Patch just mindraped her into thinking she did it! How lovely that he has her on such a leash!
Seriously, what was the point of that? That was just like him waving that paintball gun at her! It served no point but to freak her out and show her how powerless she is against him! He could easily have backed away and given her room and, you know, not have caused her to feel so threatened that she seriously considered running for help! Oh no, I forgot, that would mess up his street cred and make him less of a bad boy, respecting his girlfriend's wishes like that. Christ, I hate this book.
Nora shoves Patch and yells at him for the mindrape and while I would applaud this display of sense, it's ruined because she basically words it as "That bastard, how dare he be so hot and get me all horny for him?" In other words, it's just the usual cutesy, fake anger used to show how she has fallen for him, because of course "no" means "yes" and all girls secretly want guys to take advantage of them. *flips the bird*
*reads ahead* *stares* Jesus. Fucking. Christ
"I might have been tempted to hit him square in the jaw had he not taken me by the shoulders and pinned me against the wall. There was hardly any space left between us, just a thin boundary of air, but Patch managed to eliminate it.
'Let's be honest, Nora. You've got it bad for me.' His eyes held a lot of depth. 'And I've got it bad for you.' He leaned into me and put his mouth on mine. A lot of him was on me, actually. We touched base at several strategic locations down our bodies, and it took all my will power to break away"
ZeldaQueen: . . .
He...he just pinned her against the wall and violated her personal space exactly like how he attacked her in the motel.
He outright declared that she was in love with him, without her consent or opinion on the matter.
He kissed her right after she had been dodging him and asking him for room and yelling at him and trying to pull the fire alarm for help. And she is just standing there passively, basically saying that her will is being broken by him and she's lucky she can stop him from kissing her.
Spite fic! Short one!
"As soon as we broke apart, I reached into my pocket. The vial was there, right where I left it after I filched it during my last Biology lab. With Patch stalking me like he was and the police not taking me seriously, I had suspected I'd need a safeguard like this. With one swift movement, I popped the top off of the vial and flung the contents at Patch's face.
'YOU BITCH!' he screamed as he clawed at his eyes and then for me.
I was already toward the door though, taking advantage of his blindness and disorientation. Sulfuric acid. Don't leave home without it"
ZeldaQueen: And yes, I got the idea from To Weave a Lover. I'm pissed and want Patch to die, cut me a break.
No, Nora of course doesn't end up doing anything else to assert herself against Patch, or call him out about that disgusting behavior, or try to escape in any way. Instead, she asked what went down with Dabria. Patch says that he ripped off her wings, which he explains was going to happen to her no matter what. If she tried to go back to Heaven, the avenging angels would have done it to her. If she had continued to wander on Earth, another fallen angel would have done it instead. Nora asks if that's all he did and...oh this is precious, it is. He saw that Dabria has been driven insane by her time on Earth and has ripped off her wings, leaving her undoubtedly pissed as heck, with a personal grudge against Nora, and non of the scruples angels apparently have about using their powers against mortals. And he just let her go, and openly admits that she'll probably show up to attack Nora again. But it's okay! Why?
"'You could take her, Angel,' he said. 'I've seen both of you in action, and my bet's on you. You don't need me for that'"
ZeldaQueen: Yes Patch, you've seen Nora in action, if by that you mean her hiding in her closet, resorting to throwing shoes to ward Dabria off. Shame you missed the rest of the fight, or you'd have seen Dabria blow parts of the house up and set rooms on fire, all while Nora only survives by the skin of her teeth. So yes, I'm sure Nora can totally take a psychotic fallen angel who can mindrape and physically overpower her, who hates her guts, and who can stalk her for all eternity without fear of reprecussion. I'm sure Nora will be fine. After all, she does so well at fending off Patch.
Also, I must ask, what are the angels doing about this? You know, the ones in charge? They just lost their Angel of Death, you know. Aren't they going to, you know, look into it? And if they do, aren't they going to see that a lot of this was Patch's fault, given that he seduced Dabria and used her, which got her to try to win him back? Fitzpatrick has openly admitted that the angels are not happy at all with Patch and are watching for him to do the slightest thing to excuse them sending him to Hell. Isn't corrupting and screwing with the Angel of Death enough to warrant that? Even if one argue that it was Dabria's own fault (as I'm sure folks would), couldn't the angels still argue that Patch is too much trouble to keep around or try to recruit back? Clearly he isn't interested in taking them up on their offer and still wants to be human!
*sigh* So Nora goes into Full Horny Mode and she and Patch start making out. But first, Patch tells delivers a truly terrifying line "'Door's locked,' he said. 'And we have unfinished business'"
ZeldaQueen: Mmm. Sexy.
So they go into full-on make-out mode, with Patch grabbing her hips (because I guess Fitzpatrick thinks that's sexy) and Nora wrapping her legs around his waist, and I'm just skipping it because it's sickening and horrible. Thankfully it doesn't last long. Nora's cell phone rings and she ignores Patch telling her to let it go to voice mail. She has literally forgotten about everything that was going on before she started making out with Patch, and answers the phone thining how "Internally I was screaming with joy". And I'd like to just say that if Fitzpatrick hadn't written this as incredibly squicky as she did, my immediate interpretation of that quote would not have been that Nora was secretly overjoyed for an excuse to break away from Patch.
Anyway, when she answers, it's Vee. Hooo boy. Apparently Vee is still with Elliot and Jules and they've...um...broken into the high school to play hide and seek. Or actually they want to play hide and seek in the high school, but they've broken in and only now realized that it's rather stupid playing with three people, especially since they apparently want teams. So Vee is calling to ask if Nora would care to join them.
Um, folks, I'm kind of baffled at this one. Is high school hide and seek something that a lot of people do? I understand the appeal of playing around inside of a roped-off area or an abandoned building or something, but this is the high school. They spend all week there. It's not even like it's closed for the summer. It's just the weekend. Why would they want to break into there, of all places?
Not to mention that if it's a weekend, wouldn't there be someone there? At my high school, unless it was midnight, there was usually at least one person around. Janitors cleaning up. Teachers grading stuff or finishing something. Band practice. Something! The teachers even told our parents that the students couldn't pull the "I can't do my homework because I left my book at school" excuse because there would almost always be someone to let us in to get our stuff. I can buy that this high school doesn't have club meetings or something, but there aren't even janitors? Really?
And you would think that Vee would think about them not having enough people to play a proper game of hide and seek before they committed breaking in and entering, so that if they couldn't go through with the game, they wouldn't worry about potentially being arrested. Vee is an idiot.
So yeah. Vee says that Elliot has something to add, and hands the phone off to him. Elliot gets on the line and basically tells Nora that if she doesn't come to the high school, he's going to hang Vee. Which, you know, is what he did to his girlfriend. You'd think he'd come up with a less conspicious method, considering that he already was a suspect in one hanging, but whatever. This dude isn't very subtle, if any of you haven't noticed. God almighty. I hate this chapter. This is just one long string of squick, and I want it to die. I am so angry, I need to go and unwind. Have a good night! I'm off to go bang my head against the wall!
Onward to: Chapter 27
Back to: Chapter 26 (Part 1)
Return to: Table of Contents
Projection Room Voices: Starting Media in 3...2...1...Chapter 26 (Part 2)
When they leave the theater, Patch actually grabs Nora's arm and yoinks her into the ladies' room. He locks the door, and I have to ask Fitzpatrick, have you ever been in a movie theater bathroom? Because none of the ones I've seen work like that. You have the door to the bathroom, which has no lock, and then there are the individual stalls, which do. You know why this is? Because there are lots of people who need to use the bathroom in public places like movie theaters and just letting them in one at a time is Bad Planning. Between this and the two-screen bit, I'm wondering if you've ever been in a movie theater at all, Fitzpatrick.
Moving on from that, I'd like to ask the viewers to keep in mind that yet again, Nora has allowed Patch to manipulate her into being trapped in a confined space with him, with no means of contacting help, while he is clearly freaking her out. Don't you just love it when a character fails to learn anything at all? Although given what's going to transpire, I'm starting to think that Ms Fitzpatrick just imagines being locked in close quarters with Patch is Sexy Fun Times.
Patch stares at Nora and it honest to God sounds like he's going to hit her. We're told that his eyes "showed every sign of wanting to rattle [her] to death" and THIS IS NOT FUNNY FITZPATRICK, DID YOU THINK IT WAS? No, it's not! And it's not sexy or hot that Nora is frightened of him! And frightened she assuredly is! People who are not frightened do not back against a counter and cling to it, as Nora does!
And this next bit of idiocy must be seen to be believed
"'You're mad because I didn't go to Delphic.' I raised one shaky shoulder. 'Why Delphic, Patch? It's Sunday night. Delphic will be closing soon. Any special reason you wanted me to drive to a dark, soon to- be deserted amusement park?'"
ZeldaQueen: Gee Nora, you were told he wants to kill you, and then he asks you to wait for him at an isolated place. WHY DO YOU THINK HE ASKED YOU TO GO THERE! And I refuse to believe that she's trying to lead him with the questions, because that would imply that she seriously believes he would kill her and that MAKES IT ALL THE MORE STUPID THAT SHE'S LOCKED IN A ROOM WITH HIM AND ISN'T TRYING TO CLAW HER WAY OUT!!!
Although Nora does raise a good question. Yes Patch, why Delphic? You claim you don't want to hurt her. So why there? We never get an answer for that, just like Fitzpatrick has continued to conveniently ignore any questions from her fans about why exactly Patch faked his Jeep breaking down and getting Nora in the motel room.
Patch starts walking towards Nora and is all up in her business, and I'm dead serious, this is just a complete dominance bit with him terrifying her into submission. He tells her that the killing thing is true, but "It has to be an intentional sacrifice. Simply killing you won't do it".
Okay, Fitzpatrick? That is not in the least bit reassuring. Because remember how you've had Nora yammer on about why he hasn't killed her yet if he wanted to? There's a great reason why. He's working at breaking down her will and inducing Stockholm Syndrome and getting her to sympathize with him so he can manipulate her into willingly sacrificing herself. Spoilers for Crescendo - all Nora does in that book is wangst about how it isn't fair that Patch doesn't have a human body and how she wishes he did and how he totally deserves one. It honestly sounds like he's grooming her to willingly kill herself for him. I'm not saying any more on that, for fear of ruining the climax.
Oh, and even better (worse?), Fitzpatrick has told her fans that Patch knows human personalities to a T. That he understands human nature inside and out. Which, besides reminding me unpleasantly of Edward Cullen, just sounds like he knows all about people...so he's really great at manipulating them to do what he wants. Which makes his stalking and threatening of Nora, his pseudo-rape of her before, and my theory up above all come out into one neat bundle of Do Not Want. I don't suppose Fitzpatrick thought of that, though. In fact, I don't suppose she thought at all.
No, clearly she didn't. We instead move on to Nora asking Patch about the girl he fell for, and "I hated myself for experiencing irrational pangs of jealousy. This wasn't supposed to be about me. This was supposed to be an interrogation". How about you slap some sense into yourself, Nora? Because if you're about to possibly be killed by some guy and you're more worried that he dated someone before you, your problem is that you're an idiot, not that you're self-centered.
Oh, but she doesn't have to worry. The girl grew old and died, so there's no more competition! *head desk* And Nora's response to Patch telling her this?
"'That must have been hard for you,' I snapped"
ZeldaQueen: You know, I've ranted about how Patch's backstory is just sloppy and stupid and in no way an excuse for his treatment of Nora. If I thought Nora was saying that to call him out on it, hey, go her. But I've read Crescendo, and I know that she's just pissed because Nora is a stupid, selfish bitch who throws tantrums at the slightest hint that Patch liked anyone before or other than her.So I still am unimpressed.
Patch promises to come clean, and I snort derisively at this because he already told her that he'd answer her questions and has proven by now that he's quite fine with continuing to hide things from her. He also says that he was worse in the past than he is now, which is damned terrifying. He tells Nora about his fall and how he didn't know about only possessing people during Chesvan and had his wings ripped of for his troubles, and it's all boring and rushed. It's also angsty as fuck, probably because Fitzpatrick seems under the impression that she can get us to ignore and excuse his sexual harassment and violent behavior if he has some angsty backstory to make him a woobie. It doesn't work, Fitzpatrick. Please stop. Now. He concludes with the line "But if I hadn't fallen, I wouldn't have met you", and I can just hear the idiot fangirls sighing at that one.
He then tells Nora that she's from a Nephilim on her dad's side, but when she asks him where her immortal ancestor is, he conveniently does not tell her. This most likely is because, as we'll see, he's an irresponsible idiot who can't keep track of his vassal.
Patch starts crowding up against Nora, so that "His boots were flush with the toes of my tennis shoes" which, besides being a rather...interesting description (seriously, does anyone use the term "flush" like that?), sounds almost exactly like the scene where he was pinning her to the wall in the motel room. And Fitzpatrick is clearly setting up for some softcorn porn thing
ZeldaQueen: So Patch keeps leaning in and Nora keeps backing away and I keep reeling in horror. Patch tells her "I'm not going to kill you, Nora. I don't kill people who are important to me. And you top the list"
*raises eyebrow*
First of all, implying what? That if people don't matter to you, you don't give a damn if they die? Given how you treat Vee in this book and Crescendo, Patchy-boy, I believe that.
Second of all, so it's only that Nora is in his good graces that's keeping him from killing her. Isn't that fan-fucking-tastic? Nothing gives me the warm fuzzies like seeing a couple where the woman is completely dependant on the good favor of the man to survive! And before anyone tells me that I'm misintepreting a joke, I would like to assure you that no, I am not. A later chapter is going to pretty much outright say that he was lined up to kill her until he fell in love with her!
Third of all, a guy who is only compelled to not kill someone by how much he likes them and not because murder is wrong. Yeeeees, that sounds like just the right sort of person for Heaven to bring back as a guardian angel.
Fourth of all, Patch has no compunctions at all about murdering his vassal, who he forces to give him the gift of a physical body. Meaning that Patch has been dragging this poor guy around for centuries, using him as a resource for the thing that Patch wants the most, and Patch doesn't hold him in any regard at all. You know, I'll be ranting about this in the later books, but I shall say this - Fitzpatrick, if you seriously think that I'm going to sympathize with Patch over the Nephilim, you are whacked out of your skull.
Fifth of all (and my, this just keeps going on and on, doesn't it?), don't even try to sell me that "You're the most important person to me" bullshit. Don't even. You've already proven that you're fine with treating her like shit. If you want to impress upon us your love for her, Patch, why not start now and back up a few steps like she's asking you to? Or stop stalking her? Or treat her with respect, instead of spewing crude innuendos every other sentence? And if anyone tells me that those things are a part of his charm or that Nora secretly likes him doing those things to her, I will reach through the computer and bitchslap them, I swear to God.
Well, that rant aside, back to sexy time! Where are we? Ah yes, Nora is trying to push Patch away, because his presence upsets her. What, you don't believe me? Here, see for yourself!
"My hands were pressed against his stomach, which was so hard even his skin didn't give. I was keeping a pointless safeguard between us, since not even a towering electrical fence would make me feel secure from him"
ZeldaQueen: Ah yes, you know it's love when he makes you feel like you're in danger.
*a la Gilbert Godfrey* YOU IDIOTS!
Nora tries to get him to back off by telling him "You're impinging on my private space", and he is an asshole and mocks her because, ha ha, she knows big words, isn't it funny? And then... OH JESUS CHRIST, YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS IN FULL!
"I tucked a few stray hairs behind my ears and took one sizable stepsideways, skirting the sink. 'You're crowding me. I need- room.' What I needed were boundaries. I needed willpower. I needed to be caged up, since yet again I was proving I couldn't be trusted in Patch's presence. I should have been bolting for the door, and yet ... I wasn't. I tried convincing myself I was staying because I needed answers, but that was only part of it. It was the other part I didn't want to think about. The emotional part. The part that was pointless fighting.
'Are you keeping anything else from me?" I wanted to know.
'I'm keeping a lot of things from you.'
My insides took a steep dive.
'Like?'
'Like the way I feel about being locked up in here with you.' Patch braced one hand against the mirror behind me, his weight tipping toward me. 'You have no idea what you do to me'"
ZeldaQueen: Two things there.
First of all, how many times are we going to have Nora repeat how Patch makes her feel so weak and vulnerable and she just feels so loose powerless and amoral around him? Yes, I know such things can be written to be kinky, but guess what? It's creepy as fuck if you have your female go on about how weak she feels around the male lead, while said male lead does absolutely nothing but enforce his dominance over her and remind her of how easily he can overpower her.
Second of all, read that bit. Take a good, long gawk. When you're done, tell me what that reminds you of.
Where else have we seen Nora say that she ought to be running away, but feels powerless to resist the allure of Patch?
Where else have we seen Patch push her up against a wall and refuse to back up or give her room, despite her clear requests otherwise?
Where else have we seen Nora desperately try to question Patch, only for him to just give her not-answers consisting of extremely inappropriate sexual banter?
*taps chin*
HOW ABOUT CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE CHAPTER WHERE PATCH ASSAULTS NORA???
Yeah! Look familiar? That chapter that ought to have been grounds for Patch to be arrested? And yet here we get pretty much the same thing, and it's supposed to be hot and sexy and a sign of their progressing relationship!!!
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, FITZPATRICK, SEEK THERAPY!!!
I am so very, very tired right now.
And it just. Does not. End! Nora starts gasping and telling him that she needs room. He's all smiles and of course does not do this, because "There's all kinds of right...On the spectrum, we're still in the safe zone". DOES THE PHRASE "NO MEANS NO" MEAN ANYTHING TO YOU, JACKASS?
No, clearly it doesn't! Because even though Nora is trying to get away from him and keeps telling him "I don't want this", he keeps telling her it's perfectly fine, and to relax, and geeeeeehhhhh this is creepy!
At this point, Nora spies a fire alarm and gives serious thought to pulling it. A note to all people reading this - if you ever feel the need to resort to pulling a fire alarm to get someone to stop pawing you up, don't date that person. In any case, Patch figures out what Nora has in mind and tells her not to think about it. She does run for the fire alarm and pulls it, only for it not to move. Oh, surprise! Patch just mindraped her into thinking she did it! How lovely that he has her on such a leash!
Seriously, what was the point of that? That was just like him waving that paintball gun at her! It served no point but to freak her out and show her how powerless she is against him! He could easily have backed away and given her room and, you know, not have caused her to feel so threatened that she seriously considered running for help! Oh no, I forgot, that would mess up his street cred and make him less of a bad boy, respecting his girlfriend's wishes like that. Christ, I hate this book.
Nora shoves Patch and yells at him for the mindrape and while I would applaud this display of sense, it's ruined because she basically words it as "That bastard, how dare he be so hot and get me all horny for him?" In other words, it's just the usual cutesy, fake anger used to show how she has fallen for him, because of course "no" means "yes" and all girls secretly want guys to take advantage of them. *flips the bird*
*reads ahead* *stares* Jesus. Fucking. Christ
"I might have been tempted to hit him square in the jaw had he not taken me by the shoulders and pinned me against the wall. There was hardly any space left between us, just a thin boundary of air, but Patch managed to eliminate it.
'Let's be honest, Nora. You've got it bad for me.' His eyes held a lot of depth. 'And I've got it bad for you.' He leaned into me and put his mouth on mine. A lot of him was on me, actually. We touched base at several strategic locations down our bodies, and it took all my will power to break away"
ZeldaQueen: . . .
He...he just pinned her against the wall and violated her personal space exactly like how he attacked her in the motel.
He outright declared that she was in love with him, without her consent or opinion on the matter.
He kissed her right after she had been dodging him and asking him for room and yelling at him and trying to pull the fire alarm for help. And she is just standing there passively, basically saying that her will is being broken by him and she's lucky she can stop him from kissing her.
Spite fic! Short one!
"As soon as we broke apart, I reached into my pocket. The vial was there, right where I left it after I filched it during my last Biology lab. With Patch stalking me like he was and the police not taking me seriously, I had suspected I'd need a safeguard like this. With one swift movement, I popped the top off of the vial and flung the contents at Patch's face.
'YOU BITCH!' he screamed as he clawed at his eyes and then for me.
I was already toward the door though, taking advantage of his blindness and disorientation. Sulfuric acid. Don't leave home without it"
ZeldaQueen: And yes, I got the idea from To Weave a Lover. I'm pissed and want Patch to die, cut me a break.
No, Nora of course doesn't end up doing anything else to assert herself against Patch, or call him out about that disgusting behavior, or try to escape in any way. Instead, she asked what went down with Dabria. Patch says that he ripped off her wings, which he explains was going to happen to her no matter what. If she tried to go back to Heaven, the avenging angels would have done it to her. If she had continued to wander on Earth, another fallen angel would have done it instead. Nora asks if that's all he did and...oh this is precious, it is. He saw that Dabria has been driven insane by her time on Earth and has ripped off her wings, leaving her undoubtedly pissed as heck, with a personal grudge against Nora, and non of the scruples angels apparently have about using their powers against mortals. And he just let her go, and openly admits that she'll probably show up to attack Nora again. But it's okay! Why?
"'You could take her, Angel,' he said. 'I've seen both of you in action, and my bet's on you. You don't need me for that'"
ZeldaQueen: Yes Patch, you've seen Nora in action, if by that you mean her hiding in her closet, resorting to throwing shoes to ward Dabria off. Shame you missed the rest of the fight, or you'd have seen Dabria blow parts of the house up and set rooms on fire, all while Nora only survives by the skin of her teeth. So yes, I'm sure Nora can totally take a psychotic fallen angel who can mindrape and physically overpower her, who hates her guts, and who can stalk her for all eternity without fear of reprecussion. I'm sure Nora will be fine. After all, she does so well at fending off Patch.
Also, I must ask, what are the angels doing about this? You know, the ones in charge? They just lost their Angel of Death, you know. Aren't they going to, you know, look into it? And if they do, aren't they going to see that a lot of this was Patch's fault, given that he seduced Dabria and used her, which got her to try to win him back? Fitzpatrick has openly admitted that the angels are not happy at all with Patch and are watching for him to do the slightest thing to excuse them sending him to Hell. Isn't corrupting and screwing with the Angel of Death enough to warrant that? Even if one argue that it was Dabria's own fault (as I'm sure folks would), couldn't the angels still argue that Patch is too much trouble to keep around or try to recruit back? Clearly he isn't interested in taking them up on their offer and still wants to be human!
*sigh* So Nora goes into Full Horny Mode and she and Patch start making out. But first, Patch tells delivers a truly terrifying line "'Door's locked,' he said. 'And we have unfinished business'"
ZeldaQueen: Mmm. Sexy.
So they go into full-on make-out mode, with Patch grabbing her hips (because I guess Fitzpatrick thinks that's sexy) and Nora wrapping her legs around his waist, and I'm just skipping it because it's sickening and horrible. Thankfully it doesn't last long. Nora's cell phone rings and she ignores Patch telling her to let it go to voice mail. She has literally forgotten about everything that was going on before she started making out with Patch, and answers the phone thining how "Internally I was screaming with joy". And I'd like to just say that if Fitzpatrick hadn't written this as incredibly squicky as she did, my immediate interpretation of that quote would not have been that Nora was secretly overjoyed for an excuse to break away from Patch.
Anyway, when she answers, it's Vee. Hooo boy. Apparently Vee is still with Elliot and Jules and they've...um...broken into the high school to play hide and seek. Or actually they want to play hide and seek in the high school, but they've broken in and only now realized that it's rather stupid playing with three people, especially since they apparently want teams. So Vee is calling to ask if Nora would care to join them.
Um, folks, I'm kind of baffled at this one. Is high school hide and seek something that a lot of people do? I understand the appeal of playing around inside of a roped-off area or an abandoned building or something, but this is the high school. They spend all week there. It's not even like it's closed for the summer. It's just the weekend. Why would they want to break into there, of all places?
Not to mention that if it's a weekend, wouldn't there be someone there? At my high school, unless it was midnight, there was usually at least one person around. Janitors cleaning up. Teachers grading stuff or finishing something. Band practice. Something! The teachers even told our parents that the students couldn't pull the "I can't do my homework because I left my book at school" excuse because there would almost always be someone to let us in to get our stuff. I can buy that this high school doesn't have club meetings or something, but there aren't even janitors? Really?
And you would think that Vee would think about them not having enough people to play a proper game of hide and seek before they committed breaking in and entering, so that if they couldn't go through with the game, they wouldn't worry about potentially being arrested. Vee is an idiot.
So yeah. Vee says that Elliot has something to add, and hands the phone off to him. Elliot gets on the line and basically tells Nora that if she doesn't come to the high school, he's going to hang Vee. Which, you know, is what he did to his girlfriend. You'd think he'd come up with a less conspicious method, considering that he already was a suspect in one hanging, but whatever. This dude isn't very subtle, if any of you haven't noticed. God almighty. I hate this chapter. This is just one long string of squick, and I want it to die. I am so angry, I need to go and unwind. Have a good night! I'm off to go bang my head against the wall!
Onward to: Chapter 27
Back to: Chapter 26 (Part 1)
Return to: Table of Contents