Narcissus in Chains chapter 45+46

So Anita calls Dolph. Let us take a moment to acknowledge that Anita Blake, queen of the dumb choice olympics, has finally done something that MIGHT result in people coming back alive. Look, I know that cops aren't always the good guys IRL, but MOST of them are. And they are the ones who spend all of their time trying to find missing kids, murderers and traffickers. Anita raises dead people for a living. The cops know how to do this shit better than Anita.

Dolph half-jokes about Anita having killed somebody else. Given that her usual contact with the cops involves a dead body of some kind, this is not a big leap to make.

Anita explains about the missing people. Dolph lets her know that he now has to re-interview everybody involved in these cases because the were connection is a strong one that nobody brought up because they didn't want to lose their livelihoods. The snakes own a restaurant, one kid is studying to be a doctor, and...you know, we can have doctors, cooks, chefs, moms, cops, nurses and teachers who have AIDS, and we've only had to deal with that nightmare for seventy years. Weres have been around since prehistory in this universe. Why aren't there tolerance laws? I know we're trying to draw a paralelle between weres and gays, but that doesn't work. Vamps and gays, maybe,  but therianthropy is discriminated against because it is contageous. It's not like the weres would be walking around with "wolf" or "tiger" on their nameplates. Again: Shifting for Dummies should totally be a thing.

Anyway, Dolph being pissed is passed off as him being irratated over having a bigger work load. In reality the cop would be pissed because AT MINIMUM, there is a serial kidnapper and/or trafficker in operation, and the veil of were-secrets has allowed the guy to operate without reprocussions for a nice, long time. Worst case senario is a serial killer who is obviously a very bad boy, given that a were-bear is on the list of MIAs. Who knows how soon they could have gotten this guy if people weren't so scared?

Of course, we can't have this conversation without casual race/speciesism:

“Why is it that most of these people go in for professions where this is a problem?”

BECAUSE THEY WANT TO, YOU PIECE OF SHIT.

Moving on.

Dolph accuses Anita of still hiding things, which she is, and Anita accuses him of losing his objectivity, thus completing yet another overly defensive cycle of conversation. Dolph, at this point, probably agrees with Zerbowski: Anita's doing drugs. Possibly selling them. Better pass that tip back to Narcotics.

Anyhoo, they hang up, and that's the end of the chapter.

Hence, why this is a two-fer.

Chapter 46 opens with the were-cobras going off with Janet Talbot to speak with the cops. Did we ever figure out what she turns into? Whatever it is had better be fucking awesome, because that character is great. Christine the tiger goes home because she doesn't actively know anything. 

Donovan Reece says nobody gets to take his girls away from him.

Anita calls him on saying "girls". They're "women."

Anita, you get the right to correct people on their dehumanizing language when you stop calling members of your pard "leopards" and "puppies" and members of the wolf-pack "wolves". It's something that consistantly bothers me, even though I have a tendancy to do it too when I'm writing weres, but it bothers me more so when Anita does it, than when, say, Rae Seddon is talking about were-chickens or Mercy Thompson discusses Adam's pack. It's a little like the difference between saying "Native American" and "Pet Dog".

And then Anita spots Donovan's gun (Dibs on the band name) and gives him a quick lesson in gun safety and concieled carry laws for Missouri, because Donovan doesn't have a permit.

And then Donovan praises Anita for doing such a good job taking care of all the little were-animals in the area. And...wait. Where was Richard in all of this? Isn't this the kind of thing Richard should know about? Right. Evil person. He'll die later.

And then Anita suggests that there be a sort of were-animal council thing, and Donovan accuses her of wanting to be top kitty-cat on the puppy pile, and Anita is all like "Who, me?" And it all comes off about as sincere as that scene in Casablanca where the guy goes "I can't believe there's gambling down here."

And then we find out that scardy fragile Gil is a werefox.

...I do not remember timidity being a fox's primary trait. Playfulness, intelligance and an inability to understand ruses when briar patches are involved, but not "scared of my own shadow" fragility and...oh please dear god in heaven Anita lets him stay on the property, please tell me he doesn't become Sex Toy number three. Please.

There is a long discussion about what Gil will do if the shit hits the fan. It boils down to "Hide".

I touched his face very gently. He flinched, then relaxed a little. All the animals liked to be touched.

EW. Just. fucking. EW.

Anita realizes that she'll protect him, but not that much. And then she realizes she isn't a sociopath, because if she were a sociopath, she'd be throwing him out and making him take his chances, because he's a "fucking casualty waiting to happen". In other words...ta da, yet another ready made victim. And by the way, a good symptom of mental illness is denial. YOU ARE A FUCKING SOCIOPATH, IS WHAT I AM SAYING.

And then she brings him along on more "business" and the chapter ends.

Next chapter: ...oh right, that DID get mentioned several chapters ago. I thought we traded that for sex.