SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Chapters Read: 6-11

So Darren lives with wolves for a time here as he recovers from his injuries. It seems fun, unique, and rough all at the same time. Darren says how wise wolves are and how vampires could learn something from them. Eh, this feels so cliche to me. It's one thing to respect animals and care about them, even to recognize their intelligence, but I personally find it cringey when people talk about the wisdom of animals and how people can learn from them. They're animals, in my opinion it's not that deep LOL. They're cool, and to be respected and all of that. But when people say that their way of life is better or whatever and that we should take lessons from them, 99% of the time I just roll my eyes.

It's interesting how Darren is utterly convinced that Kurda is the worst. Since Kurda killed Gavner well, I agree he's pretty bad. That's inexcusable for sure. Adding into the fact that it was a murder to benefit the vampaneze, it's just terrible.

But it's slightly strange that Darren actually acts like he has no clue why Kurda did this. Darren doesn't have to agree with the why, but to act like he's unaware of the why, seems rather hard to believe. Kurda has openly admitted and even campaigned on the fact that he believes there should be unity with the vampires and vampaneze. It's also no secret that Kurda has met with vampaneze pretty frequently over the years, trying to establish a diplomatic connection and whatnot. Kurda's recently revealed methods and tactics are extreme though, I will admit that. Sneaky. It's a pretty bad, arrogant look for Kurda.

I feel as if Darren is treating Kurda mildly similarly to how Steve treated Darren. It's definitely not a perfect comparison by any means but the general paranoia and complete apparent lack of understanding is a bit similar.

Darren ends up letting a she-wolf lead him into little known tunnels deep into Vampire Mountain, so Darren can warn everyone about Kurda and the vampaneze in the mountain.

A random Guardian of the Blood actually warns Darren about an approaching pair of vampaneze, which was interesting.

Soon Darren decides to find Seba Nile and warn him about Kurda in case Darren gets found and killed before he can get word out himself. Seba is also very angry with Kurda which again doesn't shock me as murdering Gavner for the sake of the vampaneze is wild. Also, Seba is one of the oldest living vampires alive so he of all people will not be willing to care about the why in any way.

So yeah, very interesting stuff. Darren is assuming a lot about Kurda as if Kurda is legitimately trying to kill all the vampires with somewhat grand assumptions. Kurda literally made such a grave error by killing Gavner. Kurda was simply way too ambitious here and got caught up trying to do too much. Had Kurda not killed Gavner, I'd be more willing to take his side. I already ranted about Kurda in my post from when I finished @dadapizza/finishing-cirque-du-freak-trials" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Trials of Death.

There's a lot of conflicting emotions going on here if I'm being honest. Darren says that the vampires can learn something from wolves in how the wolves don't kill wolves when there's a disagreement in the pack, and how Kurda seemed to know that. Darren gave Kurda credit there.

Kurda did save Darren's life, but now Darren is out for Kurda's blood. Ugh, since Kurda did kill Gavner it's pretty hard to disagree with Darren's feelings in that regard. Still, I can't help but feel vague hypocritical vibes going on here from Darren. Kurda did save Darren and help him on several occasions even when the vampires themselves were out for Darren. Darren admits he believes that killing vampires when there's an issue/crime committed is typically not a good idea. But now Darren literally wants Kurda dead himself.

Does Kurda deserve death? In my heart I don't believe he does, but that's the law of the vampires and what he did was very messed up. Had Kurda had a chance to change punishment laws among the vampires when he became Prince, perhaps things could have been different. Humans for example don't automatically use the death penalty ya know?

But also there's the aspect of simply how vampires aren't humans for one. Vampires are hardcore people and that's sort of just how it is with them. Setting Darren aside since he was blooded under rare circumstances, humans typically know what they're getting into when becoming vampires. It's like, if you didn't like the vampire lifestyle and their rules, perhaps you shouldn't have become a vampire? Maybe Kurda should have considered that slightly too and not been so quick to judge his vampire people. If his people were so 'backwards' and unwilling to change, Kurda would not have been elected to be a Prince in the first place! He may have barely been elected but he was elected. If this isn't a sign that vampires had the ability and desire to change, I don't know what is.

But also, the Vampaneze Lord hanging over everything may have pushed Kurda to want to force change faster..... In Kurda's mind, maybe Gavner's death was simply a small dark deed when considering that ALL vampires are at risk of extinction....

Ugh! So complicated....

Anyway, pretty thought provoking stuff! Half-way through the book! I'm sure I'll have more to say shortly.