So Many Questions: House Rules Edition Part Two

Hello hello hello, Saucy Readers! Here I am back again with part two of my House Rules questions. You can find part one here. Let's not waste anymore time and jump right in! Questions and spoilers after the jump!







How close are the people in each position to others in the same position in different Houses?

He looked at Malik. "Start with the other Houses' Seconds. Find out what they know, if they have any information about where it might be."

For example, how close are Malik, Nadia, and Grey's Second? Luc, Jonah, and Will, Navarre's guard captain? Do they have meetings to trade information? Or, a phone tree if something happens that affects the whole city? How has this changed since Celina outed everyone? It seems like Cadogan and Grey are more connected than Navarre. Is that actually the case? Do the Masters have meetings or emails or anything else to keep them apprised of the others' situations? Do they look out for each other? Or did they before Celina lost her fucking mind? What about Margot and the other House chefs? Do they trade recipes? Joint guard training? A united front of public relations from Helen and her compatriots?

Does everyone in Navarre share a room?

"They spent the evening at Red"-- that was the official Navarre House bar-- "and then returned here. They shared a room. No one noticed anything amiss until they were found this morning."

Navarre doesn't seem the type of House that would force vampires to share a room. They seem much too prestigious and rich for that. Though, of course, we learn later that Celina was actually in debt up to her ears. Because Navarre has been a House for so long, did they just run out of room and now people have to share? Did Katya and Zoey want to share? Is it only newer novitiates that have to share or does everyone share now? What about the other Houses? Does anyone else have to share a room? We know Merit and Lindsey, lowly novitiates that they are, didn't have to share. But, what about Grey? Or other Houses around the country?

Morgan speaks Russian?

"Katya!" she screamed, her voice choked with tears, running toward her sister's body. But Morgan reached out and grabbed her before she reached Katya, wrapping his arms tightly around her and whispering softly in what I thought was Russian.Since when did Morgan speak Russian?

Is this actually Russian that Merit is hearing? Did Morgan already know Russian or did he learn it to speak with Nadia in her native tongue? What other languages does Morgan speak? For that matter, what about Ethan, Malik, Luc, Lindsey, Scott, Jonah? What languages do they speak? Does Merit speak anything besides English? I imagine Ethan, in particular, speaks a number of languages. Who's the most linguistically well versed among our favorite vampires?

How was Lakshmi recruited as an RG informant?

"She’s in love with you,” I said.    
He cleared his throat nervously. “I know.”    
“That’s why she agreed to the meeting, isn’t it?” I looked at him. “That’s how you got her to show up?”    
He nodded, just once.    
“This is just a clusterfuck. I suppose it would be wrong of me to suggest you offer to play Seven Minutes in Heaven with her so that she might give us the egg?He looked at me askance. “You want me to offer to make out with her so she’ll save your House?”    
I smiled a little. “Yeah, could you?”    
“No. And you should get back. They’ll be wondering where you are.”

Did she begin her informant career solely because of Jonah's looks? Or because she was in love with him? I mean, I get it. Jonah is one hot motherfucker. But, that's risky business, informing on your higher ups in the hopes of getting a hot vampire in return. Where and how did she and Jonah even meet? Was it at a Grey House event? Maybe the official founding of Grey House? I assume there's some sort of ceremony when a House is formed. Is that where this whole thing began? Or, did someone else in the RG bring her in and Jonah met her that way? Did she stay an informant because of Jonah? That's a lot of responsibility on Jonah's shoulders. And, I guess, now he knows how Lakshmi feels, what with his unrequited and undying (ha!) love for Merit.

I.....um........yeah........

Without warning, and before I could correct him, he reached out, gripped the edges of my jacket, and kissed me fiercely. “You are mine and mine alone, and it appears you need reminding. I suggest you return to our apartment; otherwise you’ll be ravished here and now where you stand, and the door is open."

Excuse me, my brain shorted out for a second there. This is quite possibly the hottest Ethan has ever been, in my opinion. I am not always the biggest Ethan Sullivan fan, but god damn, this is an Ethan Sullivan I can get behind....or rather, in front of. Or underneath. Whichever he'd prefer.



Bless you, Chloe Neill, for one of the hottest scenes of all time, that didn't involve sex.

"Where is everyone?" I wondered."I believe you'll want to go next door," Lindsey said. "Ethan and Jonah are sparring."

I could read a whole book that is just this.....ok, maybe not a whole book. But, several chapters for sure. Ethan and Jonah sparring, bantering, working off their mutual jealousy....what more could you ask for? But, I am a Jonah lover, so I'll take Jonah however I can get him. Also, what are Jonah's strength ratings? He seems to hold his own with Ethan. Plus, he can fight with double katanas, which is awesome. Is there a Masterdom in Jonah's future?

Does Delia's employer know she's a vampire?

"Is Delia here?" Ethan asked."Delia?" I asked."She's a doctor," Malik said. "And a friend of Aaliyah's." Aaliyah was Malik's wife. "She usually works a split shift. I'm not sure if she's in the House."

How does she work at a hospital? She can't exactly stay, like a human doctor would, if things

get busy. How does she get away with leaving at a strict time? Or, is her split shift something like 9pm-3am, so she's got a little bit of leeway if she needs to stay? Or, does she work at a clinic or something that has specific hours and shifts? Does her employeer know she's a vampire? How do they feel about that? Do her patients know? I would think people would be nervous to have a vampire doctor around a potentially blood filled environment. Or, does she just work with sick people because she can't catch any of their diseases? How old is Delia? Does she go to continuing education courses somewhere to learn the new tricks of the trade?

How do messages and edicts from Ethan and the other senior staff get passed to the Novitiates?

"And until he's caught, no one leaves this House. Not without the express permission of a senior staff member. I don't care if they're going to work, to dinner, to the bar, or to do a good deed."

How does Luc or Helen or whoever's purview this falls under relay messages to all of the House members? We know later that Luc creates a broadcasting app. But, how do they do this now? Is there a House email list? A PA system like at a school? Is there a text alert? Bulletin board? Notes under everyone's doors? How does this work? Also, is this Luc's job as head of the guards or Helen's as den mother? Or, Malik's as second in command? What exactly is the hierarchy in the House?

Does Cadogan have an infirmary?

"Have you heard anything about Margot?" I asked Ethan."I just checked in. She hasn't yet regained consciousness-- which isn't unusual for a wound of this magnitude-- but she's healing very well. Delia expects she'll make a full recovery."

Where, exactly, is Margot recovering? Does Cadogan have a small infirmary for vampire injuries? Or, does Delia have a larger room so patients can stay near her? Does she just make room visits and they stay in their own rooms? Merit often recuperates in the Master suite, but is that upon Ethan's insistence? Where was Delia all of the other times Merit got hurt? 

This book contains the second biggest surprise of the whole series.

I had to blink to be sure I wasn't hallucinating: a massive tiger, ten feet long from nose to tail, white with dark stripes, pounding the pavement in the middle of Chicago.

Our little nerdy shifter, Jeff Christopher, is a god damned fucking tiger. This was a fantastic surprise. The first biggest, of course, being Ethan's death and subsequent return. But, Jeff being a tiger? That is awesome. I actually wish we could see him in his tiger form more often. I wish Merit could just ask him to change during a peaceful time so, we can explore his tiger persona a little more in depth. Merit could be the coolest aunt in existence, if she could convince Jeff to change for her nieces and nephews. Though, I'm sure that's somewhat exploitative and exactly why shifters didn't want to go public. It's still really fucking cool. 

From here on out on this subject Chloe's wording is very specifically phrased.

"I would have liked to have children someday," I confessed. But it wasn't in the cards for me; no vampire had ever successfully borne children.

In prior books, it was always phrased as, vampires can't have children, it's not even a possibility. But, now, it's changed to have never borne children or never carried them to

term. What exactly needs to happen for a vampire to get pregnant? Obviously, it's not just regular sex, as Merit never mentions using any sort of protection and I don't think that birth control would work on vampires. So, what needs to happen there? Also, are we going to see pregnant Merit? Are vampire pregnancies sped up? How does vampire healing deal with pregnancy? Is that the problem in carrying a fetus to term? Is there a spell or something that needs to be done? Some kind of magic to quicken everything? I can't wait to find out.

Well, that's all I've got for House Rules, Saucy Readers. I adore this book. Is there anything I missed that you'd like to know? Let me know in the comments and keep reading to see Biting Bad questions coming soon!