So Many Questions: Dark Debt Edition

Hi Readers, it’s me again. Back with more CLV questions. Yes, I know. The series is over. But the spinoff lives on. So, I wanted to get these last couple of books wrapped up before Wild Hunger is released.

To catch you up, here are my reviews for the first CLV book, Some Girls Bite, and the book immediately before this one, Blood Games. Check our Chicagoland Vampires tag for the rest!

So, without further ado, follow me after the break to see my questions about Dark Debt! This going without saying, but SPOILERS ABOUND!



Do vampires have death day parties, like Nearly headless Nick?

That ghost was Balthasar, the vampire who, on a battlefield nearly four hundred years ago, had made Ethan immortal and nearly turned him into a monster in his own image.

If so, there should be a HUGE party for Ethan’s 400th. Do they just celebrate their regular birthday and not their turning day? Also, do vampires count their human age when giving how old they are? Like Merit is 28, but she’s only been a vampire for a year. So, is she 28 or one? Or, do they celebrate both days?


How many safe houses are there? 

“I ended up in Chalet Rouge. The safe house in Geneva.”
“I know it,” Ethan said with a nod.

Do they still exist? Do any of the Houses share safe houses? Do all of the Houses have safe houses? Or just the older ones? I would think it would be hard for newer Houses, like Grey, to come up with places for safe houses so quickly. How big are these safe houses? Can they house everyone in the House, or is everyone assigned a safe house to go to in case of trouble?


Ethan!

“You didn’t like me, either, I reminded him. I bet you had a crabby nickname for me, too.” When he didn’t immediately answer, I looked at him sharply. “Ethan Sullivan. You had a nickname for me.”
“In fairness,” he said, mimicking me, “we really, really didn’t like you.”
“Are you going to tell me what it is?"
“No. Because I’ve no wish to sleep on the floor.”

What was Merit’s nickname?! Come on! We need to know!!


I’m going to need to see this super special skill of Malik’s. 

“Rather fantastic,” Ethan said. “You should have Malik teach you how to use them. He’s very skilled. And he knows it.”

For.... scientific purposes. Also, where did Malik acquire this skill?


Answer the question, Ethan. 

“A good idea,” Ethan agreed. “I’m not certain what to tell Scott about Morgan. It’s better if he knows the truth, especially if the Circle decides the Houses can be used against each other. But Morgan, for various and sundry reasons, doesn’t trust us.”
Catcher, not being one to mince words, looked cockily at Ethan. “Does it kinda make you wish you hadn’t set him up with Merit?”
I snorted.

Does anyone else run SWOB with Mallory?

“How’s SWOB?” I asked Mallory, thinking it would be nice to grab a bit of someone else’s drama for a change.
“Good,” she said, nodding, holding a hand in front of her mouth as she chewed. “We’ve got a Web site, T-shirts, business cards...”

Or is it just her? Is Mallory still an Order member, or did they kick her out after the Maleficum disaster? Is she on witchy probation? Obviously, this is sort of a part of her punishment. But it seems like a big operation to run by herself. Even if it were she and Catcher, it still seems like a lot of work.


Does no one get mail? 

“I don’t get mail.”
“You aren’t Master of the House.”
I padded toward him, glanced at the envelopes he’d already discarded. Credit card applications, catalogues, charity updates, bills.

Merit used to get mail. Her RG invite came with the mail. What happened to all of her mail? Does Merit still pay her own bills? Car insurance, credit cards, etc? Or does Ethan insist on paying for them? That seems like something he would do.


What other extra powers are there?

“But vampire strengths—psych, strat, phys—can have their own flavor. Like Lindsey’s being empathic.”

So, do some people have cool super-strength powers? Or other psychic abilities? Telepathy? Flying? Pyrokinesis? Anything else super cool that I’m not thinking of? Or, are Lindsey’s powers just amplified from when she was human?



Would she get to use his name, though? 

“Giving you my name, securing our relationship, would give you security. Safety. Day or night.”

Novitiates get only one name. Are vampires married to Masters an exception? Are any other Masters married? Did Aaliyah get to use Malik’s name when he was briefly Cadogan’s Master? Or, is this a symbolic giving of his name? If people know they are married, it would bring her security? I don’t know how them being married would make any difference to any enemies they have.


I don’t really have a quote for this one, but I’d really like to hear/see the story of how Chuck learned about Supernaturals and how he learned enough to become the Ombudsman.

In my head, it went something like this...

This is hilarious.

She closed the refrigerator again. “Ah. You must not know about Executive Order Two Hundred Eleven.”
“What’s that?”
“Basically, we’re required to keep sack lunches ready for you. Ethan thinks you get hangry.”

That Ethan Sullivan is one smart cookie. See what I did there? Seriously, though, I wonder how much the Cadogan food bill has gone up since Merit has been in residence?


How did/do vampires handle daytime business?

“No. Juliet’s arranged for one of the human guards to call the real-estate office during business hours tomorrow. Like the Circle, he’s spiraling around us, getting closer with each turn.”

Things like banking, court appearances, insurance matters, etc? Do they have human assistants with power-of-attorney privileges? Especially before they were out, how did that go down? Especially non-Master/new vampires that don’t have the benefit of compound interest. That has to get expensive fast. I suppose you could just glamour people into doing things for you, but.....


Then why ask Ethan to turn Merit instead of Celina?

“They’re old, but not as old as Navarre House,” he’d said. Perhaps not. Perhaps not as chic, or as historic, and God knew Cadogan had had its share of bumps.

What was Joshua’s motive then, for asking Ethan first? Did Celina give him a bad vibe or something? If he was so taken with Navarre, why ask Ethan to turn Merit? Obviously, Celina was upset at the snub.


How do vampires in different countries talk to each other?

“The safe house in Switzerland. Chalet Rouge. It’s still operating, but I haven’t been able to reach anyone yet. That’s a phone tag issue.”

It’s literally impossible to talk to a vampire far enough away because of the time difference. Their darkness isn’t the same as your darkness. Again, do they use human helpers here? This is where email would come in handy, but again, it would take a LONG time to accomplish anything.


Poor Catcher.

“Friends, family, vampires. We are gathered on this really odd night to witness the marriage of Catcher Eustice Bell—”
My eyes brightened. “Your middle name is ‘Eustice’?”
“It’s a family name,” Catcher said. “Shut your piehole. Keep going, Jeff.”

Merit will never let that die. Also, how did Jeff know this? That seems like one of those things Catcher would never tell anyone. Like Chandler Muriel Bing. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that Merit refuses to call him anything but Eustice, honestly. Is this one of those super-duper hacker tricks of Jeff’s? Or, did he see it in employment files at the office? Or, did Catcher tell him just before the ceremony? What was Jeff’s reaction?



Do we know what happened to Mallory’s parents?

“I haven’t known much of family,” she said. “A bit here and there, but not in the way most people do. That bothered me for a really long time and I searched for it for a really long time.”

Was it a car accident? Did she go straight to her great aunt’s after they died? Did Mallory ever have to live in foster care? What were her parents like? Were either of them sorcerers and they had hidden it from her? Or, is Mallory Muggle-born, so to speak?


IT WAS MORGAN ALL ALONG!

“If worse comes to worst,” he said, “I’ll go my own way. Go Rogue, maybe hook up with your grandfather again.”
I blinked. “My grandfather? What do you mean?”
He grinned at me. “Didn’t you know? When he started out, I was the vampire who gave him information about the Houses.”

That sneaky little bastard. Obviously, Chuck has Merit now, but what about Intel on the other Houses? Does he still have inside sources for the other Houses? Does Morgan still inform him on things? What about Grey? Is there someone from Grey informing also? What about all of the other supernatural entities? Does Chuck have insiders for each one?

That’s all I’ve got, Readers! Did I miss any questions you had about this book? Are you looking forward to Wild Hunger? Let me know, below!