I've been working my way through book three in L.A Bank's Vampire Huntress Legend series entitled:
The Hunted
It's 565 pages of Awesomeness and I've been so busy reading that I haven't had much time to even blog... I was waiting for a suitable theme for this post and now having read the first 250 pages I think i've found something that I want to write about - No Spoilers I promise!
Here We Go...
So in chapter two, Damali Richards- our Neteru/Huntress- goes to hang out with her childhood girlfriend Inez so as to get away from the recent chaotic activity (end of book 2). They reminisce about the old days and share the memories closest to their hearts, taking the good with the bad in stride and comforting each other. Both women also touch upon the strength of language, remembering and reminding one another that "words have power" (Banks 32). The words that Damali and Inez use continuously register meanings to each both on the internal and external levels. Tears flow as salt is thrown into re-opened wounds and each woman has to speak the troubles of her heart, hoping to gain some semblance of peace; Each woman providing the "safe place" for the other, both emotionally, spiritually and physically.
Damali and Inez's pasts together are both riddled with negative experiences, challenges and dangers from men in their life who represent all that is bad and evil and perverse in humanity- Damali's foster father who tried to sexually abuse her, and Inez's uncle who managed to abuse her. Both women were fortunate to get out of these situations barely scratched but Damali knows the hurt goes way beyond the physical realm.
Damali blames herself for not protecting Inez better when they were kids, and Inez blames herself for Damali being incapable of having a good relationship. They consider their shared issues for a while and silently cry for the guilt and the shame, the terror and the sadness of it all. On page 31 Damali's inner narration tells the reader that "yeah, there were demons and predators in the world- inhumane humans as well as the living dead. Wasn't much difference between the two entities. Both stole lives, shattered futures, broke spirits, and twisted healthy minds" (Banks). Damali comes to the sad realization that for women, the main predator is a man because he alone can turn your world upside, and drag you through a living hell- regardless if he's alive or living-dead.
On the subject of men and the harm caused to women by them- "fine or not", they discuss Inez' child and Damali reflects on the angelic beauty that is this little girl. Here we might see that beauty and goodness and light can grow out of the pain and hurt and darkness. When Inez comments that Damali should of given Carlos Rivera a baby way back when because it "mighta changed him a little?", Damali is concerned by her girlfriends ignorance of the serious consequences of bearing innocent children into the world (Banks 41). What Inez proposes here is something that is very counter to Damali's thoughts on the subject of childbearing; "It hurt her soul that her girlfriend had so completely missed the point/ You didn't have a baby for someone. Lord help her. A baby didn't change a man, nor did it deal a relationship, and that was the last reason you had one. A child wasn't a hostage or a choker chain. New, innocent life wasn't supposed to be created for those reasons..." (Banks 41).
And so, Damali becomes faced with even more responsibility- to guard the innocent and ignorant women of the world and fight for them against the evil forces who she knows will continue to try and fill their fragile lives. When she thinks about her girlfriend, she is deeply troubled; They remember the mothers, sisters, cousins, aunts and grandmothers who suffer hard lives and troubles because of a false hope given to them by men shadowed in darkness. Her spirit is disturbed that these women, these pillars and givers of life and creation on earth- do not understand the consequences of their choices when accepting and tolerating dangerous men in their lives- men who only bring terror and pain, sadness, fear and anguish.
Not only does this huntress have to protect the earth plane from the evils of below, but furthermore she knows that she also has to protect the women- the bearers of innocence and life- from all evil, alive or un-dead. A lot of pressure to place on the shoulders of one person, on the Millennium Neteru but none the less a cross that Damali is ready and willing to bear faithfully.
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I know I know, I didn't really end my rant off well, but that's going on with me from Inez and Damali's encounter in chapter 2..
Here's some photo's of the copy that I'm reading from:
Happy reading
<3
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