Nightlit

Actually, you are missing my point entirely. I agree with everything you said, it's just irrelevant. Deadnus' mistakes are unrelated to her goals, other than being contrary to her achieving them. They are political in nature. She's going about it in a way which all but guarantees that she'll fail unless she gets very lucky. She's making enemies, she's arrogant, and she's letting that arrogance dictate her actions, even when it should be clear to any reasonable person that said actions are not going to lead where she wants to go. For example: As the leader of the protection league? She should be aware of vampire law. And yet, it keeps slapping her down in very basic ways. I'm sure there are more legal methods she could be using to get what she wants, and yet she keeps doing the same thing, despite that it's not working. And not only that? But she's destroying her political capital in the process. She's showing everyone who she is, and there are obviously enough vampires who aren't afraid of her, that this is going to destroy her in the long run.

Oh Dani. Don't you realize you have options OUTSIDE of Vincent and Deadnus? You continue to fail to realize your own importance. You could simply refuse both of them and there'd be little they could do, especially if you understood your powers. And once again? Vinicius shows his own incompetence. He should have told Dani about all of this ages ago. The story has reached a point where Dani should have known REGARDLESS of whether Vinicius was still alive or not. Growing up with the information would not have destroyed Dani's childhood, as I suspect Vinicius thinks it would. It would all be normal to Dani if he's grown up knowing it. But instead, he's stuck in a position where he is vulnerable to outside manipulation. And it's basically all because Vinicius didn't give him the tools he needed. That said? I actually think what Vinicius is doing to Dani may be the worst thing happening to him. Dani was never human. He's always been a vampire. And considering how vulnerable he feels as a vampire? I can't imagine how he'd feel as a human. He has no context for it. He'd be weak and feeble by comparison to what he was, and he's been given little choice in the matter. The more I learn about Vinicius? The more I see him as a narcissist. The most dangerous kind too. A self righteous narcissistic idealist who thinks his way is correct. It's a good thing that he does have the greater good in mind, otherwise he'd be a monster. But one light in the darkness does not a good person make.

If Deadnus wants to control Dani in any fashion? She's going about it utterly stupidly. Using fear to control someone who can potentially disintegrate you with a thought is ineffective. If she continues how she is? All she's gonna do is get a bunch of people, possibly including herself, killed when Dani actually comes into his powers. Honestly? Deadnus is just an idiot. She's been an idiot the entire time. Almost no action she's taken for the entire story has been practical, functional, or even remotely intelligent. She's basically just been an asshole for no real reason other than to be an asshole.

I mean. Ryan is a fox, so that's doubtful. Also, Alex's whole reason for breaking up with Owen was to protect him. I don't think he's follow him around after that, if only because it would hurt a lot to be able to see him but not touch. I think they are just some more shifters who happen to live in the area. Perhaps related to Ian's story (which I assume, even if he embellished it, has a lot of truth to it). I suspect Ian never really had interest in Kevin personally. Just in the hunt. The chase. Kevin was something he knew he wasn't supposed to have. You'll note he lost interest? When Kevin became pliable, implying that Ian wanted it to be harder, or never really cared that much about succeeding with Kevin at all, more the challenge of trying.

Yeah. The official reveal of what has been foreshadowed since the first paragraph of the first chapter and hinted at heavily since chapter 3, which all but stated that Ian was aware of the supernatural events going on around him. Given how he was acting, I suspected he'd already been "turned." In any event? I'm hoping for the story to take a leap forward soon. Since we've seen a lot of Ian trying to get into pants thus far, and hints of other things but not much else. And I'd like to see where the over plot of the whole thing is going. Also, if this follows the 9 chapter pattern of the previous stories? Then now is about the time when the "main plot" would kick in.

Well, if you are talking a standard prawn, that wouldn't be especially intimidating (though, some prawns have claws). But a blue whale would be... outside of the fact that it wouldn't be very useful outside of water except for rolling over and crushing things, awesome! But if we're talking man beast? A hybrid man/beast were prawn, or worse, were blue whale? Would be fucking TERRIFYING! LOL I take it Ryan will eventually be a point of view protagonist? (I must say. I never hated the guy, but he definitely has some issues). As for "the thin line between disliking characters and disliking a story?" That's very much your mileage may vary. Some people can only like a story if they like the characters. And some people can only like characters if they'd like them as people. But others can love characters who they'd hate as people, and/or don't particularly need to like characters to enjoy a story, especially when the characters are clearly not MEANT to be likable. Also, unlikable characters can be very relatable (a good example for many people being Holden Caulfield from Cather in the Rye). So I say, just do what you do. You'll find people who like your story, even if it ends up being a niche audience.

As much as I'd love to think that Kevin was secretly bi? (And in this kind of story, who knows?) But plenty of straight friends of the same gender hug or cuddle, especially when they are cold (such is when in a cabin in the woods) or emotionally distraught (like when terrified by a scary story). Yes, it's more socially acceptable for women/girls, but boys and men do it too, especially since, in most cases you'd do that, no one else would be looking anyway. Just saying.

Man. Owen was right when he spoke of Ian in the last book. Dude is an entitled mess. It's hard to see Ian in any positive light when he's literally MANIPULATING two people who explicitly DON'T want to be with him into being with him. Not especially out of the ordinary for a kid his age mind you, but still deplorable behavior. Whether or not he's being successful is anyone's guess, but the one constant that Ian has shown is toxic behavior. He was toxic in book 2 and remains so in book 3. But there are a lot of subtle hints in this chapter that he's not at all what he seems. Particularly when he mentioned being an "old soul" in a young body which, considering that he's been heavily implied to be in the know about the supernatural? Puts some context to how he's acting. After all. If he's some kind of supernatural being that can reincarnate (or, perhaps even, move to a different body when he dies) then it's possible Ian doesn't actually CARE if Owen kills him. And I have a feeling there's a lot more truth to the stories he's told Kevin and Sarah than he's letting on. How does he know about them? Was he THERE? I suppose we'll learn or we won't. But I'm actually finding that fascinating. It's not every day that you get to read a story from the point of view of such a socially toxic individual. I'm curious to see where this leads, because the previous two stories had pretty nice protagonist (or at least, protagonists who were depicted as nice at the time. Hard to see Owen as nice with how he's acting now.) Not that I remotely approve of any of this (which should be obvious), but this sort of character study is so rarely done so unabashedly and without remorse. Keep up the good work! I'd really like to know how much of what's going on is the characters and how much of it is supernatural interference at play. That'd put a lot of context here. (More to Owen's actions than Ian's).

Arani Deadnus is a liability to the state. She is doing nothing but making everything worse. And the fact that no one sees it is kind of a testament to how terrible the current government is. Honestly? I'm not even sure I'd call the government corrupt anymore. They are TOO INCOMPETENT to be corrupt! Mind you, I'm pretty sure Vincent would be worse. Why? Because he has no idea how to lead. Nor does he have any inclination of doing so. The only reason he even WANTS to be king is to avenge his family. He has literally given us zero indication he has any motivation beyond that. Or even that he realizes that being a king is hard work. In short? Neither of Dani's "current options" are remotely worth anything. One is corruption incarnate (or stupidly incompetent). While the other is, at best, incompetent, at worst, just as corrupt as Deadnus if not more so. Honestly? The fact that Dani has any feelings for Vincent now baffles me. If I were him I'd trust Vincent as much as I trust Deadnus. Which is to say, not at all. I'm not sure what I think about the rest of the chapter. It's basically what I expected. I AM curious to know who "she" is. And what significance Dahlia has if they aren't the same person. In any event? Things are coming to a head. And I'm really curious to see what Dani does to well... address the impossible situation he's in.

Hmm... well this chapter had a huge reveal: Ian is IN ON IT. He is AWARE of the supernatural nature of events. That recontextualizes everything. Also, we now have confirmation that there IS something special about Owen. And that special thing has some impact on well... I assume Ian is a shifter, since he seems to be aware of things? But, at the vary least? Ian is being somehow supernaturally impacted by Owen. Hard to know if Owen was being supernaturally impacted when he did what he did last chapter. Could be either way on that front. It's plausible, but alcohol and depression can severely impact a person's behavior, causing them to do things they'd never do otherwise, especially if they get drunk enough to black out, and we don't actually know if Owen remembers what happened. He might not remember what he did, but instead remember that he regrets something, but not what. And Ian could be a trigger for the emotions related to the thing he can't remember, but that still doesn't mean he actually remembers it. And that's only one of many possible scenarios. It could also be that Owen doesn't remember what happened with Ian at all and is just in a super low and is tired of Ian in general. Less plausible, I admit, but still possible. In short? At the moment, we don't actually know how Owen feels about what he did, only that something, probably it but it could be something else, is heavily negatively impacting his mental state, and he's spiraling.

All I can say is that I really enjoyed it. And I think having Tucker and Chris show up again? Was the right way to end the story. It's not just that it brings Cyn's story full circle, it's also showing a couple of predator shifters that presumably wouldn't have had any issues with Cyn being a "prey" shifter, even before the laws came into being. So it's not just bringing Cyn's story full circle, it brings the themes of tolerance full circle as well. Also, as a side note. Not all bears are carnivores. So while bear shifters might not ever really be PREY? There are bears (and thus presumably bear shifters) that aren't predators either, unless there are berry shifters out there.

Well. We don't really know what Owen's condition is. Just because people are targeting him doesn't mean Owen is one of them. He could be significant in some other way. All we know for certain is that people are after him in specific and that Alex's (and probably Ian's) fathers were among those people. I do think that Alex didn't do anyone any favors by not telling Owen what's going on. Ryan even told him to. Alex was being selfish. He let his own insecurities dictate how he handled things with Owen and then used what Ryan told him (which we don't know the specifics of) as an excuse. Since, if what Ryan says IS true and there ARE people after Owen? Having the werewolf around is going to be much safer for him than not having it around. And given that Owen both knew what Ryan was and was the one NOT to react terribly to it? All the evidence pointed to Owen not really having a negative response to Alex, especially after hearing the story of how it happened. As for the band? I mean. I doubt Owen has really lost his passion for anything he's passionate about. I think it's more that he's depressed in general and that's killed his passion in general. But that if he gets over it? He'll be passionate about music again. Though it's hard to know. Sometimes after depression like Owen's the person can't get any of their old passions back, and have to find new ones. But I think that's unlikely in this case. Mind you. I think Owen's life is going to get worse before it gets better. What I'm curious about is what Ian has to do with all of this, and why he's the PoV protagonist for this chapter. I mean, it's heavily implied (as I said before) that Ian's father is one of the people that was after Owen, but we don't really know more than that, and Ian himself was just introduced as a side character in the last few chapters of the last book. So... It'll be a ride for sure.

I hope Owen shows some remorse after raping a kid. He just crossed a line I never thought he'd cross, and while I believe in redemption in all things, Owen has a huge cross to bear now. A cross that I don't know if he'll be able to overcome. Even with the alcohol and his demons, there is no excuse for what Owen just did. Even if Ian ultimately liked it.

While a vampire ON a plane THAT crashed would almost certainly survive? A vampire that a plane CRASHED INTO? Which is the example I gave? Would almost certainly still die. Vampire durability is described as enhanced healing or regeneration, meaning that if something was catastrophic enough to kill them instantly? They'd still die. A person who was crushed by a plane? Would be pretty much destroyed beyond recognition. And even if a vampire COULD come back from that normally? It would be an EXCEEDINGLY UNLIKELY set of circumstances for a human sized being to be hit by that large a plane and not have their head be crushed, and if their head was crushed? It would effectively be severed, which would kill them. As for a lightning strike? That's a trickier thing. That said? Lightning usually doesn't even kill human victims, so that was probably a bad example to begin with. However, you are also overly focused on accidents. I never thought that accidents were exceedingly likely to kill a vampire (though some, like being smashed by a large enough object, wouldn't be particularly more uncommon for a vampire than for anyone else). It was more to point out that death is not always something you can predict or control. It can happen randomly as a result of events that are entirely out of anyone's control. And even if this is exceedingly uncommon? It only has to happen once to any given individual. Once again? Thinking in human time frames. To a vampire? 2015 is pretty much as recent at 2021. 6 years is a drop in the bucket to a vampire (and frankly, even to humans, 6 years isn't that much from a weather trends point of view). And yes, it's true that there are aspects of fire that a vampire would be less affected by (most notably smoke)? Fire is extremely destructive and moves EXCEEDINGLY fast. If fire was moving such that it surrounded you? You wouldn't have time to dig a hole. And obviously, for a Vampire to be killed by a wildfire, they'd have to be either in the actual fire, or close enough to it that it would overtake them that rapidly (not that digging a hole is that realistic an option to begin with, since you'd have to somehow fill the hole while in it, as fires of the magnitude I'm talking about make the AIR hot enough to melt skin, so even if there was enough time to dig a deep enough hole? Being in a hole as your only protection is a gamble at best). The truth is? Though most accidents that could kill a vampires ARE exceedingly unlikely? Fire's unique combination of speed, unpredictability and resilience? Makes it probably the thing vampires should be most worried about. (Which is, admittedly, not atypical in vampire stories). I should probably add the caveat that we actually don't really know how fast and strong vampires have the potential to be, so all of this has to be taken with a grain of salt. We haven't ever had a vampire's super speed described except relative to other vampires, so we have no context for how much faster they are than humans. And, similarly, the only time we've really seen their strength depicted, it was in Dani's fight against the dogs, but since we have no idea how strong THOSE were, we similarly have no context for their scale. Though there's no evidence that I can see that they are on the scale of say, the Flash or Superman, it's technically possible, in which case you'd be entirely correct. I agree! As I said? While I do think that accidental death probably happens to vampires more often than you'd suspect? That's actually irrelevant to my point about Vinicius, since one of the major reasons WHY I think that he failed Dani is BECAUSE he was in a position where it should have been clear to him that people were trying to kill him. He was a powerful political figure in a chaotic aftermath of what was effectively a military coup that ended in the deaths of not just the royals in charge, but the ENTIRE royal line! One doesn't do that unless they think there are enough forces that might want to return them to power as to make them merely existing a threat. And if them existing is that much of a threat? Then the powers that might try to reinstate said monarchy would just be a GENERAL threat to anyone who doesn't want to return to that system who has the political power to resist it. As one of those people, Vinicius should have at least had an inkling that he might be a target, and prepared Dani accordingly. Who knows why he didn't. Maybe he was shortsighted (though that seems out of character)? Maybe he was arrogant enough to think it would never succeed? We may never know.

That's a very human way of looking at it. Sure, within the confines of a single human life span, 50-90 years? Those things are rare. But if you are living for hundreds, maybe thousands of years? Even getting stuck by lightning becomes far more common. And sure, we haven't had planes for a while, but people get hit by cars or buses all the time, and cars and buses are more than capable of striking with enough force to sever a head. Especially in a situation where the only way you'd die is by being killed? Unless you are completely unafraid of death (which most vampires in this story clearly aren't), you'd be at least peripherally aware of the things that could kill you. And as technology "advances" accidents are more and more capable of causing the catastrophic damage required to kill a vampire. Heck! House or wild fires commonly burn for DAYS unless they are manually put out, let lone the 15 minutes it took to kill a vampire, and they spread extremely fast and are actually MORE common now than they were at other points in history. Interestingly, modern society has almost certainly made it so that vampires die far MORE often on accident than they ever did before, simply because the opportunities for that to occur are far more prevalent in this world we've constructed. Even if one isn't so worried about accidental death? They are living in a time of political upheaval where death for political reasons is not unheard of. Vampires literally killed an ENTIRE FAMILY LINE simply because of politics. Even the unborn children. It wasn't enough to just remove them from power, they had to be eradicated. And this event was extremely recent, by human, let along vampire, standards, so it should have been in everyone's recent memories. Vinicius was a powerful vampire with an attitude that was obviously unpopular with groups of people that were not afraid to make that opinion known. And the way everyone is plotting right now has a normalcy to it that tells me that it's fairly common place, and likely has been for a long time. In short? Vinicius should have been aware of the potential of being targeted, because it's not a huge logical leap to make given the circumstances. To not at least consider the possibility that he might be a target and prepare Dani accordingly? Was arrogant, foolish, or both.

The failure is less getting murdered, and more failing to prepare Dani for the possibility that he might die. After all, he wouldn't have to be murdered to get hit by a plane or struck by lightning. (I dunno how powerful your vampires are, but from what I've seen, both of those things would probably have the potential to kill one).

A fact that got him quietly murdered. (Remember, my whole argument is that Vincius failed. Getting yourself murdered on account of overly trusting your peers? Seems like a pretty big failure to me. 😛 )

And I'd argue that in an underground world of VAMPIRES? That fact ALONE is Vinicius failing him. 😛 Demetrius may be harsh? But he's right in the sense that unflinching trust? Especially from someone as potentially powerful as Dani? Is as dangerous as leaving the big red nuke launch button unprotected and unattended. I'm not suggesting that Vinicius should have turned Dani paranoid? But a bit more general scrutiny wouldn't hurt. Especially of himself.

Perhaps I'm guilty of false dichotomy myself here. It's not so much that Dani trusts her? As he has shown little evidence of active distrust of her, and though he doesn't like her (partially out of jealousy for Demetrius) he still takes what she says at face value, indicating that from a practical point of view, he wouldn't question what she told him simply on the grounds that she told it to him. In short, though one could argue that he's not on the "trust" side of the "trust distrust" spectrum? He is at least neutral enough that she could easily lie to him and he'd take her at her word. Mind you, if she told him something that he had any evidence was untrue? He wouldn't take her word OVER the evidence, so his trust of her has limits, but Vincent for example? He actually questions almost everything Vincent tells him. Distrust is a double edged sword after all. Once you distrust them, even the truth sounds like a lie. Really, it's mostly that Dani is an inherently trusting person. His "default" state is to take people at their word until and unless he has reason not to. And since trust is a question of behavior not analytics? No matter how much he might question her motives when he's scrutinizing her? If he takes her at her word in general, he ultimately is showing trusting rather than distrusting behavior.

I actually saw this coming from the get go. Which isn't a complaint! It's what I wanted to happen.

Interesting reveals here. So, more proof that Vinicius failed Dani. Dani blames himself for what he didn't do, and though I find blame without learning to be largely pointless, Dani is right that in the end he didn't live up to Vinicius. But, like I said before? I still think that's Vinicius' fault as he had plenty of time to learn how Dani ticked and realize that he probably needed to take a more forceful hand with Dani. Because if this chapter solidified anything about Dani? At least currently? It's that he's a follower, through and through. While he isn't a puppet, at least not yet, he doesn't take action, he invokes action in or reacts to action from others. Note that in ALL the thinking he did about whether to follow Vincent or work for Deadnus? It didn't OCCUR to him at ALL that HE could make his own choices. That he was trapping himself in a false dichotomy between two extreme options, when really, numerous other options already exist. It would be one thing if his own agency had occurred to him and he dismissed it as unrealistic? But the thought didn't even occur to him at all, and he spent enough time musing on it that if it was going to, it should have. And note that, one thing that was consistent about Vinicius' training technique? Both with Dani and with Demetrius? Is that he was trying to get them to make the choices and figure things out on their own. And while that worked with Demetrius, because Demetrius does take his own agency? And did so even while he was "innocent." Dani doesn't. And before anyone says anything: there's nothing WRONG with being a follower. Giving your agency to others is not a weakness. But it is a personality trait that greatly affects how you interact with others and how you see yourself, and Vinicius failed to realize that, actually? The best thing for him TO do with Dani? Was to stop getting Socratic and to firmly explain to Dani how he thinks things should be. He could still instill a sense of open mindedness and a sense of thought and all the other things he wanted to put in him. But he should have done so more directly, because that's what Dani responds to. You can see it in the story all over the place. What does he react badly to? All the misdirection and deception. And though Vinicius wasn't intending to deceive? The Socratic method is, from a behavioral point of view, a form of misdirection. The thing that is different is the goal, but the psychological manipulations are nearly identical. However, whenever something is told to Dani directly, whether it's good for him or not? He takes it at face value. Look at how he reacted to Maritoni? He just accepted the abuse from him. He didn't really question it until he had the realization that Maritoni did not actually WANT to teach him at all. That he was being deceived. But had he never had that realization? I think it's very plausible that he'd have just accepted that Maritoni had his best interest at heart, and that all the abuse was character building or something. Similarly, he reacted very well to Demetrius? Because for all that Demetrius was blunt and uncouth and even mean? He's always direct. Even when he won't tell Dani, he just states it, rather than beating around the bush. The only times he leaves things up in the air is either when he feels he can't say something, or when he feels like it's so obvious that Dani should be able to figure it out. And then he prods and prods until Dani does so, rather than leaving it up in the air for Dani to muse on like Vinicius did. The specials he immediately trusted? Were also similarly transparent about their goals (or at least apparently so, unfortunately Dani is extremely gullible). And I should point out that he TRUSTS them even when he doesn't LIKE them. Like Luciana, for example, he's never liked her. But he has shown little if any distrust of her. So I actually understand why Vinicius failed now. Vinicius was a bad match for Dani, and for whatever reason he never realized that certain critical things weren't getting through to the boy. He should have changed his tactics or found a different mentor, and in doing neither, he stunted Dani's growth, both as a special and as a person.

Perhaps, but I actually find it more interesting that Vinicius DID fail. Vinicius is the sort of character who has the potential to be a Mary Sue mentor. Him having clear flaws? Makes him a much more interesting character AND it makes Dani's story more compelling as well. The fact that Vinicius failed Dani? Makes Vinicius indirectly a conflict Dani has to overcome rather than an asset, helping Dani be the overall focus of the story. Rather than acting Vinicius' will out, Dani gets to make a choice between his flawed but optimistic mentor and the other forces pulling at him. And maybe he still chooses Vinicius? But Vinicius not being perfect? Gives Dani the opportunity to make that choice, since if he was perfect and the obvious pick? Then Dani wouldn't really have any agency, Vinicius would just be another person pulling his strings.

So, there's a lot to respond to here. While it is true that arrogance is a problem in powerful individuals, a lack of self esteem can be equally bad, if not worse. Not only does it make a person malleable, and thus easy to use by others who might take advantage, people with low self esteem are easy to traumatize, and trauma causes people to react emotionally rather than rationally, which in the case of someone with the sort of power Dani might have, could be disastrous. And confidence ISN'T arrogance. People say there is a fine line between them, but the truth is they are actually very different emotions. Confidence isn't thinking highly of yourself, confidence is accepting yourself as you are, both your strengths and your limitations. A truly confident person can say, "Yeah, I can't do that." And that's that. Bullying is not just something arrogant people do. People with low self esteem are just as likely to bully if not more likely to. Whether or not Dani was confident or not has no connection at all to whether he might take up bullying since, the simple truth is, ANYONE can take up bullying. But more to the point? There is a difference between humility and low self esteem. Like I was saying about confidence above? True confidence involves some level of humility. Some level of acceptance that you have limitations and weaknesses and there's nothing wrong with that. While one can be humble and have low self esteem? Similar to confidence and arrogance? They are different emotions/states of mind. I mean, yes. From Dani's perspective, he's just come from a tragedy, that's true. But, to be frank? Vinicius had ALREADY failed, and likely WOULD HAVE FAILED even had he not been murdered. Vinicius has had 17 - 18 YEARS to teach and instill the things he wanted to in Dani. And his time with Dani was almost up. While it's understandable that Dani would be traumatized by the death of his parental figure, outside of that trauma, Vinicius' death would have little impact on his ability to instill in Dani whatever values and feelings he might have wanted to, since he was only going to be with Dani for a few more months anyway. As for building alliances and making friends? There is little indication that Vinicius had anything to do with that. In fact, we have evidence that Vinicius actively kept him away from others. He didn't just not allow Dani to visit the other specials, he ACTIVELY kept FROM Dani when he did so. And we never really saw Vinicius talk about friends or anything, so while we can tell that Dani does have some social skills, if awkward ones, they easily could be in SPITE of Vinicius rather than BECAUSE of him. And there is every indication that Vinicius' death didn't kill Dani's self esteem. He's just as self conscious in the flashbacks, if not more so, indicating that his attitude and state of mind aren't the result of trauma, ergo, unless Vinicius was trying to make Dani nervous, indecisive and self conscious to the point that he lets other people walk all over him? Which I doubt is the case? He failed. And here's the thing. There's nothing wrong with Vinicius failing. Vinicius was clearly flawed. I mean, someone managed to kill him by somehow tainting his magic sunblock, when he invented it. Also, Vinicius didn't prepare Dani for his own death, which either means he was shortsighted enough to be unaware of it, or was arrogant enough to assume that it would never happen to him. But there is a darker truth to Vinicius' failure, and we have seen hints of it from the first chapter. Dani is a very emotional person and also very pliable to others. Vincent, for example, while we don't know for certain that he is actively manipulating Dani, there is no doubt that were he doing so? Dani was falling for it. And Dani immediately trusted the other specials, except Demetrius, who he distrusted for a similarly banal reason. In fact, had Demetrius' room not been right next to his? It's likely Dani would never have changed his views of him. And it's true that Dani being confident wouldn't necessarily make him immune to these things? But it's further proof that Vinicius was not amazingly effective at getting Dani to make good choices. From this we can also infer that he may have failed at many other things he was trying to accomplish, both with Dani, and beyond.

I'm not suggesting that people consider Dani PERSONALLY important. I'm suggesting that they realize that his UNIQUENESS is inherently a form of power and importance, and that CONTROLLING that uniqueness is, itself, a form of clout. And since it's obvious that Dani does not have any love for Deadnus? It would be the perfect opportunity to undercut the fact that he'd work under Deadnus, and do so in a way that's COMPLETELY LEGAL! A rarity in the game of vampiric politics.

I agree with you! And what I'm saying is that fact? Is ultimately a failing on Vinicius' part. Because he COULD have had the confidence. Vinicius utterly failed to instill him with it.