In Which I Read Twilight: Chapter 18 -- The Hunt · 2:45pm Feb 4th, 2018
Alice’s visitors arrive: three other vampires named Laurent, James, and Victoria. They exchange pleasantries with the Cullens, having not had any vampiric company in quite a while. Carlisle invites them to the Cullens’ home, and this happens:
“That sounds very interesting, and welcome.” [Laurent’s] smile was genial. We’ve been on the hunt all the way down from Ontario, and we haven’t had the chance to clean up in a while.” His eyes moved appreciatively over Carlisle’s refined appearance. (Side note: ugh. Even other vampires are taken in by how so frigging hot like whoa the Cullens are.)
“Please don’t take offense, but we’d appreciate it if you’d refrain from hunting in this immediate area. We have to stay inconspicuous, you understand,” Carlisle explained.
Remember how the Cullens don’t eat humans because it’s wrong? Yeah, heavens forbid they make other vampires not eat humans, too. That might require work. Nope, I guess eating humans is a-okay as long as they’re not the ones doing it. They don’t even tell Laurent’s gang to not eat around Forks because eating humans is bad; they tell Laurent’s gang to not eat around Forks because it might inconvenience them.
In spite of this hypocrisy, things seem to be going well enough, with Carlisle inviting the three to his house, until the wind shifts and James catches Bella’s scent. The situation immediately turns sour: James starts acting bestial and aggressive towards Bella, and Laurent is astonished that the Cullens have brought a “snack”. Instead of telling the group to back down, she’s a friend, Carlisle does some stalling, saying the invitation is still open, while Edward, Alice, and Emmett take Bella back to their car. Edward immediately starts driving out of Forks; James, he says, is a tracker, someone obsessed with hunting down people. Right now, the person of his obsession is Bella, so they need to get her away from Forks. Bella’s distraught not only because she’s leaving town, but because her scent will lead James to Charlie. Edward refuses to listen to the others, even when Emmett brings up some pretty good points:
“He’s no match for us, Edward. He won’t be able to touch her.”
“He’ll wait.”
Emmett smiled. “I can wait, too.”
“You didn’t see — you don’t understand. Once he commits to a hunt, he’s unshakable. We’d have to kill him.”
Emmett didn’t seem upset by the idea. “That’s an option.”
“And the female. She’s with him. If it turns into a fight, the leader will go with them, too.”
“There are enough of us.”
I get the feeling that Edward wants Emmett to stop just because he’s poking plot holes in the story. Seriously, why not confront him now? Laurent’s group is outnumbered seven to three. Emmett’s vampire gift was supernatural strength, on top of the strength vampires have already, so he’s got to be a great fighter compared to the others, especially since he’s so casual about killing James. And, Edward. Edward, Edward, Edward. Remember how you killed bad guys to protect the innocent when you were still drinking human blood? You’d be doing that now. The seven of you need to team up and beat the everloving crap out of James now.
After a little bit of Edward screaming at the others, Bella comes up with another plan: she goes home, tells Charlie she wants to go back to Phoenix. Once James is watching, they run to wherever they want. Charlie isn’t worried sick that she might be dead, Bella’s disappearance from Forks isn’t connected to the Cullens, James leaves Charlie alone. Edward accepts this option and agrees to meet them in Phoenix. They arrive at her house, and:
“Bella.” Edward’s voice was very soft. Alice and Emmett looked out their windows. “If you let anything happen to yourself — anything at all — I’m holding you personally responsible. Do you understand that?”
“If James kills you, it’s your fault.” Fuck you, Edward.
Bella heads into her house, and the chapter ends. What? Has the book actually decided to have a plot? And only three-quarters of the way through, too! I still say they need to jump James and beat the crap out of him.
...Yeah, if I were Carlisle, would have ripped Laurent's arm off. As a warning. "We don't tolerate that kind of supremacist bullshit in my house, you simpering predator. While you are a guest here, you do not act in the hunt, you do not talk about the hunt, you do not think about the hunt. You are civilized here, or you are dead here. And believe me, I know how to give a proper burial."
I can actually understand the Cullens not forcing their philosophy on others. After all, that argument is what drove Carlisle out of Italy with nothing to show for it. Plus they'd be the vampiric equivalent of militant vegans, constantly going on about the health benefits of nonhuman blood and the deplorable treatment of even free-range humans these days and the environmental cost per pint...
Yeah, I get the feeling that Carlisle got chased out of more places than he's admitting.
That said, I can't justify not just saying Bella isn't on the menu and smacking down James if necessary. Lazy writing is lazy.
4789217
It's like Stephanie Meyers never played World of Darkness or something. :V
Gotta agree with 4789219 on this one. Some things you have to disagree silently with people on (or at least not forcefully) if you want to socialize. Like politics, religion, and who is Best Pony. Well, maybe not that last one. Though putting your foot down on what's acceptable in your own house or on your turf would be expected.
Heh. Aren't signals from Fred fun? When your own characters are pointing out plot holes, things probably aren't A-okay.
I love reading these blog posts because I was having similar thoughts when these books first came out.
...Of course I was 15 so all of my friends and peers thought I was insane and thESE BOOKS ARE THE BEST WHAT DO YOU MEAN?!!1!!
...
4789219
Seconded on why they can't just start preaching about not killing humans . At the same time, it makes no sense they couldn't say "no killing near where we live", that's just basic serial killer common sense. Why can some random drifters just roll in on the Cullens' territory and start eating their humans?
Honestly, I read it as Carlisle being subtle; he doesn't want them to feed because it's wrong, but he's framing it in a way he thinks they might actually accept.