E15 Blood Bound 07: Expectation Management Datapoint

Uncle Mike’s Book Club discusses Chapter 10 of Blood Bound, the second novel in Patricia Briggs’ bestselling Mercy Thompson urban fantasy series.

As always, there are potentially spoilers for every single book published in the Mercy Thompson Universe (Mercyverse): shorts, the Mercy Thompson book series, AND the Alpha and Omega book series (everything through Blind Date with a Werewolf, anyway). It’s okay if you aren’t caught up, as long as you’re okay with spoilers for books you haven’t read yet.


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Chapters:

00:00 Intro  
00:02 Recap Guy 
01:38 Start Chapter 10 of Blood Bound  
05:31 Social media when the book was released (2007)
06:18 Gabriel knows about vampires?!?  
07:30 Mercy-Adjacent Media (Scooby-Doo, Shadow of the Vampire)  
13:28 Back to Gabriel and Vampire Chat  
14:17 Zee and the Vampire-Hunting Kit  
17:41 Bran tells Mercy not to hunt the vampire/sorcerer  
20:15 Werewolf Drama, BRB (Is Darryl more dominant than Warren?)  
28:13 Elizavetta's Experience with Evil  
29:54 Mercy goes to the police station  
31:31 Mercy reviews what she knows about vampires  
32:33 Mercy leaves to take Vampire 201 from Stefan's people  
33:54 Outtake: How much of this book and the last book have we covered?


Recording Date: 2026-04-17


What we talk about:
Chapter 10

* “You’re welcome!” (The beloved Toddler song from Moana)
* Beckworth checks in after Bran warns him away from the Tri-Cities
* Mercy’s relatable reflexive “I don’t need help” impulse, before she asked Beckworth to look into Cory Littleton
* Archaeology tangent about what social media was available in 2007: Facebook vs. MySpace vs. Friendster
* Gabriel suspects this is a vampire problem despite Mercy’s “from a certain point of view” (Star Wars) skirting around the existence of vampires 
* Our recent Mercy-related media: Shadow of the Vampire, Nosferatu (complete with Bram Stoker copyright history), and Scooby-Doo 
    * What are the Scooby-Doo catchphrases and Fred doesn’t have one
    * loathing for a Nicolas Cage production
* Zee delivers Mercy’s unofficially official anti-vampire care package:
    * Kelly’s ongoing Swiss Army Wife reputation even though she only carries a Leatherman 
* Bran tells Mercy not to confront Littleton… 
    * …why did he think that would work???
* Bran accidentally provides useful information while trying to talk Mercy out of her plan— why do vampires avoid walkers?
* Kyle’s emergency call sends Mercy racing to Adam’s house
* Mercy somehow thinks she can solve “werewolf drama” and commute to Finley, then to Richland in about an hour
* Warren has been faking it (as in being less dominant than Darryl)
* Mercy accidentally discovers that Adam’s mate claim came with real magical authority that Warren listens to
* Kyle casually reveals Warren’s wolf has never hurt him, and everyone else immediately realizes Warren’s wolf considers Kyle his mate 
* Elizavetta had to dodge town so the demon didn’t jump to her— she must’ve experienced evil already. So… how much evil can a gray witch partake in before she’s a black witch? 
* Tony saw pics and asks whether Mercy’s trailer is… still standing. And how much destruction happened to the wine cellar?? They had a tasting scheduled!
* Mercy realizes they need to map out the incidents that happened in the day to pinpoint where the demon vampire is living
* Mercy realizes Marsilia’s story doesn’t completely add up and heads back for Vampires 201 from Stefan’s people

YouTube version of this episode: https://youtu.be/UjQybHNXz4s

Transcript

Recap Guy

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Welcome to She Who Wrenches, a Mercy verse reread-along podcast. Today we're mostly talking about Blood Bound, but everything through Blind Date with a Werewolf is fair game, including Fair Game. Spoiler howl? In case you don't remember, Blood Bound is the one where Mercy's trailer gets mauled by a demon-possessed vampire and Mercy runs all over the Tri-Cities trying to figure out where he's hiding. Today we're going to start with chapter one. But before Recap Guy derails us, we now have a web page and ways to message us and leave a voicemail and a blue sky account. It's she who wrenches. The links are in the show notes, but I just had to brag about that, even though by the time this airs, it will have happened a very long time ago.

SPEAKER_03 0:51

You forgot to add the pagers in there, so we'll get that up.

SPEAKER_00 0:54

Oh, our pager numbers, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:55

Yeah, pager numbers will be listed shortly.

SPEAKER_00 0:57

Actually, I think you can text it and then we just see it like inside the platform. So a text is really like a text-based page, if you think about it. Kind of. Okay, okay, just text me your phone number and I'll call you back.

SPEAKER_01 1:12

Yeah, those were real fancy pagers. If you could get a text message on them. Yeah. Yeah, that's true.

SPEAKER_00 1:19

But yeah. Not everyone had the fancy ones.

SPEAKER_02 1:22

No.

SPEAKER_01 1:23

Alright, what chapter are we on? I think you said chapter one, so we're not on chapter two.

SPEAKER_00 1:27

We're starting with chapter 10.

SPEAKER_01 1:28

Chapter 10! Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:30

Which has a one in it. So. That's true.

SPEAKER_01 1:33

That was half the chapter.

SPEAKER_03 1:34

And now it's time for recap, guys! Hey, we actually

Start Chapter 10 of Blood Bound

SPEAKER_03 1:38

talked about the book last time. We made a new personal best by getting through a chapter and a paragraph. So. So Mercy met up with Marcilia and Andre for bottomless bloody merry night at Uncle Mike's to discuss how to off Cory Littleton for conduct unbecoming a vampire. Mercy wonders why she's the one who has to do it, and Marcilla Marcilia basically says, Better you than me, but you can take Andre with you for immoral support.

SPEAKER_01 2:05

Ha ha ha. Okay, that one was good. We'll keep that one.

SPEAKER_03 2:08

And Mercy then auditions for Uncle Mike's supernatural idol and advances to the next round of her life with a stirring rendition of Underhill and Faraway. That's good.

SPEAKER_01 2:20

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 2:21

That was for you, by the way.

SPEAKER_01 2:22

Brittany's like, I appreciated that.

SPEAKER_03 2:25

Mercy then refuses a ride in the bloodmobile from Andre to visit Stefan's menagerie. And Andre has to wait outside because he drank too much last time, and Mercy learns about medicinal vampirism and gets a copy of Vampire Slang for Dummies. Mercy then goes home to her mobile manor and is awoken by a vampire demon infantation in the East Wing. Littleton does spot-on impressions of Mercy and her friends as well as a can opener to her trailer. Mercy critiques his performance by unloading her elephant gun into the floor of her trailer, but Lyttleton sticks his middle finger up through the floor along with the rest of her bullets. Mercy then vows to avenge her trailer and calls and pages everyone she knows to let them know she's going after Lyttleton, and if she's not back in five hours, just wait longer. Mercy then has a conversation with Hannah the Friendly Ghost, and she gives Mercy a glamour shot of Adam and tells her how we changed for our men, but they're worth it. In an unrelated note, Britney kept her maiden name.

SPEAKER_01 3:30

I think that gets you a pass for the whole rest of this episode. You can't be out of the pack. Based on that move right there. Not today.

SPEAKER_03 3:40

Okay, then I'm gonna. It'll happen again. I'm gonna do nothing. Yeah. You have been dared. Yeah. All right.

SPEAKER_00 3:50

Chapter 10. Thanks, recap guy.

SPEAKER_03 3:53

You're welcome.

SPEAKER_00 3:54

Beckworth calls to say, hey, so um Brand called me and who's somebody I've never heard of before, and says maybe I shouldn't come to the Tri-Cities after all, after I'd already talked to Adam and worked everything out. And she's like, Yeah, so it turns out lots of drama. Also, don't know where Adam is.

SPEAKER_01 4:12

Yeah, maybe don't come here because the dude that you're looking for. We're all looking for him.

SPEAKER_00 4:16

We have so much in common. And and he's like, So is this brand guy okay? And she's like, he let me live, so why not? I survived, it's fine.

SPEAKER_03 4:24

Brand's pretty regular. Ah, you said I can't get you kicked out. So he brought it on myself.

SPEAKER_01 4:30

I know that's why I didn't say anything. Like, I know. I did the game to myself. You brought it on all of us. I really did. I did. That's fair. I did. Yeah, he says, so like, we had a conversation, they get this little check-in, and he's like, super grateful. If there's anything I can do for you, you let me know. And she's well, as a matter of fact, I'm looking for this dude. And you, investigative reporter, dude type guy, maybe you can hook a girl up. So she asks him if he can go do a little social media stalking on a fella named Corey Littleton to see what we can find out about this particular ray of sunshine on Facebook. So he says, sure, I'll go see. And she goes, Oh, BT Dubs. If he owns any property, that would also be useful information. Thanks, bye. That's where their conversation wraps up, doesn't it?

SPEAKER_00 5:19

Pretty much. Although before that, she's like, I was about to automatically refuse help, which I super relate to, even though she could have definitely used it.

SPEAKER_01 5:25

Yes. That's like a reflex for lots of people. Yeah, it's fine, I'm good. Yeah, never never mind.

Social media when the book was released (2007)

SPEAKER_00 5:31

But I I also want to point out, like, if my memory is correct, at the time this came out, it would have been equally likely to refer to Facebook or MySpace.

SPEAKER_01 5:41

In fact, it would be more likely, I think, at that point to have been MySpace or Friendster or you know, the 20 minutes some other social media platform that was popular, I feel like, but I might be wrong.

SPEAKER_03 5:54

Getting illegal downloads for vamster.

SPEAKER_00 5:59

Blabillon came out in 2007. So eh, we're starting to veer towards Facebook. But how weird is it that those like three, four years really matter? And then it like Facebook has just dominated the world since then. Ever since, yeah. So yeah, she's like, hey, if you're really a private investigator, please find information.

Gabriel knows about vampires?!?

SPEAKER_00 6:18

Thanks. And then Gabriel's like, hey, so what's up? And she's like, yeah, there's actually some serious because he had gotten the Warren call the day before, and which is weird to think that was just the day before. Uh, but it's it's all screen packed right here.

SPEAKER_01 6:33

She's trying, but she's trying to give him like the diplomatic version of this area. The the uh what I told you is true from a certain point of view answer is what she's trying to give him. Like, I don't want to lie, but I sure don't want to tell you the truth. So she sort of lays out these little bits of information, and Gabriel goes, Okay. So are there vampires involved too? Or you know, is it just is it a vampire like Steph Stefan? Yeah, she's like, Is this yeah, is this a vampire thing? Because like Stefan's a vampire, and we and she's like, and she tries to give like the I don't know what you're talking about. You know, and he's like, We only see him at night. And you know, da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. Like, and basically, like, aside from Scooby-Doo, it's like one that big singer you're talking about.

Mercy-Adjacent Media (Scooby-Doo, Shadow of the Vampire)

SPEAKER_00 7:30

He said he's not Dracula, and then I was like, Yeah, but is he Count Orlock? No, Count Orlock. For Count Orlock for our uh listeners. Um since our last recording, we watched Shadow of the Vampire, which they watch in Rivermarked, and and um it was a thing we watched.

SPEAKER_01 7:53

Yeah, it is certainly a thing I've seen, yes.

SPEAKER_00 7:56

Yeah, it was real weird, and then went down a rabbit hole looking, googling stuff. We watched that and we've been watching a lot of Scooby-Doo because our toddler likes Scooby-Doo now. And so we've been really immersing ourselves in the like extended, real vaguely related media to Mercy Thomas.

SPEAKER_03 8:18

We need a mystery machine.

SPEAKER_00 8:19

We almost bought one.

SPEAKER_03 8:21

We need to get one.

SPEAKER_01 8:22

Yeah, interesting side note about Scooby-Doo because as we were watching it, we determined because we were going down the list of what does everybody say? Everybody has a catchphrase. So we felt, you know, Scooby says rot-roll, you know, a lot. So we were going with that. Shaggy says Zoinks a lot. Velma says jinkies a lot, and got the question from the toddler, what does Daphne say? My answer was nice ascot, but uh apparently incorrect. Sadly. Uh apparently she does have a catchphrase. You just don't see her very much, so it's hard to You don't hear her talk very much. You see her plenty. She does she just walk by when everybody walks by. But apparently her catchphrase is jeepers, and we looked for what Fred says, and there is no catchphrase for Fred unless you ask an AI, because the AI said Fred's catchphrase is scooby-dooby-doo, and he howls it at the end of every episode.

SPEAKER_00 9:22

So I forgot about that hallucination.

SPEAKER_01 9:26

I enjoyed that one, but uh yeah, we just kind of noped out like Fred doesn't apparently have enough character development to even have a catchphrase, which I sort of thought was an interesting thing to note. So, there you go. Thank you for coming to our Scooby-Doo talk. Uh, meanwhile, at the Airport Ramada. Ramada.

SPEAKER_00 9:47

We we actually built up watching Shadow of the Vampire for a long time. Yeah. We were like kind of excited to watch it. And then we watched it, and that managed all of those expectations. Yeah. I mean, it's an interesting idea. Mostly what I didn't know about it was that they'd had all the copyrights, uh, they'd asked for copyright permission and were denied. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:11

For the Nosferatu the uh Dracula.

SPEAKER_01 10:17

Yeah, so they made it destroy all the copies. Yeah, the reason the film Nosferatu exists in the state that it is, is because the guy that made the movie in the first place went to Bram Stoker's widow and said, We want to make the film version of Dracula and like was ready to go. There was a script and everything. And she was like, Lol, no, that's not happening. There's no way I'm not letting you make this movie. It's not gonna happen. I'm not giving you the rights, you know, no, and you can't make me, basically. So they rebranded everybody. I know they didn't have this then, but it was a find and replace. So I was just thinking, they had to do this with a typewriter. Yes. So they had to like go line everything out, and instead of being instead of being Dracula, had to write in count or lock, you know, and and like sort of give everybody else the names. Very it's legally distinct argument, right? But it's a very familiar story. So the courts decided it was not legally distinct.

SPEAKER_00 11:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:18

Yeah, the footnote is that it changing names was not good enough to be to argue legally distinct. So it didn't count.

SPEAKER_00 11:30

Oh, jeez. Look what you've done, Kelly.

SPEAKER_01 11:33

Yeah. I know. I know. I knew it going in. So then this movie Shadow of the Vampire is about the actual making of Nosferatu, and what if Mac Shrek was actually not some Hollywood actor and was some sort of mysterious supernatural creature, and we've made a deal. We get him to be in the movie, and he gets the lead actress at the end. That's how we're gonna work this out.

SPEAKER_00 12:03

And by get, that is not defined. Like in what sense? Nobody is told.

SPEAKER_01 12:12

Basically, I don't know. I think the closest we ever get to it is like you promised me I could have her or something, is like what he says. I think that's the closest.

SPEAKER_03 12:24

It's Count Orlock snacks. Is it a Rot roll?

SPEAKER_01 12:29

Is it a date? Is it she lives in the tower of this creepy place that we filmed the movie? We have no idea. I feel like a thing that would have been good to know going in, which is not a spoiler, but is an expectation management data point, is that this is the first film Nicolas Cage produced. Yeah, we didn't know Nicolas Cage was detached. We didn't know he had anything to do with it in any capacity. And if I had known that going in, I maybe would have expected something closer to what we got out of that movie.

SPEAKER_00 13:00

It still is way better acted than if you were in it. Oh, 100%. Like no question.

SPEAKER_03 13:06

I mean, it still has a ton of energy.

SPEAKER_00 13:08

Yeah, we tried watching an interview with him. I did not maintain focus for that.

SPEAKER_01 13:14

It's hard. It's hard sometimes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:17

I can't hear him talk.

SPEAKER_01 13:18

We will talk more about Shadow of a Vampire when we get to that part in those books, which is not this book. I don't know what you're talking about.

SPEAKER_00 13:27

Anyway,

Back to Gabriel and Vampire Chat

SPEAKER_00 13:28

back to this vampire.

SPEAKER_01 13:30

Yes, let's talk about this one. Because Gabriel's like, is it a vampire is this a vampire problem? Because it seems like Stefan might if Stefan's involved, is it actually a vampire issue or not? You know. She tries to make the like, I don't know what you're talking about, kind of little Jedi hand wave, and he's like, no, that's no. You know, it's very much a conversation about Gabriel being like, Osborn at night, mercy, but it wasn't last night.

SPEAKER_00 13:58

Your trendy tricks don't work on me.

SPEAKER_01 14:02

So she also updates him that uh Adam and Samuel are MIA.

SPEAKER_00 14:08

And she keeps calling people and they keep not calling her back.

SPEAKER_01 14:11

Yeah, she tries to pay unanswered, nobody calls back, nothing happens. So

Zee and the Vampire-Hunting Kit

SPEAKER_01 14:17

next thing we know, here comes Zebolt Adalbert's minor. One day we will spend some time talking about him because I have so many questions. But anyway, Shocker, he shows up with a burr under his saddle. Who could have guessed? He'd come in hot, right?

SPEAKER_03 14:35

He's pretty pleasant.

SPEAKER_01 14:37

Yeah. So this ray of sunshine sachets into the shop like mercy. For Pete's sake. No vampires. Yeah. No vampires. Knock it off. Don't do this. It's stupid for you to continue. Here's some stuff because I know you're gonna do it anyway.

SPEAKER_00 15:00

Well, uh, Uncle Mike has been gathering up the supplies from the Faye reservation to send off with her.

SPEAKER_01 15:07

Yeah, because he's trying because this is more uh not helping, like, I'm officially not helping. So he got some stuff together and like took it to Z, right? And then was like, you know, we're not supposed to help Mercy doing any of this stuff. So in unrelated news, I just happened to have this particular steak. I was thinking maybe you would like these. Maybe you're doing some redecorating and you could use some, you know, wink, wink, nudge, nudge. Z puts together a little a little vamp stock and care package for Mercy. So here's a simple bag with uh his knife that will cut all of the things with capital letters on all the things. I g I'm I'm just waiting for the let me give Eric a second to make the sawzall joke. I'm just waiting for it.

SPEAKER_03 15:57

No, I was gonna make the coin joke where you you know you set the coin on the vampire and you say a fluvia and it disappears.

SPEAKER_01 16:05

Yeah, yeah, it turns the vampire into a fluvia.

SPEAKER_03 16:08

Into a fluvia.

SPEAKER_00 16:09

When I was actually thinking about your reputation as the Swiss army wife, and which is a nickname that Kelly has given herself on many occasions, and it's feeling like your supply is not adequate if you don't have the knife that cuts through everything. Yep. And that that is lacking in your inventory.

SPEAKER_01 16:30

Yes. I do not deal with as many supernatural creatures as Mercy does, so the regular leatherman that lives in my purse seems to do the job for most things. Okay, okay, all right. Yeah, I've never had to I've never found the occasion to slice up a vampire, so I haven't really or anything else, you know, quite that interesting for that matter. So mostly it's okay. Yeah, so she gets the medallion, the knife, and a stake. Because the stake came from Uncle Mike. And he explains to her how the medallion works. Like you have to say, is it I I thought it was dragon. You have to say or burn or whatever it is. You have to say Draken or something. I don't know. It's Draken, but I don't remember if it was because it's it's burn or because it's dragon or whatever, but anyway, you have to say it and mean it, and the thing that it is on will set will catch fire, thanks to this majigger.

SPEAKER_00 17:19

So did Z make that one?

SPEAKER_01 17:21

I assume he did. I don't know if he said he did, but I just always presumed it. Because it's metal. Yeah. I know it's not iron, but it's not silver either, I don't think.

SPEAKER_00 17:32

I think he made it, but it isn't technically a weapon, and we normally think about him making weapons, but whatever. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:37

Well, if anybody could turn that into a weapon, it would be him.

SPEAKER_00 17:40

It's true. It's true.

Bran tells Mercy not to hunt the vampire/sorcerer

SPEAKER_00 17:41

Yeah. And then brand calls, and I think Z's still there for this. I think so too. And it's like, hey, don't do it. What do you mean?

SPEAKER_01 17:49

Why are you surprised? It's like they've never met, you know? And like, as we discover through the books, most of the reason anybody knows anything about Mercy is because of the ways that she got back at Brand. For him to say it and believe that it's gonna legitimately make a difference, because he does not strike me as a person who says things for the sake of having said them. Like, like, I feel like what that should have been was there any way I can talk you out of this? Or is there anything to keep you from doing this? Cause I know you're gonna, unless he is standing in the doorway. I feel like the answer is thanks for playing.

SPEAKER_00 18:36

And and she can't, she's she even says, like, whatever, I'll just tell him what I'm gonna do, because it's not like he can do anything about it. You can't do anything from Montana.

SPEAKER_01 18:45

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:48

Yeah, she's like, look, there isn't time. If I don't get them before nightfall, like, who knows what little Tim will do to them. If I can get him in the daytime, then that would be so much easier.

SPEAKER_01 18:59

And while we're on the topic, one of the MIA characters in question is your son. So, you know, I gotta go. Yeah, by the way, these are the two people that we that are currently missing. So if you thought there was any chance I was gonna not do this, yeah, you know. There wasn't until this is where we are, and now that this is where we are, I've got things to do, K by.

SPEAKER_00 19:24

He does want his son rescued. Now, he's also been actively worried about his son committing suicide for some time. So even before like he came back, he was, you know, when he was off in Texas and they didn't know where he was, and he was like, I kind of kept waiting to like discover he died. There is still like I'd like to protect Mercy, but also like having his son that's been around.

SPEAKER_01 19:49

Mercy's not my son, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:50

Four-digit number of years would be good too.

SPEAKER_01 19:53

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 19:54

And then he accidentally helps her a little bit with information about walkers and vamps, and yeah, he's like, hey, they're they're afraid of you, but hey, they also managed to get rid of most of you. So yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:07

Yeah, this is why there's still vampires and only like one walker or so left.

SPEAKER_01 20:13

Keep this in mind, yeah. So

Werewolf Drama, BRB (Is Darryl more dominant than Warren?)

SPEAKER_01 20:15

Mercy, Mercy's phone just keeps blowing up because she gets done with Bran, and she's like, Well, that was fun. Her phone rings. It's Kyle. I'm gonna need you to get over here. A-SA-M-F-P. Uh because things are happening. And uh things are happening. It's I don't quite know what, but I know that it's a huge problem, and I need somebody who can put the skids to this. And and Adam's AFK. So you're my next call.

SPEAKER_00 20:47

On her way over there, she gets a call finally back from Tony saying, Oh, yeah, we've got it for you. She's like, Yeah, I gotta run some errands, and by errands, I mean, I don't know, weird werewolf drama that I hope I survive. And then yeah, she never mentions like these are life-threatening errands. It's not a big deal. I got some errands. Maybe I could come by in like an hour, and I thought, an hour seems really soon. Don't you want to ask about like maybe two, three hours? Yeah. Like, what makes you think you can deal with this thing that quickly? She kind of does, but yeah. But you can't underestimating time.

SPEAKER_01 21:24

Exactly. You can't expect werewolf drama to be solved with a snap and point, you know. Knock it off alpha enough, maybe.

SPEAKER_00 21:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:31

There's more to it. There's generally more to it than that. She can't just roll up a newspaper and whack a couple of them on the nose and call it a day.

unknown 21:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:40

That's not how this works with generally. Generally with vampires, it's sl or with werewolves, it's slightly more involved.

SPEAKER_00 21:50

So she gets over to Adam's house and Henny's like, Go, go, go. You go now.

SPEAKER_03 21:56

They're marking their territory, spraying the house over. Everywhere.

SPEAKER_01 22:02

We find out Daryl's upstairs. We find Warren has changed. Yes, he's Wolf again. Yeah, he's Wolf again. Daryl is basically ordering Warren to lie down. And because Daryl outranks Warren, this is supposed to work. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:22

It should be a non-issue. But Warren should just go lie down.

SPEAKER_03 22:26

And yet But Warren is hiking his leg.

SPEAKER_01 22:30

Warren is standing there like Lolno, you know, basically. And so this is where we find out that uh Warren D G A F about Daryl's dominance because there isn't any. And Warren has been choosing. Warren has been choosing to let Daryl be second because Warren, A, has an ounce of self-awareness, and B probably doesn't want all of the nonsense that comes with being someone second, even if Adam were to do it, were to name that, to name him that. And C has probably no patience for the political interpersonal fallout of being on the other team and having that high a position in the pack. This is where we discover that Warren Warren has kicked back and let Daryl be second, even though that isn't necessarily true. And that his wolf ain't got time for that.

SPEAKER_00 23:36

And and there's no Warren home at this point. It is only Wolf. All wolf is still injured. Yeah. And the wolf was like, I pretend to be less dominant. What?

SPEAKER_01 23:48

Yeah, as far as the wolf is concerned, Daryl is now an adult in a peanut special. Wah wah wah wah wah wah.

SPEAKER_00 23:55

And then today in Mercy Learns Something New About Werewolf Magic, she can apparently order Warren to lie down and it happens because Adam claimed her as a mate. And she's like, oh, I just thought that was like, you know, werewolf. I thought you just said so.

SPEAKER_01 24:15

I didn't know that like you wrote it in magical pension. Just thought it was an honorary title. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 24:22

That's probably part of why the pack is so messed up, because it was an actual real magical thing that happened, but then she didn't like finishing.

SPEAKER_01 24:29

But she wasn't like, yeah, she wasn't there for it to actually for it to matter. So now there's like this hole or vacuum or whatever. Like she looks at Warren and says, lie down. And he goes, Okay.

unknown 24:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:42

And so now, of course, Daryl is this is makes Daryl even grumpier, I imagine. And he started off pretty grumpy. Yeah, and it's not better because it worked for her and not for him.

SPEAKER_00 24:55

Is this the part where Kyle was like, Yeah, well, he didn't hurt me before, and everyone else but Kyle knows what that means?

SPEAKER_01 25:05

Uh, almost, because they take him downstairs, and that's when we find out because Kyle wants to get in the in the cage with him. And they're all like, Don't do that. Like, I know right now you are a metaphorical snack and you are about to be a literal snack. Don't sit in there with him. And they go, and he goes, Well, he's never heard me before. And that's when he turns into EF Hutton, and like everybody starts listening because nobody else realized the depth of that relationship until this moment. Maybe honey, because Warren, because she says that she knows of Kyle when he first shows up at the house to hold Warren's hand. You know, Kyle's told me about you. That tells us a few things about all three of those people in that moment. But then this is where, if this is how well he's behaving when Mercy isn't there to boss him around, we need him to go into the one of the safe rooms. So that's when Daryl and Honey haul the entire mattress downstairs, wolf and all, and they stick it in a cage, and Kyle tries to get in the cage with them, and that's when where that happens, is they're like, Yeah, no. And he's like, why not?

SPEAKER_00 26:19

In case anybody doesn't actually remember, the reason is that means that Warren's wolf thinks of Kyle as his mate. Yeah, the wolf too. And Kyle don't know what that even means.

SPEAKER_01 26:29

Kyle has no idea the significance of that, just says, He's never heard me before, I don't know why it would be now. Which in that moment made me wonder how much interaction Kyle has had with Warren's Wolf. I don't know how much. And I just sort of wondered at that point, like, huh?

SPEAKER_00 26:48

I get the impression that they kind of broke it off, like right after he found out he was a werewolf because of the whole lying thing. So I don't think much at all. I would guess, at this juncture.

SPEAKER_01 26:59

At some point between the first book and the second book, they are on the outs, and this is what sort of fixes that. But the reason they're on the outs is not because Warren is a werewolf, it was because Warren didn't trust Kyle enough to tell him. Um I've got this whole other hobby. Maybe you should sort of be aware of, but like, yeah, I can see that being a weird conversation and not wanting to have it. So yeah, that's the part that sent Kyle around the bend. And that's one of the things I love about Kyle in these books, is like Mercy lays it all out for him, and he goes, Oh, okay, like, is that it? And that that's the thing that makes him mad is that it's that you lied, it's not that you're a werewolf, like that part's okay. And so, like, as these things continue to happen, and Kyle, much like Mercy, Kyle continues to get kind of roped into some of these things or ends up on the fringes of a bunch of different things because of his proximity to Warren and one thing and another. So I really enjoy Kyle's perspective on all this stuff too, because it's a little bit like us wading into something that is supernatural, you know, which we have no experience with, and so getting to hang out with Kyle during all of these is always kind of fun. But also, Kyle is delightful. I would hang out with Kyle 100%.

Elizavetta's Experience with Evil

SPEAKER_01 28:13

We would have been friends.

SPEAKER_00 28:14

So Mercy tries to call Elizabeth again, and Daryl's like, oh yeah, that's not gonna happen. She left town because she was afraid of the demon jumping to her. You can call her, she ain't gonna answer, baby. Well, of course, that's because she's calling a house phone because it's a landline. Mercy notes that that means she must have had a brush or two with evil to be that easy to be uh moved to for a demon. Yeah, and this is before she's a black witch.

SPEAKER_01 28:48

This is before that's what I was wondering about. The subsequent rereadings was in that moment, like she's not completely a black witch at this point. So there's definitely more to that story.

SPEAKER_00 29:03

Put it this way: gray has a lot of gray area. Gray witch has a lot of gray area. It's uh it's it's a big nasty space because at this moment her grandson is in her basement being slowly cut to pieces over the next few years. Yeah, I forgot that. It's at the old house, but whatever. She's already started torturing him. He is alive and no one sees him again. Yeah. At this point, that's already happening.

SPEAKER_03 29:30

That's yeah, he's just fallen to pieces.

SPEAKER_00 29:32

Robert is already has has no freedom and is already being used to power her spells. Okay. But not a black witch in this case.

SPEAKER_01 29:42

Yeah. At this point, Daryl then reminds Mercy about here's what we know about killing vamps. And then she's like, Oh, I told Tony I'd meet him in an hour, gotta go bye. So

Mercy goes to the police station

SPEAKER_01 29:55

she hauls off to the police station. She really did solve it and probably showed up within an hour, like she said she was gonna.

SPEAKER_00 30:02

I just know how long that takes to drive between like Richland and Finley.

SPEAKER_01 30:06

It's they're not close. Yeah. I didn't think they were. They are not.

SPEAKER_00 30:10

No.

SPEAKER_01 30:11

So then she shows up at the police station. Tony kind of takes her aside, like, so we got some reports about a uh trailer getting torn up in uh the east wing of a single wide out in Finley.

SPEAKER_03 30:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:26

East wing's gone. It's now an official single white again.

SPEAKER_03 30:29

Rumor has it, you lost a few bathrooms in the melee.

SPEAKER_01 30:34

We heard something happened at your house. Is the pool alright? Yeah. So was it the li? It's fine. He just got the library. Oh, that's a shame.

SPEAKER_03 30:44

Yeah. We heard multiple stories were damaged.

SPEAKER_01 30:48

Yeah. So she's like, Yeah, something. Something is happening. I'm telling you about it. And she kind of tells him, and he shows her the map, and she's looking at the map. I don't see anything. And then we get the guy whose office it is, right? That's he's the guy that shows up. He rolls in, and so Mercy says, Tony, take off all the nighttime stuff because I want to know where it's hitting the fan in daytime. Because she's hoping that like just the presence will cause something to happen. She asks him about that. He says, I'll have to get uh an intern or whatever to go do it. She's like,

Mercy reviews what she knows about vampires

SPEAKER_01 31:31

Alright. So Mercy goes and gets some food. Cause she's like, I I don't know, like it's been long enough. I guess I should eat something because I can't remember the last time I ate something, so and so she starts thinking, so then this is where she starts going back through the current conversation that she had with Marsilia and what Marsilia has done so far. She didn't send everybody to go get this guy. Like, how come she's got vampires? Like a bunch at her disposal to do what she says because she's the she's in charge. And vampires have to do what you tell them when they're when you are the one that made them a vampire. So she starts thinking about like, hmm. So who made Littleton if Marsilia can't boss him around? It wasn't Marsilia. So who is it that made him so that we know because I want to find out, you know, if that person is bossing him around. And we don't know who, and it would really be nice if we did. That's some good

Mercy leaves to take Vampire 201 from Stefan's people

SPEAKER_01 32:33

information to have. So she's like, okay, I need more info. So I'm gonna go take Vampire Interactions, the 200-level class, from Saturn. So we got Vamps 101 last time she went. So now we're up to Vamps 201. Like, we've covered the easy stuff. And we need to go talk to them about the other stuff. What about making vampires? Who made this? And and feet and see if there's any other information she gets from them that helps point her in the right place.

SPEAKER_00 33:05

And she's also wondering, like, who else in the seeds, like, who is she keeping up this front for? And so, like, there mustn't be people she doesn't control, and she's it's one of the things that goes into where I need more information. And that's probably where we should leave it, because that's like one full chapter, and next will be chapter 11. And look at us go finishing a whole chapter in an orderly fashion. Orderly ish. Reasonably. I mean, for us, this was pretty orderly. It was pretty orderly. Pretty orderly. So next time we're gonna tackle chapter 11. Thanks so much for joining us. Farewell, Howell.

Outtake: How much of this book and the last book have we covered?

SPEAKER_00 33:56

This is our will be our seventh episode, and definitely not the last one, covering Blood Bound. And uh today released the sixth and final episode of Moon Called. So um we're we're keeping our derailments right on schedule. Crushing it.