Sidhe Vicious would like to welcome Dante, from Adrian Phoenix’s A Rush Of Wings! He’s been kind enough to join us as a guest blogger, so without further adieu, I’ll leave you in his, oh so capable *cough-sexy-cough*, hands…

 For those of you who don’t know me, my name’s Dante.  I’m frontman for Inferno, I live just outside New Orleans, and I accepted Judi’s offer to guest blog on her cool RAVES & RANTS site before me and the band hit the road on tour.  She asked me if I’d do a bit on pet peeves, and I’m more than happy to oblige.  Judi’s not only tres jolie and tres cool, she’s beaucoup honest.

 (aww, I’m blushing now) 

 Ain’t nothing more solid than the truth. 

 So...pet peeves.

 Pet peeve numero un is this question:  What’s it like being vampire?

 (Oh, btw, I’m nightkind.)

 Merde.  Beaucoup merde.  Dunno.  What’s it like being human?  Being mortal?  Care to wrap that up in a sweet one paragraph answer?  After all, what do you have to compare it with?

 My response is usually along the lines of:  “Dunno.  Tell me, what’s it like being an asshole?”  C’mon, why not ask, “What’s it like being black?  Asian?  White?  Male?  Female?”

 It’s all I know, so it feels pretty fucking normal.  It’s who I am.

 Another question that rates high on the pet peeve o’meter is:  “Will you turn me?”  Yeah.  D’accord.  So then the world will have not only another asshole, but an immortal asshole?  Umm, no.

 ( I wonder if asking him to “bite me/nibble on my neck awhile” counts? Oh Shush... You know you were all thinking it too!) *grins*

 In truth, that question’s no different than asking, “Wanna have a baby?  One that you’ll have to raise alone?”  Yeah...sign me up for that one.

 But my pet peeves ain’t aimed at just mortals.  Hell, no.  Nightkind are often the biggest, loudest assholes of all.  My personal fav?  This one:  “Lady Nose-in-the-Air/Lord Kiss-My-Boots requests a personal audience with you before/after the show.”

 Just because they’re nightkind, they believe they should get special treatment – especially from other nightkind.  Like me.  (*snorts*)  Yeeeaaaahhhhh...like that’s gonna happen.  They can get in line for the meet and greet after the show like everyone else.

 Do they?  Nope.  They usually stalk away, faces looking like they just sucked down a mouthful of cold blood, muttering promises regarding my future comeuppance(s).  Hah.  See my eyes rolling?  Get a life.

 But the grand poo-bah of all pet peeves are the assholes who prey on others by using their hopes and dreams, their aching hearts.  Assholes who eat up their trust.  Twist them.  Scar them.  Strip them of everything.  For money.  Out of envy.  Or just because they can.

 Hell, I guess that ain’t a pet peeve.  It’s soulless something that edges right up against evil.  Fuckers who shapeshift a person’s dreams into delusions and suck them dry of all hope. 

 And it usually starts with a lie.

 Mortals and nightkind alike are guilty.  Mortals and nightkind alike are also victims.

 “A little white lie doesn’t hurt anyone.  Sometimes it’s better than a painful truth.”  Or how about this popular tune: “People lie.  It’s just human (insert species here) nature.” 

 I’ve heard those words or variations of them over and over.  And it’s pure top of the charts bullshit.

 A lie is a lie is a lie.  Hiding the truth is a kind of lie – a lie of omission, and just as harmful.

 Sure, I expect someone who doesn’t like me or is fucking with me or whatever to lie to me.  That’s all part of the you-suck routine.

 But a friend?  No.  With people you like and trust, everything they say becomes a part of your foundation, a part of your reality.  Because you believe them.  And you build on it – your friendship, your love, your every-night life.

 A lie is a termite in that foundation, devouring its integrity.  It doesn’t matter why that termite’s in there chomping happily away – Oh, I didn’t want to hurt you or I was worried you’d get jealous or I thought you wouldn’t understand or even the classic, I had your best interests at heart – the fact remains that the termite is in there.  And it ain’t coming out on its own and it ain’t coming out without doing damage.

 I have a lot of trouble remembering things that happened the first fourteen years or so of my life, even things that I’ve done.  But I’m gonna find out and learn my own truth.  (Yeah, I could be wrong about the ‘fourteen years or so’, I suck at dates and time.)

So night by night, friend by friend, I'm building a foundation, a solid one I hope.  A foundation to live my life by.  And I’ll never lie – not to spare a friend's feelings, not to ease a lover’s jealousy, and I’ll never believe a lie is in anyone’s best interest.  Not even the teller’s.

 I expect the same – no lies.  No matter how painful it is, no matter how ugly, if I ask, give me the truth.  The truth will never come between us, but a lie will.

 I believe deep down, we all crave the truth – mortals and nightkind, yeah even assholes.  I think sometimes we’re scared to ask for it.  But we gotta, if we’re ever going to move ahead.

 Wow.  Pet peeves spiraled into a rant enorme.  Hey, Judi, I just honored the theme of your site!

 So tell me, ma chere, what’s it like being Canadian? 

 LOL, don’t even get me started!! ( Still wildly fanning myself from the hotness that is Dante) 

 Let’s see… there are the un-educated who actually believe that people who live in Canada all live in Igloos and that there’s snow 24/7! NOT! I live in a very metropolitan city ,thank you, and have never even seen an Igloo except in pictures.

 Then there are the people who actually think that everyone in Canada talks like that Bob and Doug McKenzie from some old comedy show (SCTV) that aired a zillion years ago, or that we say “Eh” all the time. That’s a negative! But I digress, see? I told you not to get me started, lol.

 I would like to thank Dante for spending some time with us here at Raves and Rants and I’m sure my readers will agree with the sentiment that you are welcome to come back and visit anytime! *grins*

Adrian Phoenix has graciously agreed to sign and send a copy of Dante’s story in A Rush Of Wings to one lucky commenter, so get commenting people!

I will pick the winner on July 15^th, and if you’d like an extra entry, then blog about this post & contest on your blog, MySpace, FaceBook, LiveJournal,  BlogSpot, WordPress or spread the word in some form and send me the link.