Persuasive reseach paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Persuasive reseach paper - Essay Example If a person goes against the nature or predetermined notions linked to the dog’s breed, it is an obvious phenomenon to face the negative reaction from that creature. In this context, judging the dog or any other animal as vicious or even dangerous does not qualify. The owner is somehow responsible for the dog’s negative reaction and not the guiltless animal. Before keeping a dog as a pet, the owner must read and research about that breed of dog. If there are certain factors which may hinder with the natural priorities of the dog, the owner should dismiss the idea of keeping it. The food requirements, living requirements, taming needs as well as attention requirements differ from one breed of dog to the other. Pit Bull dogs are not born to fight but they are tamed and motivated to do so. The recent incident where owner was accused of malnourishment of the Pit Bull dogs is linked to the NFL star Michael Vick. Vick has been found guilty of being cruel with animals when Pit Bull dogs were observed to be mistreated in his territory. The pit Bull dogs are observed to be wounded by fighting and were found to be half-starved. They were not taken care as was observed by their health and apparent condition. Vick was also accused of burying Pit Bulls on his property that lost their lives due to extremely violent fighting wounds. The example of Vick’s cruelty is evident in explaining how dogs are misused and misguided to perform cruel acts. It is obviously not the dog’s will to fight and get those serious wounds but for the entertainment and pleasure of the owner, the dogs are tamed to do such vicious acts. It should be noted that 47 Pit Bulls were saved from Vick’s property and 45 of them were rehabilitated effectively. One of the remaining 2 was euthanized for health risking factors and the other because of

The Insecurity of Shakespeares Macbeth :: GCSE English Literature Coursework

The Insecurity of Macbeth  Ã‚   Macbeth, the main character in William Shakespeare's tragedy, Macbeth was not secure in his manhood.   This insecurity led to the downfall of Macbeth because he felt the need to prove himself to Lady Macbeth. After he proved himself by killing Duncan, Macbeth became desensitized to killing. In the beginning of the play Macbeth showed his love for Lady Macbeth in many different ways. He told her his feelings toward her "My dearest love" (act I, scene v, l 58). Macbeth listens to what Lady Macbeth has to say, and takes her advice into consideration every time he makes a decision. He also has great love for her and tries his best to make her happy no matter what it takes.   Lady Macbeth convinced Macbeth that he wasn't a man unless he went through with the murder of Duncan. She threatens his manhood by saying When you durst do it, then you were a man;/ And to be more than what you were, you would/ Be so much more the man (act I, scene vii, l 49-51). Slowly Lady Macbeth manipulated his mind to think the right thing to do was kill Duncan. Macbeth had decided in order to prove his manhood he must go through with this horrible act. After Macbeth had committed the crime he felt that his soul could never be cleansed no matter what he did. He said They pluck out mine own eyes!/Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood/Clean from my hand? No; this my hand will rather/The Multitudinous seas incarnadine, /Making the green one red (act II, scene iii, l 58-62). This shows that he really didn't want to kill Duncan, but he did it in order to prove himself to Lady Macbeth, and to become the king. By the end he had no fear, and had killed not only Duncan but also many other people. He now had different views from which he had in the beginning of the play. Macbeth realizes that he is no longer afraid "no, nor more fearful. (Act V, scene vii, l 9). He is now considered a man, but he doesn't like the fact that he has killed all these people.

Digital Espionage

Attacks on sites had been a common occurence ever since the boom of the Internet market, and it is only usual for people to get into the business themselves either legally or ilegally. Since the occurence of these attacks anti-virus companies had been built, adding yet another business into the market. But the level of attacks had been vastly improving, and one example is what happened on Google, one of the world’s leading search engine. On January 12, 2010, Google announced on its blog that it had been attacked. It was said to have occured from mid last year and finished last December.Google stated that over 20 other companies including Adobe and Microsoft, had also been victims. On that same day, US Secretary Hilary Clinton publicly asked for an explanation from the Chinese government. Google became aware of the attack themselves, through their inside sources. According to Newsweek, at the time, they contacted Rafal Rohozinski, CEO of The SecDev Group (a global security and research firm) because the attack was very similar to GhostNet (a large scale cyber spying event last March 2009) and they wanted to know what they could share that might be helpful to their in-house investigation.The attack seems to be emanating from the jurisdiction of China. Google said that the hackers were interested in accessing the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists. According to the Financial Times, a person named Ai Weiwei had his two accounts hacked, their contents read and copied. On the others, however, they were only able to view limited details such as the subject line and the creation date of the account. It was said that the attack started when an employee in China click on an infected linked, which was sent through an instant message.The attacker was able to access the person’s computer, and eventually Google’s headquarters in California. It also accessed Google’s Moma, an intenal directory that stores information on each of the em ployees work task. Carlos Carillo, principal consultant of Mandiant (security incident response and forensics firm) was also called in by Google. He said that it was â€Å"definitely one of the most sophisticated attacks I've seen in the last few years†¦ This wasn't something that a 16-year-old came up in his spare time.† He said that they’ve seen similar attacks like this on the government, but never on the commercial space. The level of the attack had certainly been done by a group of experts. Last January 14, 2010, McAfee reported that the attackers had exploited zero-day vulnerabilities and called the attack â€Å"Operation Aurora†. They exploited a hole in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer even if their DEP (Data Execution Prevention) was turned on. The vulnerability affects Internet Explorer versions 6, 7, and 8 on Windows 7, Vista, Windows XP, Server 2003, Server 2008 R2, as well as IE 6 Service Pack 1 on Windows 2000 Service Pack 4.It would be ve ry hard to exploit the flaw on Windows Vista or Windows 7, however, because of its advanced memory protection technology. Zero-day vulnerabilities are those flaws that are unknown to the developer. When the attacker discovers the vulnerability before the developer does, it can prove to be very dangerous. The attacker can either use the vulnerability to copy the information and make a similar program and then sell it to the market, or he can use the vulnerability to directly destroy the program of the developer.As with Google, analysts said that â€Å"China is likely using its maturing computer network exploitation capability to support intelligence collection against the U. S. government and industry by conducting a long term, sophisticated computer network exploitation campaign. † At least 10 to 20 terabytes of data had been taken from Google and other companies. Days after the attack, the exploit had been opened to the public, which are now dangerous to the internet communi ty. Paul Ducklin, Head of Technology (Asia Pacific) from Sophos Lab(developer and vendor of security software and hardware), explained how the exploit on Google was done.The Aurora explot relies on a used-after free bug. The exploit uses java script to control over the browser as it crashes. The exploit has all the usual javascript tricks: heap spray (technique used to facilitate arbitary code execution) and nop sleds (No Operation Execution, meaning to â€Å"slide† the instruction on its final destination) . At the end of the nop sled is the shellcode, (the actual malicious binary code that the hacker wants to execute) and a coming bid which uses javascript events that tricks the browser into misusing memory in the first place.He went to a test server wherein he edited the shellcode, that contains debug breakpoints and he added some human readable text â€Å"WARHEAD† so that if the computer crashed he can visually confirm that it was into the computer’s shellco de. He tried it in IE 6, wherein he put it in the debug controller and only attaching debug to it (the reason for doing so is of course because of the debug breakpoints, so if the exploit actually works, he can track back into the debugger). Then he clicked on Internet Explorer and visited the malicious site.The exploit actually relies on fetching image files. It worked when he tried to see the address on the debugger, â€Å"WARHEAD† came out. Usually, a good anti-virus program can protect internet users from these kind of exploits. In order to fix the IE flaw, Microsoft stepped out of its normal monthly patch cycle to release a patch. The users of IE are now required to run Windows update and click on MS10-002 update to fix it. Meanwhile, Google announced that it would stop censoring its search results in China.David Drimmond, Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer of Google said â€Å"Users visiting Google. cn are now being redirected to Googl e. com. hk, where we are offering uncensored search in simplified Chinese, specifically designed for users in mainland China and delivered via our servers in Hong Kong. † Censorship in China had been a rule to maintain the country’s communism. Censhorship prevents unapproved reformist, separatist, â€Å"counter-revolutionary† ideas from organizing themselves and spreading.It also prevents Chinese citizens from discovering or learning more about past and current failures of the Communist Party that could create or inflame anti-government sentiment. They had also intended on blocking foreign government websites to prevent the people from learning alternative systems of governance . What Google did was a risky step because China may stop doing business with Google altogether. And China, is one of the most sought-after market in the world today.Analysts expects China's search market to reach 10 billion yuan ($1.46 billion) this year. However, in 5 to 10 years, what G oogle did may prove to be advantageous for them. Ben Sargent, an analyst with Common Sense Advisory, a market research company said that â€Å"As a culture, China is much more long-term thinking than most other cultures. No other government takes such long-term views as the Chinese government,† Sargent said. â€Å"So Google is trying to out-Chinese the Chinese in terms of making a really long-term play for young people's hearts and minds in China. â€Å"Google had always been concerned on its position in China, but the country is too big of a market to ignore. As what Rohozinski have said, â€Å"Engagement is better than exclusion. † You can do a lot more for the people if you work from the inside than just standing around and watching. Google went in with their eyes wide open. Sergey Brin(founder of Google), who had been from the Soviet Union understood China on its political views. The cyber spying just gave them the opportunity to make their stand and make the wor ld praise them for it.

Gay Marriage Should Be Legal - 1792 Words

Jack Baker and Michael McConnell walked in the courthouse and payed 10$ and applied for marriage licenses, The clerk refused to give it to them, because he said to them that marriage was with a member of the opposite sex. When the clerk refused Baker, a law student, and McConnell, sued in state court, Baker mentioned the Minnesota statute and how it doesn t mention anything about gender, Baker didn t go down with a fight, he thought it was unconstitutional discrimination on the basis of sex. Baker likened the situation to interracial marriage, and that s when the Supreme Court was intertwined with the situation, since then the Supreme Court passed the ruling that allows gay marriage to be legal in all states. It s truly amazing that people find ways to allow others to find happiness and joy either with the same sex or the opposite sex. People have the right to love someone, whether or they are heterosexual or homosexual, love is for everyone, homosexuals are afraid to be who they are , they are scared of rejection, abandonment, and most of all abuse from peers and/or family. Homosexuals are treated equal around teachers, but when teachers turn around that s when the torment begins and kids, and teens are bullied for their sexuality. Same sex marriage has so many advantages for America and some people can t see that, such as adoption of children left by unprepared families, and even how the idea of traditional marriage has changed over the course of time. Love hasShow MoreRelatedGay Marriage Should Be Legal1205 Words   |  5 PagesHoward Sociology 1301-93431 Gay Marriage Getting married is something that most people do when they find love, which it is an important event in their life. The GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender) community now get the legal right of same-sex marriage, which they have fought for throughout the years; on the other hand, some opponents of same-sex marriage have called for a constitutional change towards it. Although there were some countries that allowed gay marriage before the United StatesRead MoreGay Marriage Should Be Legal1159 Words   |  5 PagesAmendment, which puts a ban on gay marriage. This amendment entitles to equal rights to the gay community, ending toleration of discrimination in jobs, rights protecting gays from hate crimes,rights allowing advancement in government. However, the concept of gay marriage is still not considered a right the American people should extend to homosexuals. II. The vast majority of opponents believe marriage should be between one woman and one man, meaning marriage should be between members of the oppositeRead MoreGay Marriage Should Be Legal1574 Words   |  7 Pagesequal rights. Gays and lesbians are consistently denied rights that are typically taken for granted by the average American. Specifically, gay and lesbian couples are denied the right to marry even if they are outstanding citizens. They are held at an unfair disadvantage solely because of their sexual orientation. This discrimination must stop, because gay and lesbian couples are law-abiding citizens too, who should be afforded the same rights as heterosexual couples. Marriage is about love andRead MoreGay Marriage Should Be Legal1564 Words   |  7 PagesWhat is marriage? Recently, people argue with respect to the definition of marriage. What happened to marriage? To get married is a very important event for almost everyone. Especially for women, marriage and giv ing a birth could be the two biggest events of their lives. Many people believe that getting married to the one whom he or she loves is natural. However, what do you think if you cannot get married to him or her because it is socially unacceptable? 100 years ago different colored peopleRead MoreShould Gay Marriage Be Legal?778 Words   |  3 PagesShould Gay Marriage Be Legal? â€Å"†¦I now pronounce you husband and wife†¦Ã¢â‚¬  One would normally hear this when attending a wedding. In tradition marriage has been between one male and one female who love each other. But how would one feel if they heard â€Å"I now pronounce you groom and groom† or how about â€Å"†¦bride and bride...†? In the last 50 years the number of same-sex couples has increased. The on-going argument between the government and the people is â€Å"Should gay marriage be legal?† Although some sayRead MoreGay Marriage Should Be Legal1126 Words   |  5 PagesJune 26, 2015 for gay marriage to be legal in all fifty states, thirty seven out of the fifty and Washington D.C already legalized gay marriage. Many support gay marriage and many do not, with widespread values and reasons for and against it. Due to religion and rights people across the nation have differing views and opinions of it.In a five to four vote in the Supreme Court gay marriage becam e legalized in all fifty states. Shortly after that a few marriage officiators and marriage licenses peopleRead MoreGay Marriage Should Be Legal1179 Words   |  5 PagesGAY MARRIAGES Some states such as Iowa legalized gay marriage through the action of judicial interpretation based on the state’s constitutional stipulations while other states such as Vermont legalized gay marriage through legislation initiatives. These cases demonstrate the government is the sole body that can dictate the validity of whatever is to be regarded as a marriage, and in this case gay marriage. The power to validate marriage is still observed among the private citizens, religious institutionsRead MoreThe Gay Marriage Should Be Legal947 Words   |  4 PagesDefending Gay Marriage During the last few years, homosexuality has become an important issue for debate. Moreover, homosexuals have taken their case further by claiming their right to marry. Same-sex marriage, usually known as â€Å"gay marriage†, is the marriage between two people from the same biological sex (Doskow1). Since 2000, eleven countries have approved the legalization of gay marriage worldwide: Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Canada, South Africa, Norway, Sweden, Portugal, Iceland, ArgentinaRead MoreGay Marriage Should Be Legal1480 Words   |  6 PagesNew World Dictionary defines the word married as being husband and wife, yet there are millions of gay activists who are fighting for a new meaning. They believe marriage is more than a piece of paper and a set of rings. The hope is that marriage could be defined as a â€Å"public recognition of a private commitment† or â€Å"emotional, financial, and psychological bond† between two people (Sullivan 53). Gay activists belie ve that taking away the ability to have a publicly recognized relationship or an acceptedRead MoreGay Marriage Should Be Legal1351 Words   |  6 Pageshappened for United States, gay marriage became legal in all 50 states. In most states it already was but the remaining 13 became legal this year. There are many concerns regarding gay marriage, and the effects of them involve many legislative, cultural, religious and family issues. Gay marriage is controversial because a lot of people do not approve of it, they think it is immoral, unnatural, and not what the traditional concept of â€Å"marriage† really means. Opponents of gay marriage say it is only meant

Magnificence by Estrella Alfon - 5402 Words

MAGNIFICENCE by Estrella Alfon There was nothing to fear, for the man was always so gentle, so kind. At night when the little girl and her brother were bathed in the light of the big shaded bulb that hung over the big study table in the downstairs hall, the man would knock gently on the door, and come in. He would stand for a while just beyond the pool of light, his feet in the circle of illumination, the rest of him in shadow. The little girl and her brother would look up at him where they sat at the big table, their eyes bright in the bright light, and watch him come fully into the light, a dark little man with protuberant lips, his eyes glinting in the light, but his voice soft, his manner slow. He would smell faintly of sweat and†¦show more content†¦Thank him, their mother called. The little boy smiled and said, Thank You. And the little girl smiled and said, Thank You, too. But the man said, are you not going to kiss me for those pencils? They both came forward, the little girl and the little boy, a nd they both made to kiss him but Vicente slapped the boy smartly on his lean hips, and said, Boys do not kiss boys. And the little boy laughed and scampered away, and then ran back and kissed him anyway. The little girl went up to the man shyly, put her arms about his neck as he crouched to receive her embrace, and kissed him on the cheeks. The man’s arms suddenly tightened about the little girl until the little girl squirmed out of his arms, and laughed a little breathlessly, disturbed but innocent, looking at the man with a smiling little question of puzzlement. The next evening, he came around again. All through that day, they had been very proud in school showing off their brand new pencils. All the little girls and boys had been envying them. And their mother had finally to tell them to stop talking about the pencils, pencils, for now that they had, the boy two, and the girl three, they were asking their mother to buy more, so they could each have five, and three at least in the jumbo size that the little girl’s third pencil was. Their mother said, Oh stop it, what will you do with so many pencils, you can only write with one at a time. And the little girl muttered under her breath, I’llShow MoreRelatedMagnificence: Writing and Vicente1141 Words   |  5 PagesI. Title: MAGNIFICENCE II. Author: Estrella D. Alfon Biography Estrella Alfon was born in San Nicolas, Cebu City on March 27, 1917. She went to medical school to finish her medicinal studies but when she was misdiagnosed for having tuberculosis, she had to withdraw from her studies. She finished her education with a degree in Associate of Arts instead. She became the first and only female member of the Veronicans, a group of writers in the 1930s, prior to the Second World War, ledRead MoreLife and Works of Estrella Alfon7175 Words   |  29 PagesMANDAUE EBENEZER ALLIANCE ACADEMY INC. M.L. QUEZON STREET , MAGUIKAY , MANDAUE CITY TERM PAPER IN ENGLISH SUBMITTED BY : ROLLY A. COLINA SUBMITTED TO : MR. LESLIE T. ONES i. ABSTRACT ii. INTRODUCTION Estrella D. Alfon  (July 18, 1917 – December 28, 1983) was a well-known prolific Filipina author who wrote in English. Because of continued poor health, she could manage only an A. A. degree from the  University of the Philippines. She then became a member of the U. P. writers club and earned

Computers and Human-Level Intelligence Essays - 1498 Words

Computers are taking more and more jobs and this trend will accelerate as we approach technological singularity. This is the event â€Å"when computers will attain human-level intelligence† Natalie Wolchover states. The singularity is projected to arrive sometime around 2030 -2040, but it could occur sooner depending on how computer technology develops. Wolchover states: Physicist, author and self-described futurist Ray Kurzweil has predicted that computers will come to par with humans within two decades. He told Time Magazine last year that engineers will successfully reverse-engineer the human brain by the mid-2020s, and by the end of that decade, computers will be capable of human-level intelligence. Corporations are currently thinking†¦show more content†¦Singh, Susheela, and Jacqueline E. Darroch conclude: The trend toward lower adolescent birthrates and pregnancy rates over the past 25 years is widespread and is occurring across the industrialized world, suggesting that the reasons for this general trend are broader than factors limited to any one country: increased importance of education, increased motivation of young people to achieve higher levels of education and training, and greater centrality of goals other than motherhood and family formation for young women. This shows that education and even knowledge of other opportunities, contraception and abortions can lower the population rate allowing fewer burdens on the government over austerity especially in countries where financial responsibility is not valued as much. Emotions may help develop morals for human being coexistence. The more we interact with robots, the more we develop emotional attachment to it. This can even be exploited for profit with Artificial Intelligence as smart as pets marketed as pets with minimum care, more targeted ads or functions that can help people. We still have the choice of how to advance computers. The only issues relating to singularity against are how to divide the power of computers between different social classes in the world. Corporations want to keep aShow MoreRelatedComputer Vs. Artificial Intelligence926 Words   |  4 PagesHumans and computers both originate from man whether it be biologically or mechanically. Both humans and computers A man can have a plethora of children and also build a computer. As both his Both computers and man are a creation of man. When faced with a problem, human and computers seem to come to a solution in similar ways. In both cases, information is â€Å"placed† in hum ans and computers by other humans. However, knowing information does not making a single being intelligence, understanding andRead MoreThe Moral And Ethical Issues Of Artificial Intelligence1151 Words   |  5 Pagesfertilization, surrogate motherhood, and human cloning once were considered immoral, but since moral codes changed due to cultural settings, they became interweaved into the culture’s fabric and became acceptable. The key to understanding the moral and ethical issues raised by artificial intelligence are the four levels on which intelligent artifacts raise ethical and moral problems. The first level concerns the ethical uses of computers and how humans respond to a world that is constantly beingRead MoreHow Ai Can Bring On A Second Industrial Revolution1360 Words   |  6 Pagesmore intelligent, what I talking about is artificial intelligence, or AI. I think that in the next two decades, this will be the most influential development trend and driving force in s ociety. What is AI Artificial intelligence (AI), also known as machine intelligence, refers to the intelligence produced by a system that is artificially manufactured. Often artificial intelligence refers to the intelligence achieved through ordinary computers. The term also refers to the study of such intelligentRead More Artificial Intelligence Essay966 Words   |  4 PagesArtificial Intelligence Computers are everywhere today. It would be impossible to go your entire life without using a computer. Cars, ATMs, and TVs we use everyday, and all contain computers. It is for this reason that computers and their software have to become more intelligent to make our lives easier and computers more accessible. Intelligent computer systems can and do benefit us all; however people have constantly warned that making computers too intelligent can be to our disadvantageRead MoreArtificial Intelligence Essay1019 Words   |  5 PagesArtificial Intelligence Introduction Today, people are interacting more and more with computers. Life is running at a microchip speed. If all computers are stopped for a day, complete civilization comes to a halt! Fifty years ago, this mightve been a science fiction, but today it is a reality. Further, with Computers being embedded in all of our life accessories like mobiles, watches, cars, even our bodies and brains there is no indication that this microchipRead MoreThe Invention Of Artificial Intelligence1668 Words   |  7 Pageslives today, we all use some form of Artificial Intelligence daily. Some of these activities include: using cellular apps (Google Maps, Siri, Cortana), playing video games, and listening to music. Although the use of Artificial Intelligence has made human life more efficient and effective, it has also insinuated reliance and unsuspecting ignorance into our minds as well, and we do not even see it coming. The history of Artificial Intelligence dates back to the 1950s. Approximately fourteenRead MoreA Critical Evaluation Between Technology And The Human Brain1467 Words   |  6 PagesArtificial Intelligence: A critical evaluation between Technology and the Human brain Humans are continuously trying to develop a technology that will give artificial intelligence to machines (Gupta, 2013). People have been comparing the human brain to different technologies such as computers and smart devices. Recent years have seen an explosion in mobile web use (Entertainment close-up, 2013). Most devices and apps are capable of completing multiple tasks such as; entertainment, communication,Read MoreArtificial Intelligence : The Science And The Future Utilization Of The Ai1349 Words   |  6 Pagesthe Artificial Intelligence in the diverse fields and the future utilization of the AI which achieves the level of human knowledge in the propelled fields of the day by day attempt and how it suffocates us into its innovation are discussed in the paper. 1.INTRODUCTION: (J.Nilsson, 2008) It is seen that computerized reasoning is assuming an extraordinary part in the research of advanced science and operational research regions.In the future intelligent machines will supplant human capacities inRead MoreAn Analysis Of Edgar Allen Poes Maelzels Chess Player 1609 Words   |  7 Pagesa chessboard whose pieces were moved by a mechanical human figure whose arm made the movements. Poe argued that the machine was a fraud and that there was a man inside the cabinet making the moves. Turns out, he was right. His thesis was that in principle no machine could ever play chess. He argued that they could perform mathematical calculations but that there is an unbridgeable gap between playing chess and performing calculations. Computers follow a fixed mathematical or algebraic series. EvenRead MoreArtificial Intelligence Essay658 Words   |  3 PagesArtificial Intelligence Artificial Intelligence is a broad topic, consisting of different fields, from machine vision to expert systems. Nowadays with the use of high level techniques, computers have been programmed to solve many difficult problems, but the products that are available today are only a sample of what is coming in the future. AI has an interesting history and has always been on the pioneering end of computer science. In order to classify machines as thinking

Succubus Dreams CHAPTER 18 Free Essays

string(32) " and no gray in his black hair\." My dream-self sprinted out of the kitchen and toward the sound of the crying. Aubrey and the mystery cat jerked their heads up, surprised at my sudden movement. On the other side of the living room, the little girl sat on the floor beside an end table with sharp corners, a small hand pressed to her forehead. We will write a custom essay sample on Succubus Dreams CHAPTER 18 or any similar topic only for you Order Now Tears streamed down her checks as she wailed. In a flash, my dream-self was on her knees and had wrapped the little girl up in a tight embrace. I could feel what the other Georgina felt, and I nearly wept as well over the feel of that soft, warm body in my arms. My dream-self rocked the girl, murmuring soothing, nonsensical words as she brushed her lips against the silken hair. Eventually, the girl’s sobs stopped, and she rested her head against my dream-self’s chest, content to simply be loved and rocked. I opened my eyes and stared at Seth’s plain white ceiling. He lay beside me, curled up near my body and still smelling like the massage oil. Even awake, the dream’s images were still strong and so real. I knew exactly how my daughter’s hair had felt, the way she smelled, the rhythm of her heart. My own heart pined so much for her that I could almost ignore the fact that last night’s energy was now gone. This was turning into a real problem. I sat up, gently pushing Seth off of me. But as I tried to figure out what to do about this latest dream, a strange thought kept pressing into the back of my head. Erik. I couldn’t stop thinking about Erik. It was nothing in particular, either. No specific problem. But, whenever I tried to think about something else – my job, the energy loss, Seth – it was Erik’s face that appeared in my head. I didn’t understand it, but it worried me. Seth’s arms reached for me as I slipped out of bed, but I skillfully avoided them. Grabbing my cell phone out of my purse, I headed off toward the living room. No one answered when I dialed Arcana, Ltd. It was almost ten†¦usually he was open by then. I called information in search of Erik’s home number, but it appeared to be unlisted. A sense of dread was building in me. Desperate, I dialed Dante’s store. â€Å"Dante, I think something’s happened to Erik, but I don’t have his home number and – â€Å" â€Å"Whoa, whoa, succubus. Slow down. Start from the beginning.† Backing up, I explained how I’d dreamed again and woken up obsessed with Erik. â€Å"Maybe it’s nothing, but after the drowning thing†¦I don’t know. Do you have his home number?† â€Å"Yeah,† Dante said after several moments. â€Å"I do. I’ll†¦I’ll check on him for you and give you a call back.† â€Å"Thanks, Dante. I mean it.† I disconnected as a sleepy Seth stepped out of the bedroom. â€Å"Who’s Dante? Was that a collect call to the Inferno?† â€Å"They won’t accept the charges,† I murmured, still troubled. Seth’s face turned serious. â€Å"What’s wrong?† I hesitated, not because I was afraid to tell him about Dante but because I didn’t know if I wanted him caught up in all of this. â€Å"It involves immortal intrigue,† I warned. â€Å"And the higher workings of the universe.† â€Å"I live for those things,† he said wryly, settling into an armchair. â€Å"Tell me.† So, I did. He knew about my first energy loss but not the rest. I didn’t tell him about the content of the dreams, merely that they drained me of energy. I also explained about the self-fulfilling prophecies and how I’d woken up damp one morning and thinking about Erik today. When I finished, I stared at the cell phone accusingly. â€Å"Damn it. Why isn’t he calling?† â€Å"Why do you always tell me this at the last minute?† asked Seth. â€Å"It’s been giving you trouble for a while. I thought it had been a one-time thing.† â€Å"I didn’t want to bother you. And I know how funny you are about immortal stuff.† â€Å"Things that affect you – that may be harming you – don’t bother me. I mean, well, they do, but that’s not the point. This all goes back to commun – â€Å" The phone rang. â€Å"Dante?† I asked eagerly. I hadn’t even bothered to check the number. But it was him. His voice sounded grim. â€Å"You need to come over here. To Erik’s.† â€Å"The store?† â€Å"No, his house. It’s close to my place here.† â€Å"What’s going on?† â€Å"Just come over.† Dante rattled off an address and directions. With quick shape-shifting, I was dressed and ready to bolt out the door in an instant. Seth told me to wait, and in less than a minute – not as good as me, though still good – he was ready too. I’d never thought much about Erik having a home of his own. To me, he just always sort of existed in his store. The address was about a mile from Dante’s, in an old, yet well-maintained neighborhood. Erik’s house was one of the small bungalow types so common in Seattle neighborhoods, and the front yard was filled with roses gone dormant for the winter. As we walked up the steps, I entertained a brief vision of Erik out there tending the flowers in the summer. Dante opened the door before I could knock. I wondered if he’d sensed me or had simply seen us through the window. He displayed no particular reaction to Seth’s presence and ushered us in toward the house’s one bedroom. The house’s interior looked like it hadn’t been updated in a while. In fact, a lot of the furniture reminded me of mid-twentieth-century styles. A plaid sofa with rough fabric. A worn velvet armchair in seventies gold. A TV that dubiously looked capable of color. None of that triggered any sort of reaction in me, though. What startled me was one framed picture sitting on a bookshelf. It showed a much younger Erik – maybe in his forties – with fewer wrinkles in his dark skin and no gray in his black hair. You read "Succubus Dreams CHAPTER 18" in category "Essay examples" He had his arm around a thirty-something brunette with big gray eyes and a smile as large as his. Dante nudged me when I stopped, an odd look on his face. â€Å"Come on.† Erik lay in bed. To my relief, he was alive. I didn’t realize until that moment just how worried I’d been. My subconscious had feared the worst, even though I’d refused to let it surface. But alive or not, he really didn’t look so great. He was sweating and shaking, eyes wide and face pallid. His breathing was shallow. When he saw me, he flinched, and for half a second, I saw terror in his eyes. Then, the fear faded, and he attempted a weak smile. â€Å"Miss Kincaid. Forgive me for not being able to receive you properly.† â€Å"Jesus,† I gasped, sitting on the bed’s edge. â€Å"What happened? Are you okay?† â€Å"I will be.† I studied him, trying to piece together what had taken place. â€Å"Were you attacked?† His gaze flicked over to Dante. Dante shrugged. â€Å"In a manner of speaking,† Erik said at last. â€Å"But not in the way you’re thinking.† Dante leaned against the wall, appearing a little less grave than he had earlier. â€Å"Don’t waste her time with riddles, old man. Spill it.† Erik’s eyes narrowed, a bit of fire flaring in their depths. Then, he turned back to me. â€Å"I was attacked†¦mentally, not physically. A woman came to me tonight†¦wraithlike, inhuman†¦wreathed in energy. The kind of beauteous, enthralling energy I see you glow with sometimes.† It was a sweet way to describe my post-sex glamour. â€Å"Was she bat-winged and flame-eyed?† I asked, recalling Dante’s long-ago joke about the mythological description of succubi. â€Å"Not a succubus, I’m afraid. That might be easier. No, this†¦I believe†¦was Nyx.† â€Å"Did†¦did you say Nyx?† Of course that was what he’d said, but I’d been waiting for him to launch into a discussion of Oneroi, not their mother. Nyx made no sense. It was one thing for dream spirits to appear in your bedroom and in your dreams. It was an entirely different matter for a monstrous primordial entity of chaos who had been instrumental in creating the world as we know it to appear in your bedroom. It was like saying God had stopped by for waffles on the way to work. Maybe Erik was still delirious. â€Å"Nyx,† he confirmed, no doubt guessing my thoughts. â€Å"Chaos herself. Or, more accurately, Night herself.† From the corner, Dante laughed softly. â€Å"We’re all fucked now.† â€Å"She’s the mother of the Oneroi,† Erik reminded me. â€Å"And, although dreams aren’t her sole domain, she too is connected to them.† â€Å"Then†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I tried to grasp the implications. â€Å"Are you saying she’s been responsible for what’s been happening to me?† â€Å"It almost makes sense,† said Dante. Erik apparently agreed. â€Å"She’s linked to time and all the myriad potential fates that exist for the universe. Fate and time are forever moving closer to chaos – to entropy – and that’s what she feeds off of. She’s trying to create more of it in the world, to bring us that much nearer to ultimate disintegration. But she’s a long way from bringing anything like that about, so she settles for small acts of chaos.† I wasn’t following. â€Å"My dreams and energy loss are acts of chaos?† â€Å"No.† Erik glanced at Dante again. â€Å"We believe you’re her instrument. Since she’s connected to time as well as space, she has the ability to see pieces of the future. And there is no greater way to cause chaos in this world than by revealing the future to mortals. Such visions prove consuming, and if crafted in a certain way, they can drive a person to madness. That person will obsess on it, struggling to either stop it or bring it about in a way it’s not actually meant to unfold. Both acts are futile. The future plays out as it is meant to. In trying to alter it, we only make it happen that much more quickly.† â€Å"Like the Oedipus story,† noted Seth. â€Å"His father’s attempts to change the prophecy’s outcome are what actually made it happen.† Erik nodded. â€Å"Exactly.† I understood now too. â€Å"Just like the cop who saw his partner getting shot. And the man who saw his family benefiting by him swimming the Sound.† â€Å"It’s how Nyx operates. Everything she shows them is true†¦just not true in the way they expect. The ensuing madness and destruction brought about by showing mortals their futures – futures that they end up bringing about – feeds her.† â€Å"But where do I fit in?† I demanded. â€Å"She isn’t showing me my future or making me do crazy things.† â€Å"That’s where the theory ends, succubus,† Dante said. â€Å"You’re part of it, absolutely. And she needs you to do all this†¦but we don’t know the mechanics of it.† â€Å"This is insane,† I said blankly. â€Å"I’m the instrument of an all-powerful primordial deity’s wave of chaos and destruction.† â€Å"That’s kind of extreme,† said Dante jovially. â€Å"It’s not like you work for Google or anything.† Seth gently touched my shoulder. â€Å"Can I ask a question here? I’m confused by†¦like, how is it possible that you’re just now realizing that this†¦Nyx†¦is out there? I mean, if she’s as powerful as you claim†¦I don’t know. Why didn’t you think of her right away? Why hasn’t this happened before?† â€Å"Because she’s locked up,† I said. â€Å"Or well, she’s supposed to be. Heaven and Hell have their own agendas for the world; they don’t want her running loose and messing it all up. If this is her, I have no idea how she got loose. She’s supposed to be guarded by angels, and if there was ever a group that could – † I let out a gasp that turned into a groan. The others stared at me. â€Å"What’s wrong?† asked Seth. â€Å"That’s why they’re here,† I said. â€Å"I’m such an idiot. There’s a monstrous regiment of angels in town. I knew they were looking for something, but I didn’t know what.† That would also explain Vincent’s interest in local news – he was looking for Nyx-patterns that would provide them with a trail. He’d even started to pursue my knowledge of the cop story, but Seth’s shooting and his outing as a nephilim had distracted us all. â€Å"Yeah, well, they’re doing a bang-up job,† said Dante. I rose from Erik’s bedside. â€Å"I have to tell them what we know. Maybe they’ll understand what she’s doing to me.† â€Å"Be careful,† Erik warned. â€Å"She’s suspicious now†¦I think that’s why she came after me. I was looking into this, and she didn’t want me to succeed.† Something else suddenly occurred to me. â€Å"Erik†¦did she show you a vision?† He nodded. â€Å"What was it?† It must have been horrible, whatever it was. He’d clearly been in shock when Dante had found him. Erik looked at me, and for an instant, I saw a flash of the terror he’d shown when I first walked into the room. Then, it was gone. â€Å"It doesn’t matter, Miss Kincaid. She wanted to scare me, to stop me from helping you†¦but it didn’t work. The future will unfold as it’s meant to.† Seeing my doubtful look, he smiled again and pointed toward the door. â€Å"Stop worrying about me. I will be fine. Go find your angel friends before anything worse happens.† I gave him a quick hug before stepping into the other room with Seth and Dante. Once again, I paused to study the picture of Erik and the woman. Just as I’d always imagined Erik living in his store, I’d also never pictured him having any sort of personal life. Obviously, that was a foolish thought on my part. Who was this woman? Wife? Lover? Just a friend? Beside me, Dante held out his hand to Seth and introduced himself. The two men sized each other up. â€Å"I’ve heard so much about you,† said Dante cheerfully. â€Å"I never heard of you until this morning,† remarked Seth. My eyes were still on the picture. Near the edge of the frame, I noticed a crease in the photograph. I don’t know what made me do it, but I picked the frame up and pulled the picture out. The right-hand third of the photo had been folded, obscuring another person who had been with Erik and the woman. Dante. I looked up in surprise. Dante took the picture and frame from me and reassembled them. â€Å"There’s no time for this, succubus.† â€Å"But – â€Å" â€Å"We have more important things to deal with than your own curiosity right now.† I cast an uneasy look at Erik’s closed bedroom door. Dante was right. â€Å"Do you think you could maybe†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Dante sighed, anticipating my question. â€Å"Yes, succubus. I’ll check in on him today.† For a moment, I thought I saw something in his face†¦something that wasn’t just him grudgingly humoring me. Like that maybe – maybe – he cared about Erik too. It was weird, but then, they’d all looked pretty happy in the photograph. The worst enemies were often those who had been friends. This Erik-Dante puzzle just got weirder and weirder. I started to turn away, then Dante called, â€Å"Oh, hey. I can probably make your charm, now that we know what this is.† Hope surged up in me at the thought of finally having safe dreams again. â€Å"Really?† â€Å"If you still want me to,† he added warily. I presumed he was subtly referencing my skepticism – which hadn’t entirely abated. Still, now that I had a name for my predator, I was more anxious than ever to take whatever protection I could get. â€Å"Definitely. If you think it’ll work.† â€Å"In theory, at least. Nyx isn’t exactly a run-of-the-mill spirit. I’ll see what I can do.† I drove Seth back to his condo, anxious to let him off, so I could do some searching. â€Å"I have to go find the angels,† I told him. â€Å"I’ll catch up to you later.† â€Å"So†¦no movie tonight?† â€Å"I – what? Oh, damn it.† I’d forgotten about the plans we’d made. He’d gotten tickets for an indie movie that was showing one night only here. â€Å"I’m sorry†¦I really am†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Well,† said Seth wryly, â€Å"considering life and death are literally on the line, I think I can forgive it this time.† â€Å"You know what you should do? You should take Maddie. You still owe her a date.† He smiled. â€Å"I have the best girlfriend in the world, always trying to push me into the arms of another woman.† â€Å"I’m serious! She’s feeling unwanted. She thinks you don’t like her.† â€Å"I like her a lot. The whole thing is just weird, that’s all. I think I’m going to see if Terry can go to the movie. Don’t give me that look,† he warned. â€Å"I’ll still take her somewhere. Just not to this.† We kissed good-bye, and Seth promised to check on me later. Once he was gone, I set out to find my guardian angels. How to cite Succubus Dreams CHAPTER 18, Essay examples