Cat Elle’s Story So Far
Some of this is adapted from other essays, some is brand new. Enjoy!
Blacksuit, recovering addict, accidental priestess. Catherine Elle has a troubled start in the series, barely outrunning her demons and also being a cop in a hivemind police force. She’s trying to do better on both counts.
As we approach the publication of Dead Hand Rule, let’s take a look at Cat’s story so far.
Cat before the series
Cat’s upbringing wasn’t particularly stable, and she hasn’t been in contact with her parents for years. We hear that she grew up in Slaughter’s Fell, an impoverished area where many residents are illiterate; Cat herself dropped out of school after tenth grade. Assuming we're working with an American framework, that’s two years before the end of high school. She was a scrappy kid, fighting with children a few years older than herself, and close enough friends with Abelard that she goes home with him before the big battle at the end of the book to have tea with his parents.
We don’t get any specifics about Cat or Abelard’s ages, but we can infer they are approximately the same age as Tara (so, early to mid twenties) at the start of the series. We hear in Four Roads Cross that Cat hasn’t been in a classroom - or specifically a History class - for more than a decade, but as we don’t know the age at which compulsory education ends that could mean anything. As she says she dropped out of school, we can assume she left school at 15 or 16 - making her around 26 in Four Roads Cross and thus tallying with my previous assumption.
We don’t find out exactly how Cat became a Blacksuit, but we do know that in the real world armed forces and the police actively recruit kids from underprivileged backgrounds. I can see Cat being recruited as a tough teen fighter, soon becoming addicted to the high of the Blacksuit, and falling into a vampire bite addiction subsequently.
Three Parts Dead
Cat shows up in the story getting high from a vampire biting her, and it quickly becomes clear she’s a habitual drug user in this way. We’re not going to use derogatory terms for her here, simply state that she has an addiction to this kind of high in a way that risks her life. We soon learn she’s also a cop - a Blacksuit, sworn into service to Justice, the replacement to Seril Undying. Becoming a Blacksuit gives people a similar high (and similar withdrawal) to vampire bites, and Cat is addicted to both.
Cat is Abelard’s childhood friend, though they haven’t seen each other for a couple of years at the time the story starts. He tells Tara that she “knows the undercity”, and she is indeed able to find the person Tara is looking for - Raz Pelham, vampirate. Cat is an integral part of the plot, chasing down Tara and Shale when they escape from the hospital, calling the Blacksuits on the gargoyles, and managing to fight against Justice’s mind control to help her friends at the climactic battle at the end of Three Parts Dead. Despite her importance, we don’t learn all that much about her beneath the surface.
From Cat’s perspective, she’s having a totally normal night out getting a bit too wasted and thrown out of a bar, after a standard shift as a Blacksuit hivemind cop. Sure, there was a kinda weird murder of a Judge, but Justice is on it.
Then, suddenly, Abelard appears, wearing dangerously tight leather trousers (can priests wear those??) and introduces her to his new pal, Craftswoman Tara Abernathy, who is looking for a vampire. Cat is definitely the right purpose for this mission. As Abelard tells Tara, Cat knows the undercity - both as a police officer and a vampire bite addict. After a few false starts, they do indeed track down vampirate Raz Pelham as he heads into Club Xiltanda.
Things get pretty weird, then. Tara says Raz has hooks in his mind, that some unknown Craftsperson is wiping his memories and may kill him. Tara fights back with Craft - and suddenly they are surrounded by six gargoyles.
Now, Cat is a citizen of Alt Coulumb, raised on post-God Wars anti-Seril and anti-gargoyle propaganda. Gargoyles haven’t been seen in decades, and Cat (who is, remember, a cop) is not about to let this go. But the gargoyles manage to escape, scattered like leaves on a breeze. Cat is released by her Suit, and the high of being a Blacksuit leaves her.
“The Suit released her, the oil-slick coating receding reluctantly from her skin. To Cat, it felt like peeling off a scab that was her whole mind. Power left her body, swiftness her thoughts, clarity her soul, and the many voices of Justice died in her ear. Nothing took their place. No, not nothing. The void, an absence strong as any truth.
She sagged to her knees, shaking and cold and in desperate need of a fix.”
This is why I theorise that she became a Blacksuit before becoming a vampire bite addict. I think she went looking for another high to take the place of the Blacksuit high. Maybe she was already predisposed to such an addiction compared to other Blacksuits, or maybe this kind of thing is more common than we know. Cat is the only Blacksuit whose POV we have access to.
After this, Tara and Raz both end up hospitalised. Justice has told Cat to monitor Tara and follow her on her investigations, much to Tara’s displeasure. This includes following Tara to the Court of Craft and watching her first battle against Alexander Denovo. Afterwards, Tara needs to do document review, and Cat is disappointed not to get a fun vision quest like Abelard. Instead, they go to the library at the Third Court of Craft. Her presence is quite useful, both in-text (as a Blacksuit she demands access to sealed records) and for the reader (Tara explains the ins and outs of legal Craft to Cat, and thus us).
The pair appear to bond as they return to the hospital to visit a faceless witness to the aforementioned murder of a judge. However, Tara is determined to get rid of Cat’s oversight and uses her skill in the Craft to weave her way (temporarily) into Cat’s mind via a story, sending her off to Raz Pelham’s room while Tara does some Very Suspicious And Probably Illegal Activities. Cat shoves her wrist against a sleeping Raz’s fangs, and feels the high come over her. He wakes, and shoves her off. He’s furious, but with his heightened senses can see that something is wrong with Cat.
They go back to the witness’s room to find both him and Tara missing, seemingly kidnapped by a gargoyle. Together, they figure out that Tara staged the breakout; they follow her trail to the docks. They bond, and it’s a great moment but I am TRYING to be succinct so shall now move on.
Alas, things go wrong once again when they find Tara in a warehouse surrounded by gargoyles, including the formerly faceless witness. Cat feels angry and betrayed, jumping to conclusions - and lets her Blacksuit take over. Justice, compromised by Denovo, tells Cat to break Raz’s neck - and she does.
She calls other Blacksuits, who descend on the warehouse and fight the gargoyles. Ultimately, they subdue everyone and cart the gargoyles, Tara, Raz, and Abelard (who showed up late) to the Temple of Justice to face, well, Justice.
Tara takes over the clearly biased proceedings to reveal the secret plot. Cat isn’t quite there anymore. The Blacksuits are a hivemind at the best of times, and now an enemy (Denovo) is manipulating Justice to make the Blacksuits even less able to think and act. But Tara, using the Craft, is able to break through this control and empowers Cat to testify about the judge who was murdered at the start of the story.
Things go even more wrong, and Cat is lost in her addiction as Justice pulls away. Abelard manages to break through to her - she’s holding a dagger that gives power to Cardinal Gustave, who has revealed himself as being behind the murder of Kos and the judge. Cat isn’t able to do much, but she manages to move her body to slam the dagger against the ground, where it snaps.
That’s Cat’s last action in the battle, but all ends well - Kos is revived, as is Seril (to an extent); the bad guys are defeated; the good guys won, for now. She shows up again at the end to apologise to Raz for the nonconsensual blood drinking thing, and they make plans to see each other when he’s back in the city.
Four Roads Cross
A year later, in Four Roads Cross, Cat and Raz have become close friends and work partners. We meet them on a drug bust that ends up being a cover for people trafficking. Dozens of people are trapped by predatory loan agreements as debt zombies, and slumber in a ship’s hold. Due to international agreements, Kos can’t intervene - but Seril might be able to. Between heists and paperwork, Cat and Raz dance around their mutual attraction and the spectre of Cat’s addiction to vampire bites.
Cat and Raz free the debt zombies in Seril’s name - only to be hit by a trap. The refugees are infected with demons, and if the demons can break Seril, they’re free. Blacksuits, gargoyles, and Raz are attacked. Cat and Raz are able to fight off the ones immediately attacking them, and intervene to help Shale, but it would all be lost if Abelard didn’t ask Kos to blast fire at the demons.
Which is it’s own problem. You see, a bunch of Kos’s creditors, with Craftswoman Madeline Ramp as ringleader, are putting forward a court case saying that Kos has an undeclared interest in the recently revived Seril, putting their investments at risk. If they win, they could take down Kos and Seril, as well as Alt Coulumb itself.
Cat is kinda conflicted about Seril, but will defend her goddess and her city. For most of Cat’s life Seril was dead, her corpse remade into Justice. Cat is a Blacksuit, part of a hivemind police force run by Justice. Now Seril is back and Cat has become something of an unwilling priestess.
“The goddess addressed Cat in the shower, in her mother’s voice.
‘Catherine, why do you turn from me?’
‘Oh, I don’t know if I turn from you as such,’ she replied as she shampooed. ‘We have a close working relationship.’
‘You live inside my body, yet we don’t talk like I do with my children.’
‘I barely had my life figured out working with Justice. Then you came along.’
…
‘I can help you. We can be closer than the structure of Justice allows. You are a priestess. You have made a vow. You could perform miracles.’
‘Miracles aren’t my job.’
The voice did not answer.”
Cat is generally soul searching. She’s only a year into recovery from her addiction to the high of Justice and vampire bites, and it’s rough for her. But she’s pushing through.
Everyone is on their own mission to try and shore up Seril’s defenses. Cat and Raz go for a longshot solution. Raz reveals there’s a community of ancient vampires living deep under the ocean; the two of them swim down to treat with them. In exchange for some of Cat’s blood, a vampire priestess offers a jewel of her cult’s blood in the form of a red jade. If Raz eats the jewel, he can use the vampires’ ancient power but will become subsumed into the cult and essentially die. Not anyone’s first choice, fair to say. Cat and Raz finally resolved their unresolved sexual tension and bang it out. Cat also offers herself to Seril as a proper priestess.
During the actual court case, Ramp’s team start attacking the gargoyles who are defending Seril while Tara is off in Dresediel Lex. Cat, in her new Blacksuit form (silver with wings, v cool) attempts to arrest them for assault against an Alt Coulumb citizen. Joined by her fellow Blacksuits/Silverwings, she fights, thus freeing up some of Seril’s power to final transport Tara across the continent. Tara appears, with a contract that would give Seril far more power and resources. The fight continues until Raz steps in. He drinks from the jade, gaining the power of all the ancient vampires to save the day.
They win.
Cat, as representative of Seril, offers Raz asylum so he doesn’t have to go to the vampires undersea - but it means he can’t leave the city. That’s not too bad, as he is clearly head over heels for Cat.
Full Fathom Five
Cat shows up unexpectedly in Full Fathom Five - which is particularly weird for those of us who read in publication order, as she’s had all her Four Roads Cross character growth but we haven’t seen it yet… Another reason for my preferred order!
Cat doesn’t get POV in this book and is on a secret mission, so we don’t really get what she’s doing until the very end. So, for this section, I’m going to try to reconstruct the story from her POV.
Now a fully fledged priestess of Seril, Cat is working with the rest of Seril’s clergy to return the parts of her that were stolen after her supposed death as spoils of war. Tara got Seril’s rights to the skies back off the Two Serpents Group in the last book, and they’re trying to get hold of another piece they believe to be hidden by the offshore investment banker priests of Kavekana.
They’re pretty sure Kavekana has this shard of Seril because gargoyle poetry ended up published by a random Iskari poet living on the island. So they set up a heist. Gods aren’t allowed on the island, so nobody using Seril’s power could go. Similarly, a Craftswoman like Tara couldn’t get in - security is extremely high. They work with Teo, from the Two Serpents Group, to get in officially. She has legitimate seeming reasons to work with the priesthood, so could potentially get up the mountain itself and be able to drop a beacon in the pool.
Cat will be hiding on the island itself, able to use the beacon to fly up the mountain, get in and get the shard. They think. Nobody has ever done this before.
Cat will be working without the power of Seril, meaning she’ll be deep in withdrawal from Seril’s grace. She’s done it before, and knows how awful it will be. I don’t think Cat from Three Parts Dead would be willing to do this, but the new Cat is. Love me some character growth.
“My Goddess sent me away. Sent me here. I’ve been a cop all my life, and she asked me to steal for her. Because she trusts me. Because she loves me, and damn if I don’t love her back.”
So, Cat sneaks onto Kavekana. As she still has the scent of a goddess on her, she is immediately set upon by Penitents - the terrifying stone enforcers of Kavekana, each hosting a criminal and re-educating them. She fights back incredibly well, but would probably be beaten if not for Izza Jalai.
Izza is completely taken by Cat fighting back, and manages to send the Penitents the wrong way. She helps an injured and seemingly drugged up Cat back to her secret temple warehouse. Izza helps Cat through her recovery while stealing as much soulstuff as she can to leave for the other street kids when she leaves the island.
Cat recovers slowly, and then wanders Kavekana planting glyphs that she can later set up as a firework show distraction while she gets into the mountain. She bonds with Izza, who is alone in the world and wants something better, something more. Despite their significant different life stories, I think she sees a younger version of herself in Izza, and wants to help the girl onto a better path than she could reach alone. While she doesn’t tell Izza the details of her plan, their bond is based on truth and genuine feeling. Cat offers to help Izza escape the island.
The main plot with Kai Pohala and Izza Jalai reaches a climax with Kai locked in a Penitent alongside Teo. Izza arranges to free them. Teo then brings Kai and Izza to an invisible boat where they find Cat. This is when all the plot from above is actually revealed.
Together, they break in, retrieve the shard, rescue the Blue Lady (a new goddess who is kinda Seril’s daughter?), and bring down the mastermind behind idol deaths by calling Elayne Kevarian in - the best deus ex machina one could hope for.
At the end of the story, Cat leaves for the mainland, and that’s the last we’ve seen of her in the series. She’s been referenced in a couple of books (Tara helped her get a mortgage, and Abelard implies she and Raz are still together a few years on).
For now, that’s Cat’s story so far.
What do you think? Let me know - and don’t forget you can subscribe to be the first to hear about new articles and fun projects in the pipeline. Like what we do here? Tips welcome on ko-fi to help pay for the site!
