Oh! Oh, no. That's one of the revelations in Blood Noir I didn't mention. It's all Anita's fault that Richard is an abusive bastard and a rapist. See, just like she got the Ardeur from Jean Claude through the vampire marks, Richard got Anita's rage from her. This was mentioned in one of the earlier books I think, but in Blood Noir she kind of takes it back from him, she feeds on it like sex, and when it's gone he's back to his old self and she realises it's all her fault. Except it's after that he rapes her, so as far as I'm concerned, he's still an abusive bastard.

I liked Richard myself, in the early books. The whole self-loathing kick didn't bother me so much as the way he seems to "learn his lesson" in every book yet each time he comes back entirely unchanged. And it bugs me that Anita can't see that he's a waste of DNA and would be much improved by a strategically placed silver bullet.