Tagline: Can a VAMPIRE get enough?
Back tagline: Senior Year is a killer.
Summary: Especially this year at Shadyside High. It’s the first day of school and already the prediction that the seniors will die is coming true.
A cheerleader is dead—drained of all her blood. Could this be the work of a vampire? A psycho killer?
Dana palmer and her twin sister Deirdre need to find out soon. Because all signs show that they will be the next to die.
First impressions: Ugh, I guess it was only a matter of time before the vampire stuff from the first book would be revisited. But at least it seems like this will involve murder, hopefully more than just one. It seems the Shadyside cheerleaders are under attack once again! We didn’t really get to know Dana that well in the first book since she was away at the time of Trisha’s party, so part of me thinks she’ll escape the horror Josie conjured up but seemingly vanquished, if that’s going to be a continuous plot point throughout the series, but who knows. I liked Deirdre during the first book, although she was a bit obnoxious when it came to teasing Jennifer Fear, so hopefully she’s calmed down a bit with that.
I was also expecting more to happen over the summer, but I guess Kenny’s ordeal at camp was the only eventful thing to happen to the seniors. I’m looking forward to going back to school and mixing it up with the other students, which the second book lacked.
Also, this one has gone back to saying ‘A Fear Street Super Chiller’ like the first one, rather than ‘A Fear Street Series’ like the second book. This one and the first were longer, though, like Super Chillers tend to be, so maybe Stine is just keeping that trend going.
I really like this cover, and I’m 98% sure a clawed vampire hand will appear somewhere in this book. Let’s find out! [Note from future: There’s definitely vampire hands involved, but they don’t look like this]
Recap
As usual I’ll put the yearbook photos in place of the roll call, and I’ve also included some new characters featured in this story that don’t appear in the yearbook:
Danielle — A cheerleader whose death kicks off the plot.
Jon – The new boy in school who takes a liking to Deirdre.
Anita – The new girl in school who’s a bit of a klutz.
Part One
The book begins on the first day of senior year as twins Dana and Deirdre Palmer are getting ready for school in their shared bedroom. Dana looks as great as ever, but Deirdre’s struggling to choose an outfit. Dana teasingly asks her which boy she’s trying to impress, but Deirdre claims she just wants to look good for the first day of school. She definitely blushes, though, so Dana thinks she’s lying.
The two girls are identical, save for a tiny mole high on Deirdre’s left cheekbone, but they couldn’t be more different in personality, as we know from the first book. Deirdre complains that she still hasn’t quite figured herself out yet and feels like she’s wasted her high school years in comparison to Dana, a cheerleader who’s dated lots of boys, but Dana reckons she just needs to loosen up and not think so much.
Speaking of Dana and boys, apparently she’s been dating Mickey Myers all summer, [This is brand new information] and the car horn outside lets the girls know he’s here to pick them up. Dana really likes Mickey, although she’s not sure how long it’ll last — ‘Everyone knew Mickey Myers had an eye for other girls.’ Dana’s not complaining though, because she likes plenty of other guys, too; ‘Who wants to be tied down? It’s much more fun this way.’ [Amen, sister]
Arriving at school, Deirdre yells hello to Stacy Malcolm, star of the basketball and track teams. This is her first mention in the series so far, and we learn that she’s tall and leggy and always wears a hat. [Okeh] As the trio climbs out of Mickey’s Firebird, Dana spots fellow cheerleader Danielle Cortez hurrying towards the building. Checking her watch, Dana realises the cheerleader meeting starts in three minutes. She kisses Mickey goodbye and out of the corner of her eye, notices Deirdre’s face go pink, which is weird because she’s seen Dana kiss plenty of boys before. [Maybe she’s got a crush on Mickey!]
Hurrying through the parking lot, Dana spots Debra Lake walking with Mira Block, [She’s not in the yearbook, but her name is listed under Clarissa Turner’s hates, and I can’t wait to find out why?] then runs into Jade Feldman, another cheerleader [And Kenny’s girlfriend, assuming she never found out about Melly] Jade hasn’t gotten her locker assigned yet so has to stop by the office before the cheerleader meeting and asks Dana to let Phoebe know. There’s a noticeable bitterness in Jade’s voice when she mentions head cheerleader Phoebe Yamura’s name, since Jade had failed to get the position herself.
Dana finally reaches the gym, but finds it empty and dark inside. She notices something on the far end of the bleachers and as she draws closer, discovers Danielle Cortez sprawled out on the floor. She also spots a blur of blackness moving across the gym, then slipping out a side door, before she drops down to help Danielle, whose skin is as cold as death. Suddenly, there’s footsteps behind Dana and she whirls around to find Clark Dickson, dressed in all black, who claims he’d heard a scream and came to investigate.
After school, Dana’s in the parking lot with Deidre, Josie Maxwell, and Trisha Conrad, waiting for Mickey to retrieve his backpack, which he’d forgotten. Matty Winger approaches and asks what Danielle looked like dead, and she angrily quips back ‘”she looked like you on a good day!”‘ [Hahaha get him] She admits she looked like she was sleeping and was super cold and really pale, the latter of which Matty finds weird, but he doesn’t explain why before heading off. Josie also leaves for her job at Pete’s Pizza before Trisha starts banging on about her vision about the doomed senior class coming true. Gary Fresno then arrives in his beat-up Civic, and Trisha departs with him, leaving Dana wondering when they began seeing each other. Deirdre explains they’d been dating since the beginning of summer, and Dana wonders if Mary O’Conner knows, since Gary had been dating her the last she’d heard. [I wonder when we’ll meet Mary. I’m 98% sure she’s in the main picture on the cover standing with who I think is Clark and most likely Debra, but could be Trisha. Tbh it’s kind of hard to tell some of these people apart]
Deirdre’s too busy wondering if the senior class really is doomed, since Trisha’s had these flashes all her life, and they always come true. [So why does nobody ever believe her?] Before Dana can respond, a shrill scream interrupts and she’s positive somebody’s seriously injured, or maybe even dead. Upon investigation, the twins discover that Gary’s car had run into the back of another one, but nobody’s injured. Dana spots Mickey finally exiting the school and heads off to get a ride with him, leaving us with Deirdre, who opts to wait for Jennifer and Stacy and get a ride with one of them.
Deirdre then spots Mary O’Connor nearby, tears forming in her eyes as she stares at Gary and Trisha with their arms around each other. Deirdre realises Mary didn’t know they were an item, but before she can say anything, Mary scurries off. [So is Mary still Gary’s girlfriend, as far as she’s aware? Has Gary been leading her on? I need to know more] Deirdre then checks on Trisha, who reveals there was no-one in the other car, it was just parked, and that Gary’s brakes had given out so he couldn’t avoid the crash. Poor Gary knew he needed new brakes, but couldn’t afford them, and now this! [Dare I say, potentially prematurely, it’s karma?]
Deirdre hugs her friend goodbye then heads off to search for Jennifer and Stacy, but is interrupted instead by a tall, lanky guy with thick dark hair who calls out to her. He looks familiar but she can’t quite place him, and he’s surprised because he’s sure he’d just seen her leave with a guy. Deirdre explains he must have seen her twin Dana leaving, and he introduces himself as Jon Milano from study hall. Deirdre realises he’s new to the school, ‘and a real babe’. Jon didn’t know what to expect at Shadyside High, but it definitely wasn’t murder, and he asks if Deirdre knew the girl. Deidre explains that Danielle was a friend of Dana’s, not hers, but it’s still scary to think that someone snuck into the school and murdered her. [Was it Jon? Is he the vampire? Is that too obvious?] He apologises for upsetting her and admits he’s still happy he transferred here, since anything is better than his old school. Deirdre’s curious why that is, and where his old school is, but he’s all like “you don’t wanna know”, and simply says he had some problems there.
Deirdre hopes Shadyside turns out better for him and he’s very grateful for her kind words, then asks if she’d like to hang out sometime. Deirdre agrees, and then Jon leans in close and studies her face. He explains he doesn’t want to get her confused with her twin and asks if Dana has a mole on her cheek too, reaching out to touch her face. Blushing, Deidre shakes her head, and Jon tells her that she’s the lucky twin then because it looks great. He heads off now, leaving Deidre staring after him. She thinks the whole interaction was weird, but it’s also the first time someone’s placed her above Dana, so her panties have officially dropped.
Later, Deirdre’s at The Corner with Stacy and Jennifer, sharing fries and sipping on Cokes, discussing today’s murder and Trisha’s terrible vision for the senior class. Deirdre then tells the girls about Gary and Trisha’s car accident and Stacy, who’s pretty close with Mary since they’re both on the track team, gets upset that they were together again — ‘”How could Trisha do that to Mary?” Jennifer calls out Stacy for putting all the blame on Trisha when Gary is just as much to blame, and while that may be so, Stacy is adamant that Trisha shouldn’t have anything to do with him if he’s not single. [Both girls have a point. Gary should get most of the blame, but Trisha should also have some respect for her classmate, even if she’s not particularly friends with Mary, because it’s not like they’re total strangers. I like Trisha, so I wanna give her the benefit of the doubt and hope that Gary lied to her that he’d ended things with Mary]
Deirdre steers the conversation back to Trisha’s vision, but Stacy’s skeptical of any relation to Gary’s crash since his brakes were shot already, so it was bound to happen sooner or later. Jennifer, whose last name has left her sensitive to discussions about fate and death, demands they stop talking about all this, and Deirdre heads to the counter for another Coke. As she waits, the door opens and a red-haired girl walks in followed by Jon Milano. Deirdre’s disappointed because she thought Jon was interested in her, but it seems like they’re total strangers when Jon joins her at the bar and orders one Coke to go while the girl heads to the jukebox. Jon asks Deirdre if she’s seeing anyone, and she wonders if she’d like to go out with Jon or not. He’s no Mickey, after all, [Knew it!] but Mickey’s dating Dana anyway. She tells him she’s single, and instead of asking her out he says that’s great and skedaddles out of there.
Deirdre takes her Coke back to the table, surprised to find Mickey there. She thinks she may be hallucinating, like he’d suddenly appeared because she’d thought of him, but it’s him in the flesh! He’s got some alarming news, though; he heard on the radio that Danielle’s body had been completely drained of blood. Dana hadn’t seen any blood in the gym when she found the body, though, so where did it all go?!
Deirdre’s sure there’s a logical explanation, but then lays eyes on Clark Dickson slipping into a back booth with Debra Lake. Could Count Clarkula really be a vampire? Debra has changed a lot since she started dating him — she’s still pretty, but she’s lost her spark and now looks dull, tired and pale, with circles under her eyes. Deirdre recalls Dana mentioning Clark appeared when she’d found Danielle, too… he’s probably not a vampire, but what if he thinks he is? Maybe he’s getting too into the whole act?? Maybe it’s not an act anymore?! When Debra heads to the bathroom, leaving Clark writing in his notebook, Deirdre decides to go talk to her and find out what the deal is with him, and why she’s so pale and tired these days.
As she stands up, clumsy ox Deirdre knocks her Coke over. She mops up the mess with some napkins, apologising for being a klutz, and feels super embarrassed in front of Mickey, who tells her it’s totally fine. With the mess dealt with, she hurries towards the bathrooms, but notices Clark’s booth is empty now, although his notebook is open on the table. She spots Debra and Clark at the counter, and edges closer to the booth to take a peek at the notebook, finding a concerning poem:
“So cold. So pale,
You lie before me.
Your blood has vanished,
People say.
How? Where? they ask.
They don’t ask me, but I could say.
Your blood gives life….”
Part Two
Three days later, Deirdre’s in Jennifer Fear’s bedroom, waiting for Stacy and Josie to arrive, watching a news report about Danielle’s death, which has been dubbed ‘The Vampire Murder’ on account of the lack of blood at the scene or in Danielle’s body. Deirdre had told Dana, Jennifer and Stacy about Clark’s poem, and although Dana thinks Clark might be the killer, Jennifer points out to Deirdre he’d been questioned for hours and isn’t considered a suspect by police. [Why was he questioned? Did Deirdre tell the police about the poem? Or did someone suggest he’s a suspect because of his nickname?]
Jennifer changes the subject to Jon Milano, who still hasn’t asked Deirdre out despite seeing each other several times at school. And it’s not like he’s shy, since he’s always bragging about his grades and what great abs he has from working out all the time, [Is that his personality? He sounds awful] which piques Jennifer’s interest because she self-admittedly likes conceited guys. Deirdre can’t quite figure Jon out, but she’s definitely interested. She also still has a thing for Mickey, not that that will go anywhere, and Jennifer asks if Dana knows about her feelings. Of course she doesn’t, because that would start World War III, and Deirdre finds it hard to talk about that kind of stuff with her sister because she’s a little jealous — ‘”We look alike, but she got the good personality.”‘ Good friend Jennifer denies this and points out that Deirdre’s just quieter, that’s all, and tells her to ask Jon out herself.
Stacy walks in now, but Josie had to fill in at Pete’s Pizza so won’t be joining them. [I was wondering why we’re barely seeing Josie hang out with this group now, when in the first book it seemed like Deirdre, Josie and Jennifer were besties. Stacy didn’t even get a mention in the first book but seems to have replaced Josie in the trio] Stacy and Jennifer soon start complaining about needing some new talent on the girls’ basketball team, especially since they’re playing Waynesbridge first and Shadyside always loses to them. Stacy reckons they might be able to talk the new, tall redhead in her English class, Anita Black, into playing, but also asks Deirdre to join, since she was really good sophomore year. Deirdre’s not too keen on playing again because she’d had to drop basketball because her grades were suffering, and she needs to keep them up to get into college. Stacy rolls her eyes at this because Deirdre can afford to go to any college she wants, while Stacy’s relying on securing a basketball scholarship.
Jennifer assures Stacy she’ll get a scholarship, and then wishes they could restart the year because everyone’s so scared and upset. She wonders if the senior overnight will still happen this weekend, and the others hope it hasn’t been cancelled. It’s not a school activity, but it is a tradition, and it won’t feel right if it doesn’t go ahead — ‘But then again, nothing about this year feels right so far.’
Later, Deirdre arrives home to a ringing phone, but can’t hear what the faint voice on the other end is saying at first. The caller repeats themselves, asking ‘”Do you know who I am?” The raspy voice gives Deirdre the shivers, and when she asks who it is, she’s definitely not expecting the bone-chilling response: ‘”Don’t you want to guess? I’ll give you a hint—Danielle’s blood was delicious. And you’re next.”
The next chapter, which should be chapter seven, is inexplicably labelled chapter three, [Just another typo in this series] and we find the twins arriving at the church for Danielle’s funeral. After the service, everyone lines up to say their final goodbyes to Danielle in her open coffin, and the twins are unsettled by the orange makeup and bright red lipstick plastered on the corpse’s face. Then, to their horror, the orange fades away to a pale blue, and Danielle’s eyes pop open:
Danielle raised her head off the red satin with a groan. Her glassy dark eyes fixed on Dana.
And her bright red lips parted.
Opened.
And a plea—a whisper like the wind—came from somewhere far away, somewhere deep inside Danielle.
“Help me,” the dead girl whispered to Dana.
“Help me. I can’t sleep.”
Dana’s sure it’s some kind of grotesque hallucination but it’s clear that Deirdre is seeing it too. Terrified, Dana flees the church, but Deirdre stays and watches as Danielle settles back into the coffin and the orange colour returns to her face as her eyes close once again. She’s determined to help the dead girl, and promises to do what she can.
Back at the twins’ house after the funeral, Dana locks herself in her room while Deirdre explains what they’d seen to Josie, Trisha and Jennifer. She wants to have a seance to try reach Danielle, and Jennifer agrees to let them do it in the creepy little library at her house. She’s also willing to participate, even though she doesn’t believe in that stuff, and while Trisha’s eager, Josie’s more reluctant. She begins to recount the bad experience she’d had in the library back in the first book, but then changes her mind, and the group agree to meet at Jennifer’s place tonight.
When everyone leaves, Deirdre tries to convince Dana to join the seance, but she wants no part in it. She hysterically tells Deirdre she just wants a normal senior year and has to forget about today or she’ll go crazy. Deirdre relents, and then gets a phone call from Josie, who sounds really upset. Josie is scared to go back to Jennifer’s, explaining how she’d finished the Doom Spell back in June, before Trisha’s party, and conjured something up, and thinks that everything that’s happened may be her fault. Deirdre has no idea what she’s talking about and tells her it’s impossible for her to be at fault, then convinces her to come tonight.
That night, the girls sit cross-legged in Jennifer’s library and actually manage to conjure up the voice of a spirit who doesn’t deny being Danielle. [But clearly isn’t her to anyone who’s not an idiot] The spirit claims to be weak and asks who’s calling to it, and the girls call out their names. They ask “Danielle” who the vampire is, who murdered her, and to everyone’s surprise, the voice reveals that Trisha was responsible! Trisha jumps up and denies it, and when the spirit starts cackling a cruel, inhuman laughter, the girls realise it isn’t Danielle.
The girls turn on the lights and banish the spirit away, but Trisha is traumatised by the horrible joke the spirit played on her. Josie’s also traumatised and wants to leave ASAP, and the girls decide to pretend this never happened. Trisha is optimistic that everything will be normal from now on, but Deirdre’s not so sure it’s possible…
Part Three
It’s time for the overnight now, held in a big clearing in the Fear Street Woods, and Dana’s cuddled up with Mickey by the campfire, gazing around at the other seniors. Deirdre’s getting cozy with Jon, Kenny Klein and Jade Feldman are canoodling by the fire, and Ty Sullivan and Mira Block are ‘making out in a major way.’ [I wish we’d at least get a description of this Mira girl] Stacy Malcolm is chatting with Mary O’Connor and Gary Fresno, the last of which keeps glancing over at Trisha, who’s roasting hotdogs with Josie and Jennifer. [OK so he’s clearly still with Mary then, right? Boo, Trisha] Dana wonders when Gary will break up with Mary, especially now that Mary knows about him and Trisha, and I’m wondering what lies he’s told Mary to avoid a break-up. Josh Maxwell is sitting glumly on a log as Marla Newman attempts to have a conversation with him, and Dana suspects he’s not quite over Debra Lake yet. Speaking of Debra, she doesn’t seem to be here, but Count Clarkula has shown up, despite never coming to these things. And lastly for the head count, there’s Matty Winger chatting with Anita Black, the new girl with the dark red hair that Stacy wants on the basketball team. [Who must be the redhead Deirdre thought walked into The Corner with Jon! I’m calling it now, Anita and Jon are a vampire couple trying to seduce their next victims or something like that] Dana mentions to Mickey that Marty called Deirdre on Thursday night pretending to be a vampire, but Mickey reveals it can’t have been him because Marty had been with him that night! [I guess the girls assumed it was Marty because he pulled the same shit with Josh over the summer. I’d probably have thought the same thing. Marty’s lame]
Soon, the boombox is cranked up and most of the teens start dancing, but Mickey and Dana prefer to stay where they are and make out. That is, until a shrill scream interrupts the fun, and a girl scrambles out of the campfire, orange flames covering her body — Deirdre!!! Luckily, Jon’s close by and smothers Deirdre with a sleeping bag before the flames can do much damage, although her arm is burned and her hair is singed. [Her clothes are scorched too, but she doesn’t seem to care that much because she doesn’t get changed or anything] Dana wants to take her home, but Deirdre assures her she’s fine; it’s not a bad burn and she really doesn’t want to miss the rest of the camp-out. [Girl, you were literally on fire, go to the hospital???????] In fact, Deirdre doesn’t want to move at all, being in Jon’s arms as he holds some ice to her burn, although she doesn’t say this out loud.
Jennifer asks how Deirdre came to be in the campfire in the first place, and Deirdre explains she’d been bumped. Anita Black pipes up, apologising profusely because she’d been responsible. She’d tripped while everyone was dancing and crashed into Deirdre, and she feels just awful! Deirdre recognises her from The Corner [But still assumes Anita and Jon don’t know each other] and assures Anita it was just an accident and she shouldn’t blame herself. Soon the crowd drifts away and Jon fetches some hot cocoa for the burn victim, who thanks him for saving her life. He ends up kissing her, but then suddenly pulls back. She assumes he’s just shy about making out in front of other people and suggests they go for a walk, which he eagerly agrees because he wants to show her something in the woods. [I bet you do, Jon!]
He ends up leading her to a weathered, sagging cabin standing in what once was another clearing, but has now been claimed back by nature. He explains he found it while exploring when he first moved here, and fixed it up on the inside. Deirdre wants to go in, but they’re interrupted by Dana, calling out to see where Deirdre is. With the mood ruined, Deirdre and Jon head back to the group, but he asks her not to tell anyone about the cabin. He likes to come here and think; ‘”You know. Escape the human race for a while.”‘ [It really seems like Stine’s cryptically making it obvious that Jon’s a vampire, but it just seems too obvious for that to be the big twist. If he is a vampire, there has to be something more going on. Like Anita also being a vampire, maybe that’ll be the twist.] Deirdre agrees to keep his secret and her heart jumps when he kisses her again; she had no idea tonight would turn out to be so special!
Later that night, Dana’s struggling to sleep in the tent she’s sharing with Jade and Greta Bradley, [Not in the yearbook but she was mentioned in the first book] who are already asleep. As she begins to drift off, she senses another presence in the tent before something presses against her throat and she feels a sharp, painful sting on the side of her neck. She tries to scream but her mouth won’t open, and she tells herself it’s just a dream. But her eyes won’t open either, and she quickly realises she can’t move!!
She manages to cry for help, waking Jade and Greta up, who turn on the flashlight and ask what’s going on. Before Dana can respond, the tent flap unzips and Clark pokes his head in. He explains he couldn’t sleep and had gone for a walk, and was passing by the tent when he heard Dana’s cries. Turns out everyone had heard her, and Dana realises with embarrassment that she can hear everyone having conversations about it in their tents. She asks Clark to tell everyone she’d just had a nightmare, and he leaves the girls to settle back down into bed. Greta asks what the nightmare was about, and Dana lies that she doesn’t remember:
But she did remember.
The feeling of someone—some presence—hovering over her.
The pressure on her throat.
The sharp stab of pain.
Dana reached up and touched her neck.
Her fingers quickly found the spot. A tiny bump on the smooth skin. A mosquito bite?
Yes. Of course.
A mosquito bite.
[Uh oh, Debra had something similar on her neck when she’d started dating Clark behind Josh’s back!] The next morning, Dana feels exhausted and isn’t looking too great either. She doesn’t even feel well enough to eat, let alone go on the hike that’s been planned, but she refuses Deirdre’s offer to go home. She assures Deirdre and Mickey that she’ll probably feel better in a while, and will just wait here and rest while everyone else goes on the hike. Mickey kisses her goodbye, and Dana notices Deirdre glance away quickly, but not quickly enough to hide her wishful expression. Dana realises that Deirdre has a crush on her man, and wonders if she’s just jealous — ‘She has always wanted to be more like me. I know that. Now, suddenly, she wants my boyfriend, too?’ And what about Jon? They’d looked pretty cosy last night!
Anyway, with the clearing all to herself, Dana rests against a log instead of climbing back into her tent so she can enjoy the fresh air, but soon she hears footsteps behind her. It’s Clark, who moves towards her quickly and comments that she’s all alone. [What does Debra like in this guy? I want to hope that he’s just misunderstood but he’s definitely weird] She tells him he’s scaring her and asks why he’s not on the hike, and he explains he just couldn’t sleep last night, so had a late start this morning. She wonders if he’s a vampire and decides to keep him talking while also preparing to run if needed, and admits her surprise to seeing him here without Debra. Debra had insisted he come so he could tell her all about it after, and when questioned if she didn’t come because she’s sick, he explains that Debra’s just tired, ‘”Like you.”‘
Clark can tell Debra didn’t sleep well either and asks if her nightmare had been about Danielle, since Dana had been the one to find her. Dana informs him she hadn’t been dreaming of Danielle, and asks if he does, but he doesn’t answer. Instead, he excitedly talks about the rumours of a vampire in town, but Dana just tells him that if he’s going on the hike, he’d better hurry and catch up to the others. He finally heads off, but not before encouraging her to get some rest because she looks pale. Watching him disappear into the woods, Dana can’t help but shiver as she wonders if he was just trying to scare her, of he was secretly confessing…
Sometime later, Dana’s woken from a deep sleep against the log by Mickey, who’s just gotten back from the hike. As more people file into the clearing from the trail, including Anita and Jon, Dana realises Deirdre hasn’t returned yet and is immediately worried, since Deirdre isn’t a huge fan of the woods and wouldn’t be walking around by herself. Dana wants to go look for her, but Mickey thinks she’s overreacting and doesn’t seem to want her to go. Dana ends up snapping at him and starts towards the trail, but Clark suddenly stumbles in from the woods, flushed and breathless, with twin trails of bright red blood flowing from his lower lip. As he stares at Dana, his lips part, revealing a froth of pink bubbles — ‘his tongue swept across his lip, sucking the blood into his mouth.’ [Gross]
Dana demands to know what he’s done with Deirdre but, after catching his breath, he explains he ran away from a skunk and smacked his face on a low branch, cutting up his lip. He has no idea where Deirdre is, or why Dana’s asking him, and informs her that Deirdre had been ahead of him on the trail, so should have been back by now. Dana plunges into the woods to find her sister, followed closely by Mickey and Jennifer, and eventually they find her sprawled out by the creek the hikers had waded through on the return journey. Deirdre’s skin is super cold and her face is pale, ‘as if bleached of color’, and Dana’s sure she’s dead until Jennifer points out that Deirdre is breathing.
Deirdre wakes up and while at first she only remembers struggling to breathe as her vision became dark and cloudy while she was venturing down towards the creek, but then recalls hearing a buzz and then a sharp pain — she’d been stung by a bee! She’d fainted because she was allergic, and Dana notices the two tiny red dots on her neck. Dana fingers her own sting from last night, which happens to be in the same place as Deirdre’s, and wonders what had bitten her last night…
We then jump forward to the twins arriving home, and Dana shows Deirdre her own bite and explains sensing a presence in the tent, and then Clark appearing seconds later. She also tells Deirdre about how tired she feels, how drained, just like Debra, and how excitedly Clark had been talking about Danielle’s blood this morning. Deidre recalls the words of Clark’s poem, but before the girls can discuss it, the phone rings, and a low, breathless voice teases ‘”I said you were next. Do you believe me now?”‘
Part Four
On Monday afternoon, home economics teacher Carla Sanders finishes tidying the room as the students file out after the last bell. She quickly senses she’s not alone and spots a student not from her class standing across the room. The student explains they’d come in for extra credit and are working on their own project, but Carla has no idea what they mean because you can’t get extra credit if you’re not in the class to begin with. As the student moves closer, Carla realises how isolated the home economics room is from the rest of the school, located by itself down a short hallway, with the closest classroom being around the corner. It’s only used for study hall, though, so it’ll be empty by now, and while she’s sure there’ll still be students milling around the school for club meetings or rehearsals, she’s basically all alone. Putting on her teacher voice, she tells the student to leave:
The student’s hand shot out. Strong fingers dug into Carla’s neck, choking off her words. The other hand clamped across her mouth and nose.
The student’s mouth dropped open. A pair of sharp, white fangs slid down.
Carla’s eyes widened in shock and horror.
Pretty quickly the fangs are digging into her neck, and Carla is enveloped by a thick fog, choking and blinding her. [It’s written as if it’s a real fog, but I think it’s just her brain clouding over, maybe? It’s also similar to what Deirdre described though, so maybe the vampire actually does create some kind of fog?] Her body slumps as she grows weaker, and all she can hear are wet, gurgling sounds, ‘lapping. Swallowing. Lapping.’ Then the fog closes in completely, and she feels nothing. ‘She didn’t hear the lapping sound as it continued for a few moments. Or the silence when the meal was over.’ [This whole scene was written really well, and I’d say the book is worth reading for this chapter alone! There’s no indication towards the gender of the student, though, so we’re still no closer to figuring the vampire out]
It’s Wednesday morning now, and Dana’s making breakfast, glancing at the morning newspaper on the kitchen table, headlined ‘SECOND VAMPIRE MURDER! Slain Teacher Drained of Blood’. There’s a colour photo of Ms. Sanders’s body, wrapped in a blanket, being carried out of the school on a stretcher, too, and we learn that Mickey had been the one to find the body late Monday afternoon, ice-cold, stiff, and white as chalk. [What was he doing in the home economics room after school hours to be able to find her, though?]
Deirdre enters the kitchen, fully dressed despite school being cancelled for two days, and explains she and Trisha are going to the mall to try take their minds off things. Deirdre asks how Mickey’s doing, since he found the body, and we learn Mickey seems totally fine, not really the kind to want to discuss feelings. Deirdre’s curious why he was in the home economics room, [Thank you, Deirdre!] but Dana never asked him. She just wishes the police would stop fooling around and arrest Clark, when it’s so obvious he’s the killer. Deirdre reminds her that the police know of the rumours about Clark, and questioned him for hours once again, so he wouldn’t have been freed if they’d had any real evidence against him. Deirdre’s sure they would have looked into his phone records, too, since the girls told the police about the strange calls, as well as the blood on his lips in the woods, and how he’d been prowling around while everyone slept.
Dana complains that even if Clark’s innocent, there’s still a killer running around pretending to be a vampire, and rubs the bump on her throat. Deirdre asks how she’s feeling, and Dana retorts that she feels great because the killer only took a little sip. [hahahaha] She doesn’t feel so tired anymore, though, and thinks she got lucky this time.
The doorbell rings and Deirdre goes to greet Trisha, but quickly calls out for Dana to come quick. Trisha’s just inside the front door, looking beautiful as usual, but her mouth is open and she’s staring straight ahead, unblinking. After a few moments, a shudder passes through her and she blinks rapidly, and her eyes refocus on the twins. She complains about the burden of her psychic visions before revealing that this time she’d seen the twins. She couldn’t tell who was who, but one of them was dead, and the other one was drinking her blood!!!!
It’s Thursday afternoon now, and Deirdre’s struggling to concentrate in her final class of the day. The school is teeming with armed security guards, making the building feel more like a prison than a school, even though Deirdre understands they’re there for protection. As soon as the last bell rings, Deirdre flees the classroom, but bumps straight into Stacy in one of her trademark hats. Mary O’Connor brushes past and asks Stacy to call her tonight before heading off, and Stacy explains to Deirdre that Mary’s really upset because she’s worried Gary’s about to dump her for Trisha. Deidre cuts the conversation short because she really wants to get out of here, but Stacy reminds her that basketball tryouts are in 20 minutes. Deirdre tries to back out, again mentioning she doesn’t want her grades to slip and besides, who wants to play sport with everything that’s going on? [Who wants to play sport full stop?]
An unrelenting Stacy insists it’ll be good for Deirdre to concentrate on something else, and the team really needs her! After a lot of pushing, Deirdre agrees on one condition; that she can quit the team without any arguments if her grades become impacted. Stacy heads to the gym while Deidre goes to her locker, and by the time she’s heading to the tryouts, she’s looking forward to playing. As she passes the empty band room, though, a pair of hands grab her from behind, fingers covering her eyes.
It’s just Jon, who apologises for scaring her. He’d been chasing after her, but she didn’t hear him calling out because she was off in her own little world. [So you grab her like an attacker instead of just grabbing her arm, or shoulder???] They briefly discuss how scary the murders are, and whether a vampire really is responsible, before he suddenly kisses her. She kisses him back, but then he has to go, and says ‘”Maybe I’ll catch up with you this weekend.”‘ Hurrying to the gym, Deirdre’s slightly disappointed by his choice of wording; why did he have to catch up with her? Why not just ask her out? [Deirdre, stfu, it’s the same thing] Deirdre passes the other basketball hopefuls, already practicing their shots, as she continues through the gym and into the locker room, where she immediately spots Stacy’s hat lying on the floor at the end of the first row of lockers, with Stacy facedown next to it. Deirdre screams, and Stacy quickly climbs to her feet, alarmed, having simply dropped her contact. [Did you really need to lie down on your stomach to find it?]
Out on the court, Deirdre chats to Anita Black and asks if she knew anyone at Shadyside before she came here. Anita didn’t, but she does know Jon Milano, having dated him their sophomore year. [See, what’s the bet there’s two new students at the same school who both knew each other beforehand? They’re definitely both vampires] They don’t talk much anymore, just a ‘hi’ when they pass each other in the hall. He’s a good guy, but they weren’t on the same wavelength. [Some kind of vampire wavelength?] The girls are split into teams for the tryouts, and while trying to intercept the ball from Anita, it’s slammed into her stomach, knocking the air out of her. Anita apologises profusely once again, and Deirdre understands it’s just an accident. Deirdre sits out for a little while as she gets her breath back, and notices that some kids have come into the gym to watch, including Clark, which is strange because he has no interest in sports.
Joining in the game once again, Anita and Deirdre go head to head, and while Deirdre’s dribbling the ball, Anita’s foot gets in the way and she trips, skinning her elbows and knees. Anita apologises once again, but Deirdre’s almost certain that she saw her smiling at one point. [That’s three injuries she’s caused you, Deirdre, including pushing you into a damn fire. She definitely wants you dead]
Arriving home later, Deirdre finds Dana in their bedroom and explains what a klutz Anita Black is. Dana wonders if maybe she’s some kind of competitive freak, but Deirdre thinks both incidents at tryouts were genuine accidents. [Deirdre, please] Deirdre did make the team though, as did Anita, and she jokes that hopefully Anita won’t be as lethal when they’re on the same side. [Hahahaha we’ll see] Then Deirdre finds a note in her bag: ‘YOUR SISTER’S BLOOD WAS SO SWEET. YOURS WILL BE EVEN SWEETER.’ [If Dana got bitten, why was there only one bite mark?? Deirdre has two, was the note meant for Dana instead?]
On Saturday night, Deirdre and Stacy are hanging out at Jennifer’s, but Deirdre can’t stop thinking about the note. She hasn’t told anyone except Dana, not wanting to worry anyone, but the girls can tell her mind is elsewhere. She lies that she’s been thinking about Jon, who wasn’t in school yesterday and never called, so presumably she won’t be seeing him this weekend. She’d even called Information to get his number, but it’s unlisted.
The girls then discuss basketball, and Stacy reckons that Anita tripped Deirdre on purpose. Deirdre and Jennifer disagree, considering how apologetic she’d been, but Stacy maintains that it was deliberate and she doesn’t trust Anita. Stacy then reveals she got stuck behind Trisha and Gary at a red light, and had to watch them make out until the light went green. Deirdre once again sticks up for Trisha, insisting that Gary’s the one to blame because he’s the one dating two girls. Stacy argues that Trisha came on to him, and even though Trisha’s her friend, so is Mary, and Trisha is the one causing trouble. [Yeah, team Stacy here. Trisha needs to do better]
Deirdre gets fed up and storms out of the house, attempting to walk home in the wet fog, and quickly regret picking the fight with Stacy. Walking down the empty street, Deirdre’s soon aware of a car approaching. It slows down as it nears her, a silver, beat-up Porsche she doesn’t recognise, and she can’t see the driver through the foggy window. Deirdre picks up her pace, scared now, but the car stays with her until it finally halts, and Jon steps out. He explains he wasn’t sure if it was Deirdre or not, and offers her a lift — ‘”Didn’t I say I might catch up with you this weekend? Well, here I am!”‘ [Yeah, nice one, Jon]
Deirdre climbs in and tells him she loves the car, which he’d fixed up himself since it was a total wreck when he bought it. After some kissing, they decide to head to the mall for a bite to eat, and on the way Deirdre asks him if he’d learned to fix up cars at his old school. He tells her that that school had a lot of things happening, but a mechanics class wasn’t one of them, and that he’d taught himself how to fix the car up. Jon’s driving is a bit reckless, but he assures her she’s safe with him, and soon she realises they’ve been driving way too long for a trip to the mall. Rubbing the fog off her window, she peers outside and sees only endless, dark fields, and realises they’re on the highway.
She demands to know where they’re going, and Jon takes the next exit and pulls the car over. He claims to have thought he’d been going toward the mall and didn’t mean to get on the highway. He still doesn’t know his way around, after all. Deirdre accepts this but isn’t happy about the way he drives, and he correctly gets the feeling she doesn’t quite trust him. He pulls her toward him and they kiss, before he suggests they forget about the mall because he likes it right here. Jon’s exciting and sexy, but it’s way too soon for Deirdre, so she pulls back and insists she’s really hungry. Jon’s disappointed, but lets her direct him to the mall so they can get some food.
The Burger Barn is crawling with Shadyside high students, including Dana and Mickey, who wave her over. Deirdre instructs Jon to find them a table and order her a tuna-fish pita if the waiter arrives before she’s there. Jon is equally as bewildered as me by her food order [But he’s not nearly as disgusted as I am. I don’t like tuna as it is, but on a pita it sounds even worse] but does as he’s told, and Dana teases that she didn’t know Deirdre had a date tonight. Deirdre didn’t know either, but here we are, and after that 10 second conversation she heads back to Jon.
On the way to the table, she spots Kenny Klein and Jade Feldman sitting with Josh Maxwell, as well as Trisha and Gary absorbed in each other at another table. Then someone grabs her wrist and pulls her toward a booth, but it’s just Clark wanting to say hello. Deirdre points out that he didn’t need to grab her to say hi, but he cuts her off by eagerly asking if she’d gotten his note, and she realises he’s the culprit.
Except he’s not, and the note he’s referring to is a congratulatory one for killing it at the tryouts and making the team. He’s somehow been designated the sports writer for the school paper, and had been there to write an article. Deirdre asks him about the other note, but he has no idea what she’s talking about, although Deirdre’s not so sure whether she believes him because leaving her a congratulation note is ‘too weird to believe.’ If he’s just trying to frighten her, it’s definitely working, so she says goodbye and scampers to her table.
Jon agrees that Clark is weird, but he doesn’t think he’s a vampire — ‘”I think he’s just kind of sad. He’s trying so hard to be different.”‘ Deirdre changes the subject, but Jon’s too busy staring at something behind her to pay attention. She follows his gaze and spots Anita with two girls Deirdre doesn’t recognise. Deirdre gives him the benefit of the doubt, but Jon soon gets up to use the bathroom. He’s gone a very long time, and when she looks out the window, she notices his car is gone. Anita also seems to have left, although her two friends are still here, and Deirdre feels miserable as she realises Jon snuck away with Anita.
Dana and Mickey are gone by now, so Deirdre heads home on foot through the fog. After a short while, she hears a fluttering noise and turns around to find a figure stepping out of the fog. It sweeps towards her and envelopes her in a dark shadow, and Deirdre realises she’s losing her strength, unable to move, scream, or breathe. Soon there’s a sharp pain at her neck, followed by a gentle lapping sound as she’s swallowed up by the darkness…
Part Five
We get a quick POV from the vampire now, who’d watched Deirdre in the restaurant and knew she’d be a perfect thirst-quencher. The vampire is young and strong, and isn’t like the stereotype; it’s not afraid of the sun and doesn’t sleep in a coffin. There’s only one vampire rule it must follow, and that’s to drink blood. The vampire had to abandon Deirdre’s neck after only a few sips, though, because a car was approaching, which turned out to be Dana and Mickey. The vampire wonders if the twins know its identity, and it decides it’ll finish off both twins. Hearing something rustling up ahead, the vampire comes across a furry little Spaniel pawing at a food wrapper:
You’re hungry, aren’t you?
Your owner shouldn’t have let you out alone.
Come here, doggie.
His fur so soft and warm … Let’s turn you over. See your soft throat. Your soft belly.
Yes. Good dog. Good dog.
GOOD—DOGGGGGGGGG!
Don’t squeal like that. It won’t hurt for long. Blood so warm, running down my chin.
Ohhhh …. so gooood …
[Poor dog] By Monday afternoon, Deirdre is understandably very jumpy. She’s well aware of how close she came to death on Saturday night and how lucky she is that Dana and Mickey had driven up. [No mention of her going to the police, which seems weird] She’d seen Jon earlier in study hall and confronted him about ditching her for Anita, which he’d denied, giving her the lamest excuse ever — ‘”I started to the men’s room, and I suddenly felt sick. I mean, real sick. I had to get out of there. I called to you, Deirdre. I called and waved. I thought for sure you heard me.”‘ Apparently he told her to get a ride with Dana before he ran out, [From where? Across the room? When she wasn’t even facing him so clearly wouldn’t have heard?] and claimed he’d just felt embarrassed and didn’t want her seeing him throwing up on their first night out. [Yeah, he’s a vampire. But I can’t decide if he’s the one that’s been attacking the twins or not] Deirdre isn’t sure whether to believe him, but he did seem genuine. The bell school bell had interrupted their conversation, and they’d made plans to drive to the cabin in the woods so they can talk without being interrupted. There’s a lot Jon wants to tell Deirdre, about himself and what happened at his old school, and he feels like he can trust her.
At the end of the school day, Deirdre heads to the gym for basketball practice, where she apologises to Stacy for their fight, who agrees to move on from it. Deirdre compliments Stacy’s cornrows, which Stacy jokes took about 10 hours, [Yassssss, representation!] but she ‘”wanted to look super terrific for today”‘ because there’s college recruiters coming to watch their practice. Deirdre assures her the recruiters will be dying to sign her when they see her on the court, and during the practice the girls are split into two teams. Deirdre and Stacy are on the same team as Anita, who accidentally [On purpose] elbows Deirdre in the ribs at one point. Then Stacy gets tangled up in Anita’s long legs, and ‘Anita’s foot tromped down on Stacy’s’ before they both fall to the ground. As usual, Anita apologises profusely, but Stacy, who’s in immense pain when she tries to put weight on her foot, ends up snapping at her. Anita flees the gym in tears, and the coach tells Stacy not to take chances and to go see a doctor.
Deirdre drives Stacy to the doctor, and an X-ray reveals no broken bones, just a bad bruise on the instep. After a week of resting the ankle, Stacy should be ready to be play again. On the drive home, Stacy is fuming. Today was really important for her because she’s relying on a scholarship, and the recruiters have probably written her off now. Stacy’s so angry she could kill Anita! Deirdre begs her not to talk about killing, but Stacy’s not backing down — ‘”I don’t care if it was an accident or not. I could kill Anita. I could kill her easily. With my bare hands.”‘
And then guess what?? The next afternoon, Anita Black is found dead in the girls’ shower room. [Oop] Small groups of students gather outside the school, watching the police go in and out of the building. Deirdre’d heard from a policeman that Anita was drained of blood, just like the others. Stacy feels awful, since she was saying only yesterday she wanted Anita dead, but Dana reassures her she’s not to blame and everyone says stuff like that sometimes. [I’ve never said that about anyone. Only about myself, tehe] Deirdre recalls Trisha’s vision once again and thinks it really is coming true. The seniors are dying one by one, but who’s next?!
Jon comes running across the parking lot, calling out to Deirdre that the police have caught the vampire. The girls and a small crowd of other students gather around and ask a million questions at once, but Jon just points to the side exit of the school, where Clark Dickson is being taken away in handcuffs. [OK, I just had a sudden thought. What if Debra somehow became a vampire during the first book, or even before those events because she was already acting weird with Josh, and latched onto Clark so he would take the blame or something? That would be a fun twist. I still think Jon is definitely a vampire, but maybe Debra is somehow involved in whatever’s going on here. But then again, she’s barely in this book so maybe not] Apparently Jennifer Fear saw Clark running from the gym, but he couldn’t explain why he’d been there. Despite everyone thinking Clark was a vampire since before this series even started, some of them actually seem shocked that he’s the vampire killer. How could someone they know be so twisted?
Now that the killer is caught, Jon wants to celebrate, and suggests he and Deirdre head to the cabin. He’ll even get some snacks and Coke! Deirdre’s just as keen, but Dana reminds her that mum wanted them to stick together and come right home. Deirdre reasons that that was before the killer had been caught, and they’ll be home by dinnertime anyway, but then they’re interrupted by Mickey bursting into the group, out of breath. He’s got news they won’t believe — Anita’s body disappeared from the morgue! [So maybe she actually is a vampire and faked her death? Do vampires have blood normally?] Everyone assumes the body was stolen, but does that mean there’s another murderer or vampire? [No, it means Clark wasn’t responsible] Dana points out that Clark is probably innocent, and Jon states that it must be someone they don’t know who’s responsible, since everyone’s been at school this whole time. Jon urges Deirdre to come to the cabin with him, but Deirdre’s no longer keen now that the killer may still be on the loose.
Two hours later though, Deirdre and Dana are trudging through the Fear Street Woods to the cabin. Deirdre’d talked Dana into being a third wheel, so that way they’re together like their mum wanted, but Deirdre still gets to hang out with Jon. Jon doesn’t know the girls are coming, but Deirdre expects him to be at the cabin anyway. Jon must have made other plans, though, because there’s no answer at the door, which they also can’t get open. They find a window around back and manage to get it open, and since they’re already there, Deirdre suggests they check the place out, to see how Jon’s fixed it up. Turns out he didn’t fix it up, because the place is filthy and all that’s in there is a big, black coffin blocking the door.
Deirdre refuses to believe that Jon’s the vampire, reasoning that maybe he doesn’t know the coffin’s in here, [Girl, listen to yourself] but then it dawns on her that he if he is the vampire, he’s been trying to get her here so he can murder her and drink her blood. But there’s no way he’s the vampire, because he’s too nice! Too normal! But could he be sleeping in the coffin right now? Or maybe this is a different cabin entirely?
The girls hear the snap of a twig outside and realise someone’s approaching the cabin. Before they can react, the coffin lid starts to open slowly, then is flung open wide, a pale hand grasping the edge of the coffin. The vampire sits up, blinks a few times, and stares at the twins before suddenly leaping from the coffin, ready to attack, and we finally find out who the vampire is… Anita Black! [Called it!]
Deirdre can’t believe it, so Anita explains her blood was drained 50 years ago when she became a vampire, so it’s really easy for her to play dead. [She also mentions how she doesn’t need to avoid sunlight or sleep in a coffin, but doesn’t explain why she is sleeping in a coffin. Or where the coffin came from] Anita thought she’d fooled them, but they obviously figured it out. She knows that one of them had seen her in the gym when she’d killed Danielle, so she tried to take care of it on the overnight trip, but Dana had started to wake up. She also couldn’t tell which twin was which, but it turns out that Deirdre was the one she’d been after all along, and that’s because she stole Jon from her. [If Anita still wanted Jon, why did she tell Deirdre that they don’t even speak and aren’t on the same wavelength?] It’s unfortunate that Dana was brought along tonight, because now they’ll both have to die.
The girls try to flee, but Anita gets the upper hand and grabs Deirdre, ready to feast on her delicious neck, lips dripping with saliva. Dana, who’d been knocked down, scrambles to her feet and lunges for Anita, but is distracted by a figure moving quickly through the open window — Jon! He warns Anita to leave Deirdre alone, and when that doesn’t work, he picks up a piece of firewood from the floor, one end tapered to a point. He spins Anita around and plunges the pointed end into her chest, the vampire releasing a rattling gasp of pain.
Dana rushes to Deirdre, who’d managed to avoid a bite, and the girls cling together as they watch Anita die. With a piercing shriek, the vampire’s body trembles before she completely disintegrates, leaving nothing behind but a fine, grey powder. Dana thanks Jon for saving them, and he seems a bit embarrassed. He’s glad it’s all over, and no-one has to be afraid anymore; ‘”No more murders. No more ugly phone calls.”‘ At that, Deirdre screams out ‘no’, snatches the branch that killed Anita off the floor, and plunges it into Jon’s chest. [I don’t think Deirdre ever told him about the phone calls, so she’s realises he’s a vampire too]
Dana screams at her sister for what she’s just done, but to her surprise, Jon emits the same ear-piercing shriek Anita did and also crumbles to dust before the girls. Dana questions how she knew he was a vampire too, and just as I suspected, it was because Deirdre never told him about the calls. Dana reasons that he could have learned about them from Anita, but Deirdre points out that he wasn’t at all surprised to see the coffin, or a vampire in the cabin. He’d tried to fool them by killing Anita, but Anita had said he belonged to her, which means they were a couple; ‘”Think about it, Dana. How could you belong to a vampire and not be one?”‘
A little while later, the twins lead two police officers to the cabin. One of the officers heads for the door, and just as Deirdre’s explaining it’s blocked off from the inside, the door swings open easily. Confused, the girls peer in after the officers, but there’s absolutely no trace of either of the vampires or the coffin. [What happened to the coffin? Did it disintegrate too?] Naturally, the police think the girls imagined the whole ordeal, and lead the way back through the woods.
Cut to the twins driving home, agreeing that it doesn’t matter if the police don’t believe them because they know it was real, and the horror is over anyway. They pull the car into the driveway and climb out, and the book ends as they’re walking up the front steps:
They both gasped as a figure moved quickly from the shadows at the side of the house. Squinting into the dim porch light, Deirdre recognised Trisha Conrad.
“Trisha? What is it?” Deirdre cried. “What’s wrong?”
Trisha lurched up to them breathlessly, her blond hair wild about her face, her eyes wide with horror. “I just had another horrible vision about you two!” she cried. “You won’t believe what I just saw!”
“You’re right,” Deirdre replied. “We won’t believe it.”
She and Dana hurried into the house and slammed the door behind them.
[Lol rude]
Final thoughts
I wasn’t really looking forward to this one, but as far as vampire stories go, this was actually pretty good! The teacher’s death scene was incredibly well done, there was a lot of suspense, and the mystery aspect was great too. In saying that, there seemed to be some unnecessary filler here, specifically the whole Danielle rising in her coffin at the funeral, which felt really out of place considering it wasn’t a dream, and the seance that followed. Neither of those things went anywhere and added nothing to the story, so could easily have been cut out. Who was the spirit they contacted at the seance, anyway? Was it the same entity Josie conjured up in the first book? Hopefully it’ll be addressed in another book, but I don’t have very high hopes.
Another thing that irks me is we didn’t really find out if Jon was genuinely interested in Deirdre, or if he just wanted her blood. He was pretty weird, too, leaving quickly every time they kissed, and abandoning her in the restaurant without a clear reason why. Maybe he realised Anita was going to target Deirdre, but then why would he just abandon her instead of trying to help? And wtf happened at his old school, we never found that out either.
Clark’s behaviour was also extremely weird in this book, but we already know he’s strange so that’s not unexpected. It was good to actually see his weirdness, rather than just being told about it, though! Maybe he just likes to play into the character his classmates have given him.
Lastly, this is three out of three books where the weapon on the cover isn’t actually featured. At this point, I’ll be surprised if any of the future books change this. I guess we’ll find out!
Despite all this, it was still a good story that kept me interested, so 31 corpses drained of their blood out of 44.
