“First Kill” is a short story by Victoria “V.E.” Schwab which initially appeared in the vampire anthology titled Vampires Never Get Old: Tales with a Fresh Bite, edited by Zoraida Córdova and Natalie C. Parker. Schwab’s story brings the collection of nearly a dozen vampire-related works of short to a close.
Those drawn to Buffy the Vampire Slayer by the complicated dynamics of the oppositional relationships between vampires Angel and Spike falling for the spunky young woman specifically chosen to slay them may find some of the territory covered in the story somewhat familiar. Except, in this case, both vampire—Juliette—and Calliope the vampire slayer happen to be female. Further exacerbating a prickly situation is that Juliette is a teenage vampire whose experiential situation as the living dead is precisely what gives the story its title.
The boost given to Schwab’s career with the inclusion of her story in the anthology was given a high-powered megadose of fuel with the announcement of plans to adapt the dramatic showdown between Juliette and Calliope into a series airing on Netflix in 2022. The adaptation was lent further interest by the announcement that Emma Roberts would be one of the executive producers. Despite being based on a short story—although admittedly not a notably short short story—the Netflix series takes eight hour-long episodes to Schwab’s vampire yarn.
What may be most notable about both Schwab’s submission and the 2020 of Vampires Never Get Old: Tales with a Fresh Bite overall is that it seems to be part of a concerted movement—whether planned or merely coincidental—to bring vampires back to the center stage of the horror genre which it enjoyed in the early part of the 21st century before becoming a genuine real-life victim of the zombie horde which overwhelmed the genre and essentially drove a stake through the heart of vampires in all facets of mainstream media.
