What kind of vampire has freckles?
The vampire mythology is subverted in this story to the point, but it doesn’t go crazy. Meaning there is sparkling going on. There are freckles, however, as Juliette makes clear here. Of course, for Juliette to even be aware her complexion is dotted like tiny little drops of paint against alabaster skin means that she must be able to see them for herself. In other words, when Juliette looks into a mirror, she sees her freckled reflection staring back rather than simply a backwards version of whatever is behind her. The subversion in this story serves the purpose of allowing it to be told with greater familiarity of the world in which it takes place. The story also opens in an English class at a high school and guess what: it’s not a night school. So, purists may take exception certain conventions of the genre being tossed out, but zombies have been having their day for so long it is almost hard to remember there was a time when vampires dominated the horror genre.
There are monsters you can kill from a distance, and there are ones you have to face up close.
Cal tells herself that’s why they’re here, in the closet. Tells herself that’s why she’s tangled up in the other girl’s arms. Why she’s kissing Juliette Fairmont.
Calliope is the “Cal” here and she is also the fearless vampire killer. Or, as they are called today, the slayer. Cal knows that Juliette is a vampire and that she—Calliope the vampire slayer—is on the hunt. And the first rule of vampire slaying is that you finish the job. Because if you fail in that regard, you lose the one single advantage of the more physically powering vampire that you have: that you know something important the vampire doesn’t know. Still, as all-important as that overarching rule of the vampire hunt is, how does kissing one work into it? There’s the rub. Which is something else going on inside that closet.
Parties are everything Juliette hates.
They are loud music and crowded rooms, food she can’t eat and booze she can’t drink, and all the trappings of the normal life she’ll never have.
The romance of the vampire life seemed to finally be put to rest once and for all with the portrait of the reality of what it’s like being a vampire in the film Let the Right One In. That film manages to strip away all the cool associated with vampirism while illuminating in stark terms just how gross and rule-abiding an existence it really is. This insight into that element of the vampire lifestyle is a welcome addition to the trend toward trying to steep vampire lore into everyday reality. Not that this story is anywhere near as subversive as the Swedish film. But it’s another good step in the right direction.
