**This blog contains adult language.**
Warning: Spoilers Ahead!!! This is a recap blog which means I read the book and tell you everything that happens so you don't have to read it yourself. Please do not continue to read if you don't want to know who the “bad guy” is.
From the Back of the Book: The Principal with the deadly touch… Westerberg High is a nightmare. Gangs rule the school. No one’s safe. Then a new principal arrives—a principal with a reputation for stopping trouble. But there’s something about the principal that Talli McAlister doesn’t trust—something evil. This principal is evil all right: he’s a vampire! Now trouble is disappearing from Westerberg High. But so are the students. Talli knows the principal’s secret. And Talli knows he’s coming for her next . . .
{{{Note from future me: Don't let the synopsis lie to you. The man is technically not a vampire. At least not the traditional kind.}}}
TRIGGER WARNING📢: This book contains an instance of sexual harassment/potential attempted sexual assault as well as drug use by minors and what I guess is technically kidnapping. None of these things are treated as traumatic events by the author and I think all my regular readers will be just fine with this blog but I’m putting it out there just in case. If you feel like you’re in a place where any of this would be harmful, please skip this blog. My ramblings aren’t worth your peace.
This book was published in 1994 and this is my first time reading it. I started to read The Coach for this blog but then realized it was the third in a series so I went to Amazon to find this one. Luckily it was on Kindle Unlimited so we can start at the beginning. The cover of the KU book is very uninspired so I did some research and found the original book on ebay. This cover is way cooler. I love the 90’s cheesiness of it.
We begin with a prologue. An old man is in the hallway of a high school when the bell rings. He watches as students pass by. Some are bullying others. Some carry guns or knives. The man goes to the principal’s office. He tells the principal that things are out of hand and then asks if the principal finds the students “tempting”.
😟
Well, that’s concerning.
Suddenly the man grabs the principal and chokes him out for no reason at all and then releases him and leaves. I have no idea if the guy is dead or not.
Chapter one starts with our protagonist Talli at her locker. Someone has splashed red paint all over it and it looks like blood. Her friend Lisa’s locker has been vandalized as well. Talli tells us that her school was fine before this year started. Another nearby high school closed down and the students were all jammed into Westerberg and now things are awful. Classes have up to 60 students in them and not all of them have desks. Drugs and violence are commonplace and going to school feels like being in a war zone.
An announcement comes over the loud speaker informing everyone that the principal has resigned and someone named Mr Volker is going to act as interim principal until the school board hires someone permanent. Talli knows Volker. He moved onto her block recently and he’s super old. She doesn’t think he’ll have the stamina to deal with all the issues at Westerberg.
Isn’t Westerberg the name of the school in Heathers? Be right back.
Okay, I looked it up. The school in Heathers is Westerburg with a ‘u’. Still, it’s enough of a coincidence that I’m now wondering if Sumner was a fan of the movie.
On the way to class, the girls run into Alex. Alex and Talli have been a thing since elementary school. They bicker about a date that Alex canceled but it doesn’t seem serious. It seems like their relationship is the banter-back-and-forth kind.
The day passes. Talli and Lisa are both doing set design for the school play so they head to the auditorium during last period to work on props or something. They walk in on a drug deal going down on the stage. Three boys are involved. One of them seems zooted out of his mind and he just sits there and giggles the entire time. The other two boys grab the girls and insinuate that they’re going to hurt them or assault them. Neither happens. A voice comes out of the darkness, demanding they release the girls. They do but pull out knives and try to attack the unseen savior. Talli sees a blur and suddenly both attackers are dispatched. She’s stunned to see that the rescuer was Volker. She didn’t think he could move that fast.
Volker’s assistant appears. He’s a very stocky, muscular man named Lynch. Volker asks him to take the two boys to the “detention center” wherever that is. He then checks on the girls and when he finds out they’re unharmed, he escorts the giggling third boy away. Lisa is seriously impressed but Talli only feels revulsion and dread when she looks at the two men.
After school a girl named Samantha waylays Talli to tell her that there’s an emergency school board meeting that evening and Talli needs to attend and take notes. Talli protests that Samantha is the student council rep and it’s her job to go. Samantha says she’s busy and then just walks off. Apparently Talli ran for student council rep and lost to Samantha so now she’s treated like an unofficial assistant. I have no idea why she puts up with it.
Talli gets home and finds out her father (who is a police officer) is heading off to some law enforcement conference that will keep him and the sheriff out of town for a week.
At least it’s not Europe.
And her mom will still be home so I can’t even activate the trope counter.
We skip the to the school board meeting. Volker, Lynch and a police officer named Lansky are all in attendance. Volker gets up and speaks about the incident in the auditorium involving Talli and Lisa. He says that when the two boys were searched, one of them had a gun in his possession. Everyone is horrified. Lansky confirms that the two boys have been arrested and are no longer an issue in the school but one of the board members still suggests putting in metal detectors. Volker asks for one week to turn things around. Parents and board members protest that they want to start the process for metal detectors now for the safety of the students. Volker starts walking around to all the detractors, repeating “one week” while staring into their eyes. They all repeat “one week” back and then sit down. Clearly they’re being compelled.
Volker gets the crowd under his control and they agree to give him one week to make the school safer. They start to adjourn the meeting but Talli stands up and asks what happened to the third boy in the auditorium – the one who was clearly high and kept giggling. Volker says there wasn’t a third boy and Talli must be mistaken. She doesn’t back down, insisting that he personally escorted the third boy out after Lynch left with the other two. Volker gets right in front of her and looks into her eyes, asking her if she’s on drugs and that’s what is making her say such foolish things. If he was trying to compel her, it doesn’t work. She denies taking drugs. He switches tracks and says the trauma of the whole thing must be making her misremember. She’s dismissed and then the meeting is dismissed.
We skip to the next day. Talli and Lisa head into the library to look through yearbooks. They decide that the third boy must have gone to the school that closed and I guess all the yearbooks from that school have been transferred to Westerberg. It takes them a bit but they eventually discover the boy was the president of the junior class at Cushing. His name is Morris. Talli wonders aloud why Volker denied he was there. Lisa says he probably has a good reason.
Suddenly the yearbook is yanked out of Talli’s hands. Lynch admonishes her for not being loyal to Volker after he saved them. He growls that she shouldn’t be disrespectful and then he leaves with the yearbook.
That evening, Talli and Alex go to a horror movie. We get endless paragraphs describing how Talli is #notliketheothergirls because she likes horror movies and horror novels so much. Which basically makes her just like me after all. She’s watched all the classic monster movies and considers herself some kind of horror expert. She doesn’t fear monsters because she believes she knows how to kill them all.
Which would be fine if all the movies agreed on the rules. They don’t. One movie will say you can kill a vampire with silver while another will insist it has to be a wooden stake through the heart and yet another will say removing their heads is the only way to truly kill them. Some say vampires are sensitive to sunlight no matter what, while others claim that older vampires can walk in the sun. Or vampires with special rings can walk in the sun. Or they just sparkle in the sun. In some media, once you kill the sire, the fledglings will all return to their human status while in others, they’re doomed no matter what. There is no standardization of the rules in film or in books.
Sorry. I’m supposed to be recapping here.
After the movie, they decide to go get something to eat. They’re driving past the school when Talli sees Volker’s car parked in front. For some reason she finds this suspicious. I wouldn’t. I worked at a school once and there was often a member of staff there at odd hours working on something. Considering Volker is new and working against a one-week deadline to shape up the school, it would be perfectly reasonable for him to be there looking at student files and figuring shit out. Sumner treats this as bizarre though and so does our protagonist. She asks Alex to pull into a nearby park so they can watch the school. Alex indulges her. They see a pulsing greenish-yellow light coming from a window. Talli thinks it’s supernatural. Alex thinks it’s some kind of safety light. He wants to leave but Talli wants to get out of the car and investigate.
Before they can do anything, the door to the school opens and three people come out – Volker, Lynch and Morris. Alex theorizes that Volker and Lynch might be trafficking drugs and Morris is going to be their new dealer. Talli thinks there’s something more sinister going on. Alex suggests they just lay low for the week and observe what’s happening. When Talli’s dad comes back, they can go to him with what they know and let him handle it. She reluctantly agrees to this plan.
The next day, Samantha asks Talli to handle an upcoming fundraiser. Talli is pissed because she’s already doing most of Samantha’s work and she doesn’t want to take on anything else. Samantha asks to meet with her after school to discuss it more.
During first period, an announcement is made that the school now has a zero tolerance policy for disruptions in the class. Offenders will be sent directly to the principal’s office without warning. Several students test this theory and are immediately sent out of the room. They return subdued and with detention. Some of them look downright exhausted when they come back. One girl goes into a horrific seizure after returning from Volker. Talli concludes that Volker is slipping them all drugs to drum up business for his drug trafficking side quest.
I thought she didn't buy Alex's drug theory? Keep it straight, Sumner.
That evening, Talli’s mom leaves to go to a PTO meeting. Volker is supposed to be there so Talli decides to break into his house to search for evidence.
She doesn’t want to go alone so she calls Alex and asks him to come over. He thinks he’s coming for a makeout sesh but Talli tells him about the B&E when he arrives. He tries to talk her out of it but is unsuccessful.
Talli knows of a loose board in Volker’s fence. When the previous occupants lived there, Talli used to sneak in when they were home to use their pool. They get into the back yard and Talli points out the covered pool, warning Alex that it’s empty and if he accidentally steps on the cover, he’ll probably fall in and get covered in boo boos.
Alex refuses to actually break into the house so Talli settles for looking in the windows. All the rooms on the ground floor seem to be empty. There are a few random boxes around but no furniture. Unopened mail covers the floor in the entryway. Alex tries to normalize it by saying that Volker’s furniture must be hung up somewhere and the mail is probably for the previous occupants. Talli thinks it’s proof of….something. She doesn’t seem to be real clear what she suspects.
A car turns into the drive. Talli and Alex make a run for it. As they reach the backyard, a light comes on in the basement. Talli goes to look in the window despite Alex’s protests that they need to get the fuck out. She sees figures moving around and a red purse on the floor before Alex pulls her away. They run back to Talli’s house. Talli swears she hears a girl crying before she goes inside.
We skip to the next day. Talli goes downstairs in the morning to find her mother making pancakes. Her mother isn’t really a morning person, so Talli asks why she’s so damn chipper. Her mom says that Volker was such a powerful, charming presence during the meeting the night before that she’s woken up full of hope. All the parents think he’s awesome. Talli isn’t amused. She starts to head out the door but her mom stops her and asks her to inquire about Lisa’s mom. Apparently she had some kind of seizure during the meeting.
Talli asks Lisa when she gets to school but Lisa has no idea what she’s talking about. She says her mom seems fine. Unusually happy and energetic but fine.
Talli gets called into the office during first period. Volker is behind closed doors in his office with another student but the secretary says she knows why Talli was summoned. Samantha was reported missing and the police wondered if Talli might have information since the two girls are close. Talli protests that they aren’t close at all – Samantha just keeps asking her to do her grunt work. The secretary dismisses her. As Talli turns to leave, she notices a greenish-yellow light coming from under Volker’s door. There’s a heavy duty keyring on the corner of the counter and the secretary is distracted so Talli grabs it and leaves.
Talli meets up with Lisa after class and mentions Samantha’s disappearance. Lisa says several other kids are missing too. Talli insists that Volker is behind it. Lisa doesn’t want to believe it at first but Talli convinces her. She shows Lisa the keys and says she’s going to come back that evening to search Volker’s office. The plan is for Lisa to drive Talli’s car, drop her off at the school and then go back to Talli’s house to watch Volker. If Volker leaves, Lisa will let Talli know so she can get out safely. She’ll walk to that nearby park and Lisa will pick her up there. Talli is going to borrow a couple of police radios from her dad so they can communicate. Ah, the days before cell phones. Everything was so much more complicated then.
When this plan was first mentioned, I was very confused. Police radios are naturally connected to other police officers and to dispatch. If the girls were to use them, someone would hear. This gets later explained by the fact that the radios have three channels. The department only uses two of them. Talli and Lisa are going to use the third channel to talk to each other. This still seems very risky to me but whatever.
The school day ends and Talli is headed out of the building when she runs into Morris. He looks awful with grayish skin and sunken eyes. He smells like mildew and rot. She assumes he’s just hooked on whatever drugs Volker is selling.
When Talli gets home, she finds her mom in bed in complete darkness. She’s cold and exhausted and reacts violently when Talli tries to turn on a light. Talli is convinced that Volker drugged the entire PTO.
You know for someone obsessed with old monster movies and classic horror, Talli is being really dense here. I wouldn’t say I’m obsessed with either of those things but I’ve watched and read enough that I would have assumed vampire long ago. The compelling at the school board meeting would have clued me in. Maybe it’s the fact that Volker walks around in the daylight that’s tripping her up. I mean, The Vampire Diaries had already been published by this time but maybe Talli hadn’t gotten around to reading it yet and didn’t know there are vampires that can walk in the light. I’m trying to give her the benefit of the doubt here but after she went ON AND ON about how horror is her fucking life, I would have expected her to figure this out by now.
We skip to that evening. Talli shows Lisa how to work the radios and then Lisa drops her off at the back entrance of the auditorium. Talli waits for Lisa to drive off and then breaks into the building and navigates through the dark theater. The hallways have safety lights so she is able to get to the office easily. She unlocks Volker’s office and starts her search. The desk is mostly empty but she finds stacks of school files. She finds Samantha’s and opens it. There’s a note inside that says “her vanity will be her undoing”. Morris’ file says “An outsider. Bring him inside.”. Lisa’s says “A follower. Give her something to follow.” Talli convinces herself these are all normal notes that administrators write in student files.
I don’t think this one is the smartest lamp in Ikea.
Talli gets a frantic call on the radio from Lisa saying Volker left the house. Talli knows she has a few minutes so she continues to look through the files until she finds hers. The note inside simply says “dangerous”.
I think he’s giving her too much credit.
Talli finally gets her ass in gear and starts to leave. She hears noises in the hall and fumbles with the lock on Volker’s door. She doesn’t even check to make sure it’s locked before she sprints off to the auditorium. She gets maybe halfway through the dark theater when she hears a door open behind her. There’s nowhere to hide so she just lays on the floor between the seats. She listens as someone comes into the theater and starts walking down the aisles, pushing the seats down and letting them spring back up. The sound is getting closer and closer to her and then Talli hears an inhuman screech. Something big starts crashing through the aisle towards her. She gets up and runs toward the exit, dropping the key ring as she goes. The thing is getting closer and closer and curiosity overcomes her. Wanting to see exactly what it is, she finds a light switch and turns it on.
There’s nothing there.
Shaking, Talli makes it outside to the meeting place and calls Lisa on the radio. There’s no response. Talli has no choice but to walk home. It takes her an hour which is bizarre considering how small this town is supposed to be. Her car is in the drive with the passenger door open. The keys are in the ignition and the police radio is on the seat but Lisa is missing. There is snow on the ground but no tracks leading up to or away from the car.
Talli goes against convention and calls the police. She makes up a story about being at the school to work on props for the play and Lisa failing to pick her up. Lansky tells her that he can’t file a missing person’s report until Lisa has been gone for 24 hours which is complete TV show fabricated bullshit. It’s amazing how the majority of people in the US believe that’s true because they’ve seen it on TV so often.
Talli calls Alex and asks him to come over. When he arrives, she tells him that Volker took Lisa, Samantha and all the other kids. She wants to search the house to find them. He agrees to come with her because he doesn’t want her to go alone. As they walk through Volker’s backyard, Talli again brings up the swimming pool which is covered in snow now. She reminds Alex where it is so he won’t fall through.
For fuck's sake, Sumner is really beating us over the head with this effing pool. I don't think she could broadcast "hey someone is going to fall in this pool at some point" any louder. It's lit up in neon lights.
They try various ways to get into the house before Talli finally breaks the window out of the back door with her flashlight. They go inside and start to search the house. There’s still no furniture and most of the boxes seem to contain clothing of various types – some male, some female, some uniforms, etc. There’s no sign of the missing people on the first floor so they go down into the basement. For some reason there’s a meat locker down there. Terrified, they open it but it’s empty.
Why would an average house in suburbia have a meat locker in the basement? I’m starting to wonder about Talli’s former neighbors.
They head up to the second floor. Some of these rooms have beds and they find what they assume is Volker’s room. Talli notes that there are absolutely no lights in the room. Further down the hall, though, light shines from under one of the doors. They open it to find an old woman sitting in front of a vanity. To Talli’s horror, the reflection is of Samantha.
Lynch shows up and drags them away from the room. Volker is waiting at the bottom of the stairs and he’s already called the cops. Lansky is the one who shows up. He wants to throw them in jail but Volker proposes an alternative. He’s having some students come to the school on Saturday morning to do some cleaning and he wants Talli and Alex to join them. Talli tells Lansky about seeing Samantha upstairs. Alex is immediately confused because he only saw the old woman (he couldn’t see the reflection in the vanity mirror) and he tells Lansky that when questioned. Volker says that the woman is his mother and she’s unwell. Talli is forced to agree to Volker’s punishment. Alex does as well.
We skip to the next day (Saturday). On the way to the school, Talli tries to convince Alex that the old woman was really Samantha. He doesn’t believe her.
Volker takes them both into his office when they arrive. He says it’s time to just lay everything out on the table. He basically admits to being a few hundred years old. He’s not a traditional vampire but a shape shifter that feeds off energy. Alex tries to leave but Volker compels him and he sits back down. Volker then shifts into a young, handsome man to talk to Talli. He tells her there are three kinds of humans – those you turn, those you feed from and those who are closed to him.
Lansky shows up to see if Talli and Alex reported for their punishment. Talli uses the distraction to grab Alex’s keys and make a run for it. RIP Alex I guess. A very lame car chase ensues. Just when Talli thinks she got away, she discovers Lynch in the backseat.
How did he know to get into Alex’s car?
Lynch makes her drive back to Volker’s house. He carries her inside and then orders her to walk upstairs. She's taken into one of the bedrooms and locked in the closet. Talli immediately starts looking for a way out. She sees a panel in the ceiling and assumes it leads into the attic. The attic is full of junk but she finds a broken hammer and a broomstick that she turns into a stake.
For some reason, every single bedroom in this fucking house has a panel into the attic. She chooses one at random and drops down. It ends up being Samantha’s room. She looks even worse than she did the night before. In the mirror, she’s still young and healthy but in the real world she’s basically a rotting corpse. Samantha tells Talli that Volker promised her eternal beauty.
Lynch must hear them talking or something and he bursts through the door. He chokes Talli for a bit but then lets her go, saying it’s her last warning. She tries to threaten him with her broomstick stake but he bats it away, breaking it. She’s left with about 12 inches of usable wood….
….that she promptly stakes him with. She uses the hammer to drive it through him and he slowly, gruesomely melts away. Lisa suddenly appears in the doorway and Talli sobs in relief.
Odds that it’s really Lisa: 0%
“Lisa” sounds weird and walks stiffly into the room. Almost immediately the glamour fails and Morris is standing there. He tells Talli that Volker let him “eat” Lisa so he could gain more power. He morphs into a replica of Talli. She tries to hit him with a chair but he bats it away. It goes through the window, letting light pour into the room. Morris bursts into flames. He solemnly says “Bummer” and then turns to ash.
Okay, that was pretty funny.
Volker finally shows up. He seems impressed that Talli managed to dispatch Lynch and Morris. Samantha is thrilled to see him. She rushes up to him, all eager to please her master. He tells her that she’s no longer useful to him since she’s been completely drained and then he just smashes her to pieces. Talli grabs the hammer.
Volker offers Talli eternal youth. She tells him to fuck off. He says that she’ll either join him or she’ll die. She throws the hammer through the window closest to her and then jumps out onto the roof. She slides down to the garage roof and then jumps to the ground. The sun is starting to set and Talli fears that the other missing students might be around somewhere. In the dark, they will be much harder to kill and her odds of survival will go down drastically. She makes a run for the loose board in the fence but then….
C’mon.
You know what happens.
It’s been foreshadowed to absolute death.
Yep. She accidentally runs across the snow-covered pool cover. The corner of the cover gives way and she falls into the empty pool. Luckily she lands in the shallow end so she isn’t hurt too bad. Most of the cover is still over the pool and she can see a hoard of people gathered in the deep end, hiding from the light. They beg her for help and ask her to come closer to them because they’re hungry.
The cover continues to tear under the weight of the snow and the captives are forced deeper and deeper into the remaining darkness. Talli climbs up the pool ladder and then yanks on the cover so it completely comes off, exposing all the fledglings to the light. Mass death ensues.
Talli makes it through the fence just as the sun goes down. She races home, knowing that’s the first place Volker will look. While she waits for him to show up, she makes a cross out of popsicle sticks.
The front door opens and Talli’s dad comes through. Unfortunately Volker is right behind him. He compels both of Talli’s parents to go upstairs and stay out of his way. He tells Talli that he’s leaving town (his week is up) and no one will remember he was even there. He asks her again to join him. She picks up something from the bar, hiding it in her hand, and then agrees to become whatever he is. Happy, he grabs her hands to start transferring power into her. Since he gets his power from souls essentially, she feels those souls move through her. One of them is Lisa. There’s no mention of Alex.
Talli pulls away from Volker and slams the thing she was holding into his throat. He slowly melts away and dies. Talli runs through the house and finds both her parents asleep. She hopes they won’t remember anything when they wake up. She goes back downstairs and picks up the silver corkscrew she killed Volker with.
We go from there to an epilogue. We’re in the head of one of the fledglings who somehow managed to survive. He doesn’t really remember who he is or how he got this way but he knows he has to hide. He goes into the basement of Volker’s house and curls up in the meat locker. The last sentence says: “Alex waited for night to fall.”
So UnRIP Alex I guess.
The book ends there. There are two more in the series and I’ll probably read them at some point. I didn’t hate the writing and the story was okay. Talli made stupid decisions pretty much through the entire thing but she saved herself in the end. I can respect that.
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