The Coldest Girl in Coldtown

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The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black

Tana wakes in the bath dazed. Messy remnants of a sundown party are scattered around the bathroom, but going by her reflection, she hasn’t got a leg to stand on as she looks a mess too. She remembers her ex, Aiden, a drinking game, dancing, more drinking, and a sense of recklessness. It's not her first time at Lance’s farmhouse for a sundown party, but it is the first without her BFF Pauline. It’s odd no one is around making coffee or getting ready to go to the diner, but then Tana spots a pale hand in the living room and blood covering the walls and saturating the carpet, and the bodies of so many people she knows. Some posed, some looking terrified caught in the moment of their death. Tana notices an open window. The garlic and holy water didn’t help, a vampire still crawled through. She needs to call someone. 

Tana needs her phone, she’s not going to use one in a corpse's pocket. Suddenly, Tana wonders if the vampire is still in the house. She needs to think and not panic. It’s sunlight, she can freak out outside in the sun. Carefully, Tana makes her way to the guest room for her keys, phone and shoes, inside however she finds Aiden barely alive, gagged and tied to the bed with a bungee cord. The windows of the room have been blacked out. Sitting on the floor is a boy with ink black hair and red eyes, chained and gagged. 

We're given a brief history of vampires in North America hitting the mainstream. A vampire, Caspar Morales, spread the vampire infection because he’s full of himself and went on a bender. Caspar is then killed by other vampires because you gotta to follow the rules! The infected are everywhere and creative in their hunting. They are rounded up as much as possible and put in “coldtowns” built as quarantine zones, but it’s like Escape from New York only with vampires. 

Tana’s mother got infected, and they say to stop vampirism, you can’t let the infected feed on humans for at least 88 days. It was a bad time. It took over a month of Tana’s mom being locked up and begging Tana for help before Tana gave in and a couple more weeks before she stole her father's keys. Her mom attacked her as soon as she was free and tried to drink her blood. It was horrible, and after seven years, the memory hasn’t faded.

Tana rips the tape off Aiden's mouth and he instantly tries to bite her. He’s infected. The chained boy who Aiden tells her is called Gavriel keeps kicking the bed and giving Tana looks trying to communicate. There are more vampires in the house. She takes Gavriel’s gag off and he whispers for her to go through the window, just cover him in heavy blankets first. Tana tells Aiden and Gavriel she’s going for her car and pulls up to the window, they can jump in her trunk. Possibly a stupid plan, but she can't leave them. 

Tana pulls her car up against the farmhouse and goes back into the bedroom. There is strange muttering outside the bedroom in different languages, and Aiden heard them mention the Thorn of Istra. Tana remembers a documentary she watched about Thorns. They were vampire hunters sent to put down nuisance baby vamps. It is considered a blessing and a curse to be a Thorn. The Thorn of Istra apparently went mad from it and frightens the other vampires. 

Tana makes up her mind. Even if Gavriel is a vampire, if he needs saving, she’ll help him. And Aidan, too, even if he’s her ex and changing into a vampire. Eventually Aiden and Gavriel are freed and escape into the trunk of Tana’s car despite the other vampires trying to stop her and Aiden trying to turn on the charm. Tana doesn’t trust Aiden, she learned her lesson about him, so if he won’t get in the trunk with Gavriel, he can drive and Tana will hold a tire iron aimed at his head. 

An hour later they pull into a gas station. Full dark has fallen. Tana is tired, hungry, and not sure what to do. Tana cleans up in the bathroom, careful to wash the cuts from the vampires trying to stop her escape. She could be infected. Deciding she needs normality, Tana calls Pauline and the conversation is full of drama and exactly what she needed. Leaving the bathroom, Tana sees a video feed from one of the Coldtowns, a place where the infected go, and it’s a non-stop party. She should take Aiden to one, heck she should take herself to one, but Tana won’t. At the car, they see Gavriel is gone and it’s clear he could have gotten free from the chains at any time. That’s when Aiden tries to attack Tana, giving into the craving, but Gavriel saves her by grabbing Aiden and drinking from him, not to death, at least not tonight.

Gavriel drives this time with Aiden dumped in the back seat. He explains he was changed because he went mad and killed vampires. Gavriel is driving them to Coldtown because it’s the best place for Aiden. Tana falls asleep, unable to stay awake any longer and wakes to coffee and a sign saying Dead Last Rest Stop, they’re nearly at Coldtown. Gavriel and Aiden are talking to a boy and a girl who look like twins, Midnight and Winter. They’re going to Coldtown to become vampires and blogging their adventure for tips. Gavriel hands Tana a coffee and paper bag filled with a garnet necklace and a pile of loose money. Suddenly Aiden jumps on Midnight trying to bite her, only scratching her instead. Winter and Tana pull him off, and Tana wipes Midnight's blood off him before he can lick his fingers. 

The Dead Last Rest Stop is a hubbub of activity and is open 24 hours. Winter goes to get Midnight bandages while Tana stays with her. Though she’s still bloody, Midnight records a social post. After, Tana grabs some clean clothes and finally has a shower. She has a ton of missed calls, her dad, her sister Pearl, the police. The messages are painful with worry and then her father telling Tana staying away is the responsible thing to do. Her mind is made up, she’s going to Coldtown. 

Back at the car, Gavriel has Aiden under control. He suggests to Tana she turn him in at the gate and collect the bounty that is on all vampires, but Aiden, selfishly, thinks Gavriel should be traded for a marker so he can get back out of Coldtown so long as he doesn’t turn. Soon, Tana, Gavriel, Aiden, Winter and Midnight are on their way to Coldtown. Before they hit the checkpoint, Gavriel pulls over so Tana can “restrain” him for the bounty. As they talk, Gavriel begs Tana not to go to Coldtown, thinking she is courting death, Tana confesses that one of the vampires from the farmhouse bit and scraped her with his teeth. 

Soon they’re back on their way. Though the guard at the checkpoint harasses them a bit, they get through to the gate where a bored worker hands over the necessary paperwork to fill out for a bounty and marker claim, and warns them not to go into Coldtown. It’s half-hearted though as it’s 4am and they don’t really care. Just then, Tana sees Gavriel’s wanted poster. Under the $75,000 reward is his name and title: the Thorn of Istra. Well, shit. 

As Gavriel is being escorted by the guards, Tana realizes he’s killed a lot of people because he’s the freakin’ Thorn of Istra and he’s a lot older than his appearance would have you believe. The guards, again, try to stop Tana from going inside, but it always seemed like she was headed for Coldtown so the guard relents and they’re ushered through quarantine and enter the city. Gavriel leaves them once inside, he has someone to find. Gavriel thanks Tana, tells her how traveling with her was a delight, and gives her a gentle kiss. She asks for another but this one is more aggressive, because Tana has bitten her tongue to feed him her blood. Gavriel is enthralled but has to leave. 

Aiden is an asshole about the kiss, Midnight is delighted and took pictures of Tana and Gavriel together and Winter tells his sister to delete them, but she won’t. While Tana and Gavriel were saying goodbye, Midnight found them somewhere to stay. The journey is disquieting with screaming from alleys, confusing street names and directions, and the feeling of being watched the whole time. Vampires burning in the rising sun at Suicide Square surrounded by humans was not a highlight. 

Eventually they reach their destination. Zara, Rufus, and Christobel live there, and they’re sketchy as hell. After introductions, they eat and drink some really bad moonshine. When it’s time to rest, Tana realizes she and Aiden have been drugged. Because they are infected, they are going to be locked up in a bedroom until the infection takes them and they attack each other for blood to complete the change, then Zara, Rufus, and Christobel will have their very own vampires to turn them. Midnight is in on this, it is her objective to be turned. Winter says nothing. 

Pearl, Tana’s little sister, is sitting watching reruns of Hemlock: Vampire Bounty Hunter and thinking about Tana and Aiden. There’s got to be good vampires, surely. When they start cutting the head off a vampire they’ve cornered, Pearl changes the channel and finds a feed for Lucien Moreau’s party where vampires aren’t the villains, it’s light-spicy romance. Pearl imagines Tana being like this, a princess courted by a handsome vampire while wearing wafty dresses. She also hopes one day she could join her. 

Tana wakes groggy, Aiden asleep beside her. In her purse, tossed on her, she sees the marker is still there. At least she hasn’t been robbed too. Aiden wakes up and he looks terrible. They’re interrupted by a girl sliding a big bowl of blood to them through the door. A disembodied voice tells them they all donated to show they’re worthy. Tana is repulsed by the blood, but Aiden is tempted and encourages them to give in. Tana is stronger and throws the blood against the wall, but Aiden is not strong and starts licking it. Not giving in, Tana sees a small hole where the bowl hit the wall, and she starts hitting it, creating more holes, and scales up to the skylight. Below her, Aiden is getting colder and changing. Tana scrambles over the unsecure chandelier and makes it to the skylight while Aiden grins watching her. He’s holding her purse and takes out the marker to make her come back, throwing the rest up to her. 

On the roof, Tana meets a guy called Jameson who has a white crow, Gremlin. Jameson helps her off the roof and to the high street where people are setting up stalls and he gets them food. While they eat, Jameson shows her Midnight’s blog post. He wants to know about the Thorn of Istra. Jameson has a friend who works for Lucien and found out Lucien is the reason the Thorn of Istra was locked up and being tortured in Paris. Apparently, Gavriel let Caspar Morales slip through his fingers. Lucien and his partner Elisabet told an ancient vampire called the Spider what Gavriel had done, so Lucien is particularly interested in the Thorn and his whereabouts. Oh, and Lucien is also Gavriel’s maker. Tana really doesn’t know anything, but knows Gavriel will be working by himself. As they’ve eaten and talked, it's turned full dark and Tana knows she’ll have to go and save Aiden. 

Gavriel’s turning happened in Paris. He is bitten by Lucien but doesn’t really remember it happening. He goes out when he starts craving the blood of a performer, but then Gavriel returns to Lucien. Lucien gives Gavriel his blood to drink and the next morning when he wakes, he craves more of Lucien's blood. This happens day after day for a week until Lucien brings Gavriel a sex worker. Gavriel escapes Lucien then escapes Paris. A week later, Lucien finds Gavriel crouched over a body, drinking, two others lying on the floor. 

As Tana and Jameson walk along, they pass many vampires, and she can’t stop staring at them. They stop at a shop for Tana to get some things. Jameson leaves Tana with Valentina, the shop assistant, and the shop owner, Mrs. Kurkin. Tana doesn’t sell the garnet necklace when she’s told it’s Russian, Gavriel’s home country. What are the chances he “found” it at a service station parking lot? Mrs. Kurkin fixes the clasp while Tana shops for clothes with Valentina and she tells Tana about how she came to Coldtown and met Jameson. Eventually though, purchases made and necklace fixed, Tana needs to go back to help Aiden. 

When Tana finds the right roof and climbs down, she finds a dead man in a pool of blood outside the bedroom. Further in, Tana finds a crying Christobel painting the windows black. She tells her Aiden drained Zara but it was supposed to be Tana. Further in, Tana finds a fully changed Aiden crouched with Midnight rocking back and forth holding Winter’s drained body. Rufus is hunched in the corner holding a phone recording it all. 

Pearl is watching more Lucien Moreau feeds and listening to her father clean the kitchen spotless. This is interrupted by a news story on the TV about an incident at the gas station. They’re talking about Tana. Pearl wants to soak all the information in about Tana, but her dad wants the TV turned off. Pearl knows Tana is in Coldtown and not a vampire, yet, because that morning, Tana sent her a text with a picture of the sunrise coming up over a Coldtown street. The news doesn’t say anything else, so they don’t know where her sister is. 

Aiden is relieved Tana came back. He didn’t kill Winter, it was Midnight, she didn’t stop feeding in time and took too much. They filmed Midnight's death and her coming back. Midnight killed the man upstairs too, and now she won’t let go of her dead brother. Tana helps take the dead bodies to the collection point at the guard tower. After all this, she’s determined to get her marker back. Aiden begs her not to leave, and at least for eighty-eight days while she waits for the infection to leave her body, she won’t. He gives her the envelope with the marker and Tana leaves and finds an empty house to sleep in. The next morning, Tana looks into the envelope. He left her a note saying he’s not ready for her to give him up and replaced the marker with a quarter. Bastard. 

Tana goes to find Aiden but he’s not there, neither is Midnight and she’s taken Winter’s body. Rufus tells her Midnight was dressed in her best and is going to Lucien Moreau’s. Tana will follow, but Rufus points out, not dressed like that she won’t. Time to find Jameson. Tana ends up at the clothes shop with Valentina who hasn't seen him so tries to call Jameson’s cell, but it goes straight to voicemail. 

When Tana explains what she’s trying to do, Valentina tells her a bunch of new vampires have been made and shows Tana a feed from a theater here in Coldtown. Gavriel is sitting on the stage offering to bite and turn anyone - he wants to gorge. Valentina stops the feed and tells her he does it, but doesn’t drain anyone dead. He has huge self control and must be the Thorn of Istra. But why did Gavriel do it? Wasn’t he trying to stop the spread of infection? Tana still has to go to Lucien’s though, and Valentina offers to go with her. Great, it’s always good to party with friends. 

There is a crowd of people outside Lucien’s and it’s hard to stand out though both Tana and Valentina look amazing. A combination of invoking  Jameson’s name and a haughty attitude gets them inside. Despite all the people there, it’s clearly not a party for humans. As Tana is looking around, a vampire saunters up to them. She knows Tana, remembers her from the farmhouse, and also she is Elisabet, Lucien’s lover. Well, shit. She wants to know where “her prize” is. Tana pleads ignorance and Elisabet walks away, but it’s creepy and you definitely think she’s going to keep watching Tana. They give themselves ten minutes to look around before they GTF out of there. 

Tana spots Aiden about two seconds after Lucien walks in with Elisabet on his arm. It was two seconds after that, Tana punched Aiden in the face and he relinquished the marker. Suddenly a dagger flies through the air killing a vampire Tana remembers from the farmhouse. Gavriel has arrived. He rips through the vampires, taking heads and blood flying. He stops in front of Lucien and Elisabet, they banter, they offer to give him something in reparation for imprisoning him for ten years, but Gavriel creepily and singsongily says he wants their ashes to blow away across the face of a bloodred moon. 

Lucien offers that they kneel and beg forgiveness, and then he pushes Elisabet down then rips her throat out and removes her head, saying he didn’t go after Gavriel, Elisabet did it of her own volition. Lucien then calls for the feeds to be cut, and Tana is suspicious of this. Lucien taunts Gavriel, insinuating that he’s the hero and Gavriel the villain in their story,  and as a good hero, he offers to help Gavriel kill the Spider. Shocked and disgusted by this bargain, Tana leaves and runs straight into Midnight who grabs her throat. 

FLASH BACK TO VIENNA, 1912. Lucien wasn’t supposed to make any progeny. He wouldn’t have gotten permission and his two, Gavriel and Elisabet, are mad and have a death wish. In Vienna he has been called by the Spider to answer for this. Gavriel offers to take Lucien’s place to save his maker from punishment, and the Spider takes him up on this offer, sentencing Gavriel into his service to be a vampire hunter for the rest of his days, answering only to him. This annoys Lucien, he would rather Gavriel be dust than in the service of anyone else. 

Tana and Midnight fight but Midnight is able to overpower Tana, and she sounds like a sullen child whining about Tana taking Winter and Aiden away from her. Tana makes a scrabble to escape but Midnight catches her and sinks her fangs in. Tana keeps enough wherewithal to grab a bottle of rose water from her purse and splashes Midnight. As Midnight charges at Tana, Tana raises the stake, also in her purse, through Midnight’s heart. She’s bitten and most definitely infected and won’t be able to fight it off. As she’s trying to leave the party, two of Lucien’s lackeys grab her. Her “attacking and killing” a vampire was witnessed on the security cameras and is against the rules of Lucien’s house. Tana is taken to Lucien who notices her garnet necklace. Tana is honest that Gavriel gave it to her. Lucien looks at her with interest and leaves, Tana passes out from blood loss. 

Valentina wakes Tana, she’s too woozy to see where she is but hears Valentina and a stranger call for help. When Tana wakes again, she’s lying on a bed with a saline IV and Gavriel sitting beside her. Tana asks whose necklace he gave her and he tells her it was his sister’s and that she’s long dead. Tana says she won’t be a vampire, though it’s inevitable now. Gavriel tells her that being a vampire just brings out the real you, which is a terrifying thought, but she was the only person in his life to save him so that’s her real character. Tana is still determined to sweat out the infection over the next eighty-eight days though. Looking around, Tana realizes she’s in Elisabet’s room. Ick. Tana won’t stay and looks around for an escape. The door locks from the inside, so really she’s not being held captive. She slips out into the hallway.

Slowly and quietly Tana makes her way to the basement where she was initially taken. There in a cage she finds Valentina sleeping amongst other humans and a weeping girl. Unlike the others in the basement, she doesn’t want to be there. Tana promises to get her and Valentina out, but she needs to be careful of the security cameras everywhere as she finds the keys. Tana looks around in case there are any tools instead of the keys, but as she does so, a vampire grabs her. Tana instinctively stabs him with a screwdriver until he’s dead and his delicious blood bubbles which she laps up. The people in the cage watch her in horror, and Gavriel watches her from the shadows. He’d been following her on the security cameras. 

Lucien arrives then and collects Tana, sending her with a minion to freshen up in Elisabet room because she’s covered in blood and her party dress has seen better days. While she’s showering, Tana charges her phone and has a bunch of texts from people she doesn’t know, trolls, journalists, people from school, and Pearl. Then she tries to call Jameson, but it goes to voicemail. Then she calls Pauline and reassures her she is cold but not turned, despite what was seen on the feeds. Tana asks Pauline to keep trying Jameson and tell him Valentina is locked up at Lucien’s. Lucien’s minion collects her then. 

Lucien talks to Tana about the necklace, which belonged to Gavriel’s sister, Katya. Giving it away tells Lucien that Gavriel is ready to die. Casually Lucien tells her the story of how he tried to turn her and she walked into the sun rather than be, what she thought, a demon. Overall, Lucien is being an over the top asshole throughout the conversation, blowing up his own ego and describing his “master plan” for vampires. Lucien encourages Tana to make Gavriel stick to the plan and kill the Spider, to give him a reason to go on. 

Lucien takes Tana to Gavriel so they can all talk. The horror of her situation makes Tana want to laugh hysterically as Lucien describes the plan. The Spider is on his way to collect Gavriel, Gavriel will be loosely chained but will break free and kill the Spider. Tana can’t help but feel it’s a whole Best Vampire Frenemy situation. Gavriel knows that Lucien won’t betray him, not only because Gavriel is a vampire killer and his progeny, but because Lucien was responsible for Caspar Morales and he caused the end of the world for a joke. Lucien slams out of the room. 

Alone, Gavriel holds Tana and she slumps into his hold. Gavriel asks Tana to stay locked in her room no matter what she hears, and she lies when she says she will. Tana intends to save Valentina. After they share stories about themselves, Gavriel offers Tana his bitten wrist so she can drink his blood, Tana reveals her fangs and he's not too shocked that Tana is already showing the physical transformation into a vampire. It’s how it used to be done, feed a human vampire blood for a while then complete the transformation with human blood. It creates stronger vampires, and it’s how Gavriel was made. As far as Gavriel knows, Tana won’t shake off the vampire infection in eighty-eight days, but Tana can’t see herself as Cold forever. She drinks from Gavriel’s wrist and once she’s drunk some, she offers Gavriel her blood. He drinks from her neck as she drinks from his wrist. It’s really hot. 

The house is waking up as Tana heads back to her room and Lucien’s minion is there, and so is Jameson’s bird. Turns out the minion, Marisol, is Jameson’s mother and he asked for her help. On the bird is a note from Jameson, trust her, trust me. Marisol has another message to pass on, Pearl is here in Coldtown. No!! She’s only twelve, she shouldn’t be here! Pauline texted her while she was gone, Pearl has run away to live with her and be on TV. Pearl’s phone goes straight to voicemail. Tana needs to free the others in the basement quickly, escape Lucien’s house, and stop Pearl. 

Tana raids Elisabet’s room for weapons and finds an armory of vampire killing equipment. Once outfitted, Tana and Marisol head to the basement, pretending Tana is a prisoner to get there. A guard starts to come down but Marisol manages to throw him off, however he reveals that the house will only be staffed by a bare minimum of people. This worries Tana, Gavriel is clearly being set up by Lucien and she needs to warn him. First, they need to get Valentina and the other prisoners wanting to escape out of the house. They’re chased, but are able to reach Jameson at the meeting point who has an in case of emergency flamethrower. Tana doesn’t leave with them because she needs to go back inside to warn Gavriel and kill Lucien but asks Valentina and Jameson to look for Pearl, passing them her garnet necklace to give to her. 

Pearl gets a bus then a cab to Coldtown. Pearl lies about being infected and no one questions her as they pass her the paperwork. After watching the feed from Lucien’s party, Pearl went on the message boards and asked about her sister. After a while she got a DM, the anonymous person told her her sister is fine and she should come to Coldtown because Lucien would love to meet her, but not to tell anyone. It’s not until Pearl sees Coldtown that she starts to question what she’s done. It’s not the helpful, friendly place she imagined. A girl tries to kidnap Pearl not two minutes after Pearl enters Coldtown but Aiden is there and he’s not alone. 

Tana sneaks back into Lucien’s, Elisabet’s crossbow in hand, and avoids the cameras though they don’t appear to be turned on. The place is empty apart from the ballroom. Gavriel is stripped to the waist and has been sliced and is bloody. Lucien is interrogating him about the missing prisoners. Lucien calls for all the cameras to be turned on and Tana steps forward, ready to aim, and shoots at Lucien. Tana hits him in the chest and runs after she sees the bolt sink into him. 

Guards surround Tana and drag her back to the ballroom. Lucien isn’t dead and Gavriel is still chained. As Gavriel taunts Lucien, drawing his anger, Lucien stabs him in the belly. Gavriel doesn’t react how Lucien wants. When a guard announces that Spider is near, Gavriel takes the dagger out of his belly himself with the hand he’s freed, grins at Tana conspiratorially, and licks the blood off the blade. Something clicks in Tana’s mind and she laughs. The Spider is already here and has been there the whole time. Gavriel frees himself completely and tells Lucien the Spider has been dead for weeks, he killed him. Gavriel is the Spider now. Lucien’s guards are taken out by Gavriel’s people in disguise. Lucien is astounded as Gavriel explains how he met Tana, how Elisabet captured him still weakened in Boston, how they thought to have a feast in the farmhouse and left Gavriel tied up with only a boy to drink when Tana saved them both. Tana was the first person to ever save him. 

Lucien lunges for Tana, grabbing her by the neck and using her as a shield. Tana, though, has a knife and shoves it into his chest, stopping just before the tip pierces his heart. Tana tells him to confess to the cameras and he admits to being responsible for Caspar Morales. Tana drives the wooden knife in further, killing Lucien. She turns and walks out of his house, covered in gore. She pulls out her cell phone and sees a message from Jameson. He has Pearl and she needs to come to the Eternal Ball. Tana heads straight there. 

The club is loud and brash and chaotic and Pearl probably loves it. Valentina finds Tana and takes her to Aiden and Pearl. Aiden tells Tana everyone saw Tana kill Lucien and that it was broadcast on every screen. Tana wants Pearl to leave right now and not come back but relents to her sister's puppy dog eyes, allowing Pearl to stay for one night, but telling her she must leave Coldtown in the morning. Tana is congratulated and offered drinks by strangers. Turns out Lucien wasn’t as popular as he thought he was. Jameson is at the bar and enthusiastic about how kickass and famous Tana is. Uggh. Tana changes the subject to Jameson and Valentina like-liking each other and makes him dance with her. 

At sunrise, Pauline picks Pearl up from outside Coldtown. On the way, Pearl mentions that a boy with a strange accent was at the Eternal Ball and wanted her to pass on a message but changed his mind. Gavriel. The next morning, Jameson locks and chains Tana into the basement of an abandoned Victorian house with some supplies and one of Midnight’s cameras. 

Once settled, she turns on the camera intending to live feed the ugly side of sweating out the vampire infection. As she’s giving her intro, the door to the basement opens. Gavriel steps in and switches off the camera, telling her he’s going to stay with her. He’s brought a bag full of books to read aloud to her because he loves her. Tana has big, scary strong feelings for Gavriel too. No matter what happens, if Tana doesn’t change back, they will go hunt vampires together and she can drink their blood. Gavriel turns the camera back on.