Page 2 of Fall into Place

“Not as hot as when she and Felix have sex in the milky jade pools after their battle with Tristan!”

“Do not even tell me you’re a Felix girl, he’s so boring!” Joni protested, but she was grinning.

“Who’s your favorite then?” Tess goaded her. “Callum? The bad boy? Ooooh, how original.”

“Puh-lease, it is so obviously Octavia!” Joni shrieked. “By the way, did I not mention I’m a big giant lesbian? Anyway, Octavia rules, everyone else drools, when I turn twenty-nine I’m throwing a Blood Feud–themed party just like the ball Octavia had for her twenty-ninth birthday.”

“That’s genius,” Tess gushed. “You could do Victorian decorations, make your place into Konstantin’s townhouse with the blood punch and everything.”

“The blood punch, oh my god, yes! With cranberry juice! Or actual blood!”

“Or both!”

By this time, they were both doubled over laughing, and the rest of the mixer had gone more or less silent as everyone turned to gawk at them. But Tess found that as long as she was standing with Joni, she absolutely did not care.

“You ready to go?” Tess asked.

“Boy, am I!” Joni grabbed an unopened bottle of chardonnay, and they both waved jovially to the group as they strode out of the room.

Within two weeks Joni and Tess were best friends, and by spring semester they were living together in a grimy basement apartment a few blocks from campus, a place filled with cheap furniture scrounged from Housing Works, daring experiments in homemade frosé, Harry Styles dance parties, and online quizzes about which vampire from the Blood Feud books you should marry. The year Tess spent living with Joni was the best year of her life.

Until Rick’s Valentine’s Day party.

And the panic attacks. The nightmares. The insomnia.

And then Tess moved out while Joni was away on spring break without ever telling her why.

Back at that first mixer, Tess never could have guessed that she’d be dropping out of Columbia in just eighteen months, leaving behind her best friend, her career, and all her dreams.

It wasn’t personal. It was just what she had to do to survive.

Chapter 1

Five Years Later

Transcript of Here to Slay podcast, episode 83

Cat: Hey, this is Cat Koorse!

Ruby: And this is Ruby LaBruyere.

Cat: And this is Here to Slay, the podcast where we bring you biting commentary on all things vampire.

Ruby: Oh my god, Cat, you said you weren’t going to do the bite joke.

Cat: Sue me! I lied!

Ruby: Okay. Anyway, big news this week—the long-anticipated Blood Feud movie has officially been green-lit! Guy Whiteman is writing and directing, with Henry Golding and Gemma Chan set to star as sexy-evil vampire twins Callum and Octavia Yoo—

Cat: Aren’t those characters supposed to be British Korean? Neither of those actors is Korean.

Ruby: This is Hollywood, let’s be glad they’re Asian at all. The biggest news is Timothée Chalamet himself is playing heartbreaking hero Felix Hawthorn! Truly the most perfect casting I could imagine—I can’t wait to see Timmy bring that fabulous mop of hair to sweet, charming Felix.

Cat: Oooh, the Chala-mop.

Ruby: I prefer Chala-mane.

Cat: So today, we’re going to dive into some of the controversies surrounding the Blood Feud novels and speculate about what they might mean for the film.