Page 65 of Fang Fiction

“You’re not making sense. There isn’t any plan—”

“You wanted to go with him, but you knew I’d come after you if you did. It’s clever, really. Lure me to the moonflower meadow, Felix’s goons at the wait, two against one, just a quick stab to the leg and then goodbye, Callum.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?!” Tess swore. “I staked Althea, I got you back to the compound, and I told Nantale and Sylvie how to cure you! If I wanted you dead, why would I have done any of that? I gave up my last chance to get off this island to save your stupid life!”

“What are you talking about?” Callum frowned. “You can leave this island whenever you like.”

“No, I can’t!” Tess exploded. “When you passed out in the meadow, I left. I was terrified, and I just wanted to go home. Except when I got to the crystal bridge, and I thought of you lying there unconscious, where anyone could kill you…”

Tess’s voice caught in her throat—why the fuck was she getting emotional over this man who’d shown again and again how little he cared about her?

“What?” Callum pressed. “What happened?”

“I couldn’t leave you there.” Tess swallowed hard, keeping her voice dull. “So I turned around. But when I was almost back to the meadow, I heard this massive explosion—half of the bridge blew up and fell into the river. No one can cross it now.”

“What?!” Callum looked genuinely shocked.

“If I hadn’t come back for you, I could have gotten across the bridge before it happened, and I’d be back in New York right now,” Tess spat. “So don’t you dare say I’m a threat—not when I traded my safety for yours. And not when it’s members of your clan who keep threatening me!”

“Rubbish. Nantale forbid anyone to touch you.” Callum dismissed her.

“Oh please, you’re deluded,” Tess retorted. “Hamish could barely restrain himself when I cut my finger, the twins look at me like I’m a snack their mom put on a high shelf, and Tristan straight-up told me he plans to murder me the second he thinks he can get away with it.”

“When did he say that?” Callum demanded. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because you’re just like the rest of them!” Tess fumed. “In fact, you know what? I bet Tristan blew up the bridge! Trapped me here so he could drain my blood like he’s been wanting to do since the night I got here, when he knocked me unconscious and dragged me to this godforsaken compound because you were too drunk to come meet me like Octavia promised.”

“Tristan’s a nasty twat, but how thick are you? You want to know who blew up the bridge? It’s obviously Felix!”

“What?! Why would he do that?”

“Because that’s what he does.” Callum seethed. “He cozies up to people, makes them think he’s on their side, and they don’t realize until it’s too late that he’s trapped them like a rat in a cage. It’s exactly what he did to me—why shouldn’t he do it to you?”

“When?” Tess demanded. “When did he do that to you?”

“What does it matter?” Callum laughed coldly. “If it’s not in your precious books, you won’t believe it anyway.”

“I’m trying to believe you, Callum.” Tess’s voice broke. “I want to.”

“I haven’t lied to you once,” he said flatly. “But you’ve lied to me every day since we met. Different set of rules, eh, Tess? To think I came down here to make sure you were okay.”

With that, he turned and walked back toward the compound, his movements slow and ginger as he put weight on his injured leg, leaving Tess alone in the orchard.

Even when he had every right to be furious with her, she realized, he’d never laid a hand on her—never even threatened to. Was it possible that Blood Feud had him all wrong, that he really was the man he claimed to be?

In her entire life, Tess had never been less sure of what was fact and what was fiction.

Chapter 16

WHO IS AUGUST LIRIO—MASTERPOST

posted on BloodFeudEvidence.com/​masterposts/​lirio/​UPDATED/​truth/

Okay guys, SO MANY OF YOU have asked for this post, but the truth is we really don’t know that much about Lirio??? I don’t really feel comfortable calling this a “masterpost” because I have a higher standard for what that entails, but whatever, here’s what we DO know all in one place:

Lirio got their start writing fan fiction. The first record we have of Felix, Callum, Octavia, and the rest of the BF characters is on AO3, where Lirio wrote fics for years. (Though not under the name August Lirio; back then they wrote as username DarkAura1213.) The fics gained popularity on Tumblr, especially in the Twilight/Buffy/Vampire Diaries fandoms, and the stories started getting longer. Eventually, a full novel-length fic called Blood Feud gained more than 83,000 hits.

Lirio self-published Blood Feud before getting a traditional publishing deal. After Blood Feud went viral on AO3, the same work was self-published as an ebook—that was the first time we saw the name August Lirio. In an interview, literary agent John Betherton said he saw that ebook had sold more than 20,000 copies, read it himself, and reached out to represent August Lirio. Blood Feud came out as a traditionally published novel one year later.