Chapter 26 Summary, Analysis, and Study Notes

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

The chapter opens in the immediate aftermath of a car accident. Sloane's hatchback has collided with a pickup truck just after leaving the gas station. The hatchback's driver has gone through her windshield—she's alive but bleeding. The truck driver is also bleeding, and Sloane can smell whiskey on him. She acknowledges to herself that the accident was her fault, not his, though she briefly wonders whether drinking his blood would be justified.

Naomi approaches Sloane with blood smeared across her face, asking if she's thirsty. Meanwhile, the wounded woman from the gas station—her cheek chewed through—is still firing a gun and screaming, threatening to call the police. She runs toward the accident scene, waving her gun and phone.

The woman vanishes mid-threat. Sloane hears her screaming—the worst screaming she's ever heard—and eventually spots her on top of the convenience store. Someone is behind her, feeding on her, holding her arm at a terrible angle. The figure twists her head and snaps her neck. Her body drops to the pavement. Tatiana jumps down from the roof, wearing hot pink silk pajamas, and strides toward the van, smirking at Sloane.

Henry is at a gas pump, letting fuel spill everywhere, an unlit cigarette in his mouth. Inside the store, Ilie and Elisa are feeding on the clerk—Ilie on his leg, Elisa at his neck. Naomi has drained the truck driver, who lies on the road covered in puncture wounds, wheezing, dying. She offers Sloane some of his blood, noting he tastes like bourbon. Sloane refuses, and Naomi challenges her: