Sloane is trapped in a cage with the corpse of serial killer Albert Briscoe, unable to escape for three days.

Rowan arrives at Briscoe's house, finds keys in the corpse's pocket, and frees Sloane from the cage.

Rowan proposes a best-of-five annual competition to see who can kill a new serial killer target each year.

Lachlan texts Sloane and Rowan the location of their first competition target in a small West Virginia town.

Rowan discovers a hidden peephole behind an inn painting with a real person's eyes looking through it at Sloane.

Rowan kills innkeeper Francis Ross and whispers to the dying man that Sloane belongs to him.

Rowan secretly travels to Raleigh and coaches Sloane through cooking three meals over the phone.

Thorsten Harris drugs Rowan, who confesses his feelings for Sloane and unknowingly eats human flesh before passing out.

Sloane ties Thorsten Harris up, creates her signature skin-and-eyeball web around him, and kills him.

Harvey Mead kicks Sloane down a hill outside his house, injures her shoulder, and locks her in his cellar.

Rowan frees Sloane from Harvey's cellar and kisses her for the first time.

Rowan shows Sloane his new restaurant named Butcher and Blackbird and they tell each other they love each other.

Rowan tells Sloane their relationship is over at his restaurant and makes a strange reference to a conversation from April.

Sloane arrives at the restaurant and kills David, saving Rowan from further torture and death.

Rowan hides an engagement ring inside a dead serial killer's eye socket and proposes to Sloane.

Rowan and Sloane are two serial killers who specialize in hunting other serial killers, and their story begins when Rowan frees Sloane from a cage in Louisiana where she has been trapped for three days. At their first lunch together, Rowan proposes an annual best-of-five competition to race each other to kill a different serial killer target each year. Their competition takes them through West Virginia, California, and Texas, where each dangerous encounter pulls them closer together. As their feelings deepen, they move in together in Boston and Rowan opens a second restaurant named after their killer nicknames. When a hidden threat inside Rowan's restaurant puts their lives and relationship in jeopardy, both protagonists must fight to protect each other. The story ends with Sloane and Rowan fully committed, Rowan proposing in the darkly fitting way only they could appreciate.

The hunt-and-kill competition that brings Sloane and Rowan together.

Sloane burns down Albert Briscoe's house to destroy any forensic evidence connecting her to the crime scene.

Rowan gives Sloane the personal nickname Blackbird at their first lunch, inspired by her dark hair and flighty manner.

Sloane tortures a child abuser named Michael Northman while anxiously waiting for news about the upcoming competition.

Rowan's brothers Lachlan and Fionn tease him about his obvious romantic feelings for Sloane as he packs for West Virginia.

Innkeeper Francis Ross warns Sloane and Rowan about a local trail where hikers sometimes go missing and never return.

Sloane and Rowan realize that the inn's owner Francis is the serial killer Lachlan sent them to find.

After the West Virginia round ends, Sloane adopts Francis's cat Winston and brings him home to Raleigh.

Sloane makes an unannounced visit to Rowan's Boston restaurant but flees before they can spend any real time together.

Sloane and Rowan charm Thorsten Harris at a California bar and accept his invitation to dinner at his home.

Sloane persuades Rowan to hire the seemingly lobotomized and helpless David as a dishwasher at his restaurant.

Sloane accompanies Rowan to a Boston gala where he receives an award for his restaurant's success.

An emergency at his restaurant forces Rowan to leave the gala early, abruptly ending the evening with Sloane.

While searching Harvey Mead's house, Sloane finds a monitor room and sees Harvey sneaking up on Rowan.

Sloane retrieves Harvey Mead's mother's mummified corpse and taunts Harvey with it until he dies of a heart attack.

Sloane and Rowan work together as a team to hunt and kill serial killer Dr. Stephen Rostis.

The secondary moments in Butcher and Blackbird build the world surrounding the main competition and romance. Before the competition begins, Sloane kills a child abuser to scratch her compulsive itch, while Rowan's brothers gleefully tease him about his obvious crush before he sets off. Each competition round comes with its own complications, from Francis the murderous innkeeper to Thorsten's cannibalistic dinner party and Harvey Mead's isolated farmhouse of horrors. Between rounds, quieter but meaningful scenes show how Sloane and Rowan circle each other romantically, including an unannounced restaurant visit and a Boston gala that doesn't go quite as Sloane had hoped. Supporting characters like Lachlan, Fionn, and Lark give the protagonists a rare space to be their true selves without fear. By the time Sloane and Rowan hunt their final target together as a team, the competition has transformed into a partnership built entirely on trust and love.

The supporting scenes and secondary moments that flesh out the world.

Rowan chases an unknown man out of a hidden passage behind the inn wall after catching him spying on Sloane.

Sloane cleans Rowan's wounds after he kills Francis; he reveals his abusive father gave him his facial scar.

Sloane leaves a hand-drawn raven sketch on her table at Rowan's restaurant before quietly slipping out of Boston.

Rowan reveals to Sloane that the first people he and Lachlan ever killed were their own abusive father.

David serves Rowan and Sloane courses at Thorsten's dinner that secretly include human flesh.

Sloane tells the dying Thorsten that her first kill was an art teacher who had sexually abused her best friend.

After Thorsten is dead, Sloane and Rowan find David in the kitchen calmly eating ice cream labeled with semen.

At the gala, Rowan suggests murdering Dr. Rostis together rather than spending the evening on a romantic date.

Rose reads Rowan's tarot cards at Fionn's house and warns him that chaos and potential destruction are approaching.

Sloane asks Rowan to help her bathe after her shoulder injury and they sleep together for the first time.

Sloane notices for the first time that Rowan has had her raven drawing permanently tattooed on his back.

The opening night of Butcher and Blackbird is a success, but Rowan asks Sloane to team up rather than compete.

Sloane decodes Rowan's strange April reference in his texts, checks a hidden restaurant camera, and realizes David has him captive.

Sloane designs a colorful tattoo to cover the scars left on Rowan's arms by David's attack.

Rowan arranges a surprise beachside wedding and Lachlan walks Sloane down the aisle to marry Rowan.

The turning points in Butcher and Blackbird are defined by revelations that strip back the layers of both protagonists' identities and deepen their connection. Early disclosures about their respective first kills — Rowan's abusive father and Sloane's predatory art teacher — explain what originally drove each of them to become vigilante killers. A series of quiet but significant emotional breakthroughs, from Rowan's secret raven tattoo to their first night together at Fionn's house, mark the steady progression of their romance. The apparent victim David turns out to be a dangerous serial killer hiding in plain sight, and Sloane must decode a hidden message to rescue Rowan in the story's pivotal action climax. By the end, their shared darkness has been transformed into something healing, symbolized by Sloane using color in her art again for the first time in years. The two of them marry in a surprise beach ceremony, fully accepting every facet of each other's identity.

The revelations and emotional turning points that define Sloane and Rowan's bond.