Page 15 of The Order of the Bitter Hunt

My attention snaps to him, a gloating smile on my face. “Just say you miss me. We both know what you mean.”

“You fucking wi?—”

His words come to a harsh stop, and his arm moves to stop me. What is he going to call me? A witch? I’m preemptively offended, opening my mouth to lecture him, but the look on his face stops me.

The life drains from his eyes, and the blood from his face. His chest rises, silent, his words buried under fear.

“What?” I turn to see what he’s looking at.

I wish the sight of the corpse could shock me, but I’ve been waiting for it. For months. Deep beneath the disgust in my belly,beneath the pang of sorrow, there’s a sigh of relief longing to come out.

At last, the killers are on the move. That means we can move, too.

But it’s still gutting to see. A young person—a woman this time, I believe. I don’t recognize her as a student. Somehow, that’s more heartbreaking. She doesn’t belong here. How did she get wrapped up in this?

Just like Poppy.

At least she looks peaceful, with her eyes shut softly. If I didn’t know better, it would seem like she’s napping.

Her stiff body says otherwise. How long has she been here?

“Hell,” I mutter, shaking my head. “Not another one.”

After a month of waiting, we know what the person in the bird mask told us is true—more is coming, and here it is. Getting rid of Amelia cannot get rid of them all. Perhaps there is no way to erase the threats.

“What do you mean?” Jun looks at me with desperation, trembling from his horns to his wings.

I touch his arm, turning him away from the body. “Is this the first one you’ve seen?”

He nods, his expression going blank.

At least, I can rule Jun as an innocent—or an even better actor than I know him to be. But there’s no faking this level of shock and fear. It’s visceral.

“It isn’t my first,” I say.

The last death I saw was Amelia herself, turning into a puff of dust. Immortal vampires don’t leave a body behind. They disappear. It’s a sign their time has expired.

I didn’t know Amelia was immortal until she turned to dust, and I still don’t know what it means for us.

But death is nothing new for Strode University. The so-called accidents are more frequent now, but I saw my first body in myfreshman year. We were all crowded around it, desperate to be sure it wasn’t one of our friends.

It’s been years. Why is it still happening? How did I accept it as normal for so long?

“No fucking shit,” he says. “You were the one who caught the last killer.”

“Tobey did that. I only… I helped.”

“Same shit. You’ve seen worse than this. Forgive me for being a little fucking surprised.”

Taking credit for Tobey and Caldwell’s work doesn’t feel right, though they can’t deny my involvement. Everyone on campus knows.

“It’s fine, okay?” I tug on his arm, leading him away. “We have to find Tobey and Caldwell.”

Our investigation may have been on pause for the last month, and it was never perfect. But in the end, we worked together to bring down Amelia. We’ll do the same to her little friends… whoever they are.

Jun was never supposed to be a part of this, but I can’t exactly leave him alone now.

“What?” His voice goes higher. “No way. We need to find the investigator—the headmaster—something!”