Page 16 of Venomous Lies
I was just a few hundred feet into the woods in a small clearing that would probably be peaceful any other time. Right now, it was decorated with the remains of the newest dead body. The little bit of sun that was out didn’t filter through the thick canopy of trees, so I held up a hand,calling forth a small ball of magick fire to light the space for me.
There didn’t appear to be enough pieces of flesh to create an entire body which had me questioning whether wild animals had eaten parts of the body or the killer had taken bits.Or ate them.If we were able to determine that answer, it would narrow our options down considerably.
As I squatted down, carefully keeping my shoes out of the mess, I noticed that there appeared to be a clean edge hidden among the torn flesh, hiding where pieces had been cut off.They were searching for something specific. But what?
Taking a long drag, I stood up and looked around, wondering what was keeping Falke and Julian.
“Where the fuck are the others?” I muttered under my breath.
“Here.”
The power that rumbled in that singular word set my every instinct on edge. I glanced over to see the vampire, his face eerily blank as he took in the mess around us. Falke was right behind him with a grim expression settling on his face.
“Has Thatcher been here yet?” Julian asked, his voice still echoing with power.
“No,” I answered. Taking the last drag of my cigarette, I let my magick burn it up then blew out a big cloud of smoke as I continued speaking. “What’s going on with you?”
“What is missing from this one?” he asked curtly, ignoring my question.
“No way to tell,” I answered as I narrowed my eyes at the vampire, silently showing that I’d noticed his side-step. “Scavengers must have gotten into this at some point last night, but this is the fourth body, so?—”
“We need to act soon.” After finishing mysentence, he was silent for a moment, and just as he turned to speak to Falke, he froze. Looking beyond where the centaur stood, I searched the area to see what made him go on high alert. There was only a slight movement in the shadows, and then I saw them.
The person approached us, the shadows of the trees hiding their face even as they drew close.
“Do you all know who that is?” Falke asked quietly as he shifted around so the person wasn’t approaching him from behind.
“Junichiro,” the unknown man answered with a bland voice as he stepped out of the shadows.
I rubbed my fingers together, contemplating another smoke, as he stopped on the opposite side of the body and studied it.
I’d never seen the person before, and I made it a point to know everyone in this place. Strands of black hair fell in front of his face as he knelt down to look at the pieces, and I noticed that he had the rest pulled back in a bun. Junichiro didn’t appear disturbed in the slightest by his silent inspection of the remains. At last, he stood up, staring at us expectantly with rich golden eyes.
Julian broke the silence, gaze trained on Junichiro. “I wasn’t aware a new professor was on campus.”
“I just arrived a few days ago,” he replied matter of factly, arching an eyebrow as he looked back at the vampire. “Professor Belvedere was ecstatic to let me take over the herbology classes.”
A faint memory teased my mind, but it fluttered away before I could fully examine it. He seemed familiar, but I couldn’t place where I would know him from—something to concern myself with later.
“The last time I taught here was decades ago,” hecontinued, completely at ease despite our intense study of him. He tucked his hands underneath the long, black cloak that hid his other clothes from view. “At least, I think it’s been that long. It’s hard to tell the passage of time where I was… resting.”
“This is the fourth body that’s shown up, and we’re just supposed to take a new person’s—” Falke balked incredulously until Julian held up a hand.
“There could be evidence in the forest around us. Look around and see if you can find anything of use,” Julian ordered the centaur, not taking his eyes off the new professor.
Falke looked as taken aback as I did. Julian wasn’t shy about issuing orders to us, but ordering him away was unusual in this instance.
“What—?”
“I’ll tell Thatcher you were scouring the forest for additional remains to see if we can identify whoever this is. If there’s a problem, I’ll handle it.” When Falke hesitated, Julian's expression hardened. “Now.”
With an annoyed huff, he took off to do what Julian had ordered—but not before throwing a distrustful glare at the new arrival.
My fingers rubbed together again as I considered the vampire. His posture was stiff, every muscle tight as if he was physically trying to hold himself together. As his gaze lingered on the blood pooled on the ground, it hit me.
He needs to feed.
“You need to take care of your shit, vampire. No need to lose your spot here because you can’t take care of your basic needs,” I commented, unable to resist a moment for pointed commentary.
