Heaven's Fall: A Paranormal High School Bully Romance (Pandorax Academy Book 1)

by Ember Hollis

  “Other half-angels?” I ask, almost hopeful. All my life I’ve felt different. Tugged in two different directions, though my moral compass has always been true, I’ve never been able to ignore the temptation to do bad. Stealing, lying, cheating, seducing… Mom tried to smack it all out of me, but she herself had never been any good at resisting her own demons. The only thing I’d drawn the line at was sex. Somehow, the very sight of her giving in to her deviations had always been enough to curb mine whenever they strayed in that direction. Perhaps this was why I’d turned out like this. Whenever the judgy voice within me got too strong, I always had to hit out and do something to shut it up and help me loosen up, which eventually led to my doing something I later regretted.

  Mom said it was the demon within me, but now I knew the truth. My human half just couldn’t gel with my angelic side.

  “Other supernaturals,” my father says. “Like you, they don’t belong anywhere else, and don’t know how to live properly among humans. You would have been sent here earlier, except that I didn’t know you existed up until your mother died.”

  Thanks Mom. Seems like you’ve been screwing up my life in more ways than I even knew. I try to feel angry, but all that really sticks is a dull sort of sadness.

  “Did she know you were an angel?” I ask. “Because she never told me. And I don’t even know your name.” Did she? I wonder, but I can’t bring myself to say it.

  “I think she did,” is all he says, though he looks at me as if he read my mind. “She knew me as Micah, but my real name is Mikael.”

  Mikael. I shape the word in my mouth, a strange warmth spreading through me. All my life I’ve wondered who my father was. When I was younger I pestered her with my questions, but as I grew older I figured she probably didn’t even know, considering how many men she slept with. Turns out I was wrong.

  “Will I see you often while I’m here?” I ask. I don’t really want to go to this new academy, not when I’ve just settled down in my current school—the old one expelled me after I skipped too many classes and was discovered stealing from my classmates—but if it means I’ll get a chance to get to know him…

  “I can’t always come to see you, but I’ll drop by now and then,” he says. He loops an arm around my waist, then with a sharp down-beat of his wings that flattens the grass around us, we shoot up the cliff and head to my new life in Pandorax Academy.

  Chapter 4: Heaven

  The entrance is just as majestic as I imagined. I catch a glimpse of peacocks sashaying about the lawn beyond the moat and a huge drawbridge framed by rainbows before Mikael swoops down to land on the marble threshold just beyond a pointed Gothic archway. Medieval looking creatures frolic along the stone, appearing as if they were fighting, coupling, or partying. I barely have time to gape in awe before he lifts a fist and slams it against the metal studded double doors. The sound echoes through the space beyond, almost as loud in my ears as the thumping of my heart.

  I expect my father to wait with me for whoever will come to greet us, but instead, he glances darkly at the carvings above the door, then spreads his wings and makes to take off, as if just by dropping me here, his job is done.

  “Wait, Mikael… Dad!” I cry out, stopping him just in time. He cocks his head at me, but doesn’t object to me calling him that, though he looks a little surprised. “Won’t you stay a little longer? I’ve barely gotten to know you.”

  “Heaven,” he says, after a moment. It’s the first time he’s said my name. It sounds foreign coming from his lips and he purses them, as if in disapproval. Guess my Mom didn’t consult him before deciding to sully the word by sticking it on her bratty kid. “I haven’t been around for you, and I’m sorry for that. But an angel’s life isn’t their own. We work for higher causes, which means that few, if any of us, have the luxury of having a family, let alone being there for them. Do you understand?”

  “I—I do,” I say as he stares hard at me. Mom was always proud of my amethyst eyes, but hers were green, and it’s only now that I know where my color comes from. His eyes look exactly like mine, except that on him they looks sharp and deep, like a roughly cut gem sunken in the depths of the ocean.

  “Good,” he says, his gaze still holding me fast. “I need you to get through this school. It may be tough for you to adjust and fit in here, but you must if you are to make anything of yourself. So do your best and stay. Make me proud.”

  My heart leaps into my throat at his words, fluttering like a trapped butterfly. Mom had never once told me I’d made her proud, or even asked me to try, even in the early days when I still wanted to please her. Neither had any of her gazillion boyfriends or lovers—though few were around long enough to get to know me— nor any of the numerous teachers I’d had who’d tried to drum discipline, knowledge and respect into me. Even if they’d tried to say it, I wouldn’t have cared, either sure that they were kidding, or nauseated that they weren’t.

  But somehow, coming from my Dad—a literal angel—the words stir something within me. They make me want to prove myself to him and show him I’m worth getting to know. With Mom gone, I need him to want to know me, even a little.

  “Sure,” I say. “I’ll do it.” This is so not me, but he doesn’t know it. It makes me feel like I really can do it. Turn over a new leaf and everything.

  Dad’s lips twitch into something resembling a smile. It brightens the whole of his normally impassive face, and I grin back, clutching onto the joy like a starving man given a leg of lamb. I’m still grieving for Mom, but now… now at least I know my Dad. And he’s a decent man. An angel, can you believe it!

  “Take care!” I wave as he takes flight, launching into the air with the grace of a swan. In no time, he’s a far off speck of blue that I can hardly make out in the lightening sky.

  “I’ll see you soon,” I whisper. The heaviness inside lessens as I watch him disappear. At least I still have family, I think, as my heart fills with hope.

  Wood creaks behind me and I turn around as the double doors begin to swing open, a warm smile on my lips. Everything is going to be different from now on. No more stealing, no more skipping school, and no more rule-breaking. I’m going to make a great first impression on everyone here and find a way to live a better life than my Mom. That’s the best and only way I can honor her.

  Thunk!

  An arrow whizzes by, scoring a cut along my neck before it embeds itself in the wood behind me. I stare at its quivering fletching, then turn around to where it came from.

  There, behind me and across the drawbridge, with their figures back lit by the sun’s rays are two tall boys. They stalk over to me, their features slowly coming out of the shadow. Though it sounds impossible, each is more beautiful than any other male I’ve seen in my life.

  The tallest has silvery white hair that wafts in the slight wind, and an athletic build and graceful gait. The one on the right is heavier on top but with a slim waist, just like Captain America. He’s slightly shorter, with flaming red hair and golden eyes that gleam like a hawk’s.

  While the pale boy is empty handed, this red-head carries a huge bow in his hand, the clear partner to the arrow beside my neck. His stare is hot like molten gold, while his friend’s chills me to the bone. Both of them stare at me with disgust as if I’m worth less than the dirt beneath their shoes.

  “Angel,” the red-head growls the second he’s within talking distance. “Your kind aren’t welcome here.”

  Welcome to Pandorax Academy, I think as I plant my feet, ignoring the way my heart flutters as it sinks to my feet. I can already feel this isn’t going to be good.

  Chapter 5: Heaven

  “Too bad,” I say. “I’m already enrolled.” I don’t know that I am, but I have to believe my Dad wouldn’t have brought me here if I couldn’t attend this school. “Guess I’ll see you in class.”

  I turn to beat a hasty retreat through the open doors, but a hand smacks into the wood by my head so hard, the arrow hums as it quivers again.

/>   “I said,” he growls from just behind me, making me stiffen. “You don’t belong here, angel.”

  I suck in a breath to calm my racing heart, but it’s the silver-haired boy who comes to stand by my other side who raises the hairs at the back of my neck. He moves as silently as death and feels just as dangerous.

  “If you walk through this doors, you’ll die before the year’s end,” he says in a calm voice. A slight British accent tinges his words, and I feel a shiver run down my spine. It’s not the words that unnerve me so deeply, but the way he says them. Like they’re less of a warning and more of a promise.

  “I have just as much right as any of you to go to this school,” I say. I’m not going to let two obnoxious boys with a grudge against angels ruin my new beginning. I’ve dealt with bullies like this before and the fact of the matter was, if you showed balls from the very start, they learned to leave you alone. “So back the fuck off!”

  Icy fear squeezes my heart as the red-haired boy yanks the arrow from the wood, sending splinters showering over me. I have one second to react as he reaches for my hand, intending to spin me around and slam me against the door, no doubt to threaten me.

  And I take it.

  I twist my hand in his grip, the way my Mom showed me to, whenever undesirable men try to take me in hand. The move reverses his hold so I have his wrist in my grip now. Surprise paints itself across his face, but I don’t stop there. I need to show both of them that I’m no victim.

  I shove him back hard so he stumbles against his silver-haired friend, then pull out the gun I was holding when Dad took me, slip the safety off, and press the barrel straight against his forehead, smack dab between his pretty golden eyes.

  “I may be half divine, but I’m no angel. Comprende?”

  His eyes blaze into me, the challenge in them loud and clear. Are these guys lunatics, I wonder as I force myself to hold my steely gaze and not gulp. This is worse than that school I went to in Jersey, the one with metal detectors and guards in the hallways.

  Silver Hair smiles, his lips curling like the delicate petals of a newly bloomed flower. I can’t believe he’s amused, but all the same, I’m tempted to turn to look at him and drink in how beautiful he is. I would if I could, but his mad demon of a friend is glaring as if he thinks his gaze will peel my skin off. Maybe it can. I don’t intend to find out.

  I cock the gun, letting the sound fill the air between us.

  “Test me. Go ahead,” I say, pictures of Martin’s blown up head running through my mind. Echoes of the desperate hollowness that filled me when I’d thought of replicating his look book freezes the blood in my veins. What if he takes me up on the offer? I can’t do it. Or can I?

  Goldeneyes’s hands twitch and the panic in me swells even further. My legs tremble, but I make sure the hand on my gun is dead steady.

  A loud series of claps sound right by my ear, making me jump.

  “Fuck!” I swear as I swerve my aim away from Goldeneyes’s forehead. I’d almost pulled the trigger.

  Loud panting breaths fill my ears, but the tension seems to have left the room. I clamp my mouth shut and realize I’m the only one acting like a coward. I look up, hoping that I haven’t given the game away and see that Goldeneyes is no longer vibrating with violence, though he’s still glaring at me. I’ve no doubt that if looks could kill, I’d be a wet smear on the floor already. Meanwhile, Silver Hair looks faintly disappointed.

  “Well, well, well,” a voice, smooth and rich as honey says as a finger trails up my arm. I jerk away, but not before a hand snatches the gun from me. “Look at this party. And here I thought Madam Wilkins was just kidding when she said I should let her up to go answer the door.”

  The smell of musk and bourbon assaults my nose as I turn to the boy lounging by my elbow. He plays with my gun, using the barrel to scratch the decadent curls in his tussled honey blond hair. His eyes are deep blue pools of sin that darken considerably as they take me in, slowly and sensuously, inch by slow and hungry inch. His gaze is so penetrating, I feel my skin heat from within and a slow ache start deep in my belly. This boy looks like sex on legs.

  “And who is this tasty little morsel?” he asks me, reaching a hand out to twist a strand of my hair around his finger. “Rose gold. One of my favorite colors.”

  I drag my eyes from his obviously kiss-swollen lips, then flick them away before I drown in his eyes.

  “I’m Heaven Ramsey. A new student,” I tell him, moving to pull my hair from his fingers. Rose gold is a nice way to describe the color. My mother had once called it blond streaked with dirty pink when she’d compared it to her own flaming auburn hair. She could have said strawberry, but she did always have a flair with insults. Needless to say, she’d always wanted me to dye it darker to make the red stand out more.

  “It’s a delight to meet you, little lamb,” the blond boy says. I’m captured again by how pillowy his lips look. What’s wrong with me? I have to stop checking him out! But the minute I lower my gaze, my eyes are drawn to the perfect curve of his butt. Oh my God, just stop drooling, Heaven!

  Goldeneyes growls, bringing my attention back, “It is an angel, Christian.”

  Christian’s nostrils flare as his eyes narrow and suddenly, I’m on my toes, back arched backward with his fist in my hair.

  I cry out at the pain, and he leans to inhale deeply at my neck. He lifts his head to whisper to me, his chin almost brushing my breasts “Really? I’ve never fucked an angel.”

  Something brushes at the crotch of my jeans, causing me to jump and look down. It’s the gun barrel! I grab at it, but he moves it away, holding it high above my head.

  “What in Zeus is happening here?” a voice rings out through the hall. I try to turn and glimpse black hooves on marble, then Christian drops me to the ground. Strands of my hair float down around me, broken off by his vicious grip.

  “I came to greet the new student, Professor Chiros,” Christian says, his voice once more oozing charm. “But she came armed.” He spins the gun on his fingers as he lowers it, then unloads it smoothly and holds it out. “She threatened Malek and Bane with it, so I disarmed her.”

  I look up finally, determined to defend myself, and my jaw almost drops at the sight before me. Standing at almost the height of two men is a blue roan centaur. He has curly black hair and is clad in a dark gray jacket, with a clipboard, and feather quill in his hands. He quirks a brow at Christian, then looks down at me.

  “Is it true you came with a gun, Miss Heaven Ramsey?” he asks.

  He knows my name, so he must be expecting me. Which means he’s met my father, the angel.

  “It’s true I came with a gun,” I say, opting for honesty, “But I didn’t intend to hurt anyone with it. They were harassing me and wouldn’t let me come in,” I gesture at Malek and Bane, who appears to be Goldeneyes and Silver Hair respectively, and continue, “So I wanted to show them I would defend myself if I needed to.”

  “So you pulled a weapon out first and threatened them? Is that right?” Professor Chiros says.

  I open my mouth, thinking back to the arrow, but when I look at Malek there’s no trace of it or the longbow he was carrying. Bane’s eyes are cold and his face expressionless, while a hint of challenge lingers around Malek’s lips.

  “I wasn’t the first one to use violence,” I find myself saying. “But it’s true that I pulled out my gun. Like I said, I wasn’t going to use it. It was just for show.”

  “Well, Miss Ramsey,” Professor Chiros says with a sigh. “It’s unfortunate, since you do not know our rules yet, but the fact remains that you broke one of them, and that, I can not ignore. I’m afraid that here at Pandorax Academy, we believe in a strict code of conduct. And one of the cardinal ones is that human weapons and technology are not allowed within our halls. So once you’ve settled in, I expect you to come see me to serve detention. Do you understand?”

  “But—” I try to protest, but Professor Chiros looms down at me with a dark look on his f
ace, as if he’s seen it all before and knows exactly how to handle any excuse—or physical objection—I aim at him. Coupled with his beetling brows and terrifying eight-pack abs that ripple as he bends forward towards me, I know this is a fight I can’t win.

  “Yes, sir,” I say, giving in.

  “Good. Now you will proceed to Madam Wilkin’s office. It’s down the hall, third door to the right,” he tells me, before clip-clopping his way in the opposite direction.

  Aware that the boys are still seething close beside me, I stalk as fast as I can towards her office, intending to make it there before the centaur is out of sight.

  Though each step takes me further from them, their gazes burn holes in my back until I’m safely behind the stone walls of the passageway to Madam Wilkin’s office.

  What the hell did Dad get me into, I curse under my breath. I think back to how he’d left so fast, even before I’d had a chance to step in through the door. He’d been hasty that was for sure, but now that I think about it, I seem to recall a shudder that had coursed through him as we landed under the arch, and the way he’d dodged my request for him to stay.

  What kind of school for supernaturals is this if even an angel doesn’t like it, I wonder, dread sinking deep under my skin.

  Chapter 6: Heaven

  Madam Wilkins is a diminutive woman with an ample figure and a motherly aura. Well, a motherly aura that shines brighter once she’s done tucking her blouse into her skirt and replacing the pince nez glasses on her nose.

  The bright flush on her cheeks and kiss swollen lips along with the lingering scent of musk tells me all I need to know about why the things on her capacious desk are strewn about on the floor. But I know better than to say anything as I help her gather up some papers she’d missed and place them into her file holder. In fact, maybe I only think she’s motherly because she reminds me so much of my own mom, I think absently, seating myself opposite her.