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

by Ember Hollis

  I gaze at Amelie in dismay. “And I guess that now that I’m the Whisperer, I can’t go either?”

  She shakes her head, “Nope. At least try to last for the rest of this semester. Then, if you really can’t stand it, there might be someone new to take over the position.”

  Great. The one person they won’t stop torturing, is also the one person who can’t express her agony. How did I get myself into these situations, I wonder.

  “Now, let’s get to what’s been threatening the unicorns,” Amelie says as she gestures for me to follow her, “It’s probably easier to show it to you than to describe it. Just be prepared. It not a pretty sight, and dealing with it probably accelerated my downward spiral into impurity, as Chiros likes to put it. Though you know, he says all that and likes to preach about how a Whisperer has to remain pure, but I’ve heard that he’s one of the worst during Bacchanalia,” she tells me with a conspiratorial grin as she leads the way through the meadow.

  While we walk, Amelie tells me all about basic unicorn health, habits, and the things I need to do to keep them happy. It’s apparently pretty similar to taking care of horses, except for one special aspect.

  “They’re far more intelligent than any other animal, and they like to form bonds with people they deem suitable,” she says. “This bond is what makes a Whisperer so essential. You’re needed not just to take care of them but also as their sort of… well,” she wrinkles her nose. “As their sort of therapist, really.”

  “Huh?” I eye her skeptically.

  Amelie nods, “Yup, that was my reaction too. Unicorns are full of grace and purity, what the hell do they need us for, right? Wrong. Legend has it that unicorns can cure all sorts of illnesses and make even the deadliest poison harmless, and yes, that much really is true. But like all magic, those miracles come with a price.”

  She smiles up at Triton and strokes him gently on the nose. “Triton here single-handedly restored everyone from the plague three years ago, when a Bacchanalia got out of hand. But he would also have died from it were it not for his Whisperer. You see, every illness, poison or evil that unicorns cure takes a toll on them. It sucks a little bit of their purity out and leaves darkness in its wake. If this goes on for too long or the stress it too great, they stop being a unicorn… and become something else.”

  By now, we’re at a large stable. It’s bright and airy and smells of fresh hay and unicorn poo (not quite rainbow flavored, but definitely nicer than regular horse poo). Amelie leads me down a row of empty stalls to the last one, where a unicorn is lying on its side in the hay.

  She swings open the door to its stall, then kneels down beside it. I follow her when she gestures for me, but Triton stays back, pawing the ground nervously beside the nearest stall.

  “This is Bianca, the unicorn you saved,” Amelie tells me quietly. She lifts the blanket covering the unicorn’s hindquarters to let me see under it.

  The deep gash that was there is gone completely, but though her hide has been cleaned and is no longer soaked through with blood, I see an ugly dark mark where the blood used to be. In fact, it seems to cover an even larger area, and spans the length of her rump and back to creep down to her two hind legs.

  “She’s been healed so she’s completely fine physically, but… the Darkness within her has taken hold. If nothing is done, by tonight, Bianca will become a Nightmare.”

  Chapter 22: Heaven

  “A Nightmare?” I almost laugh. This almost sounds like an episode of My Little Pony. In fact, I totally would have laughed if it weren’t for the somber look on Amelie’s face. So instead, I take a deep breath and ask, “What’s a Nightmare?”

  “It’s what happens when a unicorn itself gets poisoned. Their natures turn Dark and they become the opposite of what they naturally embody. Once they’re Nightmares, they’ll prey on people by feeding on and amplifying their negative emotions and memories, making them worse to cause as much suffering and heartache as possible."

  “Okay,” I think about the roiling darkness I saw on the cliff side and how desperate poor Bianca had been to escape it. The poor thing had even willingly thrown herself off the cliff! Had that been a Nightmare? Before I can ask, Bianca utters a long, low moan and tosses her head in her sleep.

  “What can we do to help?” I ask, eyeing the poor mare.

  “Are you sure you want to do this on your very first day?” Amelie asks me. “It might be too much too soon.”

  “I’m sure,” I say, after another moan from Bianca. The poor unicorn’s eyes are rolling beneath her eyelids, and her legs twitch, as if she’s trying to run even in her sleep. I can’t help but feel incredibly sorry for her. “I didn’t save her just to lose her to this… Darkness.”

  Amelie takes my hand and beams at me. “I’m so glad. I didn’t want to tell you in case you felt obligated—trying to save a Darkening unicorn is no easy thing—but it’s also the best time to try to do it. It’s almost impossible to save them once they’ve become Nightmares, and more often than not, we’re forced to just hunt them down.”

  “Okay, now I definitely want to try,” I exclaim, horrified at the idea.

  Following Amelie’s guidance, I lie down beside the sleeping unicorn and place my forehead against the back of her head. Then, with Amelie repeating the spell for me, I recite a magical incantation that’s meant to transfer Bianca’s Darkness to me.

  “It usually takes a few attempts, so don’t be disheartened if you don’t notice a huge improvement immediat—” she breaks off as the spell ends and I struggle to sit up. Sweat bathes my forehead and already I feel a touch of nausea and giddiness.

  “By Zeus…” Amelie gasps. “It’s all gone!”

  I blink tiredly toward where she’s pointing at Bianca’s rear. The sickly purplish black mark has disappeared, and all that’s left is an off-white stain that is fading right before our eyes. “Doesn’t that mean it’s working?”

  “Yes… yes it does!” Amelie tells me, her eyes shining with amazement. “But I’ve never seen so much of it taken away in one go. I guess it’s really different if one comes from a divine bloodline.” Her expression changes to one of concern when I don’t immediately respond. “Heaven… are you feeling all right?”

  “Yeah, just a little tired,” I wave away her offer to help and stagger to my feet by myself.

  “You’d better head straight back,” she says. “I always find I need to sleep for hours after performing one of these spells. It gives Whisperers nightmares, hence the name,” she nods at Bianca. “I never remember them, but I used to sleepwalk and wake up screaming until Madam Kahili gave me these,” she hands me a bottle of pills.

  “She makes them just for Whisperers. They’re really necessary if you want to stay sane,” she says, sounding as if she’s only half joking. “Now go on. I’ll take over your other chores just this once.”

  * * *

  The way back to the castle seems oddly different when I try to return. Trees that I don’t recall were there before are suddenly in my path, and trails that I could have sworn were there when Amelie and I came this way appear overgrown and hard to make out on the forest floor.

  The sun seems to descend faster than usual too. Either that, or I’m losing time as I walk. One second the setting sun is still visible, shining like a blood-red ruby on the low horizon, and the next, it’s already half-dipped below the trees, leaving a purplish blue trail behind it like a bruise in the sky.

  Soon, stars begin to wink in the twilight sky, and the waning moon throws everything under an eerie light. There’s nothing for it but to admit I’m utterly lost.

  “Hello?” I call out into the darkness. Yellow, red and white eyes seem to blink back at me from hidden hollows. Am I closer to the Hanging Swamps, or the Shattered Forest, I wonder.

  “Ugh,” I collapse down onto the ground and drop my head into my hands. A terrible headache has been threatening me for the last hour or so, and now the full might of it’s swept over me, sending throbbing pulses of p
ain through my eyes and down to the base of my skull. The urge to just lie down and sleep is irresistible, it has been ever since I left the unicorn pasture, but I can’t stop moving until I’m somewhere safe.

  Something flutters in the trees ahead, drawing my attention. I glance up and see someone walk to me, their head, face and shoulders buried under a heavy dark cloak.

  “Noah?” I ask, remembering the curfew. My stomach is roiling now. Whoever it is picks me up and starts to carry me in their arms. They’re strong, too strong to resist, and I don’t even try to struggle. I don’t want to hurl on whoever’s helping me home.

  Time passes, I don’t know how long, and then I find myself lying curled up on my side, facing the drawbridge that leads up to the entrance to the castle. The hooded figure is nowhere to be seen.

  My stomach’s settled slightly, so I swallow the sour saliva that’s flooded my mouth, then force myself to stand and keep walking. By the time I stagger into the castle, I can barely see clearly. All I want to do is find my bed, curl up, and die.

  And then I stumble into Briley and Vivette, waiting for me with a gaggle of girls just inside the entrance hall.

  Chapter 23: Heaven

  “Get her,” Vivette says.

  That’s the last thing I hear before bodies huddle around me. There’s more girls behind Briley and her, and all of their hands are on me, slapping, pinching and tugging on my clothes.

  I scream and squirm and try to bat them away. But it’s like trying to fight a tornado. Someone rips my skirt to shreds while another pulls at my collar so hard, the buttons snap off the front of my blouse. Something wet is slopped onto the bare skin on my back and I feel fingernails draw blood as they claw down my arms.

  “Not so high and mighty now are you, Whisperer,” a voice hisses in my ear. I turn to see who it is, but all I glimpse is sky-blue hair. Briley, probably.

  “She needs to be taught a lesson,” a girl I don’t yet know says. She’s blond, tall and thin, with pointed ears on her head and a cat’s tail poking out the bottom of her skirt. “Bad enough that Christian’s after her, but I saw her literally making eyes at Malek yesterday during lunch period too.”

  “Yeah, and even Bane called her a slut. Bane!” someone else says. “He won’t even look at me. It’s not fair, she can’t have so many Horsemen!”

  Making eyes? ‘Having’ Horsemen? If that’s what you call wanting to tear into someone these days. I open my mouth to deny everything, but a sharp slap rocks my head backward.

  “Christian doesn’t really want her,” Briley glares daggers at me. “All he wants is another conquest, you know how he is. Bad enough that she was an angel, now she’s our Whisperer, she’s forbidden fruit.” She grabs through my bra and pinches my nipple so hard, I scream. “He may be looking at you now, but he always comes back to me, bitch!”

  I fall to my knees, held up only by the hands still on me. They rake through my scalp, tearing out bits of hair. I sob, thinking of how much I just want it all to stop. I can barely speak though, let alone get up and run.

  “She won’t be so attractive to him if she weren’t a virgin anymore,” someone says over me.

  “Yeah. Let’s send her to the Ballroom. The Children of the Night will handle her.”

  “But what about the unicorns?”

  “Amelie can take care of them again until Chiros hires someone from Themis.”

  To my horror, everyone seems to be in agreement. They push and pull me along dimly lit hallways and down narrow spiraling stairwells until we’re standing at the edge of an immense stone hall draped in silken curtains, with alcoves encircling it on a mezzanine floor.

  By now, my headache has grown to the extent that all I see are blurry shapes and flashing lights.

  “Where…” I moan, as the girls push me up to lie on something cold and hard. I feel rough cords being looped around my wrists and ankles and pulled tight, forcing my limbs apart. They’ve started speaking in whispers, so I only catch snatches of words as they pass me by.

  “—the coffins opening already?” whispers someone nervously.

  “…spell to tape it all… let them see…” another laughs.

  “—wait, is that the curfew bell?” someone yelps.

  There’s a flurry of movement and suddenly I’m on my own.

  The cold stone against my bare flesh makes my skin prickle. But that’s not the only thing that sends a shiver down my back. It’s the sound of a creaking lid opening. That, and the soft, too-fast shuffle of footsteps heading towards me.

  I open my eyes despite the throbbing pain of my headache, and find myself looking up into a circle of faces, all shapes and sizes, but all breathtakingly beautiful. And pale. And… hungry.

  I raise my head as much as I can. My swimming vision slows enough for me to glimpse open caskets along the far wall, and more figures climbing out of them.

  Great. I’m tied to an altar and surrounded by vampires. The only way they could top this would be to garnish me with sushi. Or wait. Consider it already done, given my bleeding arms, legs and lip.

  A wavy blond haired vampire reaches out to touch me, and I do my best to shoot a watery glare at him.

  “It’s been a while since we got an offering,” he says. Then, quicker than I can anticipate, he reaches out a hand and squeezes my breast, cupping it firmly in his cold hand. “This one’s quite juicy.”

  The chill of his touch rouses me enough that I immediately try to knee his crotch, but the ties hold me down too firmly for me to do more than jerk helplessly on the altar. Damnit!

  “Though still a little jumpy,” another one smirks. This boy has walnut colored hair, and dark, soulful eyes. “Let me… loosen her up a little.”

  He bends down over me. I’m going to bite his lips if he dares to kiss me!

  But all he does is stare deeply into my eyes. As he peers at me, his own dark orbs seem to expand and take me into them. I begin to feel warm and comfortable, safe and sound… and incredibly horny.

  The third vampire smirks as she unties the ropes around my legs. She lifts my ankle to her lips and sensuously licks the abraded skin, teasing tiny droplets of blood from them with her harsh tongue.

  My head lolls back and a familiar warmth begins to pool between my legs. The other two vampires are descending on me too. I feel one of them inch a hand up my leg, sending it threading through the shredded remains of my skirt up to the juncture of my thigh. His touch feels painfully slow and seductive, and I arch my back to urge him on, not minding the least bit even when the other buries his nose between the shredded strips of my blouse, burrowing down to my cleavage to kiss me.

  I might have given myself over to them without any hesitance. I would have slept with them, all of them, including the ones still lurking in the shadows as they wait for their turn with me… if Knox didn’t walk in just then.

  He catches me in the most compromising of situations. Though I can barely recall when I moved, I find myself on my knees with my legs spread. One of the two males is kneeling between them, gripping my hips. I feel him ready to enter me, while the other is at my mouth, his hand wrapped around my jaw to guide my lips to engulf his member. The girl is beside me, leaning down to catch runnels of blood as they drip from the scratches, gashes and bite marks all over me. She teases me between my legs, even as she nips at my breasts.

  “Well, well, well,” Knox drawls when he sees us. I turn languidly to look at him, and feel a vague start of surprise and embarrassment. The headache is still there, throbbing like a little steam engine under the haze of lust I’m in.

  “Isn’t this an interesting sight. I thought the game of making you Fall was over when I took your powers, but I see the stakes haven’t changed. You must have done something quite naughty to be sent here to please my vampires and incubi.”

  He cocks a hip as he studies us, then shakes his head. “I’m not quite sure I approve, though.”

  As if he’s snapped his fingers, the three Children of the Night who are man-han
dling me immediately retreat, leaving me quivering in a puddle of rags and unfulfilled want.

  Knox strides closer, then lifts a hand to my chin. Immediately, the want increases, almost ten fold. Disregarding how I probably look, I push my cheek into his hand, then look up at him. I want him, no need him, to touch me. My desire for him almost drives me mad. I shrug a shoulder, causing the tattered remains of my blouse to slide entirely off, then arch upward, showing him what’s on offer.

  At the back of my mind, my own thoughts are railing at me, compounded by the Darkness-fueled headache, but right here and now, my dearest wish is for him to take me. To devour me, and release me from this lustful hunger that’s coursing through me.

  “It’s not that I actually care about what happens to you, poppet,” Knox continues thoughtfully. His eyes dart all over me, pausing at my chest, my hips, and the juncture between my legs. His gaze feels like a hot iron and I squirm under it, though I don’t take my eyes off of his. Is it my imagination, or is his gaze heating up too?

  “It’s that I really, really like to make good use of all my resources. And this seems to be a bit of a waste, if I do say so myself.”

  Knox does snap his fingers now, right under my nose. “Wake up, poppet,” he says. I gaze up at him blankly and he sighs, then shakes his head. A moment later, though he’s done nothing that I can see, I feel the fog of the thrall I’ve been put under lift slightly. In its place rushes the pain of my headache, and as it returns, so does the horror at where I am and what’s just happened to me.

  Shaken, I put everything I have into pushing him away. I shove him back, and Dark energy courses down my arms to crackle against his pale skin.

  In that split second, I sense something odd. A different sort of need, darker, more desperate, and hidden than what I felt before.

  The need to control. To bend heaven and earth to his will. To bend me, and twist me, and knot me into the most intricate, broken little thing he can make, and then… only then… to claim me.