Surviving Plagues (Artemis University Book 3)

by Erin R Flynn

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  Find A New Series To Love…

  About the Author

  Other Titles by Erin R Flynn

  A Supernatural Script Inc. Book

  If you did, thank you. OR if you used your Kindle Unlimited, thank you. OR if you read this from Kindle lending, thank you. Any legal means, thank you. Thank you for respecting me and other authors for their hard work, understanding this is our job, and while we love it, we do deserve to be compensated for all the hours, and hours, and hours we put into it.

  If you did not… Go buy one! You are a thief and your parents and grandparents and cute animals all around the world are ashamed of you. There is no justification for committing this crime because it is a crime, no different than walking into a physical bookstore, taking a print copy off the shelf, and walking out of the store without paying for it.

  There is no such thing as a victimless crime. If you truly believe that, you’ve never been a victim. And the victims aren’t only the authors, but the fans who lose authors that quit over our constantly being stolen from and mistreatment. Mistreating the authors that write the books you like or read—not liking them isn’t an excuse for theft, it’s just extra weird then—that’s not a fan. Fans leave reviews to support. Fans send messages of love. Fans… Well fans are nice. Be nice.

  There are lots of ways to fight eBook piracy, reporting the site even if you’re not the copyright holder is always a good option. If you want to help in the fight, Google it and you can see there are many ways.

  My name is Tamsin Vale. I’m the last known fairy and I haven’t gotten busted on that yet. I passed my midterms, which seemed like an impossibility a few months ago given I didn’t finish high school and I’m working on that at the same time. But with a lot of hard work and the support of people I’ve helped and new friends, I’m building a life I didn’t think I could ever have.

  It’s still an adjustment. I mean, a few months ago I thought I was human with powers and now I’m hooking up with a dragon prince. Oh, and there’s my powerful warlock professor that I’m also involved with. It’s all casual and fun, but I wonder if it would be more if I was able to connect with them emotionally.

  Is it even really smart to try given what else I’m facing? I mean, I am trying to save all of Faerie and find out what happened to fairies. It’s killing me not to know and to move at a turtle’s pace, but one false move and I’m dead… Along with all hope of them returning to this world with me.

  Hey, who doesn’t love to work under that kind of pressure?

  Artemis University is an ongoing hot burning reverse harem, university-age paranormal academy series with darker elements, strong language, violence, and a heroine who follows her own moral compass of what is right… And who she ends up giving her heart to.

  Author’s Note:

  Real quick before we get started…

  This is an ongoing series. People were assuming things and I just wanted to make that clear. I think (maybe, I make no promises, don’t hold me to it, and it’s not written in stone) this will be a twenty-five books series. One book for the intro of Tamsin to the world—and us—and then four books per year, six year college, my math should put us at twenty-five books. I might need an extra or that might be too many depending on plot. That’s the plan. So you know what I know. I hope that helps. I like knowing that as a reader, but again, don’t beat me if that’s not the end result.

  I know some of you guys want to jump right into the answers about Faerie and Tamsin getting there. Hell, I do too and I know what happens… But it’s been twenty years and while I write a lot of plot fast paced, I’m still slightly evil and some of it goes slow for layers. She has to be careful or she’s dead. She’s too smart to be stupid and cavalier. Also, as a reader, I loathe when an MC just walks into this complicated situation and basically flips on a light. Yeah, that’s how life works. Sure. Uh-huh.

  So, it’s gonna be a bit longer. I’ve also been leaving clues. No book is perfect and there are always mistakes. Some of the editing “mistakes” in this series though are clues. My editor did catch them and I left her a message saying that and changed them back. I’m pretty sure she called me mean, but once we get there, I think the ride and the breadcrumbs will have made the journey a trip worth taking.

  I am working on getting preorders up, a calendar of releases going, and my website updated. I saw all the reviews and comments that I’m a hot mess. I know this. I know this. Believe me. For those of you who don’t know, last year wasn’t a good one and there was an eight month editor search and a lot of issues with my health and anxiety. My new editor didn’t work out and took on too much and had to cut me, so I’m on the hunt again. I’m disappointed too, but well, maybe my perfect match is around the corner. My New Year’s resolution was to get my shit together… And then I found out I have to move. So I’m working on it. I promise. The priority is writing the best books I can and getting them too you. If the website stays a mess a bit longer, well, yeah, please just be patient with me.

  I am elated, overwhelmed, and ridiculously appreciative of the support and reviews of this series. Mostly everyone seems to love it and I’m floored people want more Tamsin as much as I do. So thank you. It means a lot.

  The reviews are appreciated, not a threat. I’m very sorry if it came off that way. I saw some reviews saying that and I felt horrible. It helps me to stay motivated because I saw there were so many reviews and I’m working on book five now instead of what I’d planned on next since everyone was so excited. But not a threat of no more books unless people do, I promise.

  But please keep reviewing. Its been great and really helps get my books seen by others and that means bills get paid, less worries for me so I can write, and Vader got a new toy. He thanks you for that. He thanked me by dropping it on my bare foot and bruising the shit out of my big toe, but I felt the love of him wanting to play… As I hobbled around the rest of the day.

  Such is life.

  1

  I knocked on the guest room door as I opened it and walked in. “Darby, the work guys are going to be arriving soon and…” I trailed off as my eyes landed on him.

  Naked.

  Completely fucking naked, water dripping down his body as he’d just gotten out of the shower. He only had a small towel in his hand and he was drying his hair with it.

  “Like what you see?” he taunted, narrowing his eyes at me. “Just because I’m staying with you doesn’t mean you get a free peep show, Tamsin.”

  I dragged my eyes away from his ripped body to meet his gaze. He wasn’t big like muscles on muscles, but every inch of him was sculpted, as if someone had airbrushed him. I licked my lips and glanced at his groin again, smirking when his dick twitched as it filled more.

  “I think every woman would love to see what I am, but you apparently like I’m seeing you,” I threw right back, noting that there was a larger towel on the floor at his feet.

  Oh, that dick dropped his towel when he’d sensed me.

  “You keep teasing my dick and you’re going to suck it,” he warned, his voice full of heat and with a bit of a growl.

  I met his gaze
again and raised an eyebrow. “No, I’m not. I’ve never done that and I’m certainly not going to start with a guy who’s playing games with me like I’m a game to him.”

  I felt better when he frowned as if he was finally realizing he wasn’t making his intentions clear and being an ass.

  Yeah, idiot. If he wanted to play like I did with Craftsman—or even Hudson—I was cool with that. But my games weren’t mean in the same way he was sort of being.

  Just to push his buttons back, I walked across the room and moved in front of him, smirking when his cock twitched again. I caught a drop of water off his chest with my finger. I brought it to my lips, his eyes glued to what I was doing, and moaned as I pushed my finger in my mouth.

  “Too bad it’s only water and not something sweeter on your skin.”

  His nostrils flared, hearing my innuendo loud and clear. Whether it was him kissing me or eating me out, any wetness from me would be sweeter.

  I leaned in until we were almost kissing. “If you want to taste that sweetness, you know which room is mine, if you’re good though.”

  He seemed under a spell when he leaned in too, but I turned on my heel and headed for the door.

  “Mel and I have to be the adults so we were hoping you’d wanted to go with Izzy to get supplies. We only brought what we had at school that would go bad so we don’t have much.”

  “Anything you need,” he offered.

  I snorted as I looked at him over my shoulder. “You don’t really mean that or you’d smile more often and know I was well worth taking the leap.”

  I left, not wanting to hear any more or whatever was next in his game. I had too much already going on and not in the mood. I was still fried from yesterday with Izzy’s family and waiting for the other shoe to drop.

  And so was she, from the way she’d come to breakfast with a red nose and swollen eyes. I had no idea what to do to help her, but Mel just shook her head to leave it alone. It seemed the right move as Izzy acted like nothing was wrong or different.

  If that was how she wanted to play it, I was down with that.

  What I wasn’t down with was how things were going to go. Well, more like I didn’t fucking get it. Mel had been ordering appliances and whatnot we needed to replace, but I didn’t realize she hadn’t accepted delivery.

  “You kept saying you and Craftsman were going to work on the barrier and we’d do more over break,” she explained when I met her in the kitchen and asked her what I was missing. “So I scheduled it all for now. You opened the door in the barrier or whatever?”

  I nodded. “And made sure the energy reads not fairy. Or at least in the front. I can’t guarantee any of it, Mel, and certainly not if people are going to be snooping.”

  “That’s why I hired people we know,” she said as she headed for the front of the house.

  Huh?

  I didn’t get a chance to ask as deliveries started showing up. Mel had them put it all in the first garage, saying we had a crew coming. So she knew how to handle this part, awesome.

  Next, that crew showed up… And with a familiar face among them.

  “Natalie?” I asked as she got out of the first van.

  She snickered as she glanced at Mel. “You really didn’t tell her anything?”

  I sighed. “No, Mel gets her jollies from my confusion and being behind.”

  “I do not,” Mel growled. “I like surprising you with the cool. Trust me, you’ll think this is cool. If I told you Natalie would be part of it, you’d demand to know why.”

  True, but I still wasn’t in the mood for any more surprises.

  “There’s a reason I’m so good at the runes to change things,” Natalie explained, gesturing to the van. “My family business is home renovations and contractors.”

  I put two and three together and still came up short. “And I’m guessing it’s not like humans do it?”

  “Not even close,” a man chuckled as he approached us. I saw the same amber eyes Natalie had and realized he was family. “Marc Higgins, owner of Higgins Remodels and Expansions.”

  “And my uncle,” Natalie added.

  “Oh, cool.” I extended my hand to him. “Tamsin Vale, nice to meet you, Mr. Higgins.”

  His eyes flashed shock but he smiled, shaking my hand. Did kids of elites really call adults by their first names because they weren’t rich? Or was it just that I was in college?

  Probably because I was the boss.

  I didn’t want to be the boss.

  “I wish we had more together but there’s been a lot of crazy at school and with her being an unknown,” Mel explained after shaking his hand as well. “So let’s start with the kitchen and utility stuff and go from there.”

  “Sounds good. You got us for your whole school break so we’ll get a lot done,” he promised.

  “Thanks for this,” Natalie said under her breath as we followed the adults. “Work’s been kind of light since my family won’t kiss ass or kneel before the elites. My dad’s co-owner with his three brothers and a lot of shit started when me and my cousins hit college age and got scholarships. I’m sure you can fill in the blanks.”

  I winced. Yeah, that would really be some shit and people using them for… Everything. If most of the elites were like the majority of people at school, they would use the Higginses for everything they could.

  Assholes.

  We headed into the kitchen, where Craftsman was introducing himself.

  “Your niece is a shining example of what a witch can become if she applies herself,” he told Mr. Higgins. “I’ve never heard anything but praise from the faculty, and the dragon ice sculpture she designed floored more than those at Artemis.”

  “Yeah, it was amazing,” Mr. Higgins agreed.

  Right, Natalie had won Hudson’s competition and Darby had gotten third, the rest deciding to pick it up after midterms and the break.

  “Thanks, Dr. Craftsman,” Natalie said, her face flushing at the praise. “I’m actually planning on joining my family’s company but focusing on that sort of creative aspect.”

  I didn’t get it but I knew if it was Natalie, she’d do well. It took everything in me not to get jealous at the looks she was giving my Craftsman, but I couldn’t blame her for looking.

  If she touched him our friendship might be over when I smacked her.

  Fine, I’d give her a warning because I liked her.

  More people came in carrying what looked like huge buckets of paint or stain. I really didn’t get what was going on.

  I mean, I knew renovations, but I was missing the details.

  “So far I only got her to commit to the kitchen,” Mel told him as she handed over a tablet. “This is the style and feel we’re going for with the appliances she purchased.” She shook her head at me when I went to object. “Enough, Tams. We got through the instructions for this property. I finished the rest of yours and it’s time you had a real home.”

  “I’ve never had one, Mel, and it’s a mansion and you’re talking like an overhaul of the place when I never met the people,” I muttered, feeling ridiculously awkward.

  She gave me a gentle smile. “That’s the same if you bought the place. It’s the same for those who inherit places of people they knew. You’re way more respectful than I’ve seen people who knew the family they lost. Enough. You’re not turning it into a waterpark or being a spoiled rich kid. It’s time to make it yours though.”

  I blew a raspberry and nodded, rubbing my stomach that was now full of butterflies. I heard a pop and glanced over to see the guy had opened one of the large buckets and it was full of paint.

  He went over to the wall and wrote a rune on it… And the paint started appearing on the wall.

  “Holy fuck me,” I whispered as I watched him “paint” the whole kitchen wall around the cabinets and then up the ceiling without lifting a brush or roller.

  “Magic’s a bit like having a smartphone,” Natalie chuckled as I blinked at her with wide eyes. “It’s not ‘there�
�s an app for that’ but there’s a rune for that. Lots of them for all kinds of stuff or spells or something magic to help.”

  Mel nodded. “Now you get why I didn’t tell you. I didn’t want you to miss this. That’s how we redo the place, Tams. Their crew is trained in this stuff and have the focus and experience. I could do that rune but it’s just like experienced painters versus if we did it.”

  “But it takes a lot of magic to do a job as fast as you’re talking,” Mr. Higgins cut in, setting what I would guess was a reservoir down on the counter. “Melody said you’d help with that since we can’t work when you’re not here?”

  I blew a raspberry. “There’s a barrier on the property that I don’t want to take down but I figured out a door in it.”

  Understanding filled his eyes. “Yeah, if someone got fairy help with a barrier then don’t take it down. Anyone of that bloodline could adjust it, but protect yourself for sure. Got it. We’re just going to need help doing it so fast.”

  “That I can do as long as I’m fed.”

  “I believe Izzy and I are on that?” Darby checked from behind us.

  “Hey, right, you’re staying here over break,” Natalie greeted, giving a wave. She saw Izzy and sadness filled her eyes before she went over and hugged the younger witch. So she knew. Glad she could help better than I could. “You’re going to be okay. Tams and Mel are good people.”

  “Yup, we got this,” Izzy agreed, but I heard the fear in her voice.

  “I listened to Tams and we’re doing easy,” Mel said as she handed over some papers and her card to Izzy. “You’re picking up a fuck ton of catering trays today. Add drinks and basics to fill in, but we’re doing cold cut trays and laid-back as we’ve got a lot of work to do and a lot of people who are going to need a lot of fuel. Drinks, sides, chips—all of it.”

  “It also makes sense we’re starting in the kitchen then,” Mr. Higgins chuckled. “Got it. Okay, let’s talk turkey.”

  Izzy left with Darby using Mel’s SUV and I looked over samples. It was much, much easier to know that I was just picking out updates like new paint on the walls, because the status spell that had been on the house didn’t update everything.