Upended Life (Artemis University Book 1)

by Erin R Flynn

  Table of Contents

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  Find A New Series To Love…

  About the Author

  Other Titles by Erin R Flynn

  A Supernatural Script Inc. Book

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  To Adam:

  I’m sorry I hurt you. I regret letting you go how I did. I wish I’d been wiser and more mature to realize there were other options. If I’d known then what I know now, I would have seen you weren’t the problem when you looked at me and saw someone beautiful no matter what other people saw. Unfortunately I listened to everyone else who said I could only be beautiful if I was thinner or better or however else they judged me. And I’m sorry for judging you that you were damaged and it would hurt me in the end.

  And I’m sorry I didn’t have the emotional maturity to handle our valid issues. I hope you’ve matured as well to hear when your partner tells you their concerns because you deserved the best. If I could do it all again, I wouldn’t have run when you didn’t listen. I was so afraid of becoming my mother who spent years dealing with in-law issues that my fear blinded me to seeing we were worth fighting for. I would have pushed for counseling so we could hear each other. We were worth listening to each other that way even if we weren’t forever.

  I hope you found that forever and that person who didn’t run. You were a rare gem and even if we didn’t make it, you taught me a lot and set the standard. I’ve never settled for any less because of you and I thank you for that.

  And I really hope you never got back with that hoe-bag ex-girlfriend. I’m really sorry I never punched her out. I’m really, really sorry I never punched her out. The amount of shit she started between us and added to our problems she deserved it several times over.

  My name is Tamsin Vale and my life is about to get real… Really complicated and ridiculously dangerous. Which is almost funny given at nineteen I already know too much of the darkness of the world and people, the secrets they keep.

  Or so I thought.

  Turns out those quirky abilities I’ve been keeping secret expose me to a world I didn’t know existed. Sure, I knew I wasn’t human—but how exactly do I find out more without ending up in the wrong hands?

  And I’m not so sure I’m in the right hands now given some of the reactions to finding me. They say I’m the last fairy. I’m not sure I should trust them when their thoughts are mostly of power and how to use me.

  But I’m also not sure I have much of a choice. My powers are dangerous and I don’t know how to use them. They promise to teach me what I need to know and give me a chance at something I’ve never had before.

  A normal life. I don’t think anything about Artemis University and those who attend is normal, but it’s still better than the life I’ve been living if they keep half their promises.

  I think hoping they’ll keep half is generous.

  Artemis University is a 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.

  1

  I slid on the latex gloves after he let me in the room so there was no chance I’d leave prints. Once I heard the click of the door closing, I acted. Throwing an elbow back into his chest, I grabbed his hair and yanked his head to my knee.

  The resulting snap was rather satisfying and told me I’d done some damage. He went down hard, blood already flowing from his nose.

  “What are you doing?” he demanded.

  “Collecting on the debt you owe,” I purred, launching my boot into his side.

  As he coughed and groaned in pain, I squatted down. I grabbed his hair again and made him focus on me.

  “No more women for you.” I smirked when his eyes went wide. “No more women at all. This is for all the sex workers you hired, lied to, and played your sick games with.”

  I grabbed his wallet before I made a mess… Then proceeded to make a mess. I took several shots, until he promised he’d never hire a whore again.

  I reminded him that I’d said no more women, not just ones he could hire. I wasn’t stupid. A predator’s word wasn’t worth shit. Even if you took away one of their hunting grounds, monsters always found more victims.

  No, it was best to make sure the monster couldn’t hunt again.

  I smashed the wide heel of my boot into his groin, chuckling when he tried to scream but couldn’t get enough air in his lungs to do it. Several more hits, and he passed out from the pain.

  A small mercy. He wouldn’t ever be using his junk again, and probably peeing into a bag for the rest of his miserable life.

  Doing a quick search of the room, I found a stack of money and valuables in the safe—which the idiot hadn’t locked. Lots of things changed, but bad guys using cash was a staple of life.

  I grabbed it and checked that I hadn’t left marks in the blood or screwed with the splatter before ducking out of the room. I took the stairs and found my bag stuffed in the bathroom stall I’d locked.

  I cleaned the few splatters of blood on my boots, changed, and walked back out in under three minutes. Making sure not to look around like I was guilty of something, I went for the employee area and headed for the door. Too many people worked at hotels to keep up with all the faces, a few giving me nods in passing.

  I took a deep breath as I exited. Getting trapped in places was always my biggest fear. I knew she was there before I turned and saw her. Pulling out the wallet with another glove, I handed both over to her.

  “You got twenty-four hours with the cards.”

  “Thanks,” she whispered, taking it from me and trying not to cry. “You done here?”

  I always had respect for the ones who fought to stay strong and break in private. Or at least, not near me. Emotions were not something I handled well, and not something strangers should dump on me when I was helping them.

  “Nope. Gotta chop off the head of the snake. I’ll find you when it’s done and get you out.”

  “W
hy do this for us? You’re not even one of us,” she asked, as most of them asked me.

  I glanced at her, going with the quick answer so we could get gone. “I might not be a sex worker, but I am one of you. I’m a woman on my own who once needed a break when she got in too deep.” I kept talking when she opened her mouth to ask more. “Make tracks from here and be safe.”

  “Gotcha.”

  By the time she said it, I was already walking away. I caught a bus a few blocks away, grateful it was late and I didn’t have to worry about the headache of being around too many people.

  Getting off at my stop, I stowed some of my stuff and went to finish what I’d started before moving on.

  It didn’t take long—only about twenty minutes pretending to work the area in his turf. They always came out to reclaim and piss on their turf, normally forcing anyone who unknowingly crossed it to be one of theirs.

  I bit back a sigh when I saw he’d brought eight friends. Instead of dancing under my skin like normal, that weird energy in me roared to life at the threat.

  “Bitch, you’re going to pay for what you’ve been pulling,” he snarled at me.

  “Bitch, you’re going to pay for what you’ve been pulling,” I mocked, smirking at him just to extra piss him off and make him sloppy.

  Sure enough, he practically roared and told his guys to grab me. With a swift kick to his head, I sent the first one flying. They realized I wasn’t the normal girl they jumped and rushed me.

  I fended them off, but the energy built. I didn’t know what to do to dissipate it. It hadn’t ever been like that before.

  I growled, mentally focusing on my hands in the hopes of doing something with it, and slapping them together in an echoing clap. My whole body tingled as energy rushed out of me like lightning pulled from the sky.

  All the energy around me seemed to focus into that clap, and flew out to hit the nine guys.

  They went flying all around, like they’d touched a bad battery or got kicked in the chest. My jaw dropped as they landed hard, knocked out before they could even bang their heads.

  “Oh fuck,” I hissed with feeling, staring at my hands. That was certainly new.

  And probably not something easy to hide.

  I shook off my shock and need to freak out, quickly moving to grab what I wanted before they came to. I was just about to slip the USB drive on him with all my evidence and a note that he was out of the pimp game when there was a blue flash of light across the street.

  For a second, I worried it was the cops, but it was too bright to be a squad car. It got brighter, and I blocked my eyes until it died down.

  I blinked to find five guys standing there and a weird fucking something on the building wall behind them. They glanced around, locking on me as I jumped to my feet.

  “What happened here? Why did you use your powers?” the closest to me demanded.

  “Dude, if you think I have a clue what I just did, you are sorely misreading the situation,” I muttered, focusing on the thing on the wall. It was like a weird mirror. “What the fuck is that?” I pointed to it, proud of myself my hand wasn’t shaking.

  “She’s an unknown,” a second guy said.

  “Fuck,” the first growled, moving closer to me. He held up his hands when I stepped away. “You cannot stay here.”

  “No shit,” I snickered. “I was about to bail when you showed up.”

  While he had my focus, two of his guys moved on either side of me. I easily blocked the first when he reached for me. The other sighed and tried to grab me.

  Oh, he wanted to be annoyed?

  I could give him something to be annoyed over.

  As I smashed the heel of my hand into his nose, they rushed me. One wrapped his arms around me and they were like steel fucking bands I couldn’t break. I tried to get an arm loose, but I couldn’t.

  “Calm yourself, love,” a deep voice said from next to me—a guy from the back of the group I hadn’t seen until then. “Relax and come with us. You know it’s best. We’ll help you.”

  There was something in his voice that made my body go slack, my eyes unable to look away from the deep emerald of his. They blurred, and then there was nothing as I went limp.

  2

  I woke slowly, like I’d gotten a contact high, passed out harder than normal, and it wasn’t easy to shake off.

  What happened came rushing back to me and I pushed sleep away, jumping as I bumped my elbow. I wasn’t restrained or locked up so that was good news.

  Right?

  “Finally,” a man sighed as I blinked awake, the lights too bright right then. “We have lives and can’t just drop everything.”

  “No one said you had to come,” a woman snickered. “You always demand to be included and informed and then complain you’re too busy.”

  “Just because I stay on top of things doesn’t change my packed schedule,” he snapped.

  I rubbed my eyes until I could blink open wider, able to focus better. I glanced around and saw I was in some sort of meeting room.

  No, like a small courtroom with not just one judge but several sitting up a bit higher than me. In a semicircle around me as I was in a chair in front of them, all eyes on me.

  “What did you do to me?” I mumbled, not getting all my senses back yet. “Fuck, I don’t like drugs. I hate even contact highs.”

  “Good to know,” a man in the middle of the semicircle chuckled.

  I caught a thought and focused on him. “What’s Artemis University?”

  “Who are your people?” the first guy spoke, not hiding the fact he clearly looked down at me—in both our current height difference and life.

  I blinked at the woman, having caught a thought from her. “Supes? There are really non-humans?”

  She gave me a curious look. “Clearly she’s got a strong telepathic gift.”

  I snorted. “Shutting it off is the bitch I haven’t figured out.”

  “Who are your people?” the guy demanded again.

  I gave him a bored look. “Dude, keep up, I think the rest of us know I’m clueless here.” I rolled my eyes at his snarky thoughts. “No, not in life, just—I knew I wasn’t human but who exactly do you say that to and not get locked up? Like in a lab. No thanks.”

  “Do you know what you are at all?” the guy in the middle asked gently.

  “No, what are you?” I snapped, annoyed now that I was all back from the forced sleep. “How do I know I can even trust you?”

  “We saved you after your powers exploded, hitting a level we could sense,” the first guy drawled.

  I raised an eyebrow at him. “You mean abducted me but sure, okay.”

  The guy in the middle—probably the boss there—cleared his throat and silenced the jerk. “I apologize for that. The circumstances were tumultuous and it was decided to act quickly.”

  “I understand,” I said.

  He smiled. “Good, then—”

  “That doesn’t mean you’re forgiven or it’s acceptable,” I cut in. I sighed when he gave me a confused look. “You decided to react to whatever bat signal I sent out. You decided to knock me out and bring me here. I understand your reasoning but that does not forgive doing it. You gave an explanation but that doesn’t absolve you of what you did.”

  “Yes, but—”

  “Actually, you didn’t do it.” I glanced around and locked gazes with the deep emerald eyes, the guy standing at the edge of the raised table desks. “He did.” I narrowed my eyes at him. “Do that to me again and you will not like the repercussions.”

  He flinched but I nodded.

  “I will crush your throat and make sure you can’t ever use it on me a third time—so do not do it again.”

  “I understand.”

  That wasn’t the same as agreeing not to do it. Fine, he didn’t know me or that I wasn’t a crazy person he’d have to save people from. That still didn’t change what he did.

  “You owe me a debt for using your powers on me, abducting me lik
e this, and I will come to collect that debt.”

  “You attacked—” the jerk guy started.

  “I did not,” I corrected, locking eyes with him. “A strange man tried to grab me and I fought. That is a reasonable reaction. Before that I was speaking calmly and clearly with them. They decided I was an ‘unknown’ and grabbed me, using powers on me. That was your decision and I’m not forgiving that. There was another way.”

  The guy snorted. “Like what?”

  I spread my arms out to show what we were doing. “I’m a rather reasonable woman if you just use your words and not powers in them. We’re talking around here and I’ve not made a single aggressive move.”

  The middle guy held up his hand. “You’re right, and I do apologize they jumped the gun. It was out of fear of your safety and more you don’t understand. We’ve not found an unknown—which is a supernatural who doesn’t know what they are—in some time. That’s a tricky situation.” He waited until I nodded. “And to answer your question, I’m a warlock.”

  “A warlock,” I whispered, bobbing my head as I wrapped my mind around this.

  “Yes, I’m Kyle Edelman, headmaster of Artemis University,” he continued. “It’s a school for non-humans to learn—like college—but also their powers and abilities. It’s a safe space for our young to learn and grow into adults.” He waited until I nodded again. “How old are you?”

  “Nineteen,” I answered, seeing no reason not to. I didn’t have my bag but I saw it on the ground by a few of the guys who had grabbed me. They could just look through it.

  “I’m Tamsin Vale. I was abandoned at a fire station and they have that thing where it’s a safe spot to leave babies. That’s all I know. I grew up in the human system.”

  “Thank you, that helps,” he muttered as he jotted down some notes.

  “Falcon?” I asked the woman, picking that from her brain. “Like a werewolf but werefalcon?”

  She nodded. “We prefer falcon shifter, but yes. I’m on the school board.”

  She gave me her name but honestly I was still wrapping my mind on supes being real. She started something and others told me their names and species.