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

by Ember Hollis

  I look down and see green scales twining up my arm.

  “Fuck!” I scream, falling back onto my butt. “What the hell!”

  “They said I’d get an angel blood, but they didn’t say she was a thief.”

  My eyes widen at the girl standing before me. She’s about five feet five, with tanned skin, and sun-streaked wiry brown hair. Oddly enough since we’re indoors, she’s wearing semi-opaque, blue sunglasses along with a cute version of the school uniform: a short plaid pinafore over a white blouse which should be doing wonders for her legs, except that… she doesn’t have any.

  “What… wha—” I gasp, staring at her bottom half. Instead of brown legs to match her arms, she’s got a deep green snake’s tail with glittering scales on the surface and silvery white ones on the bottom. It curls beneath her, propping her up like a cobra about to strike. “What are you?”

  “Didn’t your mother ever tell you it’s rude to stare?” my roommate snaps, then slams the fridge door shut. “What rock did you crawl out from under, huh?”

  It doesn’t happen often, but I do occasionally get stunned into complete silence. My jaw works while I gape and point at her, gesturing at her legs.

  “I’m a lamia, okay?” she makes a huffy noise at the back of her throat and widens her eyes at me. “You’d think we were extinct, everyone has no idea what we are.”

  “Ah… okay,” I gulp. I have a healthy dread of snakes like anyone with any sense of self-preservation, and her massive coiling tail looks like it can crush me with just a flick. “Err, do you mind letting me go? I promise I won’t touch your food again.”

  “So you say,” Sybil replies, but the end of her tail releases my wrist. “Let me guess, you met Knox?”

  I frown at her, not comprehending. Sybil sighs and slides onto the couch. She moves so gracefully, yet quickly. Its like one minute she’s beside me, and the next she’s across the room.

  “You’ve got the jitters. Don’t think I don’t recognize it,” she said, flicking her tail at me. “You met one of them. The Four.”

  “Who?” I say, clutching at my stomach as I stagger to the opposite couch. “This is my first day of school.”

  “I bet they know it,” she smirks. “I never thought a true blue angel would cross our threshold. But here you are.”

  “I’m only part-angel,” I tell her.

  “And that’s one part too many for them,” she nods sagely. “Maybe it’s not too late for you to transfer over to Ever Haven Prep. But I guess if you could enroll there you wouldn’t be here.” She gives me an assessing look, then shakes her head slightly. “Guess even angels discriminate.”

  “Where is that and why?” I say, holding my head. The pain in my stomach is getting so acute, I swear my stomach is trying to digest my spine, and I’m unable to keep track of what she’s saying. Sibyl just looks at me and shakes her head, causing a sliver of annoyance to thread through my voice. “Can you not speak in riddles?”

  She sighs and grabs me again, using the massive strength in her tail to pull me from the room.

  “I’m not going to talk to you while you’re hangry,” she mutters. The hallways are a blur as I crouch over and try not to retch up bile, but Sibyl keeps pulling me long until I find myself dumped on a bench with plates of food stretching before me as far as my eye can see.

  “Eat,” she says, shoving an apple into my mouth before I can protest.

  I crunch into it then swallow the mouthful. It helps a little to assuage the pain and I keep going until before I know it, a pile of plates is heaped in front of me and my mouth is coated in gravy.

  “This must be some kind of record,” Sibyl mutters, counting them out loud. “One whole pheasant, a leg of lamb, three soups, four slices of pies, cake, souffle, and I don’t even know how many salads—girl, you just ate enough for an army!”

  I groan and lean back. My stomach is literally popping the button on my jeans. I loosen it and breathe a little easier. What have I done? I feel like I’m drowning in food, yet the hunger hasn’t totally faded. I eye a plate of chips, wondering if I can fit it in, then decide that if I do, I’ll burst.

  “I want to but I can’t eat anymore,” I groan.

  “That’s Knox for you,” Sibyl says. “You can eat till you die and you might still be hungry.”

  “What is he, a god of gluttony? I felt like I was starving! Even now, I still feel hungry!”

  “There, you’ve hit the nail on the head,” Sibyl laughs. “You’ll just have to bear up with it till it fades away.”

  “What, seriously?” I try to scoff, but end up almost choking. That’s how full I am. “So you’re saying he’s really a god?”

  “He might as well be,” Sibyl sighs, then ticks names off her fingers. “Christian, Malek, Knox, and Bane. If you want to survive in this school, you better stay away from them. We call them the Four. They’re the most powerful supers in this school. Even the teachers are careful around them.”

  “Oh no,” I wince, then proceed to tell Sibyl what had happened. Her eyes grow large as she listens to me and before I’m done, she scoots her chair a little further away from me, looking around as if worried someone will see her sitting with me.

  “Wow, and I thought I’d messed things up when I dropped a book on Bane’s foot,” she whispers, her tail coiling tightly around her chair legs. “You’re so dead!”

  “Truer words have never been said.”

  I turn around, dread rising, and glimpse Malek sitting on the table behind me, holding up a dagger as he takes aim at me.

  Chapter 9: Heaven

  The dagger thumps into the table, right between my finger and thumb. Before I can react, another stabs the tiny space between my fore and middle finger. I gasp and yank my hand back, just before a third one buries itself in the wood, exactly where it needed to be to sever my ring finger.

  “Are you trying to kill me?” I shriek.

  Students everywhere are watching. Some look away, or get up to leave, while others grin and start pointing at me. There aren’t many teachers sitting at the high table on the dais, but those that are there just ignore us.

  Seriously?

  Malek whips another dagger forward.

  “Stop it!” I scream, falling sideways out of my chair to avoid it. “You psychopath!”

  “Zeus, why can’t you just shut up and avoid him like everyone else? You’re making it worse!” Sibyl hisses almost inaudibly before she slips off her chair and tails it to the door.

  “What was that you called me?” Malek growls. He jumps off the table and stalks towards me, then grabs me by the throat, lifting me up high.

  I choke and splutter, trying to breathe. I kick at him, but he smacks my knees down with brutal force, then throws me down to the floor.

  The food I’ve just eaten churns in my stomach. I swallow continuously, but sour saliva fills my mouth. Before I know it, a pool of vomit pours out from my throat.

  Tears run down my face, mixing with the gunk dripping from my lips. I hate myself for crying, for showing weakness in front of him. But I can’t help it. Why can’t he just leave me alone? I haven’t even done anything to him.

  “You’re an angel,” he says in answer. I wasn’t aware I’d said my question out loud. But I guess I didn’t even need to. I know there’s nothing I could have done that would warrant this. “Leave.”

  He stands over me, strength radiating from him in waves. His shirt gapes open at his chest revealing sculpted pecs, and the sleeves are rolled up, showing the corded muscles on his arms. Coupled with his flaming hair, gold eyes, and righteous, angry stare… He hates me for what I am, yet he’s the one who looks like an avenging angel.

  “There isn’t a rule against angels being here,” I say, trying to sound reasonable. “Otherwise they wouldn’t have let me enroll.”

  “Oh, they always let trash in,” a smooth voice says close to my ear. “It’s up to us to take it out.”

  I turn around and see Bane bending over me, a serene
smile on his face. Beside him are two harpies. Both are clad in the school uniform, but their skirts are mini-skirt short, and their blouses are unbuttoned at the top and tied at the bottom to reveal the full effect of their shapely figures. They look like regular teenage girls except that they have wings, and tiny feathers that trail around their breasts. One has brown hair streaked with hot pink to match her feathers, while the other is blond dipped in sky blue. The tops of their knees extend down into yellow birds’ legs, with curved talons that click on the floor like heels. I eye their wings, noting how unlike my father’s angel wings, they’re clawed at the joints, with larger and rougher feathers that also underlie the hair on their heads.

  “That’s right,” the pink one says. “Standards are so low these days, aren’t they, Briley?” She and her friend gaze condescendingly at me, their eyes lingering on my hair, my cropped T-shirt, and jeans. It makes me aware that I haven’t bathed or even changed for almost two days. My clothes are sticky by now and my hair more than a little oily. “I thought you said she was an angel,” she says, wrinkling her nose. “She looks more like a troll to me.”

  “She doesn’t even have wings,” her friend, Briley, says. She flips her sky blue hair over her shoulder and scoffs. “No angel has ever looked so ugly, I’m sure. And she stinks.” She flaps her wings a little so the vomit I spewed slides closer to me, then laughs. “Oh look at her scuttling legs, Vivette! She’s like a little cockroach.”

  I ignore them as I back away until I hit something that feels like a brick wall. A sliver of silver flashes in my eyes, then a sharp dagger is at my neck. It stings, and I suck in a breath, feeling blood running down my throat.

  “We should kill her now,” Malek growls from above me, his eyes on Bane, and his fists raised. “They wouldn’t have sent her here if they wanted her to live.”

  “Now, now,” Christian steps into view. He whispers something in Bane and Malek’s ear that makes them whip around to stare at him, then saunters forward towards me. “Hold your horses.”

  “Where’s the fun in just killing her right now?” Christian drops down to his knees and touches my chin with the tip of a finger, forcing me to strain to look up at him. “Especially when Bane already foresaw her death. We should make an example of her, just in case other angels get the bright idea to send their children here to make stronger Nephilim. Once they see her Fall, no angel will dare bring their kin to Pandorax again.”

  I try to pull my chin away, but his grip tightens on it almost painfully. He winks at me, slowly and deliberately.

  Bane and Malek are still distracted. They look at each other and Christian as if in silent communication, then at me, their eyes considering.

  I frown. Did Christian just help me? I frown at him, but he just smiles innocently at me.

  “Seriously?” One of the harpies says. “You’d put up with her just to avoid more coming? Are you sur—”

  Christian’s eyes flick to her and her jaw clicks shut. He turns back to me, his eyes narrowing, then leans in close, so close that his face fills my whole vision. I can see the gold flecks in his blue eyes, and the warmth radiating from his skin.

  My heart begins to pound, and I draw in heavy breaths, trying to ignore how my lips begin to tingle as he hovers over me. I don’t know why, but just being this close to him is getting me incredibly turned on. It’s not like I haven’t kissed anyone before. I’ve led dozens of men on to get my way, mostly to stir up trouble and give the finger to my mother who invariably stepped in to stop me. But there’s something about Christian that tells me I don’t have the upper hand. Everything I know how to do, he does better, the gleam in his eye says.

  I lick my lips, unable to stop glancing from his eyes to his mouth. All rational thought flees my mind as I imagine how it would feel like to press my lips against his.

  “Putting up is putting it lightly,” Christian says, in a husky purr that sends shivers down my spine. I want to pull him up and over me, have him cover me with his body and push his way inside me. “Angels may be divine, but they have their weaknesses too. Just how long do you think she’ll last here among us anyway, before she succumbs to temptation…”

  Everyone and everything seems to melts away as Christian gazes deep into my eyes, then leans forward even further.

  “Just admit it,” he whispers, his breath skittering across my ear. His finger trailing down my neck to the collar of my T-shirt leaves a burning line of sensation that shoots straight down between my legs. “You’re already wet for me, aren’t you?” he says out loud, plucking at my collar. “How about we indulge in a little sin?”

  My eyes widen a moment later as his words hit home. There’s no way he’s actually coming on to me. He’s only doing all this to taunt me for being part-angel.

  I flush deep red, disoriented and shaken while laughter and taunting insults rise above me. I draw back from him and slap away his finger, “Leave me alone!”

  His eyes flash sharp for a moment, before he releases a chuckle and stands. “That’s what you say now, but the time will come when you beg for me. Everyone does.”

  I glare at him, refusing to give him the satisfaction of knowing how much he’s already affected me. “In. Your. Dreams.”

  “Maybe,” Christian says. He gazes at me from under heavy-lidded eyes and raises a taunting brow. “If you’re lucky.”

  I scoff, but a strange thrill still runs through me. What is it about him? My mind doesn’t want anything to do with him, but my body has a whole other opinion of its own.

  Christian walks back to Bane who looks as if he’s made up his mind. He glances at me, his look so penetrating it sends a shiver down my back. Whatever he’s thinking, it can’t be good. I ready myself to get up and run, but Bane merely nods at his friends, then turns away. It seems like he’s the ringleader, because when he leaves, both Malek and Christian follow in his wake.

  I move to get up but one of the harpies is already there.

  Briley knocks me down, right into the pool of vomit.

  “Dirty whore,” she spits. “You should thank Christian for even looking at you, considering how ugly you are.” Vivette hoots with laughter as I struggle to breathe. Vomit is all over my hair, and my forehead throbs from being smashed into the floor. All around me I hear voices, laughing and mocking me. When I sit up again I see that I’m surrounded by a crowd of onlookers.

  I gaze up at the creatures with fur, feathers, scales and colored skin. They look like monsters straight out of a fairy tale to me, yet I’m the one they despise and hate. Worse, I realize as I catch a couple of looks of dismissive pity, I’m the one who’ll never fit in.

  As quickly as I can, I get to my feet and stagger out of the hall, desperate to get away.

  Chapter 10: Heaven

  The bells chime as I make my way back to the dorms, signaling the end of lunch break. Thankfully, the halls empty soon after as students head to their classes, and no one harasses me on my way back.

  Sybil isn’t in our room, but I find a note with my brand new uniform, textbooks and some other supplies waiting for me on my bed, along with a new handbook to replace the one I lost. Feeling slightly grateful, I grab my uniform, then make my way to the bathrooms to shower.

  They’re located underground near the dorms and are thankfully segregated by gender. I pause at the entrance to the girls’s baths, taken aback by how exotic it is.

  Though there is a common jacuzzi area, there are also separate rooms for students who want their privacy. Each one is cordoned off by tastefully grown plants and wooden walls, with smooth floors made from black rock threaded through with crystalline veins of quartz. Soft zen-like music drifts in the background, making me feel as if I’ve stepped into a spa.

  It’s deserted, but I still head to one of the more secluded rooms at the far end of the bathing area. The bathtub inside is made of stone too, with levers on the wall to fill it with various choices of water. Hot mineral spring water, perfumed water in various scents, and even colored or b
ubble bath water are all on demand.

  I quickly disrobe and choose a herb-infused lemon bath. When I pull the lever, a series of clicks sound and a chute opens up in the ceiling, releasing a torrent of fragrant water into the bath like a mini waterfall. It slides back up as soon as the bath is filled, and a light switches on in a nearby alcove, displaying the various soaps, shampoos and conditioners that would match my bath water. I shake my head at the blatant display of money… or is it magic… and step into the bath.

  Taking my time, I wash myself, then refill the bathwater. The tension that’s hung over me since last night slowly bleeds away while I lie my head back on the tub and close my eyes, finally allowing myself to cry. Fat tears drip silently into my hair, running down over my ears to mingle with the bathwater, while my sobs are drowned out by the sound of running water.

  I want to forget everything, but my mind won’t stop racing. It wasn’t enough that Mom died… Dad had to turn up out of the blue, tell me I’m half-angel and then abandon me at this stupid school where everyone hates angels and the four most popular boys have personal vendettas against me! Why did everything terrible have to happen all at once, and to me?

  “Maybe it’s punishment,” I whisper to myself. I haven’t been the best human let alone half-angel, that was for sure. Perhaps I’m meant to make up for it by serving out my time at this school. Perhaps I need to prove I can resist temptation and survive hardship to earn the right to be a Nephilim.

  But why should I? I never asked to be born a half-angel, and I have no idea what it would be like to be a Nephilim. If I hadn’t been told about it, I could have happily lived my whole life as a human without knowing that anything else was out there.

  Maybe I should tell the Headmistress that this was all a mistake, and just leave and go back home to Terra. After all, Mikael’s never done a thing for me my whole life… surely he doesn’t have the right to tell me what to do?