Fallen University: Year One: A Reverse Harem Paranormal Romance Read online

  Fallen University

  Year One

  Callie Rose

  Copyright © 2019 by Callie Rose

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or had, or actual events is purely coincidental.

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  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Backmatter

  Thank You For Reading

  Chapter One

  “Come on, baby, don’t you dare give up on me now.” I rubbed the dashboard of my old clunker as it rattled down the street. “Just a few more blocks and we’ll be home, sweet home.”

  I pressed harder on the gas, but the piece-of-shit scrap metal clunker I called a car was rapidly losing steam. I made it over a small rise and then leaned forward in the seat as the car rolled gently down the slope on the other side, praying I could build up enough momentum to keep the vehicle in motion.

  After standing on my feet all day, the last thing I wanted to do was walk home. Besides, I really didn’t want to leave my car abandoned on the side of the road.

  The radio turned to static, and I had to give it a bang to get it to work again.

  “Child homelessness is on the rise in—”

  “Oh, for fuck’s sake! Thanks for that reminder.” I was well aware of the terrible state of the world, but I didn’t need any more reasons to be full of rage right now. I gave the radio another bang, and this time it just went dead. I fumbled with the dials, but to no avail. Shit. That wasn’t a good sign. “Come on… don’t do this to me, you stupid piece of crap!”

  Suddenly, the car stopped altogether.

  “What the hell?” I groaned.

  It was my own fault for buying a seven hundred dollar used car, which was basically like buying a seven hundred dollar ticket to a flaming shitshow. I said a little prayer every time I got behind the wheel of the thing, and apparently, my prayers had run out.

  I looked around the neighborhood, but it was already pretty late in the evening—there was no one out on the street to ask for help. And I wasn’t about to go knocking on any doors. It was no secret this was one of the sketchier parts of town, and I didn’t want to go interrupting some behind-closed-doors drug deals or whatnot. I’d rather keep my brains inside my skull, thank you.

  So, I was left with one option—call Colin.

  I tapped his number on my contact list and waited for the phone to ring. Impatiently, I drummed my fingers against the steering wheel. “Come on, Colin. Be my night in shining armor…”

  It rang through and clicked to his voice mail. Shit.

  I didn’t even bother leaving a message. Instead, I called again, blowing out a frustrated breath as I waited. Pick up. Come on, pick up.

  Again, it went to voice mail—but faster this time, almost like he had declined my call on purpose. I looked down at the screen, brows knitted.

  “That’s weird…” Maybe he was actually busy with something? Or asleep? It was after ten p.m.

  Pfft, who am I kidding? He’s probably just trying to maintain his killing spree in some video game with his bros.

  I was a lot closer to his apartment than mine. And luckily, I still had the key he’d given me when I took care of his place while he was out of town a few months ago. With no other choice, I gathered my textbooks and stuffed them into my bag. It weighed a literal ton. Did colleges really have to make these things so damned heavy? As if breaking the bank wasn’t enough—apparently, they were after our spinal columns too.

  My feet felt like fire, but I kept up a fast clip as I walked, keeping my eyes and ears pricked for any signs of movement on the street. Colin’s apartment was about a mile away, and it was in a slightly better area than this. The quicker I could get there, the better.

  Strands of my long, dark-chocolate hair drifted across my face as I speed-walked through the derelict neighborhood, and I reached up to brush them behind my ear. I tried his cell one more time, but it went to voice mail even faster this time. Fuck. He must be out. We hadn’t planned on meeting up tonight, so maybe he went to a bar with some buddies or something.

  A little winded, I finally reached my destination. Shifting my weight from foot to tortured foot, I fished my key ring out of my pocket and fumbled through the keys until I found Colin’s. My mood was deteriorating by the second, but at least I had the promise of taking off my chunky boots and putting my feet up to keep me going.

  Hell, maybe I’d take a long, hot shower then curl up naked in Colin’s bed and wait for him—give him a nice surprise when he got home from the bar or wherever he was.

  Our sex life had been tepid at best lately, so maybe the silver lining of this shitty night was the unexpected chance to spice things up a bit between us.

  The foyer of the apartment was dim, and I made my way up the two flights of stairs to his floor already wrapped in visions of the comforting shower that awaited me.

  The inside of his apartment was dark. I dropped my backpack near the door, stretching with relief as I seemed to grow three inches taller. I was about to flip on the light switch when a weird creaking sound caught my attention. I froze.

  Wait a second. I know that sound…

  A low groan followed, accompanied by a high-pitched moan.

  Oh, shit. I definitely know those sounds.

  My eyes widened with realization. I ran through the living room, stubbing my toe painfully on something in the dark, and barreled straight into the bedroom.

  Yep. Colin was hard at work pounding into a petite redheaded woman whose moans and whimpers made her sound like she was auditioning for a porno.

  “What the actual fuck?” I boomed from the doorway.

  Colin jerked away from the redhead like her skin had suddenly turned scorching hot. She shrieked in a very un-pornstar like way, recoiling into the sheets and covering her chest, looking like a deer caught in headlights.

  “You better have a damn good explanation for this, you fucker!” I snarled as I grabbed the nearest weapon I could get my hands on, which turned out to be a slipper shaped like a banana. Colin had insisted they were hilarious when he’d bought them. And now, I was going to kill him with them.

  Pro tip: any household object can be weaponized as long as you put enough force behind your blow. Remember that—it just might save your life one day.

  “Piper! Piper! Chill! I thought you were working tonight.”

  “That’s your fucking e
xcuse? You thought I was working?” I threw the slipper at him, and he scrambled across the mattress to avoid the fruit-shaped projectile. I scooped up the other and dove onto the bed too, whaling on his back as he curled into a ball against the corner.

  Pathetic.

  “Look, baby, you’ve got this all wrong—”

  I whacked him in the head with his banana slipper. “Don’t you dare call me baby when there’s a naked woman in your bed, you fucking asshole!”

  “I was going to tell you—”

  “Tell me?” I repeated. “Don’t kid yourself, Colin. You weren’t going to tell me shit.”

  “I was!”

  “Too late for that now, isn’t it? Good thing my fucking car broke down. It saved you the trouble of coming up with the words. You’re such an asshole—fucking some twat behind my back while I’m busting my ass trying to get through college and pay my damn bills.” I threw down the slipper and ran my fingers through my long hair. “God, dating you was the biggest mistake of my life.”

  Unable to deal with Colin for another second, I turned toward the girl. “And you—”

  “Please don’t hit me!” she whimpered as she scooted to the far side of the bed, still clutching the sheets to her naked body.

  “Jesus. I’m not going to hit you,” I said, leveling my voice so it was more or less calm. “But I do need you to tell me what this asshole told you when he brought you here.”

  “H-he…” she stuttered in her nervousness.

  “Piper—”

  “If you know what’s good for you, Colin, you’ll shut your damn pie-hole right now.” I shot him such a deadly glare I thought he might keel over right then and there. Hey, a girl can dream, right?

  The redhead gulped when I turned my attention back in her direction.

  “Tell me,” I demanded firmly.

  “He… he told me that he was single… and I believed him.” Her baby-blue eyes were as big as milk saucers. I could tell, without a shadow of a doubt, that she was telling the truth. “I had no idea he was dating someone—I swear.”

  “I believe you.”

  She blinked. “You do?”

  “Yeah, sure. Colin here might be a lowlife, but I won’t deny he can be a smooth-talker when he wants something. That’s what reeled me in, and I’m sure the same thing happened to you too.”

  She nodded vigorously. “I really had no idea.”

  I grabbed her dress off the foot of the bed, handing it to her. “Sorry I called you a twat. I’m getting the fuck out of here, and if I were you, I’d bail on this loser too.”

  “Piper, baby—”

  “Pie-hole. Shut it.”

  He snapped his jaw shut, his expression hovering somewhere between guilty and sullen.

  What a fucking cock.

  I grabbed his banana slippers again, holding one up to his face in a threatening gesture. “Don’t call me. Don’t text me. Lose my fucking number. Oh, and I’m taking these.”

  Then I turned and stalked out, heaving my backpack onto my shoulders and slamming the door behind me.

  It had started to drizzle outside. As I hit the street and started walking, I could hear an angry, high-pitched voice filter down from his open window. She was reaming him out too, by the sound of it.

  Good for you, girl. Never be afraid to stand up for yourself.

  A smile crept over my face. At least the fucker was getting what he deserved. With that thought to bolster me, I headed in the direction of my car.

  Then I stopped. “Ah, damn it, that’s right. My car.”

  I peered down the street, but the piece of useless metal I called a car was still almost a mile away. With my luck and in this shitty neighborhood, it’d probably already been taken apart, the pieces brought to the nearest scrap metal place.

  “Guess I’m walking,” I muttered, cursing myself for stealing Colin’s slippers instead of a stupid umbrella. Changing course slightly, I headed in the direction of my apartment. It was only a few miles; my feet could take it. I could’ve called a cab, but I really didn’t want to spend the money if I could help it.

  And I didn’t mind the rain too much. In fact, it was usually one of my favorite things. Rain always reminded me of my mother, and the nights we’d spent together by the fireplace just watching the rain falling along the windowpane. We’d played this game where we tried to guess what raindrop would make it down to the bottom first. Looking back on it now, I had the feeling my mother had made a habit of letting me win.

  My dad?

  He’d been MIA even then. Sometimes, a check would show up and help us buy groceries, but most of the time it didn’t. And at some point, he just disappeared off the face of the planet. It’d probably been close to ten years since I’d last heard his voice. I wondered whether he knew if mom was dead or not.

  The wind picked up a bit, and I chucked Colin’s yellow slippers toward a dumpster in an alley I passed by, then tugged up the zipper on my leather jacket. As I wrapped my arms around myself to ward off the cold, a different sort of chill made a shiver run down the length of my spine as I heard a soft noise behind me.

  I stopped and glanced over my shoulder.

  The noise I had heard came to an abrupt stop too.

  Narrowing my eyes, I peered into the darkness, but from what I could tell, there was no one there. Fuck. I shouldn’t have thrown away my weapons. Although if a mugger tried to attack me, I’d be better off hitting him with one of my textbooks—or the whole fucking backpack—than a damn banana slipper.

  I was no stranger to staying safe on the street; experience and a few self-defense classes had taught me how to avoid most dangerous situations.

  Keeping my senses alert, I turned and headed down the sidewalk again. As I neared the downtown area, the streets became less desolate. This area wasn’t the social hub of Seattle by any means, but college students and their dropout counterparts still came to drink and dance at the seedy bars and clubs here. Some of them had neon hair, while others sported heavy chains that hung from collars around their neck. Others were dressed in more traditional club wear, and some even looked downright preppy.

  The street lamps made my shadow stretch out on the damp pavement ahead of me, and a couple of times, I thought I saw another shadow on the ground moving toward me, but when I glanced over my shoulder, nothing was there.

  Still, I couldn’t shake the feeling I was being followed. And one of the first lessons I’d learned in self-defense class was to trust my instincts.

  Picking up my pace and ignoring the pain in my feet, I hurried toward a dive bar on the next corner. A blonde girl stood outside, one foot resting against the side of the building as she leaned against it, typing something on her phone. Without an ounce of hesitation, I walked right up to her and pulled her into a hug.

  “Hey, girl! Long time no see!” I gushed, even though I’d never met her before in my life. “How are you?”

  Her body stiffened for a second until realization kicked in, then she hugged me back. “Oh, you know. Same old, same old. You?”

  I pulled back, keeping half my focus on the street behind me as I blathered mindlessly to my new best friend. “Eh. Been better. Colin just cheated on me, so I was thinking we could grab some drinks to celebrate. What do you say?”

  “Grey Goose?” the girl asked, playing along.

  “Whatever you want, so long as I can drink to forget.”

  “Cheers to that.” She laughed, tossing her long blonde hair.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I watched a black-clad figure walk past us. The girl seemed to notice him too and nodded her head in acknowledgment.

  I waited for him to disappear before I turned toward her again, blowing out a breath of relief. “Hey, thanks for that. I don’t know how long creep-o was following me, but I just needed to get him off my back.”

  “Don’t worry about it. We girls have to stick together, right?” She flashed me a toothy smile. “I’ve pulled that stunt before. The guys around here can be serious cr
eeps. It’s always a risk going out alone.”

  I eyed the neon sign of the bar. I was still a couple miles from my apartment, and a stiff drink actually sounded like a great idea right about now. Hell, maybe by the end of the night, I’d cave and splurge on a cab home.

  “How about I buy you a drink to thank you?” I asked.

  She laughed, then nodded. “Yeah, sure. I was about to bail—my friend ditched me for her currently on-again boyfriend, and I didn’t want to drink alone. But I’d love—”

  Before she could finish speaking, there was a flash of movement from above us.

  A half-second later, a dark, inhuman creature dropped down from the roof—

  And pulled the girl straight up.

  She was gone in a blink, as if she’d never been there. Her aborted scream echoed like a memory in the suddenly quiet street.

  “What… the fuck…?”

  I was too shocked to move. I could barely even breathe. I just kept staring at the place where the girl had stood a moment before, trying to unsee what I’d just seen.

  To make it not real.

  My heart lurched in my chest, pounding out an irregular rhythm that made me feel sick.

  “What the fuck…?”

  My mouth formed the same words over and over again. I sounded like a broken record, and my head swiveled back and forth like I was some demented owl.

  What the hell was that thing?

  It had been too dark to see it properly, but it’d looked like something straight out of a horror movie—a living gargoyle maybe. I had no idea.

  “Hey, if this is some kind of joke… it isn’t funny,” I called out, backing slowly away from the building. Against every directive from my brain, my gaze crept up the side of the brick facade, searching for some sign of the girl. Of the thing.