School of Broken Dreams: Academy of Souls Book 3 Read online

  It takes a minute, he pulls himself from the wreckage of the tree, picking off pieces of bark that have attached themselves to his vest. Smiling at Connor and I, he rips a large branch off the fallen tree and flings it at me. It embeds itself in the tree directly behind where I'd been standing a millisecond ago.

  Before I can react, Connor has pounced on the guy who is still 30 feet away. The two become locked in a deadly struggle, each one trying to tear the other apart. Gripping a large branch off another tree, I fling it at the two of them, not particularly caring which one it hits. Connor flings himself out of the way just in time, glaring at me incredulously as he does so. I casually shrug my shoulders as if I hadn't just almost impaled him.

  Our tattooed friend recovers faster than Connor. Picking up a large rock in the clearing, he draws his arm back and throws it at me faster than a human would be able to track it. It hits me in the shoulder before I can get away and knocks me backwards, ricocheting into another tree.

  The fact that I let this poser hit me with anything just shows how off my game I am at the moment, and I decide enough is enough. I pick up another large branch and run at him, holding it like I would a javelin. He tries to run, but there's no stopping me. I throw the branch, crushing his skull, and he collapses in a heap to the ground. Taking another branch, I impale it into his heart, making sure that he won't be bothering anyone at the school again, let alone telling anyone Adeline’s secrets.

  I look over at Connor, who is trying to not look impressed by my kill.

  "You obviously have some explaining to do," I tell him staunchly. "But I need to get back to Adeline. Make no mistake though, you will be giving me answers. I'm not someone that you can mess with."

  A muscle in Conner's cheek twitches. "I look forward to our talk," he responds.

  I pull a flask out of my pocket before throwing some branches on top of the vampire's corpse. Flicking the top off I pour the contents all over his body. Students who've seen it think that I carry it around in case I need a drink, but you never know when you’re going to need to burn a body. Pulling a lighter out of my other pocket, I set him on fire.

  I walk away without another glance at Connor. My fight with him will be another day.

  Right now, I just need to get to my girl. A girl that I don't know I can live without.

  Chapter 2

  (Adeline)

  “Adeline,” a familiar male’s voice calls to me.

  I stir from sleep; my eyes crack open to bright light and I wince as they adjust to the brightness floating in from the window. Exhaustion wracks through me. I don’t remember ever feeling so lethargic.

  Slowly, my vision comes into focus as does Connor Whitehouse’s face. The guy I had a crush on for so long at my old school, the guy who gave me my first heartbreak. He had shown up at Raven Academy unexpectedly. And there’s something just not right about him. Something I can’t put my finger on.

  “How are you feeling?” he asks, sitting on the bed next to me with a concerned look on his face.

  I shuffle upright in my bed, and panic strangles me as I find myself in my dorm room. “How did you get in here...how did I get in here?”

  My brain is still playing catch-up from the cobwebs. Suddenly an image of red eyes fills my mind. I remember... I had passed out after finding Mercy with Dixon and her ex. Dixon came for me…and my memory goes fuzzy after that.

  My stomach churns with sickness though and I realize again how weak I’m feeling. Like I could sleep for days.

  My veins freeze as the image of Mercy passed out on her bed appears in my thoughts.

  “Mercy,” I cry, and I try to shove the blankets off of me. “I have to see her.”

  “She’s okay,” Connor assures me, not bothering to move from the side of the bed and get out of my way.

  “She can’t be. She was attacked. I saw her.” I feel the blood drain from my face as I remember the image of Dixon on top of her. “Get out of my way, Connor,” I snap.

  “Adeline, you need to stay in bed until you feel better.”

  Fury bubbles in my chest. “I’m just a little tired, and why are you in my room, again?”

  “There’s a roster for your lovers to watch over you, and I volunteered. You fainted, remember?”

  I go rigid at his words and scratch the back of my neck, trying to sort my jumbled memories and thoughts. “So Mercy’s okay?” I ask suspiciously, not sure if I believe him.

  “You need to just rest a bit, okay?” But he isn’t exactly answering my question either.

  “We have to talk,” he begins as he turns his head to glance at the closed door of my room and then back at me.

  “I have nothing to say to you.” In truth I had many words to say to him about everything he had put me through, but I barely had enough energy to string a sentence together at the moment.

  He twists around to face me. “Do you even know what’s going on at this school, Adi?”

  “Yeah, someone’s killing the students. Dixon and Mercy’s ex apparently.”

  “I’ve known you for a long time, Adi. Are you really this… obtuse?”

  I bristle. “I resent that. Get the hell out of my room now before I scream.” Who in the world did he think he was?

  “Okay, I admit that was a low blow, but you have to listen to me.” He grabs my arm, his fingers strong as iron. “Your life's in danger, and I can protect you.”

  I break out laughing and shuffle out of bed on the opposite side in slow sluggish movements, pulling free from him, noting I am still wearing my uniform. Why was I so tired?

  Just then the door to my room bursts open and Braxton sweeps into the room. Looking worried, but as strong and handsome as ever. Those deep emerald eyes find me in an instant, concern burrowing behind them. “Adeline, are you okay?”

  “Perfect. Connor was just leaving.” I wrap my arms around my middle, standing across the bed from them both, feeling awkward at their presence in my room.

  Connor climbs off the bed and just stares at me with intensity, like he’s trying to make me read his thoughts. Why is he acting so weird?

  He mouths the words, ‘Don’t trust them’ just as he’d told me back at camp.

  And especially don’t trust the teachers, he’d said on the trip.

  “We’ll talk later,” he murmurs in my direction and turns to leave the room.

  Once he’s gone, Braxton shuts the door and closes the distance between us in three long strides. “Did he hurt you?”

  I shake my head. Despite how much Connor annoys me, I just want him out of my way, not for the other guys in my life to start paying him the wrong attention.

  “What happened to Mercy and Dixon? How did I get here?”

  Braxton reaches for me, his hand gently cupping the side of my face, eyeing me up and down as if searching for evidence of bruises.

  Being so close to him always affects me, leaving me daydreaming of kissing him, my mind emptying of every other problem. Except, this time my heart is banging too loud and panic is slithering down my spine.

  Something isn’t right and I have to know what is going on.

  “I need to see, Mercy,” I explain, my insides tight as a knot, unable to get the image of her unconscious on the bed out of my head.

  Braxton’s brow furrows. “I have something to share with you,” he says, like he’s about to deliver the worst news ever. The uncertainty in his eyes remind me of the same look Mom gave me when she explained Dad had cancer. When she broke the news, my world shattered. And now I stand here, trembling, staring at Braxton, too scared to voice a word.

  “With your recent blood test and Dixon’s attack, I--”

  I stare down at myself, studying my arms, feeling my body for any hints of the attack. I vividly recall him lunging for me with those violent eyes.

  “What are you doing?” Braxton asks.

  “Dixon lunged for me when I passed out, but you say he attacked me like someone witnessed it after I fainted. Wouldn’t I have some bruis
es or wounds on my body as evidence?”

  “That’s the thing I’m trying to tell you. You survived because you’re not exactly human. You have angel blood in your veins.” He speaks so casually that I wait for him to burst out laughing and tell me this is some ridiculous joke. But he doesn’t.

  I blink through my confusion, staring at Braxton like he’s grown horns. “Angel blood?” I squeak.

  His hand is on mine, so tender that it coaxes me to believe anything he says. Except the words coming from his mouth make no sense.

  Angel blood. What did that mean? Is that a euphemism for calling me an angel?

  He clears his throat. “Angels exist, Adeline. As does Heaven. I got ahold of the blood samples and they showed there was something abnormal about your blood...the angelic compound ey’ was present in large amounts. And after you survived Dixon’s attack, well, now it’s clear what you are.”

  I blow out a frustrated breath and shift on the bed. “None of what you just said makes sense.” But the blood tests stick in my mind… they said I am an O negative. My parents are B and AB positive, so they apparently aren’t my real parents. But that doesn’t mean I have angel blood. Do angels even have blood types? What is an ey’ compound?

  Why am I even considering it as an option? There’s no way that angels exist.

  “I don’t know why you’re saying this to me,” I murmur. “It’s not funny, and I’m not feeling the greatest at the moment.”

  “Adeline, you need to rest. You will soon start to realize what I’m saying is true. And I’ll be here for you, to help you.”

  “Help me how?” The room is tilting around me. “Are you an angel too?” I half laugh, half cringe at how insane I sound.

  He wraps his strong arms around me, and I let myself soften against his hard chest, hating how lost and confused I feel. How his words leave me floating in a bubble.

  “You need to rest now, and we’ll talk more when you wake up.”

  I break free and offer him a clumsy, demure smile. “You’re probably right.” I push myself under the blankets as he reaches over and slides a loose lock behind an ear.

  “I’ll be right outside,” he tells me, and I don’t think to question him about that.

  When he leaves my room, I flop back down, roll onto my back, and try to make sense of what he just said.

  Have I entered the Twilight Zone or am I still dreaming? I can’t think of any other explanation. Braxton has always been a man who speaks straight forward. And he’s never been one to make jokes, but to say I had angel blood in me couldn’t be anything else but me hallucinating.

  The next couple of hours fly past in a mindless blur and confusion as I try to get more sleep. I finally end up falling in and out of dreams that have me flying through the air.

  When the floorboard in my room creaks, my eyes flip open to Braxton walking into my room. I soften back in bed, and shuffle upright to sit in bed.

  “Did I imagine all of that?” I ask him hesitantly.

  He looks at me sympathetically. “Believe me, I wish you had. But it’s all true, Adeline. If you think back, have strange things ever happened to you?”

  “Like what?” I ask, not able to think of anything particularly unique about my life thus far.

  “When was the last time you were sick?” he asks, sitting next to me on the bed.

  I open my mouth to respond but realize that I can’t. I can’t think of the last time that I was sick. Or anytime that I was sick. “When you scrape yourself, are you fine a few hours later? Do bruises disappear quickly as well? Do people seem to have strong reactions to you,” he continues.

  As I think about everything that he’s saying, I begin to panic. This doesn’t mean that I’m some sort of mythological creature, but there are some strange things about myself that I don’t really have any explanation for. And there’s that fact again that my parents aren’t really my real parents…

  “I’m sure there’s an explanation for all of that,” I murmur as my mind races.

  “I just gave you the explanation, Adeline,” he says gently.

  Suddenly I become very aware of how close he’s sitting to me, how good he smells, how much I want him every time I see him.

  There’s a strange look in his eyes, as if I’m the very air that he needs to breathe. My thoughts settle as we continue to stare at each other. My attention all of a sudden becomes laser focused on his perfect face. I’ve never felt so wanted like I do at this moment. He’s looking at me like I’m his everything.

  (Braxton)

  “What is it?” she whispers self-consciously.

  “I almost lost you,” I whisper as my eyes devour the healthy glow that has finally returned to her cheeks. The image of her white and lifeless on the ground haunts my dreams.

  I don’t wait a second more before I pull her into my chest. Everything feels right again when she holds me back. Her cheek rests against my shoulder as I whisper to her, “I’ve made so many mistakes, but pushing you away is my greatest sin.” I kiss her hair, her forehead, every inch of her that I can without letting her go.

  “I love you, Adeline, I think I have since the moment I saw you. And I’ll tell you every day.” I run my hand over the back of my neck and throw my head back to mutter, “Twenty fucking times a day,” before looking back into her beautiful blue eyes. “Whatever it takes for you to believe it.”

  She stares back at me without saying a word, just watching me spill every bit of truth to her that I have. I whisper my greatest insecurity, “I can’t lose you. I won’t survive it.”

  Adeline’s hesitation kills me, every second making me exceedingly more nervous that this is the end. “I don’t think I’m cut out for this world,” she tells me. “Angels and demons. They were myths, mythical creatures that I read about in books. And now you’re trying to tell me that they’re real. And that I’m one of them.”

  “I wish I could take this from you,” I tell her, thinking of the secrets that I’m still keeping from her.

  “If angels and demons are real, which one are you?” she whispers to me, and I want to tell her the truth just then. But angels don’t belong in hell, and I’ve been living there since I was born. I’ll lose her when she knows, and I don’t want to have to live without feeling her love for at least one night.

  I kiss her instead of answering, and when I pull back, I can see the hope in her eyes that this time I won’t run from her. That this time it will be real.

  Little does she know that she’s the realest thing I’ve ever had in my life.

  “You really love me?” Adi asks me and I hate that she questions it. “Of course I do. I mean it when I say I always have,” I tell her, pushing the hair from her face. “I love you, Adeline. I’ll spend every day proving it to you if I have to.”

  I just hope that I’ll get the chance.

  The tips of her fingers glide down my forearm as she looks me in the eyes and says, “I love you, too.”

  I already knew she did. What I don’t know though, is if it’s enough. If I’m enough as I am to keep her.

  “I just want you.” Her words come out raw and full of nothing but the truth.

  “Don’t leave me,” I beg her, even though she won’t understand what I’m asking of her. She closes her eyes and rests her head on my shoulder. “I promise I won’t if you won’t,” she whispers.

  “Then you’re mine forever.”

  “I want you to make me yours,” she tells me softly, as she stares up at me.

  I’m far from a saint, but the trembling of my body makes me feel like this is my first time. Probably because it’s the only time that counts. I’ve never made love before. It’s always been just a release for me. This is something so beyond just a bodily function. This is everything.

  I kiss her again like I have a right to, like I’ve been wanting to every day since the first time she stepped out of that car and changed my life forever. Our stolen moments have only stoked the fire inside of me.

  Her l
ips are soft, and she parts them with a sigh. I take this opportunity to nibble on her bottom lip before slowly kissing her jaw. I try to back away, to stop this before I go too far. She’s in a vulnerable place and I can’t do this unless I know it’s what she really wants. She says she loves me, but I have a suspicion she loves them too, even with all the things they’ve done to her.

  I’ll just have to get her to love me so much that there isn’t room for them in her heart.

  (Adeline)

  He pulls away from me, staring at me like he can see inside of me. And maybe he can. Braxton might not want to tell me what he is, and that may scare me, but I’m in this too deep to be scared away from the unknown.

  “Come here,” I whisper more huskily than I intended, pulling on his shirt to bring him back down to me.

  Complying immediately, Braxton’s mouth is back on mine. I welcome him eagerly, returning the passionate thrust and parry of his tongue and arching up to his body. We drink and nip at each other hungrily, hands roaming and bodies straining. Breathing hard, Braxton pushes away from me long enough to pull me up to my knees and grasp the bottom of the loose t-shirt dress I had put on after I’d woken up and got cleaned and dressed early this morning.

  I lift my arms to assist him, thankful that I put on a matching bra and panties set.

  “You’re killing me,” Braxton says when he sees what’s under my dress. His voice sounds strained, like he’s holding himself back. He’s stock still, watching me from beneath his dark lashes. His jaw is clenched hard.

  I hesitantly put my hands on his t-shirt. He’s dressed casually for once, and although I love him in his suit that he wears while teaching, I can’t get enough of him like this, jeans and a white t-shirt…hair a mess. It’s my kryptonite.