Their demonic rules were simple: Bed a human. Wait until after their half-demon child was born. Kill the human parent. Once the child reached the age of maturity, which was twenty-one, the real fun began. At least according to the demon. They would start hunting and wouldn’t stop until the child and everyone the half-demon cared about was dead.
It was awesome, said no one ever, including me. I wasn’t going to let some filthy demon hunt me down in its twisted game. Instead I intended to take the fight to him. Well, in a manner of speaking. The other trainees knew from which demon they came. They found out by the color of their marks when their abilities manifested. If their demon parent were Pride, like Peter’s, then their marks would become purple. Greed was gold. Those from a Lust demon had their marks turn pink. Envy was green. Gluttony demons produced orange markings. Wrath became red. And, Sloth half-demons had their markings turn blue. The marks on the backs of my hands had been black since the day I was born. They hadn’t changed colors, even when my abilities manifested.
It was yet another odd thing about me.
All Dark Moth trainees wanted to see our demon parent dead. Killing him was how we proved ourselves, how we became full-fledged warriors. Most half-demons, called Moths, were born without any extra powers. We were the elite, born with power equivalent to that of our demon father. If we survived the encounter with the demon, then we became Dark Moth warriors whose destinies were to fight for those Moths without the marks. We would become their protectors, their light in the darkness. That was what the Dark Moth Society did. It was why we were all in the compound preparing to kill as many underling demons as possible.
Practice for the real thing.
“And the winner gets a night off above ground,” Peter said.
“Oh yeah. Watch out Wonderland, here I come,” Steven said.
Peter chuckled. Walked over to the cage. Unlocked the pad lock. “In three. Two. One.” He jerked open the door. The underlings flooded out, stepping on and clawing each other to get at us.
I ran forward, pulling my katana from its sheath and driving it at the leading underling. Before it connected the demon darted to the right and landed on top of Pamela, pulling her hair and digging his claws into her face.
“Hold still, you writhing little rat.” I brought my blade down across the demon’s neck, slicing it in two. Green blood spattered my face and got all over Pamela before it turned into a pile of dark ash.
Neither of us was fazed. “Thanks, Alice.” She spun, pulling an arrow from her quiver and sinking it into the stomach of the nearest demon. “Blue,” she shouted.
I went after two demons, cutting one of the underlings in half while sinking the blade from my boot into the eye of another. “Red and pink. That’s three for me.”
The others were counting too even though Wrythe, the ruler of our society would decide the winner.
Eric and Wendy worked together, which wasn’t surprising given they were a couple. Eric would bait the demons and Wendy would slaughter them. Then they would switch it up. I wondered if they fought together hoping for a tie so they both would be able to go above ground.
I didn’t care whether I went into Wonderland or not. My goal wasn’t to have fun. All that mattered was I get plenty of practice so that when I saw my demon father I would be ready.
Still it was great practice and I quickly took out five more.
“Alice, save some for the rest of us.”
“Not a chance, Georgia.” I smirked. The girl was greedy, but then she was the half-demon offspring of Greed.
“Tell me something, Alice. If you win, what do you intend to do with your prize?”
“Enjoy it,” I responded.
She used her double-edged axe to kill another two demons. “Guess I better make sure you don’t win.”
“If you think you can.” I sliced through three more at once and stabbed another in the stomach. Then I spun around and cut through two before noticing four of the underlings on Gilbert. He fell to one knee as one of the demons bit off Gilbert’s ear.
Gilbert screamed as deep red blood dripped from the wound.
I aimed and tossed my knife at the demon. The blade sunk deep between the demon’s beady eyes. The demon fell off Gilbert, taking another of them with him to the ground. I ran forward and sliced through both.
“It’s over,” Peter’s loud voice boomed. “Do we have our winner?” He glanced over at Wrythe, who nodded.
“We do. Bring the trainees forward,” the king commanded.
Continue ALICE IN DEMONLAND.
Afterword
Thank you so much for reading Vampire Nights. I hope you enjoyed learning more about the characters and experiencing their crazy lives.
If you did, please be sure to go back and leave a review. Doing so would mean a great deal to me.
Sincerely,
RaShelle Workman
xoxo
About the Author
RaShelle Workman is a bestselling author, wannabe chef, and chocolate lover. If she isn’t writing, she’s watching Supernatural, working out, or spending time with family.
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Vampire Nights (Vampire Wishes Book 3) Page 19