Daring Hearts: Fearless Fourteen Boxed Set

by Box Set

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  Author’s Note

  The Dark Moth Society is a modern day reimagining of Alice in Wonderland. Alice lives in the Dark Moth compound with the other trainees. She and the others live in Wonderland, Arizona. It’s a quirky town with its own personality.

  Of course, since it’s in the Blood and Snow world, characters from the other stories will make appearances.

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  (((Hugs)))

  RaShelle Workman

  Dedication

  For my baby. I love you bunches.

  The Blood and Snow World Order

  Blood and Snow

  Revenant in Training

  The Vampire Christopher

  Blood Soaked Promises

  Prey and Magic

  Masquerade’s Moon

  Seal of Gabriel

  Telltale Kisses

  Love Bleeds

  Eye of Abernathy

  Resolved to Rule

  Vampire Ever After

  Cindy Witch

  The Hunter’s Tale

  Gabriel

  After the Kiss

  The Cindy Chronicles

  Vampire Lies

  A Beauty So Beastly

  Vampire Secrets

  Asha’s Kisses

  Asha’s Curse

  Asha’s Magic

  Vampire Nights

  The Professor’s Origin

  The Dark Moth Society

  Book Description

  “There’s more to life than training. There’s love, Alice Blackburn. And you are in desperate need of it...”

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  In the last millennia a deadly game has raged between demons and their half-human creations, called Moths. A century ago select Moths were born with distinctive marks on the backs of their hands. It was soon discovered that those with the marks possessed the same powers as their demon parent. Over the years an elite group of warriors formed The Dark Moth Society.

  Alice Blackburn is a Dark Moth trainee. Some of her classmates call her the Queen of Hearts, but only because she doesn’t share hers. There isn’t time. Not for fun and especially not for Kade Everett, the injured warrior she is required to help. In just a few days, her creator, the foul demon that killed her mom will come to kill her. That’s part of the game after all. And when he does, she will end him.

  One

  Down the Demon Hole

  Everyone had a favorite game. Mine involved slaying underling demons. And I was antsy, ready to start. Our trainer, a Dark Moth warrior by the name of Peter didn’t care. He kept going on and on in his monotone about the demon order in the Underworld. As though where we lived, deep below Wonderland, Arizona was any better. The worst part was we’d heard the same speech at least a dozen times over the years. He needed to shut up already so I could slay me some demons.

  “You know of the seven deadly sins?”

  “Yes,” we all said in unison.

  “Well not only are they scary stories told in Sunday School, they are also living, breathing demon royalty…”

  Blah. Blah. Blah.

  “The demons you’ll be fighting today are called underlings.” Peter pointed at the cage on the other side of the large instruction room. The cage had been fortified by troll magic. Every time a demon tried to slip between two of the metal bars, they were burned.

  A hundred of the little buggers growled, gnashed their teeth, and threw themselves against the rods, making the air reek of burning demon hair and flesh. Not a pleasant scent when they already smelled like rotting eggs mixed with decaying corpse. They didn’t look much better, resembling sewer rats with leprosy. Their skin appeared to be peeling off and oozed snot-looking liquid.

  “They’re fast and tricky. Killing them is easy, if you can catch them. Don’t use your weapons unless you’re sure you have a clean shot. Otherwise you’ll wind up sticking the end of a blade into another trainee. Got it?” Peter gave me a direct look. “Alice, what did I just say?”

  I forced myself not to roll my eyes. Peter was a great Dark Moth warrior, but his father had been a Pride demon, which meant he had an inordinately high opinion of himself.

  “Be careful when using your weapons. The underlings are tricky.” My weapon of choice was a katana, but I also kept a small dagger in my right boot and a 9mm in a holster under my shirt.

  “Very good.” Gray eyes that exactly matched the rest of the Dark Moth trainees studied me. I was an oddity in many ways, but the most prominent was my eye color, which was bright blue.

  “Queen of Hearts,” the guy on my right whisper-coughed.

  Everyone around him snickered.

  “Quiet!” Peter’s angry voice boomed. Even the demons stopped chattering. “There will be no name calling. Use your energy and focus.” The tension in the room shot up. “This isn’t a game…” he began and then trailed off, a giant smile replacing his anger. “What am I saying? Of course it is.”

  The half dozen trainees behind me cheered, hooting and hollering excitedly. Because, it was a game. One our parents started thousands of years ago.

  Their 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, t
he 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 my demon father appeared to kill me on my twenty-first birthday 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.

  Two

  The Pool of Winners

  I came forward as did the others, except Gilbert who was being examined by Heathcliff. Heathcliff was the Society’s doctor.

  When we were all lined up, Wrythe stood and we each took a knee, placing a fist over our hearts. He walked our line, resting a gloved hand on each of our shoulders before moving on, even waiting until Gilbert was able to join us.

  I looked on in awe. The king was an ominous man. Describing him did him no justice. He stood six feet seven inches tall, the same as every other male warrior. His eyes shone dark gray and he had the same hair color too, which was ebony. Yet on him it was as though every feature, every muscle and sinew had lined up flawlessly. In truth, he was nearly too gorgeous to look at.

  His markings were deep red, the color of the Wrath demon. He possessed an exceedingly strong note of anger. It seemed to boil through him, like a living creature just beneath his skin. Just being close to him was intimidating. It was apparent in the way he held his shoulders that he knew he was meant to be king, that he was right where he belonged. I wondered what that felt like. To know without a doubt where you fit in.

  Once he’d walked the line twice, Wrythe stopped in front of Eric. “Rise, trainee.”

  Eric stood, keeping his eyes on the ground.

  “You fought like a champion this evening. You will be a fine warrior.” He patted Eric on the shoulder.

  Then his gaze fell to Pamela. “Stand.”

  Pam rolled her shoulders as she straightened. All female Moths were a foot shorter than the males, so she tilted her chin up to meet his gaze. I internally rolled my eyes. “Your Highness.”

  “It is apparent you were sired by a Pride demon.” He touched her arm. “You’ll have much to overcome. Take care to school your prideful thoughts lest they get the better of you.” A small sigh escaped her lips.

  He gave her a grim smile. “Still, there is hope. You fought well.”

  He spoke a few words to each of the other trainees until he reached me. “Hello, Alice.” He held out his hand to help me stand even though I didn’t need it. For the longest moment he studied me. I worried I’d done something wrong. Then he said, “You aren’t like the rest of them.” He flipped over my hand so he could get a better look at the markings on my wrists. “Haven’t you reached maturity?”

  “I have. When I’m fighting I feel the power, but my markings haven’t changed color.”

  Peter stood to the right of me. “Between the lack of color on her markings and her eyes, we aren’t sure which demon is her sire.”

  Wrythe leaned in so close I could smell the sandalwood scent of his aftershave. “I’ve seen rare cases where the demon’s genetics are revealed through eye color, which would make her a…”

  He paused and moved even closer. My eyes wanted to cross, but I held his gaze, hoping he would be able to give a solid answer. Perhaps my demon sire was a Sloth, but there where certain times that my eyes would change from blue-green to green-blue, so did that make my sire a Greed demon then?

  “The other trainers and I have discussed it and can’t say for certain. She doesn’t fight like a Sloth demon.”

  “No, she most certainly does not. I would guess Wrath by her aggressiveness.” He seemed satisfied with that guess.

  “We’ve considered Greed as well, but she doesn’t display a Greed demon’s appetites.”

  “I would also agree based on what I’ve seen tonight.” He straightened. “You’re a mystery, Alice Blackburn.” He crossed his arms in front of his bulky chest, causing his rippling muscles to flex under his black shirt. “You’re also tonight’s winner. Congratulations.” He clapped and the others joined in even though I could see by the looks on their faces that they weren’t thrilled.

  “Thank you, sir.” I bowed at the waist, locking eyes on his black combat boots.

  “What do you intend to do tonight?”

  “Uh,” I glanced at the other trainees. “Would you mind if I invited everyone to go up into Wonderland with me?”

  His brows crunched together.

  “That wasn’t the agreement,” Peter said, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to try.

  “It’s true. But,” Wrythe smiled a large, genuine smile that lit up his face and flashed his straight teeth. “I like your style, Alice.” He walked to the exit where he pushed open the door. “Yes, I think that would be an excellent idea.” He gave Peter a pointed look. “Go with them. They deserve the break.”

  Peter nodded. “Yes. Of course.”

  “Besides, I believe it’s Eric’s birthday?”

  Eric lifted his head a bit higher. “It is.”

  “Well then it’s more than settled. Be sure to eat some cake for me too.”

  Three

  Group Bonding

  Birthdays weren’t exactly happy for us Moths, especially when it was our twenty-first, like it was Eric’s. That was because our demon parent officially began its hunt to kill their offspring on this day. The Dark Moth Society’s ruler knew what today meant. For that reason I was surprised Wrythe had agreed to let him go above ground.

  Though it was well known that the demon rarely came after his offspring on their actual birthday. That would be too easy. And the demons hunted us for sport. It was fun for them. They’d discovered eons ago that they could do it, so they did. We were nothing more than entertainment.

  They impregnated human women without their knowledge, forced them to carry the Moth child to term, and once born, terminated the mother. It was heartless, cruel, and evil.

  Normally the demon would allow the Moth to worry and fret a week or two before showing up.

  “I don’t think we should go,” I said to Wendy while I watched her apply her makeup. She looked pretty in black heels, skinny jeans, and a red silk halter-top. She’d curled her dark hair and it lay against her creamy skin in a halo of soft curls. For makeup she’d done smoky eyes in dark gray and black and then applied red lipstick that matched her top as well as her markings.

  During dinner, the others had talked excitedly about what they wanted to do. The plan was to go to a club called The Mad Hatter. It was rumored to be a lot of fun, not that any of us had a lot of experience with the term. We’d been training within the compound since we were twelve. It
was our school, our training facility, and the only home most of us cared to remember.

  “Of course we’re going to go, A—” she paused and took in my outfit.

  I had on dark jeans, my old black combat boots, and a black tank top. After my shower, I’d brushed out my hair and put some mousse in it figuring I’d let it air dry. My makeup consisted of nothing, unless I counted the lotion I’d applied.

  “Is that what you’re wearing?”

  I glanced down. “Yeah?”

  She shook her head. “You’re lucky you have those weird eyes. At least they provide a pop of color.” She grabbed her bag and stuck a knife in it.

  “I seriously doubt they’ll let you bring a weapon into the club.” I didn’t tell her about the knife hidden in my boot.

  She laughed, pulling it from her bag. “Old habits die hard.” She set it on the tall oak dresser we shared and headed toward the door.

  “With Eric’s birthday, I don’t think it’s—”

  Wendy held up her hand, cutting me off. “Look, I know you’re the Queen of Hearts and that you don’t care about the rest of us.” She went over to her jewelry box, found a necklace, and put it on. “Not really, anyway. “But Eric is my boyfriend. Tonight is his birthday. And since you won the challenge you have to come.” She stomped one of her healed feet as her markings flashed deep red. “So get off your butt and let’s go.”

  “Fine.” I hated it when the others called me the Queen of Hearts, probably because the nickname fit. But not the way they thought.

  That was my biggest secret: my heart overflowed with emotions and feelings. I cared too much. More than I should. I fought to protect my heart because caring hurt, more than they could know.