TJ Nichols is here today playing devil's advocate for... demons. Pay attention, kids.
Demons Can Be Heroes Too
Demons are
usually seen as bad…but what if they’d just received a lot of bad publicity? They
have magic and can tempt you into do doing all kinds of things, but they can’t
force you to do anything so really, blaming a demon is an excuse.
In the
world that Warlock in Training takes place in (which is like our world, but
warped by magic) demons are blamed for all kinds of things, from the coming ice
age to the rampages that happen through the streets forcing the college to kill
the rogue demons. They can trick unsuspecting young warlocks into all kinds of
debauched rituals. And warlocks should never, ever, get intimate with a demon
(and there are most definitely no sex magic rituals in this book, because who
wants to read about Saka and Angus making out and doing other things that would
require a rating on this blog post…and I most definitely did not have a lot of
fun writing those things that shouldn’t happen between warlocks and demons ;) ).
Saka is the
demon hero of Warlock in Training. Much like the human, Angus, he is a magic
user to his people and he is greatly concerned about the drying out of his
world. There’s less rain, the desert is spreading and less babies are being
born.
He makes
the choice to connect with a human warlock knowing that warlocks have been
killing demons for their magic. Many demon mages won’t take that risk. When a
tear in the void between the human and demon worlds opens Saka steps through
and meets Angus for the first time. That scene is from Angus’s point of view as
he is desperately trying to fail the class and not summon a demon.
If it were
from Saka’s point of view it might go something like this…
Saka felt
the ripple on his skin as the void tore open. He hesitated even though he knew
what he should do. Most mages would turn away the opening so some other demon
was forced to go through—only mages had the skill to avoid that first
summoning.
But he
believed that the best way to fight the death of Demonside was by educating the
warlocks. That mean he had to accept the call and cross the void.
This
wouldn’t be his first warlock. He knew what to expect.
He drew in
a breath and welcomed the cold touch of the void. It shimmered open in front of
him.
There was a
chance that if he stepped through he wouldn’t come back. The warlocks doing the
summoning might try to kill him. But if he didn’t try he was doing nothing to
save his home and he couldn’t do that either.
So he
stepped through and found himself in a weak circle that he could break with
barely a thought facing young man who looked like he’d rather be anywhere else.
His skin
was pale and freckled and his hair was red…he was a pretty would be warlock.
And for a moment Saka was distracted by the thoughts of how he’d like to
rebalance some of the magic taken from Demonside with the warlock who’d
summoned him. His gaze slid down the young man’s body and a smile formed on his
lips.
He could do
nothing, and wait for another summoning to happen, or he could take this
warlock in training and show him Demonside and what the warlocks were destroying by not rebalancing what they took.
He didn’t
have long to decide.
Would the
college retrieve this warlock or leave him to die? It was a risk. One he was
willing to take.
Blurb
Angus
Donohue doesn’t want to be a warlock. He believes draining demons for magic is
evil, but it’s a dangerous opinion to have—his father is a powerful and
well-connected warlock, and Angus is expected to follow the family tradition.
His only
way out is to fail the demon summoning class. Failure means expulsion from the
Warlock College. Despite Angus’s best efforts to fumble the summoning, it works.
Although not the way anyone expects.
Angus’s
demon, Saka, is a powerful mage with his own need for a warlock.
Saka wants
to use Angus in a ritual to rebalance the magic that is being stripped from
Demonside by warlocks. If Angus survives his demon’s desires and the perils of
Demonside, he’ll have to face the Warlock College and their demands.
Angus must
choose: obey the College and forget about Demonside or trust Saka and try to
fix the damage before it’s too late. Whatever he does, he is in the middle of a
war he isn’t qualified to fight.
Bio
TJ Nichols is an avid runner and martial arts
enthusiast who first started writing as child. Many years later while working
as a civil designer TJ decided to pick up a pen and start writing again. Having
grown up reading thrillers and fantasy novels it’s no surprise that mixing
danger and magic comes so easily, writing urban fantasy allows TJ to bring
magic to the everyday.
With two cats acting as supervisors TJ has
gone from designing roads to building worlds and wouldn’t have it any other
way. After traveling all over the world and Australia, TJ now lives in Perth,
Western Australia.
Website: tjnichols-author.blogspot.com
Twitter: @TobyJNichols
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/TJNichols.author/
See our review of Warlock in Training here
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