In Mage We Trust (Of Mystics and Mayhem Book 1)

by Heidi Vanlandingham

  Niki whirled me around and stared into my eyes, his concern and fear pummeling my insides. “Do you feel sick? Different? Bad?”

  I tried not to smile, knowing it would only make him madder. “Aren’t sick and bad the same thing?” I placed my hands on his chest, and the rapid staccato of his heart pounded against my palms. “Niki, I’m fine. I will stay fine. I think my dad’s potion worked this time. Besides, wouldn’t I have already felt any side effects by now?”

  Malachi chimed in, “Yeah, you’d already be dead.”

  “Thanks for the positive insight, Mr. Muscles.” I turned to give him my worst glare and found myself smiling instead at his wide grin.

  “Anybody but you calls me that, and I’ll kill them.”

  “Ohhhh, I love it when you threaten violence.” I laughed as his face turned a dark burgundy.

  “You really need to get some rest. Sleep is a good thing once in a while, you know,” Max said, his gaze still filled with worry.

  I chuckled. “You sound like Dad.”

  “Good. Means the boy actually listened to me once in a while.”

  Laying my head against Niki's chest again, I sighed. “We didn’t win. Not really. Mom and Dad are still missing, and we have no clue where Giselle put them.”

  Max’s Cheshire-cat grin made him look even more like Jack Skellington. “I believe I know where they are.”

  “I do too,” Lucien added. “My mother would have only put them in one place. The Nightmare Realm.” His voice now matched his expression, flat and emotionless, and so scary. “It’s where they would suffer the most.”

  Grandpop’s bald head nodded in affirmation. “If it is, indeed, where she put them, they should be safe. Mostly. Gaia gifted her daughter with a protection shield. She will be able to use it on Gerard too, but the shield won’t be strong enough to last very long.”

  “What’s the Nightmare Realm?” I was almost too afraid to ask, especially after seeing the pained look on Lucien's face.

  “The place where nightmares come true,” Niki whispered into my ear and tightened his hold around me.

  “Oh my gods, we can’t let them stay there.” My body shivered uncontrollably. Will this never end?

  “Yes, imp. All of this will end. Soon. Lucien will go and get Gerard and Sabine, and you will have your parents back safe and sound before you know it.”

  I liked that Niki could read my mind. I didn’t have to explain myself all the time. The downside? He could also see my fears.

  Some things a girl wants to keep secret.

  “Why just Lucien? We should go too.”

  “Malachi can go as a Fallen. Otherwise, only the demon king and Lucifer are allowed within the Nightmare Realm’s borders,” Lucien explained. “Sometimes, if the legends are to be believed, the realm can even affect the king, if he stays too long.” One side of his mouth twitched a couple of times, as if trying to smile, and failed. “Gerard has always been there for me, so now it’s time for me to help my brother.”

  “I’m sorry, but you said ‘according to legend?’ Haven’t any of the previous kings ever gone in there?”

  Lucien shook his head. “There’s never been a reason to. A place with no hope and eternal torment all wrapped up in one terrible package. If it wasn’t for Gerard, I wouldn’t be going now.”

  I closed my eyes. I was content in college, my life still reminiscent of an emerging adult, yet not. Growing up sucked. Visions of my parents sitting—like Niki and I were—replayed in my mind. I saw them in each other’s loving embrace and next, their empty bed. A zombie lay dying from a stab wound I gave him, who morphed into a demon holding my heart as he slumped in a pool of blood. Everywhere I went, chaos followed.

  Instead of calming, my deep inhalation felt shaky as it caught in my throat. I didn’t like feeling helpless. Like I’d failed everyone. Drifting deeper into my own pity party, my wretchedness melted away when my legs were suddenly swept out from underneath me, and I found myself supported by Niki’s two very strong arms as he cradled me against his chest.

  “You are not alone anymore, imp.” Niki's voice flowed over every agitated nerve, stretching and calming them until I was as limp as a noodle. His yellow eyes glittered, and a shiver stole down my spine.

  My sexy, sexy demon.

  I snuggled deeper into his embrace. We’ve earned more than one moment alone, and I will make the next person who interrupts us miserable.

  Niki chuckled. We have eternity to make love, imp, but I definitely won’t stand in your way if you want to disappear . . . say in my room for a couple of hours?

  Try a couple of days, my demon. I have a lot of pent-up emotions that need satisfying. I glanced at the other three men, all patiently waiting for me to pull myself together, and thankful none of them could hear our conversation.

  A fuzzy feeling bubbled in my chest, and I wiped a couple of stray tears from my cheeks. Niki was right. I wasn’t alone. My family, including Al, and my future were right here. I gave them each a tremulous smile, saving the last for Niki.

  My demon. My soul.

  THANK YOU for reading In Mage We Trust, Book One of the OF MYSTICS AND MAYHEM trilogy! If you enjoyed Johnna and Niki’s story, please consider leaving a review at Amazon.

  The trilogy continues with Book Two, Saved by the Spell:

  Willow Kallias is plagued by a lifetime of rejection and anger, but when she finds herself imprisoned in a strange realm in an even stranger world, she realizes her old problems are the least of her worries.

  Fallen leader, Malachi, rescues Willow only to discover his own life is in danger when a vengeful succubus sets her sights on using him to destroy the realms of Dark World. When the succubus kidnaps Malachi, Willow’s newfound powers are put to the test, and she not only has to save the demon she’s fallen in love with but also figure out how to stop the succubus before the rest of her newly discovered family is destroyed.

  The realms of Dark World are still failing, and like the demon queen before her, the succubus is only a pawn.

  Dark World is still in grave danger.

  Please enjoy this excerpt from Saved by the Spell:

  Prologue

  Malachi rubbed his battle-scarred knuckles over the growing ache in his chest as his best friend, Niki, wrapped his arms around Johnna, his true mate.

  How am I ever going to help them?

  Malachi knew Johnna wasn’t handling the disappearance of her parents well. Feeling powerless, he watched as Niki tried to soothe her. And he squashed the bittersweet twinge of envy, as the two people he cared the most about comforted one another in their grief. Which proved more difficult for Malachi.

  As of yet, no spell had located Gerard and Sabine. To make matters worse, no one’s magic seemed to be working correctly.

  “Where are they?” The hurt in Johnna’s voice all but broke Malachi’s heart, and he didn’t think he had a heart left to break.

  “I don’t know, imp.” Niki sighed as his yellow cat’s eyes rose to hold Malachi’s. “But we’ll find them. I promise.”

  Malachi recognized the granite tone in his boss’s voice. No one would stop the head enforcer from completing his goal. Not finding Johnna’s parents was killing them all. It was also killing Johnna and now, the demon king Lucien.

  Discovering Gerard was Lucien’s half-brother was both a gift and a curse all rolled into one. Malachi would give about anything to be able to go back in time and change the chain of events leading up to the queen’s banishment into the Abyss, in order to figure out where she’d hidden them. As far as he knew, time travel wasn’t something to be messed with. Things happened for a reason.

  His gaze followed the path of Niki’s fingers as they caressed Johnna’s jawline, disappearing and reappearing under the curly red ponytail tied behind her ear. It made him
long for a mate of his own, yet Malachi understood the hope of finding someone for him was futile. Such knowledge created a deep ache in his heart.

  When he’d made that fateful decision so long ago to defy the Almighty’s rules, he’d sealed his own fate. Now he had to live with the consequences.

  It wasn’t proper to watch the two in their grief, but Malachi couldn’t turn his gaze away from the glorious torture. Intense burning ran along the thick silver chains crisscrossing his chest and underneath the button anchoring the low-slung, tight, black-leather pants he wore. Johnna was channeling the pain from losing her parents through the metal. Even for him—part demon, part Fallen—the intense pain hurt. And not in a good way. Damn, but she was a powerful mage.

  Steeling himself against the pain, he held his familiar military stance, his legs spread stiffly apart and his arms folded over his chest. “I will find your parents, Johnna. Nobody knows the Nightmare Realm better than I do, and that has to be where they’re being held.”

  Niki met his gaze and nodded. “He’s right, imp. The realm is Malachi’s domain. If anyone can find them, it’s him.”

  Johnna half turned in Niki’s tight embrace, her blue eyes swollen and red from crying. “You’d better, Mr. Muscles.” Her gaze hardened. “I just found my family, and no one—I mean no one—is going to keep me from them. Not this time. I will turn the Realms inside out before I let that happen, no matter the consequences. Everyone will know what the phrase ‘hell on earth’ means.”

  Malachi’s breath caught in his chest as the burning ratcheted up a few more levels. “Give me a chance to find them before letting your power loose, little blue eyes.” He hissed as the burning moved from the metal through his skin and into his body. His muscles contracted, agony sweeping through him as his eyes turned red. “Let me find them, Johnna.”

  LINK FOR HEIDI VANLANDINGHAM ON AMAZON:

  https://tinyurl.com/y4hs7js2