Welcome to the Kali Sweet Chronicles. Sweet Malice is the fifth book in the Kali Sweet Urban Fantasy series and will be released to retailers in February 2025. I’ll release a chapter twice a month here in my Magic Bites Membership, and I look forward to reading your comments! *Please note that these are UNEDITED and some story elements may change before the official book release in February. Enjoy!
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Sweet Malice, Kali Sweet Urban Fantasy Series
©2024 Misty Evans
Chapter Twelve
At least I wasn’t naked.
The environment was bleak, a watery azure light coating the horizon. Sand blew across the tops of my boots, and all around us, monoliths of ice jetted from the uneven ground.
It was neither hot nor cold, but the invisible magic hanging in the air was heavy with an electrical charge. The tips of my hair lifted off my shoulders, and the tiny ones on my arms stood at attention.
The ice left my throat, replaced by a coating of dust. It filled my nose, making it itch. “Pretty sure we don’t have anything to discuss, angel boy.”
His grin grew as he chewed another grape. Out of the watery air, a puppy appeared in his lap.
Not any puppy—Milena.
She appeared content, staring up at him with her big eyes while she wagged her tail. He glanced at her, stroking her fur. “Do you like being Lucifer’s bitch? Isn’t that what humans call it in prison when you have to bend over and take it?”
I sure as hell didn’t like it, but I had no choice.
I started to be flippant about the situation not being a prison, but wasn’t it? If I didn’t do what Lucifer wanted, he could wipe me and all those I loved out of existence.
I tried not to show any concern for the dog, even though I wanted to snatch her out of his lap. “Don’t you have someone to feed you those?” I pointed at the fruit. “Wasn’t that Tabriss’ job? She misses you, you know. It was a dick move to walk away from her.”
The grin fell off his face, and his wings fluttered. The throne had slits in it for them.
The puppy jumped from his lap. I had to give her points for that.
“Although you can’t stage a rebellion against my brother and stop hunting the Fallen completely,” he said, “you must allow me to sabotage your efforts.”
Right to business, then. “Why would I do that?”
“If you don’t, and the prophecy comes true, what do you think will happen to your kind?”
Sparring with Michael was never fun, even though I prided myself on my superior skill—both with words and with weapons. I paced to the nearest ice outcropping, where the dog sniffed at the base. “You’ve never worried about demons before. Why do you care? Why wouldn’t you want to see Heaven and Earth reunited?”
“I have my reasons. What I don’t understand is why you would help Lucifer bring about your own demise. I thought you were smarter than that.”
The puppy barked, and I caught movement inside the ice. Was there something in there? I peered closer, instinct causing me to press a hand against the cold surface. The sand around the foundation kicked up, swirling in a counterclockwise direction. The frozen block trembled under my touch, and whatever was inside shifted, a face coming into view. I dropped my hand and took a step back. Was that…a person?
Michael was grinning again, and I wasn’t sure if it was because of the jab or the fact he’d shocked me.
“What game are you playing this time?” I snarled.
He finished the last grape, tossing the stripped section of vine over his shoulder. It landed in the sand and was immediately sucked under, disappearing from the surface. “If anyone is going to reunite Heaven and Earth, it will be yours truly, not Lucifer’s brat.”
He wanted the glory. Duh. Why hadn’t I seen that coming?
I studied the ice sculpture again, mostly to act like I was thinking his proposition over. A second glance showed me the face was familiar—a balding head, wire-framed glasses, and a weak chin. Merde. “This is the demonologist. The real one. You’ve trapped him here.” Whatever here is.
He tapped his temple with a finger. “You’re catching on, but you’re failing at the snappy comebacks. I expect more from you.” He crossed his legs and eased deeper into his seat. “Honestly, I was looking forward to this, but you’re definitely not up to your normal speed.”
“I’m lacking decent material.”
He grinned. “That’s more like it.” He waggled his fingers at me. “What else you got, vitium?”
Coming from him, the label sounded like a curse. I ignored the challenge and surveyed the other monoliths, searching my brain for a way to save the damn dog if this went sideways. When this went sideways because it would. For the moment, I needed a distraction. “Are these all Fallen?”
“A collection of the most powerful.” He surveyed the landscape, much like an artist surveying his latest painting. “ You could say I’ve put them on ice.” He smiled at his joke.
“Now, who needs to work on his material?”
He ambled down the steps. Why did he seem so much taller here than when I’d met him on Earth? Did Earth cause him to shrink?
Towering over me, his wings flared big and bright, and he lifted the tiny dog, holding her up in one hand to look her in the eyes. She whined, and I tensed. “I’m about to offer you a deal I have never offered another being in my eternal life.” He lowered the puppy, tucking her into the crook of his massive arm. “I would advise you to consider your answer carefully and do yourself a favor—accept it.”
“And if I don’t?” I forced my unease over the dog’s vulnerability aside. “Let me guess, you’ll harm those I love. Been there, survived that, and we made a deal that you’d leave them alone.”
“This old dog”—he made air quotes with his free hand and pointed at himself—“has learned a new trick.”
I waited for him to go on, but the ghost of the smile on his lips suggested he was once again using irony and expected me to acknowledge it.
I glanced at Milena and back at him. “Okay, old dog. Do I have to give you a treat for you to perform?”
The smile grew. “Better, and yes, in the end, I expect a reward.”
As if we were bargaining, he waited for me to agree. “This isn’t my first angel joyride. You have an eternity to play these games; I’m on a deadline. Let’s get to the part where you threaten me, and I tell you to fuck off.”
His eyes lit. “No threats. Not this time. I’ve learned motivation is often better doled out as a reward, a treat. Aren’t you listening?”
Was he dangling a carrot? I steeled myself not to look at the puppy. Did he believe I was attached to the animal enough to do what he wanted, just to get her back? “I’m all ears.”
“I have something you want. Help me sabotage Lucifer, and I’ll give it to you—plain and simple.”
“Lucifer already promised to give me my family. Afraid you can’t top that.”
This took him by surprise. “Has he now? Hmm. That’s generous of him, but since he knows I was going to give you control over Hell, it’s not much of a reward, is it? That’s the reason you wanted to be in charge, right? To be reunited with your parents and sister?”
Where was he going with this? “You were never going to allow me to control Hell.”
“Oh, ye of such little faith.” He clucked. “If Lucifer wins, there won’t be any Hell. You know this. I know this. And since you’re a vitium, you’ll end up stuck with the rest of us in the new Paradise, but your family will cease to exist. Your demon and Undead friends, too.”
I kept my fear of that off my face. “Living with you in Paradise is its own kind of Hell for me. No offense.”
He laughed, enjoying the verbal sparring now. “I feel the same about you, my dear demon.”
“So you want to offer me a better deal?”
“The deal is that we defeat Lucifer together. You’re already part of his inner circle, and he’s entrusted you with saving his Fallen brethren. All you have to do is let me get to most of them first.” He waved a hand around the area. “Ice them. If you can’t find them, you can’t save them. No new Paradise, and you’ll still have a chance at rescuing your parents and sister.”
“Lucifer will figure it out.” The ongoing fight between these archangels wore on me. “Here’s a thought—why don’t you man up and face your brother? Use those big angel balls, get in his face, and throw a few punches. Beat each other black and blue, and call it a day.”
“Demons.” He tsked and shook his head. “You think you can solve everything with violence.”
“Not everything, but we’ve been using the four F’s, just like humans, since the beginning of time. Both humans and demons have flourished, so while the peace lovers look down their noses at us, it works.”
“The four F’s?”
“Of survival.” For all of his modernism, he was still dense when it came to many, many things. “Fighting, fucking, feeding, and fleeing. Fleeing as a last resort or when the odds are overwhelming. Live to see another day and all that.”
“The war between Lucifer and myself is ancient. It cannot be resolved with a simple punch to the face.”
“You might be surprised.”
He studied me as though reevaluating his prior belief that I was intelligent. “Here’s the deal.” He set the puppy on the ground and withdrew a small bound volume from his robes. “I have something you want, something to help you with the end of days.”
My breath caught—I recognized what he held in his hand. “Is that…?”
He fanned it in the air. “I see I’ve got your attention now.”
A Catholic priest had once told me there were three Books of Revelation, all prophecies transcribed by my father, John of Patmos, from my mother’s visions. She’d been an oracle.
The first one was found in part in the King James Version of the Bible, but the second, which described the necessary measures to stop the Whore of Babylon and the Beast, and a third, which revealed the whereabouts of a divine army who would assist those on Earth to stop the apocalypse, had been hidden in the papal chapel in Rome.
I’d retrieved one of them on a trip there, but Lilith had tossed it into a fire, destroying it.
Now, lost in this freakish desert, I knew I was staring at the same opus. My mouth went as dry as the sand-whipped air. “How? Lilith…”
The dog mosied over to sniff at the demonlogist again. I felt a tremor ripple beneath my feet. Maddy, my young vampire friend, watched any and all movies, and she’d recently been on a Tremors binge. Dune, too. All I could think about when I felt the ground shake and saw the sand shifting was that some giant worm was about to break free and devour me.
“I’m an archangel,” Michael said with a duh tone. “Don’t you think I can recreate a simple text?”
It was so much more than simple. Did he know the contents? “Why would you?”
“This is the treat.” He shook it in the air like a preacher with a Bible, chastising his congregation. I wasn’t sure if he intended to strike me with it or wanted me to subjugate myself to it. “You want your daddy’s book, and I want you to help me.”
We already knew about the divine Fallen army. My mother had predicted they would help stop the apocalypse. Now, they might bring one—but only for those of us who were not redeemable. “Is that why you teamed up with Lilith?” I asked, taking a long shot. “Some warped partnership to use magic to resurrect the text she destroyed?”
“I don’t need the mother of demons in order to use magic. I broke you out of that warded Institue and brought you here, didn’t I? Replacing a book is child’s play.”
How had he removed me from the Institute? I’d have to figure that out later.
I held out a hand. “Let me see it.”
“Don’t trust me?”
“Why would I?”
He tossed it at my feet. The puppy ran over, curious, and nuzzled it. Seemed too easy, and while I was anxious to flip the pages and view my father’s writing, I smelled a trap. A trick.
I nudged the dog away with my toes. “Doesn’t matter, does it? This book is about the Fallen, and we already know about them. It’s more of a keepsake for me, seeing as how my father transcribed it from my mother’s visions, but in this war, it doesn’t help us.”
He narrowed his eyes, wings rippling with irritation. “What do you want, then?”
“There’s nothing you can give me that Lucifer can’t, and you can’t win the war without your sword. Buttering me up and asking me to turn traitor isn’t going to work.”
“You demons are all alike,” he snapped.
“Actually, we’re not. There are many levels of us, and some of us aren’t that evil. Just like there are different levels of angels, and some of you are lacking in the divine department.”
“How about this?” He held out one of his giant hands, and a coiled leather whip appeared in it. “What would you do to get your beloved weapon back?”
My heart did a funny jig inside my chest, and I found myself reaching for Volante before I even thought twice. The handle snapped to attention and quivered as though she felt my presence and was as happy as a loyal dog to see me.
He snatched her away before I could grab her. “Not so fast. I’ve offered you two things of great value to you in exchange for your word that you’ll help me. Things you cannot get any other way, regardless of what you think Lucifer is willing to do for you. What do you say? Do we have a deal, or not?”
Michael was as attached to his sword as I was to my whip, yet he hadn’t asked for it. Why?
It was true what I’d said—not all angels were good, and not all demons were bad. Every part about this smelled like a trap, but I couldn’t figure out what he was up to.
I had nothing to lose by asking for more. “I want the demonologist.”
If my request surprised him, he didn’t show it. In fact, his wings settled. He thought he’d won. “I assume you have a good reason to want him?”
I had to think fast. “Nope. I want a show of faith. I appreciate the book and the weapon, but like I said, neither has any bearing on the war. I’ll have to keep them hidden, or Lucifer will be suspicious. So, I need to plant someone inside the Institute who won’t draw suspicion but who can keep tabs on my boss and the Fallen already training there. Someone who can fit in and will only report to me.”
He crossed his arms and pinched his chin between his finger and thumb. “How can you be sure he’ll be loyal to you?”
The dog sat at my feet, leaning against my leg. She looked up at me with her puppy eyes, and I tried to ignore the way they tugged at my heart. “You let me worry about that.”
“I want to know your plan.”
I smirked. “Don’t trust me?”
He chuckled. “Not at all.”
“Good. Then we understand each other.” I decided to go balls to the wall, knowing he was caving and I’d better take advantage of it. “There’s one more thing.”
“Why am I not surprised?”
“Come on. You have to admit you’re getting off easy.”
He wiggled his fingers in the air again. “What else?”
“A slice of Paradise.”
“Come again?”
“You heard me. I don’t care which one of you wins the war, but I want a free pass for myself and those I decide are worth saving.”
“You want to save the other vitiums.”
Them and a few more. “My family, too.”
This must have satisfied him. He nodded. “It’s done.”
I doubted that. In my book, Michael had done a lot of good in the world, but he wasn’t an ally, and he certainly didn’t care about what happened to me or the rest of the demon population now or down the road. He would personally wipe all of us out of existence if he could.
Which made me think about his flaming sword again.
He tossed Volante to me, and I caught her, hugging her to my chest. Then I cried out as a sharp pain cut my palm. I looked down to see myself bleeding. The blood dripped into the sand and was absorbed by it. The dog sniffed the air, coming to all fours. “What was that for?” I demanded.
“Our bargain is sealed in blood,” he said, and I saw a few drops falling from his hand as he squeezed it into a fist. They, too, were absorbed by the sand, and another of those tremors rocked the ground under my feet. “You are now bound to me, Kali.”
The ice monolith encasing the demonologist cracked in half, the pieces shattering as they fell.
The Fallen blinked at me from behind his spectacles and waved his arms in the air. “You need to get out of here. You can’t trust him!”
Michael chuckled. “You can both leave now,” he said.
He snapped his fingers, and I went cartwheeling through time and space, landing on my ass in my room at the Institute. The dog and the demonologist appeared, too.
“What have you done?” the man shouted at me.
I got to my feet, stroking my whip. “Saved your ass. A little gratitude would be nice.”
“Don’t you know better than to make deals with angels?”
“Don’t you know better than to make deals with Lilith?”
He stared at me in shock. “How did you know?”
“I know a lot of things.”
“Then you should know you can’t beat Michael.”
That’s what the archangel thought, too.
Boy, was he going to be in for a surprise.
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What is Kali planning now? Don’t miss the next chapter!