Welcome to the Kali Sweet Chronicles. Sweet Malice is the fifth book in the Kali Sweet Urban Fantasy series. I release a chapter a week here in my Magic Bites Membership, and I look forward to reading your comments! Enjoy!
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Sweet Malice, Kali Sweet Urban Fantasy Series
©2025 Misty Evans
We landed in Amy’s ice cream shop, a milky, sweet fragrance mixed with an underlying scent of bleach.
The archangel Gabriel was scooping multiple types of ice cream into a bowl and barely paid us any attention as we crashed into several tables and chairs. He quirked a brow at Lucifer, who pointed upstairs and took off running.
A silent message conveyed, Gabriel dropped the scoop, narrowed his eyes at us, and took off after him.
Two customers in a booth jumped up and fled out the door, causing the bell to jingle hard enough that it fell off.
I disengaged a metal napkin holder from my spine and caught my breath, staring at the ceiling. I was running low on everything—sleep, food, and patience. Too much angel magic made me irascible, and if Lilith was here—if she had hurt that little girl…
Rad’s face appeared above me. I accepted his extended hand, and he pulled me to my feet. “We are in a mess of shit,” he muttered. “Are you all right?”
I straightened my shirt. “I now know what it feels like to burn in hellfire, literally, but I’m fine.”
Frank was rubbing the back of his head as he sat up, having clocked the corner of one of the tables. Faron and Bane stood off to the side, arguing in strained whispers.
Cole was already checking the windows and searching for any sign of Lilith. “Should we follow them?” he asked, gesturing in the direction Lucifer and Gabriel had disappeared.
I shook my head. “We fan out around the perimeter and see if we can pick up any evidence she’s already here.”
“And if she is?” Rad asked.
“We’ll have a fight on our hands.” I longed for one of Amy’s espresso milkshakes. My limbs felt heavy, and my brain numb. I jerked Frank to his feet. “Any chance you can sense your fellow Fallen?”
His hair was matted on one side, his glasses askew. Dark shadows had formed under his eyes, and he shook his head, looking as bad as I felt. He massaged his lower back. “This quantum jumping around takes it out of you, doesn’t it?”
“Better get used to it.” I disliked the creepy, crawly sensation inching over my skin. “Can you tap into your angel mojo?”
He straightened his glasses, then removed them, staring through them before he cleaned the lenses with the edge of his shirt. “I didn’t even know I was an angel until a few hours ago. I don’t know what it’s supposed to feel like.”
“Never mind.” I rubbed my forehead. A headache was taking shape behind my eyes. “I can’t smell her or any hellhounds. Can you?” I asked Rad.
He shook his head, confirming that my Lilith radar wasn’t screwed up. “Nothing. Did you really make a deal with Michael?”
“Like I told him”—I pointed toward the second floor—“I had no choice. He hijacked me into it. We can use it to our advantage, though.”
In his blue-eyed gaze, I could see that he wanted to crush me in a hug simply to reassure himself that I was alive and functioning. He did me the favor of not creating a public display. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”
Cole started barking commands, ever the War demon ready for a fight. “Bane, you’re with me. We’ll cover the rear. Rad, you and Kali stay here and guard the front. Frank, you and Faron search the interior, top to bottom, and be sure Lilith hasn’t left behind any surprises.”
“Surprises?” Frank squeaked.
“Bombs, bugs, traps,” he rattled off. “A sleeping hellhound, ready to wake at her command. The usual.”
Faron and Bane stopped arguing, and the bodyguard took two steps toward Cole. “Who put you in charge?”
I positioned myself in front of him. “I did. I don’t know what you are, but Lucifer put me in charge of handling the rescue of his Fallen. I’ve tangled with Michael more than once and survived. Lilith, too. Oh, and The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Cole has been with me through all of it and understands the battlefield better than any of us. You can either join Team Kali or leave. Your choice.”
He snarled like a wolf and started to respond, but Faron interceded. “As his name suggests, he’s a nightmare to work with,” she said. “Misfortune, torment, you name it, he’s the one to carry it out.”
Something flickered behind his gaze so fast when it cut to her that I almost missed it. Affection? Whatever these two had going on between them reminded me of myself and, well, just about every male I knew. While I could handle any extreme situation, they all tried to protect me and sometimes save me from myself.
“I can see where you could be an asset to us,” I said. It was true. Faron could see the future and outcomes based on our decisions. Bane could carry out some of those less palpable decisions. “But understand this. There is a hierarchy here. Your opinion will be respected, but you’ll report to Cole and, ultimately, to me. You’ll have to leave if you can’t handle that.” I flicked a subtle look at her before returning to him. “And FYI, if Lucifer brought Faron here, he won’t let her go with you should you choose to leave.”
He growled menacingly again, not so much at me but at the situation.
“We’re wasting time.” Cole realigned our jobs, leaving Bane out of the picture. “Rad and I will cover the back. Frank can stay with Kali, and Faron can look for boobytraps.”
Bane fingered his blade, but his tight posture softened when Faron laid a hand on his arm. “You are my cross to bear,” he murmured to her.
She brightened as if that statement made her day. She punched him in the bicep, grinning. “You love every minute of it.”
I clapped my hands softly. “Great. Team Kali it is. Let’s get on with this.”
A witch in a bright yellow and pink dress ran into the room from the back. “Gabriel?”
She pulled up short when she saw us. Her hands flew up, instantly making a sigil in front of her in the air with her ringed fingers.
Before the spell could knock us on our asses, I touched my index fingers and thumbs together, creating a bubble shield. It formed barely in time to bounce the magic back at her.
Her reflexes were quick. She ducked behind the ice cream counter and shot another spell at the fan above me. The thing disconnected from its down rod, spinning as it fell.
Frank yelped. Faron ducked. Rad and Bane leaped. Rad knocked me sideways as Bane grabbed one of the blades and frisbeed the whole thing across the room at the ice cream freezer.
Glass shattered. The witch jumped up from her hiding place, glass in her kinky, dark hair. “Oh, now you’re in trouble,” she said, fire in her eyes.
Her scent was smoke and spice, ashes and needles. A Vodun priestess. This was Amy’s best friend, Keisha.
I held up placating hands. “We’re here with Lucifer. We mean you no harm. There’s a threat against Amy. He’s upstairs with Gabriel, checking on her and the baby.”
Her already narrowed eyes squinted tighter. “You should’ve led with that. You’re the vengeance demon, Kali Sweet.”
I nodded. “You didn’t give me a chance to explain.”
She brushed at her shirt, eyeing the destroyed ice cream freezer and shaking out her kinks. Shards of glass hit the floor. “We’re a little jumpy around here these days.” Her attention went upward. “Are they okay?”
No shouts, screams, or fireballs yet. “I believe so. You haven’t caught wind of Lilith around here, have you?”
Her dark brows scrunched. “No. She better not come after us, either, or I’ll…” She drew herself up, fingers in motion. Another sigil formed, but this was of protection. When it flared to life in the air in front of her, my magic wiggled. “I better fix this before Amy sees it,” she said, staring at the busted freezer.
Cole motioned at Bane, and they walked out. I jerked my chin toward the back, gesturing for Frank and Faron to get started looking for any traps. Rad shadowed me as I stepped toward Keisha, glass crunching under my boots. “Want help?” I asked.
She glanced at said boots “I have a pair just like that. They don’t have the spikes on the side, though. I can see where those might come in handy.” She waved a hand, and the fan, embedded in the wall, screeched as it pulled free. A heartbeat later, it was back in its place in the ceiling. I wasn’t sure how she reconnected the wires, but the blades began to spin again. “I can’t take a chance with the ice cream. We have to get all new tubs.”
That was the least of our worries, and serving customers might be put on hold. However, allowing her to do something was a good way to keep her calm.
She murmured a few words under her breath, and the shards of glass lying around us reconnected in mid-air, reforming the front and sides of the freezer. More pieces lifted from the five-gallon containers inside, fitting themselves into the display case again.
Footsteps sounded overhead, and she worried her bottom lip with her teeth. “Hurry. Clean up the mess you made, and I’ll get these out of here.”
She held out her hands over two of the buckets, and they lifted from their places, flying out of the open space at the back of the display. She sent them toward the room from where she’d emerged.
Rad and I righted tables and chairs, keeping an eye on the front door and the activity out on the street. All seemed normal, and since we’d been here previously, we had a good sense of what ‘normal’ was for Eden.
By the time Amy blew in, Lucifer on her heels, the parlor looked respectable—except for the missing ice cream in the display case.
“Kali,” she said, throwing her arms around me in a hug. “What is all this about Lilith? I thought you sent her back to Hell. Is she walking the Earth, thanks to Michael? Who are those people searching my office and storeroom?”
I disentangled from her arms and locked the front door, flipping the sign to the closed side. Keisha elbowed Gabriel and led him out. The two returned with a cart full of new five-gallon buckets.
“It’s a long story,” I told the air witch. I glanced at Lucifer, who nodded, confirming that we were safe. But his wife needed something to do with the hands she was worrying in front of her. “Would it be possible for me to get one of your delicious milkshakes while I fill you in?”
She glanced between us, and he placed a hand on her shoulder, giving it a squeeze. She twirled a long strand of her brown hair around her finger. “You’ll protect her, right?”
I didn’t need to ask who she was referring to. “With my life.”
“Zayfeer is watching her while she sleeps,” Lucifer said. “I’ve added an extra layer of wards under those already in place.”
The shop sat on a portal to Hell. While I could feel the magic that Amy and Keisha had originally sealed it with, Lucifer’s additional layer sat metallic-like on my tongue.
Since we didn’t know where Lilith was at the moment, there was no harm in taking extra precautions, and since she didn’t seem to be already present, we might have preempted whatever she and Michael were planning.
“Michael is sworn to protect Azaria, and even if he has cut a deal with Lilith, he cannot be derelict in his duty,” I reminded everyone. “That’s not to say he won’t find a loophole or that the powers that be won’t offer an opportunity.”
I thought about Faron and her ability to see different outcomes. From what I knew, the Fates couldn’t tell the future until a choice was made in the present, but I’d have to grill her in-depth about that.
If we could formulate different possibilities of what Michael and Lilith could do together, could she tell us which had the most likely chance of harming the girl?
In any case, we had to be ready for all potential outcomes.
Amy turned to watch her friend and Gabriel replacing the tubs. She didn’t ask why. She cupped her hands over her face, took a deep breath, and let it whoosh out of her. “You’re right. If anyone can beat Michael at his own game, it’s all of us.” She marched behind the counter and snatched up a tall cup. “One coffee mocha ice cream shake coming up.”
My day was already looking up.
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Ice cream helps everything!