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
Tabriss was waiting for us when we landed in the upstairs apartments area of the Institute. “I’ll take things from here,” she informed me. She gestured at Amy. “Follow me.”
She waved a hand over the knob to Damon’s chambers, and the lock clicked, the door opening.
What the hell?
I fell into step with Amy as the air witch as she carried her child and she and her entourage trailed after the head of the Fallen angels. Tabriss came to a full stop, pinning me with a glare as she motioned the others to enter. “I said, I’ve got this.”
“Forgive me if I don’t trust you enough to hand the most valuable cargo on the planet over without verifying your intent.”
I stepped into the apartment. Damon’s wood smoke smell and the magical residue from him living here sent ripples over my skin. The last time I’d been inside these walls, things between us had been…intense.
When weren’t they, though?
Multiple sets of eyes flipped between me and Tabriss. She left the door open, indicating I should go. “Damon gave me this assignment.”
“According to you,” I countered. “I’ll help Amy and the baby get settled before I check with him.”
She advanced on me, getting in my face. “I am on your side, idiot.”
Damon arrived at that moment. “Welcome to the Institute,” he said smoothly to our guests.
Winking at Tabriss just to piss her off, I made a quick round of introductions. He’d already met Amy, but not Keisha, Gabriel, or the Fate and her…whatever Bane was.
Our apartments here aren’t huge, and his main living area was too small for all of us. He signaled us to follow him. “We have our underground living facility ready for you.”
“We do?” I stayed close to Amy and Azaria. “You never told me we had a basement.”
“There are many things I haven’t shared with you,” he muttered out of the corner of his mouth. The look he flicked over his shoulder told me to shut up. We’ll talk about it later.
You bet your demon ass we will. “I can’t wait to see it,” I said with false excitement.
Tabriss pushed past me as we filed past Damon’s bedroom. “We don’t need you tagging along. Don’t you have the world to save?”
Her sarcasm and spite were thick. “Careful,” I told her, “you sound jealous.”
She snorted, claiming a spot next to Damon as he stepped inside his study and ran a hand along one of the bookshelves. “Pathetic,” she grumbled.
I was going to show her pathetic if she kept this up. The bookshelf slid back to reveal a secret doorway. My, oh my, my Bridge boss was full of surprises today.
The elevator would only hold five at a time. Damon sent Keisha, Gabriel, Bane, Faron, and Tabriss first.
When they disappeared, Damon smiled at Amy. “You’ll be safe here.”
“If Kali doesn’t trust Tabriss,” she said, stroking her daughter’s hair, “neither do I.”
Smart.
“Need I remind you,” I added, “Tabriss once tried to take over the Institute and exterminate the Fallen.”
Damon used his patient voice, but I felt his simmering annoyance lick up my spine. “I have spoken at length with her. She is stepping up, and I have given her this assignment to increase her confidence and leadership skills. I assure you, she can keep you safe and ensure your needs are met while you’re here.”
When did he turn into a used car salesman?
He pivoted to face Rad and Cole, who’d brought up the rear. “I assume you have better things to do than accompany us. I’ll escort Amy and Azaria to their quarters.” His eyes locked on mine. “Kali, wait for me in my office.”
“Lucifer entrusted me with their safety,” I asserted. “Where they go, I go.”
The heat along my spine intensified. “While I appreciate your commitment to your job, I assure you I will handle this.”
Butting heads with him was occasionally fun. We sparred with words and got under each other’s skin. Right then, however, I was in full battering ram mode. “No can do.” The elevator returned, and the doors opened. I stepped inside, and Amy followed. “I’ll judge whether it’s safe or not.”
Cole stepped back. “I need to check in with my security people. I’ll catch up with you later.”
Rad gave me a questioning look. Did I want him to ignore Damon’s orders?
I gestured for him to conform.
He wasn’t happy but dipped his chin in deference to me, not Damon. “I’ll be across the hall when you’re ready for me,” he said.
I barely kept the grin off my face. Across the hall was my apartment. I winked at him, letting him know he better be naked when I got back.
The drop to the underground level was quick, but Damon’s seething under his classy suit made it feel twice as long. I had the distinct impression he wanted to turn me over his knee and spank me. That image was disturbing under any circumstance, and I shoved it away.
The basement was surprisingly nice. It had the feel of emptiness, though. I couldn’t be sure when it had been built—during the initial construction of the building or at some point thereafter. Either way, I doubted anyone had used it since its inception.
The current space boasted modern furniture, granite countertops, and an impressive media center. Amy looked pleased. “This will do.”
Tabriss, acting as her guide, led her to a bedroom that had been kitted out for a baby. Crib? Check. Changing table? Check. Immense toy chest? That, too.
“Whatever you need, you let me know,” Tabriss insisted. “I’ll handle it.”
Faron stood in the hall. She crooked a finger at me. I held up one of my own to let her know I’d speak to her momentarily. Keisha gave her stamp of approval and then asked Tabriss where her room was. Tabriss continued the tour with her and Gabriel in tow.
Bane called to Faron. She slunk past me and off to the media center. Damon and I squared off in the doorway while Amy lowered her diaper bag to the floor inside the nursery and checked out a rocking chair. Damon lowered his voice. “When was the last time you slept, ate, or”—he sniffed the air—“showered?”
“Uh…” I covertly inhaled. Yep, no deodorant in the world was going to handle that stink. “Believe it or not, I’ve been busy.”
“Hey, Kali?” Amy was wrestling with the zipper on the diaper bag. “Could use a hand here.”
Grateful to escape Damon’s overbearing energy that was about to turn fussy, I reached for it. She plopped the baby into my arms instead.
“I, uh… You mean…” Wow, I needed to work on my word stock. Definitely in need of food and sleep to get my brain back online. “Why don’t you let me tackle that zipper?” I tried to return Azaria to her.
She gave me a curious scan. “She’s a baby. She won’t bite. Yet.”
Azaria chewed on her fingers and made gurgling noises as she stared up at my face. Her dark brown eyes were nearly black. They reminded me of fathomless voids. Black holes.
I felt some sort of trippy falling sensation.
“May I be of assistance?” Damon asked, snapping me out of it.
Azaria giggled. I narrowed my eyes at her.
Amy waved him off. “Go do whatever archdemons do. We’ve got this.”
Her casual brush-off made me like the witch even more.
Damon’s jaw clenched, but he smiled and gave a slight bow. “Kali? My office when you’re done.”
“Yes, of course, sir.”
I’m going to make you pay for that, he said in my head.
He and I were always on unequal footing with each other. He’d been my boss since we were still in Spain a century ago. It was hard to look at him differently.
But I wasn’t the same employee, the same demon that I’d been all these years. A lot had changed. We still weren’t on equal footing, and although I teased him by calling him ‘boss,’ we both knew in the hierarchy of things, I was no longer a simple underling.
Demons are big on hierarchy, just like angels.
Which made me think about Tabriss and Michael. Humans were under the misconception that archangels were the highest level of divine beings, right under God, but that wasn’t true. There were legions of angels higher up the heavenly ladder, and before she had been incarnated as Mary Magdalene, Tabriss had been one of them.
My spiritual mother was once a beloved, divine entity higher than Lucifer Morningstar. This fact boggled my mind.
Azaria patted my cheek, demanding my attention. I’d never held a child before, outside of my younger sister. It was a fuzzy memory, having occurred three hundred years ago. Since then, I’d never had the chance, nor the desire, to be around children. I found them…messy.
However, some deep-seated, instinctual part of me kicked in. Without realizing what I was doing, I began gently bouncing her on my hip. She continued to put her palm on my cheek with such tenderness that it felt like a kiss.
I sensed no inherent angel magic in her, and the thought made me stop bouncing. Why was that? She was supposed to be the most powerful of magic beings on the planet at the moment. I should be able to sense something.
Staring into those dark abysses, I probed her lightly with my magic. She giggled again as if I were tickling her.
Amy smiled, wiggling her fingers in a manner similar to Keisha’s. Her air magic nipped at my skin as she used a bit of it to free the zipper. “She likes you.”
Did she? For a moment, the idea caused a funny flutter in my chest. My lips turned up in an involuntary, goofy grin.
“Have you and Rad thought about having kids?” Amy asked.
My mouth fell open. I shut it before I said ‘uh’ again. “No.”
“Why not?”
I almost said, ‘duh.’ “Our lives aren’t conducive to having kids, and his chaos magic is…well, chaotic. He’s an anomaly—his half-human side shouldn’t be able to control his demon side.” I shrugged. “Carrying a baby with chaos magic to term is nearly impossible.”
That was the sanitized version of no way in fucking Hell. We were both damned, as was this world if Azaria didn’t save it, and I was about as baby-oriented as a gerbil. Scratch that. Even gerbils were capable of taking care of their offspring. Me? That was laughable.
“Do you think having a kid with Lucifer is conducive to raising a family?”
“Fair point, but you have a leg up on me—you’re Fallen. You act about as normal for a non-human as I’ve seen.”
She hauled out a diaper. “Thank you?” she said uncertainly.
I realized Azaria’s jumper felt full under her bottom, resting on my arm. I also caught the scent of urine. Great.
I was about to hand her to her mother when she placed her chubby fingers against my lips. Her eyes went a strange amber color, and I felt like I’d been struck by lightning from the end of my hair down to the tips of my toes.
She filled my head with three different visions, one right after the other. Each filled me with abject fear.
They came so fast and so intensely that I felt like I was spinning in the abyss created by her eyes. I didn’t know which way was up or down, and all sensation of gravity evaporated.
The air in my lungs was sucked out into that nothingness. My bones began to dissolve. I had no voice box, no fingers, no beating heart.
And then everything snapped back into place.
Amy was talking and smiling as if nothing had happened. She reached for her daughter and lifted her out of my hands. “You can practice with Azaria anytime. I mean, as long as we’re here, if you want to hang out…?”
Keisha blasted into the room. “This place isn’t bad,” she announced. “How long do you think we’ll have to stay?”
They were both looking at me while I tried to remember how to breathe. To figure out how gravity worked again. Luckily, Amy had hold of Azaria because my hands and fingers didn’t seem to want to function. Nor did my brain. “Huh?”
The two women exchanged a look. Amy winked at Keisha. “She’s never held a baby before.”
Keisha playfully punched my arm. “Got your hormones stirred up, didn’t it? Badass Kali Sweet with a baby. Wonders will never cease.”
Maddy picked that moment to pop her head in. “Wait, what? Did I just hear that right? Kali’s pregnant?”
Still reeling from the visions, I stumbled for the doorway, shaking my head at her. Something in my expression must have warned her that I needed air. She grabbed my arm and studied me. “If you need a babysitter,” she said to Amy, “I’m available.”
I staggered down the hall to the elevator. Faron and Bane were waiting beside it.
Faron tilted her head at me. “Are you sick?”
I locked down my thoughts, pushing the visions behind a solid steel door in my brain. Punching the button, I was relieved when the doors parted immediately. “Yes. It’s probably contagious. You should take the next ride.”
Maddy slid inside with me, and I closed the doors on their mutually suspicious faces.
“I can’t believe you’re pregnant, and you didn’t tell me,” she whined. “First a dog, now a kid? What’s gotten into you? Does Dru know? Oh my god, he’s going to throw a fang when he hears.”
I leaned against the wall as it whisked us up to Damon’s apartment. “The devil,” I said. “He’s fucking ruined everything.”
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I hope you like Faron and Bane – they’re getting their own series!