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 Five
Earth magic swam up my legs and into my torso. It raced into my chest and down my arm into my hand.
I placed my palm against the spot that looked like limestone and wasn’t, closing my eyes and envisioning the charmed ward melting. Demons love to play with fire, and while this was more like lava, it did the trick.
I heard Cole chuckle, and opening my eyes, I saw the barrier was gone. What stood before us was a lighted tunnel, much like the one we’d just escaped, leading into a cave.
I glanced back at the war demon. “Ready?”
“Always.” He grinned, brandishing both knives. “I’m hungry. Let’s get this over with so I can eat.”
Come to think of it, my stomach was growling, too. We entered side-by-side, him watching behind us again as I sent my heightened senses ahead.
Unlike the Tunnel of Love, this had no switchbacks and was short. A few more spelled wards appeared, and I sliced through them with the sword.
We approached a wooden door, arched at the top and custom-fitted into the rocks around it. Not steel and this one had a handle. It was barely visible amongst the glamour meant to fool human eyes and probably some supernatural ones.
I brushed my hand across it, checking to ensure I didn’t get a zap. The voltage was there and strong enough to make me suck in a breath from the slight contact. The sword reacted, and before I realized what it was doing, it sliced at the knob.
The stone didn’t give, but the magic did, the ward dissolving into a dozen onyx sparkles that fell to the ground. They turned into wiggling worms that slithered off into the cracks of the surrounding stones.
“That’s different,” I muttered.
Cole swore. “Beetles, worms…Whoever this weirdo is, they have a thing for bugs.”
Not my favorite but not as bad as certain things I’d encountered. “At least it’s not rats or clowns.”
“Praise Lucifer for that,” Cole muttered.
We fist bumped. With every step, my alertness intensified. Ripples of odd magic touched my skin and receded, only to return and recede again. It reminded me of ocean waves but with prickly feelers. After they felt me up the third time, I touched my ring fingers and thumbs together, infusing my field with extra repellent that sent them skittering away.
A glow emanated ahead, suggesting we were nearing our host’s quarters. Rounding a slight bend, I peered through a hazy gloom at another arched opening. The room behind it was crammed with shelves of old texts, a large wooden work table, worn furniture, and a fireplace.
A short, balding man with round spectacles looked up from a dissection plate, a scalpel in hand. “Ah, there you are.” He waved me in, the blade flashing under the overhead skylight. The tip was coated in blood, and the specimen on the plate was in too many sections for me to guess what it had been. I suspected from the long, hairless tail that this was why we hadn’t seen any rats. “Took longer than I anticipated for you to find me, but I’m sure the weight will be worth it.”
A stack of thick books sat on the end of the table, a parchment on the other. A lamp spotlighted the diagram, spots of dried blood and other fluids marring the seemingly brittle paper. “Sorry to keep you waiting,” I said, feeling the irritating pulse of odd, mixed-up magics. “Had to stop and play with your pets.”
His eyes were brown lumps of coal behind his glasses, flat and emotionless as he removed the rat’s intestines, pulling them up to examine them in the light. “You’re shorter than I thought you’d be.”
I started to say something lippy back, then considered his words. “You were expecting me?”
He dropped the intestines into a glass jar half filled with liquid. They bubbled, smoke rising into the air. He seemed fascinated with it, lowering his head to get a closer view as the acid did its thing. “I’ve been trying to capture one of you for a long time. Never could quite get the incantation right.”
“What the fuck?” Cole murmured next to me.
Placing one of my hands on the nearest stone, I used the other with the sword to block him from charging in. “I can appreciate the whole mad scientist vibe, but here’s how this is going to go.” My magic streamed into and around the room’s walls. I picked up a cacophony of sounds and symbols that had been warded into the space. “I’m going to explain who and what you are, and you’re not going to believe me. Then I’m going to have to prove it. After that, you get to go to a cool place where there’ll be a bunch of other beings just like you. You’ll be…” Reformed was the correct term, but it sounded like brainwashing, and that tended to turn people off. “You’ll discover a new life, a better one. You’ll have friends.”
He snatched up a pen and wrote something in an open notebook before returning to his evisceration. “I’m not a mad scientist.” He waved his scalpel around the room. “Frankel Bahar, Demonologist. I thought someone like you would be smart enough to know that I’m not some garden variety schmuck.”
“Can we get on with this?” Cole grumbled. “I’m hungry.”
I’d lost my appetite but bully for him. “Demon trap,” I warned under my breath. “The whole place is steeped in sigils.”
“Satan’s balls. Why do they always have to make it hard?”
“Thanks for that combination of images you just planted in my head. Now, every time I look at Lucifer, I’m going to either smirk or gag.” I began zapping each of the trap’s main symbols with my magic. “Be patient. I’m working as fast as I can.”
“Come in, come in,” Bahar said. “I’m nearly finished here, and then we can have tea and talk.”
The grin that stole over his face told me his version of a tea party involved me under his knife. “Have you wondered why you feel compelled to study demons?” I asked, buying time. “Why you don’t fit in with normal people? Why you have odd cravings?”
He hesitated for a moment, staring at the blade. “I study your kind because I plan to destroy you. All of you.”
The smile he flashed when he glanced up didn’t match his announcement.
“That fits, I guess. See, you’re actually a Fallen angel, and Lucifer Morningstar sent us to retrieve you so you can hang out with other Fallen and prepare for a big reunion with Heaven.” I gave him my best be a good boy and come along quietly smile. “Doesn’t that sound like fun?”
A muscle twitched under his left eye. “Why don’t you come inside and we’ll discuss it?”
Not the response I expected. “You’re not surprised by that announcement?”
He returned to his dissection. “He told me you would say something like that. I’m sure it works with most common humans, but I’m not that gullible.”
“He? Who’s he?”
With the scalpel, he pointed at a folded note on the top of a stack of his books. “He left you a message.”
“It’s a trap,” Cole said under his breath. “He wants you to step across the threshold.”
I finished taking out the last sigil with my magic and lowered my hand. “Well, I won’t be surprised when it doesn’t work.”
“Kali…” Cole’s voice held a warning.
“Don’t worry. I’ve got this.”
I sauntered in, enjoying the look of shock on the man’s face when I bypassed the pentagram he had on the floor under a worn Persian rug and snatched up the note. Even before I touched it, I could feel the angel mojo radiating off of it. Bahar took several steps back, raising his blade toward me. “You’re a demon.”
“You seem shocked. I’d almost believe it was real, except you’ve been raising plenty of us to do your dirty work. And that’s why you have this place misspelled—to trap us.”
“You shouldn’t be able to get this close. The trap should…”
“This isn’t my first rodeo. I’ve been caught in some of those lovely traps, and let me tell you, once you’ve been in them, you learn how to avoid them at all costs. I’ve got to hand it to you, though. Yours is intricate, and the layers are a nice touch, but like using the mirrors in the funhouse as portals for hellhounds, I’ve been there, done that. You can’t surprise me.”
Cole took a tentative step inside. When he didn’t get zapped or trapped, he strood to a shelf and examined a skull. Bahar swung his weapon in Cole’s direction. “Put down the knife, asshole,” Cole growled. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
He said it as deadpan as if he was reading a script.
I smirked. “He’s lying. He hates angels. But you better do what he says, anyway.”
I unfolded the note as the man waved his scalpal back and forth at us, unable to decide who was the biggest threat. The message was short and to the point. My skin crawled. Say hi to Lucifer.
It was a trap, after all.
“Get out!” I yelled, whirling. “Michael’s been here.”
Cole ran for the exit. I grabbed the angel-turned-demonologist and shoved him toward it.
We’d almost made it out when the place exploded.
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Uh oh. Do you think they got out in time or were they blown to pieces? Comment and let me know what you think!