Ashes to Ashes Book Four

By Odette C. Bell

When the end comes, you need someone by your side. Preferably someone who’ll kiss you, but Millie Crown can’t always get lucky.
She’s thrust back into the past. Alone. She arrives ten years ago, without a friend, without help, and with Luxor breathing down her neck.
She will have to dig deep and call on her every skill to not just stop Luxor, but to bring Sebastian back to her side once more.
They say you can’t fight destinies. But Millie can fight anything if she tries.
....
A light-romance urban fantasy, Ashes to Ashes follows a ditzy detective and her true vampire fighting a corrupt city. If you love your fiction with action, heart, and a splash of romance, grab Ashes to Ashes Book Four today and soar free with an Odette C. Bell series.
Ashes to Ashes is the 1st Your True Vampire series. In a world where vampires know their true love at first sight, love brings trouble. Packed with action, wit, humor, and a dash of romance, you can read them separately, so plunge in today.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Odette C. Bell
• Release date: Nov 11, 2020
• ISBN: 9781005521851

Book preview

Chapter 1

Sebastian planted his lips on mine. We’d kissed before, but this was different.

This was the kiss that would set everything else in motion. This was the kiss that would seal the deal and buy us the future. This kiss would lead us onward and find us the one way out of this frigging mess.

As he locked his lips on mine, I could feel his need. It vibrated in his chest, pressed into his mouth, and pushed into me.

He locked a hand on my cheek. He didn’t settle one on my back and pull me into a passionate embrace. This wasn’t about lust. This was about need on a completely different level. I felt his body, his magic, and the deepest desire rattling through his chest to get through this with me by his side.

A single tear trailed down my cheek. From outside, I was certain I could hear the crack of demon wings. Maybe it was Luxor, or maybe it was one of his other fell creatures. It didn’t matter. For a few seconds, I let nothing count but Sebastian’s mouth on mine.

He pulled closer. As he kissed me, he kept one hand on my cheek but locked the other around my ring. It was like he was securing it against my finger, almost as if he was melting it against the bone. Clearly, he never wanted it to be removed, no matter what.

I wanted to give in to the moment, in to the look into his eyes, and in to the promise reaching up through his hot lips. But no matter how much I tried, I couldn’t deny the dark storm cloud that was reality. He couldn’t secure that ring against my finger. Just as this marriage couldn’t be complete and unbreakable. We were dealing with Luxor, for God’s sake. And he’d promised me the time spell was already in motion. Sebastian could marry me all he wanted right now, but he could do nothing about our pasts. And speaking about the past. Something smashed into the window beside us. I didn’t jolt, because I suddenly felt some great pain rush up from within me. It didn’t come from a specified place. It wasn’t the injury to my side rearing its ugly head. It was just this diffuse horror.

My lips froze around Sebastian’s, and I screamed. He pulled back. He stared at the window. We saw a bona fide demon smash into it, its leering face pressing up against the glass. There was clearly some kind of spell protecting it, but the demon just as clearly wasn’t about to give up. I saw its snarling lips draw hard over its teeth as it tried to smash itself against the window once more. But that was all I could see. I sure as hell couldn’t do anything. I crumpled down to my knees. Sebastian latched a hand on my arm and guided me the whole way. "Millie? What’s happening?

I clutched my chest. I couldn’t speak. That diffuse pain was still gathering through me. It felt like something was trying to split me in half.

Millie? He cradled my head.

The demon kept trying to smash itself against the window. I caught a glimpse into its eyes, and I knew Luxor was staring at me through them.

I had just married Sebastian. I hadn’t even been given a minute to enjoy the moment.

As my fingers sliced into the fabric of my top and I secured my palm as hard against my heart as I could, my lips cracked open. It… almost feels like I’m being pulled out of reality. It was a crazy thing to suggest. It was an even crazier feeling to try to comprehend and wrap my head around, but as soon as the words were out, I knew they were true.

Sebastian paled so much, I thought that he was about to die on the spot. He went to cradle me harder, but the demon smashed itself against the glass with all its force. I heard some kind of spell beginning to crack. Sebastian shot to his feet. He dashed forward. I tried to get to mine, but there was nothing I could do. There was no fight left in me, because it felt as if someone was systematically going through my past and removing every single moment of strength. They were burning up my lessons, gouging out my power, second by second, memory by memory.

There was another crack as the demon threw itself against the window harder.

Sebastian opened his lips and roared. He got ready, sending so much magic blasting over his body, it looked as if he was a flare. Ships would be able to navigate using him on the darkest of nights.

The window and spell holding the demon back finally cracked, and it shoved into the room.

Sebastian was a lot of things, but he’d never fought a demon on his own. Yet I could tell from the determination in his stance and the fire burning in his gaze that he was not going to back down this time. The demon reached a hand toward me, but Sebastian twisted to the side. He punched it hard in the shoulder. I could tell that he used all his vampire force, because there was this great crack. It sounded as if someone had taken an ax to the oldest, tallest tree they could find.

The demon tried to blast past Sebastian, but it limped.

Sebastian grabbed it by the side and hauled it onto its back.

It was not a great idea to grapple with a demon. Especially not one with as sharp a tail as this guy. Clearly Sebastian didn’t care. He landed on top of the demon, sunk his knee into its middle, then smashed his fist across its jaw. It snarled. I saw its tail whipping up. I swore I knew what was going to happen next. The tail was going to twist all the way around, and it was going to impale Sebastian from behind. In a moment of true horror, that image became seared on my mind. I had to move.

It had never been harder than now. I felt like I was shackled to the spot by my pain. It felt as if my body had finally denied me the power it had been promising me for the past several weeks.

But I ignored everything. I shoved up. I pushed myself between Sebastian and the tail, but I couldn’t do anything else. I couldn’t grab the tail, and God knows I couldn’t produce a magical defensive barrier. But my proximity was all that mattered. Luxor could not afford to kill me yet, regardless of what he was doing to me as it felt like I was cracked in half.

The demon tail paused, just before it could blast through my chest.

Millie, Sebastian’s screamed. He twisted, wrapped an arm around my back, and threw me to the side. We rolled together. I couldn’t breathe, and it wasn’t because of Sebastian’s proximity. Whatever process had begun was only getting worse.

The demon screamed and threw itself at Sebastian again.

I could tell in his eyes that Sebastian was calculating, trying to figure out how to do this, trying to figure out if he could win. In a moment of crushing reason, he realized he couldn’t. So he just picked me up.

As the demon screamed and rushed toward us, Sebastian reached the door. He kicked it down and rolled through.

The whole while, I was limp in his arms, and I was only getting limper. I… there was no way to describe what was happening to me. I was now certain it had something to do with the time spell. Because I was remembering things – recalling memories only to have them crushed at my feet. It was like somebody was taking a lighter to the picture book of my life.

I held onto Sebastian’s arms. At first my grip was strong and desperate. With every second, it slackened off. I started to weaken as if somebody was systematically blowing up every single one of my cells.

No, you don’t. No, you don’t, Sebastian said desperately, spitting out every single word he could. You have to stay with me, Millie Crown. You’re my life now. You cannot leave.

Sebastian… whatever happens….

You will not finish that sentence. You’re going back in the past, Millie.

You’re coming, right? I tried.

He either couldn’t hear my question because I’d stuttered it with such a weak voice, or he just didn’t want to answer.

As we ran down the corridor, I heard the demon scream. It smashed its way into the corridor behind us. It moved so fast that it bounced against the opposite wall. Plaster crumbled down everywhere. It splintered wood. As it took a step forward, its feet burnt through the carpet beneath it.

Sebastian ran as hard as he could. He reached the stairs. He threw himself down them two at a time.

I wanted to reach out and grab his hand. I wanted to stop him in place, despite the fact we were in the chase of our lives. He had to come back to the past with me, right? He wouldn’t just leave me, would he? There was something about his determined grip, something about the way he’d avoided the question.

I opened my mouth to ask it again, but I was just too weak. I couldn’t tell what was going on. Whatever it was, the spell was gathering, its force getting far more powerful as it wrapped harder and harder around my throat and my destiny.

We reached the base of the stairs just as the demon decided to throw itself down them. It was like a wrecking ball. As it rolled down, it smashed through the stairs right down to the supporting beams beneath.

Sebastian didn’t wait around. He ran forward.

I recognized this level. This was where his bedroom was.

He ran toward it. He kicked the door down. What was he planning? To tuck me up in bed, pull the covers over my head, and tell me this was nothing more than a nightmare? Fat chance.

He threw himself in.

He searched desperately. Then he saw something. It was on the dresser by his bed.

The demon was only seconds away. What was Sebastian going to do?

The object he was looking for was a small book. Was it a journal? Was he going to write down his crazy day? Was he going to put in that he’d married today only to have his wife stolen right out of his arms by a time spell?

I started to shut down. I could think these things, but my thoughts were discombobulated. They were the kind you would get right on the edge of unconsciousness.

My eyes began to close. There was a final quality to the move.

No, you don’t, Millie. You stay awake. You stay by my side until the end. You married me. A vampire takes his oaths seriously.

I can’t, Sebastian. There… there is no fighting it.

No fighting it? He settled me down on the bed and plucked up the book. Then he stood between me and the door as if the book was gonna somehow protect him from a demon. Millie, you can fight everything. That’s the point. Your magic is truly variable. It can destroy hellfire. So it can destroy the time spell and what it’s doing to you. You just have to fight. I will buy you that chance. I promise you. When you get back into the past, he briefly turned over his shoulder and stared at me, give my past self a kiss.

It was such a crazy thing to say. I almost couldn’t follow it. Then the demon came crashing through. Sebastian screamed. He threw himself at it. He pushed it out of the room and into the corridor. I couldn’t see what was going on, just hear it. Sebastian's screams suddenly became pained.

That made my heart pound as fast as it possibly could. Sebastian? I said out of trembling lips.

I could still hear him groaning, still hear him fighting.

Sebastian? I tried once more. Nothing.

I had to push myself up. I had to do something. I had to fight. I couldn’t let it end like this.

Sebastian? I tried once more.

I thought I heard something fall over.

My heart… it broke. Right there in my chest. If I had just lost Sebastian minutes after I’d married him, I would never live it down. Because I’d never live….

Despite the fact I’d managed to push up, something drove me down. The effect of the spell cracking through me became twice as powerful.

There was no way I could fight it, no way I could possibly remain awake anymore. It felt like I was being crushed under pure unconsciousness.

The process of watching my memories fracture happened even quicker. I thought that there was nothing left inside me anymore. I was just an empty husk. I knew my name was Millie, but that was it.

And it was just when my memories reached the St Vern seal that I waited to give up. But then, as the seal rose in my mind, as I managed to trace that shield in my psyche, I paused. All of me just froze. It was like… it was like a hand reached out of nothingness to hold me to the spot. A possibility. One chance. One hope.

I was no longer aware if Sebastian was screaming anymore. My ability to track my outside world had stopped. All that mattered was what was within.

Just as that spell tried to break me apart one last time, I held onto the St Vern seal. This time it was different. I didn’t know if it was because I had married into the family, or because my magic was rising up one last time to help me out.

As I held onto the seal, I could really feel it. It was like an honest to God shield. I didn’t know who my enemy was. It wasn’t like the spell was in the room with me. There was nothing to fight. And yet I could fight everything at once now I had this shield in my hand.

I can’t describe to you exactly what happened. It wasn’t a three-dimensional fight – just one that occurred in my mind with all my memories and hopes and dreams.

Sebastian was right. I had to hold onto that fact – the last thing he said to me and the last promise he could give.

My magic could fight anything. Including hellfire. So whatever this time spell was doing, I could crack through it too. I settled that hope in my heart, grabbed it with my hands, and fought with absolutely everything I could. More than anything, I kept the image of the St Vern shield in my mind.

There was every reason for it not to work. But in a final snap of total power, it did. I felt something shattering around me. I swore I heard it too. This wasn’t just in my mind. This was really happening.

I thought I heard a far distant shriek, and I knew it had to be Luxor.

That crack got worse. It echoed all around me until, with one final snap, it stopped.

Then there was silence. The kind of silence that feels like it will outlast you. The kind of silence that makes you wonder if all of reality is just a dream and endless quiet is the only true thing out there.

It enshrouded me, pulling me down,