Better off Dead Book Four

  All characters in this publication are fictitious, any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  Better off Dead

  Book Four

  Copyright © 2020 Odette C Bell

  All rights reserved.

  Cover art stock photos licensed from Depositphotos.

  www.odettecbell.com

  Better off Dead

  Book Four

  The end is here. It’s time to die – for good.

  Eve is still on the run. It will cost her everything. Hilliker will not stop – not when he is so close. He will invite chaos into this world, and he will see it feast on her and everyone she cares about.

  Can she sacrifice enough, or will her last lives be burned away as a gift to Armageddon?

  ...

  Tune in to the thrilling final book in the action-packed urban fantasy Better off Dead. It is sure to please fans of Odette C. Bell’s Hell’s Angel.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Epilogue

  Chapter 1

  There was no time to cry – though that was the only thing I wanted to do. Those two priests with the black voids for faces started to chant even louder, and the air began to sizzle with their magic.

  There were more screams from the room as those two koi fish threw themselves at the priests. They encountered a massive crackling magical force field that thrust them back as easily as balls hit by bats.

  There was only one way into this room. But I was desperate, and it was pretty easy to create a door when you were charged with enough magic and rage – and trust me, I had both. I reached the wall and thrust a hand out. I smashed my magic encapsulated fist against it, and ripples of power blasted out in every direction. There wasn’t even a centimeter of the wall that wasn’t covered by artworks. As my knuckles pounded into it, I burned a painting to ash. The one beside it rippled, the canvas acting like a pebble thrown into water.

  I managed to smash a chunk out of the wall, but it was thick and reinforced. Meanwhile, the priests chanted. Desperately, I whipped my head over my shoulder to see the priests join hands. This was hardly a Kumbaya moment. Just like their faces, their hands were nothing but voids. As they met up, the light in the room dimmed by half. The other guests by now were smart enough not to scream. They’d huddled together near the table. That old dame was under a chair, and the rest of them were hiding behind whatever they could find.

  I smashed my fist into the wall again, giving it everything until my knuckles felt as if they would become ash. I managed to punch off another chunk, but there was still more to go.

  “Let me,” Mr. Fenticle said as he shoved forward and started to chew through the wall as fast as a sword through a log.

  The light continued to dim. I couldn’t hear any other noise save for my heart. As it pounded in my chest, it told me that whatever those priests were going to do, when the lights went out, it would be over for me. With one last desperate try, I smashed through the wall. I called on the magic of the Deep until it sang through my bones and vibrated out into the plaster. Finally, it was enough. The wall crumbled, and I thrust through. I managed to roll with the rat still in my hands.

  “Put me down,” he demanded as we hit one of the major gambling halls.

  “There’s no way. You’re safer with me. You can’t outrun these guys.”

  “If I run in another direction, it will divert their attention.”

  “For all of about three seconds until they pop you like a balloon. Stay exactly where you are,” I commanded with a low growl as I kept him locked hard against my stomach. I ran up over the table in front of me, the various possessed who’d been gambling there screaming and turning tail. I crushed ghost cards under my feet. They popped, explosive tingles marching up my ankles and across my legs. I ignored them as I pitched forward, flipped, landed, then promptly ran up another table.

  I moved as fast as my body would allow me. But I needed to go faster. Those priests had just reached this hall. The light was leaching from it, too. It was happening quicker. It was as if someone actively had their hands on a dimmer switch.

  I reached another wall. Though there was only a door several meters to the side, I didn’t have the time to run to it. Instead, I rounded a shoulder, gave it everything I had, and smashed right through the wall. Magic and sparks cascaded around me in a cloak of power. Still, I couldn’t keep this up forever. The priests, however, could. They were hardly in a hurry. I didn’t hear them hissing or screaming that they had to capture me – nor did they run. As I flew into a narrow corridor and ran across it, I could hear their steady footfall as they neared me from behind.

  “To your left,” the rat demanded with a squeak so shrill, it could have shattered glass.

  There was no door to my left, so I jolly well created one as I smashed into the wall. I dislodged large chunks of plaster, and they scattered around me as I rolled through into a sitting room. Two ghosts were obviously discussing some less than legal matters, and at the sight of me, they abruptly stopped. At the sight of the priests who followed soon after, they plain fainted.

  I climbed right over the couch, flipped, and went for one of the walls. At the last moment, I thought of something better. Intuition built in my gut, and it told me in no uncertain terms to go down. I didn’t imagine the basement levels of this gambling hall would be better or easier to escape – but I couldn’t deny my instincts. I pounded my hands down on the Persian rug and burned right through it. The floor was harder to destroy, however.

  The priests had already reached the hole in the wall I’d created into this room. I heard their quiet footfall as they entered. There was now only about five percent of illumination in here. It didn’t leave me much time.

  “Come on,” I spat as magic sparks escaped my lips. I punched the floor once more until a ripple blasted out through the room. It threw the couches toward the wall, disintegrated the carpet, and flattened my hair over my face. Finally, with one more pounding punch, I broke through the floor. I dropped down just as the illumination cut to nothing. The hair on the back of my neck didn’t just stand on end – it felt as if it disintegrated. As I jumped down, my hands were behind me – one of my sleeves the last thing to leave the room. It was cut right off. It disappeared as that blackness lapped it up like water to a dry sponge.

  I landed down on my knees in some kind of storeroom for every kind of alcoholic beverage you could think of. There were hundreds of glass bottles lined up everywhere. They even dangled from the ceiling. Some of them I recognized. Some of them were so toxic, I wouldn’t dare drink them even with my resurrection curse to back me up.

  “We need to get out of here,” Mr. Fenticle said.

  I didn’t thank him for being Captain Obvious. “How the heck are we going to do that?”

  “Not heck – Hell.”

  “Sorry?”

  “I believe I have just located a transport node – but it is one-way.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “You will. Smash through this room and enter the one beside it. To your left,” he commanded.

  I really needed to know what he had in mind, but I just thrust to the side and did as I was told. As I smashed my shoulder into the alcohol-lined wall, I created one hell of an explosion. It was one of the most colorful things I’d ever seen. As it sparked, it put New Year’s Eve fireworks to shame.

  All sorts of alcohol splattered
over me. Some of it tingled – some of it plain burned. I ignored it all as I smashed into the room to the side. It was lined with gravestones. At first sight, I just thought it was some kind of crypt, but then I realized they were arranged as if people could sit on them. There was an overly large one in the center acting like a table. “What is this place?” I hissed.

  “It’s a gambling hall for the true damned. The table in the middle – or the gravestone – is a transport node down to Hell.”

  I finally caught up to what he was suggesting, and I became so pale, I would’ve rivaled that old dame ghost who’d fainted.

  “I’m sorry, but you’re actually suggesting we go to Hell?” I couldn’t control my voice, and nor should I. It wavered as badly as an opera singer who’d been kicked in the throat.

  “It is the only way. It is also the only place Hilliker’s priests will not follow. Though that is not to say that you will be safe,” he added gravely.

  I really didn’t need his warning. While I was engaged to one of the Seven Generals of the Damned, that did not mean I would be welcome there. Nor did it mean there would be no forces there loyal to Hilliker. The denizens of Hell were not known to be trustworthy people. While some of the more higher-level officials and generals would likely be on my side, all I would need to do was accidentally run into the wrong person, and they would send me straight into the waiting arms of Hilliker. Nor could I forget that fact – Hilliker was in Hell himself. If I made a mistake, it would be my last.

  But did I really have any other option? After hesitating, those two priests jumped down behind me. With nothing else to do, I thrust forward. I jumped up and landed on the table. Before I could ask Mr. Fenticle what to do, the knowledge of it rose within me. I grabbed my engagement ring. I twisted it and concentrated. “Open a Hell gate. Take me... home.”

  Chapter 2

  Those words were enough. Eternal hell flame opened around me, spreading out from my feet in a circle. It did not burn. It didn’t even tickle. Heck, I couldn’t even say that it was warm. What it was was powerful and thankfully efficient. It consumed me, and I sank down through the gravestone long before those priests sucked the rest of the illumination from the room and my soul with it.

  I was sure to keep a firm hold of Mr. Fenticle as we descended.

  I had never gone to Hell. I’d fought plenty of its denizens before, and I knew all about it, but I’d only ever seen it in picture books and nightmares. That was about to change. With a pop, I landed in a massive field. It was not, suffice to say, filled with daisies. Heck, it didn’t even have a blade of grass. Calling it a field was overly generous. What it was was a completely barren wasteland. The only feature it had was a river. And by river, I meant a river of lava. It ran through the field just to my left. I was close enough to it that it should have been burning me to a cinder, but it didn’t seem to affect me. For now. A few last charges of Hell flame escaped over my feet. I frowned down at them. “Why isn’t this burning?”

  “Because Hell clearly knows you are its new mistress.”

  “Sorry?”

  “You belong to Sonos. The Hell flame must understand it would be a bad idea to burn you.”

  “I do not belong to him,” I trilled.

  “You do now. He won you fair and square in a game.”

  “He didn’t have me to begin with. Not really,” I added. I wasn’t going back on the fact that I now adored Sonos. But ownership wasn’t on the cards.

  “According to the great gambling house, he reinforced his ownership of you through that game. He now has you, heart, body, and soul.”

  I clutched my cross. It was probably the wrong thing to do in Hell of all places. But as I brought my engagement ring near it, it gave me a blast of hope and centered my mind. “He can have my heart. As for my body and soul – there’s more I need to do with them,” I growled.

  I walked forward. I got a few steps, then I kind of lost my pep. I frowned. “Is this really Hell? Where are all the... I don’t know, damned?”

  “This is just a portal point. It is a place where lost souls congregate. If you wait, they will arrive – as will guards. You will be able to tell them who you are and demand to be taken to somewhere protected.”

  I put Mr. Fenticle down. “Sure – if I want to be found out and handed over to Hilliker. We’re going to have to do this on our own.”

  “As you wish. However, if you do not want to pull rank and point out that you are Sonos’s woman, I suggest you change your appearance now to looked bedraggled.”

  “What?”

  “A collection of souls is about to arrive. Change yourself to fit in,” he commanded.

  A couple of seconds was not enough time to cook up a good disguise – let alone pull it on – but I didn’t have any other option. Squeezing my eyes tightly closed and cramming my hands on my face until I left sweaty marks down my forehead, I thought of the most bedraggled thing I could imagine. Seconds later, just as I could feel something starting to pick up around me, my appearance changed. The long coat and jewels disappeared. They were replaced by rags of clothes. My hair clumped around my shoulders. My face became drawn and gaunt. I was covered in dirt, too – as if I’d rolled in it like a happy dog.

  When I was done, I smiled – for a brief moment. Mr. Fenticle arched an eyebrow. “You look more like a mole and less like a lost soul. It will have to do. They are arriving.”

  He didn’t have to point that out. That energy continued to pick up around me. It was dense, and the way it shook made me tremble on the spot. That lava-filled river to my side bulged. It surged, and energy rose high off it. The very ground began to shake. Then it quaked. Cracks appeared in its surface as I was shunted down to my knees. I had to spread my hands and practically lie on the ground in order to retain my balance. Things started to pull themselves up out of the cracks. At first they just looked like disembodied hands – as if they belonged to rotting corpses someone had taken a scalpel to. But then I saw the rest of the bodies attached to them. Souls – both human and other – appeared all around me.

  They were in every state you could think of. Some looked fresh. Others looked as if they’d been cursed to wander in Purgatory for most of their existence. I could see by the looks in their eyes how old they were. For those who had fresh intelligence – and fear – it was clear that they’d only recently been alive. For the rest, the deader they were, the older they would be.

  “Do exactly what I say,” Mr. Fenticle hissed.

  I’d gone through enough with him by now to know not to question. I tucked my head down. My knotted, bloody hair trailed over my shoulders. It stank like week-old fish. Why exactly had I added that detail into my disguise? It was rank, and it was distracting me when I needed it least.

  “Soon, the guards will arrive.”

  I just nodded.

  Mr. Fenticle was right. As another surge of energy blasted through the lava field, I watched things start to rise out of it. This massive skeleton guard cast from gold and obsidian walked out of the lava, flecks of it falling onto the cracked field around me and blistering it further.

  I’d seen some pretty terrifying creatures in my time, but those golden black skeleton guards took the cake. It was all in the deadly looks in their eyes. Sorry – wrong word. Their gazes were dead. And before you point out that I’d used that particular phrase before, I meant it this time. There was such a concentrated lack of existence behind their stares, it was as if, with a single gaze, they could stop your heart and bash your brain in.

  I locked my arms around my middle and huddled further into the protection of my collar.

  Mr. Fenticle hissed beside me. “Drop your arms and act disaffected.”

  My nose scrunched up. “Sorry, disaffected? Like I’m some kind of angsty teenager? Is that how the dead are meant to behave?”

  “Just look at the other creatures and copy them.”

  More and more lost and broken souls were starting to pick themselves up out of the dust. They stood close t
o me, and I couldn’t help but turn my nose up at their stench. It was affecting me more than it usually did. Maybe because there was no breeze – not even the faintest waft of air. There was nothing to carry away the stench, nor the heat as those golden skeleton guards began to pick their way through the souls. While their bodies were solid, they were hot enough to be melting. As one came perilously close to me, I had to clench my teeth and hold on so as not to cast any protective spells. Mr. Fenticle shoved in close to me and looked up, a peeved but controlled expression on his face that told me I had to pull myself together.

  Gritting my teeth against the searing heat – because I sure as hell could feel it now – I managed to hold on just as another skeleton shifted past.

  “What happens next?” I whispered to Mr. Fenticle when they were out of earshot.

  “We will be divided and taken down to the various realms of Hell.”

  I desperately wanted to shift close and ask him what the heck we were going to do after that. He’d mentioned something about getting to Sonos’s place, but I knew it wouldn’t be that easy. I doubted I could just find his apartment or castle or hellhole – or wherever the heck he lived – rock up and walk inside.

  I couldn’t count the number of broken and lost souls that surrounded me now. I stared at a few of them but quickly realized it was counterproductive. The more I gazed their way, the more I felt like them. It was dangerous to convince myself I was dead. That was the one thing I would never be – unless or until Hilliker got his hands on me again. Just the thought of him set a fire under my ass. Crunching close to Mr. Fenticle, I pushed onto my tiptoes and followed the skeletons. They now stood at the front of the group and gestured toward the lava.

  My back bristled. Yeah, I hadn’t forgotten what Hell was. Damnation fire and all that wasn’t just for show. It wasn’t simply a story they used to scare kids. There were eternal flames in Hell. And there were trials that deceased had to go through with them. The whole part about sinners being the only ones who went to Hell was a lie, though. As Sonos had already evidenced, Hell was a far more morally nuanced place than that.