You can't kill demons for thousands of years without creating a nemesis or two and Rafi's nemesis is a real killer...
Disguised as an agent of the World Health Organization Rafi searches for the source of a demon-fueled plague. When he meets a biochemist named Sophia at the center of the pandemic, everything changes.
Excerpt
Rafi’s eyes narrowed suspiciously in the darkness. Something was waiting for him. His footsteps were as silent as the grave, but it would sense his presence. Rafi’s hands and arms tingled like ants crawling up his sleeves. That alone was enough to warn him a powerful demon was near, but he knew her M.O. There was a baby in this room. He stepped deeper into the small bedroom. The dim glow of the city lights crept through the open window casting shadows across the nursery. He could see her slender form lying in the crib wrapped around the baby.
She wouldn’t leave the room alive. But could the baby be saved?
“Come closer my tall, dark stranger.” Her seductive whisper snaked into his ears.
“Lilith,” Rafi whispered, “Come here and give me a kiss my lovely.” His eyes lingered on her long shapely legs draped over the side of the crib.
Lilith’s thin nightgown did little to conceal her full hips and narrow waist. Her pale green skin held a luminous glow in the darkness. A gentle shift of one shoulder and her plunging neckline moved to allow a naked breast to slip free of its binding. Rafi took a step closer.
“Oh Rafi, my love, you vex me with such empty temptations.” She spoke in breath-filled tones. “Will you kiss me with all the empty passion of your noble heart as you slit my throat?”
Rafi’s wicked grin flashed in the darkness. “Lilith you are as beautiful as the day you burst from your cocoon in hell. It’s hard to believe you’ve given birth to millions of demons. Your waist is as small as a young maiden’s. Your breasts are as firm as a new bride on her wedding night.”
“I am the mother of all demons.” She whispered softly and pursed her full pouty lips. “I am the mother of all lower demons. No other has come before me; none shall follow. I am as beautiful as an archangel and as deadly as an angry viper.”
Holding her gaze, Rafi added, “If you release the baby, I promise I’ll give your tiny ass a comforting squeeze as you take your last breath.”
Lilith giggled and glanced down at the newborn infant in her arms. “He’s such a beautiful boy, only three days old. You are so unfair Rafi. You wound me so with your perfect timing. If you could have come just a few minutes later, I would not be forced to choose between the softness of your lips and the taste of his sweet breath.”
“You know how this is going to end” Rafi added softly, his eyes flashed a deadly warning.
“Oh, you are so irresistible Rafi.” She placed the baby on the mattress, then rose to stand in the crib. “Your hair is as black as demon blood. You have a Spaniard’s noble brow and dark skin. Your silver eyes sparkle like the coins placed on the eyes of the dead. Coins to pay the ferryman for their journey to hell.”
As she rose, her long flowing red hair began to writhe and sway with a life of its own. She swung one leg over the crib’s rail and straddled it. Her hips began to move in a slow, rhythmic motion. She ran her tongue across her lower lip seductively, circling her mouth.
Rafi reached slowly behind him to touch the handle of a large hunting knife sheathed on his belt. “The ferryman is an empty legend. He doesn’t exist.”
“Oh, my love, but he does.” She kicked her other leg over the rail and landed silently on the floor. “You are my ferryman; you have sent me across the river of death far too many times to count. It’s getting rather annoying.”
Rafi chuckled, “Perhaps you should consider that simple fact before you return again. Save yourself the agony of another death, another fall from your master’s grace.”
He’d genuinely forgotten how beautiful she was. Lilith’s high cheekbones, big blue eyes, and plump lips were the perfect compliment to her large round breasts. She reached out toward him with her long slender arms as Rafi gazed into her eyes. Her skin pulsed with an eerie pearly hue reminding him of why he’d come.
She cooed, “You realize each time you banish me back to hell I am forced to give birth to hordes of demons for a hundred years before I can return. Perhaps you should reconsider, save yourself some time and effort. As long as I am here on earth, no new demons are born. The same demons who seek to do mortals harm. Demons you will one day have to banish time and time again until the end of days. Wouldn’t it be easier if they had never been? Aren’t you overwhelmed by the constant wandering you are forced to endure? Never resting, never slowing, and always searching in your blood lust. Don’t you yearn for one moment of rest, one night of peace? I can make that happen, Rafi. Just for you. Isn’t that worth the lives of a few thousand babies? Let me stay, and you may even have time to relax, take a lover. Relieve some of that nasty sexual tension that’s building up inside your tall, muscular form.” Lilith moved slowly toward him away from the baby. “Perhaps tonight you will finally let me ease your suffering, Rafi. I can suck all that stress and tension away if you would only allow me.”
Rafi smiled and whispered boldly. “Lilith, the last place I want to stick any part of my body, is inside you.”
She reached up as if to kiss him. Her full lips parted, and she moaned with pleasure. Rafi slid the knife out of its sheath. Her hands eagerly explored his chest. She ripped his shirt open and kissed his neck. Her snakelike hair writhed in his face. Rafi’s face filled with disgust as he was reminded that her beauty was in sheer contrast to her dark soul.
Suddenly, she turned her face up to him and hissed, baring her fangs. Springing from the floor, Lilith wrapped her legs around his waist and sunk her nails into his chest. Rafi’s blade sprang to life. A white fire flowed across its edge. In one swift movement, he drove the knife into her back.
Lilith gasped and arched against him with the impact. The fire from the blade burst through her chest and spilled into the room around them. He pulled the blade free, and she collapsed into his arms.
“I hate being pregnant.” She whispered with her last breath.
Rafi smiled sadly down at her and said, “I know.”
He laid her gently on the floor and moved swiftly over to the crib. Placing his hand on the baby’s head. The child was unharmed. He turned back toward Lilith then hesitated. Turning back to the infant, he placed his hand on the baby’s chest. A heart murmur, the baby, had a small hole in his heart. Rafi allowed his hand to linger, gently closing the hole. Instantly the little heart began to beat stronger. Rafi smiled and gently rubbed the baby’s tummy.
He glanced back at Lilith as her body turned to ash and spread across the floor as a warm summer breeze wafted through the window. Rafi walked to the window and climbed out onto the fire escape. Climbing to the roof, he turned and gazed at the busy urban landscape that surrounded the small neighborhood. A light rain began to fall. The skyscrapers glistened in the distance haloed in the darkness by raindrops.
New York City was not where he wanted to be. Big cities were full of crime. Crime caused a high concentration of negative emotions. Negative emotions made it difficult to locate the demons.
Mortal emotions such as anger, jealousy, or envy were like an aphrodisiac to demons. They would cling like leeches to anyone filled with vengeance or cruelty. New York, like Chicago, Munich, Paris and so many other cities around the world were urban playgrounds for lesser demons. Luckily, Rafi wasn’t after the lesser demons that caused headaches and insomnia; he was after their masters.
Taking a deep breath, Rafi arched his back. A pair of silver wings ripped through his gray T-shirt and shimmered in the dim light. He pulled the shredded T-shirt off and tossed it on the roof. Moving to the edge of the building, he stepped off and glided down to the alley below.
He landed softly, and his wings disappeared back inside the bare skin of his back. He walked the short distance toward the subway entrance as the rain washed over him. Brownstones lined the street. Small trees circled with black rod iron fences ran along the sidewalk. He loved the musty smell of the rain. It signaled rebirth. He sighed a rush of relief into the night air. Thousands of infants could sleep safely for the next century now that Lilith had returned to hell. He stopped himself from wondering how many had fallen to her bloodlust before he could stop her.
Professional Reviews
A Touching Follow Up!
This second installment in the series picks up right where the first one left off and is no less compelling. Stanford has done a great job of seamlessly weaving one story into the next. I really loved the character of Rafi and his healing capabilities. This book is full of heart and emotion and all the things that take a suspenseful, tension-filled battle between good and evil to the next level.
The Power of His Touch
This is the second book in Alaina Stanford's Archangel Series. If you loved the first book, you won't be disappointed with this one.
Rafi is the Archangel with the Power to Heal, along with the job of sending demons back to Hell.... and he has his work cut out for him when Lilith, an old enemy, discovers that even Demons have Free Will, and comes back before her time of banishment is up.
A possible pandemic of a demonic nature had the Archangels traveling the world trying to find it's source and send the Demon responsible back to Hell.
A beautiful young Doctor who specializes in finding the source of a disease and developing a vaccine, meets Rafi in an unusual way and he begins to develop Earthly feeling for her. The longer an Angel treads the Earth the more susceptible they become to human emotions and Rafi must fight these feeling and keep to the task of locating the Demon Master and eradicating him.
The book continues from where " The Light of His Sword" left off and takes us on another amazing journey, Good against Evil and the strong emotions that go with it. You won't be disappointed.
I highly recommend "The Power of His Touch".
I enjoyed this book
This is the second book in the series. Rafi, an archangel, is walking on earth to rid it of demons. His newest mission is to save people, maybe the world, of a deadly pandemic. From which is caused by a demon. Rafi and the other archangels have to find the demon who created this pandemic and abolish him. If that isn't enough, Rafi also finds himself having to deal with another demon named Lilith. Rafi also finds himself quite intrigued by Sophia, a woman he is working with, while he is disguised as a World Health Organization agent. Can he complete his mission, or does he go for the girl?
I enjoyed this book, but I liked the first book better. I enjoyed learning more about Rafi, and we get to meet some new archangels. I really enjoyed that this story left off where the first one ended, with Alyssa, Samantha, and Gabe. I liked all the description of the wings, and how the archangels are able to help someone with a touch. And that they all have the same powers, but each archangel has a power that they excel at. We learn that things aren't what they use to be, and demons have figured out how to return back to earth before their 100 years are up. All because they have free will. The Power of His Touch is a really good set of books, they keep you wanting more, and I would highly recommend them.
Blending Southern Gothic mystery romance, fantasy, theater, dance, music, and flashes of humor, tells the story of a pair of lovers in two separate time periods who find themselves battling an evil fifty years apart.
Blending Southern Gothic mystery romance, fantasy, theater, dance, music, and flashes of humor, tells the story of a pair of lovers in two separate time periods who find themselves battling an evil fifty years apart.
