Fire and Ice

A Total-E-Bound Publication

www.total-e-bound.com

Fire and Ice

ISBN # 978-0-85715-962-5

©Copyright Sara York 2012

Cover Art by Posh Gosh ©Copyright May 2012

Edited by Amy Parker

Total-E-Bound Publishing

This is a work of fiction. All characters, places and events are from the author’s imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, events or places is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form, whether by printing, photocopying, scanning or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher, Total-E-Bound Publishing.

Applications should be addressed in the first instance, in writing, to Total-E-Bound Publishing. Unauthorised or restricted acts in relation to this publication may result in civil proceedings and/or criminal prosecution.

The author and illustrator have asserted their respective rights under the Copyright Designs and Patents Acts 1988 (as amended) to be identified as the author of this book and illustrator of the artwork.

Published in 2011 by Total-E-Bound Publishing, Think Tank, Ruston Way, Lincoln, LN6 7FL, United Kingdom.

Warning:

This book contains sexually explicit content which is only suitable for mature readers. This story has a
heat rating
of
Total-e- burning
and a
sexometer
of
1.

This story contains 62 pages, additionally there is also a
free excerpt
at the end of the book containing 10 pages.

FIRE AND ICE

Sara York

How can an angel win the woman his heart desires when he’s trapped in a demon’s body?

With Raphael’s soul ripped from his angelic body, he’s forced to inhabit the demon Lash’s ugly form until he can help Alexandria overcome her anger and hurt. Raphael’s been in love with Alexandria for years and wants her, but he’s Lash now and despises his new body. How could anyone fall in love with him, much less the beautiful Alexandria?

Alexandria doesn’t know what’s got into her. Rafe is the man of her dreams, but when she touches Lash a firestorm of desire is unleashed… She has to have him. Confusion about her desires leaves her vulnerable to the evil fate Rafe has planned for her.

Can the angel in demon form, Lash, fight off Rafe and save Alexandria from hell, and himself from the eternal punishment of living as a demon?

Dedication

Every book that comes to life took someone to believe in it. I want to thank Sue Swift for believing in this book and thank her for all she has done for me. Sue, you’re the best.

Chapter One

Raphael had known he’d made a mistake the minute he’d reached down and touched Alexandria, bringing her back to life, but he hadn’t thought the punishment would be this harsh. He loved the woman and hadn’t been able to stop himself from interfering. All he’d needed was more time to get to know her, but if she’d died she would have been lost to him in the human afterlife.

Now he lay prostrate in the Court of Angels, his wings vibrating with fear and anger at himself. How could God have let this happen? He hadn’t done anything that bad, just saved one girl.

“The sentence shall be read,” Michael’s voice boomed over the assembly.

Jophiel, the Angel of Judgement, banged the gavel and spoke. “The all-knowing, all-seeing God has decided, based on the crime described in the notes, that Raphael knowingly and willingly interfered in God’s divine and perfect will. Thus his soul shall be taken from his body, denying him his angelic powers and form, and placed in the earthly body of Lahash, the Deceiver.”

Raphael groaned, his wings collapsed over his outstretched arms, hiding his body from the court. He wasn’t deceiving any of them, but he needed the comfort and security the thick wings provided. He hadn’t been without his wings in forever, but now he would be stripped of his position and his rights. Why had he interfered?

The image of Alexandria filled his mind, the most perfect woman he’d ever seen. He hadn’t been able to resist rescuing her.

Jophiel continued reading. “Raphael will be sent to Earth to redeem himself.”

Raphael looked up, his eyes bright. He could redeem himself—at least he had hope, and he would do whatever it took to win back his wings.

“Raphael shall be known as Lash. Any reference to his true form as his own, the name Raphael as his own, or any part of his works as his own will result in Puriel’s wrath striking against him, inflicting pain that will force Raphael to his knees.”

Shit, Puriel loved to inflict pain and he would judge harshly. No way could Raphael trick him. He was stuck with the new body, but how bad could it be? Raphael closed his eyes and thought of the bodies he’d seen demons inhabit on Earth, and he cringed.

Jophiel’s voice droned on, leaving Raphael depressed. “Henceforth, Raphael shall be known as Lash, the angel in the demon’s body, until such time that he redeems himself. Lahash the Deceiver and Interferer in Divine Will shall take the form of Raphael on Earth. He shall be given the name Rafe. Both Raphael and Lahash will have the opportunity to redeem their souls. Whosoever completes the task first shall have the right to choose in whichever form they wish to live out the rest of eternity. Time is limited. After first contact with Alexandria, you will have seven days to accomplish your task. So be it.”

The gavel crashed down, and Raphael’s soul was ripped from his body and tossed through nothingness, before being stuffed into a scrawny form that felt cramped and smelt funny. He crawled to his knees and stood on wobbly legs. The gravitational forces of Earth felt strange to him, and he stumbled as he made his way across the room. He reached up and felt his face before he looked down and saw his pasty, white limbs. He pushed the door to the bathroom open, revealing a mirror.

He caught his reflection and horror filled him. Gone were the good looks, the great tan and the awesome body that had been his earthly host when he chose to walk among mortals. In its place was a plainness that was pitiful, bordering on ugly.

The name Lash was burned into his brain, giving him no choice but to call himself by the disgusting moniker. He tried to think of himself as Raphael, but dropped to his knees as pain slashed across his chest. Damn Puriel—he was tuned in not only to Lash’s words, but also to his thoughts.

His soul shrank and his body ached from the switch. God had plans that Lash didn’t understand fully, that much was evident. That he’d saved Alexandria didn’t matter—instead, it had upset the Big Guy. The punishment might have been fitting, but the harshness of it sucked. He’d switched lives, tasks and holy appointments with Lahash, the Interferer in Divine Will, and Lahash had been given a chance to redeem himself as Raphael, the Shining One Who Heals.

He would win this challenge and have the right to his own body. Nothing could stop him. He had to win.

* * * *

Four months later

The explosive noise almost deafened Alexandria as the glacier cracked open fifty feet below her, sending a shiver of fear straight through her body. There was no escaping the ice when it fractured. She’d been on Gunsight Mountain many times and knew Sperry Glacier like the back of her hand. The entire mountain should have been stable—it had been categorised that way when she’d checked with the United States Geological Services that morning, and the weather had stayed cold throughout the day. Hell, the sun wasn’t even shining on the glacier because of the cloud cover that had moved in after lunch.

Having spent her youth climbing the mountains right outside Columbia Falls, Montana, she was comfortable surveying the massive ice floes on the northern mountains for the USGS. More than once she’d escaped danger on the ice, but this fissure was scaring the crap out of her as it opened up a few inches from her feet.

Her team of three scientists and two climbers had already descended another hundred feet down the southwest side of the mountain, too far to offer help if she fell into the crevasse created by the fracture.

Alexandria took a fleeting look at her team, worried one of the guys would act heroically and try to save her. They needed to escape to safety, not play saviour. In hindsight, they shouldn’t have split up, but the day was almost done and she’d told them to start heading home while she packed up the last bag of equipment.

The sound of the cracking ice echoed across the mountaintops as she watched her team scramble across to the rocky slope three hundred yards away. The distance looked astronomical, too far to climb without help on the unstable ice, but she would have to try.

The shattering sound of the ice breaking drowned out her calls to her co-workers. The crack widened below her, and sweat drenched her brow and dripped down her back. The split in the ice raced towards her, gaining speed with every inch. The weather was freezing on this mountain, but fear made her blood run hot.

Her legs shook as she gauged the distance again. Her heart pounded and she leapt, clearing herself from danger. Her sigh of relief was short-lived as the rope securing her to the mountain snapped. Her foot slipped and her legs gave way. She found herself face down on the hard ice. Her cheek stung as she scraped across the snowpack and her body started to slide towards the crevasse.

Before she fell over the edge of the fissure, her foot caught on a chunk of ice and she stopped moving. Fear pinged around her brain, and for a second she was at a loss as to what to do next. Contacting rescuers on her radio was her only hope of survival. With her right hand she pulled out her radio and brought it to her face. The wind picked up and flung the black case out of her hands. It skittered across the ice.

“Crap!”

Alexandria’s traction failed and she dropped closer to the opening in the ice. Again she caught a foothold and stopped a few inches from the crevasse. Every attempt she made to crawl up failed. Her hands slipped farther, leaving her numb with fear. The freezing trench below would swallow her up and take her life.

She grasped a rift in the ice, and rescue seemed a reality. If she could hold on, someone would make their way over to rescue her. The seconds ticked by, seeming to last forever. Her foot cramped and her hand seemed frozen, but she was safe. She watched the clouds overhead, wondering if this would be the last time she ever saw the sky. Thoughts of death freaked her out. She didn’t want to go down that path, but every time she moved she slipped farther into the icy channe
l
.

The stress relief techniques she’d learned in survival training came into play. She breathed deep, slowing her heart rate and trying to focus on solving her problems, not freaking out. Then the ice hold broke and her feet went over the edge of the crevasse. Her heart sank and her breath whooshed out of her lungs.

Images of her dad filled her mind. His smiling face as he’d finally made it to the top of Mount Everest. Then years later, when he’d gone back up the mountain and passed away during a horrible storm, as she’d held him in her arms. This wasn’t how she was supposed to go. She was a survivor. Everyone said so. The storm that had taken her father on that high summit hadn’t killed her, and neither had the car crash that had taken her mother. She would beat this damned glacier.