Book Giveaway: Betrayal: Angels of Death

Heather Bowen, a drug and alcohol counselor, has always been able to see auras, but now she’s being haunted in her sleep by a red-eyed man who’s peddling a psychotic drug to her clients.  After her sister becomes his next victim, Heather is determined to prove her sister’s innocence. Life as she knows it becomes more unpredictable when the new counselor, Scythe Angel, arrives. It doesn’t take Heather more than a first meeting to determine this larger than life man is commanding, pushy, determined and downright sexy. However there’s something about him she’s not sure she can trust, no matter how she finds herself drawn to him.

Scythe knows he can clear Heather’s sister’s name, but to do it he must confront his elusive and dangerous brother who seems to be bound to the dark side. With his own wings on the line, Scythe has to discover a way to save his brother’s soul before it’s too late. An arduous task for Scythe becomes even more complicated by his unearthly attraction to Heather.

For both of them to succeed they will have to learn to trust each other or fail; losing everything they hold dear. 

Excerpt

I sucked in my breath.  The heat drained from my cheeks.  He couldn’t be!  No red hair, no pink skin.  How could he be my father?  Not with his black hair, muscular physique and olive skin.  Liar.

I narrowed my eyes and clenched my fists.  My heart rate sped up.  Had to be my mother’s damn boyfriend.  Was he going to blow me away?  I licked my lips and glanced at the kitchen.  I retreated further.  Kyle nodded at me.

Darin struggled against one of the giants restraining him.  “Release him,” my so called father said.  “They can’t hurt us.”

“Ya wanna bet on that?” Darin retorted.

One of the men disappeared.  Evan, Kyle, and I eased away, inching towards the kitchen.  Darin slapped at his arm as he was dragged in mid-air to the recliner and tossed in it.  The vanishing man reappeared.  Darin’s mouth popped open.  “What are you?”

“A Golden Demon,” he answered matter-of-factly.

“I’m Gregory, King of the Golden Demons,” the man claiming to be my father said.  “This is Montae.  As you can see, he has the power to be invisible.  The other is Nicholi, he has the gift of sight.”

“What insane asylum did you escape from?” a hard voice said in the kitchen.

We turned.  Rusty aimed a gun at the three Incredible Hulks.  I waited for them to turn green and tear their clothes apart, but Rusty showed no fear.  I exhaled.  Safe. 

“You three against the window,” he said.  “Now.”  They halted.

“Why must you humans always resort to this?” said Gregori, King of the Loonies.  He snapped his fingers and the gun appeared in his hand.

“What? How?”  Rusty stammered.

Rusty charged.  A blue and green blur flew off Gregori’s chest and hit Rusty full force.  He fell to the ground with an outline of a dragon sitting on him.  It narrowed its yellow eyes and growled.

“This is Charonte, my pet dragon.  Show yourself Char.”

In a flash, a green and blue dragon sat on top of Rusty.  Sharp claws pinned his shoulders and thighs.  The dragon’s tail twitched.

“Leave him alone,” I cried.  “Take me, but don’t hurt him.”

My voice choked.  Tears formed in my eyes.  The King of the Hulks could torture or kill me as long as they left the Ellises and Rusty alone.

Gritting his teeth, Rusty said, “No.  Shut up, Costa.  I can handle this.”

“Yeah, I can see that,” I said.

I rushed the dragon and kicked its thick green hide.  “Shit.” I winced.  Pain gripped my toes.  The giant lizard extended its neck and snapped at me. 

“Get away from that thing.” Evan seized my arm and yanked.

“No,” I yelled.

“Ah, well, this isn’t going well,” Gregori said.  “Should have brought your mother.”

At the word mother, I quit fighting and pushed Evan’s fingers off my arm.  So, these assholes were there to kill me.  Well, I wasn’t going down without a fight.  I was dead anyway.  I grabbed an ashtray on the table and chucked it at Gregori, smacking him in the forehead.  He stumbled.

Without thinking, I dashed for the kitchen.  I had to get out and get help or at least have the psychotic X-Men follow me, but I skidded to a stop.  Standing in front of the back door, a woman had her arms folded across her chest.  Her long brown hair curled down to her hips.  She looked like something out of a biker magazine with her black leather tank top and jeans.  Her illuminating green eyes focused on Gregori.  She had to be my mother.

I lunged at a drawer and yanked out a butcher knife.

She stared at me and glanced at the knife in my hands.  Rusty had shown me how to use it, and if she took one step closer…

“I’m not going to hurt you.”

“Yeah, where have I heard that before? Now stand back.”

Guest Post

I have always had a fascination with angels, especially the angels of death.  One of my favorite movies of the angels was the Ten Commandments and God sent the angel of death in the form of a mysterious cloud.  I thought it was terrifying. I know it is tame by our standards today, but I think the subtly pulled it off.  Sometimes too much hype can take away from a scene.

I’ve been to Italy and visited the Uffizi and the Vatican where I have seen so many beautiful paintings of angels.  My favorite artist is Sandro Botticelli and I have stared at his painting, The Birth of Venus.  In Rome, the Castel Sant’Angel and the Ponte Sant`Angel captured my imagination with their sculptures of angels.  I went on the Angels and Demons tour in Rome and this trigger my imagination regarding angels.     

In the series, Supernatural, angels could be just as vile as demons and just as untrustworthy.  I wanted my angels to have some flaws, but they still chose to make the right decision.  I wanted my series to be different than some of the other series out there so I concentrated on the Angels of Death.  They are warriors and escort souls to Heaven, Hell or Purgatory.  Purgatory is where souls are delivered until someone prays for them.  Not as bad as hell, but it is a lonely place and the souls must live over their sins and experience regret.      

Angels always seem to be taking a back seat to demons, but in my story, Michael the Archangel, is more terrifying than the demons in my book.  After all, Michael cast Lucifer out of Heaven.  Michael reviews all deeds based on right and wrong.  Not much gray from him.  Michael sets the tone of my book and is the leader of the Angels of Death.  Eventually, he will have his own book and his set of rules will be put to the test. 

But for now, my story centers on Scythe, who is second in command and given an unbearable task of bringing in his wayward twin brother.  Scythe knows Michael will not be forgiving and wants to find a way to save his brother.  This is where Raphael the Archangel steps in.  He likes to rattle Michael’s cage and has agreed to help Scythe save his brother.  Raphael will one day have his own book as well, but for now, he will continue to irritate Michael.  I will eventually add other archangels, but they will slowly be woven in through the series.

I’d like to know what fascinates you about angels.  Who are your favorites?   

a Rafflecopter giveaway