I've noticed the touching thing, too. Not with Lara, but with Thomas and Harry. Someone said Arthur might've been wearing a long-sleeved shirt, which is possible. Or Lara could have had gloves on, but the idea that she was reining in her Hunger is more interesting. However, in the same book, Thomas describes how Lara and another vampire got sick after touching a love symbol (Lara even has the scar), so I don't think merely keeping the Hunger in check is viable.

Instead, I wonder if Arturo is an old-fashionable man and refused to consummate his relationship with his fiancee (or if she made the choice and he went along with it. I remember she said he falls in love easily). That way, he wouldn't have been protected from Lara's touch, as physical intimacy seems to be the key to it. Anything other than non-loving-sex could be considered platonic.

As for Thomas, he burns when he touches Justine because... the demon loves her, too? If the Hunger is capable of feeling love (and it understands the emotion enough to know it hurts it), then feeling it would be self-destructive, so it doesn't matter how much control Thomas has over it (and he has a lot, as he was able to feed off his clients without killing them), near Justine, the Hunger goes crazy, like Gollum (love her/hate her).

I agree with DonBugen and isocrazy, but here’s my extended take on it:

Michael fights with his Faith and Amoracchius. He isn’t a lunatic like Sanya, so he wouldn’t employ a bazooka and an AK47 to deal with his enemies; Michael fights to give people a chance to repent and redeem themselves, not to kill them. So…

If Michael were using Amoracchius: Langtry wins. Even if Langtry suddenly “remembered” the First Law of Magic and decided not to use magic to kill Michael off, it would take only a wrong lifting of Amoracchius to unmake it, stripping Michael of his advantage. Michael would be so shocked, Langtry would be able to dance polka on his head and set him on fire without Michael even realizing it. Result: Michael dead, Langtry winner, Langtry enforcing the Laws of his people.

If Michael were using any other sword/weapon: Langtry becomes a memory. In either scenario, I believe Langtry wouldn’t use magic (even if they dueled like Harry and Ortega (which is impossible, because the KOTC aren’t signatories of the Unseelie Accords, and neither is Michael himself, so the rules don’t apply)), the Merlin wouldn’t use magic (again… First Law of Magic, don’t be an ass and cause people to die with your magic, it’ll taint you and make you a warlock and itstheendoftheworldyoudiegotothehills #hysteriaensues). Considering Langtry’s age, he’d probably be well-versed in using swords (I doubt he knows to operate a bazooka, and maybe even if he did, it’d react badly to his magic), which would be useless: he’s old and frail whereas Michael trains every day with his ferocious mean bitch of a wife and was probably trained/tipped by Shiro (who was a great swordsman) and has been on the field for two decades (or more). With Michael were wielding some else… like, say, Ice, Needle a light saber or any other fake, non-Holy Sword… it wouldn’t even be a fair fight. Remember that Michael kicked Father Douglas’s ass for kidnapping his daughter and scaring her. If Langtry tried to kill Molly, Michael would make Langtry regret being born.

Also, Langtry wouldn’t “order Molly's execution anyway” or “lash out directly to achieve his will.” He’s a politician above everything, and he wants to avoid dividing the WC, which would happen if he ignored a voting. Besides, even if Rashid and Eb decided to stay out of it, LaFortier and Ancient Mai wouldn’t, therefore giving the Merlin an advantage—because, staying out of it doesn’t mean they’d have voted for Molly to live—, and if Harry decided to kidnap her and hide her, then LTW and Martha Liberty, alongside virtually everyone else, would be calling for Harry’s head as well. So, Michael with a sword will defeat Langtry, but Michael with a Sword won’t; not that it would make a difference, because Michael wouldn’t be involved in a fight with a man who can’t fight (Langtry’s weapon is his magic, not a physical weapon).

Additionally, not even a KOTC can judge another—Murphy tried with Nicodemus and look at what happened, and Harry also tried in one of the first books, unmaking Amoracchius in the process. Michael’s duty as KOTC isn’t to pass judgment; after all, the KOTC wouldn’t even cold-bloodedly kill a Host, Michael didn’t try to kill Lea or Thomas in Bianca’s ball, or Harry after Harry touched Lasciel’s coin, so Michael certainly wouldn’t get into a physical fight with an old man; he’d likely try to convince Langtry to put Molly on probation because he was going to convince her to get rid of her magic; this Langtry would accept, but he’d send Morgan to monitor Molly and make sure she was letting go of her magic. At the same time, Langtry wouldn’t act thinking of God’s will, because the responsibility of his position as the Merlin and the Laws of Magic, means destroying warlocks like Molly and defending innocent mortals from people like her.

So I just voted “Other.”