___________________

Ignoring Brad, Neal lifted a hand and stroked Ana’s cheek.  “I keep hearing how much you’re into blood…why don’t you—oomph—”

Ana felt it, a punch of psychic energy, blasting through the air.  She grabbed Brad as Neal went flying backward and crashed into one of the glass-fronted media cabinets.  Glass, DVDs, and CDs exploded around him at the impact and he fell to the floor—seconds later he was up, moving quicker than the eye could track.

She felt the punch of Brad’s power again and she shook him, distracted him for just a second, long enough for the swell of power to fade.  “Brad, stop.  Now.”

He shrugged her off and squared off with the vampire.  Once, whenever he used a power display like that, it would show on his face, in his eyes as he pushed his limits.  The nosebleeds had stopped more than two years ago, and Ana wondered if just how far those limits had expanded.  She sure as hell didn’t want to find out now, though.

“You little fuck, I’m gonna knock the shit out of you.”

Ana whirled and glared at him.  “The hell you will!”  She might be a coward, but nobody threatened her baby brother.

He sneered at her.  “Get out of my way, bitch—you know you want to.  Weak-assed bitch.”

From the depths of the room, people started to stir.

“Neal, back off…”

“Come on, man…”

“Backing off sounds like a damn good idea.” Bradley shoved around her, once more planting his skinny butt in front of her, protecting her—damn it, she was supposed to protect him.  It was her job, one she failed at, miserably.

___________________

Just a quick reminder on the contest:

• Runs through 12/1.
• Read the complete rules here.
• Comment @ my blog (Not via facebook, amazon, myspace, etc) to enter. Each comment gets you one entry. You can enter via blog comments once each day.
• If you post a link to the contest and then email me @ contest4shiloh(at)gmail.com, that will get you an additional ten entries. Put link in the subject line.
• If you preorder and forward the receipt to contest4shiloh(at)gmail.com, that will get you an additional twenty entries. Put receipt in subject line. Please remove all sensitive personal data.
• You can enter each way-if you post a link, comment and preorder, that is 30 entries, as well as one entry for each day you visit the blog to comment. You could get up to fifty entries for the grand prize.
• Names will not be shared/sold/traded/spraypainted on a billboard.
• Please note, to enter for the small daily giveaways done during the week, you must comment @ my blog.
• Daily giveaways will be Monday-Friday. Winners will either be posted here or notified via email so please make sure you check back often.
• Please do not cheat-trying to comment more than once a day, using different names/emails, is cheating and you’ll likely end up disqualified and barred from entering future contests.
• Do not post to sweepstakes sites. These contests are for current and potential readers and I do not want to them to be posted at sweepstakes sites. Should this contest end up at sweepstakes sites, I reserve the right to end the contest without warning and without giving away the rest of the prizes in the contest.
• Each (daily) contest thread will be closed within a day or two of its original posting.  So enter while it’s open!