Fear The Reaper: Countdown to Wings of the Wicked Week 5.2

Watch the trailer for WINGS OF THE WICKED:

Week 5

Song: Samhain by We Are the Fallen

Memories flood through my brain

Tears drown my heart filled with rage

Blinding silence takes your place

Broken forever by this life

Why

Wake from where you lie

Don't say goodbye

I'm praying for more time

Don't sleep tonight

Heaven hear me, hold them safe

Time stands frozen, no more strength

Broken forever by this life

Why

Wake from where you lie

Don't say goodbye

I'm praying for more time

Don't sleep tonight

Lay low, peaceful dreaming,

I'm safe till your last breath shall die

Giveaway: Three Signed Hardcovers of

WINGS OF THE WICKED

Yes, THREE!
and possible FOUR!

Let's break blogger again!

This is PART TWO of Week 5. If there's another 5,000 comments I will throw in another hardcover of WINGS OF THE WICKED to make the giveaway a total of FOUR. Your prize for breaking Blogger in 24 hours is an awesome teaser :) Enjoy!

In honor of the ANGELFIRE paperback release on January 17 (next Tuesday AHHH!!!)

I am giving away THREE signed hardcovers of WINGS OF THE WICKED

and the only way to win them is to break blogger.

Not like we haven't done that a few times before, right?

>=}~

As for points, you decide how many you accumulate.
The more you comment, blog, and tweet, the more points you get.
So comment a billion times, you get a billion entries. Each comment is one point. Each tweet linking back here is one point, each blog post link is one point - there is NO LIMIT to how many entry points you can accumulate. Winners are still chosen randomly but the more points you have, the more likely you are to win! 

I have THREE copies to give away so there will be THREE winners!

If you tweet, please remember to add the hashtag #FearTheReaper so I can find them! Don't forget to give me some way of contacting you via blog link, email, twitter name... Whatever works!.

Entries close Sunday 1.15.12 at 11:59PM EST
This contest is INTERNATIONAL =)

Thank you for entering! HAVE FUN!!! Next week will resume as a normal giveaway :)

Aaaaaaand now for you TEASER TUESDAY! For breaking Blogger in less than 24 hours, I give you an awesome Cadan teaser! This is spoilery and teasery but whatever. Enjoy :)


~~~~~~~~

I drove somewhere I knew no one would find me, to the north side of town, to a park I’d been to with my parents a few times when I was little. It would be empty in the middle of winter and in the middle of the night, and I could avoid any contact with anyone, especially humans. I parked my car in the lot of an empty grocery store where it would be safe, and I walked beneath the lightly falling snow and lonely streetlights. A couple of cars passed me, and that was it for company. I relished the solitude and didn’t care that it was cold. When I got to the park, I trudged to its center and found a wrought-iron bench beneath a snow-covered tree and a single lamppost. I plopped down and immediately began to cry.

“This is a surprise,” said a voice to my side.

I jerked, startled, and looked up to see Cadan standing next to me. I wiped the tears on my face with my sleeve and made a very unladylike sniffle. I peeked at him and saw that he was staring at me with his head tilted curiously. “What do you want?”

“Did you even have a plan when you ran off?” he asked. “Where are you going? Do you even have a place to go?”

I snarled and wiped at the tears on my face before they froze solid on my skin. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“It’s no mystery that you’re very upset,” he said quietly as he sat beside me. “And your Guardian’s presence is nowhere to be felt. That is not a good sign.”

“Well, it’s nothing,” I snapped, and turned my gaze to the ground. “And you can go away now.”

“I don’t think so.”

“That was an order. I wasn’t asking for your opinion.”

“That doesn’t work on me, love. I’m not your Guardian.”

“Thank God for that.”

I expected a sharp retort, but he just looked at me. “I didn’t come here to fight with you,” he said.

“And I didn’t come here hoping to see you.”

He gave me a patient look. He seemed to tell by my hostility that I wasn’t in the mood for his jokes. At least he was smart. “I’m sorry, Ellie. I know what happened.”

I turned on him, snarling. “You don’t know shit.”

He narrowed his eyes, and fire flashed within them. “Don’t talk to me like I’m an idiot.”

The harshness in his voice surprised me. I didn’t expect him to say anything like that. Perhaps I deserved it. My gut twisted in a rage at the thought of the demonic reapers gloating behind my back. “Come to rub it in then?”

“I’m not your enemy, Ellie.”

“Aren’t you?”

He was silent.

I ground my teeth. Part of me wanted to fight him for the sake of fighting, but it’d do nothing to get me my revenge. “Why are you really here, then, if you already know what’s made me so upset? Do you want to tell me how sorry you are, or do you have another present from Bastian?”

He flinched and his gaze faltered. “I had nothing to do with that. I didn’t even know about it. If I had known what was going to happen, I would have done something to prevent it. I’m trying to help you.”

“You have nothing to do with everything, don’t you?” I snapped callously.

“I’m not going to take any of your crap, you know.”

I looked over at him, my mouth parting in shock. He had the nerve to talk to me like that?

His eyes were bright and gleaming, honest. “Your guard dog might be okay with getting bossed around and talked down to—”

“I don’t talk down to Will.”

“Oh?” He put his arms up on the back of the bench. “You sure about that?”

I opened my mouth to retort, but I had nothing to say.

“I’m sorry,” Cadan said.

I sighed. I had no right to be upset with him, since he was right, after all. “It’s fine. It’s all my fault anyway.”

“No, it’s not. The blame belongs to those who want to destroy this world and everyone in it.”

“I’ve managed to make Will hate me,” I grumbled. “I’m sure my grandmother thinks I’m a delinquent. Lauren’s petrified of me, and Nathaniel thinks I’m going to snap and kill them all . . . which I probably will.”

“Nah,” he said. “You’re not crazy.”

I huffed. “You haven’t seen me at my worst.”

“I’d still admire you for exactly what you are.”

“Don’t speak too soon.”

He smiled. “We all have our imperfections.”

“Most people’s imperfections don’t involve going berserk and trying to kill the people they love.”

He was quiet for a moment. “You have a lot more to deal with than most people. Nobody is like you. No one else is what you are, or has ever been what you are. You’re changing, trying to adapt to this world.”

“That’s not an excuse for me to let my power control me. There’s no excuse for me hurting innocent people.”

“True, but we have to try and understand you,” he said thoughtfully. “You are a being of two worlds, Heaven and Earth. What you’re capable of could be limitless. It’s not a question of if you can control your energy. Your body is human and your power is archangel—the most powerful being ever created. Something conflicts. An archangel was never meant to live as a human girl.”

What he said was almost exactly what Michael had told me when I asked him why I lost myself to emotion and to my power. Maybe he and Cadan were right. “There’s something wrong with me.”

“No,” he said softly, reaching forward to slide his fingers along my jaw toward my chin. The gesture was soothing, and in the frigid cold, his hand was surprisingly warm. The cold never affected the reapers. “There’s nothing wrong with you. Through your lifetimes, your humanity has grown stronger. Your human passion is taking over your angelic heritage, and I don’t think it knows how to handle all that divine power. Once you understand and can balance the two sides of yourself, you will be unstoppable.”

I looked away from him. “If Bastian doesn’t find a way to destroy my soul first.”

“I’m sorry for what he has done to you,” Cadan said. “For everything that he’s done to you. I’m not sure if I’m strong enough to kill him, but for you, I’d try.”

“I wouldn’t ask you to.”

He let out a long breath. “But I feel responsible. I should’ve done something sooner,” he said earnestly. “I wish I’d known that you aren’t some awful thing who only destroys. Maybe this would all be different.”

“I don’t think Bastian would’ve listened to you if you had tried to reason with him. He’s out to kill me for good. He’s pretty dead set on it, actually, if you’ll pardon my morbid pun. God, I’m making fun of myself dying. I am so screwed up.”

He shook his head. “You don’t understand.”

OMG DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT????? You 'll just have to wait and find out what the heck happened to get these two at this point.... MWAHAHA!