Sunday, December 30, 2012

Santa's Little Helper Scavenger Hunt


BTS Tours and Freya’s Bower are proud to present the Santa’s Little Helper Scavenger Hunt. 32 blogs have linked together to allow you to hunt for 32 different words that will be hidden in each post, so at the end of the hunt you will have 32 answers to plug into the rafflecopter. Please DO NOT leave your answers in the comment section. We want this to be fun for everyone, and not take the challenge out of the game. So this is how it works.

All the blogs listed below will post their game piece on their allotted date. You are looking for one word (related to Christmas or Sex) to plug into the rafflecopter as your answer. For Example:'

If you are on Close Encounters with the Night Kind, and find your word (clues will be provided for you in the banner) you log into the rafflecopter form and place your answer in the box marked Close Encounters of the Night Kind. Follow along the entire Scavenger Hunt and collect all 32 clues. We will be drawing for 4 $25 dollar Gift Certificates to Freya’s Bower. Happy Hunting!!!






Amanda, graduate student and devoted follower of the Greek god Apollo, is intrigued when she meets Jesse, a handsome young scholar who shares her love of both the classics and the occult. He quickly sparks her interest--and ignites a dark flame of passion between them. Together, they embark on a shadowy path that leads Amanda straight into Jesse's scintillating underworld of vampires, magick, and secret societies.

Little does Amanda know she is about to fulfil a legacy that began over thirty years ago and ended in tragedy. Can she learn the truth about her identity in time to help those whom she has grown to care about and find happiness in her new life with Jesse?

Blood of the Dark Moon combines the classic eroticism of vampires with a touch of modern sensual romance and occult intrigue.


Excerpt:
Some time after they had left the diner, Amanda could only guess that they were venturing further into Queens and would soon, perhaps, be in Long Island. She kept scrutinizing the roads and the signs, looking for places she recognized. Unfortunately, she hadn’t traveled very much out of Manhattan during her stay at NYU and so nothing looked familiar to her. She settled for chatting with Jesse and enjoying the view from her window.
It was almost midnight when Jesse finally pulled off a major road and stopped at a nearby rest stop. He parked the car off to the side and gestured towards the sky.
“You can’t see this in Manhattan. Damn, it’s beautiful.”
She stared up at the sky and saw all of the individual stars that had been obscured by the pollution from the city. Amanda leaned back against the car, finding herself awed by the majesty of the sky combined with the gentle, clean breezes that swept through her hair. Away from the highway and the noises of the city to distract her, she experienced the outdoors at its fullest. She was spinning away in the galaxy towards the stars.
With a flourish, Jesse opened up the back door of the car.
“Here, sit down with me.” He sat on the seat and pulled her onto his lap. Wrapping his arms around her, they gazed up together at the night sky.
“Gods, it’s beautiful,” she breathed.
As he brushed her hair away from her face he merely commented, “And so are you.”
She turned to smile at him before resting her head onto his chest. They stayed that way for a few moments until Amanda began to feel that something was odd.
She racked her brain to figure it out, still bedazzled by the night sky and the feeling of being in his arms, but couldn’t think of it.
Then at last she realized what it was: her ear was up against his chest, but she couldn’t feel nor hear a heartbeat.
Puzzled, Amanda wondered if it was just because his leather jacket muffled the sound, but that couldn’t have been it. At their close proximity, she should still be able to hear or feel something.
Figuring that the late hour and the fatigue were doing strange things to her mind, she dismissed it as her imagination. But in the silence between them, away from the city and the noise, the only breathing she heard was her own.
I must be losing it. But as she stared up into the sky, too many things fell into her mind, persistent in their logic. Amanda had never seen Jesse during the daylight, had never seen him more than perhaps taste food, didn’t know what he did for a living other than “freelance computer work”, and now she couldn’t hear a heartbeat nor him breathing.
“Jesse?” she queried, her hesitancy showing in her voice.
Feeling him freeze behind her, she wondered if he knew what was on her mind, and thought to phrase her next words with caution.
“You’re not a normal guy, are you? I mean,” she continued, trying not to rush through her words, let alone sound nervous, “not that I’m…all that normal myself, and all, but….” Her voice trailed off. Amanda did not know what to say, or how to say it.
Many moments passed without a response. With great deliberateness he ran his hands through her hair, and she delighted in the feel of his fingertips as they coursed through the strands, brushing against her neck as soft as silk.
In that moment she remembered their first dinner outing, when Jesse showed her the Latin magickal text which referred to strange allegories, symbols and various arcana. She recalled that the text kept referencing “blood” in some mystical context.
“Jesse?” Her voice was quieter, and she was no longer so certain that she was crazy.
YOUR TIME HAS COME.
Author bio: Adrianne Brennan stumbled into her love of writing by accident at the age of ten with a creative writing assignment for her science class. The end result was a science fiction comedy featuring numerous puns regarding vegetables. Adrianne's works were previously published through Aphrodite's Apples Press and are now published through Freya's Bower, Love You Divine, Running Press/Constable & Robinson, and Torquere Press. In addition, she is a member of EPIC, Infinite Worlds of Fantasy Authors, the Midnight Seductions Authors group, and an alumnus member of Kappa Gamma Psi, a co-ed national professional performing arts fraternity. The author resides in Boston, Massachusetts with two cats and a car she has aptly named "the TARDIS." She assures her readers that people tell her it looks bigger on the inside.
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