Page 122 of Angel Of Darkness

She wouldn’t trust the guy as far as she could throw his shadow-winged self. “Keenan lost his powers when he fell.”

“No, he just forgot them.”

Uh, what?

“Falling isn’t easy.” His thumbs stroked her wrists. She tried to yank away but he wouldn’t let her go. “Once you get here, you’re lucky if you can even remember your own name.”

Keenan hadn’t remembered, not at first. He’d told her that.

“Then the memories start to filter back. When they first come, you think you have to be batshit crazy. But then—then you start to know.”

Right. He’d fallen. Been there, done that. So, of course, Sam could speak from experience.

“You start to know,” he said again, “and then, slowly, the powers come back.”

Her breath seemed to be freezing in her chest. “You’re telling me that Keenan can kill with a touch.” Her gaze fell to their hands. “That you can.” Then why are you touching me?

“If killing that way was what I wanted, yes, I could do it.” His eyes glinted.

Good thing he didn’t seem to want it then.

“Sometimes the powers are locked deep inside, and you have to chip away at the locked box to get them out.”

Her stomach started to knot.

“Sometimes, you just need the right key to open that box.” His smile stretched. “You were a wonderful key.”

If he weren’t holding her hands in that unbreakable grip, she would have punched him. Not the sweet move of a schoolteacher, but the hard right hook of a vamp who’d learned to fight dirty. “You’ve been using me.” Her eyes narrowed. “Just how did Mike find out where we were hiding?”

His smile dimmed a little. “You think I led him to you?”

The hard suspicion in her gut said yes. “Didn’t you?”

His hold became harder. “I’m the one who helped Keenan find you in that cemetery.”

She realized he hadn’t answered her. Like Keenan, Sam couldn’t say just yes or no. “Angels can’t lie, but that doesn’t mean they have to tell the complete truth, right?” Because there was a difference. “They can avoid answering the question or they can—they can just twist their words. Twist the truth.”

He nodded. “I knew the first time I saw you that you’d be the key to making Keenan break.”

He’s getting lost in you. “I don’t want him to break.”

“Really? Don’t you want a little vengeance? Come on.” His voice lowered. “It’s just us. Keenan’s upstairs, busy hating the world. He won’t know what you say.”

“Let go of my hands.”

He didn’t let go. “I mean, if he’d just moved faster, just touched that vamp who attacked you that night faster, you’d still have your nice, picket-fence life. Hell, maybe you’d even have met your prince charming and be getting ready to settle down.”

Her claws were coming out.

“But he didn’t move fast enough, did he? Because of him, you suffered and you changed and you lost everything you held dear.”

She would have lost it anyway. No matter what Keenan had done, there wouldn’t have been a prince charming or a picket fence for her. “I don’t want vengeance.”

He laughed. “Good thing vamps can lie, huh?” Finally, he dropped her hands, but he still stood between her and the door. “In order to stir his powers,” he explained, “Keenan needed to let his emotions go. Angels don’t feel emotions, did you know that?”

She didn’t answer.

“So when they fall, they get slapped with them. The emotions are what strengthens us here and what weakens us.” His head cocked. “To get Keenan to conjure and control his fire, he needed rage. He got that rage when your life was threatened.”

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