Page 83 of Angel Of Darkness

“Don’t worry, this won’t kill you.”

The scream never passed her lips because her voice was gone. Nicole fell and hit the ground. She stared up at the fallen angel who looked?—

Sad?

“It won’t kill you, and maybe—maybe it won’t kill him either.”

Darkness coated her vision. No, not darkness. Smoke.

Keenan.

“He needs to learn that he can’t save everyone.”

The fire raged.

“Let’s see just how far we can push him.” Sam’s dark voice drifted with the smoke. “Until he breaks.”

That bastard was supposed to help them!

She didn’t want Keenan to break. She wanted him out of the fire.

Keenan!

She couldn’t scream his name. Couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t move. She could only lie there as Sam slipped away, and the flames burned higher.

Chapter Eleven

The flames crackled around him, flaring high, golden and red, seeming to strike out like snakes as he followed the broken screams.

Keenan kept his head down, moving quickly, jumping and darting through the fire. Nicole was safe, he’d seen to it. Now he just had to?—

There.

He saw her through the flames. The woman who’d pulled the gun on Sam. She was behind the bar. Trapped by the fire. Her hand was over her mouth, and she was coughing.

Behind the bar. Great. Right next to the wall with the alcohol. The last place you wanted to be when flames were so close.

Her head turned. Her wild eyes met his. The flames swarmed higher, and he knew time was running out.

Then the bar ignited.

Damning the flames, he ran through the fire.

Nicole sucked in a deep gulp of air. One. Two. Her starving lungs filled greedily, and her fingers began to move.

Damn that Sam. He wasn’t helping them.

Breaking us.

She pushed up slowly as her chest heaved. The air was bitter with smoke, and it stung her throat, but she wasn’t about to be choosy then. She’d take what she could get.

Her gaze flew around the area. Cops were on the scene now, swarming in their patrol cars. They were holding a crowd back. A fire truck roared up the street.

No sign of Sam.

Or Keenan.

Still in there.