Lorelei crouched on the futon, unable to believe she'd escaped unscathed. Of course, Azaziel was getting away.

Sighing, she stood up. The cement floor was icy beneath her bare feet. The wind had slammed the door shut behind the angel. She laid one hand on the doorknob. If she couldn't get out in human form, he meant for her to stay until he'd calmed down.

The door swung open in her hands, its bolt sheared off by Asmodeus's visit.

Lorelei peered out into the night-black warehouse. Once more the building echoed with silence. She was alone.

She resumed her own eyes first. The darkness resolved into a long narrow hallway. As she crossed it, her legs lengthened out painlessly. By the time she reached the roll-down door to the outside world, her arms had regained their strength. She clawed open the door, flung out her wings, and leapt upward into the morning sky.

The rush of wind against her flesh exhilarated her. She hadn't realized how emotionally captivity had affected her. Anger flooded into her. How dare he demand she remain in mortal flesh in his company?

She caught a thermal in her wings and soared upward. Where the hell had he gone? She scanned the skies around her, half-expecting him to drop toward her, pinions flashing.

She passed over a pool hall surrounded by a ring of police cars. The frantic red lights revolved silently. Whatever had happened was over. Two policemen lounged against the fender of their car, smoking cigarettes. Other men were busy inside the bar. Lorelei filled their minds with sudden desire—just because it amused her.

Aza would avoid all of that excitement. She peeled away toward downtown.

*

As Lorelei searched the alleys between the derelict movie palaces, she didn't worry about being seen. People reduced to living in these doorways saw angels and devils regularly, for all the good it did them. Despite the daylight, humans who didn't expect to wouldn't see her at all.

The tarnished white flash of Aza's presence caught her eye. He stood in mortal form in one of the alleys, consoling himself with more whiskey.

Lorelei smiled, cutting her lower lip on her sharp teeth. She swooped into an updraft to gain height for her attack. Then, folding her wings, she plummeted down at him. If lucky, she might break him by speed alone.

Aza looked up at her. The bottle dropped from his fist. His expression was joyous. For someone who had insisted she maintain mortal form, he certainly looked delighted with her now.

The connection inside her hips tugged. This angel was hers!

At the last moment of her attack, Lorelei resumed her mortal form. Helpless, she dropped the last few feet into his arms. Her weight knocked him back against the crumbling wall, but they didn't topple into the unsavory debris carpeting the alley. Pity.

Aza's lips found hers. She used to think Paradise would be an eternity of sex. By the time Aza took his lips from hers, the kiss had made her reconsider.

Which of them had ensnared the other?

*

The end, for now.

You can read the completed novel Lost Angels -- of which this is the first chapter -- on Amazon at http://amzn.to/2aYZizs