Soon they were pulling each other down to the floor, reaching with clumsy hands to drag their clothing off. Their mouths everywhere, not able to get their fill of the taste of each other’s body. In some far-off corner of his brain, Brian recognized that she felt instantly familiar, and he knew the feel of her weight beneath him, the sound of her heaving breath at his ear.

After they were both sated and lay there bathed in each other’s sweat, he had time to think over the madness of his day. He realized that he no longer cared whether it was all true or not. What was real was this flesh and blood angel by his side, who lay sleeping on her stomach like a child, her dark hair spilling over her back. What was real was the sudden tenderness like a knife-twist in his belly as he sat there looking down at this slip of a girl he barely knew.

In the half-light, something suddenly caught his attention. The girl had a mark just above her right hip, barely darker than her skin. It was in the shape of a crescent moon.