Page 67 of Tequila for Two

“You okay, girl?”

“Horace was just here. I used your pouch on him,” I said briefly and I heard her quick intake of breath.

“What happened?”

“A cylinder of fire and then he disappeared,” I said.

Miss Elva was silent for a moment and I waited.

“Then that was the right one to give you. That’s the devil’s work, right there. The pouch was meant to match his power so whatever he had going on was reflected at him tenfold.”

Huh. Well, wasn’t that interesting.

“You are a wealth of surprises, Miss Elva,” I finally conceded, too tired to think anymore.

“Child, just be glad you had it. Messing with the underworld is nasty business.”

“Is he gone now?”

“Oh, Horace won’t be coming back. I suspect the Goddesses are going to take good care of him,” Miss Elva chuckled and I felt reassured by her laughter.

“Thanks, Miss Elva.”

“You go on and have a good night. Squeeze that hunk of a man and give him a little time to process all this. He’ll come around.”

I hung up and eyed Cash as I waited for him to say something.

“Ring of fire.”

“What’s that?” I asked, tilting my head in confusion at him.

“You know, Johnny Cash. Ring of Fire. I fell into a burning ring of fire…” Cash sang creakily and I gaped at him like he’d lost his mind. Cash sighed and rubbed his hands over his face. “I’m tired. But I’m taking the whole ring of fire thing and the correlation with me being named after Johnny Cash as signs from the universe that I’m in the right place. And that’s all I can process for the night.”

A sign from the universe? Was this really my level-headed investor boyfriend? I gasped as he stood up and, yes ladies, threw me over his shoulder, taking the stairs two at a time to the bedroom.

Okay, so maybe he wasn’t so levelheaded after all.

But it looked like I was about to step into my own ring of fire.

Epilogue

On the otherside of the Keys, Horace shivered by the side of the road, holding a hand over his privates. He’d woken up naked, scratches covering his long body. He trembled as a flash of headlights crossed his vision and he stood on shaky feet, holding his thumb out.

The car blasted past him, horn blaring, as a soda can flew from the window and landed at his feet, splashing brown liquid across Horace’s body.

“Those imbeciles! If only they knew who I was!” Horace seethed, pacing by the side of the road, furious that he had been left alone.

“Where are you, oh mighty one? Why have you forsaken me?” Horace screamed to the sky. He’d been promised a rich life, after all.

A flash of blue light shone from behind him and Horace stiffened, before turning slowly.

A woman, naked but for acres of hair that wound around her, smiled beautifully at him from within her blueglow. She was beautiful in a way not known to man, almost impossible to look directly at.

“Goddess Diana,” Horace said, immediately dropping to his knees.

“You’ve been a naughty boy, Horace,” Diana spoke, her voice both wondrous and awful at the same time.

“I know, I’m sorry,” Horace whispered.

“Oh, it’s far too late for apologies. You’ve caused some major disturbances in the spiritual world. And opening a portal? Tsk, tsk,” Diana clucked as she floated above him.

“I’ll close it, I promise. I was wrong,” Horace cowered beneath her.

“Oh, you’ll close it. When we send you right through it,” Diana said, raising her arms.

“No! I don’t want to go there,” Horace screamed as Diana poured her light into him and he disappeared from the side of the road.

Diana floated for a moment, her eyes trained on the spot where Horace had just been. Sighing, she dusted off her hands and winked out of sight.