Hell Hath No Fury

'What the h*ll happened?' Greg asked me incredulously.

I stared at the charred, still smoking remains of my house. I felt sad, lost, confused and oddly calm. I should be pissed but I wasn't, probably due to the shock. Or the fear.

I also wasn't sure how to answer that question. I knew the answer but I didn't think I could handle the look on his face when he found out. I also couldn't go to the cops, there was nothing they could do to help. There was nothing anyone could do.

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned . Especially one like her... I thought to myself, horrified.

The firemen hadn't been able to explain the fire. There was no evidence of arson as far as they knew; which was how I knew it was her.

'Katie...' I whispered the name as the truth dawned on me. She must have found out about her. Oh God. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and fumbled it as I hit the 1 on my speed dial, my heat pounded as I listened to the ringing on the other end before the line went dead.

'Maybe she's still asleep.' Greg said soothingly. 'She's on vacation you know, maybe she decided to sleep in for a change.'

I nodded. 'Yeah. Yeah, maybe.' I tried to calm my racing heart going through all the possibilities. She could be sleeping still or in the shower or maybe she went for a run. That didn't explain her phone cutting off before the answering machine but if there was any hope that she was okay, I was going to cling to it like a drowning man to a life preserver.

I jumped about ten feet as my phone went off in my hand. The senders number was a jumble of letters and numbers.

Did you get my message? My hands shook.

Greg looked over my shoulder. 'It's her, isn't it?'

He was more right than he knew. I had mentioned her to him in passing but I'd never told him the truth. Only my edited version of it. I'd told him I had met a woman at the bar and turned her down. I'd told him she had become obsessed with me. That she was stalking me.

Two more texts came through before I could respond.

End it. Now. Or I will.

Oh and, tell your friend the truth.

I looked up at Greg who was still staring at my screen.

'What does she mean? Rick? What the h*ll is going on?' He demanded half angry, half scared.

I put my phone in my pocket and tried my best to meet my best friends eyes. 'I wasn't totally honest with you.' I paused, unsure of how to go on.

'What do you mean?'

I rubbed my forehead as anger and annoyance bubbled inside me.

'She isn't some random woman I turned down. Katie and I had gotten into a huge fight that night and I went to the bar and downed a few to many shots.'

'A one night stand isn't enough to cause this!' He yelled in frustration. 'What aren't you telling me?' Greg hated being out of the loop.

'Her name is Brigit. She's Irish. And... older than me.'

I could see the gears turning as he worked it out in his head. The fire, the older, beautiful Irish woman.

'How old?'

I shrugged and muttered something about not being totally sure but much older than she looked.

'Jesus. Tell me you didn't lie to a goddess Rick!' His voice was full of sheer terror.

I couldn't meet his eyes. Of course I hadn't realized she was a goddess until after I slept with her and she had been furious when she found out I had lied about being single. Some gods didn't care but Brigit had. She had flown into a rage and demanded I end things with my girlfriend. I was only able to calm her down by promising I would.

I'm not sure what I thought would happen. I guess I expected her to just forget about me and move on. I didn't take into account how obsessive the gods could be. My phone dinged again.

Time's up.