And then, piled on top of all that, there was this kiss.I'd been kissed before, by lots of different people, including the woman who was kissing me at...that moment. But she had never kissed me like that before. Nobody had ever kissed me like that before. It was a kiss that threatened to pull my insides out through my nose if I didn't suck in enough air to block that avenue of escape. My heart hammered in my chest. My lungs labored like I'd just finished a five mile sprint. My groin felt like it. “You are about to enter a vortex of power, a place beyond imagining, where birth and death, dark and light, joy and pain, meet and make one. You are about to step between the worlds, beyond time, outside the realm of your human life. You who stand on the threshold of the dread Mighty Ones, have you the courage to make the attempt? For know that it is better to fall on my blade and perish than to enter here with fear in thine heart!”In spite of the story she had heard, the ritual phrasing of the. "I calculate less than a ten percent deviation from projected out come." Your accuracy is amazing!" The second woman's voice breathed. "As always."Ena's response was merely a wane smile as her hand moved deftly. Drawing fresh cards from the left of her table. Turning them over in rapid fashion."Six of wands, indicating success." She recited almost nonchalant. "The four of swords, a period of rest." Enapaused, almost imperceptibly before turning the last card face up with a definitive click.. He let the bundle go and watched her walk back to the bathroom, where she disappeared for a few seconds. He waited for her to come back to him, and then reached for her, pulling her close. ‘What are we doing?’ he asked, watching her face go red. ‘I don’t know what you mean,’ she lied. ‘Don’t you?’ he retorted. ‘No,’ she said, and slipped away from him to sit down again. ‘Here, come drink your beer before it gets warm.’ She offered him the other bottle of beer, and he came and took it from her,.