Meeting My Succubus Ch. 02

"Well, I'm not sure which is worse, his grasp of Christian iconography, or his complete ignorance of amino acid sequences ... Some of those aren't even possible in terms of chemical bonds."

That put the tin lid on it. She was also pressing my sapiosexual buttons. By this point Judy had arrived and joined our little group.

I responded,

"Well, I hope he isn't listening, but I've got to say that you've pretty much nailed it."

Frank coughed, probably feeling excluded, and completely ignoring what had gone before, said,

"Adam. As you know I am planning to make a considerable investment in our joint project. However, I'm a bit concerned about the ethical dimensions of some of the potential outcomes, so I would like to involve Monsignor Kelly in that side of things, or more specifically Sister Mary as his representative."

I could not help it. I pulled a face that showed what I thought of this idea.

Monsignor Kelly jumped in,

"Surely you are not denying that there are potential ethical ... issues in your work, Dr Grant?"

It amused me that he suddenly invoked my title.

"Not at all, Monsignor Kelly, rather it comes down to my philosophy on outsourcing."

Now he looked puzzled.

"I'm not sure I understand."

Meanwhile Judy looked like she was about to have kittens, waiting for me to detonate, given what she knew of my opinion on the church and religion in general, and maybe wondering if there might even be fatalities.

"Well, there are things I am happy to outsource, Monsignor Kelly, like making glassware for experiments, or cleaning lab coats, but then there are other priority areas like HR, or sales that nobody will outsource, and even more of a priority is ethics, so I have no intention of outsourcing that."

I did not add that if I were to ever consider getting an outside party involved, his church would pretty much be at the bottom of the list, maybe one rung above the Nazi party. I did not want to be responsible for Judy having heart failure.

Frank was not looking happy and said,

"Now come on, Adam, please ..."

I didn't let him finish but then said,

"However, I have a suggestion ..." Judy was already as white as a sheet and I suspect she was expecting the worst. Even I was not sure what I was going to say, and I had a feeling that my motives were far from honourable.

"Judy here has been encouraging me to take on a PA for a while, but we never quite got round to it, since I insisted the person needed to have at least a decent grasp of the scientific basics and at the same time the requisite organisational skills. I have the feeling that Sister Mary here would be a good fit."

Judy was looking at me as if I had taken leave of my senses. I continued.

"As my PA Sister Mary would pretty much have access to everything we are doing. In the first place I would want her to express any ethical concerns to me, in case it was something I'd overlooked, but if we disagree then she will be free to report that to Monsignor Kelly and/or Frank, and we would have to resolve it at our level."

Interestingly I could see that Frank and Monsignor Kelly appeared inclined to agree, while I could sense that Sister Mary was rather more conflicted, and I knew why. She would have to work in close proximity to me. I could imagine her having to do a lot of praying ... or a lot of confessing ... and maybe even some self-flagellation.

Monsignor Kelly was quick to agree and praised my reasonableness. Then I added,

"However, there is one condition. Sister Mary would have to dress in civilian clothing."

She was the one to answer, clearly uncomfortable with the idea, maybe imagining that her nun's habit would act as a kind of spiritual suit of armour, protecting her against her lustful feelings for me, or mine for her.

"Why is that, Dr Grant?"

I smiled,

"Well, partly because you would find it would get in the way of you getting accepted by your colleagues, but more importantly because one of my colleagues, and for obvious reasons I will not say who, was in the orphanage of St. Canundra's, and is still in therapy due to the horrific abuse they suffered there, and seeing someone in nun's gear would make the workplace pretty unpleasant for them ..."

Her face fell. The scandal was a recent memory and had been exacerbated by the church moving the key figures to dioceses out of the reach of British law before they could be charged. It was clear Monsignor Kelly did not want to get into that and he said,

"I think we can compromise on that. Dr Grant has been very reasonable, and I think we have a good working agreement."

Sister Mary asked, in rather a quiet voice,

"What sort of clothing should I wear?"

OK. I'm evil. I just couldn't help myself.

"I think the standard office attire for female staff, you know, stiletto heels, stockings, a pencil skirt ..."

I could see her turning bright red, and at the same time I could sense that dressing like that was a fantasy that turned her on, although she could not admit it, even to herself.

Judy jumped in,

"Don't listen to him, dear, he's just pulling your leg. Just wear some informal clothes that you are comfortable in."

Sister Mary looked relieved, but I could also sense that hidden part that was actually a little disappointed.

I said my goodbyes, left Judy to make the practical arrangements and set off to find Clara.

I was surprised to see that she was still with Arthur and Elena, and the atmosphere did not seem awkward or tense when I joined them once more. They were about to leave so it gave us an excuse to do the same. Outside, as we parted on the street, Elena surprised me when she said,

"Thanks for the invite, Clara, I'll give you a call in a day or two to agree the details."

She surprised me even more when she leaned into me and kissed me full on the lips, then smiled, winked and said,

"I'm now going to see if Clara was right," before giggling and marching off, holding Arthur's hand.

I looked at Clara questioningly.

She responded, comically waggling her eyebrows like a villain in a silent film,

"What Adam? Have you forgotten? Society for the Promotion of Sin and the Seduction and Corruption of the Innocent!"

At that moment our taxi arrived, and we spent the journey home in companionable silence.

I had thought that I was tired, and that perhaps we might end up simply going to sleep. However, you have to remember that Clara was a succubus.

She insisted on changing into the oversized t-shirt that had been a minor purchase on a whim earlier in the day. It had that old slogan on it: 'COME TO THE DARK SIDE, WE HAVE COOKIES'. I loved the irony of that being worn by a bona fide sex demon. It came down to just below her bum and she looked utterly captivating in it. Sleep could wait.

Clara turned out the bedside lamp, which left the room was in near total darkness. She pulled me on top of her and in no time at all I was inside her.

Even though it was less than twenty-four hours since we had last had sex, I could feel the difference and knew that it was down to changes in me, both physical and otherwise, and that evidently those changes had continued. I knew how much she needed me to make love to her this time. She needed to be held, to be caressed, to feel the intimacy of skin on skin to the greatest possible extent.

There were no bedroom acrobatics, no screams of passion or shouted profanities. It was exactly what both of us needed. Clara wrapped her arms around me, holding me almost as though she wanted to pull me inside her, to truly merge the two of us. When she came it was with a low moan that made my whole body vibrate in sympathy, and which provoked my own climax.

In the afterglow I held her, neither of us speaking for a time.

Eventually, we surfaced, and though I was now definitely ready to sleep, or so I thought, I had to ask.

"Clara, about that business with Arthur and Elena ... you know there is no way I want to get involved with someone married. Aside from anything else, that Arthur seems like a really nice guy ..."

In the darkness Clara laughed.

"What's that got to do with it? If anything maybe you could think of it as helping him out."

As was rapidly becoming the norm, I was puzzled.

"What do you mean?"

Clara told me a little of their story which they had told her while I was off consorting with clergy. Arthur had been serving in the US embassy in one of the gulf states when he came across Elena. She had been tricked into going there from her Russian homeland for a secretarial job, only to discover that she was expected to essentially be a sex slave to one of myriads of princes in that little kingdom. Her own embassy was not interested. Arthur had married her in a secret ceremony as the only way to get her out of the country, which he managed due to his diplomatic status.

Somewhere in that process their marriage of convenience had evolved into one of love.

"Well then Clara, you are just making my point for me. After that how could I do that to him, or in fact to them?"

Clara sighed, seemingly at my obtuseness.

"Hmmm, Adam, you know people don't work like that."

"OK. Explain, oh wise and demonic one."

"This bit is mostly not what they told me but what I sensed, but I am sure of it just the same. I guess that Arthur secretly fears that she is with him out of gratitude, feeling that she is 'out of his league' when it comes to looks and overall sexiness, and at the same time she worries that given her inexperience she will not be enough for this older, more sophisticated and worldly man, and in time he will be bored with her."

I was still wondering where this was going but was inclined to believe her analysis.

"I am really not a 'good' person." I could even sense the air quotes around 'good' but before I could contradict her, she continued,

"A 'good' person would tell Arthur that the fantasies he is beginning to have of watching her being taken by a well-endowed handsome lover are shameful and perverted and that he should suppress them, perhaps even seek therapy ..."

I could not help but notice how evident it was that she felt strongly about this, there was a kind of evangelical fervour to her tone, though I suppose that in the context that might be an odd word to use.

"A 'good' person would ensure that Elena was wracked with guilt for entertaining fantasies of being ravished by a man other than the husband she owes so much to ..."

She was really getting into the swing of this.

"And that 'good' person would walk away, happy with themselves, leaving Arthur and Elena to enjoy a marriage of quiet misery, filled with guilt and shame and unfulfilled longings, until one of them cracks, and Arthur 'goes postal' or Elena is caught jumping the pizza delivery guy."

I was impressed.

"Or they might just be lucky enough to meet someone 'bad' ... someone like me ... someone who will gently lead them to embrace and share with each other their innermost desires. And if they do, they will end up being the kind of elderly couple that embarrasses their grandchildren with public displays of affection well into their eighties and gives people hope that lifelong love is not just to be found in romance novels.

"As you probably heard, I'm going to be meeting up with Elena for lunch."

For some reason I heard shades of Hannibal Lecter saying, 'I'm having an old friend for dinner'.

With that we really did fall asleep, wrapped around each other.