Mistress of Siren Cove Ch. 13-15

This is a romance/fantasy about women who have the power of the siren and use it to control and take pleasure from men. It is set in the real world of today. It focuses on one of these women, who seeks to find a man who can see past her siren allure and love the real woman he finds inside. It is an allegory of modern love, which often focuses too much on the superficial. There is sexual activity in this story, but none of it is explicit. The story is being published in chapters as it is being written. Everyone is over 18.

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Chapter 13: The Science Lover

Elysia's daughter was two, and she still worked part-time in the Palace legal office. Her main job was the oversight of the office, ensuring that the legal office and the rest of the Palace departments worked together. Elysia also oversaw finance, intergovernmental relations, personnel, and other administrative departments. Her training with the Mistress continued, but the sessions were less frequent. Elysia had awakened all the powers she inherited from her mother, and the Mistress had little left to teach her. She consulted with her mother only for practical advice on using these powers in different situations she encountered.

Mother and daughter had become adept at combining their power to feel disturbances around the globe that might signal an imbalance in masculine and feminine forces, which could lead to violent or destructive events. Over the past year, they were able to neutralize the rise of a charismatic colonel with dictatorial ambitions in a budding African democracy, the development of experimental technology by a team of men that would allow them to manipulate the Japanese stock market, and another group that was trafficking in women on a massive scale.

Mother and daughter spent an hour each day together in a communications room, watching and listening to news feeds from around the world. Their combined power allowed them to sense information that was not necessarily being broadcast but which lay behind what they saw and heard.

In addition to broadcast information, they had a team that spent all day, every day, reading newspapers, scientific and technical journals, government announcements, and the like, looking for anything that might indicate potential changes in the energy of the world. Lately, they had been employing artificial intelligence to read and summarize information being published and flag information that might be of interest to the Palace.

The name Connor Bechner popped up as a person of interest to the Palace one afternoon. A search of his background found two PhDs: one in software engineering and the other in environmental science, both from Harvard, and received at the age of twenty-two. Now thirty-five, he had his own lab in Switzerland, with funding from an unknown source. His name came up because of a short paper of his in an older scientific journal, which set out a theory about reducing global greenhouse gases through technology. If successful, this reduction could reduce the pressure to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy. A critic of the theory wrote that the technology could work for one hundred years or so, but then the technology would cause the global atmosphere to collapse. An early promoter of the technology discounted this fear and assumed that scientists would find a solution to this flaw before it became an issue.

Bechner was flagged by AI because of information that his secret lab had expanded in size. The Mistress and Elysia listened to the presentation of what was known and then worked together, using their energy-sensing abilities, to determine if there was a threat worth investigating. Their ability could not provide specifics but could gauge the extent of the masculine energy surrounding this individual and his lab. If there was someone involved who knew the danger of this project and was going to go ahead with it anyway, they could sense this, regardless of how far away the activity was. They concluded that there was this kind of destructive energy and decided to send someone to have a look.

They sent one of their siren women to the lab, who, after a few days, was able to lure one of the scientists, Chambers, to her bed. From him, they learned that Bechner did not take meetings with anyone other than his senior scientists. They also learned that, as far as Chambers knew, none of the data could be taken from the lab. The funding for the lab was rumored to be in the tens of millions, per year. In other words, those backing the project believed in it and would spend a lot to see the technology implemented. Finally, there was a rumor that there was potential danger in this technology, but he did not know the specifics. Given what they knew, the decision was made to send Elysia, Antoinette, and three other sirens to Switzerland to gain influence over the lab personnel and neutralize the project.

The lab was near Bern, Switzerland. Not wanting to come in with a high profile, the women took rooms at the Grauholz, on the outskirts of the city. From Chambers, they learned where the senior staff, five different men, went to drink and let off steam. The three sirens accompanying Elysia and Antoinette each captured one of them, and over the course of a week gained a considerable amount of inside knowledge. Missing from what they learned was where the funding came from. When asked directly, the sirens heard the same from each man: the funding was known only to Bechner. The three senior men conflicted in their information, but the total staffing seemed to be over fifty scientists and engineers, plus support staff. Considering personnel, rent, energy costs, materials, and everything else, the lab budget must be over $10 million per year.

They learned that prototypes were already built and were being tested. Their sources could not know for sure, but the technology and working prototypes could be ready in a year, and they could be removing large amounts of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere a year after that.

Antoinette and Elysia listened to the reports and sent them back to the Palace. Elysia thought they had a lot of time to figure out how to neutralize this effort, if that was what the Palace analysts recommended. However, from the reports, and the fact that prototypes were being tested, the analysts worried that the technology was sufficiently mature that, even if it was neutralized in this lab, such as by cutting off funding, it might be sold to someone else who could easily pick up where this lab left off. It was important to stop the work now, close the lab, destroy the prototypes, and obtain all of the patents, research, and data, to be mothballed in the Palace vaults.

As the most powerful siren on the island, second only to the Mistress, it was Elysia who would hunt down and capture Bechner. He spent most of his time in the lab and lived by himself in a house nearby. It would be difficult to get into the office to see him. However, he and his five senior scientists sometimes went to a restaurant near the lab, to sample the beer and share a Berner Platte. It wasn't often, because the plate of smoked pork belly, pork chops, pork shoulder, tongue sausage, beef tongue, and even pig ears or tails was quite rich. Still, they said to each other, if it was once every week or two, why not?

One of the senior men would let Elysia know when they planned to lunch in this restaurant again, and she would be there, to get close enough to Bechner to set her lure for him.

They waited a week, and the call came. Elysia sat alone at a table, with a small beer and a sandwich, reading a book. She wore an old coat and a hat, which hid her allure as much as possible. When she saw the men come in and sit down, she began to hum to herself softly, eyes focused on Bechner, calling him to her. For most men, this was usually enough to at least get them to look her way. Bechner made no move and kept talking to his companions. Elysia reached out with her senses and confirmed that she was having no effect on him. She stopped her effort and simply tried to feel his energy. She could feel it, and it was not unpleasant, but there was no hint of a response to her lure.

Elysia rose, took off her hat and coat, and walked to their table, humming softly as she did. When she stood next to the table, she said, "Excuse me, I'm from Chicago. Do any of you speak English?"

Bechner remained silent, but one of the senior men looked at her, eagerly, and said, "Yes, I'm American, name's Tod." He stood up to shake her hand, and she could feel his willingness to go anywhere with her, right then, if she asked. Bechner, however, looked at her indifferently. There was no response at all to her siren call.

"Sorry," she said, "but I'm so interested in what you are eating. I've never seen anything like it."

"Berner Platte," the man said. "Only in Bern. Wonderful, if you like meat. Maybe you and I can have dinner sometime, and you can try it."

"Well, maybe," she said. "I'm not sure where I'll be. Let me have your number, and I'll call you."

Eagerly, he wrote down his number on a napkin and handed it to her. She nodded goodbye to the table, making one more attempt to get a response from Bechner, then went to the counter to pay her bill and left.

Immediately on returning to her room, she called her mother and told her what had happened. "No response, mother, nothing at all. It's like he was shielded from me or something. I had my lure out at full strength, and all of the men at the table practically had their tongues out, panting for me. He was totally indifferent. I might have been the waitress or something."

"Daughter, this happens. Some men do not respond to the siren call; not many, but they exist. You will not be able to control this man. Instead, you will have to work on the others, and hope that is enough. You have the phone number of one of them, and you can start there. The other sirens have three more in their thrall, and Antoinette can hunt the fifth senior man. You will need these five men to work on Bechner. They should be able to get you a meeting with him, and you will have to depend on your wits and your ability to read his energy to turn him away from his destructive path."

That same afternoon, Elysia contacted Tod and instructed him to come to her room at seven for dinner. He arrived at a quarter to seven, as she was still in her underwear. She let him in and walked him into the bedroom, where she sat him down on the edge of the bed and chatted with him as he watched her dress. She decided to play with him a little and removed her bra. She turned to him and said, "I don't need to wear a bra, do I? It's just us two."

"N-n-no, of course not," he said with a shaky voice. He was not an attractive man and would never have been in this kind of situation in his life. Still, he seemed like a nice man, and she did not want to torture him.

"OK, no bra." Then she pulled on a simple dress that clung to her body, led him to the sitting room, poured two glasses of wine, and sat down with him on the sofa. They talked about his work, and she listened attentively to what he had to say about his own activities in the lab. Once the five sirens had drained every bit of information they could from the five top scientists, all of which was being recorded, they would have a thorough idea of what was happening in the entire lab. At seven-thirty, room service brought dinner, and they sat down to eat. She was hungry and ate as much of the heavy food as she could. He ate almost nothing and just looked at her, in awe of what he thought was the most beautiful being he had ever seen. To him, she was perfect. She looked perfect, the things she said were perfect, the way she lightly touched his hands as they talked was perfect, and even the scent of her skin was perfect.

As they were having coffee, she laughed, "You are just dying to see my breasts again, aren't you, Tod?"

"Y-y-yes, oh God yes."

She rose slowly, pulled the dress over her head, and tossed it onto the sofa. Then she sat back down and picked up her coffee.

"Touch me, Tod. Touch me like... like... I'm a delicate porcelain figure; like I'll break if you're too rough."

Tod eagerly got up, stood behind her, and touched her body very gently, starting with her breasts. She allowed her power to respond to his touch, and twenty minutes later, they were lying on her bed, both naked, and he was pleasuring her in the softest, most gentle way possible.

Much later, she allowed him to use her body for his own pleasure and willingly accepted the gift of his manhood.

"You are mine now," she later whispered to the exhausted man. Then she sent him home to his wife, with instructions to tell nobody about her, and further instructions to come to her at the same time the next night. He was to tell his wife that he had been working late.

That same night, Antoinette took the remaining senior scientist into her bed. Theirs was not gentle lovemaking. This man was handsome, and once the power had arisen in her, she wanted him. Their lovemaking was passionate and fast. They both rested, and then their bodies joined in the dance again, and then once more. In the end, the man heard the words, "You are mine now," and went away happy, and eager to see her again the next night.

While the siren call did not work on Bechner, it certainly worked on his five senior scientists. They were all given orders to get their boss to meet with Elysia. They were told to say that she had important information to provide to him. He asked each scientist what it was, and they said she knew of a serious threat to his lab. He asked for more information, but they were told to say that Elysia would provide that information only in person.

While the five scientists worked on Bechner, the five sirens kept them enthralled by sleeping with them every two or three days. Three of them had wives, and the others had girlfriends. The wives and girlfriends were all suspicious, but the sirens were relentless, and the men could not help but keep coming back to them.

After two weeks, one of the men, Adam, was sent in to threaten to resign if the meeting did not take place. Bechner did not believe him and still did not understand why his closest associates were so adamant about the meeting. Bechner refused the meeting, and Adam quit the next morning. Bechner stood over him while he was cleaning out his desk.

"Adam, why are you doing this? Why are you insistent? After all the years we have worked on this, you're acting crazy!"

Adam looked at him steadily and said, "She's telling the truth. There's a serious danger facing our lab. I don't know what it is, but I believe her, and if you don't trust me on this, then I'm wasting my time working here."

He left with his personal belongings, while Bechner followed him out to his car, unable to comprehend any of this, and begging the man to stay. As he sat at his desk that afternoon, the scientist named Tod came in, making the same demand. "You must take the meeting and listen seriously to the woman, or I am gone tomorrow morning."

Bechner was bewildered by what he thought of as some kind of rebellion, but he had no choice.

"OK, Tod, OK. Set up the meeting." Then he called Adam and told him the meeting would take place and begged him to return. Adam agreed, and the meeting was scheduled for the next morning.

Elysia was not a natural beauty. She was certainly pretty, and her manner was appealing. She was young, tall, well-proportioned, with good skin and hair, and a nice face, and many men would be attracted to her, even without her siren allure. Women, who were not affected by her power, would think she was nice-looking, but nothing special. She knew this and knew that she could not use her looks to control him as she did so easily with other men. While getting ready at the hotel, she spent extra time with her makeup and clothes, something she ordinarily never did. She thought he might have some response to her natural good looks. It was worth a try, she thought.

As she walked into the lab at eight the next morning, she looked as good as she could, and she geared herself up to be as charming as possible. She had threats to make, serious threats, but wished to hold these in reserve. Before anything, she wanted to understand why he would be willing to take such risks with the planet. She still had her power to sense and see his energy and would know when he told the truth. She would also know how he felt about the questions she asked.

Early on, she had asked her mother if her power would let her read minds. Her mother smiled and shook her head. "If only we could, if only we could. But we can ask questions, and usually sense if the answer is yes or no, even if the person says nothing." This would have to be how she approached things.

When she walked into his office, he did not stand. His entire body read suspicion. She knew that he would think that she had some kind of power, power at least to push his top men to the point of quitting. He would know that she could therefore hurt him, but he would not know how or why. Elysia expected all these feelings, and her senses confirmed that she was right.

Bechner was as she had seen him in the restaurant, handsome. If she could, she would have loved to bring him to her bed and spend happy afternoons with him. He also had the look of brilliance, with eyes that showed an intelligence beyond most people.

"Mr. Bechner, I'm Elysia Palmara, and I'm here to help you."

She waited to feel his response, but there was none. He had good control over his emotions and would be an excellent poker player. The air in the room was thick with anticipation, like two fighters eyeing each other over the referee at the beginning of a match.

"Ms. Palmara, nice to meet you, I'm Connor Bechner."

"Mr. Bechner, can I call you Connor, and you can call me Elysia? Maybe this will relax the tension in the room. I really mean it, I'm here to help you. Right now, you have a danger looming over you, and I can help you get out from under it."

"OK, Elysia, I'll play your game, whatever it is. What's the danger?"

"First, let's talk about your project here."

Elysia did not know everything about the project. She did not know the funding source, which was the most important thing. But she knew a lot. For half an hour, she summarized the project for him, its progress to date, the hurdles they were trying to overcome, and the current estimated time for completion.

Connor tried not to feel or express emotion, but her ability to read his energy was highly attuned after two years of working with her mother. Each data point she ticked off found surprised confirmation in him. If something she said was wrong, she quickly clarified that what she meant to say was that the particular fact was only possible, and one of the things she did not know with certainty.

At the end of her presentation, she sat quietly as he composed himself to ask what he most wanted to know. She had shaken him. It was good to have him off balance like this, but not too far off balance. She did not want him to react with fear or anger. For one thing, she could not protect herself. She had thought of having Tod in the office, to stand between her and Bechner if necessary, but her sense of Bechner was that he could control himself. She hoped she was right.

"How do you know all of this? Nobody in this lab has all this information, and I assume this is just a summary of what you know, correct? You have detailed information to support this?"

"I don't have your data files, if that's what you are asking, but yes, this is only a summary, and my team and I have much more detail on your project. Our specialists are right now working to fill in the missing pieces."

"Your team? Who are you?"

"We may get to that later, Connor. Just know that I have substantial resources to back me up, and to help you. I say again, I'm here to help you."