The Doctor and the Slime Girl

Chapter 1: Prey and Hunters

Henrick rolled a rubbery ball made from a tropical plant’s sap in his fingers, one of several substances he found mentioned in the rare occult texts talking about making ghosts visible to the naked eye. Since the day he was reunited with his beloved ghost maid Theresa he used all his knowledge as an occult researcher to find a way to make her less of a ghost and lead a more normal life as a couple with her.

Cool fingers running through his hair pulled him out of his deep thoughts and he looked up at Theresa standing next to him, or better said at her sexy black and white uniform. She moved a fresh cup of tea closer to him on his desk.

He knew she smiled at him and smiled gently at her. He didn’t need to see her face to know her expressions, he just knew what they were. The one time he did see her real and cute face, it was engraved forever in his memory. He took her hands in his and caressed her black fingerless gloves with his thumbs. ‘My love.’ he whispered. She pulled at one hand and gestured with a sway of her black and white laced maid cap for him to turn his seat towards her. He turned his chair and she straddled him, leaned closer, and kissed him with her cool and invisible but soft and full lips.

He slipped his hands from hers and caressed her thighs while she pressed her body against his. Her short skirt crawled up on her hips and he moved his hands along the length of her thighs and her firm bare behind. She embraced him, slipped her tongue into his mouth, and kissed him with the same passion as in their first night together while grinding her mound against his hips and the growing part of his body inside his trousers. ‘I love you so much, Theresa… ‘ he whispered in her mouth and danced his tongue around hers.

Theresa shivered at the touch of his fingers stroking against her sensitive parts between her firm buttocks. Even if she no longer had a warm and real human body, it still reacted in all the same ways and Henrick’s fingertips became slick quickly.

The urgent ringing from the doorbell startled the both of them.

‘By Jove!’ said Henrick and took a deep breath to calm his pounding heart. The doorbell rang again. ‘Who on Earth dares to disturb this fortunate time right now?’

Theresa chuckled and stood up, pulled his handkerchief out of his breast pocket, and wiped his fingers. He sighed as he stood up and kissed her quickly. ‘It had better be important to interrupt our precious moment together.’ he said and she nodded. The bell rang impatiently again while he went down the stairs. ‘Yes, yes! I’m coming!’

He opened the door briskly and gazed out into nothing before noticing the young boy standing in front of the door. The boy held up an envelope. ‘What’s this?’

‘A letter from doctor Russell.’ the boy said. ‘He said it’s urgent.’

Henrick read the name on the back of the envelope. ‘Louis Russell? What could he want from me?’ he said and looked at the boy again, but he’d already left and hurried down the street. ‘What’s all this about?’ he muttered as he went back up the stairs to his study, ripping open the envelope and pulling out the letter.

Theresa waited patiently for him to finish reading and he laughed out loud once when he did. He gave her the letter. ‘This is from the biggest non-believer of occult science I know, Louis Russell.’ he said and sat down. ‘He’s a doctor, and I have to admit a very good one, and he’s also busy with research in the medical field. I’ve met him several times at the university during presentations and he constantly dismissed my findings and that of my fellow researchers.’ He leaned back in his chair. ‘And now he seeks my help because whatever plagues his house has sent his housekeeper and a couple of pest exterminators running. They mentioned me by name as maybe the only one who can catch whatever is there.’

Theresa put the letter on his desk while he shook his head and chuckled, took his hand, and pulled gently on it. He looked up at her. ‘You want me to go and take a look?’ She nodded. ‘Help the one who’s been mocking my field of science all this time and now all of a sudden calls for me?’ She nodded again and placed her fingers on the letter, then on her chest. He sighed. ‘Yeah, I understand from his writing he’s pretty desperate right now.’ She squeezed his hand once. ‘All right, I’ll visit him and see if there really is something or not.’ He stood up and she kissed and hugged him. He smiled at her and stroked her behind underneath her skirt. ‘I’ll return as soon as I can, we have something to finish.’

Her cap shook lightly as she giggled and she poked his nose.

xxxxx

‘Doctor Russell.’

‘Doctor van Schwaffle.’ greeted the tall and tired looking man at the door in return. He stepped back and gestured inside. ‘Please come in.’

Henrick hesitated for a moment as he realised he hadn’t seen Louis looking this ragged and unshaven ever before, then stepped inside the front hall of the large house he knew had belonged to the Russell family for generations. The house had remained mostly the same since it was built and most of the land around it still belonged to Louis, although a lot of it had been used to build and rent out houses while the city grew. Louis guided him to a study at the back of the house and offered him tea.

‘I can imagine you’re wondering why you would be asked to come here by me of all people.’ Louis said as he sat down.

Henrick sipped the hot tea while he observed how much older Louis looked since last time they exchanged words at a presentation of the rituals and medicine used by tribes in the far East. His once full black hair looked thin and flat with grey mixed in. His face had also lost its liveliness and was pale and thin. ‘It must be something quite extraordinary.’

Louis nodded, lifted his own cup, and put it down again. Despite his looks his eyes still exhibited his defiant strength. ‘I still don’t believe any of that ghosts and curses mumbo-jumbo but my housekeeper refused to work for me unless I called in a pest exterminator, and now exterminators refuse to come unless I get you to have a look first.’

Henrick nodded. All the times he was called to investigate a possible haunting and found the cause of it had been critters or insects had given him a respectable reputation among those professionals. Not the reputation he aimed for though. He sighed on the inside. ‘Well, tell me what happened from the beginning.’

The chair creaked lightly as Louis shifted in it. ‘It began a while ago when Sarah, my housekeeper, noticed food went missing. Thinking it was mice she set up a few traps but strangely enough the bait was gone the next morning while no mice were trapped. Sometimes the trap hadn’t even sprung. More food began to disappear and Sarah saw something scurry around not just the kitchen and pantry but all over the house on occasion. We set more and different traps but the result was the same.’ Louis leaned forward. ‘Or actually worse. Some traps had been sprung by an object placed in them like a smoking pipe or a spoon.’ Henrick raised his eyebrows and Louis sat back. ‘That’s when I called in the first exterminator. He set traps again and searched around for the vermin and nests. He found a couple of nests behind loose wall panels and in a corner of the attic, but no mice or rats. Just the macabre remains of a cat’s tail.’ Louis made a disgusted face, then spread his arms in a gesture of bafflement. ‘Yet still something took the bait!’ He leaned forward again. ‘Then during one of his searches in the attic he was supposedly attacked by something vicious. He claimed it came out of nowhere and punched him all over his body and he said it must have been a ghost. He didn’t dare to continue his job and left, so I called in another exterminator. He said he wasn’t scared of ghosts but when he was attacked and something slimy tried to strangle him he gave up. He told me no other man would come into my house if I didn’t ask you to catch or chase whatever haunts this place first.’ Louis sighed. ‘I still wouldn’t have asked you were it not for something appearing in my experiments chamber and destroying some of my important equipment.’

Henrick sipped his tea as he watched the haggard doctor slump back in his chair and went over the possible apparitions that this thing could be in his mind. ‘At first thought it sounds like a poltergeist.’

‘Poltergeist?’

‘A malicious ghost, even capable of torture and death.’

Louis sighed. ‘Doesn’t matter what you want to call it as long as you can get rid of it. I can’t work like this and I can’t move my work to another place just like that.’

‘I understand.’ Henrick said and pulled the large tool case he had brought closer. From it he produced his spectral goggles and an intricate copper gauge with a dial and coloured fluids in thin glass pipes. ‘Can you show me the attic? We’ll start from there.’

xxxxx

‘I don’t think even a ghost would want to be found dead here.’ Louis said as he opened the low door into the back of the dark attic. The flickering light of the candles Henrick and he held brought many shadows to life between the various smaller and larger chests, old chairs, a table, a knight’s incomplete armor, old family paintings, and stacks of books. ‘I never realized how much unused junk was up here until the exterminator came. When things are back to normal I’ll ask Sarah to get rid of it.’ He coughed. ‘The dust in the air is enough to suffocate a man.’

Henrick examined the footsteps in the dust on the floor to determine where the exterminators had been and where not. Two places had a very disturbed pattern and he guessed those were where each attack had occurred. He covered his eyes with his elaborate copper goggles and gazed around while switching lenses. ‘No current or residual signs of an entity.’ He moved up and down the length of the attic while pointing a three pronged short antenna in every direction and reading his gauge. ‘Nothing here right now, we’ll have to look further.’

They went down floor by floor, inspecting room by room where Louis told Henrick of anything that might have changed since the sightings.

‘Doesn’t look as terrible from the usual accounts of poltergeists.’ Henrick said while they walked down the hallway of the first floor. ‘If only a few things have moved that weren’t even heavy, it seems a very benign or weak geist. But then there’s the strangling attempt that you mentioned.’ He halted at a sound coming from behind a door with a bathtub sign on it at the end of the hallway, then quickly checked the gauge and tried the different lenses on his goggles. ‘The reading is too faint to be sure but be ready.’ he said and approached the door carefully.

Sounds of small bottles falling over and rolling around continued, assuring Henrick that what caused the noises hadn’t noticed their presence. He turned the door handle slowly and pulled open the door far enough to see inside through a tiny crack.

An empty clear glass bottle rolled across the floor. Henrick couldn’t see where it came from in the little amount of light coming in through the closed blinds of a small window. He widened the crack of the door to get a clearer view. A splash and glass shattering startled him and the door hit him in the face.

He stumbled back while receiving another blow against his chest and a dark shape rushed past him. Louis evaded it barely and cursed as he smashed backwards into a table. ‘What was that!?’

Henrick rubbed his aching forehead. ‘I couldn’t see but it seems we’re not talking about a poltergeist here. I need my other equipment.’

Louis gave him a hand and helped him stand up. ‘Bring whatever you need as long as you catch what’s causing this mess.’

xxxxx

‘Thank you, my good man.’ said Henrick later in the evening when the coach driver unloaded the last of the heavy cases from the buggy, and gave him an extra shilling. ‘We’ll take care of the rest.’

The driver tipped his hat. ‘Much obliged, m’lord.’ he said and nodded at the hooded lady in a long dark blue cloak who was part of the fare. She returned a nod but he couldn’t make out her face in the shadow of her hood. He climbed up on his seat and glanced at the couple while the gentleman offered his hand to his companion before walking up the steps to the front door. The cloak slid back on her arm and for a moment the driver thought he saw only a fingerless glove moving through the air. The couple climbed the steps and he shook his head. ‘I should stop listening to the missus and her gossip of a ghost living in this town.’ he muttered and drove off.

Louis let the couple in and Henrick gestured at his cloaked companion. ‘Louis, meet Theresa, a special lady I met a while ago on an interesting adventure, and who will convince you that my occult research is valid.’

Louis laughed once. ‘She must be very special then if she can convince me of believing in stories made to scare children.’ he said and bowed slightly towards her. ‘But I’m pleased to meet you at the very least.’ Theresa pulled back her hood and Louis froze while he stared at the maid cap floating in mid air.

He looked at Henrick. ‘A joke?’

One corner of Henrick’s mouth went up. ‘No joke.’ he said and removed Theresa’s cloak. ‘She was a maid cursed by a lord out in the country years ago and I met her when I investigated the lord’s abandoned mansion.’ He smiled softly at her. ‘After lifting the curse I was very fortunate to have her return by my side.’

Louis’s eyes bulged as he stared at the maid outfit moving closer to Henrick and the gloves holding his arm. ‘This is a trick.’

Henrick chuckled and shook his head. ‘I assure you she’s as real as a ghost can be. You could almost say she’s the living proof.’

Louis stared at her uniform. ‘Impossible! You’re doing this with hidden wires or a frame or something.’ he said and pulled up Theresa’s short skirt.

xxxxx

‘All right, I admit that it’s hard to refute your claims now.’ Louis said while they sat in the front room, and rubbed his painful cheek. ‘I wouldn’t even have believed the slap of a ghost could be so loud.’ He sighed and looked at Theresa. ‘My deepest apologies, milady. I did something unforgivable in my ignorance.’

She nodded and Henrick chuckled. ‘I’m afraid we both haven’t been the best examples of gentlemen when it comes to meeting her for the first time.’ he said and told Louis briefly about his exciting investigation at the haunted manor and how he met her, the other cursed inhabitants, and how they lifted the terrible curse together, while skipping the intimate details of the nights Theresa and he shared.

Louis hummed after Henrick finished. ‘That’s quite extraordinary and fantastical. Why haven’t you introduced her yet at a presentation at the university?’

Henrick looked at Theresa. ‘I’m afraid it’ll cause too much trouble in daily life. Presenting second hand evidence is one thing, an actual ghost within grasp would be a shock as you witnessed yourself. My occult colleagues would overwhelm me day and night with questions and requests to study her, not to mention other researches, and worst of all, charlatans.’ Theresa put her hand on his and he smiled gently at her.

Louis stood up, picked up a decanter with Scotch and gestured with it in offer at his guests. ‘I can imagine how it’ll be, yes.’ he said, pouring glasses for Henrick and himself. ‘I can even imagine it would make the ridicule against you much worse. Many still won’t believe it even in the presence of such evidence as the young lady is, and oppose you with all they have.’

Henrick took the glass from Louis and nodded. ‘That’s why I’ve been looking for some way to turn her back into a human being or make her look more like one. No luck so far.’

Louis sat back in his chair. ‘I wish I could help you, but I’m afraid it is I who needs your help now.’

Henrick raised his glass. ‘To catching the intruder.’

Louis raised his. ‘To the hunt.’ he said and they drank.

xxxxx

‘What’s the plan?’ asked Louis while he watched Henrick unpack his cases and assemble an array of instruments with antennas, coils, glass tubes with different coloured liquids, gauges, and parts with appearances he wouldn’t guess in a lifetime what they were meant to do.

Henrick screwed a silver, oblong shaped part onto a copper cylinder with round gauges on either side. ‘First, I’ll start with measuring any possible extra-dimensional waves and spectral anomalies. That might give a clue on what we’re dealing with and how strong it might be. With luck it might even give us the direction in which to look.’

Louis raised an eyebrow. ‘Do any of those things really work?’

Henrick grinned a little. ‘I’m not actually sure about some of them, but with Theresa’s help I tuned a couple of them to react to her presence.’ He picked up a square meter with three coils spread out slightly on top and turned it towards her.

Louis watched the needle swing into her direction. ‘Well I’ll be… ‘

‘Because I can only verify the workings with Theresa I can only rely on the various theories for detecting other occult presences until I find them.’

‘I understand. Much like our medical research, same principle, different bugs.’ Theresa tilted her head and Louis cleared his throat. ‘Present company excluded of course!’

xxxxx

Henrick wanted to examine the bathroom where they encountered the apparition first and searched for any remaining evidence. He stared into the partially clogged drain of the bathtub with his goggles and probed it with a rod attached to a slow ticking device. ‘Nothing here. I wonder what it was doing in here in the first place anyway.’

Louis returned the scattered items on the floor and in the tub to their rightful place. ‘Probably wanted to wash up after all that dust in the attic.’

The rest of the floor didn’t reveal any more clues and the three went up to the attic to begin the search anew. Henrick moved towards the other side of the attic while Theresa and Louis waited at the door holding his instruments. He barely reached the end when a blurry large shape knocked over a table and chair as it shot out from underneath them.

With a shout he backed off and evaded it as it rushed past him. The small lantern he’d held swung violently from the cord attached to his wrist and obstructed his sight until he held it still. ‘Where’d it go!?’

Theresa and Louis stood at alert and Louis pointed at several cases piled together. ‘I think it’s hiding back there!’

Henrick moved cautiously closer while Louis approached from the other side. ‘Do you get any readings?’

Louis took a look at the various gauges without making sense of them. ‘Nothing seems to have changed on these.’

Henrick hummed. ‘It doesn’t seem to be dangerous then. It fled instead of attacking me.’ he said and moved up close to the pile. It shifted in the shadows and one case scraped a little to the side. ‘Don’t be afraid, little visitor, we’re friendly.’ Other items shifted as something pushed against them and Henrick tried to shine more light towards the pile.

A hit against his feet tumbled him forwards in between the cases and a cold and slippery object wrapped around his throat and covered his face.

He struggled and clutched at his face to pull the layer of goo away before it could suffocate him but it only released him when Louis and Theresa pulled him out of the pile. Items close to them were thrown aside and the attacker rushed through the attic doorway and rumbled down the stairs. Henrick coughed and wheezed trying to breath normal again when more noise on the other side of the attic sounded. Another dark shape rushed through the stored items, knocked over the armor with a loud crash, and disappeared through the doorway as well.

Theresa stroked Henrick’s face and he laid his hand on hers with a little smile. ‘I’m all right now.’

Louis lit Henrick’s lantern again and held it up to watch the mess. ‘What on Earth was that!?’

Henrick noticed a strange reflection on the floor near the armor, stood up, and moved over towards it. ‘I don’t know yet but look at this.’ he said and pointed at a small patch of blue slime. ‘This must’ve been cut off by a sharp edge of the armor. Now I have something to analyze.’

Chapter 2: Interesting Times

Louis had returned to his study and Theresa prepared something to eat in the kitchen while Henrick studied the slime sample and tinkered with his instruments. Louis had shown him where he could find spare materials used for his medical experimentation and Henrick gladly took the offer. When Theresa brought a hot meal he was testing various substances on the slime. ‘I can’t make out the biological part of the slime but it does react to common substances, absorbing most of them.’ he said while she stood next to him and looked at the various vials. He pulled her against him with one arm around her hip. ‘I’m guessing that is how it feeds itself and it will be of great interest to many scientists. Just thinking of the possibilities is almost as exciting as when I met you.’ Theresa chuckled and ruffled his hair, then kissed him and gestured she’d bring Louis’s meal to his study.

She knocked gently on the open door and Louis’s head jerked up. He smiled gently at her when she seemed hesitant to go in. ‘Please, come in.’ he said and sat up straighter in his chair. ‘I must’ve dozed off since it’s been rather hectic lately and I didn’t sleep much.’ Theresa offered the tray and he quickly made room on his cluttered desk for her to put it down. ‘Thank you, this smells and looks great.’ he said and chuckled. ‘I suspect Henrick isn’t only happy about having found proof of ghosts with you.’

‘Found it!’ said Henrick when he hurried into the study. He presented a note to Louis. ‘This mix caused the slime to lose all cohesion and liquefy. I think we can use this to pacify the slime creature, if you have enough of these components in store.’

Louis read the note and nodded. ‘I think you’ll find all you need in the storage closet by my equipment.’

‘Good. If you can prepare, say, two buckets full, I’ll go back to my place to build something to shoot the slime with this.’ Henrick said and turned to Theresa. ‘Can you stay here and keep an eye on things?’

Theresa nodded and he kissed her quickly. ‘I’ll be back soon!’ he said as he hurried away.

xxxxx

By the time Henrick returned it was past noon again and he brought three copies of his creation. ‘What’s this?’ asked Louis while he held what looked like a short musket with a steel bottle on top and a small bellows attached behind it.

‘With this we can spray the slime from a short distance.’ Henrick said. ‘We fill the bottle with the slime solvent, use the bellows to pressurise it with air, and pull the trigger to release it in a focused spray on the slimes. If we spray it enough we might catch them if they’ve shrunk, or they might dissolve completely. I prefer the first possibility so I can study them more.’

After all three equipped themselves with what Henrick called a spray musket, they began the hunt from the ground floor upwards to corner the slime thing in the attic if it came to that. Henrick took point while Theresa and Louis covered the left and right behind him, moving as silent as they could while listening and looking for any sign of the slime creatures. They went up onto the second floor after clearing the first and Henrick opened the door of a closet next to the stairs. A slime burst out from the crack and he cried out in surprise.

‘After it!’ he shouted as the slime rushed through the half open door of another room.

‘Did you see the size of that!?’ said Louis. ‘It’s like a large dog!’

Henrick rushed to the doorway. ‘If we don’t stop it it might grow even larger!’ he said and aimed his spray musket into the room.

Theresa joined him at his side and Louis kept close at their backs. The big bedroom lay quiet in the light coming from the windows. ‘Where’d it go?’ Louis asked.

Henrick watched the big canopy bed and the heavy curtains with his goggles. ‘I don’t know. I don’t see any sign of it now, nor any movement.’ He stepped slowly inside. ‘Theresa, can you check the right side? I’ll take the left. Louis, can you block it here if it slips past us?’

Theresa nodded and Louis said ‘I’ll try.’, and Henrick and Theresa moved cautiously further into the room. Henrick crawled down at the end of the bed and quickly pulled up the bed cover from the floor. Nothing stirred in the shadows under the bed. Theresa poked each thick curtain but they only swayed without exposing the slime. Further searches underneath dressers and inside closets turned up nothing and Henrick and Theresa sat down on the end of the bed. He looked around at each possible hiding place in the room. ‘Where could it have run off to?’

Louis lowered his weapon and entered the room. ‘Maybe it found a hole or crack through which it escaped.’

Henrick nodded and looked up. ‘Seems like it.’ he said and squinted at a ripple moving along the bed’s canopy. ‘It’s here!’ The disguised slime contracted and sprung away at the same time he shot at it with the spray.

The slime bounced off the wall to avoid Louis spraying it while he turned around, and disappeared into the hallway. The three hurried after it, followed it up the attic stairs, and surveyed the attic again. Henrick looked at Theresa and Louis and they nodded back. He moved along the left side of the attic and sprayed between the stored clutter while Theresa did the same on the right side.

Several chairs crashed halfway towards the end at Theresa’s side. The slime rushed through any opening to get away from the spray. Henrick moved in its direction and unleashed his cloud of solvent. The slime knocked over a dresser into the pile of chairs as it tried to retreat, then burst through in between the two attackers towards the other side. Theresa and Henrick followed at once and kept spraying into any corner they could reach. The slime crashed through the clutter again and headed towards the stairs but Louis aimed and sprayed before it got close. It dove into a corner and found itself trapped by Theresa and Henrick. ‘We caught it!’ he said.

The large blob of blue slime shivered and shifted its shape. Theresa and Henrick aimed their spray muskets at it and it pressed itself into the corner while its shape shifted into a human form and a terrified face appeared.

‘Wait!’ shouted Louis and pushed the muskets down. He stared intensely at the female face on the humanoid slime as he knelt before it, and reached out a trembling hand. ‘Athena?’ he said, and fell unconscious onto the floor.

xxxxx

‘He exerted himself too much but I doubt anything more can be done for him.’ Doctor Rubens said, a friend of Louis. He put his stethoscope away and looked at Henrick. ‘His body has taken too much damage from his experiments.’

‘What sort of experiments?’

‘He’s been trying to find the cure for Athena’s disease.’ said Rubens and the puzzled look on Henrick’s face told him he had to explain. ‘I don’t know the complete story but what I do know is that Athena was a patient he met a couple of years ago.’ He gestured at a photo frame on a small table to the side with Louis standing next to a pretty woman in a wheelchair. ‘That’s her in the photo. She suffered from an unknown disease that weakened her little by little and no doctor could identify it or cure her. Her family didn’t have much wealth but Louis offered to try to find a cure and help her out.’ Rubens looked at the sleeping Louis for a moment. ‘He didn’t succeed though and she died some time later. Since then he’s been obsessed with finding the cure and proceeded with dangerous and unhealthy experiments, exposing himself to a lot of toxic materials to find the cure no matter what the cost. Although it seems he did get some useful results, it looks like his work will be in vain because he’ll die soon. The only thing we can do for him is to let him rest and sleep.’

Henrick let doctor Rubens out and froze in the doorway when he returned to Louis’s chambers. The slime with Athena’s appearance and the shape of a simple dress stood next to his bed holding the photo frame. It gazed at the photo with a soft smile, looked at Louis, then at Henrick. The look of worry was undeniable to him. ‘Did you hear what was said?’

The slime looked at Louis again and nodded a little. She put down the frame and gently caressed his cheek.

Henrick watched the slime’s expression shift between a loving gaze and worry. ‘Athena?’

The slime looked at him.

‘Do you remember him? Or anything about him?’

The slime looked down and bit its lower lip for a while, then nodded and shook its head.

‘Only a little?’

The slime nodded again.

Henrick moved a little closer and it backed away in fear. He held up his hands. ‘I’m not going to harm you. You don’t seem to be dangerous and I’m sorry for any misunderstanding before, but can you tell me where you came from since you seem to have a link to the Athena in the photo? I’d like to know why and have an explanation for Louis.’

The slime glanced at the photo, then at Louis, and nodded a little again. It moved around the bed and Henrick took a step away from the door when it hesitated coming closer to him. ‘Please.’ he said as he gestured for it to pass.

It looked down as it passed him and he followed it at a short distance while it headed towards the kitchen. Theresa gasped as it entered and reached for the spray musket lying on a table at the side. ‘Wait!’ said Henrick as he stepped in front of her. ‘It’s all right!’ Theresa looked at him and relaxed. ‘It’s not hostile and it seems to know about a former patient of Louis. It’s showing me where it came from.’ Theresa nodded and he smiled gently at the confused slime. ‘This is Theresa. She’s a ghost and my dear companion.’

The slime looked at her and nodded in greeting, and Theresa returned it.

‘Shall we continue?’ Henrick asked and received another nod from the slime in answer. It led him down to the large cellar where one side was occupied by shelves full of jars, vials, boxes with cards, and several tissue sample cases. It pointed at a corner on the floor with broken glass and dark blue and green coloured mushrooms. Henrick took a closer look and found slime patches around the mushrooms. ‘Looks like some biological and chemical reactions took place when various substances became mixed up.’ He noticed a piece of a vial with a label and carefully picked it up. ‘Blood sample Athena, dated some time ago.’ He looked back at the slime. ‘I think we found the cause of your appearance and memories.’

xxxxx

Henrick explained the situation to Theresa while they sat in Louis’s chambers, watching over him and the slime sitting next to him with her hand on his. ‘Athena’s blood must have been absorbed and given the slime her attributes and some memories.’ he said. ‘So in a way this slime creature is Athena and that’s why it,’ he noticed Athena’s gentle expression while she looked at Louis. ‘or maybe I should say she, reacts to him so much. The chase probably triggered the return of her memories.’ He sighed. ‘It’s sad to see he might never catch this glimpse of her again.’

Athena looked at him while holding Louis’s hand against her chest.

‘I’m sorry this is happening.’ Henrick said and stood up. He went over to the bed and looked at the photo of the couple and strongly suspected there had been something between them. ‘The toxins he handled are ruining his body and we have no way to remove them or repair the damage they’re doing.’ He looked at a shelf with medical and chemistry reference books. ‘Those books can tell you more about it than I can though.’

Athena followed his gaze and he could no longer suppress his yawn. ‘I need to retire for now.’ he said. ‘I’m afraid I reached my limit of going without sleep. Will you stay by his side?’

Athena nodded.

‘I’ll return as soon as I wake up.’ Henrick said and left with Theresa for the guest chambers.

xxxxx

Henrick and Theresa returned after a deep and long sleep and were stunned by the sight in Louis’s chambers. Books lay open everywhere and Louis lay naked on his bed, the covers and his clothes in a pile on the side, and his entire body apart from his nose and mouth was enveloped in a transparent blue slime layer. They moved closer to examine Louis. ‘She’s not suffocating him but what is she doing to him?’ Henrick said.

Theresa held up one of the open books and the subject on the pages was about foreign substances in blood. He checked the other books and they were open on subjects of poison, manifestations of how certain parts of the body deteriorated, the workings of viruses, and various reference works on anatomy up to the minutest details. He watched the faintly breathing Louis again. ‘Does she think she can cure him, or keep him alive?’ Theresa touched his arm and he sensed her conflicted expression. ‘I don’t know, but he will die either way so maybe we should give her a chance indeed.’

Theresa nodded and they kept a watch near the bed while waiting for what would happen next.

xxxxx

After more than a day had passed a book falling on the floor from the bed startled Henrick and Theresa, and they watched as the layer of slime pulled away from Louis and transformed back into the female body of Athena again. She smiled tiredly at them and held out an open hand to Henrick. He stared at a tiny, dark and shiny sphere in her palm. ‘Is that… ?’ he said and took it from her. She smiled a little more, then closed her eyes and lay quietly next to Louis. Henrick looked closely at the tiny marble for a moment, then laid it on a saucer on the night stand and listened to Louis’s heartbeat. He smiled at Theresa. ‘It’s relaxed and steady, a good sign.’ Theresa pulled a sheet over Louis and Athena while Henrick took the saucer. ‘We’ll let them rest now. I assume Athena is fine since she still in her human form.’ Theresa nodded and they left to examine the marble.

xxxxx

Louis groaned softly when he woke up and his whole body ached as if he’d exhausted it by strenuous exercise and then been run over by one or more divisions of the cavalry. His gaze focused slowly on the ceiling while he tried to remember what had happened. A tear rolled down his face and his chest ached even more at the memory of Athena’s face on the slime creature. ‘Curse you.’ he croaked and swallowed a lump in his throat. ‘To torment me so… ‘ He rolled his head sideways and his eyes went wide at the sight of Athena’s blue face so close to him. Despite his aches he sat up at once and nearly fell back when his hand slipped from the edge. Theresa stepped inside his room and he gazed at her while pointing at Theresa. ‘What is this doing here!?’

Theresa held up her hands in a gesture for him to calm down, then brought the books around them to his attention.

‘My books?’ he said as he looked around. ‘What happened!?’

Theresa gestured she’d fetch Henrick and left quickly while Louis tried to make sense of his situation. It was only after Henrick explained everything and showed him the tiny sphere that it began to dawn on him. ‘You call it Athena?’

Henrick nodded. ‘Athena’s blood is part of what made her alive, so I think she’s close enough to be Athena. Especially when she seems to have some memories of the two of you.’

Louis looked at the sphere. ‘And she gave you this?’

‘I analysed it as best I could and so far it looks like she collected all the toxins and metals out of your body.’

Louis chuckled and coughed. ‘That does explain why I feel mangled.’ he said and gazed at Athena. ‘It’s almost too amazing to believe it’s real.’

Henrick grinned. ‘Welcome to the world of occult science.’

Louis looked at him, then laughed out loud and coughed again. ‘I never imagined I’d end up surrounded by such proof as this Athena and your Theresa.’ he said and Athena stirred.

The men watched ripples flowing across her blue body like a stone thrown into a dark pond and she morphed slowly into sitting on her knees. Her face showed signs of tiredness but a soft smile appeared when she looked upon Louis and his heart skipped a beat at the familiarity of the sight. ‘Thank you.’ he said. ‘You saved my life.’

She nodded slightly once and toppled forward on his chest. ‘She must have used up all her energy to heal you.’ Henrick said but at that moment Theresa came in with a tray and bowls of a light stew and he smiled at her. ‘You really are the best.’

She handed one to Athena and the slime girl looked at it, then at Theresa. She nodded in encouragement and Athena put the bowl carefully to her mouth. Everyone watched the stew go down into her upper body and dissolve slowly.

‘Is it good?’ Henrick asked her and Athena nodded with more vigour. He chuckled. ‘I think there’s more if you want to.’ Theresa nodded and Athena held up the bowl towards her with the request clearly on her face, and Henrick helped the weakened Louis eat while Theresa fetched more.

xxxxx

Louis had Henrick bring him sedatives to help him sleep and recover more quickly and he had hardly fell asleep when a crash and glass shattering sounded from inside the house. Henrick stood up at once. ‘That sounded like it came from my experiments!’ he said and rushed out followed by Theresa.

In the chamber used by Henrick for his experiments and work on his instruments, a large, sickly green slime stood amidst a mess of broken glass, fallen instruments, and spills of the substances Henrick had used. It morphed into a barely human shape but its head moved around the upper body. It opened a jagged mouth in a silent scream and jumped at Henrick and Theresa.

Henrick reacted just in time to push Theresa out of the way but the slime hit his side and pummelled him to the ground. He pushed and swiped at the goo covering half his body and groaned loud when the slime on his skin stung and burned him, until Theresa sprayed the slime with the spray musket. The slime retreated fast and slithered out the door with Theresa hot on its trail.

Henrick hurried to the kitchen where he washed his red skin with cold water and Theresa returned soon. She looked dejected and explained the slime escaped through a broken board in the floor. Henrick gave her a gentle smile. ‘Don’t worry about that now, you saved me from more harm.’

She gestured at his arm and hands.

‘It’s luckily a light burn and I will be fine in a few days.’ he said and looked up when Athena came into the kitchen. She looked worried but he gave her a reassuring smile. ‘It’s all right, no major damage done but we need to find out what happened and what motivated that green slime to be so aggressive.’ Athena looked at the cellar door. ‘Yes, we’ll start there.’

Henrick examined the mess around the slimy mushrooms and poked through the pieces of glass with a fork. ‘There’s not much left of the label on this vial.’ he said after turning the broken one next to the green mushroom. ‘I can barely make out what looks like onnel written on it.’

Athena tapped his shoulder and she reached out to take a vial with dried blood from the shelf above. She showed its label to him. ‘Mike O’Connell! That must be it!’ he said. ‘I’m sure Louis kept records on who his sample donors were. Let’s have a look at them.’

They found several binders with patient information and all three began going through them until Theresa found the name. Henrick read quickly through the notes. ‘Mike O’Connell, male, thirty-four years old, same symptoms as Athena, Louis tried various experimental drugs, no real improvements although it seems the degeneration slowed down, died at Wilmington asylum for the criminally insane.’ He flipped the page. ‘The man was admitted there for being a violent psychopath and murder!’ He looked at Athena. ‘If he’s just like you his personality must have awoken and he’s highly dangerous!’

He hurried to his trashed equipment and looked over the liquid contents. ‘No wonder!’ he said and showed one beaker with a danger label to the girls. ‘He must have absorbed this acid and that’s what caused his slime to burn me! When I tried it on your slime it didn’t react but it doesn’t seem to lose its corrosive properties either.’ He scratched his head. ‘Not only is he unsound of mind but his slime body is a danger as well.’

A loud crash came from Louis’s chambers and they hurried towards it. There they found the table upturned and most books strewn on the floor. Athena rushed to Louis and sighed in relief when he was still asleep and unharmed. Henrick looked around the room and hummed in thought. ‘What was he trying to do here? I’d think he’d understand we’d go after him when he makes such a rucku- damned!’ he shouted and ran back to his experiment chamber.

When Theresa caught up he held up the two other muskets. Both were damaged and drained of the solvent. ‘He lured us away to destroy our only weapon against him. Now we have only one musket left and we lack the materials to create more solvent.’

xxxxx

The three sat in silence after clearing up the mess, Athena at the sleeping Louis’s side with her hand on his, and Theresa on Henrick’s lap because that always helped him relax. ‘We need to catch him before he harms anyone, and I think he might just want revenge on Louis. Calling the police won’t do any good because they’d never believe it.’ he said while caressing Theresa’s thigh. She leaned back towards the table next to the chair, poured a drink, and gave it to him. He smiled softly at her. ‘Thank you.’

He took a sip and watched the body warming liquid in the glass. ‘A large version of this glass would be good but we’d never catch him in it.’ Louis coughed and Athena held up his head, extended one arm towards a bottle of water on his night stand, scooped up some, and put it at his lips so he’d slowly swallow it. ‘If only you could do the same with his slime body, but you’d have to be more solid to hold him without losing your flexibility or get affected by his corrosive slime.’

He looked up at Theresa. ‘That might just work!’ Athena looked at him. ‘Athena, I have an idea but I need your help and I’m not sure if it might harm you in any way, but would you do it?’

Athena looked at Louis’s tired face, then gave Henrick a resolute nod.

xxxxx

‘Ready?’ Henrick asked Theresa and Athena later, and they both nodded. He looked up. ‘We’ll flush him out of the attic with the last of the solvent then.’ Together they headed up the stairs.

For a while everything was quiet in Louis’s chambers apart from his soft breathing in his sleep, when green slime leaked through cracks between the ceiling boards above his bed. The cracks widened slowly as the corrosive ooze ate away at the wood and digested it. As a large blob, the slime lowered itself onto the bed canopy, ate a hole through it, and lowered further onto the blanket covering Louis. It’s misshapen head arose with its ragged holes for eyes, the silently wailing mouth turned it into a sick grin, and it reached out a tentacle towards Louis’s face.

Athena curled up fast and enveloped the green slime in the sheet form she took to hide under the blanket. The slime shifted and pounded against Athena’s layer as it tried to escape but she kept him enclosed completely at the end of the bed while Henrick and Theresa burst into the room.

Henrick held up a large syringe. ‘Athena, ready!?’ Athena’s face appeared on the surface and nodded quickly. ‘Here it goes!’ he said, pierced Athena’s layer with the needle and injected the solvent in the syringe directly into the green slime. It trashed in rage and pain and jabbed Athena fiercely to escape her hold. The attacks grew duller until one desperate stab pierced the weakened Athena and the slime spurted out.

Theresa caught it quickly in the bucket she had brought and poured the remaining solvent from the musket on the weakened slime. It sloshed and whirled in a last effort, then slowly ceased all movement until it went still. A vague image of its distorted face floated on the green surface.

Athena morphed back into her human shape and slumped on the bed. Henrick touched her forehead. ‘Are you okay? No damage from the green’s acid?’

Athena gave a tired smile and shook her head.

He sighed in relief. ‘I’m glad that rubbery plant sap I had worked so well to toughen your body.’ he said. ‘Rest now, we’ll get rid of the rest.’

xxxxx

‘If something happens again send for me.’ Henrick said while he shook Louis’s hand at the waiting coach. He looked at Athena. ‘Same goes for you, if you experience any ill effects I’ll see what I can do.’

Athena smiled and nodded.

The coach driver swore off drinking for the rest of his life on the trip back to Henrick’s and Theresa’s home, and to never ever mention that he thought he saw an empty maid uniform hug a completely blue woman.

Henrick took Theresa’s hand in his and smiled gently at her. ‘All in all these days have been rather exciting.’

Theresa chuckled and nodded.

One thought had been on his mind during the last couple of days and he decided to go for it. ‘From the day you came to live with me I’ve been hesitant about going out in public with you and revealing your existence, but how do you feel about it?’

Theresa watched the street and park passing by outside, looked back at him, pulled his hand against her chest, and nodded.

‘As long as I’m by your side?’

She nodded again.

‘Good.’ he said and leaned his head outside the window. ‘Driver, stop at Henderson Tailors please.’

A minute later they halted in front of the shop and Theresa hesitated to step out of the coach when she saw the expensive dresses in the windows. Henrick chuckled a little and pulled her out gently. ‘Exquisite dresses for an extraordinary lady.’ he said and led her into the shop.

One of the attendants stepped to the front but froze wide eyed at the sight of the maid uniform clinging onto the arm of the male customer. ‘That… , that’s a… ‘

‘A lady in need of a few good dresses.’ said Henrick. ‘Would you be so kind to call Misses Henderson for me? I require her advice.’

The attendant nodded quickly with open mouth, then hurried to the back of the shop calling ‘Milady! Milady!’

‘What’s going on then?’ asked the slender woman as she walked to the front of the shop. ‘Oh, Henrick! How nice to see you.’ She glanced left and right. ‘Are you the cause of the racket Hannah made?’

He chuckled. ‘I’m afraid I am.’ he said and stepped aside to reveal Theresa, who had hid behind him. ‘This special lady is in need of a dress or two, so we can go outside without attracting attention because of her uniform.’

Emily Henderson stared at Theresa, at Henrick, then back at Theresa. ‘Why am I not surprised you worry about the state of her dress of all things?’

Henrick laughed, then gestured at Emily. ‘Theresa, I’d like you meet Emily Henderson, a devoted listener of my presentations on the occult. Emily, meet Theresa, my dear companion who was a maid at the cursed manor I investigated some time ago.’

Emily smiled bright. ‘I did wonder once if there’d be a woman fit for you but I hadn’t expected someone like her.’ She looked at Theresa. ‘He’s not stuck in his research constantly, is he? He needs to pay attention to you too.’

Theresa nodded and Emily laughed. ‘Good. Otherwise I’d have to be the one to give him a good lecture now.’

Theresa relaxed her grip on Henrick’s arm and he smiled at her. ‘Let’s see you in something befitting a lady that used to live in a luxurious manor.’

xxxxx

Henrick smiled as he watched Theresa gaze at her reflection in the tall mirror in the bedroom. She twirled left and right and watched how the folds of the dress swayed every way. She danced towards him, embraced his neck and kissed him. He pulled her gently closer against him and answered her inviting lips and tongue in a long kiss.

When she pulled back he smiled. ‘I take it you like them?’

She chuckled and nodded.

‘So, which one will you wear now?’

She cocked her head in thought, then turned him around. He chuckled while listening to the brush of the fine fabrics as she undressed.

A moment later she tapped his shoulder and turned around. ‘Your uniform? Is that still your favorite?’

She nodded.

He smiled. ‘Why though?’

She moved towards the mirror, bent forward as she slid her hands down one of her legs, and Henrick didn’t need to actually see her body to know what she revealed underneath her short skirt and what the reflection of her chest and her gaze at him in the mirror looked like. He knew every line of her body and she knew what effect it had on him. He pulled up a corner of his mouth. ‘So, you like it because I like it so much, eh?’

She swayed her behind a little and Henrick knew dinner would be very late today. He didn’t mind though when they had some catching up to do from the days they spent at Louis. She shivered a little at his hands caressing her cool behind, tracing her curves up and down and along her thighs. He went down on one knee, placed his lips against her lower ones, and slid his tongue inside in a passionate kiss of her pussy. She gripped the wooden frame of the mirror and pressed herself eagerly back against his mouth.

He slid his tongue through her wet slit and she twitched at every touch against her clit. Soon enough he tasted her ghostly juices because her arousal was strong enough to create an actual taste and scent. Every soft bite into her invisible but sensitive ghost flesh sent a shiver up her spine and he sensed her moans through his hands stroking the underside of her breasts. She twisted her hips and tensed her thighs when his tongue circled her hard clit and he gently bit on it. Her whole body tensed in his hands, then shuddered as her orgasm hit her and he wrapped his arms around her thighs to prevent her from sinking on her knees.

Theresa’s corset expanded and contracted with her heavy breathing and faint fog appeared and disappeared on the mirror at her head. Her stance steadied and she reached back and pulled on Henrick’s dress shirt. He stood up and it only took her a few seconds to free his ready dick from behind the restricting buttons of his trousers. The cool touch of her fingers along his shaft and around his slick head increased the pressure inside it even more. She guided his hot flesh inside her and he breathed in deep as her cool and wet body enveloped him from tip to hilt. ‘It still feels as strangely fantastic as the first time, my love.’ he whispered, and pulled the chest piece of her uniform down and stroked her breasts around her nipples, brushing her tight areolas with his fingertips.

With gentle swaying and rocking of her hips she slid her tight pussy along his length, pressing her firm buns against his hips while his tip pressed deep inside her. Cool and warm waves rushed through him and it stoked his arousal as it always did. He massaged her breasts more, pinching and pulling on her nipples and she wriggled her chest in pleasure and clenched her pussy tighter around him. He bent forward and kissed her neck. ‘You’re phenomenal in every way, Theresa.’ he breathed and she pressed up her behind while he ground hard against her mound. ‘I can’t hold back.’ he groaned when his urge to come squeezed his balls. ‘Not after all these days.’ Theresa reached between her legs, grabbed his balls and pressed them against her clit. A deep groan accompanied the burst of hot seed deep inside her and she shuddered as she came again in his tight embrace.

Henrick panted and kissed both sides of her neck while his dick throbbed in her squeezing pussy. ‘I love you so much, Theresa, it doesn’t matter whether you’re a ghost, human, or anything else, all I desire is to be by your side.’

Theresa turned her head and they kissed until they ran out of breath. She slipped from his dick, turned around, and kissed him again while undressing him. He undressed her completely including her gloves and cap and pulled her tight against him. ‘Your uniform is very sexy and hard to resist, but it’s not necessary for me to sense your presence, even if you’re completely invisible. Just you is already enough to excite me and spur my heart on.’ He sensed her joyous smile before her invisible lips found his again and they kissed passionately while he cupped her buns, lifted her up, and carried her to the bed to spend the next hours making love to her.

Chapter 3: Settling into a New Life

‘So, there’s no need to be afraid, Athena might not really be human but she has inherited enough traits from the original Athena’s blood to resemble her in part.’ said Henrick when he visited Louis to help explain things to Sarah, the housekeeper.

Sarah glanced at Athena sitting next to Louis in his bed. Athena looked down and only glanced sideways at Louis, who recovered slowly but surely. ‘It all sounds unbelievable, but doctor Russell does look a little better, even if he is bedridden now.’ She sighed a little. ‘The whole thing gave me a good scare.’ Athena shrunk a little and fiddled with her fingers as she looked up at Sarah quickly before looking down again.

Louis reached out and laid his hand on Athena’s. ‘She’s sorry about that. She never meant for anything bad to happen.’

Sarah flashed a little smile as she looked at Athena. ‘It does seem so.’ she said and she nodded. ‘I guess I can resume my duties without worries now.’

Louis took a breath in relief. ‘Thank you, I’m glad to hear that.’

‘To be honest, it’s nice to have more than just you and I in this large house. It always felt too empty.’

Louis chuckled. ‘Perhaps you’re right.’ he said and smiled at Athena. ‘It’ll be interesting from now on anyway.’

Henrick shook Louis’s hand after Sarah left. ‘I’ll check up on you later, and bring Theresa to introduce her to Sarah. In the meantime, if anything happens, you know where to find me.’ he said and looked at Athena. ‘And that goes for the both of you.’

Athena returned to Louis after seeing Henrick out and sat again on the chair next to Louis’s bed. His warm smile relaxed her and she smiled gently back at him. ‘It all still feels like a weird dream.’ he said and she chuckled. ‘But even if it is, I don’t mind it. Despite my current state I haven’t felt this cheerful in a long time, and the reason is pretty clear. Thank you.’ Athena’s cheeks turned a little purple and she looked away, which piqued Louis’s interest in both medical and personal ways. He cleared his throat. ‘I, don’t want to presume things, but do you want to stay and live here in this house?’ She glanced at him and nodded slightly. ‘I’ll ask Sarah to pick a suitable room with you, there’s plenty available. And then all that’s left is for you to see what you want to spend your time on.’

Athena put a finger to her lips while she looked around in thought, then pointed at the bookcase.

Louis chuckled. ‘I’m not surprised you picked books. Any specific subject?’

Athena shook her head and gestured at the entire case.

‘So, anything then?’

She nodded.

‘All right, I have plenty more books so you won’t have to become bored.’

Athena grinned a little.

xxxxx

While Louis recovered, Athena spent most of her time reading at his side, but she also took peeks into the kitchen when Sarah cooked. Sarah chuckled as she noticed her once again in the reflection of silverware she polished. ‘If you’re curious about something, just ask.’

Athena shuffled with her feet and plucked at the dress she emulated in her form.

Sarah looked at the stove, then back at Athena. ‘Would you like to learn how to cook? It seems you’ve been interested in every meal that I made so far.’

Athena nodded a little but held up her hands with her palms open.

Sarah smiled. ‘Well, we’ll just have to find out what you can and cannot do then.’ Athena smiled at Sarah as she beckoned her into the kitchen and gestured at a closet. ‘Grab an apron.’

Athena and Sarah entered Louis’s bed chamber later with dinner and Louis gladly took the plate from Sarah while Athena settled in her chair next to the bed with hers. He inhaled the scent and it made his appetite grow even more. ‘This smells great, something new?’

Sarah smiled. ‘Taste the sauce.’

He did and hummed in satisfaction. ‘As good as it smells.´

‘Athena made it.’

He looked at Athena. ‘You did? It’s really tasty.’

Her cheeks turned purple and she smiled as she looked down at her own portion.

‘I’m sure with practice miss Athena will be a fine cook.’ Sarah said. ‘I also won’t have to worry about the meals when I leave for a few days next time.’

Louis chuckled. ‘If you want to visit family for a longer time, it won’t be a problem for me then.’ he said and winked at Athena. ‘As long as I can enjoy a home made meal.’

xxxxx

Louis stretched after breakfast a few days later. ‘I have to admit it feels good to reopen the office again.’ he said to Athena. ‘I couldn’t keep it open when my health deteriorated too much, but now that I’m back to my old self thanks to you, I can continue to do the same for others.’ Athena smiled at him and straightened his cravat. He took her hand and kissed her cool fingers. ‘I have so much to thank you for, I don’t know how to repay it.’

She gestured around her at the chamber, the bookcase with several new books he had recently bought for her, and then touched his chest while smiling gently at him.

He blushed and opened his mouth to speak but a kid crying loud and a shouting woman interrupted him. He rushed to the waiting room for his patients and found a young mother with a boy of seven or eight years old. His forearm had a nasty bend in it.

‘Doctor! Please help!’ the woman cried as she held the boy in her arms.

He took the boy from her and rushed to the examination table. ‘What happened?’ he asked as he tried to hold the boy still on the table, but he was trashing around with his good arm and legs from the pain.

‘My son, he ran across the street before I could stop him and a coach hit him and ran over his arm!’

‘Calm down, young man!’ Louis said as he reached for a bottle with pills and took one out. ‘Swallow this, it’ll ease the pain!’

The boy kept crying and swiping around him and hit the pill out of Louis’s hand.

‘Calm down!’

‘You must do something, doctor!’ cried the mother and pulled on Louis’s sleeve.

‘I can’t unless both of you calm down!’ he said and was about to push her back into a chair when Athena hurried to his side. The mother’s eyes grew wide when she saw the blue creature, then screamed before fainting the next moment.

Louis caught her in his arms and carried her over to a chair while Athena wrapped her arms around the boy from behind, and enveloped his arms with her own.

The boy tried to pull free but his good arm was stuck and after a minute he calmed down a little when the pain in his broken arm lessened from her cool slime.

Louis held out another pill for him. ‘Will you swallow this now?’

The boy nodded, Louis put it in his mouth, and the boy swallowed it in between sobbing. ‘That’s a good lad.’ Louis said and looked at Athena. ‘Thank you.’

Athena gestured at the boy’s broken arm and Louis watched as she manipulated the slime around his arm to set the bone, extracted bone splinters, and cleaned the wound. ‘You know how to heal the break?’ She gestured she could only a little. ‘Even so, I’m impressed. You learned it from the medical books you read, like you helped me?’ She nodded.

He wiped the sniffling boy’s cheeks when the arm looked clean and straight. ‘How does it feel now?’

The boy rubbed his eyes with his free hand. ‘Cold. But it doesn’t hurt as much now.’

Louis smiled at Athena. ‘Remarkable.’

She slowly drew her slime back and Louis plastered the arm after an examination. ‘Give it plenty of rest and it’ll be healed in a few weeks.’ he said to the boy.

His mother woke up with a start and Athena hurried out the door. ‘What was that monster!?’ she said and looked around.

Louis cleared his throat. ‘She, madam, is not a monster. She is Athena and she fixed your son’s broken arm well enough that he won’t have to wait as long for it to heal completely as it normally would take.’

The mother went to her son and hugged his head. ‘Thank you.’ she said and looked up at Louis. ‘I’m sorry, I was so afraid for him.’ She spotted Athena peeking from the crack of the door. ‘Thank you very much. I apologize for what I said.’

Athena gave her a nod.

The mother looked up at Louis. ‘I’ve never seen someone like her. Who is she?’

Louis smiled softly as he looked back at Athena. ‘She’s a unique and precious being.’

Athena came inside when the boy wanted to thank her and gave her a hug before he and his mother left, and she waved them goodbye when they left. Louis moved next to her. ‘I hadn’t imagined you could do something like that, even when you healed me. You’re quite a miracle.’

Athena smiled a little and fiddled with her fingers.

‘But then you, I mean, the Athena I knew, loved reading books and was smart enough to give me some things to think about when I discussed the cure I was working on.’

Athena looked up at him and her curiosity was clear on her face.

‘Shall I tell the tale of our time together?’

She nodded quickly and he chuckled. ‘All right, then I’ll tell you all about it after I’m done for the day.’

xxxxx

Louis leaned back in one of the chairs at the fireplace in the living room after dinner when Sarah had retired for the night. Athena settled in her chair and looked attentive at him. He stared at the small fire and smiled softly. ‘It began when I met her father a couple of years ago at the hospital that I visited for a talk with an acquaintance there. He was pretty desperate from the sound of his voice as he talked to the head administrator there. I understood there was a discussion on the illness of his daughter and the trouble of curing her, including the expenses it would incur. My acquaintance explained that his daughter had become weaker over time some time after her twenty-second birthday. Many doctors all over the country had examined her and tried to cure her but to no avail, she didn’t get better.’

Louis chuckled. ‘And then she returned from her latest examination in a wheelchair pushed by a nurse. Despite her condition she had an energetic aura about her. She didn’t look weak or sickly but rather alert on what was happening, and she defied her father when he remarked about selling the house to get the money for more treatments. It was then that my interest in her situation began and I met Athena for the first time. I introduced myself and inquired about her status and what methods had been tried to find the cause of her illness. I offered to work on a cure for her for a low fee because it wasn’t just a challenge that drew my interest, but I just couldn’t let such a bright young lady be sent off without any hope for a future.’

Louis leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. ‘So, I spent most of my free time studying various possible methods, including obscure foreign ones, in the hope of finding something that would at the very least have a positive effect on her health. I even went abroad a few times but Athena was more interested in what I had seen of the country and people there than a possible cure. I made sure to bring some souvenirs after the first time and I enjoyed how happy she was to receive them. She did have some interest in medicine though and read some of my reference books and we discussed an aspect once in a while. But most of the time I spent with her became more about being together.’ He smiled and looked into the distance. ‘I took her into the country or to the beach when the weather was good since the fresh forest and the sea air was good for her anyway. It was during one of those trips that I realized how much I enjoyed spending my time with her, and that I had fallen in love with her.’

Athena smiled gently at him and he blushed slightly. ‘All my time was split for the most part in either being at her side or working on a cure for her. When I heard about O’Connell and him being afflicted with the same illness I arranged for him to be my test subject and try any possible cure on him before trying it with Athena. At first he didn’t object but later on he resisted and refused to cooperate. I’m ashamed to say that the warden of the mental hospital convinced him to continue in a not so nice way, but I was too focused on curing Athena and ignored what had happened. I do know that he blamed me for it though. I think explains in part why the slime with his blood tried to kill me, apart from his violent nature.’

Louis’s smile faded and he stared into the fire again. ‘But no matter what I tried, Athena became weaker and weaker, up to the point that she could no longer leave her bed. I tried everything I could think of or heard of to make her better, everything.’ He sighed and slumped. ‘She didn’t despair. She kept her cheerful nature and when I asked why she wasn’t sad or cried, she said she’d rather focus on the good things she experienced.’ He looked up at Athena and chuckled once. ‘And she told me she knew I was in love with her. I was shocked, but also happy in a way that she knew without me telling her. She took my hand and told me she had fallen in love with me as well.’ He smiled softly. ‘She just didn’t tell me because she didn’t want to put me on the spot and because she kind of enjoyed her little secret. She pulled me closer and we shared our first kiss.’

Louis stood up and added a log to the fire. ‘From that moment on I spent as much time as I could with her, reading her her favorite books, filling her room with vases full of fresh flowers I picked from her favorite places outside the city. I even rented a magic lantern with any picture set there was.’ He gestured at the wall as if it was the view. ‘The wild seas, hottest deserts, thick jungles, and other wondrous sites from far away countries. And animals, flowers, people. There was so much to see.’ He looked outside at the night. ‘In her last moments she gave me the final kiss and made me promise to not give up finding a cure for other people, and to find a new love and have the family that we couldn’t start ourselves.’ A tear ran down his cheek. ‘I drowned myself in my experiments. It didn’t matter any longer that they might be dangerous to me. I wanted to fulfil at least the first promise with her because I couldn’t stop loving her and keep the other two.’

Athena stood up and moved over to him. She took his hand in hers and gave him a gentle smile as she placed her other hand against his chest.

He returned a sad smile and squeezed her hand.

xxxxx

Athena gasped at the rows of bookcases in the library and Theresa chuckled. Louis grinned. ‘I kind of expected that reaction since she shares that trait.’ he said to Henrick.

‘But she’s not completely alike?’

Louis shook his head. ‘No, there are differences like her favorite foods, a bit more playful and serious in aspects of her behaviour, and her, well, hair, lacks the slight curling and it didn’t reach so far down her back. She’s more like a close sister.’

Henrick nodded and waved back at Theresa while she and Athena were scouring the different sections. ‘I’m actually glad she came into being. Now Theresa has a friend she can relate to.’ One visitor stared with open mouth at the blue woman in dress and the moving empty dress. ‘Not just as an out of this world being, but as a woman too.’

‘True. Athena spends time with Sarah but she is human and doesn’t have the non-human perspective. How’s Theresa dealing with being more out in the open now?’

‘Some insecurities in new places but once the regulars know her things are pretty relaxed. I’m introducing her to two or three colleagues in the field at a time to lessen the fuss each time, and only when she’s up to it.’ He grinned a little ‘She has a bit of fun with it so long as no one peeks under her dress.’

Louis cleared his throat and stroked his cheek. ‘I’m glad to know there are still gentlemen out there. But I still have a hard time believing in the occult and think it’s a part of physics or biology that we haven’t discovered yet.’

Henrick chuckled. ‘I guess time will tell. Who knows what you’ll experience with Athena at your side.’

Athena and Theresa returned with a few books and Louis read the title of the top one Athena carried. ‘The adventures of pirate captain John Twit on the Blue Pearl.’ he said and chuckled. ‘In the mood for some excitement tonight?’

She nodded, tapped the book and pointed at him.

He chuckled again. ‘Oh, you want me to read it to you?’

Her cheeks turned darker and she nodded again.

He smiled at her. ‘Very well then, I’ll try my best to speak like a pirate as well.’

Athena chuckled and the two ladies took their escort’s arms as they left the library to take a stroll through the park before heading home.

xxxxx

Louis closed his office a few weeks later and Athena poured him an afternoon tea when he entered the living room. ‘Thank you.’ he said and sipped the hot and invigorating liquid. He looked out at the sunny and mostly clear sky. ‘I have to go somewhere today, and I’d like it if you’d join me.’ Athena cocked her head. ‘It’s a bit of a surprise.’ She smiled a little and nodded. ‘I’m glad.’ he said and put down his tea. ‘Then let’s leave as soon as you’re ready.’

Athena gazed around during the trip in the open coach until they halted at a cemetery. She looked at Louis and he held out his hand after stepping out. ‘There’s something I need to do here and I need you by my side for it.’ She nodded, took his hand, and walked with him into the cemetery. Louis bought two red roses at the flower stall supporting the cemetery and led her to one of the rows at the side and stopped at a slender marble stone. The name on it read Athena Thornbridge with her birthday and the day of her death, exactly two years ago.

Athena looked up at Louis and he nodded. ‘Here lies the Athena that has held my heart all these years.’ he said and placed the two roses in front of the stone. ‘I wanted you to meet her on this important day and tell her that thanks to you I can keep working on the promise of finding a cure for her illness.’ He smiled softly at the stone. ‘My dear Athena, I also wanted to say I didn’t think I could keep the other two promises to you, but it seems there’s one I can although in an unexpected way. You see, even though you share the same blood and are so much the same, I know she’s not you and you’re not her and thus what I feel is both familiar and new.’ He turned to Athena and gestured at the stone. ‘Athena, she will always be in my heart but I’d like you to be there too.’

Athena clasped her hands on her mouth and looked at him with large eyes.

‘I realised I fell in love with you. Not because it’s the same as that time, but because it’s new. Because I want to be by your side.’

Blue tears ran down Athena’s cheeks and she threw herself at him and her arms around his neck.

xxxxx

Sarah looked happy when the couple returned home and she took Louis’s coat. ‘I take it you have good news, doctor?’

He chuckled. ‘I confessed my feelings for Athena.’

She looked at Athena, who blushed and glanced at Louis. ‘I guess congratulations are in order. The way you two became so close it was inevitable, and you better take good care of miss Athena or I’ll be very upset with you.’

He laughed and took Athena’s hand. ‘I wouldn’t dare to do anything less.’

After dinner a coach arrived to take Sarah to her sister. She had twisted her wrist and Sarah would help her out for a few days until she was healed, and Athena and Louis saw her out. They returned to the living room and he took her hand, kissed it and looked deep into her blue eyes. ‘I never imagined I’d actually witness a supernatural event, but here I am, and on top of that I’m also in love with the creature spawned by the event.’

Athena smiled wide, stroked the back of his neck with her fingers, and he leaned in to kiss her cool lips. She opened up to him and his warm tongue slipped along her cool one, discovering her slightly sweet taste. He pulled her against him and she wrapped her arms around his neck while their kiss intensified.

Louis pulled back to breath and stroked her back. ‘Wow, that was wonderful.’ She smiled and he kissed the tip of her nose. ‘I think I want you even more now.’

She chuckled, held up a finger as a sign for him to wait, and skipped a little as she left the room. Louis wondered what she was up to until she returned and blushed while she held something behind her back.

‘What is it, my dear?’

She bit her lower lip and hesitated for a moment, then revealed the book she held.

The title was a bit dry for the subject and he knew the contents were rather scientific, but it did have plenty of illustrations. ‘You want to do this most basic but deeply intimate behaviour of human nature with me?’

She nodded slightly quickly.

He kissed her softly on her lips and whispered. ‘I’m excited to do it with you, my sweet Athena.’

He picked her up in his arms, carried her up the stairs while she giggled at his effort to keep his balance, and smiled when he put her on the end of his bed. She sat up on her knees and kissed him while loosening his cravat and unbuttoning his shirt. When she unbuttoned and lowered his trousers and underwear she blushed hard at his sight.

He chuckled and laid the rest of his clothes aside and stood completely naked in front of her. The weeks after she healed him had restored some of the toned body he had before his health went bad and she reached out her hand, and stroked his chest and stomach with her fingertips. He took her hand, stepped closer and kissed her palm. She smiled up at him, closed her eyes and her dress shape transformed into her naked form.

The sight of her partially transparent blue body with firm breasts and smooth curves had an immediate effect on him and he blushed as much as she did when she saw his erection grow. He chuckled once in embarrassment. ‘It means you’re really attractive.’

She chuckled and stroked his abdomen and hips with her hands, then gently touched his hilt and balls. His erection twitched at an extra pulse of his blood and she leaned forward, pulled his foreskin back slowly, and kissed his tip.

Louis hummed at the cool and ticklish but highly arousing sensation rushing down his length and spreading into his lower body through his balls. She slid her lips down his head and circled it with her tongue, then slid her mouth further down his length.

‘This sensation is so exquisite I almost can’t believe this is really happening.’ he said and her giggle resonated through his length. She slid her mouth slowly up and down from tip to hilt and Louis’s heart rate went up quickly, then received another boost when she massaged him all the way inside her mouth. ‘If anyone claimed this was magic, I’d believe them in an instant.’ he breathed.

Her tongue rolled around his ridge and brushed his tip while her mouth went up and down his shaft again. She wiggled her hips at the first taste of his precum, massaged his balls for more and squeezed his tip all the way down her tight throat.

Louis breathed deeper and barely kept his hips from thrusting deeper into her mouth. ‘I won’t last long… ‘

Athena smiled while she looked up at him and sucked on him. That was enough for him to lose control. His balls tightened and shot his seed in an urgent hot stream deep into her throat. She wiggled her hips in pleasure and licked every square millimetre of his hot flesh. He gasped when a tendril inside her mouth entered his urethra and coerced every drop left inside him. He nearly folded when she pulled back and licked his tip one last time while swallowing and absorbing his seed, and he quickly lay down on his side on the bed. ‘That, was truly out of this world.’ he breathed while the sensation inside his erection only faded slowly.

Athena giggled and he pulled her against him and kissed her passionately while his hands moved all over her body. ‘Your body is smoother than a human skin,’ he whispered. ‘and even though your body is slime, it’s more solid than that.’ He smiled at her. ‘And I want to touch you all the time now.’ She giggled, cupped his cheek and kissed him more.

After a while he pulled back, rolled her on her back and grinned slightly. ‘Now I want to know if your body has the same sensitivity as a real human body.’

Athena smiled and blushed in anticipation while Louis’s eyes explored her from head to toe, then caressed her abdomen with his fingertips. She shivered at his touch and he smiled while he caressed her further up and down her blue skin, impressed at how detailed her body was like a human, down to a bellybutton and nails. He traced the curves of her breasts, which still held their alluring shape even though she lay on her back, and brushed her dark blue areolas with his lips. A quick ripple spread through her skin from his touch and she tensed for a second. Her smile told him she liked it and he continued caressing her breasts with his lips while more ripples spread out.

Her now nearly purple nipples stood hard and he brushed the tips with his lips first, then closed his lips around one, sucking gently and licking with the tip of his tongue before moving to the other. He alternated between both until Athena pressed up her heaving chest, and bit softly in them. Athena closed her eyes and smiled while it seemed she breathed harder and Louis continued his attention to her entire chest with his lips and his tongue for a while, then moved further down to kiss all over her abdomen while she ran her fingers through his hair and her body shivered at his touch.

Her thighs spread as he kissed further down and caressed them on the inside. The sweet scent and the moist on her darker mound was unmistakeably her arousal and it increased his own to maximum, testing his will to resist using his mouth on her right away. He kissed her thighs with more passion while she licked her lips and ran her fingers more urgently through his hair until he caressed the edge of her mound with his lips and she silently breathed harder.

One lick along one side of her mound made her twitch and gasp, the second one made her clench her teeth, and the lick along her wet slit she tensed her whole body and moaned in silence. Her sweet taste enveloped Louis’s tongue as he slid it between her lips and explored its length and depth. She moaned more in silence as he pulled gently on her lips with his and circled her purple and rock hard clit with his tongue.

Athena wriggled and moaned more in silence while ripples rushed all over her body. Louis lifted her knees and wasn’t surprised to see a sphincter tightening between her buttocks. He teased it with the tip of his tongue and her behind tensed with each touch. He continued with licking and nibbling from her clit to her ass and back, licking and sucking on her elastic buns in between, until he sensed her body tensing harder, then licked her clit faster until she cried out in silence at her climax and her entire body trembled and waves rushed every which way along her skin.

He sat up on his knees and watched her chest heaving hard from her panting and was both intrigued by the human reaction even though she didn’t actually breath, and excited he could make her feel this good. She smiled as she looked at him through half closed eyes and reached down to spread her lips. He returned her smile and crawled close enough on his knees for her to take his erection and guide him into her. Again, the sensation between her cool body and his hot flesh rushed through his lower body and his desire to penetrate her as deep as possible flared up.

He curled his arms around her knees and pushed himself deep into her. He could see his own blurry shape inside her and took a deep breath when her grip on him tightened and relaxed in waves along his length. ‘If other men than me knew you could do this, they’d do everything to create more of your kind.’ he breathed and pumped slowly inside her to get used to the heightened sensation.

Louis groaned and Athena moaned silently while he ground against her mound and her insides massaged his entire head, sucking him even deeper than he already was while she wrapped her legs around his back. He groaned harder at the urge to come inside her again. ‘I doubt I’ll ever get used to this fantastic feeling. Can I even do the same for you?’

Athena panted and nodded, and her pleased look assured him she enjoyed the sex with him. She touched her chest and his and he bent forward, kissing her passionately while she embraced him tightly. He pulled back to take a breath and pumped deep inside her in hard, short thrusts. She closed her eyes tight and moaned along with his deep groans until a jolt flashed through his erection and balls and his seed flooded her tight depths, and her insides sent another thrill through him as they trembled fast around him along with her body in their shared climax.

Louis panted hard and slid his lips along Athena’s while they caught their breath. They kissed and played with their tongues until he pushed himself up on his hands and chuckled. ‘You keep me so aroused I feel like I could stay hard all day and night until I pass out.’

Athena grinned a little and sent a quick ripple through her insides around him. He gasped at the teasing shock rushing through him and he grinned back at her. ‘Seems you don’t mind at all.’ he said and sat up straight. ‘Maybe I can pay you back seeing the human way your body reacts.’

Athena smiled and watched in curiosity as he slid slowly out of her, then gasped when he pressed his wet tip against her asshole, and pushed it inside.

Her chest heaved hard while she grinned in pleasure at him and he penetrated her tight ass further. She relaxed a little until his hilt pressed hard against her, then clamped around him and massaged him lightly. He groaned softly in pleasure and pumped his entire length slowly in her. ‘I don’t know when I’d dry up, but I might just find out because I want to pour every drop in my balls into you.’

Athena smiled and licked her lips in pleasure, and massaged him more while he pressed harder inside her with every thrust into her tight ass, and moaned when he used one thumb to massage her clit. ‘I will make sure I won’t be the only one drained of energy every time we do this, my dear.’ he groaned. She chuckled between two moans and squeezed his thighs with her hands in pleasure.

The rush of pleasure shared between them soon brought them to their next climax and they kissed out of breath again while the mix of their throbbing and pulsing body parts squeezed a few more drops out of him. Louis brushed Athena’s hair with his fingers while she caressed his cheek and neck. ‘I might die if we keep this up but no man would die in better circumstances than me.’

She giggled and kissed him again, then smiled and held up one finger.

He chuckled. ‘You want to do it one more time?’

She blushed and nodded.

He kissed her and smiled. ‘How could I refuse? I’ll keep going as long as you like to and I can.’

She smiled, wiggled slowly up and slipped from his still hard erection, then turned and leaned against the wall at the headboard on her knees, and swayed her behind seductively as she looked back at him.

Louis smiled. ‘This is going to be a long, tiresome, and very satisfying night.’ he said and embraced her with one hand cupping a breast and the other stroking her mound while she pressed her behind against his hips and guided him inside her again.

xxxxx

Louis woke up late in the morning and his heart raced at the presence of the sleeping Athena snuggled up against him. He stroked her blue hair softly and placed a soft kiss on her head, then sighed in satisfaction. It had been a long and satisfying night indeed and whatever awaited them in the future, he would face it with her at his side.

He turned his head to see the clock on his night stand and noticed an open book on it. He picked it up to see what she had been reading lately and stared at a page about stages of pregnancy.

He dropped the book on his face and groaned silently with slight amusement. ‘If Henrick finds about this I will never hear the end of it.

THE END