I Dated a Mad Scientist by Viola Grace

Chapter Six

It should have surprised her that Krizt was waiting outside the ladies’ room, but the hug was a genuine shock. “I am sorry that you found out that way.”

She blinked. “You knew?”

“Your bank pressed for us to issue a death certificate. We refused, as you were very much alive, but the news covered the brutality of the scene, and it was easy for him to pretend to be too grief-stricken to manage the paperwork. Someone helpful gave him everything.”

“He was always good at convincing people he needed money.” She was numb. She could get more money, but she was going to have to change all of her identifying numbers, or he would steal her money over and over. She was going to need a different bank.

“Zera has put a hold on your payroll. As soon as you open a new account, the transfer will go through. HR is just waiting for your account information. Z-Tech did not commiserate with him, nor did the BDC, but that money was already in your account.”

She sighed and wished she could cry, but the dry fury was all she had. She breathed in deep and changed her focus. She focused on what he wanted. It would stop her from wanting to wreck the shelter and everything her brother had created on her back.

Krizt held her until she had a grip on herself. She patted his chest, and he leaned back, looking down at her. “You don’t want to cry?”

She shook her head. “Not in public. He has done stuff like this before, just never so thoroughly.”

“Come on, Arcady. We can make arrangements in between courses.”

Arcady nodded. “Yes. That would be nice.”

They returned to the table that overlooked the city, and she had never felt smaller. Krizt contacted Zera, and they discussed what was going to be done. Zera paused and made another call. “Corianne, can you set up a bio-locked account over the com?”

Corianne looked familiar, and Arcady recognized her from the walk into the restaurant. She was in one of the booths.

They went through what was necessary, and Corianne got the framework going; her hot pink skin and crimson hair were unmistakable. The icy white eyes just completed the look.

“Right. Now, I need to taste Arcady to complete the account. I will be back at the office in an hour.”

Arcady leaned in and said, “If I just walk across the restaurant, would that work as well?”

Corianne smiled. “You are here?”

“I—we are.”

Krizt said, “The private booth.”

“I will be there in a moment.”

Corianne appeared in under a minute, and she whistled at the view of the city. “Nice. I have never eaten with this view.”

Krizt nodded. “Speaking of, you need to taste Arcady?”

“Sure, do you want it to be blood or saliva? Either will work.”

She wanted Krizt to be the first bite, so she said, “Saliva?”

Corianne leaned toward her and kissed her, delving deep far more rapidly than Arcady would have considered appropriate. Arcady whimpered as the other woman held her head and continued the kiss until Arcady kissed her back. She had to focus, and when she cupped Corianne’s face with her hands, the kiss was over, and she knew she had just met one of her patrons.

Corianne smiled. “Your hair is different, but you taste the same.”

Krizt asked, “You two know each other?”

Arcady bit her lip, and the white eyes narrowed. “Do we?”

“Researcher Krizt, if you don’t want to be bothered taking care of her, I am more than willing to put her up for a few days, weeks, months, years.”

Arcady blushed and dropped her gaze. “I believe that my accommodations have been arranged, Patron.”

Krizt nodded. “They have indeed. She has also not been medically cleared for a return to work at BDC as yet.”

“Pity. I like the new look, and were your eyes always that colour?”

She shook her head slowly. “No, they were not.”

Corianne leaned in and stroked her cheek. “So pretty.” She kissed her slowly. “Here is to a speedy return to duty. Your accounts are set up, and the confirmation lock is in place. I have registered you.”

Arcady smiled. “So, I have access to my paycheque again?”

Corianne nodded. “Of course, you do. Just give me five minutes for final authorizations, and you will be good to go.”

Klauz came around with the next course and saw Corianne leaning toward Arcady. “Don’t you have one of those escorts at your beck and call? Go bug her.”

Corianne purred, “I am bugging her, but she is not yet cleared for a return to her previous activities. So, I will wait, and now, I know where to find you, Arcady.”

Arcady looked at her and shook her head. “Don’t be creepy, Corianne. Now I know who you are as well, and your position is bound by far more regulations and strictures than mine is. Plus, I am capable of giving you the bitchy girlfriend experience.” She smiled.

“Ah. Point taken. Thank you for the short, sharp shock.” Corianne nodded but squeezed her hand as she winked. “I await news of your return to action.”

“Um. Thank you.” She smiled with her cheeks pink.

“Anyway, your new accounts will be up and running, and it is a one-way setup. No one can withdraw without providing all of your biologicals, though your com and register can make all the charges you like.”

“Good. I need to find some makeup that matches my new colouration.”

“Oh. Here.” Corianne sent her a business name for a pricey cosmetic boutique. “Go there and pick what you like. Usa will put it on my account.”

“I can’t do that, Patron.”

“Escorts are allowed to accept gifts. Consider this more useful than a bunch of flowers while you were in a coma.”

Arcady chuckled. “I hardly had a chance to enjoy them before I was whisked off for my alterations.”

“Then, it is most important that you get something pretty. May I have another kiss before I head back to my table?”

Arcady smiled and held out her hand. “That would be nice, Patron.”

Corianne leaned in and kissed her again, a soft kiss that slowly grew to a boil of heat, and then, Arcady cooled it down, and her patron eased away with a sigh and a smile. “I have missed that.”

Arcady smiled shyly and looked away. Corianna chuckled. “I had always wondered what your eyes looked like when you did that. Now I have a complete picture. I can wait, but don’t make it too long. I have missed you, Seventeen.”

Klauz stared at his guest as she sashayed back to her table to be stared at and spoken to by the eager humans.

He looked back to Arcady. “So, you actually are one of the escorts.”

“In the evenings, when I am not working for Researcher Krizt.” She blushed at the look Klauz was giving to his brother.

“Krizt, you are okay with this?”

“This is what she is, who she is. Her occupation is tied up with her sexuality, and that is a portion of her that I am definitely interested in.”

Arcady’s blush went up a few notches. “That is news to me.”

Klauz looked down and shook his head. “Damn. I am going to have to redo this. It melted.”

He left them, and she turned to look at Krizt. He was smiling. “How many of your patrons are female?”

“Um. Two. The other six regulars are male.”

“Are they all actives with physical identifiers?”

She smiled. “I have no idea. I don’t see them in anything other than heat and infrared. I was as surprised by her appearance as she was by mine. It was the taste of her that gave her away.”

“You can tell people apart by taste?” He stroked her hair.

“When they have a specific flavour. My patrons are all very distinct.”

She turned her head toward him. “I won’t be forgetting you in a hurry either.”

“Are you sure?”

Arcady cocked her head and frowned. “Pretty sure.”

“Perhaps I should remind you.” He pulled her toward him, and she stared up at him for a moment.

With a smile, she leaned up toward him and kissed him softly, then, when she got his participation, she knelt on the seat of the booth and wrapped her arms around his neck. The high back of the booth kept her from being seen by the restaurant, so she moaned slightly as he stroked her through the dress, across her breasts, and between her thighs.

When Klauz came around the corner, Arcady was cuddled up against Krizt’s side.

The item was another quenelle, but this one had dessert just about stamped on it. “This will be it for this afternoon. I think you can use a nap after the overstimulation of the day.”

She nodded and looked warily at the ice cream surrounded by fruit carved in the shape of little animals. “Wow.”

She knelt on the seat and leaned forward. She picked up the spoon and crashed it through the spun sugar. The little fruit animals scattered, and she got a bit of everything in the one bite.

She couldn’t help it. She moaned. Klauz grinned. “Be careful. With sounds like that, I am not going to stop until you weigh three hundred pounds.”

“Don’t worry. I only moan once per course.” She smiled and ate the next bite, humming happily.

Krizt said, “It’s true. You should see her over a box of gourmet donuts or cupcakes or anything sweet, really.”

“Moderation is key.” She ate a strawberry monkey and then finished the ice cream.

She sat back with a sigh, and fatigue swelled over her.

She heard Krizt say, “The private entrance?”

Klauz nodded. “Go ahead. It would look a little odd to carry her out in that state.”

Krizt chuckled. “Put today on my tab.”

“Excellent. The price is that you return with her tonight.”

“I will have to check to see what kind of clothing Zera sent along for her. I don’t want her embarrassed.”

“Sabba might be able to help.”

“Arcady is going to get some rest. I don’t want her subjected to prodding and poking.”

He got to his feet with her in his arms.

Arcady whispered, “Why am I so sleepy?”

“Atrophy. You have been pushing your body to be what it was, but you haven’t been able to move a muscle for weeks. Give yourself time to recover.” He pressed a kiss to her temple.

She sighed and relaxed against him. She breathed deeply and was secure in the fact that Krizt was going to keep track of her. She was the only assistant he had had longer than two months for years.

The window in her bedroom was floor-to-ceiling, and she got up and stood, looking out. She was naked, but that didn’t matter. They were above the restaurant by several floors, and only one of the fliers in the city could see her. None were in the vicinity.

The golden-orange of the light made her smile; the colour of the sinking sun always made her happy. It meant it was time to get ready for the evening. First, she needed a cup of coffee, and for that, she needed something to wear. She actually was in a guestroom.

The closet had familiar clothing in it, as did some of the dresser drawers. She pulled out a folded silk gown that she liked and slipped it over her head. She found an ensuite bathroom and brushed her hair. The purple was brighter, and the white was nearly the colour of snow. It was strange that she still saw herself in the reflection. She had always thought that the people who had a physical transformation must lose a sense of self, but here she was, and there was nothing. She was still Arcady.

She crept out of the bedroom and went in search of the kitchen as quietly as she could. She pattered past an office and saw a flash of blue then kept going. She needed coffee first.

When she found the kitchen, she was horrified. She had no idea where to start, but she just remembered that Krizt only drank herbal tea.

She had rifled through the third cupboard when an arm wrapped around her and a bag was set down in front of her. “Zera thought you might need this.”

She smelled the coffee and went nose-first into the bag, inhaling deeply. There was a drip coffee funnel, Arcady’s preferred type of coffee, and a mug with lightning bolts all over it. She sighed in relief. “Do you mind if I make myself some coffee?”

He chuckled. “Dressed like that, you can do anything you like.”

She looked at him, and his face was relaxed, and there was a warmth to his expression. “Wow. You are different at home, boss.”

“Here, I would like to be addressed as Krizt.” He chuckled. “Or darling or sweetie or honey, but that will come with time.”

She blushed. “Where is your kettle?”

“Hot water on tap. That tap.” He pointed, and she saw his forearm, and he wasn’t wearing a button-down shirt. She twisted in his arms. “What are you wearing?”

He snickered. “I always thought that was a question for com sex.”

“I just have only ever seen you in a buttoned shirt with a starched collar.” She turned in his grip and looked at the t-shirt stretched to containment capacity. She looked at him and frowned. “How do you get the neckline over your horns?”

He grinned. “Practice. Now, how was your nap?”

She looked up at him. “Coffee.”

He kissed her softly, and when he parted their lips, she whispered, “Coffee.”

He laughed and kissed her again. He held her head as he kissed her and then raised his head again.

“Mmm. Coffee.”

“I can see you wake with a single thought.”

She smiled sleepily. “Yup. There are two hours of stumbling around before you see me in the mornings. Much coffee disappears during that time. I am having a clandestine relationship with the coffeemaker at work.”

He snorted. “Everybody knows. The receptionist on the main floor is going to be holding some kind of an anniversary party for you two when you have been at Z-Tech for a year.”

“Aw... how sweet. We want coffee filters. First anniversary is paper, after all.” She slid her arms around Krizt, and he tensed.

“What is happening here?”

She yawned. “Second sleep cycle. If I don’t have coffee in the next ten minutes, my body will just go for a nap and keep surfacing at regular intervals until coffee magically appears. Some days, I use the disguise of ordering donuts just so I can order three cups of coffee to start the day without the delivery guy judging me.”

“Can I put subcutaneous monitors on you to keep track of your biorhythms?”

She looked at his excited face. “You have the strangest kink. Sure.”

He shifted away from her. “I will be right back.”

“Dude. You keep implants in your house? You need to get a life.”

He chuckled. “I am working on it. Make your coffee.”

She nodded and assembled her giant mug, filter, and the coffee grounds. She knew that she was going to burn herself at least once with this arrangement. So, she would assemble another deposit and rent another apartment and get a proper kettle. The things she would do for a cup of coffee.

The hot water was hot. By the time Krizt came back, she had the back of her hand stuck in her mouth, and she was applying honey to her coffee; the powdered milk that came in the bag was already melted and swirling slowly.

“What happened?”

She mumbled around her hand. “This is trickier than it looks. With a kettle, you move it, and the water goes where you want it.”

He pulled her hand out of her mouth and examined her hand with the red splash across it. “You ran cold water over it?”

“Yup. Took most of the sting out of it.” She stirred her coffee, picked up the cup, and sighed in relief as he prodded at her burn.

He went to his kit and took out some swabs, cleaning the surface before putting a cream on her skin that pulled the red out and left her skin slightly shiny but feeling normal.

“What is that?”

“An experiment. Glad to see it worked.”

She chuckled. “An untested experiment. Oh. Goody.”

He looked at her and braced his hands on his hips. His jeans were low on his hips, and she remembered the tail. The coffee cup was set aside, and she looked at his hip, leaned to one side, and then the next. He was amused. “What are you doing?”

“I wanna see the tail.”

She was tapped on the shoulder and whipped around, but a blue blur retreated behind him. He laughed at her expression.

A slight caress down the outside of her left hip, and she looked down and saw the pointed tip leading to the thick cable of his tail. She touched it, and he narrowed his eyes as she slid her hand down the tail, and it looped around her arm.

“How much weight can you carry with it?”

He grinned, looped it around her waist and lifted her. “Enough.”

She blinked and swayed at the narrow contact point. “Oh. Fair enough.” She looked at his horns and then his tail as he set her down. “I guess you get into a sleep position carefully.”

He smiled. “I don’t use a pillow.”

“Oh. Well, that probably helps.”

He grinned. “My tail wraps around my thigh to keep it out of the way.”

She looked at the thick muscle in the jeans and the erection straining at the denim and jerked her gaze up to his twinkling eyes. “That was a trap.”

“It was indeed. Nice to know that you can take the bait. Going back to work Monday is going to be so much fun. I have identified over two hundred places not completely visible to cameras where I could get you alone.”

She closed her mouth with a snap the moment she realized it was open. She thought about it and said, “I can only think of one hundred and twelve.”

He pressed his forehead to hers. “I look forward to expanding your awareness of your surroundings.”

Arcady looked forward to it, too.