The hot weather continued through the weekend and into Monday, and the sweltering Italian summer showed no signs of fading. The heat did not help Ian on Monday morning when he was still feeling the drinks from Sunday at the Scholars Lounge. He had made it to the university on time and again buried himself in the texts. A little after 10 am, there was a soft knock on the door, and slowly Amara opened it and stepped in carefully, a coffee mug in each hand and a bunch of papers under her arm.
"Amara! Good to see you! Come on in." Ian rose to greet her.
"Likewise, Ian, I hope everything is good," Amara replied, "I know I haven't been by here as much as I should have, but today," Amara paused and flashed him a smile, "I have time." Ian closed the door behind her, and Amara stepped toward Ian's desk - careful not to spill anything.
"Don't worry, I'm sure you had your reasons. Ah, coffee, I need that." Ian took one of the mugs, and Amara sat on the couch.
"Come, sit. How was the weekend? Did you do anything fun?"
"Just a beer with Marcus..."
"At the Scholars Lounge?"
Ian nodded in reply, "how did you know?"
"Marcus always goes there; I think he likes all the books - or maybe there is someone cute who works there!" Amara laughed; she seemed in an excellent mood today. "Well, we have a bit of catching up to do. Maybe I should start?"
"Sure," Ian replied as he sat down, embarrassingly aware of how short her black skirt was. Quickly he readjusted his pants and crossed his legs.
"So, Ian, I haven't been completely truthful to you. But I hope you can see past that; I was trying to fix the problems instead of telling you about them and distracting you from studying the texts. I am, however, getting nowhere, so I'll tell you now."
"That sounds bad. I can still stay, right?"
"Oh yes, of course! Maybe that was a little over dramatic; sorry for the scare," Amara leaned forward and put a hand on Ian's thigh, "you can stay, don't worry. However, you know how you have been asking for some more context for the texts since probably before you got here? Right?" Ian was nodding, still not liking this one bit. "That turns out to be more difficult than expected." Amara took a deep breath; the smile and peppy attitude had disappeared again, "I have now been denied access to the tomes. Fortunately, we have the scanned copies already, as they seem to have regretted even allowing the scan in the first place. Luckily there is no argument for deleting it now. I don't know what is happening, but someone high up puts pressure to bar anyone from accessing the texts. My best guess is that it is the church. They repeatedly state that they believe the tomes are relics that fall in their possession because the library is in their building. Ignorants!" Amaras face turned hard as stone, and then she seemed to remember herself and continued in her typical soft and relaxed tone. "Artifacts like these belong to all of us, a small peephole to our past, not something that should be hoarded by the church, hidden and stored away in a desperate attempt to control history. Maybe you don't know this, but the library is run by a small order of monks, and I have been trying to convince them to help. At first, a few of them did talk to me, but now someone has frightened them or told them not to talk to me, and now they won't say a word." Amaras hand was still on Ian's thigh; the touch of her slender fingers alone felt electric. "I know this makes your work so much harder, Ian, but I have faith in you."
Ian paused at the slight paradox that Amara was angry at the church but still had faith in him. "So you are saying there is no supporting documentation, like nothing at all?"
"Oh no, I don't come here completely empty-handed." Amara reached for the documents she had brought with her, "this is all I have been able to find out about the tomes, and I hope this is enough to help you decipher them. Most of it is old records of the tomes, and some of it I have written based on the few interviews I did."
"So what did you find out," Ian, still very skeptical, access to the tomes themselves wouldn't necessarily be essential, but it would make things damn hard. But honestly, it was his experiences with their otherworldly powers that made this terrible news indeed.
"Well, the tomes are mentioned only a few times, often referred to as the Tomes of Power or Books of Power. According to the texts, they were brought by angels from heaven to earth, and they gave the angels their power. Some books were lost, and some were handed over as gifts to trustworthy monarchs or highly gifted individuals. Still, nobody ever believed that such a collection as the one we have found even existed."
"And what exactly does it mean that the tomes are no longer accessible? They are still on display in the library, aren't they?" Ian's nervousness shone through even if he had tried to be nonchalant about his question.
"They are indeed, but I meant for in-depth study, I know it sounds final, but you will not be allowed to read directly in the tomes - and neither will I. Well, you can take a look at all this tomorrow," and Amara smiled widely, "I believe there was something else you wanted to discuss?" Amara's gaze lingered on him as she uncrossed and crossed her legs.
Ian squirmed in his seat, his eyes looking between Amara's seductive stare, her pursed red lips, and her magnificent legs and breasts. She stretched her arms above her, and the buttons on the white shirt were straining to keep it buttoned. "I... you said something about that today," Ian's throat suddenly felt very dry, "you know... I didn't have to wait anymore."
"I'm quite sure that what I said was that we could talk about it today," but she was barely able to contain her laugh. "No, I'm just joking, Ian. Come on, follow me. I think we should find somewhere a little more... private."
Amara led Ian out of the office complex and down to the parking garage below the building. Walking alongside her, he felt like a schoolboy alone with his childhood crush for the first time. Amara was nervous, too, even if it didn't show. She was tingling all over and found herself rushing to the car. She pushed Ian up against the car and stepped close. Her hands touched his chest. Her fingers began to unbutton his shirt, then paused to briefly squeeze his nipples through it. Ian's eyes closed, leaning back against the car, and Amara's hand moved to undo his belt, pushing his pants and boxers down. She stroked Ian a few times and then briskly walked around the car and got in. The sound of the closing car door pulled Ian out of his trance-like state, and he quickly turned to open the door and follow her into the car. But in that very second, the sound of the doors locking rang through the otherwise deserted parking garage. Amara had locked the car from inside. The window slid down just a bit while Ian pulled at his pants.
"You really want to cum today, right, Ian?" He nodded. "I want to make this special for you, but then you must do exactly as I say, you understand?" He nodded again while hurrying to button his pants back up.