Chapter Text
Noli Me Tangere
by Ange
Part 1
Sinus stuffy, throat hurty, muscles sore, badness. Fuck. Add in Chicago's version of summer weather which forced her to wear a heavy coat over her 'summer' clothes and Felicity wasn't a happy person.
Looking through the window that read 'Harry Dresden Wizard,' Felicity could see the wizard in question talking heatedly with an older man in dark velvet. She'd never seen him before, and she'd been coming to Harry's a lot in the last few years so that was saying something. If she wasn't mistaken, it could have been Harry's boyfriend. It may of had something to do with the extreme proximity they were to each other as they talked.
The bell rang when Felicity 'forgot' to knock and she watched with evil delight as Harry jumped away from the other man almost guiltily when he saw her.
"Sorry to intrude, but I come bearing herbs," Felicity said cheerfully.
"Hey, Felicity. Don't worry about it, your weren't intruding. Me and Bob were just...." Harry shot the other man a meaningful look, which was promptly ignored. "Just talking," he finished with a frustrated sigh.
"Hi Bob," Felicity said in greeting, giving him a friendly wave. Bob merely nodded.
"So, how's Joa feeling?" Harry asked, clearing off space on his desk for Felicity to set up her bag of herbs and oils. Joa was Harry's normal door to door herb peddler. Felicity was one of Joa's employee's and a wizard herself.
"Doing better. She should be up and about in time to do this for you next week."
Harry gave Felicity a sympathetic grimace when he heard the nasal sound to her voice.
"You too, huh?"
Felicity rolled her eyes. "Half of Chicago has a cold right now, Harry. I was just perky enough to do my job," she said with a shrug, her wheat blonde hair swishing as she did.
Harry grinned. "Someone's gotta be, right?"
Felicity smirked. "Got that right, sweetie."
Felicity was in her early thirties, pretty and long of limb which gave her a lot of the right curves. Her blue eyes were set off in a coy way by the small framed glass's perched on her nose which would occasionally be pushed up to the bridge of her nose when she knew something you didn't. Harry had seen that look one too many times to know Felicity was smarter then him and pestering only made her even smugger about the fact.
Her coat had been tossed over a chair and Harry, like any man, let his eyes take a casual roam over her body. Her outfit today was an above the ankle peasant skirt and a loose fitting button down shirt. White was her normal color of choice and it always clashed with her bright high tops. Somehow she always managed to pull off the preppy, hippy style and put a sexy swagger in her walk to boot. Still, you'd never know what her favorite pastime was by the way she dressed.
Harry thought it was a shame they didn't make wizard dominatrices like Felicity anymore.
"All right," Harry said suddenly and rubbed his hands together. "What do you have for me today?"
"Joa said you had a list."
Harry looked lost for a moment and Felicity was reminded why she sometimes called him the 'absent minded wizard.' His looks got him by in her book though.
"Oh right, list. Give me a second," Harry said before turning down the hall to god knows where, leaving Felicity alone with Bob.
Felicity eyed the man who was staring down his nose at her like a hawk. He was extremely overdressed for the Chicago weather -- and the time period. He looked like he should be seated in some mansion library with a snifter of brandy and a good book. Felicity's cold addled mind was also painting more interesting pictures that included using his ascot as a rope to bind his hands with.
"So, do you always role-play with your boyfriend or is that your clubbing outfit?" Felicity asked, breaking the man's one sided staring contest with her face. He
blinked a few times before he seemed to get the gist of what she was saying. Then a sly grin slipped into place on his pale lips and Felicity perked. 'Ooo, kitty's gonna play' she thought with delight as she watched Bob clasp him arms behind his back.
"Not that I mean to judge," she added. "Far be it for me to say your kink is not ok. That 'to the manor born' look works for you."
The smile on his face turned up just a notch and his head titled to the side. "As I'm sure the 'fiery femme fatale scholar' does for you in turn, milady." An aristocratic accent accompanied the compliment.
Felicity actually made a purring noise in the back of her throat. "Ooo, I like you," she said approvingly before offering her hand. "Felicity Adams."He chuckled and took a step towards her, bringing his hand under hers so she could barely feel it and placing an airy kiss on her knuckles. The sensation left an odd tingling against her skin.
"Hrothbert of Bainbridge, at your service," he murmured.
Felicity raised an eyebrow. "Don't make any promises you can't keep," she warned.
This only made Bob's smile widen. He seemed to enjoy the game as much as she did. His baritone laugh was like candy to her ears.
"So, you and Harry bed buddies?" She asked with a sly tone.
Bob smirked. "I'm afraid not. Just good friends." There was a twinge of regret to the words.
Felicity didn't believe him for a second and stood impossibly close to the man so she could bat her eyes at him in a show of unconvincing innocence.
"Are you by any chance lying to me, Hrothbert?" she asked sweetly, though his name did come out funny with her cold. Bob was suprised to hear his full name actually spoken outside of the rare command.
Bob smiled. "I wish it were so, my dear," he said and reached out to run a gentle hand along her cheek; or he would have, if his hand had not gone through her.
It sent a rather unusual jolt through Felicity and made her jump back. Understanding suddenly flashed through the sharp eyes behind her wire frames.
"You're a..?"
Bob nodded. "Yes."
"Then you can't..?" she asked, pointing in the direction Harry had taken off in.
He shook his head. "Unfortunately, no."
Felicity gave him a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry."
He waved a hand in dismissal. "I've been like this for some time now."
"How long exactly?" She asked curiously.
"Centuries." The aristocratic ghost sighed dismally.
"I'm 'really' sorry."
"The burden of a curse-bound sorcerer," he said sarcastically, with a self-loathing grin. It was enough to tell Felicity how much he truly hated it. She barely knew the ghost wizard but it didn't mean her heart couldn't go out to the guy. There was some obvious chemistry between Bob and Harry and she'd only seen them together once. It was a shame they couldn't do anything about it.
Felicity could still feel the light tingling in her hand and cheek. And that's when the intellectual lighting stuck and she grinned, pushing her glasses up to the bridge of her nose.
"Curse-bound sorcerer, huh? Would that mean you were fairly powerful when you were alive by any chance?"
Bob looked at her suspiciously, crossing his arms across his chest. "Fairly," he drawled out, making an understatment. "Why?"
Felicity snorted. "Calm down. I already have a cat with a bigger ego then yours. I don't want a ghost, too. I just want to know if you remember how to focus energy?"
The suspicion melted ever so slightly from his expression, giving way to piqued interest. "In what way?"
Felicity held up her hands, palms up. "I could feel energy traces from where you touched me. Focus it a little, up the ampage. And if it works then you could very well touch, say, any wizard you wish with that energy."
The Cheshire cat grin on Felicity's face was enough to make Bob uncross his arms and close the distance. He took the time to shake the tension from his hands before taking a deep breath and letting them hover over hers.
"Just be careful how much energy you use," Felicity said, suddenly aware of her own safety. "I don't want to fly across the room 'cause you got too eager."Bob gave her a dark grin that showed the sharpness of his canines and made Felicity feel a warm squirming feeling in her belly.
"If I could do that, young lady, we wouldn't be trying this little experiment."
Bob lowered his hands onto Felicity's and she felt the same faint tingling from before. Her eyes watched as their hands seem to meld together with golden light as the glue.
Bob took a breath to prepare himself and the tingling slowly started to get stronger. It evolved into a warm sensation, ticklish even. And then Felicity had to close her eyes to fully appreciate the delicious sparks that danced across the nerve endings in her fingertips and palms.
"Can you feel it?" she heard Bob ask but at the same time his hands had traveled beyond her palms and up her arms, rendering it nearly impossible to actually respond with anything but a whimper.
Felicity felt a shiver run down her spine as his fingers moved over the curve of her shoulders, following the line of her neck and finally cupping her face, leaving all the little hairs along her skin raised in the wake of his touch. It had to of been the most erotic twenty seconds of her life.
"Miss Adams?" Her eyes snapped open to stare at Bob in a dazed and confused sort of way for a moment. "Felicity, are you all right?" he asked with concern.
Felicity gave him a goofy smile. " Ooo, daddy, buy me one of those."
"I'll take that as a yes then." He chuckled. Bob's hands fell away from her face and she mourned the loss.
"I didn't even know that was possible. How were you aware it was possible?" Bob asked, in a classy British form of shock. There was a glint of respect in his eyes now and Felicity nearly giggled.
"Easy. A ghost needs to collect energy to be visible. It takes a lot of energy to stay that way and I haven't seen you go transparent or anything the whole time I've been here. So that part was quick to figure out. Also, when you make contact with something you may not feel it, but I can. So put concentrated focus points behind the energy you already have and 'pow', electric touch." Felicity was practically bouncing on the balls of her feet by the end of explanation, getting a little high off the knowledge she had just laid out before a sorcerer nearly a millenium her senior.
Bob looked both fascinated and annoyed. "Well, that is bloody brilliant. And to think I didn't come up with this after a few centuries of imprisonment."
Felicity smirked. "Don't be too hard on yourself. Besides, we're not even done yet."
Bob cocked an eyebrow. "There's more?"
Felicity pouted and clutched at her heart theatrically. "Please don't
make me sound like a game show host. My poor little heart can't take that."
Bob snickered."What is there left to do?"
Felicity's hand started to glow an ice blue as her magic crackled across her palm. "If thee can put out energy, then ye can conduct it," she stated simply, and Bob's eyes widened with understanding.
He suddenly seemed very wary of the young wizard approaching him.
"It won't feel like a normal, human touch. But I can shape my magic to the closest thing possible. Just hold still."
To be continued..........