Stolen Alchemy Ch 01

Peter was feeling nervous as he walked to work. He was pretty lucky to be employed in a prestigious alchemists lab, even if it was just as a cleaner and general assistant. Magus Alexei - his employer - wasn't exactly the friendliest of bosses, but he paid reasonably well. Unfortunately, Peter had not come into work the previous day and now Alexei would likely be in a foul mood.

Catherine, his wife, had fallen ill a couple of days ago and had been rapidly declining - yesterday she had been completely bedridden and Peter had stayed home to care for her. The couple had only been married for a year, and it was breaking Peters heart to see her in such distress. They couldn't afford a doctor, and when he had gone to the local herb witch she had said there was nothing to be done except to make his wife comfortable and hope the sickness passed on its own. But Peter couldn't just stand by and watch his wife waste away, he had to at least try and do something. So this morning he had left Catherine at home and come into work. He had a vague plan of asking Magus Alexei for help. Peter knew that nobles and wealthy merchants came to Alexei when they were struck down with illness or misfortune - surely there was something the alchemist could give Peter for Catherine? He had been a reliable employee for two years now, surely Alexei would understand his need?

Peter mustered his courage, and opened the door to the lab. Almost instantly, he was greeted by a hoarse reprimand.

"You're late. And you never turned up yesterday."

Peter was caught by surprise. He wasn't expecting to be challenged before even getting through the door, and stuttered a response.

"I...I'm sorry sir. My wife, sh..she's sick and I needed to care for her. I..was hoping maybe that..."

He was cut off by Alexei before he could even finish. The alchemist's beady eyes stared at Peter from behind the wizened old mans' crystal spectacles as he barked out his words.

"Your woman being sick is no excuse for being late. Women are weak creatures and get sick all the time. Half the potions I make are for womenfolk thinking they are about to die of a simple cough. If you are late tomorrow, don't bother turning up. I'll just hire someone else. Now get to work - there is a lot of equipment that needs to be cleaned up. And make sure to be quiet, I need to prepare for an important visitor tomorrow."

With that, the old man turned his attention back to his current project, a complex arrangement of glassware filled with brightly coloured liquids, some of which were bubbling and hissing as he carefully stirred and added more ingredients. Peter was filled with anger at being ignored like this, and for Alexei to have dismissed Catherine's illness so off-handedly, but he swiftly deflated. He should have known that the greedy alchemist would never help him and would not forgive his absence the previous day.

Peter's shoulders slumped, and he shuffled over to the storage area where dirty vials, beakers and other alchemical paraphernalia waited to be washed and sterilised. Peters got to work, wondering what he could possibly do to help Catherine now. It looked like there was no chance of Alexei being a generous man and helping him, and Peter could never afford to buy even the cheapest of the cures the alchemist sold. As he finished drying yet another batch of beakers and went to store them in the glassware cupboard, he walked past a bench where the alchemist must have been doing some kind of work the previous night. Alexei was always working on odd personal projects, but this one seemed to grab Peters attention more than usual. Sitting on the workbench were a trio of vials filled with red liquid, and which seemed to be faintly...glowing? Peter rubbed his eyes, sure he must be seeing this, but no, there was definitely a faint red glow coming from the liquid in the vials. The rack they sat in had a hastily scribbled note attached to it.

Peter quickly glanced around to check what Alexei was doing, but the alchemist was lost in his own work and wasn't paying any attention to the rest of the lab. Now sure that Alexei wouldn't notice him Peter bent down and strained his eyes to read the crabbed writing on the note - he couldn't read very well (especially not Alexei's near-illegible scrawls), but he was pretty sure the note read "HELTH ELXIR, DLTN". He wasn't sure what the last part meant, but the first two words were probably Alexei's shortened way of writing "health elixir". He had overheard the alchemist discussing something like that with the Duke a few months back, and he was pretty sure that the Duke was the "important visitor" that Alexei had mentioned. These vials must be for him, and if so, they were probably worth a lot of gold. There was also a glass flask on the workbench that looked like it must have been used for some kind of distillation process. In the bottom of the flask there still appeared to be some liquid remaining. There wasn't much left compared to the full vials, maybe enough for a quarter of a vial at most, but an idea came to Peter, and he called out to the alchemist across the room.

"Mr. Alexei sir, do you need me to clean out the glassware from last night?"

Distracted with a bubbling green mixture, and not even glancing up from his work, Alexei grunted a reply.

"Yes, yes. Clean everything. Now shut up and let me work in peace."

Peter let out his held breath - yes! The residue must be leftover from whatever Alexei was making for the Duke. His plan might work! Heart pounding, Peter took the flask with the red liquid at the bottom and carefully poured it out into a much smaller stoppered bottle that Alexei normally used for expensive perfumes. There wasn't much left, it barely filled the tiny perfume bottle, but he hoped it would be enough. The liquid was quite viscous, definitely a lot thicker than water, but it hardly left a residue on the original flask when it flowed out. Once Peter had it all poured out into his small bottle, he stuffed the tiny container into an inner pocket of his jacket, where it would hopefully remain hidden and safe. He made sure to thoroughly clean all the remaining glassware on the worktable and then continued with the rest of his day - cleaning, tidying and carrying for Alexei before heading home.

******

Later that night after Peter had left, Alexei stretched his back and went to return to his work from the previous night. He chuckled as he thought of how much money he was charging the Duke for a couple of diluted vials, while he kept the rest of the wondrous concentrated elixir for himself. The Duke had fronted most of the money of course, but he didn't need to know that Alexei was keeping most of the resulting product for himself. He had already made one spare "dilution" that he was planning on selling to the Duke for his wife, and he was thinking of making a few more to sell to other rich nobles once the efficacy was proven. Soon, he would be the most celebrated and acclaimed alchemist in history!

Happily lost in thoughts of what he would do with all of his soon-to-be gained wealth and prestige (perhaps purchase a title for himself?) he fished another vial out of the storage cabinet, filled it most of the way with an inert filler liquid and gathered his smallest and most precise pipette. He sat down at his workbench ready to work, but as he went to grab the flask containing the concentrated elixir he froze, and his eyes went wide as he finally noticed the sparkling, clean and EMPTY flask that had - until that morning - held the final results of nearly a decade of careful work. He had spent hundreds of gold (well, the Dukes gold) and untold hours and weeks preparing and sourcing rare and powerful ingredients for this, his greatest creation, and now there was nothing but an empty flask on the workbench.

Last night had been the final distillation. There should have been enough potent liquid left for DOZENS, no, HUNDREDS more diluted solutions to be made. Now all he had were three diluted vials, and he had already promised two of those to the Duke. If he didn't deliver what he had promised to the Duke, he had a strong suspicion that he might swiftly become intimately familiar with the Dukes dungeon and jailer, which left him with just one measly vial for himself. An unearthly scream of rage was let loose in the lab, followed soon by inconsolable sobbing as the alchemist remembered that he had, in fact, been asked by Peter about cleaning out the glassware but hadn't been paying attention. The idiot peasant probably thought it was left-over residue and just poured it down the drain. The sobbing (mixed with curses) continued long into the night as the Alexei mourned his lost masterpiece...

******

Meanwhile, Peter returned home with hope in his heart. It was raining, and the cobbled streets were slippery but he avoided falling as he hurried home as fast as he could. When he got to their door he slowed down to catch his breath before entering. Their home was a small 2-room apartment, just like hundreds of other families in the poorer neighborhoods of the city, consisting of just a bedroom and a living area/kitchen. They didn't have running water, but the public water pump was less than five minutes walk away. As he walked in, he heard a weak cough from the bedroom, and went in to check on Catherine.

She was lying on the pallet that served as their bed, and looked even worse than she had when he had left that morning. She was shivering under the bedsheets. Peter dropped down beside her and laid his hand over hers, squeezing gently to let her know he was there. When they had gotten married just a year ago, she had seemed like an angel - long blond hair that hung halfway down her back, a radiant smile and a mischievous sparkle in her eyes as she looked at him. She was pretty flat-chested with smatterings of freckles all over her body, and while some men were put off by her waifish looks, he had always felt that they just added to her charm. Now he could hardly reconcile that happy image with the woman who lay before him. She was worryingly pale, and her eyes looked sunken in her face. Even her hair looked somehow limp and unhealthy.

Catherine looked up at Peter, and a glimmer of her former beauty seemed to shine through for a moment as she smiled at him - but then she was forced to hunch over with a sudden coughing fit. Peter immediately knelt down to hold her, and he was sure he saw flecks of blood on her hand as she shielded her mouth. Once the coughing had fully passed, he fetched her a glass of water from the pitcher in the kitchen and then sat down on the bed beside her. Catherine gratefully took the water, but then tried to apologise for her condition.

"Peter, I am sorry, I seem to be getting worse..."

"Ssh, it's not your fault. I think I actually have something that might help. When I was at work today, I asked Alexei for something that might help, and he gave me...this."

Peter fumbled about in his jacket for a few moments. At first he could not find anything and feared the potion could have fallen out of his jacket, but eventually he fished out the bottle he had pilfered from the alchemy lab. As it emerged into the dim light of their bedroom, Peter got a good look at what he had taken for the first time. In the lab, he had been too occupied with potentially being caught to pay too much attention, but now he could see it clearly the liquid in the bottle seemed quite different from the finished vials that Alexei had prepared. First, unlike the "finished" vials this wasn't transparent at all - it was a thick, dark red that almost seemed to absorb light rather than glowing. Secondly it appeared to be...moving somehow, with internal currents and eddies clearly visible through the glass bottle even with such a small amount of liquid.

Lying on the bed, her head propped up by his arms, Catherine spluttered a laugh that turned into another impromptu coughing fit. When the coughing finished, she looked directly into his eyes as she spoke.

"That self-centered greedy old grouch just 'gave' you something? That man would charge people for air if he could. You stole it, didn't you?"

Peter squirmed under her gaze - she always saw through him whenever he tried to lie.

"Yes. But it was just going to be thrown away otherwise! He had already decanted all he wanted from it, this is just what was left over. There wasn't even enough left to fill a full vial, he won't miss it at all!"

Peter was starting to doubt this logic himself now that he looked at what was in his stolen bottle, but he had to hold onto that belief or else face the fact that the Magus would likely be furious with him.

Meanwhile, a few miles away, Alexei was drinking vodka straight from the bottle to try and drown his sorrows, while stewing on how to get revenge against his idiot assistant.

"He had it marked as some kind of health elixir. I know it isn't much, but it might at least help - please take it."

He held out the bottle in his hand, and a wave of relief went through him as Catherine sat up and put her hands on his.

"OK, but you will need to hold the bottle for me. There doesn't look like there is much in there. We don't want to spill any, and my hands are shaking too much."

Very carefully, Peter opened up the small glass bottle. Catherine obligingly opened her mouth, and Peter held up the bottle for her. The liquid seemed reluctant to flow out at first, but after a few moments he got a thin stream to fall towards Catherine's mouth. Where the liquid touched her tongue, a red light suddenly started to shine, filling her mouth. Startled (and worried!) Peter stopped pouring, but in his initial surprise he briefly tilted the bottle even further and a full third of the liquid ended up in Catherine's mouth before he stopped the flow. He swiftly stoppered the bottle, and then clutched Catherine tight and closed his eyes, afraid he might have poisoned her.

Catherine for her part was going through an experience she could never have imagined. As soon as the red liquid hit her tongue it seemed to dissolve instantly, and as it did so it felt like a wave of warmth spread out through her body, all the way to the tips of her fingers and toes. But it didn't stop there. As the waves of warmth reach her extremities, they seemed to bounce back towards her center before rebounding back out again. Each sequence of waves felt stronger than the last, and it felt like something warm and fuzzy was starting to form at the centre of her being, fed by the energy of the waves washing through her. Eventually the waves felt like they stopped, and she was left with the feeling of having something dense and powerful somewhere deep inside her - but it didn't feel painful in the slightest. Actually, it felt wonderful. Her entire body was tingling - it felt like she could feel EVERYTHING, and all the aches and pains that had been plaguing her seemed to have melted away. With her eyes closed, she just concentrated on breathing and felt slow, strong breaths filling her lungs.

After about of minute of enjoying just the sensation of breathing without pain, Catherine opened her eyes. Peter had his arms around her almost in a deathgrip, his knuckles showing white. She tilted her head to look at her worried husband properly, and as she tried to focus on his face she felt what seemed like a tendril of...something...snake out from that dense core of energy she felt inside of her. It felt like something reaching towards her eyes, and after a moment her vision suddenly snapped into focus. Peter looked...clearer than before. Catherine had always been short-sighted, but she could now see him perfectly. If she concentrated she could make out individual hairs on his face. Her eyes swiftly darted around the room, and she took in a startled breath as she realised she could see everything in the room perfectly, no matter how far away it was. Her eyesight was perfect! She gasped in astonishment at the change. She looked down again at Peter, whose eyes were still tightly shut, and raised an arm to gently stroke his hair.

"Peter, Peter. It's OK. I am OK. You can let go now, it's alright."

As she said this, Catherine was surprised by an unexpected sensation coming to the fore of her mind - she was starting to feel horny! She giggled - the sound coming out of her mouth was almost musical in a way it had never been before. Peter slowly let his arms relax, allowing her to sit up properly.

Peter finally opened his eyes, and turned to look at Catherine. Her voice had sounded different when she spoke, and now he could not help but stare. Where just a minute ago his wife had been a waif-like woman who had seemed on death's door, now she looked like the very picture of health. It was as if Catherine had been transformed into another person in an instant. Any hint of her previous illness had simply...vanished. She seemed to glow with health, with a rosy blush to her skin. A huge happy smile was plastered across her face, and her eyes seemed to literally shine somehow. Actually...he squinted a little, as he thought he saw a glint of gold in those eyes...but that couldn't be. Her eyes were blue. He shook off such odd thoughts, and concentrated on talking to her.

"Are you sure you are alright? You look OK, but I saw that red light and I was sure I had just killed you. When you drank that potion you just flopped down on the bed and didn't move for a full minute. I was afraid I had killed you. I never should have taken that damned stuff from the lab..."

"Ssh, ssh. Its OK honey. Really. I feel fantastic. Whatever was in that stuff was certainly potent - I can't feel even a shadow of the sickness that has been plaguing me, and even my eyesight has improved. In fact, I don't think I have ever felt healthier."

Peter let out a nervous laugh of relief, and leaned in to hug his miraculously healthy wife. As Peter leaned into her, Catherine gasped as she felt that source of inner warmth spreading out again. This time it wasn't a tendril, but more like a slow and gentle wave that spread itself around her groin and breasts when she felt Peters touch, amplifying her arousal. Her entire body shook as something seemed to switch inside of her - it felt like a miniature orgasm, just from being held!

She was DEFINITELY horny as hell now - she could even feel her nether regions starting to get wet, and when she rubbed her thighs together it sent a pleasant jolt through her body. She clamped her arms around Peter, and drew him into a passionate kiss rather than the comforting hug that he was trying for. As they kissed, her hunger for more just seemed to keep building. She pulled her baffled husband close, pressing herself into his chest as she continued to kiss him over and over again. Idly, in a quiet part of her mind, she noted that being this horny was probably not normal, and that her breasts seemed more sensitive too. But any speculation on such oddities was quickly shunted away for later. She had more important things to worry about right now!

Peter was completely taken by surprise by the passion and hunger of the kisses he was receiving from Catherine. While just moments ago he had been worried about the unknown effects of the elixir, now all he could think about was how good her body felt against him, and how long it had been since they had lain together. The taste of Catherine's lips was simply...intoxicating. Even the smell of her seemed different, almost addictive. He could hardly think of anything else. His dick was soon fully erect and straining within his trousers as his hands began to roam across her back and down her sides, pressing against her skin through the thin fabric of her night-dress. He could feel her tiny breasts pressing against him, and it was becoming hard to think of anything but Catherine's body...

Catherine finally broke off from her fiery kisses, and with a strength that took Peter entirely by surprise, pulled him onto the bed before flipping him over onto his back. The kissing felt amazing, but what she wanted right now was something a lot more physical. She threw one leg over Peter and straddled his prone form, starting to grind her hips into him. She was delighted at feeling the throbbing member contained within his trousers pressing against her own groin and growled with pleasure as she ground her hips into him - her juices were really starting to flow now, and were thoroughly drenching the rough fabric of Peters trousers. As she continued to grind into him she grabbed the hem of her nightdress and in one swift movement drew the garment up over her head and tossed it into a corner, leaving her completely naked.