O is for Obsession

By Jelsemium

Rating: K+

Description: Someone is obsessed with Amita, and not in a good way. This is the first of the "Obsessed" trilogy. No, I have no idea where it came from.

He is perfection incarnate.

I could see that, as limited as my own mind is. All minds are limited when compared to the flawless genius of Charles Edward Eppes. His brilliance outshines the very sun. His skill at teaching is legendary. Getting into his class is an arduous task, as it should be.

He has the patience of a saint, too, willing spend hours explaining and re-explaining the mysteries of math to lesser minds. He didn't confine his attentions to post-graduates or even upperclassmen. He is indifferent to skin color, religion or circumstances of birth.

And of course, he is oblivious to gender. His soul is too pure to be polluted with the gross, carnal cravings. His mind operates on a higher plane, concerned only with the solving of the divine mysteries of the universe.

At least, that's how things used to be until she came along.

The Succubus, the Demon of Pasadena, in the guise of a graduate student. If she were a real student, Ramanujan would have kept her mind on science and her hands to herself.

I wouldn't have believed that the Walking Perfection that we mortals know as Charles Edward Eppes could be beguiled by one so transparent, and for several years, he lived up to my expectations.

Then the Raksha acquired her doctorate. I had harbored hopes that her walking meant that she would be leaving. Alas, I was fated to be disappointed. She remained on campus to torment me with her foul presence! Worse, she began to catch the eye of the Divinity.

I grimly resolved to keep an eye on her, and to that end, I feigned friendship. Apparently, she was arrogant enough to believe that she had me fooled. Certainly she had everyone else fooled, including that foolish brother that fate had seen fit to saddle The Flawless Eppes with.

Even I had no idea how insidious The Ramanujan's influence was, until I came needed to retrace my steps one day to retrieve a carelessly forsaken notebook.

Although I suspected that it was actually divine intervention, not carelessness, that led me to witness the Succubus seducing The Heavenly Eppes into kissing her! Who knows what else she might have tried if I had not walked in at that moment?

I knew then that fiend would have to die.

It would be simple, I knew. The Succubus foolishly thought me her friend. So, one day after most of the students and faculty had departed, I asked her to let me in to The Radiant Eppes' office on the pretext that I had left behind a flash drive that contained the back up of my bibliography.

I knew she would help. Even a demon would be sympathetic to a fellow grad student's distress at losing her precious bibliography!

She walked to the desk and I allowed her to get in front of me. When she reached the desk, I made my move. I wrapped the strap of my purse around her neck and pulled it, hard!

The leather strap was stiffer than I had anticipated. I could not render her unconscious as quickly as I planned.

This allowed her to grab a sundial off the desk of the Glorious Eppes and jabbed me in the hand. Being a mere mortal, I recoiled a few steps.

I would have succeeded on my next attempt, except that was when The Ideal Eppes entered his office accompanied by that accursed brother of his, the lackey of the oppressive federal government.

I was taken into custody and handed over to Los Angeles police, where I attempted to explain the danger that the Succubus posed.

"The Divine Eppes cannot be exposed to the machinations of that… that demon!" I pleaded. "Can you not see that he is too pure, too innocent to withstand her blandishments?"

The arresting officer shook her head. "He's just a man, honey," she said. "He's not a monk. He wants a wife and family as much as anybody else."

I was prepared to argue, when the detective unwittingly revealed the Will of Heaven. "Honestly, where do you think the next generation of math geniuses is going to come from?"

I gaped as I realized that I had sinned! The Ramanujan was no demon! She was the Chosen One! The mother-to-be of the Venerable Eppes Blessed Offspring!

How could I have been so foolish?

I vowed then and there to serve and protect the Ramanujan all my life. With my life, if need be.

The enemy was obviously that foul brother of The August Eppes. Don Eppes is the one was constantly distracting the Celestial Mathematician from his Divine Mission with trivial investigations crimes against mortals.

Somebody was going to have to deal with him.