Recently, Dennis Alden purchased a small two-bedroom townhouse. A self-employed computer analyst, Dennis was typical of the young professionals living in the trendy Old Town district. He ran his business from the basement office, while living on the top two floors by himself. It was not unusual for him to spend many late hours working in the office.

It was on one of these late nights that he trudged up from the basement on the narrow staircase, crossed the hallway, and met a ghost.

"Shit!" Dennis' exclamation sounded loud in the small sparsely furnished living room.

He knew he had been under some stress lately, but now he felt sure he was losing it. There she was, for whatever was in front of him was definitely female. She stood at the bottom of the stairs dressed in an elaborate ball gown, a string of pearls accentuating her bosom. And then, as soon as the image had registered in his tired brain, she was gone.

"I need some sleep." Sure that lack of sleep was causing him to hallucinate, Dennis climbed to his room, closed his eyes and waited for sleep to overtake him.

The next day he met the ghost as he was taking a shower. Dennis felt incredibly awkward, butt naked and trying to hide in a shower stall, talking to a lady in an antebellum ball gown.

"Are you alright?" Her soft southern accent and the concern in her voice helped Dennis relax a bit.

"Yeah, sure." He shifted his weight to stand up straight. Suddenly reminded that he was still nude, he rushed to cover himself, blushing furiously. "Why don't we talk outside?"

Turning off the water and wrapping himself in a towel, Dennis climbed out of the shower and introduced himself. The apparition introduced herself as Jane Ellen Hubartson, the one-time owner of the house. While they talked, she convinced him that she was real but was puzzled that for the first time in 100 years, he was the first person to be able to see her.

Dennis had just started to ask Jane Ellen more about herself when he heard his assistant, Alice Penman, shouting up the stairs.

"Hey Dennis. You want me to start some coffee?"

He walked onto the landing. "Sure Alice. I'll be right down."

"Well, stop talking to yourself and get to it. You've got work to do."

Turning around, Dennis saw that the ghost was gone.

That evening Jane Ellen reappeared as Dennis prepared for a date with his girlfriend Eleanor. Dennis, making conversation, asked Jane Ellen what she did as a ghost.

"Oh nothing mostly," Dennis was starting to adore her silky southern accent. "I can't leave the house but I can influence people inside." She said the last part with a mischievous glint in her eyes. Dennis, being polite, didn't inquire further but wondered what she meant by "influence."

Later that week, Dennis leaned back in his chair. He rubbed his eyes and sought the energy to work some more. A feathery touch on his shoulder startled him and he fell backwards onto the floor.

"Shit. Oh I'm sorry Jane Ellen. Please don't scare me like that."

Jane Ellen apologized. After all, he was the first person in a 100 years she could talk with but she had to remind herself that he could actually see and feel her. They started talking and Dennis insisted she tell him how she came to haunt the little town house. Her story was incredible.

In 1883, a young women named Jane Ellen Broadstreet married Jeremiah Hubartson, a rich old man. The marriage had been arranged by her parents and a year after their wedding, she bore a son. Once the heir was born, Jeremiah started ignoring his vivacious young wife. His late nights working at the office or playing cards at his club meant that Jane Ellen was often left lonely at home with her loyal maid.

Highly spirited, she began adventuring into the nearby city with her maid. Being attractive, intelligent, and full of life she soon made friends. She often entertained, without her husband's knowledge, in the small "city house" that he kept for times when he worked late and didn't want to return to their country home. Sometimes the gatherings were scenes of intellectual discussions of art, life, and current events. Other times, they were hedonistic gatherings of young people exploring each other's sensuality and debauchery.

Through these parties, Jane Ellen gathered an immense stock of sexual experience. Within the first five years of her marriage, Jane Ellen had become a leader in the city's underground "smart set." Her parties were glorious, free flowing affairs, much different from the rigid balls and tea parties other society ladies would host.

All seemed to be going well with Jane Ellen's double life, until one of her guests brought her husband to a party. Seeing his wife drinking and cavorting with other couples enraged Jeremiah. He attacked Jane Ellen with his walking stick, knocking her down the stairs and killing her. Contemporary rumors held that her ghost walked the small house from that time forth.

Time passed and the city grew. The Hubartson manor disappeared in the growing urban sprawl, replaced by a block of apartment houses. The city house, however, sat on a quaint little street, looking much the same as it did when Jane Ellen entertained there. Rumors of ghosts were dismissed as superstition.

Dennis was spellbound by her story.

"But what did you mean by influencing people?" he asked. "Is that the same thing as getting them to do what you want?"

"Not quite," she responded. "I can only get people to do what they want to do, but won't."

Seeing Dennis' confused look, she said, "Call your secretary in here."

Alice came into his office. A good secretary, Alice Penman was a skinny, knobby-kneed teenager. As far as Dennis had ever been able to find out, she never went out, except to Bible Study, and had never, ever uttered a word harsher that "Jeezy Pete."

Immediately, Dennis could tell that something was different about his earth tone clad assistant. Jane Ellen smiled, indicating that this was indeed a demonstration of her talent. Alice looked flush, paler than her usual self. Her hands fidgeted at her sides, clasping and unclasping in front of her.

"Mr. Alden." She stood shifting from foot to foot. "I don't feel so good."

"What's wrong Alice?" Dennis looked from Alice to the ghost, anxious that no harm was coming to the innocent secretary. When he looked back at Alice, he almost fell out of his chair.

Her dress was unbuttoned halfway, her pink satin bra highlighted against her pale chest. Alice had a dreamy look on her face. Her nostrils were flared, gulping air with each breath, as she unfastened her dress. Once the dress was completely unbuttoned, she looked directly into his eyes and disrobed, leaving the dark blue dress in a pile behind her.

Still staring directly into his eyes, Alice reached behind her back and unsnapped her bra. Her heavy breasts spilled free. She cupped them, pushing them together and offering their lush bounty to Dennis. Her nipples were large, as thick and red as pencil erasers, and she pinched them between her fingers.

Alice took a deep breath. She ran her hands down across her flat belly and slid her panties off in a single smooth motion. Her pubes were wet and matted. Dennis could smell how excited she was from across the room. She threw her head back and closed her eyes, toying with the light brown curls at the top of her. Leaning against Dennis' conference table, Alice spread her legs. One hand concentrated on her breasts, tugging and pinching her nipples until they are red and swollen. Her fingers were slick with pussy juice as her other hand busily massaged her erect clit. It wasn't long before a long, guttural wail signaled her orgasm.

Dennis was amazed. Alice had never so much as given the slightest hint that she was capable of walking into his office, taking off her clothes, and masturbating in front of him. Alice looked flustered as she came back to her senses and gathered her clothes. Fifteen minutes later she was as normal as before the incident ever started. Dennis looked around for Jane Ellen but she was gone, leaving him to wonder on his own.

That evening, Dennis had his girlfriend Eleanor and another couple over for a football game party. As the party got started, Jane Ellen appeared in the bathroom mirror and told Dennis to get ready for the time of his life. She then turned the party into a full blown orgy.

The next day, Dennis woke up in the midst of bare limbs and clothing. He was amazed, intrigued, and appalled at what Jane Ellen's power could do. Dennis called out for Jane Ellen and she suddenly appeared in the shower next to him. Dennis remarked that they needed to come to a better arrangement. Having her appear in the shower in her ballgown was too weird.

She told him more about herself and showed him a stash of papers and items that she had left in the house. He began to believe her but told her that he didn't understand the how she got Alice to act the way she did. He could believe that Eleanor acted the way she did because she drank too much, not because of any ghost. It was strange, however, that she'd gotten drunk before and hadn't behaved like a sex starved lunatic. But he still can't understand what had made Alice strip in his office.

He took the papers she showed him to his office and researched her family tree. He discovered that after her death, Jeremiah Hubartson had disowned and cast out Jane Ellen's 4 year old son. Jeremiah later remarried and sired a new family. The son was taken in by the maid and was Dennis' ancestor.

When Jane Ellen found out that Dennis was her descendent, she was overjoyed. Their celebration was interrupted when Dennis heard the office door open. Looking out the office door he saw the business manager of Lumbolt Insurance, the company on whose project he had been losing sleep. He groaned inwardly, knowing that the demographic study they want was not quite complete. The raw data was complete but the reports weren't quite ready for delivery.

Jane Ellen looked at the trim woman in the business suit and decided she could help. Dennis, fearing what Jane Ellen's help could do to this delicate business arrangement, swallowed hard and went to meet with Karen Florian in the reception room. Alice efficiently handled Ms. Florian and almost bumped into Dennis as he came out of his office. Alice quickly whispered that Ms. Florian was here with more changes to the report format, the reason the project was late to begin with. Dennis decided to try and reason with her, hoping that Lumbolt wanted the data more than they wanted the special format.

The meeting started poorly. Jane Ellen, witnessing Dennis' agitation, exercised her special talent. Dennis invited Ms. Florian back to his desk and showed her what he had accomplished and why another change would be harmful to the project.

"You see Ms Florian," Dennis' sales pitch floundering, "I think we need to make the report format more generic... "

His blood pressure climbed exponentially as he saw the cold, professional woman flush. He remembered what had happened when Alice had looked at him that same way. Karen Florian raised her hair from the back of her neck, fanning herself. Now Dennis knew what Jane Ellen had meant, she wasn't making Karen do anything against her will. Jane Ellen just fanned hidden flames and watched the fire burn.