[Spirit of Lust 2] Chapters 454 & 455. (Patreon)

Chapter 454: Isabelle has an idea.

But well, as interesting as that story was, it still didn’t tell us just how trustworthy Mr. Allen was, and that was the main question mom needed answered. 

“Ugh, I hate this,” Isabelle said, rubbing her face. “It’s too much. My head hurts.”

“We’ve already accepted the situation your brother is in,” mom told her. “Complaining won’t solve anything.” Then she let out a soft, drawn out sigh. “That said, I don’t disagree. Why? Why did it have to be you, Oliver?”

“What do you mean?” I asked her. “Why did I have to be possessed? Or why did I have to catch the eyes of Luke Allen?”

“Both, I guess.” Mom sounded tired, worried and resigned all at once. She didn’t say much, and neither did Isabelle for that matter, but I could guess that they kept asking themselves all sorts of questions about all this. I was thankful that they at least kept treating me like normal. I think they understood that despite all the craziness, I was still myself, and that meant a lot to me.

I put the knife down and threw the chopped onion in a pan. It began to sizzle in the hot oil and the sound filled the silence for a moment.

“No reason, really. Could’ve been anyone, I bet. Frey just happened to choose me, and Mr. Allen needs Frey’s abilities more than he needs me.”

“You mean that, if the spirit was gone, then Luke Allen would leave you alone?” mom asked.

That made me stop completely. I held the pan by the handle and stopped shaking it, suddenly glaring at the cooking onions. Something about the way mom worded it gave me pause. 

If Frey was gone. Not if I lost the power and abilities, but if Frey, The Spirit of Lust, was gone. I only ever spoke to her in my dreams, I only recently started clearly remembering those conversations and the ones we had before were very vague and foggy memories. And yet there was something very wrong with the idea. My chest tightened painfully at the mere thought.

Even though I couldn’t remember everything well, I knew I’d seen her punching the air in excitement before. I’d seen her floating upside down in deep thought and thought it was amusing. I knew she had scolded me when I deserved it and praised me when I achieved something great.

My eyes began to itch. I rubbed them with the sleeve of my shirt.

“Probably,” I told mom. “But I’d lose someone important.”

“Frey…” Alice began. “We’ve talked to her through a ouija board a couple of times. For what it's worth, I really believe she cares about Oliver. Of course, she has her own agenda. She needs energy from… y-you know. That’s how she sustains herself. But even so…”

Alice trailed off, stopping before saying more. She understood that vouching for a supernatural being we barely understood was probably not wise, even if she did believe it.

“W-Well, it’s not like we could get rid of her even if we wanted to, right?” Isabelle said. 

“I suppose.” Mom then turned to Alice. “And what about you, Alice? You and the others. You say you’ve known about it for a few months already, but… Are you okay? Have you felt anything weird?”

Alice blushed and looked down at the table, chuckling bashfully. “Um… The answer is yes to both things, actually. I can speak for myself and the others on this. Not only do we feel fine, we feel better than ever. And… Yes, being with Oliver felt weird at first. We could tell there was something strange going on, but it wasn’t unwelcomed. Now those strange things are the pillars that help make our relationship work. I’m sorry, I know I’m being very vague, but…”

“You mean that mind reading thing Oliver mentioned?” Isabelle asked.

Alice nodded. “Well, yes. That’s one thing. You’d think knowing what he’s thinking would reveal some… I don’t know, some dark secrets, but it really just proves how honest he always is. And we could second guess everything, but then that’s true for every relationship, isn’t it?”

Mom nodded wordlessly in agreement.

“Hmm…” Isabelle bit the tip of the thumb while looking deep in thought. She turned to look at me and asked another question. “Hey, brother, you said your… mind reading didn’t work too well on men, right? That means it works best on women?”

“Hm? Yeah.” I nodded slowly, still mulling over mom’s words. “But I don’t have full control over it. Why?”

“Oh, it’s just that… You say Luke Allen really cares about his girlfriends, right? You’re so sure you’d vouch for him without knowing him.”

Again, I nodded.

“Then… Well, I was thinking maybe you could try talking to one of them and ask about Mr. Allen. I thought maybe you could read their minds and try to find something out, but if you don’t control it…”

My eyes widened, and Alice had much the same reaction. We looked at each other, wordlessly questioning how none of us had thought of that before.

“You know, that’s actually not a bad idea,” I told Isabelle.

There was something else that made me remember. Frey had said that the balance of power wasn’t completely tipped in Mr. Allen’s favor. My abilities were a deterrent against aggression because he believed that if I wanted to, I could take his girls away from him. Not that I would, but…

If I asked him to let me talk to one or all of his girlfriends… how would he react? I hoped that Frey was paying attention here, because a lot of this plan would depend on her.

************

Chapter 455: Frey’s life, old and new.

Alice ate dinner with us and I apologized to her for the awkwardness before she left. She was understanding as always but I still felt bad. She came to hang out and the mood got all serious.

Later that evening I caught mom on her phone, texting and reading with worry in her face while in her bedroom. I knocked on her door and she looked up at me.

“I’ll be fine, mom. I’m not the helpless kid I used to be anymore.”

That got a smile out of her. “That’s right, you’re not. Regardless, I’ll worry about you until I’m dead, and even then I’ll continue worrying if your grandma’s talk about ghosts is true. God knows you’re giving me reasons to worry.”

“I’m sorry…”

Mom shook her head. “Not your fault. But you’re right. You’re probably in a better position to handle things than I am. Just… don’t be afraid to rely on me, okay? I get how much those girls mean to you, but accepting that offer is not your only option.”

“...Okay. Thanks, mom. Goodnight.”

I was painful. Mom was confused. She wanted to help me but didn’t know how. She was out of her depth, and I was only ever so slightly more qualified to handle this. I didn’t like making her feel like that.

I had a hard time falling asleep. Trying not to think about this stuff made me think about it more. Eventually, though, sleep did take me, and I opened my eyes to find myself in a known atmosphere of a dream version of my bedroom.

I looked around and saw Frey sitting on my desk. The flowing light of her eyes directed at me, staring without saying a word.

“What is it?” I asked her, sitting up.

“Maybe it would be better if I left,” she said. “I don’t know if the power I can give you is worth the troubles I bring.”

I frowned at her. “What?”

“Your mother is right to worry. Accepting this guy’s offer means stepping further into the world of the supernatural. I don’t know if I can protect you from everything. Maybe you’d be better off if I left.”

“You don’t get to decide that,” I told her. “It’s one thing if I’m not of use to you anymore, but you don’t get to decide if I’m better off without you.”

“...”

I got out of bed and stood up. The action made me remember that Frey used to have me in a very disinterested and detached state when we first started talking. She would suppress my emotions so I wouldn’t talk back. She would tell me how things were going to be and I should just accept it. Now, though, there wasn’t any of that. I could move freely in my dream, my emotions were my own.

“If you were gone I’d have no choice but to move on,” I told her. “I’d lose the powers you gave me. Who knows if I’d be able to maintain the relationship I have with the girls without them. I don’t want to lose them, but… I think I’d be able to move on if I did, eventually. It’s all thanks to you giving me the opportunity to grow up, Frey. I’m not the same kid who runs away from his fears and problems anymore. So I hope you’ll believe me when I say that I’d be sad if you left, and not because I’d be losing your powers.”

“...” Frey looked up to the ceiling, sighing. Her usually flowing bottom half turned into curvy legs, all so she could hug her new knees. “I was a succubus in a small tribe that had been struggling to survive after our city fell in a war. I was never a warrior or anyone special. Just a citizen, so I was more dead weight than help. Then someone came back into our lives. Lady Ishtar. I’ve mentioned her, remember? She was our princess in the literal sense. She was strong, confident and determined. I admire her even now, but I doubt she ever paid much, if any attention to me. She… didn’t come back like herself, though. She had become a Spirit of Lust and had possessed a young human man. Together, he and Lady Ishtar helped our tribe get on our feet and become stronger. I admit, I was… jealous of that man. He wasn’t just a guy Lady Ishtar took control over. He seemed so much more to her. A ‘partner’, she used to call him. I admired Lady Ishtar, so seeing that a normal human was more useful to her than me… I felt useless, a waste of space and resources. I ran away, came to this world and wandered for… Gods, I don’t know how long. That’s a huge gap in my memory. But next thing I knew, I found you. Hurt, frustrated, full of pent up arousal, weak… I took my chance. Now… Now I understand how Lady Ishtar felt about her human, at least somewhat. To her, he was a friend, a partner, a lover, a husband.” Frey chuckled. “I think things are a little different between us. You’re frail, anxious, insecure and weak. Just like me. It just so happens that I’ve lived longer than you. Makes me want to help you. I… I want to be stronger, Oliver. Strong enough to support you, to protect you. Sorry about what I said earlier. I’m not going anywhere. I found where I belong and it’s here with you.”

I stepped closer and… tried to hug her. It was weird. She was a ghostly form, yet hugging her felt like hugging cotton. Still, Frey hugged me back, chucking weakly and shaking her head.

“I hate getting sappy like this,” she said.

“I know. But it’s not like anyone else is watching, right?”

“Thank fuck.”

We laughed, but when I was ready to pull away, it was Frey who tightened the hug. “I mean it. I’ll be stronger. You go and convince Luke Allen to let you talk to at least one of his girls. I’ll do the rest. Believe in me.”

“I always have.”

“You might experience some headaches, though.”

“That’s fine."

To this day the intricacies of magic elude me, but looking back, I think that night had a strong effect on Frey. After that, she started to become what she always wished she was.