[Spirit of Lust] Chapter 74: Jack Evans. (Patreon)

“So, you took care of him?” the man asked, casually holding the phone to his ear.

“Yes, sir, I did as you asked.”

“You didn’t hold back because he’s your friend, did you?”

“I was especially rough because he’s a friend.”

“I see. Very well. Leave him be for tonight, but if he tries to contact Cynthia again I’ll ask you to pay him another visit.”

“…Yes, sir.”

“The payment for this little job should be in your account already. How’s your sister doing, by the way?”

“…As well as she can, sir, thank you.”

“I wish her luck in her operation, Jeremy.”

“I’ll be sure to tell her, sir.”

Jack Evans hung up the phone and let out a drawn-out sigh. Perhaps he’d gotten worried over nothing, but it never hurt to be careful. Jeremy had easily beaten that other kid. William was his name? If he had done so without issue, then the worrying feeling he had when he first saw him had been misplaced. Better that way, but it meant his control over Cynthia had simply slipped, and that wasn’t good.

Well, that couldn’t be helped, he supposed. She was his first guinea pig, the very first person he tested his powers on. As a result, his influence over her was sloppy work that had to be rewritten every so often. He took advantage of her ambition and drive to be successful and turned them up to eleven, making everything else in her life trivial. She worked for his sake and nothing else. Or that was how it should’ve been. Lately, Cynthia had been acting in strange ways. She’d kept from him that she’d gotten a lover. That in itself was bizarre. She shouldn’t have cared about sex. But it only got worse, to the point where she actually stood up to him and told him she was divorcing him to be with the man she really loved.

“…” He opened the door to their bedroom. Cynthia was still sleeping there. He clicked his tongue and shut the door with more force than he intended, but it didn’t matter. Cynthia wouldn’t wake up from that. Re-writing his control over her was even more difficult than the last time he’d tried. Now it was like something was getting in the way, a mental barrier that pushed even his powers away. He tried to brute force it, but that made it so Cynthia ended up passing out from shock.

It was at times like these he felt a tinge of regret over silencing the Spirit of Sloth that had possessed him. They struggled for control of his body, and Jack ended up taking everything. He had the powers and his body, but the Spirit ended up retreating to a far corner of his mind, where he could no longer hear it. No, it was better that way. Having to deal with it was no longer a source of concern. Still, the bastard might have known something about this.

A buzz from his phone made him put a pin on his thoughts. He checked it to see a message from one of his latest acquisition.

Aoi Miyamoto: I’m here for my report.

Good news, he hoped. Jack went to the door and found the woman standing there with her usual serious expression. He was proud of her, as she was his best work so far. Aoi Miyamoto was a woman with pride comparable to Cynthia, and yet the results of his influence couldn’t have been more different. Aoi was completely under his control.

She was a woman that came from a very traditional Japanese household. She’d been raised to follow a sort of… code of honor. A weakness he fully exploited. Jack managed to change her view of him, making her see him as a venerable master whom she loyally served. She didn’t question him, and followed his orders to the letter. She was an extremely useful find. A trained swordswoman with deep knowledge of the supernatural, with a few abilities of her own despite not being possessed. It was through finding her that taking care of those following him was so easy.

“Master.” Aoi kneeled solemnly before him, eyes closed. He had found the gesture somewhat cringe-worthy at first, but now that he’d gotten used to it, it stroked at his ego.

“Come inside, Aoi.” Jack turned around and gestured for her to come into his house. The woman looked a bit hesitant, but obediently followed.

“If I may, Master…” she said, looking around. “Your wife?”

“Passed out from resisting my powers,” Jack revealed, shrugging. “She’s sleeping right now.”

Aoi visibly winced. “I… I see.” If she hadn’t lowered her head in deference, Jack would’ve been upset.

“So? Did you find anything?”

“No traces of other Spirit users,” Aoi informed. “I do not have the ability to sense supernatural activity, so finding them on my own is difficult.” Right. She had said she was a combat specialist, and that there were others in the organization that specialized on recon. “However, I’ve heard odd rumors going around in a certain area of the city.”

“What kind of rumors?”

“Ghost apparitions, aliens, strange lights. Adding to that, there have been reports of wild dogs attacking people and several other kinds of accidents that go outside the normal numbers. Both the rumors and the reports have been consistent, persisting even now after several months and even becoming more and more prominent.”

“…” Jack grinned. Yes, those really were good news. “Continue the investigation, Aoi. I might be close to actually finding an entrance. And if I do, I’ll be set for the rest of my life.”

***

Author's Note: I hope this chapter has the intended effect. I wanted to show Jack as a very different kind of Spirit user than Will, but since it's written from his own perspective, he doesn't see a problem with everything he's doing.

Also, like I said before, this is more of me wanting to increase the scope of the story and make it about more than just a dude building a harem (while still being that at the core).