[Spirit of Lust] Chapter 82: William gets a phone call. (Patreon)

Author's Note: I decided to skip the scene between Reina and Ruth hinted at in the previous chapter for two reasons. 1) I've tried to write pure lesbian sex before and it just seems forced to me. 2) I think a future scene will work better if it's not shown to the readers.

***

‘So? What’s the plan now?’

“Not sure,” William answered, speaking out loud to Ishtar. He was alone in his apartment, so it wasn’t an issue. “All I can do about Reina is hope she’ll understand, and Anna sent me a message saying Cynthia felt sick and didn’t go to work today.”

‘That sounds like bullshit to me.’

“You don’t think she’s sick?”

‘No, I do. I just don’t believe it’s that simple.’

Will groaned and hid his face in his hands. He leaned back on his couch and looked up at the ceiling. “What should I do? I wish I was smarter.”

‘Yeah, you’re a bit of a simpleton.’

“Good to know I can always count on you to cheer me up.”

‘Anytime. But staying here moping won’t solve anything. Should we just get up and see how Cynthia’s doing?’

“I don’t think meeting face to face with her husband is a good idea. I’d very much like to punch his face in, but we don’t know much about what he can do other than mind control people. If the Spirit of Sloth is anything like you, then they might have more tricks up their sleeve.”

‘I think we can beat them. Sex is better than laziness.’

“Says the Spirit of Lust, of course. Look, we know for a fact the guy has Jeremy and Nanami’s aunt under his control. Jeremy’s strength wasn’t natural, and this aunt was already part of an organization that hunted your kind, right? This might be a shot in the dark, but hear me out. How would someone whose powers revolve around sloth get anything done?”

‘…He’d have other people do things for him.’

“Right,” Will nodded. “So if the Spirit of Lust can have as big an effect as you do on others, then my theory is that his mind control is related to getting people to do the work for of him, and considering how hard Jeremy punched…”

‘He might even be empowering his thralls?’

“Just that! How about it? Is it too out there?”

‘No, I think it’s a sound theory considering what we know. So what you’re worried about is that Jack Evans might have even more puppets ready to protect him?’

“Yeah. I know that you’re strong when you take over my body and fight for me, but how many people of Jeremy’s caliber could you take on at once?”

‘Three or four, and I’m not bragging. Perhaps six with a good amount of energy saved, meaning a nice orgy the night before. I’d still be tired later, though.’

“That’s… actually more than I thought. Are you actually a huge hidden badass, Ishtar?”

‘I told you, I hate fighting. If it were up to me, we’d be fucking women 24/7, but sometimes you just have to protect what’s yours. Or yourself, even.’

“Okay, I get you. If that’s the case, then here’s what I’m thinking…”

Before Will could elaborate further on his plan, the buzz of his phone stopped him. He checked to see it was Nanami calling. Maybe she had some new information? He hoped so.

“Hello? Nanami?”

“E-E-EMERGENCY!”

The girl’s voice nearly left Will deaf on one ear, so he had to get the phone away from his ear for a moment. “…what happened?” he asked.

“THE PEOPLE! YOUR GIRLFRIEND! THEY…!” Suddenly realizing she was screaming, Nanami lowered her voice. She paused to take a deep breath before she continued. “…The blonde girl and the brunette. They disappeared.”

Will’s soul froze. What did he just hear? The blonde and the brunette? “You mean… Ruth and Reina?” he asked, his voice barely coming out.

“I think so…. The blonde that was at your place… a friend of hers, too, a woman with super long hair!”

‘Yep. Those sound like Ruth and Reina.’

“What do you mean they disappeared!?” Will finally snapped. He stood up from his couch, grabbing his keys, his wallet and a jacket, ready to head out. “Where are you!?”

“O-Outside an apartment complex. I’ll send you the location. P-Please, come over!”

“On my way.” Will hung up and went out as quickly as his feet could carry him.

‘Do you know if she’s telling the truth?’

‘Hard to say. I can’t read people well through a phone call. I’ll know for sure when we see her, but… You’re thinking this might be a trap, right?’

‘Just being cautious. Even if it is, I’m not staying still if there’s a chance those two got caught up in all this. If Jack Evans is behind this, I swear…!’

‘Okay, calm your tits. Don’t overthink it. Let’s go to the place Nanami said. Where is it?’

Will looked down at his phone to see he had already been sent the location. And if he had it right, then the place was…

‘Reina’s apartment?’

‘Let’s go then.’

***

William made it to Reina’s place in 15 minutes. It was one of the few times the stars align and the driver of the cab is in as much of a hurry as he was, so it was quick. That said, Will met Nanami half a block away from the building itself.

“William!” she exclaimed the moment she saw him, and Will didn’t need Ishtar’s powers to know the girl was close to fully panicking. Her face was pale and she was shaking. “It was… They all…”

“Nanami!” Will spoke firmly. “Calm down. I need you with a clear head. From the top. What’s going on?”

“I… I…” Nanami took a deep breath, then another, and then a third one. “I was following my aunt,” she finally explained. “She’d been moving around this neighborhood a lot, so I’ve been keeping an eye on her. Then,” she swallowed, “I saw her standing in front of that building.” She pointed to the place that fit Reina’s description of her apartment building. “I saw the blonde girl and a friend of hers approach my aunt. I… don’t know what they talked about, but the two girls went in after that. My aunt stepped aside to make a call, and then she went into the building as well. After that… I felt a disturbance in the aether.”

Will blinked in confusion. “I’m sorry, the what?”

“The aether,” Nanami repeated before violently shaking her head. “No time! I sensed something supernatural, so I went into the building, but… it was too late. There’s no one inside!”

Will’s chest began to hurt. “What do you mean there’s no one there!?” he asked, turning and walking towards the building. Nanami didn’t stop him, she followed.

“Everyone in that building, my aunt included, just… vanished!”

Will boldly stepped inside the scene, speaking in a loud voice, “Hello? Anybody here?”

“I tried, but no one’s answering!”

“And when do you say this happened?”

“Just 20 minutes ago!”

Reina’s apartment was… in the fourth floor, right?

‘Yeah, that’s what she said.’

Will called the elevator and he went up to the fourth floor with Nanami. He stepped out and immediately went to Reina’s apartment, knocking on the door. “Reina? Reina! It’s me, Will!” There was no answer. “FUCK!” he cursed and punched the door. “What’s going on!?”

“I… might have an idea…” Nanami spoke, voice barely audible.

Will had to suppress with all his might the desire to shake the girl by the shoulders and get answers from her, even as something in the back of his head pushed him to do just that.

‘Easy boy. You’re getting better at resisting the emotional side effects of sexual energy, but you’re getting too agitated right now. Relax, we’ll find them. You’ve got me with you, and I’m NOT letting us lose those two after I gave them my personal approval.’

‘A-Alright… Thanks.’

Maybe it had something to do with the fact Ishtar was speaking the words directly into his mind, or maybe it was the reassurance that, in a way, she also had a horse in this race, but she really did manage to calm him down. This was definitely the time Will was the most glad to have Ishtar with him.

“So? What do you think happened?” he finally asked.

“Follow me,” Nanami said, walking back to the elevator. Her face was still pale, and she walked with weak steps. The girl was clearly pushing herself. “I told you I worked for an organization that hunted the supernatural, right? I was the newest member, so I… didn’t get to do all that much, but I was assigned the reconnaissance group for my ability to sense the flow of aether, that is, supernatural energy. Think of aether like a fifth element.”

“I think I read a Wikipedia article about that in high school,” Will said. “Wasn’t aether disproven?”

“Scientifically, yes. Aether doesn’t allow light and gravity to travel, but it does other things I don’t have time to explain,” Nanami said, shaking her head. “Suffice to say, you can usually track the supernatural to aether.”

“And that’s the disturbance you felt before?”

“Yes. It was a strong one and shook me,” she nodded and shamefully turned her face away. “A-Anyway, when I was assigned to the reconnaissance group, I was supposed to help with the search for… an entrance to the Aether Realm.” The elevator door opened, leaving them on the first floor. Nanami stepped out and started looking around until she found the stairs to the basement. The two started to make their way down.

“And what’s the Aether Realm?” Will asked, deciding to forgo any and all skepticism for now in favor of trying to follow and understand what Nanami was saying.

“From what I’ve been taught, it’s basically a parallel world fully made of aether. Everything supernatural in our world has somehow made its way from the Aether Realm to here. I’ve never been there, few ever have, and our job was to find said entrances to seal them.”

Will swallowed. “Wait, I think I know where you’re going.”

Nanami stopped in the middle of the stairs, giving her back to Will, looking down and with her body tensing and shaking. “Yeah. I think someone opened the entrance, and that sucked every person here into the Aether Realm. More specifically…” William saw tears falling down Nanami’s cheeks. “…I think that person was my aunt.”