[Spirit of Lust 2] Chapters 681 & 682.

Chapter 681: Testing and tasting.

When Sarah and I came out of the bedroom, deciding to only put our underwear back on, we saw Mila, Alice, Noelle and Diana still playing a board game at the table while Grace looked on. Noelle glanced at us and pouted.

“Am I the only one who feels guilty that Red has to go outside when we start doing… stuff?” she asked.

“Don’t be. He’s mostly an outside dog,” Diana told her. “Even when I let him in he’s only allowed in a few places. He has his dog house outside, and even his own bed.”

“If you say so…”

“Who’s winning?”

“I’m not sure,” Mila said. “I’m really just trying to keep up.  This game is really complex…”

“Alice is getting better, though,” Noelle said.

“I think I might beat Diana this time!” Alice said, grinning excitedly.

“Does that mean you’re giving up your turn with Oliver?” Grace asked with a teasing smirk.

Alice turned to me with a pleading look. “Just give me a couple of minutes, please!”

“You’re not beating me, Alice. Just go and take your turn,” Diana told the blonde, casually eyeing her dice and her hidden objective card.

I had to hold back a snicker. I could sense that Diana was actually nervous that Alice might take the round and had decided to bluff.

“I could use a small break,” I said, smirking and looking directly at Diana as I said that. “Focus, Alice.”

Alice beamed. “Thanks!”

I saw Diana grab her phone and handle it all casual-like, but a moment later I heard my phone buzzing in my pants’ pocket. When I went to check, I saw a message from Diana saying ‘You suck’ and I really had to try hard to hold back my laughter.

I stopped to watch the girls play for a moment, but I was absolutely lost. I couldn’t fully remember how the game was played and they were already in the final stages. That was when I noticed all the girls had a drink by their side and I decided to try my hand at something again.

“Diana, can I make myself a drink?”

“Hm? Oh, sure. Make whatever you want,” she told me.

I went to the bar with a drink already in mind. Diana had said my negroni was perfectly fine, and that was what I needed. Something I could make competently.

I added campari, gin and sweet vermouth to a mixing glass with ice, carefully measuring each liquor, and began to stir. As I did, however, I… How do I say it? Turned on the magic. It was still a very foreign thing to consciously do, but when I did I felt my body heating up from the inside. It didn’t hurt or make me sick, though, unlike the last time I tried. Frey had said it wouldn’t happen again unless I went crazy with practice, and I made sure to measure myself as well. I strained the drink into a rocks glass with a couple of ice cubes and garnished with an orange peel. 

I let out a soft sigh and turned the magic off, feeling how my body slowly cooled down. I was starting to imagine it like a switch I could flip, and I think that in itself made the process easier. I was feeling fine, thankfully, but now… I had to taste it.

I took the smallest of sips, practically tasting the negroni with only my lips and already I noticed something very weird. The drink had ice, was shaken with ice and yet it was warm. Not quite hot, but very warm. The ice wasn’t melting, either, which made it even weirder.

I had another taste, this one with a proper sip, and made sure to properly taste the liquor. It really was weird. It tasted like a negroni, but only barely because it was warm and that changed everything. When my tongue touched the ice it was cold as it should be.

How the fuck did I manage this?

I kept quiet about it, drinking it carefully with slow sips as I watched the girls play. With every taste I became more and more convinced that this wasn’t good. Not just strange, but also not good. But more importantly, I was trying to see if I would catch any weird side-effects from it, and so far I felt nothing. Did I just change the taste without adding any magical effects? At times like these I wished I could talk to Frey directly, but I knew she wanted to keep herself away from my day-to-day life.

The girls’ game ended with Diana managing to squeeze in a win, if just barely. Alice put her forehead on the table and let out a loud, frustrated groan.

“So close…”

“Too close…” Diana said, counting the points again.

“How on earth did I beat you?” Mila asked Noelle.

“I was going for something and it didn’t work… Ugh.”

I drank the last of my negroni, and for whatever reason, that last sip tasted the worst. So bad, actually, that I had to wince.

“What’s wrong?” Grace asked me, seeing me make that weird face. “Does it taste bad?”

“I tried to add magic to the process,” I said. “Now it tastes warm despite having ice. It’s not good.”

“Excuse me?” Diana asked, turning around on her chair right before standing up and walking towards me. “Let me see.”

“Sorry, I drank it all,” I told her.

“Didn’t you just say it was bad?” Noelle asked me.

“Well, I wasn’t gonna waste it.”

“Wait, you added magic to it?” Alice asked, standing up and coming towards me as well. She watched as Diana picked up the glass to sniff it. “Um… How do you feel?”

“Normal. No side-effects for me,” I told her. “But it could be because I’m 50% sexual energy by now.”

“True,” Grace said. “I’m curious what would happen if we drank it, though…”

“Exactly my thoughts,” Alice said.

“I’m just shocked you made a drink with ice taste warm,” Diana said. “Spicy, maybe, but I don’t think that’s what you meant.”

Should I make another one? I felt confident that drinking it myself would be fine, but I wasn’t so sure about the others. I threw the question at Frey, hoping she’d give me some sort of signal. I asked her if it would be safe for them to drink a cocktail with sexual energy in it, and in response I… felt a faint, not unpleasant tingle between my legs.

I didn’t know she could do that, but I’d take it as a yes.

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

Chapter 682: It’s weird.

With Frey’s approval, I agreed to make another drink using magic for the girls to try. Diana’s curiosity was at least 80% about how the drink would taste, while the others were more interested in the effects it would have on them. That said, we agreed that it would be risky if all of them tried it at the same time, so…

“Can I ask for this as my reward?” Alice said, grinning. “I’ve always been curious about this magic stuff. I don’t mind being a test subject.”

“Of course I want to try it, too,” Diana said.

“I’ll pass,” Noelle said. “I’m already feeling a little tipsy from the one I had before.”

“And we’ve already had our turn, so if we have some and it has the effect we expect, we’ll end up cutting in line,” Sarah said.

“Alright, then it’s Alice and Diana,” Mila said.

The two girls sat down at the counter across from me, and suddenly I felt like I was on the job. Diana looked like she was about to study my every move, while Alice just looked plain excited, grinning and fidgeting.

I got to work again, but this time I doubled the quantity of everything I put into the mixer since I’d be making two negronis. I got a little worried that Diana would say I shouldn’t do it like that, but she didn’t say anything. Actually, if she was going to say anything, she’d do it after I finished.

Anyway.

As I began to stir the drink, I flipped the magic switch again, this time visualizing it as an actual switch like that of a light. Not only that, but as I imagined the magic seeping into the drink, I… began to see it. It was like purple fog coming out of my hands and mixing with the liquor. I pushed myself to not lose focus because of it, but it was difficult. I mean, it WAS a freaky sight and none of the girls seemed to see what I was seeing.

I finished pouring the drinks into rock glasses with ice and orange peels, then gently slid the glasses towards Alice and Diana with a bit of a warning.

“I… think this turned out a little different than before. Probably not drastically so, but it felt different.”

Diana picked up the glass and examined it thoroughly. She smelled it, checked the color against the light, swirled it around to check for any cloudiness.

“How does it look?” Alice asked her.

“Like it should. And smells normal, too.”

Alice breathed deeply. “Then… Shall we?”

Diana raised her glass and Alice clicked hers with it. Then the two took a tentative sip at the same time. Their eyes went wide.

“What the fuck?” Diana exclaimed, which was very weird to hear from her.

“It really IS warm despite having ice!” Alice confirmed.

“Yes, it’s all wrong.” Diana scowled at her glass. “And yet… There’s potential here. If his magic always warms a drink despite the ice, then it could enhance others like Hot Toddies, coffee drinks or an Amaro Caldo…”

“You can almost see the gears in her brain turning,” Noelle said, giggling.

“I thought Alice was the one with gears for brains,” Sarah said.

I chuckled. “They’re very alike in their passion, aren’t they?”

Alice chuckled, too. “So that’s what I sound like to all of you?”

“Most of the time, yes,” Grace told her.

“It’s endearing,” Mila said.

Alice took another sip, tasting it more thoroughly this time. “I agree, this doesn’t taste very good. It’s weird.”

“But how are you feeling? Do either of you feel anything odd?”

“Not yet,” Diana said. “But I doubt a sip is enough.”

“Really? I think… I think I’m starting to feel warm,” Alice said, putting her hand to her cheek. “Maybe it’s a placebo?”

“It could be,” Grace said.

“Does it taste so bad that you can’t finish the drink?” Sarah asked.

“No,” Diana said. “And I mean to finish it regardless. Awful or not, it’s giving me ideas.”

Alice finished another sip and  smirked as she looked at me. “Well, it’s giving me ideas, too.”

“I can’t tell if it’s having an effect or if she’s just getting drunk,” Noelle said.

Oh? Diana was feeling normal, but Alice was starting to feel something. I poured the drink from the same mix, so they were basically drinking the exact same thing. What was the difference? Natural resistance to magic? Or maybe it was something simpler? Could alcohol tolerance have something to do with it, too? Diana could certainly drink us all under the table. But then again, I’m a lightweight and the drink didn’t have an effect on me beyond that of normal alcohol, so… Maybe both magic resistance and alcohol tolerance?

Alice began to fan her face by pulling on her white loose blouse. Her cheeks were really red and she let out a drawn out sigh.

“Is it getting too bad?” Noelle asked her.

“I’m… getting pretty hot, yeah,” Alice said. “But nothing hurts. And… Um… I’m…”

“Say it, woman,” Sarah urged.

“I’m getting really wet…” Alice admitted with an embarrassed smile, pressing her legs together.

Diana blinked, then rubbed her thighs together. “Oh.”

“Wait, you too?” Mila asked her.

“Not… quite, but I’m getting there. Wow, I’m not sure I like this…”

“Wait, you don’t?” Grace asked.

“Yeah, it’s weird and uncomfortable,” Alice said. “Or maybe more like… unnatural. I feel myself getting horny, but there’s no real stimulus. Like…” She grimaced. “Okay, I’m gonna sound like a degenerate here, but… When I see Oliver’s penis, my mouth… waters a bit.”

“Oh, so it’s not just me,” Sarah said, surprised. “Good to know.”

“That happens to me when I see him without a shirt,” Mila admitted. 

Alice chuckled. “But you get it, then. Arousal comes in response to stimulus, but here… It’s like the drink is forcing the effects of arousal on me.”

I was listening with ears perked and eyes wide. This was priceless information that I was sure Frey would really put to use for us to improve this… technique. Maybe I should ask some tips from the alchemists I worked with.

But that was a matter for another time. If Alice and Diana weren’t enjoying the arousal the drink was forcing them to feel, then I’d have to do something about it.