Blood and Qi: A Vampire Xianxia LitRPG

The invasions devastated many parts of Terra. Dark walkers, the giant monsters that shed dark ones as they moved about are the only invasions that appeared in cities. One in New York City, US, one in Paris, France, and one in Bogotá, Columbia. New York City and Paris were devastated. Bogotá fared the best, as the dark walker that started there was fast moving and quickly headed east into Venezuela and was already in Brazil before the other dark walkers wandered out of New York or Paris.

Of the demon invasions, one appeared far to the north of Quebec City, Canada, another north of Chengdu, China, and the last near Damboa, Nigeria.

Of the g’athu invasions, one appeared to the north of Los Angeles, US, another east of Santos, Brazil, and the last south of Mumbai, India.

On the first day and part of the second day, the g’athu swept the areas around where they invaded collecting resources. They seemed far less bloodthirsty than the demons and dark ones and killed only those in their way instead of seeking out terrans to kill en masse.

After the second day, it seemed the g’athu retreated and peacefully kept to themselves. India attacked the g’athu invasion south of Mumbai on the third day. It didn’t go well at all. After, the terrans left the g’athu in peace, and the g’athu, for the most part, left the terrans alone.

The demon invasion in Canada destroyed Quebec City and Montreal. The one in China, after decimating Chengdu, instead of heading to the most populated cities in China, headed southwest destroying all in its path. The one in Africa seemed almost incompetent, heading to the lowly populated Maiduguri, then onto N'Djamena, and then headed easterly to not much at all.

The invasion in China saw the most action. The new Group of Forty, the G40, also called WD40, made up of the forty countries invaded or dedicating resources and troops to fight the invasions, hit that invasion with a huge force after it wreaked havoc on China’s army.

China’s invasion was forced northwards while in Myanmar. The demons constantly tried to push their way south and westerly but were pressed hard and retreated over the Brahmaputra River. Another big push forced them into Bhutan, a desolate and mountainous region of the country with little at all. Little at all besides a small temple that claimed a famous monk fought and killed a demon there centuries ago.

On the twenty-second of October, the seventh day of the invasion, as John received his body refinement [Perk], two rituals to trap the dark walkers in Brazil and France failed, and demons laid waste to the temple. A hidden basement was found in the temple, and it contained only a heavy stone sarcophagus. Inside the sarcophagus was a terran that was wasted away and barely alive. The terran felt strange. Strange in a way Captain Sorakath was informed to look for.

Inner-Circle Master Ith'tas, second-in-command of Circle Xakariz, de facto leader in absence of Circle Master Xakariz, paid too much of the dwindling wealth of his circle to a scryer to find out how one of his captains, a Gold, was defeated invading a planet of magals new to the Tree of Life, with a population consisting of all low Woods.

Upon finding out the truth of the matter, Inner-Circle Master Ith'tas and Outer-Circle Master Baggodon the Blind conferred. They both wanted Circle Xakariz to have a vampire of its own. As many as possible, including John. John would submit to their rule.

Captain Sorakath confirmed the strange feeling terran found in the sarcophagus was a vampire, and the vampire was sent through the portal to Circle Xakariz on the planet Esau of the NetherRealm.

Since the demons were allowed three Golds commanding eight Silvers to invade Terra, And Captain Ukaraaz was dead and his portal gone, Captain Sorakath was rewarded by being placed in command of a new Captain and his eight Silvers. A new rank was created just for him, High-Captain.

Sorakath was never actually pushed back by the armies of Terra. Their strange technology was no threat to him or his Silvers. He was only biding his time, allowing his Wood, Copper, and some Bronze troops to spread out and cause havoc. When it was time, all between him and the g’athu would be slaughtered, and he would reach them at the same time as the African invasion did.

Amber’s alarm woke her at six in the morning. She didn’t get to bed until well after two. She didn’t need much sleep anymore, but she was more tired than usual. And bothered. She thought of getting some of it out of her system but knew it would only make it much harder going forward. It was better to just suppress it.

Amber was glad she finally got to kiss someone. Finally. But ever since it had been making everything so much more difficult for her. She was almost willing to give up her human form that day. She was teetering on the edge. She didn’t because she knew John didn’t love her. Not truly.

Amber knew John only lusted after her human form. He looked at her completely differently when she was in her demon form. He was still kind to her, but she knew his interest in being with her would end as soon as she lost the form he desired. That wasn’t love. And it certainly wasn’t true love.

True love would always ignore shape and form. True love was directed at the person inside the vessel, not the vessel. If romantic movies taught Amber anything, it was that very lesson, and Disney’s ‘Beauty and the Beast’ was one of her favorites. All the Disney movies about true love were, really. She knew true love wouldn’t change her situation at all since life wasn’t a Disney movie. Having true love would probably just make things worse, but a girl could dream.

Amber did her best to put all that out of her mind. John the jerk was married anyways. And it wasn’t like things were great. She had to fight all the time when they lived in the Trial. If she wanted to fight all the time she could’ve just stayed as an ugly beast-woman.

Trying to think of a way to get some new clothes, Amber came up empty and couldn’t think of a possible way that left her and Baba enough time for what they had planned for the morning. She’d have to make do with what she had. And what she had wasn’t so bad, considering.

Checking her phone, Amber was happy to see she had a million messages and DMs. She didn’t bother checking them. They’d all just be perverts and she didn’t need money anymore. And who would want feet pics when the feet had long and sharp claws instead of normal toenails?

The day before, one clear crystal got Amber three new iPhones, tons of makeup, and five grand back as change. She was surprised when the girl offered the five grand on top of the three phones and makeup. She now thinks she could’ve got more for the crystal, but she set the deal up with one of the girls standing around during a break between questioning and took the first offer. She planned on checking to see what the real value of a clear crystal was.

Amber was happy to see that even reposting old content was getting so many impressions. A thought hit her – why did she care about any of this nonsense anymore? She couldn’t answer. She knew the real answer anyway. She just didn’t want to admit it.

While staying invisible, Amber showered. And cried. She showered the night before too. For a long time. Cleaning the filth of the NetherRealm off her was more a mental need, rather than a physical one. She loved being clean again.

Amber really loved that whatever decided the rules for her forms and tricks, once she accepted the demon form, changed it so when she hid from all senses it only cost her essence. She loved that she could be her human form whenever she wanted and that she no longer got stuck in her other forms for so long.

Amber got fully dressed before unhiding and doing her hair and makeup in a closet. She didn’t like to take chances and the government got the room she was staying in. She wouldn’t be surprised if there were cameras everywhere. She wasn’t sure if her curse worked through video cameras. It didn’t work for photos or the few short videos she posted, at least not that she was aware of. The last thing she needed was the guys watching kicking her door down, so she decided not to test it.

Amber could’ve just showered and been visible in demon form, but she hated being in the demon form. She hated being ugly. She would rather know she was beautiful even if she had to stay invisible and no one could see her. Being a demon made her feel super gross.

Dressed and ready, Amber grabbed her phone and the shopping bag she had to use as a purse. She gave the storage ring to Baba to wear after John exited the helicopter. She didn’t want to wear a ring that jerk gave her.

Remembering back to when she first saw the little girl running towards John, Amber thought she was so pretty and adorable. Now she thought the girl was anything but. How did she see me? She’s a Wood. A low Wood.

Amber wished she didn’t give John her true name. Knowing she wasn’t in control of herself, that she was basically a slave, was bad enough and eating her up inside. She knew it was going to turn bad. John didn’t even stick up for her when Lilith called her all those terrible things. He said nothing at all. Like she didn’t matter at all. She couldn’t believe it.

Then, John left. With that horrible girl. Amber wanted to bite the child’s head off. Or at least slap the little jerk. It took all her control and grace not to. She wanted to slap John too. Jerk!

Heading to Baba’s room, Amber’s spirits lifted. Baba was going to have his first photo shoot. She already helped him make accounts for Instagram and TikTok the night before after she showed him the basics of how to use the phone and internet. He took to using a phone like a seasoned pro.

Baba took some time opening the door. Amber was annoyed when he didn’t even look up from his phone. She didn’t like where things were headed judging from the audio coming from the phone either. “Amber, you must see this. Look. This type of movie is very popular. It’s as fascinating as it is disgusting. Why would magals do this to each other? I can’t stop watching but I’ve never seen anything more sickening.”

“Baba! Turn that filth off! That’s pornography. Jesus! What’s wrong with you!? Let me see your phone. It’s probably filled with…what’s-it-called…malware. And…trackers? Bad stuff! You shouldn’t watch this. Ever!”

All of Amber’s careful work was going down the drain. She couldn’t deal with porn. Or see it. Things were hard enough for her already.

The door swung closed and Amber unhid. She’d have to at some point anyway. That was the whole point of her being there. She wondered if they were being watched, and if her curse worked through live video, if it was strong enough men would bust into a room with a giant, frightening Gold tiered demon in it. As she cleared his browser and history, she asked, “Why didn’t you watch the movies you were supposed to?”

“I did. One of them. Some block popped up and said something about a demon and I touched it. I am the demon which it spoke of. It said I was helping terrans and I was a general. I started to touch things and go places and the Internet really wanted me to watch the fascinatingly disgusting movies of magals being awful to each other. You’re wearing makeup? You look beautiful. Why are you wearing makeup?”

The blood rushed to Amber’s face as Baba continued looking at her. She always took pride in the fact she was pretty enough to never need makeup. She felt insecure about her horns and skin and eyes and claws, and she didn’t know how her eyes would come out. She thought people looked awful when their eyes came out red in photos, and her eyes were always vermilion now. She put on makeup to make herself feel more confident.

“I’m wearing makeup because you’ll be wearing it too. I want us to go together. Not match, but not clash either. We’re gonna hafta wear what’s in the ring. That limits us. And our poses. I can’t believe you watched that smut! Please tell me you at least watched ‘My Fair lady?’ And liked it.”

“I did watch it, and I thought it was fascinating. Why do magals do that to each other? If I shouldn’t watch it, why does my phone want me to watch it so badly?”

Amber almost gagged. She couldn’t talk about smut. She was close to the edge already. And they only had until eight-thirty. Then they’d get picked up and questioned again.

She hated the questioning the day before. Amber stayed invisible and mostly quiet as Baba answered questions. Questions he probably shouldn’t have answered, giving answers that weren’t his business to give. But he didn’t know better. She was largely ignored. Since they were the government, they had to know Marilyn Hepburn wasn’t her real name, and was only her fake ID just to have accounts and access to electronic funds and transfers.

Only one of the government guys mentioned Amber’s Instagram. He said he thought she was fake, that her photos were made by AI, especially since none of them were professional or taken in public. That bothered her. She hoped others didn’t think she was AI. She had to take the pictures herself, so what did they expect?

Amber didn’t mind Baba taking all the questions. They wanted to split them up at one point, but she refused. When they got tricky about it and sent her to a different room after a bathroom break, she turned into a bear and smashed the locked door and wall away. They didn’t try to split them up again. She hated wasting essence on nonsense like that.

A lot of the questions were only for Baba. They talked a lot about runes and crafting. One guy talked about starting a crafting academy Baba would run. Baba was very excited about the idea.

Some of the people questioning them were mean. It was like they were trying to get Amber to lie.

Even though he was a jerk, Amber hoped John was safe and returned that day on schedule. And she prayed he would leave Lilith in New York. She thought John must’ve known how awful all the questioning would be somehow, even though he never knew anything.

“Baba, baby, no more questions on the smut. It’s not to be watched. Ever. Now sit so I can do your makeup.”

Amber hoped the photos would come out nice. They would be the first new photos posted of her, and she had horns and red eyes and bad skin and claws. It would be Baba’s first photos posted ever. She was trying to help him build an audience, so the photos would go up on his accounts, and she’d only link to them from hers. There’d only be one very short video for TikTok. Even short videos gave too much. Photos were better.

Amber told Baba her being in his photos would help him a ton because she already had a gazillion followers. She knew a giant demon in makeup posting photos on Instagram wouldn’t have issues building an audience. The reality was she felt insecure about her horns and skin and eyes. If her first new photos were with a friendly demon helping to defend Earth, she thought all her new faults would be taken differently, accepted easier, not seen as so ugly or gross.

And if truth be told, Amber thought Baba would have a bigger audience than she did, and it killed her inside a little bit. She wished she could just be happy for Baba. She couldn’t. She could pretend though. She was good at pretending. She always had to pretend. About everything.

Again, Amber wondered why she cared about nonsense like Instagram. She wished she didn’t. But she did. She was very beautiful. She paid a steep price to be so. A price so steep it ruined her life.

It bothered Amber that people would probably rather see photos of a giant, ugly demon than photos of herself. She was very beautiful. People should want to look at her more than anything else. It was like she ruined her life for nothing.

Not long ago Amber almost thought she had more. Something with John. A future filled with possibilities and maybe even some happiness. She didn’t. All she had was Instagram.