Blood and Qi: A Vampire Xianxia LitRPG

John sat with legs crossed, hands on thighs, and entered a light meditation. He pictured his dantian and pictured himself standing in front of it, as large as he could picture himself. He bent under his dantian and placed it fully on his shoulders and back, as the Titan Atlas was said to do with the heavens.

With a mighty heave and a yell of effort, John lifted his dantian. He immediately felt something like an insect inside his lower belly go mad trying to claw its way out, and in the real world he felt his legs spasm.

John continued to heave powerfully on the dantian until he heard cracking, like a large pane of glass under too much stress. The noise grew louder, and the sound of shattered glass reverberated throughout his insides and echoed back and forth. In the real world his legs spasmed mightily, and his body fell onto its side as his legs kicked out wildly, over, and over.

John knew Amber was nearby and watching and would ignore everything she saw. He had to ignore everything as well, including the pain in his lower belly, which felt as if a volcano was exploding every time he heaved upwards again. His imaginary legs shook in effort, and he tapped into a primal part of his mind only meant to be let loose in dire straits, as when fighting a tiger, and thoughts of safety and tomorrow had to leave the mind, and the only care was killing the beast before being too injured to do so, before the body stopped but the mind didn’t, and the tiger feasted on a living body, frozen, but still aware, what John now knew was called a body going into shock.

The cracking noise increased, and John let out a mighty yell that echoed even over the noise of the shattering glass as he forced his dantian upwards, and upwards, smidge by smidge, until his legs fully extended, and the weight of all the heavens bore down upon his shoulders, and he felt his dantian being bathed in the strange energy called accretion-effusion which emanated from his self-center.

In reality, John’s uncontrollable legs kicked out madly, and the volcano in his belly erupted into new heights of pain and agony until his vision suddenly cracked, and then shattered. He was looking through many, many eyes, like how he assumed a fly saw through its thousand-thousand eyes.

Then the world blurred by John, as it did when he entered his Mind’s Eye, but it lasted far longer, and he traveled far further. He was somehow still in reality at the same time, his legs spasming out of control, and he also still held his dantian up as Atlas did the heavens, in three places all at once.

Then all suddenly stilled, and John was looking directly at the humongous, indescribable monster named Betrayal. The monster spoke, and its words were like extraordinarily destructive and strange trumpets meant to quake the earth apart, heralding the end of days. “MY CHILD, I RETURN SOME OF WHAT HAS BEEN LOST TO YOU.”

John walked into Saint Mary of Bethlehem in London, a charitable institution that treated the sick and mad and was also used as a prison. Over time the asylum’s name was shortened to Bedlam and people used the word to mean wildness or chaos or madness. He looked down and saw a letter in his hand sent to him by a Thomas Mallory.

John knew the name well. It belonged to his kin and good friend, the man that took care of him for so long.

Years ago, as John was robbing a monastery, he found a great and unexpected treasure – the second person he had ever seen with a red soul, and the man was being held as a prisoner of that monastery for trying to rob it himself.

The prisoner was Thomas Mallory, a landed knight and a robber baron. At the time there were many men knighted on only carpet considerations, but Thomas had seen plenty of battle. John freed the man and offered him the power. Thomas, of course, accepted, and the two became fast friends.

John had no memories of receiving such a letter from Thomas or ever setting foot inside Saint Mary of Bethlehem. He watched the memory of his younger self entering the asylum and asking to see Thomas.

Thomas had a very nice and comfortable room, as was his noble due. The man looked surprised to see John. Watching the memory, John was very surprised to see Thomas as an extremely old man, and an old man that still had a soul, dark with misdeeds and red as ever.

Thomas said, “You’ve come. Thank God. Though I refused the first time, I’m ready to accept your power now. It’s Hell, you know? What you call the cold-dark. It’s Hell. My soul is already damned to it. I’m not a good man. I realized some time ago what the Church teaches about forgiveness and absolution is hogwash. The visions you showed me are the proof. And proof that God is real. So close to the end, I am filled with fear. I need more time. Time to wash away all these sins of mine.”

John would’ve bet all his wealth, bet his own life, Thomas accepted the power when it was first offered to him. He had no memory at all of seeing his friend locked up as an old man, though bits of recollection came back as he watched it, and he was certain the returned memory was the truth.

That frightened John to his core, how he could be so certain of a false memory, how his mind could warp things and he could be certain something was true that was false.

The scene changed and Thomas looked to be about thirty or so, as John had always known him to look. Even if he accepted the power as an old man, John assumed it would reverse his age a good deal.

Thomas was wearing a priestly outfit as he always did. He held clothings out to John. “You say I’m as a son to you. Well, you are as a brother to me, and I love you. I would never play such a prank as you claim I am. You’ll stand out if you don’t wear this. This is how all modern men of your rank dress. I can’t take you to the fencing school if you don’t wear this.”

John knocked the clothings from Thomas’ hand and yelled, “You’re just like Ahn with these senseless pranks. If you won’t bring me, I’ll go on my own. And I’ll hear nothing from you if I must kill anyone. I’ve heard enough of your senseless prattle.”

It hurt John to see himself so diminished and acting so boorishly. More scenes of Thomas caring for John played out with John getting worse and worse and Thomas tolerating it all.

The scene changed again, and John held an épée. Thomas stood in front of him, and Maria sat outside the fencing circle crying. John said, “She isn’t taking this seriously. She’s useless. I just want someone competent to fence with.”

Thomas said, “Come now, brother. She’s new to this, and you treat her too poorly. Times have changed. Guns have completely replaced the need for swordsmanship. And our sister is a nun. She’s devoted to God and peace and will not take a life. Why force this on her?”

John threw his sword at the wall and stormed out of the room while yelling, “We’re the only gods, you fool!”

Again, John was ashamed to see himself act so base and low. A few additional memories of Thomas and Maria caring for him played out.

For some time now, John had considered Thomas and Maria to be false friends, and not true to him, not like his Lilly was. The same went for Amber until they both entered the pocket plane.

John was glad to be proven wrong in all instances. Thomas was a true friend. As true of a friend as could ever be. He loved John even when John was lost to his own failing mind. The rare moments when John was lucid and could talk and interact, he knew his mind failing ruined many of those moments and made him bitter and angry and hard to deal with. Thomas never gave up and never abandoned him, tolerating him until the end. A true brother.

The scene changed to one John remembered very well. He wondered why a memory he remembered so well was shown to him, as the previous memories were all ones that were lost to him.

The memory John saw was of the first time he joined with his Lilitu and made her his wife. He tried joining with her the normal way, the way it was always done, but she said she wanted to look at him as he took her. It was the first time he ever looked a woman in the face during the act. Looking his new wife in the eyes as he entered her excited him very much, as did seeing her pleasure shown on her face throughout the act.

This was a memory John often thought about. After they finished, he held his new wife and they looked at the stars, and he was happy. He knew he would no longer suffer through life alone. Lilly was so much better than Ahn. He could feel how much she cared for him, and her bloodlust was such a little thing compared to having a true companion. He would help cure her of her bloodlust.

Lilly was so beautiful – the most beautiful woman John had ever seen. It was like she exuded the promise of pleasure, and every man that laid eyes upon her desired her more than anything else. And she was his wife, she was his, and they would spend eternity together.

John had absolutely no memory of what he saw next. As he was in the throes of pleasure holding himself up over his wife, Lilly’s eyes sparkled with the mind power, and she grabbed his face caringly and said, “You will never desire any other woman but me. I am the only woman you will ever need. No one else cares for you. Only I care for you. Only I can make you happy. You are only happy when you are with me.”

Seeing that caused John’s heart to be heavy, but he expected his wife did as much even though she promised never to use the mind power on him. He knew she was jealous, but in some way, her wanting him to love her so badly gladdened his heart. He knew he loved her regardless of that use of the mind power, and not because of it.

John always had a few memories of catching Lilly using the mind power on him. Even before he met Lilly, his desire to join with women had waned significantly. In his youth, his desire burned brightly within him, and it took a very long time to dim. Often, when he ruled a city, he would have many, many wives at the same time. He could have as many women as he wanted, whenever he wanted, even without the promise of making them a wife. After a while it became more of a hassle to him, and he stopped caring about it.

Lilly was different. She was still young, and her desire still burned hot. Very hot. She wanted John to bed her all the time. He tried to whenever she wanted for as long as he could, but her desire was too great. When he started to bed her less and less often, she would sometimes try to use the mind power to get him to sate her. It angered him, but not too greatly. Part of a husband’s duty was joining with his wives and fulfilling their need. He just didn’t have it in him to do it so often. He learned other ways to satisfy her without the act of joining.

The scene changed and John was standing in front of a gate. He was in Babilim. Lilly loved that city. He had thought Ahn was gone for good. Earlier that day, Ahn had turned up, returned from as far east as one could go, and not alone— he was accompanied by someone else with the power, kin, a young man with strange eyes, even younger than his Lilitu, only a handful of centuries or so old.

Ahn said he had a gift for John waiting outside the gate, but there was nothing there John could find. Just another one of Ahn’s pranks that made no sense to anyone but Ahn himself.

The knuckles on John’s hand turned white as he crushed the wooden handle of his gate, holding it fast in anger as the confused servants tried to open it. He heard Ahn and Lilly joining together.

Ahn took women the same way he took men, from behind. It was how it had always been done, even the animals did it that way. Only John and Lilly did it differently.

John could tell by the breathing that Ahn and Lilly faced each other, and that somehow made it even worse for him. He could also tell Lilly was enjoying it greatly. He could sense the man Ahn brought back with him was also in the room, and his anger rose as he sensed the man was also involved, breathing heavily and rhythmically, moaning in pleasure.

An anger rose in John so great that it made him dizzy, and he needed the gate to hold himself up. He could tell Ahn knew John could sense him and knew what he was doing, and it infuriated John that it seemed to increase Ahn’s pleasure.

John and Lilly had not long ago returned from a voyage west. The Keftiu made mighty swords longer than all others, and strong enough to withstand blows and parries even at that great length. John unsheathed the sword he carried, one of the many swords he took from the Keftiu. He burst through the gate, ran into his home, and rushed to the sleeping quarters.

As soon as Lilly sensed him, John could tell she got extremely nervous and tried stopping, as did the new man, but Ahn wouldn’t let her and held her down as she screamed for him to stop.

John kicked the door open, and Ahn released the naked and crying Lilly. Ahn was smiling as he grabbed an unsheathed sword from atop the bed. “Ah, welcome back, Gepi. Do you like your gift?”

John never knew what the name Gepi meant. He was sure it meant nothing good. He said, “You won't like the gift I have for you.”

Ahn laughed and said, “Your wife? I enjoyed your gift greatly. She is very passionate. How about you, Yan? Did you enjoy our host’s gift to us?”

The new man looked frightened. He said, “Yes, Master,” with an accent so thick, John could barely understand the man.

“See, my Gepi, Yan knows how to speak to his master. Did you want to join us while we continue enjoying your wife’s many holes?”

Lilly said, “Adon, I didn’t…”

“Shut your filthy mouth,” yelled John angrily, interrupting whatever Lilly was going to say.

Lilly started to cry harder, and Ahn laughed again.

John said, “My gift will be the cold-dark. Today, I fulfil the oath of vengeance I swore so long ago.”

Ahn laughed harder. “I’m sure you’ll try again, Gepi. You heard how much she enjoyed it. I know you heard that. No question on how I got it up? For such a whore as she is, who hated me not at all, and begged for me to take her? Oh well, I’ll tell you anyway. It’s because you hate me so much. The thought of you catching me with your new wife, our own kin, made it harder than it’s ever been before.”

Ahn, smiling widely, pointed down at his groin. “See, Gepi? Would you like to put it in your mouth? Or should I put it in your wife again?”

John had heard enough. He charged his master. He knew he was too full of rage to fight well, and as always happened every time he attacked his master, the man just toyed with him. Ahn was too fast and powerful.

John slashed and thrusted and Ahn easily slipped away from each strike, smiling, laughing, and taunting John. For long and frustrating minutes, the fight went as they always had. But this time, Ahn made a mistake.

Ahn shouldn’t have discounted Lilly crying on the floor, as when Ahn got too close to her, she jumped at his legs. Ahn swung his sword down and cut one of her arms clean off. That was his undoing, as he didn’t have time to slip away and was forced to parry John’s thrust, and John’s sword shattered Ahn’s blade and pierced deep into his master’s chest.

John quickly pulled back and plunged his sword into Ahn’s belly. He nearly laughed at the look of surprise and horror on his master’s face as he stabbed the sword in and out many more times as quickly as he could. He then pulled Ahn in close, plunged his fangs into his neck, and drained him of vital essence.

When Ahn was empty, John forced him to his knees and held all his hair away from his neck as he cut his old master’s head off. With the long locks on Ahn’s head, he quickly fastened braids. He tied the braids around his own neck and wore Ahn’s head as a trophy, finally completing the oath of vengeance he made so long ago.

As John fastened his grim necklace, Lilly tried to speak with him and hold him, and he ignored her words and threatened her with his sword when she got too close. The new man with the strange eyes was no longer in the room. John figured he slipped away after seeing his master killed, when John was in no mind to pay attention. He knew he had to decide what to do with his wife. Though there wasn’t much of a decision to make there.

Only death could answer such betrayal and infidelity, and death would answer it. As his old master's head now adorned John’s neck, his wife’s head would adorn his gate.