Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 65856 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 329(@200wpm)___ 263(@250wpm)___ 220(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 65856 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 329(@200wpm)___ 263(@250wpm)___ 220(@300wpm)
“If you are going to claim this vampire, you will need to be able to talk to him. Wouldn’t you like to talk to this gege?”
Huli’s growling stopped in an instant, and his ears perked. Okay. Maybe she had a good point. Talking to Xiao Dan, using actual words he could understand, would be amazing.
Min strolled to the stump and lightly jumped up. Yet, just before she landed, a sharp white light enveloped her entire body. The light faded, and a slender woman with long black hair and a brilliant blue robe sat on the stump.
Was…was that Min?
The woman smiled at him. “Would you like to appear to your gege as a human so you can get even closer to him?”
Huli’s heart pounded so hard in his chest that it felt as though it were going to break through bone. His tongue was tied into a knot, and his thoughts frantically raced along.
Human! She could turn into a human!
When she first spoke, he thought it would be enough to learn how to speak like humans do, but to change shape, to look like a human, would be so much better. He could walk in their world, pretend to be them. So many more tricks could be played on them if they thought he was human.
How? he demanded.
“You wish to shift as well.”
Yes! How? How do I learn to do this? How do I learn to speak and shift into a human form? Huli pushed to his feet and walked to her, shoving his face close to hers. I must learn to do this. You must tell me how to do these things right now.
“Oh, Huli, these things take a long time,” she cooed at him. She reached out and scratched under his chin, but Huli jerked his head away from her and huffed loudly. She didn’t seem to mind because her smile never wavered. “It took me centuries to reach this level, and I’m already more than three hundred years old.”
Huli grunted and flopped his ass on the ground. Three centuries. That was too many years. He wanted to do these things now. He wanted to run up to Gege and surprise him as a human.
“A few centuries aren’t that long. Your gege is a vampire, right? They live for many years. He probably won’t even notice you’re gone.”
Huli’s ears flattened, and his body slumped. Would Gege really not miss him if he left to learn how to shift? He wanted Xiao Dan to miss him terribly.
Min reached out and put her hand under his chin, forcing his head up so she could look him in the eye. “Don’t you want to do more than simply talk to the vampire? In a human form, you could seduce the vampire. With a beautiful human form, you could wrap Gege around your finger. Get him to do anything you wanted.”
Oh, that sounded even better.
He knew of the intimate things people did. More than once, he’d followed noises of pleasure and found people naked and entangled in each other. He wanted that. He wanted to feel Gege’s kisses and to do things that could wring such noises out of him. As a human, he could win over Xiao Dan so that he loved only Huli and not the rest of his clan. He’d belong to Huli at last, and no one else.
“In this form, the humans find us irresistible. They are drawn to us and do whatever we wish. Like this, we can more easily steal their wealth, ruin their lives, even steal their souls for our own power.”
That sounded like fun.
Not that he wished to harm Xiao Dan. He would never harm Gege.
But he could always play with the other humans. They didn’t matter.
Okay, I wish to learn.
Min gave him a pat on the head. “That means we must leave this area for a time. For a huli jing to become stronger and to earn more tails, you must cultivate your powers in places of great magic. There is little magic in these forests and mountains. I know of spots in secret caves in the Kunlun Mountains as well as hidden springs in the deserts to the west. This is the only way to become a true jiuweihu.”
Huli flicked his tail. This meant leaving Xiao Dan for a very long time. Can I return to see Xiao Dan each time I earn a new tail?
For the first time, Min frowned at him. “That means it will take even longer. Traveling to and from these locations will take months.” She paused and stared at him before continuing in a thoughtful manner. “But the journey would be good practice for both of us. Very well.”
Huli leaped up and spun in a circle, chasing his tail. Soon, he would have more tails. Big and fluffy orange tails that would be the envy of everyone who saw them.