Romance of Dragons and Snakes - Chapter 115: The Marksmanship of the Cheng School of Baguazhang

A conversation with a handsome stranger leaves Ariane chained in a cellar with a strange affliction. She soon discovers that the darkness of the nineteenth century’s Deep South hides many dangers. Mages, wolf shifters and the humans who hunt them play a risky game where to stumble is to die, all under the amused gaze of the apex predators of the supernatural world: vampires.

It is never healthy to attract the gaze of the aristocracy of the night. It takes much to survive in this merciless world, but Ariane will not let that deter her. The southern belle has a bite, and she is willing to learn and to grow in this hostile new world. She will use whatever means necessary to reclaim her freedom, be it guile, charm, or those intriguing new instincts that make blood so delectable.

This is a story of vampires as I believe they should be, with their strengths and weaknesses, with their remnants of humanity and the beast inside. Updates every Friday. Mind the tags.

Cover by Antti Hakosaari: https://www.artstation.com/haco

Special thanks to Svensonsen for getting me started, as well as Omi Nya, Hesketh, Rhaegar, Yaksher, Selkie and Raven for proofreading my stuff. Thanks to my patrons and you dear readers, for the support. I could not do it without you.

Journey is on Amazon, both in ebooks and audio. here is a link to the first one:

https://www.royalroad.com/amazon/B08DK6G8Y8

The story probably exists in your local marketplace as well of I can tempt you.

Seria, a social outcast, has changed.
Seria Stern, the wicked woman who made everyone tremble with fear, was now calm.

In fact, she wasn’t just changed, she was a completely different person.

The moment she realized that she had possessed the body of the villain Seria, in a romance novel, she had a hunch about the future and decided to live low.

She would avoid kidnapping and harassing the original heroine, hence preventing her death by decapitation at the hands of Kalis, the second male lead.

In order to avoid that, she had to fix her bad relationship with Kalis and even healed his injured arm.

Thanks to that she got engaged with him, so it’s all worked out.
Finally, the original heroine returned, and her husband, Lesche, should be on good terms with her now.

“I’ve been waiting to escort her, so…”

Lesche asked, resolutely cutting off Kalis’ words.

“Miss Seria, it would be better for you to choose. With whom would you want to go with?”

Something was strange.
The original, wasn’t it perfectly fine?

Kyros was no hero—nor was he a villain. A pragmatist to the core, he turned Earth into a chessboard of chaos, bending nations and empires to his will before meeting his end. But death was only the beginning. The Devil intervened, pulling Kyros into Hell with an irresistible proposition: a second chance at life in a world far removed from Earth—a world named Neva.In this fantastical realm of knights, nobility, magic, and divine power, Kyros becomes the key piece in a wager between God and the Devil. Reborn as Rasmus Blackheart, a disgraced young noble, his task is clear: unleash chaos and topple the order of Neva, just as he did on Earth. But the Devil has added a twist to the game—he’ll serve as Rasmus’s companion, not as a guide but as a mischievous, manipulative force, more likely to hinder than help.Navigating a world brimming with intrigue and divine interference, Rasmus must survive, scheme, and rise from ruin to reshape Neva in his image. Will his cunning be enough to outwit his foes—and his so-called ally—or will this chaotic partnership lead to his downfall?

“I shouldn't have used illegal downloads in the first place.”

Ian woke up in the middle of a strange swamp as his own terrible character.

In a dark era on the verge of destruction, the hopeless character struggles to safely return to reality.