Chapter 16
We had been in Greece now for over a decade, Rebekah had turned Katherine just a couple of days after our first night together, since that day she always joined us in bed. Recently, a group af strix had met up with us, led by Aya, and they had agreed to come with us when we attacked Klaus. Since the Strix joined, my plan had really started to take shape. As it stood, my plan was simple; we had started to spread rumours around England. The rumours consisted of two parts: the first was spreading tales of a vampire hunter slaughtering his way through Europe. The next part is that the hunter happened to be a powerful vampire. I knew that as soon as Klaus heard these, his paranoid mind would start to conjure up thoughts of Mikaels return. This was just the beginning. I had gotten quite skilled with illusions and intended to disguise myself as Mikael when we went for Klaus, hopefully throwing him even more off his game.
"My lord, all the preparation has been made, we are ready to leave" came the voice of Aya. "Thank you, Aya, we shall set off within the hour, and by this time in two weeks, we will have my siblings back with us", I responded, a smile on my face. Aya had come to us with the strix in tow by the order of Tristan who wanted to rescue Elijah but thought it better to send Aya in his stead. Since then, both she and the strix had been instrumental in my plans, giving us the numbers to actually find and then lay siege to Klaus's location. "Let's run through the plan once again just to be safe", I said. Aya nodded before beginning, "We will make our way into the compound together before splitting up. Rebekah and I will lead the Strix through the halls in an attempt to find your siblings. While we do that, you will take the heretics with you to find Klaus all disguised, you as Mikael and the heretics as other vampires. Once you reach him, you shall fight Klaus while your heretics hold off any vampires that come to Klauses' aid. While you do that, we will continue on our search until we find your siblings. Once we do, we shall remove their daggers, give them blood, then lead them out". I nodded, glad that the plan was stuck in her mind; if anything went wrong, it would be devastating. "Good, then let's get to the ship. We leave as soon as everyone is on board," I said before heading onto the boat.
We arrived in England within two weeks. In total, over seventy vampires were with me, a decent army to fight Klaus with. "Are you ready?" came the voice of Rebekah at my side. I pulled her in, kissing her before answering. "Yes I am, are you"? I asked her, she answered with a nod, but a look of worry poked out for just a second. "Well, then let's set off, no point in further delay," came the voice of Marco as he walked by. "Yes, let's", I responded before setting off towards Klaus's compound.
As we reached the compound, I used illusion magic to disguise myself as Mikael, and the rest of the heretics also disguised themselves. When we got to the walls, we scaled them before quickly darting over to the main house. With a push, the door opened, and I tried to step through the doorway. I went straight through meaning the house was not owned by a human. "You all know what to do" I spoke to them before the two groups separated. I had already done a locator spell on Klaus, so all that was left now was to follow my map straight to him. Winding through the halls of the ho, we met no resistance until we came to a large oak door, and two vampires stood guarding it. With a simple punc,h i thrust my hands through there chests and ripped out there hearts, killing them both before booting the doors open. Inside stood Klaus, looking manically at us all "Mikael, how? Asmund got rid of you",, he spoke, anger building in his voice. "He did, but I came back specifically to kill you, and I will not fail", I responded before charging towards him, my claws drawn. We both met one another in a clash of claws and flurry of strikes. Neither of us is making significant progress in killing the other. I slashed my claws toward his stomach, cutting deep and spilling blood across the floor. With a single push, he hit the wall. His head shot forward towards my own, breaking my nose. In response, I grabbed his shoulders, pulling him up, flying towards the roof. Throwing him across the room, I watched as his body crashed into the walls. Vampires started coming through the doors. Luckily, my heretics kept them busy. Klaus came back at me again, fist flying towards my face, catching it. I pushed him back against the wall before delivering my own strike to his face. I wrapped one hand around his neck, the other reaching behind him and pulling a piece of wood out of the wall. With a single strike, I aimed the stake at his heart. He tried to stop it, but my strength was too much for him. With a burst of my strength, the stake was buried in his heart. Although it would not kill him, it would buy us a couple of hours. Turning, I looked toward the heretics, seeing all of them on their feet and in decent shape. Just before we left the room, we removed the illusions that hid our faces. As we left the room, we ran straight into the other group, all of my brothers included. With a smile, I started shaking their hands. "We should go, we have a boat prepared to take us to Europe and away from this mess" I told them. With a nod of agreement, they all agreed with me, so we started the long trek back to the boat. In total, only four of the strix were killed in the attack, having run into a large group of hostile vampires, loyal to Klaus, they would be buried back in Greece. Luckily for us, after leaving the compound, we ran into no more trouble, not that much could threaten all of us.
We arrived back at the boat where Aroura, Katherine, Rose and a few members of the strix had been waiting. As soon as we arrived, we started loading up the boat, with any luck, we would be gone within the hour. "Asmund, Rebekah, Finn, Kol, stop for a minute" Looking back at Elijah, who had spoken, he started again. "I am staying, I am going back to Klaus", he said. "What, why?" came Rebekah's voice before the rest of us could even speak. "Because he is our brother, he is no threat to me without those daggers, but he is our brother no matter what", he continued. "Okay, we can not change your mind, that is clear, just stay safe, brother", Finn spoke. With a goodbye, he left before the rest of us could even object. "What now then?" Kol asked. "We continue as planned, go back to Greece, start up there", I said, repeating my earlier plan to him. With them agreeing we started heading into the ship.
Walking into one of the rooms I sat down and thought back on the last week. I had achieved everything we set out too, rescuing my siblings, gaining the daggers and getting revenge on Klaus. Yet even with all that, Elijah had stayed probably hoping that he could bring Klaus back to us. I doubted his ability to do so, knowing full well that Klaus would only fall further into madness after this. I had, after all, convinced him Mikael was still alive and after him.
Yet something was still missing, as I thought that Rebekah opened the door to the room. "I thought you would be here, Asmund you should join the rest of us". Smiling, I nodded before walking to her, grabbing her hands, and pressing a kiss to her knuckles. "Of course, but I want you for myself for a minute", I said, a smile on my face. Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out a wooden box before dropping to one knee, opening it, I asked the question I had been waiting for a correct moment to ask. Rebekah Mikaelson, will you marry me"?. "Yes, Yes, Asmund of course" she answered without hesitation. Taking her hand I slipped the gold ring onto her finger, a beautiful ruby set into it reflecting the soft lantern light across her face. "I love you Rebekah, I want to spend every day of the rest of my life with you" I said as I brought her in for a kiss. "I love you too Asmund" she responded before continuing the kiss.
Chapter 17
Fifty years had passed since we played siege to Klaus's compound, and since then, our small town had grown into a bustling city with hundreds of vampires calling it home. So far, we had only heard from Elijah in the occasional letter, though he assured us he was well. I was still worried that Klaus would eventually turn on him. I walked through the bustling streets as I did every day, a routine I stuck to, showing my face, talking to the merchants selling their wares. I stopped at one stand in particular, a merchant by the name of Leonardo, who was selling wine, wine from one of my wineries. "It's good to see you, Lord Asmund, you look well". The merchant said, "I am Leonardo, how are you, your family?" I responded. "I am good and the family is too, thanks Lord Asmund" I nodded before continuing my walk, speaking to merchants and their customers.
Soon enough I reached the stable where my horse was being kept, an Andalusian in a very rare pure white colour, a war horse, strong, sturdy, perfect for me. It was a gift from Finn for one of my many birthdays. He started breeding horses when we came back to Greece, and as such, each of us had been gifted one at some point. Leading it out I rode past the city walls and further heading towards a small village east of the city. One of the high-ups in the city had asked me to go and deliver a letter to a jeweller who lived there. Now, normally I would have refused such a request, but I had nothing to do today, and it could not hurt to get on the good side of other nobility.
As I got close to the, I heard screams and saw smoke on the horizon. Deciding it was worth investigating, I sped up, pushing my horse to the limit to get there. As I got closer, I heard screams about a monster flying through there, breathing fire across the village. Just as I was about to get off my horse, I heard an almighty roar cascading through the air. Looking up, I saw a giant monster with wings casting a giant shadow across the land. A dragon, the one monster from Legacies I hoped not to encounter, but compared to that one, this was massive. It looked to be over a hundred and fifty metres in length from head to tail, with scales that were the size of dinner tables and coloured in a brilliant gold. As it came back around, its mouth opened, and from it spilt a river of white hot flame that flowed across the village. In an instant, I raised a barrier to protect myself and my horse, the flames rushed over us and even with the barrier, the heat was unbearable. My enhanced hearing picked up the screams of the villagers as they burned to ash from even the other side of the village. With another thunderous roar, the dragon flew away, taking several heads of cattle in its fiery maw. I jumped off my horse and started heading further into the village. Buildings had turned to ash in an instant, stone houses had melted like candle wax, and generally, the destruction was immense. Suddenly, I heard a quiet voice from among the carnage. Spying over, I looked around, and a young woman sat almost crushed under a stone pillar. With my vampiric strength I pulled it off of her before dragging her out from underneath it, she was in a bad state her body liitered with burns, cuts and broken bones. "help" she barely muttered out, with a single swipe of my claw I opened my wrist then brought it to her mouth, "drink, if you want to survive" I told her softly. She did as I watched her body heal, bones knitting themselves back together, cuts disappearing like they were never there in the first place. "How"? She muttered in confusion. "Do you knowhow to get to Corinth" I asked her, she nodded and I continued "take my horse to the stables there ask to speak to Finn tell him Asmund sent you, tell him what happened here" I finished. "what will you do" she asked me worry in her voice. "I am going hunting", my answer seemed to confuse her before she realised I meant the dragon, but she did not try to dissuade me, obviously the look on my face told her I could not be persuaded not to. After she agreed, she set off in the way I came from to my home city of Corinth.
Heading the way the dragon went, I found more carnage villages on fire, chunks of smoking cattle, their remains lying on the ground, no doubt fallen from the beast's maw. I followed its trail for an hour or two until I reached the bottom of a mountain. I could see a cave almost halfway up, smoke billowing out of its entrance. Walking up the mountainside, I realised that this was the right place, the smell of fresh-cooked flesh filled the air. Rocks were melted, the remains dripping down the mountainside. I reached the entrance, the smell of sulfur filling my nose.
Entering the cave with my sword drawn, bone crunched underneath my feet, and blood running thick across the stone. Continuing further, the smell of burned flesh and sulfur reached an all-new high, causing my eyes to water and burning my throat like acid. The heat also increased to the point that even my enhanced skin started to redden and blister. The cave opened suddenly, and I saw the giant dragon curled up, sleeping. I snuck closer, bade raised, getting closer I prepared to stab the beast, thrusting with most of my strength, I was surprised when the blade just glanced off the scale, only a small groove carved into the scale. Immediately as the blade hit the dragon, it woke, spinning with surprising speed and batting me aside with its tail, pain shot through my body as I hit the cave wall with a crack. The beast opened its maw, aiming straight at me before releasing a torrent of white hot flame. Unfortunately for it, I managed to raise a magical shield at it again, blocking the burst of flame. Realising the fire was not working, it dived at me, attempting to clamp its jaws around me, teeth the size of swords came close to tearing me apart, but I held its jaws open. My strength was great enough to hold it, but not for long, so I dived sideways before delivering a punch to the side of its head, rocking its head to one side. I drew my claws before slashing across its body, cutting deep into the scales but doing little real damage. Again, it roared, spinning to try and knock me down, but I dodged slashing again at the same scale, digging deeper but not getting all the way through. I kept at it for a while, dodging then slashing repeatedly at the same point before finally drawing an ounce of blood; it flowed over my fingers, near scalding but bearable.
The beast roared again in fury, its titanic body turning again, this time using its foreclaws to slash me. Not expecting it, I only narrowly avoided being bisected, but the claw did meet my body, carving a giant gash from my shoulder to hip. Roaring in pure fury, I dived back at the beast, tearing at the injury on its side, which had widened with each strike, eventually reaching almost a metre in length. It roared at me again letting out another torrent of flame that turned the stone surrounding us into magma. I struck again hitting its head with every ounce of strength I had, my knuckles cracked and broke under my strength before my regeneration started working overtime. The dragon faced me again and bit down toward me, attempting to swallow me whole, diving back. I just barely avoided becoming its lunch. Although part of me did fall victim to the beast, my hand came off in its giant maw blood squirting out from above my elbow. I screamed in rage and pain and turned to get my revenge. I dived at it again, aiming with my one remaining hand delivering punches to its skull, before I kicked with both legs into its head, knocking it to the ground. Before I could deliver another attack, though, the beast shot into the air, soaring out of the cave, blood flowing out in a trail.
Looking around the cave, I saw a hoard of treasure in one corner, and in another, massive amounts of meat, human, animal and others I could not recognise. Picking up my blade, I sprinted to the cave entrance. Night had descended, and I could not let it escape. Shooting myself into the air after it, I followed, pushing my flight to its fullest until the figure of the beast entered my view. With a roar of fury, I battered into its side, knocking it through the air, turning it. Another roar of fury filled the air as the beast spun, attempting to deliver more flame in my direction. The night air lit up for miles around as the dragon madly spat flame all around. Its tail caught me again, knocking me dozens of feet through the air towards the ground below. The beast took the opportunity to attempt escape again. I would not allow that; I rammed back into it again and again, battering myself against its massive scales. Looking all over it, I saw the wound at its side, smirking, and an idea came to me, I dived at it with my one remaining clawed hand outstretched before I started to spin rapidly, shooting myself forward, I hit the wound on its body. Travelling straight through, my body bathed in the beast's scalding blood and viscera as I tore through it shredding meat, bone and organs. For half a second, I was completely embedded in its body before I popped out the other side, its scales giving way and allowing me to shoot into the night air. I breathed in pulling great gulps of fresh air into my lungs before turning to face my foe. Its body had already started falling into the forest below, crashing into the trees below, tearing itself a clear path. I shot downward toward the beast, its body lay dying on the ground, barely still alive. Looking at the giant wound on its side, I felt an urge to drink unlike anything I had ever felt before. I tried to resist, but could not, latching my mouth onto it. I felt the scalding blood flowing into my mouth, and I drank. Greedily, I gulped down mouthful after mouthful of the beast's blood while my hands came up and started to syphon its magic. I drank and drank even past my usual limit until the dragon itself ran dry, every ounce of blood no longer inside it. I had no idea how I had drunk so much, but it was exhilarating. I looked down at the blood on the ground and could not help myself, using my blood manipulation, on I raised it all and directed it into my mouth without thinking about it, drinking all that too.
Finally, after no more blood remained, it hit me that I had drunk so much, not to mention syphoning all the magic from within the beast. I felt so full as though at any moment I might burst, but that did not matter, I needed to clean up and then go home. Walking around the forest for a few minutes I came to a small stream and stepped into it, washing off the blood and internals of the dragon. Looking down at my arm, I noticed my flesh starting to heal slowly, blood still poured from the wound, but within twenty-four hours, I would have healed completely, a new arm in place of the one I lost. Suddenly, I felt all the magic and blood in me burning me up, and I passed out, falling face-first into the mud.
I woke up in the same place hours later. I still felt hot, and my skin felt hotter than it had been before. Although I no longer felt as though I would burst from the blood and magic flowing through my veins. I felt powerful, though, as if my strength had increased, and my magic was as if I had doubled in strength; my control over fire especially seemed immensely stronger. Is this what happens if you consume dragon blood and siphon its magic? If so, then it was definitely worth it.
Standing, I started walking back to the beast. I had to hide all traces of this fight. Seeing the dead dragon lying in the dirt, I raised my hand, lifting its entire frame a few feet off the ground before starting back towards the cave. Once we got inside the cave, I dropped the beast down, casting a few spells to keep its remains perfectly preserved before leaving. I sealed the cave with a giant stone before casting illusions over it in the hope that they would keep all prying eyes away from my prize. A dragon and its hoard, after all, could end up being very useful.
I started the long journey back home, looking around the forest on my way there. The forest had been torn apart with a faint gash in the earth from the dragon's landing. The smell of sulfur filled the air for miles around, while you could almost taste the ash in the air. The battle had definitely been a destructive one, perhaps even my hardest fought one.
I arrived back home early the next morning, going through the door into the main room I was greeted by the familiar faces of my sister, two brothers and a few of the vampires that came with us to Greece. "Had a good night, brother", Kol laughed out while gesturing to my still missing hand "Not too bad, brother, how was yours?" I responded sarcastically. His smile just widened at my tone before Finn interrupted our verbal spar, "This young woman tells quite the tale", he said, gesturing to a seat in the corner of the room where said young woman sat sleeping. "She says you encountered a dragon and went to fight it", he continued, a look of contemplation on his face. "Yes that is true, I even killed, it though it did not go down easily, even took a piece of me for the trouble" I said, I'd raised my arm to show the missing part., "Yes, I saw, Rebekah wanted to go look for you as soon as we heard, but Kol talked her out of it", he said, his look changing to one of slight amusement. "You're an idiot, you could have gotten seriously injured or worse", came the voice of Rebekah, speaking up for the first time since I got back", but I am glad you are mostly okay", she continued with a smile on her face. That is when it hit me, "Where is my horse? Is it okay?" I asked them. "It's fine brother, tired though, sleeping off the journey in the stables the girl took good care of it" Finn responded again before standing up "I suggest you thank her when she wakes, also think about what to do with her, she knows about us after all" he continued before leaving the room. "What should we do with her brother"? Came Rebekah's voice yet again. "Perhaps we could keep her around, train her, and turn her when we think she is ready for it," I answered, to which Rebekah nodded. With that settled, myself, Katherine and Rebekah headed to bed. Despite passing out earlier, I was extremely tired, so I was glad to get some rest.
Chapter 18
New Orleans, a place known for a vibrant culture of art, music, food and much more, unfortunately, none of these brought me to the beautiful city. Instead, I had been invited by Elijah to attend a family party hosted by Klaus. It had been centuries since I had freed my siblings from their imprisonment by Klaus, and I had not seen him since. In those centuries, my wealth and political power had improved significantly, to the point that I basically ruled over several European countries, by proxy, of course. The number of vampires I had sired also increased, bringing the number of heretics up to twenty exactly, including the individuals that in the show had been led by Lily Salvatore. The ones in particular were Valerie Tulle, Mary Louise, Nora Hildegard, Beau, Malcolm, and Oscar. I had found each of them after they were exiled from the Gemini Coven and since then, built a great amount of friendship with them. Although they were not currently with me, I had left them in Greece to work on a project with the rest of the heretics. Instead, Rebekah and I brought with us our usual retinue of vampires, that being Katherine, Aroura and Rose, we also had brought with us four members of the strix after Aya had recommended we take some protection. Only two of the strix we brought were of any real interest to me, though the first was Shen Min, an almost seven-hundred-year-old vampire, who was the former torturer for Genghis Khan. I remember him from the show being very impressive, able to beat Hayley and Marcel with ease while suffering from a werewolf bite, then going on to resist compulsion from Elijah, push the original off of him, before killing himself via sunlight without showing any sign of pain. Certainly impressive, but the second one was just as interesting, not being in the show, his name being simply Vlad the Third, former ruler of Wallachia, known better as Vlad the Impaler. While I did not know if he existed in the show, I did know that in my old world, he was the inspiration for Count Dracula himself and basically the founder of all tales involving vampires. I was quite glad that Aya sent the four members of the Strix with us, it just proved that her loyalty still remained after centuries.
We arrived at the Mikaelson compound early before the party started, all of my other siblings already being there, including Klaus, whom I had hoped not to see for at least another century. Walking towards them, I greeted Elijah, the one who had invited us all. I was glad to see him well, having not seen him in decades. "It has been too long, Asmund", he said, warmth filling his voice. "It definitely has, brother, I see you have built quite the kingdom here", I responded, a smile on my face. "Kol, Finn, good to see you made it here", I continued. They had made their own way here, insistent on travelling around before meeting us here.
It was about an hour later that the party started, guests from the local government, vampires from the area, witches from the New Orleans covens and even werewolves from the local packs all stood under the same roof in peace. I walked around the room introducing myself to notable figures from the area. After socialising for a while, a young blonde witch drew my attention. I was not entirely sure she would be here, as in the show, she came with Kol, but he had another date here. Walking over to her, I watched as she turned to face me, "We have not met, I am Asmund Mikaelson, it's nice to meet you", I said, a smile on my face. "Freya, nice to meet you, Asmund," I responded, matching my smile. Drawing her hand up, I pressed a kiss to her knuckles, "Good to meet you, Freya, if I may say a great name sounds almost familiar", I continued. She blushed at my actions before starting to speak again. "You have organised a very nice party Asmund". "Well, thank you, Freya, but I can not take credit. Unfortunately, I have been away for a long time and had no input in all this", I responded to her. Before I could continue I was called over by Elijah for a picture. "Well, Freya, I would love to continue this conversation, but unfortunately, duty calls. We will continue this later, though, you have my word" I finished before joining my family, who had all lined up on the stairs. For the first time in centuries, my siblings and I stood as one, for a picture, but it was still something.
Not long after the picture was taken, the party started winding down, and all the guests began to leave. I said my goodbyes to Elijah and Klaus before leaving with my party in tow. "Why don't you four call it a night"? I said to the members of the Strix, "My lord, we have orders to protect you,", came the voice of Shen Min. "That is greatly appreciated, but we both know that there are very few things that could threaten the originals. If we do not return to where we are staying by tomorrow, then you can come looking for us", I said to him. "Fine, keep yourselves safe, if you do not return, though we will come and find you, goodnight", he said before leaving with the other three members of the Strix.
"What now, then, brother? What did you send them away for?" came Rebekah's voice. "We are going to find a witch," I said, looking over at Rebekah before starting to walk the way I thought I saw her heading. We walked through the quiet New Orleans streets for a good ten minutes before I saw the familiar blonde-headed witch. Before any of us could get closer, an agonising pain filled our heads, an aneurysm spell. Fighting through the pain, I managed to shout out to the witch. "Freya stop, we mean you no harm". "Then why are you, a group of vampires, following me?" she said coldly, still not letting up on the spell. "I told you I wanted to continue our conversation, are you going to kill me for that?" I said, a smile etched on my face. "Fine", she responded while letting down the spell, "be warned though if you try anything, I will not stop the next time. What do you wish to speak about?" she continued. "Family, I suppose, would be a good start, love them or hate them" As I said that, I could see the look on her face start to soften slightly. "Who is she Asmund"? Questioned Katherine. "Ahh, yes, introductions, Rebekah, Aroura, Rose, Katherine, I would like you to meet Freya, Freya Mikaelson. As the last words left my mouth, I saw the faces of all those present change rapidly to one of confusion." How did you know?" Freya spoke first. "We have much to talk about, dear sister, but first, we should get somewhere more private", I said before leading the way to a local bar owned by me, bought for this exact reason.
Sitting around a table in the dusty bar, the room filled with silence before Rebekah spoke, "How, it can't be she died of plague before we were born?". "Do you really believe that Bex, do you really think out mother one of the most powerful witches to ever exist could not cure the plague, do you really think she would allow her own child to die so easily" I spoke grasping her hand "trust me on this, please let her speak" I continued. "Okay i will Asmund for you" she responded before nodding to Freya. "What he said was true, I did not catch the plague nor did I die from it, instead mother gave me to out aunt as payment for a spell. I have been held prisoner by her since then only just escaping last century". "If your aunt is so powerful how have you stayed free for a century"? Rose asked. "I can answer that, a form of the immortality spell, you are both bound sharing power and giving you an extended life under the condition that you may only be awake one year every century. The rest of the time you have to spend asleep, right" I stated more than asked. "Yes how did you, doesn't matter, the point is our aunt is extremely dangerous, powerful and will come to look for me". "Do not worry about that, you can travel with us for the rest of the year you spend awake, then once you have to sleep we will keep you body safe spelled so no one will find it. Then, during the time you sleep, I shall find ways to break the binding spell and kill our aunt. Then when you wake next century we shall strike as a family against her, then kill her" I said voice with complete confidence. Looking around I could see the looks on there faces, only Freya still looking worried. "But let's leave talking about that for the future, instead let's catch up".
After hours of talking, it was settled that Freya would travel with us back to Greece, where heretics would keep her hidden for the next century. But for an entire year, we would be able to get to know Freya. We had also decided that it was probably best not to tell our other siblings about Freya for now, mainly because I knew that they would be doubtful of her. I also figured it would be easier to keep her hidden from Daliah if fewer people knew I was protecting her.
Chapter 19
I was back in New Orleans this time with only Rebekah and one other vampire that Rebekah had sired, the young woman that I rescued from the dragon attack in Greece, her name was Alexandria. As it turned out, she was orphaned in the attack and had no other family, so I took her in, raising her as my own for five years until I thought she was ready to become a vampire. Rebekah had turned her knowing that I usually only turned syphoners. She was the closest thing I could get to having a child of my own, vampires, of course, being infertile. Although I wonder if there is a loophole in that part of the spell as all magic has loopholes. Now she joined us in returning to New Orleans, Elijah once again inviting. I was tempted to turn his invitation down this time, but unfortunately, Rebekah insisted that we go see him.
We were to meet him at a local theatre as he had booked tickets to a local show for us all, our other siblings joining us there. Walking through the streets of New Orleans, I could not help but admire what they had made of it, from a backwater civilisation into a thriving city, quite similar to what I had done across Europe. I did not doubt that Elijah had been the main one to improve the city; he always did need something to do, to make better, er, and he had definitely achieved that. Although a dark shadow loomed over the city, not from the vampires lurking in the shadows, nor the witches committing dark rituals under the cover of darkness, and even the werewolves did not inspire this fear. No, it was an entirely human monster causing the fear, an axe man haunting the streets, he had already claimed multiple lives, and the only thing that seemed to keep him away was jazz music. You could tell the citizens were scared, as almost every home you passed had jazz playing out loud enough for you to hear from quite a distance. Honestly, the amount of terror the axe man inspired reminds me of Jack the Ripper, having been in London at the time he was active, I can still remember the terror inspired by just a man.
We arrived at the theatre, which seemed more of an opera house, and outside stood my siblings, each one dressed as impeccably as I and Rebekah. Kol noticed us first and called out a greeting, a massive grin across his face, "Rebekah, Asmund, you took your time getting here, and what's this, you brought little Alexandria with you, how nice?". "Good to see you too, brother. How have you been these last few years?" I said while approaching him. "Not too bad, just enjoying life like usual" he responded. Kol and Finn had both left our family home in Greece some time ago, Finn returning a couple of times a year whereas we only heard from Kol in his occasional letters.
After we reunited and caught up on what had been going on in our lives over the last few years we started to head inside. The opera house was truly an amazing piece of architecture, I could see why it was a main attraction in the city. We continued inside before being led to our seats, some of the best in the house from what Elijah had told us, then we sat in for the night ahead. The show consisted of two parts first being opera music for about an hour, then afterwards a show, a play of some kind that Elijah assured us would be spectacular.
I will admit opera was definitely not for me, but I did still enjoy the opportunity to spend time with my family, especially since I did not see most of them often. The venue was also very nice with comfortable seats that you could sink into, although they went a bit over the top with security, dozens of well-dressed men lined the top of the aisles, looking down onto the audience, It struck me as a bit odd but I did not think too much of it.
At the end of the opera section of the night, the audience clapped, sending the performers on their way with applause before the great back curtain closed slowly. I looked around the entire theatre in darkness apart from the occasional soft glow of a lamp, not that the darkness had any effect on my vision. I could see across the entire theatre as though it was lit up by daylight. I scanned the entire room, through the several hundred men and women in the audience up to the guards at the top of the aisles. I thought there seemed to be more than before, and the audience itself seemed all too quiet. Usually, there would at least be some noise, the low chatter of conversation that blended into one, even more strange, they all remained seated throughout the break, not one got up to go to the toilet or get refreshments. No, instead they all remained seated, quiet, wearing blank looks on their faces. It hit me suddenly that only they had been compelled, that was the only explanation.
Turning to face my sibling, I managed to get out a single sentence before the curtain began, to open "something's wrong here, we need to leave". Before I could continue, the curtain started opening to the applause of the audience, and the audience did not stop when the carnage on stage came into view. Every member of the cast was torn to pieces on stage, some hung from hooks while others lay nailed onto props. In the middle, a man was lashed to a cross, blood covered him entirely, even more surprising was the fact that I recognised him, Marcel my brother's adopted son. I was not too sure whether he existed in this world but he did. It also hit me that a similar event happened in the show, but the perpetrator could not have done it here as he sat dessicated at the bottom of a flooded cave.
Not having time to think, I looked back again at what I assumed to be security, where there were once maybe a dozen men, and now stood hundreds armed with Thompson machine guns. I had no doubt that they did not possess ordinary bullets, most likely wooden ones instead. I dove onto Alexandria and Rebekah just in time before the first cracks of automatic fire began, aimed directly at us. My earlier thoughts were confirmed as the shots started pelting me, they were wood, which meant whoever it was knew that we were vampires. Luckily for me and my siblings, the ordinary wooden bullets would not kill us, most would not even penetrate our enhanced skin. If they did, the only way to hurt us was to get our hearts, although that would only put us down for a few minutes at most. Unfortunately, though, Alexandria was not an original meaning that a single bullet getting to her heart would kill her, hence me shielding her with my body. "Rebekah, you need to get Alexandria out of here, take Kol and Finn with you. Us three will buy you some time". I got out before the shooting stopped momentarily, and a familiar voice called out, "Where are my players, still hiding like animals, come out and face me?". It was Mikaels' voice, no doubt about it; somehow, he escaped the cave and had come for revenge.
As soon as Mikael finished speaking, the cracks of gunfire resumed pelting us with wooden bullets, which I now realised must be coated in vervain as they burned with every successful hit. "Run, like I said, we will catch you up, go through the side door", I repeated, Finn hearing me pulled Kol and Rebekah up before shielding Alexandra and speeding away. "Well then, brother, care to show the old man how much stronger we have grown"? I said to Klaus and Elijah, a grin spreading across my face. The next break in the fire came a moment later, taking advantage, I pulled one of the seats from its frame before hurling it at the gun men, copying me, my brothers did the same. I truly had no idea how many we had taken down, but I did know some had fallen, as I could feel their blood starting to spill across the floor. I started pulling it, gathering the blood into tendrils before lashing out at other guns, men, taking out as many as I could before adding their blood to the tendrils.
Before I could continue my attack, a lantern sailed through the air, crashing into the still applauding audience, cascading burning oil across the theatre. More joined the fire, starting a quickly spreading blaze. Father intended to burn us out. More gunfire rained on us, although noticeably less than before. "We need to push forward lest we be overwhelmed by the flames and bullets, " I shouted to my two brothers. Both nodded in agreement, before, as one, we jumped further forward into the first row of gunmen. They were no threat to us being just compelled humans, each slash of our claws sending multiple to their graves. After a few minutes, we had thinned their numbers out by a large margin, fifty remained at most and in the centre stood Mikael, white oak stake in hand. "You two get out of here, I can take him and he won't waste the stake on me, so run", I again shouted at them both. Hearing my logic and finding no flaws in it, both of them sped away, leaving me alone to face Mikael and fifty armed humans.
"Father, it's been a while. How did you escape that cave? " I shouted at him while cutting down another man. "I was freed by someone who hates you all as much as I do", he spat out, his tone laced with venom. "Who would free you? Nobody knew where you were. I made sure of it", I shouted back, questioning his tale. "Does it matter, son?"? he again shouted out. "But I will make you an offer, one last chance to join me to exterminate that thing you call brother. Think, son, together we can rid the world of that beast, that abomination". I laughed at his words, a genuine smile spreading across my face. "You lost the right to call me son, you failed, you are the one who set us all on this path, and now you seek to destroy us. I know that Klaus would just be the start, then after him, you would hunt us all down, and I can't let you do that. I will stand against you for as long as I live to protect my family," I screamed at him before throwing the last remaining human at him. "Now fight me", I challenged.
I knew that in a physical fight, he would have the advantage, being a lot stronger and faster than I, so I did not let it come to that. With a thought I started to fire tendrils of blood at him, cutting deep and forcing him to focus on avoiding them. He started ducking and weaving, avoiding more and more of my strikes, while still attacking. I started to focus on his blood, attempting to pull at it but finding great resistance. It seemed as though his body was fighting my attacks so I went back to firing blood tendrils at him. With a single move of my hand, I started gathering all the spilt blood into one great wave before throwing it towards him. Much to my shock, he raised his hand, and the wave started to slow before stopping mid-air. Both of us fought against the other in an attempt to gain control of the wave. "After our last fight, I realised I should find out what other abilities we had", he shouted at me. Seeing that this was just wasting energy I released my control on the blood while jumping back into a shadow, slipping into it effortlessly. I heard the almighty crash as several hundred litres of blood crashed throughout the theatre, barely missing me.
I dived out of a different shadow behind him and slashed across his back with my claws, before disappearing again into another shadow. He screamed in fury before wildly swinging his claws, fortunately only hitting empty air. Diving out, I slashed again while pulling some of the blood up, wrapping it around his ankle, too focused on my slashes, he did not see the blood tighten around his leg before it was too late. With a pull I took him off balance before starting to slam him around the theatre, pulling him toward shadows before popping out to slash him, before disappearing again. Although by the seventh time I jumped out he had already started fighting against the tendril wrapped around his leg. Letting go I watched as he dropped to the ground with a heavy thud.
Standing, he charged straight at me, dodging to the side, I delivered a kick to his back, sending him sprawling across the floor before raising my hand and sending a wave of fire at him. It missed, but it bought me a few seconds, allowing me to pick up a broken piece of wood and throw it at him. He dodged then came at me again, white oak stake in hand trying to drive it into me. I grabbed his wrist, fighting against him with all my strength, but it was no use, his strength pushed past mine, bringing the stake closer to my heart.
Without another thought, I grabbed his wrist tighter before spinning us both and starting up into the air. At the sudden change, his grip on the stake loosened, but not enough for him to drop it. Looking around quickly, I saw the all-consuming fire mere feet away and dragged us both closer to it. We crashed straight into it, slamming through a support beam with an almighty crash. The pain I expected did not come, as if the fire did not burn me, I looked down at my body and realised the fire was not burning me. The dragon, it could only be due to that, perhaps the blood I consumed gave me immunity to fire, perhaps it was the dragon magic, it did not matter.
I grabbed Mikaels' wrist harder, noticing that the stake had been dropped, and started pushing him further into the flame, his skin blistering and blackening under the heat. He fought, driving a fist into my face with a crack, then another, more followed, but I did not let up, I tightened my grip and continued holding him in place. I pulled the blood around us again wrapping it around his wrists to stop his punches as he screamed in hate, pain and fury. I just had to hold on a bit longer until he was too badly burned to fight back.
Suddenly, he gained a burst of strength, breaking the blood tendrils tying him down and delivering a punch to my face, knocking me back. As soon as I was off him, he sped out of the fire, I realised something then, at that moment my skin had begun to redden. Heat started washing over me, what I thought was total immunity to fire must only be temporary. I tried to get out of the flames only to be hit by a chair thrown at me with extreme force. Mikael, mirroring the tactic my brothers and I used earlier, started lobbing the seats at me. My flesh was burning, with blisters appearing on my flesh. I had to end this quickly and get out of the flames.
With everything I had I pulled at Mikael, blood tendrils wrapped around him, as my magic telekinetically pulled him in. He could not fight both forces pulling him into the flames and he soon joined me again in the fire. His skin, having not healed fully, continued to blacken and char, matching my own. Wrapping my arms around him, I started grappling, attempting to hold him down, but he rose off the ground, dragging me with him. Pushing myself opposite to him, we started flying madly, crashing through supports with reckless abandon, each one that fell releasing strained groans from the roof. Raising one arm, I brought it down on his head, making him fall to the floor. As I pushed off to the side, my body crashed through another beam. He started to rise despite most of his flesh being burned away, but I responded quickly, with a thought, I grasped at the roof with my magic and pulled.
The roof gave way sending a massive amount of rubble crashing down onto us both as the flames shot even higher. I saw Mikael get buried under tons of debris and smiled before pulling myself towards the exit. My body still a flame I managed to pull myself out of the fire and started to run, hopefully before Mikael freed himself. Pain was still lancing through my body, my healing factor working overtime to counteract the damage the flames had done, even as I reached the outskirts of New Orleans, my body had not fully recovered.
I looked back once my eyes scanned the city, seeing the fire still raging, even worse, it had begun spreading, taking most of the street the opera house inhabited with it. Deciding I did not have enough time to look back on the carnage, I ran as far and fast as I could, hoping I would escape the country within a couple of days at most.
Chapter 20
Mystic Falls, just over one millennium had passed since I was reborn in this town. The place I had lived, died and rose again as a vampire, well, heretic. Needless to say, it had changed a lot in over a thousand years where a few dozen hovels used to reside, now stood rows of neatly built houses, each identical to the last. Where fields once sat filled with crops, shops, warehouses, and offices sat in pristine rows, and where dirt paths once lay, concrete and tarmac now took their place. Honestly, it was quite sad to me, seeing how my home had changed into something I did not recognise.
I decided to walk through my new town the sun beating down onto me, not harming me even without my daylight ring. I supposed it was due to the dragon I had slain and drank from, and the magic I syphoned. It turns out that was a very good lapse of control. A century ago, when I fought Mikael in the opera house, it became clear I had a resistance to fire. Since then, through much painful testing, I have found out that I could increase the length of time that my fire resistance worked for by subjecting myself to flame. When I first started setting fires and walking into them, Rebekah had thought I had gone mad. Fire, after all, was very effective against vampires, so willingly stepping into flames made her think I had lost all sense. Although it became clear soon enough that I had not, as my skin would stay in pristine condition for longer each time. It was after about two decades of this that I had the genius idea to try walking in the sun without a daylight ring, as it turns out, I also got a slight resistance to the sun as well. But I would also need to train it the same way, which was far more painful, and the burns would remain for far longer, but through successful training, I could now walk in the sun without a ring on for about forty-five minutes. After that, I would burn just like an ordinary vampire.
My hypothesis was that I had absorbed some of the dragon's traits into myself when I drained both the blood and the magic. Good and bad, the resistance to fire and the sun's rays and the improved control over fire are the good. The bad though seemed to be its thirst for treasure, every time I walked past something valuable, a small kleptomaniac voice whispered to me to steal it. Fortunately, I could fight it most of the time. I also found myself with a great desire to conquer and rule over others, another desire I had to constantly suppress.
Walking through the streets I took in the familiar sights, recognising most locations from watching the show in my past life. The town was larger than the show portrayed ot even now, dozens of people rushed about it in their day-to-day lives, some shopping in the few stores the town offered, others just hanging around, enjoying the day. I observed the inhabitants of the town as they milled about, scanning the familiar locations. The mystic grill that seemed to be overflowing with patrons, the infamous clock tower that stood tall over the town and the sheriff's office tucked into one side, watching over the town. There were also a few I did not recognise, a small doctor's office sitting next to a dentist, multiple clothing shops and a couple of bars. Beyond that, the town seemed the same as the show, larger, most certainly and definitely even busier.
I was staying in a spacious house on the edge of town, one of the oldest here being a similar age to the Salvatore boarding house. I had owned it since it was built, having commissioned its construction just after Mystic Falls was founded. Although I had never actually lived in it, I used it more as a safe house for vampires of my sire line to reside in. While not the largest place I had lived in, it was still large enough for at least ten people to live comfortably and would be perfect for my current needs.
I had also gotten a job at Mystic Falls High, as a history teacher, taking the job of Mr Tanner, though he did not seem to be bothered by the fact as he still coached the sports teams. I expected that trouble would soon come to Mystic Falls, as although the Salvatore brothers were probably not turned, as Katherine had been at my side for over five centuries and would not turn them. I did expect that the town's resident doppelganger would bring a whole heap of trouble with vampires scrambling over themselves to try and take her to Klaus, to gain his favour. That was not even mentioning the budding Bennett witch that would most certainly cause issues, as I knew how powerful she was. Of course, there was also the town's resident werewolves, the Lockwoods, and with some luck, I hoped to avoid that family, though I doubted whether I would be able to. Last but not least was the tomb of vampires that were quite possibly locked away under the town, while I could deal with them without difficulties I did not want to out myself as a powerful vampire in front of the entire town.
Luckily for me, I was not alone here, while I was hesitant to bring Rebekah along, as the chance of one of my other siblings showing up and finding the doppelganger was higher. Luckily, Rebekah agreed, and Katherine was also out mainly due to her doppelganger living in the town. Rose, though, had come to play the part of my girlfriend, and Alexandria came along to play the part of my daughter. Although it may have been unnecessary I hoped that bringing them along would help us blend into human society for a while at least. It would also be easier to avoid the watchful gaze of the sheriff who both knew of and hated vampires with a passion, well, for now at least. I hoped to change the sheriff's opinion of vampires and possibly infiltrate the vampire-hunting group of the founding families. While that would be difficult, the fact that I occupied a house that was one of the first built in the town might be able to help convince them that I knew of their secret mission. If all else failed, I could just torch their meeting place, killing them all, but I would rather be more subtle. Alexandria had also talked me into letting her join the high school, under the guise of keeping a better eye on Elena, but I sensed that may not be entirely true.
It was settled that I would start at the school after the current break had finished, so would Alexandria, and we would both keep an eye on the doppelganger, making sure no vampires aligned with Klaus became a threat to her. I of course, knew that it was only a matter of time before my brother would learn of her existence and come here, and I would then aid him in the ritual to unlock his hybrid nature. Giving the elixer that I got made for Katherine to Elena bringing her back to life, before turning her into a vampire, stopping Klaus from making more hybrids as a punishment for what he did to Anne all those years ago. It was only the first step in his punishment, the rest would come in the future, but for now, I would be patient.
I walked the rest of the distance while thinking over my life so far, in a thousand years I had achieved so much. Yet I knew I still had a long way to go, I did not intend to only live for a few more centuries I intended to survive for millennia to come. Hopefully with my family by my side. But I would have to deal with a lot of threats at that time. I had already encountered one, Malivore, that I could only deal with after Hope had been born. I would continue to build my small army of heretics into the future and expand my own power, hopefully becoming just as, if not more, powerful than the gods themselves, but that would still take time. I would also try to recruit as many ancient vampires, those being over five hundred years old, as possible. For now, all I needed to do was keep one doppelganger alive. How hard could that really be?
I arrived at the house to find that Rose had already begun unpacking, and she seemed happy, as did Alexandria. I suppose that was to be expected this was basically a holiday for them as we got away from my very demanding empire in Europe. Although not a massive empire, my control expanded, covering most of Europe, although I was too young to expand further to avoid clashes with the Strix. The last century, in particular, had seen control grow even more as my investments started to bear even more fruit. Investing truly was a great idea as now my businesses would be able to spread throughout the world, yet my name was still unknown to most, just as I wanted.