Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Mystic falls

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

](http://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.