18 chapter 17 : Love & time
13 years later, on July 21, 1929, Harper finally woke up from his long sleep and felt like he had had the best nap of his life.
The life energy power of an original vampire was no joke, if it was meant to be spent or used to exhaustion so it was going to take a long time .
However, what he did was not channeling but assimilation, this energy had merged with the one he already had and had also strengthened his body with 400 years of strength, he now had the strength of a vampire over a thousand years old.
He absorbed the magic from the double eagle gold coin that served as his lock before opening the tomb, it was dark and Harper stretched not knowing how long he had slept. His nails and hair had grown wandering in the middle of the night in New Orleans, he found something to look good in a closed shop.
The city had changed, it was much bigger and motorized vehicles were no longer rare on the streets, he was slightly disoriented and ended up asking a bona fide person what today's date was.
Realizing that he had slept for 13 years, he was a little amused by the situation but he needed more...details...
In one of the alleys, Harper was now biting the neck of a black man while a woman stood nearby and cried in front of the scene. Why didn't she run away? Harper's mental restraint that prevented her from moving or screaming was likely the answer.
The man he was preying on was trying to abuse this woman in the street, they had a date but the girl wasn't the type to have sex on the first night so he showed up too insistent to the point of becoming violent.
"Please…don't kill me…don't hurt me…" The woman asked crying with her look full of distress.
Harper: Don't worry ma'am, I don't like killing innocent people who haven't provoked me.
(moves closer to her) But you see...I'm coming out of a pretty long sleep and I'm particularly hungry.
Woman: (Crying) Please...don't kill me...I don't want to die...(crying) Please. I will do whatever you want…everything…
"Whatever I want…?" Harper asked amusedly and the woman nodded slowly as tears fell from her eyes.
Several minutes later, Harper and the woman were sitting in an open restaurant where he and the woman were eating.
The woman was a little scared but above all she was surprised.
Harper: Thank you for telling me about all the major events over the past thirteen years. The fire in the theater must have been really terrifying. (chew) Do you like your dish?
Woman: Ah…uh yes…
Harper: Don't be afraid, I'm not going to ask you anything questionable. Don't worry about the bill, they offered us these dishes with good will (mental compulsion)
Woman: Why...why didn't you kill me?
Harper: Because you begged me not to kill you and also because I don't hurt innocent people...usually. (Stands up) Well, forgive me for getting up from the table before you ma'am but I have the information I wanted, farewell...
Woman: Wait…
Harper: Do you need anything ?
Woman: You seemed lost…do you have a place to spend the night ?
Harper: It's not really a problem for me, but if you offer me hospitality then I'll happily accept.
He spent the night at the woman's house and he tried absolutely nothing on her before leaving, thanking her.
Harper then inquired about the town's supernatural affairs from a vampire and Harper was very surprised by what he was told.
In 1919, the originals left New Orleans after a certain vampire hunter came to town, nearly forty vampires were killed by him alone and the rest left town.
Marcel, who had been left for dead, as well as the district leaders. He had taken matters by his own hands and try to restore the reign of the vampires over New Orleans, but it was quite difficult because the other factions had taken the opportunity to regain superiority.
However, vampires could create other vampires unlike witches and werewolves. They gradually regained power but to avoid friction, they had divided the city into three zones to be ruled by each faction and the vampires led by Marcel benefited from 60% of the city's business but it was temporary until 'that they have an asset allowing them to completely dominate the City again .
Harper didn' t seek to see him or even the others and left New Orleans to go to Mystic Falls for two years before leaving for Europe, to see the world and learn a terrifying amount of things, especially in the field of science, art and many other things that interested him.
In England, he had the most unlikely romance for a vampire with Rayna Cruz, the powerful vampire hunter.
She had tried to kill him several times and Harper had confronted her, wondering what was the problem with this girl.
She was invulnerable to magic just like him but Harper was a little physically stronger than an original and he kicked her ass several times.
One day during their confrontation, Harper managed to trap and immobilize her before biting her to feed on her but noticed that as he drained this woman of the magic that inhabited her, she became less agitated and her face more peaceful.
Holding her captive, he tried several experiments on her to understand her and discovered with his telepathic gifts (he is also a psychic) that the woman was greatly disturbed by the magic that made her so strong.
Voices echoed over and over in his head giving her no respite, asking her over and over to kill more vampires to the point where it even became torment.
Day and night for more than 100 years she endured this mental chaos. The poor woman pitied Harper who tried to help her because he simply wanted to but also out of curiosity to test his psychic powers.
He had managed to mentally isolate Rayna's mind, who had moments of peace and respite after so much time being guided by these incessant voices and her hunting instincts.
The young woman even found herself crying with happiness but unfortunately for her, Harper had to be next to her for that to happen because in his absence, the chaos started again.
After several months together, she and Harper fell totally in love with each other, it was with her that he learned that he was not the only heretic, she herself thought she had killed them all before to meet him.
Their love was pure and sincere, they lived it for three years until once again, Harper left without saying anything, leaving Rayna to become the hunter she was again.
He had been tempted to take the Phoenix Stone to dry absorb its power and the souls inside but out of love for her, he did nothing.
Harper had left Rayna a gift, a beautiful Silver necklace that allowed Rayna to go to a place of mental peace while she slept, the item was a powerful psychic artifact created by Harper. He loved Rayna sincerely but he simply wanted to look elsewhere.
The strix were desperate to recruit him because for vampires, Harper was not a small name and in fact, he had changed his name to the last name he created in Mystic Falls, Harper Freed.
He had been talked about and we knew he was as formidable as the originals and even more dangerous because he could freely use magic and his power was insane, few people had met him, he was a true myth but one thing was sure, the originals were looking for him.
The main problem with Harper was that he never stayed put for long. Too curious about the world, he moved almost constantly to learn more and more things.
He eventually returned to America in the late 60's where he had another romance but this time with a vampire, Alexia Branson also called Lexi and once again he fell in love and the feelings were more than mutual.
Lexi loved him terribly, he was a vampire with perfect control over his instincts and emotions who didn't need to kill and he was very wise but after almost three years of romance, once again , Harper is missing.
It was in Virginia that he found the woman he fell madly in love with, Sheila Bennett, a powerful witch who was hostile to him at first but she was unable to resist his charm.
She and Harper were madly in love with each other but after 6 years, they separated for a logical, albeit painful, reason.
Sheila was a Bennett and a romance with a vampire was not ideal because her branch's lineage absolutely should not end with her.
Harper respected her choice, he was madly in love with her but she was right, Sheila loved another man with whom she had a daughter, Abigail.
Harper had distanced himself to let her concentrate on her family and human life even if he will forever remain her true love.
Later, in New York, he saw Lexi again with whom he got back together again in the late 70s.
She was there to help a vampire friend of hers Stefan Salvatore by finding his brother lost in a killing spree, Damon.
Harper and Damon became friends very quickly, firstly because he came from Mystic Falls but above all because of a love they had in common, bourbon.
Damon had fully given in to his vampire nature just like Harper, he loved killing and so did Harper except he didn't attack innocents.
He showed him how to channel his bloodlust over his emotions, they were vampires and killing for food or letting off steam was a savage instinct.
Harper taught him how to be more thorough, inventive and theatrical in tracking down and chasing criminals, it was like a game that Damon greatly enjoyed.
Knowing that he was sparing innocent people gave him a slight feeling of good conscience and a feeling of good conscience was a conscience all the same.
It was much better than asking him not to kill at all and antagonizing him; he wasn't someone who needed to be changed, he was someone who needed to be "helped" to become better at what he did
They had stayed together for several years to the point where Damon opened up to him and confided several things to him, including his history with his brother and the woman he loved, Katherine.
They ended up splitting with Lexi hoping to see him change at least for Stefan and with what Harper taught him, the chances were good.
Lexi and Harper definitely stayed together without this guy worrying about the two other women who were hotly looking for him, Karen and Rayna.
Together they traveled, moved a lot and discovered new things again and again. Harper had killed and assimilated several witches since he left New Orleans, his talent if you could even call it that was beyond imagination, he was the most powerful wizard in the history of humanity.
In 2009 while he was in Japan with Lexi, he received a call from someone, Kurtis Freed, his "father" in Mystic Falls who informed him of the death of Sheila from cardiac arrest.
Harper was in terrible pain when he learned this, he was frustrated and because of that, he massacred an entire Yakuza clan just to vent his frustration he wanted to burn the whole world but he quickly got rid of this emotion to find Lexi and make wild love in their bedroom.
Two days later, they packed their bags to return to the United States directly to Mystic Falls where he was going to pay his respects at the grave of the woman of his life and continue his life there with Lexi who herself was eager to find Stefan his friend.
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Book 1: End
