Grave Robbers

" Hey Bon, where are you?" Solomon asked as he held the phone to his ear, looking around the school parking lot for her car.

"Ridding home with Elena. I'll talk to you when I get home," she replied, then ended the call.

Solomon frowned. He remembered the conversation that he had with Grams about Bonnie's new Talisman. It had a power that she wasn't ready for.

Solomon then called his Grams, who was on her way home from work. Before he had left for Georgia, he promised his grandmother a talk. A talk that he wanted to have as soon as she got back home.

----------------

After Grams arrived, she saw Solomon sitting on the porch. When they finally got inside out of the cold. Grams just stared at him without a word.

Solomon took a deep breath and explained to his Grams the connection he had with the Otherside. Because of that connection, he could speak with ancestors as quickly as shouting across the room.

After that connection was made, the ancestors taught him magic in exchange for carrying out specific tasks. Solomon had to agree. It was the only way to gain enough power and escape the Cottage.

Grams was pretty understanding about everything. But she wanted to know why Solomon was a bit on edge.

"It's the talisman that Bonnie has," said Solomon

"What about it?" asked Grams

"After you told me about it. I was trying to figure out how Bonnie got her hands on it. But every time I call out, Emily doesn't answer."

Grams frowned, then said, "She has been looking a little tired lately."

"Yeah. There's a lot of strange shit going on in this town. And has something to do with us. More so our family." said Sol.

"Then how about we find out exactly what's happening?" said Grams.

'Don't.' a voice called out to Solomon.

Solomon looked to his left and saw Emily Bennett.

"I've been calling you for a long time," he said.

"Because I have to destroy something that I would rather not," Emily replied. "Meet me at old Fell's Church."

Solomon repeated all of this to Grams. And together they went out to the woods where old fell's church used to be.

After some waiting, Solomon got a phone call from a frantic Elena. She told him that Bonnie was possed by his ancestor after the girls performed a seance. Bonnie was now on the move, and Solomon knew precisely where she was heading.

"Get ready, Grams," said Solomon.

The two Bennetts went their separate ways and prepared for possessed Bonnie to arrive.

When she finally did. She looked around with a smirk and began setting up for a spell.

Damon was the first to find Bonnie/Emily at Fell's Church's ruins. Grams and Sol watched from the darkness. With Emily in control, they figured Bonnie would be okay.

"Hello, Emily. You look different." Damion called out

"I won't let you do it," said Emily

"We had a deal!" Damon growled, and his eyes went wide.

"Things are different now. I need to protect my family." Emily explained with sincerity. Grams and Sol locked eyes across the darkness. Emily's words were obviously a foreshadowing.

"I protected your family. You owe me." He roared.

" I know. I'm sorry," said Emily

"You're about to be a lot more than that," Damon swore, then tries to attack her, but Emily uses her powers to throw Damon against a tree, and he's impaled on a branch through his stomach.

Stefan and Elena then arrived to see a groaning Damon. Stefen moved to pull him off the tree.

"Stefan," said Emily once she noticed the blonde-haired brother.

" Hello, Emily," Stefen replied as he moved closer to her.

"These people don't deserve this. They should never have to know such evil." Emily explained with worry on her face.

"What do you mean evil?" Stefan asked with genuine confusion.

"Emily. I swear to God. I'll make you regret this." Damon swore as he tried painfully to move.

" I won't let you unleash them into this world." Emily declared as she finished her preparations.

"Them?" Stefan questioned, "What part of the story did you leave out, Damon?"

"What does it matter?"

"Emily, tell me what you did," said Stefan. He had asked his brother what was happening earlier that day, but it was clear that Damon was selective about the details he shared.

"To save her, I had to save them," said Emily

"Her?" Sol asked himself.

Inthamoment, YahYah appeared and said, "a Vampire. Thee Vampire that brake the damn and cause a flood of supernatural to drown this town. You have to let the tomb be opened."

"Are you fucking crazy? My Grams and Bonnie is here. I don't a flood of any kind to happen." said Sol.

"Not your choice. Do the deed, or the magic lessons stop." YahYah threatened him.

Sol refocused on Emily and the stand-off.

" 27 vampires, Damon. They were vampires. You can't just bring them back." Stefan tried to make his brother understand that freeing the imprisoned vampires would devastate the town.

"This town deserves this." Damon reasoned.

"You're blaming innocent people for something that happened 145 years ago," said Stefan

"There is nothing innocent about these people, and don't think for a second it won't happen again. They already know too much, and they'll burn your little grandwitch right next to us when they find out. Trust me!" Damon shouted.

Sol and Grams frowned when they heard this.

"Things are different now," said Emily.

"Don't do this." Damon pled.

" I can't free them. I won't." Emily declared, " Incendia!"

The pentagram Emily carved into the dirt around her is set ablaze, and flames create a wall between Emily and Stefan, Damon, and Elena.

"No! No, please," Damon begged as he felt his hope of reuniting with his imprisoned love slipping away.

"Bonnie!" Elena shouted for some random reason.

"Don't let her destroy that talisman!" YahYah shouted.

Sol picked up a rock and quickly said, "Vremenno zamestvane."

Emily throws the necklace into the air, and it explodes above them.

To everyone, it looked like the Talisman exploded but in reality. The rock that Sol held substituted for the Talisman, and the Talisman appeared in his hands.

Emily suddenly heard a shout from the Otherside, and she was pulled from Bonnie's body. Bonnie finally reawakens and looks around in horror, having no idea what had just occurred.

Damon is furious, and since his deal with Emily is off, he speeds towards Bonnie, but Sol and Gams both shouted, "Deleatur!"

Sols spell blows of Damon's arm, and Grams's attack barely missed Damon's head and blew a tree in half.

Elena yells in fear, and Stefan rushes over to Damon, who was wailing out in excruciating pain.

Stefan, Damon, and Elena then see Solomon and Grams walk out of the darkness. Sol runs to Grams as his nose was bleeding from doing a spell she wasn't ready for.

"Grams!" Bonnie shouts as she runs to her.

Sol discreetly hands gams, Emily's Talisman, as he gave her a knowing look. Grams smiles and begins to channel the Talisman's power to help her regain her strength.

Solomon stands up and uses his magic to crush the bones in Damon's body. Stefan moves to stop Solomon, but Bonnie stands tall and puts him down by inducing a magical aneurysm.

Elena begs. Grams waves her hand, putting Elena to sleep.

Sol then stopped when Damon's bones were in pieces. He then snapped his neck. Bonnie finally released Stefan and looked at the three Bennet witches, terrified of the things they could do together.

"When you're brother wakes up. Let him know that he needs to find another way to open his tomb. He won't be getting help from my family. Coming after them again, and I'll kill him. He gets a pass right now because he's distraught and isn't thinking clearly.

"And Elena is coming with us." Sol reached out, and Elena's body levitated in tow of the Bennetts. They soon disappeared into the darkness of the woods.

That night, Grams used Emily's Talisman to keep herself alive with a steady flow of power. She then powered out all of the alcohol she had in the house. If more night like this was coming, she needs to be able to keep up with her grandchildren.

It was common knowledge that witches had human bodies. But unlike humans, witches grew stronger with age as long as they maintain a healthy diet and practice magic regularly, both of which Grams had neglected for years.

Upstairs, Bonnie sat on the bed with Elena, and Solomon glared at the girl. Elena was telling Bonnie and Sol everything about the Salvatore brothers and vampirism.

Bonnie was hurt because she told Elena about her family magic, and Elena neglected to tell her about the Vampire that she was dating. The girls cried and had a heart to heart. But Sol was angrier than anyone, and Elena could feel it as she avoided his eyes.

"Alright, I need to get her home," said Sol.

Once they were in the car and pulling off, Elena said, "I'm sorry, Sol."

"You don't get to call me that anymore. I trusted you. And your secrets almost hurt my sister. In front of Bonnie, we're okay. But we aren't friends because I see now what your priorities are, and bonnie isn't that high among them."

"I-I said I'm sorry... I didn't mean--"

"Enough. I don't care what you meant, Miss Gilbert. All that matters is what happened."

Elena was hurt as she turned to look out of the window. Sol didn't care about her feelings. Something about his lack of rage and shouting made the situation hurt more. Elena felt like a disappointment.

When the duo arrived at her house, Sol walked around and opened her door. He then walked her to the porch, and Elena asked why.

"Vampires are around. And you may be too stupid to realize this, but they will kill you if they're hungry enough, no matter who you are to them. Take care, Miss Gilbert."

------------------------------------

The next day, it was lunch when Sol took a seat next to Xiao Meifeng in the cafeteria.

"We already have a date Friday. Do you need to sit with me now?" she asked as she looked around. All eyes were on them. People wanted to know who attracted the attention of the town's miracle boy.

"Yes. I have this thing with my sister later. So I won't be able to see you at New Dawn." Solomon explained.

Meifeng briefly bit her bottom lip. "What thing?"

"Family stuff. I just wanted to tell you. The last thing I want is for you to be worried when I don't show."

"Tsk. who would be worried about you..." Meifeng replied in Chinese.

Solomon smirked. Even if Meifeng was unreasonable, Solomon could tell she was doing some heavy reading and didn't want to disturb her.

As Solomon moved to leave, Meifeng latched on to the end of his shirt. "Solomon. You were born here, right?" she asked in Chinese to avoid eavesdropping.

"Yeah...," he replied.

"Good. If you don't believe in magic, that means you also don't believe in vampires."

Solomon raised an eyebrow. "Xiao Meifeng, why did you choose to come to mystic falls. Was it to hunt fairytales?"

Meifeng rolled her eyes in annoyance. Solomon chuckled a bit and sat down again. "Look, if you want to chase vampire stories, this is the place. Why are you so interested?"

"People have been disappearing lately. Our history teacher was mauled and drained of blood. I've done some digging, and incidents like this go back to the founding of mystic falls."

'This could be it,' Solomon thought, 'the way to get her to open up.'

"Let's say there were vampires. What makes you think they're still in town?"

"This." Meifeng placed a stack of missing person posters on the table. "All taken without a trace. They go out at night and never return."

"Okay, you got me. How do we find it?"

"I thought maybe you could figure it out. Chinese tales about vampires are very different than American stories. "

'Hehe. This could be good,' Solomon thought.

"First, we start with vervain. It's an old family secret. It is said that vervain is good for protection against vampires."

"Where do we find Vervain?" she asked.

"Xiao Meifeng. Have you ever ditched school before?" Solomon asked with a devious smirk.

_________________________________

Solomon and Meifeng skipped the next class. They walked into the backyard of Solomon's father's house, and Sol taught Meifeng about all of the herbs that Bonnie had planted.

They soon forgot about vampires as Meifeng experienced all of the different effects of the various herbs.

Solomon found himself enjoying the day and the time he spent with the mysterious young woman.

"Meifeng? How did you learn of magic?" Sol asked as the two of them sipped a tea.

Meifeng hummed in delight. "No..." she sang, "I'm not telling you. I do not trust you."

"But you like me, right?"

"I find you interesting, like a puzzle. I'm trying to solve you before you solve me," she replied

"What's happening here?" Bonnie called out as she stepped into the backyard.

Sol chuckled, "This is Meifeng. And we are super high."

Meifeng falls out laughing and begins speaking in her native language.

"Don't mind her. I promise she isn't saying anything bad."

Bonnie sighed to herself then turned away. In the kitchen, she crushes a few dry herbs together and sets them ablaze. The smoke acted similar to Narcan. The moment Solomon and Meifeng got a whiff, they were sober as monks on a Sunday in a monastery.

"Ahh, what a buzzkill!" Meifeng groaned, "we were just about to start our third trip."

"Well, you can go trip somewhere else and not with my brother," Bonnie replied.

Solomon gave a slight gesture to Meifeng. Then she packs her things to leave. Solomon quickly grabbed a pouch and tossed it to her.

When she caught the pouch, Solomon said, " a little in your lemonade makes all the difference."

Xiao Meifeng smiled and spoke Chinese, "So much magic for a nonbeliever. Maybe I might tell you the story of the Sorceress and the Dragon Emperor the next time I see you."

Meifeng gave him a wink. Sol made mental not to research the story later as he knew it was Meifeng giving him a hint towards her secret.

----

"Really? Her?" Bonnie asked once Sol walked in.

"She's nice and, fascinating" Sol explained.

Bonnie rolled her eyes. Sol smile and hugged his Twin. "Bonnie-bear, why can't you just be happy for me?"

"What did you say to Elena when you took her home," Bonnie asked. Sol's smile vanished, and he let her go.

The Twin's glared at each other. "You need to pull the ripcord on that friendship," he said.

"That is my best friend!" Bonnie shouted.

'And one dick came into her life, and she forgets that! Times like this tell you a lot about people. Elena Gilbert is going to get you killed, Bonnie!"

"It is my life! My friends! It's not for you to decide. simple as that!"

"What the hell is going on?" Grams walked into the kitchen.

"Grams, you need to tell her about mom, now! I will not lose my sister." Sol demanded before he left the kitchen.

Grams looked torn between the promises and duty. She looked at the back of her angered Grandson and the Confusion and hurt on her Granddaughter's face at the mention of Abby, the twins' mother.

Grams took a deep breath and said, "Bonnie, honey. He only wants you to be safe... You need to go up those stairs and apologize. Nothing and no one comes between you and the people you love. Your mother's doubts allowed that to happen, and I have seen her since. No matter what happens, we stick together. Nothing else matters."

Sometime later, the three Bennet's sat in a triangle around Emily's Talisman. A moment later, she appeared for them to see. Sol asked what the hell was happening, and Emily explained that her Talisman could free the vampires she sealed.

Sol asked her about loopholes, and Emily explained that Grimoire could also open the tomb.

"What about this, Kathrine girl. Is she also under the church? Because some I know doesn't seem to think so." said Sol.

Emily frowned, "You have you been talking to?" she asked.

A feminine voice the sound, only heard by Emily and Sol, "None of your damn business, now answer his question."

Emily's face paled, and Sol smirked.

"S-she escaped on the road. She never even entered the church." Emily explained.

"And your Grimoire?"

"Buried with Gusiepe Salvator. I watched founder put it in his casket with him," said Emily.

Grams smiled and said, "I think you should lead the way."

That night, the Bennetts dup up a grave retrieved Emily's Grimoire.

"This is good." Sol sang, "BonBon, I think we should make you a talisman now. You never know when you might need it. Hey, Emily. You know if anything holds big magic around her?"

"I do." Said Grams. "Leave it to Bonnie and me. We need to talk about a few things anyway."

Sol squinted but relaxed. He then hands the Grimoire to Grams, and the Trio made their way back home.