บท 11: Medallion and Meifeng's fangs
"Who was that?" Meifeng asked when Sol returned to the group.
"Bon. She was just checking on me", Sol replied as he grabbed the beer Meifeng was holding for him.
"So what's up with you guys?" Tyler asked with genuine curiosity, and everyone turned to look at Solomon, awaiting an answer.
Solomon wore a big smile and looked at Meifeng. She was used to antics at this point. They weren't overtly sexual or intimate. Though, they were becoming the best of friends in every way possible. This development had a bigger impact on Meifeng than Solomon as Meifeng's feeling only grew with the depths of their friendship.
On the other hand, Solomon's attraction towards Meifeng was wrapped in obsession, intrigue, and a good time as Meifeng was one of the only persons to accept Solomon and all of the subtle perversions of his being.
"She my woman! And there ain't another woman like her!" said Solomon, and Meifeng rolled her eyes as she giggled.
"Doubtful…" said Tess as she appeared.
Meifeng saw Sol's eyes shift. She had been around long enough to know when Qetsiyah appeared.
"Just a fling you'll get tired of once you fu--" Tess was interrupted when Meifeng went through her ethereal body and kissed Solomon with intense passion.
Solomon didn't miss a beat as he kissed her back. Tess rolled her eyes, and the buzzed teenagers whooped and cheered.
"Okay! Enough. You and I have work to do," said Tess.
Sol frowned and separated from Meifeng. He pulled Meifeng up by the arm abruptly said his goodbyes.
In the car, Sol didn't say a word. He trusts Meifeng with some of his business, but we would never deal with Qetsiyah's business in front of Meifeng.
"Hey, I'll make it up to you another time." Solomon referred to his cutting the party short. His priorities are airtight, so even though he and Meifeng spend time together, it was a lot less than Meifeng liked.
Solomon knew this, but honestly, he could care less. It was what it was. He was happy that she didn't complain like a certain doppelgänger. Whenever he was free, they spent the time they had together. But this time, a Make-Up wasn't enough for the fair-skinned, platinum-purple-haired beauty.
"No, because you always have something to do. And if Grams, Bonnie, or Bree calls you, you'll cancel on me. I'm magical, but not Bennett magical. I've accepted it. Just stop by when you're finished." Said Meifeng.
Solomon could sense the unhappiness in her voice.
"Solomon," Tess groaned and dreaded what she was about to say, "You need to make a move on that or let her go. You're already fucking the doppelgänger bitch, and she knows it. Honestly, everyone knows it. The point is, she's good for you, and eventually, she'll stop waiting around. "
Solomon was flabbergasted. "What the fuck are talking about, Qetsiyah?" He asked in Aramaic.
"Exactly what I said," Tess replied. "Make more time with her. she's a good girl."
"You must be sick today."
"I'm serious. Call me when after you drop her off." Tess then vanished.
"Is something wrong?" Meifeng asked.
"No," Solomon replied, "What I said at the Swim Hole…"
" You mean before I kissed you?"
" Yeah, I meant it. I'm a lot to handle, but if you're up for the challenge, we can give this thing a try." Solomon spoke in his usual monotone.
Meifeng smiled with a strong blush. " and Elena?" she asked.
"What about here?" Solomon was confused.
"Besides the fact that you're cucking a vampire, and we all know it, which is fucked up. But just in case you didn't know, considering where you were raised. Fucking around outside of your relationship is not okay." Meifeng explained.
Solomon laughed. "But if everyone knows and she's still with Stefan, then he must not care."
Meifeng facepalmed herself. "you blew his brother's arm off. Staked a vampire with a tire iron from 30 yards out. Might I add, the tire iron was taken from another vampire. So, what do you expect him to do when your fucking his girlfriend and she likes it?"
"Obviously nothing since I share a class with him. And he hasn't said anything about it. I still don't see the problem. You want me to stop having fun because he's too weak to keep his toys to himself?"
Meifeng sighed. "I forgot who I was talking to. Okay, what if I don't want to share you?"
"Are you strong enough to contain me?"
"Wow…" Meifeng was shocked.
"I don't get you people, but I try. Alas, you all live the lives you want. I'm just stopping by." Solomon spoke, and his tone indicated he was done with the conversation.
"So if we start a relationship, and I find a guy to have fun with, wha—"
"He's already dead," Sol replied, "I'm not weak. I can keep my toys. "
"You're unbelievable."
"Tess said I should strive to surpass anything thought possible. But I'm far from unbelievable. Thank you for thinking that though."
Meifeng just leaned back and looked out the window. Solomon shrugged and focused on the road. When he arrived at the Fell house, Meifeng opened the door, and Sol slammed it shut with magic.
Meifeng looked at him, confused.
"If you don't want Elena stopping by anymore, just remove her."
The door then opened, and Meifeng's mind was broken. 'Is he serious?' she thought, 'No. He can't mean that.'
After Sol watched Meifeng go into the house, he drove off with a devious smirk. He wondered how Meifeng will handle the situation and how Elena would react.
"Tess!" Solomon called out
Tess appeared in an instant.
"Did you handle it?" She asked.
"Yup. It should be interesting to see what happens next."
Tess looked at his mischievous smile and worried about what the boy did this time.
Her past self combined with the demented environment of Dowager Faulkner Cottage. She knew Solomon was damaged with a wicked sense of 'fun'. It was something she could understand and enjoyed, but she knew it was something the world wouldn't understand. Because of that, Tess worried about him constantly.
"So, what's on the schedule for today?" Solomon asked.
"Umm, you." Said Tess, "your development. A witch grows after meeting three requirements."
"Comprehension, Practice, and Time. Time is a constant, given to each of us. How we use that time determines our strength. A witch truly grows by exercising their power and comprehending the Arcana." Solomon explained with ease as he drove to Witch House.
"Damn!" Tess sang, "I'm so proud of you. I've only taught my fiancee magic and my twins. You have them all beat, hands down."
"Twins? Fiancee? Tess, why do I feel that I know nothing about you?" Sol asked.
"Because you don't know anything about me." she laughed, " We have a few minutes to Witch House, so I'll tell you about my twins."
"Okay, I'm listening," said Sol.
"Andromeda and Laxus. Now you have to understand, back in that time, magical creatures of all varieties existed. At some point, the world forgot about them for some reason, but we powerful witches remember. We also remember that the Gods are real." Tess explained, and Sol was already hanging on her every word.
"Magical Creatures and Witches believed themselves to be closest to the Gods, and as such, we behaved like them. Everything we did was natural -- one with everything. We could do no wrong. And as the Royal Family, at times, we had sibling spouses. I was born an only child and took over at young age. I was powerful, and this was evidence that supported our tradition of sibling spouses. So when my Twins came, naturally, I kept to tradition."
"Wow!" Solomon was shocked.
"Yeah, very antiquities." said Tess, " Unfortunately, they were five years old when I was murdered. Luckily, I had time to arrange for my Handmaid to spirit them away. Laxus was a lot like you and awakened his power at an early age. Andromeda was only a year behind him. I tried to teach them everything I know, but unlike you, they couldn't absorb a lot of information in a short period of time. And Grimoire's weren't very big back then."
"So what happened to them?" Sol asked.
"Well, my fiance lied to me, stole from me, and then tried to run off with my servant, whom I thought was my bestfriend. I never married after that. So my children were bastards, and my coven used that as an excuse to hunt them down and kill them. Fortunately, my son took after me, and his mind was a lot like yours. Unknown to my daughter, he fathered three children with a noblewoman who passed them off as her husbands. The three children became your ancestors. After my children died, they spent years with me, receiving the childhood that was stolen from them. They then found peace and moved on." Tess finished with a small smile and a tinge of sadness in her eyes.
"So, madness runs in our blood?"
"Ha! Of course! Half of the shit that Bennett witches did throughout the centuries expanded the limits of what the world knew to be magic. Everything was fueled by their madness. It's why you put together spells and wield magic easier than your sister. My blood is the strongest in you." Tess explained, and Sol smiled with pride, warming Tess's heart.
"No great mind has ever existed without a touch of madness." Solomon quoted Aristotle.
"Something like that." Qetsiyah agreed, and her gaze lingered on him for a moment.
"Okay. Back to business…" Sol gestured to the Witch House as he pulled up.
"Right. According to the original timeline, subject to change, of course. But if it remains true, Bonnie and Grams will open the tomb tonight. This time Cedric and Bree should be with them. Bonnie is well educated this time, and she'll choose to torch the entire tomb."
"Then?" asked Sol.
"Damon will find out that Katerina Petrova is not in the tomb. But with the slaying of the tomb vampires, you'll have to make up for their rate of change. You will have to do something to bring about the arrival of Klaus."
"Rose and Trevor," said Sol.
"Yup. The two vampires that I asked you to find. When the time is right, you will let them know that the Petrova Doppelganger is alive. Then they will handle it from there." said Tess.
"But what does this have to do with my development?" asked Sol.
"We are going to do a summoning spell. Us and the dead witches of Witch House."
By this time, Sol was already on the porch, walking into the house.
"To the reliquary," said Tess.
There, a book flew from the shelf. It fell open, reveal an entry from Dorthia Hardings' Grimoire. Solomon read it over and asked, "What the hell is this Medallion of time, and how do we call it to us if it's on the bottom of the ocean, lost."
"I've been watching the world grow and learning for centuries. Obviously, I'm going to teach you."
Hours afterward, Qetsiyah and Solomon spent their time constructing a ritual with a series of magical methods stacked on one another. The 101 dead witches and Qetsiyah all took great interest in the way Solomon comprehended and constructed magic in new ways.
It was clear that Solomon was something beyond witch. The title witch seemed to be a play on his abilities. He wasn't just a powerhouse, something that witches took pride in. He was also a scholar and meticulous in his pursuit of greater knowledge.
"Sorcerer..." Said Qetsiyah. "The terms Sorcerer and Sorceress are gender-specific names defining who the practitioner is. Both are equal in power as ability as a Sorcerer or Sorceress is only limited by the strength of mind, skill, and determination of the practitioner...
Being a sorcerer is about more power. There is no good or evil. It is about the primal passion and deep-seated desire to accomplish the impossible. There are no bounds. There are no limits...
As a Sorceress, you strive to alter the environment around you, and in doing so, you ease the emotional stresses of life. Once mastered, it gives you something that the average person does not have the ability to do. Sorcerers are very good at gaining what they want when dealing with people...
Sorcerers do not worry about what outsiders think. They are more concerned with themselves and their own objectives. They consider themselves higher beings and therefore do not waste their time explaining their own ethics of philosophies to others. Those who practice sorcery already know and understand the craft they practice and do not expect others to have the slightest understanding of what it is about...
Sorcerers have a very set of beliefs in that you do what you feel is right and you live with those decisions. However you use your power is up to you, but in the end, it's your choice and yours alone. Sorcerers also will not justify themselves or their actions to anyone. Once again, they choose openly to do what they do and live by that, and learn from their actions and reactions. They live each day to the full but will always plan for tomorrow, for even though today may be your last, tomorrow is always prepared in reserve just in case...
All things are unmeasured and unbalanced as Sorcerers spend as much time in rest and relaxation as they do in deep study. The mind must be fresh and relaxed to learn the intricacies of magic. But as no one can learn everything in their short lifespan, sorcerers tend to find one specialty and focus on it, making it their life's work. Learning is the be-all and end-all of being a Sorcerer. Knowledge is power - Wisdom is understanding...
As with all magic, one must be very aware of exactly what you ask for. In sorcery, there is very little latitude for mistakes due to the power involved. Sorcery will help you attract the types of energies needed to you to make changes in your life. These energies will help with such things as success and luck. While sorcery won't make you win any contests, it will make you luckier. It's about changing the odds using your mindset...
To be a successful sorcerer, you need solid psychic skills as well as strong concentration, meditation, and visualization techniques. These are some of the first skills to master as well as breathing exercises that help increase blood flow to the brain as well as learning to focus on an object without distraction. Being able to pour every ounce of energy into that object, converting that into the manifestation of your conscious thought, turning it into the desire you are aiming at is the final pinnacle of becoming a sorcerer...
As a sorcerer, you will spend most of your meditating, reading, learning, and researching. The practice of sorcery will comprise in its simplest form will be...
research – practice – refine – practice or put another way, think – do – think again – do again."
Tess was finished, and Solomon looked at her with a blank face. "Are you finished?" he asked.
Tess knew he didn't care a thing about what she said. Witch or Sorcerer, Solomon cared not. Magic, fun, and Bonnie-Bear. Everything else was meh to him. Though, Qetsiyah delusionally kept herself out of the things that she believed Solomon cared about.
"Good." said Solomon, "I think I have it. But first, I need to learn something called gesture magic. It's kind of like tutting in combination with an incantation. Sometimes it's completely wordless."
The voices of the dead witches began to echo through the house as they all spoke over one another.
"Shut up!" Solomon barked, and the spirits went quiet, " All of that damn whispering about nothing. Of course, I know it's Egyptian magic, yes I know how dangerous it is, and I know the consequences if my magic goes out of control. I'm a grown-ass man!"
The spirits remained quieted, and Qetsiyah just smiled at Solomon. She had a habit of doing that a lot recently, and Solomon was starting to get easily annoyed by it.
"What are you smiling at? " Solomon asked Tess, " Here is the Incantation, and you have to get the phonetics perfect, and in synch with my hand movements, there can be no mistakes. Let's practice."
Qetsiyah knew her little outburst had nearly derailed his concentration, so he was a bit on edge. But after a few moments of silence, Solomon would be back on track.
While Solomon, Qetsiyah, and the spirits rehearsed their ritual over and over again, Three Bennett witches were watching a great inferno incinerating a tomb of desiccated vampires.
"That was easier than I thought," said Bonnie.
"That's because they were desiccated." said Bree, " Are you sure Solomon will be okay with them being alive?"
The three Bennett women and Cedric turned to look at the Salvatore brothers and a mother-daughter vampire duo, Annabelle and Pearl Zhu.
"We don't want any trouble..." a half desiccated Pearl weakly spoke.
"We just want our home back," said Anna.
One Bennett witch was enough, but three Bennetts would be a nightmare to face. Annabelle and Pearl knew this and thought it would be better to plea.
"Ha! Sometimes we don't get what we want!" Damon growled, "You knew Katherine wasn't and the tomb. You used me! I should kill you both now and end future troubles."
"But that's not your choice to make." Grams spoke nobly.
"You two can stay with me. We'll talk to Solomon tomorrow." Said Bree. she then snapped her fingers at Cedric, and he moved to lend his wrist to Pearl.
She drank from the boy, and everyone watched as life came back to her, from mummy to a Chinese beauty in her mid-thirties with long silky black her, dark eyes, and pert pink lips.
She moaned at the pleasure of life and the euphoric feeling of blood in her system again. Pearl then glared at Damon before thanking Cedric and Bree. Bree then led the Zhu's to her house, not before sending Damon a glare of her own.
"Well, I need to get home." said Bonnie, "I'll see you later, Grams."
"Oh, mind giving me a ride," said Elena.
Bonnie glanced at Stefan, and he didn't protest. She then looked at Elena and said, "Sure."
Before long, Grams was the only one in the tomb, and she watched until the fire burned through its fuel source.
Sometime later, Bonnie and Elena were in the car on their way to Witch House. Naturally, Elena had called Solomon, and he told her to come over as he needs to stretch his legs and get his blood flowing after hours of research and practice.
Bur halfway there, Bonnie couldn't hold her tongue. "You know he knows," she said.
Elena looked at her, confused. "Who knows what?"
"Stefan knows that you're fucking my brother. He's known for a while," said Bonnie.
"You told him?!" Elena exclaimed, pretending to be shocked. Besides Solomon, no one knew Elena's real character, which made her affair seem more like teenage lust than sinister amusement. At least that's how the 100 plus-year-old Stefan reasoned.
Bonnie slammed on her breaks and frowned at Elena. " I would never!" she hissed, " Neither would Caroline. And as far as my family, they simply just don't care. He probably smelled it on you. You know vampires."
Elena overdramatically put her face in her hands as she sighed heavily. Bonnie empathized with Elena as she rubbed her shoulder.
"It's going to be okay, Elena."
"How do you know that?" Elena had actual tears in her eyes and spoke with a voice that occasionally cracked.
"Stefan will forgive you. He obviously hasn't said anything because he wants you to figure out what you want." Bonnie reasoned.
Elena laughed in her mind, 'Waiting on me to figure things out? Ha! He just doesn't want to fight Solomon.' she thought, ' Why do I attract losers? It's been weeks of fucking, and Sol still doesn't like me.'
She then thought of things that she let Solomon do to her that Stefan wouldn't even fix his lips to ask for.
"W-what do I do, Bonnie?! How can I even look at him now?" Elena kept the act going.
"Just apologize and leave my brother alone. You really are playing with fire with that one." said Bonnie, " One wrong move. The wind could blow a little hard, or he might get annoyed by the way a bird chirps and decided to keep you to himself. When that happens, Stefan would surely die."
Elena's mind stops. 'No,' she thought, ' He wouldn't kill him...Sol doesn't care that much.'
"Then, I'll break things off with Sol," Elena lied. "It's for the best."
Bonnie looked at her friend and felt a little sad. Elena had been happy for weeks, and now she had the same look on her face that she wore for months after her parents died. Bonnie then thought that maybe she should have kept her mouth shut.
On the other hand, Elena was cracking up. She knew her best friend was feeling guilty. For now, she enjoyed it. But she planned to set the record straight at some point. It was Bonnie; they rarely had secrets.
After Bonnie dropped Elena off. Solomon fucked her on the porch, on the stairs, in his room, all night, and again the morning during their shower. Elena would be lying if she said she didn't feel anything for the crazy bastard. But she kept that to herself as Solomon's eyes never changed when he looked at her.
After the shower, Elena was cooking breakfast for the both of them, and Solomon had the urge to fuck her in the kitchen once more.
As Solomon was buttoning up his pants, he said, "What would you do if our little games meant death for you?"
His voice made Elena shiver, and a bit of the color left her face. "W-what are you talking about, sol?"
"Hmm, nothing. She'll probably just torture you," he said as he walked beside her and made his plate. "I trust you can let yourself out."
Elena shook of her fright and managed to call out to Solomon before he entered his Reliquary, "Aren't you going to give me a ride?!"
"I already did! Call your boyfriend! I heard he knows about this!" Solomon replied the closed the door to return to his practice.
Elena laughed to herself in the kitchen and did just that. She pulled out her phone and called Stefan to come to pick her up.
----------------------
In the Reliquary, Solomon practiced a few more hours and then said enough. He prepared the ritual space and called for Tess and the spirits.
When everything was set, Solomon took a deep breath and began to move his hands. After he silently went through thirty forms, A bowl of mixed ingredients ignited, and the glyphs within the circle he drew began to shine with great radiance.
Qetsiyah and the witches were then cued in. Their chants echoed throughout the empty house, and the magic in the room tripled. Solomon began to chant as well, all the while his hands and arms never stopped moving. The amount of magic they gathered began to crack the floorboards and shake the house.
Qestiyah and the Spirits chanted louder, and Solomon's movement became harder, quicker, more intricate as magic rolled over his skin liked cyan smoke. When the Spirits and Qetsiyah began to worry that his magic was about to grow bigger than what he could handle, lightning struck, and thunder rolled.
In an explosion of cold fire, a solid gold medallion on a good chain appeared. In the center of the medallion was a glass sphere filled with sand.
"It worked." Solomon laughed maniacally, " It really worked. That gesture magic shit is the business! And you Qetsiyah, my sweet, did an amazing job."
"Oh, stop, love. It was all you, really. I merely lent you my power. You are the craftsman." she gushed.
"Either way, we did it."
Solomon reached out and picked up the cold medallion. He held it in his hand and could feel incredible magic emitting from it. The Medallion of Time is an Artifact of Time that serves to manipulate the flow of time itself. Of course, the witch will need the power to wield it. The stronger the witch, the more abilities the medallion will express.
"Now I can stop time, study, practice, grow, then restart time. Growth by leaps and bounds in what would appear to be an instant." Solomon analyzed the benefits of having such treasure. "And the combat applications--"
"No!'' Qetsiyah interrupted, " Once the sand in that sphere is finished, the Medallion will be useless until it is refilled with the Sands of Time. Refilling it is something you and I are simply incapable of. We will die in an instant if even tried."
"But you're already dead." Solomon joked with a smirk.
"Shut up..." Qetsiyah hissed. "Stop the time when you study and practice. That's the rule because it's what benefits you the most."
"Alright, I got it. And speaking of benefits, I should make another golem to start my combat training again. " Solomon was then off on another tangent and began to scribble down a list of things to make a set training schedule.
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Later that day at the Mystic Grill, Bree and Meifeng were together thinking of different themes that Bree could do in the Bar every weekend. That's when Stefan and Elena walked in.
Stefan was naturally broody, and Elena was steeped in innocence and fragility. Bree snicked as she had heard and seen just how 'innocent' and 'fragile Elena Gilbert really was. Meifeng rolled her eyes, and Bree told her to ignore them.
However, Elena could never leave an easy mark alone. She sat at a table near the bar and chatted with Stefan until their food came. She then ate like she was famished and sapped of energy from a long strenuous night.
"So you said that you wanted to talk." said Elena, "I'm sure it wasn't about holidays. It sounded serious."
Elena looked interested with a bit of worry.
Stefan's eyes briefly glanced over at Meifeng. "Umm, we can talk about it another time."
"Mmm, no." said Elena, "I have to go see Sol. You know? About what Anna did to Jermey. He wants my opinion on whether they should be allowed to stay."
"Why didn't we guys talk about it last night?" Stefan asked.
"He busy...doing other things. Besides, Bonnie was practicing spells from some grimoire, and it just turned into a girl's night." Elena lied with shocking ease. The wild part was that she would have been believable to ignorant ears.
Bree coughed on her drink at the blatant lies. When the fuck did Solomon ever care about anyone's opinion? She, Meifeng, and Stefan all thought the same thing. Meifeng's fist just tightened, and Bree sighed as Meifeng grabbed a steak knife and walked over to the couple.
Meifeng sat down with a big smile. "Elena, Stefan. How odd is it to run into you at this time of day? Really! I thought Solomon would still be fucking Elena at this time. You know lunch is their favorite. Wait or was breakfast, no dinner. Silly me, it's in between classes, especially in the locker room and beneath the bleachers. Elena loves it under the bleachers, especially right after gym class when everyone is walking by. So close but far enough."
Stefan was uncomfortable, and Elena was seething as Bree watched with great amusement and a glass of bourbon.
"Look, Meifeng..."
"No, you looked." she interrupted Stefan, "She's been fucking him for weeks, and we know it. But he's mine now. If I catch this skank anywhere near his dick again, I'll bleed her like a fucking pig and make you drink it." Meifeng was frightening.
Elena was about to speak when Meifeng cast a silencing spell. She then moved swiftly and severed Elena's femoral artery with the steak knife. Stefan tried to move, but Meifeng created severe aneurysms within his head, nearly incapacitating him.
"farshteynert," Meifeng hissed.
Elena's body went rigid, and she couldn't move as she bleeds onto the chair and then the floor.
Meifeng looked at the skank and her simp boyfriend. She pointed at them with a bloody knife and said, "Keep you whore on a leash. What I said wasn't a threat. It was a prophecy. Elena will die because of your inability to control her."
Meifeng got up, put the knife on the bar top. She downed her drink and gave Bree a peck on the cheek, and said her goodbyes.
When Meifeng left the bar, Bree snapped her fingers, and Stefan used his vampire speed to snatch Elena and flee.
---------------------------
That night, Meifeng told Solomon what happened, he laughed hysterically.
"I knew you wouldn't kill her." he said, "But I think this relationship thing might be fun. You're more dangerous than I thought. Our first date as a couple should be tomorrow."
Solomon twisted his fingers, and an invitation appeared. Meifeng grabbed it and read it over.
"An auction?" she asked.
"Compliments of Slater. This the exclusive Black Mart auction of the Vampire Society who call themselves, The Strix" Solomon explained.
"Should be fun, but I don't have a dress," said Meifeng.
"We'll get you one," said Sol, "Oh, and there will be some killing and purchasing of slaves. Robbery, and a lot of fraud."
"Sounds like a good time. I'll let the Fell's know." she sang.
Solomon scoffed. "I know you have them under a witch's compulsion. Let's save time by dropping the act."
Meifeng flashed an impressed smirk. "How'd you know?"
"Vermillion Incantation. Curses, Bewitchment, illusion. Nothing escapes its detection but strong magic."
"Hmm. Impressive. You'll have to teach it to me." she said.
The newly formed couple then left the Witch House and drove to the airport to catch the earliest plane to New York.
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