11. Catch Me If You Can

Damon and Jeremy entered the bar in which they knew all the humans had been turned into vampires by Klaus, Kaitlynn having gone back to Mystic Falls after finding out what Rebekah did to her best friends.

Entering the bar, both Jeremy and Damon were confused seeing all the broke furniture and alcohol bottles, they were even more shocked seeing trails of blood that led them right into the back storage of the bar.

"Somethings not right" Damon realised, following the trail of blood, Jeremy following closely behind.

Entering the back storage, the hunter and vampire were shocked seeing all the humans Klaus turned, all pilled on top of each other, all dead.

"Looks like we're gonna have to find some new vampires" Damon said, confused as to who did this, "What a waste".

"Or here is another suggestion, just stop".

Damon and Jeremy turned around and came face to face with Brayden.

"You did this?" a confused Damon asked, seeing his brother's bloody hands.

"Yeah, well not alone obviously" Brayden said.

"I helped" Kol said, coming and standing next to Brayden, "Jeremy, good to see you mate, sorry about the mess, was a little crowded when we arrived, and me and Brayden both prefer more intimate gatherings".

"Have you completely lost your mind?" an angry Damon asked his brother, completely ignoring Kol, "What are you up to this time Bray?".

"I'm doing what I always do Damon" Brayden stated, "I'm trying to protect the people I care about".

"What?" a confused Jeremy asked, wondering how killing the vampires was Brayden protecting the people he cares about.

"We all need to have a little chat" Kol stated, taking a sip out of the bourbon bottle, "Care for a drink?".

"He's underage, and I don't like you" Damon said, as Jeremy held his crossbow out, pointed towards Kol, Damon looked at his twin, "Explain, now".

Brayden looked at Kol, "Go on, explain".

"Very well then" Kol said, "My brother bragged about his plan to complete Jeremy's hunter's mark, it was easy enough to track this lot down, they were all hiding in the shadows, you know, killing young vampires is easy, or old ones, for that matter".

"Why?" Damon asked confused, "What's it to you either way? And why have you gotten my brother roped into your crazy?".

"Because you fools, in your zeal to find the cure, you risk waking someone very dangerous" Kol replied.

"Oh" Damon realised, "You must be talking about Silas".

"What do you know of him?" Kol asked.

"Nothing, not our problem" Damon stated.

"He will be our problem if we wake him Damon" Brayden retorted.

"A few hundred years back I came across a group that worshipped Silas" Kol informed, "His followers told me that he would rise again and when he did he would trigger the end of all time, being an immortal, you can see why I'm opposed to time's ending, so I murdered all of them, and now here you are, willing to risk raising him in your search for the cure, I can't exactly sit back and let that happen, can I?".

"Well, we're not gonna back off the cure because you wee told scary bedtime stories, you idiot" Damon snapped.

"You thought Klaus was a bedtime story" Brayden reminded, "Turns out he was real and we all know what he did to us, now are you seriously going to let someone more powerful than Klaus to wake and ruin us even more?", Brayden looked at Jeremy, "Curing your sister, is not worth all our lives Jeremy, be smart, let the cure go".

"Are you seriously believing him?" a frustrated Damon asked.

"Are you seriously once again being an ignorant asshole?" an equally frustrated Brayden asked, "How many times are we going to lose people Damon because you decided not to listen to someone?".

"I could kill you" Kol stated, looking at Jeremy while Damon and Brayden stood there glaring at each other, "But then I'd have to deal with the hunter's curse, and I don't particularly feel like being haunted for the next century, better idea, I'll just rip off your arms".

Kol went to speed towards Jeremy, when Brayden grabbed him and slammed him to the walls.

"That wasn't part of the plan, Kol!" Brayden snapped.

Kol shoved Brayden off of him, "They aren't going to stop Brayden, the only way to stop them from raising Silas is by getting rid of the hunter".

"Or we just stop his hunter's mark from growing" Brayden suggested.

"Or I cut off his limbs" Kol snapped, about to rush towards Jeremy again, but once again Brayden shoved him to the wall.

Brayden turned to Jeremy, while restraining Kol, "Run!".

Jeremy looked at Damon who nodded his head, and Jeremy took this opportunity to run, while Kol shoved Brayden away from each and this time stabbed him with a metal pipe.

"I thought we were a team, Brayden!" Kol snapped.

Brayden glared at Kol, "I'm not going to let you kill an eighteen year old!".

Kol glared back at Brayden, "You won't be able to stop me" he stated, using the metal pipe in Brayden's stomach to pin him to the wall, he then turned to a furious Damon, "Your turn" he said, speeding over to Damon.

***

After Jeremy had escaped from Kol, he immediately called Caroline and informed her about both Damon and Brayden being captured by Kol, so both Caroline and Kaitlynn decided to go to Klaus for help, realising if not Brayden then only Klaus could stop Kol from hurting people.

"A bit ironic, you coming to me for help" Klaus taunted the two girls, "Weren't your guys friends just trying to bury me in a cement tomb?".

"This started with you Klaus, when you forced Jeremy to start killing the townspeople" Kaitlynn reminded.

"And now my little brat of a brother has made things worse" Klaus said, "Well, he never did like Damon, Brayden on the other he loves, so he will be fine".

"Him and Brayden teamed up but Brayden stopped him from killing Jeremy" Caroline said, telling Klaus what Jeremy told her, "Your brother has lost his mind, you need stop him".

"I supposed I should do something, shouldn't I?" Klaus asked, a taunting smile on his face.

"Tell him to stop, Klaus" Kaitlynn pleaded, knowing out of Damon and Brayden, Damon was the one in most danger.

"You are in no position to make demands, love" Klaus reminded, "Whilst I'd like to cure Elena to make more hybrids, I do have other reasons for finding the cure, not the least of which is destroying it so you lot can't use it against me".

"We all want the same thing Klaus" Kaitlynn reminded, "We all want the cure".

"Do we?" Klaus asked, looking at Caroline, "Do we all want the cure?".

Caroline sighed, "Does it matter?" she asked, "Just call Kol off please".

"We're begging you" Kaitlynn pleaded.

Hearing the two girl pleading caused a smug look to form on Klaus's face, he then took his phone out of his jacket pocket and dialed his brother.

"Little brother" Klaus greeted, "Just two days home and I'm told you've already gone and made a mess".

"Come on Nik, I was only having some fun" Kol defended.

"Those vampires were for my hunter" Klaus reminded.

"Well, make some more, there's no shortage of people" Kol retorted.

"Where's Damon and Brayden Salvatore?" Klaus asked.

"Damon, I gave a good and proper beating, just for old times sake" Kol replied, "And Brayden is standing there, being mad at me for beating his brother up".

"Yes, well, you've had your fun, now let them go and come home" Klaus demanded, "Avoid any more trouble or you'll find yourself back in a box".

"Hey, no need to be nasty about it" Kol said.

"On the contrary, I find nastiness to be essential whenever my siblings try to sabotage me" Klaus said, "Listen closely Kol, stay away from the Gilbert boy and the Salvatore twins, you understand?".

"Fine, I won't touch the Gilbert boy, and I have no reason to go after the twins, especially since one of them is so dear to me" Kol said, after hanging up on his brother, Kol turned to the compelled brothers.

"I'm such an idiot" Brayden mumbled, lightly hitting his head to the wall, him having been compelled by Kol to stand still and watch, "Can't believe I didn't take vervain after the whole Rebekah incident, but in my defense I didn't think you of all people would compel me Kol".

"I didn't want to compel you Bray, but you've gone soft" Kol said, "If I didn't compel you to stand there, then you would have never let me do what I'm about to do next".

"Which is what?" a confused Brayden asked.

A smirk formed on Kol's face, he turned to Damon, "Stab yourself a little bit further" he compelled.

"Kol, stop!" Brayden yelled, seeing Damon push a wooden plank further into his chest.

"If you're gonna kill me, do it like a man" Damon spat.

"I don't want to kill you, that would give him a bad name infront of your brother, I just want to make sure you can be compelled" Kol clarified.

"I'm gonna rip out your spleen" Damon threatened.

"You ought to be thanking me" Kol said, he looked at Brayden, "Both of you".

"And why's that?" Brayden asked.

"I mean, neither of you really want the cure found" Kol pointed out, "You both prefer both your girls as vampires, you two don't want them to find the cure and turn human, I'm honestly doing you two a favor" Kol forced Damon to look at him and then started compelling him, "You're not gonna remember what I say but you're going to find Jeremy Gilbert, and when you do, you're going to kill him".

"Are you insane?!" a furious Brayden yelled, glaring at his ex lover, as Damon removed the wooden plank from his chest and walked out in a daze.

"Right now I'm probably the most sane one out of all us" Kol retorted, he then walked over to Brayden, "I'm sorry for what I did darling, but Silas can not rise and to stop him from raising I will do everything I can, even go against you".

"I was helping you" Brayden snapped.

"But these people are people you care about, you would never have truly gone against them, so we are doing this my way" Kol said, he then started compelling Brayden, "You can leave in thirty minutes, by then your brother should have succeeded in killing Jeremy".

***

"What?" a shocked Caroline asked Brayden through the phone, who was no longer compelled.

"Kol has compelled Damon to kill Jeremy" Brayden repeated, sitting on in the car and driving back to Mystic Falls, "I'm on my way but I don't know if I will make it in time, you need to find Damon and restrain him till I get there".

"Got it" Caroline said, hanging up on her boyfriend, she then turned to leave his room in the boarding house when she came face to face with Kaitlynn.

"Kol compelled Damon to kill Jeremy?" Kaitlynn asked, having heard Caroline and Brayden's talk.

Caroline nodded her head in agreement, "We have to find him before it's too late".

Kaitlynn nodded and with that the two girls rushed to find Damon before he ended up killing Jeremy.

***

"Damon, wait!" Kaitlynn yelled, as her and Caroline ran towards Damon, who was currently in the woods looking for Jeremy, "Come on Damon, you need to fight Kol's compulsion, we both know you don't really want to hurt Jeremy, he's a kid, just stop and let me help".

Damon turned and faced Kaitlynn, "I can't" he stated.

"Of course you can" Kaitlynn retorted, taking small steps towards the oldest Salvatore while Caroline stayed behind, "You're Damon Salvatore, you don't listen to anyone but yourself, I know you can resist this, you just have to try".

"I'm not Stefan and Brayden" Damon snapped, remembering the time his brothers resisted Klaus's compulsion and stopped themselves from hurting Fae and Caroline.

"I never said you were!" Kaitlynn yelled, "I don't need you to be your brothers Damon, I need you to be you, be Damon Salvatore the man who will do anything for the people he cares about, and I know you might not care about Jeremy, but you care about Brayden your twin brother right? Jeremy is his friend, think about how he will feel if you kill another one of his friends".

Damon looked at Kaitlynn, her words slowly getting to him, but the effect of Kaitlynn's words went as soon as he smelled Jeremy's blood, veins appeared under Damon's eyes and after giving Kaitlynn an apologetic look, Damon speeded towards the smell.

"Damon, wait!" Caroline yelled, as her and Kaitlynn rushed after him.

"Jeremy" Damon called out, speeding over to Jeremy, who slowly stood up from the ground, his gun pointed towards Damon, "Shoot now".

Jeremy shot at Damon but before the bullet could hit him, Brayden speeded over to his brother and shoved him to a near tree, while Stefan speeded over to Jeremy and steadied him.

Before Damon could react, Brayden snapped his neck, rendering him unconscious, just as Caroline and Kaitlynn ran over to the brothers, both of them breathing  a sigh of relief seeing Brayden and Stefan.

***

Damon slowly woke up from his snapped neck and immediately realised he was trapped in the Salvatore's basement cellar.

"Easy there, buddy" Stefan warned, as he and Brayden stood near the door, "You lost a lot of blood".

"So you two bled me out?" an annoyed Damon asked, slowly sitting up.

"We had no other choice" Brayden defended, "Kol has you compelled, until I somehow make him uncompel you, you're staying locked in here, and we ran out of vervain so bleeding you out is the only way to weaken you and make sure you stay put here".

"You sound real torn about it" Damon taunted, "Shouldn't we be going after Kol? Make him de-compel me".

"Yeah, yeah, sure, that sounds easy enough Damon, we'll get right on that" Stefan said sarcastically, as Damon tried to stand but fell right back to the ground.

"At least let me see Kaitlynn" Damon coughed out.

"She'll be here soon" Brayden assured, "Till then just enjoy your stay here".

"Bray, Stefan wait" Damon called out, as his brothers left the cellar.

"This is for your own good Damon" Brayden stated, locking the cellar door.

***

Brayden entered his room, a small smile formed on his face seeing his girlfriend standing by his window.

"You're a sight for sore eyes, Caroline Forbes" Brayden said, walking over to the Forbes vampire.

Caroline looked at Brayden, "You and Kol?" she asked.

"That's a great way to start a conversation" Brayden commented.

"Are you going to tell me what you're doing with Kol or not?" a slightly jealous Caroline asked.

"I'll tell you" Brayden replied, "But first I need to know something".

"What?" Caroline asked.

"Do you want the cure?" Brayden asked, finally asking Caroline the question he has been avoiding asking since the moment he found out about the existence of the cure, "Do you want to be human?".

Caroline looked at Brayden with a startled expression on her face, clearly not expecting him to ask her that question, "Do you?" she asked.

Brayden sighed, he sat on his bed and looked infront of him, "I hate human me" he admitted, "I like what I am now, hell I love it, I'm good at being a vampire, being human just seems stupid to me, human Brayden was weak, but vampire Brayden isn't, when I was human I couldn't protect the people I love, but I can now, I never want to feel weak again Caroline, which is why I never want to be human again".

Caroline sat next to Brayden, she laced her fingers with his, "Me too" she whispered, making Brayden look at her, "I don't want to be human either, I like who I am now, I don't want to change".

Brayden breathed a sigh of relief, "All this time I was so afraid you would want to be human".

"What would you have done if I wanted to be human?" Caroline asked curiously.

Brayden shrugged, "I wouldn't have stopped you" he admitted, "I want you to be happy and if that's with you being human then so be it, yeah it would have put me in a very tough spot but I would never make you choose between me and your happiness".

Caroline gave Brayden a small smile, "Thank you" she said, her heart feeling very warm hearing Brayden's words.

"Anytime" Brayden said, kissing Caroline's nose.

"But you still haven't explained what you were doing with Kol" Caroline reminded.

"Right" Brayden whispered, "So turns out, even if one of us wanted to be human, we couldn't, hell no one can".

"And why's that?" a confused Caroline asked.

"Because the cure is buried with Silas" Brayden revealed, "The man, who according to Kol, if we wake, will bring hell on this earth".

***

Presenting 4x11 of They Don't Know About Us!

How was the chapter?

Thoughts on Brayden and Kol arguing on how to stop the search for the cure?

Thoughts Kol compelling both Damon and Brayden?

Thoughts on Caroline and Kaitlynn teaming up to stop Damon from killing Jeremy?

Thoughts on Brayden and Caroline both revealing that neither of them want to be human?