04. The Five

"So what is all this?" a confused Stefan asked, looking around his living room and seeing all of the hunters things that Damon had brought over.

"Some personal items that I snaked from the vampire hunter's RV" Damon informed, entering the living room with another box in hand, "May he rest in peace".

"More likes pieces" Brayden said, entering the room, "Mind telling us why you've snaked all of these things?".

"I'm searching for his supernatural handbook" Damon replied.

"You know for a fact that he was supernatural?" Stefan asked.

"Definitely wasn't natural" Damon replied, "Guy magically appears just as someone blows up the entire Founder's Council, is covered in a tattoo that only Jeremy Gilbert, of all people in the world seems to be able to see, Klaus mentioned something about him being one of The Five, then he kamikazes himself with explosives, sound natural to any of you?".

"What's The Five?" a confused Stefan asked.

"We don't know" Brayden replied, going through a box of the hunter's things, but finding nothing interesting.

"That's what I'm hoping is in the first chapter of the handbook" Damon added.

Brayden grabbed his phone from his pocket when it started ringing, grabbing it he realised Liz was calling him.

"Hey Liz" Brayden answered, "Everything okay?".

Both Damon and Stefan watched as their brother's expression changed drastically from calm to angry.

"Got it" Brayden said into the phone, "I'll keep an eye out, if you find anything let me know".

"What happened?" Damon asked.

Brayden looked at his brothers, "According to our favorite Sheriff, there was no remains in that explosion at the hospital".

"So Connor's still out there" Stefan realised.

"Yeap" Brayden said, he looked between his two brothers, "You two need to find Connor and get rid of him, today".

"And what are you doing while we find Connor?" a confused Damon asked.

"Taking Elena to Whitmore college in order to teach her how to feed properly" Brayden informed.

"I'm sorry, you're doing what?" Stefan asked, thinking he heard his brother wrong.

"Trust me, it's as surprising to me as it is to you" Brayden said, "But she killed Matt last night and I can't have her go around and chop on Jeremy, so when she asked for my help, I agreed".

"That's shocking" Damon commented.

"You don't have to tell me that twice" Brayden said.

"Does Caroline know about this?" a concerned Damon asked, not liking what was happening.

"Not yet" Brayden replied, waking out the room.

"Where the hell are you going, Bray?!" Damon asked, "This conversation isn't over!".

"Yes it is!" Brayden yelled.

After Brayden left, Damon looked at an equally concerned Stefan, "I don't like what's happening here Stefan".

"Me neither" Stefan whispered.

***

"I beg your pardon?" Caroline asked, as she and Brayden stood in the woods together, "Mind repeating that? I'm not too sure I heard you correctly".

Brayden sighed, "I'm taking Elena to Whitmore college in order to teach her how to feed".

Caroline stood there for a second, and just as Brayden opened his mouth to say something, Caroline shot him with the crossbow, but Brayden easily dodged the arrow.

"Your old age is starting to show Brayden" Caroline teased, "I almost hit you there".

"I can't tell if you threw the arrow at me because we're practicing or because you're mad at me" Brayden admitted, a confused look on his face.

Caroline gave Brayden a small smile, she then walked over to her boyfriend and cupped his face, "How can I be mad at you, Brayden?" she asked, "You're doing the right thing, you're helping someone who needs your help, I can't be mad at you for that".

Brayden put his hand in Caroline's hair and pulled her closer to him, his other hand going around her waist, "You're too good for this world, Caroline Forbes" he whispered against his lips.

"I can be bad" Caroline whispered, lightly biting Brayden's bottom lip, making his hold on her tighten, "If you don't come back to me tonight, then you'll know how bad I can really get".

Brayden smirked, "And we wouldn't want that would we?" he whispered, his thumb tracing Caroline's bottom lip.

"No we wouldn't" Caroline whispered.

For a moment Brayden and Caroline stood there staring at each other, the next second, Brayden used his vampire speed to shove Caroline against a tree, then smashed his lips on to hers.

***

"Who let you have a drivers license?" Bonnie asked, as her, Elena and Brayden got out of Brayden's car.

"Who asked you to come with us?" Brayden retorted.

"Trust me, I didn't want to come with you, but I have to meet a Professor who used to teach with my Grams" Bonnie said.

"I don't care about this Professor you're here to meet" Brayden said, "Just stay the hell away from me".

"Are you sure you're okay with this?" Elena asked Bonnie, before her and Brayden could continue their argument.

"If I could spell you out of wanting blood, I would, but I can't" Bonnie replied, "So better you learn this now than at freshman orientation".

"Something tells me that college isn't in my future anymore" Elena said, looking around Whitmore campus with a longing look.

Brayden groaned in annoyance, "Please don't tell me this pity party isn't going to be a whole day thing, I won't be able to take it".

"You're heartless" Bonnie snapped.

Brayden gave Bonnie a mock smile, "Thank you" he said.

***

Brayden, Elena and Bonnie entered the classroom of Professor Shane, the professor Bonnie was here to meet.

"When I say the word witch, what pops into your head?" Shane asked the class, "Halloween costume? Villain of a fairy tale? Maybe an ex-girlfriend? Well whatever image it is, it's probably not Taniel Sosso of Manjo, Cameroon".

"Is that him?" Elena asked, as the trio sat down, and Brayden immediately pulled his phone out and started texting Caroline.

"Yeah" Bonnie replied.

"He's kind of--".

"Hot" Bonnie finished Elena's sentence.

Elena chuckled, she looked at Brayden and immediately a frown came on her face seeing him smiling at his phone, she didn't have to ask him to know who it was he was texting, there was only one person who could get Brayden to smile like that, and for some reason it made Elena extremely jealous.

"Now, in reality, or in this reality, at least, witches have appeared across every culture in history, they're the architects of the supernatural responsible for everything that goes bump in the night from ghosts to vampires to doppelgangers, now, if you're skeptic, you'd call that a coincidence, but if you're a true believer you know there really is no such thing, it scares the crap out of us".

"Brayden" Elena whispered, finally having enough of Brayden texting Caroline.

"What?" Brayden asked, his eyes still on his phone.

"We should start our lesson" Elena replied, for some reason desperately wanting to take Brayden's attention off of Caroline.

Brayden sighed, he put his phone down and turned to Elena, "Fine, pick your lunch then" he said, Elena nodded, she looked around and her eyes landed on a guy who was twirling his pen around, "Not him, he's a stoner, he will be too paranoid and will just give you an extra buzz that you don't need", Brayden the looked at the girl who was sitting next to the stoner, "The girl next to him, the one with the glasses is also a no go, she's too alert, as soon as you're nice to her she's going to immediately get suspicious of you, the perfect lunch for you, is that blonde one over there", Brayden pointed his finger to a blonde girl, "She's the type of girl who likes having attention, who won't be suspicious of you, she'll like you talking to her, and that's when you attack".

Elena nodded in understanding, "Am I interrupting you guys?" Shane asked Brayden and Elena, "Or is it maybe the other way around?".

"Sorry" a slightly embarrassed Elena said, while Brayden rolled his eyes and went back to texting Caroline.

***

After the class, while Bonnie had gone to talk to Professor Shane, Brayden and Elena followed the blonde girl.

"Alright, listen to me carefully, don't overthink this, the more you think about it, the more likely you'll screw up so just focus on the feed and nothing else" Brayden instructed.

"You make it sound like a game" Elena said, "But it's not a game, Brayden".

"Of course it's a game" Brayden said, "The only difference is, if you fail in this game, you'll die and you won't get to respawn like you do in a normal game, now go, and remember what I said, it's not as hard as you make everything to be, just remember snatch, eat and then erase, three very simple and easy steps".

Elena nodded in understanding, she then ran over to the blonde girl, "Hey" she greeted, gaining the girl's attention, while Brayden stayed behind and made sure no one was paying attention to them, "You're in my anthro class, right?".

"Yeah, I guess so".

"I totally spaced and forgot to get the reading list, do you have it?" Elena lied.

"Sure, let me check", the blonde girl unlocked her phone to check the reading list.

Elena grabbed the girls wrist and started compelling her, "This isn't going to hurt, please don't scream", before Elena could bite the girl, her eyes landed on the photo on her phone screen, "Who's that?" she asked, talking about the little girl in the picture with the blonde.

"That's my little sister".

Elena looked at the phone, then at the girl, "Get out of here, go back to class" she compelled.

"What the hell was all that about?" a frustrated Brayden asked, walking over to Elena after the girl walked away.

"I just, I saw the picture--".

"You can't be thinking of those things Elena" Brayden snapped, "You weren't killing her, you were just feeding on her, and everyone you meet is going to be someone's daughter, son, sister, brother, uncle, aunt, if you don't want to learn, then tell me now, because I am here wasting my time teaching someone who at the end of the day is going to do what she wants".

"No, I'm serious Brayden, I want to learn, but all of this is hard for me" Elena defended herself.

"That's because you're overthinking, stop overthinking and just do as I say or I swear to god I will leave you and Bonnie here and go back to Mystic Falls" an extremely annoyed Brayden threatened.

Before Elena could say anything else in her defense, Bonnie walked over to them, "What's going on?" she asked confused seeing Brayden's annoyed expression.

"Your best friend screwed up, like always, that's what's going on" Brayden replied.

Bonnie looked at Elena in confusion, "Did you talk to the professor?" Elena asked, changing the subject.

"For a second" Bonnie replied, "He found some stuff of my Gram's in his office, and he's gonna dig it up for me, oh, uh, this", Bonnie handed Elena a flyer about a party at a frat house.

Brayden looked at the flyer, he then looked Elena, "You want to prove to me you're serious about being a good vampire?" he asked, Elena nodded, "Great, then we're going to this party, a frat party is the perfect place to create havoc".

***

At night, Brayden, Bonnie and Elena arrived at the frat party, while Elena and Bonnie were dressed up as murder victims, Brayden stayed in his leather jack and black jeans, refusing to play dress up for a frat party, there was only one girl who could get him to dress up and she wasn't here so Brayden was just going to be him, which was scary anyways.

"Hey, I'm Frankie, unassuming serial killer" the host of the party greeted the trio.

"I'm Brayden and these are the woman I killed" Brayden introduced, as the trio took drink from the welcome tray.

"Welcome to the murder house, bloody marys free until midnight, enjoy yourselves".

 Brayden waved at as the host walked away, his eyes then landed on the stairs where Professor Shane was, "What the hell is a professor doing at frat party?" he asked, "Talk about creepy".

"He's not creepy" Bonnie defended, as Shane looked at Bonnie and greeted her with a small nod, "I'm gonna go talk to him".

"I'd be careful around that one, Bonnie!" Brayden called out, as Bonnie walked over to Professor Shane, ignoring Brayden's warnings, causing him to roll his eyes and turn to Elena, "Alright, look around we are now surrounded by douchebags who are covered in blood, so go on, pick your dinner".

Elena looked around and her eyes landed on a guy who just put something in one of the girls drinks, "I think I found one" she told Brayden.

"The guy who just roofied that girl?" Brayden asked.

"Mm-hm" Elena replied.

"Good, now go and get him, you know what to do" Brayden said.

Elena nodded, she then walked over to the guy and bumped into him, "I'm sorry" she immediately said, she then held out her drink for him, "Drink?".

"Sure" the guy said, taking the drink from her hand.

Brayden watched as Elena walked away and the roofie guy followed him, just as Brayden was about to follow the two, his phone started vibrating in his pocket, taking it out, he realised Caroline was calling him so without thinking about anything or anyone, Brayden quickly walked out the room to answer Caroline's call.

Meanwhile, in the other room Elena was talking to the roofie guy, "Great part, right?" he asked.

"Yeah" Elena lied.

The guy smiled and leaned into kiss Elena but she quickly shoved him against a wall and started compelling him, "You're not going to make a sound", Elena then bit into the guys neck and started drinking, for a moment it seemed like she wasn't going to stop, but after a while Elena finally stopped drinking from the man and once again started compelling him, "Leave and forget about this".

As the guy left, a excited Elena turned around expecting Brayden to be there, "Brayden did you see--", but to Elena's shock, Brayden wasn't here.

A confused Elena left the room to see where Brayden had gone to, after much looking Elena finally found Brayden on the porch of the frat house, a smiling Elena made her way towards him, but the smile fell when she heard who he was talking to.

"Caroline Forbes, I swear to god, once I'm back from this annoying and exhausting trip, I'm going to find you and give you the hottest night of your life" Brayden said into the phone.

Hearing Brayden, Elena crushed the plastic cup in her hand and walked away in anger, Brayden too observed in his conversation with Caroline to notice.

***

"Elena!" Bonnie yelled, running after the Gilbert girl after seeing her run out of the party, "Elena, wait up!", an emotional Elena stopped running and turned to Bonnie, "What's wrong Elena? I saw you run out of the party upset".

"I don't know what's happening to me" Elena cried, "I know what I'm feeling is wrong Bonnie, but I can't help myself, he is everything a girl could ask for".

Bonnie looked at Elena in confusion, "Elena who are you talking about?" she asked.

"Brayden" Elena replied.

Bonnie looked at Elena in shock, "Elena" she said, a disapproving tone in her voice.

"I know what you're going to say Bonnie, and I get it, Brayden is in love with Caroline, he will never look at me like he looks at Caroline, but I can't help want what Caroline has with him" Elena cried, "I know it's bad, but a part of me wants to replace Caroline in his life, I want him to love me and not her".

"Elena, you know that's not going to happen" Bonnie said, "Brayden loves Caroline, he will never love you, whatever you're feeling for him, you need to let it go, otherwise if either Brayden or Caroline finds out, all hell will break loose".

"I don't know how to Bonnie" Elena whispered, "I don't know how to get rid of this feeling".

"Well you're going to have to learn Elena" Bonnie said, "Learn how to get rid of this feeling otherwise you will be the one getting hurt".

Before Elena could say anything, Brayden walked over to the girls.

"Alright, are you guys ready to hit the road?" Brayden asked, missing the two best friends conversation, "I promised someone I'll see her before the night ends".

Bonnie looked at Elena, to see her looking down at the floor, hurt, but as always Brayden was oblivious to it, or maybe he knew and just didn't care.

***

After changing into her pajamas, Caroline entered her bedroom, a huge smile formed on her face when she saw her boyfriend standing in the middle of the room, looking at her with a smirk on his face.

"Brayden" Caroline whispered.

"Hey, princess" Brayden greeted.

Caroline ran over to Brayden and jumped into his arms, Brayden, who was already expecting that, quickly wrapped his arms around her waist, lifting her feet of the ground, Brayden span her around, making Caroline laugh.

Brayden placed Caroline on the floor, he them removed her hair from her face, and cupped her face with one hand while the other stayed on her waist, "I missed you".

"I missed you too" Caroline said, "So, so, so much, I hate staying away from you".

"Me too, so let's make it up to each other" Brayden said, picking Caroline up in his arms and taking her to bed, while Caroline's laughter filled up her room.

***

Presenting 4x04 of They Don't Know About Us!

How was the chapter?

Thoughts on Elena being jealous of Brayden's attention on Caroline even when he's not with her?

Thoughts on Brayden forgetting about Elena after receiving Caroline's call?

Thoughts on Elena admitting to Bonnie she has feelings for Brayden and wants to take Caroline's place in his life?