19. Man On Fire

Jeremy lifted the couch up in the very nasty living room of the Lockwood's mansion, "Ugh, whose nasty ass boxers are under the couch?" a disgusted Jeremy asked, using his foot to push the boxers to the side before placing the couch back down.

"Not mine, I actually do my laundry" Matt stated, walking into the room, "It's not in the floor safe".

"Or the kitchen cabinets, or the garage, or the bookshelves" Jeremy added, "The traveler knife is gone".

"Are you sure Tyler hid it where he said he did?" Matt asked, wondering how could the traveler's knife just disappear like this.

"Well, obviously not" Jeremy said.

"Knock-knock" Brayden greeted, announcing his and Damon's presence to the duo by shoving open the entrance doors, "Invite us in, thing one and thing two".

"We can hear you just fine from there" Matt stated, refusing to invite the two brothers in the Lockwood's mansion that was now under his name.

"Oh, we are so sorry we interrupted whatever weird ritual you two were doing" Damon mocked, "But we just want to de-passenger the great citizens of Mystic Falls using your magical traveler knife, so hand it over".

"That's gonna be a problem" Matt said.

"Of course it is, because you two can never do anything right in your life, can you?" an annoyed Brayden asked, "Gilbert, mind explaining why I should not just toss my keys into both your chests?".

"We can't find it" Jeremy revealed, slightly scared of Brayden's reaction, he knew ever since he killed Kol, Brayden has been looking for any opportunity to hurt him and the only reason he hasn't is because of Caroline, who currently wasn't here.

"As in you lost it?" an annoyed Damon asked.

"As in it's not here" Matt clarified.

"For the first time you did something right by not inviting us in" Brayden said, glaring at the Donovan and Gilbert duo infront of him, "Because if you had both your hearts would have been ripped out of your chests right now".

"Tyler said he hid it in the piano" Jeremy defended.

"And when was the last time you heard from Tyler?" Damon asked, both him and Brayden realising that both Tyler and the traveler's knife missing at the same time could only mean one thing, like majority of the citizens in Mystic Falls, Tyler was also being possessed by a traveler.

***

Brayden entered the Boarding House and immediately pulled his phone out of his back pocket to call Caroline who had decided to spend today with her mom, however before Brayden could call Caroline, his phone started ringing.

As soon as he saw who was calling him, Brayden rolled his eyes in annoyance but nonetheless answered the call, "You're calling the wrong brother, Enzo".

"Yeah well Damon isn't answering his phone, any idea where he is?" a curious Enzo asked.

"Damon is currently out looking for travelers" Brayden informed, "Who have some disappeared into thin air after the whole vision fiasco".

"Well then I guess you're gonna have to help me with this problem" Enzo said, Brayden opened his mouth to protest but Enzo didn't give him a chance, "I take it you don't have Stefan's diaries handy, I need you to check his journal for an entry on November 8th, 1960".

"First of all, I'm not your errand boy, I will not be helping you with anything" Brayden stated, "Second of all, Stefan burned his journals when he was having one of his mood swings, so even if I wanted to, which I certainly don't, I can't help you, but why are you interested in my brother's journals again?".

"Ah, just trying to settle a little debate" Enzo clarified, "No matter, I'm right, hey how's Damon doing by the way? I heard he exiled Kaitlynn from his eye-line".

"Where the hell did you hear that?" a confused Brayden asked, "Wait hold up, are you with Stefan and Kaitlynn right now?".

"And Fae" Enzo added, "And don't worry, it won't be for long, I reckon one will be dead soon, eye for an eye and all that".

"Enzo" a worried Brayden called out, "That voice awfully sounds like a murder voice, before you do anything stupid, just tell me what's the problem?".

"The problem, if you must know is my girl, Maggie, the one who got away, turns out she didn't get away for long" Enzo revealed, "Your ripper of a brother took a big bite out of her neck membrane in the 60s".

"That's not possible, Stefan wasn't a ripper in the 60s" Brayden stated.

"Gotta jet, mate" Enzo said, completely ignoring what Brayden said, "Nothing personal, just a bit of revenge, you understand".

The moment Enzo hanged up on him, a slightly panicked Brayden rushed out the boarding while texting someone to meet up with him, he needed to get to the bottom of Maggie's death before Enzo ended up harming Stefan, Kaitlynn and Fae.

***

Brayden stood outside the sheriff station waiting for his girlfriend to come while desperately trying to get his twin on the phone.

"Dammit Damon, what's the point of you having a phone if you're not going to freaking use it?!" a furious Brayden said into the phone after he was met with Damon's voicemail once again, "Answer my phone Damon, otherwise your stupid friend is going to kill Stefan, Fae and Kaitlynn".

"Brayden!" Caroline called out, rushing over to her boyfriend with a bunch of files in her hand, "These are all the files my mom could find of November 1960, um, oh on November 9th there was a mugging reported".

Brayden shook his head, "No, I'm looking for crimes that happened on the 8th of November 1960, Enzo was really hell bent on that date".

"Well on that 8th there was only one crime reported, the murder of Maggie James" Caroline informed, handing Brayden the file, "It was a unresolved homicide, possible serial killer".

Brayden flicked through Maggie's file till his eyes landed on the pictures of the crime scene, and suddenly he remembered Maggie James, "Shit" he mumbled.

"What?" a curious Caroline asked.

Brayden looked at Caroline, "Stefan didn't kill Enzo's girl".

"How are you so sure?" a confused Caroline asked, "Isn't that Stefan's killing style?".

"Because I killed her" Brayden revealed.

***

Brayden entered the Whitmore cafe where he knew his brother and Kaitlynn were supposed to be last, the moment he entered the cafe, he saw Kaitlynn and Stefan tied to chairs with vervains ropes while Fae sat to the side, looking extremely worried for her boyfriend who Enzo was currently torturing by staking him in the stomach and then twisting the stake around.

"Well that's just not nice, is it?" Brayden commented, announcing his presence to everyone, the moment Kaitlynn and Fae's eyes landed on Brayden, both the vampire and former witch took a breath of relief, they knew Brayden wouldn't let anything happen to Stefan, who was Enzo's main target in all this, "What's up with all these compelled people? Couldn't torture without an audience? I really don't like the way they're currently looking at me, it's creepy".

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say that was a veiled attempt to get me to the damn release hostages" Enzo said.

"No Enzo it wasn't a veiled attempt, it was a demand" Brayden retorted, "Release the freaking hostages!".

"Whose side are you on?" Enzo asked.

"Definitely not on the side of a person who decided to torture my brother!" Brayden snapped.

"You were there with me in Augustine, look don't tell me you've forgotten what it was like to cling on to the one thing that kept you from feeling pain" Enzo snapped back.

"Of course I haven't forgotten that!" Brayden yelled, "I can never forget that Enzo, and I get that the thought of seeing Maggie again was what stopped you from shutting it all off, but Maggie's gone and it isn't because of Stefan, it's because of--".

"It's because of me", the group looked behind Brayden where Damon stood with Caroline right behind him, while Brayden came here, Caroline went to find Damon and tell him everything, "But the thing is, I didn't know she was your Maggie".

Enzo looked at Damon in shock, he didn't want to believe what Damon was implying, "What are you talking about?".

Brayden let out a sigh, "Maggie didn't tell me her name when I met her".

"Brayden, shut up" Damon snapped, he knew his brother well enough to know despite hating Enzo, Brayden didn't want Damon to lose Enzo's friendship, which he will definitely lose after Enzo finds out the truth about Maggie's death which is why Brayden was taking Maggie's death on him, but Damon couldn't let him do that, he was the one who killed Maggie and he had to be the one who faces the consequences, "Brayden never met Maggie, she first met Stefan, and then she met me, Brayden only saw her when she was dead".

"When exactly did you meet her?" a teary eyed Enzo asked the oldest Salvatore.

"November 8th, 1960" Damon revealed, "I'd gotten a message at the house saying a lady wanted to buy me a drink, naturally, I was curious", Damon then went on to tell Enzo how Maggie tried to distract him by talking about the fire that happened at the Whitmore house, she then tried to vervain him but Damon managed to stop her and after realising she was from Augustine, Damon ripped her head off from her shoulders, and once Brayden found out what had happened, he took care of Maggie's body, knowing his humanity free brother wouldn't, "Had she got me with that vervain injection things would have been very different, she didn't stand a chance against me".

"And you made it look like I did it?" a confused Stefan asked.

"No, Damon just ripped Maggie apart, I was the one who made it look like you did it" Brayden admitted, "While Enzo clung on to Maggie, me and Damon clung on to the hope that our brother will come to our rescue, but you didn't even notice that your two brothers were missing for five years, so after we escaped Augustine, Damon wasn't angry cause he turned it all off, but I had so much anger in me, I wanted to make your life hell Stefan, hence the framing".

Enzo glared at Damon, "You killed Maggie".

"I didn't even bat an eye" Damon admitted, "My switch was off Enzo, I did a lot of terrible things, but I didn't do it to make your life miserable from every angle, I did it because I didn't care, so do whatever it is you gotta do, you wanna kill me, you wanna hate me, do it, but this is between us".

"Well, that's the problem, Damon" a heartbroken Enzo whispered, "I don't wanna hate you, because if I hate you then I have nothing left, but there is another option", Enzo closed his eyes.

Damon, realising what Enzo was about to do, speeded over to him and held him by his collars, "Don't you dare, hey, hey, Enzo!" he yelled, shaking the St. John vampire, but it was too late, Enzo had already turned his humanity off.

Enzo opened his eyes and smirked, "There we are, you're right, I don't have a care in the world".

***

Enzo stood at the bar and poured himself a drink, after downing it, he smashed the glass on to the bar, "This is fun, not caring" he admitted, turning to face Brayden and Damon, throwing another glass into the air and letting it fall to the ground.

"Yep, emotion-free, bye-bye humanity" a worried Damon said, wondering what a humanity less Enzo will do now.

Enzo walked behind the bar and grabbed himself a bottle of alcohol, "To Maggie James, for who I feel absolute and blissful detachment" he toasted, before taking a sip out of the bottle.

"So what do you say we get out of here" Damon suggested, "Where is it that you wanted to go? Cape Town?".

"Cape Horn" Enzo corrected.

"Even better" Damon said.

While Damon was talking to Enzo, Brayden slowly walked over to the bar, he grabbed a piece of glass, and after making sure Enzo didn't notice him, he sneakily placed the glass in Stefan's hand, indicating to him to cut the ropes off.

"Ah, all alright, everyone's free to go!" Enzo told all the compelled people around them, "Show's over, don't worry, I compelled you all to think you spend he day studying like the good little students you are", as everyone started to leave, Enzo's eyes landed on Liv who had blackmailed to help him by using her brother's life against her, "Except you, stay, I wanna test something".

Before anyone could react, Enzo bit into Liv's neck, "Enzo, stop!" Fae yelled, rushing over to Liv.

"Fae!" Stefan yelled, desperately trying to get out of the ropes, worried that Enzo will hurt Fae.

Enzo threw Liv on to the ground, "Look at that, I don't even feel obliged to say thank you".

Suddenly Damon speeded over to Enzo and tried to attack him but Enzo smashed a bottle on to the bar and stuck the glass into Damon's neck, Brayden then speeded over and kicked Enzo, then Stefan, who had finally managed to free himself, ran over and punched Enzo, before the two brothers could attack Enzo again, Enzo grabbed the bucket full of vervain water and threw it all over them.

As Stefan and Brayden yelled in pain, Enzo took their distraction to his advantage and rushed out the bar, but not before grabbing Kaitlynn.

"Bastard, he took Kaitlynn" Damon said, laying on the floor and groaning in pain while his hand was on his bloody neck.

"Let's go" Stefan said.

Caroline looked at her boyfriend, "You guys go find Kaitlynn, me and Fae will help Liv".

Brayden nodded his head, as Caroline rushed over to help Fae with Liv, Brayden looked at Damon, "You know he's taken Kaitlynn to kill her, right?".

"I can handle him" Damon assured.

"Damon!" Stefan yelled.

"I said I could handle him" Damon snapped.

"He wants to hurt you" Brayden reminded, "And he doesn't care who he has to kill to make that happen".

"You can't save him" Stefan added.

Damon looked between his two brothers, without saying anything, he speeded out the cafe, after exchanging a look between them, Stefan and Brayden also rushed out to find Enzo before he hurt Kaitlynn.

***

After rushing out the cafe, the three brothers had split in three different directions to find Enzo and Kaitlynn, and out of the three of them, Brayden was the one who ended up finding Enzo, at a park, hovering over an unconscious Kaitlynn.

"Enzo" Brayden called out, announcing his presence to the St. John vampire.

"Brayden, where's your big brother?" Enzo asked.

"Don't know, clearly I'm the one who found you first" Brayden said, glaring at Enzo, "Oh and he's only older by three minutes".

Before Enzo could react, Brayden had punched him in the face, causing him to fall to the floor, before he could recover, Brayden grabbed him by his shirt and threw him into a car.

"Ouch" Enzo complained, laying on the car's shattered windscreen, "Hope it's insured".

Brayden speeded over to Enzo and rapidly punched him, he then picked him causing Enzo to roll on the roof of the car, Brayden got on top of the car but before he could attack Enzo again, Enzo kicked him to the ground, just as it started raining over the two vampires.

***

While fighting Enzo and Brayden had managed to get a fair distance away from the park, both unaware that while they were trying to rip each other apart, Damon had found an unconscious Kaitlynn and taken her to safety.

Currently, Enzo slammed Brayden against a car, Brayden glared at Enzo, he stood up and smashed Enzo's head to the window, but Enzo recovered quickly and kicked Brayden to the floor, "Bet you wish you'd murdered me back when you had the chance" Enzo told Brayden, who laid on the floor trying to catch his breath, "Though Damon would have been furious, I think it's time we both stopped coddling him", Brayden let out a scream of pain when Enzo staked him with a branch and pinned him to the car, he then punched the fuel tank and let the oil spill near Brayden, "Now, where is my lighter?", Enzo pulled out a lighter from his jacket pocket, "Maggie's lighter, I should say, I wonder what she'd think of all this, course who knows what lies in the great beyond for a mere human like Maggie James? Probably nothing, it's probably just as well she isn't watching this", Enzo kneeled infront of Brayden, "I believe it might upset her", Enzo lit his lighter, "Shall we burn together, you and I? Perhaps just you, perfect punishment for Damon for leaving me in the fire will be to see his twin die in a fire".

"I have a better option" Brayden said, before shoving his hand in Enzo's chest, "Damon thinks there's good in you".

"And you?" Enzo breathed out, "Isn't there a part of you that thinks I can be redeemed?".

"I'm not someone who can judge anyone, Enzo" Brayden said, "If you hadn't come for the people I care about, I would have never had a problem with you, but you did, and I know that you will keep coming after them, especially after Damon, and I can't have that".

"Better yet, wouldn't it be a sweet piece of revenge when Damon finds out you killed his best friend?" Enzo asked, Brayden looked at Enzo in confusion as he extinguished the lighter, "Have fun sorting this out with your brother, I wonder if this will finally break the unbreakable bond of the Salvatore twins".

Before Brayden could react, Enzo put his hands on Brayden's shoulder and pushed himself away, his body fell to the ground, with his heart in Brayden's hand.

A shocked Brayden dropped Enzo's heart to the ground, he took the branch out of his stomach and stood up and slowly walked over to Enzo's dead body, he searched his jacket pocket and took out his phone in which he saw many messages and missed calls from Damon.

"Enzo, I need you to come find me, okay?".

Immense guilt started rising in Brayden's heart the moment he heard the desperation in his brother's voice, he didn't really want to kill Enzo, he was just trying to scare him, hoping the scare would cause Enzo to turn his humanity back on, but that never happened, instead Enzo died because of him, Damon lost his best friend because of his twin and Brayden didn't know how to tell him that.

***

Kaitlynn opened the door to her dorm room and saw Brayden standing on the other side, "Hey" he greeted.

"Hey" Kaitlynn greeted, moving forward and pulling Brayden into a hug.

"How you feeling?" Brayden asked, after breaking the hug.

"I'm feeling fine, I just don't get how I got here" a confused Kaitlynn admitted, as Brayden walked into the room.

"Is Caroline here?" Brayden asked, a desperate tone in his voice.

"No, she hasn't come back yet" Kaitlynn informed, closing the door, Brayden nodded his head and slumped down on his girlfriend's bed, Kaitlynn frowned seeing the disturbed look on her friend's face, "Brayden, what's wrong?".

Brayden hid his face in his hands, "Enzo's dead" he whispered, if Kaitlynn wasn't a vampire she wouldn't have heard what he said, but she was and she clearly heard what Brayden was saying.

"You killed him?" a shocked Kaitlynn asked.

"Yeap" Brayden confirmed.

"Have you told Damon?" Kaitlynn asked, worried about what this will do to the two brothers relationship.

"I want to, but I can't" Brayden said, "I killed my brother's one friend, it's already been a hell of a year for Damon, mainly because of me and I just added to that, I can't bring myself to tell Damon that I killed Enzo, I'm terrified that he's going to hate me Kaitlynn, and I'm not so sure I can take that".

Kaitlynn sighed, "He's your brother Brayden, your twin brother, he's never going to hate you, he loves you".

Brayden shook his head, "I can't risk it" he said, "I can't risk losing my brother".

"So what are you going to do?" a confused asked Kaitlynn.

"Say that no humanity Enzo left Mystic Falls and never wants to come back again?" Brayden said.

"That's a horrible idea Brayden" Kaitlynn stated.

"Is it?" Brayden asked, "Damon already thinks that Enzo left town, will it not be better to just keep it that way? He's already gone through so much, I can't put this on him as well, I can't be the reason that my brother gets destroyed".

Kaitlynn let out a sigh as she sat next to Brayden, "If Damon finds out that we both hid this from him, he's gonna hate us Brayden".

"I know" Brayden whispered, "And that's the one thing I can't have, I can deal with a lot Kait, but I can't deal with Caroline or Damon's hatred, and if Damon finds out about Enzo, that's exactly what he's gonna feel, he's gonna hate me".

"And we can't have that" Kaitlynn whispered, letting Brayden know that his secret was safe with her, for the sake of Damon and the two brother's relationship, Kaitlynn will keep the secret of Enzo's death to herself.

***

"I know" Damon said, the moment Brayden entered the boarding house, immediately causing Brayden's dead heart to stop beating, "I know what you're thinking, I screwed up, I'm the reason Enzo's in our lives, I'm the reason he wants us dead, it's all my fault, and I'll fix it, okay? He was there for me when I was at my worst, I'll find a way to be there for him, I'll get him back, I'll fix it", after downing his drink, Damon looked at his awfully quiet brother, "Did I leave anything out?".

"Stop confusing me with Stefan" Brayden finally spoke, "I'm the last person whose going to blame you for any of this, anyways Kaitlynn's fine in case you were wondering".

"Yeah, I know" Damon said, "I found her on campus, she was unconscious, I took her home, tucked her in".

"And didn't tell her that it was you" Brayden realised, taking a seat on the couch.

"I think I'm past trying to earn points for good behavior, Brayden" Damon said, sitting next to his brother.

Brayden let out a sigh, "Today wasn't your fault, Damon".

"That's very noble of you, brother" Damon said, as he poured himself and Brayden a drink each, "But we both know that's not the truth".

"Damon, I framed Stefan, if anything I should be blamed" Brayden said, "Look, maybe it's time to just leave Enzo alone".

"Can't" Damon stated.

"Enzo isn't your responsibility, Damon" Brayden argued.

"What you're the only one who gets to come out of his villain shell and play hero sometimes?" Damon asked, "Or you just don't think I can do it?".

"I don't doubt you Damon, I'm just worried" Brayden clarified.

"And I think that he's not worth saving" Stefan said, entering the living room and joining his brother's conversation, having heard everything.

"You don't know what you're talk about, Stefan" Damon retorted.

"Really?" Stefan challenged.

"Yeah, cause you know what you never knew?" Damon snapped, "The whole time me and Brayden were in that cell, every time I'd say something terrible about you or blame you for not coming to rescue us, Enzo would bring me back from the edge, reminded me that I couldn't lose myself because I had another brother relying on me to pull him out of the slump".

"I know you guys were close--".

"Enzo reminded me that at least I got to grow up with a family, at least I still had family out there and in the cell with me" Damon interrupted Stefan, "Which was more than he could say for himself, said he envied me for having two brothers".

"Even a dysfunctional brother like me?" Brayden whispered, guilt eating at his heart.

"Even a dysfunctional brother like you" Damon confirmed, he then looked at Stefan, "He defended you Stefan, even though he didn't know you, said it was good that we had people outside, people just living their lives, free and clear of our Augustine hell, people worth holding on to our humanity for, because we love them, all that time as a prisoner, every time I wanted to give up on you Enzo stopped me from hating you, made me stop Brayden from hating you because he knew the only person Brayden would listen to was me, and that's why I have to help him, and I owe him for that", Damon looked at his twin, "And so do you".

Brayden didn't say anything, he couldn't say anything even if he wanted to, all he wondered was how the hell was he going to stop his brother from hating him.

***

Presenting 5x19 of They Don't Know About Us!

How was the chapter?

Thoughts on Damon and Brayden figuring out that Tyler is possessed by a traveler?

Thoughts on Brayden trying to take the blame for Maggie's death?

Thoughts on Brayden saving Kaitlynn from Enzo?

Thoughts on Brayden killing Enzo?