01. The Birthday

Tennessee

Brayden Salvatore sat on the bonnet of Klaus's car, waiting for the hybrid to call him and his brother to kill their next victim, while waiting Brayden took his phone out of his pocket and listened to the daily voicemail, sent by the girl who he was having trouble surviving without.

"Hey Brayden, it's me again, Caroline, your soulmate, hope you have forgotten about me already", even though he wasn't with her, Brayden knew what Caroline was feeling, she was terrified that Brayden has stopped loving her, he had found someone better and now no longer needed her in his life, what she didn't realise was that she was Brayden's everything, and as long as he was alive, Brayden was always going to love her, no one could take her place in his heart.

"So, tomorrow is Elena's birthday, and after much pleading from Bonnie, I convinced Damon to let Bonnie throw Elena's party at the boarding house, I would have done it but I'm too busy with trying to find you and Stefan, and I know right now, wherever you are, you're probably fuming with the thought of having Elena's birthday party in your house", a small smile formed on Brayden's face, Caroline was absolutely right, Brayden hated the fact Elena was celebrating her birthday at his house.

"You know, you can stop it, by coming here and crashing the party, I swear if you come, I'll kick everyone out myself, and then I'll wrap my arms around and never you leave again", Brayden sighed hearing Caroline's broken voice, he hated hearing the immense sadness in her voice, he hated not being there for her, he hated being away from her, but most of all, he hated the fact he couldn't let Caroline know how much he loves her, how much he will always love her.

"Alright, I'm running out of time on this stupid voicemail, you know if you just call me once, I won't have to leave you voicemails all the time, voicemails I don't even know if you hear, I love you Brayden, please be safe, and please come back to me, I'm losing my mind without you".

"I'm losing my mind without you too" Brayden whispered, staring at his phone.

It has been three months since Brayden and Stefan left Mystic Falls with Klaus, in these three months a lot changed, Brayden and Stefan changed, but what never changed, what never could change, was Brayden's love for Caroline and his longing for her, the more Brayden stayed away from the Forbes girl, the more Brayden lost himself, the more distanced he became from his humanity.

"Bray" Stefan called, walking over to his older brother, bringing him out of the thoughts of a certain blonde.

"What?" Brayden asked, staring at a photo of him and Caroline on his phone, it was the photo Lexi had taken of them on Stefan's birthday, a small smile formed on Brayden's face seeing Caroline's shocked face when he kissed her cheek.

"It's time" Stefan replied.

Hearing his brother, the small smile immediately left Brayden's face and a blank expression came on his face, and without saying anything, he stood up and walked over to the country house in which Klaus currently was in.

Stefan sighed and followed his brother, Stefan was worried for his brother, in the three months, Brayden had distanced himself from Stefan, it was like all the progress they made to become brothers again all went down the drain, it felt like they were back to square one, where Brayden and Stefan could care less if the other lived or died, but both the brothers knew that was a lie.

 Brayden showed that he still cared for his brother, by always taking the extra kill that Klaus pushed his way to break Stefan's limits, but Brayden made sure Stefan never crossed his limit, yes he had become a ripper again, but it wasn't as bad as all the other times, as this time he still had his emotions on, he still had a little bit control over his bloodlust, which was all thanks to his older brother.

Stefan showed Brayden that he still cared by keeping Klaus away from him. Everyone knew about Brayden's anger, even Klaus, and he had made it his personal mission to see how many of Brayden's buttons he could push before Brayden exploded, and there was many times where Brayden nearly attacked the hybrid, but Stefan made sure the situation never escalated, as he knew if Brayden attacked Klaus, the hybrid wouldn't waste a second to kill him, and Stefan preferred his brother alive then dead.

***

Just as both the Salvatore brothers reached the front door of the house, the door was swung open and revealed a startled women, who screamed seeing the two emotionless vampires infront of her.

"I love it when they run" Klaus said, walking over to the trio, another blonde girl in his grip.

"He's in Tulley" the women who tried to run, finally admitted, realising there was no way she could escape now, "It's near the border, a bar called Southern Comfort, it's off highway 41".

"Thank you, my love, now", Klaus turned to hysterical girl beside him, "May my friends come in and play?".

"Yes" The blonde girl cried, afraid for her life.

"I'm not your friend" Brayden snapped, as him and his brother entered the house.

Klaus rolled his eyes at the older Salvatore, he was now used to Brayden's taunts, at first it annoyed him, but Klaus quickly realised that's why Brayden taunted him, if Klaus knew how to push Brayden's buttons, then Brayden knew how to get under Klaus's skin.

"Kill this one quickly" Klaus stated, pushing the blonde girl towards Stefan, he then pointed towards the women who tried to run, "Make that one suffer, I'll be in the car".

Once Klaus left, Brayden turned to the women who Klaus wanted to suffer, with a smirk that made chills go down the women's spine, "Please" she pleaded, "Please don't do this".

Brayden ignored the women's pleading, as if he didn't hear anything she said, and just bit into her neck, while Stefan bit into the blonde's neck, the load screams of the two women echoing through the house.

***

"So, they've moved down to Tennessee" Damon said, entering his room, he opened his cupboard and pinned up the new information he had gotten from Sheriff Forbes.

"Didn't your girlfriend say that the Florida victim had some family in Tennessee?" Kaitlynn asked, sitting on Damon's bed.

After Brayden and Stefan left town with Klaus, Damon and Kaitlynn teamed up with Sheriff Forbes in tracking the three of them, all while keeping all the information they found away from Fae and Caroline, the two girls were already a mess without Stefan and Brayden, and Damon and Kaitlynn didn't want to give them hope without knowing for sure they could find Stefan and Brayden, and on top of that, the two vampires were aware that most of these victims were Brayden and Stefan's victims, and they didn't know how Fae and Caroline would react after knowing that.

After Damon was cured, the confession and the kiss between Damon and Kaitlynn was put under the rugs, none of them talked about it, none of them even acknowledged, but something had definitely changed between them, everyone around them could see it, but they just refuse to accept it.

"It was the Pensacola guy, right?" Damon asked.

"Yeap" Kaitlynn replied.

"You up for a road?" Damon asked.

"Always" Kaitlynn replied, "But first you need to tell Andie to get us an address".

"On it" Damon said, grabbing his phone and calling Andie, the women whose been helping the duo in getting the addresses of all of Stefan and Brayden's victims.

***

"Ray?" Klaus asked, walking over to a guy who was sitting at the bar, "Ray Sutton?".

Ray looked at Klaus, slightly suspicious of him, "Who wants to know?".

"I've been looking everywhere for you" Klaus informed, confusing Ray, "We started in Florida, Pensacola, I met a young chap there who you worked with before you moved to Memphis, now, he directed me to two lovely young women, and they led me here, to you".

"I think I'll be going" Ray stated, realising there was something definitely wrong with the guy next to him.

"Not so fast, mate, you only just got here" Klaus said, grabbing Ray's arm and stopping him from walking away, "Now, your type are very hard to come by".

Ray glared at Klaus, he quickly turned around to run away, when he bumped into Brayden, with Stefan standing next to him.

"Relax, Ray" Brayden said, shoving Ray onto a bar stool, "The party has just started, you can't leave yet".

"Vampires" Ray realised.

"Congratulations, you figured it out" Brayden said sarcastically, jumping over the bar and grabbing himself a full bottle of bourbon, the bartender didn't stop him as he and everyone else in the bar were compelled by the two brothers to ignore everything they, Klaus and Ray did.

"You're swifty-swift, Ray" Klaus said, "Yes, my friends here are vampires".

"Not your friend" Brayden snapped, now sitting on top of the bar, drinking out of the bottle.

"They've compelled everyone in the bar" Klaus told Ray, ignoring Brayden, "So don't look to them for any help, I, however, am something else, a different kind of monster".

"He's a world class asshole" Brayden said, walking over to the pool table, while Klaus glared at him, "Hey Stef, how about a game?" he asked, ignoring Klaus's glare.

Stefan looked between Klaus and Brayden, and without say anything, walked over to his brother.

"Anyways, as I was saying before I was rudely interrupted" Klaus continued, "I've got some vampire, I've got some wolf".

"You what?" Ray asked shocked.

"A hybrid, Ray, I'm both" Klaus replied, "You see, I want to create more of me, now, you being the first werewolf I've come across in many a moon--pun intended, Ray--I need you to direct me to your pack, so where can I find them, Ray?".

Ray shook his head, refusing to tell Klaus anything, "You can't compel me, it won't work" he stated.

Klaus smirked, he then looked towards the pool table where the brothers were playing, he exchanged a look with them, while Brayden rolled his eyes and kept playing, Stefan walked over to the bar.

"Can I get a scotch on the rocks, please?" Stefan asked the compelled bartender, he then turned to Ray, pulling out a poach from his back pocket, "Tell you what, Ray, we're gonna play a little drinking game, something I like to call truth or wolfsbane".

"Oh, this is gonna be fun, Ray" Klaus smirked.

***

After getting the address from Andie, Damon and Kaitlynn along with Alaric, visited the house Brayden and Stefan were last seen at.

"Caroline?" Alaric asked, seeing Damon hang up on someone.

"Fae" Damon corrected.

"I don't know why you two just don't tell them where we are" Alaric said.

"Cause this isn't a lead on Brayden and Stefan, it's a lead on one of their victims" Kaitlynn said, "There's no point telling them about this, it will just get their hopes up for no reason".

Alaric nodded in understanding, he then started looking around, not seeing or hearing anything, "It's quiet" he commented.

"Yeah, too quiet" Damon said, as the trio walked towards the front door.

Once they reached the front door, Damon opened the door and put one of his foot through the threshold, "Oh, yeah" he said, realising he could step into the house without a invite.

"Something definitely happened here" Kaitlynn realised, seeing all the blood smeared on the floor and walls of the house.

Entering the living room, the three weren't surprised when they saw two dead bodies, one sitting on the couch, the other sprawled on the ground.

"Vampire for sure" Alaric realised.

"Stefan and Brayden for sure" Damon said.

"How do you know?" Alaric asked confused.

"Cause these are their signature killing styles" Kaitlynn replied, bending down and examining the body on the floor, "Before coming back to Mystic Falls, Brayden had a reputation, all around the supernatural community Brayden Salvatore was known for his ruthless killing, he changed when he met Caroline, but seems like being away from Caroline has caused Brayden to resort to his old ways, because the way this girl is killed, it's messy and the way her throat is ripped out is just ruthless".

"And that girl is Stefan's victim" Damon said, pointing to the girl on the couch, "There's a reason they call him the ripper, feeds so hard, he blacks out, rips them apart, but then when he's done, unlike Brayden, Stefan feels remorse, it's the damnedest thing", Damon shook the girls leg which caused her head to fall off, "He puts the bodies back together".

"Back together?" Alaric asked shocked.

"Yeah, this is definitely not Klaus" Kaitlynn said.

"No it is not" Damon said, slowly realising what his brothers were becoming, "It's definitely Stefan and Brayden".

***

"What are you doing?" Alaric asked, seeing Damon enter the living room with a can of gasoline in his hand.

"Covering their tracks" Damon replied, dosing the two bodies with gasoline, "Clearly, they have no interest in staying in the dark, but I do".

"I found the lighter" Kaitlynn announced, entering the living room with a lighter in hand.

Alaric moved out of the way, giving Kaitlynn room to light the bodies on fire, when suddenly he stepped on a uneven floorboard.

"Hang on" Damon said, removing the carpet and realising there was a trap door on the floor, opening the door the trio was met with a dungeon type room, that was full of metal chains, "Well, what do you know?".

"Werewolves" Kaitlynn realised.

After shutting the trap door, Damon and Alaric stood to the side while Kaitlynn lit the bodies on fire and after that the trio walked out of the house, letting the fire engulf the whole house.

***

"Ray, you can end this right now" Stefan said, hitting Ray with another dart that was dosed in wolfsbane, "Just tell me where your pack gathers for the full moon".

"I can't" Ray whispered.

"I know, I know" Stefan said, "You live by a code and all that, but see, he's not gonna let me stop until you tell me, and we do whatever he says, that's the way it goes around here".

"Correction, my brother follows his orders, I on the other hand, don't take orders from anyone" Brayden said, grabbing a dart and throwing it right at Ray's neck, "Hmm, still great at darts, who would've thought?".

Klaus rolled his eyes at Brayden, something he has been doing the whole summer, when suddenly a women walked over to him, "Hello, Mr. Klaus" she greeted, gaining Stefan and Brayden's attention, "I have some more information for you, you told me to tell you if I saw anything, I saw those guy's brother, Damon, and Kaitlynn Pierce at the farm house".

"Well, thank you, Claudia" Klaus said, "You just tell your friends to keep up the good work with the neighborhood watch, huh?".

Hearing the women, Stefan and Brayden looked at each other, Brayden gestured his head towards Klaus, Stefan nodded, knowing what Brayden wanted, he wanted Stefan to convince Klaus to let Stefan go to and convince Damon to stop following them, because if Klaus went back to talk to Damon, then it was more then likely he would discover the fact that Caroline is still alive, something none of the brothers wanted.

"Our brother and Kaitlynn still on our trail?" Stefan asked Klaus.

"They're getting closer" Klaus replied, "I'm gonna have to deal with that".

"No, no, no, let me handle it" Stefan said, stopping Klaus from walking away.

"Why should I let you leave?" Klaus asked.

"Because you know I'll come back" Stefan replied.

"Do I?" Klaus asked.

"Oh give it up, Klaus" Brayden snapped, "You know Stefan, he lives on moral high ground, in his eyes you saved our brother, he's gonna come back because he believes he owes you one".

"And you don't think that?" Klaus asked curiously.

Brayden looked at Klaus, "I think in exchange for our brother's life, you turned me and Stefan into something we both have been avoiding being for quiet some time, which in my eyes, makes us even".

"Then why are you still here?" Klaus asked curiously.

"Because I'm not stupid" Brayden replied, "I don't have a wish to be on the run from you for the rest of my life, and on top of that, I'll never leave my little brother alone with you, now let him go and deal with Damon".

"I'll make sure that my brother doesn't bother us anymore" Stefan assured, walking away from Klaus.

***

While Elena's birthday party was going on full swing downstairs, Caroline decided to stay upstairs in Brayden's room, which after a while started being too painful as everywhere she looked she was reminded of Brayden, so instead of staying in Brayden's room, Caroline decided to stay in Damon's room till the party ended, as for the first time in her life, Caroline Forbes was in no mood to be part of a party.

"There you are" Fae said, entering Damon's room and seeing Caroline laying on Damon's bed, staring at the ceiling "Me and Kaitlynn looked everywhere for you".

"Well, you found me" Caroline said, still staring at the ceiling.

"What are you doing up here Forbes?" Fae asked, laying next to Caroline, "I thought Caroline Forbes was the life of every party".

"Not in this party" Caroline said, "You know, I deliberately convinced Damon to let Bonnie throw Elena's birthday party here, I was hoping that if I sent Brayden a voicemail, telling him about this party, he would come and gatecrash it, as we all know, Brayden hates Elena, and I thought he would gatecrash Elena's party and throw everyone out, but once again, like all my other attempts, Brayden didn't show up".

Fae sighed, "He'll show up" she assured, "They both will".

"Do you think they miss us as much as we miss them?" Caroline asked.

"I sure hope so" Fae replied.

"We're not going to give up on them, okay?" Caroline said, "Never, ever, you and I need to bring those two brothers back home".

"Hell yeah" Fae said, giving Caroline a small smile, "I just wish we knew if they were even alive".

"They are" Caroline said, not even wanting to think about anything happening to Brayden, "They're the Salvatore brothers, we're not getting rid of them that easily".

Fae chuckled, "Agreed" she said, she then sat up and turned to Caroline, "Let's get drunk".

"Really?" Caroline asked, sitting up.

"Really" Fae replied, "For one night, let's pretend we are normal girls and not two heartbroken vampires, tomorrow we can go back to being heartbroken, but tonight I want to pretend that I'm happy".

"I can pretend" Caroline said.

"Great" Fae said, standing up and forwarding her hand towards Caroline, "Shall we then?".

Caroline chuckled and placed her hand into Fae's, "We shall".

Caroline and Fae looped their arms together and went to walk out of Damon's room, when Fae's eyes landed on Damon's cupboard.

"Wait" Fae said, stopping Caroline from walking out the room.

"What happened?" Caroline asked confused.

Fae didn't say anything, just walked towards the cupboard, opening it, both her and Caroline were shocked seeing various maps and newspaper articles stuck all around the cupboard.

"Oh, my god" Caroline whispered, realising what all these things were, "Damon's been tracking them without us".

"Not only Damon" Fae said, "Something tells me Kaitlynn is also part of all this, suddenly her spending the whole summer with Damon makes a lot more sense then you and I thinking they were in a secret relationship".

"Why wouldn't they just tell us?" Caroline asked confused.

"I have no idea" Fae replied, equally confused as Caroline.

***

After dealing with Stefan, an exhausted Damon entered his room, only to see furious Fae and Caroline sitting on his bed, waiting for him to arrive.

"What?" Damon asked, the two vampires, "What are you two doing here?".

"Why didn't you tell any of us about this, Damon?" Caroline asked, pointing at all the articles on Damon's bed, "Why have you been tracking Stefan and Brayden in secret?".

"Can we not do this right now?" Damon asked, not in a mood to deal with the two vampires, "I'm having a really bad night, if you want answers go ask Kaitlynn, she knew about all this as well".

"Oh, she will be getting a mouthful as well, don't you worry" Fae snapped, "The whole summer, every time me and Caroline came to you or Kaitlynn with a new lead, you both made us feel like we were idiots for trying to bring Stefan and Brayden home, while you two were doing the same damn thing".

"That's cause both of you were idiots" Damon snapped back, "All of us were".

"Damon, what the hell do you know?" Fae asked.

"I know that you two need to get out of my room, Fae" Damon snapped.

"We're not leaving" Caroline said, "Not until you tell us why you have been tracking Klaus's victims without me and Fae?".

"Because they're not Klaus's victims, Caroline, they're Stefan and Brayden's" Damon snapped.

"What?" Fae asked shocked.

"They have left a trail of body parts up and down the Eastern seaboard" Damon replied.

"Because Klaus is making them do that" Caroline snapped.

"You actually think Klaus can make Brayden do something he doesn't want to do?" Damon asked, "Brayden does what he wants, not what someone tells him to do, not even a original hybrid can force my brother's hand, and Fae, why are you shocked? You and I have seen this happen before, when you met Stefan, he was a ripper, and Brayden has always been ruthless, Caroline's love changed him, but now his back to his old ways, you two need to accept that Brayden and Stefan are never coming back".

"Stop, Damon!" Fae yelled, as tears welled in her and Caroline's eyes.

"No, you stop, Fae!" Damon yelled back, "Both of you need to stop looking for them, stop waiting for them to come home, just stop! Stefan and Brayden are gone and they are never coming back".

A frustrated Damon finally walked out of his room, leaving behind two devasted vampires, who refused to believe their love stories had such a tragic ending.

***

"Okay, it's a three-step process, Ray" Klaus told Ray, who was now laying on the pool table, "This is step one, I want you to drink from my wrist".

"I already told you where to find the pack, what more do you want from me?" Ray asked, groaning in pain.

"Have you been listening to a word I've been saying, Ray?" Klaus asked.

"In his defense, you do speak a lot of rubbish" Brayden said, sitting on the bar and doing shots of tequila, "You can't expect people to remember all the shit you say".

"Shut up and quietly get drunk, Brayden" Klaus snapped.

"Gladly" Brayden said, downing another shot, while Klaus turned back to Ray.

"Anyways Ray, as I was saying, I have great plans for you" Klaus said, using a knife to make cut on his wrist, he then forced his blood down Ray's throat, "He'll thank me for it later".

"You're making someone a vampire against their will, dickhead" Brayden said, "No one is going to thank you for that".

"You'll see" Klaus said, making Brayden roll his eyes and down another shot, just as Stefan entered the bar.

"What are you gonna do now?" A scared Ray asked.

"It's time for step two, Ray" Klaus replied, snapping Ray's neck and killing him, he then turned around and faced Stefan, "You're back".

"Did you doubt me?" Stefan asked.

"Not for a second" Klaus replied.

"Liar, liar, pants on fire" Brayden sing-songed.

"I knew you'd pass the test, you still care for your brother, for your old life" Klaus told Stefan, ignoring Brayden.

"No, I don't care about anything anymore" Stefan said.

"See, if Brayden was saying that, I would have believed him, you on the other hand, not so much" Klaus said, "You put on a good show, Stefan, I almost believe you, let's hope, for your brother's sake, he does, you never stop caring about family, do you? But every time you feed, the blood makes it easier to let go".

After Klaus walked away from Stefan, Brayden walked over to his brother and handed him a glass of bourbon, "You need to learn to shut him out".

"Easier said then done" Stefan said, taking a sip of the bourbon.

"So, what did you do?" Brayden asked.

"I killed Andie" Stefan informed.

Brayden looked at his younger brother, his facial expressions told him how guilty he truly felt, "He'll eventually get over it" he assured, trying to ease his guilt, "If we can forgive him for killing Lexi, he has to forgive you for killing his fake girlfriend".

"That's not how forgiveness works, Bray" Stefan said.

"It does with us" Brayden said, placing his now empty glass on the counter, then walking out of the bar.

After Brayden left, Stefan pulled out his phone and stared at a photo, it was a photo of Fae he had taken when they had visited the Gilbert lake house, in the photo Fae was making a silly face at the camera with the lake in the background, this was the photo that has been helping Stefan get through this whole summer with Klaus.

***

Caroline entered Brayden's room, she walked over to the side table and grabbed the photo of her and Brayden, the photo was taken by Damon when Brayden and Caroline were dancing together at the Miss Mystic Falls pageant, one of Caroline's favorite memoires with Brayden.

Caroline sat on Brayden's bed, she hugged the picture in her arms and suddenly started sobbing.

"I miss you" Caroline cried, "I miss you so, so much".

***

Damon entered Stefan's room, and after looking around for a moment, he suddenly started trashing the whole room, taking his frustration out on the room.

He was angry at Stefan for Andie's death, he was angry that he had no idea how his twin brother was, but most of all he was angry with the fact that he knew his brothers were more then likely suffering wherever they were but he couldn't do anything to help them.

Kaitlynn, having heard noise coming from Stefan's room, entered the room and was shocked not only seeing the state of the room, but also the state of Damon.

"Damon" Kaitlynn called out.

"Go away" Damon snapped, "Please Kaitlynn, just go away".

Ignoring Damon's words, Kaitlynn stepped towards him, once she reached Damon, she wrapped her arms around Damon's neck and pulled him into a hug, "It's okay" she whispered, "It's going to be okay".

Damon didn't say anything, even if he wanted to, he didn't believe Kaitlynn's words, as long as his brothers were away from him, away from Fae and Caroline, nothing was ever going to be okay, so instead, Damon simply wrapped his arms around Kaitlynn's waist and pulled her closer to him, her hug giving him the peace he has been missing since his brothers left town with Klaus.

***

After walking a safe distance from the bar, Brayden looked up at the night sky, hoping to gain some kind of peace from the stars, but for the first time in his life, even the stars couldn't help his restless heart, only one person could help him now, so against his better judgment, Brayden pulled his phone out of his pocket and after making sure his no caller ID was turned on, he clicked on the contact, Princess 👑

Brayden placed his phone on his ear and very impatiently waited for his peace to answer, he promised himself that he wasn't going to say anything to her, all he wanted was to hear her voice, voicemails were no longer doing it for him, he needed to hear voice.

Caroline laid on Brayden's bed, still holding on to the photo of her and Brayden, when suddenly her phone started ringing, picking her phone from the side table, Caroline was confused seeing a unknown caller calling her, wiping her tears, Caroline sat up and accepted the call.

"Hello?" Caroline answered.

Once Caroline's voice reached his ears, Brayden closed his eyes and relished in hearing the girl he loves with everything he has.

On the other side, Caroline suddenly started feeling an weird sensation shot through her body, a sensation she felt only when she was talking to Brayden, "Brayden?" she whispered.

"Caroline" Brayden whispered, not being able to stop himself from talking.

"Brayden" Caroline cried, happy to finally hear Brayden's voice after four months of separation, "Are you okay? Please, tell me you're okay".

"I'm not okay" Brayden admitted, "I can't keep doing this Caroline, I just want to shut it off".

"Don't you dare shut it off, Brayden Salvatore" Caroline snapped.

"You don't understand, Caroline" Brayden said, "You don't know about the things I've done, I no longer deserve you".

"Why don't you let me decide that?" Caroline asked, "I know everything you've done, and I know it's hard to live with, but once you come back to me, I promise we'll get through it together".

"I can never come back to you" Brayden whispered, tears slipping from his eyes.

"Don't say that" Caroline snapped, "You're going to come back to me, you have to, but till then, I need you to know that you're going to be okay, I love you, Brayden Salvatore, no matter what, that should give you enough reason for you to hold on to your humanity, just for a little bit longer".

Without saying anything else, Brayden hanged up on Caroline, fearing if he talked to her anymore, he will simply run to her.

After realising Brayden had hanged up on her, the tears Caroline had stopped from slipping, started slipping down her face.

"Please hold on, Brayden" Caroline whispered, looking down at her phone, "Please, for me, just hold on, I promise I'll find you and bring you back home".

Brayden looked down at his phone, tears in his eyes, "I'm going to hold on" he promised, "For you, I'll hold on just a little bit longer".

***

Presenting 3x01 of The Vampire Diaries . . .

WELCOME TO SEASON THREE OF TDKAU! So sorry for such a late update, I've been pre-writing a lot of my books but now updates are back to being regular, fingers crossed at least!

How was the chapter?

Thoughts on Brayden's new attitude? Spoiler alert, he's just going to get worse from here, and Brayline are going to have it hard this season 😭

Thoughts on Damon and Kaitlynn working together to find Brayden and Stefan? While this season is going to be hard for Brayline, it's going to be romantic for Dalynn 😉

Thoughts on Caroline and Fae bonding over missing Brayden and Stefan? In regards of Stefan and Fae, this season is going to decide if Stae are going to stay strong or break apart forever 👀

Thoughts on Brayden and Caroline's emotional phone call?