07. Haunted

Stefan speeded over to Vicki and pulled her off of Tyler before she could attack him.

"Let go of me!" Vicki yelled, struggling in Stefan's grip.

Tyler tried to run away, but Damon and Brayden blocked his way.

"What's going on Stefan?" Tyler asked, confused, "What's wrong with her?".

"You don't talk" Damon warned.

"Screw you, dude" Tyler snapped.

"Dude?" Damon asked, "Really? Dude?".

"Damon, don't" Stefan warned.

"Oh, come on, who's gonna miss this idiot?" Damon asked, causing Tyler to punch him.

"You're digging your own grave" Brayden told Tyler.

"Don't you hurt him!" Vicki yelled.

Brayden rolled his eyes, and ignoring Vicki, Brayden held Tyler by his neck and started to compel him, "Forget what Vicki did to you, forget everything you saw tonight, forget that any of us were here".

Brayden threw Tyler on the floor, and by the time he recovered, all four vampires were gone.

***

"Matty?" Vicki said, calling her brother.

"Vicki, where are you?" Matt asked, "Are you okay?".

"Yeah, I'm okay" Vicki replied.

"Tell me where you are and I'll come get you" Matt said.

"No, Matty" Vicki denied, "I just need some time to figure things out, just know that I'm okay, okay? Please don't worry about me", Vicki hanged up on her brother and turned to the three vampires, "I don't understand why I have to stay coped up here, why can't I just go home?".

"Because you're changing, Vicki, and it's not something you wanna do alone" Stefan replied.

"There's nothing about that Logan guy I killed in here, not a word" Damon said, reading the newspaper.

"Seems like someone is covering it up" Brayden said, examining the compass he took from Logan.

"What is that?" Vicki asked Brayden.

"A compass" Brayden replied nonchalantly.

"A very special, very old compass" Damon interjected.

"Question of the day, what is the local news anchor, Logan Fell doing with it?" Brayden asked, "Aren't any of you even a little curious?".

"Well, if you're so worried that somebody's onto you, why don't you and Damon just leave town" Stefan told Brayden.

Brayden gave Stefan a mock smile, "Now why would we do anything that you tell us to do? Don't forget Stefan, you're the younger brother, not us, you should listen to us, not the other way around".

"Agreed" Damon said, "Also, we should all be worried about that compass".

"Hey, I'm hungry, do you have anything to eat?" Vicki asked, interrupting the brothers.

Stefan got up from his seat and walked over to his table, grabbing a cup, he handed it to Vicki, "Here".

"What is it?" Vicki asked, looking into the cup in confusion.

"It's what you're craving" Stefan replied.

Damon scoffed, "Don't lie to the girl, it's so not what you're craving, but it'll do in a pinch, right Stef?".

"What is it?" Vicki asked.

"Probably Bambi" Brayden replied.

"Go on, give it a try" Stefan urged, ignoring his brothers.

"She's new" Damon reminded, "She needs people blood, she can't sustain on that stuff".

"Mm, yeah, why can't I have people blood?" Vicki asked.

"Because my brother believes that every vampire on his earth struggles with their bloodlust" Brayden replied, "Spoiler alert brother, we are not all like you, some of us, like myself and Damon, actually have control over our bloodlust, and if you want Vicki here to be a semi decent vampire, you need to expose her to the bloodlust and help her control it, not turn her into you".

"I'm not turning her into me, Brayden" Stefan snapped, "I'm teaching her that it's wrong to prey on innocent people".

"You don't have to kill to feed, just find someone really tasty and then erase their memory afterwards, it's so easy" Damon said, causing Vicki to giggle.

"No, no, no" Stefan disagreed, "There's no guarantee that you can control yourself, okay? It takes years to learn that, you could easily kill somebody, then you have to carry that with you for the rest of your life, which if I haven't made clear is eternity".

"Don't listen to him, he walks on a moral plane way out of our eyeline" Damon said.

"You want to know how to be a good vampire?" Brayden asked, "Then learn how to snatch, eat, and erase".

"Hey, look at me" Stefan said, taking Vicki's attention off of Brayden, "We choose our own path, our values and our actions, they define who we are".

Brayden rolled his eyes, he went to say something sarcastic, when his phone beeped.

From Princess 👑: I've reached the Grill, you and Damon coming or not?

To Princess 👑: On our way!

Brayden showed Damon his phone, Damon nodded and both the brothers stood up.

"Okay, Count Deepak" Damon said, "We are out of here".

Brayden and Damon walked out of Stefan's room, letting their younger brother deal with Vicki on his own.

As Brayden and Damon were walking down the stairs, the doorbell rang.

Brayden opened the door and groaned seeing Elena on the other side, "What do you want?".

Elena frowned hearing Brayden's harsh tone, "Is Stefan here?".

"Yep" Damon replied.

"Where is he?" Elena asked.

"And good morning to you, Little Miss I'm-on-a-Mission" Damon greeted.

Elena glared at the twins infront of her, "How can you both be so arrogant and glib after everything that you've done?".

"And how can you be so brave and stupid to call two vampires arrogant and glib?" Damon asked.

"If you any of you wanted me dead, I'd be dead" Elena retorted.

"Yes, you would" Damon said.

"But I'm not" Elena said, a smug look on her face.

"Correction, our little brother has stopped us from killing you, don't ever think that it means we don't want you dead, because trust me, I would very much like to kill you" Brayden said, causing Elena's smug look to fall.

"What have I ever done to you?" Elena snapped.

"You existed, Elena" Brayden replied, walking out the door, but not before harshly bumping his shoulder into Elena's.

Elena quickly composed herself and turned to the older twin, "Where is Stefan?".

"He's upstairs" Damon replied, "Singing, The Rain in Spain, knock yourself out".

Damon walked after Brayden, who he knew was very capable of leaving him behind if he made him wait too long, leaving Stefan to deal with not only Vicki but also Elena.

***

Damon and Brayden entered the Grill, and saw Caroline waiting for them on one of the tables.

Brayden walked behind Caroline, "Do you happen to have a band-aid? Cause I scraped my knees falling for you".

Caroline chuckled, "God, where do you get all these pickup lines from?".

"Out of his ass" Damon replied, sitting down.

"Don't be jealous brother" Brayden said, also sitting down.

"What am I jealous of exactly?" Damon asked.

"That I have better flirting skills then you" Brayden replied.

"So you admit that you flirt with Blondie?" Damon asked, making Brayden glare at him.

"I will punch you" Brayden threated.

"You didn't deny it" Damon teased.

"Food" Caroline suddenly interrupted, "We should order some food, I'm going to go order some food".

Before Damon or Brayden could say anything, Caroline quickly stood up and went to order some food.

"Look what you did" Brayden said, "You embarrassed her".

"I didn't embarrass her, I embarrassed you" Damon retorted.

Brayden opened his mouth to say something, when both the brothers saw Mayor Lockwood sit near them, talking to his wife about a certain news anchor.

"We never should've trusted that Logan--weasel with the watch" Mayor said, making Damon and Brayden exchange a look.

"How many are we dealing with?" Carol Lockwood asked.

"Well the coroner thinks one, something about the wound radius and the jaw pattern--".

"Are we in danger?" Carol interrupted, "If it found the watch, then it knows we know, and could it come after us? And should I even be saying it? Or is it a he or a she?".

"If it has any historical knowledge of  the town, then it'll know where the watch came from, so yes, we could very much be in danger" Mayor replied.

"So, what do we do?" Carol asked.

"Just keep it quiet" Mayor replied, "We can't have the entire town aware of this, we have to find it before it finds us".

"I bought curly fries" Caroline said, coming and sitting back on her seat, "I bought a large one, figured we could share", Caroline frowned seeing the brothers worried looks, "What's wrong?".

"We might have a problem" Brayden replied.

"What?" Caroline asked.

"Come on" Brayden said, standing up, "I'll tell you on the way".

"But my curly fries" Caroline complained, as Brayden grabbed her hand and made her stand.

"Eat it on the way" Damon said, grabbing Caroline's fries and handing it to her.

Caroline sighed, "Fine".

And with that the two vampires and one human walked out the Grill.

***

"Okay, I've reached my locker, you can hang up now" Caroline teased.

"If I hang up on you, then I'm going to have to talk to Damon, and I'd rather not do that" Brayden said, through the phone.

"I heard that!" Damon yelled.

"You were meant to!" Brayden yelled back.

Caroline chuckled at the twins, "Well, as much as I would love to keep talking to you, I have class soon".

Brayden sighed, "Fine, I'll see you later then?".

"At the school Halloween party" Caroline reminded.

Brayden groaned, "Princess, no".

"Brayden, you went around telling everyone that you are my boyfriend, and as my so called boyfriend, you need to come to the Halloween party with me" Caroline said.

"If this is what your like when we are pretending to be dating, I don't even want to know what you will be like when we actually start dating" Brayden teased.

"What makes you think we are ever going to actually date?" Caroline teased, trying not to let Brayden know how much his words were affecting her.

"I can see the future" Brayden replied simply.

Caroline opened her mouth to retort, when Bonnie walked over to her.

"Hey, there you are" Bonne said.

"Here I am" Caroline said, giving Bonnie a small smile.

"So did you bring it?" Bonnie asked.

Caroline sighed, "As per your request, I have gotten your Halloween costume".

Caroline handed Bonnie the bag with her costume, Bonnie took it out and realised Caroline had gotten her a witch costume, "Seriously?".

"That's the best I could find in such a short amount of time you gave me" Caroline defended, "And can someone please be excited that it's Halloween? First Brayden and now you, I just wanna have fun, you know just some silly, fluffy fun".

"Hey, who told you I wasn't excited for Halloween?" Brayden asked, making Caroline realise he was still on the phone.

"You don't have to tell me anything for me to know Brayden" Caroline replied.

"You're talking to Brayden?" Bonnie asked, Caroline nodded, "Alright, I guess I will wear your witch costume, I actually found this crystal that will go perfectly with it".

"Crystal?" Caroline asked confused.

Bonnie took out a familiar crystal from her pocket, "I found this on the Founder's party".

"Bonnie that's not yours" Caroline snapped, "That's Brayden and Damon's, they have been looking for it everywhere, give it to me".

Caroline tried to take the crystal from Bonnie, but she quickly put it away, "It's mine now Caroline, Brayden and Damon lost it, and remember the saying, finders keepers, losers weepers".

"You're stealing" Caroline snapped.

"I'm not stealing Caroline" Bonnie snapped, "And if this crystal is so important to your boyfriend and his brother, tell them to come take it themselves".

"Bonnie!" Caroline yelled, as Bonnie walked away from Caroline, "Dammit", Caroline looked down at her phone and realised Brayden was still on the call, "Brayden--".

"I heard" Brayden said, "Don't worry, me and Damon will take the crystal back from Bonnie, tonight, at the Halloween party".

***

Brayden entered his room, to see Vicki laying on his bed, staring at the ceiling.

"This room is off limits" Brayden snapped.

"I'm sorry" Vicki said, but made no effort in getting up, "I'm just contemplating the next hundred years".

"That's depressing" Brayden said.

"Why did your brother do this to me?" Vicki asked.

"I've been asking myself the same question" Brayden replied, "But if you want an honest answer, I think he was bored, he wanted to cause trouble".

"He did this to me out of boredom?" Vicki asked, shocked.

"Yeap" Brayden replied.

Vicki sat up, "Well, now I'm bored, all I can think about is blood, I just want some blood, I can't think about anything else, what is that about?".

"That's called bloodlust" Brayden replied, "It will get better, eventually, and it doesn't help that my brother has kept you in this house as a prisoner, I can help you if you want".

"How?" Vicki asked confused.

"Let's go" Brayden replied.

"Where?" Vicki asked.

"According to my brother, when you were alive your life was pathetic, that doesn't mean your life after death has to be pathetic as well" Brayden replied, "Follow me".

Vicki smiled and followed Brayden down the stairs, where they came across both Stefan and Damon.

"What are you doing?" Stefan asked Brayden.

"Taking her out for fresh air" Brayden replied.

"No, no, no" Stefan said, stopping Brayden from opening the front door, "Hey, hey, now's not the time for this".

"You're doing it wrong brother" Brayden said, "You're teaching her all the negatives about being a vampire, but what about all the positives?".

"She could hurt someone" Stefan snapped.

"Relax Stefan" Damon interjected, "Brayden's not taking her to Disneyland".

"Exactly" Brayden said, "It's just the front yard", Brayden opened the front door and gestured for Vicki to follow, "Let's go".

Vicki quickly ran out the door, followed by the three brothers.

"Bad idea, Brayden" Stefan said, worried.

"She's a vampire, Stefan, she should know the perks" Damon said.

"Like what?" Vicki asked, curious.

"Like this" Brayden replied, exchanging a look with his twin, quickly both the brothers used their speed to change places, with Brayden behind Vicki and Damon infront of her.

"Whoa, how did you both do that so quickly?" Vicki asked, amazed.

The twins didn't reply, instead did it again, with Brayden now infront of Vicki and Damon behind her.

Vicki laughed in amazement, "Come on, Vicki, live a little, no pun intended" Damon said.

Vicki ran towards the trees, all three brothers waited for her to come back, but she didn't return.

"That will my bad" Brayden said, nonchalantly, realising Vicki had used this opportunity to run away, Stefan glared at him in annoyance.

***

"You didn't try at all" Caroline complained, getting out of the car.

"What do you mean?" Brayden asked, "I am dressed as me".

"Dressing as yourself isn't a Halloween costume, Brayden" Caroline complained, looking at Brayden who was dressed in his usual leather jacket.

"I don't know Princess, I can be very scary when I want to be" Brayden teased, "Isn't that the whole point of Halloween, wear something scary, what's more scary then me?".

"It's like I'm talking to a brick" Caroline complained, "And where's Damon?".

"At the Grill, keeping an eye on the Lockwoods, he will be here soon, hopefully" Brayden replied, "Also I didn't dress up because I didn't want to take away from your costume".

"That's a horrible excuse" Caroline said.

"What's with the witch costume anyways?" Brayden asked.

"I didn't have time to buy a good costume, so when I went to buy Bonnie's costume, I also bought mine" Caroline replied.

"I see it" Brayden said, "You being the wicked witch of the west".

Caroline slapped Brayden's shoulder, "You're being mean".

Brayden chuckled, "I'm sorry, that was not my intention".

"No, your intention is just to get on my nerves tonight" Caroline said.

"You're right, as soon as I stepped out of the house, I knew I had to get on your nerves somehow" Brayden teased.

"I no longer have any wish to talk to you" Caroline said, trying to walk away from Brayden, but he quickly held her wrist and pulled her against him.

"I'm sorry" Brayden said, genuinely.

"Caroline" Tyler said, walking over to the trio and interrupting Caroline and Brayden.

"Hey, Tyler" Caroline greeted.

"I bought you the Lockwood special" Tyler said, handing a cup to Caroline.

"Yes please" Caroline said, taking the cup from Tyler, "I am going  to drink until someone is hot enough to make out with".

Tyler looked between Brayden and Caroline in confusion, "I thought you both were dating each other".

"We are" Brayden said, "She's just mad that I didn't dress up, but don't you worry, if there's anyone Caroline's making out with tonight, it's me".

"We will see" Caroline said.

"Don't challenge me, Princess" Brayden said.

"I am not making out with you tonight, no matter what you do" Caroline said.

"We will see" Brayden said.

"Oh we will" Caroline said, chugging the Lockwood's special down.

Tyler laughed at Caroline's actions, "Okay, I will leave you two to do your thing".

***

"Unbelievable" Caroline snapped, seeing Damon make his way towards her and Brayden, "You didn't dress up either".

"What do you mean?" Damon asked, "I dressed as me".

"Brayden said the same thing" Caroline snapped, "And I will tell you the same thing I told him, dressing as yourself, isn't a Halloween costume".

"Yes it is" Brayden and Damon said simultaneously.

"I need alcohol" Caroline said.

"Oh dear, we've driven her to drink, brother" Damon mocked.

Brayden chuckled, "Seems like it".

Caroline glared at the twins, she turned around to leave, when her eyes landed on Bonnie, who was standing near the candy bowl.

"Guys" Caroline said, gaining the twins attention, "I found Bonnie".

Brayden and Damon followed Caroline's eye of sight and they also saw Bonnie.

"Stay here" Brayden told Caroline, "We will be right back".

Caroline nodded and both Damon and Brayden made their way over to Bonnie.

"Bonnie" Brayden said, gaining the Bennett's attention, "I believe you have something of ours".

Bonnie looked at the twins, then down at the necklace around her neck, "If you're here to take it back, then don't even try, I'm not returning it".

"You know that's ours, don't you?" Damon asked.

"Not anymore" Bonnie replied.

"Funny" Damon said, "We'd like it back".

"I'm not giving it to any of you" Bonnie snapped.

"Why not?" Brayden asked, "You told Caroline that if we want that back, to tell you ourselves, so here we are telling you ourselves, we want our crystal back".

"I can't give it back to you" Bonnie snapped, "My Grams told me that this is our family heirloom, it belonged to my ancestor, I'm not letting you both have something that belonged to my family".

"Okay, I'm done playing nice" Brayden said, trying to yank the necklace from Bonnie's neck, but he couldn't as the necklace ended up burning him.

Bonnie looked at the twins, a panicked expression on her face, before the brothers could do anything else, Bonnie quickly ran away.

"Brayden" Caroline said, running to the twins, "Are you okay? What just happened?".

"It seems the witch is tapping into her magic" Brayden replied.

Before Caroline can ask anymore questions, Damon's phone started ringing.

"What?" Damon asked.

"I need yours and Brayden's help" Stefan replied.

***

Brayden and Damon made their way over to where Stefan told them Vicki's dead body was, apparently Vicki ended up losing control and tried to attack Jeremy and Elena which caused Stefan to stake her.

"You should go, we got this" Damon told Elena, who was kneeling by Vicki's dead body.

"You did this, this is your fault" Elena snapped, standing up.

"You confuse me for someone with remorse" Damon said.

Elena tried shoving Damon, but failed, she tried slapping him, but Damon held her hand.

"None of this matters to me, none of it" Damon snapped.

"People die around both of you, how could it not matter?" Elena asked the twins, "It matters, and you both know it".

Elena tried to slap Damon again, but Brayden seeing that coming, quickly held her hand.

"Enough" Brayden snapped, "You need to get out of here, your wounds are bleeding, leave before I lose my control".

Elena glared at the two brothers, but nonetheless walked away, leaving the brothers alone to deal with Vicki's body.

***

"I'll do it" Brayden said, walking up the Gilbert porch, having heard Elena tell Stefan to erase Jeremy's memory of losing Vicki, but Stefan refusing due to his diet.

"Why would you help my brother?" Elena asked confused.

"I know the pain of losing your first love Elena" Brayden replied, "And I wouldn't want even my worst enemy to feel that kind of pain, specially a fifteen year old, that kind of pain ruins you".

Elena nodded in understanding, she turned to Stefan, "It's what I want".

"What do you want him to know?" Brayden asked.

"I want you to tell him that Vicki left town, and she's not coming back" Elena replied, "That he shouldn't look for her or worry about her, he's gonna miss her, but he knows it's for the best".

Brayden nodded and went inside to compel Jeremy.

***

After compelling a distraught Jeremy, Brayden stepped out of the Gilbert house, the expression on his face let his brother and Elena know, that Brayden didn't enjoy compelling Jeremy.

"It's done" Brayden informed, "Jeremy only knows what you wanted him to know".

Elena nodded and quickly ran into her house, leaving Stefan and Brayden alone.

"Are you okay?" Stefan asked Brayden, knowing Jeremy losing Vicki, reminded Brayden of him losing Kaitlynn.

"Don't pretend you care" Brayden replied, starting to walk away.

"What you did today, was very selfless, you did something without asking for anything in return" Stefan said, stopping Brayden, "I guess I was wrong, the brother I once knew, is still somewhere in there".

Brayden looked at Stefan, and without saying anything, walked away.

***

Caroline was laying on her bed, when someone knocked on her window.

Caroline quickly jumped out of bed, and opened the window, knowing all to well who it would be.

"Hey" Caroline smiled, letting Brayden into her room.

Brayden gave Caroline a small smile, and quietly went and laid on her bed.

"Are you okay?" Caroline asked, frowning seeing Brayden's upset face.

"Vicki's dead" Brayden informed.

"What?" Caroline asked shocked.

"She lost control and nearly killed Elena and Jeremy, so Stefan had to stake her" Brayden replied.

"Does Matt know?" Caroline asked, realising now the Donovan boy had no one left.

"No" Brayden replied, "Me and Damon took care of her body, and I compelled Jeremy to forget about her death".

"Why would you do that?" Caroline asked confused.

"Because I've been in his shoes" Brayden replied, "I've lost my first love, and losing her broke me Caroline, Jeremy is just a fifteen year old boy, I didn't want him to go through that, it's not something you ever get over".

Caroline laid next to Brayden and turned to her side to face him, "Sometimes you make me realise that I might not know the real Brayden as much as I think I do".

Brayden sighed and faced Caroline, "You know me better then anyone".

"I do?" Caroline asked.

"Yes you do" Brayden assured.

Caroline sighed, "It's just, I never thought that you could be so nice and understanding".

"I'm not nice Caroline" Brayden said.

"If you weren't nice, then you wouldn't have helped Jeremy out" Caroline said.

"I'm tired, let's go to bed" Brayden said, changing the subject.

"Are you ever going to sleep in your own bed?" Caroline teased.

"No, I like your bed, it's very comfy" Brayden replied, closing his eyes.

Caroline chuckled, "Goodnight Brayden".

Caroline turned her back to Brayden and closed her eyes.

Brayden wrapped his arm around Caroline's waist, "Goodnight Princess".

***

Presenting 1x07 of The Vampire Diaries. . .

How was the chapter?

Thoughts on Damon teasing Brayden about him flirting with Caroline?

Thoughts on Bonnie refusing to return the crystal to Damon and Brayden?

Thoughts on Caroline being annoyed at Damon and Brayden for not dressing up for Halloween?

Thoughts on Brayden compelling Jeremy to forget about Vicki's death?