16. 1912

Damon entered Stefan's room, where he saw his youngest brother sitting on his desk, writing in his diary while rapidly taping his daylight ring on the table.

"Dear diary, a chipmunk asked me my name today, I told him it was Joe" Damon mocked, "That lie will haunt me forever".

"What do you want?" An annoyed Stefan asked.

"I was hoping me, you and Bray could hang, you know a little brother-bonding" Damon replied, "I mean, I know we don't actually hang out, we team up, we join forces activate our wonder triplets powers".

"First of all, wonder triplets, not a thing" Brayden said, entering Stefan's room, "Third of all, I currently don't like either of you so I'd rather not hang out with you two, third of all", Brayden turned to Stefan, "I ran of bourbon in my room and I'm too lazy to go downstairs so I'm stealing yours".

Stefan rolled his eyes but nonetheless pointed towards the bourbon, he then turned to Damon, "What are you doing?".

"Digging up clues" Damon replied, going through the bookshelf in which Stefan kept all his journals, while Brayden poured himself a drink, "Most of the originals are gone, but now we have a whodunit in town, hey remember when we came back for Zachariah's funeral?".

"Vaguely" Stefan replied.

"I've attended too many funerals in this town, you can't expect me to remember every single one of them" Brayden said, downing his drink.

"Why are you asking?" Stefan asked, slightly confused.

"If memory serves, he wasn't the first Founder's Council member killed that year, or even that month" Damon said.

"Where are you taking this exactly?" Brayden asked confused.

"I'm trying to remember what year it was" Damon replied.

"1912" Stefan informed.

"So much for vaguely" Damon teased.

"Of course he remembers that year, that's the year he went of the rails because of you" Brayden said, giving Damon a mock smile, who in turn rolled his eyes and grabbed Stefan's journal from 1912 and threw it at Brayden, who easily caught it.

"1912, or as I like to call it, the last time Mystic Falls had a serial killer on its hands" Damon told his brothers, as all three of them went down memory lane and remembered the first time they came back to Mystic Falls after being turned.

Mystic Falls, 1912

Stefan leaned against a tree and watched the townspeople enter the Salvatore crypt and pay their respect to Zachariah Salvatore.

"I'm sorry for your loss, Mr. Salvatore" a woman told Stefan, walking over to him with her friend, "I'm told you're a distant cousin of Zachariah?".

"His nephew, actually, Miss..?".

"Lockwood, Marianna Lockwood, and this is my friend, Samantha Gilbert" Marianna introduced.

"As in Johnathan Gilbert?" Stefan asked.

"My late grandfather" Samantha informed, "Did you know him?".

"Crossed paths" Stefan simply said, "I'm sorry, I don't mean to be inappropriate, but no one seems to be willing to discuss the details of Zachariah's death".

The two woman exchanged an uneasy look, then turned back to Stefan, "He was murdered" Samantha revealed, "And he wasn't the first".

"Samantha, don't be a gossip" Marianna scolded.

"Why not?" Samantha asked, "He should know, he's a founding family like us", Samantha looked at Stefan, "Be careful Mr. Salvatore, it's not a good time to be a founder in this town".

Once Samantha and Marianna walked away, Stefan turned when he heard crows, turning around he saw two crows sitting on top of two graves.

"Have you been eating the relatives again?".

Stefan turned to face the voice, only to come face to face with his two older brothers, who he hadn't seen since they had turned into vampires.

"Damon, Brayden" Stefan greeted, a small smile forming on his face.

"Long time no see, brother" Brayden said, giving Stefan a small nod.

"It's been almost fifty years" Stefan reminded, "I'm surprised either of you came".

"And miss the funeral of...? What do you call him, Uncle Zachariah?" Damon asked.

"Yeah, not calling him that" Brayden stated, shaking his head.

Stefan observed his brothers for a moment, "I see you two are still mad at me" he realised.

"Why would we be mad at you, Stefan?" Damon asked, "You made us into vampires, now me and Bray walk the world drinking other people's blood".

"Any chance one of you took it all out on our nephew Zachariah?" Stefan asked.

"Killing family members isn't our thing Stefan, it's yours" Brayden replied, "So shouldn't we be asking you that?".

"May our father rest in peace" Damon said.

"More like rest in hell" Brayden retorted.

"I'm not like that anymore" Stefan informed his brothers.

"Well congratulations, Stefan" Damon said, "Now if you'll excuse us we'd like to live out our eternal existence as far away from you as possible".

Damon and Brayden turned to leave, but Stefan stopped them, "Wait!" he called out, "Let's grab a drink, catch up", Damon and Brayden faced their brother, "I've missed my brothers".

Damon and Brayden looked at each other, then back at Stefan, "Why the hell not?" Brayden finally said.

"What do you say, brothers?" Damon asked, once all three of them had come out of memory lane, "You wanna go get drink?".

"Ah" Stefan said chuckling, "I get it, you're bored, your best friend's in jail, the one person who tolerates you, currently can't stand you, and you don't have anything better to do with yourself".

"Bingo" Brayden said, "Also Stefan, it's not only Damon I currently can't stand, you are also in that list".

"Well, there is that, and I was hoping you two could help me solve a murder" Damon said, gaining his brothers attention.

***

"So, what does a medical examiner, Bill Forbes and Alaric Saltzman have in common?" Damon asked his brothers, as they sat on the bar in Mystic Grill, with Brayden in the middle and Damon and Stefan on either side.

"Okay, what's with the tapping?" Brayden snapped, as Stefan once again started tapping his ring on to the hard surface.

"Nothing" Stefan said, stopping his tapping.

"You know, quitting blood cold-turkey after a ripper binge probably not the best approach" Damon said, "Every time you play that all or nothing game, you eventually leave a trail of bodies, so I'm thinking now is a good time to pay our old friend moderation a visit".

"You are the last person who gets to talk about moderation, Damon" Brayden said, pouring a drink and sliding it over to Stefan, "Here, keep drinking, it'll help", Stefan gave Brayden a thankful nod and downed the drink, Brayden then turned to Damon, "The people you named, the common thing about them is that they are all on the founder's council".

"But why them, huh?" Damon asked, "Brain Walters and Alaric weren't from founding families, I mean, hey, if you gotta slaughter council members, go A-list, at least in 1912, they killed a Salvatore".

"Which Salvatore would be that be?" Rebekah asked, walking over to the brothers.

"Ugh, no" Brayden groaned in annoyance, "I don't have it in me to deal with mini Klaus".

"Welcome to the club" Stefan said, sliding Brayden a drink, who gladly downed it.

***

"So, Zachariah Salvatore was your nephew?" Rebekah asked, sitting next to Stefan.

"Our father knocked up one of the maids during the Civil War, she had a son" Damon informed, "But as far as everyone else knew, Stefan, Brayden and I were dead, the family name had to go somewhere".

"And your family owned the logging mills back then?" Rebekah asked curiously, making the brothers look at her confusion, wondering why she was asking that.

"You're full of a lot of questions" Damon commented.

"Just researching the town history, I grew up here, after all" Rebekah defended.

"Yeah, I'll tell you this now, none of us buy that crap" Brayden said, taking a sip of his drink.

"You know, you don't have to disguise your true motives, bonny Beks" Damon said, "If you want more sex, just ask for it".

"Not enough liquor in the world" Rebekah said, stealing the bourbon bottle.

"Hey!" Brayden complained.

"Oh come on, it was too good for you to be this hostile" Damon teased.

"Can you not?!" Brayden said, "I don't want to hear about your sex life".

"You'll have to excuse my little brothers" Damon told Rebekah, "One's jonesing for some o-positive and the other has been away from a certain blonde for too long".

Stefan mocked laughed, "I'm not jonesing" he said.

"Are you sure Brayden is missing Caroline and not Kol?" Rebekah asked Damon.

"Trust me, Brayden is only this grumpy when he's away from Caroline" Damon replied.

"Oh maybe, Brayden is mad about last night" Brayden snapped, "You know, when both my brothers kept me in the freaking dark and betrayed my trust, remember that Damon?".

Damon and Stefan looked at each other, both of them had decided to use this brother bonding as an opportunity to fix things with their brother, but they didn't want to do that infront of Rebekah so they realised they had to wait a bit longer to fix things with Brayden.

"So did they ever catch the killer?" Rebekah asked, bringing Stefan and Damon back to the conversation.

"No, wrote it all off on the vampires" Damon replied.

"Maybe it was a vampire" Rebekah said, looking at Damon.

"Yeah" Stefan said, "Yeah, maybe it was a vampire, Damon".

"Don't think for a second you didn't cross mine and Brayden's mind too, brother" Damon said.

"But since their heads weren't ripped off, we figured it wasn't you" Brayden said, taking a sip of his drink.

"Plus there were no other vampires circulating then" Damon said.

"That's a lie" Brayden said.

"Brayden's right, there was one other vampire" Stefan reminded Damon.

"Sage" Brayden remembered, "Another person I didn't like, but Damon loved".

"I didn't love her" Damon defended, "She was great sex though".

"You listened to her, and then you tried to get Stefan to listen to her teachings, despite me warning you not to do that, but when have you ever listened to anything logical" Brayden mocked.

"Maybe you two have had enough" Stefan said.

"Hit a man when he's done" Damon said, as Stefan snatched the bottle of alcohol from him and took a sip.

"I want to go see a fight" Brayden said, walking towards the tent in which a fight was happening, both of his brothers following.

Entering the tent, the three brothers saw a man being beaten up by a woman.

"Who's next?" she asked, after knocking the man out, "One hundred dollars to any man who can beat me".

"How much do I have to pay for you to fight her?" Brayden asked Damon.

"I'm not an idiot Brayden" Damon replied.

"That's debatable" Brayden retorted.

"I can teach you two how to survive without human blood, you know" Stefan said, turning the playful mood foul.

"You do not get to lecture us on how to live our lives" Damon snapped, "Not anymore".

After Damon walked away, Brayden patted Stefan's shoulder, "Here's a friendly advice Stef, live your life the way you want but don't try to impose it on us, because then me and Damon will get angry and end up ruining your life, which I don't want to do, since I'm kind of enjoying this whole brother bonding thing we have going on tonight".

Brayden walked away from Stefan after spotting a girl he found pretty enough to eat.

"I knew a Sage once, trashy little thing" Rebekah said.

"You two really think it was Sage killing all those founders back then?" Damon asked his brothers, ignoring Rebekah.

"Town questioned every grown man in Mystic Falls" Stefan replied.

"Those idiots probably thought a woman could never commit murder" Brayden said, shaking his head.

***

"So, tell me more about your old relatives" Rebekah said, "I heard they tore down half the woods to build this town".

"You're asking too many questions about our family" Brayden said, looking at Rebekah in suspicion.

As a new bottle of bourbon was placed infront of them, Rebekah tired to grab it but Damon grabbed it first, "Easy there, lushy-pants" he said, standing up, "It's been a hoot and a half, but it's boy's night and you weren't invited".

"Whoever wins darts pays for the drinks" Brayden stated, as the brothers walked over to the dart board.

"Deal" Damon said, while Stefan simply nodded.

***

"So let's just say Sage was killing everyone in 1912" Damon said, throwing a dart and hitting bullseye, "Who the hell is doing it now? It's not that psycho, Dr. Fell, she's a woman, there's no way she could stab three grown men", Damon threw another dart, which Rebekah ended up catching before it hit the dartboard.

"That's a bit sexist, a woman could easily kill a man" Rebekah said, "With the right motivation".

"For once, I agree with her" Brayden said, "Piss Kaitlynn, Fae and Caroline enough, they will easily murder all three of us".

"And all three of us will gladly die in their hands" Stefan mumbled.

"True that" Brayden said, clinking his glass with Stefan's.

"Those three are an expectation, if they can put up with us three, then they can do anything" Damon said.

"That is also true" Brayden said, knowing him and his brothers weren't easy people to love, especially not him.

Stefan then turned to Rebekah, "You just don't give up, do you?" he asked.

"So Brayden's grumpy because he's away from his two lovers, why are you so grumpy?" Rebekah asked Stefan, while Brayden rolled his eyes.

"Stefan's on a master cleanse" Damon revealed, "Trying to be a better man and all".

"For Fae" Brayden added.

"You know, you were a lot more fun in the 20s" Rebekah told Stefan.

"Don't rile him up, he's testy when he's being self-righteous" Damon warned.

"I'm not being self-righteous, Damon" Stefan snapped, "I'm not interested in slaughtering innocent human beings anymore".

"Oh, okay, fair enough" Damon said, "My mistake, you used to be self-righteous", Damon grabbed Stefan's diary and started reading from it, "Dear diary, Damon has lost his way but I still see my older brother Brayden in this new version of him, I guess Lexi was right, being a vampire didn't change Brayden, it just heightened everything. Though I have pulled my own life and I see Brayden has it down as well, Damon continues to waste his".

"Ouch" Rebekah said, snatching Stefan's diary from Damon, "His bitterness consumes him, he is nothing but blackness and bile", Rebekah looked at Stefan, "Ooh, judgey".

"Oh, this is fun" Stefan said, sarcastically.

Brayden snatched Stefan's diary from Rebekah and handed it back to him.

Rebekah shook her head at Brayden and then turned to Damon, "You know, if I'm being honest, you didn't seem like much fun either Damon".

"I wasn't, the woman I was in love with was stuck in a tomb and she wasn't getting out for a hundred years" Damon said.

"Out of all of us, Brayden was the only one who actually enjoyed being a vampire in the beginning" Stefan informed.

Brayden shrugged, "I mean, I was furious at Stefan for turning me against my will, but after knowing that Kaitlynn was alive and I could still be with her, I started remembering everything she taught me, then add Lexi's teaching, I realised I love everything about this life, I don't even mind the bloodlust, it just brought a new challenge in my life".

"You're weird" Rebekah commented.

"No, I just know how to enjoy life, I'm not like you or my brothers, who keeping thinking about what they could of have, not what they can have" Brayden retorted.

***

"That sounds like Sage, all right" Rebekah commented, after Damon recalled Sage teaching him on how to feed on women properly.

"How did you know her?" Damon asked curiously.

"She was obsessed with my brother Finn over nine hundred years ago" Rebekah informed.

"What?" Damon asked shocked, "Creepy suicidal guy?".

"Okay, stop" Brayden snapped, looking at Stefan who had once again started tapping his ring on the table, "Clearly this drinking thing isn't working".

"Alright" Stefan said, quickly standing up and grabbing his jacket, "You know what? I need to, I gotta get out of here".

"Stop" Brayden said, grabbing Stefan's arm before he could walk away, "Running away from your problems isn't going to help you Stefan".

"Why don't you get it, Brayden?!" Stefan snapped, "I'm freaking out, I'm ready to eat the entire wait staff".

"Trust me, I know" Brayden said, "What I don't know is that do you trust me?".

Stefan looked at his brother in confusion, "What?" he asked.

"I need to know that you trust me enough to let me help you" Brayden replied.

"You're going to help me?" Stefan asked, slightly shocked.

Brayden shrugged, "I am not you and Damon, I don't leave my brothers in the dust, so come on, let's get your hunger in check".

Brayden walked out the Grill and after a moment of hesitation Stefan also followed, along with Damon and Rebekah, all wondering how Brayden was going to help Stefan.

***

"So he doesn't want to drink human blood?" Rebekah asked Brayden and Damon, as they followed Stefan out of the Grill.

"Ah, he has an eternally guilty conscience" Damon replied.

"Funny, when I knew him in the 20s, he didn't have any conscience at all" Rebekah remembered, "It's one of the things, I liked most about him, he can't possibly think he can survive without feeding".

"You would be surprised to see how stubborn our brother really is" Brayden said.

"He's determined to live pursing one extreme or the other" Damon said, "Like Brayden said, our brother is a stubborn one".

Brayden shrugged, "We all are" he added, he then turned to Damon, "Don't say or do anything, I'm trying to help him and you're stupid comments won't help, they will just make things worse".

"What exactly are you up to?" Damon asked confused.

"I'm going to teach our brother how to snatch, eat and erase, something he should have learned to do when he first turned into a vampire" Brayden replied.

Brayden eyes then landed on a blonde girl coming out of her car, without wasting a second, Brayden quickly speeded infront of her, "Hey" he greeted.

"Hi" the girl greeted, smiling at Brayden.

"I'm really sorry about this, but I need you for my brother, so do me a favor, and don't scream" Brayden compelled the girl, he then bit into her neck and after drinking a little bit of her blood, he grabbed her and speeded infront of Stefan, "Eat" he said, shoving the girl towards Stefan.

"What are you doing?" Stefan asked confused, his breathing heavy, trying his very best not to attack the girl his brother shoved into his arms.

"Helping you" Brayden replied, "I've snatched, now all you need to is eat and erase".

"No" Stefan whispered, pushing the girl back into Brayden's arms.

"Relax, it's a little drink, I'm helping you here Stefan, it's high time you stop with the bunny diet, it's getting you nowhere" Brayden said, "Trust me, I won't let you kill her, hell I'll even heal her later on for you".

"Why are you doing this?" Stefan snapped, "You know what blood does to me".

"That because you let it control you, you always have" Damon said, standing next Brayden, "Bray and I are just here to help you learn to fight it".

"What he said" Brayden said, shoving the girl back into Stefan's arms, "Now drink".

Stefan started at the girls neck for a moment, the longer he stared at her, the more he felt his hunger take over, veins appeared underneath his eyes.

"That's it, Stefan" Damon encouraged.

"Stop fighting it" Brayden said, "Just bite".

And with that, Stefan bit into the girls neck, finally letting his hunger win.

Damon looked at Rebekah, "We got it from here, go ahead".

"The night's just getting started" Rebekah complained.

"Just leave" Brayden snapped.

"No one likes a lurker" Damon added.

"You two are real asses, you know?" Rebekah said.

"Trust me, we know" Brayden said, as Rebekah finally walked away.

"All right, that's enough, come on, you're gonna bleed her dry" Damon told Stefan.

Seeing their brother refusing to stop, Damon and Brayden looked at each other and gave each other a small nod, Brayden shoved Stefan away from the girl while Damon grabbed the girl before she could fall.

"Enough!" Brayden said, holding Stefan back and stopping him from attacking the girl again, after seeing his brother gain control, Brayden stepped back from him, "See? That wasn't so hard".

Damon bit into his wrist and fed the weak girl his blood, healing the bite wound on her neck.

After Damon had compelled the girl to forget everything that happened to her tonight, he turned to his brothers, "So, home?" he asked.

"Please" Brayden replied, "I've had enough of you two for one night".

Damon chuckled, "Deny it all you want Bray, but it won't change the fact that tonight was a great brother bonding experience for us".

Brayden shook his head and without saying anything else, walked away from his brother. Damon patted Stefan's shoulder and followed his twin, and after a moment Stefan also followed.

Unknown to the three brothers, the girls they loved had witnessed everything that had happened.

Kaitlynn, Caroline and Fae had decided to spend the night getting drunk at the Grill, while they were going there they passed the alleyway in which the brothers were and witnessed Brayden and Damon teaching their younger brother how to gain control over his hunger.

"You were right" Kaitlynn told Fae, "This time, it's not you whose going to help Stefan, it's going to be his brothers".

Fae smiled, "Yeap" she said, "This time things are different between them, this time their love for each other has overpowered any hatred there was between them".

"I don't think there was ever any hatred" Caroline said, "I think it was just stubbornness".

Kaitlynn nodded, "True" she agreed, "Now come on, the brothers have had their fun, now it's our turn".

"Yes, please" Caroline said, and with that the three girls walked towards the girls, with huge smiles on their faces, things between them and their respective others were still a bit tense but it made them happy that while they had each other as a support system, the brothers were also there for each other.

***

Brayden walked down the stairs, just as Damon entered the house, with Stefan sitting infront of the fireplace.

"They let Ric go" Damon informed his brothers, "Sheriff Forbes said she's out of suspects again, but Ric is in the clear".

Damon watched as Brayden quietly walked over to the drinks and poured himself one while Stefan kept staring at the fire.

Damon sighed and turned to his twin, "Bray, about last night" he started.

"Don't want to hear it" Brayden interrupted.

Brayden turned to leave but Damon quickly stepped in his way, stopping him from walking out.

"Last night wasn't about you getting hurt, that's the last thing both me and Stefan wanted, but we needed to save Fae" Damon explained.

"And what did you two think, that if you told me about Fae being in danger that I will just let her die?" Brayden asked, glaring at his brother.

"No" Stefan said, finally speaking, he stood up and faced his brothers, "We didn't think that because we didn't stop to think, we were impulsive, and in our impulse we hurt you, the last thing either of us wanted".

Brayden sighed, after a moment of silence, he spoke again, "I still want Klaus dead" he admitted, "I hate the guy with everything I have, but I don't want his family to die along with him, I don't want Kol to die, because none of them deserve that, he doesn't deserve that, if you two want my help in killing Klaus, then I'll help but as long as there is no collateral".

Damon and Stefan looked at each other then at their brother, both of them nodded in understanding.

"We kill Klaus, no one else" Stefan said.

Brayden gave his brothers a small smile, "Thank you" he said.

"Now that's out of the way" Damon turned to Stefan, "Let's talk about how well you did tonight, I mean, before you know it, you're gonna be the king of moderation, there's a road called recovery and we are on it".

Stefan looked at his older brothers, "Why do you two even care?" he suddenly asked.

"Why is it so hard for you to believe that we care about you?" Brayden asked Stefan, "That we actually want to help our little brother?".

"I don't need either of your help" Stefan replied.

"Didn't seem like that tonight" Brayden said, "Wether you want to admit it or not Stefan, the only reason you didn't kill that girl tonight was because of me and Damon".

"And do you remember the last time you said you didn't need mine or Brayden's help?" Damon asked.

"What are you talking about?" Stefan asked confused.

"He's talking about 1912" Brayden replied, "The year Damon tried to help you eat from humans but you ended up killing the human and when Damon and me tried to help you, like always you pushed us away".

"The Founder's Council killer had nothing on you" Damon continued, "By decade's end, they were calling you the Ripper of Monterey, we let you walk away, me and Bray watched you go over the edge and we didn't do anything to stop you".

"You couldn't have" Stefan said.

"Of course we could have" Brayden snapped, "Tonight proves that we could have helped you back then, but the difference is that then we didn't want to help you, but now, we can't let you suffer".

Damon glanced at Stefan and Brayden, "Whenever either of you go too far, I will be there to pull you both back" he said, "Every second, every day until neither of you don't need me".

"Why?" Stefan asked, slightly confused.

"Because right now, you two are all I've got" Damon admitted.

"Back at you" Brayden said, after a moment of silence, "It seems like I've pushed everyone away from me and the only people I couldn't are you two".

***

After their moment, Stefan went up to his room while Damon and Brayden stayed in the living room getting drunk. Currently, Damon was playing the piano while Brayden stared at the fire.

"So I dug into the old family archives from the early 1900s" Stefan informed, entering the living room.

"So now you want to be helpful?" Damon asked.

"Want me to go back to being not helpful?" Stefan retorted.

"What did you find from the archives?" Brayden asked curiously.

"Well, nothing from 1912" Stefan replied, "They never did arrest anyone for the Founders murders", Stefan placed a book infront of Damon, "But they did get a confession ten years later".

"They did?" Damon asked, standing up from his seat while Brayden walked over to his brothers, "Who?".

"Johnathan Gilbert's granddaughter, Samantha" Stefan revealed, immediately causing Brayden and Damon to exchange shocked looks, "They assumed she was crazy, locked her up in an insane asylum".

"Then what?" Damon asked.

"Trail ends there" Stefan replied, "I mean, she was a founder, you know how they like to look out for their own".

"Samantha Gilbert, that is very weird" Damon commented.

"Why?" Stefan asked confused.

"Because Damon killed Samantha Gilbert in 1912" Brayden revealed.

"Wait, so you two think Samantha Gilbert is still alive running around Mystic Falls, killing Founders?" Stefan asked his brothers.

"It's not possible, if she became a vampire, we'd know about it, right?" Damon asked.

"Well, then she must have had a ring that brought her back to life" Stefan concluded, "I mean, she was a Gilbert right, those rings were passed through generations".

"Still, that ring stops supernatural death, not natural" Brayden reminded, "Even if that ring did bring her back then, it couldn't have kept her alive till now".

"Johnathan Gilbert only made two of those rings" Stefan reminded, "Jeremy has one of them and the other is--".

Realisation crossed over all three brothers face, they finally figured out who was going around killing the founders council.

"Alaric's" Damon finished.

***

Presenting 3x16 of The Vampire Diaries . . .

How was the chapter?

Thoughts on the brothers bonding together?

Thoughts on 1912 flashbacks?

Thoughts on Brayden and Damon helping Stefan with his bloodlust?

Thoughts on the brothers figuring out that Alaric has been going around killing the founders council?