02. True Lies

Brayden and Caroline laid on the side of the quarry, listening to the peaceful sounds of the waterfall, Caroline put her head on Brayden's chest, listening to his heartbeat.

"You are one complex vampire, Brayden Salvatore" Caroline said, tracing shapes on Brayden's chest.

Brayden let out a small chuckle, his eyes still closed, "How so?".

"We're in your head right now, we could be anywhere in this world, doing whatever we want, and you decide to do this" Caroline said, she lifted her head up and looked down at her soulmate, "Why?".

Brayden opened his eyes and looked at Caroline, "Because the simple moments are the moments that truly matter" he said, "These few good and simple moments give me the strength to keep going, they stop me from falling apart".

Caroline gave Brayden a small smile, she then leaned down and kissed him and Brayden gladly kissed her back, once they broke apart, Caroline caressed Brayden's cheek, "You know this isn't reality, right?" she said, "This isn't going to last forever, Brayden".

Before Brayden could say anything to her, Caroline suddenly started coughing and gasping for air, immediately worrying Brayden, who sat up and tried helping Caroline who was now coughing out water.

"Caroline!" Brayden yelled, suddenly Brayden's eyes opened in reality, and he found himself back in the safe Silas had locked him up in, desperately trying to get out but failing everytime.

***

Kaitlynn entered her and Caroline's shared dorm room, "Megan's memorial seems to grow more and more everytime I see it" she told Caroline, who was busy packing Megan's things up.

"Ugh, college kids are so dramatic, she was on campus for, like, one day" Caroline complained, "She couldn't have made that many friends".

"Care, she's dead" Kaitlynn reminded, "Be a little sensitive".

"Ugh, sorry, I'm in a mood" Caroline said.

"You wanna talk about it?" Kaitlynn asked, knowing exactly why Caroline was in a mood, she's been in this bad mood the whole summer.

"No" Caroline said, "Because I know what you're going to say and honestly Kait, I don't want to hear it".

Kaitlynn sighed, "Caroline, till you get your closure from Brayden, you're not going to be able to move on, these moods you're in, they're going to keep coming back".

"I don't want closure from him" Caroline snapped, "I don't want anything from him, but I do want you to stop saying his name".

"Fine" Kaitlynn said, letting out a defeated sigh, "So, find anything while snooping in Megan's things? Did you talk to Elena about finding her dad's photo in Megan's phone?".

"I tried calling her but she won't answer my phone" Caroline informed.

"Seems like a lot of people don't want to answer our phone this year" Kaitlynn mumbled, "Anyways, I went to the hospital this morning to do some digging of my own and I got Megan's death certificate", Kaitlynn handed Caroline the file in her hand, "According to this, Megan committed suicide, no mention of the vampire bite on her neck, which means whoever made this death certificate is part of the cover up, just like the founder's council back in Mystic Falls".

"Dr. Wesley Maxfield?" Caroline read.

"Don't hate me, but Dr. Wesley Maxfield is now our applied microbiology professor" a sheepish Kaitlynn informed Caroline, knowing she won't like this.

"Applied what, what?" a shocked Caroline asked, "Uh, Kaitlynn, we are supposed to be taking intro to communication, what happened to getting drunk and making bad decisions about boys? What happened to our fun freshmen year at college? I am supposed to be a drama major".

"And you will be  a drama major" Kaitlynn assured, "This is very temporary, just till we figure out the truth behind Megan's death, look Caroline, I promise you that you will have the fun year at college that you have been dreaming about, I will make sure of it, but at the same time, we need to protect ourselves, it's clear that something is wrong, we need to figure it out before it lands us in deep trouble".

Caroline sighed and nodded her head, realising Kaitlynn was right, they needed to protect their secret especially if someone was plotting against them.

***

Damon and Stefan, who had made it back to Mystic Falls after finding out about his brother, met up with Liz at the quarry.

"Damon, Stefan, I want to find Brayden as much as you two do, but I can't dredge this entire quarry" Liz said, "It's enormous".

"We're aware of that, I mean clearly that's why we wanted to dump Silas's body here" Damon said, "Because it's big and deep and no one would find him, now, say I'm Silas, and I want to punish the person who played a part in me turning into stone, why wouldn't I dump him in a place that's big and deep where no one would find him?".

"Damon, I already agreed to hold off on telling anyone about the mayor's death until you figure this all out" Liz said, "But I can't devote all those resources to finding one person who may or may not be down there".

"But this is the place to start" Stefan said, "You don't get it Liz, if Brayden is down there, that means he has been there all summer, that's three months of drowning again and again, while Damon's been happily playing house with Kaitlynn, I've been too busy with my own sorrows to think about him and Caroline, his soulmate, has been hating him for something he didn't even do".

"Do we need to further elaborate the source of our urgency?" Damon asked, both him and Stefan feeling extremely guilty.

Liz sighed, "We need to tell Caroline about this" she said.

"We know" Stefan said, "But ever since me and Damon found out about this, the guilt has been eating at us, and we didn't even hate Brayden for leaving, but this whole summer, Caroline has spent hating Brayden, we want to tell her, but we're scared the guilt is going to end up destroying her".

"It will" Liz whispered, "Which is why she's going to need Brayden, so I'll get some deputies on it".

"Thank you, Liz" Damon said, as the sheriff walked away from them, just as his phone started ringing, taking it out of his pocket, he realised Jeremy was calling him, "Please tell me you found her".

"I didn't, but Matt did" Jeremy informed, Damon having assigned him to find Katherine because of Silas wanting her.

"Ah, how shockingly useful" Damon commented.

"She was mid-catfight with some lady who maced her" Jeremy informed, "We think Silas might have mind-controlled himself some new friends".

"How exactly did the Gilbert-Donovan brain trust put all that together?" Damon asked, "Never mind, it doesn't matter, just hide her, if Silas wants her bad enough to sic the whole town down on her, that means we want her more, stay out of sight, you're the last person Silas saw her with".

"Jeremy has Katherine?" Stefan asked, once Damon had hanged up on Jeremy.

Damon nodded his head in confirmation, "Jeremy has Katherine".

Stefan then looked at the quarry, "We're awful brothers, Damon" he said, after a moment of silence.

Damon also stared at the quarry, "This isn't your fault Stefan" he said, "You were going through something, Brayden will understand that, but I'm not sure he will forgive me for thinking he just walked out of our lives".

Stefan shook his head, "He is somewhere suffering much worse then I am, no excuse in this world will be enough to make it up to him".

"We can make it up to him" Damon said, "By finding him and helping him through whatever Silas did to him".

"You think he'll let us help him?" Stefan asked.

"I don't know" Damon admitted, "All I know is that I let him down once, I'm not going to do it again".

"Me neither" Stefan whispered.

***

Caroline and Kaitlynn entered their applied microbiology class, both of them feeling extremely out of place.

"Hey, blow-off girl" Jesse greeted, as Caroline and Kaitlynn walked past him, "Aren't you a freshman? How are you in this class?" he asked Caroline.

"What?" Caroline asked, "Um, heh, I love, applied microbiology, it's, like, my favorite biology, you know, little things are just so cute".

"Are you going to the bonfire tonight?" an amused Jesse asked, "Or are you just gonna get really close and then turn around and leave again?".

Kaitlynn chuckled, "Trust me, this time she won't leave".

"Sweet" Jesse said, smiling at Caroline, "We'll hang".

Caroline gave Jesse a small smile, she then pushed Kaitlynn towards their seats.

"What?" Kaitlynn asked, seeing the look Caroline was giving her, "You're the one who doesn't want to go look for Brayden, you're trying to move on, aren't you? I'm just helping, and from what I see, Jesse is extremely interested in you".

Caroline didn't say anything, simply gave Kaitlynn a look for annoyance, who in return simply smiled at her.

"Morning, everyone" Dr. Wesley Maxfield greeted, entering the classroom and closing the door behind him, "I'm Dr. Maxfield, first name is Wes, but call me Dr. Maxfield, one day, when you're out of med school, you'll understand, so you're all going to his bonfire tonight, right? Well, here's a quick history lesson for you, Whitmore was founded as a hospital during the civil war, the deadliest war in american history, over 600,000 casualties, disease was so prevalent that once a week they had to gather all the dead rotting bodies put them in a pile, and light the whole thing on fire, so tonight, when you're getting drunk and partying stop for a second, close your eyes and imagine the rancid smell of a hundred rotting corpses".

"Creep-e" a disgusted Caroline said.

"Which brings us to microbiology" Wes continued.

"Agreed" Kaitlynn said.

"Because that rancid smell comes from a very specific bacteria, isn't that right, chatty girls in the back?" Wes called out, putting Caroline and Kaitlynn on the spot, "And what is that bacteria?".

"We don't know" Kaitlynn admitted, hating being put on the spot like this.

"Maybe because you're freshman who shouldn't be in this class" Wes said, "How do I know? I'm observant, a skill you'll learn in bio 101, down the hall".

***

"I hated it so much" Kaitlynn told Damon over the phone.

"You want me to beat him up?" Damon asked.

"If I say yes will you come to Whitmore?" Kaitlynn asked.

"For the right price, yes" Damon teased.

"Well, name your price Mr. Salvatore, and then I'll think about it" Kaitlynn chuckled.

"Give me sometime, I'll think of the perfect price" Damon said.

Kaitlynn laughed, "Can't wait" she said, as she was walking her eyes suddenly landed on a familiar face, "Stefan?".

"What?" a confused Damon asked, wondering why Kaitlynn said Stefan's name.

"Damon, Stefan's back" an excited Kaitlynn informed, "He's right infront of me".

"What?" Damon repeated, this time out of shock, he looked to the side of the quarry and saw Stefan there, making him realise it wasn't Stefan with Kaitlynn, it was Silas.

"Turn off your phone" Silas told Kaitlynn, using his mind control on the Pierce vampire.

"Kaitlynn? Whoa, that is not S--", but before Damon could inform Kaitlynn who was actually infront of her, she hanged up on him.

***

"I know you're upset that I didn't call, so I just wanted to apologise in person" Silas, pretending to be Stefan, told Kaitlynn.

"You don't have to apologise to me" Kaitlynn assured, pulling who she thought was Stefan into a hug, "I'm just glad that you're okay", she then broke the hug, "I was worried something horrible happened to you".

"Well, something horrible did happen to me, your best friend left me" Silas said, "Can't blame me for needing a little bit of space".

Kaitlynn sighed, "I don't blame you Stefan, I get it, I just wish things weren't the way they currently are".

"You and me both" Silas said.

"Anyways, tell me how you spent your summer?" Kaitlynn asked, "I want to know everything".

"Oh, it's not important" Silas replied, "I'm sure Damon will fill you in eventually about me and Brayden".

"Brayden?" a shocked Kaitlynn asked, "Damon knows something about Brayden? Because I was just on the call with him and he said nothing about him".

"Oh, weird" Silas said, "Maybe he has his hands full with the whole, you know, Katherine situation".

"Katherine situation?" a confused Kaitlynn asked, "As in my sister Katherine?".

"Oh, it's not a big deal" Silas told Kaitlynn, "Elena just turned Katherine human".

"I'm sorry what?!" a shocked Kaitlynn yelled.

"Yeah, Kathrine tried to kill Elena, who had somehow stolen the cure from us and she ended up feeding it to Katherine, and then Damon kicked her out of the boarding despite knowing that she was weak and needed his help to survive" Silas explained.

"Why the hell did I not know about any of this?!" an angry Kaitlynn asked, "Where the hell is my sister now?".

"That's why I'm here, I was hoping maybe you'd know, last I heard was that Jeremy was taking her somewhere out of town because of Damon" Silas said.

Kaitlynn scoffed, "Unbelievable" she whispered, running her hand through her hair, a frustrated expression on her face.

***

After leaving Stefan in charge of looking for Brayden, a panicked Damon barged into Kaitlynn and Caroline's dorm room, needing to make sure Silas hadn't done anything to Kaitlynn, where he found Caroline standing infront of their floor length mirror, in nothing but a towel.

"Damon!" a shocked Caroline yelled, turning around and facing the oldest Salvatore, "Towel, knock".

"Caroline, no one cares, no" Damon stated, looking around the dorm room but finding no sign of his girlfriend anywhere, "Hey, where's Kaitlynn?".

"I don't know" Caroline replied, "She probably went to the bonfire to get more intel on our weirdo professor".

"Silas is here, he's with Kaitlynn, pretending to be Stefan, get dressed" Damon revealed.

"I thought that before leaving Brayden dropped his body in the quarry" a confused Caroline said, wondering how could Silas be here.

"Join the club, get dressed" Damon said, picking Caroline's clothes up from her bed and tossing it to her, still not telling her about Silas having done something to Brayden.

Caroline caught her clothes and took a second to observe Damon's expression, "Damon, you're hiding something, what is it?" she asked, "What's going on?".

Damon sighed, he knew there was no point hiding it now, "Caroline, Brayden never sent you that break up text, that was sent by Silas".

Caroline looked at Damon in shock, "No" she whispered, shaking her head, refusing to believe she spent the summer hating Brayden for something he didn't do, "You're lying, you're just trying to save your brother".

"I'm not lying Caroline" Damon said, "The night Brayden went to dump Silas's body in the quarry, something went wrong with Fae's spell and Silas ended up coming back to life, and he did something to Brayden".

"What?" an extremely guilty Caroline whispered, tears welling in her eyes, "What did he do to Brayden?".

"I don't know" Damon whispered, "All Silas said that this whole summer, while we've spent hating Brayden, he has spent it suffering".

"Oh, my god" Caroline cried, her hand going over her mouth, "I'm such an awful soulmate, Kaitlynn was right this whole time, all summer, she's had this pit in her stomach about Brayden".

"What?" Damon asked, Kaitlynn not having told him this.

"She kept telling me something was wrong with him but I ignored her" Caroline whispered, "God, I am such an awful person, this whole summer I've been cursing Brayden, for something he hasn't even done, oh my god, what have I done?!".

"Caroline, right now is not the time to panic" Damon said, "Just put some clothes on and meet me out there, we have to find Kaitlynn and then I promise you, we will find Brayden as well".

Caroline looked at Damon with teary eyes and nodded her head, first she's going to find her best friend and then she's not going to stop till she found her soulmate.

***

The sun had set and most of the college students were now spending their night drinking around the bonfire.

"Why would Silas want to hurt her?" a confused Caroline asked, as her and Damon looked around the bonfire for Kaitlynn.

"Because he wants to hurt me" Damon replied.

"You know, if you would have just told the truth, all of this could have been avoided" an angry Caroline said, angry that Damon didn't tell her the moment he found out about Brayden being in trouble.

"Gee, thanks, Caroline, your hindsight is invaluable in this situation" Damon said, "It's not like I was trying to protect you or anything".

"Protect me?" Caroline asked, "What exactly were you protecting me from?".

"The guilt of not realising that while you spent the summer hating on Brayden, he spent it somewhere in pain" Damon snapped.

"I wasn't the only one who didn't realise" Caroline argued.

"Don't you think I know that?" Damon asked, "We all screwed up Caroline, big time, I don't even know if Brayden's going to forgive us for thinking that Brayden Salvatore, who cares the most about us, just randomly decided to abandon us".

Caroline sighed, "If he does hate us, he has a right to, I won't defend myself or stop him from hating me" she said, starting to walk again.

Damon went to follow Caroline, but he ended up bumping into someone.

"Watch where you're going, douche".

"Have you seen Kaitlynn Pierce?" Damon asked the guy he just bumped into.

"I have no idea who that is, and if I were her, I'd probably run from you too".

Damon glared at the man infront of him, "Wrong answer" he said, before grabbing him by the throat and starting to strangle him.

Caroline quickly pushed Damon away from the guy and immediately started to compel him, "Forget all this and get out of here", once the student had walk away, Caroline turned to Damon, "You have to calm down".

"He turned the entire town square into a hunting party for Katherine" Damon snapped, "How am I supposed to calm down when every single person here could be working for Silas?".

***

After much looking and finding no sign of Kaitlynn anywhere, a panicked Damon finally relaxed when he received a call from his girlfriend telling him to meet her at Caroline and her shared dorm room.

Damon entered the room and saw his girlfriend sitting on her bed, staring down at her hands.

"All right" Damon said, gaining Kaitlynn's attention, "Before you get mad--".

"Too late for that" Kaitlynn interrupted, looking up at her boyfriend, who was slightly shocked seeing the amount of anger in her eyes,  "I'm already mad Damon, I'm furious actually".

"Silas got into your head, didn't he?" Damon realised, preparing himself to fight his own girlfriend because of Silas.

Kaitlynn pulled out a wooden stake from her back pocket, she then stood up and glared at Damon, "I don't know what you're on about, I never came across Silas".

Damon sighed, "What did Stefan tell you to do?".

"Get you alone and then kill you" Kaitlynn revealed, lunging forward to attack Damon, but he quickly grabbed her wrist, he then span her and using her own hand made her stab herself in the stomach, immediately causing her to fall to the floor in pain, and for a few minutes breaking her out of Silas's control, Damon quickly kneeled by his girlfriend, making sure she was okay, Kaitlynn looked at Damon, a panicked expression on her face, "Damon, I-I'm so sorry, I don't know what came over me".

"It's okay, it wasn't your fault" Damon assured, placing his hand on Kaitlynn's cheek, "You were in some sort of Silas trance, but I think you snapped out of it".

"Wait, Silas?" a confused Kaitlynn asked, "But Brayden--".

"Before you ask, no" Damon informed, "He's not in the quarry, it's a common misconception, you talked to him today".

Kaitlynn looked at Damon in confusion, after a moment realisation crossed her face, "That wasn't Stefan? That was Silas?" she asked, Damon nodded his head in confirmation, "But how can he get into my head in a crowd full of people? I hugged him, talked to him about my life, about--".

"Me?" Damon completed, "I bet he had some choice things to say".

Kaitlynn looked at Damon, a worried expression on her face, "The text Caroline got from Brayden said he dumped Silas in the quarry, but if he didn't do that, then why did his message say that?", a sheepish look formed on Damon's face, immediately causing Kaitlynn's face to harden, "Damon, where is Brayden? What did Silas do to him?!".

"Can we talk about this when you don't have that murder-y look in your eyes?" Damon asked.

Kaitlynn glared at Damon, "You're right, we shouldn't talk right now because the more I talk to you, the more I want to murder you".

"It must be Silas' mind control" Damon said, "He's using your anger at me like a trigger, you have to resist it".

Kaitlynn ripped the stake from her stomach and before Damon could do anything, she had shoved him on to the floor and went to stake him but Damon held wrists that were just above his heart.

"I can't resist this, Damon!" Kaitlynn yelled, trying to push the stake into Damon's heart but he kept her at bay.

"Kaitlynn, you have to resist it" Damon repeated, struggling with Kaitlynn's strength.

"It's not easy!" an enraged Kaitlynn yelled, suddenly she pushed herself away from Damon and once again pushed the stake into her stomach, this time much deeper then before, she then looked at Damon, her breathing heavy, "What's going on Damon? Tell me everything, please".

Damon looked at Kaitlynn and took a deep breath, knowing hiding about Brayden and Katherine was going to land him in a lot of trouble with the Pierce vampire.

***

"Katherine" a worried Kaitlynn whispered, once Damon had filled her in about everything, "She must have tried to contact me after Silas stole my phone, have you talked to Jeremy? Is Katherine okay?".

"I don't know" Damon said, "I had more important things to worry about".

A furious Kaitlynn glared at the oldest Salvatore, "My sister, who is now human, is on the run from a psycho maniac, her safety is freaking important Damon!".

"Yeah well, so is protecting you and Caroline, finding my twin brother and figuring out what the hell Silas wants with your sister" Damon retorted.

"It didn't take long for you to screw up, did it Damon?" Kaitlynn snapped.

"You're getting angry at me again, Kait" Damon warned, "Remember, trigger".

"My sister might die!" Kaitlynn yelled, "You've enlisted Jeremy Gilbert, who could give a rats ass about her, to keep her safe, and then there's Brayden, whose been suffering for all these months, everyone has been suffering but I've been happily rolling around the sheets with a serial killer!".

Kaitlynn tried to take the stake out of her stomach, but Damon quickly shoved it back in, causing Kaitlynn to yell in pain.

"You don't really want me to kill me, Kaitlynn" Damon said, holding the stake in Kaitlynn's stomach, "You have to realise this before you're gonna break Silas' compulsion".

"I can't break Silas's compulsion!" Kaitlynn yelled, "All I can think about right now is murdering you!".

"Well you're gonna have to think about something stronger than your desire to kill me" Damon stated, thinking about it for a moment, Damon suddenly remembered Caroline's words, "Brayden", Kaitlynn looked at Damon, "Brayden, think about Brayden, Caroline told me you've been worried about him, you had a pit in your stomach, describe it to me, tell me about it".

"It's not something I can describe" Kaitlynn snapped.

"Think about him" Damon urged, "Think about the feelings you're getting, describe it to me".

Kaitlynn took a second to breathe and clear her head, she then started thinking about Brayden, "It's more of a chill, like a very bad chill, it's so hard to explain it but it's almost like I can feel him, feel his pain, he's trying to reach out, to me, to Caroline, to you, to anyone who will listen, but I don't know what he's trying to say to us or where he is or what Silas did to him, all I know is that for the first time in his life, Brayden is scared, he's lonely, he's suffering a lot and I have a feeling his very close to giving up", an emotional Kaitlynn looked at an equally emotional Damon, "We have to find him Damon, he needs us, we need him".

"We will find him" Damon promised, not going to stop searching for his brother till he's back home with all of them, "I swear".

Kaitlynn nodded her head, she then looked at Damon, her eyes wide, "It's gone" she whispered, "The anger, it's all gone".

Before Damon could say anything, the dorm room door opened and in came a determined Caroline, "If you two are done, can we now go and look for my soulmate now?" she asked, "I have a lot of making up to do".

"We all do" Damon whispered, the trio exchanging worried glances between them, wondering if Brayden was ever going forgive them for thinking he had left all of them.

***

Caroline and Kaitlynn placed their bags into the boot of Damon's car, once they shut the boot, they looked at the Whitmore campus.

Kaitlynn turned to Caroline, "We'll be back soon" she promised.

"Soon" Caroline nodded in agreement, she then looked at Kaitlynn a look of fear on her face, "We're gonna find him, right?".

"Of course we are, Caroline" Kaitlynn assured.

"Will he forgive me?" Caroline asked, scared for her and Brayden's relationship.

Kaitlynn sighed, "I think we all let him down, I think he has a right to be mad at us, but I also know that you will make it up to him".

"I have to" Caroline whispered, "I let him down when he never let me down, no matter what, I have to fight for him and I will".

"I know you will" Kaitlynn said, giving Caroline a small smile.

"I have something for you" Damon informed Caroline, walking over to the two girls, he then pulled out a familiar ring from his pocket and handed it over to Caroline.

"This is Brayden's daylight ring" Caroline realised.

"I snagged it from Silas yesterday" Damon informed.

Caroline looked at the daylight ring in her hand, she then looked at Damon, trying not to show how emotional and guilty she felt, "I'm going to go sit in the car" she said, walking away from the couple and sitting in the car.

Once Caroline left, Damon turned to Kaitlynn, "For the record, I'm secure enough in our relationship that you having psychic dreams about your ex-boyfriend does not bother me".

Kaitlynn chuckled, "My ex-boyfriend who not only happens to be my current boyfriend's brother but also my best friend's soulmate, safe to say he's someone I will never go for ever again".

"It still sucks" Damon stated.

Kaitlynn stepped forward, she wrapped her arms around Damon's neck and pulled him into a kiss, "Get one thing straight in your head Damon Salvatore, I wasted a hundred and forty five years, I don't plan on wasting another moment when it comes to you, it's you and me, we are going to save Brayden, reunite him with Caroline and it will still be you and me, till the very end".

"Promise?" Damon asked.

"Promise" Kaitlynn said, once again pulling Damon into a heated kiss, however before things could escalate, the two lovers separated because of Damon's phone ringing.

"Yeah?" an annoyed Damon answered his phone, not checking who was calling him.

"We found something" Liz Forbes said from the other end, gaining both Damon and Kaitlynn's attention.

***

"We didn't find anything in the quarry, a deputy found this a few miles away" Liz informed Caroline, Kaitlynn, Damon and Stefan, as they walked over to a abandoned safe found in the woods, the same safe Brayden was supposed to put Silas in, "He didn't open it, if Brayden's been in there for three months, chances are he's hungry".

"You should step back" Stefan told Liz, who nodded her head and let Stefan and Damon step forward with Caroline and Kaitlynn on their sides, all four ready in case a hungry Brayden decided to attack them.

Stefan and Damon looked at each other, they nodded at each other and proceeded to slowly open the safe, but what they found inside was not Brayden.

"Oh my god" Kaitlynn whispered, looking at the dead body found in the safe in shock.

Stefan and Damon looked at each other, the way the man was killed, it was obvious to the two brothers this was Brayden's doing, the throat of the man was ruthlessly ripped out, the signature move of the ruthless Brayden Salvatore.

"That's not Brayden" Caroline whispered.

"But you're right, he was hungry" Damon said.

"Given that he spent three months in this safe, something tells me he still is hungry" Stefan added.

The group of four looked around the woods in worry, all wondering where a hungry Brayden had gone to.

***

Presenting 5x02 of They Don't Know About Us!

How was the chapter?

Thoughts on Stefan and Damon feeling guilty for not realising that Brayden was in trouble?

Thoughts on Caroline finally finding out that Brayden didn't leave her?

Thoughts on Kaitlynn opening up to Damon about her feelings regarding Brayden's disappearance?

Thoughts on Stefan, Damon, Caroline and Kaitlynn finding the safe Brayden was in but no Brayden?