Notes: AU, Katherine is human, the Gilberts are n.a., Bonnie is unaware of the extent of her magic other than having brief visions (think season 1 Bon).
Disclaimer: I do not own TVD or any other characters.
"Satan, now in prospect of Eden, and nigh the place where he must now attempt the bold enterprise which he undertook alone against God and Man, falls into many doubts with himself, and many passions—fear, envy, and despair; but at length confirms himself in evil; journeys on to Paradise"
- Paradise Lost
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1
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Bonnie paced back and forth as she stared at the letter her landlord slipped through her mail slot. It was a thirty-day eviction notice. She had to figure out something and fast. Go-go dancing was out of the question. Bonnie did a terrible job at pretending to love dealing with drunks and entitled jerks in raves. If she could she'd call Caroline in a heartbeat.
Bonnie moved to Los Angeles only a year ago and it was getting harder and harder to get by. With four years of catalog and product modeling under her belt after graduating high school, she felt she was ready. She considered herself pretty, a 9 out of 10 in her small hometown. Now she was in the city of performers and charmers, surrounded by 15's and 20's.
She rubbed at her temples and sat down on the couch she found at a yard sale looking at the overdue bill. Rent for her crappy apartment was more than twice what she had left in her bank account. Freelancing in a city where people got bored easily, constantly looking for someone fresh was naive. Sure she got work but it was few and far in between. She was too short for most brands, too polite to negotiate payment, and too nervous to network at high-end social events.
No major agency in Hollywood was interested in her regardless of her natural beauty. Slowly, the modeling gigs that were offered were more of the erotic variety and not the tasteful artistic kind. They seemed to always hunt girls that didn't take off and got fewer bookings or ones with lower rates. She had nothing against erotic photography, just the stigma she'd have to deal with once she was over it.
"What am I gonna do?"
The 22-year-old began looking around her apartment, thinking of what to sell first but nothing came to mind. Her television and laptop was outdated, none of the furniture was in remotely good condition, and she was still sleeping on an air mattress. Pushing herself up from the tattered faux leather sofa, she dragged her feet to the fridge in her tiny kitchen. Bonnie grabbed a half empty bottle of cheap white wine and popped the cork with her thumb. Chugging it until it was empty, she tossed the bottle into the cardboard box she used as a recycling bin.
"Alright, you're a smart girl. Think."
She was too proud to ask her father for help, that and she lied about doing well. He was too distracted by his new wife and stepson, Bonnie didn't want to interfere with his new happy life. Her mother abandoned them both when she was still a baby so she couldn't blame him for wanting to start over with a real family.
Rose screamed. Damon yanked her legs higher around his waist and angled his hips downward to penetrate her deeper. With each rough thrust, the sound of wet skin slapping skin echoed crudely in his painting room. He didn't hold back from using his vampire strength and speed nor felt any reason to.
"Please, fuck that's good, I can't...I can't take it," Rose wailed, pressing her hands against his chest to slow him down. Damon placed both ankles on his shoulders and grabbed her wrists trapping them above her head. He pushed himself deeper.
"Unh! God! P-please cum for me? Please cum!" she begged breathlessly. Damon smirked and shook his head no. "Is it too much, baby? Am I too big?" Another submissive cry in ecstasy escaped her throat; hoarse, raw, and broken. It was then he felt his own blood trickle down his chin, his fangs had cut into his bottom lip he bit when excited.
The entire room smelled like sex and fear, it drove him mad. Ignoring the tears forming, Her confusion turned to a realization over his vampire appearance as he began to fully reveal his true form. "What's the matter? Huh? Tell me, princess." She choked on her words as he bucked his hips relentlessly dragging her past the edge, giving her the most shocking orgasm she'd ever receive in her life. As she writhed, his bit her throat and felt the blood gush filling his mouth and overflow.
He had won another game of catch and release. His lover Katherine didn't mind one bit, she knew he wouldn't go anywhere and often placed bets on how long the game would last. How was the game played? Damon would hire a nude model for his art and made it known he never slept with his muses.
Then, the waiting would begin, he acted innocently in the beginning but slowly turned up the charm as time passed. Damon waited for them to quit and turn themselves into his next hot wet meal. A blood-boiling, fang-throbbing, morally-corrupt sport.
On average, it took a month, the highest record was 4 months. Katherine held that record and at the end of it all, it was Damon who threw in the towel to claim her for himself. That was fifteen years ago. Since then, it was a more frequent pastime between them and an inside joke amongst his fellow painters. Except for Katherine, they were all vampires; Klaus, Kol, Silas, Norah and her wife Mary Louise. Every month they'd all meet at one of their homes to view each other's art and show off their pet muse of the month.
He ended his victorious nights with only one compulsion, stating that he was so surprised they were ready to move on in their career and that he enjoyed working with them.
As soon as Rose waddled out of the front door fully dressed and closed it behind her, a slow clap came from the top of the spiral staircase. A woman in her late thirties, waif thin and long wavy brown hair came into view. "You didn't disappoint." Damon smiled tightening the belt of his black satin robe. "What can I say, I'm a thespian. So... that was..."
Damon trailed off licking the caked blood off of the corner of his mouth. He grabbed a towel to clean off the leather couch he was rutting on only moments before.
"Two weeks and six days." Katherine finished for him. "Should I have Tyler send out another advert?" She strolled like a cat towards him and ran her finger down his spine. Perked up, he turned and wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her close with a grin. "Already had it handled, I knew she was going to give in soon."
Katherine giggled and looked at his lips. "You filthy heartbreaker, it's so fucking sexy."
"How about I break you?" He looked down at the object of his desire, his favorite muse of all. The blood and smell of the cruel act before had him riding high and ready for round two.
Booting up her old laptop that had to be plugged in to work, Bonnie began to look through castings on a model site she belonged to. Most demanded women above 5'7, blonde, or with moderate exposure. She had graduated from trade-for-print to grow her portfolio with the help of photography graduates that couldn't afford to pay a top-notch model to shoot for their business website.
Model needed for a music video for an up and coming artist. No.
Model needed for latex fetish shoot. Nah.
Model needed for train track location. Hell no.
Model needed for a local runway show. Don't qualify.
Shifting through poorly written adverts by basement photographers and body painters with questionable talent, one in particular caught her eye.
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'SEEKING LONG TERM MODEL'
Must be comfortable posing for life art clothed or nude. Body awareness and the ability to twist, turn, bend and accentuate the 3-dimensional qualities of the figure in poses is highly desirable.
Preferences (not required); little to no tattoos - flexible - athletic build. Requirements; all natural - no smokers - in good health. Must be punctual, have an open schedule, and ability to hold poses for up to 45 minutes at a time. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to communicate professionally in person or over the telephone.
Experience is not essential. Pay is $500 an hour.
Email for further details.
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It seemed almost too good to be true. Clicking the profile she saw a group of collections, each one had a gallery of paintings of a single woman. One collection, in particular, had a plethora of oil paintings, watercolor, charcoal sketches and a sculpture. She looked tall and slender with long dark hair and eyes that seemed to follow you. It was worth a shot to apply.
"Closed mouths don't get fed and a girl's gotta eat."
Coming home after a long roam around the fashion district downtown to network, Bonnie was exhausted. She filled a small pot half full of water and put it on on the stove to boil. Her fingers unlaced her boots and took them off of her sore feet. Placing them in her closet, she wondered if she should sell her better-looking clothes or keep them for future shoots. Bonnie wasn't financially foolish, only financially unlucky. She had flown over with three months worth of living expenses, made friends with photographers and designers, worked out and ate healthy a reasonable amount. Bonnie wondered if she was too available or didn't make herself available enough.
Hearing the water boil, she walked across her one-room studio apartment to her kitchenette. She took out a box of penne pasta and dumped a cup of it into the pot. She refused to be in a gloomy mood and figured calling Caroline would lift her spirits. Whipping out her cell phone, she dialed her friend's number and turned on her laptop. Within seconds her best friend answered.
"Hello, queen of the universe speaking."
"Heeey Care-Bear, are you getting ready for work?"
"Yea, I gotta be there in an hour so I'm putting my face on."
"Oh bitch, so whats the theme today?"
"Pink rhinestones and frosty body glitter baby! In a late 90's Britney meets 80's club kid kind of way."
"Body glitter?" Bonnie quirked a brow and opened a can of tuna, adding it to the strained pasta.
"Girl's love it, guys, not so much." Caroline inspected her marble style nails behind her vanity mirror.
"Your tippers are mostly guys... you wear it because?" She coated her cooked food with a little bit of garlic sauce.
"It keeps their damn hands off, imagine if Kai took you out and was covered in gold glitter for some unknown reason."
"Good point. Smart girl." Bonnie settled on her couch and opened her emails. She wondered what her boyfriend was up to. Because all of his acting auditions and featuring in student films, they didn't get to see each other often.
"Yea. I am." Caroline took a makeup brush and dusted iridescent pink glitter into her cleavage. "So how's the model life?"
"Crap. I was kind of busy at the beginning of last month but not anymore. I think it's because there's a dry..."
"Spell? ... Dry spell? Bonnie?" A beat passed. "Hello? Hello, earth to Bonnie-Bear! You called me, remember?"
"...oh."
"What? What's going on?" Caroline put the phone on speaker as she applied small crystals at the corner of each eye.
"I-I have an interview! For like, a really good paying gig. Like, half a grand an hour. I gotta wax and flat iron my hair and-and-and... I'll call you back!"
Caroline was happy but annoyed that her hands were busy and had to hang up after fumbling around with her phone. "Get that money! Tell me how it goes! Don't forget to text me after so I know you're okay!"
"You know I will! Okay, love you!" Bonnie turned off her phone and nearly tossed the laptop off of her lap. Stumbling across her apartment, she tore open her closet doors. "And what the hell am I gonna wear?!"
Getting off of the bus, Bonnie looked down at the address she had written down on a slip of paper. The place was a luxury townhouse, dark red curtains were drawn behind large windows to keep her from seeing inside. Her sensible heels clicked on the sidewalk as she approached the tall gate made of blacked out glass. Her stomach was growling angrily at her, she decided to skip breakfast and last night's dinner to keep from showing up bloated. Slowly she lifted her hand and pressed the buzzer.
Bonnie adjusted her slinky rose-colored dress and taupe shoulder bag catching sight of a camera lens next to the buzzer.
"Yes?" The annoyed raspy voice of a young man answered.
"Hi, I am here for an interview. This is for the... uh... Salvachain-Deco modeling position?"
"...right." Whoever this guy was clearly wasn't having a good day. There was a loud buzz and the glass gate opened a few feet.
As Bonnie walked onto the property, the front door opened and Bonnie was met with a dead stare from a guy her age, tan skin and short messy dark hair. "This way." He was dressed in a fitted grey button-up and tight camel colored pants showing off his muscular build. Bonnie offered a polite smile and followed him into the establishment. Pulling out her phone, she texted the location to Caroline in case she got into any trouble. The man walked quickly not giving her a chance to admire the high open ceilings and beautiful cherry wood and leather furniture.
"I'm Bonnie by the way." She tried to lighten his mood, wanting to make a good impression. She needed the job.
He let out a heavy sigh and stopped abruptly causing Bonnie to nearly crash into him. He gave a closed door a firm knock. "The 2 p.m. appointment is here." Turning, he gave Bonnie a once over and left her standing at the door. "Thank you, Tyler." The smooth voice of a woman slurred on the other side of the door. Bonnie straightened her back and swished her hair behind her shoulders.
The dark door opened and a thin older woman emerged and draped herself along the door frame casually. "Bonnie Bennett, right?"
Bonnie nodded with a practiced smile. "Yes, how are you?" The gaze the woman gave her from head to toe, studying every part of her body would be unnerving if she wasn't used to other photographers doing the same thing.
"I'm doing just perfect. Come in."
The woman wore tapered black slacks and a strapless ashen colored top made from layers of chiffon. She picked up her tablet and pen, sitting on the edge of the office desk.
"My name is Katherine, I'm responsible for the second review. Please, have a seat." Katherine began writing down a few notes.
"Second review?" Bonnie moved to sit on a cream victorian style chaise. She found it odd that a lounge chair would be on the other side of an office desk but then again it did look great in the room.
"Yes, Tyler goes through the first batch. Fishing through emails and deleting anyone that doesn't suit our artist's taste."
Bonnie nodded, even his assistant had an assistant. He must have made plenty of money and was well established while maintaining to stay out of any limelight. Bonnie decided to butter up her interviewer.
"I like your shirt, grey is-"
"Oyster."
"E-excuse me?"
"The color isn't grey, it's oyster."
"...right, oyster."
"Hmm. He could have you in the Smithsonian for sure." Katherine's eyes oogled Bonnie's toned and shapely legs. "You're a dancer."
"I used to dance, was a dancer for most of my life but... I guess I fell out of love after all the years spent for underappreciated recitals, bad costumes, and what-not." Bonnie stumbled over her words trying to act cool amid her excitement that Katherine was thinking of working with her already.
"Do you consider yourself flexible? With your schedule and with your body?"
"Yes, I self-manage and mostly freelance. I stretch and run every morning when I can. It's calming." Bonnie watched the woman scribble something on her tablet.
"Any jealous boyfriends I should know about? Mister Salvatore doesn't like anyone else in the room while he's working with his model."
"Well, I mean... Kai isn't the jealous type, he knows I model. I've never... nude modeled for art but I'm sure he's fine with it, Mister Salvatore's work is very tasteful." The name easily rolled off of her tongue saying it for the first time.
Katherine grinned and made motions that looked like a circle on her tablet. "That'll be interesting. Any health problems or issues?" Bonnie's eyes followed her hands and felt her heart sink a little when the tablet had red marks written over black text.
"I have an iron deficiency but other than that, no. Not at all."
The woman double tapped the tablet's screen and added more information. "Anemia. You know, they say the lack of iron in the blood makes it sweet. People can be such interesting creatures." The tall woman pushed herself off of the desk and grabbed a small camera from the bookshelf built into a wall.
"I-I guess so. Yea." Bonnie gave a soft laugh at the random fact.
"Could you pose for me?" She sat back down on the corner of the desk and turned on the camera.
Bonnie blinked a few times in surprise but slowly nodded. Removing her purse, she set it on the wool shag circle rug. Laying down on the chaise with her back facing Katherine, she looked over her shoulder back at the camera. She allowed her body to sink comfortably into the cushions, her eyes sparkled, and heart-shaped lips settled slightly agape. A single photo was taken and Katherine set the camera down. "I think we're done here." Her face and attitude became unreadable. "We'll give you a call."
Bonnie smiled and grabbed her purse, slinging it over her shoulder. "Thank you for your time. It was nice meeting you."
"The pleasure was all mine." The woman replied and pressed an intercom button on the desk. "Tyler, sweetie, can you escort out Miss Bennett please." There was a slightly condescending tone in her voice.
"Hey, you haven't touched your food." Kai pointed his chin at her fish taco and looked up at her with puppy eyes. "What's up?"
Bonnie poked at the peppers and fish piled on her tortilla fighting back tears. "My landlord is kicking me out and I thought I got this really good gig but... I don't know. My interviewer was super fucking pretentious. She just humored me and I'm not getting any bookings. I'm not getting any younger. Everything just sucks right now." Her voice cracked and eyes began to water feeling like a failure.
"How much do you have? I could give you some money Bon, you gotta stop being so stubborn about asking for help."
"I don't have nearly half as much as I need to even get a roommate." She sniffled and pushed her plate away. Hating to see her cry, Kai mirrored her actions then grabbed her hands with his. It was his chance to show the world that she was his and only his. Her aloof behavior was highly attractive amongst his friends who overshared constantly.
"Move in with me."
"What?" They had only been dating for a few months. Their relationship started strangely from the beginning. She was originally interested in his friend until he kept chasing and perusing her. Eventually, he wore her out. She knew he liked her and wanted to be with her but felt a relationship would get in the way of her career, on the other hand, he had plenty of friends who could help her if she hung around long enough. One night she was helping him read a few lines from a script and he stole a kiss from her. The rest was history. She didn't dare break up with him because he always showered her with the attention she knew she didn't deserve. She was terrible at being attentive and didn't have any positive examples of what a good relationship was. "You're kidding."
"I'm not joking. Move. In. With. Me. Don't worry about it, I'll take care of everything okay?"
"Are you sure?" She didn't want to feel like he had to because they were together but she knew he'd do anything for her. "I don't want to get in the way."
"You're my girlfriend Bonnie, you're not in the way of anything. Now stop being so damn stubborn. We can get your stuff tomorrow and tell your landlord to shove it up his ugly ass." His eyebrows wiggled at his own statement as if he'd go out and do it himself.
Bonnie burst into laughter at his crazed look and gave him a weary nod. "Okay. Okay, I'll move."
Kai grinned and pushed her plate back in front of her. "Yay! Now I get to annoy you whenever I'm free." Bonnie gave him a horribly corny smile, dreading the loss of her privacy.
A few days later Bonnie was pushing the last of her luggage into Kai's trunk, she locked the door to her apartment and dropped the keys under the doormat. She decided to leave the furniture behind and let the landlord deal with it. All she needed were her clothes, a few sentimental items, and her laptop. Sitting in his bedroom, she noticed he didn't have any art on his walls only movie posters. Most of them held overrated performers Kai sometimes liked to emulate.
He was extremely immaculate when it came to cleanliness and it was a little intimidating. Bonnie was a slightly messy person but she always knew where her belongings were. Bonnie picked up her phone that began to vibrate. "Hello?"
"Hello, may I speak to Miss Bennett?"
"May I ask who's calling?" Her words crisp and biting. Caroline teased her, calling it her 'interview voice'.
"This is Mister Salvatore, creator of Salvachain-Deco, is this Miss Bennett?"
Bonnie began to check her reflection on her computer screen to make sure her skin was clear. "This is she. How can I help you?"
"I wanted to congratulate you personally. You've been chosen to fulfill the position of my next project until the foreseeable future as my long-term muse."
Bonnie lifted her head and out towards the door of the bedroom, Kai was nowhere to be found. She then remembered that he was meeting a fellow castmate at a bar for their birthday and she didn't want to tag along. Sometimes his enthusiastic attitude was off-putting and she'd rather stay indoors.
"Thank you. I viewed the work that you've created over the last fifty years, it's magnificent. How decisive your brush strokes are placed, it's very admirable."
"If I could, I'd be blushing Miss Bennett. I'd like to see if you could come in tomorrow at noon."
"Yes. My schedule will be open that day. I look forward to working with you." Bonnie did her best to keep her cool but she was bursting at the seams imagining the pay and possible attention from art collectors she would receive from his works. She did some research on him and he was very influential to art collectors for half of a century. The fact that he was obviously over a certain age made her more comfortable posing for him. From her experience, most men that had been in his profession for a long time were burned out on chasing skirts.
Her first boss, Robbie, was an older known celebrity photographer, beautiful models would come to his mini mansion and party, drink, and roll on molly. Robbie didn't bat a lash as he made sure his valuables weren't damaged.
"I look forward to it, Miss Bennett. I'll see you then."
"Great, thank you so much! Goodbye." Hanging up Bonnie pumped her fist in the air and started playing her get ready music. She had to plan out her look and she wasn't going to disappoint.
The following day Bonnie mentally tortured herself for sounding too eager over the phone with her future employer. She was back at the property with a black tote holding a change of clothes and wore a simple high collar lavender dress that stopped above the knee. The gate had opened immediately after pressing the buzzer but the door was locked. Looking around the small front yard, she noticed the hedges were as tall as the front gate that kept her from seeing the first floor. Whoever this man was, enjoyed his privacy but also liked to be around people.
Damon swung the heavy door open, his intense expression giving way to lightness as he saw his visitor. His lips quirked at her deer in the headlights reaction. "Hello."
"Yes. I'm here to see Mister Salvatore?" He was absolutely gorgeous, she assumed he was the painter's son as he didn't look a day older than 28. He wore a tight navy henley and dark grey jeans that settled low on his hips exposing a sliver of his abdomen.
"That would be me, you must be the lovely Miss Bennett. Welcome." He stretched out his hand showing perfectly manicured nails. Her mouth formed an 'O' as she tried to figure out what magical skin care and high maintenance fitness regimen he had to maintain his youth on a spectacular level. Both of his own took her hand when she froze in disbelief. "You're not... I mean, it's nice to meet you."
He grinned and took in her gaze, studying the depth of her green eyes. "Please, come in." The hand on the back of hers slid up her forearm and pulled her into his abode.
God, I'm a sucker for drama, why am I so messy?