I do not own the originals.
Kinda a chapter to show you how she interacts with them. :)
Four months later.
Annette grabbed a teat tray with five cups and a pot of tea with cream and sugar set on it along with slices of lemon. All of these things were Spode blue and white matching Italian fine china. She piled three warm damp rags on the tray as well. She threw clean women's clothes over her shoulders and an empty laundry sack and made her way down the hall on her morning Monday routine. She stopped first at Rebekah's room and opened the door without knocking. The girl lay amongst rumpled sheets and Annette went to her nightstand and set the tea tray down pouring tea into a cup/ She squeezed a slice of lemon into it along with a half spoon of honey. The girl mumbled something that would be impossible to make out as Annette picked the tray back up and walked out closing the door behind her.
The next room was Finn's which she walked into with more trepidation. Not because she was afraid of what she was going to find but because he was much more sensitive about it than Kol and Niklaus were. He rarely had weekends where he brought home a woman but when he did the look of guilt that he gave her the whole time she stripped the sheets killed her. She would try to reassure him but he would mope around all weekend after that like he was so disgusted with himself. She hated going into his room and finding a girl. She said a small prayer before she walked in and let out a small breath when she realized that he was just reading in his bed all alone.
"Bon matin" She said to him. She greeted them all in French if they were awake.
"Good morning Annette." He said to her looking up from where he sat in his bed and she smiled setting the tea tray down. She poured him a cup and put cream it before handing to him. When she leaned into him he kissed her cheek. "Thank you." He said she nodded as she picked the tray up again. She was also used to the whole family kissing her cheeks or patting her head or playing absently with her hair. Rather like a pet than a person.
"You welcome Finn; I will see you at breakfast." She said walking out and shutting her door. She walked to Klaus door and prepared herself. She opened the door and without much surprise found two women entangled in his sheets laughing as she cleared her throat.
"Oh petite souris" Klaus greeted her in French as he surfaced from under the sheets and gave her a odd smile. It wasn't so odd. It was just that Klaus had a very bad disposition. It wasn't that he never smiled; it was just that when he did it wasn't ever because he was happy. It was either because he was causing discomfort to others or because he was high on blood. She assumed this morning it was a little of both. She set her tray down and pulled two sets of clothes from off her shoulder and handed one to each of the girls. Blood was smeared up and down their arms and legs. She handed them each a damp cloth and went back to the tea tray. "I'm afraid it's time for you two to leave." Klaus said as Annette's back was turned. She had no doubt that he was compelling them.
This is what she had to do every morning. There had been only two girls killed since she started here and one male. She never had to clean up a single body. It was much more common that girls were compelled to give blood and then the boys would fraternize with them over the weekend when Annette wasn't in their rooms. So she would bring the girls plain white dresses to go home in and a damp cloth so that they could clean themselves and then she sent them on their way. It was not a perfect system but it worked and the family kept themselves out of trouble.
She poured a cup of tea for Klaus adding sugar and stirring it as he came up from behind her and reached around for his tea. She let go of it as he took it from her and patted the top of her head.
"Thank you little one." He said and she shook her head and turned around. The girls were in their white dresses and looking around confused. She sighed as she addressed them.
"Take the damp rags and wash yourselves off. I will be back to escort you from the property." She said picking up the tray and walking toward the door.
"What would we do without you petite souris?" Niklaus asked her. Petite souris was translated to 'little mouse' in French and they all called her this. Though Elijah and Rebekah used it as more of a term of endearment and the others said it in a condescending way.
"I have no doubting that your lives would go on." She said rolling her eyes as she walked out the door shutting it behind her. She left the laundry bag by the door and she walked down the hall and smiled at Elijah's door. She walked in to find him writing a letter at his desk. She loved to visit Elijah. He was really the only one that treated her like a person. Rebekah was nice to her but treated her as more of a play thing. Like Annette was there to be Rebekah's person friend. He looked up and smiled at her.
She had spent a lot of time thinking about all four brothers. Elijah was the best brother in her opinion and she would not mind being married to him. Not that she thought about him in that way it was just something she thought about to pass the time. She would weigh the pros and cons of each brother. Elijah wasn't even in the same league as Klaus Kol and Finn. He was kind and gentle and had no huge moral flaws that Annette had encountered except that he was extremely loyal to his family. He loved them to a fault. Finn was nice enough but he seemed so melancholy all the time. He was never in a good mood and he rarely smiled. Finn hated everything about his family. He even hated himself. Whenever Annette was around Finn her felt her soul get heavy and she just wanted to kiss his forehead and tell him that it was going to be okay. Niklaus was fun where Finn was not and he had a quick wit, but he also had the quickest temper. Annette had never seen someone snap as fast as Klaus did. You could not afford to disappoint him. She had been the subject of his wrath only once and he had broken her arm and her leg. It had been very painful. Elijah had made her drink his blood and the bones healed within thirty minutes but she learned to stay out of NIklaus' way. He was rather sweet to her since that incident but his honey voice and charm didn't fool her.
"Good morning petite souris." Elijah called at her interrupting her thoughts. She smiled back at him setting the tea tray down and pouring him a cup of tea and didn't add anything before she handed it to him. He was the only one of the siblings who didn't put something in his tea. This made her like him more for some odd reason.
"Bon matin" She said smiling at him. "How you sleep?" She asked as she picked the tea tray up again.
"Very well." He said as he continued to write his letter "and you?"
"I do." She smiled an walked away from him.
"Annette you don't have to run out of here you can sit awhile." He said and her heart welled with joy. She loved that he accepted her.
"I have to get to Kol's room before tea gets cold." She said smiling walking to the door. He frowned looking at his paper.
"That sounds less than pleasant." He said
"So it is." She said walking out and shutting the door. She then made her way to her last room of the hall. Her mind was drawn back to her previous line of thought.
Kol was the brother that drove her absolutely insane. He was the one that tried to upset her the most. He was also the one that could get under her skin the best. He toyed with her emotions constantly; or tried to at least because she never let him get the better of her. He constantly got too close to her. He touched her excessively on purpose to make her uncomfortable. He always said things trying to make her get angry. She did too. She always had to pretend that he didn't make her mad as she fumed inside. The reason that he made her so angry was because she found him intoxicatingly attractive and she hated to admit it. If it was Klaus it wouldn't upset her so much but her heart rose to her throat whenever she saw Kol. She had a feeling that he knew this and that is why he gave her a hard time. And as much as she was attracted to him she didn't like him. Interaction with him was the part of her day she hated the most because he was so pompous. So she opened the door to his room and walked in not even bothering to look up at him and the woman (or women) he had in his bed.
"Ma jolie petite souris" He called to her and she rolled her eyes.
"I am not, pretty or little anything that belongs to you." She said to him as she turned to face him after setting the tray down. She was surprised to find that he wasn't in his bed. In fact there was no one in his bed. She looked around.
"In here little mouse." He called to her from the bathroom. She rolled her eyes and poured him a cup of tea. She put cream in it and walked it to the bathroom.
He was soaking in a copper tub with bubbles and looking up at her as she walked in the door. She set the cup on a table next to the bathtub and nodded curtly to him.
"I think I will take sugar today, little mouse be a dear and bring me some." She took a deep breath and walked out to the tray and grabbed the sugar coming back to him. She set the bowl down next to the cup and swept her gaze over to meet his. That was a mistake. She knew better.
"get in the tub with me little mouse." He compelled her and she stepped back gasping.
"Kol no." She said shaking her head but she felt a pull to the water filled container. "Kol stop." She pleaded.
"Oh come on dear it won't be so bad." He smiled evilly. She shook her head but took a step forward.
"Kol I don't want to." She said stepping closer.
"I know little mouse that is why I compelled you." He said. She knew that he wasn't going to stop until she got in so she thought of ways to outwit what he had just done to her. The vampires in this house compelled her every once in awhile and she learned that the only way to win was to do what they asked in a way that they hadn't anticipated. So as she stepped toward the tub she took her shoes off deliberately slow. She frowned at Kol who seemed to be enjoying every minute of her embarrassment. This was so wrong in every social setting. She pulled her skirts up and sat on the edge of the tub and put her feet in careful not to touch any part of him.
"Oh darling you knew what I meant." He said charmingly and she lowered his eyes so she didn't have to look at him. Her skirts were up in her lap and she tried not to think about it. She didn't have to sit here for very long. She heard him move around in the water and closed her eyes so she didn't see anything she didn't want to. She felt his mouth kiss from her knee down and felt his teeth graze her calf and she fell backwards as she stood up quickly and Kol laughed at her. He stood up out of the bath and stepped out as she cursed in French and spun around walking out of the room picking up the tea tray and storming out.
She walked downstairs and to the kitchen where she poured herself a cup of tea. She slumped into a chair and sighed. She closed her eyes and felt Kol's mouth on her skin. She drained her cup of tea and got up and began making breakfast.
"These people will be the death of me."
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