667 Dark Avenue

Klaus wasn't sure why he'd thought they might be safe at last. It might have been the expensive, dark vastness of the penthouse, with so many places to get lost that it might take him a half hour to find the kitchen from his bedroom. Maybe it was Jerome Squalor's kindness, the way he took them to all of their favorite places in the city or fixed them fancy aqueous martinis. Even Jerome's half-hearted assurances that they were doing everything possible to find the Baudelaire's very dear friends, the Quagmires, went a long way to make Klaus feel better about their newest situation. Whatever it was that had made him relax infinitesimally, that made him feel almost normal, made him almost forget the mystery behind his parent's deaths, had all but disappeared in a vanishing act earlier that morning when Count Olaf had reappeared with a new alias and a new disguise, fooling everyone but the Baudelaire siblings.

Klaus had gone to bed as soon as supper was over -anything to get away from Esme's foolishness and Count Olaf's evil grin- but it wasn't until a couple of hours later that Violet knocked softly on his door. She stepped in without waiting for an answer, the light from the hall illuminating her for only a moment before she silently closed and locked the door behind her, letting the darkness of 667 Dark Avenue envelop her almost entirely. He could just make out her form in the shadows, her pale face unhappy, and the darkness smudged out the familiar worry lines around her eyes so that he couldn't see them, but still...it did not erase his knowledge that they were there. She wore her new pinstriped pajamas and she must've been doing some deep thinking because her hair was tied up in her ribbon. He watched her take several deep breaths and scrub her hands over her face.

"Violet? Where's Sunny?" Klaus asked from his pillow.

Violet jumped a mile. "You scared me!" she whispered, pressing her hand to her heart. "I thought you were asleep."

"I can't sleep with that…that awful man here!" Klaus responded, sitting up in bed. "Are you all right?"

"Of course not. I…well, I wanted to see if you were all right." Her voice gave off a bravado that had an awfully tired ring to it.

"Why didn't you bring Sunny with you?"

Violet rounded the end of the bed and flopped down next to Klaus with a sigh of exasperation and perhaps exhaustion. "She had no trouble sleeping. I rigged a quick alarm for her door, so if anyone tries to go in her room we'll know." That explained the hair ribbon. Klaus flopped back down, too, so they lay side by side.

They were silently miserable for a few heartbeats before Klaus turned to her and asked the inevitable. "What are we going to do?"

A frustrated noise emanated from the back of Violet's throat. "Why do you always ask me that? I don't know, okay? I don't know what to do! Why don't you take a little responsibility for a change?" she bit out.

Klaus silently stared at the ceiling. He was hurt by her tone but was soon able to brush off her sudden anger. Olaf had a way of bringing out the worst in anybody. Besides, he was frustrated, too, and he knew he relied on his sister way too much. She was only a little older than his sixteen years, but she'd taken care of him and Sunny since their parents had passed away and maybe even before that, and well, he'd gotten used to that.

When the quiet went on too long, Violet finally turned to Klaus with a sigh. "I'm sorry, Klaus. I didn't mean it." She pressed her fingers to her mouth, apparently trying to hold back her tears, but they managed to leak from her eyes anyway. "Everything just feels so…out of control. How can I take care of you and Sunny when we're always on the run? We'll have to leave. We can't stay here with him. I'm trying to…" Her voice caught and she had to swallow hard. "I'm trying to…" But she couldn't finish her thought. She scooted quickly into his surprised embrace, hiding her face in his shirt and held him so tight that he could feel her body shake with her cries and eventually, feel the wetness of her tears against his neck.

At first he held her back just as tight, alarmed by her emotions, but as her sobs diminished into hiccups he loosened his grip on her to rub his palm over her shoulders and down her spine, calming her, comforting her with his presence. He understood now that this is what she'd come here for tonight. Violet was tired of being in control of the situation, of her emotions, of her siblings. She needed a break.

He also knew Violet, inside and out, and she was a control freak. As exhausted as she might be, her need to hold tight to the reins was inherently part of her personality. Maybe she could use some practice letting go and he had an idea, and he told himself that it had nothing to do with how nice her breasts felt against his chest or how good it felt just to hold her in his arms for a few minutes. It was a bit naughty, but that was sort of the point. He needed something that would help her lose control. It didn't hurt that Violet was a lovely girl whom he thought the world of and wouldn't mind having an excuse to be close to her.

"Would you like to play a game?" Klaus asked her.

"I don't think now is a very good time to play, Klaus. Besides, I didn't even know we still had the cards that Aunt Josephine gave us." she answered wetly, her forehead pressed into his chest.

"Not that kind of game. It's more of an exercise… to help you cope with being out of control. You have too much responsibility," Klaus explained.

"But Mother made me promise to take care of you and Sunny. I can't let her down and …"

"And you've done a wonderful job," Klaus interrupted. "You've kept us together and alive for this long. You haven't let anybody down, but now I think it's okay for you to take a little break. I'm the next oldest, so I can take charge for a little while."

"No, I don't think we should let ourselves be distracted by a game. What if Count Olaf tries something…"

"Just for one hour." Klaus pushed Violet a few inches away, holding her by her shoulders so that she could see him. "For one hour I will be the responsible one, okay? For one hour you will give up complete control to me, and I promise you will feel better afterward. If you don't, we never have to play again, okay?" She was looking at him with the most confused look on her face and a deep crinkle between her eyebrows. "Don't you trust me?" he said in his convincing way.

Heaving a large sigh, Violet gave in. "What are the rules to this game or exercise or whatever?"

"Good girl," Klaus encouraged. "The rules are simple. You have to do what I say, no matter how crazy it might sound. If you do what I tell you then you'll be rewarded."

"And if I don't?" Violet asked skeptically.

"Then you'll be punished," Klaus said simply.

"I'm not sure I like the sound of that," Violet answered as Klaus began to climb out of the bed.

"Then you better do as I say," he said with a small laugh. "Are you ready to start?"

"I guess," she said, sitting up on her knees on the mattress.

"Oh, and…" he walked around the bed, reached under the small reading lamp on the nightstand to turn it on and then motioned her to scoot to the edge of the mattress to face him as he stood in front of her, "if you really want to quit the game then you can say…hmm?" Klaus rubbed his chin in thought for a second. "How about 'incredibly deadly viper'? If you say 'incredibly deadly viper' then I'll stop whatever I'm doing and the game will be over."

Violet nodded. "Okay."

"Okay." Klaus took a large breath. He would need to be brave and unwaveringly in control to pull this off. He stared at her for a long time, his eyes roaming her face, her cheeks and eyelashes still damp from tears, her mouth turned down a bit at the corners as if she hadn't smiled in too long, her eyes sparkling just a little with her inherent curiosity and a bit of hidden defiance. She looked very becoming.

"Klaus," she said impatiently. "I said I'm ready."

"No talking," Klaus instructed firmly.

Her mouth opened in an offended 'oh', but she didn't reply, pressing her lips back together. Klaus reached a hand to her cheek to rub his thumb over her unhappy mouth and his gentle touch had an immediate response. She closed her eyes and the tense lines in her face vanished into a softer expression. He took a step closer to her. She had sat back onto her ankles but Klaus didn't want that much relaxation.

"Sit up on your knees." Violet did as she was told. "Unbutton your shirt." He had her full attention with that. She silently unbuttoned the top button of her pajama shirt then looked at him. "All of them," Klaus said.

"I will not!" she exclaimed. Klaus reached swiftly around her and smacked her bottom. It surprised her, even though it couldn't have hurt, not with her layers of pajamas in-between Klaus's hand and her bottom. Even so, Violet gave another exclamation. "Klaus!"

He gave her another swift smack to her bottom. "No talking, Violet. Now, unbutton your shirt all the way." He said all of this evenly and calmly.

"Are you out of your mind?" she asked, predicting the blow this time and trying to block his hand.

Laughing low, he easily caught her wrists and held them with one hand, reaching to pull the ribbon from her hair with the other. "Violet," he said. "You agreed to do as I say. Since you are not doing what I ask, then you have to be punished. Those are the rules." He deftly wrapped the ribbon around her wrists. He made sure not to tie it too tight, so that she might easily escape if she wanted. Then he pulled at her hands, leading her towards the head of the bed, looping her tied wrists around a finial in the iron headboard. She looked back over her shoulder at him, but remained quiet, her eyes round.

"Nod if you want to try again," he told her. She didn't answer right away, but after a second she nodded her head. "Okay. Now I can understand that you might not feel comfortable undressing in front of me, so I'll go first." Klaus quickly unbuttoned his shirt, shrugged it off and threw it on the floor. He let Violet look at him. It wasn't often that she'd seen him undressed and she stared at his pale skin and the brown hair that grew over his stomach, disappearing down into his pajama bottoms.

When she looked away, back to the wall, her cheeks had reddened with a very lovely blush. He climbed into the bed with her, leaning his chest into her back, feeling her stiffen and pull ever so slightly at the juncture where she was tied. He pushed his hands slowly over her hips and inside the hem of her shirt until he could feel the skin of her waist under his fingertips. He slid his hands over her belly, felt the bones of her ribcage and then stroked long comforting lines up and down her back. At this she actually sighed in pleasure. He whispered in her ear. "Pretty Violet. Always dressed in your neat collar, buttoned up to the very top, modest with matching shoes and sweater. The perfect sister with your perfect manners. Please and thank you. Always in control… but you can let it go. Take off that layer of responsibility as easily as you can take off your shirt."

He reached a hand to start undoing the next button of her pajamas and one to slide up the center of her belly and over her sternum, tantalizingly close to her breasts. His hand came out the top of the shirt to rest on the column of her neck and he held it there momentarily, then slid back down the way he'd come. Violet was shaking her head, breathing hard through her nose. She remained silent, letting him get all of her buttons undone, but reached another breaking point when he ran his fingers around the waistband of her pants, tugging them down her hips.

"We shouldn't do this," she said breathily.

Klaus snatched the pants along with her panties down to her knees in one swift move and smacked her bottom for her disobedience. The sound of skin against skin echoed in the room and Violet gasped as if he had betrayed her, swinging her head around to look at him. And she couldn't help herself. "Klaus!" she cried indignantly.

He merely shook his head in disappointment, grabbed her bared hips and pulled them roughly so that her bottom stuck out and she had to lean heavily on the iron decorations of the headboard. The spanking this time had no barriers and a perfect angle.

"Stop," she said very firmly in her most bossy, older sisterly way, but those weren't the words that would make Klaus stop. He hit her bottom again and this time he was able to see how the skin was turning bright pink. "Shame on you," she continued - another spank. "Klaus…" she tried again, but received another smack. When she opened her mouth, Klaus raised his hand in warning and he could see the war going on between her brain and her tongue. Finally, she bit her lip and looked away.

"Good girl," he said, pressing his hands to the redness of her butt cheeks, squeezing gently to take away the sting he knew she must be feeling. She grunted at his use of 'good girl' but said nothing. Once again, Klaus moved in closer, letting her feel his torso against the back of hers, sliding his hands from her bottom down to her thighs and up to her belly. He repeated this until he felt her relax, pressing her backside into him to relieve some of the weight on her arms.

Leaning his chin on her shoulder, he pulled her back into his full embrace, so that his cheek rested against her very warm one. He looked down at her exposed body and she turned her face away in possible disapproval. Taking his sweet time roaming his hands over her body was starting to test her patience, so when he finally brushed his hands over the sides of her breasts she whispered his name. "Klaus…please," and he didn't punish her for it because it was an acknowledgment that he was in control.

"Tell me what you want, Violet," he said firmly. She could only shake her head. Either she didn't want to say or she didn't want him touching her, either way… "Tell me," he gave her one more chance. When she didn't answer he pulled away from her abruptly and she would've fallen forward if her hands had not been tied. He smacked her bottom before she could even get her balance. "All right. If you don't want to tell me what it is that you want, then we'll do what I want. I want to hear you to say 'fuck' three times." This would be torture for Violet. She abhorred cursing and always tried to set a good example for her siblings. She always said that people cursed because they couldn't think of a better word to use. Klaus knew that sometimes a curse was the only thing for it.

His hands were on her, adjusting her position, making her sit up straighter on her knees, pulling them apart. "Fuck, fuck, fuck," she said all in a row, keeping her voice deadpan.

"Not like that," he instructed, "but when the time is right." She had her head turned toward him, gazing at him with narrowed eyes, trying to make him feel her scorching stare, but when he had her where he wanted her, he did meet her eyes, watching solemnly when he slid his hand over her bottom and in-between her legs. He almost laughed in surprise. She was a puddle of wet arousal, his fingers slipping easily through her warm slit over the sensitive skin, then disappearing smoothly into her body.

God, Klaus was so turned on by this time, and the feel of her, warm and ready for whatever he would give her, made him smirk and she rolled her eyes at him. Klaus guessed then that she had been onto his game and had been playing along beautifully. Feeling confident and in control, he made good his threat and did what he wanted. He laid down behind her and scooted so that his face was between her thighs. The look on her face was all indignation and embarrassment. Her face was flushed all the way down to her breasts. She tried to wriggle away, but he held her still, wrapping his arms around her thighs from behind. It seemed that she might not let him take things this far. She was shaking her head, looking anywhere but at him now. "No, we can't," she said, breathing hard.

He ignored her, sucking her little button of nerves into his mouth, lathing it with his tongue, making her tremble violently. "Incredibly…." she moaned and fearing that she would stop the game, Klaus added his fingers into the mix, pressing them into her soaked entrance. "Deadly…" she forced out. Klaus continued, waiting for the last word, but it didn't come. "Fuck," she said, resting her head against her outstretched arm in defeat.

After a minute she became used to the idea of her brother between her legs because she lost herself. Her eyes were closed and her head thrown back. She held tightly onto the headboard, using it for leverage as she began to roll her hips against his fingers, forcing them deeper. Klaus curled his fingers inside of her, forcing another forbidden word from her mouth. "Louder," he told her.

"Someone will hear," she breathed.

"Good," he said. "Let them hear. It isn't your responsibility to protect them."

"Klaus!" she cried as he redoubled his efforts with his lips and tongue. Her muscles were becoming so tense that she was shaking. "Klaus, Klaus…" she repeated his name like a sweet prayer, then, "Fuck, I'm going to come. Oh God!" Her breaths were jagged exhales forced from her throat and her voice so desperate that it had Klaus's cock pulsing in hard arousal. He sucked at her fleshy nub all through her orgasm until she cried out, pleading, "Please, I can't."

Removing himself from between her legs, he wrapped his arms around her body as it sagged back into his. He pressed his face into her neck, breathing her in, and finally filled his hands with her breasts. She was too tired to protest.

When her trembling subsided, Klaus lifted her hands from where they were looped onto the headboard. He placed a pillow there and urged her to sit with her back propped against it. She held her hands out to him so that he could untie her ribbon, but he shook his head. "The hour isn't up, yet, Violet. The game isn't over."

She looked down at herself, assessing what damage could be left to be done. She used her tied hands to try to pull her shirt closed to cover herself, but Klaus stopped her. "I would advise against that, or do I need to tie you to the bed again?" She stopped her fidgeting and dropped her hands into her lap.

Her eyes grew comically wide when Klaus straddled her legs, up on his knees this time, and she was face to face with the hard tent of his pajama pants. "Take my clothes off, Violet." Curiosity won over quickly in this instance before morality could rear its ugly head. She snagged her fingers into his elastic waistbands and pulled everything down, one side at a time, as her tied hands would allow.

When his erection popped free of his underwear, Violet flinched back as it stood straight out from his body, pointing in her direction. She stared at his nakedness for a long time and he let her, until she reached out her hands to touch him.

"No," he said firmly, startling her, because that's what she'd thought he wanted. He wrapped his hand around his erection and began to stroke himself firmly and slowly. "I am in control of my own pleasure. It isn't your responsibility right now."

"But…" she began, but a hard look from Klaus had her pressing her lips together in frustration. She watched him masturbate with a mixture of helplessness, arousal and betrayal.

Part way through, he was fighting the heavy urge to close his eyes and give in. He wanted her touch. He wanted to know what it would feel like to slip his erection into her wet vagina, or between her breasts. Slipping his hand into her hair, he cupped the back of her head and pressed the tip of his penis against her lips. "Open your mouth." She did as she was told and he only pushed a little way in, letting her get used to the feel of him. "Use your lips and tongue, but no teeth," he instructed.

When she closed her mouth around him it felt a bit like heaven. He pushed his other hand into her hair to hold her head still, lest she get the idea to take control, and began to pump shallowly at first, then deeper. The first time he disappeared all the way into her mouth she sputtered and gagged. He backed off for a few pumps, then tried again. "Relax your throat and time your breathing. Hum a little if you feel like gagging."

Violet caught on quickly and Klaus felt he should set an example. He didn't even try to be quiet as his pleasure escalated. "God, you're such a good girl, Violet. Fuck, your mouth is so good. I'm so close. Are you ready?" It was a rhetorical question. Klaus didn't require an answer because he had no intention of doing anything but spilling his seed inside of her warm, inviting mouth. His fingers curled tight into her hair and he came deep in her throat, barely mindful not to choke her. At last he pulled out and collapsed beside her, hands over his face as he just concentrated on breathing.

Now that the game was over, he was almost scared to look at Violet. She had done really well, but what in the world would she think of him now? Turning to her, she only held her wrists out to him again. He pulled the simple bowtie out with one tug at the end of the ribbon and it fell loose. Once freed, she closed her shirt, but didn't button it right away. She glanced at his totally naked body and he also began to feel a bit self-conscious. He climbed under the sheets and held them open for her, but she just shook her head.

"Shouldn't we talk?" he asked.

"I do have a few questions, actually."

Klaus raised his eyebrows, bracing himself.

"How am I supposed to say 'incredibly deadly viper' with your genitalia down my throat?" she asked with a small laugh.

"Oh God," groaned Klaus. "Did you want to say it and couldn't? I'm so sorry."

"No, Klaus. I'm only joking. It was… fine." She crawled off the bed and stood on shaky legs, gathering her clothes to put them on. "But I better go check on Sunny and get back to my room. Who knows what Olaf might try tomorrow." Already, she was slipping back into her facade of tight control, worry and anxiety spilling everywhere, her responsibility too great for one person to bear.

"You don't have to be alone. You can stay here," Klaus urged and she considered it seriously for a moment, looking longingly at the empty spot next to him, before shaking her head again. "I'll see you in the morning." She turned for the door and Klaus felt inexplicably lonely at the prospect of her leaving.

"Wait," he said, swinging his legs out of bed. "Wait just a second. Let me get dressed and I'll walk with you back to your room."

Violet laughed. "This isn't a date, Klaus. You don't have to do that." But she waited for him anyway. Once dressed they looked at each other for a long moment. They were a mess. That was undeniable. He wanted to apologize for the whole thing, but held his tongue. She gave him a sweet, sad smile, then reached for the door, opening it with one hand but taking his hand in her other. He squeezed it gratefully.

The bright hall light had been turned off so they didn't instantly notice the human form waiting outside Klaus's door, becoming only aware of his shiny eyes and hideous sneer when they heard his familiar drawl amongst the shadows.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?"