Guest(s) — Thank you for being the very first reviewer and pointing out that I forgot to sort it, it completely slipped right past me. & thank you to the other guest users for reviewing!

meruhime — Yeah Damon's in here. He was her brother & I'll put what happened to him in eventually. It weighs on poor Caroline little shoulders. & I see you're a double reviewer! Thank you for that. You're pretty attentive to the details that's cool. They're in sixth form which I think is kinda like 13th grade, in between college and hs.

AvalonTheLadyKiller — I like that! It leaves so much space for creativity.

Booth — another double reviewer! Thank you so much for that. I think it's because its new and the title is odd and the summary is weak and I didnt post it on tumblr or anything, I dunno. I'll try updating every week or every other week Truth is I have written several chapters ahead but editing takes me a while. I'll try making them longer too. & I'll start leaving little authors notes, thats a good suggestion.

Chapter 4
Klaus

When I arrived home I briefly considered taking that cold shower that Caroline had mentioned but decided against it. I was fine. She didn't affect me nearly as much as she wanted to think. Or at least that's what I would tell myself, I was unsure to be honest. She was a pretty little thing. Blonde hair, enchanting eyes, sparkling personality. But underneath all that simplistic perfection and goodness was just enough of a spark for me to work with to draw her into the darkness. A little effort and I could ruffle her feathers enough to turn her into a black swan. She'd be my target this year. I'd unravel her if it was the last thing I would do.

I headed straight for my studio, sudden inspiration flowing through me. I saw the most beautiful vista overlooking a beach with white sand and water clear enough to see fish. I wanted to get it all down in a sketch before I completely lost it. I pick up a pencil and slowly sit on the couch against the wall as I begin to draw. Normally I like peace and quiet when I painted but I hadn't anticipated Kol being home so early.

"No time for you to be artsy, brother. Bekah is dragging us along to a shoot." I took a deep breath and threw my pencil at him like a dart, stabbing him in the forehead.

"No, Bekah's dragging me to a shoot and you're simply tagging along because you want to hit on her friends."

"Same difference. You're no better, Nik. And since I refuse to take your leftovers its slim pickings for me." Kol flashes a cheeky grin and ducks out of the room.

I don't bother telling him I had yet to dip into her pool of Egyptian friends if he wanted to hazard his luck there but I'd probably get there soon enough, I liked to keep a very diverse palette. I put down my materials and follow him out to verify whether or not our sister actually needed me to go with her. She was by no means a stranger to modeling but she'd recently just broke through the jailbait label and some of the more risqué shoots could be a potentially dangerous environment for her. She could technically hire a manager or an agent or even security guards like some of the other models do, but found that bringing her brother(s), Kol and I, rarely Elijah, was just as effective.

By the time I reach the foyer Kol is already by the door, making some arrangements on the phone and Bekah is bouncing off the walls trying to collect herself. She was the most disorganized person I'd ever met. I had a feeling the second we reached to site she'd start whining about how I had let her forget her lucky lipstick or her iPad or, god forbid, her credit card. When Rebekah decided she was sufficiently ready the three of us piled into the limo.

"Why did you need that thing today, Nik?" Kol asked. If I didn't know better I'd say it was innocent conversation. Bekah had already popped open a bottle of champagne and distributed glasses. Normally I preferred something with more kick, but this would be the best I could do for today.

"It was an assignment. I just didn't feel like doing it." Kol narrowed his eyes at me and I just stared back at him, bored. I knew where he was going to try and take this. I considered not letting him, but I couldn't truly care less about his antics right now.

"Then why not just tell Smith to let you off the hook? Or better yet, why didn't you just make Caroline do it on her own?" at the mention of a girls name Rebekah finally tuned in to our conversation. She eyed me curiously to see what I would say.

"Don't worry your empty little head about how I profited from having the assignment."

Our sister rolled her eyes and launched into another monologue about how she didn't understand why we went to school in the first place. School was a formality for people like us, hence why she'd dropped out of high school to be homeschooled and focus on her, actually fairly lucrative, modeling career. She'd spent the time we wasted on school climbing up the modeling tiers, although she hadn't really started from the bottom anyway. Her life goal was to be an angel. Unfortunately she was very close. Once she peaked, then what? I suppose she'd branch out into other fashion endeavors, but my little sister was hardly the business personality.

Kol let the matter drop entirely. We made idle chit chat for the rest of the ride to the venue. When we finally did get there, however, Rebekah was the only one who was willing to get out of the car. I tried to pull her back in and insist she try again another time but she insisted that it was fine. The venue turned out to be a very old, very creaky, very unsafe abandoned warehouse. This is where no good junkies and gamblers spent a good amount of time. I feared poor Bekah would get ill just being here. God knows what kind of airborne diseases were bred and mutated in the very spot she was standing.

"Don't be such a dainty little bitch, Nik. Portia says I need to add a little more variety to my portfolio to show that I have range. I need to show everyone I'm not just a blonde bombshell."

"Since when are you even that?" Kol asked sarcastically under his breath. Bekah threw her clutch at him and he snorted at the face she made. Idiot.

"Fine. Go expand your horizons. I believe I'll go keep Tamsin company, it's particularly chilly today."

I found my little nymph just outside the warehouse smoking a cigarette and socializing with the other models. I gently took the cigarette from her hand, crushing it under my boot a second later, and buried my tongue deep within her mouth. The girls stopped dead in the middle of their riveting conversation about highlights, tittered, and scrambled away. One of my favorite things about Tamsin, aside from her physical beauty, was that her modeling resume included gymnastics, ballet, violin, sax, and amateur olympic swimming. She could hold her breath for nearly five and a half minutes before needing to come up for air and she was incredibly bendy. It was incredible. Eventually when she did pull away from me, it wasn't to tell me she had to go do her job or that we should slow down for the day. She just gave me her sultriest bedroom eyes and dragged me off in the direction of the limo.

By the time we resurfaced the day was nearly done. We had finished not a moment too soon. It was nearing 8:30 and Bekah only had a few more shots to get through. I make an attempt to find Kol but figure he'd still be in the throes of passion with one of our sisters coworkers. Finding her wasn't too much of a struggle anyway, I practically had a gps system programmed in my head for my baby sister.

I found her off to the side of the ware house mounting a steel death trap. She rolled her shoulders back in an attempt to loosen up and smiled off to the side at someone I couldn't quite make out. Now I'm not quite sure when the steam began to pour out of my ears but I do know it was somewhere in between when a black haired grease ball kicked his leg over the bike and when he proceeded to pose with and kiss my baby sister. He had to be at least my age, making him far too old for Bekah. Before I could stop the shoot the photographer scrunched up her nose at the sight before her, much like I had. She tilted her head to the side as though she was undergoing some deeply profound thoughts. She waved at the scene before her frantically.

"No, no, no. You're too…John Travolta, Danny Zuko. She isn't Sandy. She's not like this to please you. She isn't your accessory." The fucking punk looked so confused. He hadn't understood a word of what she was saying. The photographer sighed heavily, obviously in great despair. "For fuck's sake get out of the damn shot. Someone get me a Kenickie, a James Dean, a goddamn Marlon Brando."

A dirty blonde jogged up to the set then, muttering a quick apology for his tardiness. He pecked the photographer on the cheek and asked if he'd missed the entire thing. She didn't answer, just shoved him in the direction of the motorcycle where my sister was steadily growing more and more impatient by the minute. The man introduced himself to my sister and gently climbed on the bike. He looked behind himself to check on her.

He was not only a better fit according to the directors of the shoot he seemed more professional than the jerk on the bike before him so I let it continue without interruption. If it had taken me just five minutes longer than usual to finish up with Tamsin I might have missed all that, making me the worst brother. I'd have failed at the main reason she brought me to these things with her. Thank god I knew Tamsin well enough to get her to her climax in a set time frame.

Twenty minutes later Bekah practically skipped over to where Kol and I stood waiting by the limo, a big fat grin on her face. It was almost disconcerting to see her so chipper but I suppose it probably has something to do with the big garment bag in her hands. Sometimes she received thank you's from designers along with her pay and sometimes she simply got a bonus with her pay, but either way whatever this one gave her must have been nice.

When we got home I strolled into the kitchen in desperate need of a drink. I was going to have a busy next few days, starting with accompanying Bekah to some party, and needed to undo my soberness. Mother blew on her tea tiredly staring at me while I fixed myself a drink. Sometimes I felt bad for her. Other times not so much. But that was fine, it's not like she actually cared what I thought of her or thought of in general.

"Are you going to your fathers?"

"You know the answer to that, Esther." I knocked back my drink and quickly poured myself another.

She asked me this question a lot even though she always knew the answer. She probably hoped that one day my answer would change. I wonder if we were going to have that whole 'I know you can do better' conversation. Probably not. She didn't look like she had the energy to put up with Rebekah today, much less me. Even if we did I'm sure she'd fail. I'd lost track of how many times she tried to convince me that father is the devil in disguise.

My parents were interesting. They were two vastly different sides of the same coin. They were both of noble blood, born into prominently wealthy families. Mother used all her status and wealth to immerse herself in politics. She was an integral part in keeping the country running, a very important woman indeed. And while she used her status to aid the country, people like father were running it into the ground and ruining it, according to her anyway. Her greatest fear for her children was that we squandered our potential. She was afraid Elijah would become corrupt, that Bekah would be an airhead socialite, that Kol would party himself to death, but her fear was quadrupled when it came to me. She feared I'd be like him.

I pat her on the arm to ease her pain. She wasn't in any physical pain. The fact alone that I was her son seemed to be painful enough without her needing to associate any real physical pain with me. I bid her ado and reminded her about Rebekah on my way to the garage, our chauffeur in tow. I pointed at a random SUV and waited for him to bring it around.

Father didn't have anything too hardcore planned anyway. Just a few scenes to handle here or there, including a meeting with one of my sisters bosses. It'd be a breeze. I'd probably spend the majority of my time there fucking the multitude of women available to me. I considered trying my hand at toying with Caroline but decided against it. Not only did I not have her number but as of yet we had little to no interaction outside of our classes. It had to be organic otherwise it wasn't worth it. I had her where I wanted, I'd keep her there without driving her away. Well, actually on second thought she isn't exactly where I'd like her to be but I was a patient man. I'd get her in due time.