Blonde Ambition- Chapter 1

This story was inspired by Lois Long, a journalist for The New Yorker in the 1920s. If you want to learn more about Ms. Long, you can do what I did and watch the documentary "Prohibition" by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, read "Dry Manhattan: Prohibition in New York City" by Michael A. Lerner and "Flapper: A Madcap Story of Sex, Style, Celebrity, and the Women Who Made America Modern" by Joshua Zeitz. She's mentioned in all three. Or, well, Google her!

This story takes place in an Alternate Universe, but with many canon details that will come out as the story goes. There's a lot of exposition in this chapter to get everyone settled, but things pick up.

Thanks to Uppity Bitch and Iron Dragon Maiden for their invaluable input as I was brainstorming this story. They were amazing. They are also talented authors, so please go read their stories and let them know what you think!

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, etc.

August 1925- New York City

"After a delightful few hours in the company of men I would not describe as ones to bring home to mother at a swanky townhouse in midtown, replete with secret password access (try 'password,' it works more than you'd guess) I absconded to the Palais Royal. The lights were blinding and the music was hopping, but then the fuddy-duddy Prohibition agents ran us all out. Someone get them a drink. What's a fun-loving girl got to do to have some fun in this city? Head to Harlem's Drool Inn!" Rebekah Mikaelson read out loud to her brothers as she settled on the dove gray settee.

"Rebekah, I'm aware you can read to yourself," Klaus Mikaelson said as he looked up from the newspaper, watching her over the top, his blue eyes catching hers.

She rolled her eyes and resettled her skirt over her legs. "You two really know nothing," she said with her nose in the air as she eyed both Klaus and her other brother, Elijah, who was lighting a cigarette. She shook the magazine in her hand. "Everyone is talking about this column."

Actually "everyone" wasn't, but he enquired anyway. "Why?" Klaus asked with a quirked brow.

"The articles are a Manhattan entertainment guide, where to go and where not to bother. She knows what's the bee's knees before anyone else does. She practically makes them so." She stared her brother down. The columnist had power. "Your place isn't the only one in town you know and it hasn't been mentioned at all."

"Ah yes," Klaus said, lifting one finger in the air, "but ours is the only one that truly entertains. It has Marcel Gerard and Bonnie Bennett." Rebekah stiffened, hoping it went unnoticed and went back to reading the column.

Out of a side door, a beautiful woman strolled in and propped her arm out before Klaus. With a smile, Klaus' fangs and blackened veins appeared. With a quick move, he sang his fangs into the woman's wrist and drank his fill. She didn't make a sound. When he was finished, Klaus lifted his head and smiled prettily at her as he swiped the drip of blood from his chin. "Thanks, love." She then approached Elijah, but he waved her off. Rebekah did the same. She'd gotten blood earlier.

"Niklaus," Elijah said as he paged though sheets of a ledger, "compulsion is much more cost-effective than bribing the entire New York City Police force and Bureau of Prohibition, but in order to turn a profit, some publicity might do us good." They weren't earning as much money as he would have liked. Providing alcohol while it was illegal could be lucrative, but they needed more bodies coming in the doors otherwise the bribes were worthless.

He looked at his sister. "Rebekah, who is the author of the column? Perhaps she can be persuaded to highlight our establishment." It sounded elegant coming out of his mouth.

They had an advantage as a cabaret versus a strict speakeasy. While selling alcohol was illegal, they were merely an entertainment center with a band and dancers to the law-abiding world and a den of iniquity and alcohol-fueled fun for those in the know.

Rebekah smiled, loving being able to shock her brothers. "Kohl."

"Kol?" Klaus yelped, sitting up straight. Kol currently had a dagger in his heart in an upper room of the house next to their brother Finn in the same condition.

Rebekah laughed as her brother's face hardened. "Of course not. It's Kohl with an 'h.' It's also a woman writer…well that's what I believe anyway."

Klaus sneered at her demeaning tone and Elijah jumped in as always. "Niklaus, while I appreciate you wanting to checking in on our brother," he said with an edge to his voice, expecting Klaus to check in on Kol's coffin any moment, "it's better for all of us that it isn't Kol." Kol was annoying and could be extraordinarily vicious, but he was their brother and writing a magazine column wasn't exactly his modus operandi if he'd become freed. It wasn't Kol and Rebekah was just baiting her brother. "Rebekah, what do you know about this woman, Kohl?"

Rebekah was flattered that they had to ask for her help, but she didn't know very much. "The articles started a few months ago. They cover 10 to 20 places in each, I'd say. I overheard some women at Bergdorf Goodman's talking about it last week. Her identity is a mystery. People have come forward claiming to be her, but they aren't." She tipped her head to the side, not sure what else she could offer based on what she'd read.

"She doesn't give any clues?" Elijah asked, crossing one leg over the other elegantly, putting his cigarette out in the crystal ashtray.

"The opposite," Rebekah said with a smirk. "She gives many clues, including that she's a middle aged obese woman as well as a teenage boy sneaking out past curfew."

Klaus hated mysteries that he wasn't creating himself. He was curious about the aliased writer, but nothing could touch him. Mikael had been killed back in New Orleans. Their arrival in New York and their cabaret, The Original, was just an amusement until the family decided where they'd visit next. Staying in one place was a luxury they could now afford and New York was the most buzzing city in the world after all.

"We don't have to know who she is," Klaus reminded them. "We just need to get her to visit, write a few pretty words, and be on her way. Elijah, you're in charge," he said as he took his leave of the room.

"Marcellus!" he yelled as he flung the door open to Marcel's room. "Rebekah and Elijah have put me in a mood. Let's go out for a drive," Klaus said with a big grin, hands behind his back.

Marcel threw an arm over his eyes and moaned, the white sheets caught around him on the bed. Marcel actually had a job, but Klaus wanted to be entertained.

"Come now, chap."

"Klaus, it's noon," he whined, picking up his watch from the nightstand and sitting up. He'd only gotten 5 hours of sleep.

"That daylight rings means you're not trapped to only carousing at night. Meet me downstairs in five minutes," he said with a big grin.

Klaus knocked on the door of the room next door, but didn't open it. "Bonnie, rise and shine."

"Go away, Klaus," she yelled and he grinned, hearing the thud of something being thrown at the door, probably a shoe. Already he was in a much better mood as he went to get a little snack from the butler before he took Marcel for a spin in his brand new Model T Ford.

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"Davina, how do you want your eggs?" Caroline Forbes asked on the other side of town.

"Scrambled," the brunette witch replied as she retied her silk robe, yawning. "Your specialty, I believe." They were both wearing silk robes, Caroline in red, Davina in black. They'd each given one to the other for Christmas. It would have been more of a coincidence if each of them hadn't talked up the robes as often as they did which made them laugh when the presents were opened.

Caroline grinned. It was true. Scrambled eggs was one of the few things she could actually make well. It was a badge of honor to be an unaccomplished cook in her mind. It meant she wouldn't become a boring housewife.

The blonde cracked eggs into a bowl and scrambled them with a fork, adding a little water, salt, and pepper. Davina put two slices of bread in the toaster. She also poured water from the tap into glasses and set them on the kitchen table along with forks and cloth napkins.

The smell of melted butter filled the small kitchen. Caroline poured the egg mix into the hot buttered pan.

It wasn't just the kitchen that was small. The entire apartment was small, but it was beautiful with ornate details including a crystal chandelier and decorative paneling. The building in midtown Manhattan suited them both perfectly. Their apartment had two bedrooms, a living room, bathroom, and kitchen. The doorman downstairs was a bonus and the other people on their floor seemed nice enough. The ladies weren't home enough to actually make their acquaintance. Davina and Caroline gave them nicknames including "Mean-Face," "Grandma Louise," who was their favorite, "The Handcuffed Twins," and "Longy-Shorty."

Davina and Caroline met in college. While a vampire and witch were supposed to be natural enemies, neither Caroline nor Davina did what they were "supposed" to do…ever. Caroline was a native of Mystic Falls, Virginia. A small town life certainly wasn't enough for her and she begged her parents prettily to let her go to college in New York. It worked and she hadn't gone back except for the occasional holiday visit.

The gorgeous blue-eyed blonde thought her life was over when she was turned into a vampire, but once she'd gotten over the shock and broken dreams associated with giving up a mortal life, she let go of her childhood dreams and made new, bigger ones. It helped that the world around her was also changing. Women were finally getting more rights than they ever had before, including the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920 for the very first time, allowing women to vote. The transition to immortal vampire gave Caroline more personal power and confidence. It transformed her from an insecure and controlling teenager into an only slightly less controlling and ambitious vampire. A brief introduction to vampirism by the one who turned her and a daylight ring from a witch named Gloria in her debt were the first steps in her new life.

Caroline graduated from Vassar with a degree in English. She stayed in New York, moving from place to place with old college classmates for a few years until she and Davina moved in together a year prior. Acting was her first attempt at a career, but she ended up writing for Harper's Bazaar until she got a job at NYC Magazine through a friend. She loved her job and she worked hard at it. Life was good and things were looking up, she thought with a blinding grin. The Big Apple was all hers.

Davina was a native New Yorker. She was also stunningly beautiful with chocolate brown hair and blue eyes. She was a party girl through and through and very smart. Her parents were filthy rich and she loved to spend their money while half-heartedly looking for work as an actress.

The duo became fast friends on a March night five years prior. Caroline was a senior at Vassar when Davina was a sophomore. While Davina was a witch, she'd been in denial about her powers, choosing not to learn what she was capable of. She didn't want to be different and rebuffed her mother's attempts to teach her. Why did she need magic if she had money?

Caroline heard Davina's cries for help as she was walking back with a beau to her dorm. Whooshing over to the scene, she found a man attacking Davina near the library. His hands were trying to get beneath her skirt and Davina's arms were punching at his chest, but to no avail.

Caroline's face changed and with a sharp tug at his arm she sent the assailant into the dumpsters nearby. With a lick of her lips, she dove for the man's throat and drank her fill, his hot blood filling her mouth. It was his turn to yell.

When she was sufficiently sated moments later, Caroline left the man slumped in the alley, wiping her arm across her chin. He was alive, but barely. With her hands out in front of her and with her face back to normal, she approached Davina who was huddled in a small mass.

"You're ok. I'm not going to hurt you," she told her calmly. Men preying on women made Caroline sick.

"What are you?" Davina asked, in shock over everything that had happened that night. She'd been returning a book into the overnight receptacle when the man came out of nowhere. She was a city girl, but hadn't felt unsafe or vulnerable until that moment. It tore a piece of her innocence away.

Caroline squatted in front of her as best she could in her bustled dress. "I'm a vampire, but you won't remember that in a moment," she said as her eyes dilated and she began her compulsion. "You won't remember that you saw my face change and that I drank from him. You don't know why he has those wounds or that I'm a vampire. You're safe and he won't hurt you." Caroline blinked.

"What that supposed to do something?" Davina asked as she tipped her head to the side, feeling the adrenaline course through her veins. She was still shaking, focusing on Caroline since the rest was too horrible to think of. She'd heard of vampires from her mother, but hadn't actually met one before.

"Huh?" Caroline was stumped. "Yeah. That's never happened before. What are you?"

Davina licked her lips. She hadn't told anyone, ever, but she knew what Caroline meant by the question. "A witch."

Caroline stood and held out her hand to Davina who took it, standing up next to her. "I haven't met many of those here."

Caroline's date came running around to where they were. Caroline blocked his view of the unconscious man on the ground and kissed him on the cheek, sending him on his way after making up a story for him. He nodded and left.

"Let me walk you home. I live in Raymond House. You?" she asked with her arm out which Davina took.

"Davison," Davina told her. "I, uh, don't practice magic."

"Really?" Caroline asked, feeling Davina's shaking calm as they walked and talked.

While their meeting was certainly dramatic and serious, they became fast friends because of everything else. They had similar senses of humor and feelings about what they wanted from the world. Davina wanted every advantage she could get and over the summer asked her mom to help her with her magic. Her mom was thrilled and Davina had been practicing magic ever since. Caroline kept in touch and once Davina graduated, they moved in together.

The witch buttered the toast when it was ready as Caroline slid the cooked eggs onto two plates.

"Rent's due in a week," Caroline whined with a smirk as she forked the food into her mouth.

Davina grinned. "Daddy says I can't ask him for any money for three months because of that teeny little issue with the Newport house."

Caroline laughed. Setting the shed on fire wasn't exactly a teeny issue, Caroline thought. Davina had been getting busy with a local when their candle got knocked over starting the embarrassing fire. "I get paid Friday, but there's a dress I really want too." She smiled. She knew what the right thing to do was, but she didn't want to actually do it all the time.

"Priorities, priorities," Davina sang as she took a sip of water.

"Um hey, that smells good," a new voice said. He was slipping on his jacket as he joined them. "Is there any more?"

Caroline stood and put her arms on his shoulders. "I used the last egg. I'm sorry. You better get home, Matt, and get some food."

Matt nodded and swallowed hard. "When will I see you again?"

Caroline put a hand on his back and began walking him to the door before he knew it. She gave him her practiced debutante smile. "I'm very busy, but why don't you call me and we'll set something up."

Matt's voice got quieter at the door. "Caroline, last night was special."

"Uh huh," she said as she smiled and pushed him out of the door before he could attempt to kiss her goodbye. "Bye."

With a roll of her eyes, she laid her back against the door, hearing Matt make his way away from their apartment.

"Seriously?" she asked Davina as she settled back to finish her breakfast, although the clock told her it was almost 1pm.

Davina laughed. "What's the matter? Too predictable? Too boring? Too plain? Oooh, let me guess. He's terrible in bed." Davina's feelings about Matt Donovan were certainly clear.

Caroline smirked. "He's not a great kisser," she agreed, "but he's sweet and he's a good guy. His dream is to become a cop out on Long Island." There was nothing wrong with that, but Caroline wanted so much more. Matt was like one of the boys she knew in Mystic Falls who would never leave Virginia. She would have loved him when she was human. Otherwise, he was a decent date, but he wasn't her future.

They finished their food in silence until Caroline's eye landed on the white tablecloth that needed to be ironed sitting on the counter. Davina's eyes followed hers.

They got the same idea at the same time.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Yup. Rent party!"

They shimmied in their chairs. Caroline stood and began to sing a song she'd heard the night before. As she sang, they cleaned up the dishes and Caroline wrapped the tablecloth around her. "Togas?"

"Absolutely," Davina agreed. "I'll call Damon. He'll bring the alcohol. Stefan too. Wednesday night?"

"Perfect," she agreed with a big grin, "I need to go to the office. Enzo wants to meet with me," she said with a roll of her eyes. "See you later."

Davina nodded and left to get dressed.

Caroline returned to her room, getting dressed and thinking of party ideas. Party planning was a gift of hers and it would serve an excellent purpose….raising rent money.