A/N: I'm back at it again. I might have a small form of ADHD or I just love writing. But this goes out to Wowzersduh because we've had lengthy discussions about this lol. I'm not sure I will continue this and I'm not saying that to get reviews, but just that my writing schedule is already grueling, and I might not be able to update as frequently, but I just wanted to put this out there.

Special disclaimer: This involves subject matter I typically don't write about because it's taboo. And the starring characters maybe OOC from time to time because this is also AU, no supernatural anything. Thanks for reading!

Disclaimer: Not my characters. They belong to LJ Smith and The CW. No copyright infringement is intended.

Catalina Island, California

Cash ruled everything around him, and trust he was using his money and overbearing good looks to his advantage. Sprawled out on the humongous day bed flipping through a worn copy of Shakespeare's Tempest Damon Salvatore licked a finger and turned the page although he had one eye plastered on the slim woman who was admiring her physique in the mirror.

"What do you think of this one?"

Damon put the book down on his chest and leisurely ran his eyes over his companion. "You look like a high class hooker that swallows," he said brutally and then grinned wolfishly. "I like it."

Katherine Pierce-Salvatore rolled her eyes and turned back around to face the mirror. The Marchesa dress was short, tight, lacy, and blinged out just the way she preferred all her cocktail dresses. Flipping a long strand of wavy chocolate hair over her shoulder, she turned to the side, admired how great her breasts looked before facing forward again. There were many things in life that Katherine loved: sex, money, bags and shoes, but what she loved above all was the young man lounging on her bed.

There wasn't anything she wouldn't do for Damon. He was her heart, her soul, the blood that flowed through her veins. He was the Ying to her Yang, her missing twin, her doppelganger. They were so alike that it came as no surprise they constantly butted heads but then conspired together like Russian spies. She pouted inwardly. Too bad she was his adopted sister and nothing could ever come of their taboo ways.

Katherine liked pushing Damon's buttons. As much as she may have loved him, he was her weakness, her cancer. No matter how many of her plans he foiled time after time again only to laugh at her expense, she found it almost impossible to stay mad at him. He had some kind of hold over her and it probably had everything to do with his powder blue eyes, jet black hair, and tight physique. Some already speculated they had something of an incestuous relationship going on. They didn't. They said things to one another filled with innuendo alluding to the fact they may have done more than tickle each other under the sheets when they were younger. Both were guilty of flirty and inappropriate touching, but Katherine could say with a clear conscious she never smashed her younger brother.

However, Katherine was very much aware of the hold she had over Damon, too. He may have tried to act like the overprotective little brother whenever she brought home a new boyfriend, which happened to be every few months or so. But Katherine knew his actions were fueled by jealousy and lust. Damon couldn't stand for another guy to touch her, to kiss her, to lavish her with expensive gifts and cart her around the world on exclusive trips. The both of them lived a very privileged and private lifestyle that many dreamed of and plenty more coveted. Yet those on the outside looking in didn't understand it was hard work being the kid of a wealthy parent.

Sure they might make it look easy and seamless, but they were reared in a very strict atmosphere because Giuseppe Salvatore didn't play that. He was in the ship manufacturing business building yachts for the rich and famous, and constructing fighter ships and submarines for the US Navy. Some likened him to be a modern-day Howard Hughes or Tony Stark come to life because he also dabbled in planes and weapons manufacturing as well. It was these lucrative business ventures that afforded him the opportunity to buy and build sprawling estates on four different continents.

That being said, Giuseppe sent Damon and Katherine to the best boarding schools the world had to offer. They each learned how to write and speak six languages fluently. Katherine played the piano proficiently, even entertained the President at the tender age of ten. Damon was versed in playing the drums, piano, and the electric guitar, but they've both left those talents behind and delved head first into the depravity that came with living in the lap of luxury with few rules and very little order.

As long as they kept the pretense up of being well-behaved, intelligent, groomed children, Giuseppe didn't care what they did so long as their antics never ended up in the papers or on magazine covers.

But now their every move was being followed by the paparazzi because Giuseppe Salvatore was getting married—again.

Marriage number three. Call her cynical but Katherine was sure that wifey number three would be out the door in half the time he was married to wife number two. In Katherine's opinion, her mom was the first and only love of Giuseppe's life. Isobel Gilbert was her maiden name. Isobel came from a good family the only stain on her impeccable resume being she was knocked up with someone else's kid at the time of her courtship with the rising entrepreneur. Giuseppe didn't care about that. He married Isobel after three months of dating, adopted Katherine as his own the minute she was born and they lived in happy bliss until Isobel was killed in a car accident a year later.

Giuseppe proved to be a resilient man and didn't mourn his wife's death for long. He found himself bitten by the love bug again and married Marguerite Lockwood—Damon's mom. Their marriage lasted ten years before Marguerite filed for a divorce because she couldn't handle the long hours Giuseppe worked abandoning her with two kids, and of course his numerous affairs.

So Katherine figured she would just bide her time and placate Giuseppe and his incoming wife, however, this time around things felt different.

Giuseppe seemed happier, giddy almost, as if he really were in love. Katherine and Damon had only met their soon to be step-mom a handful of times despite the fact Giuseppe and had known his future bride for years, at least according to him. Additionally, what made Katherine leery about this situation was the fact her new mom was coming with more than her clothes and personal effects, she would also be bringing her sixteen year old daughter with her.

Katherine was used to being the only female who ruled this house, so having to share power with two other females was seriously rubbing her the wrong way. She had Giuseppe wrapped around her finger. If she asked to own a share of all his businesses, he would draw up the paperwork the very next day. She had Damon sniffing after and though he took longer than most to give in to her demands, he usually did. She wasn't sure what kind of pull the new mother/daughter pair might have over her men, Katherine was determined they would have very little.

"You look constipated, Kat, what's going on in that diabolical brain of yours?" Damon asked.

She pivoted on the balls of her feet, walked seductively to the edge of the bed and crawled across it to sit directly on Damon's lap.

"I'm selfish, you know that," she purred, leaned over him while sliding a hand up his muscled chest and flicked the tip of his nose with hers. Damon for his part folded his arms behind his head.

"Hmm," he answered in a non-committal fashion.

"You know I hate competition of any kind."

Damon yawned hoping she'd get to the point and get off of him before he embarrassed them both.

"You're point, Kat? I'm aging over here."

She rolled her whiskey brown eyes and sat up. "What do we really know about our incoming Mommy Dearest and her brat?"

A crease formed between Damon's brows. He never made it his business to get mixed up in his dad's affairs. Who the old man was screwing was his business and his business alone, but Damon was astute to figure out that Katherine was feeling threatened and this was her way of making sure he was on her side, that he would continue to be a loyal subject in her court.

"Other than the fact Dad loves her…not much. She seemed nice enough the few times we met her."

An undignified noise sounded in the back of Katherine's throat. "I could careless if she mimicked Mother Theresa. I need dirt."

"And just what do you think scraping up dirt is going to do? Once Giuseppe Salvatore has his mind made up about something you can forget about changing it. Take solace in the fact that he won't be married for more than a year. You can keep your inner bitch locked up for that amount of time can't you?'

In response to his question, Katherine kneed Damon in the balls and rolled off of him. "Does that answer your stupid ass question? Get out."

Cupping himself and groaning, Damon shot Katherine the bird. "Evil whore," he spat.

"Flaccid dick," she retaliated and fluffed out her hair. Katherine reached for the zipper, lowered it and stepped out of the dress wearing nothing more than a barely there pair of undies. Damon's eyes widened for a bit before he diverted his attention elsewhere. That girl really had no shame sometimes.

Katherine slid another outrageously priced dress over her curves, the Egyptian silk teasing her skin sending shivers up her spine as she fashioned it into place. She purred again, wet her bottom lip with her tongue and knew without a doubt this would be the dress she'd wear to her adoptive father's engagement party tonight.

Damon eyed her from across the room, felt a little action taking place in his pants and figured now was as good a time as any to get missing. Besides his weed man was stopping by and he'd need to get a little high to make it through another insipid party with overbearingly pretentious assholes who behaved as if they had class but were solely mistaken.

Rolling off the bed and approaching Katherine he stood behind her. Their eyes caught in the mirror, and Katherine reached backwards to tunnel her French manicured fingers through his black hair.

"You mean the world to me, Damon."

"Don't go and get sentimental on me now after you tried to unman me."

She smirked. "Stop reading that Shakespeare garbage before I start to question your sexuality."

Damon kissed her neck and strolled over to the door. "Trust me when I say I'm strictly pussy. Want me to prove it? I'll be f*cking one of your little airhead girlfriends by the end of the night."

Katherine turned sideways to face him. "Trying to make me jealous or horny?"

He winked at her. "I'll let you decide."

Damon left her room and strolled to his wing of the house. He swept past the tapestry covered walls, the painted ceilings when his cell phone buzzed in his back pocket. Retrieving the device he grinned and answered the phone.

"Yes?"

A soft feline voice tickled his eardrums. "I'm wet"

His grin began to mimic that of a shark. "And what would you like me to do about that?" Damon pushed open one of the double wooden doors that led to his room. He bounded up a short flight of stairs and made a sharp right, strolling into his sanctuary. His room was spacious enough to be considered a living room. It had a vaulted wood beam ceiling, an open floor plan, expensive furnishings, every single high tech and electronic device known to mankind, but his pride and joy was his custom made bed that slept six easily.

Kennedy Burkin, his flavor of the season, was what Damon liked to refer to as his muscle relaxant. He had met her at one of his dad's business associates birthday parties about three months ago. Kennedy had been draped in chiffon and diamonds, looking bored out of her mind. She had café au lait skin, jet black hair, pale green eyes, and a sensual mouth he spent the rest of the night kissing while she gave certain body parts of his a tongue bath.

He shivered even now in memory as he walked over to his long, imposing mahogany desk where he proceeded to log into his system. Once he was waiting for his Mac to boot up, Damon took a seat in his leather executive style chair and propped his feet on the desk. He rubbed his hardening member through his jeans almost absently.

"I want you to come over here and towel me dry of course. I just got out of the pool."

"You're my date to my dad's engagement party. I'll see you soon enough."

Damon imagined she was pouting prettily. Wetting that full bottom lip with a pink tongue before biting down on it. He cleared his throat.

"You're not being fair, Damon. Any time you want to see me I drop what I'm doing so I can drop to my knees the minute I see you. I think it's only right for you to return the favor."

Damon ignored her taunt as he opened up a secured personal file. After a few more clicks an image popped up on his screen. He shifted a bit in his chair as his eyes devoured the image of a young woman stepping out of a swimming pool wearing a modest two piece pink and white polka dot bikini. Her head was angled towards the sun, eyes closed, chocolate hair pushed back from her face. It was hard to believe, just from looking at her body she was only sixteen. She had a nice sized rack, thick thighs, a firm tight ass, sculpted calves, and though he couldn't really see her feet, he knew they were suckable.

"Damon!" Kennedy shouted in his ear.

"What?" he snapped in response because she interrupted his budding fantasy.

"Can I see you before the party or not?"

He hesitated. "My dad is calling on my other line," he lied. "I'll have to get back to you, but more than likely I won't be able to escape."

Kennedy sighed heavily, accepting defeat. "Fine. What designer are you wearing? I want to match."

This was the part of Kennedy he didn't like. When she would try to augment what they were doing to relationship status. She was a booty call and nothing more. His jump off. Kennedy, like many of his conquests came from the same kind of background as him. Rich parents, privileged life, low morals and ethics, but he was bored with that.

"I haven't decided, but I know whoever you choose to wear you will look amazing. I have to go, Kennedy. See you tonight."

"Tonight," she breathed seductively into the phone. "Bye, Damon."

He hung up his cell and just sat there staring at the picture of his soon-to-be step-sister.

"Stop biting your nails," Abby Bennett chastised her only child. She and her daughter were being escorted via Maybach to their new dwellings. Their actual belongings would be arriving within the week, but Giuseppe had hired personal shoppers to get them both closets full of clothing until their things arrived.

Bonnie stuck her hands in her lap. Her knee began to jump. She wasn't worried so much about seeing Giuseppe. She had known him for years, and genuinely liked him. He sometimes took her and her mom out on joined dates whenever he popped up in boring Mystic Falls, Virginia. He was the father she always wanted, so her nerves had nothing to do with moving under his roof, making things official, it had everything to do with meeting his children. All her life she had been an only child so with just one ceremony she would have a father, sister, brother. Part of her was excited but then a much larger part of her was filled with anxiety.

What if they hated her? What if she hated them? She wanted her mom to be happy, but…Bonnie was already feeling as if she were being left out in the cold.

Abby never said it but it had always been implied that Katherine and Damon Salvatore were standoffish, elitist snobs. Abby figured that when she was forced to socialize with them they secretly made fun of her despite the fact they behaved perfectly nice, and treated her in a respectful manner. However, she was no fool. If Katherine could get away with pushing her down a flight of stairs, she would have done it a long time ago. Damon was a little tougher to figure out. He only spoke when spoken to, and then sometimes he would make a sarcastic or rude comment, but other than that he had never been malicious. It was Katherine Abby didn't trust, and Katherine she wanted to keep her daughter from. However, that would be next to impossible since she was marrying the girl's adoptive father and they would be living under the same roof. So that would make avoidance nearly impossible, although Giuseppe's house on Catalina Island was more like a fortress offering fourteen bedrooms, a slew of bathrooms, dens, a library, industrial sized kitchen, a tennis court, swimming pool, guest house, basketball court, the amenities were endless.

Placing her hand on top of her daughter's, Abby offered Bonnie a comforting smile. She knew she was making the right decision in marrying Giuseppe. She loved and would be securing a future for her daughter, giving Bonnie the kind of life she should have had since birth. But circumstances far beyond both of their control had limited Bonnie's childhood.

"Everything will be fine. Giuseppe loves you and he would never let anything bad happen to you, okay? You have nothing to be worried about."

"But, mom I've heard stories, rumors about Katherine and Damon. And they aren't good."

"Rumors weren't meant to be good, Bonnie, and I've always told you to judge a situation for yourself and not base your opinion off of hearsay. Blending families together isn't always easy, but we'll try. Just give things a chance."

Bonnie offered her mom a placatory smile before directing her attention back out the window. The scenery was absolutely beautiful but she couldn't concentrate on the grandeur to save her life. All that kept nagging her was the fact that in less than twenty minutes she would be facing the family she would become apart of. She had every reason in the world to be happy, but she couldn't make herself feel happy.

"I don't want them to think I'm trying to take over their lives or steal their dad away," Bonnie mumbled a little while later, still looking out the window.

"They won't because I didn't raise you that way. Look, money does have a way of changing people, and no matter what happens in my marriage to Giuseppe, you and I will always be two simple women from the south. Understand?"

"Yes, Mama."

The car was now at a private gate. The driver punched in a security code and moments later the wrought iron gates parted and the car was winding up a cobblestone driveway.

Giuseppe Salvatore stood outside raven-haired, blue-eyed dressed in a tan linen suit with his white shirt open at the collar. He was joined by two sullen looking teenagers dressed in their "casual" clothing of Katherine in an expensive dress from her favorite boutique Kitson, and Damon wearing all black Versace.

"Put smiles on your faces, damn it," Giuseppe said through tight lips.

"You said to show up you didn't say anything about smiling," Katherine was quick to remind him.

The Maybach looped around the circular drive, and the chauffeur was quick to get out and open up the back passenger door. Abby climbed out first offering her fiancé a brilliant, dazzling smile that made him puff his chest out a little more. Abby was unlike any other woman he dated, married, or f*cked. She was a tender woman with a steel spine, and beautiful with sun kissed skin, thick wavy chocolate hair, and piercing dark green eyes.

He approached her and kissed her soundly on the mouth. His eyes then sauntered over to the slightly frightened young woman who was pulling down the ruffled hem of her summer dress. Bonnie was the splitting image of her mom, except her eyes were a bright green embedded in a heart shaped face. Giuseppe pulled her into a hug and kissed her cheek, he mumbled in her ear:

"Relax. They know what will happen to them if they get out of line."

Bonnie nodded her head wishing his words had the added effect of making her feel at ease. Instead, her anxiety shot up another notch. But she forced herself to make eye contact with her future step siblings.

Katherine was just as Bonnie expected. She had HBIC written across her olive toned forehead. Her brown eyes were sharp like a double-edged sword and her entire posture reeked of conceit. The smile on her face was not welcoming in the least, but Bonnie refused to be intimidated by the long-haired girl who knew she was beautiful and sensual and used that to her every advantage.

Bonnie then brought her eyes over to Damon. He was handsome, chillingly so. It was hard to believe he was only seventeen. His eyes reminded her of the rarest form of topaz; they were just that blue. His gaze, like Katherine's was intense and sharp. His well-formed mauve lips were quirked into a smirk. His midnight black hair was in disarray as if he styled it that way on purpose. It did little to distract from how hot he was.

She cleared her throat and looked away because she felt like she was being burned by his gaze.

Giuseppe waved them towards the front door, unfortunately drawing Bonnie closer to last two people she wanted to be around. If they had their say, they would not be making the transition easy for her. Her mom had told her plenty of times that Giuseppe kept his children on tight leashes. That would remain to be seen.

"Katherine…Damon…say hello to your new sister. Bonnie, my daughter Katherine and my son, Damon."

Bonnie reached out to shake Katherine's hand first wanting to get it over with. Katherine's grip was loose as if Bonnie just wiped her ass with her bare hand. She ignored it and then offered Damon the same hand.

He didn't shake it. He kissed her knuckles maintaining eye contact with her the whole while. He said something to her in Italian?…Greek?…Spanish?…she wasn't sure.

Katherine's nostrils flared. She folded her arms over her chest and looked away.

Giuseppe snapped something to Damon in the same gibberish she didn't understand.

Bonnie blushed although she wasn't sure that was the right response. "Nice to meet you," she said to them both.

Giuseppe glared at Katherine sending her a silent message to fix her attitude or run the risk of being cut off. Inwardly, Damon laughed and then kissed Abby's hand as well, only he greeted her in regular ole English.

"Pleasure to see you again, Abby."

"Likewise, Damon."

"Let's take this inside," Giuseppe suggested. He turned back to the driver. "George, take their bags up to their rooms, please."

"Yes, Mr. Salvatore."

Katherine retreated inside first followed by Giuseppe and Abby who walked hand-in-hand. Damon extended his arm out to Bonnie. Tentatively she accepted it as they walked through the grand foyer of the Salvatore estate. The others were far ahead of them.

Bonnie looked up at her future step-brother. "What did you say to me?"

A lopsided grin formed on his face causing her heart to beat nervously as he bored his eyes into hers. "I said 'you're a rose without a thorn."

Bonnie didn't believe him but left it at that.

Damon didn't say that at all and if she ever decided to Google what he actually did say, she'd probably try to take a meat tenderizer to his dick.

TBC

A/N: I like to push the envelope when it comes to story telling. Whenever I update again, anything will be liable to happen. I want to keep things classy but that might not happen. But thanks for stopping by and showing this puppy some love. And in case you're curious, no Stefan and Damon won't be brothers in this. Or they might be half-brothers. I don't have all the particulars worked out with this story. But again, thanks for reading. Love you guys!