1925

Ring around the rosy, pocket full of posies, ashes, ashes, we all fall down…

Elijah woke up gasping, just like so many times before. The nightmares were more than unpleasant, but he had no right to complain. He deserved this. No, he deserved much more. His bedroom was dark and quiet, with only the faintest light coming through the curtains. He had no idea what time it was, but he guessed an early morning. It didn't really matter. Getting up was the last thing he would have wanted to do. He closed his eyes and sighed, he needed to get up and take care of his responsibilities.

They were no doubt hungry already, especially the boy. As unpleasant as it was for Elijah to admit it, he have had some serious difficulties controlling him. Maybe the boy had the face of an angel, but he was a damn devil. Sometimes he kind of reminded Elijah of Kol. Elijah couldn't think about his little brother without feeling a sting in his heart. It had been four years since he had lost his family because of Niklaus and the pain hadn't gotten any easier. He had tried to ease it and ended up causing damage he could never fix.

He had killed two children. How could he ever forgive himself for that? He was much worse than Niklaus and Kol. Reluctantly he got up and got dressed. What he really needed right now was a cup of coffee. He headed to the kitchen and smelled the blood. A man's body was lying on the kitchen floor. Two pairs of bite marks. All his efforts to teach them were certainly paying off. He gritted his teeth and made few useless attempts to control himself.

"Felix!" he shouted. "Safie! Get in here right this minute!"

He has had enough, those two would be grounded for the next…month? Year? A whole damn decade if that was what it took to teach them. Furiously he marched to their bedroom, they had insisted of sharing one. He was aware how close they were, they spent most of their time together. Safie was probably the only person who Felix cared about, he would have died for her. He had died for her. Elijah's devastating guilt was trying to take over, but he didn't allow that. Those children were his responsibility and he had to be the teacher they needed.

"You two are in a lot of trouble…" he started angrily while yanking the door open. The rest of his angry words died when he saw Safie lying in bed. She looked sick, blood was pouring out of her nose and mouth. Felix was beside her, holding her hand and wiping her face with a wet towel.

"Safie?" Elijah managed to say.

She looked at him weakly and smiled at him.

"Hi, daddy."

Felix didn't look at him, but Elijah noticed him tensing. Elijah knew how much the boy hated taking orders. Just like Kol. But to be fair, not even Kol had been this bad at the age of 13.

"Oh, Safie," Elijah sighed. "We have talked about this…"

"We were hungry, daddy," the girl replied quietly. "We're sorry for making a mess."

She was giving him her best innocent look and blinking her big eyes. Elijah crossed his arms; he needed to be a harsh teacher.

"The mess isn't the point. What did you do wrong?"

Felix slammed his fist on the nightstand and wiped the blood off his sister's cheek.

"I know she's not well, but there's a lesson to be learned here," Elijah said firmly and walked over to the bed. "Move aside, Felix."

The boy glared at him, but obeyed when Elijah sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Alright, Safie," he sighed and touched the girl's hair. She was almost 17, but she was a small and very thin girl because of the malnourishment. "Let's see. Look at me."

The blood had made her very sick; her body was rejecting it because of her illness. Yet she needed it to live. And she was a newborn who was just learning how to control her hunger. That was a fun dilemma to solve.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

She nodded and licked her lips.

"Yes please, daddy."

Carefully he lifted her up into his arms and placed her onto his lap.

"You know I need to take the tainted blood out first," he stated, trying his best to sound neutral.

She nodded and tilted her head.

"I'm ready."

He wasn't. He hated this. But he was in no position to complain, he had done this to her in the first place. She smiled at him when his fangs came out. He tried to think about anything else when he bit her; he had to practically drain her. Again. She held still the whole time and didn't make a sound. Felix stayed back and stared at his sister with a blank expression. Elijah didn't still fully understand the dynamics of their relationship, it wasn't as simple as it seemed.

If he had understood correctly, Safie had basically raised Felix and made sacrifices to look after him. Elijah's guess was that the boy must have had some mental issues when he had been a human, becoming a vampire didn't automatically make anyone so…unstable. He wasn't sure how much Safie was able to restrain her brother, if she was willing to do that at all. She was always pampering him, like he would have been a small child. Finally Elijah was finished, he raised his head and quickly bit his wrist. Safie drank greedily; she didn't stop before Elijah pulled his wrist gently away.

"Better?" he asked.

She nodded.

"Yes. Thank you, daddy."

She kissed his cheek before he helped her back in the bed.

"Do you want to sleep?" he asked, suspecting that they had stayed up the whole night again, just like most young vampires. Besides, they didn't have a daylight ring and he wasn't planning to give them one any time soon.

"Yes, we're tired."

Felix lied down beside her right after Elijah had stood up.

"What story do you want to hear?" Safie asked and touched her brother's hair. Felix didn't say anything, he never did, he simply looked at her. "That one? Sure."

"Sleep well," Elijah murmured and headed towards the door.

"Thank you, daddy," Safie replied smiling.

He stopped for a moment before closing the door and glanced at the two children. His children. They were his responsibility for the next…forever. That was a comforting thought. He knew that he would never be able to fix what he had done to them, but he would at least do his best to look after them. It didn't change anything, but he owed them that much.