I pulled away to face the pain
I close my eyes and drift away
Over the fear
That I will never find a way
to heal my soul
And I will wander until the end of time
Torn away from you

Evanescence – My Heart Is Broken

Chapter 21

The lioness

Elijah had just finished getting dressed and he was planning to start his day with a cup of tea when he heard a scream. That wasn't completely unusual in their household, especially when Kol was with them; sometimes his brother got carried away. Elijah sighed; he didn't appreciate his brothers playing their games when Eva was near. Maybe she wasn't mentally a little child anymore, but she certainly wasn't an adult either, Elijah wanted to protect her as much as he could, she was still his child.

The woman's voice kept screaming, it sounded that she was hysterical. Elijah recognized two French words somewhere in the middle of the screams. Dear child. Eva. Elijah was at the hallway in the fraction of a second, but it took him few seconds to figure out where the screaming was coming from. He zoomed towards the voice and reached Owens room, the sight made him gasp in shock.

Eva was standing next to the bed holding a big knife; she was just cutting her own cheek. There were wounds all over her, she was covered with blood. Her face was completely blank; there was the mixture of blood and tears coursing down her cheeks. The maid who was standing in the doorway was still screaming, Elijah pushed her aside and zoomed in front of Eva. He tried to take the knife from her, but she didn't hand it over without a fight.

"Eva!" Rebekah's voice cried out before she appeared next to them, Klaus was right behind her. Eva was still squishing the knife, but Elijah managed to stop her from hurting herself more.

"Give me the knife, sweetheart," he demanded firmly, he didn't want to take it from her by force.

"Why?" she asked callously, she wasn't looking at any of them.

Rebekah's eyes were watering up when she kneeled next to Eva.

"It's alright, sweetie, please give me the knife."

"No."

"For heaven's sake," Klaus snapped tensely and yanked the knife from her.

Eva's hands were shaking; she backed away before anyone could touch her. She was still bleeding, although some of her wounds had healed. Judging by the huge puddle of blood on the floor she had almost drained herself.

"Eva, please talk to me," Elijah pleaded. "What is wrong?"

She pointed at the piece of paper lying on the bed, Elijah's expression tensed when he read it. What had his brothers done, this wasn't what they had agreed upon.

"Eva…"

"I hate this body!" she shouted. "I am ugly!"

"No!" Elijah and Rebekah protested simultaneously. "Sweetheart, you are not ugly," Elijah added, it killed him to see her in so much pain. The long wounds on her cheeks didn't heal; the enormous blood loss had stopped the healing mechanism. It looked like she was crying blood.

"Mistake…" she muttered and looked at Klaus. "You were right; you should have ended my suffering."

"No, Eva," Klaus replied tensely and took a step towards her. "I regret for ever saying that, you are not a mistake."

"Yes I am!" she shouted. "I can never…"

She didn't continue, her whole body was shaking violently.

"What the hell?" Kol's voice asked from the door.

Elijah didn't say anything; he picked Eva up and bit his wrist. She didn't resist when he placed it onto her mouth.

"It's alright," he muttered while she drank and cried.

"He said he wanted to stay with me," she sobbed. "Why did he leave?"

Elijah pressed his lips together and stroked her hair; he could really use his sister's help right now, but Rebekah seemed to be paralyzed.

"Relationships are complicated, sweetheart," he said, trying to choose his words carefully. "I am sure he…"

"I was so stupid," Eva sobbed. "What do I have to offer to anyone, I am a freak!"

"No, no, you are not," Elijah said, but clearly Eva didn't listen to him, she buried her face in his shoulder and cried even harder. Elijah thought it was best to take her away from the boy's room; he turned and carried her out, glaring at his brothers while passing them. They would certainly talk about this later. Carefully he carried Eva to his own chamber and placed her on his bed.

"I am ugly," she sobbed.

"No, you are not," he said firmly and lied down next to her, she curled up against him.

"No one can love me!"

"That is not true."

"Yes it is!"

Elijah tried his best to comfort her, but he felt completely helpless, he didn't have any experience about the heartache of young women. Where was Rebekah?

"I just wanted to be with him forever…"

"I know, sweetheart," he muttered and stroked her hair.

"Why did he leave?"

"I…I am sure he did not mean to hurt you…"

"It was because of me!" Eva shouted, she sounded hysterical. "Because of this body! I am ugly!"

"No, you are not," Elijah kept repeating, he didn't think that he had ever faced more horrific situation. He could hazily remember Rebekah's first heartache when they had still been humans; she had screamed and cried for hours. Elijah, just like all the other men in their household, had stayed as far away from her as possible, their mother had taken care of comforting her.

"I love him," Eva sobbed.

"I know, sweetheart," Elijah replied.

"Am I ugly, papa?"

"No, absolutely not."

He kept stroking her hair as calmingly as he could; it took forever before she finally cried herself to sleep. Elijah felt exhausted, he could have fallen asleep himself, but he needed to have a word with his brothers, he would certainly give them a piece of his mind. Very carefully he got up; he definitely didn't want to wake up Eva. She looked so small and fragile; there was dried blood all over her torn dress and her face. Elijah sighed and covered her with a blanket.

He knew that things wouldn't have ended well with the boy, but he would have never wanted to see her suffering like this. A part of him had hoped that she would simply remain as a child, but of course that hadn't happened. Inside of her small body there was a young woman, who would have wanted to experience the same things than any young woman, but she would never be able to do that. Elijah was truly concerned, how would she handle this? He felt even more exhausted when he went to look for his brothers; he found them at the parlor.

"How is she?" Klaus asked.

"What do you think?" Elijah replied coolly. "That was not a good way to handle this…"

"What are you talking about?" Kol asked.

Elijah frowned.

"I think you know what I am talking about, the boy."

"We did not do anything," Kol stated. "We thought that it was you."

Elijah was genuinely surprised.

"No, it was not me."

"Hmm, perhaps the boy understood the matter himself," Klaus stated. "In any case, problem solved."

"Yes…"

Elijah knew that he should have been relieved, but something didn't quite add up here.

"Where is Bekah?" he asked.

"We thought she was with you," Klaus replied.

Elijah bit his bottom lip and went to look for her. She was at her chamber, sitting on her bed, motionless like a statue. Elijah could tell right away that she had been crying.

"Bekah?" he said and sat down next to her.

She didn't say anything, but Elijah saw that he had guessed right.

"It was you, was it not?" he stated calmly.

New tears were forming in her eyes.

"I…He… I could not let him to… I had to protect my baby. I never meant…"

"I know," Elijah said and wrapped his arm around his sister.

Rebekah let out a sob and looked at him.

"Please…do not tell her."

"I won't," Elijah assured. "You have my word."