Sitting in a corner all alone,
staring from the bottom of his soul,
watching the night come in from the window, window

It'll all collapse tonight
the fullmoon is here again
In sickness and in health,
understanding, so demanding
It has no name, there's one for every season
Makes him insane to know

Sonata Arctica - Fullmoon

Chapter 11

Cry for the moon

4 days later

It was a beautiful night; I was sprinting and hopping across the long hallways, hoping to find someone who would want to play with me. Rebekah wasn't home tonight, she was meeting some friend of hers and papa had some business to take care of, but maybe he was already finished. I zoomed in front of the study and listened, I heard papa's voice from inside.

"That would not be acceptable…"

Cautiously I opened the door; papa was talking with two men, who were sitting on the armchairs opposite the desk. They all turned to look at me when I peeked inside.

"What is it, Eva?" papa asked.

I hopped in front of him and climbed onto his lap, the men seemed a little confused. I could tell by their scent that they were vampires, so I greeted them with a smile. They looked even more confused, but they smiled back at me.

"What a lovely little creature," the other one said, he had blonde hair, pale blue eyes and a very strong accent. "Yours?"

"Yes," papa replied and touched my hair. "My daughter."

I smiled even wider, letting them to see my fangs; I wanted them to know that I was like them. For some reason they seemed shocked, but they managed to hide it quickly.

"Well…" the blonde one said after clearing his throat. "How…wonderful."

"Can you play with me, papa?" I asked.

"Not right now, sweetheart," he replied. "There are few things I must discuss about with our guests."

"Will lord Klaus be joining us?" the other man asked, his hair was a little darker than the blonde ones, but he had the same accent.

"No, I'm afraid not," papa replied. "My brother is…busy this evening."

I wondered where he was, I hadn't seen him much after the dinner party. I hadn't really seen Kol either; usually he had already gone out when I woke up. I would have liked to tell him that I had tried to practice compulsion with a chicken; I didn't think that papa liked me to compel humans, but I hadn't succeeded, all I had got was pecking on the face. I needed to choose some easier animal and I hoped that he could advice me.

"Is the…young lady staying here?" the darker man asked.

I turned to look at them and leaned my head on papa's shoulder; they both seemed uncomfortable, like they wouldn't have known of what to make of me.

"Eva," papa said gently. "Do you think you could go and play by yourself for a moment? We can do something fun right after I am finished."

I pouted my lips, but I nodded.

"Promise?"

He smiled and touched my nose, making me to wrinkle it.

"I promise," he said and placed me on the floor. "Play nice."

I zoomed towards my room, maybe I could play with some of my toys. My favorite toy was a painted wooden horse which papa had gave to me; I picked him up and zoomed outside. The night sky was starry and the moon was full, I stopped at the courtyard and admired its beauty. When I had been by myself, I had often looked at the moon; it had somehow been my companion since we both were wanderers of the night.

"What should we do?" I asked, looking at my horse. I imagined him saying that he would like to canter.

"That's a great idea," I praised him and started to hop towards the garden.

"Clop, clop, clop…"

I stopped when I saw someone sitting on the stone bench, Klaus. I was delighted; maybe he would want to play with me.

"Uncle Klaus!" I said and zoomed in front of him. He had crossed his arms and he looked gloomy, even more than usually.

"Not now, little girl," he murmured tensely.

"But…"

"I said not now!" he shouted, making me to take a step back. "Leave!"

I tilted my head and looked at him; I could see that something was wrong. He clenched his fists and glared at the moon, like he would have hated it. But that wasn't all, he was hurting. Maybe someone had been mean to him, like those girls had been to me. I knew what helped me when I was sad or scared, maybe it would help him as well. Cautiously I approached him again.

"Are you deaf…" he started angrily, but I jumped on the bench next to him and hugged him. His body tensed at first and I thought that he was going to toss me on the ground, but I didn't let go.

"Please don't be sad," I said quietly and stroked his back. "You can play with my horse if you want to."

He didn't say anything, but slowly his muscles began to relax, he tapped my back and sighed before leaning his head on my shoulder.

"You are a peculiar creature, little girl," he muttered. "I thought Elijah would have explained to you that I am not very good company during the full moon."

"Why not?"

"It is…complicated, too complicated for a little girl like you…"

"I am not stupid," I protested.

He huffed, sounding almost amused.

"No, you are not."

"Maybe I am a little," I admitted after a moment of silence.

"Hmm, why is that?"

I hesitated.

"Can you keep a secret?"

"Yes, I believe so," he replied, his head was still leaning on my shoulder.

"Alright… Uncle Kol taught me how to use compulsion and I…I have tried to practice it, but I do not want papa to be angry at me, so I tried with a chicken. It pecked me a lot and I have tried to find some less aggressive animal…"

He pulled away and stared at me with his mouth open.

"You…tried to compel a chicken?"

I nodded.

"Yes, but it didn't work."

His expression was really weird, for a moment I thought he was in pain. Then he burst into laughter.

"You…a chicken…" he chuckled, wrapping his arms around his stomach. "Dear lord…you are killing me…"

I glared at him and crossed my arms, I was offended.

"I tried, but chickens are more difficult to compel than humans," I muttered, making him laugh even harder.

"I bet they are… Oh my…"

Finally he started to calm down; he was smiling when he tapped my head.

"Thank you; I cannot remember the last time I would have laughed during the full moon."

I smiled too, even if he had laughed at me, I was happy that he was feeling better.

"Come here, chicken girl," he said and lifted me onto his lap.

We were both quiet for a while, looking at the sky.

"The full moon reminds me of something that was taken from me. Twice, actually," he finally said.

"Did you like that something a lot?" I asked.

"Yes."

I thought about it for a moment and made a decision; I jumped on the ground and picked up my horse.

"Here," I said, handing the horse to Klaus.

He raised his eyebrows.

"What…"

"He is my favorite toy," I said. "I want you to have him. I know he cannot replace what you lost, but he has made me happy."

Klaus stared at me for a long while before he smiled and touched my cheek.

"You are very kind, sweetheart, but I think the horse would rather stay with you. Isn't that right, horse?"

He leaned his ear towards the horse and listened.

"He agrees."

"He cannot speak," I pointed out laughing.

"Sure he can," Klaus replied and ruffled my hair.

I sat down on the bench next to him and leaned my head on his arm.

"You are quite something, little girl," he muttered. "And don't worry about the compulsion, I will teach you."

"I do not want to upset papa…"

"He will understand, you need to learn the basic things about being a vampire."

I raised my head and looked at him.

"What kind of things?"

He stood up and held out his hand for me.

"How about I show you."